According to the dictionary, fruitage connotes a yield of fruit. It can also mean "the product or result of any action, effect, good, or ill". Thus, fruitage is "the outcome or result of an endeavour or undertaking" (Webster).
Chapter eighteen of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy is titled Fruitage. Clearly, her textbook was written with results in mind. In fact, without results, a textbook would be of no use at all.
Eddy begins the chapter with quotations from Jesus, Paul and Solomon. Today, we will look at the first quote.
Jesus
"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7: 20)
One fruit tree mentioned in the Bible is the fig tree. Figs are tender, tasty, and look beautiful! I'm sure they could stand, metaphorically, for beauty, bounty, nourishment, hospitality, abundance etc. A fig tree without fruit or with bad fruit would be a waste of a tree--metaphorically standing for waste, disappointment, failure, a personal sense of responsibility. (I Corinthians 3: 6 "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.")
I've always enjoyed the parable of the fig tree in Luke 13. Instead of giving up on the apparently fruitless tree, the farmer promises to put in extra effort to "dig about it, and dung it" (Luke 13: 8), indicating a willingness to persist, to dig deeper, to love the work of nurturing the promise.
Mrs. Eddy was realistic in her expectation of results:
"I have never supposed the world would immediately witness the full fruitage of Christian Science, or that sin, disease, and death would not be believed for an indefinite time; but this I do aver, that, as a result of teaching Christian Science, ethics and temperance have received an impulse, health has been restored, and longevity increased" (348: 26-32, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures).
That sounds like pretty good fruit to me.
Julie Swannell
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