Bishop j.c. Ryle: Liverpool's Mr. Protestant (Famous Saints #5) — Stephen Hamilton

And once more, it is our earnest prayer, dear God, that Thou wouldst use Thy Word as a sharp and a new threshing instrument, that Thou wouldst make us to be a vessel in Thy hand that would bring great honour and glory to Thy name.

Lord, encourage the saints of God that are here tonight, we pray that Thou wouldst help us to realise that little is much when God is in it, and we pray that we might labour as the hymn says, not for wealth or fame, there is a crown and we can win it if we go in Jesus' name.

We pray Thou wouldst bless this congregation, that Thou wouldst increase them with men like a flock, that Thou wouldst cause Thy face to shine graciously upon them. Remember Thy servant and help him in his ongoing ministry.

We pray, Father, that soon Thou wouldst enlarge the place of their tent and make them to break forth on the right hand and on the left. We pray for sinners that they might be saved. Even Lord, through these messages that are preached, that not only may Christians be encouraged and challenged and even convicted, but may those that know not the Saviour come to know the God of these great men.

Lord, have mercy upon us, help us now as we preach, and may we know that infilling of God the Holy Spirit for service. To Thee we shall ascribe all the glory for what Thou dost do. For we pray in Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.

The Preacher’s Commission to Preach the Gospel

First Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 16 says, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the God of the gospel. In these services we are looking together at the lives of famous Christians of a past generation, and especially are we looking at their lives in relation to those verses of scripture which held particular significance for them.

If you think of your own life, perhaps there is a verse or a series of verses, a passage of scripture, a portion of the word of God that has been a means of your conversion perhaps, or a means of comfort and blessing to your soul.

Maybe you can think back to a particular time in your life when one portion of the word of God was made very precious to you because the Lord drew near to you at that time. There may be therefore a particular text of scripture that you look upon as your life's verse.

And this series of messages that we've been gathered to hear, I've actually entitled Favourite Scriptures of Famous Saints. And in these studies I'm seeking to weave the life stories of eminent saints of God around those texts of scripture which had an impact upon their earthly pilgrimage with God.

Tonight I want to consider the life and ministry of an outstanding preacher of the 19th century in England. His name, John Charles Ryle, or more commonly known to us perhaps as J .C. Ryle, or Bishop Ryle.

A favourite text of his undoubtedly was 1 Corinthians 9 verse 16, and particularly the words, Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. And I think as you look at this verse you find right away that it is most appropriate for a preacher, for they were uttered by a preacher.

It was the Apostle Paul who first said, Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. But this text which was a motto of Paul's would serve very well as a motto for all gospel preachers. And certainly it seems did serve as a motto for J .C. Ryle.

As I've read in his life, and I've culled information from various places, I remember being told in Bible college by Dr. Paisley that you should milk many cows, but always churn your own butter. And that's what I've sought to do in preparing these messages.

I've brought together information from different places, but sought to bring it together. And it's very difficult to crystallise everything into one message. That is a message that everyone waits till the end to hear.

I could go on all night, and I don't intend to, speaking about J .C. Ryle, but one thing I've found in reading about him, and from his own writings, is that he was constantly and continually challenged by this text of scripture as he conducted his preaching ministry.

And what a good motto it is for a Christian minister, and would to God that all preachers were truly and genuinely guided by this verse in the exercise of the Holy Office. In our Macrafelt Church in Northern Ireland, if you've ever visited there, you will know that this text is upon the wall behind the pulpit.

But not only is it behind the wall, it's part of the wall. The bricks are different colours from the regular brick, so that you have this text standing out, but it's part of the wall. So in order to take down that text, you would have to take down the building.

I think that's a very good thing. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. This was J .C. Ryle's favourite text, it would seem. And I want us to look at it together and seek to weave around it the life of this man of God.

In this text I see three major thoughts. In the first place, there is here a great commission to be fulfilled by the minister. A great commission to be fulfilled by the minister, and what is it? It is the commission to preach the gospel.

Not every man who stands behind the secret desk can truthfully say with Paul, I preach the gospel. For we all know that there are many who do not preach the gospel. There are those who are preaching another gospel, a false gospel.

But God's true ministers, like the Apostle Paul, preach the gospel. For that is what they are sent to do. Bishop J .C. Ryle of the Church of England was a gospel preacher. He became a gospel minister in the Anglican Church, the Church of England.

He was born in the county of Cheshire in the year 1816. We are told that his father was a wealthy landowner and a parliamentary member. He was an MP, a member of parliament. Young John Charles was educated at the famous Eaton College, where Prince William went to school, and at Oxford University, with the intention that he would follow his father into a political life.

He would be a wealthy landowner with a career in politics. That was the plan. But as an ungodly poet once said, there are the best laid plans of mason men, and those plans are blown to smithereens when God is at work.

And God had another plan for J .C. Ryle. In 1838, during his final, his senior year at Oxford, he was converted by the grace of God. The Lord touched his heart. The gospel conquered his soul. And in 1841, feeling the call of God to preach that word, Ryle entered the Christian ministry.

He knew the commission of God in his own soul, the call of God to be a preacher of the gospel. And we know from our reading of scripture that preachers are not made, they are sent by God. Preachers are sent by the Lord, otherwise they are not men of God at all.

The apostle Paul himself, who wrote these words, Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel, could talk about his own call to the ministry. Let me read to you from 2 Timothy chapter 1, verses 10 and 11.

This is what Paul said, that at the end of that verse, the Lord has abolished death, hath brought life and immortality to light, through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed. Notice he didn't say I appointed myself.

But I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. A man sent from God. That was the commission that Paul felt in his soul throughout his ministry. He said necessity is laid upon me.

Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Because there was a commission from God in his soul. And Bishop J .C. Ryle knew, before he was a bishop of the Church of England, that he had a call from God, and thus a commission to fulfil.

Ryle once said, We ought to strive to feel like men commissioned to speak for God, and on his behalf. That was the commission that he felt throughout his entire life. Again I'm reminded of the words of Paul, this time to the Colossians, chapter 4 and verse 17, where Paul wrote to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.

There is a commission. There is ascending of the true preacher. And J .C. Ryle believed firmly that he had received a ministry from the Lord, and that he must fulfil it. And so for three years, first of all he laboured in the county of Hampshire, before labouring in two rural parishes, both in the county of Suffolk, first at a place called Helmingham, and then at Stradbroke.

Some years ago I had the joy and privilege of visiting both of those places. And the sad thing is that neither one of them, to my knowledge, is a gospel preaching church today. However, in the Helmingham church, when you go in through the door, the thing that hits you is the multitude of gospel texts that are painted on the walls.

I couldn't believe it. I thought, is this a Church of England church? And of course the only reason that they're preserved, I think, is because of their aesthetic quality, and because of the history, and because of the fact that they are of some historical value, being paintings on the wall.

But the texts are wonderful texts. And I remember standing in that pulpit, and just seeing text after text on the beams of the church, on the walls of the church, all painted in beautiful bright colours.

And I thought to myself, well if the preacher is a boring old apostate, at least when the people look around them, they're looking at the Word of God. And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if even to this day, people are saved when they go into that church.

Because they're surrounded by scripture. Of course that was Ryle's doing. Ryle was an evangelist. He was a gospel preacher. He loved to preach Christ. He loved to preach the gospel. And that was just indicative of that man of God.

But anyway, I had the privilege of visiting both of those churches, where Ryle ministered in Suffolk. He was there for 36 years altogether. That might surprise you. Because Ryle is usually associated with Liverpool.

And of course he did go to Liverpool, becoming the first bishop of the Church of England in Liverpool, in the year 1880. But actually the majority of his ministry was spent in Suffolk. 36 years. For he was only in Liverpool for 10 years, as far as his preaching was concerned, until his retirement in March 1900.

Or I should say 1890, where a few months later he went home to be with Christ. Bishop Ryle, as he became known, was a faithful minister of Christ. He took very, very seriously his commission. It was a commission to declare the gospel.

I haven't time to read extracts from his many writings. But I can assure you that if you get comments by Ryle, books by Ryle, you will find them eminently readable. You will find them enjoyable to read.

You will also find that he faithfully and earnestly declared the great truths of the Bible. Skillfully and zealously he urged men to close with Christ, freely offered in the gospel. He was always setting Christ before men.

It may again be a surprise to you that J .C. Ryle wrote somewhere between 200 and 300 gospel tracts, which were distributed and circulated all over the world, and in fact still are being circulated today.

Ryle was one who not only wrote tracts, but who distributed tracts himself. Just before the service I was telling Mr. Cranston that it was a quaint habit of Ryle, when he was riding along in his carriage, to throw bundles of tracts out the windows of the carriage onto the street.

You might say, well what a terrible waste of paper and tracts that was. Well, not really, because in the day in which he lived, people didn't have TVs and VCRs and ball games and all kinds of things to take their attention.

And anything that fell on the street, they lifted it. If it was free, they lifted it. And so, if you went along today through Port Hope or any other town and threw bunches of tracts out the window, you'd probably see the blue light in your rear view mirror, because you'd be littering the place and nobody would be interested, or at least few would be interested in lifting the tracts.

But not on Ryle's day. Children, older people, they would rush to lift this free literature off the street and I'm sure that many came to Christ through that ministry. So he was one who believed in not only preaching and in printing or publishing tracts, but in spreading the gospel himself on his travels.

He was one who took seriously the commission to declare the gospel. But it also was something that he took seriously. And he believed the commission of the Lord to include the necessary duty to defend the gospel.

Defending the Gospel Against False Doctrine

Again, he was like the Apostle Paul. We read what Paul says in Philippians chapter 1, verse 17. I am set for the defense of the gospel. Not just the preaching of the gospel. Not just the declaration of the gospel, but the defense of the gospel.

He felt it to be his sacred duty to expose false doctrine and to earnestly contend for the faith. Among the books of Ryle is an aptly titled series of papers called Warnings to the Churches. If you can get a hold of that book, you'll find it to be something that will be a challenge to you.

For Ryle realized as a preacher of God's flock that he had a responsibility before God to guard the sheep of Christ. And to warn the Lord's people whenever he saw approaching dangers. Ryle and his exposure of apostasy is legendary.

Ryle was one who wrote actually almost prophetically about the things that would happen in Great Britain as far as the downgrade and the apostasy was concerned. And his exposure of Romanism, his exposure of even the early ecumenical trends and the subtle counter-reformation movement was bold and fearless.

I was looking through some things that I have that Ryle wrote. There is a book that he wrote called Light from Old Times. And in that particular book, he was speaking about the reformers. And he was referring in particular to even Wycliffe who was a reformer before his time.

And he says this concerning the ministry of John Wycliffe. Let us gratefully remember that Wycliffe was one of the first Englishmen who attacked and denounced the errors of the Church of Rome. The sacrifice of the mass and transubstantiation, the ignorance and immorality of the priesthood, the tyranny of the See of Rome, the uselessness of trusting to other mediators than Christ, the dangerous tendency of the confessional.

All these and other kindred doctrines will be found on sparingly exposed in his writings. That is the writings of Wycliffe. On all these points, he was a thorough Protestant reformer a century and a half before the Reformation.

Well would it be for England if men saw this subject in the present day as clearly as Wycliffe did. Unhappily, nowadays, the edge of the old British feeling about Protestantism seems blunted and dull.

Some profess to be tired of all religious controversy and are ready to sacrifice God's truth for the sake of peace. Some look on Romanism as simply one among many English forms of religion and neither worse nor better than others.

Some try to persuade us that Romanism is changed and is not nearly so bad as it used to be. Some boldly point to the faults of Protestants and loudly cry that Romanists are quite as good as ourselves.

Some think it fine and liberal to maintain that we have no right to think anyone wrong who is in earnest about his creed. And yet, the two great historical facts a. That ignorance, immorality and superstition reigned supreme in England 400 years ago under Popery and b.

That the Reformation was the greatest blessing God ever gave to this land. Both these are facts which no one but a Papist ever thought of disputing 50 years ago. And he closes that section with this prophetic comment.

In short, at the rate we are going at, I shall not be surprised if it is soon proposed to repeal the Act of Settlement and to allow the Crown of England to be worn by a Papist. And that, of course, is happening in the day in which we live.

Ryle was fearless in defending the Gospel. His writings regarding the Romeward trend were, in a very real sense, prophetic. In the introduction to his piece on the five English martyrs, Ryle said, it is solemn to note, sorry I've got the wrong section, it says here that Ryle wrote, a sapping and mining process has long been going on under our feet, of which we are beginning at last to see a little.

We shall see a good deal more by and by. And then he gives this comment that he didn't think that it would be a surprise if within 50 years the Crown of England were no longer on a Protestant head and High Mass were once more celebrated in Westminster Abbey and St Paul's.

Well, actually, in 1960 a service of Requiem Mass was actually held for the late Earl of Halifax in Westminster Abbey. So Ryle was a fearless contender. He felt that he had a commission from the Lord to preach the Gospel, to declare the Gospel and to defend the Gospel, even as the great Apostle Paul had done before him.

The Minister’s Woe and Judgment

But in our text we not only see that there is a great commission to be fulfilled by the minister, there's also a great condemnation to be feared by the minister. And what is that great condemnation that is to be feared?

Woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel. I love this story from the life of Ryle because some years ago it became very real to me. I had read this story a number of times in books but when I saw the evidence of its truth before me when I visited the South of England I was greatly encouraged.

During his pastorate at Stradbroke Church in Suffolk, England, Ryle had a brand new pulpit placed in his church. I have stood in that pulpit. It was arranged by Ryle to have a scripture text carved into the top of that pulpit.

You know the shape of the pulpit? It's kind of a sectional little pulpit like this. It almost is like some of the coins. There's a coin in Great Britain, the 50 pence coin, and I think it's hexagonal, I can't remember.

Anyhow, the pulpit comes in sections like this. So he had this text written, part of it here and then part of it there, part of it on the front, part of it over here and around here so that the text surrounded him when he was preaching.

He wanted that text carved into the wood on the top of the pulpit so that it would ever be before the eye of the minister even if the minister wasn't him. So if he would be followed by another pastor or a visiting pastor would come, that same text would be before him.

And Ryle stood by while the carpenter, who was a craftsman, carved those words into the wood with his chisel. And you've guessed it, the text was Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. And when the craftsman was finished carving that text into the top of that pulpit, Ryle jumped up and just very suddenly and impulsively he reached for one of the carpenter's tools, a chisel or something like that, a sharp implement, and he proceeded to go to the pulpit and he gouged a deep groove into the wood.

Beneath the word not. Of course the carpenter was horrified that he had carved this beautiful text and then Ryle had just gouged a big ignorant piece of wood out from underneath it. But the reason that Ryle did that was that he wanted this word to be emphatic.

Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. And men and women, I remember visiting that church in Stradbrook and I'd read this in books before and I wanted to make a beeline straight for that pulpit to see if it was true.

Because you see, you read things a lot of times that are not true. And I remember someone saying that Spurgeon was attributed with a comment and someone said, Well, you know, I've never read that anywhere that Spurgeon ever said that.

And the man said, Well, if he didn't say it, he ought to have said it. And there's a lot of that kind of thing. So I wanted to know, did Ryle really do this? So I went to that pulpit and I just about wept when I saw that.

I could see that groove underneath the word not. It just looked out of place with the rest of the carving. That had been done by the great preacher because he wanted this to be emphatic. If I preach not the gospel.

The Apostle Paul had feared it and so Ryle feared it as well that he would fail to preach the gospel of Christ. That he would preach something other than the true gospel of Christ. You see, there are pastors, there are preachers who do not preach the gospel of redeeming grace.

The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 23 verse 1 that there is a woe that is pronounced by God upon such preachers. Let me read it to you. Jeremiah 23 verse 1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture saith the Lord.

There is a woe that has been pronounced by God upon those who do not preach faithfully His gospel. The Lord Jesus pronounced a similar woe, did He not? A series of woes in Matthew chapter 23. Let me read verse 13.

Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for you neither go in yourselves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. And that could be levied at many today who call themselves preachers.

They shut up the kingdom of heaven against their hearers. They don't tell men and women of their need to be saved. I recall the Reverend Jim Harton giving his testimony and telling how when he was a young man he was under great conviction and he was told by his own clergyman, his own minister that he should forget about all this nonsense about being born again and being saved that it wasn't true.

But thank the Lord he didn't listen to that man and came to know Christ as his Saviour. But what a condemnation there is upon those who will neither go in to the kingdom of heaven themselves and they will not allow others that are entering to go in because they do not preach the gospel.

Every minister should fear this. A ministry devoid of true gospel content and application because he ministers in the prospect of the judgment seat. The Lord's people are told in Hebrews 13 verse 17 that they are to obey them that have the rule over them.

And the reason is for they watch for your souls as they that must give account. They will stand before God and give an account for their ministry. That is why when Paul was speaking to young Timothy he said, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead of his appearing and his kingdom preach the word.

God's man must be faithful to the souls of his hearers. Again like Paul. Read Acts chapter 20 and you'll see there from verses 20 to 27 how faithful the man of God was. How he said, I kept nothing back that was profitable unto you.

He said, I went everywhere preaching and warning everyone night and day with tears. Preaching the gospel. What a condemnation awaits ungodly, unconverted ministers who lead their flocks into darkness.

I wouldn't be in their shoes for diamonds. For the Bible tells us if any man preach any other gospel than that which the Apostle Paul preached let him be accursed. Let him be damned in the lowest hell.

That was true again of the Apostle Paul who penned these words. For he said, if I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ. That was the sentiment of Bishop Ryle. He was a man who was bold fearless in preaching to men because he was the servant of Almighty God.

In one address to a group of ministers in 1859 Ryle said this May we never care what men say of us Master, when he said Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you and the words of Saint Paul If I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ.

I mentioned earlier that he had another Suffolk pastorate at a place called Helmingham. In Helmingham Ryle encountered quite a bit of opposition to his ministry. And that opposition was stirred up by a wealthy landowner who was a member of his church.

But it didn't faze the preacher. He was a fearless man. He continued to preach the gospel with great boldness. Ryle wouldn't trim his message down for anybody. Wouldn't pare off the sharp point of the gospel for anybody, rich or poor.

And I well remember the impression left upon me by my visit to that Helmingham church. As I've said already the walls and the beams of that church are covered in beautifully painted texts of scripture.

But here's the thing about those texts of scripture. Every single one of them was chosen carefully by Ryle himself. And they're so strategically placed For example on the way into the church as I remember there was a verse that said something about take heed how ye hear.

And then on the way out there was something about what you have heard about thinking about what you have heard. He chose every text extremely carefully. And above the pulpit not only on the pulpit which was the case in Stradbrooke but in Helmingham above the pulpit on the wall is the text Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.

When I visited the Helmingham church a friend of mine was pointing out to me in one side of that huge building there is a tomb of what I later learned was Ryle's wealthy critic. The man who raised opposition against him in that church.

He's buried in that church in a marked vault in the wall. And I was very amused to see that J .C. Ryle had specially selected verses surrounding that rich man's tomb. Painted on the walls on the left it says if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves.

To the right of that tomb it says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And above the man's tomb are the words the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Ryle did not fear any man but he feared God and therefore he preached the gospel.

The Compulsion of the Gospel Minister

But there's something else in this text and I think it's relevant to Ryle and that is there is here a great compulsion to be felt by the minister. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. But those words are preceded by these necessity is laid upon me.

Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. I think that implicit in that is not only the thought that it will not be good for me if I don't preach the gospel because of the Lord's punishment upon me but also within my own soul there is this burden there is this compulsion that I must and I cannot do anything else but preach the gospel of Christ.

I must preach. Spurgeon used to advise his prospective ministerial students only enter the gospel ministry if you cannot be content doing something else. And he was right. That's good advice. If I'm not a preacher by divine constraint I ought not to be a preacher at all.

This must be my compulsion. And Paul's attitude was I must preach the gospel. My own minister, Dr. Paisley once wrote a letter to me and it was even before the time when I had stated to anyone that the Lord was calling me to preach.

And yet he had written at the bottom of that letter Live to preach. Don't just preach to live. And what good advice that is. And Bishop J .C. Ryle was a preacher. He was not a time server. The ministry to him wasn't like a 9 to 5 job.

He was compelled by the divine burden of constraint. Preaching really was his life. That was his life. Preaching. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Now while in Suffolk for 36 years he obviously exercised his ministry in the pulpit.

We have many examples of his faithful preaching in his books and his notes which were taken by others. I have a set of volumes which are just basically thoughts on the gospels. They're called expository thoughts on the four gospels.

And they are precious. Tremendous literature. Tremendous practical preaching and teaching that will do your heart good to read. And Ryle was a preacher above all other things. He was compelled to preach.

His preaching was solid. And you might say, well what kind of things did he preach on? Well he preached most certainly the sovereignty of our God. He was a man who believed in studying the literature of the reformers and the Puritans.

And Ryle was like a Puritan in his own style. He was compelled to preach God's sovereignty, the truths of depravity and sovereign election and the perseverance of the saints and the necessity of the Spirit's work to originate faith and repentance in the heart of man.

These are things that he preached. But he also proclaimed the simplicity of the gospel. And men and women, the gospel is simple. It's not simplistic, but it's simple. It's so simple that even a child by the grace of God can understand what it is to be saved.

And away with this nonsense that you have to be of a certain intellectual level, that you have to have studied a certain amount of theology in order to be a Christian. Let us not confuse growing in grace with being a Christian.

And I believe with all my heart that when I tell a sinner what Paul told the jailer, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's good preaching. That's the kind of preaching that the Lord blesses.

And Ryle preached like that. He was busy in ministry by the pen as well as in the pulpit. I've mentioned already his tracts. He was a prolific writer of tracts and pamphlets as well as books. And you know, the Lord is still using the gospel tracts of Bishop Ryle.

A few years back, I got a call from the Reverend John Greer when I was still preaching in Scotland. And he told me a story which brought tears to my eyes. Some of the men from Malvern were down in the city center in Philadelphia giving out some tracts in literature.

And obviously someone there had received a gospel tract. And that person, she was actually a black woman, she called Mr. Greer's home. And this was sometime afterwards. And she asked, when she heard the phone, when she heard that the person was replying, she asked if she could speak to J .C. Ryle.

And the reason she asked if she could speak to J .C. Ryle is because on that tract, at the bottom of the tract, it just simply said, J .C. Ryle. He was the writer of the tract. And she thought when she phoned that number at the bottom that she was going to get to talk to J .C. Ryle.

Mr. Greer at first was amused by that and said, well actually, J .C. Ryle has been gone for about a hundred years or more. But he got to talking to this woman and that woman had come to know Christ through reading that tract and wanted to tell J .C. Ryle that she had come to know the Savior through what he had written.

Well, perhaps the Lord has told J .C. Ryle about that in heaven. I don't know what they know and what they don't know in heaven, but I have a notion that those kinds of things are known by the saints of the Lord in glory, even now.

But I know that many have profited by reading his books. One of the first books I ever read myself as a young man was the book entitled Holiness by J .C. Ryle. He also wrote other wonderful books and series of papers called Old Paths and Knots Untied and The Upper Room and Practical Religion.

His books on five Christian leaders and especially his book on five English reformers are priceless. Especially the section in that particular book which is called Why Were Our Reformers Burnt? That ought to be read by every Protestant man, woman and child.

Ryle as “Mr. Protestant”

Why Were Our Reformers Burnt? You know, Ryle was a man before his time. He wrote, for instance, I desire to raise a warning voice against the growing disposition to sacrifice dogma on the altar of so-called unity and to give up distinct doctrine for the sake of peace and cooperation.

The tide is running strongly in this direction. Ryle was nicknamed by his contemporaries Mr. Protestant. Kind of like a Mr. Paisley of his day. It's not surprising that that's what they called him. He was a fearless contender.

He was not afraid of opposition. In 1896, not that long before he died, I think I said earlier he died in 1890. It was actually 1900. That's when he died. But at a conference in Liverpool, Bishop Ryle said, Can there ever be any reunion between the Church of England and the Church of Rome?

I answer without hesitation that the very idea is monstrous and reflects no credit on the common sense of those who have launched it in these latter days. Well, my comment on that is I wonder what he would say now.

In Liverpool, the godly Bishop was nicknamed Mr. Protestant and for good reason. How sad that even in the city of Liverpool today, the Anglican Cathedral has been used and has been, its name has been besmirched by the presence of Roman Catholic priests and ecumenical services.

Oh, for men like Ryle today, we should pray that the Lord would raise up men that would be bold and fearless in their stand for truth. Men who will be preachers of the gospel. Men who will be defenders of the gospel.