The stunted professor

(Theodore Cuyler, "Beulah-Land" or, "Words of Cheer for Christian Pilgrims", 1896)

"The righteous will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green." Psalm 92:12-14

The first quality of the cedar—is that it GROWS. It is a live tree. Where there is hearty life—there must be growth. It is the lamentable lack of inward godliness, which makes the stunted professor. There is not vitalizing sap enough in his heart-roots to reach up into the boughs of his outward conduct. There is not vigor enough in the trunk of his character, to stand erect. No showers brought down by fervent prayer, cleanse the dust of worldliness from his yellow, sicklied leaves.

There he is—just as he set out in the church a score of years ago—no larger, no broader, no brighter in graces than he was then! The caterpillars of lust have spun their unsightly webs all over his branches. He has not grown an inch—in any one Bible trait. He has not yielded one single fruit of the Spirit. He is a cumberer of the ground—fit only to be cut down. He is all the while drinking up God's pure air and water—and yet fulfilling Satan's purpose! Not of such a prayer-neglecting professor, not of such a time-serving, money-loving, fashion-worshiping professor, could we honestly say, "He grows like a cedar in Lebanon."