Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry ( born October 18, 1662 at Broad Oak, Flintshire, † June 22 1714 in Nantwich, Cheshire ) was a Presbyterian pastor and Bible commentator.

Life

He was born in Broad Oak, a farmhouse on the border between the Welsh county of Flintshire and the English county of Shropshire. A few weeks earlier, on August 24, his father Philip Henry had lost after the renewal of the Act of Uniformity in 1559 by King Charles II, along with 2,000 other Puritan ministers his pastorate in the Church of England. Unlike most of his fellow-sufferers, Philip possessed sufficient own funds to allow his son a good education can. Matthew first went to school in Islington, then began a law degree in London at the Gray 's Inn, but soon turned to theology and became pastor of a Presbyterian congregation in 1687 in Chester. From there he moved in 1712 to a church at the Mare Street in Hackney, London. Two years later he died suddenly on a journey from Chester to London in Nantwich at a stroke.

The Bible Commentary

Henry's main work is the exposition of the Old and New Testament (1708-1710), a commentary on the whole Bible, which is oriented to the needs of practical piety. The author himself commented the Old Testament and the New Testament to the book of Acts. After his death the work was continued by a number of theologians and fully published in 1811 by George Burder and John Hughes for the first time.

Other works

• Life of Mr Philip Henry
• The Communicant 's Companion
• Directions for Daily Communion with God
• A Method for Prayer
• A Scriptural Catechism