d charity is the
queen of the virtues, and unites them all in herself.

This reunion thus made, is called the central union or unity. By means
of the will and love, all are reunited in the center of the soul in God
who is our ultimate end. According to St. John, "He who dwelleth in
love, dwelleth in God, for God is love."

This union of my will to Thine, O my God, and this ineffable presence
was so sweet and powerful, that I was compelled to yield to its
delightful power, power which was strict and severe to my minutest
faults.

CHAPTER 11

My senses (as I have described) were continually mortified, and under
perpetual restraint. To conquer them totally, it is necessary to deny
them the smallest relaxation, until the victory is completed. We see
those who content themselves practicing great outward austerities, yet
by indulging their senses in what is called innocent and necessary,
they remain forever unsubdued. Austerities, however severe, will not
conquer the senses. To destroy their power, the most effectual means
is, in general, to deny them firmly what will please, and to persevere
in this, until they are reduced to be without desire or repugnance. If
we attempt, during the warfare, to grant them any relaxation, we act
like those, who, under pretext of strengthening a man, who was
condemned to be starved to death, should give him from time to time a
little nourishment. It indeed would prolong his torments, and postpone
his death.

It is just the same with the death of the senses, the powers, the
understanding, and self-will. If we do not eradicate every remains of
self subsisting in these, we support them in a dying life to the end.
This state and its termination are clearly set forth by Paul. He speaks
of bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. (II Cor.
4:10.). But, lest we should rest here, he fully distinguishes this from
the state of being dead and having our life hid with Christ in God. It
is only by a total death to self we can be lost in God.

He who is thus dead has no further need of mortification. The very end
of mortification is accomplished in him, and all is become new. It is
an unhappy error in those good souls, who have arrived at a conquest of
the bodily senses, through this unremitted and continual mortification,
that they should still continue attached to the exercise of it. They
should rather drop their attention thereto, and remain in indifference,
accepting with e