In explaining to his disciples the parable of the tares and the wheat, as recorded in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, Christ Jesus told them that the harvest symbolized "the end of the world." This phrase has been taken as synonymous with "the day of judgment," and Christian denominations generally have assumed that at some point in future time all mankind would suddenly be called to judgment, and all things material would simultaneously pass away. This assumption, however, has been corrected by Mary Baker Eddy, who writes on page 291 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "No final judgment awaits mortals, for the judgment-day of wisdom comes hourly and continually, even the judgment by which mortal man is divested of all material error."

This statement is confirmed by everyday experience. Not a moment passes that does not summon us to a judgment of some sort. Whether we are reading a newspaper, glancing at a billboard advertisement, listening to a friend's conversation, or ourselves thinking out some problem, we are constantly faced with the necessity of weighing and correctly valuing the notions and ideas which present themselves to us. This task demands "wisdom," and the more consciously we reflect that divine quality the more quickly and accurately we discern the difference between the tares and the wheat, between the menacing or attractive suggestions of human belief and the trustworthy guidance of spiritual understanding derived from the divine Mind.

Discerning the difference is the first step, and the parable shows us that further growth brings the utter destruction of all that is evil, debased, untrue, or inharmonious—and this includes the thought of sickness equally with that of sin.

We are warned, however, not to attack the error until we have gained a mature grasp of the particular truth which is needed to replace it. Sometimes a zeal "not according to knowledge" would try to make us follow up the discovery of the obnoxious weed by an impetuous attempt to tear it out. Yet in so doing we might also damage the tender growth of human aspirations not yet fully "rooted and grounded" in Truth. The genial sunshine of Truth, however, that ripens the wheat exposes the tares of false belief, so that they can finally be sorted out and thrown aside to be burned, reduced to their native nothingness, immediately and without difficulty.

Especially is there need for caution when we are inclined to enter our neighbor's portion of the field in order to help him get rid of the weeds that are troubling him. It often seems easier to discern the mistakes in another's thinking than those in our own. But wisdom and compassion bid us hold our hand until our brother's crop of good thoughts, as well as our own, is ripe for harvesting. Then, it may be that our aid, wisely proferred, will be more welcome and more effective.

With tender, compassionate comfort Christian Science turns us from overzealous human action and bids us realize the true meaning of harvest. It shows us how we can constantly and powerfully affirm the facts of spiritual being—the allness of God and the perfection of man as God's image and likeness. It is the understanding and demonstration of these truths of spiritual being—the ripening of the wheat—which leads to the segregation and annihilation of the errors of material sense existence.

This does not imply that we have to sit with hands folded, waiting for the harvest time to come without effort on our part. Under the marginal heading "Careful guidance," on page 429 of her textbook, Mrs. Eddy speaks of mastering the false beliefs of sin, sickness, and death in the following words: "We must begin, however, with the more simple demonstrations of control, and the sooner we begin the better." In fact, each such simple demonstration, attained through the ripening understanding that God is the only source of man's being, is in itself a harvest.

"The judgment-day . . . comes hourly," and hourly we find that it is not we, as human beings, who have the task of destroying the tares; that belongs to the reapers, whom the Master declared to be "the angels." The Christian Science textbook (p. 581) defines "angels" in part as "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect." The wise angel-messages of divine Love are coming to us "continually," and if we will but admit these perfect intuitions into our thinking, and be assured of their potency, they will remove painlessly and effectively all useless and hurtful beliefs, and will bid us rejoice in the rich fruitage of consciousness filled with good.

Today and every day is the time of harvest. If we will follow the "careful guidance" of divine Love, and will work patiently at the cultivation of "the fruit of the Spirit . . . love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance," we shall find that in our human experience each hour may bring a batch of weeds and a handful of wheat to the point at which they can be readily separated by spiritual intuition and understanding, the one passing to the destruction which is its due, the other to the fruition of good demonstrated.

Nor does this ripening process necessarily involve a lapse of time. If, at the very moment of discerning the error that is to overcome, we are truly receptive of the God-given thoughts which are to effect its annihilation, then in that moment we can be so fully conscious of good as a present reality that all sense of evil is eliminated, and we experience the joy of instantaneous healing.

Even if we do not in every case demonstrate the efficacy of divine omnipotence in such a way as to show its timelessness, still we may press steadily onward in confident assurance that our heavenly Father supplies us with just those spiritual ideas which enable us to solve our present problem. Tomorrow, which is a stage beyond today, we shall start out from a higher vantage-point to gather yet another and a better harvest. So progress will bring us step by step to the realization of perfection as described by Mrs. Eddy in these heartening words (ibid., p. 292): "When the last mortal fault is destroyed, then the final trump will sound which will end the battle of Truth with error and mortality."