FIRE! FIRE! by J.C Ryle

Some good devotional reading, second to the Bible itself, comes from the writings of John Charles Ryle. His writings are devotional without sacrificing sound theology. Ryle's method and style of writing is scriptural and expository.

On May 10, 1816, John Charles Ryle was born to John And Susanna Ryle of Macclesfield, Cheshire County, England. He attended Eton and then went on to Oxford, finishing his Oxford studies in 1837. In 1841 Bishop Charles Sumner of Winchester ordained J. C Ryle as a minister in the Anglican Church, (Church of England). In 1880 Ryle was named the first Bishop of the newly constituted diocese of Liverpool.

Throughout his ministry he became known and beloved as a defender of the evangelical reformed faith as expressed in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, of the Church of England. In February, 1900, the 83 year old Bishop Ryle retired after many years of faithful ministry. He went home to be with his Lord on June 10, 1900.
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FIRE ! FIRE! by J. C. Ryle

When a house is on fire, what ought to be done first? We ought to give the alarm and wake the inhabitants. This is true love to our neighbor. this is true charity. Reader, I love your soul, and want it to be saved.

I am therefore going to tell you something about hell. There is such a place as hell. Let no one deceive you with vain words. What men do not like, they try hard not to believe.

When the Lord Jesus Christ comes to judge the world, he will punish all who are not his disciples with a fearful punishment. All who are found impenitent and unbelieving; all who have clung to sin, stuck to the world, and set their affections on things below; all who are without Christ; all such shall come to an awful end. Whosoever is not written in the book of life shall be "cast into the lake of fire." Rev 20:15.

The punishment of hell shall be most severe. There is no pain like that of burning. Put your finger in the candle for a moment if you doubt this, and try. Fire is the most destructive and devouring of all elements. Look into the mouth of a blast furnace, and think what it would be to be there. Fire is of all elements most opposed to life. Creatures can live in air, and earth, and water; but nothing can live in fire.

Yet fire is the portion to which the Christless and unbelieving will come. They will be "cast into the lake of fire." The punishment of hell will be eternal. Millions of ages will pass away, and the fire will never burn low and become dim. The fuel of that fire will never waste away and be consumed. it is "unquenchable fire."

O reader, these are the sad and painful things to speak of. I have no-pleasure in dwelling on them. I could rather say with the apostle Paul, "I have great sorrow." But they are things written for our learning, and it is good to consider them. They are part of that Scripture which is all profitable, and they ought to be heard.

Painful as the subject of hell is, it is one about which I dare not, cannot, and must not be silent... Continue reading