Many readers of Christian literature at the present time are unacquainted with the lives of those eminent men, father and son, and particularly with the life of Philip Henry who was born in 1631 and died in 1696. The Banner of Truth Trust has recently reprinted, for the first time in one volume, The life of the Rev. Philip Henry by his son Matthew Henry, and The Life of the Rev. Matthew Henry by John B. Williams. The name of Matthew Henry is famous as the author of the highly-prized Commentary on the Scriptures. C. H. Spurgeon described it as “first among the mighty for general usefulness.” His Life of his father is also a spiritual classic, of which William Jay once wrote, “A young minister should have this book ever near him.” Of Matthew Henry his biographer wrote, “whether considered as a Christian, or a minister, in private life, or in public, he was an ‘example to believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.’ His character as a Christian was superlatively bright and brilliant.”
Philip Henry too was an outstanding Christian of whom it was said that he was “one of the most pious and excellent men of the age in which he lived, or any other.” He was a graduate of Oxford University and a very learned man. As a child he was a playmate of the royal princes, Charles and James Stuart, and as a young man he watched, with a sad heart, the beheading of King Charles I.
We recommend the purchase of this book which is a well-presented and reasonably priced volume, in keeping with the standard we have come to expect from these publishers. It could prove particularly useful to Secondary School or University students who are studying the Puritan period. It does give a well-informed general appraisal of political events in seventeenth century England in marked contrast to certain modern text books.
D.M.M.