Grace Gems

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The sick room, part 2

(J.C. Ryle)

"In those days King Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death! The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said: 'This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.' Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 'Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly." Isaiah 38:1-3

I ask you to learn from this chapter, that sickness is not an unmixed evil.

That King Hezekiah received spiritual benefit from his illness--I think there can be no doubt. The good man saw things in his sickness, which he had never seen clearly and fully in the days of health.

I do not say that sickness always does good. Alas! We ministers know to our sorrow, that it frequently does no good at all. Too often we see men and women, after recovering from a long and dangerous illness--more hardened and impious than they were before. Too often they return to the world, if not to overt sin--with more eagerness and zest than ever. The impressions made on their conscience in the hour of sickness, are swept away like children's writing on the sand of the sea-shore when the tide flows in.

But I do say that sickness ought to do us good. And I do say that God sends it in order to do us good. Affliction is a friendly letter from Heaven. It is a knock at the door of conscience. It is the voice of the Savior knocking at the heart's door. Happy is he who opens the letter and reads it, who hears the knock and opens the door, who welcomes Christ to the sick room. Come now, and let me show you a few of the lessons which He by sickness would teach us.

1. Sickness is meant to make us think--to remind us that we have a soul as well as a body--an immortal soul--a soul that will live forever in happiness or in misery--and that if this soul is not saved, we had better never have been born.

2. Sickness is meant to teach us that there is a world beyond the grave--and that the world we now live in is only a training-place for another dwelling, where there will be no decay, no sorrow, no tears, no misery, and no sin.

3. Sickness is meant to make us look at our past lives honestly, fairly, and conscientiously.
Am I ready for my great change--if I should not get better?
Do I truly repent of my sins?
Are my sins forgiven and washed away in Christ's blood?
Am I prepared to meet God?

4. Sickness is meant to make us see the emptiness of the world and its utter inability to satisfy the highest and deepest needs of the soul.

5. Sickness is meant to send us to our Bibles--that blessed Book, which in the days of health is too often left on the shelf, and is never opened from January to December. But sickness often brings it down from the shelf and throws new light on its pages.

6. Sickness is meant to make us pray. Too many, I fear, never pray at all, or they only rattle over a few hurried words morning and evening without thinking what they do. But prayer often becomes a reality--when the valley of the shadow of death is in sight!

7. Sickness is meant to make us repent and break off our sins. If we will not hear the voice of mercies--then God sometimes makes us "hear the rod."

8. Sickness is meant to draw us to Christ. Naturally we do not see the full value of the blessed Savior. We secretly imagine that our prayers, good deeds, and sacrament-receiving will save our souls. But when flesh begins to fail--then the absolute necessity of a Redeemer, a Mediator, and an Advocate with the Father, stands out before men's eyes like fire, and makes them understand those words, "Simply to Your cross I cling!" as they never did before. Sickness has done this for many--they have found Christ in the sick room.

9. Last, but not least, sickness is meant to make us feeling and sympathizing towards others. By nature we are all far below our blessed Master's example--who had not only a hand to help all, but a heart to feel for all. None, I suspect, are so unable to sympathize--as those who have never had trouble themselves. And none are so able to sympathize--as those who have drunk most deeply the cup of pain and sorrow.

Brethren, when your time comes to be ill, I beseech you not to forget what the illness means. Beware of fretting and murmuring and complaining, and giving way to an impatient spirit. Regard your sickness as . . .
  a blessing in disguise;
  a good--and not an evil;
  a friend--and not an enemy.

No doubt we would all prefer to learn spiritual lessons in the school of ease--and not under the rod. But rest assured that God knows better than we do, how to teach us. The light of the last day will show you that there was a meaning and a "needs-be" in all your bodily ailments. The lessons that we learn on a sick-bed, when we are shut out from the world--are often lessons which we would never learn elsewhere. Settle it down in your minds, that, however much you may dislike it--sickness is not an unmixed evil.

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Everybody is going to be saved--and nobody is going to be lost!

(J.C. Ryle, 1884)

One great danger of the church today, consists in the rise and progress of a spirit of indifference to all doctrines and opinions in religion. A wave of latitudinarianism about theology, appears to be passing over the land. The minds of many seem utterly incapable of discerning any difference between . . .
  one belief--and another belief,
  one creed--and another creed,
  one tenet--and another tenet,
  one opinion--and another opinion,
  one thought--and another thought,
however diverse and mutually contrary they may be!
Everything is true--and nothing is false.
Everything is right--and nothing is wrong.
Everything is good--and nothing is bad--if only it comes to us under the garb and name of religion. Most think that it is kind and liberal, to maintain that we have no right to think that anyone is wrong, who is in earnest about his creed.
We are not allowed to ask what is God's truth--but what is liberal, and generous, and charitable.

Most professing Christians make cleverness and earnestness the only tests of orthodoxy in religion. Thousands nowadays seem utterly unable to distinguish things that differ. If a preacher is only clever and eloquent and earnest--they think that he is all right, however strange and heterodox his sermons may be.
Popery--or Protestantism,
an atonement--or no atonement,
a personal Holy Spirit--or no Holy Spirit,
future punishment--or no future punishment
--they swallow all! Carried away by an imagined liberality and charity, they seem to regard doctrine as a matter of no importance, and to think that everybody is going to be saved--and nobody is going to be lost! They dislike distinctness, and think that all decided views are very wrong!

These people live in a kind of mist or fog! They see nothing clearly, and do not know what they believe. They have not made up their minds about any great point in the Gospel, and seem content to be honorary members of all schools of thought. For their lives--they could not tell you what they think is truth about . . .
  forgiveness of sins,
  or justification,
  or regeneration,
  or sanctification,
  or saving faith,
  or conversion,
  or inspiration,
  or the future state.

They are eaten up with a morbid dread of doctrine. And so they live on undecided, and too often undecided they drift down to the grave, on the broad way which leads to eternal destruction.

They are content to shovel aside all disputed points as rubbish, and will tell you, "I do not pretend to understand doctrine. I dare say that it is all the same in the long run." They are for a general policy of universal toleration and forbearance of every doctrine. Every school of false teaching, however extreme, is to be tolerated. They desire the Church to be a kind of Noah's Ark, within which every kind of opinion and creed shall dwell safely and undisturbed, and the only terms of admittance are a willingness to come inside, and let your neighbor alone. Nothing is too absurd to concede and allow into the church, in the present mania for complete freedom of thought, and absolute liberty of opinion.

The explanation of this boneless, nerveless condition of soul, is perhaps not difficult to find. The heart of man is naturally in the dark about religion--has no intuitive sense of truth--and really needs divine instruction and illumination. Besides this, the natural heart in most men hates exertion in religion. Above all, the natural heart generally likes the praise of others, shrinks from collision, and loves to be thought charitable and liberal. The whole result is that a kind of broad religious anythingism just suits an immense number of professors.

Ignorance, I am compelled to say, is one of the grand dangers of professors of religion in the present day.

Who does not know that such people swarm and abound everywhere? And who does not know that anyone who denounces this state of things, and insists that we should be loyal to Scripture truth--is regarded as a narrow, bigoted, intolerant person, quite unsuited to our times?

When there is no creed or standard of doctrine, there can be no church, but a Babel. Let me venture to advise all true Christians to never to be ashamed of holding Evangelical views. Those views, I am quite aware, are not fashionable nowadays. They are ridiculed as old-fashioned, narrow, defective, and out of date--and those who hold them, are regarded as illiberal, impracticable old fossils!

What the final result of the present state of things will be, I do not pretend to predict.

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths!" 2 Timothy 4:2-4

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We all naturally love to have a pope of our own!

(J.C. Ryle, 1884)

"When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong!" Galatians 2:11

One lesson we learn from this verse, is that great ministers may make great mistakes. The best of men are weak and fallible. Unless the grace of God holds them up, any one of them may go astray at any time. Let us learn not to put implicit confidence in any man's opinion, merely because he is a minister. Peter was one of the very chief Apostles--and yet he could err. What are the best of ministers but men--dust, ashes, and clay--men of like passions with ourselves, men exposed to temptations, men liable to weaknesses and infirmities?

We all naturally love to have a pope of our own. We are far too ready to think, that because some great minister or some learned man says a thing; or because our own minister, whom we love, says a thing--that it must be right, without examining whether it is in Scripture or not.

It is absurd to suppose that ordained men cannot go wrong. We should follow them so far as they teach according to the Bible, but no further. We should believe them so long as they can say, "Thus it is written! Thus says the Lord!" but further than this, we are not to go. Infallibility is not to be found in ordained men, but in the Bible alone!

Let us take care that we do not place implicit confidence on our own minister's opinion, however godly he may be. Peter was a man of mighty grace, and yet he could err. Your minister may be a man of God indeed, and worthy of all honor for his preaching and example; but do not make a pope of him! Do not place his word on the same level with the Word of God.

The Christian minister is not infallible! The vulgar notion that a clergyman is not likely to hold or teach erroneous doctrines, and that we seldom need to doubt the truth of anything he tells us in the pulpit--is one of the most mischievous errors which has been bequeathed by the Church of Rome. It is a complete delusion! Ordination confers no immunity from error! Ministers, like Churches--may err both in living and matters of faith.

The Apostle Peter erred greatly at Antioch, where Paul withstood him to the face. Many of the church Fathers and Reformers and Puritans made great mistakes. The greatest errors have been begun by ministers!

The teaching of all ministers ought to be constantly compared with the Scriptures--and when it contradicts the Scriptures, it ought not to be believed. However high a clergyman's office may be, and however learned and devout he may appear--he is still only an uninspired man, and can make mistakes. His opinion must never be set above the Word of God!

Let us receive nothing, believe nothing, follow nothing--which is not in the Bible, nor can be proved by the Bible. Let our rule of faith, our touchstone of all teaching, be the written Word of God alone!

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true!" Acts 17:11

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The line between the Church and the world seems completely effaced and forgotten!

(J.C. Ryle, 1884)

"For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle?" 1 Corinthians 14:8

We need a more certain sound about personal holiness. I fear that the standard of holy living is lower just now than it has been for many years. Professing Christians seem unable to realize that there is anything inconsistent in ball-going, theater-going, gambling, card-playing, excessive dressing, novel-reading, and an incessant round of gaiety and amusements!

The line between the Church and the world seems completely effaced and forgotten!

A crucified life of self-denial and close walking with God, a life of real devotedness and zeal for holy living--is hardly ever to be seen!

Yet surely our Lord meant something when He spoke of "taking up the cross!"

Surely Paul meant something when he said,
  "Come out from among them and be separate!"
  "Be not conformed to this world!"
  "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord!"

If Christ returns the second time in this generation, we shall find His words about the days of Noah and Lot fully verified. Those days are upon us!

"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all!"
"It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all!" Luke 17:26-29

"Ask for the old paths, where the good way is--and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16

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Sin has introduced great misery and universal disorder into the world!

(Charles Buck, 1771–1815)

"For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground. Yet man is born to trouble--as surely as sparks fly upward!" Job 5:6-7

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows!" John 16:33

Whoever considers the manifold calamities to which mankind are exposed in the present state, must feel some emotion of sorrow.

Sin has introduced great misery and universal disorder into the world! No person, however obscure, or eminent or educated--can stand invulnerable against the arrows of adversity.

It is, however, the peculiar privilege of a godly man, that though, alike with others, he partakes of the sufferings of humanity--yet he sees a wise hand directing every event, and rendering all subservient to a grand and glorious end. He desires to learn the noble lessons of patience and submission, while his heart glows with gratitude to Him to whom he is indebted for every comfort he enjoys, and without whose permission he knows no evil can transpire!

"We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

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Take a stick and beat every blind man he met!

(John Newton, "MEMOIRS")

Those who believe the doctrines of sovereign grace often act inconsistently with their own principles--when they are angry at the defects of others.

A company of travelers fall into a pit; one of them gets a passerby to draw him out. Now he should not be angry with the rest for falling in; nor because they are not yet out, as he is. He did not pull himself out. Instead, therefore, of reproaching them--he should show them pity.

In the same way, a truly saved man will no more despise others--than blind Bartimaeus, after his own eyes were opened, would take a stick and beat every blind man he met!

"For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive?" 1 Corinthians 4:7

"By the grace of God I am what I am!" 1 Corinthians 15:10

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They seek to banish such a God from their thoughts!

(Arthur Pink)

"You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you! But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face." Psalm 50:21

The only God against whom the natural man is not at enmity--is one of his own imagination! The deity whom he professes to worship, is not the living God--for He is truth and faithfulness, holiness and justice, as well as being gracious and merciful.

It is a god of their own devising--and not the God of Holy Writ, whom the ungodly believe in!

"They say: How can God know? Does the Most High even know what is happening?" Psalm 73:11
They would strip Deity of His omniscience if they could!
The wicked wish that there might be . . .
  no Witness of their sins,
  no Searcher of their hearts,
  no Judge of their deeds!
They seek to banish such a God from their thoughts!

What a proof that "the carnal mind is enmity against God!"

Such is the portion awaiting the lost:
  eternal separation from the fountain of all goodness;
  everlasting punishment;
  torment of soul and body;
  endless existence in the Lake of Fire;
  forever locked up with demons and the vilest of the vile;
  every ray of hope excluded; and
  utterly crushed and overwhelmed by the wrath of a sin-avenging God!
"Consider this, you who forget God--or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue!" Psalm 50:22

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Never let us read any portion of God's Word without looking up for divine teaching!

(James Smith, "The Evening Sacrifice; Or, A Help to Devotion" 1859)

"Open my eyes--that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law." Psalm 119:18

God's Book is a book of wonders! It is a wonderful record . . .
  of God's power in creation,
  of His wisdom in providence,
  and of His grace in redemption.

It has the stamp of infinity upon it. We cannot penetrate its heights, fathom its depths, or traverse its lengths and breadths--but as we are taught of God. The Holy Spirit, who composed it and inspired holy men to write it, must unfold and reveal it to our minds--or we shall never . . .
  see its glory,
  be impressed with its majesty,
  or rejoice in its divine truths.

Never let us read any portion of God's Word without looking up for divine teaching. Never let us imagine that we know all that is contained in any one verse of God's blessed Book--for there is a fullness in the holy Scriptures not to be found anywhere else.

Oh, ever blessed Spirit of God, who has given us Your holy Word to . . .
   instruct our intellects,
   sanctify our hearts, and
   regulate our lives--we beseech You to . . .
enlighten our minds to understand it,
open our hearts to receive it,
give us faith to believe it, and
enable us to reduce it to practice in our every-day life!

O may we be given grace . . .
  understand the sublime doctrines,
  believe the precious promises, and
  practice the holy precepts of Your blessed Word!
Lord, unveil to us the types, unfold to us the prophecies--and apply to our hearts, the consolatory portions of the sacred Scriptures. May we hide the Word in our hearts, that we may not sin against You. O to catch the meaning, taste the sweetness, and feel the power--of Your holy truth! O Lord, open our eyes, and unfold the truth to us this night! O Lord, soften our hearts, and bring home Your Word with power!

"Then He opened their understanding--that they might understand the Scriptures." Luke 24:45

"Behold, God is exalted in His power! Who is a teacher like Him?" Job 36:22

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Consider carefully how you listen!

(J.C. Ryle)

"Consider carefully how you listen!" Luke 8:18

We learn from this verse, the great importance of right hearing. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ ought to impress that lesson deeply on our hearts. He says, "Consider carefully how you listen!"

The degree of benefit which men receive from all the means of grace--depends entirely on the way in which they use them.

Private PRAYER lies at the very foundation of religion--yet the mere formal repetition of a set of words, when "the heart is far away"--does good to no man's soul.

Reading the BIBLE is essential to the attainment of sound Christian knowledge--yet the mere formal reading of so many chapters as a task and duty, with out a humble desire to be taught of God, is little better than a waste of time.

Just as it is with praying and Bible reading--so it is with LISTENING. It is not enough that we go to Church and hear sermons. We may do so for fifty years, and be nothing bettered, but rather worse! "Consider carefully," says our Lord, "how you listen!"

Would anyone know how to listen aright? Then let him lay to heart three simple rules:

For one thing, we must listen with FAITH, believing implicitly that every Word of God is true, and shall stand. The Word in old time did not profit the Jews, "not being mixed with faith in those who heard it." Hebrews 4:2

For another thing, we must listen with REVERENCE--remembering constantly that the Bible is the book of God. This was the habit of the Thessalonians. They received Paul's message, "not as the word of men--but the Word of God." 1 Thessalonians 2:13

Above all, we must listen with PRAYER--praying for God's blessing before the sermon is preached, and praying for God's blessing again when the sermon is over. Here lies the grand defect of the hearing of many. They ask no blessing--and so they receive none. The sermon passes through their minds like water through a leaky vessel, and leaves nothing behind.

Let us bear these rules in mind every Sunday morning, before we go to hear the Word of God preached. Let as not rush into God's presence careless, reckless, and unprepared--as if it did not matter how we listened. Let us carry with us faith, reverence, and prayer. If these three are our companions--then we shall listen with profit, and return with praise!

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Jellyfish Christianity

(J.C. Ryle, "The Importance of Dogma" 1900)

Eighteen centuries ago the apostle Paul forewarned us, "The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear!" 2 Timothy 4:3

The natural man hates the Gospel and all its distinctive doctrines--and delights in any vain excuse for refusing it.

The plain truth is, that the root of the whole evil lies in the fallen nature of man, and his deeply-seated unbelief in God's infallible Word. I suspect we have no idea how little saving faith there is on earth, and how few people entirely believe Bible truths.

One man is proud--he dislikes the distinctive doctrines of Christianity, because they leave him no room to boast.

Another is lazy and indolent--he dislikes distinctive doctrine, because it summons him to troublesome thought, and self-inquiry, and mental self-exertion.

Another is grossly ignorant--he imagines that all distinctive doctrine is a mere matter of words and names, and that it does not matter a jot what we believe.

Another is thoroughly worldly--he shrinks from distinctive doctrine, because it condemns his darling world.

But in one form or another, I am satisfied that "original sin" is the cause of all the mischief. And the whole result is, that vast numbers of men greedily swallow down the seemingly new idea that doctrine is of no great importance. It supplies a convenient excuse for their sins.

The consequences of this widespread dislike to doctrine are very serious in the present day. Whether we like to allow it or not, it is an epidemic which is doing great harm. It creates, fosters, and keeps up an immense amount of instability in religion. It produces what I must venture to call, if I may coin the phrase, a jellyfish Christianity in the churches--that is, a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power.

A jellyfish, as everyone knows who has been much by the sea-side, is a pretty and graceful object when it floats in the sea, contracting and expanding like a little, delicate, transparent umbrella. Yet the same jellyfish, when cast on the shore--is a mere helpless lump, without capacity for movement, self-defense, or self-preservation.

Alas! It is a vivid type of much of the religion of this day, of which the leading principle is, "No dogma, no distinct tenets, no positive doctrine."

We have hundreds of jellyfish clergymen, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. They have no definite opinions--they belong to no school or party. They are so afraid of "extreme views"--that they have no views at all.

We have thousands of jellyfish sermons preached every year--sermons without an edge or a point. They are as smooth as billiard balls--awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint.

We have legions of jellyfish young men annually turned out from our seminaries, armed with a few scraps of second-hand philosophy, who think it a mark of cleverness and intellect to have no decided opinions about anything in religion, and to be utterly unable to make up their minds as to what Christian truth is. Their proud hearts are not satisfied with truths which satisfied the godly of former years. Their only creed is a kind of "Anythingism." They believe everything--and are sure and positive about nothing!

And last, and worst of all, we have myriads of jellyfish worshipers--respectable church-going people, who have no distinct and definite views about any point in theology. They cannot discern things that differ, any more than color-blind people can distinguish colors! They think that . . .
   everybody is right--and nobody is wrong,
   everything is true--and nothing is false,
   all sermons are good--and none are bad,
   every minister is sound--and none are unsound.
They are "tossed to and fro, like children, by every wind of doctrine!" They are often carried away by any new excitement and sensational movement. They are ever ready for new things, because they have no firm grasp on the old Scripture truths.

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The only true reformer of mankind!

(J.C. Ryle)

Political and social reforms labor in vain--because they ignore the fall of Adam and original sin. These are great stubborn facts, which ruin all their calculations. Without acknowledging the reality and consequences of sin--the great problems of human nature can never be solved.

How much we ought to hate sin, and to make the checking of sin the first object in our efforts to do good! How much we ought to long and strive to promote the progress of the Gospel of Christ! This, after all, is the only true reformer of mankind. Just in proportion as men are brought under the influence of the despised old Gospel--will be the increase of peace on earth and goodwill among men.

The more Christ is known and loved, and the more the Bible is read--the more will the inhabitants of the earth love one another. The more grace reigns over hearts and lives--the less hatred and violence will there be in the world. If pure and undefiled religion prevailed everywhere--then such plagues and pests and nuisances as quarreling, robbing, murder, drunkenness, immorality, swindling, gambling, idleness, lying, and cheating would be comparatively unknown. Most of the prisons and workhouses would soon be shut. Lawyers and policemen would have little to do. Taxes would be cut in half.

He is the truest friend to human happiness--who does the most to spread the knowledge of Christ and evangelize the world!

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Unless our study of Scripture . . .

"He who says he abides in Him, ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." 1 John 2:6

(Arthur Pink)

Unless our study of Scripture is conforming us, both inwardly and outwardly, to the image of Christ--it profits us not!

"Leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps." 1 Peter 2:21

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True Christianity!

(J.C. Ryle)

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain!" Philippians 1:21

True Christianity is not merely the believing a certain set of theological propositions.

It is to live in daily personal communication with an actual living person--Jesus the Son of God!

"The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me!" Galatians 2:20

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What He has purposed in eternity past--He works in time

(James Smith, "The Evening Sacrifice; Or, A Help to Devotion" 1859)

"Remember the former things, those of long ago. I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times--what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please!" Isaiah 46:9-10

Thus the Lord speaks--and thus the Lord acts.

What He has purposed in eternity past--He works in time. Then the plan was drawn--and then the provision was made. God's purposes cannot fail, nor shall His work ever be left unfinished. What He has promised to us--He will give to us; and the work He has commenced in us--He will complete. Whatever concerns our salvation--He will perfect, according as it is written, "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son . . . And those He predestined--He also called; those He called--He also justified; those He justified--He also glorified!" Romans 8:28-30

This is God's plan--commenced, carried on, and completed by Himself--to the praise of the glory of His grace!

[nChrist]

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From Grace Gems:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
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http://www.gracegems.org/19/literature.htm
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A respectable old book, containing a great deal of truth--but truth mixed up with error and fables!

(J.C. Ryle, 1884)

"For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle?" 1 Corinthians 14:8

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work!" 2 Timothy 3:16-17

We need a more certain sound about the inspiration, sufficiency, and supremacy of Holy Scripture.

There is a growing inclination to depreciate the blessed volume--as a respectable old book, containing a great deal of truth, but truth mixed up with error and fables.

There is a hasty readiness to assume that whenever the conclusions of so-called science conflict with the Bible--that the Bible must be wrong and science right, it being coolly forgotten that perhaps we do not rightly interpret the Book.

Away with all this!

Let us boldly place the Bible on the pedestal where our forefathers placed it, and maintain, like them, that, however imperfectly we may understand it, the old Book is perfect, and is an infallible rule of faith and practice!

"Ask for the old paths, where the good way is--and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16