When I was in my late teens a friend of mine, Don Capill, introduced me to the sermons of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones and to JC Ryle’s book, Holiness. Since then I have been collecting and reading the works of both of these men. Pastor Leo de Vos will tell you something about Lloyd-Jones; I want to tell you about John Charles Ryle, a bishop in the Church of England in the nineteenth century.

My desire is that you too will read some of his books. That is a realistic expectation because Ryle is easy to read. His words and sentences are short. His style is plain. His meaning is clear. His applications are pointed. These are the reasons I like him so much!

Let me first tell you a little about his life and influence, and then direct you to some of his books.

His Life¹ ⤒🔗

Ryle lived in England from 1816 to 1900, about the same span of years as Queen Victoria. His life was to stretch from the year after Waterloo to the dawn of the twentieth century. It would witness the rise of the Oxford Movement and the spread of Higher Criticism; it saw the birth of the Kewsick Movement and the growth of missionary effort.²

He came to a saving faith in the Lord when he was a young man of 21. When he was 25 years of age his father, who was very wealthy, suddenly lost all his money and his estate in the collapse of his banking business. This event was used to turn John Charles Ryle to the Christian ministry. He was ordained on the 12^th of December 1841 and then served in the parish of Helmingham in Suffolk from 1844 to 1861, and then in the village of Stradbroke, nearby in Suffolk, where he ministered happily and fruitfully for twenty years.

During this time he married three times. His first wife bore him a daughter but died after less than three years of marriage from illness. Two years later he married again and his second wife bore him a daughter and three sons. However, she was also very unwell and died after ten years of marriage leaving him “more disconsolate and helpless than ever, with five children between two and fourteen years old.”³18 months later he married once again, this time to Henrietta Legh Clowes who was an ideal helper to him and a very understanding mother for his children. These experiences of sadness and grief helped him to relate to others who were sick and mourning and made him a kind and compassionate pastor.

Ryle’s preaching was simple and sin­cere. As a country vicar he ministered to people who could not understand polished oratory or literary finesse. He was not out to make a fine impression, rather to preach so that his listeners would understand his meaning and purpose. He spoke to them in clear and straightforward language, seek­ing to impress God’s Word on their hearts and reinforcing it with familiar and memorable illustrations.⁴ While in Stradbroke he traveled widely through the parish preaching in many of the country churches where he was heard gladly. Often this meant driving in an open carriage in the middle of winter up to 30 miles to preach in lonely places. He kept this up consistently throughout his time in Suffolk.

During his long ministry there he read widely and deeply in the masters of the English Reformation and in the Puritans. Lloyd-Jones comments; “...his works are a distillation of true Puritan theology presented in a highly readable and modern form.”⁵

From this village and rural setting of Stradbroke he was, in 1880, appointed Bishop of the large industrial city of Liverpool. As he preached his final sermon to his village congregation he recalled the scenes he was reluctant to leave;

...the fields over which I have so often walked, the road with every yard of which I was so thoroughly acquainted, my own little garden in which I had meditation and prayer ... all these things I am about to leave and leave forever. I go, called by God, to the noise, bustle, smoke and confusion of a great sea-port town ... Pray for me, name me before the throne of grace and say, Lord God, bless Bishop Ryle.⁶

He was appointed as the Bishop of Liverpool through the influence of evangelical politicians and churchmen who wanted to see a man of strong Protestant convictions in that city. Ryle was the man. He strongly opposed the growing influence of Ritualism in the Church of England and the move towards Roman Catholicism. “When I go down to the valley of the shadow of death”, he wrote, “and my feet touch the cold waters, I want something bet­ter than vague high-sounding words or the painted play-things and gilded trifles of man-made ceremonial. Give me no stone altars and would be confessors ... Put no man or form between me and Christ.”⁷ He spoke plainly for what be believed to be true from the Scriptures and the Thirty Nine Articles, and firmly opposed all that was contrary to these. His strong position won him many loyal followers but also stirred up many bitter opponents, one of whom declared that the Bishop of Liverpool was “obnoxious to all High Churchmen”!

During his time as bishop many wanted to build a large cathedral in the city. Ryle was sympathetic to this goal but he focused his attention and funds on providing 136 more clergy and 90 other places of worship.

His Writing←⤒🔗

Ryle has been dead for more than 100 years. As powerful and direct as his sermons were we cannot hear them anymore. But we can read his books. Back in the 1950’s Lloyd-Jones wrote; “One of the most encouraging and hopeful signs I have observed ... in evangelical circles has been a renewed and increasing inter­est in the writings of Bishop JC Ryle.” He went on to describe Ryle’s method and style as “always scriptural and expository ... He always starts with the Word and expounds it ... It is always clear and logical and invariably leads to a clear enunciation of doctrine.”⁸

His writing first arose out of the time he spent reading. He wanted to be practical and relevant for the people of his country parish. While in Helm­ingham he began writing out some of his sermons, distributing them far and wide. He continued this practice of writ­ing these tracts, writing three hundred in all, which were widely circulated in England and in the colonies and were translated into many other languages. They were direct and pointed, written in plain English, with crisp titles; I have somewhat to say unto thee. Is your heart right? Are you free? Do you pray?

At this time he also began writing his Expository Thoughts of the Gospels with the intention that these be read aloud by Christian families at home. They are clear, practical and devotional. He wrote a volume on Mathew (1856), another on Mark (1857), two volumes on the gospel of Luke (1858 and 1859) and then a larger work on the gospel of John that was published in three volumes (1873). I can heartily commend these to you. We have used them in our family devo­tions, reading through his two volumes on Luke. Extracts from these volumes have been arranged as a book of Daily Readings From all Four Gospels. My wife and I are reading this book as part of our devotions together as a couple.⁹ An influential work published in the 1870s was Knots Untied, nineteen pa­pers on matters of dispute and points of theological controversy at that time. He knew that his views would not be popular in the wider Church of England but he stated his views with clarity and honesty. The book includes chapters on the Thirty Nine Articles, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Church and Wor­ship.¹⁰

In 1878 this was followed by a companion volume entitled, Old Paths. In the preface he explained that these dealt with the “leading truths of Christianity which are necessary for salvation ... The name which I have selected will prepare the reader to expect no new doctrines in this volume. It is simple, unadulterated, old-fashioned Evangelical theology. It contains nothing but the ‘Old Paths’ ... From these ‘paths’ I see no reason to depart ... They are the doctrines, I firmly believe, of the Bible and the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England. They are doctrines which, I find, wear well, and in the faith of them I hope to live and die.”¹¹

The 1870s was a fruitful decade of writing, for in 1878 he also published Practical Religion. In the preface he explained that this was a companion to the previous two volumes “and treats of the daily duties, dangers, experience, and privilege of all who profess and call themselves true Christians.”¹²

Chapters include Prayer, Bible Reading, Going to the Table, Zeal, Riches and Poverty, Sickness, and Eternity. In the foreword JI Packer describes this as “a manual on the practice of Christianity. It seems to me to be one of the best there is.” I am currently reading this volume with a young man in the Pukekohe congrega­tion; we each read a chapter at home and then meet once a fortnight to discuss what we have read. Others of you who have been Christians a long time might consider doing this with those who are younger in the faith. A practice like this would encourage you and another young man or woman in valuable systematic Christian reading. You could do this with many of Ryle’s books.

Ryle regarded his book Holiness as a further companion work alongside the three listed above. It is his best-known book and “came out of his concern at the misleading teaching of the ‘Higher Life’ or ‘Holiness’ movement in England. Popular (but often biblically ignorant) teachers told people that sanctification – ‘holiness’ – could be achieved perfectly and in an instant, if they would only surrender themselves entirely to God (the “let go and let God” idea). Instead, Ryle wanted to emphasise the biblical teach­ing that putting sin to death in our lives, and making progress toward Christlike­ness is a whole-of-life, gradual labour, requiring earnest effort on the part of Christians.”¹³ This is a fine book, one I have often recommended to people, and all have read it with interest and spiritual profit. In the foreword of my edition of this book Lloyd-Jones wrote; “I shall never forget the satisfaction – mental and spiritual – with which I read it some twenty years ago after hav­ing stumbled across it in a second-hand book shop.”

A little book written by Ryle was addressed specifically to young men. Thoughts for Young Men outlines some of the dangers facing this group and of­fers clear and wise counsel on how to deal with these temptations. JI Packer described it as “magnificent!” Buy it for your sons and/or read it with them.

The last book Ryle published was The Upper Room (1887). In the preface he wrote; “I have reached an age when I cannot reasonably expect to write much more. There are many thoughts in this volume which I do not wish to leave behind me in the precarious form of separate single sermons, addresses, lec­tures and tracts.” This volume preserved all these.¹⁴

The books listed above do not exhaust the writings of this prolific author. Out of his concern to preserve the biblical doctrines of the English Reformation against Roman Catholicism he wrote about the martyrs of that period of English history in a book called, Light From Old Times. In keeping with his desire that we learn the lessons of history he wrote about eleven Christian Leaders of the 18^th Century.

Conclusion←⤒🔗

John Charles Ryle was a tall man with good looks, fine bearing and great natural dignity. He had a full beard, which added to his impressive appearance, and a strong voice. He “was a man of untiring industry in the cure of souls: his voice was never silent; his pen was never idle.”¹⁵ He was a master of debate; courteous but never afraid to speak his mind, to declare what he believed to be true and oppose what he believed to be false.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the well known reformed Baptist preacher in London in the nineteenth century con­sidered Ryle “the best man in the Church of England.”¹⁶ My hope and prayer in writing this article is that you will be prompted to buy or borrow some of his books and read them – for yourself, with others, or as a family. I am confident that you will find them clear, direct, biblical and of much spiritual benefit.¹⁷