Richard Sibbes was called “Heavenly Doctor Sibbes.” He was known for his God-honouring preaching and living as if heaven was always before his eyes.
Richard Sibbes (1577–1635) was born at Tostock, Suffolk, of old England. As a young boy he loved his books and was uninterested in following his father’s trade as a wheelwright. Instead, Sibbes went into academics where he received a Master or Arts at the age of 25. During his years of studying he sat under the teaching of the Puritan William Perkins. A year after his studies, in 1603, he was converted under the preaching of Paul Baynes. Sibbes spent his life faithfully ministering at Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge and at Gray’s Inn law school.
During his lifetime, the “Heavenly Doctor” helped many people through conversation and preaching. He prevented Thomas Goodwin from falling into Arminianism and encouraged John Preston to focus on Scripture rather than “witty preaching.” Sibbes viewed preaching Christ as a vehicle to “woo” people with Gospel by focusing on heart matters.
Sibbes was unique for his day. His writing and ministerial styles had a compassionate pastor’s heart. The Doctor desired to free his listeners from the damage that some ministers and political leaders were doing in his day as they were using the Law against the people. Sibbes understood the message of the Gospel is love and one of the key categories of that is freedom. Freedom and assurance of being loved by God while at the same time being unlovely. One area that was unique of Sibbes, compared to most Puritans, was his ability to discuss the mind and will, specifically that the mind and will are merely instruments of the affections. This offered the perspective of how nature and grace are both involved in a person’s conversion as seen by God working through the affections by drawing those that are saved to share in God’s values through a transformed heart. The “fallen will,” is opposed to God and his rule due to sinful passions wanting to replace God. However, in the act of salvation the Holy Spirit comes to the elect to make known God’s love which then stirs up new affections and thoughts to have the will embrace God’s ways.
The Doctor knew the importance of unity in the face of adversity, especially those with Puritan convictions. By standing for the truth of God’s Word he challenged the ministers of the day who were “sinful [in their] lukewarmness.” He said, “a curse lies upon those, that, when the truth suffers, have not a word to defend it.” For making such a claim, Sibbes was reprimanded in 1627 and in 1632, along with eleven other Puritan ministers, he was sentenced to banishment. However, the sentence was never carried out, but Sibbes lived to see many of his close friends (Samuel Ward, Thomas Goodwin, John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and others) either imprisoned or forced into exile in Holland and New England.
Sibbes recognized that people’s actions are an outward manifestation of the heart, which shows what a person is like deep down inside. The Doctor wanted to impact the desires of the people and not only provide superficial behavioral modifications. He did so in a manner that impacted people by using the truth of the Gospel to “melt” the heart of his hearers. He did not want to create a ministry that cultivated hypocrisy, but genuine followers of Christ whose heartfelt desires are for Christ not for sin.
History highlights Richard Sibbes as a kind man who was of a mild, quiet, and peaceable spirit. He is one who enjoyed much sweet communion with God, and reading his works one can feel that “warmth” he had towards God. Richard Sibbes encouraged his hearers to live “under the sunshine of the Gospel, and as you hear of Christ’s love you are drawn to him.”
C.H. Spurgeon, “Sibbes never wastes a student’s time, he scatters pearls and diamonds with both hands.”
To learn more from Richard Sibbes, read “The Bruised Reed.”