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Bishop J.C. Ryle: "Is It Real?" (part 2)
Here is the second installment of "Is It Real" by Bishop Ryle:

II. I pass on now to the second thing which I propose to do. I will supply some tests by which you may try the reality of your religion.
Reader, in approaching this part of my subject, I ask you to deal fairly, honestly, and reasonably with your soul. Dismiss from your mind the common idea,—that of course all is right if you go to church or to chapel. Cast away such vain notions for ever. You must look further, higher, deeper than this, if you would find out the truth. Listen to me, and I will give you a few hints. Believe me, it is no light matter. It is your life.

1. For one thing, if you would know whether your religion is real, try it by the place which it occupies in your inner man. It is not enough that it is in your head. You may know the truth, and assent to the truth, and believe the truth, and yet be wrong in God's sight.—It is not enough that it is on your lips. You may repeat the creed daily. You may say "Amen" to public prayer in church, and yet have nothing more than an outward religion.—It is not enough that it is in your feelings. You may weep under preaching one day, and be lifted to the third heaven by joyous excitement another day, and yet be dead to God.—Your religion, if it is real, and given by the Holy Ghost, must be in your heart. It must occupy the citadel. It must hold the reins. It must sway the affections. It must lead the will. It must direct the tastes. It must influence the choices and decisions. It must fill the deepest, lowest, inmost seat in your soul. Reader, is this your religion? If not, you may well doubt whether it is real and true. (Acts viii. 21; Rom. x. 10.)

2. In the next place, if you would know whether your religion is real, try it by the feelings towards sin which it produces. The Christianity which is from the Holy Ghost, will always have a very deep view of the sinfulness of sin. It will not merely regard it as a blemish and misfortune, which makes men and women objects of pity and compassion. It will see in sin the abominable thing which God hates, the thing which makes man guilty and lost in his Maker's sight, the thing which deserves God's wrath and condemnation. It will look on sin as the cause of all sorrow and unhappiness, of strife and wars, of quarrels and contentions, of sickness and death; the blight which has blighted God's fair creation, the cursed thing which makes the whole earth groan and travail in pain. Above all, it will see in sin the thing which will ruin us eternally, except we can find a ransom,—lead us captive, except we can get its chains broken,—and destroy our happiness, both here and hereafter, except we fight against it, even unto death. Reader, is this your religion? Are these your feelings about sin? If not, you may well doubt whether your religion is real.

3. For another thing, if you would know whether your religion is real, try it by the feelings toward Christ which it produces. Nominal religion may believe that such a person as Christ existed, and was a great benefactor to mankind. It may show Him some external respect, attend His outward ordinances, and bow the head at His name. But it will go no further. Real religion will make a man glory in Christ, as the Redeemer, the Deliverer, the Priest, the Friend, without whom he would have no hope at all. It will produce confidence in Him, love towards Him, delight in Him, comfort in Him, as the mediator, the food, the light, the life, the peace of the soul. Reader, is this your religion? Do you know anything of feelings like these toward Jesus Christ? If not, you may well doubt whether your religion is real.

4. For another thing, if you would know whether your religion is real, try it by the fruit it bears in your heart and life. The Christianity which is from above, will always be known by its fruits. It will raise in the man who has it, repentance, faith, hope, charity, humility, spirituality, kind temper, self-denial, unselfishness, forgivingness, temperance, truthfulness, brotherly-kindness, patience, forbearance. The degree in which these various graces appear may vary in different believers. The germ and seeds of them will be found in all who are the children of God. By their fruits they may be known. Reader, is this your religion? If not, you may well doubt whether it is real.

5. In the last place, if you would know whether your religion is real, try it by your feelings and habits about means of grace. Prove it by the Sunday. Is that day a season of weariness and constraint, or a delight and a refreshment, and a sweet foretaste of the rest to come in heaven?—Prove it by the public means of grace. What are your feelings about public prayer, and public praise, about the public preaching of God's Word, and the administration of the Lord's Supper. Are they things to which you give a cold assent, and tolerate them as proper and correct? Or, are they things in which you take pleasure, and without which you could not live happy? —Prove it, finally, by your feelings about private means of grace. Do you find it essential to your comfort to read the Bible regularly in private, and to speak to God in prayer? Or, do you find these habits irksome, and either slur them over, or neglect them altogether? Reader, these questions deserve your attention. If means of grace, whether public or private, are not as necessary to your soul as meat and drink are to your body, you may well doubt whether your religion is real.

Reader, I press on your attention the five points which I have just brought before you. There is nothing like coming to particulars about these matters. If you would know whether your religion is real, genuine, and true, measure it by the five particulars which I have now named. Measure it fairly. Test it honestly. If your heart is right in the sight of God, you have no cause to flinch from examination. If it is wrong, the sooner you find it out the better.
And now I have done what I proposed to do. I have shown you from Scripture, the unspeakable importance of reality in religion, and the danger in which many stand of being lost forever, for want of it. I have given you five plain tests, by which you may find out whether your own Christianity is real. I will conclude all, by a direct application of the whole subject to the souls of all who read this tract. I will draw my bow at a venture, and trust that God will bring an arrow home to the heart and consciences of many.

1. My first word of application shall be an inquiry. Reader, is your own religion real or unreal, genuine or base? I do not ask what you think about others. Perhaps you may see many hypocrites around you. You may be able to point to many who have no reality at all. This is not the question. You may be right in your opinion about others. But I want to know about yourself. Is your own Christianity real and true, or nominal and base?
Reader, if you love life, do not turn away from the question which is now before you. The time must come, when the whole truth will be known. The judgment day will reveal every man's religion, of what sort it is. The parable of the wedding-garment will receive an awful fulfilment. Surely, it is a thousand times better to find out now your condition, and to repent, than to find it out too late in the next world, when there will be no space for repentance. Reader, if you have common prudence, sense, and judgment, consider what I say. Sit down quietly this day, and examine yourself. Find out the real character of your religion. With the Bible in your hand, and honesty in your heart, the thing may be known. Then resolve to find out.

2. My second word of application shall be a warning. I address it to all who know in their own consciences that their religion is not real. I ask them to remember the greatness of their danger, and their exceeding guilt in the sight of God.
An unreal Christianity is specially offensive to that Great God with whom we have to do. He is continually spoken of in Scripture as the God of Truth. Truth is peculiarly one of His attributes. Can you doubt for a moment that He abhors everything that is not genuine and true? Better, I firmly believe, to be found an ignorant heathen at the last day, than to be found with nothing better than a nominal religion. Reader, if your religion is of this sort, beware!
An unreal Christianity is sure to fail a man at last. It will wear out. It will break down. It will leave its possessor like a wreck on a sandbank, high and dry and forsaken by the tide. It will supply no comfort in the hour when comfort is most needed, in the time of affliction and on the bed of death. Reader, if you want a religion to be of any use to your soul, beware of unreality. If you would not be comfortless in death, and hopeless in the judgment day, be genuine, be real, be true.

3. My third word of application shall be advice. I offer it to all who feel pricked in conscience by the subject of this tract. I advise them to cease from all trifling and playing with religion, and to become honest, thorough-going, whole-hearted followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Reader, apply without delay to the Lord Jesus, and ask Him to become your Saviour, your Physician, your Priest, and your Friend. Let not the thought of your unworthiness keep you away. Let not the recollection of your sins prevent your application. Never, never forget that Christ can cleanse you from any quantity of sins, if you only commit your soul to Him. But one thing he does ask of those who come to Him. He asks them to be real, honest, and true.
Reader, let reality be one great mark of your approach to Christ, and there is everything to give you hope. Your repentance may be feeble, but let it be real. Your faith may be weak, but let it be real. Your desires after holiness may be mingled with much infirmity, but let them be real. Let there be nothing of reserve, of double-dealing, of part-acting, of dishonesty, of sham, of counterfeit, in your Christianity. Never be content to wear a cloak of religion. Be all that you profess. Though you may err, be real. Though you may stumble, be true. Reader, keep this principle continually before your eyes, and it will be well with your soul throughout your journey from grace to glory.

4. My last word of application shall be encouragement. I address it to all who have manfully taken up the cross, and are honestly following Christ. I exhort them to persevere, and not to be moved by difficulties and opposition.
You may often find few with you, and many against you. You may often hear hard things said of you. You may often be told that you go too far, and that you are extreme. Heed it not. Turn a deaf ear to remarks of this kind. Press on.
If there is anything which a man ought to do thoroughly, really, truly, honestly, and with all his heart, it is the business of his soul. If there is any work which he ought never to slur over, and do in a slovenly fashion, it is the great work of working out his own salvation. Believer in Christ, remember this! Whatever you do in religion, do it well. Be real. Be thorough. Be honest. Be true.
If there is anything in the world of which a man need not be ashamed, it is the service of Jesus Christ. Of sin, of worldliness, of levity, of trifling, of time-wasting, of pleasure-seeking, of bad temper, of pride, of making an idol of money, dress, dancing, hunting, shooting, card-playing, novel-reading, and the like,—of all this a man may well be ashamed. Living after this fashion he makes the angels sorrow, and the devils rejoice. But of living for his soul,—caring for his soul,—thinking of his soul,—providing for his soul,—making his soul's salvation the principal and chief thing in his daily life,—of all this a man has no cause to be ashamed at all. Believer in Christ, remember this! Remember it in your Bible reading and your private praying. Remember it on your Sabbaths. Remember it in your worship of God. In all these things never be ashamed of being whole-hearted, real, thorough, and true.

Reader, the years of our life are fast passing away. Who knows but this year may be the last in your life? Who can tell but that you may be called this very year to meet your God? As ever you would be found ready, be a real and true Christian. Do not be base metal.
The time is fast coming when nothing but reality will stand the fire. Real repentance towards God,—real faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ,—real holiness of heat and life,—fthese are the things which will alone pass current at the last day. It is a solemn saying of our Lord Jesus Christ, "Many shall say in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you. Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt. vii. 22,23.)
Reader, I leave the question with you. I pray God that it may receive deep thought in your mind and prove lastingly profitable to your soul.

May we all heed these words from a man who truly cared about the souls of those entrusted to him, and about the souls of all who would read his tracts. As Bishop Ryle wrote, real repentance, real faith, real holiness--these alone will stand at the last day. May we all be found ready.