Pensees: Will the Real Churchman Please Stand

Will the Real Churchman Please Stand

I have learned in the last thirty-two years that if a clergyman leads a quiet life, lets alone the unconverted part of the world, and preaches so as to offend none and edify none, he will be called by many ‘a good Churchman.’ And I have also learned that if a man studies the Articles and Homilies, labours continually for the conversion of souls, adheres closely to the great principles of the Reformation, bears a faithful testimony against Popery, and preaches as Jewell and Latimer used to preach, he will probably be called a firebrand and ‘troubler i Israel,’ and called no Churchman at all! But I can see plainly that they are not the best Churchmen who talk most loudly about Churchmanship. J.C. Ryle, 1816 - 1900