* * * *

_S. Augustine:_ Terrified by my sins and my weight of misery I was
disturbed within my soul and meditated flight into solitude. But Thou
didst forbid it and didst strengthen me and say: _Christ died for all,
that they also who live may not now live to themselves, but unto Him Who
died for them and rose again._[457] Behold, O Lord, I cast my care upon
Thee so that I may live, and I will meditate on the wondrous things of
Thy law. Thou knowest my lack of skill and my weakness; teach me and
heal me! He--Thine Only-Begotten Son--in Whom lie hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, He redeemed me with His blood. _Let not the
proud calumniate me!_ When I think of my Ransom then I eat and I drink,
and I pray, and in my poverty I yearn to be filled with Him, to be among
those who _eat and are filled_ and they _praise the Lord who seek Him_
(_Conf._, X., xliii. 70).

* * * * *

_S. Augustine: He hath hid me in His tabernacle in the day of
evils._[458]

Wherefore without any arrogance have I sought for That One Thing,
neither doth my soul reproach me, saying: Why do you seek after It? From
whom do you seek It? Do you, a sinner, wickedly dare to ask something of
God? Do you, weak man, of unclean heart, dare to hope that you will one
day attain to the contemplation of God? I dare! Not indeed of myself,
but because of His pleasure in me; not out of presumptuous trust in
myself, but from confidence in His promise. For will He Who gave such a
pledge to the pilgrim desert him when he comes to Him? _For He hath hid
me in His tabernacle in the day of evils_ (_Enarr. in Ps._ xxvi.).

II

Is the Active Life more Meritorious than the Contemplative?

S. Gregory says[459]: "Great are the merits of the active life, but they
are surpassed by those of the contemplative life."

The source of merit is charity. Charity, however, consists in the love
of God and of our neighbour; and to love God is, in itself, more
meritorious than to love our neighbour. Consequently that which more
directly pertains to the love of God is more meritorious in its nature
than something that directly pertains to the love of our neighbour for
God's sake. The contemplative life, however, directly and immediately
pertains to the love of God, as S. Augustine says[460]: "The love of
truth asks for a holy leisure; that is the contemplative life," and this
truth is the Divine Truth on Which the cont