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 pleads the bad character of his enemies. They are workers of iniquity, and therefore not only his enemies, but God's enemies; they are bloody men, and therefore not only his enemies, but enemies to all mankind. "Lord, let not the workers of iniquity prevail…”
“Their sin was their hunting for David to make a prey of him; their punishment should be that they should be reduced to such extreme poverty that they should hunt about for meat to satisfy their hunger, and should miss of it as they missed of David.”
“Thus the persecutors of our Lord Jesus, who are compared to dogs ( Ps. xxii. 16 ), ran him down with noise; for else they could not have taken him, at least no on the feast-day, for there would have been an uproar among the people.”
“Note, It is not strange if those regard not what they say who have made themselves believe the God regards not what they say. He refers himself and his cause to the just judgment of God,”
“Swords are in their lips; that is, reproaches that would my heart with grief ( Ps. xlii. 10 ), and slanders that stab and wound my reputation. They were continually suggesting that which drew and whetted Saul's sword against him, and the fault is laid upon the…”
“"They think God does not hear them, does not heed them; but thou, O Lord! shalt laugh at them for their folly, to think that he who planted the ear shall not hear, and thou shalt have not them only, but all such other heathenish people that live without God in…”
“Note, When we think God's judgments come slowly upon sinners we must conclude that God has wise and holy ends in the gradual proceedings of his wrath.”
“Those that repent of their sins mourn, when in trouble, like doves; those whose hearts are hardened make a noise, when in trouble, like dogs, like a wild bull in a net, full of the fury of the Lord.”
“The design of God's judgments is to convince men that the Lord reigns, that he fulfils his own counsels, gives law to all the creatures, and disposes all things to his own glory, so that the greatest of men are under his check, and he makes what use he pleases…”
“It is not poverty, but discontent, that makes a man unhappy. He expects to praise God, that God's providence would find him matter for praise and that God's grace would work in him a heart for praise,”
“(1.) He would praise his power and his mercy; both should be the subject-matter of his song. Power, without mercy, is to be dreaded; mercy, without power, is not what a man can expect much benefit from; but God's power by which he is able to help us, and his m…”
“It struck a terror upon their enemies, to whom they could now hang out a flag of defiance. Christ, the Son of David, is given for an ensign of the people ( Isa. xi. 10 ), for a banner to those that fear God; in him, as the centre of their unity, they are gathe…”
“They may likewise furnish us with matter both for prayer and praise, for both must be laid before God with suitable affections and emotions. If one point be gained, yet in another we are still striving: the Edomites are vanquished, but the Syrians are not; the…”
“Thus may an active believer triumph in the promises, and take the comfort of all the good contained in them; for they are all yea and amen in Christ. " God has spoken in his holiness, and then pardon is mine, peace mine, grace mine, Christ mine, heaven mine, G…”
“Vincimur in prælio, sed non in bello--We are foiled in a battle, but not in the whole war. A lively faith in the promise will assure us, not only that the God of peace shall tread Satan under our feet shortly, but that it is our Father's good pleasure to…”
“The hope with which they support themselves in this prayer has two things in it:-- 1. A diffidence of themselves and all their creature-confidences: Vain is the help of man. Then only we are qualified to receive help from God when we are brought to own the ins…”
“Those that do their duty under his conduct may afford to do it valiantly; for what need those fear who have God on their side? (3.) It is only through God, and by the influence of his grace, that we do valiantly; it is he that puts strength into us, and inspir…”
“The particular petition he put up to God when his heart was overwhelmed and he was ready to sink: Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; that is, 1. "To the rock which is too high for me to get up to unless thou help me to it. Lord, give me such an assuran…”
“"Thou hast been my strong tower from the enemy, and thou art as strong a ever, and thy name is as much a refuge to the righteous as ever it was." Prov. xviii.”
“Those that dwell in God's tabernacle, as it is a house of duty, during their short ever on earth, shall dwell in that tabernacle which is the house of glory during an endless ever. The grace of God and the covenant of grace shall be his constant comfort: I wil…”
“With what importunity he begs of God to take him and keep him always under his protection: O prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him! God's promises and our faith in them are not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage prayer.”
“Note, God is a witness to all our vows, all our good purposes, and all our solemn promises of new obedience. He keeps an account of them, which should be a good reason with us, as it was with David here, why we should perform our vows,”
“So that, in singing this psalm, we may find that which is very expressive both of our faith and of our hope, of our prayers and of our praises; and some passages in this psalm are very peculiar.”
“"Thou hast heard my vows, and given a real answer to them; for thou hast given me a heritage of those that fear thy name. " Note, (1.) There is a peculiar people in the world that fear God name, that with a holy awe and reverence accept of and accommodate them…”
“The vows we have made we must conscientiously perform. Praising God and paying our vows to him must be our constant daily work; every day we must be doing something towards it, because it is all but little in comparison with what is due, because we daily recei…”