Knots Untied - Ryle - X - Chapter 10

Required reading
Knots Untied by JC Ryle (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 10 (The church).

My summary
Now Ryle discusses the subject of the church.

Firstly we see that the true church is made up of all believers.  This invisible church is the only church that:
(i) possesses true unity;
(ii) possesses true sanctity;
(iii) is truly Catholic;
(iv) is truly Apostolic;
(v) is certain to endure;
(vi) can say no one member will perish;
(vii) does the work of Christ;
(viii) shall be truly glorious;
(ix) a minister of the Lord's gospel chiefly labours;
(x) a man must belong if he would be saved.

Secondly Ryle teaches us the position and value of all visible professing Churches.  Visible churches:
(i) have no right to say that they are the only true church and apart from which man cannot be saved;
(ii) have no right to say that they alone have the true form of worship and government;
(iii) have no right to say that they shall last for ever;
(iv) must have the marks of the New Testament churches if they are to be healthy;
(v) cannot say their mere membership will save anyone;
(vi) are useful witnesses, keepers and librarians of Holy Scripture.

Thirdly Ryle provides some practical counsels and cautions for the times in which he lived:
(1) Let no reader suppose, because I have said that no membership of a visible Church can be the saving of a soul, that it does not signify to what visible Church a man belongs;
(2) Let us not be moved by the argument of the Roman Catholic, when he says, "There is only one true Church and that one true Church is the Church of Rome and you must join us if you mean to be saved";
(3) In the next place, let us not be shaken by those persons who talk of "the voice of the Church," and the "Catholic Church," when we disagree with them, as if the very mention of these worth ought to silence us;
(4) In the next place, let me warn members of the Church of England never to take up ground on behalf of their Church which cannot be defended from the Holy Scriptures;
(5) In the next place, let us not set down men as no Christians, because they do not agree with us in our manner of worshipping God;
(6) Let me pass on now to another warning of a different kind - let me warn men not to fancy that divisions and schisms are unimportant things;
(7) In the next place, let me warn men not to be shaken by those who say that all visible Churches are necessarily corrupt, and that no man can belong to them without peril to his soul;
(8) In the last place, let me advise men to try to understand thoroughly the principles and constitution of the Church of England.

What grabbed me
A good point was made about the foolishness of rejecting all visible churches because you see corruption in them: 'There never have been wanting men of this kind, men who have forgotten that everything must be imperfect which is carried on by human agency, and have spent their lives in a vain search after a perfectly pure Church. Members of all Churches must be prepared to meet such men, and especially members of the Church of England. Fault-finding is the easiest of all tasks. There never was a system upon earth, in which man had anything to do, in which faults, and many faults, too, might not soon be found. We must expect to find imperfections in every visible Church upon earth. There always were such in the New Testament Churches. There always will be such now. There is only one Church without spot or blemish. That is the one true Church, the body of Christ, which Christ shall present to His Father in the last great day.'

Such a criticism is no excuse for not following God's commands to be a part of a visible church.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 11 (The Priest).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.