p. 4 | SAYING AND DOING by Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, D. D.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 21, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 49.

SAYING AND DOING.

By Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, D. D.

SOMETIMES a word weighs a ton. Sometimes it is not worth a farthing. Luther's majestic and memorable words, "Here I stand; I cannot change, God help me," when they were pronounced in the Imperial Diet, aroused all Europe. They were half battles. A simple yes or no often decides one's destiny.

Christ commanded open confession of him as one evidence of heart loyalty. Yet his divine wisdom detected the utter cheapness of a confession that was not proved genuine by the daily conduct. If he knew the worth of an honest word of profession, he also knew the worthlessness of a mere promise which the utterer never intended to redeem. "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." If there is any one passage above all others which a young convert should write in his diary, on the day of his admission into the church of Christ, it is this very text. For under the constant pressure to "confess Christ before the world," and to "open his lips for Jesus," the new convert is in danger of thinking that all that is required of him is a service of the lips. He soon finds words to be cheap and easy. To speak in a meeting becomes no harder a task than to eat his dinner. He may even feed his self-conceit on the praise which his fluent utterances bring to him. His religion runs into words—words—words. That this has proved a snare and a peril to thousands, we pastors know too well.

What Jesus demands of his followers is that their confession should crystallize into conduct. The highest evidence of piety is to do God's will. Saying is good, doing is infinitely better. Faith saves; but faith is not a mere sentiment. It is far deeper than a gracious emotion. It is a stalwart principle, with vigor in every one of its ten fingers, and a prodigious grip and momentum in its right arm. It is not an indolent trust, but an active power in the renewed soul. Faith works by love. Faith overcomes the world; faith removes mountains. Evermore is it set forth in God's word, as a living, acting, burden-bearing, duty-doing principle, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." And keeping a commandment of Jesus sometimes costs the carrying of a heavy load; sometimes the conquest of an ugly temper; sometimes the performance of a painful duty; sometimes the endurance of a hail-storm of reproach; sometimes the surrender of what pride clings to with terrible tenacity. Doing Christ's will sent Henry Martyn to die in Persia, and David Brainard to spend his rich, generous life amid the wigwams of savages. Doing Christ's will sometimes makes a rich man become poor, rather than dishonor his religion. Doing Christ's will leads to sacrifices that cut deep. Doing Christ's will often puts a man under the ban of unpopularity, and a woman under the frowns of fashion. "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me;" for so shall he be my disciple.

These are times of cheap discipleship. There is a prodigious danger that piety may evaporate into prayer-meeting talks and singing of seraphic hymns. Even Heaven is pictured too often as a sort of celestial "picnic," beneath waving trees and beside sparkling waters. The soul is thus bribed by the promise of enjoyment here and endless raptures hereafter.

Oh, how different is Christ's picture of the Christian life, with its stern duties, its exalted joys, its conflicts, and its well-won crowns! Holiness is not a devout emotion. It is the constant, humble, sincere doing of God's will. "As obedient children, . . . be ye holy in all manner of conversation."

He that heareth Christ's commands and doeth them is the man who buildeth his eternal hopes on a rock. The winds of opposition smite against him; the rains of unjust reproach beat upon him; the currents of selfishness and sin strike him steadily; but he moves not from his sure foundation. He is built on Christ; his life is the daily adding of grace to grace, of deed to deed, of strength to strength, until he is changed into Christ's image from glory to glory.—Theo. L. Cuyler, D. D.