Editorial November 4, 1905 Issue

The Harvest

John B. Willis

The husbandman may rejoice in the prophecy of the fresh young grain, even though his profit is not yet negotiable, but he cannot plan and provide on an assured basis, until the well filled shocks stand at "attention" in their impressive autumnal parade; then he is prepared to remove all doubt as to the wisdom and success of his labor. Thus, too, in matters of religious faith, the final and convincing basis of declaration is a demonstrated propositon. Truth manifest is the one thing of which we can speak unhesitatingly, and it is this that unmeasured advantage has been conferred upon all Christian Scientists. In their appeal to men they can stand upon the unmovable rock.

In the absence of unquestioned knowledge a promising theory may be very useful as a working hypothesis, but it furnishes ground for nothing better than hope and experimentation. He who is unable to solve its problems can never speak definitely or enthusiastically of his knowledge of mathematics, for he cannot question the fact that if its law were apprehended and applied it would work things out. Jesus clearly taught that garnered results are to be our first and final argument if we would convince men. "By their fruits ye shall know them." There is a gospel of hope and a gospel of expectation, but they serve only as stepping-stones to that gospel of achievement which the world most longs for and needs. Nothing is more pitiful than profitless heroism, unless it be listless in difference, and though discontent be ever so unideal, it is a wholesome mood for those who have faithfully tried to make a theory work and found it incapable of demonstration. The ministry of Christ Jesus was distinctly one of results. His instructions to his disciples make it clear, moreover, that he expected their faith and labor would likewise bring immediate returns, and Christian Scientists accept and act upon this teaching. They find a pertinent rebuke of the willingness to wait indefinitely, and with torpid content, for the fruitage of in Jesus' words. "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." Jesus proved that Truth's effectiveness is not subject to time limitations; he taught both in word and in works that we are to have that expectancy of immediate results which in Christian Science is recognized as an essential of faith, a logical outcome of the realization that God's will is done, and that its demonstration is effected for us the moment we awaken to Truth of

The normal harvest time in spiritual things is continuous, and he whose faith is intermittent, who thinks of Truth's appearing as a periodic event, at auspicious times for seeking the divine favor, has forgotten the nature and impulse of infinite Love. In the measure of our genuine faith in God, our understanding of the all-presence and power of Spirit, we will have unyielding expectancy of the triumph of good. To lift up our eyes and "look on the fields," is to anticipate Truth's overcoming whenever and wherever the healing word is declared. The church services, the Sunday School and class teaching, he public lectures, together with our spiritual conversations with the hungry-hearted, all these present opportunities for Truth's effectual working whereby, as Paul says, "he is able even to subdue all things unto himself," and we come far short of our privilege and duty if we are not anticipating and witnessing the healing of sickness and sin on all these occasions.

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