Chapter X.
Seeds never truly degenerate, when their species is not changed, but their perfection: for tares and weeds do not at all arise from the seed of the wheat. The Word of God bestowed a wonderful fertility upon the earth before man sinned; yet the earth is not completely deprived of it even now.
But perhaps someone might ask: How does the earth bring forth seeds according to their kind, when often the sown seeds degenerate? And when good wheat has been sown, its color becomes dull and its form becomes inferior? But if this ever happens, it seems to be referred not to a change in kind, but to a certain sickness and inequality of the seed. For the wheat does not cease to be wheat if it is scorched by cold or soaked by rain, but it is changed more in appearance than in kind, in color and corruption. Finally, frequently soaked grains return to their own kind if they are either dried by the sun or fires, or entrusted to diligent cultivators, if they are nurtured by the temperate air and fertile land. Therefore, what has degenerated in the parent is repaired in the offspring. Hence, we do not fear that this command of God, whose use has become ingrained in nature, will be lacking in the future due to the defect of succession, since even today the purity of its own kind is preserved in the seeds.
44. For we have learned from the reading of the Gospel (Matt. XIII, 24) that darnel and other adulterated seeds are often mixed with wheat, and are called zizania. But they have a distinct nature of their own; having been translated from the seed of wheat into another kind of seed by a change of color, they have acquired a degenerate nature. Finally, the Lord teaches this, saying: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat' (ibid). Indeed, we are warned that weeds and wheat seem to be distinct in both name and nature. Finally, the servants said to the master of the household: Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? So where does the weed come from? And he said to them: An enemy has done this (Ibid., 27). For one is the seed of the devil, another is the seed of Christ that is sown for righteousness. Finally, the Son of Man has sown something different, and the devil has sown something different. So different is the nature of each seed, that the sower is contrary. What Christ sows is the kingdom of God: what the devil sows is sin. How then can the kingdom and sin be of the same kind? It is, he says, the kingdom of God, just as if a man throws seed upon the earth.
45. There is also a man who sows the word, about which it is written: He who sows, sows the word (Mark IV, 14). This man sowed the word upon the earth, when he said: Let the earth bring forth grass, and suddenly the buds of the earth sprouted, and the various species of things shone forth. From this the green grace of meadows supplied an abundance of fodder: hence the yellowing ear of the fields expressed the image of the sea, with the commotion of the ripening crop. Spontaneously all the fruits of the earth sprouted forth: although it could not be cultivated without a cultivator, for the farmer had not yet been formed; nevertheless, the untilled land abounded with abundant harvests, and I have no doubt of a greater yield. For indeed the fertility of the land could not be deprived by the negligence of the cultivator. Now, fertility is acquired by each person according to the merit of their labor, where the cultivation of the fields is observed; and negligence or offense, or the flooding of rain, or the dryness of the land, or the hurling of hail, or any other cause, is punished by the sterility of the fertile soil. Then, however, the earth produced spontaneous fruit in all places; for He had commanded, who is the fullness of all. For the Word of God made the earth fruitful, and there was as yet no cursed land. For the beginnings of the world that was created are older than our sins; and the more recent guilt is that by which we are condemned to eat bread by the sweat of our brow and to be ignorant of nourishment without sweat.
46. Finally, even today the fertility of the earth operates a long-standing abundance through the spontaneous use of fertility. For there are many things that still generate spontaneously. But even in these things that are sought by human hands, a great part of divine benefits remain with us, so that even the grains themselves are produced while we are at rest. This is taught as an example of the proposed lesson, with the Lord saying: For the kingdom of God is like a man who throws seed upon the earth and then sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, while he does not know how (Mark, IV, 26). For the earth produces fruit willingly, first grass, then ear, then full wheat in the ear. And when it has produced fruit, it immediately sends forth the sickle, for the harvest is at hand. Therefore, to you, o man, who sleep and know not its fruits, the earth produces them willingly. You sleep and rise, and marvel at the growth of wheat during the night.