The Christian Leaders of the Last Century
Overview
“I believe firmly that, excepting Luther and his Continental contemporaries and our own martyred Reformers, the world has seen no such men since the day of the apostles,” writes J. C. Ryle in his Preface for The Christian Leaders of the Last Century. This volume is comprised of biographical sketches of Ryle’s eighteenth century influences: George Whitefield, John Wesley, William Grimshaw, William Romaine, Daniel Rowlands, John Berridge, Henry Venn, Samuel Walker, James Hervey, Augustus Toplady, and John William Fletcher.
Top Highlights
“Few men, perhaps, have ever so thoroughly verified the truth of Luther’s saying, ‘Prayer and temptation, the Bible and meditation, make a true minister of the gospel.’” (Page 111)
“The struggle between light and darkness in Grimshaw’s mind appears to have continued several years. Long as this delay may seem to us, we must not forget that he was entirely without help from man, and had to work out every spiritual problem unassisted and alone. But though the work within him went on slowly, it went on solidly and surely. The illness and death of his first wife, leaving him a desolate widower with two children, after four years of married life, appears to have been a powerful means of drawing him nearer to God. The perusal of two most valuable Puritan books, ‘Brooks’ Precious Remedies against Satan’s Devices,’ and ‘Owen on Justification,’ seems to have been extremely helpful and establishing to his soul.” (Page 110)
“If you do, after all, think fit to dissolve this assembly, do not tell me that you desire me to do it, for that will not satisfy my conscience. But send me your positive command in such full and express terms as may absolve me from all guilt and punishment for neglecting the opportunity of doing good, when you and I shall appear before the great and awful tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ.’” (Pages 67–68)
“The style of preaching which Grimshaw adopted was peculiarly well suited to the rough and uneducated population with which he had to do. He was eminently a plain preacher. His first aim undoubtedly was to preach the whole truth as it is in Jesus; his second was to preach so as to be understood. To accomplish this end he was willing to make many sacrifices, to crucify his natural taste as an educated clergyman who had been at Cambridge, and to be thought a fool by intellectual men. But he cared nothing so long as he could succeed in reaching the hearts and consciences of his hearers.” (Pages 115–116)
- Title: The Christian Leaders of the Last Century
- Author: J. C. Ryle
- Publisher: T. Nelson and Sons
- Publication Date: 1869
- Pages: 446
J. C. Ryle (1816–1900) was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he was a Craven scholar. He was ordained in 1841 and became a leader of the evangelical party in the Church of England. In 1880, Ryle became the first bishop of Liverpool and also served as the dean of Salisbury. Ryle remained the bishop of Liverpool for 20 years.
Ryle was noted for his doctrinal essays and polemical writings. His bestselling titles include Expository Thoughts on Mark and Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots which can both be found in the J. C. Ryle Collection (18 vols.). He also contributed three volumes in the Crossway Classic Commentary Collection (13 vols.).