The Half, or the Whole? by Theodore Ledyard Cuyler

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 17, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 27.

The Half, or the Whole?

By Theodore Ledyard Cuyler

AMONG my half-dozen favorite characters in the Old Testament is Caleb, the grand old Puritan of the Hebrew commonwealth. Noah and Lot fell into sensualities; Moses lost his temper sometimes, and David came very near losing his soul. But the splendid eulogy of Caleb is repeated three times—“He hath followed me faithfully,” “he followed me wholly,” and “he hath followed me wholly.” While the murmurers and the cowards perished in the desert, steady and loyal old Caleb lived to reach Canaan, and became the possessor of the verdant acres around Hebron. After the long wars were over, he tasted of the grapes of victory.

Caleb is a type of the out-and-out Christian. Periodical piety is plenty and cheap. A sensational announcement of some novelty, or “extra attraction,” calls such spasmodic professors out in swarms; but when the sensation is over, they subside. Such sheet lightning never strikes; such vapors bring no rains. What the churches of Christ need to give them vigor and solid success is not bustle, but business; not parade and pious puffery, but steady patience, prayer, and persevering work. The tendency to transient “spurts” of enthusiasm is a weakness of the American character, and it is painfully apparent often in our moral and religious enterprises. We need more thorough-going service of Christ—that never surrenders or sleeps on its arms. We want the full following of Jesus, with the whole heart and for the whole campaign. Christ inaugurated his church on the principle of entire consecration. “He that is not with me is against me.” Over the doorway of admission to the kingdom he inscribed—“Whosoever will follow me, let him leave all!” It was out-and-out discipleship or nothing. “Sell all that thou hast and come and follow me,” frightened the poor rich young ruler back to his farm and to his fate. Jesus allowed no compromise. He sifted his followers by severe tests, and out of the whole number there remained about one hundred and twenty of the Caleb stamp, who went up into the upper room and organized Christianity.

To become an out-and-out Christian, requires a thorough regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We must not only work with the Spirit but let the Spirit work in us. Half-way converts make half-way Christians. Too many professors hang their boughs over on the church side of the wall, but their roots are on the world’s side. Such yield nothing but leaves. Unless conversion be radical and thorough, unless the surrender of the soul to the Saviour be unconditional and uncompromising, there will be half-heartedness and halting to the last. It takes a great many of such half-Christians to make a single whole Christian. Caleb followed his God wholly, because “he had another spirit within him.” He loved his God with all his heart and all his mind and might.

There is a prodigious power in this single-eyed love of Jesus. A man of very moderate talents soon becomes a leader in every good work when Christ gets complete hold upon him. In calling over the roll of my church I can point to more than one plain, modest, unselfish Christian who has attained to a great propelling power simply from the momentum of his piety. He follows the Master in such projective and whole-souled fashion that he moves others by his sheer momentum. Brain power and purse power have their place, but heart power reaches God through prayer, and reaches men through sympathy, and outweighs all the rest.

The first requisite for the pulpit, for the Sunday-school teacher, for the leadership in any good work, is thorough-going godliness. When a certain young minister was lauded for his brilliant eloquence, etc., a thoughtful lady asked very significantly, “Is he Christ’s man?” If not, all else was a sounding cymbal.

Thorough-going piety never whimpers, “I pray thee, have me excused,” never commutes with the Master for half-fare; never puts off God with half a Sabbath; never interprets the Bible in the loose latitudinarian sense; and on all doubtful questions gives conscience the casting vote. This sort of Christian can stand both pressure and pinch; he “loves duty, even in all the wholesome severities of it.” There are quite too many imitators of Peter Pindar’s pilgrim, who, having been commanded to make a long journey with peas in his shoes, took the sly precaution to boil his peas before he started. These self-indulgers are very willing to go heavenward provided they can have a cushioned seat in the parlor car. Their attendance upon God’s house often depends upon the state of the barometer, and upon the two vital questions, “Who is to preach?” and “How is the music?” Caleb’s little finger outweighs a regiment of them.

The best Christians are those who are as good in ordinary times as they are in the warm, stimulating atmosphere of a revival. It is easy to catch fire and sparkle then; wet wood will burn in a great bonfire. It was easy for Caleb to exercise faith when he was feasting on the vineyards and ripe fruits of Canaan; but to keep his faith alive amid an army of mutineers, and through forty years of desert marches, demanded both pluck and principle. Half a heart would soon have made him a whole coward.

Revivals are precious blessings; God send us more of them! But they also exhibit in a sad light the indolence and worldliness of those church members who never lift an ounce at any other time. Revivals fill up a church; but ordinary seasons sift them. We pastors find out who are our Calebs in the seasons of dryness and drouth; they are the men and women who keep up a strong and steady pull in all weathers, without any need of a bribe or the stimulus of an excitement. Their lamps never go out; their salt never loses its savor.

To which of these classes belongest thou, my friend? Does Christ own but half of thee? Then look out lest Satan does not get all of thee. A whole heart for Jesus here, will ensure a whole Heaven with him hereafter.—Rev. T. L. Cuyler.