John 4:35-38 Say not you, There are yet four months, and then comes harvest? behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields… To what will the wilful neglect of seed-time on the part of the whole community be equivalent but to an act of national suicide? If, again, a distant colony were dependent on the surplus produce of the land that sent it forth, and yet enough were purposely sown only for home consumption, what would such conduct be but an act of national fratricide? It would be to exhibit the maliciousness of Cain, and to bring the curse of a brother's blood upon that guilty nation. Like the first — like an act of national suicide — would be the crime of the Church, which is bound to "love the Lord her God with all her heart," did she not take care to provide sufficient ministration of God's Word throughout the circumference of her immediate domestic responsibility; and, like the second — like an act of national fratricide — would her crime be, if, forgetful of the second principle of action, "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," she made no proportionate effort and application to extend similar ministrations in those her missionary stations, which are her colonies, planted in heathen lands, and all around which there is a famine and a perishing, not for want of the natural sustenance, but of "the bread that cometh down from heaven," and which alone " giveth life unto the world." (T. Dale, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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