Knots Untied

Being Plain Statements on Disputed Points in Religion from the Standpoint of an Evangelical Churchman

J. C. Ryle

• Publisher: GLH Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781648630453
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

Attempting to "untie some theological knots, " J. C. Ryle's nineteen essays approach doctrinal controversies of the nineteenth century from an evangelical perspective. Written in Ryle's customary direct, plain-language, and filled with insightful commentary, this volume is comprised of Ryle's observations on baptism, regeneration, confessions, the Sabbath, and more. This is a key work for understanding the debates within the English Church after the Reformation.

Knots Untied

Being Plain Statements on Disputed Points in
Religion from the Standpoint of an Evangelical Churchman

J. C. Ryle

Vintage Puritan Series

GLH Publishing

Louisville, KY

Originally Titled Knots Untied: Being Plain Statements on Disputed Points in Religion from the Standpoint of an Evangelical Churchman. Tenth Edition.

London: William Hunt and Company, 1885.

Republished by GLH Publishing, 2021.

ISBN:

Paperback 978-1-64863-044-6

Epub 978-1-64863-045-3

For monthly ebook giveaways and information on new releases visit
www.GLHPublishing.com

Contents

Preface to the Tenth Edition.

Special Issue of “Knots Untied”.

Preface.

I. Evangelical Religion.

II. Only One Way of Salvation.

III. Private Judgment.

IV. The Thirty-Nine Articles.

V. Baptism.

VI. Regeneration.

VII. Prayer-Book Statements about Regeneration.

VIII. The Lord’s Supper.

IX. The Real Presence.

X. The Church.

XI. The Priest.

XII. Confession.

XIII. Worship.

XIV. The Sabbath.

XV. Pharisees and Sadducees.

XVI. Divers and Strange Doctrines.

XVII. The Fallibility of Ministers.

XVIII. Apostolic Fears.

XIX. Idolatry.

Preface to the Tenth Edition.

In sending forth a tenth edition of this volume, I do not think it necessary to add anything to the original preface which I drew up when it first appeared.

The general principles which I asserted and maintained when I was much younger than I am now, I firmly assert and maintain in 1885. I find nothing to retract, cancel, or withdraw in the nineteen papers which compose the volume.

I frankly admit, after careful examination of “Knots Untied,” that I observe in its pages occasional sharp and strong expressions which perhaps I should not use if I wrote the book over again in the present year. But I think it better to make no change, and to leave the original language alone. I wish my readers to understand that the views which I held as a presbyter I still hold as a bishop; and I fear that any alteration might lead to misconstruction and misrepresentation.

That God may continue to bless the book and make it useful is my earnest prayer.

J. C. Ryle.
Palace, Liverpool,
February 9, 1885.

Special Issue of “Knots Untied”.

This special edition unabridged has been prepared at the request of many of the clergy and laity, who are anxious to promote the circulation of this valuable work among university and other students. Application for terms to be made to the publishers, by whom this edition will be sent direct.

Preface.

The volume now in the reader’s hands requires a few words of explanation. It consists of nineteen papers on subjects which are matters of dispute among English Churchmen in the present day, systematically arranged. A moment’s glance at the table of contents will show that there is hardly any point of theological controversy belonging to this era, which is not discussed, with more or less fulness, in these papers.

The doctrinal tone of the volume will be found distinctly and decidedly “Evangelical.” I avow that, without hesitation, at the outset. The opinions expressed and advocated about the matters discussed, are those of an Evangelical Churchman. What that means every intelligent Englishman knows, and it is mere affectation to profess ignorance about the point. They are not popular opinions, I am aware, and are only held, perhaps, by a minority of the English clergy. But they are the only opinions which I can find in Holy Scripture, in the Thirty-nine Articles, in the Prayer-book fairly interpreted, in the works of the Reformers, or in the writings of the pre-Caroline divines. In the faith of these opinions I have lived for thirty-five years, and have seen no reason to be ashamed of them, however rudely they may have been assailed.

The object of sending forth this volume is to meet the wants of those who may wish to see theological questions fully discussed and examined from an “Evangelical” standpoint, and complain that they cannot find a book that does this. There are hundreds of English Churchmen who will never look at a tract (though St. Paul’s Epistles, when first sent forth, were only tracts), but are willing to read a volume. To them I offer this volume, and respectfully invite their attention to its contents. If it does nothing else, I hope it may convince some readers that in the controversies of this day the reasonings and arguments are not all on one side.

The friendly readers of the many popular tracts which God has enabled me to write in the last twenty-five years, will not find in this volume much that is new to them. They will find some of their old acquaintances, though altered, remodelled, recast, and partially divested of their direct and familiar style. But they will find the same argument the same matter, and the same substance, though presented in a new form, and adapted to the tastes of a different order of minds. I am sure they will agree with me, that it is well to use every means of doing good, and, if possible, to meet the wants of every class of readers.

Whether the volume will do any good remains to be seen. At any rate it is an honest effort to untie some theological knots, and to supply some clear statements of truth from the standpoint of an Evangelical Churchman. That God may bless the effort, and make it useful to the cause of Christ and to the Church of England, is my earnest prayer.

J. C. Ryle.
Stradbroke Vicarage.
1877.

I.

Evangelical Religion.

It may be laid down as a rule, with tolerable confidence, that the absence of accurate definitions is the very life of religious controversy. If men would only define with precision the theological terms which they use, many disputes would die. Scores of excited disputants would discover that they do not really differ, and that their disputes have arisen from their own neglect of the great duty of explaining the meaning of words.

In opening the subject of this paper, I desire to remember carefully this important rule. Without further preface, I shall begin by explaining what I mean when I speak of “Evangelical Religion.”

By “Evangelical Religion,” I do not mean Christianity as compared with Heathenism, or Protestantism as compared with Romanism, or Trinitarianism as compared with Socinianism or Deism. I do not propose to argue with the Sceptic or the Neologian, with the Papist or the Jew. What I do want to consider is the religion which is peculiar to that party in the Church of England which is commonly called “Evangelical.” To that point I shall confine myself, and to that alone.

I will not waste time by proving the existence of such a party as “the Evangelical party.” It is a fact as patent as the sun in heaven. When it began first to be called by this name, and why it was so called, are points into which it is not worth while now to inquire. It is a simple fact that it exists. Whether we like it or not, whether it be right or wrong, the well-known tripartite division is correct and may be assumed as true. There are three great schools of thought in the Church of England,—High Church, Broad Church, and Evangelical;—and the man who cannot see them is in a very curious state of mind.1 Now what are the distinctive peculiarities of the religion of the Evangelical school? That it has some leading tenets or principles is unmistakable and undeniable. What are those principles which distinguish it from other schools? This in plain words is my subject,—Has Evangelical Religion any distinctive principles? I answer, it has.—Are they worth contending for? I answer, they are.

I approach the subject with a deep sense of its difficulty. It cannot be handled without touching points of extreme nicety, and treading on very delicate ground. It necessitates comparison between section and section of our Church; and all comparisons are odious. It lays a writer open to the charge of being “party-spirited, narrow-minded, combative, pugnacious,” and what not. But there are times when comparisons are a, positive duty. It is an apostolic command to “try things that differ.” (Phil. i. 10.) The existence of parties in the Church of England is a fact that cannot be ignored. To pretend that we do not see them is absurd. Everybody else can see them, talk about them, and criticise them. To attempt to deny their existence is mere squeamishness and affectation. Whether we like it or not, there they are, and the world around us knows it.

But while I have a deep sense of the difficulty of the subject, I have a deeper sense of its importance. The clouds are gathering round the Church of England; her very existence is in peril. Conflicting opinions bid fair to rend her in twain. A strife has arisen within her pale in the last thirty or forty years, not about the trappings and vestments of religion, but about the very foundations of the Gospel. It remains to be seen whether our beloved Church will survive the struggle. Surely it is high time for Evangelical clergymen and laymen to review calmly their position, and to consider seriously what it is they have got to maintain and defend. Let us walk round our lines. Let us mark well our bulwarks. Let us clearly see the Malakhoffs and Redans that we have to man. Let us distinctly understand the principles which are characteristic of our body. It must do us good; it can do us no harm.

In defining what Evangelical Religion is, I admit at the outset that I have no written creed, no formal declaration of principles, to refer to. The reader will do me the justice to believe that I feel that want very keenly. I can only bring forward the results of such reading, study, and observation, as are within the reach of all ordinary men. But for many years I have examined carefully the published works of most of the Fathers of the Evangelical school, and especially of the men of the last century, and I have formed decided opinions about their peculiar principles. I may be wrong in my estimate of their merits; but I can honestly say that I have not arrived at my conclusions without prayer, thought, and pains.2

There are three questions which I wish to bring under the notice of the readers of this paper.

I. What Evangelical Religion is.

II. What it is not.

III. What makes much religion not Evangelical.

Each of these questions I shall attempt to touch very briefly.

I. To the question “what Evangelical Religion is?” the simplest answer I can give is to point out what appear to be its leading features. These I consider to be five in number.

(a) The first leading feature in Evangelical Religion is the absolute supremacy it assigns to Holy Scripture, as the only rule of faith and practice, the only test of truth, the only judge of controversy.

Its theory is that man is required to believe nothing, as necessary to salvation, which is not read in God’s Word written, or can be proved thereby. It totally denies that there is any other guide for man’s soul, co-equal or co-ordinate with the Bible. It refuses to listen to such arguments as “the Church says so,”—“the Fathers say so,”—“primitive antiquity says so,”—“Catholic tradition says so,”—“the Councils say so,”—“the ancient liturgies say so,”—“the Prayer-book says so,”—“the universal conscience of mankind says so,”—“the verifying light within says so,”—unless it can be shown that what is said is in harmony with Scripture.

The supreme authority of the Bible, in one word, is one of the corner-stones of our system. Show us anything plainly written in that Book, and, however trying to flesh and blood, we will receive it, believe it, and submit to it. Show us anything, as religion, which is contrary to that Book, and, however specious, plausible, beautiful, and apparently desirable, we will not have it at any price. It may come before us endorsed by Fathers, schoolmen, and catholic writers;—it may be commended by reason, philosophy, science, the inner light, the verifying faculty, the universal conscience of mankind. It signifies nothing. Give us rather a few plain texts. If the thing is not in the Bible, deducible from the Bible, or in manifest harmony with the Bible, we will have none of it. Like the forbidden fruit, we dare not touch it, lest we die. Our faith can find no resting-place except in the Bible, or in Bible arguments. Here is rock: all else is sand.

(b) The second leading feature in Evangelical Religion is the depth and prominence it assigns to the doctrine of human sinfulness and corr...

Table of contents

• Preface to the Tenth Edition.