J.C. Ryle Quotes

110 years ago today, June 10th, 1900, the prolific writer, vigorous preacher and faithful pastor, John Charles Ryle died in England at the age of 84. Here are some quotes surrounding Ryle’s death and his legacy in Christian history.

J.C. Ryle’s Death

From Evangelical Bishop by Peter Toon and Michael Smout:

Ryle had chosen Lowestoft [England] as the scene of his retirement, along with his daughter, Jessie Isabella. He had learned to love the seaside town during his time in Suffolk and so it was appropriate that he should name his new home, ‘Helmingham House.’ The Ryles were due to arrive in Lowestoft on March 6th, 1900, but it was the middle of the month before they arrived, further illness having delayed them. The house was pleasant and overlooked the North Sea, but Ryle was in no condition to appreciate the view. He slept badly and had little energy to talk. The end came suddenly. It was June 9th, a Saturday evening, when the doctor was called. He found Ryle partly unconscious. His sons were sent telegrams asking them to come immediately but only Herbert, not far away in Cambridge, came in time. At 2:15 p.m. on the Sunday afternoon, the Lord’s Day, John Charles Ryle went to be with that same Lord.

J.C. Ryle’s Funeral

On Wednesday morning a small crowd gathered at Lowestoft station to pay its last respects. The huge oak-paneled coffin was put in a special funeral car attached to the 7:57 a.m. train for Liverpool. Arriving in Liverpool the coffin containing the old Bible from which he had preached was taken to All Saint’s Church, Childwall. As yet there were no crowds; only the Vicar and Bishop Royston were there to receive it. The ivy-clad church stood on the slope of a hill looking out south over the Mersey [river] and into Cheshire. The Bishop had known it well for he had visited the grave of his wife there each week since she had died [in 1889].

The morning of the day of the funeral began grey and drizzly but by the afternoon the weather had brightened up and people in their thousands came out from the center of Liverpool in the special trains. The service was quite simple. Archdeacon Taylor read the first lesson from Psalm 90. ‘Rock of Ages’, Ryle’s favorite hymn, was sung. The second lesson was from I Corinthians 15 read by Archdeacon Madden. It had been planned to end the service by the graveside but the rain came on. Therefore after the service in church only the words of committal, said by Bishop Royston, and the benediction, given by Bishop Chavasse, were said by the graveside. The body of J. C. Ryle, with Bible clasped in his hands, at last lay next to that of his third wife.

J.C. Ryle’s Gravestone

On the gravestone were engraved two texts. The first was a reminder of the conversion which set him off on the Christian pilgrimage; Ephesians 2:8, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith.’ The second testified that he had now finished that earthly pilgrimage; II Timothy 4:7, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.’ In a memorial sermon Canon Hobson declared that ‘few men in the nineteenth century did so much for God, for truth and for righteousness among the English speaking race, and in the world, as our late Bishop.’ More simply, his successor, Bishop Chavasse, described him as a man ‘who lived so as to be missed.’

(Image below courtesy of Nigel Goodrich)

J.C. Ryle's gravestone

From The J.C. Ryle Bookshelf:

The gravestone on the left (below) marks the grave of Bishop Ryle. The stone on the right (below) 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. On Feb. 21, 1850, Ryle married his second wife Jessie Elizabeth Walker. Jessie died in May 1860 from Bright’s disease. In Oct. 1861, Ryle was married to Henrietta, who died in 1889.

(Image below courtesy of Nigel Goodrich)

The Ryle gravestones; Ryle on left, wife on right.

J.C. Ryle’s Legacy

From Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J.C. Ryle, p. 13, 14:

Three days after Ryle’s burial, Richard Hobson, a senior clergyman who had been at the Liverpool diocese from its foundation in 1880, declared:

“He [J.C. Ryle] was great through the abounding grace of God. He was great in stature; great in mental power; great in spirituality; great as a preacher and expositor of God’s most holy Word; great in hospitality; great as a writer of Gospel tracts; great as a Bishop of the Reformed Evangelical Protestant Church in England, of which he was a noble defender; great as first Bishop of Liverpool. I am bold to say, that perhaps few men in the nineteenth century did as much for God, for truth, and for righteousness, among the English speaking race, and in the world, as our late Bishop.”

(Image below courtesy of Paul Hart)

J.C. Ryle Memorial at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

(Image below courtesy of Jeff McDonald)

J.C. Ryle Memorial at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

J.C. Ryle May 10, 1816 - June 10, 1900

Let us pray, while we live in health, that we may glorify God in our end. Let us leave it to God to choose the where, and when, and how, and all the manner of our departing. Let us only ask that it may “glorify God.” He is a wise man who takes John Bunyan‘s advice, and keeps his last hour continually in mind, and makes it his company-keeper. It was a weighty saying of John Wesley, when one found fault with the doctrines and practices of the Methodists – “At any rate, our people die well.”

~ J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, volume 3, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1987], 513, 514.

The strong consolation which assurance can give in the hour of death is a point of great importance. We may depend on it, we shall never think assurance so precious as when our turn comes to die. In that awful hour there are few believers who do not find out the value and privilege of an “assured hope,” whatever they may have thought about it during their lives. General “hopes” and “trusts” are all very well to live upon while the sun shines and the body is strong; but when we come to die, we shall want to be able to say, “I know” and “I feel”.

~ J.C. Ryle

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Assurance”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 135.

Sickness helps to remind men of death. Most live as if they were never going to die. They follow business, or pleasure, or politics, or science, as if earth was their eternal home. They plan and scheme for the future, like the rich fool in the parable, as if they had a long lease of life, and were not, tenants at will. A heavy illness sometimes goes far to dispel these delusions. It awakens men from their day-dreams, and reminds them they have to die as well as to live. Now this I say emphatically is a mighty good.

~ J.C. Ryle

Practical Religion, “Sickness”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 360.

I charge you never to give up the old doctrine of the blood of Christ, the complete satisfaction which that atoning blood made for sin, and the impossibility of being saved except by that blood. Let nothing tempt you to believe that it is enough to look only at the example of Christ, or only to receive the sacrament which Christ commanded to be received,  for which many nowadays worship like an idol.

When you come to your deathbed, you will want something more than an example and a sacrament. Take heed that you are found resting all your weight on Christ’s substitution for you on the cross, and His atoning blood, or it will be better if you had never been born.

~ J.C. Ryle

The Upper Room, “One Blood”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1970], 108.