J.C. Ryle QUOTES

181 " The atonement and substitution of Christ, the personality of the devil, the miraculous element in Scripture, and the reality and eternity of future punishment are all calmly tossed overboard like lumber in order to lighten the ship of Christianity and enable it to keep pace with modern liberal views. If you stand up for these great truths of the Bible, you are called narrow, intolerant, old-fashioned, and theologically outdated! Quote a biblical text, and you are told that all truth is not confined to the pages of an ancient Jewish Book, and that free inquiry has found out many things since the Book was completed! "

― J.C. Ryle , Holiness

182 " But in some places the cross also indicates the doctrine that Christ died for sinners on the cross – the atonement that He made for sinners by His suffering for them on the cross, the complete and perfect sacrifice for sin that He offered when He gave His own body to be crucified. "

― J.C. Ryle , The Cross: Crucified with Christ, and Christ Alive in Me

183 " All the children of God on earth are alike in this respect. From the moment there is any life and reality about their religion, they pray. Just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world, is the act of breathing, so the first act of men and women when they are born again, is praying. "

― J.C. Ryle , Practical Religion

184 " nothing will ever allow them to find rest except submission to the old doctrines of man’s ruin and Christ’s redemption – and simple childlike faith in Jesus. "

― J.C. Ryle , Holiness

185 " A holy person will seek to be faithful in all the duties and relations in life. He will not merely try to do as well as others who take no thought for their souls, but he will try to do even better, because he has higher motives and more help than they. "

― J.C. Ryle , Holiness

186 " I find it hard to believe that a sentimental ceremonial Christianity will thoroughly satisfy us. A little child is easily quieted and amused with bright toys, dolls, and rattles as long as he is not hungry; but once he feels the cravings of nature within, we know that nothing will satisfy him but food. This is the same way it is with man in the matter of his soul. Music, flowers, candles, incense, banners, processions, beautiful vestments, confessionals, and man-made ceremonies of a semi-Roman-Catholic character may do well enough for him under certain conditions; but once he awakes and arises from the dead (Ephesians 5:14), he will not rest content with these things. They will seem to him to be mere meaningless ceremonies and a waste of time. Once he sees his sin, he will know that he must see his Savior. He feels stricken with a deadly disease, and nothing will satisfy him but the great Physician. He hungers and thirsts, and he must have nothing less than the Bread of Life. "

― J.C. Ryle , Holiness

187 " In another letter he says: “A man may be constitutionally meek as the lamb, constitutionally kind as the spaniel, constitutionally cheerful as the lark, and constitutionally modest as the owl; but these things are not sanctification. No sweet, humble, heavenly tempers, no sanctifying graces, are found but from the cross. "

― J.C. Ryle , Christian Leaders of the Eighteenth Century

188 " Inspiration, in short, is the very keel and foundation of Christianity. If Christians have no Divine book to turn to as the warrant of their doctrine and practice, they have no solid ground for present peace or hope, and no right to claim the attention of mankind. They are building on a quicksand, and their faith is vain. We ought to be able to say boldly, “We are what we are, and we do what we do, because we have here a book which we believe to be the Word of God”. "

― J.C. Ryle , Old Paths

189 " But if people really mean to tell us that here in this world a believer can attain to entire freedom from sin, live for years in unbroken and uninterrupted communion with God, and for months at a time not even have one sinful thought, I must honestly say that such an opinion appears to me very unscriptural. "

― J.C. Ryle , Holiness

190 " Prayer is the peculiarity of all real Christians now. They pray, for they tell God their wants, their feelings, their desires, and their fears; and they mean what they say. The nominal Christian may repeat prayers, and good prayers too, but he goes no further. "

― J.C. Ryle , The Duties Of Parents

191 " Let us resolve to pray much for ministers. Their office is no light one if they do their duty. They need the help of many intercessions from all praying people. They have not only their own souls to care for but also the souls of others. No wonder Paul cries, Who is adequate for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:16). If we never prayed for ministers before, let us begin to do it this day. "

― J.C. Ryle , Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark: A Commentary [Updated]

192 " I grant you true repentance is never too late, but I warn you at the same time, late repentance is seldom true. I grant you, one penitent thief was converted in his last hours, that no man might despair; But I warn you, "

― J.C. Ryle , Thoughts for Young Men

193 " Let us urge on every one who exhibits new interest in religion to be content with nothing short of the deep, solid, sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost. "

― J.C. Ryle , Holiness

194 " You might say that if you were so holy, you would be unlike other people. I answer, “You are right. You ought to be different from other people. Christ’s true servants always were unlike the world around them – a separate nation, a peculiar people – and you must be, too, if you would be saved! "

― J.C. Ryle , Holiness

195 " He will try to throw dust in your eyes, and prevent you seeing anything in its true colors. He would eagerly make you think that evil is good, and good is evil. He will paint, cover with gold, and dress up sin, in order to make you fall in love with it. He will deform, and misrepresent, and fabricate true Christianity, in order to make you take a dislike to it. He will exalt the pleasures of wickedness — but he will hide from you the sting. He will lift up before your eyes the cross and its painfulness– but he will keep out of sight the eternal crown. He will promise you everything, as he did "

― J.C. Ryle , Thoughts for Young Men

196 " True holiness, we surely ought to remember, does not consist merely of inward sensations and impressions. It is much more than tears, and sighs, and bodily excitement, and a quickened pulse, and a passionate feeling of attachment to our own favourite preachers and our own religious party, and a readiness to quarrel with everyone who does not agree with us. It is something of “the image of Christ,” which can be seen and observed by others in our private life, and habits, and character, and doings. "

― J.C. Ryle , Holiness

197 " Oh begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life! There is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow: do not starve yourself any longer. "

― J.C. Ryle , The Complete Works of J. C. Ryle (Best Navigation and Bible Links)

198 " Be very sure of this--people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They understand it too well; they understand that it condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment. They try to believe it is false and useless, because they don't like to believe it is true. An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this book. Men question the truth of Christianity because they hate the practice of it. "

― J.C. Ryle , Thoughts for Young Men

199 " Cristo jamais será o Salvador daqueles que não sabem o que é seguir o seu exemplo. A fé salvadora e a graça real da conversão sempre produzirão alguma conformidade com a imagem de Jesus (Cl 3.10). "

― J.C. Ryle , Santidade: Sem a qual ninguém verá ao Senhor

200 " I grant you true repentance is never too late, but I warn you at the same time, late repentance is seldom true. I grant you, one penitent thief was converted in his last hours, that no man might despair; But I warn you, only one was converted, that no man might presume. "

― J.C. Ryle , Thoughts for Young Men