Christians in History - Matthew Henry
I love prayer. It is that which buckles on all the Christian’s armour. - Matthew Henry
Selected from Christian Study Library
Few Bible commentators are better known than Matthew Henry (1662-1714). The Commentary on the Whole Bible that bears Henry’s name continues to be reprinted, although Henry himself died after finishing Genesis through Acts, and the remainder was written by his friends drawing on his notes. The great evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770) repeatedly read through Henry’s commentary during his devotions and found it rich food for his soul.
For all the fame of his commentaries, few people know that Henry also wrote a book on prayer that has been a bestseller for a century and a half. And though his commentaries are read today around the world, few people know much about Henry’s life.
Matthew Henry was an English Puritan born in 1662, the same year that Puritan ministers were ejected from the Church of England for refusing to conform to prescribed forms of worship. His father, Philip Henry, had already lost his pulpit in 1661. The period of the 1660s to the 1680s was a dark time of persecution for the Puritans. Though frail in health, Henry distinguished himself intellectually early in life, reading the Bible to himself when he was only three.
He initially studied to be a lawyer, but the Lord had other plans for him. From age twenty-four to fifty, Henry served as pastor of a church in Chester, having been privately ordained by Presbyterian ministers such as Richard Steele (1672-1729). The church began in private homes but over time grew to 350 communicant members, with many more adherents. Henry spent eight hours a day in study, sometimes rising at four o’clock in the morning. In addition to serving his own church, he preached monthly in five nearby villages and to prisoners. Henry’s first wife died in childbirth, and three children from his second wife died in infancy.
Henry began writing his Bible commentary at age forty-two, drawing from the well of his years of expository preaching and research in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French. He spent the last two years of his life serving a prominent church in London. Henry died after falling from his horse, leaving the task of completing his commentary on the New Testament to thirteen of his ministerial friends.
In 1710, Henry published A Method for Prayer with Scripture Expressions Proper to Be Used under Each Head. In 1712, he preached sermons that were published as Directions for Daily Communion with God. Those books reveal Henry’s passion for biblical spirituality, for it must have been difficult for a busy pastor and author of a massive Bible commentary to find time to write about prayer as well. We will consider Henry’s directions on prayer from his second book, then move on to his method of praying the Scriptures.
Directions for Praying All Day
Henry wrote in his diary, “I love prayer. It is that which buckles on all the Christian’s armour.”
Since the Christian must wear God’s armor at all times, he must pray without ceasing. According to Henry, the access that Christians have to God in Christ gives them:
“a companion ready in all their solitudes, so that they are never less alone than when alone. "
Do we need better society than fellowship with the Father?”
“a counselor ready in all their doubts,... a guide (Ps. 73:24), who has promised to direct with his eye, to lead us in the way wherein we should go.”
“a comforter ready in all their sorrows... (to) support sinking spirits, and be the strength of a fainting heart”
“a supply ready in all their wants. They that have access to God have access to a full fountain, an inexhaustible treasure, a rich mine.”
“a support ready under all their burdens. They have access to him as Adonai (my Lord), my stay and the strength of my heart” (Ps. 73:26).
“a shelter ready in all their dangers, a city of refuge near at hand. The name of the Lord is a strong tower” (Prov. 18:10).
“strength ready for all their performances in doing work, fighting work. He is their arm every morning” (Isa. 33:2).
“salvation insured by a sweet and undeceiving earnest ... If he thus guides us by his counsel he will receive us to glory.”
Since God has made Himself available to us so fully, we should go to Him throughout the day. Henry wrote, “David solemnly addressed himself to the duty of prayer three times a day, as Daniel did; ‘Morning and evening, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud,’
-Ps. 55:17. Nay, he doth not think that enough, but ‘seven times a day will I praise thee ."- Ps.119:164.
Accordingly, Henry wrote three discourses of directions for prayer: beginning the day with God, spending the day with God, and closing the day with God.
- Christian Study Library
- This world is so distracting, so many things that take our attention from God. Sad to say that I often have to focus on communing with Him when it should be second nature.
- I can relate to what you have shared Elizabeth Yager. There are so many things in need of my attention that I can neglect turning my attention toward God. This is what stood out to me the most when reading this..."a companion ready in all their solitudes, so that they are never less alone than when alone." The trials in my life would be far worse if I had never come to know Him as my true companion and the understanding that I am never less alone than when I am alone. I find this every time I go to church and sing only to Him. I am less alone when no other person is there (but Jesus), than when I sang with 100 people in the room. "If chosen men had never been alone, In deepest silence open-doored to God, No greatness ever had been dreamed or done." -author unkown