In his classic book Holiness, Bishop Ryle observes:
Sanctification . . . is a thing which depends greatly on the use of Scriptural means. When I speak of "means," I have in view Bible-reading, private prayer, regular attendance on public worship, regular hearing of God's Word, and regular reception of the Lord's Supper. I lay it down as a simple matter of fact, that no one who is careless about such things must ever expect to make much progress in sanctification. I can find no record of any eminent saint who ever neglected them. They are appointed channels through which the Holy Spirit conveys fresh supplies of grace to the soul, and strengthens the work which He has begun in the inward man. Let man call this legal doctrine if they please, but I will never shrink from declaring my belief that there are "no spiritual gains without pains." I should as soon expect a farmer to prosper in business who contented himself with sowing his fields and never looking at them till harvest, as expect a believer to attain much holiness who was not diligent about his Bible-reading, his prayers, and the use of his Sundays. Our God is a God who works by means, and He will never bless the soul of that man who pretends to be so high and spiritual that he can get on without them.
- J.C. Ryle in J.I. Packer's Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J.C. Ryle (Crossway, 2002), 124-125. The book includes an appreciation by J.I. Packer and the full text of the first edition of Ryle's Holiness, which was published in 1877.
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