p. 255 | KEEPING ALIVE by Theodore L. Cuyler

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1880

KEEPING ALIVE.

By Theodore L. Cuyler

BEING born is one thing—but keeping alive is quite another thing. Myriads of children who were born five years ago are lying under the white coverlet of this March snow. Conversion is a birth into a new life through the power of the Holy Spirit. But not all the people who have been converted are now leading a strong, effective, happy spiritual life. A fearfully large number of Christ's enrolled army are to-day in the hospital or else asleep under the baggage-wagons. Some have deserted outright.

Two things are vital to the preservation of a healthy Christian life. The first of these is genuine prayer. Not the formal repetition of devout phrases every night and morning—which lulls the soul to sleep just as surely as a low crooning tune puts a child asleep in its crib. Genuine prayer is a very different thing. It is the soul's uplifted look and uplifted cry to the Infinite Love. It is the keeping of an open track to the Throne, and maintaining a constant intercourse with God. Prayer establishes the same connection between my soul and God that the water-pipes in my house do between my household and the Ridgewood Reservoir. Prayer is the conduct-pipe between me and my heavenly Father. It is the outlet upward for praise and penitential confession and petition for hourly help; it is the inlet through which the supplies of divine grace descend into the soul. When the heavenward channel is allowed to freeze up, I am in the same plight with the housekeeper who inquires, "How is it that the water does not run to-day?" The plumber comes and soon explains the difficulty. "Madam, your pipes are frozen up; the connection with the reservoir is stopped." Woe be to the Christian who has broken his connection with Jesus! And no surer reason can be given for the lack of conversions and spiritual growth in certain churches than the fact that their prayer-pipe is frozen up; there is not faith and fervor enough in their meetings to thaw out the ice.

A twofold office belongs to genuine prayer. It serves as the outlet of gratitude and the inlet of grace. We must thank God heartily for all he has given, and then we shall receive still more abundant gifts to be thankful for. Stinginess in praise brings scantiness of spiritual growth and blessings. Our prayers do not smell sufficiently of the sweet fragrance of thankfulness. For us ill-deserving sinners to be anywhere out of perdition is a matter for thanksgiving; but to be actually on the pathway of hope, with showers of blessings and the sunlight of promises streaming on us, is enough to make "our feet like hinds' feet," and our souls leap for joy. Inventory your mercies, brother! stop complaining, and throw on the altar a handful of frankincense, that the Lord may smell "the sweet savor" of our gratitude. "Father," said Molly, the little daughter of the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, "I wish I was big enough to say grace at the table to-day, for I was thinking what must poor people do who have no salt to their potatoes; and look what a plenty of both we have got to-day."

Prayer is the inlet also, and when that channel is clogged, the starvation of piety begins. Every spiritual supply comes through this channel. Just as soon attempt to keep up a blooming and fruit-bearing piety without fervent prayer, as to get your geraniums into full flower by locking them up in the dust and darkness of a "Greenwood" vault. Backsliding is both the cause and the effect of a neglected closet. The first symptom of consumption in a church is a thin prayer-meeting. The mighty Christians have always been mighty in prayer. A certain mission school superintendent sent for Edward N. Kirk to preach to his ragged flock, and the whole night previous to Brother Kirk's coming was spent in wrestling prayer; the word was clothed next day with power. Piety is born in prayer; if it ever dies it is for the want of prayer.

The second essential to spiritual life was condensed by our Master into the short word "watch!" He knows our weaknesses; and when he coupled prayer and watchfulness, he married the sovereignty of God to the believer's free agency. If we do our part God will do his. Never has there been a human heart that could be trusted without oversight, and a very, close, wakeful, constant oversight. If you were set to keep a bird unfastened on the palm of your hand, you would realize what is meant by "keeping the heart with all diligence." You must have the arm of godly resolution ready to seize it the moment it attempts to fly off into sinful indulgence. Do not take off the eye, do not drop the hand one moment. We never know when the temptation is coming. Temper will start up like an unchained dog; lust will take fire at a stray spark; an unruly tongue may get loose; pride, covetousness and other sins steal in with smooth face and under the cloak that hides their ugliness.

Vigilance is the price which every Christian must pay for being the servant and the heir of Christ Jesus. Watch for the sly approaches of the tempter! Watch for the return of those wretched "tramps," your besetting sins, whom you have so often ordered off your premises. They know every gate; look out! Watch the leadings of your Master. Watch for opportunities to do good. Blessed is that servant whom the divine messenger shall find watching! The most comprehensive hint that we can give for preserving your spiritual life is to use your knees in prayer, your eyes for watchfulness, your purses for benevolence, your tongues for faithful testimonies, and your whole heart and hands in constant work for the Saviour who has redeemed you from eternal death.—Dr. T. L. Cuyler, in Christian at Work.