Looking Ahead To Christ’s Return

Posted by JeremyT on May 11, 2011 in J.C. Ryle, Quotes | 0 comments

A true Christian has a good hope when he looks ahead: the worldly man has none. A true Christian sees light in the distance: the worldly man sees nothing but darkness. And what is the hope of a true Christian? It is just this, – that Jesus Christ is coming again, coming without sin, – coming with all His people, – coming to wipe away every tear, – coming to raise His sleeping saints from the grave, – coming to gather together all His family, that they may be for ever with Him. Why is a believer patient? Because he looks for the coming of the Lord. He can bear hard things without murmuring. He knows the time is short. He waits quietly for the King.

~ J.C. Ryle

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Christ is All”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 382.

Deliver Us From Pantheism

Posted by JeremyT on Jan 31, 2011 in J.C. Ryle | 0 comments

I feel it a duty to bear my solemn testimony against the spirit of the day we live in, to warn men against its infection. It is not Atheism I fear so much, in the present times, as Pantheism. It is not the system which says nothing is true, so much as the system which says everything is true. It is not the system which says there is no Savior, so much as the system which says there are many saviors, and many ways to peace! It is the system which is so liberal, that it dares not say anything is false. It is the system which is so charitable, that it will allow everything to be true. It is the system which seems ready to honor others as well as our Lord Jesus Christ, to class them all together, and to think well of all.

It is the system which is so careful about the feelings of others, that we are never to say they are wrong. It is the system which is so liberal that it calls a man a bigot, if he dares to say, “I know my views are right.” This is the system, this is the tone of feeling which I fear in this day, and this is the system which I desire emphatically to testify against and denounce. From the liberality which says everybody is right, from the charity which forbids us to say anybody is wrong, from the peace which is bought at the expense of truth – may the good Lord deliver us!

~ J.C. Ryle

Knots Untied, “Only One Way of Salvation” [Cambridge, England: James Clarke & Co., 1977], 30, 31.

Christ Alone is Sufficient

Posted by JeremyT on Oct 21, 2010 in J.C. Ryle, Quotes | 0 comments

There are multitudes of baptized men and women who profess to honour Christ, but in reality do Him great dishonour. They give Christ a certain place in their system of religion, but not the place which God intended Him to fill. Christ alone is not “all in all” to their souls. No! It is either Christ and the Church, or Christ and the sacraments,  or Christ and His ordained ministers, or Christ and their own repentance, or Christ and their own goodness, or Christ and their own prayers, or Christ and their own sincerity and charity, on which they practically rest their souls.

If any reader of this paper is a Christian of this kind, I warn him also plainly, that his religion is an offence to God. You are changing God’s plan of salvation into a plan of your own devising. You are in effect deposing Christ from His throne, by giving the glory due to Him to another.

~ J.C. Ryle

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Christ Is All”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 386.

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Be a Church with Biblical Standards!

Posted by JeremyT on May 18, 2010 in J.C. Ryle, Quotes | 0 comments

A church in which the Bible is not the standard of faith and practice – a Church in which repentance, faith, and holiness, are not prominently put forward as essential to salvation, – a Church in which forms, and ceremonies, and ordinance not commanded in the Bible, are the chief things urged upon the attention of the members, – such a Church is in a very diseased and unsatisfactory condition.

~ J.C. Ryle

Knots Untied, “The Church” [Cambridge, England: James Clarke & Co., 1977], 177.

Never Be Ashamed of Christ!

Posted by JeremyT on Apr 30, 2010 in J.C. Ryle, Quotes | 0 comments

Live a courageous life. Confess Christ before men. Whatever station you occupy, in that station confess Christ. Why should you be ashamed of Him? He was not ashamed of you on the cross. He is ready to confess you now before His Father in heaven. Why should you be ashamed of Him?

Be bold. Be very bold. The good soldier is not ashamed of his uniform. The true believer ought never be ashamed of Christ.

~ J.C. Ryle

Warnings to the Churches, “The True Church”, 27, 28.

Look away from self and turn to Christ!

Posted by JeremyT on Apr 27, 2010 in J.C. Ryle, Quotes | 0 comments

Look not to yourselves! You are by nature wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked; you cannot make atonement for your past transgressions, you cannot wipe out a single page in that long black list. And when the King shall ask you for your wedding garment you will be speechless. Look simply unto Jesus, and then the weight shall fall from off your shoulders, the course shall be clear and plain, and you shall run the race which is set before you.

~ J.C. Ryle

The Christian Race & Other Sermons, “The Christian Race”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2002], 134.