When Ryland was born, his fa­ther was a Bap­tist min­is­ter in War­wick. In 1759, the fam­i­ly moved to North­amp­ton. “J. Ry­land, junior,” as he signed his name for ma­ny years, was in 1781 or­dained co-pas­tor with his fa­ther at North­amp­ton. In 1794, he ac­cept­ed the pre­si­den­cy of the Bap­tist Coll­ege and the pas­tor­ate of the church in Broad­mead, Bris­tol; he held these po­si­tions un­til his death.

Ryland was a man of con­sid­er­a­ble lit­er­a­ry cul­ture, and re­ceived a Doc­tor of Di­vin­i­ty de­gree from Brown Un­i­ver­si­ty, Rhode Is­land. He was one of the found­ers of the Bap­tist Mis­sion­a­ry So­ci­e­ty, and for the three years fol­low­ing the death of Rev. A. Full­er in 1815, Ry­land was act­ing sec­re­ta­ry.

Ryland’s prose works in­clude:

• Serious Es­says, 1771
• Memoirs of Rev. R. Hall, Arns­by, 2nd edi­tion, 1852
• A Candid State­ment of the Re­asons Which In­duce Bap­tists to Dif­fer from Their Christ­ian Breth­ren
• Pastoral Me­mor­i­als, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly
• Hymns and Vers­es on Sac­red Sub­jects, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in 1862

Sources

Hymns

1. For Zion’s Sake I’ll Not Restrain
2. Had Not the Lord, My Soul May Say
3. Holy, Ho­ly, Ho­ly Lord, Self-Existent Deity
4. In All My Lord’s Appointed Ways
5. Look Down, My Soul, on Hell’s Domain
6. Lord, Teach a Little Child to Pray
7. Now Let the Slumbering Church Awake
8. O Lord, I Will Delight in Thee
9. Out of the Depths of Doubt and Fear
10. Rejoice, the Savior Reigns
11. Sovereign Ruler of the Skies
12. Thou Son of God, and Son of Man
13. When Abraham’s Servant to Procure
14. When the Savior Dwelt Below