ing, (dated April 28, 1687,) the arguments which occurred to him on both sides, with earnest prayer for direction, he determined for the negative, and applied to those ministers in London to whom he was best known, for their assistance in the solemn service.
On the 9th of May, these ministers met on the occasion, but where it was we have no account. The times were such as rendered a private ordination most eligible, in the opinion of the ordainers, who were all of the Presbyterian denomination, and who conducted the service in the manner which was common among the Presbvterians of that day, and long after. We have no information respecting either a sermon or a charge delivered, as is usual on such occasions; but among Mr. Henry's papers was found the Latin Thesis which he delivered on the question——An justificemur Fide absque operibus Legis? Affirmatur.——Mr. Tong has given an abstract of it, and has subjoined Mr. Henry's confession of faith, which perfectly agrees with the Assembly's Catechism.
For the same reason that the ordainers chose to have the service performed in private, they declined giving a certificate of the ordination in the usual form, (which seemed to be an excess of caution,) and only gave this brief testimonialː
"We, whose names are subscribed, are well assured that Mr. Matthew Henry is an ordained minister of the gospel.
Of so much importance was a regular certificate of Presbyterian ordination esteemed in those days, that Mr. Henry, after he had been settled many years, and had many living epistles to witness for him, applied to the ordainers then living to give him a certificate in form; which had the signatures of Mr. Tallents and Mr. Owen, dated Dec. 17, 1702. It was remarkable, that one of the above ministers who engaged in Mr. Matthew Henry's ordination, was also employed in the ordination of his excellent father, Mr. Philip Henry, near thirty years before. This was Mr. Richard Steele, the author of that valuable Treatise on Old Age.
Mr. Henry, soon after his ordination, hastened down to Chester, to enter upon his pastoral charge. He left London the latter end of May, and went first to Broad-Oak, where he stayed but a short time. Several persons of the congregation came to meet him there, and conducted him to Chester, where it is needless to say how joyfully he was received, especially on account of the liberty which was now granted to the dissenters, though the object of the king in granting it was sufficiently known. Worship had hitherto been kept up in the house of Mr. Henthorne, which was large and commodious, but only between and after the hours of public service at the established church, where most of the people attended to hear Dr. Fogg and Dr. Hancock, whose ministry they highly valued. Their numbers, however, so much increased, that it was found necessary to provide a larger place. With this Mr. Henthorne, who was zealous in the cause, soon accommodated them against the time of Mr. Henry's coming; having a large out-building belonging to the Friary, which was in his possession. The work of fitting it up was begun on a Monday, and it was in sufficient forwardness to be opened for worship the next Lord's day. But Mr. Henry did not arrive till the Thursday following, which was the lecture-day, when he preached his first sermon, on 1 Cor. ii. 2. I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Mr. Tong, who was present on the occasion, says, "I am a witness that they received him as an angel of God." But before he would preach, such was his respect to the aged and worthy Mr. Harvey, that he made him a visit, in order to be satisfied that his coming to Chester was with his approbation; for without it, he assured him that he would return. The good old man soon satisfied him on this head, telling him that there was work enough in Chester for them both. They afterward lived in the most perfect harmony. Mr. Henry constantly attended his Tuesday lecture, and always behaved towards him as a son to a father. He also advised all his friends to show him all possible respect, as a faithful minister of Christ, who had many years laboured there in the gospel, and had also been a sufferer for it.
Mr. Henry's situation at Chester proved highly agreeable to him, on account of the valuable society he met with there, and it was soon rendered the more so, as three of his sisters were providentially brought to reside in that place, in consequence of their being married to respectable and pious men, who belonged to his congregation, (Mr. Radford, Mr. Holton, and Dr. Tilston,) to whom he conducted himself with a truly fraternal affection. But a yet more agreeable and important circumstance was his entrance into the conjugal state, with a lady who was possessed of every qualification to render that state happy. This was Mrs. Katharine, daughter of Mr. John Hardware, of Moldsworth. On his first proposal, some obstacles lay in the way, but they were so completely removed, that the match was as agreeable to her parents as it was to his, so that they came to reside at Chester, and they all lived together. But this pleasing scene, like many earthly ones, was of very short continuance; for within a year and a half Mrs. Henry was seized, in childbed, with the smallpox, and died, Feb. 14, 1689, though the child was spared. Mr. Tong, who lived within eighteen miles, came to visit this house of mourning; who, having described the manner in which the tender mother was affected, says of Mr. Henry, the first words he spoke to him, with many tears were these: "I know nothing could support me under such a loss as this, but the good hope I have that she is gone to heaven, and that in a little time I shall follow her thither."
It was no small alleviation of his grief, that the child was spared. His good father came to visit him on the occasion, when he baptized the child in public, and the scene was peculiarly solemn and affecting. Mr. Henry, on presenting his child in baptism, (whom he named after her mother,) professed his faith and renewed his covenant, in a most affecting manner, and then added, "Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, &c. I offer up this my child to the great God, a plant out of a dry ground, desiring it may be implanted into Christ." Every heart was full, and few dry eyes were seen.
