A Breathing after God by Richard Sibbes

This sermon by puritan Richard Sibbes, sheds light on Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.” Breathing signifies “a passionate longing for” (Psalm 42:1), or “a desperate cry to the Lord” (Lam. 3:56). The message is broken down into the object (why one thing), the desire itself, the house of the Lord, and the beauty of the Lord. Full title: A Breathing After God; or, a Christian Desire of God’s Presence.

Paperback 8X5.25, 114 pages, ISBN 9781946145444

Richard Sibbes (1577–1635) was born at Tostock, Suffolk, England. About 1602, Paul Bayne at St. Andrews, Cambridge was instrumental in his conversion. He attended school at St. John’s College at Cambridge, earned an MA degree in 1602 and a BD in 1610. He began work at Holy Trinity Church (1610–1615) in Cambridge and but lost his lectureship of Trinity and fellowship because of his Puritan views. Subsequently he was chosen preacher for Gray’s Inn, London, 1616–1635. Gray’s Inn was an illustrious and stately society. In 1625, he was chosen master of Catharine-hall in Cambridge, and proved to be a faithful governor who “left it replenished with scholars, beautified with buildings, better endowed with revenues.” In 1633 he was presented with the vicarage of Trinity in Cambridge by Charles I. He wrote many books and is most noted for “The Bruised Reed.”