JC Ryle

“Do nothing that you would not like God to see. Say nothing you would not like God to hear. Write nothing you would not like God to read. Go no place where you would not like God to find you. Read no book of which you would not like God to say, "Show it to Me."  Never spend your time in such a way that you would not like to have God say, "What are you doing?”

“The cross is the grand center of union among true Christians. Our outward differences are many, without doubt. One man is an Episcopalian, another is a Presbyterian; one is an Independent, another a Baptist; one is a Calvinist, another an Arminian; one is a Lutheran, another a Plymouth Brother; one is a friend to establishments, another a friend to the voluntary system; one is a friend to liturgies, another a friend to extemporary prayer. But in the end, what shall we hear in heaven about these differences? Nothing, most probably, nothing at all. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).”

“Happiness does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart.”

“Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer.”

“Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just; a God who is all love, but not holy; a God who as a heaven for every body, but a hell for none; a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and broad in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own, as truly an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible, and beside the God of the Bible there is no God at all.”

“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough-a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice-which costs nothing, and is worth nothing.”

“Hell is truth known too late.”

“Be very sure of this,-people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They understand it only too well; they understand that it condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment.”

“Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you.”

“A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. He may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace.”

“‎"A humble and prayerful person will find a thousand things in the Bible, which the proud student will utterly fail to discern."

“Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word.”

“There are no lessons so useful as those learned in the school of affliction.”

“Better to confess Christ 1000 times now and be despised by men, than be disowned by Christ before God on the day of Judgment.”

“I am one of those old-fashioned ministers who believe the whole Bible and everything that it contains.”

“Laughter, ridicule, opposition and persecution are often the only reward which Christ’s followers get from the world.”

“Next to praying there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible reading. By reading that book we may learn what to believe, what to be, and what to do; how to live with comfort, and how to die in peace.”

Happy is that man who possesses a Bible! Happier still is he who reads it! Happiest of all is he who not only reads it, but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith and practice!”

“One single soul saved shall outlive and outweigh all the kingdoms of the
world.”

“Let us never measure our religion by that of others, and think we are doing enough if we have gone beyond our neighbors.”

Believe me, you will find it no easy matter to turn to God whenever you please.”

“Guard your thoughts, and there will be little fear about your actions.”

“Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just. Such a God is an idol of your own.”

“We live in an age when there is a false glare on the things of time and a great mist over the things of eternity.”

“A man who is born again has a special love for all true disciples of Christ. Like his Father in heaven, he loves all men with a great general love, but he has a special love for those who share his faith in Christ. Like his Lord and Saviour, he loves the worst of sinners and could weep over them; but he has a peculiar love for those who are believers. He is never so much at home as when he is in their company.”

“What youth sows, old age must reap.”

“Prayer and temptation, the Bible and meditation, make a true minister of the gospel.”

“Those who confine God's love exclusively to the elect appear to me to take a narrow and contracted view of God's character and attributes....I have long come to the conclusion that men may be more systematic in their statements than the Bible, and may be led into grave error by idolatrous veneration of a system.”

“Sin, in short, is that vast moral disease which affects the whole human race, of every rank and class and name and nation and people and tongue, a disease from which there never was but one born of woman that was free. Need I say that One was Christ Jesus the Lord?”

“For my part I am persuaded the more light we have, the more we see our own sinfulness: the nearer we get to heaven, the more we are clothed with humility.”

“The very animals whose smell is most offensive to us have no idea that they are offensive, and are not offensive to one another.”

“The greater are our affections the deeper are our afflictions, and the more we love the more we have to weep.”

“It is of mercy that we are not in hell. It is of mercy that we have the hope of heaven. It is of mercy that we live in a land of spiritual light. It is of mercy that we have been called by the Spirit, and not left to reap the fruit of our own ways. It is of mercy that we still live and have opportunities of glorifying God actively or passively. Surely these thoughts should crowd on our minds whenever we speak with God. Surely we should never open our lips in prayer without blessing God for that free grace by which we live, and for that loving kindness which endureth for ever.”

“The love of Christ to sinners is the very essence and marrow of the Gospel.”

“A holy violence, a conflict, a warfare, a fight, a soldier's life, a wrestling, are spoken of as characteristic of the true Christian.”

“Ignorance of Scripture is the root of every error in religion, and the source of every heresy.”

“How true it is that the rulers of this world are seldom friendly to the cause of God.”

“Pride is the oldest and commonest of sins. Humility is the rarest and most beautiful of graces.”

“It is useless to say you have no time. There is plenty of time, if men will employ it. Time may be short, but time is always long enough for prayer. Daniel had the affairs of a kingdom on his hands, and yet he prayed three times a day. David was ruler over a mighty nation, and yet he says, “Evening and morning and at noon will I pray” (Psalms 55:17). When time is really wanted, time can always be found.”

“If the Bible is not the Word of God and inspired, the whole of Christendom for 1800 years has been under an immense delusion - half the human race has been cheated and deceived, and churches are monuments of folly. If the Bible is the Word of God and inspired, all who refuse to believe it are in fearful danger; they are living on the brink of eternal misery. No man, in his sober senses, can fail to see that the whole subject demands most serious attention.”

“The effects of preaching are a miracle.” A good preacher converts persons; he casts out devils from the hearts of those whom he changes from sin to holiness. This he could not do without power from God. But what seems good, is often not good.”

“Unbelief about the existence and personality of Satan has often proved the first step to unbelief about God.”

“Yet sanctification, in its place and proportion, is quite as important as justification. Sound protestant and evangelical doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse than useless: it does positive harm. It is despised by keen-sighted and shrewd men of the world, as an unreal and hollow thing, and brings religion into contempt.”

“He that would be safe from the acts of evil, must widely avoid the occasions.”

“Pride sits in all our hearts by nature. We are born proud. Pride makes us rest satisfied with ourselves, thinking we are good enough as we are. It closes our ears against all advice, refuses the gospel of Christ and turns every one to his own way.”

“Pride cast Adam out of paradise. He was not content with the place God assigned him. He tried to raise himself, and fell. Thus sin, sorrow and death entered into this world by pride.”

“The one true Church is composed of all believers in the Lord Jesus. It is made up of all Gods elect-of all converted men and women-of all true Christians. It is a Church of which all the members have the same marks. They are born of the Spirit; they all possess "repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ", and holiness of life and conversation. They all hate sin, and they all love Christ. They all worship with one heart. They are all led by one Spirit; they all build upon one foundation; they all draw their religion from one single Book-that is the Bible. They are all joined to one great center-that is Jesus Christ. They all, even now, can say with one heart, “Hallelujah"; and they can all respond with one heart and voice, “Amen and Amen”. It is a Church which is dependent upon no ministers upon earth, however much it values those who preach the Gospel to its members.”

“Let us never forget that truth, distorted and exaggerated, can become the mother of the most dangerous heresies.”

“There are many things which are not needful. Riches are not needful. Health is not needful. Fine clothes are not needful. Noble friends are not needful. The favour of the world is not needful. Gifts and learning are not needful. Millions have reached heaven without these things. Thousands are reaching heaven every year without them. But no one ever reached heaven without "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Fear puts an end to openness of manner; fear leads to concealment; fear sows the seed of much hypocrisy, and leads to many a lie.”

“So that the best believer, if he knows what he says, and says the truth, is but a sinner at the best.”

“The heart of man is the same in every age. The spiritual medicine which it requires is always the same.”

“Nothing perhaps affects man’s character more than the company he keeps.”

“The only way to be really happy, in such a world as this is to be ever casting all our cares on God.”

“Anything is better than apathy, stagnation, deadness, and indifference.”

“We shall do well to remember that, when we make our own miserably imperfect knowledge and consciousness the measure of our sinfulness, we are on very dangerous ground.”

“It is poor philosophy to say we will believe nothing unless we can understand everything!”

“Faith is to prayer what the feather is to the arrow: without it prayer will not hit the mark.”

“The cross sometimes means the afflictions and trials which believers in Christ have to go through if they follow Christ faithfully for their religion’s sake.”

“Without thorough conviction of sin, people may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a little while, but they will soon fall away and return to the world.”

“Good feelings and desires are useless if they are not accompanied by action.”

“It is bad enough to be unconverted and going to hell. It is even worse to say, “I know it and will not cry for mercy.”

“A holy person will seek to be faithful in all the duties and relations in life. He will not merely try to do as well as others who take no thought for their souls, but he will try to do even better, because he has higher motives and more help than they.”

“Prayer is the peculiarity of all real Christians now. They pray, for they tell God their wants, their feelings, their desires, and their fears; and they mean what they say. The nominal Christian may repeat prayers, and good prayers too, but he goes no further.”

“Let us resolve to pray much for ministers. Their office is no light one if they do their duty. They need the help of many intercessions from all praying people. They have not only their own souls to care for but also the souls of others. No wonder Paul cries, Who is adequate for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:16). If we never prayed for ministers before, let us begin to do it this day.”

“Let us urge on every one who exhibits new interest in religion to be content with nothing short of the deep, solid, sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost.”

“You might say that if you were so holy, you would be unlike other people. I answer, “You are right. You ought to be different from other people. Christ’s true servants always were unlike the world around them – a separate nation, a peculiar people – and you must be, too, if you would be saved!”

“True holiness, we surely ought to remember, does not consist merely of inward sensations and impressions. It is much more than tears, and sighs, and bodily excitement, and a quickened pulse, and a passionate feeling of attachment to our own favourite preachers and our own religious party, and a readiness to quarrel with everyone who does not agree with us. It is something of “the image of Christ,” which can be seen and observed by others in our private life, and habits, and character, and doings.”

“Be very sure of this--people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They understand it too well; they understand that it condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment. They try to believe it is false and useless, because they don't like to believe it is true. An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this book. Men question the truth of Christianity because they hate the practice of it.”

“I grant you true repentance is never too late, but I warn you at the same time, late repentance is seldom true. I grant you, one penitent thief was converted in his last hours, that no man might despair; But I warn you, only one was converted, that no man might presume.”

“The mere belief of the facts and doctrines of Christianity will never save our souls. Such belief is no better than the belief of devils. They all believe and know that Jesus is the Christ. They believe that He will one day judge the world and cast them down to endless torment in hell. It is a solemn and sorrowful thought that on these points some professing Christians have even less faith than the devil.”

“The poorest Englishman who understands his Bible knows more about religion than the wisest philosophers of Greece and Rome.”

“I know no condition of the soul that is more dangerous than to imagine we are born again and sanctified by the Holy Spirit because we have picked up a few religious feelings.”

“Sanctification does not consist in getting away from our responsibilities in life and renouncing our social duties. In every age it has been a snare with many to attempt to get away from their duties in this world in the pursuit of holiness. Hundreds of hermits have buried themselves in some wilderness, and thousands of men and women have shut themselves up within the walls of monasteries and convents under the futile idea that by so doing they would escape sin and become eminently holy. They have forgotten that no bolts and bars can keep out the devil, and that wherever we go we carry that root of all evil – our own hearts.”

“He who would understand the nature of true holiness must know that the Christian is "a man of war." If we would be holy, we must fight.”

“The Word of God always speaks of two great divisions of mankind, and only two. It speaks of the living and the dead in sin, the believer and the unbeliever, the converted and the unconverted, the travelers in the narrow way and the travelers in the broad, the wise and the foolish, the children of God and the children of the devil.”

“We live in a day of abounding vagueness and indistinctness on doctrinal subjects in religion. Now, if ever, it is the duty of all advocates of clear, well-defined, sharply-cut theology, to supply proof that their views are thoroughly borne out by Scripture.”

“Give up your secret pride. Cast away your vain ideas of your own goodness. Be thankful if you have grace, but never glory in it for a moment. Work for God and Christ with heart and soul and mind and strength, but never dream for a second of placing confidence in any work of your own.”

“Contempt of holy things is the straight road to hell. Once a man begins to make a joke of any part of Christianity, then I am never surprised to hear that he has turned out to be an unbeliever.”

“None knows better than the devil, that "to divide is to conquer.”

“Look to your foundation, if you would know whether or not you are a member of the one true Church.”

“As a general rule, in the long run of life, it will be found true that sanctified people are the happiest people on earth. They have solid comforts that the world can neither give nor take away.”

“Our God is a God of order, and a God who works by means, and we have no right to expect His cause to be kept up by constant miraculous interpositions, while His servants stand idle.”

“Just in proportion as we realize how much Christ has done for us, shall we labour to do much for Christ.”

“How true it is that the holiest saint in his humanness is a miserable sinner and a debtor to mercy and grace to the last moment of his existence”

“I want the times we live in to be praying times. I want the Christians of our day to be praying Christians. I want the Church of our age to be a praying Church.”

“True saving faith is a very different kind of thing. True faith will always show itself by its fruits – it will sanctify, it will work by love, it will overcome the world, and it will purify the heart.”

“The great debt with God must be settled. The King must be upon His throne. Then, and not until then, will there be peace within. Without repentance, there cannot be true happiness. We must repent if we want to be happy.”

“Would you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then you must begin with Christ. You will do nothing at all and make no progress till you feel your sin and weakness, and flee to Him. He is the root and beginning of all holiness, and the way to be holy is to come to Him by faith and be joined to Him.”

“The watchman who keeps silent when he sees a fire, is guilty of gross neglect--the doctor who tells us we are getting well when we are dying, is a false friend; and the minister who keeps back hell from his people in his sermons is neither a faithful nor a charitable man.”

“Free speech, free laws, political freedom, commercial freedom, national freedom – all these cannot smooth down a dying pillow, or disarm death of his sting, or fill our consciences with peace. Nothing can do that but the freedom which Christ alone bestows. He gives it freely to all who seek it humbly. Then let us never rest until it is our own.”

“The most miserable creature on earth is the man who has nothing to do. Work for the hands or work for the mind is absolutely essential to human happiness.”