10 People and Psalm 119

Manton/Wilberforce

1. Thomas Manton, a prolific 17th-century Puritan, wrote a massive, three-volume commentary exclusively on Psalm 119, spanning 190 separate chapters and over 1,600 pages.
2. George Wishart, Bishop of Edinburgh, in the 17th century (not to be confused with another Scot by the same name who was martyred a century earlier) was condemned to death for his faith. But when he was on the scaffold, he made use of a custom that allowed the condemned person to choose one psalm to be sung, and he chose Psalm 119. Before two-thirds of the psalm had been sung, his pardon arrived and his life was spared.
3. William Grimshaw of Haworth was accustomed to round-up the unwilling with a whip, prowling the village mid-service whilst the congregation was singing a psalm — a favourite one being Psalm 119, because it was the longest.
4. Matthew Henry the famous Bible commentator was raised on the Psalm. His father, Philip Henry, made the children meditate on one verse every single morning, cycling through the entire Psalm twice a year to foster a lifelong love for scripture.
5. William Wilberforce the 19th-century British politician who led the movement to abolish the slave trade frequently recited Psalm 119 from memory during his daily walks back from Parliament to calm his mind and maintain political courage.
6. David Livingstone the famous 19th-century Scottish pioneer missionary and explorer of Africa famously won a New Testament at his local church Sunday school when he was only 9 years old by flawlessly reciting the entire Psalm.
7. John Ruskin the art critic was made to emmorise the Psalm. He reflected heavily on it in his later years, famously noting how his mother's strict childhood enforcement of the chapter transitioned from feeling "repulsive" to becoming his most "precious" biblical text, representing an "overflowing and glorious passion of love for the Law of God".
8. Henry Martyn, the pioneer Anglican missionary to India in the early 19th century, famously memorised the entirety of Psalm 119 in 1804. During his arduous life of translating scriptures into local languages and facing exhaustion, he confessed that it was the Word of God alone that gave him strength.
9. Martin Luther held Psalm 119 in the highest regard, famously stating that he would not exchange a single leaf of it for the entire world. He viewed the psalm not just as a prayer, but as a core textbook for spiritual formation, using it to define his famous "three rules for studying theology" (prayer, meditation, temptation).
10. Charles Spurgeon, the "Prince of Preachers" deeply loved Psalm 119 and highly recommended the Exposition of Psalm 119 by Charles Bridges, calling it "worth its weight in gold."

Prayer for the evening before the Sabbath by Matthew Henry

You might find this useful

Now give us to remember that tomorrow is the sabbath of the Lord and that it is a high day, holy of the Lord and honourable, and give us grace so to sanctify ourselves, that tomorrow the Lord may do wonders among us; and to be mindful of the work of our preparation, now the sabbath draws on.

When you saw everything that you had made in six days, it was very good, but in many things we have all offended. O that by repentance and faith in Christ’s blood, we may wash not only our feet, but also our hands and our head and our heart, and so may go about your altar, Lord.

Now give us to rest from all our own deeds and to leave all our worldly cares at the bottom of the hill, while we go up to the mount to worship God and return again to them.

Library Lecture on Matthew Henry

It was good to be at the Evangelical Library on Monday to hear Jeremy Walker sin the lunch hour on Matthew Henry, who was born 350 years ago this year.

Jeremy helpfully outlined what little there is to say about the great Matthew Henry and then gave us a brief tour of his preaching, his famous commentary and the other works for which he is rightly remembered today. There was then a brief time for questions.
This was the second of our lunch time lectures this quarter and it was particularly gratifying to see such a good attendance with more than 20 present. Perhaps the choice of a half term Monday was a help.
A recording of the excellent talk was made and that is available through the Library. We also hope to put the lecture in print quite soon.
Do come along to our next lecture at the usual time of 1 pm on November 26 when the speaker will be Dr Robert Strivens of LTS, looking at the subject of ministerial academies.

Matthew Henry on Monday

This is a reminder that on Monday at 1 pm Jeremy Walker will be speaking on Matthew Henry at the Evangelical Library. Do come along if you can.

Matthew Henry Prayer Guide

I vlogged recently commending O Palmer Robertson's version of Matthew Henry's Method of Prayer. I noticed recently that there is a website here with many resources in connection with Henry's book, organised by Ligon Dincan III.

Vlog 5 Henry on prayer

Matthew Henry

I've been so taken up with the fact that 1662 was the year of the Great Ejection that I'd pretty much forgotten that it is also the year of Matthew Henry's birth. Thankfully I stumbled across Allan Harman's new biography (Matthew Henry his life and influence) and have been reading it on my kindle. It is well done for the most part with the bulk of the book looking at the life and then some essays at the end looking at his preaching, commentary, etc. These stand independently and so repeat information found elsewhere. Matthew Henry was clearly a godly and hardworking servant of the Lord in that difficult post-Puritan period and his life deserves to be as well known as his commentary is. This book does that job well.

You can read the opening chapters here.
More here.

10 Commentaries on the Whole Bible

As far as I am aware these are the significant "one man" jobs.
They vary in their usefulness.

1. Matthew Poole 1624-1679*
2. Matthew Henry 1662-1714*
3. John Gill 1697-1771
4. Thomas Scott 1747-1821
5. Adam Clarke 1762-1832
6. Albert Barnes 1798-1870*
7. David Brown 1803-1897, Robert Jamieson 1802-1880, Andrew Fausset 1821-1910
8. Charles John Ellicott 1819-1905**
9. James M Gray 1851-1935
10. A C Gaebelein 1861-1945

* Finished by others ** Editor only

Reading the Bible H

We have now before us the holy Bible, or book, for so bible signifies. We call it the book, by way of eminency; for it is incomparably the best book that ever was written, the book of books, shining like the sun in the firmament of learning, other valuable and useful books, like the moon and stars, borrowing their light from it. We call it the holy book, because it was written by holy men, and indited by the Holy Ghost; it is perfectly pure from all falsehood and corrupt intention; and the manifest tendency of it is to promote holiness among men. The great things of God's law and gospel are here written to us, that they might be reduced to a greater certainty, might spread further, remain longer, and be transmitted to distant places and ages more pure and entire than possibly they could be by report and tradition: and we shall have a great deal to answer for if these things which belong to our peace, being thus committed to us in black and white, be neglected by us ....

Matthew Henry (from his preface to Gensis in his Bible Commentary)

Doddridge Practical Writers 3

In Lecture 3 Doddridge comes on to

The Character of Dissenting Writers of the Present Age, or those who have written since 1700.

§1(John) Evans His style is grave, plain, manly, nervous. His heads are always distinct and well arranged. The scriptures he quotes are very properly chosen. His thoughts, especially in the application, are thrown close together. His sermons to young people are scarce, and valuable. His Christian Temper is one of the best practical pieces in our language.

§2(Samuel) Wright Has great simplicity and awful solemnity. His writings compose the thoughts, and gradually elevate them. The heads are distinct and sentences very comprehensive. He discovers a deep sense of God, and a good acquaintance with the world. His words are elegant and well chosen, cadence however is but little regarded. He always appears master of himself. There are often plain intimations of many thoughts being suppressed. His sentiments are candid and rational. His book on Regeneration has been remarkably acceptable and is one of the most useful pieces published in this age. His work on the Deceitfulness of Sin is written with great knowledge of mankind; with the ruin of many young people before his eyes, and it is admirably adapted to prevent it. His Great Concern is very comprehensive and even in that respect much preferable to the Whole Duty of Man. His subsequent treatises are not equally valuable, nor is the collection of scriptures so judicious as was expected.

§3(Isaac) Watts Very different from Wright. His style is harmonious, florid, poetical and pathetic but too diffuse, too many words, especially in his later works, and his former are too much loaded with epithets. Yet on the whole he is an excellent writer. All that he has written is well worth reading. I most admire the first volume of his Sermons - Death and Heaven, the Love of God, and Humble Attempt not to mention his incomparable Lyric poems -  Psalms and Hymns.

§4(Henry) Grove (Taunton) He resembles Watts but is not equally poetical - yet rather more nervous. He has many judicious and new thoughts which are disposed in a method quite peculiar, and expressed with force and elegance and in his former pieces there is a remarkable sweetness. He discovers great seriousness but his great aversion to Calvinism and the ill usage he had met with from bigots have soured him of late. The Friendly Monitor, his book on Secret Prayer, and some Funeral Sermons, published in his lifetime, are very valuable. His book on the Sacrament is exceeding proper for scholars, though much exceeded by Henry and Earle, for common use. Some of his meditations at the end of his Treatise on Faith are excellent.
§5(Matthew) Henry. Very popular; his style is short and pointed; has many antitheses, and is too often a little fanciful; elegant imagination; some peculiarities, such as making his heads begin with the same letter or some chiming word; yet this is generally natural. Great seriousness, sprightly thoughts, digested in very good order. His Commentary excellent, though rather too large, and too full of typical and allegorical interpretations; yet there are some judicious notes both critical and historical. Many of his notes on the historical parts, on the import of some original words, and some of the most entertaining things, are taken from Grotius, Patrick, Poole, Josephus, Calvin and many others. However, the work is despised only by those who do not know it. His discourses on meekness, the sacrament, and early piety, are all very good. His style is formed on scripture, to which he has numberless allusions.

§6 (Jabez) Earle (London). Judicious, pathetic, and very laconic. He has written but little besides his Treatise on the Sacrament, which is excellent. In his other pieces there are several pretty classical quotations in the margin.

§7(Thomas) Bradbury His method is by no means accurate. Many weak arguments but enlivened by sprightly turns of wit and numberless allusions to scripture. Christ's joy on finishing his course and his Sermons on the fifth of November are his best.

§8(Joseph) Boyse He has been called the dissenting Scott but much more polite. His language is plain, animated and nervous, pretty much resembling Evans. His matter is excellently digested. He abounds with ideas. Each sermon appears to be a contraction of some judicious treatise, and often is so. The two volumes of his sermons and his discourses on the Four last Things, are his principal practical works, and deserve attentive, repeated reading.

§9(Benjamin) Bennett Plain, serious and spiritual but flat. Has many good quotations from modern authors. His Christian Oratory is his best and almost only practical piece, which had been better had it been less.

§10(William) Harris He was reckoned the greatest master of the English tongue among the Dissenters. His style plain and easy; his thoughts substantial, but seldom striking or uncommon. Nothing to blame, nor very much to admire. See his Discourses on the Messiah and Funeral Sermons.

§11(David) Jennings (son of John Jennings) Methodical, plain, and serious. Some pretty turns of thought. His strain very evangelical. He is, upon the whole, the Flavel of the present age, only much more polite, and free from Flavel's faults. All he has published should be carefully read especially his Sermons to Young People, and those in the Berry-Street Lectures, which are the glory of the book, and very much to the honour of the author.

§12(Benjamin) Grosvenor A most popular preacher while his voice continued good. In his compositions there is a strange mixture of the familiar and pathetic. Many strong figures of speech, especially prosopopaeias and dialogisms, beyond any writer of the age. See particularly his Sermons on the Name and Temper of Jesus, his Mourner and his Essay on Health.