ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES BY J.C. RYLE

We must be holy, because this is the most likely way to do good to others. We cannot live to ourselves only in this world. Our lives will always be doing either good or harm to those who see them. They are a silent sermon, which all can read. It is sad indeed when they are a sermon for the devil's cause, and not for God's. I believe that far more is done for Christ's kingdom by the holy living of believers than we are all aware of. There is a reality of such living that makes men feel, and obliges them to think. It carries a weight and influence with it that nothing else can give. It makes religion beautiful, and draws men to consider it, like a lighthouse seen a far off. The day of judgement will prove that many besides husbands have been won "without the word" by a holy life (1 Peter 3:1). You may talk to persons about the doctrines of the Gospels, and few will listen, and still fewer understand. But your life is an argument that none can escape. There is a meaning about holiness that not even the unlearned can help taking in. They may not understand justification, but they can understand love. -J.C. Ryle