“Before his conversion Ryle hardly ever opened his Bible, but after he became a Christian he formed the habit of daily Bible study, which continued without a break for more than a half a century. He rose early each morning so that he could study the Word without interruption. Words and verses of special significance to him were carefully underlined in his large black-bound Bible.
“Every page from Genesis to Revelation showed evidence of painstaking study. He often said there are ‘no gains without pains’. His parish visiting and conversations with people led him to conclude that there had been a serious decline in the practice of Bible reading in his day, so he preached and wrote tracts urging believers to read their Bibles, assuring them that ‘no book in existence contains such important matter as the Bible’. Moreover, ‘the person who has the Bible and the Holy Spirit in their heart, has everything which is absolutely needful to make them spiritually wise’.”
~ Eric Russell [Ryle’s Biographer]
J.C. Ryle: That Man of Granite with the Heart of a Child, [Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2001], 113.
