At any rate, be my guest. 

I promised you a review in my last post and here it is.  To give you a quick background: While at the Shepherd's Conference in March, I spotted a small paperback book in Banner of Truth's Puritan Paperbacks series.  The title was "The Bruised Reed".  Now, I'd had my eye out for this little book for some time.  Dr. Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. had recommended it, and, more recently I found that D. Martyn Lloyd Jones was blessed by it as well.  Seeing as how it was only about five dollars, and I had a (relatively) free $50 gift card, I bought it.  If you check out my Shepherd's Conference post, you'll find that my list of books bought then is somewhat large.  At any rate, it's large enough to prevent me from getting through it too quickly.  So, I did what any good son does.  I brought some out for my Mom to read and let me know what she thought, since she reads faster than I do.  She liked the Bruised Reed very much.  So much, in fact, that my Dad and Mom bought copies of the book as gifts for the Warner Avenue Christian Academy graduates this year.  Since I was just getting through it myself, and since five new copies of the book had just arrived at church, this seemed an appropriate book to review just at this moment.  That said, the following is my review of The Bruised Reed:

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The Bruised Reed was written by Richard Sibbes, a man often referred to as "The Heavenly Doctor Sibbes".  After reading his book, I can affirm the truth of the title.  Sibbes' writing not only impresses the reader with his love for God, but also his great understanding of God and His love for us.  Richard Sibbes was born in 1577 and converted at the age of 18 under the preaching of Paul Bayne (or Baynes).  Deciding to become a preacher, Sibbes earned his B.Div. in 1610 at the age of 33.  The Bruised Reed was written in his later years, Dr. Sibbes being 53 at the time and passing on five years later.  He died just prior to the English revolution against Charles II by Parliament, led primarily by Oliver Cromwell. 

The book, although short in length (only 128 pages) takes considerably longer to read than the 7x5in. size of the book suggests.  It is comprised of sixteen chapters expounding on the prophecy of Isaiah:

" ¹ “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,
      My Elect One in whom My soul delights!
      I have put My Spirit upon Him;
      He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
       ² He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,
      Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
       ³ A bruised reed He will not break,
      And smoking flax He will not quench;
      He will bring forth justice for truth. "

Isaiah 42:1-3

It is later quoted by Matthew (ch.12,vs.18-20) who refers to it's fulfillment by Jesus.

• The Good

Sibbes illustrates effortlessly the love of God for us, particularly in how He demonstrates this love.  The passage talks primarily about a bruised reed - something that anyone but God would cast aside as worthless - and smoking flax - referring to a light that has burned it's wick so low that only a spark remains; an irritation to any but our Lord.  Sibbes discusses our inability in relation to God's care for us, explaining that despite our apparent uselessness, God can and does use us.  Also, he encourages the reader with exhortations to do the will of God as laid out for us in scripture.  He does not use our inability as an excuse to promote inaction, but rather suggests that we should take action in spite our helplessness outside of God. 

• The Bad

Like many of his time period, from what I've heard, Sibbes has an annoying habit of quoting from Song of Solomon and using a non-literal interpretation of the text to refer to the Bride and her Beloved as representing the Church and Christ.  I find this interpretation lacking, though I won't go into why just at the moment.  Still, it's not as bad as Mark Driscoll's dreadful exposition which I still haven't gotten over reading parts of a transcript on.  It's only quoted briefly two or three times, but it's enough to be annoying if you hold the same interpretation as I do on the Song of Songs (which is Solomons). 

There's also the problem of it being an older book.  I suppose you could argue that this is a problem with me, and not the book.  Basically, older books weren't usually written in the ultra-simple way they are today.  Many books today are written with non-readers in mind and tend to be appropriately easy to understand.  Books of Sibbes' era were written under the assumption that the reader was a thinker and could grasp what was being said.  Still, this version is one of the more readable older books I've come across (quite possibly revised to make it clearer), but it still takes time (and a brain that's not begging for sleep) to read. 

Honestly, there's little to criticize here.  Aside from advising you not to listen to someone else reading it aloud (bad idea unless your brain is totally hooked up and ready to follow along), I can't say much else against it.  The only reason 'The Bad' is longer than 'The Good' is because I'm trying to avoid spoilers.

• The Heavenly

Okay, so it's a corny header, but I'll just throw a few more thoughts out there before closing up.  I was tempted to quote a few lines from the book in this review, but honestly, while thinking about it, it occurred to me that even if I preached every Sunday of a year (morning and evening) and presented a different Sibbes quote from this book in each sermon, I would probably still have more unheard ones to put in this post.  For a book of 128 pages, (and small ones at that), that is quite impressive.  Exaggeration?  Maybe slightly, but not by much.  I keep getting blown away by how many wonderful quotes of encouragement and exhortation he shares throughout this slim work. 

The loveliest thing of all about it is that while reading it, I felt like I made a new friend; one that, Lord willing, I'll be able to spend many happy hours with in the future (even as I have already). 

Highly recommended.  If you have it, you have no excuse not to have started reading it yet.  If you don't...well, there are copies online, though I don't recommend online reading.  It's much too hard to focus that way for me.

...And that is officially the world's longest review.  The attempt was to tell you my impressions about the book, share some background on the author to give you an idea of the man who you'll be spending so much time with as you read, avoid spoiling any of the moments (moments which flow much more eloquently from Dr. Sibbes' tongue than mine) from the book and let you know what I thought didn't work.

If you've read it or are reading it currently, drop a comment to let me know what you think of the book, I'd love to hear what you think of it.  All other comments are always welcome, as well.  Thanks for dropping by.