Editorial March 23, 1918 Issue

Planting the Seed

William D. McCrackan

The world war makes the question of planting the seed more pressing than usual. What shall the harvest be? Evidently, according to the nature of the seed, the quality of soil, and the application of labor. God must preside over the planting and watering of His vineyard that the fruit of substance and gladness may ripen within it. Humanity must prepare the soil of its consciousness with plow and harrow to receive the seed, and there must be laborers. Jesus once said as he viewed the fainting multitude, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." The complaint of the hour in agricultural lands repeats the statement that the laborers are few, for the war activities have called many of them away from the fields, and the time has arrived when the Lord of the harvest must be besought to supply the need.

Christian Scientists realize that there must be a spiritual preparation of men and nations before the artificial scarcity produced by hate and fear can be wiped out. Spiritual planting reverses the material procedure of agriculture. It requires gathering before sowing, receiving from God before dispensing to others. Therefore, in placing the whole problem of successful harvesting into metaphysics, the first requirement is seen to be receptivity on the part of human consciousness to the eternal, spiritual facts of being. With reference to agriculture, one of these facts is expressed in the Scriptural statement that God created "every plant of the field before it was in the earth." Interpreting this text on page 520 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Here is the emphatic declaration that God creates all through Mind, not through matter,—that the plant grows, not because of seed or soil, but because growth is the eternal mandate of Mind." The real plant partakes of the nature of its creator, God, the divine Mind, and is idea, not matter. Therefore a wide prospect of usefulness to mankind opens before the farmer-metaphysician who will learn to gather, sow, and harvest mentally in accordance with the law of divine Mind before placing the seed in the earth. Thus agriculture may be delivered from the false beliefs of mortal mind which subject the plant to destruction by frost or drought, by pest or mildew.

The world may be reluctant to admit that planting the seed must be done with spiritual understanding in order to be safe from the assaults of evil mental manipulation, but this lesson must be learned along with many others during the world turmoil. The whole problem reduces itself to the question of causation. Is God Mind or matter? Christian Science has long since settled this question for all clear thinkers. Mind creates and controls the universe including "every plant of the field." Then it is impossible to safeguard God's plant while pretending to ignore God Himself. It is true that human belief, calling for material food, requires that the seed shall be planted in the earth. Mrs. Eddy writes on page 183 of Science and Health: "Can the agriculturist, according to belief, produce a crop without sowing the seed and awaiting its germination according to the laws of nature? The answer is no, and yet the Scriptures inform us that sin, or error, first caused the condemnation of man to till the ground, and indicate that obedience to God will remove this necessity."

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