J. C. Ryle Books: A Guide to All 23 and Where to Start
Christian LifeCommentaryChurch HistoryTheology
J. C. Ryle (1816–1900) was a country minister in Suffolk for more than thirty-five years and then the first Bishop of Liverpool. Almost everything he wrote began as a tract or a sermon for ordinary people, and it reads that way: short sentences, numbered points, and a direct question to the reader at the end. TheWay Library has twenty-three of his books, all free to read. For his life story, see who was J. C. Ryle.
This guide sorts them so you can find what you need.
Where to start
If you're new to Ryle, start with Practical Religion. It's a book of twenty-one papers on the everyday Christian life, and the chapters on prayer and Bible reading are some of the most loved things he wrote.
After that, choose by what you want:
- The core truths of the gospel: Old Paths.
- One short paper to read tonight: The Cross.
- A daily commentary: Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, starting with Matthew.
- Christian history: The Christian Leaders of the Last Century.
- For parents and children: The Two Bears and How Should a Child Be Trained?
Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from. For many more, see our collection of J. C. Ryle quotes.
The three big collections
Ryle planned these three books as a set. Old Paths covers the truths needed for salvation, Knots Untied the questions Christians argued about in his day, and Practical Religion the daily life of faith.
Practical Religion
Twenty-one plain papers on the duties, dangers and hopes of a Christian: self-examination, real versus sham religion, private prayer, Bible reading, the Lord's Supper, love, zeal, separation from the world, money, sickness, heaven and eternity. Each starts from a text and ends with direct application.
Prayer is the spiritual pulse: by this the spiritual health may always be tested.
Practical Religion, Prayer
Old Paths
Nineteen papers on the main truths of Christianity: the inspiration of Scripture, the soul, sin, forgiveness, justification, the cross, the Holy Spirit, conversion, faith, repentance, Christ's power to save, election and perseverance. If you want to know what Ryle believed, this is the book.
Faith is the hand that lays hold on Christ.
Old Paths, Our Sins!
Knots Untied
Nineteen papers on questions disputed in the Church of England of his time, written from an evangelical point of view. It opens with his well-known definition of evangelical religion and goes on to salvation in Christ alone, baptism and regeneration, the Lord's Supper, the church, the priesthood, confession, worship and the Sabbath. Read Knots Untied.
Tracts
These are shorter collections of the tracts that first made Ryle's name. Each paper asks one plain question.
- Living or Dead?: eight "home truths": Living or Dead?, Consider Your Ways, Are You Forgiven?, Are You Holy?, Only One Way, Christ and the Two Thieves, Faith's Choice and Remember Lot.
- Startling Questions: six searching papers: Where art thou? Are you an heir? Shall you be saved? How readest thou? What think you of the cross? Have you assurance?
- The Cross: a single tract on what Scripture means by the cross and why Christ's death for sinners is the center of the Bible. It takes about half an hour.
It is not enough to wear Christ's livery; we must also fight Christ's battle.
Startling Questions, Where Art Thou?
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Ryle's practical commentary on all four Gospels, in seven volumes. He takes each chapter a short passage at a time and draws out two or three plain lessons. He wrote it for family prayers, for people visiting the sick, and for private reading. From Luke onward he also added notes on hard words and verses. You can read a passage a day or turn to the one you're studying.
- Matthew: the first volume, and the place to start.
- Mark
- Luke, Vol. 1: Luke 1–10
- Luke, Vol. 2: Luke 11–24: from the Lord's Prayer and the prodigal son to the cross and the road to Emmaus.
- John, Vol. 1: John 1–6
- John, Vol. 2: John 7–12: the man born blind, the good shepherd and Lazarus.
- John, Vol. 3: John 13–21: the upper room, Christ's prayer in John 17, the cross, and Peter's restoration.
There is rest in Christ, rest of conscience, and rest of heart, rest built on pardon of all sin, rest flowing from peace with God.
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, Matthew 11
Sermons, and books for families
- The Christian Race and Other Sermons: twenty-four parish sermons, from "a bad heart" and the new birth to the Christian race, Christ's return and Paul's last words.
- The Two Bears, and Other Sermons for Children: eight simple sermons Ryle preached to children. Good to read aloud.
- How Should a Child Be Trained?: his address to parents on Proverbs 22:6, with seventeen rules for raising children in the faith.
Church history and biography
Ryle loved to tell the stories of the men who preached the gospel in England before him. Several of these books share chapters, since he reprinted his sketches in more than one collection.
- The Christian Leaders of the Last Century: his best history book. Eleven sketches of the preachers of the eighteenth-century revival, including Whitefield, Wesley, Grimshaw, Romaine, Berridge, Venn, Toplady and Fletcher.
- A Sketch of the Life and Labors of George Whitefield: a short lecture on the great evangelist. Read it in one sitting.
- The Priest, the Puritan, and the Preacher: lectures on Latimer, Baxter and Whitefield, plus three addresses, including his "Twelve Hints to Young Men."
- Light from Old Times: the Reformers and martyrs Wycliffe, Hooper, Latimer, Ridley and others, then the Puritans Ward, Baxter and Gurnall.
- Facts and Men: an earlier collection with largely the same chapters as Light from Old Times. Choose one.
- Bishops and Clergy of Other Days: five of the same men, Hooper, Latimer, Ward, Baxter and Gurnall.
When God takes a work in hand, nothing can stop it.
The Christian Leaders of the Last Century, The Agency by Which Christianity Was Revived in England in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century
The Church of England
- Principles for Churchmen: papers from his years as bishop on the Church's principles, the importance of doctrine, worship, the Prayer-Book, baptism, the Lord's Supper and reaching the masses. It opens with his farewell letter to the Diocese of Liverpool.
A note on these editions
Some of these books were restored from scans of old printings and are still being proofread. How Should a Child Be Trained? has the most damage, with broken lines and some garbled passages. The Christian Race, The Christian Leaders of the Last Century, Facts and Men and the second Luke volume have scattered misread letters. The text is readable, but you may meet a few odd words. Ryle's best-known book, Holiness, isn't in the library yet.
Why read Ryle today
Ryle is plain, short and honest. He tells you what the Bible says, shows you how it touches your own life, and asks you to act on it. Begin with Practical Religion, then go on to Old Paths. All twenty-three books are on the J. C. Ryle author page.