Poole, Matthew

POOLE, MATTHEW: B. at York, Eng., 1624; educated at Emmanuel College, in Cambridge; he 125became minister of St. Michael-le-Quernes, London, in 1648, and devoted himself to the Presbyterian cause. In 1654 he published The Blasphemer Slain with the Sword of the Spirit, against John Biddle, the chief Unitarian of that time. In 1658 he published a Model for the Maintaining of Students, and raised a fund for their support at the universities. In the same year he published Quo warranto; or, a moderate Enquiry into the Warrantableness of the Preaching of unordained Persons. In 1662 he was ejected from his charge, for nonconformity, and devoted himself to Biblical studies. The fruit of these was produced, in 1669, in the Synopsis Criticorum (5 vols., folio), a monument of Biblical learning which has served many generations of students, and will maintain its value forever. Many subsequent editions have been published at Frankfort, Utrecht, and elsewhere. He was engaged, at his death, on English Annotations on the Holy Bible, and proceeded as far as Isa. lviii. His friends completed the work; and it was published (London, 1685, 2 vols., folio), and passed through many editions. Poole also took part in the Romish controversy, and published two very effective works: The Nullity of the Romish Faith, or, A Blow at the Root, etc. (London, 1666), and Dialogues between a Popish Priest and an English Protestant (1667). On this account he was greatly hated by the Papists, and his name was on the list of those condemned to death in the Popish Plot. He retired to Amsterdam, and died in Oct., 1679. Few names will stand so high as Poole's in the Biblical scholarship of Great Britain.

C. A. Briggs.

Bibliography: A. à Wood, Athenæ Oxonienses, ed. P. Bliss, ii. 205, 4 vols., London, 1813–20. A sketch of his life and writings appears in the English Annotations, ut sup., vol. iv., Edinburgh, 1801; S. Palmer, Nonconformist's Memorial, i. 167, London, 1802; DNB, xlvi. 99–100.