aith, in the other by sight; the one is the pilgrimage of time, the
other is the mansion of eternity; the one is a life of toil, the other
of repose; in the one we are on the way, in the other in Our Father's
Home; the one is spent in the toil of action, the other in the reward of
contemplation; the one _turneth away from evil and doth good_, the other
hath no evil from which to turn away, but rather a Great Good Which it
enjoys; the one is in conflict with the foe, the other reigns--conscious
that there is no foe; the one is strong in adversity, the other knows of
no adversity; the one bridles the lusts of the flesh, the other is given
up to the joys of the Spirit; the one is anxious to overcome, the other
is tranquil in the peace of victory; the one is helped in temptations,
the other, without temptation, rejoices in its Helper; the one succours
the needy, the other dwells where none are needy; the one condones the
sins of others that thereby its own sins may be condoned, the other
suffers naught that it can pardon nor does ought that calls for pardon;
the one is afflicted in sufferings lest it should be uplifted in good
things, the other is steeped in such fulness of grace as to be free from
all evil that so, without temptation to pride, it may cling to the
Supreme Good; the one distinguishes between good and evil, the other
sees naught save what is good; the one therefore is good--yet still in
miseries, the other is better--and in Blessedness (_Tractatus_, cxxiv.
5, _in Joannem_).

"Jesu nostra Redemptio
Amor et Desiderium!
Deus Creator omnium,
Homo in fine temporum!"

II

Is this division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative a
sufficient one?

These two kinds of life are signified by the two wives of Jacob--namely,
the active life by Lia, the contemplative by Rachel. They are also
signified by those two women who afforded hospitality to the Lord: the
contemplative, namely, by Mary, the active by Martha, as S. Gregory
says.[302] But if there were more than two kinds of life, these
significations would not be fitting.

As we have said above, the division in question concerns human life
regarded as intellectual. And the intellect itself is divided into the
contemplative and the active, for the aim of intellectual knowledge is
either the actual knowledge of the truth--and this belongs to the
contemplative intellect, or it is some external action--and this
concerns the practical or active inte