For the | Is of Gibeon, Hebron. Samaria. Solomon.
Bethesda, and Siloam. see those words respectively. See also Foi STAIN.
Poole, Matthew, an eminent English Nonconform- ist minister, was born in York in 1624. He received his < ducation and took bis degree al Emmanuel ( !ollege, Cambridge. Having attached himself to the Presby- terians, he entered the ministry, and about the year 1648 became rector of St Michael le Querne. in London. In 1657, when Richard Cromwell succeeded his father in the chancellorship at Oxford, Mr. Poole was incor- porated master of arts in thai university. He soon be- came famous and of influence anion- his brethren, es- pecially after 1658, when he published .1 Model for tin Maintaining of Students of Chow Abilities at the Unir versify, and principally in order to tfa Ministry, which was accompanied with a recommendation from the uni- versity, signed by several Cambridge professors and sa- vans, among whom were Cudworth, Witchcot, Worth- ington, Dillingham, etc. In 1660, after the restoration of Charles II. he published a sermon upon John iv, 23, 24, preached before the mayor of London, against re- establishing the Liturgy of the < Iburch of England ; and
refusing to c ply with the Act of Uniformity, in 1662,
he was ejected from his rectory. He published on this occasion Vox clamantis in Deserto, but submitted to the law with a commendable resignation, and retired to his studies at his paternal estate, resolving to em- ploy his pen in the service of religion iii general, re- if the particular disputes among Protestants. He now devoted himself to a laborious and useful work entitled Synopsis Criticorum Biblicum, which v;i- pub- lished in 1669 and the foil, .wine, years. The design was nothing less t ban to bring into one \ iew whatever had bet n written by critics of all ages and nations on the books of Holy Scripture. The work when finally
brougl I was probab any of the kind
can lie. and few will deny that it i> a verj valuable and useful abridgment; but synopses and abridgments are rather foi the multitude than for scholars, w ho are rare- ly satisfied with the opinions of an) author which are thus presented to them at second-hand, without the
fulness of illustration which the author himself had given; yet being written in Latiu.it i> manifest that the compiler contemplated a work adapted to the ne- cessities and tastes ol Biblical scholars. lis chief use is as a convenient body of exegetical criticism for Biblical students who are placed in situations which cut them off from convenient access to large libraries, and for them it has been rendered to a greal extent obsolete by the important results of recent research. But in its day it was a great work. In the midst of this employment he testified his zeal against popery in a number of works, the principal one of which is entitled Thi Nullity of the Romish Faith concerning the Church's Infallibility (1666, 8vo). Winn i lates's depositions concerning the Popish plot were printed in 1679, Poole found his name in the list ofthose thai were to be cut off; and an incident he- fell him s i after which gave him the greatest appre- hensions of bis danger. Having passed an evening at
the bouse of his friend, alderman AshurSt, he took One
Mr. Chorley to bear him company home. When they came to th< narrow passage which leads from Clerken- well to St. John's < oiiii. tie re were two men standing at the entrance: one of whom, as Poole came along, cried out to the oiler. •• Here lie i- !" upon which the other re- plied. •• Let bill) alone, for there is somebody with him." As soon as they had passed, Poole asked his friend if he heard what those men said: and upon his answering that he had. "Well." replied Poole, " I bad been mur- dered to-night, if you had not been with me." It is said that, before this incident, he gave not the least credit to what was said in Oates's deposition; but he soon thought proper to retire to Holland, win re hi' died, in October, 1679, not without a suspicion of being poisoned, as Calamy relates. He published several small pieces, besides what has been mentioned; and he also wrote a volume of English Annotations upon the Holy Scriptures; but was prevented by death from go- ing farther than the 58th chapter of Isaiah. That work was completed by others, and published i H'ss , jn two vols. foi. Poole is spoken of as profound in learn- ing, strict in piety, and universal in his charity. He was more especially distinguished as a commentator. Mr. ( lecil observes, " ' Jommentators are excelli nl w here there are but few difficulties; bul they leave the harder knots still untied; bul after all, if we must have com- mentators, as we certainly must, Poole is incomparable, and I had almost said, abundant of himself." Wood observes that "he left behind him the character of a very celebrated critic and casuist;" and Calamy tells us that ••be was very facetious in conversation, very true to bis friend, very strict in bis piety,and universal in his charity." See Allibone, Dict.ofBrit, and Amer. Auth. s. v.; Middleton, Evangel. Biogr. vol. iii: Gen. Biogr. Diet. s. v.