by J.C. Ryle
Do you want to understand what the times require of you in reference to your own soul? Listen, and I will tell you. You live in times of peculiar spiritual danger. Never perhaps were there more traps and pitfalls in the way to heaven; never certainly were those traps so skillfully baited, and those pitfalls so ingeniously made. Mind what you are about. Look well to your goings. Ponder the paths of your feet. Take heed lest you come to eternal grief, and ruin your own soul. Beware of practical infidelity under the specious name of free thought. Beware of a helpless state of indecision about doctrinal truth under the plausible idea of not being party–spirited, and under the baneful influence of so–called liberality and charity. Beware of frittering away life in wishing and meaning and hoping for the day of decision, until the door is shut, and you are given over to a dead conscience, and die without hope. Awake to a sense of your danger. Arise and give diligence to make your calling and election sure, whatever else you leave uncertain. The kingdom of God is very near. Christ the almighty Savior, Christ the sinner’s Friend, Christ and eternal life, are ready for you if you will only come to Christ. Arise and cast away excuses; this very day Christ calls you. Wait not for company if you cannot have it; wait for nobody. The times, I repeat, are desperately dangerous. If only few are in the narrow way of life, resolve that by God’s help you at any rate will be among the few.
by J.C. Ryle
by J.C. Ryle
"He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all–how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32
Would I learn how to be contented and cheerful under all the cares and anxieties of life? What school shall I go to? How shall I attain this state of mind most easily? Shall I look at the sovereignty of God, the wisdom of God, the providence of God, the love of God? It is well to do so; but I have a better argument still.
I will look at Calvary and the crucifixion. I feel that He who spared not His only begotten Son but delivered Him up to die for me–will surely with Him give me all things that I really need. He who endured that pain for my soul–will surely not withhold from me anything that is really good. He who has done the greater things for me–will doubtless do the lesser things also. He who gave His own blood to procure me a home in Heaven–will unquestionably supply me with all that is really profitable for me by the way. Ah, reader, there is no school for learning contentment that can be compared with Calvary and the foot of the cross!
by J.C. Ryle
by J.C. Ryle
Let us read our Bibles in private more, and with more pains and diligence. Ignorance of Scripture is the root of all error, and makes a person helpless in the hand of the devil. There is less private Bible reading, I suspect, than there was fifty years ago. I never can believe that so many men and women would have been “tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine,” some falling into skepticism, some rushing into the wildest and narrowest fanaticism, and some going over to Rome, if there had not grown up a habit of lazy, superficial, careless, perfunctory reading of God’s Word. “You do err not knowing the Scriptures” (Matt. 22:29). The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.
by J.C. Ryle
by J.C. Ryle
Let us pray more heartily in private, and throw our whole souls more into our prayers. There are live prayers and there are dead prayers; prayers that cost us nothing, and prayers which often cost us strong crying and tears. What are yours? When great professors backslide in public, and the church is surprised and shocked, the truth is that they had long ago backslidden on their knees. They had neglected the throne of grace.
by J.C. Ryle
by J.C. Ryle
"God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness." Hebrews 12:10
How would the great work of sanctification go on in a person–if they had no trials?
Trouble is often the only fire which will burn away the dross which clings to our hearts.
Trouble is the pruning-knife which Christ employs in order to make us fruitful in good works. The harvest of the Lord’s field is seldom ripened by sunshine only. It must go through its days of wind and rain and storm.
"Before I was afflicted I went astray–but now I obey Your Word." Psalm 119:67
by J.C. Ryle
by J.C. Ryle
Do we find Christ’s name precious to us? Do we feel our hearts burn within us at the thought of His dying love? We will have perfect communion with Him in heaven. “We will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). “We will be with Him in paradise” (Luke 23:43 43). We will see His face in the kingdom. These eyes of ours will behold those hands and feet which were pierced with nails, and that head which was crowned with thorns. Where He is, there also will be the children of God. When He comes, they will come with Him. When He sits down in His glory, they will sit down by His side. This is indeed a blessed expectation! I am a dying man in a dying world. All before me is dark. The world to come is a unknown harbor. But Christ is there, and that is enough. Surely if there is rest and peace in following Him by faith on earth, there will be far more rest and peace when we see Him face to face. If we have found it good to follow the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness, we will find it a thousand times better to sit down in our eternal inheritance, with our Joshua, in the promised land.
by J.C. Ryle
by J.C. Ryle
Take advice this day, and resolve to possess the realities of Christianity, as well as the name, and the substance, as well as the form. Do not be content until you know something of the peace, hope, joy, and consolation which Christians enjoyed in former times. Ask yourself what is the reason that you are a stranger to the feelings which men and women experienced in the days of the Apostles: ask yourself why you do not “joy in the Lord,” and feel “peace with God,” like the Romans and Philippians, to whom Paul wrote. Religious feelings, no doubt, are often deceptive; but surely the religion which produces no feelings at all is not the religion of the New Testament. The religion which gives a person no inward comfort can never be a religion from God. Reader, take heed to yourself. Never be satisfied until you know something of the rest that is in Christ.
by J.C. Ryle
by J.C. Ryle
