ART. VII. REVIEW OF THE MEMOIRS OF MATTHEW

HENRY.

By Rev. WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D., Pastor of the Second Presbyterian

Church, Albany, New-York.

Memoirs of the Life, Character, and Writings, of the Rev. Matthew Henry. By I. B. Williams, L. L. D. F. S. A. First American from the third London Edition.

THERE are some names that die, in spite of all that can be done to keep them alive; there are others that live, whoever may combine to blot them out of existence. Be it that no monument tells where their ashes repose; that no orator commemorates their fame; that no memoir proclaims to the world their character or their doings; yet let them, by the greatness of their intellectual efforts or public services, identify themselves with the character of the age in which they live, and it were scarcely a more hopeless task to undertake to pluck a star from the heavens, than to quench the lustre of their names, or to limit the usefulness of their lives.

It will hardly be questioned at this day, that the name of Matthew Henry belongs somewhere on the comparatively small list of names, which are not destined to lose their lustre with the lapse of ages. Passing by all the other important services which he rendered to the great cause of truth and piety, his commentary is an imperishable monument both of his greatness and his goodness.

Though much more than a century has passed since he was gathered to his fathers, yet his name is as fragrant in the church as ever; and perhaps it is scarcely too much to say that, by his writings, which may now be considered as the representative of his person on earth, he is actually accomplishing more at this day for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ, than he did during the period in which he lived by the diversified influence of his unremitting personal exertions. It must be left for the ages of eternity to reveal the amount of blessing which his writings will have been instrumental in securing to each successive generation; and no doubt there are multitudes now around the throne, whom he never saw in the flesh, who have already recognised him as the instrument by which their minds were first brought in contact with the light of heavenly truth, and their

faith confirmed in the gracious promises of God, and their goings established in the ways of holiness, until by grace they have reached their destined home.

Several of the most eminent men of his day, preached and published sermons in reference to his death; some of which are preserved in the volume containing his miscellaneous works, and are alike creditable to the authors and the character they are designed to commemorate. A memoir of his life also was published not long after his death, written by his intimate friend, the Reverend W. Tong; which, though it contained much that must always be deeply interesting, seems never to have been considered as a happy delineation of Mr. Henry's character. A memoir that should do full justice to this extraordinary man, has always been a desideratum in the church until within the last few years; and the honour of supplying this deficiency in a manner which the Christian public has pronounced entirely satisfactory, has been reserved to a gentleman whose literary and religious character eminently qualified him for this work, who came to it with every advantage which could be furnished by a ready access to all the family manuscripts, and who has also, if we mistake not, a portion of the blood of this great and good man flowing in his veins. Doctor Williams, the author of this memoir, is a nephew of the late Rev. Dr. Edward Williams, whose character is well known in this country. He is a lawyer of great distinction in Shrewsbury; and is well known in England, not only for his professional eminence, but for his zealous attachment to the interests of literature and religion. Besides the work which forms the subject of this article, he has published a volume containing memoirs of Mrs. Savage and Mrs. Hulton, sisters of Matthew Henry, and has also given the world an enlarged and improved edition of his works, including the Biography of his father, Philip Henry, and many of the outlines of his father's discourses. In all these works, as they now appear, Doctor Williams is entitled to the gratitude not only of the present generation, but of posterity; and it is a circumstance in which the good providence of God should be devoutly acknowledged, that, at a period so remote from that in which these illustrious men and women lived, there should be found a descendant of the same family to erect so worthy and noble a monument to the distinguished ability and excellence of his

We shall limit ourselves in this article to a brief outline of the life and character of Mr. Henry, in the hope of directing the attention of all our readers to the invaluable work in which this great man is so fully and faithfully exhibited.

Matthew Henry was the second son of the Reverend Philip Henry and of Katharine his wife, and was born at Broad Oak, in Flintshire, Oct. 12, 1662; the year which was rendered memorable in the ecclesiastical history of England by the exclusion of about two thousand of the best ministers with which any country has ever been blessed, from the duties of the sacred office.

Though the name of Philip Henry is less known, in this country at least, than that of Matthew, from the fact that the published works of the latter are much the most extensive, yet we are inclined to think, from the biography of the father, and from the few of his writings that have come down to us, that he was in every respect equal, perhaps in most superiour, to the son. There seems indeed to have been a surprising resemblance of character between them; owing, no doubt, in a great measure to the forming influence of parental instruction and example. Both were remarkable for their humility, benevolence, self-denial, and cheerful submission to the will of God. Both were distinguished for an ardent thirst for knowledge, for high intellectual powers, for originality of conception, and for a style of singular quaintness, and yet uncommon beauty. And we may add, both were trained in an unusual degree in the school of adversity; though in this latter particular the lot of the father was more eminently distinguished than that of the son, as he was subject, during a considerable part of his ministry, to the complicated inconveniences and trials of a most malignant persecution. It would rather appear also that the father had the advantage in respect both to original genius and intellectual culture; for his opportunities at the university were probably better in some respects, than those which his son enjoyed, even under his own instruction; and a comparison of the writings of the two is fitted to leave the impression that, while both minds are cast substantially in the same mould, and are gifted with uncommon powers, yet, to a certain extent, the one is to be considered as sustaining to the other the relation of a splendid copy to a splendid original. In confirmation of this sentiment, we may cite the fact that the son gratefully acknowledges himself indebted to the father

for many of the valuable thoughts contained in his commentary; and it is not improbable that the habit which the latter was always in, of commenting upon a portion of Scripture in connexion with family worship, suggested to the former the idea of that great work which will cause his name to be embalmed in the church to the end of the world. Of the remains of Philip Henry, we have met with nothing except portions of his diary, incorporated into the memoir of his life, and the outlines of a considerable number of sermons which form the appendix of the volume containing Matthew Henry's miscellaneous works; but these unfinished productions evidently indicate a mind of the highest order; every paragraph bears the impression of an original genius; and one hardly knows which to admire most, the power and beauty of the thoughts, or the heavenliness of the spirit which breathes in them.

But to return to the memoir. The uncommon powers of Matthew Henry began to develope themselves at a very early period; insomuch that at the age of three years he could read the Bible with facility and intelligence. His education for several of the first years of his life was conducted chiefly under the eye of his parents; and while he enjoyed here a favourable opportunity for the culture of his mind, he had also the advantage of the best religious instruction, aided by the power of an eminently holy example. From an extract of one of his letters which has been preserved, written when he was only nine years old, it appears that at that early period his thoughts were seriously employed upon spiritual subjects; but it was not till two or three years after, that he seems to have been in any tolerable degree satisfied that he was the subject of a gracious renovation. In a manuscript dated Oct. 18, 1675, when he was thirteen years old, he records the experience which he had had two years before; and the examination of his own heart which he then institued with a view to decide whether religion had actually been formed in his soul; and it is not easy to find a more correct epitome of the evidence of Christian character than this paper exhibits. It is hardly necessary to say, that the parental and other domestic influences to which he was subject, were eminently adapted, not only to prepare his heart for the reception of divine grace, but to cherish and mature the sacred principle after it was implanted; and to this happy state of things, it was no doubt owing in no in

considerable degree, that his Christian character was subsequently developed in such beautiful proportions, and operated with such powerful attraction.

The commencement of Matthew Henry's Christian experience was just such as might have been expected from the circumstances in which he was placed, and forms a striking illustration of the great importance to be attached to a healthful parental influence. The principles of religion were instilled into his mind as soon as he was capable of comprehending them, and he saw them constantly embodied in living action in the example of both his parents; and every thing was done that could be, which was adapted to impress upon him the truth that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." The consequence of this cautious and faithful training was, that the evil propensities of the unrenewed heart, which, in other circumstances, might have been developed in full strength, were never brought into vigorous exercise; and before the period had arrived in which we ordinarily expect to find a settled character, or even a very full developement of constitutional tendencies, we find this youth comparatively secure against the influence of temptation, from having a living principle of religion implanted in his heart.

It were of course more difficult in such cases to trace the operations of the Spirit in conviction and conversion, and especially to fasten upon any particular time when the great change is supposed to take place, than in those cases in which the mind is more suddenly brought in contact with divine truth, and the conscience wakes in a moment from the dream of ignorance or delusion, to the blackness of its own guilt. But the cases of hopeful conversion which occur under the former circumstances are by no means to be less relied on, than those which take place under the latter: on the contrary, if there is any thing proved by experience, it is that the children of pious parents, who have been trained up from their infancy in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, when they make a profession of religion, usually exhibit a far more consistent Christian character, and much less frequently give occasion to painful suspicion in respect to the genuineness of their piety, than do those whose minds have not been previously stored with truth, and whose first religious exercises are more rapid and powerful. And the reason is obvious; for admitting the conversion in each case to be