J. C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone by Iain Murray Review
A couple of months ago we looked at J. C. Ryle's autobiography, and in that review I mentioned this biography: J. C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone by Iain H. Murray.
The book
It's 236 pages, 273 with two appendices and a substantial index. It has a beautiful blue cover, one of the bluest Banner of Truth books I've ever seen, printed in the USA by Versa Press. The endpapers are unique: a painting in the front, and in the back a satirical, secular cartoon from the 1800s making fun of the prominent Christian voices of the time. Spurgeon is on there, Ryle is on there, D. L. Moody is on there. A lot of fun characters.
About the author
Iain Hamish Murray was born on April 19, 1931, and was 92 when I recorded this. He was educated at King William's College on the Isle of Man from 1945 to 1949, and shortly after graduating he was saved by the grace of God. He met his wife, Jean Walter, whom he married a few years later. After studying philosophy and theology, mostly the Puritans, he worked alongside Martyn Lloyd-Jones for several years at Westminster Chapel, and it was there that he and Jack Cullum founded the Banner of Truth. He's a husband, father of five, a covenantal, Presbyterian, postmillennial theologian, and the author of dozens of books. This is the last book he published, though they say he's still writing, so he may very well publish another.
What it offers
Ryle's autobiography covers only the first 40 years of his life. This book's account of those years draws heavily on the autobiography, almost a summary of it, but then it carries you through his later years.
It also includes around 30 photographs (many not in the autobiography), with pictures of Ryle, places, scenery and maps that give helpful context. It points you to the other biographies of Ryle, so you have somewhere to go next. And it covers his contemporaries, the men working alongside him, and his influences: what he liked to read, when he started reading it, and the books that shaped him most.
The title, Prepared to Stand Alone, is so appropriate. Ryle constantly faced trials and strife and was up against everyone. The high church distrusted him for his evangelical convictions, and others thought he was too close to the high church. His family, except one of his daughters, disagreed with him doctrinally, and he was never accepted by the masses. He was always standing alone.
What's in it
School Days; "The Greatest Change and Event in My Life"; The Church and Homes Divided; All Doors Shut Except One; Disturbed in Hampshire; Rural Suffolk; Stepping-Stone into the World; Puritans at Helmingham Rectory; Stradbroke: Twenty Fruitful Years; The Teacher; Liverpool; Standing Firm Under Darkening Skies; The Last Years; and What Does Ryle Say for Today?, probably the most helpful chapter in the book. Then two appendices, extracts from Ryle and a piece on Herbert E. Ryle, and the index.
Would I buy it?
Yes, especially if you want to learn more about Ryle as a theologian, a man, a pastor and a writer. It's also a great encouragement for Christians facing trials. All of us as Christians are persecuted, or should be, for doing what's right, and Ryle's life gives a great example of how to respond.
A few things I marked
- Murray notes that Ryle's autobiography left the last 40 years of his life untouched, evidence that it was written only for his children. This book was meant for publication, so it's less personal, but very helpful for understanding who Ryle was.
- In his acknowledgments, Murray thanks his wife and says they've read Ryle together since their teenage years. I must say I'm quite jealous! I'm holding out for a woman who will read Ryle with me. Men, you may want to join me in that.
- On Ryle's tracts (p. 90): the writing ministry that began quietly after Christmas 1844 went around the world wherever English was spoken, and was translated into Welsh, Gaelic, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Hindustani and Chinese. Some forty were translated into Spanish. A copy of "Are You Free?" was given to a Dominican friar in Mexico, Manuel Aguas, who had been sent to stamp out Protestant witness. The scales fell from his eyes, and like Paul, the persecutor began to build up the church. A Mexican Reformed church grew to 7,000 adherents, and another of its leaders, Bishop Riley, spoke of how much he owed to Ryle's tract "Are You Forgiven?" That's absolutely insane.
- On the Puritans (p. 98): it was from the Puritans in particular that Ryle gained the most for his own ministry. He called Manton's works "all worth having," Flavel among the most "practical, popular, and edifying," and Owen "an invaluable treasury of divinity." His 1849 tract on assurance was the old divinity in fresh language, backed up with some fifteen extracts from Puritan authors.
- By 1876 the printed total of his tracts exceeded 8.5 million. By 1888, between 200 and 300 tracts had been published, with over 12 million issued. That's the man this book is about.
Soli Deo Gloria!
