Review: "J. C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone"

Before reading, J. C. Ryle:  Prepared to Stand Alone, by Iain H. Murray, I had read some of Ryle’s “thoughts” on the Gospels, but nothing else.  Now I look forward to reading more of him.

Opposite the title page is a picture of Ryle with the following quote:  “We want more boldness among the friends of truth.  There is far too much tendency to sit still, and wait for committees, and number our adherents.  We want more men who are not afraid to stand alone.  It is truth, not numbers, which shall always in the end prevail.  We have the truth, and we need not be ashamed to say so.  The judgement day will prove who is right, and to that day we boldly appeal.”

Murray relies first on Ryle’s autobiography (all published by Banner of Truth) which covers the first forty-four years of his life.  The final forty years are put together through a variety of sources.

Ryle was the son of a banker who had become quite wealthy.  Ryle did not intend to enter the ordained ministry initially because he felt a call to it – he was not even a Christian at that time, but because his family went bankrupt, and he thought the ministry would provide a steady income.

“I became a clergyman because I felt shut up to it, and saw no other course of life open to me” (56).  In the Providence of God, at age 21, he received the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ryle found himself in a denomination hostile to the clear teaching of the Scripture.  A denomination more interested in the thing of the world – much akin to many denominations of Christianity today.  Ryle stood up for the Word of God and would not stand down, even if he should be alone.

I found this book uplifting, seeing that the work is God and we are called to faithfulness and obedience to Him.  The battle is the Lord’s.  And it also challenged me to continue to think about how best to respond to my denomination, and the churches in my area, where the Word of God is put far away from the hysterical or fun-fun-fun worship services of our churches.

Ryle writes, “Men must read, if their ministry is not to become threadbare, thin, and a mere repetition of hackneyed commonplace.  Always taking out of their minds and never putting in, they must naturally come to the bottom.  Reading alone will make a full man” (99).

I remember in seminary during a class being asked to think of habits we would want to employ in our ministry.  When I mentioned the reading of theology, there was an outcry of disgust, and one student said she would never read theology again after she become ordained.

“If preaching were to become what it ought to be, ministers must be, as were Puritan giants, students.  Less public work.  Fewer committees.  Less serving of tables” (115).

Since his ministry was based in the preaching of the Word of God as He hath spoken, the ministry of Ryle, his example, and his stands are very much relevant and those of today – because nothing changes.

“No doubt we all love unity; but we must distinctly maintain, that rue unity can only be built on God’s truth.  No doubt we must not withhold the right hand of fellowship from any faith brother, because he does not think exactly like us; but we must understand who the men are to whom we extend the right hand” (179).

Ryle has much to say to the ministry and to the church today.  Take up and read.

The book ends with an essay considering what Ryle says for today, extracts from Ryle’s writings, and some thoughts on his son, Herbert.

[This review appears on my blog and on Amazon.com.]