The Two Bears (J. C. Ryle)

The Two Bears

And Other Addresses to Children

The Children’s Sermons of J. C. Ryle

Many Christian parents wish their children could sit under the weekly ministry of a pastor as faithful to the Word of God as J.C. Ryle. This devout minister was one of the most beloved figures of nineteenth-century England, and never was there a clearer or more gifted communicator of the truths of the Bible. Ryle used to bring an occasional sermon just for the little children of his church.

This is a collection of those sermons – delivered with an ease of style so that the message still can’t be missed as your children read them today. Simple but never shallow, Ryle takes a child by the hand and guides him into deep and great truths in ways that few adults know how to do today.

Ryle’s children’s sermons in this volume include:

• The Two Bears (2 Kings 2:23-24)
• Children Walking in Truth (2 John 4)
• Little and Wise (Proverbs 30:24-28)
• No More Crying! (Revelation 21:4)
• The Happy Little Girl
• Little Things
• Seeking the Lord Early (Proverbs 8:17)

As a sample – J.C. Ryle begins his first story this way:
“I am going to tell you a story about a good man, two bears and some children. It is a story out of the Bible, and so you may be sure that it is all true. Stories in other books are often only make-believe, and tell us things that never really happened. Stories out of the Bible, you must remember, are true, every word. Never forget that!”

About author J. C. Ryle

John Charles (J.C.) Ryle (1816-1900) once admitted that, as a young man, he thought that being a Christian was about the most unpleasant possible thought that could come to his mind. But one day in 1837, he was providentially in a church where he heard the Scripture read out loud: “By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). His life was transformed, and by 1841, the Church of England ordained him a minister of the gospel.

In 1880, at 64 years old, after serving 39 years in the ministry, Ryle became the first Bishop of Liverpool, a post he held for 20 years. He was affectionately known as “the working man’s bishop.” Ryle was firm in his theological convictions, never suffering from what he called a “boneless, nerveless, jellyfish condition of soul.” His successor described him as a “man of granite,” and Charles Spurgeon called Ryle, his contemporary, an “evangelical champion.” Ryle passed into heaven in the year 1900.

Today, more than a hundred years after his death, Ryle’s works remain some of the Christian church’s most cherished treasures.