Having a father who lived ‘almost like the king of Macclesfield’ gave young J.C. Ryle advantages over other children like entering a private school and staying independent of his family at the 8 years old. In this school, he was “sturdy, very independent and combative… [and] had very strong opinion[s]…, and never cared… for being in a minority, and was ready to fight anybody however big if necessary. [He] left [the school]… having learnt a vast amount of moral evil, and got no moral good.”
In 1828, he was sent to Eton College, west of London, famous among the upper-class families in England even until today. In his final two years, he began to distinguish himself from others academically and socially; taking up many leadership roles in college activities. He was an all-rounded young man when he left the college in 1834.
That same year he entered Christ Church College in Oxford; a university renowned for having produced six British Prime Ministers. Here J.C. Ryle was exposed directly to worldliness; he saw the greed and pursuit of money, participated in cards playing, dancing parties, and the frequent socialising with girls. He was no different from those who only had an appearance of morality and religion (based on rituals and base intellect) but showed none of its power. Such a man who was made with the world in his hands seemed impossible to be humbled and broken before God.
However God’s ways are not man’s ways (Isaiah 55:8). Many years later, he would tell his family: “The circumstances which led to a complete change in my character were very many and very various. I cannot trace it to any one person, or any one event or thing, but to a singular variety of persons and things. In all of them I believe now the Holy Spirit was working though I did not know it at the time.” What were these things that God used?
Firstly, in 1834, the new church in Macclesfield, St. George, was consecrated for the Church of England. The minister installed was Reverend John Burnet, an evangelical preacher who faithfully expounded the Word of God. It was here that J.C. Ryle and his family began to be exposed to the essentials of the Gospel.
Secondly, under Reverend Burnet, his sister, Susan was converted. His sister faced ridicule and insults for her evangelical faith within the nominal Ryle family. Susan’s conviction and patient endurance of all these caused J.C. Ryle to question and ponder on the Christian faith.
Thirdly, during an outing with his old Eton friend, Algernon Coote, he cursed in the hearing of Coote’s father, who is a serious Christian. He was sharply rebuked, and told to ‘think, repent and pray’. That left a big impression upon him and he never swore again.
Fourthly, all these things began to disturb his conscience, making him convinced that he was not saved at all. His constant Sabbath-breaking and worldly indulgences began to make him feel guilty and inwardly disturbed. He lost all appetite for worldly entertainment and instead used the freed time to concentrate on his preparations for the final examinations. This led him to sickness in the summer of 1837. His illness gave him time to think, and for the first time, he began to read the Bible and pray to God.
Finally, one Sunday afternoon (probably in start of 1838) he happened to go a church for service. He did not remember the particulars of the church or service; not the speaker or even the sermon given. But when the bible passage was read, he was gripped by the contents. It was from Ephesians 2:8, and the reader laid emphasis on it with a short pause between each clause. Thus Ryle heard: ‘By grace, you are saved – through faith – and that not of yourselves – it is the gift of God.’ The words gripped him and entered his heart, causing him to acknowledge that true salvation is found through faith in Christ alone.
At the beginning of 1838, he was convinced he is born again: In his autobiography, he declared: “nothing to this day appeared to me so clear and distinct as my own sinfulness, Christ’s presence, the value of the Bible, the absolute necessity of coming out of the world [and] the need of being born again…..” Those who preach about God’s Grace in Christ, must first experienced it in their own lives, by the work of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps that was the reason why the preachers in Ryle’s time seemed empty, dry and powerless; many had not even experienced the saving grace that comes only in Christ and Him crucified?