The Right Reverent John Charles Ryle, D.D., “the best man in the Church of England” according to his great Baptist peer, C. H. Spurgeon, was Bishop of Liverpool from 1880 to 1900. Liverpool was a new diocese, and Ryle, a senior evangelical leader of large mind, firm principles, deep spirituality, and great gifts as a communicator, gave it an evangelical stamp that is not yet completely eroded. Prior to his appointment he had become one of the most noted evangelical writers of his day.