Acknowledgements

Matthew Henry wrote A Method for Prayer nearly 300 years ago. Among the many editions and revisions of this book that have been produced throughout the years, Ligon Duncan edited and revised a version which was published in 1994. This project has built off of the efforts invested by Dr. Duncan and others in that publication.

Most notable among the updates that have been made to Henry’s work for this project is the production of various First Person versions. Henry wrote his book employing the collective, corporate language of the people of God (‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’, etc.). Envisioning individual online users reading this work, we felt it would be helpful and legitimate to produce First Person versions (‘I’, ‘me’, ‘my’, etc.). Although not perfect by any means, these versions nonetheless seek to enable the individual to claim the promises of God and apply the truth of God to his/her own heart, while at the same time upholding the corporate nature of the Christian faith and honoring the family of God, of which the individual is only a part.

To state the obvious, Henry’s book is chock full of Scripture. His use of biblical content ranges from the direct quotation of a scriptural passage to the subtle allusion to a thought or phrase drawn from the Bible. With our Scripture references, we have merely sought to point users of the website to those places in the Bible where Henry has most likely drawn his language: some of these are obvious and some, not so obvious. If at all concerned about Henry’s handling of Scripture, readers are directed to his original preface, “To the Reader,” where he speaks to this very point.

In part of our online publication effort, we are seeking to produce and make available for free, foreign translations of A Method for Prayer on this website. Currently, work is underway on the Spanish, Portuguese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Arabic, Farsi, and Mandarin versions. [As an aside, one of our users was kind enough to direct us to a version of the book available online in Chinese.] Our goal is to have all of these foreign languages available on the website by Summer 2010.

We have engaged in this kingdom endeavor as an act of devotion and love to the true and living God. By His amazing grace, we have been delivered out of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14(ESV) We count ourselves among those whose lives have been redeemed and changed by the Savior, and so we desire earnestly to see His kingdom advance through the prayers of His people. May God use this website to that end, for His glory and honor!