Some good devotional reading, second to the Bible itself, comes from the writings of John Charles Ryle. His writings are devotional without sacrificing sound theology. Ryle's method and style of writing is scriptural and expository.

J. C. Ryle print, courtesy of the The Museum of Pilgrims.

On May 10, 1816, John Charles Ryle was born to John And Susanna Ryle of Macclesfield, Cheshire County, England. He attended Eton and then went on to Oxford, finishing his Oxford studies in 1837. It was at this time in 1837 that Ryle found salvation and faith in Christ.       In 1841 Bishop Charles Sumner of Winchester ordained J. C Ryle as a minister in the Anglican Church, (Church of England). In 1880 Ryle was named the first Bishop of the newly constituted diocese of Liverpool.       Throughout his ministry he became known and beloved as a defender of the evangelical reformed faith as expressed in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, of the Church of England.       In February, 1900, the 83 year old Bishop Ryle retired after many years of faithful ministry. He went home to be with his Lord on June 10, 1900.

Grave stone in the churchyard of All Saints Childwall, Liverpool, England (Image courtesy of Nigel Goodrich) An Account of J.C. Ryle's Conversion Biographical material gleaned from: John Charles Ryle: Evangelical Bishop; Peter Toon & Michael Smout, Reiner Publications, Swengel, PA USA; (1976) As of July, 1996, this book was still in print, and available from Reiner Publications.

"The plan I have adopted in drawing up the "Expository Thoughts" is as follows: I have divided the sacred text into sections or passages, averaging about twelve verses in each. I have then supplied a continuous series of short, plain "Expositions" of each of these passages. In each Exposition I have generally begun by stating as briefly as possible the main scope and purpose of the passage under consideration. I have then selected two, three, or four prominent points in the passage, singled them out from the rest, dwelt exclusively on them, and endeavoured to enforce them plainly and vigorously on the reader's attention. The points selected will be found to be sometimes doctrinal, and sometimes practical. The only rule in selection has been to seize on the really leading points of the passage." (From the Preface to the Expository Thoughts on Matthew.)

        Ryle acknowledges in the preface to the Expository Thoughts On John, he is doing much more with this Gospel then the other three. In that preface he states:

"The nature of the work now published, requires a few words of explanation. It is a continuation of the "Expository Thoughts on the Gospels," of which four volumes, comprising the first three Gospels, have already been set forth. Like the volumes on St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, the basis of the work is a continuous series of short expositions, intended for family or private reading, or for the use of those who visit the sick and the poor. But unlike the previous volumes, the work now in the reader's hands contains full explanatory notes on every verse of the portions expounded, forming, in fact, a complete Commentary."

        J. C. Ryle goes to great length as to why he felt the theological winds of the day compelled him to take such a course. He concludes with a list of other Commentaries on John that he studied, and gives an evaluation of their respective usefulness. This preface in itself is a commentary on issues the Evangelical Christian church struggles with to this very day.

• "Holiness"; "Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties,and Roots." (Highly recommended.) (Reprint Notice)
  • Introduction
  • Holiness: Chapters 1 - 5 (PDF): PDF file compiled by Jim Corney.

• "Practical Religion"; "Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers, and Privileges of Professing Christians." (Original publication in 1878. Reprinted by Baker Book House, 1977. NLA) Links to a modern language edition are listed below. (Reprint Notice)
  • Preface
  • I. Self-Inquiry

• "Christian Leaders of the Last Century", published in 1873, (part of which was reprinted by Banner of Truth as "Five Christian Leaders" (1960), and as of March 2002, a complete volume with all eleven sketches is available from Charles Nolan Publishers. ) According to the publisher's introduction to the Banner of Truth reprint, in the years of 1866 - 1867, Ryle penned eleven biographical sketches of 18th century Christian leaders for a monthly periodical, The Family Treasury. In 1868 the sketches were published together in one volume called, "Christian Leaders of the Last Century". Keep in mind references to "the last century" or "100 years ago" point to the "18th century". The eleven in the original volume were: George Whitefield, John Wesley, William Grimshaw, William Romaine, Daniel Rowlands, John Berridge, Henry Venn, Samuel Walker, James Hervey, A. M. Toplady, and John Fletcher. (A thank you to John Farese & friend for providing the E-text file.)
  • George Whitefield
  • Estimation of Whitefield's Ministry
  • Practical Lessons

• Light From Old Times: or Protestant Facts And Men; J.C. Ryle; (1890);
  Reprinted by Charles Nolan Publishers, Moscow, Idaho; (2000)
  • Letter by Bishop John Hooper
    J. C. Ryle did the Christian church a real service by including this letter by John Hooper in Light From Old Times. These words off Bishop Hooper are very much needed, and very appropriate to Christ's church as it enters the 21st century.

• A Call To Prayer: The text of A Call to Prayer was transcribed for the J. C. Ryle Book Shelf by Daniel W. Wright; ([email protected]). Our thanks to Dan for his kind labor. In this edition, where Ryle used the words like "men must..." it was changed to say; "people must..". (Reprint Notice)

• PENSAMIENTOS PARA HOMBRES JÓVENES : por J. C. Ryle / traducción: Luis Simpson. (137k) A special "Mucho gracias!" goes to Luis for this translation of Thoughts For Young Men, and to Tom Sullivan for doing the HTML code.

• Thoughts For Young Men: by J. C. Ryle
  A "thank you" to Richard J. Vincent of the Neo-Puritan Home Page for providing the text & HTML for Thoughts for Young Men. Text is slightly modernized. (Reprint Notice)

Church yard of All Saints Childwall, Liverpool, England.       The stone on the left marks the grave of Bishop Ryle. The stone on the right marks the grave of his third wife Henrietta (Clowes) Ryle. His first marriage was to Matilda C. L. Plumptre on Oct. 25, 1845. Matilda died in June 1847. Feb. 21, 1850. Ryle married as his second wife Jessie Elizabeth Walker. Jessie died in May 1860 from Bright's disease. In Oct. 1861 he was married to Henrietta who died in 1889. (Image courtesy of Nigel Goodrich)

• The J. C. Ryle Collection : Edited & published by the Bible Bulletin Board.
  (Most are text files. All are edited with modern language. These files at the Bible Bulletin Board are copyrighted (C)1998 by Tony Capoccia. All rights reserved.)

  Practical Religion by J. C. Ryle. Chapter 1 - Self-Examination (Self-Inquiry) Chapter 2 - Self-Effort (Self-Exertion) Chapter 3 - Authentic Religion (Reality) Chapter 4 - Prayer Chapter 5 - Bible Reading Chapter 6 - The Lord's Supper (Going to the Table) Chapter 7 - Love (Charity) Chapter 8 - Zeal Chapter 9 - Freedom Chapter 10 - Happiness Chapter 11 - Formality Chapter 12 - The World Chapter 13 - Riches And Poverty Chapter 14 - The Best Friend Chapter 15 - Sickness Chapter 16 - The Family of God Chapter 17 - Our Home! Chapter 18 - Heirs of God Chapter 19 - The Great Gathering Chapter 20 - The Great Separation

  Warnings To the Churches by J. C. Ryle Chapter 1 - The True Church Chapter 2 - Not Corrupting the Word Chapter 3 - Give Thyself Wholly to Them Chapter 4 - Pharisees and Sadducees Chapter 5 - All Kinds of Strange Teachings (Divers and Strange Doctrine) Chapter 6 - The Fallibility of Ministers Chapter 7 - Apostolic Fears Chapter 8 - Idolatry

• J. C. Ryle: Not Corrupting the Word (Edited, Modern Language - Christian Connections)
• J. C. Ryle: Give Yourself Wholly to Them (Edited, Modern Language - Christian Connections)
• J. C. Ryle: Pharisees and Sadducees (Edited, Modern Language - Christian Connections)

• Are You Born Again? by J. C. Ryle ( Blessed Hope Ministries)
• The Danger of Christian Complacency by J. C. Ryle (Blessed Hope Ministries)
• Duties of Parents by J. C. Ryle (Blessed Hope Ministries) (Reprint Notice)
• Sickness (John 11:3) by J. C. Ryle (Blessed Hope Ministries)
• Remember Lot's Wife by J. C. Ryle (Blessed Hope Ministries)
• Fire Fire! by J.C. Ryle (Blessed Hope Ministries)
• The Ruler of the Waves by J.C. Ryle (Blessed Hope Ministries) (Reprint Notice)
• Are You Asleep? by J.C. Ryle (Blessed Hope Ministries)

• Formality by J.C. Ryle (Shiloh Online Library) (Reprint Notice)

• A Day To Keep by J. C. Ryle (Grace Online Library)

Search list of books by J. C. Ryle available at Amazon.com.

Books by J. C. Ryle available at Amazon.com include:
Holiness	Thoughts for Young Men	Addresses to Young Children	Warnings to the Churches
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels ( 7 Volume Set ) Individual Volumes also available.
Matthew	Mark	Luke ( Vol. 1) ( Vol. 2)	John ( Vol. 1) ( Vol. 2) ( Vol. 3)
Light From Old Times: or Protestant Facts And Men

• The WWW Bible Gateway: The Scripture reference links used on the J. C. Ryle Book Shelf are to the Bible Gateway.

• Fire and Ice: Puritan and Reformed Writings: Bill Carson's excellent site.
• Grace Chapel: Early English Particular Baptist Writings.

• The Hall of Church History: Lots of good stuff here from Phil Johnson including...
  • The Spurgeon Archive: "The largest collection of Spurgeon resources on the Web."
• The Quiet Place - Being Christian in the Post-Modern world
• Sola Scriptura
• The Wicket Gate: Pastor W. J. (Jack) Seaton

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