Category: Heroes

Think of all thy wants, and of all thy sins; let them be never so many, yet there is more to be had in Christ than there can be wanting in thee. The soul that thinks itself full of wants is the richest soul, and that that apprehendeth no want at all, no need of grace or Christ, is always sent empty away. Grieve therefore for thy sins, and then joy that thou hast grieved, and go to God for the supply of all thy wants. The seeds of joy and of comfort are sown in tears and grief in this world; but yet we know we shall reap in joy in the world to come. – Richard Sibbes in The Glorious Feast of the Gospel

The Psalms are, as it were, the anatomy of a holy man, which lay the inside of a truly devout man outward to the view of others. If the Scriptures be compared to a body, the Psalms may well be the heart, they are so full of sweet affections and passions. For in other portions of Scripture God speaks to us; but in the Psalms holy men speak to God and their own hearts.  – Richard Sibbes in The Soul’s Conflict with Itself

“Therefore, as there is variety of excellency, so is there sufficiency and fullness in Christ. What he did, he did to the full. He is a Saviour, and he filleth up that name to the full. His pardon for sin is a full pardon; his merits for us are full merits; his satisfaction to divine justice a full satisfaction; his redemption of our souls and bodies a full redemption. Thus all he did was full.”   – Richard Sibbes in The Glorious Feast of the Gospel

“He that enjoys the glories of heaven, needs not the praises of men.” – Written by Arthur Jackson, James Nalton, and William Taylor concerning Richard Sibbes in their “Note to the Reader” prefacing Sibbes’ The Glorious Feast of the Gospel

It were better for a bramble to be in the wilderness than in an orchard.  – Richard Sibbes in Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations

We must take heed of coming to God in our own persons or worthiness, but in all things look at God in Christ. If we look at God as a Father, we must see him Christ’s Father first. If we see ourselves acquitted from our sins, let us look at Christ risen first. If we think of glorification in heaven, let us see Christ glorified first, and when we consider of any spiritual blessing, consider of it in Christ first. All the promises are made to Christ. He takes them first from God the Father, and derives [communicates] them to us by his Spirit. The first fulness [sic] is in God, and then he empties himself into Christ. ‘ And of his fulness we all receive grace ,’ &c.  – Richard Sibbes in Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations

God so hated pride, that he became humble to the death of the cross to redeem me from it, and shall I be proud?  – Richard Sibbes, Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations

Though God deliver not out of trouble, yet he delivers from the ill in trouble, from despair in trouble, by supporting the spirit. Nay, he delivers by trouble, for he sanctifies the trouble to cure the soul, and by less troubles he delivers from greater.  – Richard Sibbes, Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations

He married our nature, that he might marry our persons.  – Richard Sibbes, Miracle of Miracles

Thus you see how David after all his victories describes God to be his God, and his salvation both for body and soul, for the present and for the time to come, with means, without means, and against all means. What a comfort is this! He can command salvation, he can command the creature to save, and the devil himself to be a means to save us; and if there be no means for thee to see, yet he can create means to do it in an instant. Thus God is our help; and what a ground of comfort is this! Therefore I beseech you be not discouraged. Mourn we may like doves, but not roar like beasts in our afflictions; when we have humbled ourselves enough, then must we raise up our souls from our grief to another object. For a Christian must look to divers objects: look to the trouble with one eye, and to God with the other, and know him to be his salvation. Then, let the trouble be what it will be, if God be thy deliverer; it is no matter what the disease be, if God be thy physician.  – Richard Sibbes, Discouragement’s Recovery