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 THE VITALITY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 5th, 1863, 
 
 CHAPEL ROYAL, WHITEHALL, 
 
 In Aid of the Boy's Home, Euston Eoad, 
 
 REV. ARTHUR PENRHYN STAKLEY, D.D., 
 
 Regius Professor of EcclesiasticaZ History, Oxford ; Deputy Clerk of the Closet 
 and Chaplain to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. 
 
 LONDON: 
 J. PAUL, 1, CHAPTER HOUSE COURT, 
 North Side of St. Paul's Cliurch-yard. 
 No. 3,874. z
 
 SERMON. 
 
 " Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." — John vi. 37. 
 
 It is said that when the great Bishop Butler was lying on his 
 death-bed be was observed to be unusually pensive and dejected, and 
 on being asked the cause, he replied, " Though I have endeavoured 
 to avoid sin and please Grod to the utmost of my power, yet, from 
 the consciousness of perpetual infirmities, I am still afraid to die." 
 A friend who stood by, read to him this text, " Him that cometh 
 to me I will in no wise cast out." " Ah," said the dyiug man, 
 " I have read that a thousand times, but I never felt its full force 
 till this moment, and now I die happy." What that eminent 
 theologian and philosopher had failed to see may also have escaped 
 some of us. This is, indeed, a text which, though we have heard it 
 and read it a thousand times, has a virtue in it which can still be 
 applied to all manner of situations in life, and which is of itself a 
 proof of the inexhaustible vitality of the christian faith. 
 
 Let us see, first of all, what is the principle involved in it, and 
 then how we can apply it to the present state of the world, and our- 
 selves, and especially to the occasion on which I have to ask your 
 contributions. 
 
 The principle involved in the text is this, that "prevention is better 
 than cure ;" that sympathy is a surer way of conquest than repulsion ; 
 that a man must be accounted your friend till he makes himself your 
 enemy ; that the extreme rigour of justice is the extreme excess of 
 injustice ; that evil is best overcome by good ; that love wins back 
 what hate repels ; that whatever there is of good must be encouraged 
 by all means, and at all hazards, and in all ways. This is the whole 
 principle of the divine redemption of mankind. Prevention, I have 
 said, is better than cure. Prevention ! Expressive word, if we take 
 it in its full sense ! God " prevents " us, as we say in our collects ; 
 he comes before us ; he anticipates us ; he welcomes the first opening 
 of good ; he sends to us what in old theology is called his prevenienf?, 
 his preventing grace. The human soul turns towards the Source of 
 all good, and it finds that God's countenance has already been 
 134
 
 THE VITALITY OF CHEI8TIAN FAITH. 
 
 turning towards it. Man is entreated to be reconciled to God, and 
 he finds that, long before, God has been reconciled to him. The 
 estrangement has been on our side, not on God's side. The prodigal 
 son determined to arise and go to his father, and already, when he is 
 yet a long way off, his father sees him, and runs to meet him, and 
 comes before, and prevents him. The readiness of God to receive 
 us is indeed incalculable. From the depths of eternity, from ever- 
 lasting to everlasting, his heart has yearned towards us. Prevention 
 is, indeed, only the active form of Providence. He "provides," that 
 is he foresees, and therefore he "prevents," that is he anticipates. 
 We love him, but he has already first loved us. The eternal God 
 has already been our refuge ; the everlasting arms have already been 
 holding us, though we knew it not. He takes the seed as the pledge 
 of the harvest. He justifies us for our first humble faith in Him. 
 He puts us, as it were, on our honour. He treats us as a wise father 
 or teacher treats his children ; he makes the best of us ; he take us 
 for what we are in the hope of what we shall be. He encourages us 
 by not being extreme to mark what is done amiss. The grand 
 experiment of the first original gospel of Christ was the total for- 
 giveness of the past, the unbounded hope of what was in store for 
 the future. The grand experiment of the first original Church of 
 Christ was the inclusion within it of all who wished to be included, 
 the welcome of the very simplest profession of faith in Christ, the 
 call to everyone that thirsted to come to the waters of life, without 
 money and without price. 
 
 In how many ways does this branch out. Look, first, at the 
 blessed work of Christ himself here, throughout His whole manifes* 
 tation, the true likeness of God, the true example of man. Look at 
 the scene, for example, recorded in this morning's gospel. There was 
 the rough fisherman in his fishing vessel on the lake of Gennesaret. 
 Suddenly he finds himself in the presence of One higher and holier 
 than anything which he had ever before conceived. What was he in 
 his homely calling, in all his ignorance, in all his weakness, that he 
 should be within a hundred miles of that teacher ? " Depfirt from me, 
 for I am a sinful man, O Lord." How like to many a one now 
 who thinks he is not good enough to be religious, who thinks he 
 has no chance of doing anything really useful to the world, that 
 the face of Christ is too divine for him to look upon, the name 
 of Christ too sacred for him to name. So Peter thought ; so 
 
 135
 
 THE TITALITT OF CHEISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 we think for ourselves; but so thought not our great Eedeeraer. 
 In that very shyness, and humility, and plainness of speech, He sees 
 the ground work of the chief apostle. In the energy with which the 
 nets were cast into the bright waters of the lake, he saw the energy 
 of the fisherman of the souls and the spirits of men. " Fear not, 
 henceforth thou shalt catch men ?" Or again, see how he dealt with 
 Thomas. Thomas, as we si ould now say, doubted, disbi'iieved, 
 doubted even the great historical fact of the christian reyelation, 
 doubted his Lord's glorious resurrection; doubted it in spite of 
 the repeated asseverations of his fellow apostles. How did his 
 Master deal with him ? He might have refused to see the faith- 
 less disciple ; he might have bid Thomas renounce his doubts as 
 the condition of reconciliation ; he might have refused to enter the 
 company of the believing twelve until they had cast out their 
 unbelieving brother. He did no such thing. He appeared 
 amongst them ; he turned at once, not to the loving John or the 
 ardent Peter, but to the doubting Thomas ; to him he shows his 
 hands and his side, to him he pronounces those words of great and 
 endless comfort : from him he receives, as it were, in return, a far 
 more complete confession of adoring love than he had received even 
 from Peter or from John ; the one returning penitent was of more 
 value than the ninety and nine who needed no repentance ; the con- 
 fession of the one doubting apostle was of more value than that of 
 the eleven believing apostles, who had never fully believed, we may 
 almost say, because they had never doubted. Or look at the 
 expiring thief on the cross. He had been stained vsdth deeds of 
 blood and violence ; he dies, we may say, in the very commission of 
 crime ; he has the very faintest notions of the person, and work, and 
 spiritual doctrines of him who hangs beside him. Shall he be cast 
 out ? Shall the survivors judge that he is certainly lost ? Shall 
 Bome who stand by only remember that the last thing that they 
 heard was the blasphemous derision which issued from his lips ? No. 
 Through all that cloud of sin, and violence, and ignorance, and error, 
 the eye of the merciful Saviour, even in that supreme moment, saw 
 the dawn of better things. That one expiring cry, " Lord, remember 
 me," was enough to show the hope which lay at the bottom of the 
 soul of the tortured malefactor, and he alone in that vast multitude 
 received the divine absolution — " This day shalt thou be with me in 
 Paradise." 
 136 
 
 ^ uiuc r
 
 THE VITALITY OF CHRISTIAN TAITH, 
 
 And wbat our Lord did in his life on earth, his church has done 
 since. Look at that early apostolic church, which had one heart 
 and one soul, in the first days of the gospel. Who were its first 
 preachers ? What were their notions of Christ's religion? Think 
 of their imperfect and erroneous thoughts concerninsj Christ and his 
 blessed work — concerning Jews and Gentiles— concerning things 
 clean and unclean — concerning the end of the world. Yet they 
 were not cast out. They had that in them which showed that they 
 would grow up into sonicthing far better ; therefore they were sent 
 out by their Master to teach all nations, in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; therefore, they became the 
 first founders of the catholic church. Or look at the first martyr — 
 Stephen. Eead that noble speech in which he addressed his judges : 
 as you read it, mark the many variations from the history of the Old 
 Testament ; observe how those few verses contain no less than twelve 
 distinct contradictious of, or additions to, the sacred Hebrew text. 
 Shall he be cast out because of those variations ? Shall he be 
 rejected as an Alexandrian — as a Grecian — as a follower of traditions 
 unknown to the older church ? Or shall not, rather, these and all 
 other like imperfections be regarded but as spots, in the light of 
 that glory which shone upon his countenance, and which made his 
 face like as the face of an angel ? Shall we not feel that to his own 
 divine Master, in these small things, as in those greater things, he 
 standeth or falleth ? Yea ; and he shall be holden up, for the Lord, 
 whom he served, and for whom he died, shall be able to make him 
 stand, and his name remains for ever enshrined as the first of " the 
 noble army of martyrs." And look at the services of the later 
 church, in which the best feelings of the. church in all ages are 
 expressed. What is the main principle which runs through them 
 all, from first to last ? From the first moment that the little child 
 is received into the church, by baptism, to the last moment when 
 the old man, stained with the sins and infirmities of a life, is laid 
 in his grave, it is still the same divine truth — " Him that cometh to 
 me, I will in no wise cast out." That little child, unconscious as it 
 is, forbid it not — condemn it not ; in its innocency, see the hope of 
 what it yet may be ; in the good-will of its earthly parents, and of 
 its heavenly Saviour, hope the best things for it ; look forward in the 
 confident belief that the rest of its life will be according to this good 
 beginning ; pronounce it by a charity that hopes and believes all 
 
 1.37
 
 THE VITALITY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 thinpfs holy, blessed, regenerate. Or that departed sinner (for 
 sinners in the full age of manhood, we all must have been, offenders 
 great or small — penitent, or it may be impenitent) — that departed 
 sinner, gone to his grave — shall he be cast out, and buried vv^ith the 
 burial of a dog ? Shall the church in that awful moment close our 
 lips, and forbid us to speak with any hope of the dead, or with any 
 consolation tc the survivors ? We all know that there have been 
 excellent men — there have been men of strict discipline — who 
 shrink from any such expressions. Let us pay all respect to 
 scruples like these, but let us not the less remember that they are 
 but the timid fears of the natural man, and not the heaven-born 
 aspirations of the children of ovir heavenly Father. "When we thank 
 God that he has delivered our brother out of the miseries of this 
 sinful world — when we express our humble hope that the departed 
 soul rests, or may rest, in one of the many mansions of our Father's 
 home, are we not responding to the blessed doctrine of our just and 
 merciful Judge, who said, " Him that cometh unto me, I will in no 
 wise cast out ?" 
 
 Such are some of the more general exemplifications of this great 
 truth. How deeply does it concern us all in its application ! How 
 deeply — may we for a moment say — how deeply does it concern us 
 in the controversies which have beset our own church in former 
 times, or in present. You should call a man your friend, I have 
 said, until he has declared himself your enemy. Oh ! if we could 
 always act, or have acted, on this principle ! Oh ! if, when John 
 Wesley arose to reanimate and revivify our church, the main body of 
 our clergy could have dealt with him in the same noble, generous, 
 confiding spirit in which, to their immortal honour be it said, he was 
 dealt with by so many of the illustrious bishops of that time ! If 
 that heroic soul could have been bound to us by those endearing 
 cords of common interest and affection which he himself was so 
 eager to acknowledge, and which he himself never cast off! Oh! if 
 in each successive disturbance of our ecclesiastical state, our first 
 thought could be, not " How shall we get rid of this troubler of 
 Israel ?" but " How shall we keep him who clings to the service of 
 truth or of goodness ?" — if our prevailing cry could always be, not 
 " Him that cometh to us with vexatious questions, we will in any wise 
 cast out," but " Him that cometh to us with a sincere love of truth, 
 even though with many errors aud defects, we will in no wise cast 
 138
 
 THE VITALITY OP CHEISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 out; we will by all means keep in !" We often take it for granted, 
 that those who thus disturb us are not worth keeping. It is surely more 
 true to say, in every such case, from whatever quarter, in all ages of 
 the church, those who thus disturb us, are the best worth keeping — 
 the best worth making our friends — the best worth struggling against 
 our inclinations to keep. They are worth it, because, if kept, they 
 become the best and most efficient friends; because, if cast out, they 
 become the most dangerous enemies ; because, by driving them out, 
 we drive out the salt, without which we ourselves lose our savour. 
 " Receive such," as the apostle says, '' not to doubtful disputations, 
 but in the unity of the Spirit, and in the bonds of peace." Receive 
 their questionings as the counsels of a friend, not as the attacks of 
 an enemy ; receive their facts, unwelcome as they may be, as the 
 facts from which the whole counsel of God may be more fully 
 known and preached amongst us ; receive the recognition of any 
 single gospel-truth — of any single aspect of our iSaviour's divine life 
 — of any single aspect of apostolic doctrine, as so much clear gain — 
 as a homage the more welcome, because it may even be reluctantly 
 offered to the whole truth and grandeur of the Christian scheme, 
 which we, as we may think, hold pure and undiluted throughout. 
 Condemn them not, unless by study and conviction we are abso- 
 lutely compelled to condemn them. Prevent, go before, anticipate 
 their objections by your good-will, courtesy, impartiality, charity, 
 and sympathy. 
 
 And how exactly does all this apply, word for word, to the Insti- 
 tution for which I have to ask your aid. I have spoken of the 
 divine prevention of our short-comings, in the work of redemption ; 
 I have glanced at the examples of this in the actual life of our 
 blessed Eedeemer ; I have shown how wisely it has been made the 
 rule of the best services of our church, and how much it is needed 
 in all our troubles and controversies. Every one of these reflections 
 find an application in a homely and undeniable shape, in this good 
 institution. The children of parents dead, or unknown, or vicious ; 
 the children themselves often of wandering habits, hanging on the 
 verge of crime, if not actually involved in it ; children who have no 
 great names, and no great interests to plead in their behalf — these 
 are the very types of that character and condition a\ hich the hardness, 
 and coldness, and narrowness of our ordinary human nature would cast 
 out and neglect. " They belong," as we say, " to the dangerous classes ; 
 
 139
 
 THE VITALITY OF CHEISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 the less we have to do with them, the better." So we reason in 
 many other spheres ; so, perhaps, we should in this sphere, but 
 that — at least, iu these spheres of 'practical work — the voice of 
 Christ makes itself heard above all the jars of buman discord : 
 " Suffer them to come unto me, and forbid tbem not : them that 
 come to me, by an approach however distant, with hopes how- 
 ever faint, Avitb indications of good however slight, I will in no 
 wise cast out." He will not cast them out, and we will not cast 
 them out : those little creatures — homeless, brotherless, fatherless, 
 purposeless — give them a home, where they shall be looked after ; 
 give them a, family, where they shall be cared for ; give them a work, 
 which shall employ their idle hands ; wash them — clean them from 
 the filth of the body, and from the filth of the soul ; track them 
 through the useful services in which they will afterwards be placed. 
 It may not.be a work of comprehension such as excites our highest 
 aspirations, but it is a work of comprehension and sympathy of 
 which the good can be disputed by none, and of which the very fact 
 of its undisputed good, is an encouragement to all like good else- 
 where. But at any rate we may indulge ourselves in the certainty 
 of those gospel truths ■which I laid down at the beginning of this 
 discourse. Prevention here, whatever it may be elsewhere, is better 
 than cure ; sympathy here, whatever it may be elsewhere, is better 
 than repulsion. Evil here is unmistakeably overcome by good, 
 Eeckon these children, at least to be your friends unless they insist 
 on being your enemies. Those who come to you even from the 
 darkest haunts of sin, even from the most amazing ignorance, even 
 in the filthiest garb, even from the worst antecedents, yet, because 
 they do not run away from you, because the mere fact of their 
 coming shows desire for improvement, do not cast them out ; but by 
 your encouragement, by your contributions, enlarge this Home, and 
 encourage those who have set it on foot. Eeceive them ; include 
 them ; restore them ; lift them up ; for this is the will of Him who 
 hateth nothing that he hath made, who forgives the sins of all those 
 who are penitent, and creates and makes new hearts in those who 
 truly return to him. This was the first Home of the kind ; make 
 the most of it; make the best of it; you cannot do anything but 
 good by supporting it. 
 
 140
 
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