resolved to adjourn this lecture sine die. This was matter of much grief to Mr. Henry, but it did not discourage him from proceeding in his own lecture, or uniting with his brethren in adjacent parts, in prosecuting this great object, though they laboured under great discouragement, for want of power to enforce the laws against profaneness.
But Mr. Henry's sphere of activity and attempts for usefulness were yet more extensive. Though his own flock was never neglected, he had a care for all the churches within his line, and readily lent his assistance to his brethren in all the adjacent parts; sometimes taking a compass of thirty miles, preaching every day in the week, but always returning home at the end of it. The towns and villages which lay near Chester enjoyed a large share of his labours, in several of which he had a monthly lecture. Beside attending stated meetings of ministers twice a year, he was frequently called upon to attend ordinations, to preach funeral sermons for his deceased brethren and other respectable persons at a distance: and he never refused complying with invitations to preach on any occasion, when he was able to do it; the great strength of his constitution, and the vigour of his mind, rendering these uncommon exertions easy and pleasant to him.
He was used to take a yearly journey to Nantwich, Newcastle, &c. preaching wherever he came; and another into Lancashire, to preach at Manchester, Chowbent, Warrington, &c. where he was highly valued; but he performed all within the week, choosing to be at any labour or expense rather than not to be with his own people on the Lord's day, from whom he was not absent on that day for ten years together; and never on the first sabbath in the month, but once, for twenty four years, and that was when he was in London, after a long absence from it: for though he had many connexions in the metropolis, he rarely visited it, as he had no apprehension that his services were there needed so much as in the country, where they had been eminently useful in the revival of religion all around him, both among ministers and people, but particularly in his own congregation, where he had the pleasure of seeing the Redeemer's interest greatly to flourish, and many families rising up to call him blessed.
In the year 1700, Mr. Henry's congregation built a new meeting-house for him, which was decent, large, and commodious. On the first opening of it, August 8, he preached an appropriate and excellent sermon on Joshua xxii. 22, 23. The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knows, and Israel he shall know, if it be in rebellion, or if it be in transgression against the Lord, that we have built an altar. This sermon, which is entitled, "Separation without Rebellion," was not published by the author, though fairly transcribed; most probably by reason of his great solicitude to avoid giving offence to any members of the established church. It was printed in the year 1725, with a preface written by Dr. Watts, who bestows a high encomium upon the author, but hints at "some expressions in the sermon which may not gain the entire assent of some of his present readers;" referring, doubtless, to what relates to national establishments of religion, to which the worthy author was not averse. It is rather extraordinary that this discourse was not included in the folio edition of Mr. Henry's separate publications, which was printed in the year 1726, in the preface to which it is said, "that this volume contains them all." In the year 1781, the writer of this narrative published "Select Sermons of Mr. Henry," in a large octavo volume, in which this valuable discourse was inserted.
After the building of this new meeting house, the congregation much increased, especially by the accession of the greatest part of the people that had attended Mr. Harvey, who, in the year 1706, desisted from preaching in Chester, on account of the declining state of his health, and some difficulties about his place of worship; so that Mr. Henry's was now too strait for his hearers, and required a new gallery to be built. It was rather a singular circumstance, that Mr. Harvey's congregation (according to the tradition still current at Chester) occupied this new gallery, and there continued by themselves. But it is presumed that those of them who had been church members, united with Mr. Henry's church in the ordinance of the Lord's supper; for it appears that his church had considerably increased, so that he had at this time above three hundred and fifty communicants: and he had much comfort in them, as there was great unanimity among them, for which he expressed great thankfulness to God.
This being the case, it may appear matter of surprise and lamentation that he should ever have quitted Chester, and accepted an invitation to a congregation in the vicinity of London. Of this great change, the cause and the consequences of it, an account shall now be given. He had received repeated invitations from congregations in or near London, before that which separated him from his friends at Chester, upon which he put an absolute negative without hesitation. The first of these was soon after his visit to London, in the year 1698. In consequence of his preaching at several principal meetings in the city, for instance, Mr. Doolittle's and Mr. Howe's, he became better known than he had been before, and acquired a considerable degree of fame and reputation as a preacher. It was at this time that he preached the excellent discourse, which was published, on "Christianity not a Sect, yet every where spoken against."
The following year a vacancy took place in the congregation at Hackney, (where a great number of wealthy dissenters resided,) by the death of Dr. William Bates, a man of distinguished piety, learning, and abilities, who had refused a bishopric, and would have honoured the first episcopal see in the kingdom. The first person thought of to succeed him was Mr. Matthew Henry; and it was unanimously agreed to send him an invitation to become their pastor, though they had no ground to suppose that he was at all dissatisfied with his present situation; and they desired Mr. Shower, an eminent minister at the Old Jewry, to give him a letter, in order to apprize him of their intention. Mr. Shower accordingly wrote; but Mr. Henry, by the next post, sent a strong negative to the application, assigning, as a principal reason, his affection for the people at Chester, and theirs for him; and he desired that he might have no further solicitation to leave them. The congregation at Hackney, however, not satisfied with this peremptory answer, wrote to him themselves, and sent him a most pressing invitation to accept their proposal. Mr. Henry, after taking a few days to deliberate upon the matter, wrote them a very respectful letter, in which he gave them a decisive negative, which put an end, for the present, to the negociation.
But after this, (so lightly have dissenters been wont to view the evil of being robbers of churches,) there was not a considerable vacancy in any London congregation, but Mr. Henry was thought of to fill it. Upon the death of Mr. Nathaniel Taylor, minister of Salters-hall, the people there had their eye upon Mr. Henry, but were discouraged from applying to him, at first, by the negative which he put upon the invitation from Hackney. However, after being disappointed in their expectations from Mr. Chorley of Norwich, and being much divided about an application to another minister, they unanimously agreed to make a vigorous effort to obtain Mr. Henry. Accordingly, letters were written to him by
