Matthew Henry — Minister and Bible Commentator

Like his father, Mr. Henry found great delight in study and like that father, his turn of mind was systematic. His sermons were a series. To the volatile auditories of modern times there would be something appalling in a body of divinity which occupied the Sabbaths of fourteen years. But the later Puritans, especially, were lovers of order and routine; congregations were more stationary, and the world had then a feeling of latitude and leisure which it can never know again. And perhaps the regular recurrence of similar services, and the weekly resumption of the stated subject, and the placid distillation of scriptural lessons, were as congenial to Sabbath rest and spiritual growth as the endless variety and turbulent excitement which our own generation, more languid or more mercurial, craves. And there is no reason why method should produce monotony. In the hands of Matthew Henry, besides its continuous instructiveness, method was often a stimulus to attention, and an additional means of vivacity. On the subject, "Put off the old man, put on the new," he gave a course of many sermons in the following scheme:—

1 "Put off pride, and put on humility.
2 Put off passion, and put on meekness.
3 Put off covetousness, and put on contentment.
4 Put off contention, and put on peaceableness.
5 Put off murmuring, and put on patience.
6 Put off melancholy, and put on cheerfulness.
7 Put off vanity, and put on seriousness.
8 Put off uncleanness, and put on chastity.
9 Put off drunkenness, and put on temperance.
10 Put off deceitfulness, and put on honesty.
11 Put off hatred, and put on love.
12 Put off hypocrisy, and put on sincerity.
13 Put off bad discourse, and put on good discourse.
14 Put off bad company, and put on good company.
15 Put off security, and put on watchfulness.
16 Put off slothfulness, and put on diligence.
17 Put off folly, and put on prudence.
18 Put off fear, and put on hope.
19 Put off a life of sense, and put on a life of faith.
20 Put off self, and put on Jesus Christ."

From Daily Communion with God... by Matthew Henry; with life of Henry by James Hamilton. London: Thomas Nelson, 1847.

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