Who Was Matthew Henry? The Puritan Pastor Behind the Commentary
Matthew Henry was an English Presbyterian minister who lived from 1662 to 1714. He was the son of a Puritan pastor who had been put out of the Church of England, and he spent twenty-five years as pastor of a Dissenting congregation in Chester before moving to Hackney, near London, for the last two years of his life. He's best known for his Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, usually called Matthew Henry's Commentary, which has been read by ordinary Christians and preachers for three hundred years. He also wrote shorter books on prayer, family worship, the Lord's Supper and a meek and quiet spirit.
Here's a look at his life, what he taught, and which of his books to start with.
Born the year his father was silenced
Henry was born on October 18, 1662, at Broad Oak, a farmhouse on the border of Wales and England. That same year his father, Philip Henry, lost his place as a parish minister under the Act of Uniformity, along with some two thousand other ministers who would not conform. Philip Henry never had a parish again, but he kept preaching where he could, and he made his home a school of godliness.
The household at Broad Oak became famous for its family worship. Every morning and evening Philip Henry read and explained a passage of Scripture, and his children wrote notes of what he said. The biographical sketch in the library's edition of Daily Communion with God notes that in Matthew's hands those simple notes "became the germ of the most popular English commentary." His sister Sarah Savage kept a diary that was later published, and you can read her memoirs in the library too.
Matthew was a bright, sickly child who could read Latin and some Greek while still young. As a young man he studied with the Nonconformist minister Thomas Doolittle in Islington, and then read law at Gray's Inn in London. But he was drawn to the ministry, and he soon left law for theology.
Twenty-five years in Chester
In 1687 a group of Dissenting ministers ordained him, and he became pastor of a new Presbyterian congregation in Chester. He stayed a quarter of a century. The congregation grew until it needed a new building, and the number of communicants reached about three hundred and fifty. He preached twice on Sundays, expounding a chapter of the Old Testament in the morning and one from the New in the afternoon, so that over the years he went through the whole Bible with his people more than once. He also visited and preached to prisoners in the Chester jail.
His family life had deep sorrows. His first wife, Katharine, died of smallpox in 1689, not long after their first child was born. He married again, to Mary Warburton, and several of their children died in infancy. He bore these losses with the same faith he preached.
The commentary
The Exposition grew out of all that preaching. Henry began writing it in Chester, and the first volume was published in 1708. It goes through the Bible chapter by chapter and paragraph by paragraph, explaining the text plainly and drawing out practical lessons for the heart. He finished Genesis through the Gospels and Acts before he died. Other ministers completed the letters and Revelation, using his notes and the notes of people who had heard him.
Some of the great preachers of later years loved it. George Whitefield is said to have read it through several times, and Charles Spurgeon urged every minister to read it carefully at least once. It's still in print and still used.
The library doesn't have the commentary itself yet. It does have four of his shorter books, which show the same warm, practical mind in a size you can read in an evening or two.
Hackney and a sudden death
After the first volumes of the commentary came out, London congregations kept asking Henry to come. He refused several times, but in 1712 he accepted a call to Hackney. He hoped to preach more often to more people, and he did, sometimes two or three times in a day. That summer he preached the morning lectures that became Directions for Daily Communion with God.
In June 1714 he made a preaching visit back to Chester. On the road home he was thrown from his horse, though he insisted he was not hurt. He preached at Nantwich, but that night he became very ill, and he died there on June 22, 1714, at fifty-one.
What he taught
Henry was a Puritan in the best sense: a man who wanted the whole of life brought under God's word. He wrote plainly, with careful divisions, and he loved a short sentence that sticks. His great themes were communion with God, prayer, the home as a place of worship, and a gentle, quiet temper.
On beginning each day with God, he wrote:
It is our wisdom and duty to begin every day with God.
Daily Communion with God and Other Discourses, Daily Communion with God
On the family, he urged every Christian household to become a small church:
It is better to be without bread in your houses than without Bibles, for the words of God's mouth are and should be to you more than your necessary food.
A Church in the House; or, Family Religion
On the Lord's Supper, he kept the reader's eyes on Christ:
We see nothing here, if we see not the beauty of Christ; we taste nothing here, if we taste not the love of Christ.
The Communicant's Companion, Chapter I
And on meekness, which he thought one of the loveliest graces:
That which would break an angry man's heart, will not break a meek man's sleep.
A Discourse on Meekness and Quietness of Spirit, Chapter II
He summed up his own experience this way in Daily Communion with God, in a sentence he said he had "often said, and will abide by":
That a holy, heavenly life, spent in the service of God, and in communion with him, is the most pleasant, comfortable life any body can live
Daily Communion with God and Other Discourses, Daily Communion with God
Why he's still read
Henry's commentary keeps him famous, but his smaller books deserve readers too. He writes about prayer and family worship as a man who practiced them every day, first in his father's house and then in his own. He's practical without being shallow, and he makes godliness sound like the happiest way to live, because he believed it was.
Where to start
TheWay Library has four of Matthew Henry's books, all free to read. Start with Daily Communion with God, his directions for beginning, spending and closing each day with God, which also includes a short life of Henry. If you lead a household, read his sermon A Church in the House on family worship. Before the Lord's Supper, use The Communicant's Companion. If you struggle with anger or worry, read A Discourse on Meekness and Quietness of Spirit.
Our guide to Matthew Henry's books describes each one, and our collection of Matthew Henry quotes gathers his best lines. All his books are on the Matthew Henry author page.