e
seed whereby we are born again, as he here says.

But how does this take place? After this manner: God lets the
word--the Gospel--go forth, and the seed falls in the hearts of men,
and wherever it fastens on the heart the Holy Spirit is present, and
makes a new man; then the man becomes another, of other thoughts, of
other words and works. Thus you are entirely changed. All that you
before avoided you now seek out, and what you before sought after
that you fly from. In respect to the birth of the body, it is the
case that when conception takes place the seed is changed, so that it
is seed no longer. But this is a seed which cannot be changed; it
remains for ever; it changes me, so that I am transformed in it, and
whatever is evil in me passes away from my nature. Therefore it is
indeed a wonderful birth, and of extraordinary seed.--Now St. Peter
says, further:

V. 24, 25. _For all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man like the
flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever._ This passage is
taken from the prophet Isaiah, xl., where the prophet speaks in this
manner: "Cry! what shall I cry? Cry thus: all flesh is grass, and all
its glory like a flower of the field; the grass withereth and the
flower falleth away, but the word of God endureth for ever." These
words St. Peter introduces here; for this is, as I have said, a rich
epistle, and well spiced with Scripture.

Thus speaks the Scripture, then: _The word of God endures for ever._
What is flesh and blood is corruptible, like the grass which is yet
green, so that it blooms; so whatever is rich, strong, wise and fair,
and thus is flourishing (which all belongs to the bloom), yet you
observe its bloom wither; what was young and vigorous will become old
and ugly; what is rich will become poor, and the like. And all must
fall by the word of God. But this seed cannot perish.--Now Peter
concludes:

_This is the word which is preached unto you._ As though he would
say, ye are not to look far in order to reach the word of God; ye
have it before your eyes; the word is that which we preach; therewith
may you subdue all evil lusts. You are not to seek it from afar; you
have nothing more to do than fully to apprehend it when it is
preached. For it is so near us that we may hear it, as Moses also
says, in Deut. xxx.: "The word that I command you is not far from
thee, that thou must go therefor fa