Page:Post-Mediaeval Preachers.djvu/96

 one wise, and she desired “to know good and evil.”

2. God the Son went forth from the bosom of the Father to sow Himself—

A. In the womb of the ever-blessed Virgin, that good ground where He would spring up and bear an hundredfold. In her womb He sowed—

α. His Divinity.

β. The humanity of Adam’s flesh.

γ. The human soul, which is the breath of God.

B. When He left the womb of Mary He went forth to sow—

α. The Gospel, which fell—

1. On the wayside of the impenitent.

2. On the rock of Pharisaic pride.

3. Among the thorns of worldliness and avarice.

4. On the good ground of the elect.

β. That He might sow His Divine grace.

γ. That He might sow His mercy, pardoning iniquity: and this fell—

1. On the wayside of luxury.

2. On the rock of despair.

3. Among the thorns of riches.

C. His own self did our Lord sow in His double nature, when He left earth for Heaven, there to sow the roses of martyrdom, the violets of confessors, and the lilies of virgins.

II. Allegoricè—

A. The sower is a preacher of the Gospel. The