Quotes from JC Ryle

Oh! The second Eden will be far better than the first! In the first Eden the door was not shut; our joy was just for a moment. But blessed be God, in the second Eden the Lord will shut us in.

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.

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,

The family of Abraham will no longer feel temptations, and the family of Job will not feel afflictions. The family of David will no longer mourn loss and death, the family of Paul will not feel thorns in the flesh, and the family of Lazarus will no longer be afflicted by poverty and sores.

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!

Oh begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life! There is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow: do not starve yourself any longer.

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.

To commune with God in prayer, in the Bible, and in the assembly of His people will be the holy person's main enjoyments. He will value every place and thing and company in proportion to how they draw him nearer to God. He will enter into something

The world we live in would have fallen upon our heads, had it not been upheld by the pillar of the cross; had Christ not stepped in and promised a satisfaction for the sin of man. By this all things consist — not a blessing we enjoy but may remind us of it; they were all forfeited by sin, but merited by His blood. If we study it well, we shall be sensible how God hated sin and loved a world." — Charnock.

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.