John Charles Ryle (10 May 1816 – 10 June 1900) was an English Evangelical Anglican bishop. He was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool.
Let it be a settled principle. . . that men's salvation, if saved, is wholly of God; and that man's ruin, if lost, is wholly of himself.
Weak, feeble and foolish as it may seem to people, the simple story of the Cross is enough for all mankind in every part of the globe.
Christ is never fully valued, until sin is clearly seen. We must know the depth and malignity of our disease, in order to appreciate the great Physician.
But if there is one thing clearly and plainly laid down about election, it is this: that elect men and women may be known and distinguished by holy lives.
The surest mark of true conversion is humility.
Inability to distinguish doctrine is spreading far and wide, and so long as the preacher is "clever" and "earnest," hundreds seem to think it must be all right, and call you dreadfully "narrow and uncharitable" if you hint that he is unsound!
The work of the preacher resembles that of the sower. Like the sower, the preacher must sow good seed, the Word of God.
Conversion is not putting a man in an armchair and taking him easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory.
We must be holy, because this is the only sound evidence that we have a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
A good conscience will be found a pleasant visitor at our bedside in a dying hour.
Nothing is so fickle and uncertain as popularity. It is here today and gone tomorrow. It is a sandy foundation, and sure to fail those who build upon it.
Experience supplies painful proof that traditions once called into being are first called useful, then they become necessary. At last they are too often made idols, and all must bow down to them or be punished.
HATE SIN! Instead of loving it, cleaving to it, excusing it, playing with it, we ought to hate it with a deadly hatred.
It is easy to criticize and find fault with the conduct of kings, and write furious articles against them in newspapers, or make violent speeches about them on platforms. Any fool can rip and rend a costly garment, but not every man can cut out and make one. To expect perfection in kings, prime ministers, or rulers of any king, is senseless and unreasonable. We would exhibit more wisdom if we prayed for them more, and criticized less.
The Christian who keeps their heart diligently in little things shall be kept from great falls.
There is one subject in religion, about which you can never know too much. That subject is Jesus Christ the Lord.
Prayer needs neither learning, wisdom or book knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will.
Men fall in private long before they fall in public.
Two-thirds of all the strifes, quarrels, and lawsuits in the world arise from one simple cause-money.
Meekness is one of the brightest graces which can adorn the Christian character.