J C. Ryle 
Living or Dead? [EPUB ebook] 
A Series of Home Truths

“Dead” is a strong word, but it is not my own coining and invention. I did not choose it. The Holy Ghost told Paul to write it down about the Ephesians, —“You hath he quickened who were dead.” (Eph. 2:1.) The Lord Jesus Christ made use of it in the parable of the prodigal son, —“This my son was dead, and is alive again.” (Luke 15:24, 32.) You will read it also in the Epistle to the Corinthians, —“One died for all, then were all dead.” (2 Cor. 5:14.) Shall a mortal man be wise above that which is written? Must I not take heed to speak that which I find in the Bible, and neither less nor more?

“Dead” is an awful idea, and one that man is most unwilling to receive. He does not like to allow the whole extent of his soul’s disease. He shuts his eyes to the real amount of his danger. Many a one will allow me to say that naturally most people “are not quite what they ought to be, —they are thoughtless, —they are unsteady, —they are gay, —they are wild, —they are not serious enough.” But dead? Oh! no! I must not mention it. It is going too far to say that. The idea is a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.

My dear Reader, what we like in religion is of very little consequence. The only question is—What is written? What saith the Lord? God’s thoughts are not man’s thoughts, and God’s words are not man’s words. God says of every living person, who is not a decided Christian, —be he high or low, rich or poor, old or young, —he is dead.

In this, as in everything else, God’s words are right. Nothing could be said more correct, nothing more accurate, nothing more faithful, nothing more true. Stay a little, and let me reason this out with you. Come and see.

Cross Reach Publications