Shepherd the Flock

Yesterday we celebrated my son Rylee’s 1st birthday. Rylee is named after the 19th century Anglican bishop, J.C. Ryle (along with my dad, Chandler, which is Rylee’s middle name).

Before we lit the cake and sang to little Rylee, I briefly explained to our friends and family what made J.C. Ryle so special, and why I’d name my son after an Anglican.

Broadening those thoughts just a bit, here is a good summary of what I admire most in Ryle, taken from Ryle himself in Knots Untied:

Ryle was an Evangelical

What is Evangelical Religion?

1) The first leading feature in Evangelical Religion is the absolute supremacy it assigns to Holy Scripture, as the only rule of faith and practice…

2) The second leading feature in Evangelical Religion is the depth and prominence it assigns to the doctrine of human sinfulness and corruption…

All men…are not only in a miserable, pitiable, and bankrupt condition, but in a state of guilt, imminent danger, and condemnation before God…

Hence we protest with all our heart against formalism, sacramentalism, and every species of mere external or vicarious Christianity. We maintain that all such religion is founded on an inadequate view of man’s spiritual need.

3) The third leading feature in Evangelical Religion is the paramount importance it attaches to the work and office of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the nature of the salvation which He has wrought out for man…

4) The fourth leading feature in Evangelical Religion is the high place which it assigns to the inward work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of man…

We maintain that the things which need most to be pressed on men’s attention are those mighty works of the Holy Spirit, inward repentance, inward faith, inward hope, inward hatred of sin, and inward love to God’s law…

5) The fifth and last leading feature in Evangelical Religion is the importance which it attaches to the outward and visible work of the Holy Ghost in the life of man…

The true grace of God is a thing that will always make itself manifest in the conduct, behaviour, tastes, ways, choices and habits of him who has it. It is not a dormant thing…

To tell a man he is “born of God”, or regenerated, while he is living in carelessness or sin, is a dangerous delusion…

Where there is the grace of the Spirit there will always be more or less fruit of the Spirit.

I am thankful for Ryle and his legacy of Gospel faithfulness. And I encourage you to get to know him better if you’re not familiar with his writings.