Matthew Poole's Church

Matthew Poole pastored at only one church during his ministry -- in 1649, he succeeded Westminster Divine Anthony Tuckney as pastor of St. Michael-le-Querne, in London. He served there, and participated in the London Provincial Assembly, until he was ejected for nonconformity in 1662. At one point (1654), he wrote The Blasphemer Slain by the Sword of the Spirit, a defense of the orthodox doctrine of the Deity of the Holy Spirit in opposition to the heretical teaching of John Biddle, and dedicated the work to the members of his congregation. In 1666, the church was destroyed by the Great Fire of London. In the aftermath of the fire, many churches were rebuilt, but St. Michael-le-Querne was not. Today, the site of the church near downtown London is the location of a coffee shop, Caffè Nero.

New Matthew Poole Biography

Thomas Harley has published a new biography entitled Matthew Poole: His Life, His Times, His Contributions Along with His Argument against The Infallibility of the Roman Catholic Church (February 2009). As noted by The Matthew Poole Project, it is available for purchase here.

Matthew Poole (1624–79), author of the famous Synopsis Criticorum Biblicum, was a seventeenth century ecclesiastical leader, nonconformist, apologist, and minister in England. Poole is best remembered for his Synopsis in the scholarly Latin tongue, and the English language Annotations upon the Holy Bible (the modern day A Commentary on the Holy Bible) written for the layperson. These works were highly valued by such divines as Charles Spurgeon and Jonathan Edwards.

Poole began his literary life by submitting to publication a significant treatise against John Biddle’s writings on the Holy Spirit. He also gave his name to the endorsement of two published tracts: one against the Quakers and the other an evangelistic appeal upon the occasion of a notorious murderer in London.

Learn more about Poole’s fascinating life and the numerous controversies in which he was engaged. The controversy that consumed most of his energy and time was his argument against the infallibility of the Roman Catholic Church, saying that Catholics have no grounding for their faith and that Protestants have a very firm grounding for faith in the Scriptures.