Page:Ninety-nine homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the epistles and gospels for forty-nine Sundays of the Christian year (IA ninetyninehomili00thom).pdf/182

 v. 44, 45, 48. (5) In the praise of God and in the giving of thanks: “ Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise,” Ps. viii. 2. To which praise may He lead us Who is blessed for evermore. Amen.

Morally, two things are to be noted in these words. Firstly, the infirmity of the sinner: “The fever.” Secondly, those things which were necessary for the cure: “At the seventh hour the fever left him.”

I. On the first head it is to be noted, that sinners labour under seven kind of fevers. (1) That which is continuous, which is sensuality: “ They have committed fornication, and have not ceased,” Hosea iv. 10, Vulg. (2) That which is daily, which is gluttony, by which men daily sin: “ They are greedy dogs, which can never have enough.We will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant,” Isai. lvi. 11, 12. (3) That which recurs on the third day, and is called the Tertian fever; which signifies anger, from the accession of heat: “ For as the wood of the forest is, so the fire burneth: and as a man’s strength is, so shall his anger be,” Ecclus. xxviii. 12. (4) That which recurs on the fourth day, which is quartan, and which signifies that acidity which provokes melancholy: “As a moth doth by a garment, and a worm by the wood: so the sadness of a man consumeth the heart,” Prov. xxv. 20, Vulg. “The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with a sword, and with a blasting, and with a mildew,” Deut. xxviii. 22. (5) That which is common to the nations, which is avarice, which is difficult or never to be cured. S. Jerome observes, that when other vices grow old in man, avarice