Inspirational Quotes by J.C. Ryle
“El infante más hermoso que haya nacido este año y viene a ser el rayito de sol de una familia, no es, como su madre quizá cariñosamente lo llame, un “angelito”, ni un bebito “inocente”, sino un pequeño “pecador”. ¡Ay! ¡Acostado sonriendo y balbuceando en su cuna, esta tierna criaturita tiene en su corazón las semillas de todo tipo de maldades! Basta con observarlo cuidadosamente mientras crece en estatura y su mente se desarrolla, para detectar una incesante tendencia hacia lo egoísta y lo malo, y un alejamiento de aquello que sea bueno. Verá en él los brotes y gérmenes del engaño, del mal carácter, egoísmo, egocentrismo, obstinación, codicia, envidia, celo, pasión, los cuales si se les deja expresar, crecerán con lamentable rapidez. ¿Quién enseñó al niño estas cosas? ¿Dónde las aprendió?”
“Now, if children were considered to be capable of admission into the Church by an ordinance in the Old Testament, it is difficult to see why they cannot be admitted in the New. The general tendency of the Gospel is to increase men’s spiritual privileges and not to diminish them. Nothing, I believe, would astonish a Jewish convert so much as to tell him his children could not be baptized! “If they are fit to receive circumcision,” he would reply, “why are they not fit to receive baptism?” And my own firm conviction has long been that no Baptist could give him an answer. In fact I never heard of a converted Jew becoming a Baptist, and I never saw an argument against infant baptism that might not have been equally directed against infant circumcision. No man, I suppose, in his sober senses, would presume to say that infant circumcision was wrong.”
― J.C. Ryle ,
from Knots Untied
“You may spoil the Gospel by substitution. You have only to withdraw from the eyes of the sinner the grand object which the Bible proposes to faith,—Jesus Christ; and to substitute another object in His place,—the Church, the Ministry, the Confessional, Baptism or the Lord’s Supper,—and the mischief is done. Substitute anything for Christ, and the Gospel is totally spoiled! Do this, either directly or indirectly, and your religion ceases to be Evangelical.”
― J.C. Ryle ,
from Knots Untied
“La verdadera santidad, tenemos que recordar, no consiste meramente de sensaciones e impresiones interiores. Se trata más que de lágrimas, suspiros y un entusiasmo corporal, un pulso acelerado y una pasión por nuestros predicadores favoritos o nuestro propio grupo religioso. No es solamente una pronta disposición a hacerle frente a cualquiera que no coincide con nosotros. En cambio, es más bien algo de “la imagen de Cristo” que puede ser vista y observada por otros en nuestra vida privada, nuestros hábitos, nuestro carácter y nuestras acciones (Ro. 8:29).”
“You may spoil the Gospel by interposition. You have only push something between Christ and the eye of the soul, to draw away the sinner’s attention from the Saviour, and the mischief is done. Interpose anything between man and Christ, and man will neglect Christ for the thing interposed! Do this, either directly or indirectly, and your religion ceases to be Evangelical.”
― J.C. Ryle ,
from Knots Untied
“A un niñito se le puede tranquilizar y entretener fácilmente con juguetitos y sonajeros mientras no tenga hambre; pero en cuanto lo siente, sabemos que comer es lo único que lo satisfará. Sucede lo mismo con el alma. Música, flores, velas, incienso, estandartes, procesiones, vestiduras hermosas, confesionarios y ceremonias de carácter similar a las católicas romanas hechas por el hombre, lo satisfarán bajo ciertas condiciones. Pero una vez que “despierta y se levanta de entre los muertos”, no se contentará con estas cosas. Le parecerán simples frivolidades y una pérdida de tiempo. Pero en cuanto ve su pecado, tiene que ver a su Salvador. Se siente atacado por una enfermedad mortal y nada los satisfará, sino el gran Médico. Tiene hambre y sed, y no puede conformarse con menos que el pan de vida. Puedo parecer audaz al decir esto; pero afirmo, sin temor a equivocarme, que cuatro de cada cinco algo de católicos romanos del último cuarto de siglo, no hubieran existido si se les hubiera enseñado más fehacientemente y con más amor, la naturaleza del pecado y lo vil y pecaminoso que es.”
“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.”
“(1.) To repent without despairing; (2.) To believe without being presumptuous; (3.) To rejoice without falling into levity; (4.) To be angry without sinning.”
“Some made it an excuse for not attending the church service on a Sunday morning, that they could not awake early enough to get their families ready. He provided for this also. Taking a bell in his hand, he set out every Sunday for some months at five in the morning, and went round the most distant parts of the parish inviting all the inhabitants to the house of God.”
“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.”
“The world we live in would have fallen upon our heads, had it not been upheld by the pillar of the cross; had Christ not stepped in and promised a satisfaction for the sin of man. By this all things consist – not a blessing we enjoy but may remind us of it; they were all forfeited by sin, but merited by His blood. If we study it well, we shall be sensible how God hated sin and loved a world.” – Charnock.”
“Here again is one grand element of a preacher’s success. He must labour by all means to be understood. It was a wise saying of Archbishop Usher, “To make easy things seem hard is every man’s work; but to make hard things easy is the work of a great preacher.”
“I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath, And when my voice is lost in death, Praise shall employ my noblest powers; My days of praise shall ne’er be past, While life, and thought, and being last, Or immortality endures.”
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J.C. Ryle (1816 - 1900)
J.C. Ryle was a prolific writer, vigorous preacher, faithful pastor, husband of three wives, [widowed three times: Matilda died in 1847, Jessie died in 1860, Henrietta died in 1889] and the father to five children [1 with Matilta and 4 with Jessie]. He was thoroughly evangelical in his doctrine and uncompromising in his Biblical principles. In 1880, after 38 years in Pastoral ministry in rural England, at age 64, he became the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool. He retired in 1900 at age 83 and died later the same year at the age of 84.“He [J.C. Ryle] was great through the abounding grace of God. He was great in stature; great in mental power; great in spirituality; great as a preacher and expositor of God’s most holy Word; great in hospitality; great as a writer of Gospel tracts; great as a Bishop of the Reformed Evangelical Protestant Church in England, of which he was a noble defender; great as first Bishop of Liverpool. I am bold to say, that perhaps few men in the nineteenth century did as much for God, for truth, and for righteousness, among the English speaking race, and in the world, as our late Bishop.” - Rev. Richard Hobson, three days after Ryle’s burial in 1900.
John Charles Ryle was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool. Ryle was a strong supporter of the evangelical school and a critic of Ritualism. Among his longer works are Christian Leaders of the Eighteenth Century (1869), Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (7 vols, 1856-69), Principles for Churchmen (1884).
Thoroughly evangelical in his doctrine and uncompromising in his principles, J.C. Ryle was a prolific writer, vigorous preacher, and faithful pastor.
In his diocese, he exercised a vigorous and straightforward preaching ministry, and was a faithful pastor to his clergy, exercising particular care over ordination retreats. He formed a clergy pension fund for his diocese and built over forty churches. Despite criticism, he put raising clergy salaries ahead of building a cathedral for his new diocese.
Ryle combined his commanding presence and vigorous advocacy of his principles with graciousness and warmth in his personal relations. Vast numbers of working men and women attended his special preaching meetings, and many became Christians.
John Charles Ryle was born at Macclesfield and was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford. He was a fine athlete who rowed and played Cricket for Oxford, where he took a first class degree in Greats and was offered a college fellowship (teaching position) which he declined. The son of a wealthy banker, he was destined for a career in politics before answering a call to ordained ministry.
He was spiritually awakened in 1838 while hearing Ephesians 2 read in church. He was ordained by Bishop Sumner at Winchester in 1842. After holding a curacy at Exbury in Hampshire, he became rector of St Thomas's, Winchester (1843), rector of Helmingham, Suffolk (1844), vicar of Stradbroke (1861), honorary canon of Norwich (1872), and dean of Salisbury (1880). In 1880, at age 64, he became the first bishop of Liverpool, at the recommendation of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. He retired in 1900 at age 83 and died later the same year.
Ryle was a strong supporter of the evangelical school and a critic of Ritualism. Among his longer works are Christian Leaders of the Eighteenth Century (1869), Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (7 vols, 1856-69) and Principles for Churchmen (1884).