ted towards the repose of
contemplation, already belong to the contemplative life. But in the
future life of the blessed all occupation with external things will
cease; or if there are any external acts they will be directed towards
that end which is contemplation. Hence S. Augustine says, at the close
of his _Of the City of God_: "There we shall be at rest from toil, we
shall gaze, we shall love, we shall praise." And he had just previously
said: "There will God be seen unendingly, be loved without wearying, be
praised without fatigue; this duty, this disposition of soul, this act,
will be the lot of all."[429]

Some, however, maintain that the active life will be continued after
this life, thus:

1. To the active life belong the acts of the moral virtues. But the
moral virtues remain after death, as S. Augustine says.[430]

But the acts of the moral virtues which are concerned with the
means to the end will not remain after death, but only those
which have to do with the end itself. Yet it is precisely these
latter which go to form the repose of contemplation to which S.
Augustine alludes in the above-quoted passage where he speaks of
being "at rest from toil"; and this "rest" is not to be
understood of freedom from merely external disturbances, but
also from the internal conflict of the passions.

2. Again, to teach others pertains to the active life. But in the next
life--where we shall be as the Angels--there can be teaching; for we see
it in the case of the Angels of whom one illumines, clarifies, and
perfects another, all of which refer to their reception of knowledge, as
is clear from Denis the Areopagite.[431] Hence it seems that the active
life is to be continued after this life.

But the contemplative life especially consists in the
contemplation of God; and as regards this no Angel teaches
another, for it is said of the Angels of _the little
ones_[432]--Angels who are of an inferior choir--that _they
always see the face of the Father_. And similarly in the future
life: there no man will teach another about God, for we shall
all _see Him as He is_.[433] And this agrees with the words of
Jeremias[434]: _And they shall teach no more every man his
neighbour ... saying: Know the Lord; for all shall know Me from
the least of them even to the greatest._

But when it is question of dispensing the mysteries of God, then
one Angel