Rev. Samuel Clarke and other friends which moved him to begin; and the following entry in his journal announces the commencement of the work :“Nov. 12th, 1704.-This night, after many thoughts of heart, and many prayers concerning it, I began my Notes on the Old Testament. It is not likely I shall live to finish it, or, if I should, that it should be of public service, for I am not par negotio; yet in the strength of God, and, I hope, with a single eye to his glory, I set about it, that I may endeavour something and spend my time to some good purpose, and let the Lord make what use he pleaseth of me. I go about it with fear and trembling, lest I exercise myself in things too high for me. The Lord help me to set about it with great humility!" Yes; "fear and trembling," and "many prayers,"these are the secret of its success. All the author's fitness, and all his fondness, for the work, would have availed little, had not the Lord made it grow. In September, 1706, he finished the Pentateuch, and on the 21st of November that year he writes: "This evening I received a parcel of the Exposition of the Pentateuch. I desire to bless God that he has given me to see it finished. I had comfort from that promise, Thou shalt find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.'" That volume came out separately; and, though near her eightieth year, his mother lived to see it, and, scarcely hoping to read all the volume, the good old lady began with Deuteronomy. Every second year produced another volume, till April 17th, 1714, he records: "Finished Acts, and with it the fifth volume. Blessed be God that has helped me and spared me. All the praise be to God!" Two months after he ceased from all his labours, and Dr. Evans and others took up the fallen pen. They completed a sixth volume, but did not continue "Matthew Henry."

The zest with which he began lasted all along. So dear was the employment that it was not easy to divert him from it, and each possible moment was devoted to it. Even when roused from slumber by illness in the family, his eye would brighten at the sight of it, and he would draw in his studying-chair "to do a little at the exposition." What he says in the preface to the Prophecies-his least successful volume-will awaken the fellow-feeling of the reader, and remind him of Bishop Horne's touching farewell to the Book of Psalms. "The pleasure I have had in studying and meditating on those parts of these prophecies which are plain and practical, and especially those that are evangelical, has been an abundant balance to, and recompence for, the harder tasks we have met with in other parts that are more obscure. In many parts of this field the treasure must be digged for, as that in the mines; but in other parts the surface is covered with rich and precious products, with corn and flocks, and of which we may say, as was said of Noah, These same have comforted us greatly concerning our work, and the toil of our hands,' and have made it very pleasant and delightful. God grant it may be no less so to the reader."

It would be easy to name commentators more critical, more philosophical, or more severely erudite, but none so successful in making the Bible understood. And the question with sensible readers will always be, not, What did the commentator bring to the Bible? but, What did he bring out of it? And, tried by this test, Henry will bear the perpetual palm. His curious inferences, and his just though ingenious "Notes," are such as could only have occurred to one mighty in the Scriptures, and minute in the particular text; and to the eager Bible-student, they often present themselves with as welcome surprise as the basket of unexpected ore which a skilful miner sends up from a deserted shaft. Nor dare we admire them the less because VOL. IV.-FOURTH SERIES. 2 F

detected in passages where our duller eye or blunter hammer had often explored in vain. On the other hand, it is possible to name some who have commented more fully on particular books; but most of them are something more than expositions. They are homiletic notes and expository dissertations. In the language of quaint old Berridge, a Preacher is a "Gospelbaker." In the same idiom, a commentator should be a "Bible-miller." Bread-corn must be bruised; and it is the business of the skilful interpreter to give nothing but the text transformed,―bread-corn in the guise of flour. This was what Matthew Henry did, and he left it to "Gospel-bakers" to add the salt and leaven, or mayhap the sugar and the laurel-leaf, and make a sermon or an essay as the case might be.

To its author the exposition was a blessed toil; but he could not foresee the wide acceptance and growing favour which awaited it. He could not anticipate that the most powerful minds of after-ages should be its most ardent admirers, or that the panegyrics should be passed on it which we know that Ryland, and Hall, and Chalmers have pronounced. Still less could it occur to him that the kindness with which contemporaries received it, should be a hundred-fold exceeded by a generation so fastidious and book-surfeited as our own. But could its subsequent history have been revealed to his benignant eye, the circumstance which would have elicited the gladdest and most thankful sparkle would have been to behold it, in thousands of Christian families, the Sabbath companion and the household book. It is not only through the glass-doors of stately book-cases that its gilt folios shine, nor on the study-shelves of manses and evangelical parsonages that its brown symbol of orthodoxy may be recognised, but in the parlour of many a quiet tradesman, and the cupboard of many a little farmer, and on the drawers-head of many a mechanic or day-labourer, the well-conned quartos hold their ancestral station, themselves an abundant library, and hallowed as the heir-loom of a bygone piety. In the words of a beloved friend, who has done much for Henry's Commentary, "It has now lasted more than one hundred and thirty years, and is at this moment more popular than ever, gathering strength as it rolls down the stream of time; and it bids fair to be The Comment for all coming time. True to God, true to nature, true to common sense, and true to the text, how can it ever be superseded? Waiting pilgrims will be reading it when the last trumpet sounds, Come to judgment.""

WESLEY PAPERS.

No. XXXI.-UNIVERSITY SERMONS.

(To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.)

THE Revs. John and Charles Wesley preached eight sermons before the University of Oxford, only four of which were published till the first volume of Sermons, by the former, appeared in 1747.* By the advice of

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"For a clear description of experimental religion, I wish every one would read and consider Mr. Wesley's first volume of Sermons." (Thomas Taylor, February 29th, 1775; author of fifteen Sermons on the Millennium; Sixteen Lectures on the Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia, Bristol, 1800; A Concordance and Scripture Dictionary; and styled by Dr. Southey, "one of those Preachers who tempered zeal with judgment."-Life of Wesley. First edition. Vol. ii., p. 252.)

some friends," says he, "I have prefixed to this volume three sermons of my own, and one of my brother's, preached before the University."* These he designed as an answer to a charge often preferred; namely, "that we had changed our doctrine." He then challenges any man of understanding to a comparison of the latter with the former sermons.† I shall remark upon each in chronological order.

January 1st, 1733.-He preached on "The Circumcision of the Heart,” from Rom. ii. 29: ‡ not printed till 1747. Whitsunday, 1735, (not 1736, as stated in error, for he was then at Frederica, in Georgia,) on "The Holy Spirit," from 2 Corinthians iii. 17: § not printed till after his death.

on

June, 1738.-His first published sermon after his return from Georgia was "Salvation by Faith." This sermon, it appears from a мs. letter, he preached a few days previously at Stanton-Harcourt, probably to meet any objections that could be raised to it by his friend Mr. Gambold. After preaching it at St. Mary's, he left the Ms. with his brother, previous to his going to Holland; who makes the following entry in his Journal :

"June 21st.-At Blendon, I read my brother's sermon on Faith. When it was over, the gardener declared faith had come to him by hearing it; and he had no doubt of his sins being forgiven, &c." On the next day, "June 22d, we had a meeting at Mr. Piers's, at Bexley. I read my brother's sermon. God set his seal to the truth of it, by sending his Spirit upon Mrs. Searl, and a maid-servant, purifying their hearts by faith." Such was the popularity of this sermon, that seven editions were printed of it in five years.

July 1st, 1739.-Mr. C. Wesley preached, with great boldness, before the University, from a similar subject: "Justification by Faith." "All were very attentive,** and one could not help weeping." Not printed.

July 25th, 1741.-Mr. John Wesley preached his sermon entitled, "The Almost Christian," from Acts xxvi. 28.tt "I advised with Mr. Gambold concerning the subject of my sermon before the University: but he seemed to think it of no moment." "For," said he, "all here are so prejudiced,‡‡ that they will mind nothing you say." "I know not that," says he: however, I am to deliver my own soul, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear."§§ Very different were the views of his brother,

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* I once asked the late Rev. Henry Moore, what were the "distinctive characteristics of Messrs. John and Charles Wesley, as Preachers.' He replied, "John's preaching was all principles; Charles's was all aphorisms." (See Wesley Family, vol. ii., p. 370, in a note at the bottom.)

John Wesley says to his brother, "In connexion I beat you; but in strong, short, pointed sentences, you beat me." (Jackson's Life of Charles Wesley, vol. ii., p. 225.

+ Wesley's Works, vol. v. Preface, p. iv.

Ibid., p. 202.

§ Vol. vii., p. 508.

|| Vol. v., p. 7.

Jackson's Life of Charles Wesley, vol. i., p. 151.

** Ibid., p. 181.

++ Wesley's Works, vol. v., p. 17.

11 "Out of twenty-five or thirty communicants, only two were left." (Ibid., vol. i., p. 316.)

SS Vol. i., p. 316. See Mr. Moore's remarks on Mr. John Wesley's Four Sermons before the University, in his Life of Wesley, vol. ii., pp. 402, 403.

"The first exhibits the perfection of the Christian character which he was then ardently pursuing. But it was deficient respecting the inward life, peace, and power, of which true faith is the root."

"The second and third sermons exhibit the new creature, with the simple and

and the society at Bristol, as appears by the following entry in Mr. Charles Wesley's Journal :

"July 25th.-We met at ten to pray for a blessing on my brother's sermon which he is preaching at this hour before the University."* Mr. John Wesley thus records it in his Journal: "Saturday 25th, 1741.—It being my turn, which comes about once in three years, I preached at St. Mary's, before the University. The harvest truly is plenteous. So numerous a congregation, (from whatever motive they came,) I have seldom seen in Oxford. My text was the confession of poor Agrippa, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.' I have 'cast my bread upon the waters' let me 'find it after many days!"" I have seen only two early editions of this sermon: the first printed by Strachan, 1741; and a second edition, 1742, price "two-pence." He suggests the propriety of translating it into Dutch.t

Sunday, April 4th, 1742.—Mr. Charles Wesley preached his sermon on "Awake thou that sleepest." (Eph. v. 14.)‡ Mr. John Wesley, who was in London at the time, was equally mindful of his brother Charles. "About two in the afternoon," says he, " being the time my brother was preaching at Oxford, before the University, I desired a few persons to meet with me, and join in prayer. We continued herein much longer than we designed, and believed we had the petition we asked of God." The sermon is advertized in "The Weekly History," for 1st May, 1742, as "just published, price two-pence. Recommended by the Rev. Mr. Whitefield." A third edition was published the same year, and a fifth in 1743. The sixteenth edition is dated 1749; the twenty-first edition, 1767; twenty-third edition, 1775. On the title-page of an edition printed by Paramore, 1783, it is said, "This sermon is not to be sold, but given away."

"The sermon," says Mr. Jackson,§ "is plain, simple, and unadorned; but withal, energetic and earnest, almost beyond example. It is full of scripture imagery and expression; and is addressed with great fidelity and power to the consciences of unconverted men. The accomplished Collegian is lost in the Christian Minister, whose heart is all on fire to turn the people from sin, worldliness, and misery, to Christ, and holiness, and heaven. It is doubtful whether any sermon in the English language has passed through so many editions, or has been the means of so much spiritual good. Within seven years of the time of its publication, it had passed to a sixteenth edition; and ever since it has been in constant demand."

This sermon has been vilely libelled by Mr. Salmon, in his "Foreigners' Companion, through the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford," printed

only way of attaining that blessed state by faith. The learned assembly, who had listened with some complacency to the fair, though somewhat rigid, portrait of a Christian in his first discourse, while he resided among them, were amazed at the new and living way of thus entering into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus.''

"His fourth discourse was preached, as he has informed us, in order to deliver his soul, as he could not expect to have these opportunities continued."

"The venerable Wesley," says the Rev. Joseph Sutcliffe, "abounds with variety of application in his sermons; but is the most remarkable on Acts iv. 31," the fourth sermon before the University. "There, indeed, he appears as the man of God, reproving lukewarmness and vice, in the time of war and danger." (Ostervald on Preaching, by Sutcliffe, p. 153.)

* Charles Wesley's Life, vol. i., p. 309. Works, vol. i., p. 319.

+ See vol. xii., p. 492.

1 Vol. v., p. 25.

§ Life of Charles Wesley, vol. i., p. 309.

in 1748. He says: The times of the day the University go to Church are ten in the morning, and two in the afternoon, on Sundays and holydays; the sermon usually lasting about half an hour. But when I happened to be at Oxford, in 1742, Mr. Wesley, the Methodist of Christ-Church, entertained his audience two hours; and, having insulted and abused all degrees, from the highest to the lowest, was, in a manner, hissed out of the pulpit by the lads."* "And high time," says Mr. Charles Wesley, "for them so to do, if the historian said true; but, unfortunately for him, I measured my time by my watch, and it was within the hour. I abused neither high nor low, as my sermon in print will prove. Neither was I hissed out of the pulpit, or treated with the least incivility either by young or old. What then shall I say to my High-Church friend, whom I once much admired? I must rank him among the apocryphal writers, such as the judicious Dr. Mather, the wary Bishop Burnett, and the most modest Mr. Oldmixon."

August 24th, 1744.-Mr. John Wesley preached his sermon entitled, "Scriptural Christianity,"+ from Acts iv. 31. It is thus recorded in his Journal: "Friday, 24th, St. Bartholomew's day. I preached, I suppose the last time, at St. Mary's. Be it so. I am now clear of the blood of these men. I have fully delivered my own soul. The Beadle came to me afterwards, and told me the Vice-Chancellor had sent for my notes. I sent them without delay, not without admiring the wise providence of God. Perhaps few men of note would have given a sermon of mine the reading, if I had put it into their hands; but by this means it came to be read, probably more than once, by every man of eminence in the University." His brother was present, with Messrs. Piers and Meriton, and thus records it: "My brother bore his testimony before a crowded audience, much increased by the races. Never have I seen a more attentive congregation. They did not let a word slip them. Some of the Heads stood up the whole time, and fixed their eyes on him. If they can endure sound doctrine like this, he will surely leave a blessing behind him." ¶

The sermon was published about a month after its delivery, and went through six editions in four years. The following address "to the reader" was affixed, with the author's signature:

* Life of Charles Wesley, vol. i., p. 561.

In this sermon, he seems pointedly to have alluded to his brother's sermon, he being then present with Messrs. Piers and Meriton. At the fourth paragraph of the second head, he says, "To the careless" (Oxonians) "they thundered, 'Awake thou that sleepest; arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."" (September 15th, 1741.) Charles Wesley's Life, vol. i., pp. 303, 309.

The subject of Charles Wesley's sermon, in the same place, April 4th, 1742. At the fifth paragraph he says, "Their labour was not in vain in the Lord. His word ran and was glorified. It grew mightily and prevailed." See Charles Wesley's hymn, written in July, 1742, p. 210, General Hymn-book, "See how great a flame aspires," &c. (Whitehead's Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 302.)

In his application, he says, "Who will use this plainness, if I do not? Therefore, I, even I, will speak." (Wesley's Works, vol. v., p. 48.) "And it was a happy circumstance," observed Mr. Sutcliffe to me, "that there was one man in England who durst speak the truth to a Socinian Club,” as the Rev. James Stillingfleet once called them. "I withdrew myself from them," said honest John Berridge; "for I found that lowering the Son was lowering the Father. I had almost," said he, "given up prayer.”

t Vol. v., p. 37.

§ Vol. i., p. 470.

The anniversary of the ejection of two thousand Ministers from the National Church, by the Act of Uniformity.

Life of Charles Wesley, vol. i., p. 402.