J. C. Ryle

“ It is a manual of public devotion: it is not a Confession of faith. Let us love it, honour it, prize it, reverence it, admire it, and use it. But let us not exalt it to the place which the Thirty-nine Articles alone can fill, and which common sense, statute law, and the express opinions of eminent divines unanimously agree in assigning to them. The Articles, far more than the Prayer-book, are the Church's standard of sound doctrine, and the real test of true Churchmanship. ”

“ I only ask these Churchmen to settle matters with the Thirty-nine Articles. I want no clergyman to go a bit beyond the authoritative statements of his own Church; but I do want every clergyman not to fall below them. And I shall always maintain, publicly or privately, that to call any one an "extreme" man, or a "party" man, because his doctrinal views are in harmony with the bold, decided statements of the Articles, is neither just, nor fair, nor reasonable, nor consistent with common sense. ”

“ I cannot hold such an opinion, so long as I believe that the Bible is a revelation from God. I would extend to every one the widest liberty and toleration. I abhor the idea of persecuting any one for his opinions. I would "think and let think." But so long as I have breath in my body, I shall always contend that there is such a thing as revealed truth; that men may find out what truth is if they will honestly seek for it; and that mere earnestness and zeal, without Scriptural knowledge, will never give any one comfort in life, peace in death, or boldness in the day of judgment. ”

“ Nine times over the Thirty-nine Articles condemn, in plain and unmistakable language, the leading doctrines of the Church of Rome, and declare in favour of what must be called Protestant views. And yet men dare to tell us that we Evangelical clergymen have no right to denounce Popery; that it is very wrong and very uncharitable to be so hot in favour of Protestantism; that Romanism is a pretty good sort of thing; and that by making such a piece of work about Popery, and Protestantism, and Ritualism, and semi-Popery, we are only troubling the country and doing more harm than good. ”

“ On all the points I have named the Articles speak out boldly, roundly, frankly, and honestly, in a most unmistakable tone. "This is the Church of England's judgment," they seem to say; and "these are the views which every Churchman ought to hold."
I ask special attention to this point. We live in days when many loudly declare that it is not right to be positive about anything in religion. The clergyman who dares to say of any theological question, "This is true, and that is false; this is right, and that is wrong," is pretty sure to be denounced as a narrow-minded, illiberal, uncharitable man. ”

“ They never quote them, never bring them forward if they can possibly help it. What intelligent observer of religious questions among Churchmen does not know perfectly well the class of men whom I have in view? They are to be found all over England. We meet them in newspapers and books. We hear them in pulpits and on platforms. They are ever thrusting on the public their favourite "Diana of the Ephesians," their darling notion that the Prayer-book, and not the Articles, is the test of a churchman. ”

“ I see that any sense placed on any part of the Prayer-book which is not reconcilable with Scripture, must be a mistake, and ought not to be received. I see, above all, that all who pour contempt on the Bible, as an uninspired, imperfect, defective Book, which ought not to be believed, if it contradicts "modern thought," are taking up ground which is at variance with the Church's own Confession of faith. They may be clever, liberal, scientific, and confident; but they are contradicting the Articles, and they are not sound Churchmen. ”

“ Once for all, I must protest against the modern notion, that it does not matter the least what religious opinions a man holds, so long as he is in earnest about them - that one creed is just as good as another, and that all earnest men will somehow or other at last find themselves in heaven. ”

“ But when the stern realities of life break in upon us, and we are in trouble - when the valley of death looms in sight, and the cold river must be crossed - in seasons like those, we want something better than mere earnestness to support our souls. ”

“ Men complain with good reason that they feel puzzled, perplexed, embarrassed, bewildered, posed, and mystified by the question. Rationalists, Ritualists, and Evangelicals, all call themselves "Churchmen." Who is right? The name "Churchman" is bandied about from side to side, like a shuttlecock, and men lay claim to it who on many points are diametrically opposed to one another. Now how are we to settle the question? What are we to believe? What are we to think? How shall we distinguish the good coin from the bad? In one word, is there any test, any legal, authorized test of a true Churchman? ”

“ Papists are all trained controversialists. Churchmen alone, as a body, are generally very ignorant of their own Church, and all its privileges, doctrines, and history. Not one in twenty could tell you why he is a Churchman.
Let us cast aside this reproach. Let all Churchmen awake and rub their eyes, and begin to read up their own Church and its doctrines. And if any man wants to know where to begin, I advise him to begin with the Thirty-nine Articles. ”

“ Is such a book calculated to serve the purposes of a standard of faith? . . . In the Articles, [he adds, on the other hand] we have a precise confession of faith on all the great points of Christian doctrine, drawn up in dogmatic propositions, as a test of doctrinal soundness for the clergy.
The Liturgy is an excellent book. But to say that in the nature of things it can serve the purpose of a standard of faith so well as the Articles, is absurd. ”

“ Now if there is any one thing that is laid to the charge of us evangelical clergy, it is this - that we deny sacramental grace. "Excellent, worthy, hard-working men," we are sometimes called; "but unhappily they do not hold right church views about the Sacraments." Men who talk in this manner are talking rashly, and saying what they cannot prove. Evangelical clergymen yield to none in willingness to give rightful honour to Baptism and the Lord's Supper. ”

“ The Church of England, in whose motherhood we have all come to pride ourselves, hath in much wisdom and piety delivered her judgment concerning all necessary points of religion, in so complete a body of divinity as all hearts may rest in. These we read, these we write under, as professing not their truth only, but their sufficiency also. The voice of God our Father, in His Scriptures, and, out of them, the voice of the Church our mother, in her Articles, is that which must both guide and settle our resolutions. ”

“ When they can prove that our standard is not the standard of the Thirty-nine Articles - when they can show that we take lower ground than our own Church takes in her authorized Confession of faith - then we will allow there is something in what they say against us. ”

“ Concerning the nature of God and the Holy Trinity; concerning the sufficiency and authority of Scripture; concerning the sinfulness and helplessness of natural man; concerning justification by faith alone; concerning the place and value of good works; concerning salvation only by the name of Christ; concerning all these grand foundations of the Christian religion, it is hard to conceive language more decided, clear, distinct, ringing, and trumpet-toned than that of the Thirty-nine Articles. ”

“ Ignorance, I am compelled to say, is one of the grand dangers of members of the Church of England. The bulk of her people neither know, nor understand, nor seem to care about the inside of any of the great religious questions of the day. ”

“ I venture the opinion that few English Monarchs have been so much over-praised and misunderstood as Elizabeth. I suspect the English Reformation would have been a far more perfect and complete work if the Queen had allowed the Reformers to do all that they wanted to do.
4↑ If any reader supposes that there is anything peculiar or extravagant in the position I take up about the authority of the Articles, as compared to the Prayer-book, I ask him to remember that Lord Hatherley, in his judgment in the famous Voysey case, takes up precisely the same ground. ”

“ Other Christians may do as they please, and countenance Popery if they like. But so long as the Articles stand unrepealed and unaltered, it is the bounden duty of every clergyman of the Church of England to oppose Popery.
(5) Let us mark, in the last place, as we read the Articles, the unvarying reverence with which they always speak of Holy Scripture. The inspiration of the Bible, no doubt, is never distinctly asserted. It is evidently taken for granted as a first principle, which need not be proved. ”

“ The happiness of whole families often turns upon the meaning of their contents. It is even so with the Thirty-nine Articles. Dry, and dull, and uninteresting as they may appear to some, they are in one sense the backbone of the Church of England. ”

“ Earnestness alone proves nothing more than this - that a man has a good deal of steam and energy and "go" about him, and will not go to sleep. But it certainly does not prove that a man is a true Churchman. What is the man earnest about? ”

“ In the second place, I ask all who read this paper to teach the Thirty-nine Articles to all young people who are yet of an age to be taught. It is a burning shame that the Articles are not made an essential part of the system of every school connected with the Church of England, whether for high or low, for rich or poor. ”

“ In a fallen world like this the terms of membership in any ecclesiastical corporation must be written down in black and white, or else the whole body is liable to fall into disorder and confusion. Every member of a Church ought to be able to render a reason of his membership, and to say what the great principles of his Church are. ”

“ They are called, Articles agreed upon for the avoiding of Diversities of Opinion, and for the stablishing of Consent touching true Religion. This title was first given to them by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of Edward VI, 1552; and afterwards given a second time by Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Queen Elizabeth's reign, in 1562. I want no plainer language than the words of this title. The man who tries to get away from it and evade it is like a viper biting a file. [3]
(2) My second witness shall be the statute law of the realm. ”

“ They take care to say nothing which could possibly give offence. They scrupulously avoid condemning and denouncing other Churches and other Christians. In short, their maxim seems to have been, "in necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in omnibus caritas." ”