Summary: Bishop Ryle made at least three big mistakes during his long ministry. If he were able to speak now -- he died in 1900 -- I believe he would admit them. To me they are revealing mistakes, from which there is something to learn. J.C. Ryle also had a core strength: He had been saved in his youth, when his world fell apart. He was a Christian, in other words, for the right reason. Yet like many spiritual people, there were still "unevangelized dark continents" inside him. Had these been "colonized" by the great Word that saved the young man, Ryle might have avoided the mistakes he made as an older man.
