The Voices
J.C. Ryle
John Charles Ryle (May 10, 1816 – June 10, 1900) was an English evangelical Anglican bishop, preacher, and prolific tract-writer; he served as the first Bishop of Liverpool from 1880 until his retirement two months before his death.
Short bio
John Charles Ryle (May 10, 1816 – June 10, 1900) was an English evangelical Anglican bishop, preacher, and prolific tract-writer; he served as the first Bishop of Liverpool from 1880 until his retirement two months before his death. Born to a wealthy Cheshire banking family, Ryle was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and was preparing for a parliamentary or military career when his father's bank failed in 1841, taking the family fortune. He was ordained Anglican in 1842 and pastored quiet rural parishes (Helmingham, Stradbroke) in Suffolk for over thirty years, during which he built his reputation on cheap, plain-spoken evangelical tracts distributed by the millions. Appointed dean of Salisbury in early 1880, he was elevated within months to the newly created Liverpool see, where he served as a working evangelical bishop in a heavily Anglo-Catholic environment.
What they believed
- Fear of the Lord Emphasis — Fear of the Lord is the right disposition of the believer toward the holy God. Ryle's preaching is consistently graveyard-direct about hell, judgment, and the necessity of regeneration — the "fear of the Lord" is enacted in his sermons more than theorized.
- Cost of Following — Counting the cost is an evangelical non-negotiable. Ryle insists the modern church reduces the gospel to a quick decision and creates "Christians" without conversion. Real discipleship requires repentance, ongoing struggle against sin, and the willingness to suffer.
- Rapture Timing — Historic premillennial — Christ returns visibly to inaugurate a millennial reign — but NOT dispensational pre-tribulation rapture. Ryle's eschatology pre-dates the Scofield-Lindsey synthesis and explicitly distances itself from the secret-rapture framing then emerging via Darby.
- Cessation — Ryle is functionally cessationist in the 19th-c. Reformed Anglican mode. He does not engage modern continuationism (which postdates him). His pneumatology emphasizes the Spirit's regenerating, sanctifying, illuminating work in the believer and the gathered church.
- Modern State Prophetic Significance — Ryle held the future literal restoration of Israel — both spiritual (national conversion to Christ) and political (return to the land) — as a clear teaching of Scripture. He preached this in the 19th-c. context, decades before the modern state of Israel existed.
- Penal Substitution — Penal substitution is the central interpretive lens for the cross. Christ bore the wrath of God in the believer's stead; this is the gospel.
Notable works
7 listed
| Title | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots | 1877 | The classical Reformed alternative to Keswick "second-blessing" sanctification. The standard 19th-c. Anglican statement on progressive sanctification. Required reading for the holiness-vs-grace question. |
| Expository Thoughts on the Gospels | 1856 | The standard 19th-c. evangelical Anglican commentary on the Gospels. Ryle's functional equivalent of Matthew Henry but with sharper Reformed-Anglican inflections. Designed for family devotional reading and for lay teachers. |
| Knots Untied: Being Plain Statements on Disputed Points in Religion | 1874 | Ryle's articulation of Reformed Anglican distinctives against both Anglo-Catholicism and modernist liberalism. |
| Practical Religion | 1878 | Lay-accessible practical-religion handbook on prayer, Bible reading, the Lord's Day, family religion, etc. |
| Old Paths | 1877 | Ryle's positive Reformational doctrinal articulation in 19 essays. The companion-volume to *Knots Untied*'s polemic. |
| Christian Leaders of the 18th Century | 1869 | Ryle's account of the 18th-c. evangelical revival — Whitefield, Wesley, Berridge, Romaine, Grimshaw, Hervey, Toplady, Walker, Fletcher, etc. The model for evangelical historical biography. |
| Coming Events and Present Duties | 1867 | Ryle's premillennial eschatology articulated. Distinctively NOT dispensational pre-tribulation rapture; classical historic premillennialism oriented to the visible return of Christ. |
Their words on MannaFest
408 quotes across 4 books
Where this voice speaks on the site: each quote links to the verse it was chosen for.
“The verses before us contain a historical parable. The history of the Jewish nation, from the day that Israel left Egypt down to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, is here set before us as in a mirror. Under the figure of the vineyard and the husbandmen…”
“Let us observe in the beginning of this passage, how men of different religious opinions can unite in opposing Christ . We read of "Pharisees and Herodians" coming together to "catch our Lord in His words," and perplex Him with a hard question. The Pharisee wa…”
“These verses relate a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and the Sadducees. The religion of these men, we know, was little better than infidelity. They said there was "no resurrection." They too, like the Pharisees, thought to entangle and perplex our …”
“These verses contain a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and "one of the Scribes." For the third time in one day we see our Lord tried by a hard question. Having put to silence the Pharisees and Sadducees, He is asked to decide a point on which much d…”
“We have seen in the former part of this chapter, how the enemies of our Lord endeavored to "catch Him in His words." We have seen how the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Scribes successively propounded to Him hard questions — questions we can hardly fail to …”
“The chapter we have now begun is full of prophecy — prophecy of which part has been fulfilled, and part remains to be accomplished. Two great events form the subject of this prophecy. One is the destruction of Jerusalem, and the consequent end of the Jewish di…”
“In reading the prophecies of the Bible concerning Christ's Church, we shall generally find judgment and mercy blended together. They are seldom all bitter without any sweet — seldom all darkness without any light. The Lord knows our weakness, and readiness to …”
“We are taught in these verses the lawfulness of using means to provide for our own personal safety . The language of our Lord Jesus Christ on the subject is clear and unmistakable — "Let those who be in Judea FLEE to the mountains — let him that is on the hous…”
“This part of our Lord's prophecy on the Mount of Olives is entirely unfulfilled. The events described in it are all yet to take place. They may possibly take place in our own day. The passage therefore is one which we ought always to read with peculiar interes…”
““But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts hi…”
“This chapter begins that part of Mark's Gospel, which describes our Lord's sufferings and death. Hitherto we have chiefly seen our Savior as our prophet and teacher. We have now to see Him as our High Priest. Hitherto we have had to consider His miracles and s…”
“In these verses, Mark tells us how our Lord was delivered into the hands of His enemies. It came to pass through the treachery of one of His own twelve disciples. The false apostle, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Him. We ought to mark, firstly, in this passage, to w…”
“These verses contain Mark's account of the institution of the Lord's Supper. The simplicity of the description deserves special observation. Well would it have been for the Church, if men had not departed from the simple statements of Scripture about this bles…”
“We see in these verses, how well our Lord foreknew the weakness and infirmity of His disciples. He tells them plainly what they were going to do: "All of you shall desert Me." He tells Peter in particular of the astounding sin which he was about to commit, …”
“The history of our Lord's agony in the garden of Gethsemane is a deep and mysterious passage of Scripture. It contains things which the wisest divines cannot fully explain. Yet it has upon its surface plain truths of most momentous importance. Let us mark, in …”
“Let us notice in these verses, how little our Lord's enemies understood the nature of His kingdom . We read that Judas came to take Him "with a great multitude, with swords and clubs." It was evidently expected that our Lord would be vigorously defended by His…”
“Solomon tells us in the book of Ecclesiastes, that one evil he has seen under the sun, is when "folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place." (Eccles. 10:6.) We can imagine no more complete illustration of his words than the state of things we…”
“A shipwreck is a melancholy sight, even when no lives are lost. It is sad to think of the destruction of property, and disappointment of hopes which generally attend it. It is painful to see the suffering and hardship, which the ship's crew often have to under…”
“These verses begin the chapter in which Mark describes the slaying of "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." It is a part of the Gospel history which should always be read with peculiar reverence. We should call to mind, that Christ was cut of…”
“The passage we have now read, is one of those which show us the infinite love of Christ toward sinners. The sufferings described in it would fill our minds with mingled horror and compassion, if they had been inflicted on one who was only a man like ourselves.…”
“We have in these verses the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. All deaths are solemn events. Nothing in the whole history of a man is so important as his end. But never was there a death of such solemn import as that which is now before us. In the instant that ou…”
“The death of our Lord Jesus Christ is the most important fact in Christianity. On it depend the hopes of all saved sinners both for time and eternity. We need not therefore to be surprised to find the reality of His death carefully placed beyond dispute. Three…”
“We may well believe that it required great courage to do this. To visit the grave in the dim twilight of an eastern day-break, would try most women, under any circumstances. But to visit the grave of one who had been put to death as a common malefactor, and to…”
“Let us mark, in these verses, what abundant proof we have that our Lord Jesus Christ really rose again from the dead . In this one passage Mark records no less than three distinct occasions on which He was seen after His resurrection. First, he tells us, our L…”
“We ought to notice, firstly, in these verses, the parting commission which our Lord gives to His apostles . He is addressing them for the last time. He marks out their work until He comes again, in words of wide and deep significance, "Go into all the world, a…”