Home > Daily Walk, Preaching, The Church > The True Churchman

The True Churchman

June 17th, 2009

jc-ryle“I am quite aware that when a man expresses such opinions as those I have just brought forward there are many ready to say, “He is no Churchman.” I hear such accusations unmoved. The day of judgment will show who were the true friends of the Church of England and who were not. I have learned in the last thirty-two years that if a clergyman leads a quiet life, lets alone the unconverted part of the world, and preaches so as to offend none and edify none, he will be called by many “a good Churchman.”

And I have also learned that if a man studies the Articles and Homilies, labors continually for the conversion of souls, adheres closely to the great principles of the Reformation, bears a faithful testimony against popery, and preaches as Jewell and Latimer used to preach, he will probably be thought a firebrand and “troubler of Israel,” and called no Churchman at all! But I can see plainly that they are not the best Churchmen who talk most loudly about Churchmanship.”

- J.C. Ryle from The Fallibility of Ministers

Related posts:

  1. The Way is Narrow
  2. The Surety of Christ’s Promises
  3. God’s Cause
  4. True Prosperity
  5. The Serious Error of Decisional Evangelism

Daily Walk, Preaching, The Church

  1. No comments yet.
  1. No trackbacks yet.