I’m always on the hunt for a free book and when I found out about a free copy of Matthew Henry’s Method of Prayer naturally I jumped on it. I am familiar with his commentary on the Bible but not any of his books. When I learned that this free copy was an online edition, I assumed it was a PDF version that is common on the internet. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to find much more. Ligon Duncan, William McMillan and Dan Arnold have built a website around the book. MatthewHenry.org is a great model for a dynamic presentation of an old classic.
The purpose of the project is stated by Ligon Duncan (from the website):
The aim of the online publication of this “old-made-new” monograph is to assist and encourage modern Christians in both public and private prayer. Surely we all recognize that the Church of our day, at least in the West, is weak in the way of prayer. Few of us, perhaps, understand what prayer really is. We do not pray often. We do not pray with scriptural proportion, nor does our prayer much reflect the language and thought of the Bible. We do not pray fervently. Although we claim otherwise, maybe we really do not believe in prayer!
Once you are on the site you can immediately clip on the link for chapter one and begin reading. “Turning the page” is done with a click and there are a number of tools available as you read. A list of keywords is found in the right-hand column that can direct you to other passages in the book. An index and table of contents are also available to jump to other chapters and passages. There is also a separate search feature for personalized search. You can bookmark your page for your return visit. Scripture passages popup when you move your cursor over the icon. You can change translations, however, only the ESV corporate and personal versions are available (I’m not familiar with the difference). If you register on the site (free), you are given access to other resources including a couple of Henry’s sermons on prayer and resources for public prayer. The extra resources are few, but as this project appears to have launched only a month ago, more should be coming.
As for the book itself, I cannot give a review as I am just beginning to read it. But I am looking forward to the conversation. Just in case you prefer to have an actual physical copy of the book, it can be purchased on the site. I highly recommend this site.
Coming soon I’ll have reviews of Max Lucado’s new book Fearless and Thomas Nelson Publishing’s new Expanded Bible.
