The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, Vol. 7

The Vanity of the Creature.

David's Conclusion; or, the Saint's Resolution

Miracle of Miracles — First Sermon. . Notes. Second Sermon.

Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations. Notes. . . . . •

The Knot of Prayer Loosed.

The Success of the Gospel.

SiBBEs's Last Two Sermons — Prayer.

First Sermon. . Second Sermon.

The Ruin of Mystical Jericho. . Notes. ....

The Demand of a Good Conscience. Notes. ....

The Beast's Dominion over Earthly Kin Notes. ....

AnTIDOTUJI contra NaUFEAGIUM FiDEI ET BONiE CONSCIENTI^. 547-560

Bibliographical List of Editions of Sibbes's Works. . 563-565

The present volume includes the whole of the 'single' Sermons not already given, and the whole of the remaining writings of Dr Sibbes ; and now the Editor has to congratulate the subscribers to the Series, and himself, upon the completion of this first collective edition of the entire Works of this author.*

In so doing, he takes this opportunity of repeating the expression of his obligation to friends and correspondents for valuable suggestions and help kindly rendered from volume to volume. It is for others to judge how far, with suph aid, he has succeeded in his arduous task ; he only knows that, without that aid, he would not have succeeded so well.

In the Preface it was proposed to give, in a short essay, an ' analysis' and 'estimate' of Sibbes as a man and a writer, together with a view of his 'opinions' and 'character' as reflected in his books ; likewise to try to shed a little light on his relations to others and theirs to him, and to guide the casual reader to the treasures of thought, wisdom, spiritual insight, tenderness, and consolation of this incomparable old worthy.t It will be found that all this has been forestalled in another shape — viz., in the somewhat minute ' analysis ' of each important treatise contained in the ' contents ' of the successive volumes, and in the ' notes,' elucidatory and illustrative, appended to the several dedications, epistles, and numerous allusions and quotations, in combination with the full Indices and Glossary in the present volume. All of these have much exceeded the original estimate, and i^radically fulfil the promise and enable each reader to do for himself what at best could only have been done imperfectly by another. The Index of Topics has received anxious attention, and, incorporating as it does the original tables drawn up by Sibbes and his original editors, will readily guide to what may be handled and sought. The most cursory use of it * Cf. Preface, Vol I. page xiii. t Ibid. p. xy. t Memoir, Vol. I. p. xix.

will reveal that the author gives forth no ' uncertain sound,' but definitely yet most catholically, scripturally yet most charitably, expresses his ' opinions,' which all bear the stamp of being convictions. He was a Puritan in ' doctrine,' but loyal to the Church of England with that touching loyalty shewn to the throne by illustrious contemporaries even when they despised its occupant. On almost every point of Theology the Works of Richard Sibbes will rarely be consulted ' in vain.' They are a casket of gems, and the lid needs but to be raised to flash forth wealth of spiritual thought. In closing his onerous labours, the Editor would, in a few sentences, characterise the Works now collected and completed ; and at once that epithet, which seems by universal consent to have been associated with the name of Richard Sibbes — * HEAVENLY ' — recurs. It is the one distinctive adjective for him. For if there ever has been, since apostolic times, a ' heavenly ' man, the meek ' Preacher ' of Gray's Inn was he. Emphatically, ' he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith' (Acts xi. 24) ; and in accord with this, he is pre-eminently and peculiarly a ' son of consolation,' a * comforter.' This, I should say, is the merit of these works. The minister of the gospel and the private reader will find abundant ' consolations ' for bruised, tried, despondent, groping souls. Nor is this characteristic a small thing. It must be a growing conviction, with all who mark the ' signs of the times,' that the want of our age, in the church as in the world, is not more intellect or genius, learning or culture, but more reality of Christian life — more 'good' rather than more 'great' men. Perhaps there never has been a period — speaking generally — of more intellect in intense activity, if not in mass, more learning and diffused culture, than the present ; and certainly never was there an age of such thickcoming interrogation of all problems in all realms of thought and speculation. But these seem often lamentably disassociated from GOODNESS, from conscience, from spiritual integrity and truthfulness, and above all, from Christian LIFE.

For Sibbes, then, is not claimed the title of 'great' — so much abused, and indeed vulgarised — in the world's meaning. Weighed against contemporaries — Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton — he has no awful crown of genius. Placed beside other divines. Church and Puritan, he lacks the orient splendour of Jeremy Taylor, the massiveness of Barrow, the intensity of Baxter, the unexpected wit of Thomas Adams, the exhaustiveness of John Owen, the profundity of Thomas Goodwin ; nor has he left behind him any great work such as that on the 'The Creed' by Pearson, or the 'Defensio' by Bull. In reading him, we never come upon recondite speculation, widePREFATORY NOTE. XI

reaching generalisation, sustained argument, burning eloquence, flashes of wit, aphoristic wisdom, not even, or but rarel}'-, melody of words. But a ' soul of goodness ' informs every fibre and filament of his thinking ; nor is there a page without FOOD for the spiritually 'hungry.' He has few equals, and certainly no superior, for ingenuity in bringing 'comfort' to tried, weary ones, and in happy use of Scripture, his mere citation of a text being often like a shaft of light.* It should be noticed, that the very invariableness of Sibbes's excellence hides his richness and power, as the very commonness of the air makes us forget the wonder and the blessedness of it.