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The Bruised Reed

The Bruised Reed
By Richard Sibbes
Banner of Truth Trust. 1630/1998.
x + 128 pages. £2.50

I confess I picked up this book naively confident that the 20th century has the last word on the complex workings of the mind. After all, ours is the age of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy - surely all pastoral advice in the past focused on the stiff upper lip. Richard Sibbes taught me a lesson.
The Bruised Reed was first published in 1630 when Sibbes was preaching at Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, and Gray's Inn, London. Taking as his starting point the prophecy of Christ in Isaiah 42.3 (cf. Matthew 12.20): 'A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench', Sibbes goes on to show a deep and sensitive understanding of the many doubts, fears, failures and struggles which so often trouble Christians. The book is full of godly realism. He warns us to expect young Christians to take time to change, he knows well the trials of those who are beset with sins they feel unable to conquer, the tyranny of obsessive thoughts, the spiritual paralysis of those who lack assurance. For all such people, Sibbes shows us a gentle, compassionate Christ, who loves and protects his people.
But Sibbes is not afraid to address those of us who tend towards presumption too. He delicately treads the tightrope that all preachers tread between comforting the worried and worrying the comfortable. The book ends with a resounding confidence in the final victory of Christ for his people. Sibbes once wrote: 'A Christian is an impregnable person . . . Let all the enemies consult together . . . Emmanuel in heaven laugheth them to scorn.' And as Luther said: 'Shall we weep and cry when God laugheth?'
The book is well edited and reset to make it readable to a modern reader. Those who are bruised themselves, or deal with bruised reeds, will laugh with Sibbes and Luther when they read this classic.

Peter Comont
Magdalen Road Evangelical Free Church, Oxford