J. C. Ryle Quotes

Religion is doing; a man does not merely think his religion or feel it, he lives his religion as much as he is able, otherwise it is not religion but fantasy or philosophy.

My children, the secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice.

There is one sure criterion of judgment as to religious faith in doctrinal matters; can you reduce it to practice? If not, have none of it.

We read many books, but that does not bring us knowledge. We may read all the Bibles in the world, but that will not give us religion. Theoretical religion is easy enough to get, any one may get that. What we want is practical religion.

True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess.

Religion is a thing to be lived. It is not merely sophistry.

Receiving, reading, researching, remembering, and reflecting on the Word of God are all useless if we fail to put what we learn into practice.

It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven.

Lived religion is a very different thing from strict textual analysis. Very few people of any faith live their lives as literalist interpretations of scripture.

A lot of people can talk about their faith. When you live it every day and act on the word of God, it's pretty cool to see.

I do devotion in the morning. I pray and I read the word.

We live by faith, and faith lives by exercise.

What we know about God is important, but what we do with what we know about God is even more important.

You will know as much of God, and only as much of God, as you are willing to put into practice.

Faith that doesn't affect your life isn't really faith.

I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to HAVE the Bible is one thing, and to READ it quite another.

Your religion is what you do when the sermon is over.

Divinity consists in use and practice, not in speculation.

Christianity is a religion which concerns us as we are here and now, creatures of body and soul. We do not "follow the footsteps of his most holy life" by the exercise of a trained religious imagination, but by treading the firm, rough earth, up hill and down dale.

There is more Bible buying, Bible selling, Bible printing and Bible distributing than ever before in our nation. We see Bibles in every bookstore - Bibles of every size, price and style. There are Bibles in almost every house in the land. But all this time I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to HAVE the Bible is one thing, and to READ it quite another.

The juice goes out of Christianity when it becomes too based on faith rather than on living like Jesus or seeing the world as Jesus saw it.

Faith, if it be a living faith, will be a working faith.

It is not enough to belong to a religion. You also have to put it into practice. Religion is like medicine. You have to ingest it to combat the illness.

Religion does not mean just precepts, a temple, monastery, or other external signs, for these as well as hearing and thinking are subsidiary factors in taming the mind.

I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses [of the Bible] all day than rinse my hand in several chapters.