It is said also that quicksilver, if poured out from the vessel that contains it down a dusty slope, forms small globules and scatters itself over the ground, mingling with none of those bodies with which it meets: but if one should collect at one place the substance dispersed in many directions, it flows back to its kindred substance, if not hindered by anything intervening from mixing with its own kind. Something of the same sort, I think, we ought to understand also of the composite nature of man, that if only the power were given it of God, the proper parts would spontaneously unite with those belonging to them, without any obstruction on their account arising to Him Who reforms their nature.

Furthermore, in the case of plants that grow from the ground, we do not observe any labour on the part of nature spent on the wheat or millet or any other seed of grain or pulse, in changing it into stalk or spike or ears; for the proper nourishment passes spontaneously, without trouble, from the common source to the individuality of each of the seeds. If, then, while the moisture supplied to all the plants is common, each of those plants which is nourished by it draws the due supply for its own growth, what new thing is it if in the doctrine of the resurrection also, as in the case of the seeds, it happens that there is an attraction on the part of each of those who rise, of what belongs to himself?

Λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑδράργυρον προχεθεῖσαν τοῦ περιέχοντος καθ' ὑπτίου τινὸς καὶ κονιορτώδους χωρίου, εἰς λεπτὰ σφαιρωθεῖσαν κατὰ τὴν γῆν διασκίδνασθαι͵ πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων ἐμμιγνυμένην. Εἰ δέ τις πάλιν τὸ πολλαχῆ κατεσπαρμένον εἰς ἓν συναγείρειεν͵ αὐτομάτως ἀναχεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸ ὁμόφυλον͵ οὐδενὶ μέσῳ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν μίξιν διειργομένην. Τοιοῦτόν τι χρῆναι νομίζω καὶ περὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον σύγκριμα διανοεῖσθαι· εἰ μόνον γένοιτο παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἐνδόσιμον͵ αὐτομάτως τὰ κατάλληλα μέρη τοῖς οἰκείοις ἐπανακίρνασθαι͵ μηδεμιᾶς ἐργωδίας τῷ ἀναστοιχειοῦντι τὴν φύσιν διὰ τούτων ἐγγινομένης.  

Καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ φυομένων͵ οὐδένα πόνον ὁρῶμεν τῆς φύσεως ἐπὶ τὸν πυρὸν ἢ τὴν κέγχρον ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν σιτηρῶν ἢ χεδροπῶν σπερμάτων ἐν τῷ μεταβάλλειν εἰς καλάμην καὶ ἀθέρικας καὶ ἀστάχυας. Ἀπραγματεύτως γὰρ κατὰ τὸ αὐτόματον ἡ κατάλληλος τροφὴ ἐκ τοῦ κοινοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἑκάστου τῶν σπερμάτων ἰδιότητα μεταβαίνει. Εἰ οὖν κοινῆς πᾶσι τοῖς φυομένοις τῆς ἰκμάδος ὑποκειμένης͵ ἕκαστον τῶν δι' αὐτῆς τρεφομένων τὸ κατάλληλον ἔσπασεν εἰς τὴν τοῦ οἰκείου προσθήκην, τί καινὸν͵ εἰ καὶ ἐν τῷ τῆς ἀναστάσεως λόγῳ παρ' ἑκάστου τῶν ἀνισταμένων͵ καθὼς ἐπὶ τῶν σπερμάτων συμβαίνει, οὕτως γίνεσθαι τὴν τοῦ οἰκείου ὁλκήν;