' . MATTHEW HENRY AND HIS CHAPEL H. D. ROBERTS LIVERPOOL THE LIVERPOOL BOOKSELLERS' COMPANY, LTD., 70, LORD STREET PREFACE 7%ALL CONCERNED:- c' The oldest NOnconfor?~iStChapel in Chester celebrates this year a two hundredth Anniversary ;for the foundation stone was laid in the i~zonthof September, 1699 . lC Those who wonhi$ in this Chafed hold it as a trust fj,, the men and women of two hundredyears ago. It is their dzcty to see to it that the House pf God, at all times, is seem& for His Worshe. " Is it too wuch to hope, at this epoch, for yet another Celztury of existence, for our old historic 'Meeting House ' .? " (Calendar, Jan. I 899.) " The present Congregation, wishing to reltew the Chapelfor another and vzkorous Century of dzye, called in Messrs. T. M. Lockwood, F.R.I.B.A., and Sons, to make a thoroagh examination of the old structure. They declared the roof dangerous, and instead of the amenities of a Bi-Centenary, we found ourselves confronted,flnaldy, with the raisingof L9oo. Towavds this we have raised L700 ;and on work actual& comjkted we are L100 in &bt. A new roof is on, and in place of the old ceiling-, lying $at on the arches, is a tu$le-coved ceiling. This, 4F iii in thorough keeping with the architecture, has greatly receipt of £70 tn donations. One hulzdved pounds iwoved the ChapeC, adding hezght and giving grace: would loose an earnest and worthy congregation fro?lz Dry rot was found in the vestry and gallevy ;both have Ziabilities creeping on towads A~,ooo. 6een made good; the walls of the Chapel have been re- In the Prospectus) 150-175 pages were promised, in- pointed, the yard tiled, and, altogether, the ancient building cluding nine i((ustrations. As a matter of fact over 270 has been made sound, and thus seemly for worship. But are given, excludingfourteen illustrations. the congregation, in face of the inzpemtive needs of the This, while generous& fu@lZing promise, has la ~g-eb fabric, have been zmable to provide an efictive means of increased the cost. heating :$nal decoyation has been compulson'dy postponed :. In the $rst place, the writer has found it is not so easy whilst the brass tablet giving the names of ministers exists as it ~nzghtappear to illustrate Nonconformist history." on& in idea. Moreover, the writer thinks it hzgl'zdy Then, when the material had been blocked out, the kind- desirable that the two windows in the north wall, on ness of Miss Rowland of Neath (a descendunt of Phil$ either side of the pu&it, should be of stained glass, with Henry), in response to an appeal made in The Inquirer, portraits in the centre of Matthew Henry and James supplied a rich e~zbarrassment. There came an intensely Martineazk : thus giving a richer tone 2'0 the venerabb interesting and valuable packet of MSS., containing p lace. Diaries, Semons, and Letters of Phil* Henry, and " The book, Matthew Henry and his Chapel, is in Diaries and Letters of Matthew's. Much hlzs never been doing :jirst, and chieyy, because it is worth doing for the published, and this is especial& the case with Matthew's ilztyimic value and historical interest of the records; MS. Now, selection brings its own dficulies, but direct secondly, in the hope that the present minister, who leaves o~zissionstouch the heart. shortly for work under the Liverpool District Missionary I can only trust that the faith of a few enthusiastic, but Association, may have the personal satisfaction of he&ing not wealthy, members of the congregation, who have made to pay ofthe debt, and also of adding dtgnity to the odn! the~~zselvesresponsibk for the extra cost, will not experi- Chapel. ence a shock. It cannot be denied, however, that they have The period embraced is 1662-1900. The events in fgrthered the publication of sonze forty pages of matter Matthew Henry's life, and his father Phil$'s, w2Z be which possesses a perfnanent histovic value. Matthew used to ilZustrate Nonconfomist history." (Prospectus, Henry's account of national afaairs in 1685-6 is much June, 1900.) fuller than Eve&n's. More, it is true, mzght have been crammed into the page, but sonze sense of jtness profnpted The appeal for orders for the book has resulted in the a form in keeping with the subect, list of subscribers p$inied at the end; and, also, in tie l I am indebted to all the writers from whom I take the b jSlr I * liberty to quote, even though our conclusions may so~.;tzetiPnes dzyer. To dissent from the Rev. Alex. Gordon, M.A., Princ$aZ of the Unitarian Howe Missionary College, Manchester, is CONTENTS to jnd onesev in conjict with an authority who is always teaching. His Heads of English Unitarian History, containingessays on Baxter and Priestliy, should be in the CHAP. hands of all who would possess the lanaharks of Ziberal I. PHILIP HENRY . relzgious thought. Ny gratz'tude is given to allgood friends zlho have knt 11. BROAD OAK AND NONCONFORMITY me books: to the Secretary of the Library Co;tnmittee of 111. LONDON . the UZZet Road (late Renshaw Street) Congregation, Livevpool, for the free run of their theological books and IV. " A SHORT ACCOUNT " leave to buvrow in their old " Pa~nphlets: " and especial& to the Librarian and Trustees of Dr. Williams's Library, London, for unfailing courtesy and conside?~ation,No VI. DISSENT AND DOCTRINE . doubt Matthew Henry was hospitable to Dr. WiZlianzs on hisjourneysfrom Dublin to London. VII. THE " SECESSION " I have karned much since this wovk was take8 up, and can on& hope the book may serve to quicken others' interest VIII. RECORDS . in the silent story of Nonconformist history. Personal&, IX. THE MINISTERS . my Knowledge is just enough to cowzfel me to call @on two wen, one, Princ+al Gordon, the other, Professor X. BI-CENTENARY Odgers of Manchester col leg^, OxforaT, to give us at least TRUSTS AND LISTS a Series of Essays on Leading Points in the Develop- ?neat of ReZzlpious Liberty. Between them, each period and APPENDIX section of Dissent wouldget its he. H. D, R. ILLUSTRATIONS May, 1901. INDEX CHAPTER I PHILIP HENRY ATTHEW HENRY'S Chapel has gone by M various names in the past. It was Mr. Henry's Meeting, Protestant Dissenting Chapel, the Chester Meeting, Crook's Lane, Trinity Lane, Crook Street, Trinity Street, the Presbyterian Meeting, " The Chapel where Mr. Gardner officiates," and such like. At the beginning of this century the congregation called it the Unitarian Chapel. And this for a century has been the popular term, whilst, theologically, a true description of the congregation. But it is signifi- cant, that for many years the historical sense has been asserting itself. "Matthew Henry's old chapel," in the fond and familiar words of old association, has gradually settled into "Matthew Henry's Chapel" as an official designation. It is not for nothing that the chapel has of late years publicly borne the name of him for whose first ministration it was built, Most of the old Nonconforming places of worship would go 2 I by the names of their first ministers, as did Mr. and, as we know well, sincerity was the pervading Henry's Meeting House " in Chester, but no other characteristic of his household. to-day, so far as our knowledge extends, thus bears It is fitting, therefore, that we should trace the early present witness to the personality and influence of that fortunes of Philip Henry, and elicit the factors that first or any succeeding minister. rendered the playmate of princes, and the favoured At the least, this testifies to a name well known and recipient of a High Church Archbishop's largesse, long remembered ; and, in truth, this is a Henry Chapel. one of the representative figures of our Noncon- Matthew, the son, lives in his Commentary, the out- formity. No more striking example of the "forced " come of a life study of the Scriptures, and the fruit of nature of "schism " can be found than this son of the the sermons delivered from the old pulpit, that stands King's servant," the god-child of earls and a countess, now, as it did then, in the middle of the north wall: the favourite pupil of Dr. Busby, the brilliant student Philip, the father, lives as a sweet confessor for con- of Christ Church, and, withal, the meek personality science sake, and as the inspirer of his son towards of a one-time Cavalier. that uninterrupted public ministry which was denied There is open before us the original nianuscript ol to himself. his autobiogl-aphy to the end of his university days, In a peculiar degree the father lived in his son. and also an original draft of the biography, by Silenced as a minister for nearly thirty years, he did Matthew his son. These, and the original diaries, not again take up regular duty as the pastor of a are our main sources of information. congregation, till his son had been for two years The paternal grandfather of Matthew was born the ordained and active minister to the congregation July 10, 1590. in the city of The Great Church." Hee was the son of Henry Williains of Britton's Nor could this be without effect upon the home, Ferry, not far from Swansey in Glamorganshire. and the domestic life. The man in whom "was Hee took his Father's Christen-name for his Sir- nothing of a Separatist spirit," yet for whom an name, after the Welsh manner.