In all lands and at all times the harvest season is regarded as an occasion for much rejoicing; and little wonder, even if it sometimes fails to bring all that we desire, or brings instead much that we would rather be spared. Let this be as it may, the promise made to Noah, "Seedtime and harvest ... shall not cease," holds good whether it be applied to the physical plane or to the mental and spiritual. Our Master had much to say about harvest, but in every instance he lifted thought above the material manifestation to the mental plane, and left his followers lessons which should never be forgotten. This is especially true of his words to the disciples at the close of his interview with the Samaritan woman, when he said, "He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together."
In Isaiah's prophecy we are told of a great light coming to "the people that walked in darkness," and the prophet says, "They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest," —the immediate occasion for this joy being the fact that the yoke of the oppressor had been broken. From the Christian Science viewpoint this would mean that with the healing which is individually experienced the joy of harvest comes when the erstwhile sufferer is given freedom from the oppressive yoke of mortal and material belief, and reaps instead the harvest of truth which awaits all who seek it throughout the ages. It is not necessary to remind the student of Christian Science that we are to-day reaping a rich harvest from the spiritual sowing of Christ Jesus, for, as the poet has said,—
All the good the past hath had
Remains to make our own time glad.
