J. C. Ryle Quotes

If I do not return to the pulpit this weekend, millions of people will go to hell.

My father was a no-nonsense, dedicated, and focused minister, and there was usually a sermon he needed to prepare for or a Scripture he needed to study, and that always came first.

My father was a minister, so I was raised in the church.

I want people to remember me that I was faithful, faithful to the gospel, faithful to the call that God gave me. And when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask him why he called me, because I was much used to milking cows and working on the farm than I was preaching.

My dad was a non-denominational preacher, actually a Congregationalist which is really where all congregations come to congregate. That's why it's called a Congregationalist. Later on in life, he just became a non-denominational preacher, kind of a fire and brimstone type guy. That's how I grew up.

He that has but one word of God before him, and out of that word cannot make a sermon, can never be a preacher.

That preaching is sadly defective which dwells exclusively on the mercies of God and the joys of heaven, yet never sets forth the terrors of the Lord and the miseries of hell.

The preachers commission is to declare the whole counsel of God; but the cross is the center of that counsel.

The more faithful preachers are to the Word of God in their preaching, the more liable they are to the charge of hypocrisy. Why? Because the more faithful people are to the Word of God the higher the message is that they will preach. The higher the message, the further they will be from obeying themselves.

Have you been holding back from a risky, costly course to which you know in your heart God has called you? Hold back no longer. Your God is faithful to you, and adequate for you. You will never need more than He can supply, and what He supplies, both materially and spiritually, will always be enough for the present.

I was talking to Jesus, and I said, Jesus, I feel like no one will ever accept me. And Jesus looked at me and said, You know what my theory is? Accept me or go to hell.

We preachers, people entrust us with their time week after week. I'm still stunned that people will let me talk to them for thirty minutes about anything I want to. It's a wonderful treasure that we are to steward.

Saying is one thing and doing is another; we are to consider the sermon and the preacher distinctly and apart.

I think the devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that's in me should set hell on fire.

I have many times essayed thoroughly to investigate the ten commandments, but at the very outset, "I am the Lord thy God," I stuck fast; that very one word, I, put me to a non-plus. He that has but one word of God before him, and out of that word cannot make a sermon, can never be a preacher.

I am not afraid of any god in the universe who would send me or any other man or woman to hell. If there were such a being, he would not be a god; he would be a devil.

This temporal fire is but a painted fire in respect of that penetrating and real fire in hell.

Criminals together. We're in hell, my little friend, and there's never any mistake there. People are not damned for nothing.

Their bodies will be raised from the dead as vessels for the soul-vessels of wrath. The soul will breathe hell-fire, and smoke and coal will seem to hang upon its burning lips, yea the face, eyes, and ears will seem to be chimneys and vents for the flame, and the smoke of the burning , which God, by His breath, hath kindled therein, and upon, them, which will be held one in another, to the great torment and distress of each other.

I get sent Bibles. I have a collection of about 20 in my room. People think I need to be guided.

The doctrine of hell is not "mediaeval priestcraft" for frightening people into giving money to the church: it is Christ's deliberate judgment on sin.... We cannot repudiate hell without altogether repudiating Christ.

Kind of the bottom line for me, I don't think people come to the church where I preach to hear my view on politics.

I don't think hell exists. I happen to believe in life after death but I don't think it's got a thing to do with reward and punishment. Religion is always in the control business and that's something which people don't really understand.

More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: 'Give them something to eat.'

I don't think anyone is going to Hell, because it only exists in the minds of people who wish ill will on others.