The Voices
Matthew Henry
The Chester nonconformist who rose before dawn for ten years to write a whole-Bible commentary plain enough for a farming family to read at the table.
Short bio
Matthew Henry was born on October 18, 1662, at Broad Oak in Flintshire, on the Welsh border — a few months after the Act of Uniformity threw his father out of the Church of England. Philip Henry was one of roughly two thousand ministers ejected in 1662 for refusing to conform. He lost his living, kept preaching where he could, and taught his children at home. Matthew was a sickly boy who is said to have been reading Bible chapters aloud with comment at three years old. He grew up in a house where family worship happened twice a day and where nonconformity had a price attached to it. He studied under Thomas Doolittle at an academy for dissenters, then went to London in 1685 to read law at Gray's Inn — a sensible career for a man whose religion barred him from the universities. He gave it up. In 1687, at twenty-four, he was privately ordained and went to Chester as minister of a Presbyterian congregation. He stayed twenty-five years. He preached twice on Sunday, catechized the children, lectured on weeknights, visited constantly, and preached in the surrounding villages and in the county jail. The congregation grew to some hundreds of communicants and built a chapel in Crook Street. He began the commentary in November 1704. His method was ordinary and brutal: rise at four or five in the morning and write before the day's work, then take up the evening after it. He wrote for the family table — for a farmer reading aloud to his household, not for a scholar. The result is not technical. It is the text explained clause by clause and then pressed home, with a gift for the memorable line that has kept it quoted for three hundred years. In 1712 he moved, reluctantly, to a congregation at Mare Street, Hackney, in London. On June 22, 1714, riding back toward Hackney after preaching in Chester, he was thrown from his horse near Nantwich. He died that night at Tarporley, aged fifty-one. He had finished through the end of Acts. Thirteen fellow ministers completed Romans through Revelation from his notes and papers, and the whole *Exposition of the Old and New Testaments* was published in six volumes. It has never gone out of print. Its readers make the case for it better than any summary can. George Whitefield read it through four times, the last time on his knees. Spurgeon told his students in *Commenting and Commentaries* that every minister ought to read it entirely and carefully through at least once. John Wesley abridged it for his people. It sits on more shelves, in more languages, than any other commentary written in English. Sources: Matthew Henry, *An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments*; J. B. Williams, *Memoirs of the Life, Character and Writings of the Rev. Matthew Henry*; C. H. Spurgeon, *Commenting and Commentaries*; *Diaries and Letters of Philip Henry*, ed. Matthew Henry Lee.
Notable works
2 listed
| Title | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|
| An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments | 1710 | — |
| Directions for Daily Communion with God | 1712 | — |
Where to find them
Their words on MannaFest
14,170 quotes across 66 books
Where this voice speaks on the site — each quote links to the verse it was chosen for.
“He that so far wants understanding as to be drawn aside by these enticements is led on, ignorantly, to his own inevitable ruin: He knows not, will not believe, does not consider, the tempter will not let him know, that the dead are there, that those who live i…”
“God the Word is this Wisdom, to whom the Father has committed all judgment. He who, in the chapter before, showed his grandeur and glory as the Creator of the world, here shows his grace and goodness as the Redeemer of it. The word is plural, Wisdoms; for in C…”
“Righteousness delivers from death, that is, wealth gained, and kept, and used, in a right manner (righteousness signifies both honesty and charity); it answers the end of wealth, which is to keep us alive and be a defence to us. It will deliver from those judg…”
“Diligence in getting them is our duty, but God's blessing and grace must have all the glory of that which is acquired, Deut. viii. 23 It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom. Sin exceedingly sinful: It is as laughter to …”
“It is a man's honour to have wisdom, but much more to be instrumental to make others wise. Folly and sin are the shame of bad men: A rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding--of him that wants a heart; he exposes himself to the lashes of his ow…”
“But his case is less dangerous of the two, and, though he destroys himself, he does not create so much sorrow to others as he that winks with his eyes. The dog that bites is not always the dog that barks. 11 The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but …”
“While many are fed by the lips of the righteous, fools die for want of wisdom; and fools indeed they are to die for want of that which they might so easily come by. Fools die for want of a heart (so the word is); they perish for want of consideration and resol…”
“19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. We are here admonished concerning the government of the tongue, that necessary duty of a Christian. It is good to say little, because in the multitude of words there w…”
“Ingenuity will be no excuse for iniquity, but the sinner must either repent or do worse, either rue it or be ruined by it. Public, silly, self-exposing sinners: A prating fool, whose sins go before unto judgment, shall fall, as was said before,”
“He that is holy shall be holy still and immovably happy; his hope is built on a rock, and therefore not shocked by the storm, Matt. vii. The righteous is the pillar of the world (so some read it); the world stands for their sakes; the holy seed is the substanc…”
“8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. As always in death, so sometimes in life, the righteous are remarkably favoured and the wicked crossed. Good people are helped out of the distresses which they thought themselves …”
“It is here shown that righteousness, not only by the divine judgment, will end in life, and wickedness in death, but that righteousness, in its own nature, has a direct tendency to life and wickedness to death. True holiness is true happiness; it is a preparat…”
“He that is wise, by communicating his wisdom, wins souls, wins upon them to bring them in love with God and holiness, and so wins them over into the interests of God's kingdom among men. The wise are said to turn many to righteousness, and that is the same wit…”
“In the day of public judgments riches often expose men rather than protect them, Ezek. vii. It is righteousness only that will deliver from the evil of death. A good conscience will make death easy, and take off the terror of it; it is the privilege of the rig…”
“What is the care and aim of a good man: His root yields fruit, and is his strength and stability, and that is it that he desires, to do good and to be fixed and confirmed in doing good. The wicked desires only a net wherewith to fish for himself; the righteous…”
“Those therefore that are inclined to it should watch and pray against it. The cure of it: A good word from God, applied by faith, makes it glad; such a word is that (says one of the rabbin), Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee; the good wo…”
“Of all sinners, reproofs are worst resented by apostates. It is certain that those who will not be reproved will be ruined: He that hates reproof, and hardens his heart against it, is joined to his idols; let him alone. He shall die, and perish for ever, in hi…”
“God has such a love for upright good people that, though they are not at the expense of a sacrifice (he himself has provided that), their prayer is a delight to him. Praying graces are his own gift, and the work of his own Spirit in them, with which he is well…”
“A wise man not satisfied with his wisdom, but still seeking the increase of it; the more he has the more he would have: The heart of him that has understanding, rejoices so in the knowledge it has attained to that it is still coveting more, and in the use of t…”
“He will draw nigh to those in a way of mercy who draw nigh to him in a way of duty: He hears the prayer of the righteous, accepts it, is well pleased with it, and will grant an answer of peace to it. It is the prayer of a righteous man that avails much, Jam. v…”
“Quaint expressions please the ear, and humour the fancy, but it is learning in the lips that must convince the judgment, and sway that, to which wisdom in the heart is necessary. 24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones…”
“Grace is the glory of old age. 32 He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. This recommends the grace of meekness to us, which will well become us all, particularly the hoary head,”
“It is a victory that does nobody any harm; no lives or treasures are sacrificed to it, but only some base lusts. It is harder, and therefore more glorious, to quash an insurrection at home than to resist an invasion from a broad; nay, such are the gains of mee…”
“Those that are quarrelsome involve themselves in a great deal of guilt: He that loves strife, that in his worldly business loves to go to law, in religion loves controversies, and in common conversation loves to thwart and fall out, that is never well but when…”
“12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. Pride is the presage of ruin, and ruin will at last be the punishment of pride; for before destruction men are commonly so infatuated by the just judgment of God that they are mo…”