Over Mr. Henry's Grave, in Whitchurch Church, is a Marble Monument, with this Inscription:

M. S.

PHILIPPUS HENRY, de Broad Oak, in Comitatu Flint, A. M.
Sacri Minister Evangelii; Pastor olim Worthenburiensis ;
In Aulâ Regiâ natus piis et honestis Parentibus ;
Schola Westmonasteriensis, indèq; Ædis Christi Oxon.
Alumnus Regius:

Vir prisca Pietate et verè Christianâ,
Judicio subacto et limato,

Memoriâ præstanti, magno et foecundo Ingenio,
Eruditione perpolitâ, summo Animi Candore, Morum Venustate
Imprimis Spectabilis, et in Exemplum natus:
Cui Sacra semper sua Fides aliorumque Fama:
Divini Numinis Cultor assiduus;

Divini Verbi Interpres exquisitissimus ;
Aliorum Affectus movere non minùs pollens,
Quàm suis moderari:

Conscionando pariter ac Vivendo palàm exhibens
Christi Legem et Exemplar Christum :

Prudens peritusque rerum; Lenis, Pacificus, Hospitalis,
Ad Pietatis omnia Charitatisque officia usque paratus ;
Suis Jucundus; Omnibus Humanus ;
Continuis Evangelii Laboribus succumbens Corpus,
Nec tantæ jam par ampliùs Animæ,
In Dormitorium hîc juxtà positum demisit,
Jun. 24°. Anno Dom. M.DC.XCVI. Ætatis LXV.

Viro opt. multùmque desiderato

moerens posuit Gener ejus J. T. M.D.*

• The following words were afterwards substituted.

Posuit hoc marmor in veris lachrymis
Katharina conjux viduata.

[The following Translation is from a Copy preserved by the Family; and was most likely written by the Author of the Epitaph, Dr. Tylston:

To the sacred memory

Of Philip Henry, of Broad Oak,
In the County of Flint;
Master of Arts, and Minister of
The Holy Gospel;

Some time Pastor of Worthenbury;
Born in the Royal Palace, of good
And honest Parents;

Of Westminster School, and chosen
Thence a King's Scholar
Of Christ's College, Oxford;
A man, early remarkable,
And born to be an example
Of truly apostolick and primitive piety,
A solid and well-polished judgment,
Excellent memory, and fruitful invention,
Most fine learning, candid temper,
And graceful behaviour,

Who always kept his own, and the
Reputation of others, inviolable;
A diligent worshipper of the Divine Majesty;
An exquisite interpreter

Of the Word of God,

And no less happy in moving the affections
Of others, than in tempering his own;
Who, both in preaching and living,
Openly set forth Jesus Christ,
And his Law, as a Pattern;
A prudent manager of his affairs,
Mild, peaceable, and hospitable;
To offices of piety and charity, ever ready;
Was pleasant to his friends,

And courteous to all ;

His body, wore out

With ministerial labours,

And so no longer a match

For so great a soul,

He dismissed to the adjacent repository,

To the memory of this best of men, his sorrowful son-in-law

erected this monument,

John Tylston, M. D.*

June 24, 1696.

Aged 65.

From Mrs. Brett's hand-writing.

It appears from Mr. Matthew Henry's diary, that the mural tablet was subsequently obnoxious:

"1704-5. I had a letter from Mr. Travers of Lichfield, that the chancellor there designed to attempt the demolishing of my father's monument."

And afterwards, he writes :

'1712, March 22. Wrote to Cos. Eddow, to return him thanks for his care this week of the remains of my dear father and mother in Whitchurch church, where they are laying the foundation of a new one, and have unworthily invaded my right there."+

'When, by a good man's grave I muse alone,
Methinks an angel sits upon the stone;

Like those of old, on that thrice-hallow'd night,
Who sate and watch'd in raiment heav'nly-bright;
And, with a voice inspiring joy not fear,
Says, pointing upward,-That, he is not here;
That, he is risen.+]

* Orig. MS.

+ lb.

Human Life; a Poem; by Sam. Rogers, p. 65. Mr. Rogers is descended from Mr. Henry, being the great grandson of his second daughter, Eleanor, Mrs. Radford.

A

SERMON,

PREACHED AT

BROAD OAK,

JUNE 28, 1696,

ON OCCASION OF THE

Death

OF

THE REV. PHILIP HENRY, M. A.

WHO FELL ASLEEP IN THE LORD, JUNE 24, 1696, IN THE 65TH YEAR

OF HIS AGE.

BY HIS SON,

THE REV. MATTHEW HENRY, V. D. M.

NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.