Richard Sibbes was a Puritan writer, whose dates are 1577 – 1635. He is considered to be one of the “mainline Puritans,” which principally is a reference to his ecclesiology, being part of the Church of England, and remaining so.
He is also an important transition figure in the Reformation period. In approximate terms, Sibbes’s birth is shortly after John Calvin’s publication of the first notable Reformation systematic theology, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, and Sibbes death occurs just prior to the first of the three great 17th Century Confessions (1647 Westminster; later closely followed in spirit and wording by 1658 Savoy, and 1689 Second Baptist Confessions) and Sibbes’s life overlaps the life of Francis Turretin (1623-1687) the author of the next great Reformation systematic theology, The Institutes of Elenctic Theology.
He is perhaps most well-known for his book of pastoral encouragement entitled The Bruised Reed with the subtitle “and Smoking Flax [or Wick].” Separately on this site are support resources for his Bruised Reed book.
Given below are my primary highlighted ‘nuggets’ from reading and multiple re-readings of Bruised Reed. The page and location identifiers correspond to the Kindle edition of the book. They are given in the order of Sibbes’s writing and so they form ‘the spine’ of his book and its theme: we all are that bruised reed, but there is something even then present in us–namely a smoking flax / wick–which is both evidence of God’s Grace and that which can be fanned into life by God’s attendant care.
Is there a particular one that captures you at your present stage of walk?
The Bruised Reed
Sibbes, Richard
Citation (APA): Sibbes, R. (2010). The Bruised Reed [Kindle iOS version].
Ch 1 The Reed and the Bruising
God’s children are bruised reeds before their conversion and oftentimes after.
p. 3 · Loc. 75
Ch 2 Christ Will Not Break the Bruised Reed
Let the world be as it will, if we cannot rejoice in the world, yet we may rejoice in the Lord.
p. 9 · Loc. 147
A man truly bruised judges sin the greatest evil, and the favor of God the greatest good.
p. 11 · Loc. 166
Foundation truth: that there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us,
p. 13 · Loc. 188
It is good to divert our sorrow for other things to the root of all, which is sin. Let our grief run most in that channel, that as sin bred grief, so grief may consume sin.
p. 13 · Loc. 191
Ch 3 The Smoking Flax
Grace does not do away with corruption all at once, but some is left for believers to fight with.
p. 19 · Loc. 248
Ch 4 Christ Will Not Quench the Smoking Flax
The best men are severe to themselves, tender over others.
p. 24 · Loc. 311
Ch 5 The Spirit of Mercy Should Move Us
[men are] betrayed by their worst enemies, their sins,
p. 30 · Loc. 387
Looseness of life is cruelty to ourselves and to the souls of others.
p. 33 · Loc. 418
Ch 6 Marks of the Smoking Flax
In every converted man, God puts a light into the eye of his soul proportionable to the light of truths revealed to him.
p. 40 – Loc. 503
Desires are counted a part of the thing desired
p. 45 – Loc. 566
Ch 7 Help for the Weak
The mortar wherein garlic has been stamped will always smell of it; so all our actions will savor something of the old man.
p. 47 – Loc. 588
All scandalous actions are only thoughts at the first. Ill thoughts are as little thieves, which, creeping in at the window, open the door to greater. Thoughts are seeds of actions.
p. 49 – Loc. 608
Ch 8 Duties and Discouragements
Our hearts of themselves are reluctant to give up their liberty, and are only with difficulty brought under the yoke of duty.
p. 57 – Loc. 689
Corruption gains ground, for the most part, in every neglect.
p. 57 – Loc. 690
we shall be esteemed by God to be what we love and desire and labour to be.
p. 59 – Loc. 720
The desire is an earnest of the thing desired.
p. 59 – Loc. 722
Possibilitas tua mensura tua
(What is possible to you is what you will be measured by).
p. 60 – Loc. 727
Discouragements, then, must come from ourselves and from Satan, who labors to fasten on us a loathing of duty.
p. 61 – Loc. 742
If you tell a thief or a vagrant that he is out of the way, he pays no heed, because his aim is not to walk in any particular way, except as it suits his purpose.
p. 63 – Loc. 768
Sin against conscience is as a thief…spoils our joy…weakens our strength.
p. 65 – Loc. 790-791
In time of temptation, believe Christ rather than the devil. Believe truth from truth itself. Hearken not to a liar, an enemy and a murderer.
p. 66 – Loc. 802
Ch 9 Believe Christ, Not Satan
Satan, as he slanders Christ to us, so he slanders us to ourselves.
p. 69 – Loc. 842
Cast yourself into the arms of Christ, and if you perish, perish there. If mercy is to be found anywhere, it is there.
p. 70 – Loc. 846
Therefore let us do as mariners do, cast anchor in the dark.
p. 70 – Loc. 855
Ch 10 Quench Not the Spirit
Grace is strengthened by the exercise of it
p. 77 – Loc. 923
Stir up the grace that is in you, for in this way holy motions turn to resolutions, resolutions to practice, and practice to a prepared readiness to every good work.
p. 77 – Loc. 924
Keep the soul open to entertain the Holy Ghost, for he will bring in continually fresh forces to subdue corruption
p. 77 – Loc. 929
Infirmities are a ground of humility, not a plea for negligence, nor an encouragement to presumption.
p. 78 – Loc. 935
Trouble in conflict against a sin is not so much as that disquiet which any corruption favored will bring upon us afterward.
p. 78 – Loc. 941
Spiritual tyranny is the greatest tyranny
p. 82 – Loc. 985
Ch 11 Christ’s Judgment and Victory
In spiritual life, it is most necessary that the Spirit should alter the taste of the soul so that it might savor the things of the Spirit so deeply that all other things should be out of relish.
p. 86 – Loc. 1023
The same Spirit that convinces us of the necessity of his righteousness to cover us convinces us also of the necessity of his government to rule us.
p. 85 – Loc. 1037
[The] main fruit of Christ’s exaltation [is] that he may turn every one of us from our wickedness
p. 87 – Loc. 1040
Only those that will take his yoke and count it a greater happiness to be under his government than to enjoy any liberty of the flesh.
p. 88 – Loc. 1045
Ch 12 Christ’s Wise Government
The whole conduct of a Christian is nothing else but knowledge reduced to will, affection and practice.
p. 94 – Loc 1111
Spirit who enlightens the mind inspires gracious inclinations into the will and affections and infuses strength into the whole man.
p. 96 – Loc. 1138
Where grace has subdued the heart, unruly passions do not cast such a mist before the understanding that it does not see in particular cases what is best.
p. 97 – Loc. 1151
He that despises God’s way and loves to live at large, seeking all liberty to the flesh, shall die
p. 98 – Loc. 1160
men of an ill governed life have no true judgment.
p. 98 – Loc. 1162
Ch 13 Grace Shall Reign
The purpose of Christ’s coming was to destroy the works of the devil, both for us and in us
p. 101 – Loc. 1194
Christ at length will fulfill his purpose in us, and faith rests assured of it, and this assurance is very operative, stirring us up to join with Christ in his purposes.
p. 101 – Loc. 1205
When he is conquered by some sins, he gets victory over others more dangerous, such as spiritual pride and security.
p. 103 – Loc. 1225
We learn to stand by falls, and get strength by weakness discovered
virtutis custos infirmitas
(weakness is the keeper of virtue).
p. 103 – Loc. 1228
So let us never give up, but, in our thoughts, knit the beginning, progress and end together, and then we shall see ourselves in heaven out of the reach of all enemies.
p. 104 – Loc. 1232
Weakness with watchfulness will stand, when strength with too much confidence fails. Weakness, with acknowledgement of it, is the fittest seat and subject for God to perfect his strength in; for consciousness of our infirmities drives us out of ourselves to him in whom our strength lies.
p. 104 – Loc. 1237
Having a well ordered, uniform life, not consisting of fits and starts, shows a well ordered heart; as in a clock, when the hammer strikes well, and the hand of the dial points well
p. 107 – Loc. 1277
Being able to practice duties pleasing to Christ, though contrary to flesh and the course of the world, and being able to overcome ourselves in that evil to which our nature is prone and stands so much inclined, and which agrees to the ruling passion of the times, which others lie enthralled under, such as desire of revenge, hatred of enemies, private ends, etc., this shows that grace in us is above nature, heaven above earth, and will have the victory.
p. 108 – Loc. 1282
Ch 14 Means to Make Grace Victorious
We should judge of things as to whether they help or hinder our main purpose
p. 109 – Loc. 1299
[It is] at the hour of death, when the soul gathers itself from all other things to itself. We should look back to former experience and see what is most agreeable to it
p. 109 – Loc. 1303
Outward things blind the eyes even of the wise
p. 110 – Loc. 1306
True judgment in us advances Christ, and Christ will advance it. All sin is either from false principles, or ignorance, or thoughtlessness, or unbelief of what is true.
p. 110 – Loc. 1311
A fire in the heart overcomes all fires without.
p. 111 – Loc. 1325
[It is] grace in exercise, that preserves us. While the soul is in some civil or sacred employment, corruptions within us are much suppressed
p. 112 – Loc. 1337
Have hearts prepared for every good duty, open to all good opportunities, and shut to all temptations, keeping our watch, and being always ready armed.
p. 1138 – Loc. 1350
The tree falls upon the last stroke, yet all the strokes help the work forward.
p. 114 – Loc. 1361
Ch 15 Christ’s Public Triumph
Sin has deceived me; a foolish heart has deceived me.
p. 122 – Loc. 1436
Nature, as corrupted, favors its own being, and will maintain itself
p. 123 – Loc. 1450
[The] divine power of Christ is necessary to carry us above all our own strength, especially in duties in which we meet with greater opposition
p. 123 – Loc. 1451
Therefore when we have fallen, and by falls have been bruised, let us go to Christ immediately to bind us up again.
p. 124 – Loc. 1458
it is dangerous to look for that from ourselves which we must have from Christ.
p. 124 – Loc. 1460
Frustra nititur qui non innititur
(He strives in vain who is not dependent).
p. 124 – Loc. 1464
He does not say, you can do a little, but nothing.
p. 125 – Loc. 1467
That that which is begun in self confidence ends in shame.
p. 125 – Loc. 1477
We are stronger after defeats, because hidden corruption, undiscerned before, is now discovered, and thence we are brought to make use of mercy pardoning and power supporting.
p. 126 – Loc. 1484
God’s people feel a powerful work of the Spirit, not only revealing to us our misery and deliverance through Christ, but emptying us of ourselves
p. 128 – Loc. 1499
Ch 16 THROUGH CONFLICT TO VICTORY
The victory lies not with us, but with Christ, who has taken on him both to conquer for us and to conquer in us.
p. 133 – Loc. 1555
Lord Jesus, thou hast promised not to quench the smoking flax, nor to break the bruised reed.
p. 133 – Loc. 1566
Christ will not leave us till he has made us like himself
p. 134 – Loc. 1568
He shall not ` quench the smoking flax’ until he has subdued all. This puts a shield into our hands to beat back ` all the fiery darts of the wicked’
p. 1334 – Loc. 1571
Be thankful to God for the least measure of grace, more than for any outward thing. It will be of more use and comfort than all this world which passes away and comes to nothing.
p. 135 – Loc. 1584
See great things in little beginnings. Look not so much to the beginning as to the perfection, and so we shall be, in some degree, joyful in ourselves, and thankful to Christ.
p. 135 – Loc. 1586
Let us then bring our hearts to holy resolutions, and set ourselves upon that which is good, and against that which is ill, in ourselves or others, according to our callings, with this encouragement, that Christ’s grace and power will go along with us.
p. 138 – Loc. 1620