MHCC 28: Bishop Patrick

In Matthew Henry's Commentary, he often refers to the "learned bishop Patrick." For those reading along in the Matthew Henry Commentary Challenge, and for others who may be interested, it is worthwhile to note that Henry is not referring to St. Patrick, Bishop of Ireland, but Bishop Simon Patrick (1626-1707), the Biblical commentator. The reader will note that Henry refers to, often quotes, and relied significantly upon, Patrick's Commentary on the Historical and Poetical Books of the Old Testament (1693-1727) which covers from Genesis to the Song of Solomon. In the preface to the first volume of his commentary, Henry writes:

The learned have of late received very great advantage in their searches into this part of holy writ, and the books that follow (and still hope for more), by the excellent and most valuable labours of that great and good man bishop Patrick, whom, for vast reading, solid judgment, and a most happy application to these best of studies, even in his advanced years and honours, succeeding ages no doubt will rank among the first three of commentators, and bless God for him.

Patrick was convinced of episcopal church government, despite being trained by men such as Herbert Palmer, the Westminster divine, and yet, as an irenic man, he was friendly towards nonconformists, even in the post-Restoration era. His commentary and devotional works have long been appreciated for their gospel flavor. Patrick himself was a patron of Matthew Poole's Latin Synopsis Criticorum.

The Comprehensive Commentary upon the Holy Bible refers to Patrick thus:

He was a sincere Christian, an excellent scholar, a judicious commentator, an able writer, and a worthy, honest man. His style of writing was easy and pleasant; his attachment to truth inviolable and active. His works are replete with sound sense and true religion; and his 'Sermons,' 'Tracts against Popery,' and 'Paraphrases and Commentaries upon the Holy Scriptures,' justly entitle him to the eulogy of [Gilbert] Burnet, 'that he was an honor to the church, and to the age in which he lived.'

As a young man, as he records in his Autobiography, found in his Works, Vol. 9, pp. 424-425, he wrote "in a little book that...set out a great many rules and admonitions to himself, which argue...to be well disposed to do God service." These provide a window into his soul and are therefore worth noting here:

Remember thy promises when made a minister. Remember the preciousness of a soul; how much we should do for its good. Read St. Chrysostom xxix. Hom. in Rom. Observe every good motion in thy spirit, and cherish them. Let them not die, lest God's Spirit depart from thee. Consider often how long thou hast lived, and how ignorant still thou art: now almost twenty-seven years old, and yet a child. Pray to God to learn thee the divine skill of working truths into thy heart as principles of life; that they may be as fixed and settled there, as the understanding and will, and all the natural faculties are.

Remember my father's saying, "The more you spend, the more you have; viz. in spiritual things."

Look upon prayer as that which, in the very act of it, brings thee the blessing thou most desirest. For when we beg any heavenly quality, if our mind be intent towards it, that very intention works and frames our soul into that disposition. We become more able to act any virtue, by desiring it earnestly in prayer.

Embrace that which is good in any man, and look not strangely upon him because he differs from thee in some opinions.

Be moderate in thy desires of what thou hast not; and moderate in the use of what thou hast.

Be sure to mend that in thyself which thou observest dost exceedingly displease thee in others.

By such meditations as these, (which I shall not further relate,) I find my endeavour was, blessed be God, to frame myself to a holy temper of mind; having no other design in the world (as it there follows in a pious desire) but to be good and to do good; no other interest but to please God, and to enjoy him and glorify his name.

And now you know a little about the "learned bishop Patrick" to whom Matthew Henry alludes.

Puritan Polymath

John Wallis is a name perhaps better known to 21st century mathematicians than 21st century church-goers. But he is worth highlighting because he was, as it were, a Puritan polymath, or Renaissance man, versatile in so many ways. His list of credentials and accomplishments is a marvel to read. He

• Studied under Martin Holbeach (1597-1670), a noted Puritan educator, who also taught Isaac Barrow

• Was the protégé of Herbert Palmer

• Was a Minister of the Gospel

• Served as amenuensis to the scribes of the Westminster Assembly

• Was influential in the preparation and design of the Westminster Shorter Catechism

• Was the author of the first exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (1648)

• Was an Ardent defender of the doctrines of the Trinity, Infant Baptism and the Christian Sabbath

• Was a leading mathematician who is partially responsible for the development of modern calculus, credited with proposing Wallis' Product, introduced the term "continued fraction", coined the phrase "interpolation"

• Was perhaps the first to maintain the theory of circulation of blood in a public disputation

• Was involved in a plan to teach deaf-mutes how to speak

• Authored an English grammar for native speakers and foreigners

• Served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and the royal court between 1643-1689

• Was one of the first members of the Royal Society

• Was appointed Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford

• Is credited with introducing the ∞ symbol for infinity

• Was the last surviving member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (d. October 28, 1703) at the age of 87. [Thomas Case was the last nonconforming Westminster Divine, having died on May 30, 1684, at the age of 84.]

• His autobiography provides the last first-hand account of the proceedings of the Westminster Assembly

• Asteroid 31982 Johnwallis is named for him

His intellectual gifts were astounding. Wikipedia writes:

One aspect of Wallis's mathematical skills has not yet been mentioned, namely his great ability to do mental calculations. He slept badly and often did mental calculations as he lay awake in his bed. One night he calculated the square root of a number with 53 digits in his head. In the morning he dictated the 27 digit square root of the number, still entirely from memory. It was a feat which was rightly considered remarkable, and Henry Oldenburg, the Secretary of the Royal Society, sent a colleague to investigate how Wallis did it. It was considered important enough to merit discussion in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of 1685.

Wallis gives his own account of the matter in a letter to Thomas Smith of Madalene College, which is found in the Spectator, Vol. LII (1879), p. 11 and reproduced by E.W. Scripture, "Arithmetical Prodigies," in The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. IV (April 1891), p. 38:

December 22d, 1669. -- In a dark night, in bed, without pen, ink or paper or anything equivalent, I did by memory extract the square root of 30000,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000, which I found to be 1,77205,08075,68077,29353, fere, and did the next day commit it to writing.

February 18th, 1670. -- Johannes Georgius Pelshower (Regimontannus Borussus) giving me a visit, and desiring an example of the like, I did that night propose to myself in the dark without help to my memory a number in 53 places: 2468135791011112141113151618207192122242628302325272931 of which I extracted the square root in 27 places: 157103016871482805817152171 proxime; which numbers I did not commit to paper till he gave me another visit, March following, which I did from memory dictate them to him.

Yours, etc.,
John Wallis

The discussion by church historians of his role and influence on the productions of the Westminster Assembly may be of particular interest.

William M. Hetherington, History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, pp. 259-260:

It has been also conjectured, that the first outline of the Catechism may have been drawn by Dr. Wallis, one of the scribes of the Assembly at that period, and afterwards so justly celebrated as Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford, and one of the first mathematicians of the age. This conjecture may have arisen from the fact that he wrote a short treatise, entitled, "A Brief and Easy Explanation of the Shorter Catechism;" which was so much approved of by the Assembly that they caused it to be presented to both Houses of Parliament. But in truth, as has been already suggested, the framing of the Catechism appears to have been the work of the committee, and not of any one individual; and it was brought to its present admirable degree of nearness to perfection by the united deliberations of the whole Assembly.

Chad Van Dixhoorn, The Making of the Westminster Larger Catechism:

Having outlined the historical purpose of the Larger Catechism, it still seems appropriate to ask why the Catechism had to be written. After all, respected teachers in Britain had composed good catechisms; Calvin’s catechism was in the bookstores and so was the Heidelberg Catechism. Why could the Assemblymen not agree to use one of these catechisms for purposes of unity and instruction?

One answer has to do with the structure or format of earlier catechisms that the majority of Westminster divines did not like. In the eighth edition of A Brief and Easie Explanation of the Shorter Catechism, a young divine named John Wallis, explains the Assembly’s unique method in setting up the catechism: “The Assembly was careful that all the Answers might be entire sentences by themselves, without depending for their sense upon the foregoing Question, being indeed so many distinct Aphorisms, containing briefly the grounds of Christian Religion.” One benefit of this structure, in Wallis’s view,

is that the learner is not necessitated to charge his memory with the Questions, that he may understand the Answer [sic]; nor is the like danger, as in many other Catechisms, of confounding the understanding by misapplying the Answer to a wrong Question. Their Questions also are so framed, that any one of them may be asked singly and distinctly, without dependance on the Question foregoing.14

14. John Wallis, A Brief and Easie Explanation of the Shorter Catechism Presented by the Assembly of Divines in Westminster, to both Houses of Parliament, and By them Approved. Wherein the Meanest Capacities may in a Speedy and Easie way be Brought to Understand the Principles of Religion, in Imitation of a Catechism, formerly published by Master Herbert Palmer, B. D. and late Master of Queens College (eighth ed., London: for Jane Underhill, 1662), preface. I am grateful to Jason M. Rampelt for bringing this preface to my attention in conversation.

A.F. Mitchell, The Westminster Assembly: Its History and Standards, pp. 430-431:

From first to last, it appears to me in its [the Westminster Shorter Catechism's] clear, condensed, and at times almost frigidly logical definitions, to give unmistakeable evidence of its having passed through the alembic of Dr. Wallis, the great mathematician, the friend of Palmer, the opponent of Hobbes and the Socinians, and probably the last survivor of those connected with the great Assembly who was not ashamed to speak of the benefit he had derived from its discussions during the preparation of its Confession and Catechisms, long after he had conformed to the Church of the Restoration.

James Reid, speaking of his published sermons, Memoirs of the Westminster Divines, Vol. 2, p. 214, sums up his most important qualities:

In these sermons [of Dr. John Wallis], the reader may see both the author's learning and piety; with the Calvinistic doctrines of the Reformation, and of the Holy Scriptures. They may indeed be accounted too Puritannical by some persons; but they will not be the less acceptable on that account to others. The style is plain, and the matter excellent.

Christian Paradoxes

In 1645, Herbert Palmer published Memorials of Godlinesse and Christianitie. Part I contains meditations on "making religion one's business" and an appendix on the calling of a minister. Part II contains "The Character of a Christian in Paradoxes and seeming Contradictions," "A Proof or Character of visible Godliness," "Some general Considerations to excite watchfulness, and to shake off spiritual drousiness," "Remedies against carefulness [anxiety]," and "The Soul of Fasting." Part III contains "A Daily Direction, or, Brief Rules for daily Conversation" and "A particular Direction for the Lord's-Day."

The "Paradoxes" are a series of wise aphorisms noting seeming contradictions in the life of a believer.

Palmer died in 1647. That same year, Ralph Venning published Orthodox paradoxes theoretical and experimental; or, a believer clearing truth by seeming contradictions : With an appendix of the Triumph of assurance over the law, sin, the world, wants, present enjoyments. To which is added the new command renewed, or, love one another; with ten rules for the right understanding of scripture by Ralph Venning, A.M.

In 1648, an edition of the Remaines of Francis Bacon included Palmer's Christian Paradoxes attributed to Bacon, not Palmer, and for a long time many assumed the Paradoxes were Bacon's. Venning's Orthodox Paradoxes, meanwhile, was clearly derived from Palmer's Christian Paradoxes, although without attribution (Palmer published 85 paradoxes, Venning published 299). These facts were made clear in 1865 when Alexander Grosart published Lord Bacon not the author of "The Christian paradoxes" (reprinted in 2008 by Angell Press and available at Amazon). The sorting out of who wrote what is worth reading, but most especially worth reading, and pondering, is Palmer's Christian Paradoxes. A sampling of his aphorisms is below:

1. A Christian is one, who believes things which his reason cannot comprehend.

5. He believes Three to be One, and One to be Three; A Father not be elder then his Son, and the Son to be equal with his Father, and one proceeding from both to be fully equall to both.

6. He believes in one Nature three Persons, and in one Person two Natures.

7. He belives a Virgin to have been a Mother, and her Son to be her Maker.

22. He is rich in poverty, and poor in the midst of riches.

25. He loses his life and gains by it, and even while he loses it, he saves it.

36. He loves all men as himself, yet hates some men with perfect hatred.

40. He is a peacemaker, yet continually fighting, and an irreconcilable enemy.

54. He confesses he can do nothing; yet as truly professes he can do all things.

68. He cannot sinne, yet he can do nothing without sin.

71. He is a Serpent and a Dove, a Lamb and a Lion, a Reed and a Cedar.

74. He believes like Abraham, in hope and against hope: and though he can never answer God's Logick, yet with the woman of Canaan he hopes to prevail with the Rhetorick of importunity.

80. After he begins to live he is ever dying; and though he have an eternal life begun in him, yet he makes account he hath a death to pass through.

If the World Hated Him, Yet God Would Love Him

Sinclair B. Ferguson, "Puritans - Ministers of the World," in The Westminster Directory of Public Worship Discussed by Mark Dever & Sinclair Ferguson, pp. 37-38:

...Puritan ministers were tremendously conscious of the privilege of the high calling they had received.

One such was Herbert Palmer (1601-47), the gifted upper-class bachelor who became one of the Assessors of the Westminster Assembly. He was widely believed to be its best catechist.

Palmer himself knew what it was to be catechized. Asked when he was only a five year old what he wanted to be he replied that he hoped to be a minister. When others tried to dissuade him by telling him that ministers were 'hated, despised, and accounted as the off scouring of the world', little Palmer nobly replied 'It was no matter for that; for if the world hated him, yet God would love him.'22

Perhaps more than anything else, this was the heartbeat of Puritan ministry at its best.

The love of Christ constrained them to be ambassadors. That constraint invested their preaching with impassioned appeal.

The fact that their ministry was that of an ambassador drove them to the study of their Sovereign's message.

The knowledge that their Master was the Sovereign Lord gave them confidence that their mission would not, indeed could not, in the last analysis, fail.

This was the spirit that had gripped little Palmer from his earliest days.

Well might we pray today, 'Lord, will you not raise up Herbert Palmers in our day too?'

22. Samuel Clarke, The Lives of Thirty-Two English Divines, London, 1677, 3rd. ed., p. 184.

Westminster Huguenots

Prior to the Synod of Dort, the Synod of the Reformed Churches of France meeting at Cevennes had delegated Pierre Du Moulin (Paris), André Rivet (Thouars), Jean Chauve (Sommieres) and Daniel Chamier (Montauban) to attend. However, after notice was received from King Louis XIII that the government of France refused permission for these men to leave the country, a set of empty chairs was set up in the assembly in honor of the absent French Huguenots. Chamier was later killed in 1621 by the forces of King Louis XIII.

However, several decades later, the situation at the Westminster Assembly was different. The Assembly was intended as an Assembly of British and Scottish divines; however, as England was a place of refuge for French Huguenots who still experienced persecution in France at the time, at least Westminster Divines were in fact French Huguenots: 1) Philip Delmé or Delmy, pastor of the French Reformed (Walloon) Church of Canterbury, a supperadded divine who participated in the committee responsible for producing the Shorter Catechism; 2) John (Jean) de la Marche of Guernsey, pastor of the French Reformed Church of London (which is still in existence); and 3) Samuel de la Place of Jersey, also pastor of the French Reformed Church of London. All of these men favored Presbyterian polity. It may be added that Edmund Calamy's father was a French Huguenot. Herbert Palmer also was able to preach in French as well as English. The Westminster Assembly was very conscious of its sister churches on the Continent, including the French Reformed Churches, and the participation in the Assembly of at least three French Huguenots, and at least one son of a French Huguenot, is an indication of the Assembly's desire, like that of the Synod of Dort, to express its affinity with its French Reformed brethren. The place of Jersey and Guernsey within the British empire, as well as the hospitable welcome given to French refugees on the British isle itself, also ensured French Huguenot participation in the Assembly.

Herbert Palmer's Directions for the Lord's Day

Herbert Palmer was a Westminster Divine who co-authored perhaps the largest Puritan treatise on the Christian Sabbath, Sabbatum Redivivum. He wrote of the Lord's Day elsewhere in his Memorials (part III) and provides here succinct directions for keeping the day holy.

PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS FOR THE LORD'S-DAY.

1. Remember it before it comes, for thy self and family, that none of the sacred time be lost, through worldly business occasioned by putting it off carelessly, wilfully; or sleepiness, by too much tiring out thy spirits over night, by overwatching or overworking.

2. Count it a day of spirituall liberty, wherein thou and thine, may without interruption converse with God, and benefit your souls.

3. Unless upon true necessity, make it not shorter than other dayes, by late rising, or early going to bed.

4. Rather, as much as thy body and spirit will give leave, inlarge it, as a delightfull opportunity of good, by rising earlier, and sitting up, as long as thou canst.

5. Count the publick assemblies, the solemnest service of the day, and let no pretence, ordinarily, hinder thee or thine; from being present, from the first (continuing to the last) both morning and afternoon.

6. Let all private and family-duties tend to fit thee for, or to improve the publick.

7. Neglect not to take a through account of thy self, of every main parcel of the Word, publickly read; namely of the several parts, one by one, the several psalms and chapters, and learn somewhat from every one of them.

8. The better to do this, discourse with those that are willing to hear and answer, or such as may not refuse (as thy inferiors) concerning each of these. This will help to remember, and quicken spiritual attention, of profitable things to be learned, above that which one would imagine. We lose much benefit of the Word, because we do not bend our minds to it.

9. As the mainest rule of wisdom, in the ordering of time this day, to the best advantage; bethink thy self overnight, or in the morning early, or both, what the present frame and temper of thy mind is, and what thou wantest, that thou maiest study for a remedy to supply; and watch what God will speak to thee in his Word, or by his minister about it, that day.

10. Pray that thou maist be attentive to what specially concerns thee, and particularly the matters so thought upon; and that without mistake, and specially without repugnance of spirit.

11. Admit not, as much as lies in thee, any unnecessary worldly discourse, no not at meals; rather then look most to it, as being the time of greatest danger ordinarily.

12. Much less begin any worldly discourse, whether among Christians, or other persons.

13. Rather than squander away those precious hours, or even minutes upon the world or vanity, if thou canst with any convenience, retire thy self, and sit alone in thy chamber.

14. By thy good will, admit not of any worldly thoughts being alone, or silent in company.

15. But pray, read, meditate, go into good company, if any be neer: sleep were better, if any need of it, than when God and thy conscience call for thy thoughts (which are the preciousest things thou hast) to bestow them upon the world or vanity.

16. Neglect not thy usual personal devotions, but rather enlarge them.

17. Take special care to improve to the uttermost the Word preached that day, by prayer, discourse, meditation.

18. Take heed of the least excess in thy diet, that thy soul lose not of her nourishment, by that means.

19. Yet afflict not thy body ordinarily by fasting or overspare diet, least that also interrupt thee somewhat; besides that it sutes not so properly with a day of rejoycing, as this is.

20. Before thou go to rest, fail not to consider, what this day thou hast gained or lost, that thou maist give thanks or pray.

The God of all wisdom and peace, teach us to know His will, and practice what we know more and more to his glory, and our everlasting comfort, through Jesus Christ. Amen.