Charles Simeon
Charles Simeon had only one religious book in his home growing up, The Whole Duty of Man, the most famous devotional book of the 17th century. It focused on obedience as the ticket into God’s graces: on what men and women should do for God rather than what God has done for sinful people. This horrible book conflates justification and sanctification, making Christianity into treadmill moralism (law) without any gospel. “Little in The Whole Duty of Man,” wrote Fitz Allison, “would lead one to suppose that there is any good news in the Gospel. The purpose of preaching is seen as merely to remind us of our duties.” It describes spiritual exercises that are meant to lead people to Christ, reminiscent of Medieval mysticism and much popular spiritual literature today, and the message of many fussy preachers who use the pulpit to tell their people to do more and try harder. George Whitefield thought the book was so bad that he once caught an orphan with a copy and made him throw it into a fire. William Cowper said it was the cause of his depression and "a repository of self-righteousness and pharisaical lumber."
Upon arriving as a student in Cambridge in 1779, Simeon was scared out of his wits to learn that Holy Communion was compulsory for all students. He later wrote, "the thought rushed into my mind that Satan himself was as fit to attend as I.” What was he to do? He first consulted The Whole Duty of Man which led him to deeper despair. Then he turned to a book on the Lord's Supper by Bishop Wilson and learned that the Jews knew relief and peace by transferring their guilt to the head of their sacrificial offerings. Charles Simeon read this book during Lent that first year at Cambridge and learned that he could gain salvation and peace by transferring his sins to "the sacred head of Jesus," as Jesus transfers his own righteousness to sinful people. When he awoke Easter morning 1779 the words on his lips and in his heart were, "Jesus Christ is risen today: Hallelujah! Hallelujah!!"
Simeon died at the age of 77 on this day, November 12, 1836 after devoting his life to students in a humble ministry as Anglican vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge for over 50 years. He never married and tirelessly threw himself into founding evangelistic organizations like the London Jews Society, the Religious Tract Society, and the British & Foreign Bible Society. He was one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society that has sent missionaries to all corners of the world. By the time of his death it was estimated that 1/3 of all English clergy had, at one point or another, sat under his teaching and preaching. He was a mentor and evangelist and not a theologian, famously straddling the Calvinist/Arminian debates of his age for the opportunity to tell people about Jesus. “Even today Cambridge has an Evangelical tradition in its parish churches that is to a great extent Simeon’s legacy” (Gerald Bray). He published Horae Homileticae: Skeletons of Sermons, a work of 2,500 sermon outlines based on every book of the Bible. It’s hard to overstate the impact Charles Simeon and his message of “God’s love for sinners” had on Cambridge University, the Church of England, and on Christian missions around the world.
Charles Simeon of Cambridge, Hugh Even Hopkins
The History of Christianity in Britain and Ireland, Gerald Bray