The Holy Spirit might seem like a rather vague and complicated subject. Anywhere we encounter the spirit in the Bible, it is presented as a force present during moments of great importance. Ryle expands on the importance and necessity of The Holy Spirit in man’s road to redemption.

It has been a long time since there have been as many ideas and events in our world causing fear and anxiety as there are today. But one thing, in any event, is clear, and that is the duty of Christians to search more diligently than ever the prophetic Scriptures. Let us compare prophecies fulfilled with prophecies unfulfilled and attempt to make the one illustrate the other. Let us strive, above all, to obtain clear views of the things we should be expecting, both in the church and the world, before the end comes and time will be no more.

"True Christianity is a fight," wrote J. C. Ryle in 1877. He argued that from the day of their conversion until the day they die, Christians are called to be soldiers for Christ in a war for their holiness. This inspiring call to action written more than 100 years ago continues to be a source of great encouragement and inspiration for believers today.

It is indifference that leaves people alone and allows them to go their own way. It is love, tender love, that warns them and raises the cry of alarm. The cry of “Fire! Fire!” at midnight might sometimes rudely, harshly, and unpleasantly startle a person out of his sleep, but who would complain if that cry was the means of saving his life? The words except you repent, you will all likewise perish might at first seem stern and severe, but they are words of love, and they could be the means of delivering precious souls from hell.

This "upper room," we should remember, was the forerunner of every church and cathedral which has been reared in Christendom within the last 18 centuries. St. Paul's, and York, and Lincoln, and all the stately ministers of our own land; St. Sophia at Constantinople, St. Isaac at St. Petersburg, St. Stephen's at Vienna, Notre Dame at Paris, St. Peter's at Rome, all are descendants from this "upper room." Not one can trace its pedigree beyond that little chamber. Here it was that professing Christians, when left alone by their master, first began to pray together, to worship.

I want to tell you what perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived (the apostle Paul) thought of the cross of Christ. Believe me, the cross is of deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy; this is not one of those points on which people may agree to differ and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A person must be right on this subject, or he is lost forever. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day - all hinges on the answer to this question: What do you think about the cross of Christ?

Old Paths is a collection of 19 of J. C. Ryle's most effective tracts on the leading truths of Christianity, which are, as he says, "necessary to salvation." In including in such a series Inspiration, Election, and Perseverance, he allows that good Christians have disagreed and will still disagree about them, but he inserts them nevertheless on account of the immense importance of the first and the extraordinary neglect into which the last two have fallen. Ryle's racy style, plainspokenness, and good taste are sure to secure your affection and hold your attention.

Wisdom, encouragement, and exhortation is contained here. Not because of the author's brilliance, but because of the words of truth contained in the gospel of John. And just as the Apostle John didn't draw any attention to himself, so also J. C. Ryle clearly and wonderfully directs his words and our thoughts toward the inspired words of scripture. If we truly love God, we will love his word; and the more we study his word, the more we will love God.

The reader will soon discover that I am an enthusiastic admirer of the men whose lives and ministries I have narrated in this volume. I confess it honestly. I am a thorough admirer of them. I firmly believe that, with the exceptions of Martin Luther and his contemporaries and our own martyred reformers, the world has not seen any such men since the days of the apostles. I now send forth this volume with an earnest prayer that God will pardon all its imperfections, use it for His own glory, and raise up in His church today men like those who are here described.

He who wants a correct understanding of holiness must first begin by examining the vast and solemn subject of sin. He must dig down very deep if he wants to build high. Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption. Practical holiness and entire self-consecration to God are not given adequate attention by modern Christians. The unsaved sometimes rightly complain that Christians are not as kind and unselfish and good-natured as those who make no profession of faith.