Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Ver. 24. The kingdom of heaven] viz. here on earth. For we have eternal life already, 1. In pretio, 2. Promisso, 3. Primitiis, in the price, promise, firstfruits. As God prepared Paradise for Adam, so he hath heaven for his. Howbeit, he reserves not all for hereafter; but gives a grape of Canaan in this wilderness, where by righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, God's people do even eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life, as it was once said of a reverend divine of Scotland.
Which sowed good seed in his field] Among the Romans it was, probrum censorium agrum male colere, a fault punishable by the censors, to be an ill seedsman, Plin. lib. 18. And when they would highly commend any, they would say, "He is an honest man, and a good ploughman." a
a Maiores nostri siquem laudabant, ita laudabant, virum bonum, bonumque colonum. Varro.