Thursday, August 18, 2011

words from another century

JC Ryle was a pastor in Liverpool in the 1800's and wrote a book called Holiness. I pulled this off the shelf recently and just found some statements that I thought might contribute to our spiritual growth.

Here are some free samples: ( sort of like Sam's club -- but for your brain)

Page 75 " A single day in hell will be worse than a whole life spent carrying the cross."

page 67 " But it does cost something to be a real Christian, according to the standard of the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, an Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, a race to be run. Conversion is not putting a man in an armchair and taking him easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory. Hence, arises the unspeakable importance of counting the cost."


page 20 : " True holiness does not consist merely of believing and feeling, but of doing and bearing, a practical exhibition of active and passive grace. Our tongues, our tempers, our natural passions and inclinations; our conduct as parents and children, masters and servants, husbands and wives, rulers and subjects; our dress, our employment of time, our behavior in business, our demeanor in sickness and health, in riches and in poverty ---all these matters which are fully treated by inspired writers. "

same section: " True holiness, we surely ought to remember, does not merely consist 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 favorite 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 observed and seen by others. It is something that would be demonstrated by our private lives and character. "