In the meantime he was instituted to the vicarage of Stanwell in Middlesex, where he made a name by his preaching; he obtained in September 1628 the additional benefice of St. Martin-le-Vintry.
A patent of June 1646 created him dean of Chichester, but he remained dependent on charity at Shafton in Dorset until after 1649, when he made at least one journey abroad, bearing to Charles II some money which had been collected among his adherents.
Practising what he preached, he had his curate at Acton harass Richard Baxter, who was drawing large audiences in defiance of the conventicle act.
Besides sermons, Ryves was the author of Mercurius Rusticus; or the Countries Complaint of the Barbarous Outrages committed by the Sectaries of this late flourishing Kingdom.
The assaults on Sir John Lucas's house, Wardour Castle, and other mansions are narrated, while a second part starts on the damage done to the cathedrals.
Ryves assisted Brian Walton in his work on the London tithes, and contributed to his polyglot bible.