5. “  Let the earth bring forth grass .” What spontaneous provision is included in these words,—that which is present in the root, in the plant itself, and in the fruit, as well as that which our labour and husbandry add! God did not command the earth immediately to give forth seed and fruit, but to produce germs, to grow green, and to arrive at maturity in the seed; so that this first command teaches nature what she has to do in the course of ages. But, they ask, is it true that the earth produces seed after his kind, when often, after having sown wheat, we gather black grain? This is not a change of kind, but an alteration, a disease of the grain. It has not ceased to be wheat; it is on account of having been burnt that it is black, as one can learn from its name.  12  πυρός=wheat. The root, which has nothing to do with πῦρ, is found by Curtius in the Slavonic pyro=rye, the Bohemian pyr=quitch grass, the Lettish purji=wheat, and the Lithuanian pyragas=wheaten bread. (L. & S. in loc.) If a severe frost had burnt it,  13  cf. Virg., Georg. i. 93: “Aut Boreæ penetrabile frigus adurat.” Ov. M. xiv. 763, Frigus adurat poma, and in Greek Arist., Meteor. iv. 5. it would have had another colour and a different flavour. They even pretend that, if it could find suitable earth and moderate temperature, it might return to its first form. Thus, you find nothing in nature contrary to the divine command. As to the darnel and all those bastard grains which mix themselves with the harvest, the tares of Scripture, far from being a variety of corn, have their own origin and their own kind; image of those who alter the doctrine of the Lord and, not being rightly instructed in the word, but, corrupted by the teaching of the evil one, mix themselves with the sound body of the Church to spread their pernicious errors secretly among purer souls. The Lord thus compares the perfection of those who believe in Him to the growth of seed, “as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.”  14  Matt. iv. 26–28. “Let the earth bring forth grass.” In a moment earth began by germination to obey the laws of the Creator, completed every stage of growth, and brought germs to perfection. The meadows were covered with deep grass, the fertile plains quivered  15  cf.Horrescunt segetes. Virg.,Georg. iii. 39. with harvests, and the movement of the corn was like the waving of the sea. Every plant, every herb, the smallest shrub, the least vegetable, arose from the earth in all its luxuriance. There was no failure in this first vegetation: no husbandman’s inexperience, no inclemency of the weather, nothing could injure it; then the sentence of condemnation was not fettering the earth’s fertility. All this was before the sin which condemned us to eat our bread by the sweat of our brow.

Βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου. Πόσην αὐτόματον λέγει τροφὴν ἐν τούτοις, τήν τε ἐν ῥίζαις, καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ βοτάνῃ, καὶ τὴν ἐν καρποῖς ἤδη; πόσην δὲ τὴν ἐξ ἐπιμελείας καὶ γεωργίας ἡμῖν προσγινομένην; Οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐκέλευσε σπέρμα καὶ καρπὸν ἀναδοθῆναι, ἀλλὰ βλαστῆσαι καὶ χλοάσαι τὴν γῆν, καὶ τότε εἰς σπέρμα τελειωθῆναι, ἵνα τὸ πρῶτον ἐκεῖνο πρόσταγμα διδασκάλιον τῇ φύσει γένηται πρὸς τὴν ἑξῆς ἀκολουθίαν. Πῶς οὖν κατὰ γένος, φησὶν, ἡ γῆ προφέρει τὰ σπέρματα, ὁπότε σῖτον πολλάκις καταβαλόντες, τὸν μέλανα τοῦτον πυρὸν συγκομίζομεν; Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο οὐχὶ πρὸς ἕτερον γένος ἐστὶ μεταβολὴ, ἀλλ' οἱονεὶ νόσος τις καὶ ἀρρωστία τοῦ σπέρματος. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπέθετο τὸ εἶναι σῖτος, ἀλλ' ἐμελάνθη διὰ τῆς καύσεως, ὡς καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐστι τῆς προσηγορίας μαθεῖν. Τῇ ὑπερβολῇ γὰρ τοῦ κρύους ὑπερκαεὶς, πρὸς ἑτέραν καὶ χρόαν καὶ γεῦσιν μετέπεσεν. Καὶ μέντοι καὶ πάλιν λέγεται, ἐπειδὰν γῆς ἐπιτηδείας καὶ ἀέρων εὐκράτων λάβηται, πρὸς τὸ ἀρχαῖον εἶδος ἐπανιέναι. Ὥστε οὐδὲν παρὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα εὕροις ἂν ἐν τοῖς φυομένοις ἐπιτελούμενον. Ἡ δὲ λεγομένη αἶρα, καὶ ὅσα λοιπὰ νόθα σπέρματα τοῖς τροφίμοις ἐγκαταμέμικται, ἅπερ ζιζάνια προσαγορεύειν σύνηθες τῇ Γραφῇ, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ σίτου μεταβολῆς γίνεται, ἀλλ' ἐξ οἰκείας ἀρχῆς ὑπέστη, ἴδιον ἔχοντα γένος. Ἅπερ τὴν εἰκόνα πληροῖ τῶν παραχαρασσόντων τὰ τοῦ Κυρίου διδάγματα, καὶ μὴ γνησίως μαθητευομένων τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς τοῦ πονηροῦ διδασκαλίας διεφθαρμένων, καταμιγνύντων δὲ ἑαυτοὺς τῷ ὑγιαίνοντι σώματι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἵν' ἐκ τοῦ ἀφανοῦς τὰς παρ' ἑαυτῶν βλάβας τοῖς ἀκεραιοτέροις ἐμβάλωσιν. Ἤδη δὲ ὁ Κύριος καὶ τὴν τελείωσιν τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότων τῇ τῶν σπερμάτων αὐξήσει παρεικάζει, λέγων: Ὡς ὅταν ἄνθρωπος βάλῃ τὸν σπόρον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ καθεύδῃ, καὶ ἐγείρηται νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ ὁ σπόρος ἐγείρηται, καὶ μηκύνηται, ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτός. Αὐτομάτη γὰρ ἡ γῆ καρποφορεῖ πρῶτον χόρτον, εἶτα στάχυν, εἶτα πλήρη σῖτον ἐν τῷ στάχυϊ. Βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην. Καὶ ἐν ἀκαριαίᾳ χρόνου ῥοπῇ ἀπὸ τῆς βλαστήσεως ἀρξαμένη ἡ γῆ, ἵνα φυλάξῃ τοὺς νόμους τοῦ κτίσαντος, πᾶσαν ἰδέαν αὐξήσεως διεξελθοῦσα, εὐθὺς πρὸς τὸ τέλειον ἤγαγε τὰ βλαστήματα. Καὶ λειμῶνες μὲν ἦσαν βαθεῖς τῇ ἀφθονίᾳ τοῦ χόρτου, τῶν δὲ πεδίων τὰ εὔκαρπα φρίσσοντα τοῖς ληΐοις, εἰκόνα πελάγους κυμαίνοντος ἐν τῇ κινήσει τῶν ἀσταχύων ἀπέσωζε. Πᾶσα δὲ βοτάνη καὶ πᾶν λαχανηρὸν γένος, καὶ εἴ τι ἐν φρυγάνοις, καὶ εἴ τι ἐν ὀσπρίοις, κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀφθονίαν τότε τῆς γῆς ὑπερεῖχεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπότευγμά τι ἦν ἐν τοῖς τότε προβληθεῖσιν, οὔτε γεωργῶν ἀπειρίας, οὔτε ἀέρων δυσκρασίας, οὔτε τινὸς ἄλλης αἰτίας τοῖς γινομένοις λυμαινομένης. Οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἡ καταδίκη ἐνεπόδιζε τῇ εὐθηνίᾳ τῆς γῆς. Πρεσβύτερα γὰρ ταῦτα τῆς ἁμαρτίας δι' ἣν κατεκρίθημεν, ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου ἡμῶν ἐσθίειν τὸν ἄρτον.