J.C. Ryle Quotes & Sayings

If men come among you who do NOT preach all the counsel of God, who do NOT preach of Christ, sin, holiness, of ruin, redemption, and regeneration, and do NOT preach of these things in a Scriptural way, you ought to cease to hear them. — J.C. Ryle

Pride comes from not knowing yourself and the world. The older you grow, and the more you see, the less reason you will find for being proud. Ignorance and inexperience are the pedestal of pride; once the pedestal is removed - pride will soon come down. — J.C. Ryle

Love should be the silver thread that runs through all your conduct. Kindness, gentleness, long suffering, forbearance, patience, sympathy, a willingness to enter into childish troubles, a readiness to take part in childish joys, - these are the cords by which a child may be led most easily, - these are the clues you must follow if you would find the way to his heart. — J.C. Ryle

Let us not expect too much from our own hearts here below. At our best we shall find in ourselves daily cause for humiliation, and discover that we are needy debtors to mercy and grace every hour. — J.C. Ryle

Hell, hell fire, the damnation of hell, eternal damnation, the resurrection of the damnation, everlasting fire, the place of torment, destruction, outer darkness, the worm that never dies, the fire that is not quenched, the place of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, everlasting punishment ... these are the words which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself employs. Away with the miserable nonsense which people talk in this day who tell us that the ministers of the gospel should never speak of hell. — J.C. Ryle

What you think now about the cross of Christ, I cannot tell; but I can wish you nothing better than this - that you may be able to say with the apostle Paul, before you die or meet the Lord, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' — J.C. Ryle

In walking with God, a man will go just as far as he believes, and no further. — J.C. Ryle

The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight against spiritual apathy in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a brief round of formal religious services once or twice every week. But of the great spiritual warfare - its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests - of all things they appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is not our own. — J.C. Ryle

A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown. — J.C. Ryle

I maintain that to tell a person they are born again, while they are living in carelessness or sin, is a dangerous delusion. — J.C. Ryle

Without a thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world. — J.C. Ryle

The world's idea of greatness is to rule, but Christian greatness consists in serving. — J.C. Ryle

The Gospel was not meant merely to reside in our intellect, memories, and tongues, but to be seen in our lives. — J.C. Ryle

The highest form of selfishness is that of the man who is content to go to heaven alone. — J.C. Ryle

Peace, and not riches, had been the great legacy which He had left with the eleven the night before His crucifixion. — J.C. Ryle

Whatever others around you think, don't you ever be ashamed of being a Christian. — J.C. Ryle

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

Why is a believer patient? Because he looks for the coming of the Lord ... He waits quietly for the King. — J.C. Ryle

Examine your own hearts. Do you see there any habit or custom which you know is wrong in the sight of God? If you do, don't delay for a moment in attacking it. Resolve at once to lay it aside. Nothing darkens the eyes of the mind so much, and deadens the conscience so surely, as an allowed sin. It may be a little one, but it is not any less dangerous. — J.C. Ryle

Sicknesses, losses, crosses, anxieties and disappointments seem absolutely needful to keep us humble, watchful and spiritual-minde d. They are as needful as the pruning knife to the vine and the refiner's furnace to the gold. — J.C. Ryle

The more I read, the less I admire modern theology. the more I study the productions of the new schools of theological teachers, the more I marvel that men and women can be satisfied with such writings. There is a vagueness, a mistiness, a shallowness, an indistinctness, a superficiality, an aimlessness, a hollowness about the literature of the 'broader and kinder systems', as they are called, which to my mind stamps their origin on their face. They are of the earth, earthy. — J.C. Ryle

If you want to find out how much someone loves you, find out how much they pray for you. — J.C. Ryle

Whatever you read, read the Bible first. Beware of bad books: there are plenty in this day. Take heed what you read. — J.C. Ryle

If I never spoke of hell, I should think I had kept back something that was profitable, and should look on myself as an accomplice of the devil. — J.C. Ryle

A Christian is a walking sermon. They preach far more than a minister does, for they preach all week long. — J.C. Ryle

Where no visible fruit can be found, there you may be sure is no conversion. — J.C. Ryle

Prayer needs neither learning, wisdom or book knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will. — J.C. Ryle

Every fresh act of sin lessens fear and remorse, hardens our hearts, blunts the edge of our conscience, and increases our evil inclination. — J.C. Ryle

All men ought to think of Christ because of the office Christ fills between God and man. He is the eternal Son of God through whom alone the Father can be known, approached, and served. He is the appointed Mediator between God and man through whom alone we can be reconciled with God, pardoned, justified, and saved. — J.C. Ryle

Parents, do you wish to see your children happy? Take care, then, that you train them to obey when they are spoken to, -to do as they are bid ... Teach them to obey while young, or else they will be fretting against God all their lives long, and wear themselves out with the vain idea of being independent of His control. — J.C. Ryle

A man may just as soon read the Scripture without eyes, as understand the spirit of it without grace. — J.C. Ryle

It is vain to shut our eyes to the fact that there is a vast quantity of so-called Christianity nowadays, which you cannot declare positively unsound - but which, nevertheless, is not full measure, good weight and sixteen ounces to the pound. It is a Christianity in which there is undeniably "something about Christ, and something about grace, and something about faith, and something about repentance, and something about holiness," but it is not the real "thing as it is" in the Bible. Things are out of place and out of proportion. As old Latimer would have said, it is a kind of "mingle-mangle," and does no good. It neither . . . exercises influence on daily conduct, nor comforts in life, nor gives peace in death. And those who hold it often awake too late to find that they have got nothing solid under their feet. — J.C. Ryle

Am I honest? Am I sincere? Do I really desire first the praise of God? — J.C. Ryle

What is the cause of most backslidings? I believe, as a general rule, one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer. — J.C. Ryle

Until we give God our heart, we give Him nothing at all. — J.C. Ryle

What will it cost [a person] to be a true Christian? It will cost him his self-righteousn ess. He must cast away all pride and high thoughts, and conceit of his own goodness. He must be content to go to heaven as a poor sinner, saved only by free grace, and owing all to the merit and righteousness of another. — J.C. Ryle

The standard of the world, and the standard of the Lord Jesus, are indeed widely different. They are more than different. They are flatly contradictory one to the other. — J.C. Ryle

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

What young men will be, in all probability depends on what they are now, and they seem to forget this. Youth is the planting time of full age, the molding season in the little space of human life, the turning point in the history of man's mind. — J.C. Ryle

Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption. — J.C. Ryle

The resurrection of Christ is one of the foundation stones of Christianity. It was the seal of the great work that He came on earth to do. It was the crowning proof that the ransom He paid for sinners was accepted, the atonement for sin accomplished, the head of him who had the power of death bruised, and the victory won. — J.C. Ryle

Men that had understanding of the times." 1 Chr. 12:32

I cannot doubt that this sentence, like every sentence in Scripture was written for our learning. These men of Issachar are set before us as a pattern to be imitated, and an example to be followed, for it is a most important thing to understand the times in which we live, and to understand what those times require. Next to our Bibles and our own hearts, our Lord would have us study our own times. — J.C. Ryle

We must wrestle earnestly in prayer, like men contending with a deadly enemy for life. — J.C. Ryle

To talk of comparing the Bible with other "sacred books" so called, such as the Koran ... or the book of Mormon, is positively absurd. You might as well compare the sun with a rushlight, or Skiddaw with a molehill, or St. Paul's with an Irish hovel, or the Portland vase with a garden pot, or the Kohinoor diamond with a bit of glass. God seems to have allowed the existence of these pretended revelations, in order to prove the immeasurable superiority of His own Word. — J.C. Ryle

The work of the preacher resembles that of the sower. Like the sower, the preacher must sow good seed, the Word of God. — J.C. Ryle

The hand of the wicked can't stir one moment before God allows them to begin, and ... one moment after God commands them to stop. — J.C. Ryle

We know but little of true Christianity, if we don't feel a deep concern about the souls of unconverted people. — J.C. Ryle

Let us never forget that truth, distorted and exaggerated, can become the mother of the most dangerous heresies. — J.C. Ryle

What youth sows, old age must reap. — J.C. Ryle

There is but one fountain of comfort for a man drawing near to his end, and that is the Bible ... All comfort from any other source is a house built upon sand. — J.C. Ryle

Do something, by God's help, to make heaven more full and hell more empty. — J.C. Ryle

People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of hell. — J.C. Ryle

The man who has nothing more than a kind of Sunday religion
whose Christianity is like his Sunday clothes put on once a week, and then laid aside
such a man cannot, of course, be expected to care about growth in grace. — J.C. Ryle

Surely if there be any habit which your own hand and eye should help in forming, it is the habit of prayer. — J.C. Ryle

Unity without the gospel is a worthless unity; it is the very unity of hell. — J.C. Ryle

Any well-read man knows that the moral difference between the condition of the world before Christianity was planted and since Christianity took root is the difference between night and day, the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of the devil. — J.C. Ryle

Don't think," whispers Satan: he knows that an unconverted heart is like a dishonest businessman's financial records, they will not bear close inspection. "Consider your ways," says the Word of God
stop — J.C. Ryle

Just as the telescope and microscope show us that there is order and design in all the works of God's hand, from the greatest planet down to the least insect, so does the Bible teach us that there is wisdom, order and design in all the events of our daily life. There is no such thing as 'chance', 'luck', or 'accident' in the Christian journey through this world. All is arranged and appointed by God: and all things are 'working together' for the believer's good. — J.C. Ryle

Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word. — J.C. Ryle

The best of men are men at best — J.C. Ryle

Yes: I repeat it this day. I know no effectual remedy for the love of self, but a believing apprehension of the love of Christ. — J.C. Ryle

What would you expect? Sin will not come to you saying, 'I am sin.' It would do little harm if it did. Sin always seems 'good, pleasant and desirable' at the time of arrival. — J.C. Ryle

No salvation without regeneration - no spiritual life without a new birth - no heaven without a new heart. — J.C. Ryle

There is no fickleness about Jesus: those whom He loves, He loves to the end. — J.C. Ryle

A good conscience will be found a pleasant visitor at our bedside in a dying hour. — J.C. Ryle

We live in an age when there is a false glare on the things of time and a great mist over the things of eternity. — J.C. Ryle

Doubting does not prove that a man has no faith, but only that his faith is small. And even when our faith is small, the Lord is ready to help us. — J.C. Ryle

We should no more tolerate false doctrine that we would tolerate sin. — J.C. Ryle

Let us serve Him faithfully as our Master. Let us obey Him loyally as our King. Let us study His teachings as our Prophet. Let us work diligently after Him as our Example. Let us look anxiously for Him as our coming redeemer of body as well as soul. But above all let us prize Him as our Sacrifice, and rest our whole weight on His death as atonement for sin. Let His blood be more precious in our eyes every year we live. Whatever else we glory in about Christ, let us glory above all things in His cross. — J.C. Ryle

Prayer is the surest remedy against the devil and besetting sins. — J.C. Ryle

Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction. Heavy must that weight of human sin be which made Jesus groan and sweat drops of blood in agony at Gethsemane, and cry at Golgotha, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? — J.C. Ryle

A man must make the Bible his rule of conduct. He must make its leading principles the compass by which he steers his course through life. By the letter or spirit of the Bible he must test every difficult point and question. "To the law and to the testimony! What saith the Scripture?" He ought to care nothing for what other people may think right. He ought not to set his watch by the clock of his neighbour, but by the sun-dial of the Word. — J.C. Ryle

Experience," says the proverb, "is a hard school to attend, but fools will learn in no — J.C. Ryle

It is neglect of the Bible which makes so many a prey to the first false teacher whom they hear. — J.C. Ryle

Let us strive, every year we live, to become more deeply acquainted with Scripture. — J.C. Ryle

I am one of those old-fashioned ministers who believe the whole Bible and everything that it contains. — J.C. Ryle

Meekness is one of the brightest graces which can adorn the Christian character. — J.C. Ryle

If you train your children to anything, train them, at least, to a habit of prayer. — J.C. Ryle

A deep sense of sin, a humble willingness to be saved in God's way, a teachable readiness to give up our own prejudices when a more excellent way is shown, these are the principal things. These things the two disciples possessed, and therefore our Lord "went with them" and guided them into all truth. — J.C. Ryle

Who shall dare to talk of strength when David can fall? — J.C. Ryle

that backsliding generally first begins with neglect of private prayer. Bibles read without prayer; sermons heard without prayer; marriages contracted without prayer; journeys undertaken without prayer; residences chosen without — J.C. Ryle

Let us receive nothing, believe nothing, follow nothing which is not in the Bible, nor can be proved by the Bible. — J.C. Ryle

If God has given His Son to die for us, let us beware of doubting His kindness and love in any painful providence of our daily life. — J.C. Ryle

Let us daily strive to copy our Saviour's humility. — J.C. Ryle

Let us seek friends that will stir up our prayers, our Bible reading, our use of time, and our salvation. — J.C. Ryle

Lastly, we must be holy, because without holiness on earth - we will never be prepared to enjoy Heaven. ...I do not know what others may think - but to me it does seem clear that Heaven would be a miserable place to an unholy man. It cannot be otherwise. People may say in a vague way, that they "hope to go to Heaven," but they do not consider what they say. There must be a certain "fitness for the inheritance of the saints in light." Our hearts must be somewhat in tune. To reach the holiday of glory - we must pass through the training school of grace. We must be heavenly-minded and have heavenly tastes in the present life - or else we will never find ourselves in Heaven in the life to come! (Holiness) — J.C. Ryle

Whitefield, again, was among the first to show the right way to meet infidels and skeptics. He saw clearly that the most powerful weapon against such men is not metaphysical reasoning and critical disquisition; but preaching the whole gospel, living the whole gospel, and spreading the whole gospel. — J.C. Ryle

One single soul saved shall outlive and outweigh all the kingdoms of the
world. — J.C. Ryle

Like infants, when they are born into the world, God's children are not born again in the full possession of their spiritual faculties; and it is well and wisely ordered that it is so. What we win easily, we seldom value sufficiently. The very fact that believers have to struggle and fight hard before they get hold of real soundness in the faith, helps to make them prize it more when they have attained it. The truths that cost us a battle are precisely those which we grasp most firmly, and never let go. — J.C. Ryle

It is thoroughly Scriptural and right to say "faith alone justifies." But it is not equally Scriptural and right so say "faith alone sanctifies. — J.C. Ryle

Let us resolve by God's grace that, however feeble and poor our prayers may seem to us, we will pray on. — J.C. Ryle

The love of our Lord Jesus Christ towards sinners is strikingly shown in His steady purpose of heart to die for them. — J.C. Ryle

Pride sits in all our hearts by nature. We are born proud. Pride makes us rest satisfied with ourselves, thinking we are good enough as we are. It closes our ears against all advice, refuses the gospel of Christ and turns every one to his own way. — J.C. Ryle

Christ is never fully valued, until sin is
clearly seen. — J.C. Ryle

Conduct is the grand test of character. Words are one great evidence of the condition of the heart. — J.C. Ryle

My chief desire in all my writings, is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him beautiful and glorious in the eyes of people; and to promote the increase of repentance, faith, and holiness upon earth. — J.C. Ryle

If you and sin are friends, you and God are not yet reconciled. — J.C. Ryle

I declare I know no state of soul more dangerous than to imagine we are born again and sanctifiied by the Holy Spirit, because we have picked up a few religious feelings. — J.C. Ryle

There are very few errors and false doctrines of which the beginning may not be traced up to unsound views about the corruption of human nature. Wrong views of the disease will always bring with them wrong views of the remedy. Wrong views of the corruption of human nature will always carry with them wrong views of the grand antidote and cure of that corruption. — J.C. Ryle

Next to praying there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible reading. By reading that book we may learn what to believe, what to be, and what to do; how to live with comfort, and how to die in peace.
Happy is that man who possesses a Bible! Happier still is he who reads it! Happiest of all is he who not only reads it, but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith and practice! — J.C. Ryle