An account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the…

Lastly, As he was an excellent Preacher himself, so he was an exemplary Hearer of the Word, when others Preached, though every way his Inferiors, so reverent, serious, and attentive was he in hearing, and so observant of what was spoken. I have heard him tell, that he knew one (and I suppose it was as Paul knew a Man in Christ) who could truly say, to the Glory of God, that for Forty Years he had never slept at a Sermon. He was diligent also to improve what he heard afterwards by Meditation, Repetition, Prayer and Discourse; and he ⟨p. 185⟩was a very great Encourager of young Ministers that were humble and serious, though their Abilities and Performances were but mean. He hath noted in his Diary, (as that which affected him) this saying of a godly Man, a Hearer of his, I find it easier to go six Miles to hear a Sermon, than to spend one quarter of an Hour in Meditating and Praying over it in Secret, (as I should) when I come home.

Lastly, As he was an excellent Preacher himself, so he was an exemplary Hearer of the Word, when others Preached, though every way his Inferiours, so reverent, serious, and attentive was he in hearing, and so observant of what was spoken. I have heard him tell, that he knew one (and I suppose it was as Paul knew a Man in Christ) who could truly say, to the Glory of God, that for Forty Years he had never slept at a Sermon. He was diligent also to improve what he heard afterwards by Meditation, Repetition, Prayer and Discourse; and he ⟨p. 185⟩was a very great Encourager of young Ministers that were humble and serious, though their Abilities and Performances were but mean. He hath noted in his Diary, (as that which affected him) this saying of a godly Man, a Hearer of his, I find it easier to go six Miles to hear a Sermon, than to spend one quarter of an Hour in Meditating and Praying over it in Secret, (as I should) when I come home.

As to the Circumstances of his Family in these last nine Years of his Life, they were somewhat different from what they had been; but the same Candle of God which had shined upon his Tabernacle, continued still to do so. In the Years 1687, and 1688. he Married all his Five Children, the three eldest in four Months time, in the Year 1687. and the other two in a Year and a half after; so many Swarms (as he used to call them) out of his Hive; and all not only with his full Consent, but to his abundant Comfort and Satisfaction. He would say, he thought it the Duty of Parents to study to oblige their Children in that affair. And though never could Children be more easy and at rest in a Father's House than his were, yet he would sometimes say concerning them, as Naomi to Ruth,