Short pithy gems from Theodore Cuyler

(1822 - 1909)

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Tears never yet saved a soul. Hell is full of weepers weeping over lost opportunities, perhaps over the rejection of an offered Savior.

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A sermon in shoes, is more eloquent than a sermon on paper!

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Conversion by the Holy Spirit is a spiritual illumination of the soul. God's grace lights up the dark heart. And when a man has once been kindled at the cross of Christ, he is bound to shine.

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The demand of the day is for a higher standard and style of Christian life. Every follower of Christ must represent His religion purely, loftily, impressively, before that multitude of Bible-readers whose only Bible is the Christian.

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Sufficient to each day are the duties to be done and the trials to be endured. God never built a Christian strong enough to carry today's duties, and tomorrow's anxieties piled on the top of them!

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It is the easiest thing in the world for us to obey God when He commands us to do what we like, and to trust Him when the path is all sunshine. The real victory of faith is to trust God in the dark — and through the dark. Let us be assured of this, that if the lesson and the rod are of His appointing — that His all-wise love has engineered the deep tunnel of trial on the heavenward road. He will never desert us during the discipline. The vital thing for us is not to deny and desert Him.

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Let us gather into one bouquet, from the King's garden — these seven fragrant flowers:
  Jesus the Son of God;
  Jesus our sin-bearer;
  Jesus the giver of eternal life;
  Jesus the keeper of our undying souls;
  Jesus the hearer of our prayers;
  Jesus the chastener who can turn crosses into crowns;
  Jesus the wonder-worker who changes us into eternal likeness unto Himself!
These flowers will keep sweet until Heaven dawns!

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When we are inclined to nestle down in indolence and self indulgence — then God stirs up our nests, and bids us to fly upward.

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Conversion is the act of joining our hands to the pierced hand of the crucified Savior.
The new life begins with the taking of Christ's hand — and His taking hold, in infinite love, of our weak hands.

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God sometimes washes the eyes of His children with tears, in order that they may read aright His providence and His commandments.

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Every person who turns to Christ, must bear in mind that they are breaking with their old master, and enlisting under a new leader. Conversion is a revolutionary process.

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Faith is trusting Jesus to lead us — and going where He leads.

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You may not be able to leave your children a great inheritance — but day by day you may be weaving coats of character for them, which they will wear through all eternity.

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Blessed be the discipline which makes me reach out my soul's roots into closer union with Jesus!
Blessed be the dews of the Spirit which keep my leaf ever green!
Blessed be the trials which shake down the ripe, golden fruits from the branches!

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Faith that trusts on Jesus alone for salvation, and not on your respectable life — and the obedience that follows Him — are the indispensable steps to salvation.

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A new year is upon us — with new duties, new conflicts, new trials, and new opportunities. Start on the journey with Jesus — walk with Him, and work for Him. This year may be the last year of our lives! A happy year will it be to those who, through every path of trial, or up every hill of difficulty, or over every sunny height — march on in closest fellowship with Jesus!

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The disciples were not losing time when they sat beside their Master, and held quiet converse with Him under the olive trees of Bethany or by the shores of Galilee. Those were their school-hours — those were their feeding times.

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It will require more than a few hours of fasting and prayer to cast out such demons as selfishness, worldliness, and unbelief. Repentance, to be of any avail, must work a change of heart and of conduct.

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When you sincerely embrace Jesus as your Savior, and rest on His atonement for pardon, when you look to Him for daily direction, lean on Him for support, and are joined to Him in heart communion — then you may be sure that you have got the everlasting rock bed underneath you!

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Princess Elizabeth, of England, was found dead with her head resting on her Bible, open at these words, "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." So may we all fall asleep at last when the day's work for Jesus is over — and wake up in Heaven to find ourselves in the delicious rest that remains for the people of God.

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A child walking over a slippery and dangerous path cries out, "Father, I am falling!" — and has but a moment to catch his father's hand. In the same way, every believer has times when only the hand of Jesus comes between him and the abysses of destruction.

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Oh, my soul! why are you so often disquieted within you? How is it that you have so little faith? Will you never learn that Jesus has even the least of His little boats always under His watchful eye, and all the winds and the waves obey Him?

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Every step toward Christ, kills a doubt. Every thought, word, and deed for Him — carries you away from discouragement.

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Exalt the Cross! God has hung the destiny of the race upon it. Other things we may do in the realm of ethics, and on the lines of philanthropic reforms — but our main duty converges into setting that one glorious beacon of salvation, Calvary's Cross, before the gaze of every immortal soul.

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I never yet have heard of a good man having fallen when he was trying to do Christ's will and trusting on Christ's help. Every fall without one exception came from venturing upon sinful ground or from venturing upon self-support.

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Never despair of a child. The one you weep the most for at the mercy-seat, may fill your heart with the sweetest joys.

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What right has a man to ask Jesus to forgive him — when his heart is still burning with hatred or festering with grudges against a fellow-creature?

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The most heaven-like places I have ever visited, have been certain rooms in which Christ's disciples were awaiting the summons of death. So far from being a house of mourning — I have often found such a house to be a vestibule of glory!

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Precious Savior! Come in spirit, and lay Your strong, gentle grasp of love on our dear boys and girls, and keep these our lambs from the fangs of the wolf!

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An honest, consistent, holy character — is a sermon all the week. The godly Christian — pure of heart and unspotted by the world — is the best preacher of the gospel. The revival which is most urgently needed — is a revival of practical godliness. Sunday preaching is not enough; we need more "sermons all through the week."

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Let us go down to the core. The only basis of good character is a renewed heart — a heart in which Jesus Christ lives, a heart which is in the habit of obeying Christ's commandments. Such a man draws his motives of action from his deep, abiding love to Jesus. Up from the very roots — comes his daily devotion to those things which are pure and honest and lovely and of good report. Rooted into Christ, he is not easily shaken. He does not bend to trickery or yield to temptation. The world cannot move such a man. What does he care for its changing, frivolous fashions; his fashion is to do the will of his holy Master.