editor, through impartiality, or for other reasons, | probably unknown to Mr. Henry's biographer. has been led to introduce passages too unimport- Various causes, too, which might at that time ant for publicity. He hopes, however, to stand have rendered omissions prudent, have now ceased acquitted, at all events, by those who regard his to exist. We are happily removed to a distance end; and that, on perusal, the book will display from the irritations peculiar to that afflicted era ;-somewhat of watchful caution for the avoidance of a kindly feeling of brotherly love, between Chrissuch an error. He does not expect, indeed, that tians of different parties, has gradually been difall will approve either the plan adopted or the fused;-the rights of conscience are more widely selections furnished. It would be difficult, perhaps recognised, and better understood, and an agreeimpossible, to arrange, or extract from, a mass of ment to differ is acknowledged practically, as well theological effusions, like Mr. Henry's, so as to as in theory, to suit human affairs better than the give universal satisfaction. Nothing is made pub-prejudices of ignorance, the penalties of legislic, it is hoped, which can justly be deemed offen-lative enactments, or the dogmas of assumed infalsive to a discriminating judgment, inconsistent with a due regard* to the venerated writer, or prejudicial to the interests of that charity for which he was so deservedly famed. libility. The work, abounding with allusions, required references to other compositions, and, frequently, extracts from them. The reader will perceive, that an effort has been made to supply illustrations, wherever practicable, from manuscripts hitherto unpublished; and that brevity has been studied throughout. To suppress what appeared fitted more fully to develop Mr. Henry's character, was deemed improper. And more especially so, as it was considered, that to give prominence to his sentiments on a variety of topics, would render more exemplary A Scriptural phraseology characterizes the papers and more instructive his moderation and candour; of Mr. Henry, and the Life now reprinted. In virtues which, drawn into exercise by difference of some instances only, has it been thought advisjudgment, impart gracefulness to the determin-able distinctly to solicit the reader's attention to ations of a well-regulated mind, give weight to such borrowed passages. To have done so in all argument, and attraction to Christianity. cases was unnecessary, and would have been tedious. Excerpts of a nature so devout and so practical as those ordinarily introduced, appear, it is thought, with advantage in connexion with the events of their writer's life. They illustrate and enforce each other. Letters, particularly when fraught with evangelic sentiment, and adapted for general utility, are usually much esteemed, and for biographical purposes are invaluable. Epistolæ vitam ipsam hominis repræsentant.-ERASMUS. Letters, therefore, constitute a large proportion of the additions. For the sake of more convenient arrangement, these, with some other enlargements, have been interwoven with the original text, but, for easier distinction, are separated by brackets. Many of the papers, thus exhibited, being scattered when the Life was originally written, were There being only one note to the original work, (see p. 18.) it was thought needless to apply any mark of distinction to the annotations now introduced. The references, occurring in the first edition of the Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Henry, were placed in the margin. The same course, for distinctness sake, is followed on the present occasion. If a desire of accuracy have occasionally led to an exactness apparently trivial, the error may be classed among the few which are harmless, if not beneficial. Most of the authors quoted were contemporary with Mr. Henry, or immediately precedent. Some are of a date still more ancient. This arose partly from necessity, and in part from choice. The editor, made by Mr. Nichols in his preface to the improved edition of Fuller's Worthies of England,-" Quaintness was the characteristic of almost every writer of eminence." * See Mr. Scott's Commentary, Deut. xxxi7. Practical Observations. + See post, p. 223. while he admires modern elegancy, believes, with an antiquated poet, that, "Out of the olde feldes, as men saieth, He is convinced also, that many of the writings thus noticed, notwithstanding their style, and independently of the clue they furnish to Mr. Henry's studies, are of peculiar value.† This, he acknowledges, has sometimes influenced him in these citations, that the reader may be induced to study such compositions more at large. They commonly receive, it is admitted, a quaint designation,"Old Dyuynes," -as if, by inculcating a ceremonious reverence, to obstruct intimacy;-but familiarity, instead of producing its ordinary effects, will excite attachment, and perpetuate esteem. § Inquire of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow. It is not, however, intended that the passages so given, or referred to, should be regarded as a selection, either complete, or preclusive. Quotations from the Fathers, not to mention almost innumerable later theologians, and others, unnoticed in the following pages, would have furnished notes, perhaps, equally apt and useful. But the design was to avoid diffusiveness, and, by a reference to publications of comparatively easy access, to meet general convenience. The diligent admirer of antiquity will easily trace, in the more remote "lights of the church," not a few of the sentiments and phrases here used, together with many illustrative parallels, which, for the reasons before mentioned, have been omitted. such love to the olden time as is implied in the perverse dotings of indiscriminate veneration; ¶ nor yet in "a critical desire," as Dr. Johnson expresses it, "to find the faults of the moderns, and the beauties of the ancients." Non vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi. Such opinions cannot, therefore, be justly considered as disparaging to later compositions, particularly those, and they are various, whose prominent features display "profound scholarship, disciplined and vigorous reason, masculine eloquence, and genius-breathing enchantment." ** Productions so exquisitely or nate render comparisons invidious, and would "For, though old wrytynges apere to be rude; The pythe of a matter most fructuously."++ It furnishes an opportunity for congratulation, too congenial to be omitted, that, at a time when the capabilities of the English tongue, for elegant combination, have been so signally manifested, and so many invaluable productions have raised our national literature to an unprecedented elevation, sufficient encouragement should have been afforded to the enterprising spirit of typography, not only to reprint the remains of many early Reformers, and other Protestant Divines, but to give to the voluminous labours of Archbishop Leighton; Bishops Hall, Nor do the opinions, thus expressed, result from Hopkins, Taylor, and Beveridge; Doctors Light * Learn. Chaucer's Parliament of Birds, verse 22. + See a Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, by William Wilberforce, Esq. M. P. chap. vi. pp. 379, 383. oct. 1797. The Dore of Holy Scripture, 1540. oct. Ames and Herbert's Typographical Antiquities, by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin, vol. 3. p. 410. When a young man, a little too forward, had, in presence of many, said, that he could conceive no reason, in the reading of the old authors, why men should so greatly admire them;—" No marvel, indeed, (quoth Master Fox,) for, if you could conceive the reason, you would then admire them yourself." Life of Fox, prefixed to the Martyrology, vol. 1. fol. 1684. Blessed be God, for the monuments of antiquity, and the primitive church. Matthew Henry. Orig. MS. See Caryl on Job, v. i. p. 705. fol. 1676. And, Baxter's Practical Works, vol. v. p. 586. oct. ed. ** Essay on Popular Ignorance, by John Foster, p. 89. 2d edit. See Dr. Parr's Spital Sermon, pp. 63, 64. 4to, 1801. Some curious remarks upon “bokes," and their "stile," occur in " Nicholas Udall's Preface to the Translation of the Paraphrase of Erasmus upon Luke," the three last pages, fol. 1548. ++ Ames's Typographical Antiquities, by Herbert, vol. 3. p. 1756. foot, Barrow, Owen, Watts, and Doddridge; John | trifles, who congregate as one party, or rally under Howe, Charnock, Baxter, Matthew Henry, and President Edwards, permanent external respectability. The omen is favourable; and the impulse, it is hoped, will not become extinct, nor even feeble. one visible standard! Not more incongruous would be the assertion, that the cause of truth is best promoted by ignorance and error; or, that the enmity against God, (including his image, as impressed upon the saints,) which constitutes a carnal mind, would be most effectually counteracted by the infusions of hatred, the "moroseness of bigotry," and the workings of bitter disaffection. But while so much in the signs of the times is calculated to cheer, by a conviction of increasing intelligence and liberality, there still remains enough to render too apposite, in a spirit of mild accommodation, the caustic remark of Milton ;— "Things of highest praise and imitation, under a right name, are mis-called, to make them infamous and hateful." * To those who follow the things which make for peace, it cannot be otherwise than grievous that such an attestation is not exclusively applicable to those times of perilous disquietude which prompted the complaint. And still more so, that of late especially, and among the literati too, the originating cause of that complaint should have furnished new evidence of undecaying vigour. There needs but a slight acquaintance with the republic of letters, and particularly the history and biography of the last thirty years, both original and edited, to notice many confirmatory instances; instances which would have warranted, in the following annotations, a system widely different from that pursued. How much might be adduced,-to hold no inquest upon motives,-which is adapted to produce party-prejudice, and antichristian temper! Has not the power of truth, by zeal for preferences, merely secular or ritual, been lamentably obstructed, and the censures of deists thus disgracefully countenanced? Has not godliness itself been so misrepresented and caricatured, by attacks upon puri-strate the superiority of the one now published. tans, nonconformists, and Calvinists, and so identified with alleged imbecility or extravagance, as to inspire, in not a few cases, contempt and aversion? How irrational, to say the least, is such a course! As if the exhortations to love and good-will, which abound in the sacred oracles, and which are enforced by tremendous sanctions, were to be measured by human fancy; as if they respected only those whose thoughts run harmoniously about For the better avoidance of evils, like these referred to, the original design of the Life, the elevated spirit of catholicism which it breathes, and the sweet fragrancy † which is uniformly associated with Mr. Henry's name, have been kept habitually in view. The animadversions on some of Dr. Wordsworth's statements will appear to the reader, it is believed, in nowise inconsistent with this profession. Sincerely regretting the existence of those statements, the writer would have passed them by, had it been warranted by a conviction of their accuracy, or been consistent with official fidelity. It is hoped that the introduction of the fac-similes and portraits will be deemed an improvement. Mrs. Henry's picture has not before been engraved. The print conveys the exact expression. The engraving of Mr. Henry, by White, prefixed to the early editions of the Life, is a performance but ill evincing the justness of the character usually given of that once popular artist. Nor can any thing better be said of a subsequent attempt by Trotter. A comparison of the three engravings, which are from the same painting,§ will demon The late Mrs. Brett, of West Bromwich, informed the editor, that Mrs. Savage, her near relation, and the eldest daughter of Mr. Henry, pronounced the representation in the painting good, but rather too sorrowful. "His eye was meek and gentle; and a smile To Nicholas Ashton, of Woolton Hall, in the *The Answer to Eikon Basilike. Milton's Prose Works, vol. 2. p. 399, oct. + Mr. Dorney's Account of the Rev. Joseph Caryl. Divine Contemplations, p. 344, duod. 1684. In Middleton's Biog. Evan. vol. iv. p. 76. oct. 1780. Thus dated, "Ann. æt. 60, Aug 24, 1691." The portrait illustrat. ing Mr. Orton s Abridgment of the Life, ut supra, is a memorial of younger days. Cowper's Task, book ii. county of Lancaster, Esq., acknowledgments are due, and are thus publicly offered, for the contribution of the picture from which Mr. Henry's portrait, introduced into this volume, was taken, and of which it is a faithful resemblance. For permission to copy the painting of Mrs. Henry, and also for the communication of the baptismal covenant, from which the fac-simile has most accurately been made, as well as for various useful manuscripts, thanks are respectfully tendered to P. H. Witton, Esq., of the Ravenhurst, near Birmingham, a lineal descendant of Mr. Henry, whose name he bears. Archdeacon Owen, and the Rev. J. B. Blakeway, the elegant historians of Shrewsbury, the editor's obligations have been increased, in connexion with the present undertaking, by frequent information, as well as by friendly communications, at all times, from their curious and valuable libraries. Nor, in this reference to the editor's obligations, can he content himself to omit his esteemed friend, Mr. Chalmers.* He is entitled to special acknowledgments for repeated attentions, which, bestowed in the midst of laborious avocations, became doubly obliging. 66 The manuscript diaries used on this occasion, in Should the engagement result in the correction addition to that which is possessed by the editor, of but one fatal error,-should it promote the were kindly furnished by his much respected establishment of only one sincere Christian,— friend, Joseph Lee, Esq., Redbrook, near Broad should it assist in estimating the importance, reality, Oak; also, by Miss Bunnell, (now Mrs. Lewis,) and necessary effects of primitive piety,-should London; Mrs. Osborn, Worcester; and, through it aid in a correct judgment of the principles of the the friendly application of the Rev. J. Robertson, nonconformists,† and evince that there is no conof Stretton-under-Fosse, by Mrs. Bunting, Sprat-nexion between dissent and fanaticism," any more ton. To all of whom the editor begs to express his than between Christianity and imposture,―should grateful sense of their politeness and liberality. it, therefore, tend to bury unjust censures, and display, with additional clearness, that friendship to monarchy, loyalty to the king, and attachment to the English constitution, are perfectly compatible with separation from an ecclesiastical establishment,-should it, especially, be the means of promoting "living, powerful religion," which ever disdains the limits of a party,-the editor will regard apology as misplaced, his object will be happily attained, and his toil delightfully rewarded; nor will he regret having devoted to the undertaking, hours which were redeemed from morning slumbers, or stolen from the vacancies of leisure.† The editor's excellent friend, the Rev. Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, is entitled to particular remembrance, | not only for the loan of manuscripts, but also for much personal trouble. To the Rev. Thomas Stedman, and Thomas Weaver, Shrewsbury; J. Grundy, Leicester; James Payne, Ipswich; J. E. Good, Salisbury; and John Pearce, Wrexham ;—also, to Mr. and Mrs. Bunnell, Islington, London; Mrs. Kenrick, Wynne Hall, near Wrexham; Miss Hunt, Exeter; Joshua Wilson, Esq., Highbury Place, Islington, London; Joseph Lee, junior, Esq. Redbrook Farm, near Broad Oak; Mr. Lewin, Shrewsbury; Mr. Lewis, Wrexham; and Mr. W. Cook, Liverpool; the editor is likewise much indebted for the liberal communication of manuscripts. The writer cannot dismiss these prefatory remarks, without trespassing upon the reader's patience, by a few hints in reference, more particularly, to the due improvement of biographical compositions. Mr. Henry's character will, thereby, be somewhat illustrated, his predilection for such Mr. Matthew Henry's sermon on the death of his father is now first published from an authentic transcript, obligingly communicated by Mr. Sted-writings § explained, and similar attachments, it an increasing recognition of that influence, with | demonstrated to be the path of the just, the prinearnest desires for its possession, stands in near affinity to the proper observation of its effects. ciple of spiritual animation, and all real virtue. By that sublime grace,-significantly designated the evidence of things not seen,-it was, that the admired subject of the ensuing portraiture, beholding him who is invisible, connected all his actions, and all his thoughts, with eternity and with God.‡ So great and so obvious are the attractions of biography, when brought efficiently to bear upon personal history and individual excellence; and so decidedly is the meed of public approbation bestowed upon it, that to explain at large, why the The subject thus exhibited, is both directive§ and lives of wise and good men ought to be perused animating. Mr. Henry's biographer, indeed, has and esteemed; or to inquire how it is that they are, more than once given to the idea due prominence. in fact, daily read with profit and delight, would | Nor is it too much to affirm, that the volume, unbe a superfluous discussion. It will suffice to re- folding, with enviable attractiveness, the one thing mark, of Christian memoirs generally, with an needful, and the fruits of early instruction, so disappeal for confirmation to the present volume, covers the happy consequences of fervent piety that, by illuminating the judgment, by enriching and enlightened decision, as to instruct the inquirthe memory, by elevating the affections, by demon- ing, to cheer the timid, to invigorate the feeble, strating that eminent religious acquirements are and to fill with joy the cup of the desponding. attainable, such memorials conduce, in a very While it illustrates the Christian warfare, and high degree, to the best interests of man.* Regu- | shows, that high attainments in holiness furnish no lating the love of incident, and stimulating to exemption from the ordinary calamities of life, it laudable emulation, they are adapted to give to inculcates the pleasantness of religion, and teaches thoughtful habits a correct tendency, and inquiries, all who tread her paths, instead of encouraging as the narrative proceeds, instead of being insti- doubts, or yielding to despondency, to look contuted for the gratification of curiosity, are asso- stantly to the Saviour, as the centre and medium of ciated with self-observance and self-improvement.+ revealed mercy, and as made of God, to all believers, Whence, asks the awakened intellect, this compa- | wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemprative indifference (as in the case of Mr. Henry) to tion. Not only will the plants of righteousness, unall things earthly, in the midst of their diligent use der such influence, bud and blossom, as did the rod and happiest enjoyment? Wherefore an ardour in of Aaron, but they will bear, in gladdening abunthe service of Jehovah so vigorous and unabating? | dance, those fruits of peace, which, like the leaves By what process has subjection to his appointments, of the tree of life, are intended for the healing of thus enlightened, and uniform, and acquiescent, been attained? Whence can be derived peace so holy, uprightness so inflexible? Whence springs, and what nourishes, compassion towards transgressors, and affection even for enemies, so tender, and so sincere? To such queries Christianity alone can furnish a satisfactory reply. In accordance with the inspired testimony, a life of faith may thus luminously be nations. The editor feels it unnecessary to indulge in eulogy upon the illustrious character delineated in the following pages; or to point out the light which they cast over the history of Britain, civil and ecclesiastical; nor has he a desire to animadvert upon the persecuting spirit of the times,-a spirit, which, notwithstanding its hostile and provoking tendencies, seemed, in the case of Mr. Henry, and of * It doth us good to read and hear such true, holy, and approved nistories, monuments, orations, epistles, and letters, as do set forth unto us the blessed behaviour of God's dear servants. Bishop Coverdale's Address, prefixed to his Letters of the Martyrs; reprinted in "The Fathers of the English Church," vol. 4. p. ix. oct. 1809. + See Mr. Orton's Preface to his Memoirs of Dr. Doddridge, p. vii. ut supra. "One page of Philip Henry's Life," observes an eminent preacher of the present day," makes me blush more than all the folios of his son Matthew's Peerless Exposition." The Rev. J. A. James's Address at his Brother's Ordination, appended to the Church Member's There is a God. There is a judgment to come. Were these two firmly believed, what a change would it make! Philip Henry, Orig. MS. See Mr. Baxter's Remarks, prefixed to the Life of the Rev. Joseph Alleine, duod. 1672. Introd. p. 4. And, also, Mr. Wilberforce's Practical View, ch. vii. 11. pp. 465, 467, ut supra. |