Book Description

Christmas, and New Year, are excellent moments to pause and reflect—as scattered families regather for the national holiday, and as the calendar turns over again, with another year gone forever. J. C. Ryle urges us—in the midst of our feasting and festivities and family reunions—to make time to consider our spiritual state and our relationship with God. How is it with our souls? What do we make of Jesus Christ? What will be our future, when all our Christmases are past?

This little book contains five of Ryle’s most popular Christmas tracts, the spiritual wisdom of which is timeless. Ryle challenges us—while we enjoy the wonderful delights of mince pies and mistletoe and mulled wine and music and merriment—to make the most of every Christmas, to consider seriously the person of Jesus Christ and questions of eternal significance.

The post Christmas Thoughts appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

John Charles Ryle (1816-1900), first Bishop of Liverpool, was one of the most influential evangelical clergymen of the nineteenth century. A popular platform speaker and prolific tract writer, his books are still widely read across the globe.

Edited by Andrew Atherstone, this critical edition of Ryle’s manuscript autobiography, dictated in 1873, is a rich and unparalleled account of the early decades of his life and ministry. He recalls his youthful pursuit of academic plaudits and sporting prowess at Eton College and Oxford University, before his evangelical conversion at the age of 21. He tells of the devastating collapse of the family bank and the enforced sale of their Cheshire estates, which ended his ambitions to enter parliament. Ryle describes his exploits as a young clergyman, his loves and losses, his evangelical networks, and the deaths of his first two wives. He offers a frank assessment of his joys and struggles, and the reasons behind his crucial life choices. Written for his children and never intended for publication, Bishop J.C. Ryle’s autobiography is essential reading for a proper appreciation of the man behind the headlines in the years before he reached national and international fame.

This volume also includes many photographs from the Ryle family albums, never before published. Seven substantial appendices examine the Ryle Family Bible, Ryle’s schoolboy speeches, his conversion, his earliest evangelical tracts, and his final will and testament.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post Bishop J.C. Ryle’s Autobiography appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.