Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Back in November of 1983, a couple of members of the first church I pastored, brothers Arnold Smith and Jerry Smith, gave me a six-volume set of the commentary of Matthew Henry (1662–1714).

I have used, enjoyed, and cherished this generous gift. It is devotional, experiential, and practical – quite distinct in this regard from most modern commentaries. When I quote from it, I always quote “Matthew Henry.” However, I have known for many years that Henry died before he completed this work – voluminous as the work he completed is! Recently I decided to check into just exactly what part of the work is his, and what was completed after his death. Long story short, Matthew Henry completed commentary from the book of Genesis through the book of Acts. Friends of Henry completed the rest of the New Testament, Romans through Revelation.

From the Preface to Volume VI, p. iii:

After much expectation, and many enquiries, the last volume of the late reverend Mr. Henry’s Exposition now appears in the world. The common disadvantages that attend posthumous productions will doubtless be discerned in this; but we hope, though there are diversities of gifts, there will be found to be the same spirit. Some of the relations and hearers of that excellent person have been at the pains of transcribing the notes they took in short-hand of this part of the holy scripture, when expounded by him in his family or in the congregation; they have furnished us with very good materials for the finishing of this great work, and we doubt not but that the ministers who have been concerned in it have made that use of those assistances which may entitle this composure to the honour of Mr. Henry’s name; and, if so, they can very willingly conceal their own.

Matthew Henry was a preacher and writer. Six Nonconformist or Dissenting ministers ordained him on May 9, 1687. He founded the Presbyterian Chapel in Trinity Street, Chester, Cheshire, England. A cenotaph in his honour is on a roundabout opposite the entrance to Chester Castle.

The list below is taken from “The Commentators. No. I, Matthew Henry,” by William Lindsay Alexander, in The Journal of Sacred Literature (Vol. I, No. IV, October 1848), pp. 222-233 (specifically p. 223). It names the men who finished the Matthew Henry Commentary.

The notes on Romans “were so complete as to need only to be epitomized and arranged, which was done by Dr. John Evans.” For the rest, Henry’s “friends and admirers...took each one of the remaining books of the New Testament, and endeavoured to write a commentary on it in Henry’s style and method, and in some cases with the help of notes which he had left behind or which had been taken down in short-hand from his pulpit expositions.”

• Romans - John Evans.
• 1 Corinthians - Simon Browne.
• 2 Corinthians - Daniel Mayo.
• Galatians - Joshua Bayes.
• Ephesians - Samuel Rosewell.
• Philippians and Colossians - William Harris.
• 1 & 2 Thessalonians - Daniel Mayo.
• 1 & 2 Timothy - Benjamin Andrews Atkinson.
• Titus & Philemon - Jeremiah Smith.
• Hebrews - William Tong.
• James - S. Wright.
• 1 Peter - Zech. Merrill.
• 2 Peter - Joseph Hill.
• 1, 2, & 3 John - Mr. John Reynolds.
• Jude - John Billingsby (or Billingsley).
• Revelation - William Tong.

These names are also listed on page 7 in later printings of Volume VI. Fleming H. Revell Company of Old Tappan, New Jersey printed the undated edition Arnold and Jerry gave me. It is described as “Carefully Revised and Corrected,” and may be the edition of the commentary described as edited by George Burder and John Hughes in 1811.

Charles H. Spurgeon wrote:

You are aware, perhaps, that the latter part of the New Testament was completed by other hands, the good man having gone the way of all flesh. The writers were Messrs, Evans, Brown, Mayo, Bays, Rosewell, Harriss, Atkinson, Smith, Tong, Wright, Merrell, Hill, Reynolds, and Billingsley--all Dissenting ministers. They have executed their work exceedingly well, have worked in much of the matter which Henry had collected, and have done their best to follow his methods, but their combined production is far inferior to Matthew Henry himself, and any reader will soon detect the difference.

In addition to print sets of the Henry Commentary, it can be found online in various places:

• Bible Gateway
• Blue Letter Bible
• Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• Study Light

The land of lost content

Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.

A. E. Housman

KJV to "UNV" to KJVO: a Journey

As I noted Tuesday, I have written a fair amount regarding the King James Bible. Many people probably assume us “older folks” just grew up with the King James and are therefore predisposed to use it. I suppose there is some truth in that, but it doesn’t reflect the whole story.

My first Bible was a King James Version. For the most part, my memories go back to the early 1960s. Back then in “our” churches everyone used the King James Bible, but there was little talk or teaching about it.[i] Folks just believed their Bible was trustworthy and were skeptical of the new Revised Standard Version. Seems most Baptists in the South warned against the RSV.[ii] The New American Standard Bible was once mentioned in our pulpit by a young visiting preacher. His idea of it was that the NASB was just the KJV with some newer, more up-to-date words (“you” for “thou” type stuff). I think everyone took his statement at face value and there was no action or reaction about it.[iii]

I own several print versions of the Bible, from a first edition facsimile reproduction of the 1611 King James Bible to a New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of the Jehovah’s Witnesses – even a few foreign language Bibles thrown in for good measure (whether I can read them or not!). I don’t I think ever carried a different version of the Bible to use in church, but I was not committed to the sole use of the King James Bible. In Sunday School when I was a nearly-grown teenager I would read from the King James Bible and “translate” it into modern English as I was read (changing pronouns and verbs and such like). I think I had a Living Bible back when those were popular. Most older people used and trusted the King James Bible, but I don’t remember any specific talk or discussion of “King James Only” in our circles.

In the fall after I surrendered to preach, I enrolled in a Bible College – against the better judgment of some and at the urging of others. “The story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent” (though no names are mentioned and no one was innocent). The Bible College was generally conservative but somewhat progressive. They took the position on the Bible that only the original autographs were inspired. Its current doctrinal statement on the subject affirms, “The Holy Scriptures, which we call, ‘The Bible,’ in their original expression, are the Words of God; they are verbally inspired and the author of them is God.” It was here I began my journey back to the King James Bible.

This Bible College was covertly “anti-King James.” They did not appear so outwardly to the churches, but were so within the four walls of their sanctum. I was “UNV” – unaligned and largely unaware of the versions debate. It was the school’s mixed message which eventually caused me to study the subject of Bible versions and decide I preferred the King James Bible. I read books such as Which Bible by David Otis Fuller (pro) and The King James Version Debate by D. A. Carson (con), as well as The Men Behind the King James Version by Gustavus S. Paine (about the translators).[iv]

Most of the instructors at the Bible College were also pastors. Most were from generations that grew up using the King James Bible, and they preached from the King James Bible in their churches.[v] Though they took the position that only the autographs were inspired and that other versions – particularly the NASB – were better than the KJV, they always recommended the student preachers to use the King James Bible when they visited and filled in at churches. In the classroom they spoke plainly about their opinions of the King James Bible. In the pulpit – not so much! One leading professor emphatically exclaimed to his class (which I was in), “I had just as soon use a Catholic Bible as an Anglican Bible.”[vi] In my second year one of the instructors began a chapel series on one of the letters of Peter.[vii] The lesson began with his translation from the Greek (UBS/Nestle-Aland) and proceeded with a litany of what was wrong with the King James translation of this or that. After several weeks I had more of this than I could take and quit going to chapel. I can only assume that the series continued in the anti-KJV rhetoric with which it began. At the end of the year I concluded that higher-learning experience and did not return. The quest of learning about the Bible continued as part of my larger journey of learning about the church.

So there you have it. A journey. An outwardly neutral anti-KJV school took an unaligned student and turned him toward a KJV-Only supporter. It doesn’t make me right or wrong, but it is my journey. It is not what many people might suppose about (so-called) “older” King James Bible supporters. It is not just a default position.

---

[i] For example, the Sunday School material used the King James Bible, but a writer might comment on a Greek or Hebrew word and suggest “a better translation.” Back then I don’t suppose any of our people had ever even heard of “KJVO.”

[ii] I believe the American Baptist Association, Baptist Missionary Association, and Southern Baptist Convention all made resolutions against it.

[iii] His idea was incorrect, though he may have believed what he said.

[iv] These are a sample of where I started my search.

[v] There was one exception of which I was aware. He used the NASB.

[vi] But he didn’t use the Catholic Bible – and he did use the Anglican Bible.

[vii] I forget whether it was First or Second Peter. I think it was First and that he eventually went through both.

Mother and The Sacred Harp

Last week Sacred Harp singer Raymond Hamrick passed away. He was 99 years old. My mother is 99 years old as well. She was born a couple of months before Mr. Hamrick. This connection got me to thinking about Mother and The Sacred Harp.

Like Mr. Hamrick, she has a life-long (99-year) history with The Sacred Harp. Unlike Mr. Hamrick, she was not a singer and will leave lasting memories on but few Sacred Harp singers. Mother was born into a community full of singers and singing. When she was young there was a monthly Sunday afternoon singing, as well as an annual singing. Her great Uncle Joe (Joseph Andrew) Chapman (grandfather's uncle) was a leading figure in the community singings and keyed the music until his health no longer permitted him to participate. Her Uncle Joe (Joseph C.) Chapman (grandfather's brother) was an active singer who also served as an area agent for the early Cooper editions of The Sacred Harp before his untimely death in 1912. "Daddy Bob" Chapman (mother's father) was also an active singer in his youth, though some circumstances of his later life seems to have driven his primary singing venue to the front porch.

It was there on that front porch that granddaddy would lay down on an old straight back chair, pull out his song book and sing the songs of the old Sacred Harp. It was there on that front porch that he tried to interest his little girl (Mother was the baby of the family) in singing those old songs. Mother remembers that she was more interested in running around playing than stopping to sing with her Daddy, as he belted out the likes of fa-fa-la-la-fa-fa-sol-fa-la; fa-fa-la-sol-fa-fa-fa; Saviour visit thy plantation, Grant us, Lord, a gracious rain.

As long as I can remember Mother has been hard of hearing, which has progressed to almost zero hearing without a hearing aid at the present. She was never an active singer even before that. But she has attended, supported, cooked for and been a permanent fixture of singings in Rusk County -- both Sacred Harp and "little book" -- for nine decades. Probably only a small cadre of singers now living even know who she is.

She hardly ever leaves her house now. One of her complaints before she stopped going to church services was that "they never sing the old songs." Now, understand, this church doesn't use any book that was printed after 1960 (54 years ago)! So "old" and "new" is quite relative here. When she complained that they don't sing the old songs, she means she didn't hear enough of the old songs from her youth -- meaning mostly the old church songs that are also common to The Sacred Harp.

She loves the old Harp songs, but, as she didn't mind complaining about the church's repertoire of songs, she also didn't mind noticing that there were some songs she didn't like. If I'm careful, you'll never hear me complain about any Sacred Harp song. I may have better and best categories, but I don't call any of them bad. Mother wasn't worried about such niceties. I don't remember now which songs she didn't like -- perhaps because I didn't want to hear negative comments about any of the old Sacred Harp songs -- but I do remember that she complained about one because it seemed like they were singing the same thing over and over and over. What would she think of the contemporary choruses??

Granddaddy probably thought he was unsuccessful in teaching his little girl to sing, but even today she will randomly burst into fa-fa-la-la-fa-fa-sol-fa-la; fa-fa-la-sol-fa-fa-fa -- well remembered after all those years even if her hearing won't let her hit just the right pitch intervals. Several months ago after a particular session of Mother lamenting about not hearing the old songs, I went and got my Sacred Harp book and we sat there in the two easy chairs and sang many of "the old songs". She sang along as best her hearing would allow, and I do believe that if I added up all the 56 years I've known her, that is the most singing I've ever heard from my Mother.

These thoughts may not mean much to those who don't know Mother, and I may express my meaning in a stumbling way. But I guess, apart from just reminiscing, I mostly aim to say that Sacred Harp needs both its Raymond Hamricks and its back seat supporters who may live and die unnoticed except to those who know them best.

Vaughn ordinations

Last Monday (April 21, 2014) we laid to rest the body of Gilford Harris Vaughn in the Land of Memories Cemetery, Palestine, Texas, to await the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thinking about his ministry and his passing, I noticed a curious coincidence I had never noticed before.

In 1897, Gilford's grandfather (and my great-grandfather) Marshall L. Vaughn was ordained by Smyrna Baptist Church. 43 years later, in 1940 Gilford H. Vaughn was ordained by Smyrna Baptist Church in 1940. 43 years after that, Robert L. Vaughn was ordained by Smyrna Baptist Church in 1983.

Marshall L. Vaughn gave the charge at the ordination of Gilford Vaughn. Gilford Vaughn gave the charge at the ordination of Robert Vaughn. V. S. Lyles served on both ordination councils. He was clerk at Robert Vaughn's ordination. He wrote of Gilford Vaughn's charge, "Bro. Gilford Vaughn, a Former Member of Smyrna Baptist Church and pastor of Cross Roads Baptist Church, Normangee, Texas, brought the CHARGES to the Candidate and the Church. Reading Acts 20:27-32 and II Tim. 1:8, then He Charged The Church to Pray for Bro. ROBERT, and hold him up at a Throne of Grace of GOD. And to support the Ministery. (It was a good message.)"

The Ring of Repugnance

I wrote the following for a different venue. Since I have been busy and behind on my posts, I decided to post it here. Buell Cobb spoke plain truth into sundry sad hearts when he penned this, below. And it spurred me to put down some thoughts. I hope you can endure them, for they are written mostly for cathartic reasons.

"For a couple of generations in that era [50s-70s], Sacred Harp lay well within the South's ring of repugnance. Like other cultural carryovers from its rural past, 'fasola singing' smelled of primitive, uncouth things, of tattered, old-fashioned ways. Dirt roads and old country churches. Outhouses and no air-conditioning. Predominantly elderly folk in unfashionable garb putting tunes up high with their cracked voices. Dinner-on-the-grounds, in the heat of the day, with flies and sweat bees and yellow jackets. The whole scene could seem to represent everything an up-and-coming youth from the area would want to leave behind – and did." (Buell Cobb, in Like Cords Around My Heart, p. 25)

When East Texas singer/songwriter/teacher Jno. W. Miller (363, 522, 524, Cooper Book) wrote about Sacred Harp, announced singings, and so on, he often spoke of "singing the songs our fathers and mothers sang." It was a recurring theme with him. Many with rural roots across the South have long forgotten "the songs our fathers and mothers sang" – yea, even forcibly banished them from their minds. If I were a mind to, I could name names of folks my age whose father, mother, uncle, aunt, or grandparents were active Sacred Harp singers – and yet they act as if they've never heard of such a thing. Want to leave, and did. Indeed!

As I reflect on this in my own case, I begin with the musings of the hymn-writer in the Lloyd's book (No. 297) – "Oh! why was I not left behind." For a brief time and perhaps less intensely than others, I was embarrassed by my poor and rural roots – especially after we left the country school and went to school in town. I could (and did) escape in my mind, but I've never lived outside the county where I was born. I was the baby of the family, the "Last of the Mohicans" my mother would say. My parents were old enough to be the grandparents of most of my friends. In some of my teenage years I found this embarrassing. (But to spread the blame and ease the pain, what teenager isn't embarrassed by his or her parents?) What was my pain and embarrassment turned to my salvation – old parents, stuck in some old ways (and, perhaps, also not being too ambitious!). It took awhile, but there was an underlying cord, a bond, that would not let me go. Sure, growing up, the old Sacred Harp seemed to me like it was something reserved for old people. But there was something about those old songs. Even in church I preferred songs like PISGAH and FIRM FOUNDATION over songs like I'LL FLY AWAY and I'LL MEET YOU IN THE MORNING (not that I don't like those).

Nearly grown, I began to do things like buy an "antique" peanut sheller (for only $3; I still have it), get a crosscut saw, and learn to plough behind a horse. Daddy never owned a "real" tractor (he bought an old used David Bradley walk-behind once), but being "the baby" I had escaped learning (or having to do) some things the older ones learned or did. Perhaps this relearning was the beginning of entering back inside "the ring of repugnance" of things in tattered garments, things that smelled old, primitive. Sacred Harp is so much more than that, more than enjoying something antique, more than nostalgia. But it is that, too. Maybe it could begin there for some of you?

Growing up in the country, I've seen that lush grass the cows won't eat around the cow pile. It's noticeable from afar off. But I had never before heard the expression "the ring of repugnance." Doing a little research online, I found the following from a Santa Rosa Junior College student (presumably scientifically accurate). I hope it isn't too repugnant for you! He explains that there are spores of a slime mold that must pass through a cow's digestive system to be degraded enough to germinate. "They are deposited in the dung, which is their nutriment. But the cow will not eat grass within a certain radius of its excreta. So...[the slime mold] must shoot the spores beyond the 'ring of repugnance' around the dung in which the cow will not eat to land on the grass, be consumed once again, pass through the cow's digestive system...for another cycle."

To my rural friends, I say, "Come home, come home, ye who are weary, come home; Sacred Harp, rural roots, all of them are calling – come home." We wish you were here. Don't forget who you are.

The glory days may be gone forever, but we can press on. I don't want to carry the analogy too far, but there is a lesson here. We must "shoot the spores beyond the 'ring of repugnance'." Hugh McGraw excelled at doing that. Others have stepped up to "shoot spores" to regions beyond. Some of us in rural settings haven't well learned the technique, or maybe are too stuck on what worked in the past, or perhaps we just smell too bad to get anyone to approach!

Awake, my soul, in joyful songs,
And press with vigor on;
A heav’nly race demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.

Awake! awake my soul!
And press with vigor on;
Awake, awake, press onward now
’Till all thy work is done.
(The Christian's Race)

With sincerest apologies,

I Remember Sacred Harp Singing

The following reminiscence was written by Oran Heaton Griffith (1914--2004). Brother O. H. Griffith was born in Panola County, Texas -- once a hotbed of Sacred Harp activity -- and was an active Baptist minister for over 60 years. His father W. G. Griffith was a Baptist minister and a Sacred Harp singer (Bro. Greer's memorial marker mentions his singing Sacred Harp solfege to songs other than Sacred Harp, e.g. Jesus Loves Me). After Brother O. H.'s retirement brought him back to our area he attended our singing as long as he was able. During his service as Editor-in-Chief of the Baptist Sunday School Committee he was involved in compiling the American Baptist Hymnal.

Bro. Griffith credited the "help of Lewis Vaughn and D. J. Burks" in preparation of the following article, which was mainly intended for the churches of his association he figured had largely forgotten about Sacred Harp. I found it interesting, and thought it might be so to some of the readers. I don't know exactly when this was written, but I'd guess the early 1980's.

I Remember Sacred Harp Singing

They came from miles around and from every direction: wagons, buggies and Model T Ford cars. They were filled with men, women and children. When they arrived, children piled out of the wagons and cars and soon were engaged in childhood games. The men greeted each other with a warm handshake. Most of the women embraced. Each family brought a large box, "hump-back" trunk, or a #3 washtub filled with good "ole" country food: fried chicken, dumplings, dressings, salmon patties and whatever vegetables were in season. Previously men had set up long tables on the ground. Several vinegar barrels had been filled with water and a tin drinking cup hung on each. Inside the church house several benches had bee arranged in a "hollow square".

The PLACE could have been any large community with a church house. The TIME, July or August of the 1920's or 1930's. The OCCASION, a Sacred Harp Singing. About ten o'clock several men and women assembled inside the church house to sing. Some of those who did not sing would visit on the outside, control the children and guard the food against a raid by the community dogs. Others would go inside to listen to the singing.

The previously arranged hollow square accommodated the singers. Each of the four-part harmonies occupied one side of the square. The parts were treble, tenor (soprano), alto and bass. A man would be selected as "keyer". He would begin each song by sounding one or all the voice parts, and "pitch" it within a voice range comfortable to all. With the starting tone in mind, the singers could read their parts by following the shaped notes. There was no musical accompaniment, so the singers would go through one verse singing the notes: fa, sol, la, mi, somewhat like a church pianist playing through a song once to familiarize the singers with the melody. Then they sang the words, keeping time time with hand and arm, or toe-tapping.

Both men and women would lead a song. When a woman led, a man courteously stood up to keep the time for her. It was mostly an adult exercise, but usually a few teenagers participated. And, nearly always there would be at least one child, maybe not even of school age, who would lead a song. The child might stand on a low table in the middle of the square and direct the song entirely from memory. A high point for many, especially for the children, was when singing dismissed for "dinner on the ground." After dinner, the singers reassembled and sang for another two or three hours.

Today Sacred Harp is thought of as "folk music," and I guess it is, but it was sung with deep religious feelings. Some of the songs may be found in most church hymnals. This style of singing originated in England, and was brought to America by the Pilgrims. Today it is found only in the United States, and mostly in the South. However, in recent years some young people in Chicago, and the New England areas have organized classes of Sacred Harp singers. Several annual conventions are conducted in East Texas, one in Henderson. Most of the early churches used the Sacred Harp as their hymnbook. A few continued to use it to near the mid-twentieth century.

[The help of Lewis Vaughn and D. J. Burks in preparation of this article is gratefully acknowledged.] by O. H. Griffith

Old Shiloh

Attended the Old Shiloh Cemetery picnic today. I think it is one of the few East Texas homecomings we still call a picnic.

The Old Shiloh Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Rusk County, and a very large country cemetery. The first recorded burial is 1853. The picnic is only a shadow of its former days. Once there were two churches at Shiloh and two singings -- one "little book" and one Sacred Harp. By the time I came along, the old church (org. circa 1843) and the Sacred Harp Singing had died out, and there was only the little-book singing in the Southern Baptist Church (org. 1902). It was a big deal in the days of my youth. It was probably the largest picnic gathering/singing in the area. In addition to singers and those who had family in the cemetery, it was big draw for politicians and singing groups. The church house was always full and overflowing. Today perhaps a third the building was filled. The singing crowd was bigger than the last time I attended. The overall crowd was much smaller.

Tradition has it that the picnic as we know began in 1867 when my great-grandfather's sister, Susan E. Vaughn Pierce (wife of Wylie Matthew Pierce), and others met for a picnic and cemetery cleaning day.

The cemetery is located just east of Hwy. 315, about 6 miles northeast of Mt. Enterprise, Texas.