1. Now then let us briefly discuss what difference there is between the contemplative and the active life. And that this may shine forth clearly, let us compare these lives with one another, namely the contemplative and the active, by setting forth their virtues. To the active life it belongs to make progress among human things, and to temper the rebellious motions of the body by the command of reason; to the contemplative, to ascend above human things by desire of perfection, and to lie unceasingly upon virtues that must be increased. The active has advance, the contemplative has the summit. The latter makes a man holy, the former perfect. To this life belongs to inflict injuries upon absolutely no one; to that, to bear with equanimity the injuries inflicted. Nay, to speak more properly, the practitioner of the active life strives to forgive the one sinning against him;
the follower of the contemplative life is more ready to ignore the offenses by which he is assailed, and by which he is not at all shaken, than to forgive them. The one restrains anger by the virtue of patience, and places the bridle of moderation upon immoderate desires; he is touched by carnal desires, yet does not consent; he is assailed by the curiosity of this world, yet is not carried off; he is shaken by diabolical assault, yet is not conquered; and being with devout mind subject to his God, he is not worn down by diverse temptations, but proved. The other conquers by holy virtues all the affections by which the life of mortals is varied; free from all desires and disturbances, he enjoys blessed quiet, and being made superior with unencumbered mind to allurements and pleasures, he is lifted up by the ineffable joy of divine contemplation.
The one, by receiving the stranger, clothing the naked, governing the subject, redeeming the captive, protecting the violently oppressed, continually cleanses himself from all his iniquities, and enriches his life with the fruits of good works; the other, having distributed his goods to the uses of the poor, has at once stripped himself for the world and applied himself with all his strength to heaven; he has cast off the things of the world to the world, and restored himself with devout mind to Christ, from whom as a poor man he prays that immortal riches be given him; as a weak man he asks daily to be protected; as a naked man he desires to be clothed with the garment of immortality; as one oppressed by the frailty of the flesh he beseeches to be defended from the assault of invisible enemies, and as a pilgrim he desires the heavenly homeland to be granted him. 2.
The active life has an anxious course, the contemplative has everlasting joy. In the one the kingdom is acquired, in the other it is received. The one makes one knock, as it were with certain hands of good works, at the door; the other calls those who are consummated into the homeland. In the one the world is despised, in the other God will be seen.
And, to pass over many things which I am unable to recount, those who in this active life shall have stood out as stronger in newborn struggles, in that contemplative life, which is supremely blessed, will, God rewarding, become equal to the holy angels, and will reign with him forever, happy in that supernal city. And so, since many things have already been said in the foregoing about the contemplative life, and the second book will contain those things which are to be said about the active, let what we have said suffice, that we may consider also the rest, which we shall treat from the third chapter to the end of this book in the following discussion. Let us now see whether he to whom the care of governing the Church has been committed can become a partaker of the contemplative life.