Knots Untied, explained

Ryle begins with a plea for definitions. As you will know, the Church of England of his day had three recognised schools — High, Broad and Evangelical — and he sets out to say plainly what marks out the Evangelical one.

He names five leading features: the Bible as the only rule of faith; the depth of human sin; the complete salvation Christ has won, received by simple faith; the inward work of the Holy Spirit, which is felt; and the outward work of the Spirit, which is seen in a changed life. Many Churchmen, he grants, would accept each point one by one. The difference is that Evangelicals put them first.

He then answers charges that Evangelicals despise learning, the Church, the ministry, the sacraments, the Prayer Book, bishops, good order, unity and holiness. They honour all these, he argues, but no higher than Scripture does. Finally he shows how the Gospel is spoiled without being denied: by substitution, addition, interposition, wrong proportion and confusion. He closes by urging Evangelicals to guard their own faith, avoid compromise in worship, and contend for their place in the Church.

1. Define your terms before you argueRyle says most religious quarrels live on vague words. He accepts the common division into High, Broad and Evangelical schools and sets out to define the last.p. 1
2. Scripture is the only rule of faithNothing is to be believed as necessary to salvation unless it is read in the Bible or proved by it. Church, Fathers, councils and Prayer Book all yield to Scripture.p. 3
3. Sin is deep; Christ’s salvation is completeBecause the fall has corrupted the whole man, outward religion cannot heal him. Christ, as Substitute, has won a full salvation, received by simple faith alone.p. 4
4. The Spirit works within and shows withoutTrue conversion is felt inwardly, and it always bears visible fruit. Ryle calls it cruel to comfort the unconverted with their baptism or Church membership.p. 6
5. The difference lies in priorityOthers may hold these five points one by one. Evangelicals give them first place, and Ryle argues that this ranking is what sets them apart.p. 8
6. Honour Church things, but no higher than ScriptureHe answers nine charges in turn. Evangelicals value learning, the Church, ministry, sacraments, Prayer Book and bishops, but refuse to make idols of them.p. 15
7. Five ways to spoil the GospelSubstitution, addition, interposition, disproportion and confused teaching all ruin it without denying it. Like a doctor’s prescription, it must be used exactly as given.p. 16

From 1833 the Oxford Movement (the ‘Tractarians’) revived High Church teaching, and by the 1860s a ‘Ritualist’ wing was bringing in vestments, incense and private confession. Evangelicals founded the Church Association in 1865 to resist this, including through the courts, and the bishops of the Anglican world first met at Lambeth in 1867 (the gathering Ryle calls a ‘Pan-Anglican Synod’). Knots Untied, which collects this paper, appeared in 1874, at the height of the dispute.

“Evangelicals despise learning and the wisdom of the past.”

Ryle names scholars from Ridley and Jewel to Owen and Dean Goode to show they do not. They only refuse to set any uninspired writing on a level with Scripture.

“Evangelical teaching is a novelty.”

He appeals to the New Testament, the Thirty-nine Articles and the English divines from the Reformation to Laud, and invites anyone to compare.

“Calling other teaching ‘not Evangelical’ means calling its teachers un-Christian.”

He says plainly that he does not. His charge is that their teaching gives the right parts in the wrong proportions.

High Church, Broad Church

The other two schools in the Victorian Church of England. High Churchmen stressed the Church, bishops and sacraments; Broad Churchmen stressed breadth of opinion and were open to newer critical thought.

Ritualism

The later, more advanced wing of the High Church revival, which brought in vestments, incense, processions and confession. Ryle thought it close to Roman Catholic teaching.

Ex opere operato

Latin for ‘by the work worked’. The teaching that a sacrament gives grace simply by being rightly performed, whatever the faith of the person receiving it.

Sacerdotalism

The view that ministers are sacrificing priests who stand between God and the people. Ryle also calls it ‘priestcraft’.

Antinomianism

From Greek for ‘against law’. The claim that a person can have saving grace while living carelessly, with no change of life.

Malakhoffs and Redans

The Malakoff and the Redan were Russian forts at Sevastopol, stormed in the Crimean War (1855). Ryle means the key strongpoints that must be defended.

Ryle takes Peter’s words in Acts 4:12, ‘none other name under heaven’, which underlie Article XVIII, the only article in the Thirty-nine that pronounces a curse. He first explains the text: salvation from sin’s guilt, power and consequences comes only through Christ, and we must rest on Him wholly, not partly on Him and partly on our own efforts, church-going or sacraments.

He then gives three reasons why it must be true. Man is what man is: everywhere and always a sinner. God is what God is: so holy that we need an almighty Mediator. The Bible is what the Bible is: from Genesis to Revelation it teaches one way of salvation.

Next he draws out consequences. Religion without Christ (Deism) is useless; religion that lowers Christ (Socinianism) is ruinous; religion that adds to Christ, whether Rome’s or a Protestant party’s, is a grave error; and sincerity cannot replace Christ. He ends by urging readers to make sure of their own salvation, to work for others, and to love all who truly love Christ.

1. Peter’s words and Article XVIIIRyle starts from Acts 4:12 and Article XVIII. He notes that this is the only anathema, or solemn curse, in the whole of the Articles.p. 26
2. Christ alone, and whollyNo one is saved from sin except by Christ. We are not to rest partly on Christ and partly on our efforts, our church or the sacrament.p. 28
3. Because man is what man isTravellers’ reports and the lives of the holiest Christians show that every human being is a sinner. Without a mighty Saviour, man’s case is hopeless.p. 29
4. Because God is what God isThe more we grasp God’s holiness and majesty, the wider we see the gulf between Him and us. Only an almighty Advocate can bridge it.p. 31
5. Because the Bible is what the Bible isOne ‘golden chain’ runs from the first promise in Genesis to the saints in glory. Even devout Cornelius was told to send for Peter and hear of Christ.p. 33
6. No religion without Christ, or with additionsDeism leaves Christ out and Socinianism makes Him a mere man. Rome, and Protestant ‘ultras’ of every party, add something else to Him.p. 35
7. Sincerity is not enoughBaal’s priests, Manasseh and Saul the persecutor were all sincere. Ryle argues that sincerity cannot put away sin.p. 38

Victorian Broad Church thinking pressed hard on these questions. F. D. Maurice lost his chairs at King’s College London in 1853 over his views on future punishment, and in 1864 the Privy Council cleared two writers of Essays and Reviews (1860), one of whom had questioned the eternity of hell. Ryle writes against a growing mood that, as he puts it, says ‘everything is true’ and there are ‘many ways to peace’.

“It is uncharitable to draw conclusions that condemn others.”

Ryle replies that real charity warns a blind man walking near a cliff. Hiding the truth is no kindness.

“What of the heathen who have never heard the Gospel?”

He declines to settle their final state. If any are saved, he believes they will owe it to Christ’s atonement, as infants do.

“Surely the sincere and earnest will be saved whatever they believe?”

No one in Scripture is saved by sincerity alone; on that principle even suttee and the fires of Smithfield could be defended.

Anathema

A solemn declaration that a teaching or person is accursed, cut off from God’s favour. Article XVIII is the only place the Articles use such language.

Deism

Belief in a God who made the world and is merciful, but without the distinctive teaching of Christianity: no incarnation, atonement or need for a Saviour.

Socinian

A follower of the teaching of Faustus Socinus, which denied that Christ is God and that His death was a true atonement for sin.

Council of Trent

The Roman Catholic council (1545–63) that answered the Reformation. Its decrees repeatedly pronounced anathemas on Protestant teaching.

Ultraism

Ryle’s word for pushing one’s own church party or practice so far that it is treated as needed for salvation, beside Christ.

Ryle takes 1 Thessalonians 5:21, ‘Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.’ He calls the right of private judgment one of the three principles that won the Reformation, beside the supremacy of Scripture and justification by faith.

First he defines it: every Christian has the right, the duty and the need to judge by the Word of God whether what is taught him is God’s truth. Paul wrote this to a young church, laity included. Isaiah, Christ and the Bereans all teach the same. Churches, councils and the best of ministers have erred, from the Arian age to Luther and Calvin. He answers the objections that private judgment is abused, causes division and lacks humility.

Second, he urges readers to hold fast the truth once found, because Rome was pressing hard on England. That means ceasing to hear false teaching and joining with all who hold the Gospel, setting minor differences aside. He ends with three duties: know your Bible well, test every Roman doctrine by it, and lay hold of Christ for yourself.

1. Three keys of the ReformationRyle names the supremacy of Scripture, private judgment and justification by faith only. Give up any one, he says, and the case against Rome is lost.p. 44
2. Right, duty and necessity definedEvery Christian may judge teaching by God’s Word, God requires him to do so, and experience shows that neglecting it brings great harm.p. 45
3. Paul wrote to the whole churchThe command was given to young believers, laity as well as clergy, about preaching. Paul did not tell them to believe whatever their bishops said.p. 45
4. Scripture teaches it again and againIsaiah sends people ‘to the law and to the testimony’. Christ says false prophets are known by their fruit, and the Bereans searched the Scriptures daily.p. 47
5. Churches and ministers can errCouncils, national churches and the best Reformers have all erred. It is better to stand alone and be saved than to err in company with the Church.p. 48
6. Abuse is no argument against right useEvery good gift of God is abused. Ryle argues that the harm from forbidding private judgment far outweighs the harm from using it.p. 51
7. Hold fast, and stand togetherWith Rome advancing, believers should refuse false teaching and unite with all who hold the Gospel, setting minor questions aside.p. 58

In 1845 John Henry Newman, a leader of the Oxford Movement, joined the Church of Rome, and others followed. In 1850 Pope Pius IX restored a Roman Catholic hierarchy of dioceses in England under Cardinal Wiseman as Archbishop of Westminster; the ‘Papal Aggression’ outcry that followed led to the Ecclesiastical Titles Act of 1851. Ryle’s line that the Pope ‘has parcelled out our country into bishoprics’ refers to this.

“Private judgment is abused and has done harm.”

Every good gift is abused, from strength to liberty to money. That is no reason to throw it away.

“Protestants are divided, while Rome is united.”

Rome’s unity is more seeming than real (Bishop Hall counted three hundred differences within it), and Protestant divisions are mostly over minor points.

“It is more humble to have no opinion of one’s own.”

Ryle calls this a false humility, really laziness. It hands one’s soul to others, yet each of us will be judged alone.

Private judgment

The right and duty of each Christian to weigh any religious teaching by the Bible, rather than accept it simply on a church’s authority. It does not mean believing whatever one fancies.

Arian heresy

The 4th-century teaching of Arius that the Son is not fully equal with the Father. For a time it was held across much of the Church.

Consubstantiation

A term for Luther’s view that Christ’s body and blood are present in, with and under the bread and wine. Ryle counts it one of Luther’s errors.

General Councils

Gatherings of bishops from the whole Church. Article XXI says they ‘may err, and sometimes have erred’.

Bereans

The Jews of Berea in Acts 17, praised because they checked Paul’s preaching against the Scriptures before believing.

Ryle asks who is the true Churchman. Going to church is not enough, and neither is earnestness, since men of every creed are earnest. The Church of England, he says, has given a test that the law recognises and any plain man can use: the Thirty-nine Articles.

He explains what they are: a short confession of faith drawn up under Edward VI, revised under Elizabeth and ratified in 1571. Against those who say the Prayer Book is the true standard, he calls witnesses: the Articles’ own title, the statutes of 1571 and 1865, Charles I’s Declaration, the Crown’s directions of 1721, Thomas Rogers, and five bishops of differing schools. The Prayer Book, he insists, is a matchless book of devotion, but not a confession.

He then shows the Articles’ leading features: firm on essentials of salvation, moderate on matters where good men differ, balanced on the sacraments, plainly Protestant against Rome, and reverent towards Scripture. They should be read in the sense of those who framed them. He urges readers to read them yearly, teach them to the young, and test all preaching by them.

1. Earnestness is no testMen of every creed are in earnest. Ryle asks what a man is earnest about, and looks for a fixed, lawful standard.p. 63
2. What the Articles areA short statement of the Church’s chief doctrines, first drawn up under Edward VI, reduced to thirty-nine under Elizabeth, and ratified in 1571.p. 65
3. A confession of faith, by designTheir title says they exist ‘for the avoiding of diversities of opinion’. Every well-ordered church has such a confession, and this is England’s.p. 66
4. Prayers are not precise doctrineA book of prayers is like an advocate’s speech, the Articles like a judge’s ruling. There is no real conflict between the two, but the Articles are the test.p. 70
5. Law and history agreeThe 1571 and 1865 Acts, Charles I’s Declaration, the 1721 directions, Rogers and five bishops all treat the Articles as the standard of doctrine.p. 72
6. Firm on essentials, gentle on the restOn God, Scripture, sin, justification and Christ the Articles are trumpet-toned. On election, the ministry and ceremonies they are cautious and moderate.p. 78
7. Protestant, and read as the framers meantNine Articles plainly reject Roman teaching. Public documents must be read in the sense of those who drew them up.p. 82

In Tract 90 (1841) John Henry Newman argued that the Articles could be read in a ‘Catholic’ sense, and later Ritualists often appealed to the Prayer Book instead. The Clerical Subscription Act of 1865 revised what clergy had to declare but kept the public reading of the Articles by a new incumbent. In the Voysey case (1871) the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council removed a clergyman for teaching contrary to the Articles, a judgment Ryle cites.

“The Prayer Book, not the Articles, is the standard of a Churchman.”

A book of devotion is not framed with the precision of a confession. Law, history and the bishops all name the Articles.

“The Articles contradict the Prayer Book.”

The same Reformers wrote both, so no interpretation that sets them against each other can be right.

“The Articles can be read more than one way.”

Ryle answers that, in any doubt, a public document means what its framers intended, and the Reformers were Protestant.

Confession of faith

A church’s official written statement of what its members are to believe, such as the Augsburg or Westminster Confession.

Convocation

The assemblies of the clergy of the provinces of Canterbury and York. The Articles were agreed in the Convocation of 1562.

Subscription

Formally signing or declaring assent to the Articles, as clergy must do at ordination and when taking up a parish.

Transubstantiation

The Roman teaching that the substance of the bread and wine is changed into Christ’s body and blood. Article XXVIII rejects it.

In necessariis unitas…

A Latin saying: ‘in necessary things unity, in non-necessary things liberty, in all things charity.’ Ryle uses it to sum up the Articles’ spirit.

Ryle takes four questions in turn: what baptism is, how it should be given, who should receive it, and what place it should hold. He calls it an ordinance of Christ for admitting members to the visible Church, a sign of the inward washing that only the Holy Spirit gives. It can be received without benefit, as Judas and Simon Magus show, and missed without loss, as the penitent thief shows.

On the mode, he argues that Scripture leaves dipping, pouring and sprinkling an open question, and he points out that the Prayer Book itself provides for dipping. On who should be baptised, he defends infant baptism against the Baptists from circumcision, from the silence of the New Testament, from the baptism of whole households, and from Christ’s welcome of little children.

He ends by warning against two opposite errors: despising baptism, and making an idol of it by teaching that every baptised infant is born again. Its value, he concludes, depends on the heart of the one who receives it.

1. Baptism is Christ’s ordinance of admissionRyle sets out seven plain propositions. Baptism admits new members to the visible Church, as a soldier is entered on his regiment’s roll. Its outward sign is water in the name of the Trinity, and the thing it signifies is inward cleansing by Christ’s blood and the Spirit.p. 88
2. It can be received in vainJudas, Simon Magus, Ananias and Sapphira were all baptised, yet got no good from it. The penitent thief was saved, though nothing shows he was ever baptised.p. 89
3. The baptism that saves is the Spirit’sOnly the inward baptism of the Holy Spirit, which Christ alone gives, is absolutely necessary to salvation. Without it, Ryle says, our views on water baptism matter little.p. 90
4. The mode is left openScripture does not make dipping, pouring or sprinkling essential, so long as water is used in the name of the Trinity. The Prayer Book allows dipping, and Ryle asks only for liberty on both sides.p. 91
5. Christians’ children should be baptisedChildren entered God’s people by circumcision from Abraham onward, and the New Testament nowhere forbids infant baptism. Whole households were baptised, and Christ welcomed and blessed little children.p. 98
6. Neither despise baptism nor idolise itSome neglect baptism, which slights a command of Christ. Others teach that grace always comes with it, which Ryle calls making an idol of it.p. 103
7. Keep baptism in proportionMost of the Epistles never mention baptism, while faith, grace and holiness fill their pages. Its value depends on the heart of the one who receives it.p. 105

In the late 1840s Bishop Henry Phillpotts of Exeter refused to institute George Gorham as vicar of Brampford Speke because Gorham denied that every baptised infant is born again; the Court of Arches backed the bishop, but on 8 March 1850 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled for Gorham. Outside the Church the Baptists pressed their case against infant baptism, and Ryle says he writes less to convince them than to ‘establish and confirm Churchmen’, many of whom did not know the grounds of their own practice.

“The Greek word for baptise means only to dip.”

Ryle points to Luke 11:38, where the Pharisee marvelled that Jesus had not ‘washed’ before dinner; the Greek word there is ‘baptised’, and no one supposed he should plunge himself under water.

“There is no plain text commanding infant baptism.”

Ryle replies that infants had been admitted by an ordinance for centuries, so a change would need a text: ‘No change and therefore no text!’ He adds that no plain text admits women to the Lord’s Supper either.

“Infants cannot repent and believe, so they should not be baptised.”

No text says no one may be baptised until he believes. Followed through, he argues, the objection would shut all infants out of salvation too.

Ordinance

A practice Christ himself commanded his Church to keep. Ryle uses it for both sacraments.

Visible Church

The Church as people can see it: all who profess Christ and have been baptised, whether or not their faith is real.

Dissenters

Protestants in England outside the Church of England, such as Baptists, Methodists and Independents (Congregationalists).

High Churchman

In Ryle’s day, a clergyman who placed great weight on the sacraments and the authority of the Church. Many taught that every baptised infant is born again.

Thing indifferent

A matter Scripture neither commands nor forbids, so the Church may decide it freely. Ryle puts the mode of baptism in this class.

Ryle starts from a fact any churchgoer can see: in every congregation some are Christians in name only and some in deed and truth. The difference, he argues, is regeneration, or being born again: the change of heart and nature a person goes through when he becomes a true Christian. The Bible describes it in many pictures, and the Catechism calls it ‘a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness’.

He rejects the view that regeneration is only admission to the privileges of Church membership. That would mean two kinds of regeneration, and he finds no text for it. Only God can give the new birth, and it is necessary because the natural heart loves sin and is unfit for heaven. Christ always gives pardon (justification) and a new heart (regeneration) together.

Finally he draws six marks of the new birth from the First Epistle of John: not living in sin, believing in Christ, doing righteousness, loving fellow believers, overcoming the world, and keeping oneself.

1. Every church holds two kinds of ChristianSome are Christians in name and form only, others in deed and truth. The Articles themselves say the evil are always mixed with the good in the visible Church.p. 111
2. The difference is a change of heartRegeneration is the change of heart and nature by which someone becomes a true Christian. Scripture describes it as a new heart, a new creature, and passing from death to life.p. 111
3. It comes at different times and in different waysSome are born again as infants, most as adults, a few in old age. For some it is sudden, as for Paul; for others gentle, as for Lydia.p. 113
4. Only God can give itNo one can give it to himself or to another; a minister can baptise with water, but only Christ baptises with the Holy Spirit. The change is known by its effects, like the wind in John 3:8.p. 114
5. Not a mere change of statusRyle rejects the view that regeneration means only admission to Church privileges. Church privileges are real, but the Bible never calls them regeneration.p. 116
6. Why it is necessaryThe natural heart loves sin and has no taste for spiritual things, so it would not enjoy heaven even if it got there. Christ gives pardon and a new heart together, and both are needed.p. 118
7. Six marks from 1 JohnThe born-again person does not live in sin, believes that Jesus is the Christ, does righteousness, loves the brethren, overcomes the world, and keeps himself. The marks may be faint in some, but they are there.p. 124

Ryle notes that regeneration had been ‘argued about in courts of law’, most obviously in the Gorham case, where the Bishop of Exeter refused a living to George Gorham for denying that every baptised infant is born again, until the Privy Council ruled for Gorham on 8 March 1850. High Churchmen of the Oxford Movement taught that every baptised infant is born again, while others defined regeneration as a mere change of state, entry into Church privileges; Ryle notes that even some older bishops, such as Davenant and Hopkins, spoke of a separate ‘sacramental regeneration’.

“Regeneration only means being admitted to the privileges of the Church.”

Ryle finds no plain text for this. It would require two regenerations, and a man might have it, like Simon Magus, and still be lost.

“To say most churchgoers need to be born again is uncharitable.”

Ryle admits it will sound dreadful to many ears, but asks the reader to compare what the New Testament calls Christianity with the lives of professing Christians, and deny it if he can.

“Many true believers see these marks only faintly in themselves.”

He allows that the marks vary greatly in depth and clearness, and are seldom all equally plain in one person; but where there are none at all, the person is not born again.

Regeneration

Being ‘born again’: the inward change by which the Holy Spirit gives a person a new heart. Ryle treats ‘regenerate’ and ‘born again’ as the same thing.

Justification

God’s pardon of a sinner, counting him righteous for Christ’s sake. Ryle distinguishes it from regeneration but says the two are never separated.

Formal Christian

Someone who keeps the outward forms of Christianity without a changed heart: a Christian ‘in name and form only’.

Ecclesiastical privilege

The benefits of belonging to the Church, such as its ordinances and teaching. Some held that regeneration meant only entry into these, a ‘change of state’ rather than of heart.

Ryle wants to show that a loyal, honest member of the Church of England need not hold baptismal regeneration, the belief that every baptised infant is born again. He first restates his view: regeneration is a change of heart, known by its fruits, and not tied to baptism.

He then gives four answers to those who rely on the words ‘this child is regenerate’. Two phrases cannot be lifted out of a whole book. The whole Prayer Book speaks of worshippers as what they profess to be, so the Collects, Churching, adult Baptism, Burial and the Catechism all use language that cannot be literally true of everyone. Reading the Baptismal Service as a statement of fact would contradict the Articles, which Ryle treats as the Church’s confession of faith, and the Homilies, which make fruit the evidence of the Spirit.

He adds support from history: the Reformers dropped the 1536 statement that infants are always regenerated, and they held Reformed views. Lastly, he warns that telling people they already have grace lulls them into false security.

1. The aim: an honest Evangelical ChurchmanRyle sets out to answer the case for baptismal regeneration drawn from the Baptismal Service. He wants to show that one can be a consistent, honest member of the Church of England without holding it.p. 130
2. Four ground rules firstRegeneration is a change of heart; its only sure evidence is fruit; it does not always go with baptism; and baptism does not work automatically on infants any more than on adults.p. 131
3. Do not lift phrases out of a whole bookTaking two expressions from one service and refusing to compare them with the rest is how heresies argue. The Roman Catholic does the same with ‘This is My body’, and the Arian with ‘My Father is greater than I’.p. 134
4. The principle of charitable suppositionThe Prayer Book speaks of worshippers as what they profess to be. The Collects, the Churching of Women, adult Baptism, the Burial Service and the Catechism all use language that cannot be literally true of everyone.p. 136
5. The Articles do not teach itThe Articles are the Church’s confession of faith. Articles 25 and 26 limit the benefit of sacraments to those who receive them rightly, Article 27 is carefully guarded, and Articles 13 and 17 assume many baptised people lack grace.p. 143
6. The Homilies point to fruitThe Homilies, which Article 35 calls godly and wholesome doctrine, say the Holy Spirit is known by his fruits as a tree is. That cannot be squared with saying every baptised person has the Spirit.p. 148
7. History supports this readingThe Reformers removed the 1536 statement that infants are always made God’s children in baptism. The Irish Articles of 1615 were never repealed, and the compilers held Reformed views; documents should be read in the sense of those who drew them up.p. 152

The Gorham case, which Ryle mentions by name, turned on exactly this service: the Privy Council’s ruling of 8 March 1850 allowed a clergyman who denied that all baptised infants are regenerate to hold a living. Evangelicals were then charged with using the service dishonestly, by High Churchmen and also by the Baptist preacher C. H. Spurgeon, whose sermon ‘Baptismal Regeneration’ of 5 June 1864 questioned the morality of clergy who used words they did not believe.

“Reading the service as charitable supposition is non-natural and dishonest.”

Ryle denies it and turns the charge round: the unnatural reader is the one who explains the Baptismal Service on one principle and the Burial Service on another.

“It makes no practical difference whether all the baptised are regenerate.”

He says it makes an immense difference: telling a man he has grace to stir up lulls him to sleep, while telling him he must be born again may awaken him.

“Anyone who holds these views is no true Churchman.”

Ryle answers that he has signed the Articles, assented to the Liturgy and honours the sacraments as fully as any High Churchman, and that his view is the view of the compilers.

Baptismal Regeneration

The teaching that every person, or every infant, baptised with water is thereby born again. This is the view Ryle argues the Prayer Book does not require.

Charitable supposition

Speaking of people in worship as what they profess to be, in hope, without claiming to know their hearts. Older divines quoted in the footnotes call it ‘the judgment of charity’.

Ex opere operato

Latin for ‘by the work done’: the idea that a sacrament gives grace simply by being performed, whatever the state of the recipient.

Homilies

Two official books of sermons issued by the Church of England in the 16th century to be read in churches. Article 35 commends them as containing godly and wholesome doctrine.

Churching of Women

The Prayer Book service of thanksgiving for a woman after childbirth, in which she is called ‘the Lord’s servant’.

Antinomianism

The error that a person may have grace and be saved while living in sin without concern. Ryle says claiming grace where no fruit is seen comes close to it.

Ryle handles two questions: why the Lord’s Supper was ordained, and what place it should hold. For the first he takes the Catechism’s answer: ‘for the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby.’ The Supper sets Christ’s death before believers in visible signs and strengthens their faith.

He then says what it is not. It is not a sacrifice, and the bread and wine do not change; ‘This is My body’ means ‘this represents’. It gives no grace by mere reception, and it is more than a fellowship meal. Against Archdeacon Denison’s teaching of Christ’s presence in the elements, he sets Article 28, the Communion Service, the rubric on kneeling, the Catechism and the Homily.

On its place, he argues that the Supper should not be made the chief thing in worship, surrounded with ceremony, or pressed on everyone without regard to faith. It belongs between conversion and heaven, for those who already trust in Christ. He closes by urging Evangelicals to stay in the Church of England rather than secede.

1. Why the subject matters nowRyle calls error about the Lord’s Supper one of the commonest and most dangerous errors of his day. He sees it as the hidden root of most of the Ritualism spreading through the Church.p. 164
2. A remembrance of Christ’s deathThe Catechism’s answer is his starting point. Christ gave visible signs so that his atoning death would not be forgotten, and to strengthen the faith of believers.p. 164
3. Not a sacrifice, and no change in the elementsThe New Testament knows no altar and no sacrifice except Christ’s, once for all. ‘This is My body’ means ‘this represents’, and Paul still calls the consecrated bread ‘bread’.p. 166
4. Not automatic, and not just a fellowship mealIt does no good to those who receive it without faith; a man may eat and drink unworthily. Nor is it merely a social feast, as Ecce Homo suggested.p. 168
5. The formularies agreeAgainst Archdeacon Denison’s teaching, Ryle cites Article 28, the Communion Service, the rubric on kneeling and the Catechism. All teach a spiritual presence to the faithful communicant, not a bodily presence in the bread and wine.p. 171
6. Its rightful placeIt is wrongly placed when made the chief thing in worship, surrounded with ceremony, or pressed on everyone as a matter of course. It belongs between conversion and heaven, for those already in the narrow way.p. 177
7. Stand fast, do not secedeRyle urges simplicity in teaching and practice, and asks Evangelicals not to be moved by claims that they are not true Churchmen. So long as the Articles stand unaltered, patience is better than leaving.p. 182

In 1853 George Denison, Archdeacon of Taunton, preached in Wells Cathedral that Christ’s body and blood are present in the consecrated bread and wine; a court at Bath condemned him in 1856, but the judgment was overturned on a legal technicality in 1857 and the Privy Council declined to restore it in 1858. Through the 1860s and 1870s Ritualist clergy introduced vestments, incense and the eastward position, leading to prosecutions and the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, while Evangelicals relied on William Goode’s ‘The Nature of Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist’ (1856), which Ryle commends.

“Christ said plainly, ‘This is My body’.”

Ryle answers that the context shows the hearers took it to mean ‘this represents’, that Paul calls the consecrated bread ‘bread’ three times, and that if Christ held his own body in his hands, his body was not a body like ours.

“John 6 speaks of eating Christ’s flesh and drinking his blood.”

There is no conclusive proof that the chapter refers to the Supper at all. If it did, every non-communicant would be lost and every communicant saved.

“Why not leave a Church where Ritualism prevails?”

Ryle urges patience: other bodies have their own faults, a layman can do much good by lawful means, and while the Articles stand unaltered secession is not yet warranted.

Ritualism

The 19th-century movement among some Church of England clergy to bring in vestments, incense, lights and other ceremonies, often with Roman Catholic teaching about the sacrament behind them.

Transubstantiation

The Roman Catholic teaching that the substance of the bread and wine is changed into Christ’s body and blood. Article 28 rejects it.

Real presence

Ryle holds that Christ is truly present to the faithful at the Supper. The dispute, he explains, is whether his body and blood are present in the bread and wine themselves once consecrated.

Ex opere operato

Latin for ‘by the work done’: the idea that a sacrament gives grace simply by being received, whatever the faith of the recipient.

Rubric on kneeling

The note at the end of the 1662 Communion Service, often called the Black Rubric, declaring that kneeling implies no adoration of the bread and wine or of any ‘Corporal Presence’.

Ryle sets the question inside a larger one: what the Bible says about the “presence” of God and of Christ. He begins with God’s presence everywhere. No one can fully understand it, he says, but everyone should believe it, and it teaches humility, our need of Christ, and comfort in trouble.

He then describes Christ’s real spiritual presence: with His true Church, in the heart of each believer, wherever two or three meet in His name, with faithful communicants at the Lord’s Supper, and in times of special trial. He insists this presence is real, not imaginary.

Lastly he traces Christ’s bodily presence: on earth at His first coming, in heaven now, and on earth again at His second coming, but not in the consecrated bread and wine. Scripture nowhere teaches it; “This is My body” means “this represents My body”; John 6 is not about the Supper; and a body in many places at once would not be a true human body. He rests on the Prayer Book’s own words.

1. God is present everywhereThe Bible plainly teaches that God is in every place and sees everything. We cannot understand this, but that is no reason to doubt it.p. 191
2. Christ is spiritually present with His peopleChrist, God and man in one Person, is truly present after the manner of a spirit: with His true Church, in believers’ hearts, and where two or three gather in His name.p. 195
3. A special presence at the Lord’s SupperRyle holds that every believing communicant meets Christ in a special way at His Table. This is a presence to the heart, not a presence in the bread and wine.p. 198
4. Christ’s risen body is now in heavenChrist rose and ascended with a real, glorified body, which is in heaven now. Ryle cites Article IV, and finds great comfort in a Saviour who is still truly man.p. 203
5. Scripture teaches no bodily presence in the elementsNothing in the Gospel accounts or the Epistles shows the disciples thought His body was in the bread. In Scripture “is” often means “represents”, and St Paul still calls the consecrated bread “bread”.p. 205
6. A body in many places is no true bodyIf Christ’s body could be in heaven and on many tables at once, it would not be a real human body. That would undermine His true humanity, as the Prayer Book itself says.p. 206
7. He will be bodily present again at His returnChrist will come back visibly and bodily to judge the world. This is the “real presence” Ryle urges believers to long and pray for.p. 207

Leaders of the Oxford Movement and, later, the Ritualists taught a real, objective presence of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine. E. B. Pusey was suspended from preaching at Oxford for two years after his 1843 sermon on the Eucharist. The Church Association later prosecuted W. J. E. Bennett, vicar of Frome, for such teaching; in Sheppard v. Bennett (judgment 8 June 1872) the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council found in Bennett’s favour, while stating the words Ryle quotes in his closing note.

“Do not the words “This is My body” prove a bodily presence?”

Ryle replies that quoting one isolated phrase proves nothing, and that “is” often means “represents” in Scripture, as in “The field is the world”.

“Does not John 6, on eating Christ’s flesh, refer to the Supper?”

He answers that the Supper was not instituted until at least a year later, and that the eating and drinking there are the eating and drinking of faith.

“Does it really matter what view we take, so long as we are reverent?”

Ryle says those who think it a matter of indifference are “totally and entirely mistaken”, because a wrong view can lead to heresy about Christ’s human nature.

Real Presence

The teaching that Christ’s body and blood are present in, with or under the consecrated bread and wine. Ryle accepts a real spiritual presence to the believer but rejects any bodily presence in the elements.

Consecrated elements

The bread and wine after the prayer of consecration in the Communion service.

The Declaration at the end of the Communion Service

The note printed after the 1662 Communion service, often called the “Black Rubric”. It explains that kneeling implies no adoration of the bread and wine, and that Christ’s natural body is in heaven and not here.

Arianism and Socinianism

Arianism denied that Christ is fully God; Socinianism denied the Trinity and Christ’s deity. Ryle says that quoting single phrases out of context could be used to “prove” either.

Second advent

Christ’s second coming, in person and in the body, to judge the world.

Ryle notes that “Church” means different things to different people, and fixes on its main New Testament sense: “the blessed company of all faithful people”, the body of Christ. Every true believer belongs to it, whatever his denomination. No minister can admit anyone to it or shut anyone out, and outside it there is no salvation.

Visible churches, he argues, are real and according to the mind of God, but they are mixed bodies of converted and unconverted people. None may claim to be the only true Church, to have the only right government or worship, or to be safe from falling away. They are judged by their fruits; he compares them to the husk that guards the kernel.

He then applies this. Resist Rome’s claim and vague appeals to “the voice of the Church”. Do not unchurch non-episcopal Protestants, since Scripture nowhere makes bishops necessary to salvation. Yet do not treat schism lightly or leave the Church of England without grave cause, and study its Articles and Homilies.

1. “Church” is used in many loose sensesPoliticians, Roman Catholics, Dissenters and Churchmen all mean different things by the word. Ryle says this confusion has done great harm.p. 212
2. The one true Church is all true believersRyle quotes the Communion Service: “the mystical body of Christ, which is the blessed company of all faithful people”. To this Church a man must belong to be saved.p. 213
3. Only this Church has the marks of the CreedsOnly the body of true believers is fully one, holy, catholic and apostolic, certain to endure, and sure that none of its members will perish.p. 217
4. Visible churches are mixed and may fallThe New Testament churches held unconverted as well as converted members, and were warned they could be cut off. Scripture says much about doctrine but little about government and ceremonies.p. 220
5. No visible church may claim too muchNo church may say it alone saves, alone has the true government and worship, or will never fall. Churches are to be judged by their fruits.p. 223
6. Bishops are best, but not necessary to salvationRyle prefers episcopacy and a liturgy, but says Scripture never requires bishops for salvation. He appeals to the Articles and the Ordinal, which assert Anglican orders without denying others.p. 230
7. Yet schism is a real evilDivisions help unbelief, and separation is justified only by deliberate false teaching. Ryle advises against leaving the Church of England lightly.p. 236

The Oxford Movement, launched with the Tracts for the Times in 1833, taught that the clergy’s authority rests on their descent from the Apostles through bishops, which seemed to leave non-episcopal bodies outside the Church. When John Henry Newman joined the Church of Rome in October 1845, and others followed, Evangelicals saw this teaching as a road to Rome. That is the danger Ryle names when he says nearly all “perverts to Romanism” begin by confusing the visible Church with the body of Christ.

“If no church membership saves, does it matter which church I join?”

Ryle says it matters very much: in some churches the Gospel is buried, and belonging to them brings great peril to the soul.

“There is only one true Church, and is it not the Church of Rome?”

He agrees there is one true Church but says it is no visible body; not one text says Rome is that Church, and Romans 11 warns that Rome itself could be cut off.

“Is a Churchman who will not unchurch non-episcopal bodies a poor Churchman?”

Ryle appeals to the Articles and the Ordinal: they say the Church of England’s ministers are lawfully ordained, but never that others are not ordained at all.

Apostolical succession

The belief that true ministry comes only through an unbroken line of bishops from the Apostles. Some in Ryle’s day held that churches without it were not true churches.

Episcopacy

Church government by bishops. An “Episcopal” or “Episcopalian” church is one governed in this way.

Dissenters

Protestants in England outside the established Church, such as Baptists, Independents (Congregationalists) and Methodists. Also called Nonconformists.

Schism

A wrongful split or separation within the Church.

The Homilies

Two books of official sermons set out by the Church of England in the 16th century. Article XXXV says they contain “godly and wholesome doctrine”.

Pervert

A period word for someone who left one church for another, here for a Protestant who joined the Church of Rome.

Ryle starts from the sinner’s need. We are too guilty to come to a holy God alone, and need a Mediator. The Bible supplies one in Jesus Christ, set out as High Priest in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Ryle asks three questions: where is Christ now, what is He doing now, and what will He do before the end of the world?

As God, Christ is everywhere; as man, His risen body is in heaven. It is not in the grave, as unbelievers say, nor on the Communion Table, as Roman Catholics and some Anglicans say. There He carries on the priestly work begun on the cross: presenting His finished sacrifice, interceding, representing His people, offering their prayers, guarding them, and receiving and absolving sinners who come to Him.

At His return the High Priest will come out from “within the veil” to judge and reign. Ryle’s practical conclusion is that believers should use Christ daily, and never give His office to a clergyman. He gives four reasons against habitual private confession to a minister.

1. Everyone needs a Mediator with GodWe are too sinful to deal with a holy God by ourselves. The Gospel provides the Priest we need in Jesus, the Son of God.p. 242
2. As man, Christ is in heavenAs God He is everywhere, but His human body has passed into heaven. The evidence for His resurrection is, Ryle says, unanswerable.p. 243
3. He is not on the Communion TableThe bread and wine are emblems of something absent, as the rubric at the end of the Communion Service says. A body both in heaven and on the table would not be a true human body.p. 244
4. Christ is our Priest in heaven nowHaving offered Himself once on the cross, He now carries on in heaven the priestly work He began on earth.p. 247
5. What His priestly work includesHe presents His sacrifice, intercedes, bears His people’s names, offers their prayers, acts as Friend and Advocate, and receives and absolves sinners who come to Him.p. 248
6. He will come again as KingThe High Priest will come out from “within the veil” bodily and in glory, to judge the world and gather His people.p. 252
7. Give His office to no one elseRyle warns against making any minister a spiritual director or habitual confessor. He argues that it lacks Scripture, that no man is fit for it, that history condemns it, and that Christ is always available.p. 257

The Anglo-Catholic party in the Church of England increasingly treated its clergy as priests in a sacrificing sense, offering the Eucharist at an altar and hearing private confessions. On 9 May 1873 a petition from 483 priests, organised by the Society of the Holy Cross, asked the Convocation of Canterbury to provide for the training and licensing of confessors. The following year Archbishop Tait brought the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 before the House of Lords to curb Ritualist practice.

“Should we not believe Christ’s body is in the bread, even if we cannot understand it, since it is a reverent thought?”

Ryle says the idea has no foundation in Scripture and is dangerous, because it denies that Christ’s human nature is like ours.

“Does not religion based on miracles fall to the sceptic’s objections?”

He tells the sceptic to grapple first with the greatest miracle, the resurrection; until he has overthrown that evidence, his case against miracles need not be heard.

“Does habitual private confession not “deepen spiritual life”?”

Ryle answers that nothing deepens spiritual life which puts anything between our souls and Christ.

Mediator

One who stands between two parties to bring them together. Ryle uses it of Christ standing between sinners and God.

Intercession

Pleading or praying on someone else’s behalf. Ryle says Christ “ever liveth to make intercession” for His people.

Within the veil

The inner part of the Old Testament tabernacle, which only the high priest entered. Hebrews uses it of Christ entering heaven itself for us.

Absolution

The forgiving, or declaring forgiven, of sins. Ryle says the power to absolve belongs to Christ.

Habitual private confession

The regular practice of confessing one’s sins privately to a clergyman and receiving absolution from him. Ryle distinguishes it from occasional private conversation with a minister.

Ryle notes that confession had become a burning question, and frames it with two questions: who ought to confess sin, and to whom? His answer to the first is everyone. All have sinned, and without confession there is neither forgiveness nor peace of conscience. Yet few truly confess, through carelessness, pride or sloth, which he takes as the clearest proof of man’s fallen state.

Sin should be confessed to God, yet a holy God makes sinners afraid. The Gospel’s answer is Christ, the great High Priest: almighty, willing, all-knowing, tender and able to sympathise. Through Him we may come boldly.

Ryle then rejects confession to saints and angels, and to living priests or ministers. It is needless, has no warrant in Scripture, and, he argues, does harm. He insists Evangelicals are not against self-examination or contrition: their confessional is the throne of grace. In his notes he argues that the absolutions in the Prayer Book are declaratory.

1. Everyone ought to confess sinAll are born in sin and all have sinned, so no one, however respectable, is exempt.p. 261
2. Without confession, no pardon and no peaceWe must “plead guilty” before God declares us innocent, and an unconfessed sin weighs on the conscience, as David found.p. 261
3. Yet few truly confessSome never think about sin, some are too proud and some too idle. Ryle sees this general “spirit of slumber” as the clearest proof of the Fall.p. 262
4. Confess to GodGod is the one chiefly offended, and only He can forgive. Yet His holiness makes sinners afraid to approach Him.p. 265
5. Confess to God through ChristChrist is the great High Priest appointed to receive confessions and absolve. He is almighty, willing, all-knowing, tender and sympathetic.p. 266
6. Not to saints, angels or living priestsThere is no need, no Scripture warrant and no proof of benefit. Ryle argues that the confessional has done great harm.p. 268
7. The true confessional is the throne of graceEvangelicals favour self-examination and contrition, but at the feet of Christ, not of a man.p. 272

Anglo-Catholic and Ritualist clergy were hearing private confessions and urging the practice on their people; in 1873 a petition of 483 priests asked Convocation to license confessors. In 1877 a confessors’ manual, The Priest in Absolution, was raised in the House of Lords by Lord Redesdale, and the bishops in Convocation then passed a resolution against the teaching behind it. Both sides appealed to Prayer Book passages, chiefly the Exhortation in the Communion Service and the Visitation of the Sick, which Ryle discusses in his notes.

“Does Evangelical teaching make light of the minister’s office?”

No. Ryle honours ministers as Christ’s ambassadors, messengers, watchmen and stewards, but declines to treat them as priests, mediators or confessors.

“Are Evangelicals against self-examination and true contrition?”

Ryle calls this a baseless charge: they wholly favour it, but carried on before Christ at the throne of grace.

“Does not the Prayer Book itself provide for private confession and absolution?”

In his notes Ryle argues that the Communion Exhortation is advice for a troubled conscience and that the absolution in the Visitation of the Sick is declaratory, though he wishes such wording removed.

Auricular confession

Confession of sins spoken privately into the ear of a priest. The word comes from the Latin for “ear”.

Absolution

The forgiving, or declaring forgiven, of sins.

Declaratory absolution

Ryle’s reading of the Prayer Book: the minister announces God’s forgiveness to those who repent and believe, rather than granting it himself. “I absolve thee” means “I declare thee absolved”.

Throne of grace

A phrase from Hebrews 4:16 for God’s presence, which believers may approach boldly through Christ.

Ghostly counsel

Spiritual advice. “Ghostly” is an old word for “spiritual”.

Ryle starts from a plain point: not all worship pleases God. Scripture speaks of worship that is “in vain” and of “will-worship” as well as true worship, so the question is not how often we go to church but how we worship. He first shows that public worship has marked God’s people from Abel to the apostles, then lays down its principles: it must be offered to God alone, through Christ, in line with Scripture, with understanding, from the heart, and with reverence.

He then names seven parts of complete public worship: the Sabbath, a ministry, preaching, united prayer, the public reading of Scripture, united praise and the two sacraments. He warns against three “growing evils”: letting the sacraments swallow up everything else, excessive ornament and ceremony, and clergy acting as sacrificing priests.

Finally he refuses to let feelings settle the matter. Worship is to be tested by its fruit: does it quicken the conscience, send us to Christ, add to our knowledge and make our lives holier?

1. Public worship has always marked God’s peopleFrom Cain and Abel to the apostles, wherever God has had a people He has had a congregation. Ryle relies on Hebrews 10:25 and holds that where there is no public worship there is, in all likelihood, no Church.p. 279
2. Six principles of true worshipWorship must be directed to God alone, offered through Christ the one Mediator, and be scriptural, intelligent, heartfelt and reverent. Prayers to Mary, saints or angels, and worship the mind does not follow, fail these tests.p. 281
3. Seven parts of complete worshipThe New Testament gives few detailed rules, unlike Leviticus, yet it shows seven essentials: the Sabbath, a ministry, preaching, united prayer, Scripture reading, united praise and the two sacraments.p. 286
4. Preaching must never be pushed asideHe finds no New Testament assembly without preaching, and agrees with Bishop Latimer that Satan aims to exalt ceremonies and put down preaching.p. 288
5. Three dangers to avoidHe warns against worship in which the sacraments swallow up everything else, in which ornament and ceremony smother simplicity, and in which ministers dress or act as sacrificing priests.p. 292
6. Feelings are not a safe testMusic and spectacle can stir a passing excitement that is not true devotion. A Romanist, he says, can feel it and remain a Romanist.p. 295
7. Judge worship by its fruitTrue worship deepens humility, draws a person to Christ, grows knowledge and increases holiness. The best public worship is the one that produces the best private Christianity.p. 296

Ryle wrote while Ritualists, heirs of the Oxford Movement, were bringing vestments, candles, incense and the eastward position into parish churches. The evangelical Church Association (founded 1865) took Ritualist clergy to law, and in 1871 the Privy Council, in the case against John Purchas of Brighton, ruled Mass vestments, the eastward position, the mixed chalice and wafer bread unlawful. In 1874 Parliament passed the Public Worship Regulation Act, introduced by Archbishop Tait and backed by Disraeli as “a bill to put down ritualism”.

“Many churchgoers are no better than people who stay at home.”

Ryle replies that the misuse of a good thing is no argument against its use, and that on the whole there is far more good among worshippers than among non-worshippers.

“Every day should be a Sabbath to a Christian, so no day needs to be special.”

He grants it sounds spiritual, but says experience proves that human nature needs fixed days, and that where there is no Sabbath there is no public worship.

“The worship I attend makes me feel better, so it must be right.”

He answers that religious feelings are very deceitful; worship must be tried by its effect on conscience, faith, knowledge and life.

Will-worship

Paul’s phrase in Colossians 2:23 for worship that people invent for themselves rather than receive from God. It looks wise but does no good to the soul.

Ritualism

The 19th-century movement in the Church of England that brought back vestments, candles, incense and other ceremonies associated with the Mass.

Sacrificialism

Ryle’s word for treating the Lord’s Supper as a sacrifice offered by a priest, rather than as a sacrament that remembers Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross.

Plymouth Brethren

A Protestant movement with no ordained ministers. Ryle respects them but cannot understand their view of the ministry.

Levée

A formal reception held by the sovereign. Ryle asks why people behave in church in ways they would not dare to in the royal presence.

Ryle answers those who call the Sabbath “a mere Jewish ordinance” resting only on Church authority. He traces it through Scripture: blessed at creation, written into the Ten Commandments, defended by the prophets, cleansed but never abolished by Christ, and kept by the apostles on the first day of the week as “the Lord’s Day”. He concludes that it belongs to the eternal moral law, binding on all mankind.

He then argues that the day was “made for man”. It is good for body, mind, nation and, above all, soul. It is to be kept by two rules from the Fourth Commandment: it is a day of rest, allowing works of necessity and mercy, and it is a holy rest given to the things of God. He insists this is neither Pharisaic nor gloomy.

Lastly he names private and public ways of breaking the day, especially Sunday excursions and opening museums, which force others to work. His remedy is not law alone but evangelising the great towns.

1. The Sabbath began at creation and SinaiGod blessed the seventh day at creation, and the Sabbath stands among the Ten Commandments, spoken by God, written on stone and kept in the ark. Ryle cannot believe it was meant to be only temporary.p. 300
2. Christ and the apostles kept itChrist cleared away the Pharisees’ additions but never denied the day’s holiness. The apostles moved it to the first day, in memory of the resurrection, and called it “the Lord’s Day”.p. 302
3. It was made for man’s goodThe Sabbath is a blessing, not a yoke. It rests the body and mind, strengthens nations and, above all, gives the soul time for eternal things.p. 306
4. Two rules: rest, and holy restAll ordinary work should cease, though works of necessity and mercy are allowed. The rest must also be holy, given to God’s Word, God’s house and the soul’s business.p. 310
5. Not Pharisaic, not gloomyHe allows a quiet walk and does not ask anyone to pray or read all day. He wants Sunday to be the brightest day of the week.p. 311
6. Public desecration hurts working peopleSunday trains, steamboats and open museums are neither necessity nor mercy, and they force porters, drivers and attendants to work. A day of amusement, he warns, soon becomes a day of labour.p. 314
7. The real remedy is the GospelPetitions and Acts of Parliament are not enough. Ryle calls for huge town parishes to be divided into districts of no more than 3,000 people, each with a minister to preach the Gospel.p. 321

Sunday observance was a political battle in the 1850s. In 1855 Lord Robert Grosvenor’s Sunday Trading Bill provoked riots in Hyde Park and was withdrawn; the same year the National Sunday League was formed to press for museums, galleries and the Crystal Palace to open on Sundays, and in February 1856 Sir Joshua Walmsley’s Commons motion to open the British Museum and National Gallery was heavily defeated. The religious census of 1851, which Ryle cites, had shown how many people attended no place of worship at all.

“The Sabbath is a mere Jewish ordinance, no more binding than sacrifice.”

Ryle replies that it was given at creation, long before Moses, and stands among the Ten Commandments, none of which Christ or the apostles set aside.

“Every day ought to be holy to a true Christian.”

He respects the view but holds that, taking human nature as it is, treating every day as the Lord’s Day would leave no Lord’s Day at all.

“Opening museums and running trains on Sunday helps the working classes.”

He answers that it robs those who must staff them of their own rest, and that once Sunday becomes a day of play it soon becomes a day of work for all.

Moral and ceremonial law

The moral law is God’s permanent rule of right and wrong, summed up in the Ten Commandments. The ceremonial law covered sacrifices, washings and food rules, which Christ fulfilled and ended.

Fourth Commandment

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8), as you will know from its reading in the Prayer Book Communion service.

Works of necessity and mercy

Tasks that must be done to preserve life or relieve need, such as caring for the sick or animals, which Christ showed are lawful on the Sabbath.

Continental Sabbath

Ryle’s phrase for a Sunday spent mainly on pleasure and amusement, as he saw it in France, Italy and Germany.

Rectorial rights

The legal rights of a parish rector over his parish, which in Ryle’s day made it hard to divide large parishes or open new places of worship.

Ryle takes Christ’s words in Matthew 16:6, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees”. He notes that the warning was given to the apostles themselves, so no believer or minister is beyond the need of it.

The leaven is doctrine. The Pharisees were formalists, tradition-worshippers and self-righteous: they buried Scripture under additions. The Sadducees were free-thinkers, sceptics and rationalists: they took away from it. Ryle argues that Christ foresaw both would trouble His Church until He returns, and he sees them in his own day in the Ritualists on one side and the Broad school on the other.

The word “leaven” shows how error works: small at first, quiet, and in time changing everything. So he warns against those who ask only that we “add a little more”, or who only raise gentle doubts. His safeguards are clear views of human sin, the inspiration of Scripture, Christ’s atonement and priesthood, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

1. The warning was given to the apostlesChrist spoke these words to His own faithful disciples. Ryle concludes that even the holiest believers and ordained ministers can fall into error and need to be on guard.p. 326
2. The leaven is false doctrineScripture itself explains that “leaven” means the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The danger here is not persecution or open sin but false teaching.p. 328
3. Pharisees added; Sadducees subtractedThe Pharisees buried Scripture under tradition and ceremony. The Sadducees, through doubt and ridicule, shook people’s faith in revelation without openly denying it.p. 328
4. Both errors persist in the ChurchRyle traces the two tendencies through Church history and sees the mantle of the Pharisees on the Ritualists and that of the Sadducees on the Broad school.p. 331
5. Error works like leavenIt begins small, works quietly and changes the whole. The danger comes from those who ask you only to “add a little more”, or to doubt a little, not from open enemies.p. 334
6. Four safeguardsClear views of the corruption of human nature, the full inspiration of Scripture, Christ’s atonement and priestly office, and the visible work of the Holy Spirit.p. 339
7. Practical counselMake sure of your own salvation, read the Bible, keep truths in their biblical proportion, do not trust earnestness alone, examine your heart and contend for the faith.p. 343

The Oxford Movement, begun in the 1830s, led some Anglicans to Rome: John Henry Newman was received in 1845 and Henry Manning in 1851, after the Gorham judgment of 1850. From the opposite side, Essays and Reviews (1860) and Bishop Colenso’s critical study of the Pentateuch (1862) questioned the inspiration and history of Scripture; in 1864 the Privy Council overturned the heresy convictions of two of the essayists.

“Hold your peace about false doctrine; let it alone.”

Ryle replies that the New Testament is full of warnings against false teaching, and that faith in God’s Word, love for souls and his ordination vows all oblige him to speak.

“A teacher who teaches a great deal of truth can surely be trusted.”

He answers that such a teacher is the most dangerous, because poison does most harm in small doses mixed with wholesome food, and that earnestness is no proof of truth.

Leaven

Yeast. A small amount works quietly through the whole lump of dough, which is why Christ uses it as a picture of false doctrine.

Tractarians and Ritualists

The Tractarians were leaders of the Oxford Movement, named after their Tracts for the Times; the Ritualists were their successors who brought in Roman-style ceremonial.

Socinianism

The teaching, named after Faustus Socinus, that denies the Trinity and Christ’s divinity and treats His death as an example rather than an atonement.

Neologianism

“New teaching”: the sceptical, German-influenced biblical criticism of the 19th century.

Broad school

The Broad Church party in the Church of England, which favoured wide latitude in doctrine and freer handling of Scripture.

Non-jurors and Latitudinarians

Two parties of the late 17th and 18th centuries: the Non-jurors held high views of the Church and refused oaths to William III; the Latitudinarians played down doctrine.

Ryle works through Hebrews 13:9 in three parts. First, the warning: “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.” False teaching has existed since the apostles’ day, and the New Testament is full of warnings against it. He lists what made the errors of his own time dangerous: zeal, learning, half-truths and a craving for showy worship. His safeguard is the Bible, regularly read, prayed over and studied.

Second, the prescription: the heart is “established with grace; not with meats”. By “meats” Ryle understands ceremonies added to the Gospel as essentials; by “grace” the whole Gospel of God’s free love in Christ. Many voices offer unsettled souls a short cut to peace, but only grace gives it.

Third, the fact: “meats” have not profited those occupied with them. He points to the ascetics and to clergy who went over to Rome, and contrasts Luther, Latimer, Simeon and others whose usefulness came from preaching grace. He ends by urging readers to keep the Church of England Protestant and to make sure of their own salvation.

1. False doctrine is nothing newFrom Christ’s warning against false prophets to Jude’s call to contend for the faith, the New Testament repeatedly warns against error. Even the apostolic Churches were not free of it.p. 349
2. Why error was so dangerous thenTeachers of error showed zeal and learning, used Scripture terms in an unscriptural sense, and met a public appetite for novelty, liberal-mindedness and showy worship.p. 350
3. The Bible is the safeguard“Search the Scriptures.” Honest Bible reading, Ryle argues, makes it hard to be either a Rationalist or a Ritualist, because Scripture gives no ground for either.p. 351
4. Meats and grace defined“Meats” stands for any ceremony added to the Gospel as an essential; “grace” for the whole Gospel of God’s free love in Christ.p. 354
5. Many offer peace; grace gives itRome, the extreme Ritualist, the Liberationist, the Plymouth Brethren and the Rationalist each promise establishment. Ryle answers that the heart is settled only by a firmer grasp of grace.p. 355
6. Meats have not profitedThe ascetics and monks, for all their zeal, found no solid peace and, he says, did nothing to convert souls. Ryle cites Mr Ffoulkes on the clergy who went over to Rome.p. 358
7. Grace has borne fruitLuther, Latimer and Hooper, Romaine and Venn, Simeon and Bickersteth were useful because they made much of God’s free grace.p. 360

Ryle wrote as Ritualism grew in the Church of England and some scores of clergy had gone over to Rome. Others pressed different remedies: the Liberation Society, founded in 1844 by Edward Miall and renamed in 1853, campaigned to disestablish the Church of England. Ryle cites Edmund Ffoulkes, who had joined the Church of Rome in 1855 and returned to the Church of England around 1870.

“Clergymen should never handle controversial subjects or warn against error.”

Ryle replies that this would mean neglecting much of the New Testament, and that the dumb dog and the sleeping shepherd are the wolf’s best allies.

“Grace alone seems too simple, too easy, too plain.”

He answers that all the wisdom of man will never show the heavy-laden a better road, and that secret pride is often why the old road is not used.

Divers

An old word for “various” or “many different”, as you will know from the Authorised Version.

Meats

In the AV, “meat” means food in general. Ryle takes it here to stand for ceremonies added to the Gospel as essentials.

Neology

“New teaching”: the sceptical biblical criticism of the 19th century, which Ryle pairs with Rome as a cause of havoc in the Church.

Rationalism

Making human reason the judge of what in Scripture may be believed.

Liberationist

A supporter of the Liberation Society, which campaigned to end the Church of England’s establishment by the state.

Perverts

A period term for people who turned from one Church to another, here clergy who left the Church of England for Rome. The modern sexual sense came later.

Ryle takes the scene in Galatians 2 where Paul publicly rebukes Peter at Antioch. Peter had eaten with Gentile believers, then drew back when Jewish visitors arrived. Ryle draws three lessons from it.

First, great ministers may make great mistakes. If Peter could err, then no rank, council, ancient writer, scholar or well-loved local minister can be trusted without checking him against Scripture. Infallibility, he says again and again, is found only in the Bible.

Second, keeping the truth of the gospel matters more than keeping peace. Paul valued unity, yet he rebuked Peter in public and wrote it down. Ryle applies this boldly: a layman may be right to leave a parish church where plainly false doctrine is preached. Third, no doctrine needs guarding so closely as justification by faith without the deeds of the law, because Peter’s conduct seemed to add something to faith. Ryle warns that loose teaching on baptism, the Lord’s Supper and church membership can obscure it. He closes with five counsels: know the Bible, know the Articles, contend for the faith, watch your own heart, and pray for the Church.

1. Even Peter made a great mistakePeter, the most privileged of the Apostles, withdrew from Gentile believers out of fear, and Paul rebuked him to his face. Ryle notes this is the third great error of Peter that Scripture records.p. 364
2. No rank or council makes a man infallibleTitles, ordination and large gatherings of bishops cannot stop men erring. Ryle cites Article XXI, that general councils ‘may err, and sometimes have erred’, and lists errors of Bible saints and of Reformers.p. 366
3. Not age, office, learning, or your own ministerDo not trust a man merely because he lived long ago, is ordained, is learned, or is your own godly minister. Follow ministers only as far as they can say ‘Thus it is written’.p. 368
4. Gospel truth matters more than peacePaul prized unity, yet he risked open dispute rather than let the gospel be compromised. Ryle says peace without truth is a false peace.p. 371
5. Leaving an unsound parish churchRyle separates teaching that is merely defective from teaching that is positively false. Where false doctrine is plainly preached, a layman is right not to sit under it, whatever is said about parish order or schism.p. 373
6. Guard justification by faith above allPeter denied no article, but his conduct implied that faith in Christ was not enough. Ryle argues this doctrine is vital to personal peace, to a minister’s usefulness and to a Church’s health, and that wrong teaching on baptism, the Supper and membership can obscure it.p. 378
7. Five counsels for the readerKnow the Bible; know the Thirty-nine Articles; be ready to contend for the faith; keep a watch on your own heart and temper; and pray daily for the Church.p. 382

From 1833 the Tractarians (the Oxford Movement) taught people to defer to ‘the voice of the primitive Church’ and to the bishop, and by the 1860s a growing number of parishes had Ritualist clergy, so evangelical lay people were asking whether they might worship outside their own parish. Rome rested its claims on Peter as first bishop of Rome, and the First Vatican Council’s decree Pastor Aeternus (18 July 1870) defined papal infallibility, so the question of who can err was sharply alive when this book appeared.

“Is it not schism, and a breach of parish order, to leave your parish church?”

Ryle replies that the parish system is admirable only when the Gospel is preached, and that separating from positively false teaching is ‘a virtue and not a sin’.

“Is controversy not hateful and bad for the Church?”

He agrees it is hateful, but says false doctrine tolerated without protest is worse; the Reformation was won by controversy, and Jude 3 commands us to contend for the faith.

“Is a man who speaks like this really a Churchman at all?”

Ryle answers that the truest friends of the Church of England are those who labour most for the preservation of truth, not those who talk most about Churchmanship.

Infallibility

Being unable to err in teaching. Ryle’s point is that no man or council has it; only Scripture does.

Justification by faith without the deeds of the law

The teaching that God counts a sinner righteous for Christ’s sake, through faith alone, and not for anything the sinner does. It is the subject of Article XI.

Parochial system

The arrangement by which every part of England lies in a parish with its own church and minister, and parishioners were expected to worship there.

Schism

A wrongful split in the Church. Ryle quotes the saying that ‘He is the schismatic who causes the schism’, meaning the blame lies with whoever brings in false teaching.

Dissenters and the meeting-house

Protestants outside the Church of England, such as Methodists, Baptists and Independents, and the plain chapels where they met.

Ryle builds the paper on 2 Corinthians 11:3, where Paul says he fears the Corinthians’ minds may be corrupted ‘from the simplicity that is in Christ’. He draws out three lessons.

First, there is a disease to fear: corruption of the mind by false doctrine. Ryle traces it through the early Church, the Middle Ages and the centuries after the Reformation, and sees it at work in the Church of England of his day. Peace and unity, he says, can be bought too dear. Second, Eve’s fall is a warning. Paul treats Genesis 3 as real history, and the serpent’s method was subtlety: error comes looking like truth, often through able, devout and kindly teachers.

Third, the point to guard is ‘the simplicity that is in Christ’, which Ryle takes to mean Christ’s doctrine unmixed. He applies it to eight matters: peace of conscience, priesthood, sacrifice, the rule of faith, ceremonies, the sacraments, the Holy Spirit, and the proportion of truth. He ends by urging study of the Bible, the Thirty-nine Articles and the history of the English Reformation.

1. Even Paul was full of fearPaul’s heaviest burden was ‘the care of all the Churches’, because young converts were easily led astray by false teachers.p. 385
2. Corruption of mind means false doctrineRyle defines it as taking in unscriptural views of Christianity. He shows it spreading in the early Church, in the Middle Ages, after the Reformation, and in his own day.p. 387
3. Peace can be bought too dearHe calls Churchmen to open their eyes and resist error by united action and prayer, rather than prize unity above sound doctrine. He does not advise leaving the Church.p. 389
4. Paul treats the Fall as historyPaul refers to Genesis 3 as a real event, as the New Testament does with other events in the books of Moses. To call Genesis myth would undercut Paul’s own authority.p. 390
5. Error comes dressed as truthThe serpent told Eve the forbidden thing was good for her. In the same way false doctrine comes under fine words and through attractive teachers, so suspicion about doctrine has become a duty.p. 391
6. Hold the simple doctrine of Christ‘Simplicity’ means doctrine single and unmixed. Ryle applies it to eight points, including one Priest, one sacrifice, Scripture as the only rule of faith, and keeping truth in the New Testament’s proportion.p. 393
7. Bible, Articles and Reformation historyHis safeguards are daily Bible study, knowing the Thirty-nine Articles as the Church’s Confession of faith, and learning the history of the English Reformation.p. 397

Ryle names three schools troubling the Church: Romanizing Ritualists; a school that ‘speaks lightly of inspiration’, as in Essays and Reviews (1860), two of whose writers, Rowland Williams and H. B. Wilson, were convicted in the Court of Arches but cleared by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1864; and Broad Churchmen who would grant liberty to every opinion. Bishop John Colenso of Natal’s The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua Critically Examined (1862) had questioned the history of the books of Moses, which is why Ryle defends the Genesis account here.

“Surely a teacher who is so devoted, kind, earnest and sincere cannot be unsound?”

Ryle replies that unsound teachers often appear as ‘angels of light’ and do not show their whole hand; it is the ‘show of wisdom’ that makes error dangerous.

“Is Genesis not just a collection of myths and fables?”

He answers that Paul and the other New Testament writers treat its events as fact; if Paul was wrong here, he may be wrong on fifty other subjects, which Ryle calls a monstrous conclusion.

“Is the Prayer Book not a better standard of Church teaching than the Articles?”

Ryle loves the Prayer Book, but says it is a manual of devotion, not a Confession of faith; the Articles are the Church’s standard of doctrine.

Ritualists

Clergy who brought elaborate Roman Catholic-style ceremony into Church of England services, following on from the Oxford Movement.

Broad Churchmen

Liberal Anglicans who stressed a wide tolerance of differing opinions and often took a freer view of the Bible’s inspiration.

Neologianism and Socinianism

Neologianism was the new, rationalist German theology that doubted the supernatural in Scripture. Socinianism denies the Trinity and the deity of Christ.

Ex opere operato

Latin for ‘by the work worked’. Ryle defines it as the idea that a sacrament gives grace by its mere outward administration, whatever the state of heart of the person receiving it.

Auricular confession

Confessing sins privately into the ear of a priest in order to receive absolution.

Ryle takes Paul’s command ‘Flee from idolatry’ and asks four questions: what idolatry is, where it comes from, where it is found, and what will end it.

He defines idolatry as giving the honour due to God alone to a creature or to something man has invented. A person need not deny God to commit it: Israel’s golden calf and Jeroboam’s calves were set up as aids to worshipping the Lord. Its cause is the natural corruption of the heart, which craves something it can see and touch. Spiritual worship, by contrast, is uphill work.

Ryle argues that Scripture foretold idolatry inside the visible Church, and that history, as summed up in the Homily on Peril of Idolatry, shows it came. He holds that it is formal and systematic in the Church of Rome, gives five marks of it, and answers Rome’s defences. He separates Rome’s dogmas from the hearts of many of her members. Only Christ’s return will end idolatry, so he urges firm resistance to reunion with Rome and gives three safeguards: the Bible, jealousy over small things, and clear views of Christ.

1. What idolatry isRyle defines it as worship in which honour due to God alone is given to a creature or to something creatures have invented. It can be crude, or it can lie very close to the truth.p. 401
2. You can profess God and still commit itThe golden calf was kept as ‘a feast unto the Lord’, and Jeroboam’s calves were offered as a help to God’s service. Both broke the second commandment.p. 401
3. It comes from the fallen heartMan will have some religion, but after the fall he craves a God he can see and touch. Idolatry is downhill and easy; spiritual worship is all of grace.p. 404
4. Foretold, and then seen in historyPaul and John warned against idolatry among Christians, and 1 Timothy 4:1 foretells worship of departed spirits. The Church’s Homily on Peril of Idolatry traces how images moved from teaching aids to objects of worship.p. 406
5. Formal, systematic idolatry in RomeRyle names five marks: reverence to images, prayer to Mary and the saints, honour to relics, adoration of the Host, and priests as mediators. He distinguishes official dogma from the hearts of many Roman Catholics.p. 409
6. Only Christ’s return will end itThe prophets foretell that the Lord will abolish idols. Until then Ryle urges firm resistance to the movement for reunion with Rome.p. 413
7. Three safeguardsKnow the Bible thoroughly; be jealous over even small matters of worship; and hold clear views of Christ, whose finished work leaves no need of other mediators.p. 419

In 1865 E. B. Pusey, a leader of the Oxford Movement, published his Eirenicon, which explored terms for reunion with Rome, and the Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom (founded in 1857 by Ambrose Phillipps de Lisle, and called by Ryle a ‘Society for Promoting the Union of Christendom’) was working toward the same end. Ritualist services were bringing in more elaborate ceremony at the Lord’s Supper. Ryle ends by printing the declaration against transubstantiation which, under the Bill of Rights 1689, every new sovereign had to make; it was replaced by a milder form under the Accession Declaration Act 1910.

“Does Rome’s distinction between latria and dulia not clear her of idolatry?”

Ryle answers that the Bible knows nothing of such distinctions, and that in the practice of most Roman Catholics they do not exist.

“Are images not merely helps to devotion?”

He replies that many heathen have said the same of their idols, and that the second commandment forbids bowing down to images as well as worshipping them.

“Are these charges not based only on the abuses of ignorant people?”

He points to common devotional books such as The Garden of the Soul, and to religious practice in Rome itself.

Latria and dulia

Two Greek words for worship or service. Rome teaches that latria belongs to God alone while dulia may be given to saints; Ryle replies that the Bible knows no such distinction.

Transubstantiation and the elevation of the Host

Transubstantiation is the Roman teaching that the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood in substance. The Host is the consecrated wafer, lifted up for the people to adore.

Homily on Peril of Idolatry

A sermon in the Church of England’s Second Book of Homilies. Article XXXV says the Homilies contain godly and wholesome doctrine.

Declaration on Kneeling

The note printed after the 1662 Communion service, sometimes called the ‘Black Rubric’. It says that kneeling does not mean adoring the bread and wine, which would be ‘idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians’.

Tractarianism

The Oxford Movement’s teaching, named after its Tracts for the Times, which stressed the Church’s catholic heritage, the authority of bishops and a high view of the sacraments.