in the other life, who had withdrawn themselves from the business of the world, that they might live a pious and holy life; and with others also who had afflicted themselves in various ways, because they imagined that this was to renounce the world and to subdue the lusts of the flesh. But the greater portion of them,—having by such austerities contracted a sorrowful life, and removed themselves from the life of charity which can only be lived in the world,—cannot be associated with angels, because the life of the angels is one of gladness resulting from bliss, and consists in performing deeds of goodness which are works of charity.
"Besides, they who have led a life withdrawn from worldly affairs, are possessed with the idea of their own merit; and are thence continually desirous of being admitted into heaven, and think of heavenly joy as a reward, being totally ignorant of what heavenly joy is. And when they are admitted among the angels, and to a perception of their joy which is without the thought of merit, and consists in active duties and services openly performed, and in the blessedness arising from the good which they thereby promote, they are astonished like persons who witness things altogether foreign to their expectation. And because they are not receptible of that joy, they depart and associate with spirits like themselves, who have lived a similar life in the world. . . .
"These statements are made in order that it may be known, that the life which leads to heaven is not a life of retirement from the world, but of action in the world; and that a life of piety, without a life of charity which can only be acquired in the world, does not lead to heaven, but a life of