Chapter VII.
Why was food created for livestock before it was created for humans? Lush grass represents the human condition, whose fragility is beautifully portrayed. We should imitate the same grass by bearing fruit; this is where the Manichaeans and the Eunomians are criticized.
28. And perhaps someone may wonder that food for cattle was created before food for man. In this we must first recognize the profoundness of God, who does not neglect even the smallest things, as the Wisdom of God says in the Gospel: Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26). For when they are fed by the grace of God, no one should boast of their own industry and virtue. Then because he ought to prefer simple and natural food to other foods. For this is the food of temperance, the others of pleasure and luxury: this is the common food of all animals, that of a few. Therefore, it is an example of frugality, a teaching of thrift, that everyone should be content with the food of simple herbs and cheap spices or of the fruit that nature has offered, which the first generosity of God has given. That is healthy, that is useful food, which repels diseases, which cuts off indigestions, not by the labor of human childbirth, but poured out by the divine gift, crops without sowing, fruits without seeds, so sweet, so pleasing, that it is even to the fullness of pleasure and use. Finally, he moved on to the first course, and remained for the second.
29. But what miracle of this creature should I examine, and what proof of the working of wisdom should I express? For in this species of germination, both the image of human life is observed, and a certain emblem of our nature and condition is seen, and a mirror shines forth. That herb and the flower of hay are a representation of human flesh, as the interpreter of divine goodness expressed by means of the instrument of his own voice, saying: 'Cry out.' What shall I cry out? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls: but the word of the Lord endures forever (Isaiah 40:6 et seq.). It is the opinion of God that the human voice is. God says, Cry: but in him Isaiah speaks. He replied, What shall I cry? And when he heard as if he were speaking, he added: All flesh is grass. And truly; for the glory of man flourishes in the flesh like grass: and what is considered lofty, is small like grass, premature like a flower, fleeting like grass it produces the greenness of life in appearance, not the solidity of fruit, offering the joyfulness of a flower, which will soon fall, like grass, which before it is uprooted, withers. For what strength can there be in the flesh, what lasting health can there be.
Today you may see a strong young man, in the prime of adolescence, flourishing with a pleasing appearance and a sweet complexion; tomorrow he appears to you changed in face and expression: he who yesterday seemed most elegant in the beauty of his appearance, today appears pitifully weakened by illness. For many, either labor breaks them, or poverty wastes them away, or indigestion troubles them, or wine corrupts them, or old age weakens them, or excessive pleasure emasculates them, or luxury fades their color. Isn't it true that the hay burns and the flower falls? Another noble bird, adorned with the plumes of ancestors and esteemed with the insignia of his forefathers, rich in friends, surrounded by clients and protected on both sides, leading and supporting a large household, suddenly disturbed by the weight of some unexpected danger, is abandoned by all, deserted by companions, attacked by those closest to him. Behold, it is true that the life of man, like the hay, withers before it is uprooted. There is also someone who, having long been abundant in wealth, flying on the fame of generosity in the mouths of individuals, renowned in honors, superior in powers, lofty in tribunals, elevated on the throne, blessed, esteemed by the people, while he is being led by the shouting of heralds, is suddenly dragged into the prison by a sudden reversal of events, where he himself had thrown others, and among his fellow prisoners laments the torment of impending punishment. How great a crowd of applauding people led him, with envy, in a splendid procession to the house of the populous, and one night erased that glorious splendor of the procession, and sudden pain in his side mixed mournful heavy succession with the outpouring of joys! Therefore, the glory of man is like the flower of hay: which, even when it is carried away, adds nothing to works, in which no fruit is obtained; and when it is lost, it fades away, abandoning all the stage of man, and the shadow it cast from above, and the life it animated within.
31. And would that we imitate this herb, about which the Lord says: Let the earth bring forth grass, yielding seed according to its kind, and according to its likeness. Therefore, let us sow seed according to its kind. What is that kind? Hear Him who says that we must seek that divine thing, if we can handle or find it: Although it is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as some of your poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' (Acts 17:28). According to this kind, we sow seed not in flesh, but in spirit. For we ought to sow not carnal, but spiritual seeds, if we desire to attain eternal life. You are not ignorant of the likeness, for you were created in the image and likeness of God. The herb corresponds to its kind, but you do not correspond to your own kind. The grain of wheat, when scattered on the earth, produces fruit according to its kind, and yet you become degenerate. Crops do not adulterate the purity of their own seed, but you adulterate the purity of your soul, the vigor of your mind, and the chastity of your body.
32. You do not acknowledge that you need Christ's work. He, as we read, formed you with His own hands and you, Manichaean, associate another author with yourself. The Father God says to the Son: Let us make man in our image and likeness (Gen., I, 26); and you, Photinian, say that Christ was not yet in the constitution of the world; and you, Eunomian, say that the Son is dissimilar to the Father. For if He is an image, He is certainly not dissimilar: but expressing the whole from the whole, the Father, whom the Father has marked with the unity of His substance. The Father says: 'Let us do it'; and you deny being a coworker? what the Father said, the Son did; and you deny being equal, in which the Father was pleased.