All I can find are three quotations. The first is from the Bible Presbyterians really good resource on the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Matthew Henry has left the following testimony in his Treatise on Baptism: “I cannot but take occasion to express my gratitude to God for my infant baptism; not only as it was an early admission into the visible body of Christ, but as it furnished my pious parents with a good argument (and, I trust, through grace, a prevailing argument) for an early dedication of my own self to God in my childhood. If God has wrought any good work upon my soul, I desire with humble thankfulness, to acknowledge the moral influence of my infant baptism upon it.” (s0urce)
And then there is Alexander Campbell in the Millennial Harbinger:
Matthew Henry. “In baptism,” says he, “our names are engraved upon the heart of this Great high Priest. God doth in this ordinance seal and make over to us all the benefits of the death of Christ. Baptism seals the promise of God’s being to me a God.” Treatise on Baptism, p. 12, 40, 42.
And finally, there is a blogger who posts the following as from Matthew Henry’s “Treatise on Baptism.”
As far as the parents are concerned, we are sure, that the children are not so regenerated, as not to need good instructions, when they become capable of them, and yet are so regenerated, that if they die in infancy, parents may take comfort from their baptism in reference to their salvation: and as to the children, when they grow up, we are sure, that their baptismal regeneration, without something more, is not sufficient to bring them to heaven: and yet it may be urged, (as I said before,) in praying to God to give them grace, and in persuading them to submit to it.
This last sounds uncannily like something I’ve seen from Holifield’s The Covenant Sealed. Does anyone have access to Matthew Henry’s treatise so I can verify these quotations and see the context?
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptMatthew Henry has left the following testimony in his Treatise on Baptism: “I cannot but take occasion to express my gratitude to God for my infant baptism; not only as it was an early admission into the visible body of Christ, … [...]
Mark,
I found a copy of it. It says that it was abridged from the original manuscript and printed in London, 1783. If it would be of use to you, I think I can get copy. Let me know if you would like it.
Ben Merkle
http://books.google.com/books?id=1mYKssdLzekC&pg=PA1145&dq=Matthew+Henry+%E2%80%9CTreatise+on+Baptism%22#PPA1155,M1
you can also download a pdf there. the Treatise starts on page 424 in the pdf file
Ah, others beat me to it. Do read Henry. It’s a very nice treatise and represents really what was once the Reformed consensus.
we have it on microfilm here at slu. In addition, and i’m not sure exactly what your research goals are, but we have a lot of stuff by Henry on microfilm here. You should peruse the on-line catalog.
http://libcat.slu.edu/
do an author search for “henry, matthew” and you can look through the selections.
just use this link:
http://libcat.slu.edu/search/Y?searchtype=a&searcharg=henry%2C+matthew&SORT=D&searchscope=5
Google books are a tremendous help for such public domain treasures!
So did Matthew Henry teach Baptismal Regeneration (by today’s standards)? Or does this depend on who you ask?
[...] might know I’ve recently begun to get interested in Matthew Henry’s thought on baptism. Assuming this is the same Henry, I am more and more intrigued. Commenting on Answer #92 of the [...]