garding
the severity of Thy scourge and the wondrous swiftness of Thy mercy.
Thou didst torture me with toothache; and when the pain had become so
great that I could not even speak, it came into my mind to tell all my
friends who were there to pray to Thee for me, to Thee the God of all
manner of succour. And I wrote my request on a wax tablet and I gave it
them to read. And hardly had we bent the knee in humble prayer than the
pain fled! But what a pain it was! And how did it disappear? I was
terrified, I confess it, O Lord my God! Never in all my life had I felt
anything like it! (_Confessions_, IX. iv. 12).

It is narrated of S. Thomas that when at Paris it happened that having
to lecture at the University on a subject which he had commenced the day
before, he rose at night to pray as was his wont, but discovered that a
tooth had suddenly pushed its way through his gums in such a way that he
could not speak. His companion suggested that since it was an
inopportune time for procuring assistance a message should be sent to
the University stating what had happened and pointing out that the
lecture could not be given till the tooth had been removed by a surgeon.
But S. Thomas, reflecting upon the difficulty in which the University
would be placed, considering also the danger which might arise from the
removal of the tooth in the way suggested, said to his companion: I see
no remedy save to trust to God's Providence. He then betook himself to
his accustomed place of prayer, and for a long space besought God with
tears to grant him this favour, leaving himself entirely in His hands.
And when he had thus prayed he took the tooth between his fingers, and
it came out at once without the slightest pain or wrench, and he found
himself freed from the impediment to his speech which it had caused.
This tooth he carried about with him for a long time as a reminder of an
act of Divine loving-kindness such as he was anxious not to forget, for
forgetfulness is the mother of ingratitude; he wished it, too, to move
him to still greater confidence in the power of prayer which had on that
occasion been so quickly heard (see _Vita S. Thomae_, Bollandists, March
7, vol. i., 1865, pp. 673, 704, 712).

_S. Augustine:_ But temporal things are sometimes for our profit,
sometimes for our hurt. For many poverty was good, wealth did them harm.
For many a hidden life was best, high station did them harm. And on the
other hand money was good for so