Page:Ninety-nine homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the epistles and gospels for forty-nine Sundays of the Christian year (IA ninetyninehomili00thom).pdf/31

 - (1) for the strength of his constancy; (2) for the rigour of his clothing; (3) for the dignity of his office; (4) for the holiness of his life. Firstly, when John had heard; secondly, " Who art thou;" thirdly, " Go and shew John again," etc.; fourthly, " He began to say unto the multitudes concerning John." And, again (1) of the commendation, " What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?" (2) "A man clothed in soft raiment." (3) "Yea I say unto you, and more than a prophet." (4) " This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before thy face," etc. But afterwards it ought to be known concerning the bonds that three kinds of people are said to be in bonds. The godly are placed in the bonds of precepts; the impious, in the bonds of sinners; the condemned, in the bonds of the tormentors. Of the first, Ezekiel iv. 8, " Behold, I will lay bands upon thee." Hos. xi. 4, " I drew them with the cords of a man; with bands of love." Of the second, Prov. v. 22, " He shall be holden with the cords of his sins." Isa. x. 4 (Vulgate), " That you be not bound down under the bond." Of the third, Wisdom xvii. 2, " Fettered with the bonds of darkness." S. Matt. xxii. 13, "Bind him hand and foot, and take him away and cast him into outer darkness." The first bonds are to be sought for; the second bonds to be dissolved; and the third to be avoided. For three reasons the bonds of the teachers are to be embraced (1) because by them safety is obtained against all evil; (2) because he who is bound by them is protected by the wisdom of God; (3) because from them he goes forth to government. Of the first reason, Eccles. vi. 30, " Then shall her fetters be a strong defence." Of the second reason, Wisdom x. 14, "And left him not in bonds." Of the third reason, Eccles. iv. 14, " Because out of prison and chains sometimes a man cometh forth to a kingdom." There are not only the bonds of preceptors to be embraced, but the bonds of sinners to be dissolved. For the sinner is bound with the chains of pride, of avarice, of luxury, and of an evil tongue. Of the first chain, Job xxxix. 5, " Who hath sent out the wild ass free? Or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?" By the wild ass pride is understood. Job xi. 12, " For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt;" whence the bands of the wild ass are the bands of pride. Of the second chain, Isa. v. 18, " Woe unto them that draw iniquity