The Continuing Mystery Surrounding J. C. Ryles Quotes & Contradictory AI Testimony

One of my valued friends from Tennessee has continue to search out information on the J. C. Ryles quote on the issue of race. It seems now that AI is giving us decidedly mixed signals to the point of being in contradiction. Below is my friends report on whether or not those quotes exist in J. C. Ryle.

I’ve continued the search in original scanned archived materials found online from reliable sources (e.g. Library of Congress, etc. ) and the quote is not to be found in Matthew or Luke.

I asked ChatGPT about it. The reply,

“Upon a search of Ryle’s archived volumes on Expository Thoughts, I cannot find this attributed quote,

“Let us beware of giving way to the modern notion that there is no such thing as God’s providential arrangement of the nations, and that the present attempt to amalgamate all nationalities and races, and to denationalise and unchurch people, is wise and politic. God has divided the world into separate nationalities, climates, languages, and churches, and it is the height of mischief to try and break down the divisions.”

Here’s what I was able to verify about that quotation and its attribution to Expository Thoughts on the Gospels by J. C. Ryle:

*1. The quotation you cited does not appear in the standard text of Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Authoritative digital editions and searchable versions of Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on Matthew (and the other Gospels) do not include the lines you quoted. Ryle’s commentary on Matthew 24 is available in public-domain editions, and there’s no trace of the specific passage about “amalgamating nationalities and races” in those texts.

2. What Ryle did write about nations and races (19th-century context)

A blog post discussing Ryle (with commentary, not a direct source text) quotes a passage from Ryle’s commentary on Matthew 24 that reflects a 19th-century evangelical observation about the diversity of nations, languages, and races being a providential fact. The blog then extends that into the longer passage you’ve seen circulating online. However:

That extended passage appears to be secondary or interpretive wording, not directly from Ryle’s original published volumes.

The post explicitly acknowledges it is making inferences and its own interpretation of Ryle’s position.

3. Why your search of Expository Thoughts likely didn’t find it;

The version of Ryle’s commentary that’s in the public domain and reproduced on sites like StudyLight and Monergism is a faithful transcription of his published work. Since the exact wording you quoted does not appear in those editions, it’s likely misattributed or paraphrased by later writers.

4. Summary

There is no reliable evidence in the original Expository Thoughts that Ryle wrote the quote exactly as you’ve given it.

The related idea (that God has providentially divided humanity into nations, races, languages) may reflect Ryle’s commentary on Matthew 24, but the extended warning about amalgamation and denationalisation appears in secondary online sources rather than in the original text.

If you’d like, I can help you locate the exact wording Ryle did use in his Matthew 24 commentary (with a direct quotation and link to the public-domain text). Just let me know!”

So, today ChatGPT contradicts what I posted from it yesterday. Another AI hallucination. I’ll keep searching but it appears that the quote is not properly attributable to JC Ryle.

___

Now I would still like to see what Ryle said that found someone concluding that Ryle’s words have the implication that someone saw in them concerning amalgamation.

Author: jetbrane

I am a Pastor of a small Church in Mid-Michigan who delights in my family, my congregation and my calling. I am postmillennial in my eschatology. Paedo-Calvinist Covenantal in my Christianity Reformed in my Soteriology Presuppositional in my apologetics Familialist in my family theology Agrarian in my regional community social order belief Christianity creates culture and so Christendom in my national social order belief Mythic-Poetic / Grammatical Historical in my Hermeneutic Pre-modern, Medieval, & Feudal before Enlightenment, modernity, & postmodern Reconstructionist / Theonomic in my Worldview One part paleo-conservative / one part micro Libertarian in my politics Systematic and Biblical theology need one another but Systematics has pride of place Some of my favorite authors, Augustine, Turretin, Calvin, Tolkien, Chesterton, Nock, Tozer, Dabney, Bavinck, Wodehouse, Rushdoony, Bahnsen, Schaeffer, C. Van Til, H. Van Til, G. H. Clark, C. Dawson, H. Berman, R. Nash, C. G. Singer, R. Kipling, G. North, J. Edwards, S. Foote, F. Hayek, O. Guiness, J. Witte, M. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson, Mencken, Lasch, Postman, Gatto, T. Boston, Thomas Brooks, Terry Brooks, C. Hodge, J. Calhoun, Llyod-Jones, T. Sowell, A. McClaren, M. Muggeridge, C. F. H. Henry, F. Swarz, M. Henry, G. Marten, P. Schaff, T. S. Elliott, K. Van Hoozer, K. Gentry, etc. My passion is to write in such a way that the Lord Christ might be pleased. It is my hope that people will be challenged to reconsider what are considered the givens of the current culture. Your biggest help to me dear reader will be to often remind me that God is Sovereign and that all that is, is because it pleases him. View all posts by jetbrane