The wisdom of Richard Sibbes

I’ve been reading “The Bruised Reed” by the Puritan Richard Sibbes (no prizes for guessing why I pulled this one down from the shelf).  Here are some of his pearls.

It would be a good contest among Christians, one to labour to give no offence, and the other to labour to take none. 

Nothing is so certain as that which is certain after doubts.

Illustrating the unworthy thoughts that sometimes come to mind, and distress the godly, he says, A pious soul is no more guilty of them than Benjamin was when Joseph’s cup was put in his sack.

Of Christ: He became not only a man but a curse, a man of sorrows for us.  He was broken that we should not be broken; he was troubled that we should not be desperately troubled; he became a curse that we should not be accursed.  Whatever may be wished for in an all-sufficient comforter is all to be found in Christ.