And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
One sows the truth and another gathers its harvest, with sowing and reaping done by different workers at different times and across generations who share in the labor and its joy. Christ sowed by speaking truth plainly and by sowing it in the Samaritan woman at Sychar, she sowed by bringing her city to hear Him, and the disciples were sent to reap where He and earlier servants had sown. Those who reap enter into labors where they bestowed no labor, so success belongs to God and to those who prepared the way and reapers must not claim credit for the work of others. The fields are already white to harvest and must be gathered without delay, for unlike ordinary crops this spiritual harvest can ripen at once with sowing and reaping going forward at the same time. A worker may sow through costly effort and opposition without seeing the result, yet seed planted in hardship may later take root when providence brings it to mind, and the full fruit of faithful labor will be revealed in eternity.
Setting at Samaritan Well
The saying belongs to the meeting with the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well at Sychar. Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies who avoided all dealing except necessary trade, and a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor receive bread or water or any kindness or social favor. Jesus sat by the well faint from hunger and thirst after a long journey since morning with the noontide sun beating upon Him, His thirst increased by cool water so near yet inaccessible because the well was deep and He had no rope nor water-jar, waiting in the lot of humanity for someone to come to draw. When the Samaritan woman came to fill her pitcher He asked her for a drink, for in the East water is the gift of God and to give drink to the thirsty traveler is a sacred duty, but hatred kept her from offering kindness. With the tact born of divine love He asked rather than offered a favor because trust awakens trust. The King of heaven who made the ocean and controls the waters of the great deep and opened the springs and channels of the earth rested from weariness at Jacob's well and made Himself dependent upon a stranger's kindness even for a drink of water in order to find the key to this outcast heart.
As a Jew He asked drink of a Samaritan of a class Jews despised and offered her living water as the gift of God, and this meeting was the commencement of His mission work showing His positive invitation of mercy and goodness. He broke down barriers rather than constantly thrusting upon the people that they were wrong, and though a Jew He mingled freely with the Samaritans in disregard of Pharisaic customs and prejudice. He accepted the hospitality of this despised people, sleeping with them under their roofs, eating with them at their tables of food prepared and served by their hands, teaching in their streets, and treating them with the utmost kindness and courtesy. While He drew their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace brought to them the salvation which the Jews rejected. By the same sympathy and social kindliness He sat as honored guest at the table of publicans and recognized the dignity of humanity so that men longed to become worthy of His confidence, with His words falling on thirsty souls with blessed, life-giving power, awakening new impulses and opening to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life.
The woman of Samaria listened to Christ and accepted Him without any miracles because she believed His word, was glad for the light, and went and published it to her neighbors. The Samaritans, though hated by the Jews, received the light. The Jews would not recognize Christ when He came to them with all the power of His majesty and all His grace manifested in mighty healings and in the mighty outpouring of His Spirit, because the same prejudices that had been in their hearts still reigned there, so even the mightiest miracles could have no effect on their hearts. Coming to the investigation of the Scriptures with a teachable spirit, ready to learn, with hearts emptied of prejudice, bringing ideas to the Scriptures rather than bringing the Scriptures to ideas, gives discernment to know where God is working and to understand the doctrine, while prejudice blinds even in the face of miracles.
Preaching the gospel at Sychar showed that His grace was not limited by race or nation. That preaching helped the disciples see that people outside Israel also hungered for the truth and were included in the offer of salvation, illustrating the breaking down of the divide between Jews and other peoples. The coming of the Samaritans out to hear Him shows that people who have not previously heard the truth may be receptive when they hear it.
Shared Work Explained
In bringing people to spiritual life one person sows the truth and another gathers its harvest. Sowing and reaping may be done by different people at different times and across generations, and both share in the labor and its joy. At the Samaritan well the words quickly awakened the woman's understanding and she carried the good news to her people, and further truth sown among them brought a harvest of belief. Those sent to reap follow up and gather what others prepared, entering work where they bestowed no labor and taking up the harvest already ready before them rather than delaying, including serving those ready to hear nearby.
He that reaps receives wages in a harvest of precious souls and gathers fruit unto life eternal, so that both sower and reaper rejoice together. Both serve God and receive their reward, because the harvest may come through another worker's labor. Christ did the sowing by speaking truth and the conditions of salvation plainly in streets, synagogues, and throughout Judea, and the disciples were sent to follow up His work and the work of holy men sent before them to perfect it by gathering the harvest. The saying was applied to the disciples' work among the Samaritans and pointed ahead to Pentecost, when they would reap what Christ and God's servants through the ages had sown while Christ's sacrifice and God's grace nourished the seed, seeing thousands converted and gathering souls hungry for the bread of life among both Jews and Gentiles. The harvest is already ready but harvesters are few, and gathering souls calls for skill, tact, and care so that none are lost, a work that includes medical missionary work through country sanitariums with immediate opportunity in places such as Southern California where properties and buildings are available.
Those sent to reap enter into labors where they bestowed no labor because other men labored before them. Success belongs to God and to the work of those who prepared the way, including God's appointed agencies and earlier patriarchs, prophets, teachers, and faithful people whose truth and grace He supplied. In Samaria Christ sowed, the Samaritan woman helped bring people to Him, and the disciples were to reap the fruit of work already begun. Those who reap must not claim credit or take glory to themselves for labor done by others, but give glory to God, with neither sowers nor reapers taking glory for it.
A worker may sow through costly effort without gathering its harvest, presenting testing truths before large and small gatherings at the cost of much labor. Opposition may prevent hearers from responding at first, and faithful sowers may leave the harvest for later workers and for other men of God's appointment who go over the same ground after they have done their work and rest from their labors. Seed planted in hardship may later take root when adversity, sorrow, loss of property, and changes of providence bring the words spoken many years before back to mind with vivid distinctness, thus preparing the way for finishing the sower's work in the reaping of the harvest with much rejoicing as the precious fruit is gathered.
Each worker should use abilities and talents faithfully and do the very best whether God uses them as a sower or a reaper. The roles are distinct but share in one work and its lasting fruit, with every laborer to improve talents to be a successful sower as well as a successful reaper of what others have sown.
Sowers and Reapers Identified
Christ did the sowing by speaking truth plainly in streets and synagogues and throughout Judea, setting forth the conditions of salvation, including sowing truth in the Samaritan woman and among the Samaritans and showing others how to sow truth in turn, while the disciples were sent to reap where He had sown and to follow up His work to perfect it by gathering the harvest. The Samaritan woman sowed by telling her townspeople about Jesus and bringing a whole city to hear Him, though the disciples did not recognize the nearby harvest. Her witness with Christ's teaching led many to believe, and the disciples entered the work of gathering believers in a harvest that followed quickly after the sowing, beginning when one woman shared the truth and others came to hear Christ. Gospel work is thus shared so that one gives the truth and another reaps its fruit, encouraging faithful labor even when the one who begins does not see its full result.
The earlier sowers include patriarchs, prophets, and holy people who taught truth before, including Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah, to whom Christ was truly the water of life, and God's ancient people enriched with precious truth and led by Christ as their invisible leader in the wilderness. They include prophets and teachers and John the Baptist lifting his voice in the wilderness to prepare minds to receive the gospel. The disciples entered into that earlier labor across generations and were not to count the results as their own but to give glory to God for the truth and grace He supplied, since the harvest belongs to God's continuing work and not to the reapers alone.
Jesus applied the saying to the disciples' work among the Samaritans and pointed ahead to Pentecost, when empowered by the Holy Spirit after His ascension they would bear witness, see thousands converted in a day, and do greater works than He had done. They would reap what Christ and God's servants through the ages had sown, while Christ's sacrifice and God's grace nourished the seed. That reaping was given to gather souls hungry for the bread of life and perishing for knowledge of the truth among both Jews and Gentiles, proved by the seed sown in the Samaritan woman bearing fruit at once with no long waiting as she received the word joyfully and immediately imparted eternal life to Samaritans who believed her testimony and then received Jesus as the Christ from His own lips.
The same pattern appears when earlier canvassing with books prepared people in the Newcastle field to hear the message, so the field was ready for the workers then preaching, with sowers and reapers sharing in the harvest and its joy. Christ's earlier visit and words of love prepared the Samaritans to receive the gospel, so the disciples later gathered a harvest among people who had once been their enemies. In the Samaritan woman's case sowing was followed quickly by the conversion of others, and those who receive truth are to live it and help win others to Christ, recognizing that the harvest depends on the Holy Spirit working through human agents.
Urgency of Ripe Harvest
The fields are already white to harvest and must not be put off, for no delay is to be expected. Workers are sent to reap where they bestowed no labor, entering into the labors of other men who labored before them, so those who carry the message take up a harvest already ready before them rather than delay. He that reaps receives wages and gathers fruit unto life eternal, so that both he that sows and he that reaps rejoice together in God's harvest of souls. Workers must see beneath the surface and discern present readiness rather than waiting the usual four months between sowing and reaping.
Samaria was the object lesson proving the fields white already, for the speedy harvest came when the natural fields showed no harvest. Christ did the sowing by speaking truth and the conditions of salvation plainly in streets and synagogues, and He sowed truth in the Samaritan woman, and she carried it to others when she left her waterpot and told the city about Him. The harvest followed almost at once as many Samaritans came to believe, showing that unlike ordinary crops which take months to ripen after sowing, this spiritual harvest was immediate. Sowing and reaping go forward at the same time, with one casting the seed while another gathers the early grain, and Maitland is such a field white already to harvest.
The harvest is already ready but harvesters are few, and each person has work to do in harvesting souls. Gathering in the grain takes tact and skill and care so that none is lost, and winnowers of souls are needed in every place where the standard of truth inscribed with the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus has been uplifted. The need to gather fruit already ready nearby is like a berry field where delay can leave fruit spoiled or lost. Workers should gather wherever they find fruit rather than claim it as their own, for different workers may have different parts in gathering the harvest.
This harvest work includes medical missionary work through country sanitariums, with immediate opportunity in places such as Southern California where properties and buildings are available.
Duties for Harvest Workers
Those who reap must leave settled churches and go into places where truth has not yet been proclaimed, ready both to sow seed and to gather harvest in winning souls and helping others. The whitening harvest field is to be entered in faith even when funds are lacking, for persevering effort can bring souls to truth and open new fields. Going where there are no believers to do this work puts workers to full use and leaves them less time to criticize fellow believers.
Jesus spoke the saying because He saw what intelligent effort could accomplish when fields are already ripe for harvest, with one worker sowing and another reaping and entering into the labors of others to gather fruit unto eternal life so that sower and reaper rejoice together. More laborers are therefore called for in evangelistic work in the large cities, men who can both sow and reap and gather souls unto eternal life. Church members long in the truth must feel a burden for souls and continue the work after the evangelist leaves a city, holding the interest so that a harvest of souls is gathered.
The world is the field ready for harvest, and the field nigh at hand in America includes the destitute Southern people and especially the colored people who are in most need and greatest need of help. Both sowers and reapers are needed there, with one sowing the seed, another reaping the harvest and another binding it up, and their work requires support. A variety of missionary work is to be done for them now without delay while the angels continue to hold the four winds. Looking at unworked mission fields where souls are to be saved is not enough; workers must go in unitedly with the missionary spirit and character of Christ to consider and help those in most need as workers together with God, without merely pitying and deploring their condition or passing by on the other side. When men, women, and children among the colored people receive the truth, those imbued with the Spirit of God are to instruct, educate, and direct them so that they may help others.
Every God-given ability is to be used to spread the truth and warn the cities, since the fields are already ready and those who reap may enter into work done by others before them with both rejoicing together as fruit is gathered for eternal life. Workers are to use every opportunity both to sow and to gather the harvest of souls, for the work is appointed by Christ and its success depends on cooperation with God. God gives each person work to do, and each should do their best without placing barriers on where or how others may work. Beginning the work in any place sets heavenly agencies to prepare the way for both sowers and reapers.
One person may plant the seed of truth and another gather the converts, yet both serve God and receive their reward within a larger work where workers enter into labor begun by others. The apparent harvest alone does not measure a worker's faithfulness, for quality and diligence of work matter. Those who sow present the testing truths for this time before large and small gatherings at the cost of much labor, and they may not always gather the harvest themselves. After they have done their work and rest from their labors, other men of God's appointment may go over the same ground and under their labors many souls may see the truth, as adversity, sorrow, loss of property, and changes of providence recall words spoken by faithful servants many years before with vivid distinctness and thus prepare the way for finishing the sower's work in the reaping of the harvest, with much rejoicing as the precious fruit is gathered. Every laborer is therefore to do his very best to improve his talents, that he may be a successful sower as well as a successful reaper of the harvest which other men have sown.
One person may sow the seed of good unselfish work while another reaps its harvest, and faithful workers may not see results in this life. Others may benefit from what they began, and its influence may multiply long after their death. The full fruit of unselfish labor, including its continuing influence, will be seen in eternity and revealed in the hereafter.
One sows the truth and another gathers its harvest, with sowing and reaping done by different workers at different times and across generations who share in the labor and its joy. Christ sowed by speaking truth plainly and by sowing it in the Samaritan woman at Sychar, she sowed by bringing her city to hear Him, and the disciples were sent to reap where He and earlier servants had sown. Those who reap enter into labors where they bestowed no labor, so success belongs to God and to those who prepared the way and reapers must not claim credit for the work of others. The fields are already white to harvest and must be gathered without delay, for unlike ordinary crops this spiritual harvest can ripen at once with sowing and reaping going forward at the same time. A worker may sow through costly effort and opposition without seeing the result, yet seed planted in hardship may later take root when providence brings it to mind, and the full fruit of faithful labor will be revealed in eternity.
Setting at Samaritan Well
The saying belongs to the meeting with the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well at Sychar. Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies who avoided all dealing except necessary trade, and a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor receive bread or water or any kindness or social favor. Jesus sat by the well faint from hunger and thirst after a long journey since morning with the noontide sun beating upon Him, His thirst increased by cool water so near yet inaccessible because the well was deep and He had no rope nor water-jar, waiting in the lot of humanity for someone to come to draw. When the Samaritan woman came to fill her pitcher He asked her for a drink, for in the East water is the gift of God and to give drink to the thirsty traveler is a sacred duty, but hatred kept her from offering kindness. With the tact born of divine love He asked rather than offered a favor because trust awakens trust. The King of heaven who made the ocean and controls the waters of the great deep and opened the springs and channels of the earth rested from weariness at Jacob's well and made Himself dependent upon a stranger's kindness even for a drink of water in order to find the key to this outcast heart.
As a Jew He asked drink of a Samaritan of a class Jews despised and offered her living water as the gift of God, and this meeting was the commencement of His mission work showing His positive invitation of mercy and goodness. He broke down barriers rather than constantly thrusting upon the people that they were wrong, and though a Jew He mingled freely with the Samaritans in disregard of Pharisaic customs and prejudice. He accepted the hospitality of this despised people, sleeping with them under their roofs, eating with them at their tables of food prepared and served by their hands, teaching in their streets, and treating them with the utmost kindness and courtesy. While He drew their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace brought to them the salvation which the Jews rejected. By the same sympathy and social kindliness He sat as honored guest at the table of publicans and recognized the dignity of humanity so that men longed to become worthy of His confidence, with His words falling on thirsty souls with blessed, life-giving power, awakening new impulses and opening to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life.
The woman of Samaria listened to Christ and accepted Him without any miracles because she believed His word, was glad for the light, and went and published it to her neighbors. The Samaritans, though hated by the Jews, received the light. The Jews would not recognize Christ when He came to them with all the power of His majesty and all His grace manifested in mighty healings and in the mighty outpouring of His Spirit, because the same prejudices that had been in their hearts still reigned there, so even the mightiest miracles could have no effect on their hearts. Coming to the investigation of the Scriptures with a teachable spirit, ready to learn, with hearts emptied of prejudice, bringing ideas to the Scriptures rather than bringing the Scriptures to ideas, gives discernment to know where God is working and to understand the doctrine, while prejudice blinds even in the face of miracles.
Preaching the gospel at Sychar showed that His grace was not limited by race or nation. That preaching helped the disciples see that people outside Israel also hungered for the truth and were included in the offer of salvation, illustrating the breaking down of the divide between Jews and other peoples. The coming of the Samaritans out to hear Him shows that people who have not previously heard the truth may be receptive when they hear it.
Shared Work Explained
In bringing people to spiritual life one person sows the truth and another gathers its harvest. Sowing and reaping may be done by different people at different times and across generations, and both share in the labor and its joy. At the Samaritan well the words quickly awakened the woman's understanding and she carried the good news to her people, and further truth sown among them brought a harvest of belief. Those sent to reap follow up and gather what others prepared, entering work where they bestowed no labor and taking up the harvest already ready before them rather than delaying, including serving those ready to hear nearby.
He that reaps receives wages in a harvest of precious souls and gathers fruit unto life eternal, so that both sower and reaper rejoice together. Both serve God and receive their reward, because the harvest may come through another worker's labor. Christ did the sowing by speaking truth and the conditions of salvation plainly in streets, synagogues, and throughout Judea, and the disciples were sent to follow up His work and the work of holy men sent before them to perfect it by gathering the harvest. The saying was applied to the disciples' work among the Samaritans and pointed ahead to Pentecost, when they would reap what Christ and God's servants through the ages had sown while Christ's sacrifice and God's grace nourished the seed, seeing thousands converted and gathering souls hungry for the bread of life among both Jews and Gentiles. The harvest is already ready but harvesters are few, and gathering souls calls for skill, tact, and care so that none are lost, a work that includes medical missionary work through country sanitariums with immediate opportunity in places such as Southern California where properties and buildings are available.
Those sent to reap enter into labors where they bestowed no labor because other men labored before them. Success belongs to God and to the work of those who prepared the way, including God's appointed agencies and earlier patriarchs, prophets, teachers, and faithful people whose truth and grace He supplied. In Samaria Christ sowed, the Samaritan woman helped bring people to Him, and the disciples were to reap the fruit of work already begun. Those who reap must not claim credit or take glory to themselves for labor done by others, but give glory to God, with neither sowers nor reapers taking glory for it.
A worker may sow through costly effort without gathering its harvest, presenting testing truths before large and small gatherings at the cost of much labor. Opposition may prevent hearers from responding at first, and faithful sowers may leave the harvest for later workers and for other men of God's appointment who go over the same ground after they have done their work and rest from their labors. Seed planted in hardship may later take root when adversity, sorrow, loss of property, and changes of providence bring the words spoken many years before back to mind with vivid distinctness, thus preparing the way for finishing the sower's work in the reaping of the harvest with much rejoicing as the precious fruit is gathered.
Each worker should use abilities and talents faithfully and do the very best whether God uses them as a sower or a reaper. The roles are distinct but share in one work and its lasting fruit, with every laborer to improve talents to be a successful sower as well as a successful reaper of what others have sown.
Sowers and Reapers Identified
Christ did the sowing by speaking truth plainly in streets and synagogues and throughout Judea, setting forth the conditions of salvation, including sowing truth in the Samaritan woman and among the Samaritans and showing others how to sow truth in turn, while the disciples were sent to reap where He had sown and to follow up His work to perfect it by gathering the harvest. The Samaritan woman sowed by telling her townspeople about Jesus and bringing a whole city to hear Him, though the disciples did not recognize the nearby harvest. Her witness with Christ's teaching led many to believe, and the disciples entered the work of gathering believers in a harvest that followed quickly after the sowing, beginning when one woman shared the truth and others came to hear Christ. Gospel work is thus shared so that one gives the truth and another reaps its fruit, encouraging faithful labor even when the one who begins does not see its full result.
The earlier sowers include patriarchs, prophets, and holy people who taught truth before, including Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah, to whom Christ was truly the water of life, and God's ancient people enriched with precious truth and led by Christ as their invisible leader in the wilderness. They include prophets and teachers and John the Baptist lifting his voice in the wilderness to prepare minds to receive the gospel. The disciples entered into that earlier labor across generations and were not to count the results as their own but to give glory to God for the truth and grace He supplied, since the harvest belongs to God's continuing work and not to the reapers alone.
Jesus applied the saying to the disciples' work among the Samaritans and pointed ahead to Pentecost, when empowered by the Holy Spirit after His ascension they would bear witness, see thousands converted in a day, and do greater works than He had done. They would reap what Christ and God's servants through the ages had sown, while Christ's sacrifice and God's grace nourished the seed. That reaping was given to gather souls hungry for the bread of life and perishing for knowledge of the truth among both Jews and Gentiles, proved by the seed sown in the Samaritan woman bearing fruit at once with no long waiting as she received the word joyfully and immediately imparted eternal life to Samaritans who believed her testimony and then received Jesus as the Christ from His own lips.
The same pattern appears when earlier canvassing with books prepared people in the Newcastle field to hear the message, so the field was ready for the workers then preaching, with sowers and reapers sharing in the harvest and its joy. Christ's earlier visit and words of love prepared the Samaritans to receive the gospel, so the disciples later gathered a harvest among people who had once been their enemies. In the Samaritan woman's case sowing was followed quickly by the conversion of others, and those who receive truth are to live it and help win others to Christ, recognizing that the harvest depends on the Holy Spirit working through human agents.
Urgency of Ripe Harvest
The fields are already white to harvest and must not be put off, for no delay is to be expected. Workers are sent to reap where they bestowed no labor, entering into the labors of other men who labored before them, so those who carry the message take up a harvest already ready before them rather than delay. He that reaps receives wages and gathers fruit unto life eternal, so that both he that sows and he that reaps rejoice together in God's harvest of souls. Workers must see beneath the surface and discern present readiness rather than waiting the usual four months between sowing and reaping.
Samaria was the object lesson proving the fields white already, for the speedy harvest came when the natural fields showed no harvest. Christ did the sowing by speaking truth and the conditions of salvation plainly in streets and synagogues, and He sowed truth in the Samaritan woman, and she carried it to others when she left her waterpot and told the city about Him. The harvest followed almost at once as many Samaritans came to believe, showing that unlike ordinary crops which take months to ripen after sowing, this spiritual harvest was immediate. Sowing and reaping go forward at the same time, with one casting the seed while another gathers the early grain, and Maitland is such a field white already to harvest.
The harvest is already ready but harvesters are few, and each person has work to do in harvesting souls. Gathering in the grain takes tact and skill and care so that none is lost, and winnowers of souls are needed in every place where the standard of truth inscribed with the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus has been uplifted. The need to gather fruit already ready nearby is like a berry field where delay can leave fruit spoiled or lost. Workers should gather wherever they find fruit rather than claim it as their own, for different workers may have different parts in gathering the harvest.
This harvest work includes medical missionary work through country sanitariums, with immediate opportunity in places such as Southern California where properties and buildings are available.
Duties for Harvest Workers
Those who reap must leave settled churches and go into places where truth has not yet been proclaimed, ready both to sow seed and to gather harvest in winning souls and helping others. The whitening harvest field is to be entered in faith even when funds are lacking, for persevering effort can bring souls to truth and open new fields. Going where there are no believers to do this work puts workers to full use and leaves them less time to criticize fellow believers.
Jesus spoke the saying because He saw what intelligent effort could accomplish when fields are already ripe for harvest, with one worker sowing and another reaping and entering into the labors of others to gather fruit unto eternal life so that sower and reaper rejoice together. More laborers are therefore called for in evangelistic work in the large cities, men who can both sow and reap and gather souls unto eternal life. Church members long in the truth must feel a burden for souls and continue the work after the evangelist leaves a city, holding the interest so that a harvest of souls is gathered.
The world is the field ready for harvest, and the field nigh at hand in America includes the destitute Southern people and especially the colored people who are in most need and greatest need of help. Both sowers and reapers are needed there, with one sowing the seed, another reaping the harvest and another binding it up, and their work requires support. A variety of missionary work is to be done for them now without delay while the angels continue to hold the four winds. Looking at unworked mission fields where souls are to be saved is not enough; workers must go in unitedly with the missionary spirit and character of Christ to consider and help those in most need as workers together with God, without merely pitying and deploring their condition or passing by on the other side. When men, women, and children among the colored people receive the truth, those imbued with the Spirit of God are to instruct, educate, and direct them so that they may help others.
Every God-given ability is to be used to spread the truth and warn the cities, since the fields are already ready and those who reap may enter into work done by others before them with both rejoicing together as fruit is gathered for eternal life. Workers are to use every opportunity both to sow and to gather the harvest of souls, for the work is appointed by Christ and its success depends on cooperation with God. God gives each person work to do, and each should do their best without placing barriers on where or how others may work. Beginning the work in any place sets heavenly agencies to prepare the way for both sowers and reapers.
One person may plant the seed of truth and another gather the converts, yet both serve God and receive their reward within a larger work where workers enter into labor begun by others. The apparent harvest alone does not measure a worker's faithfulness, for quality and diligence of work matter. Those who sow present the testing truths for this time before large and small gatherings at the cost of much labor, and they may not always gather the harvest themselves. After they have done their work and rest from their labors, other men of God's appointment may go over the same ground and under their labors many souls may see the truth, as adversity, sorrow, loss of property, and changes of providence recall words spoken by faithful servants many years before with vivid distinctness and thus prepare the way for finishing the sower's work in the reaping of the harvest, with much rejoicing as the precious fruit is gathered. Every laborer is therefore to do his very best to improve his talents, that he may be a successful sower as well as a successful reaper of the harvest which other men have sown.
One person may sow the seed of good unselfish work while another reaps its harvest, and faithful workers may not see results in this life. Others may benefit from what they began, and its influence may multiply long after their death. The full fruit of unselfish labor, including its continuing influence, will be seen in eternity and revealed in the hereafter.