Charles Simeon

Charles Simeon was born on September 24, 1759, in Reading, England, into a well-off family. He went to Eton and then to King's College, Cambridge. In those days, students at King's were required to take the sacrament of communion on Easter Sunday. When Simeon learned of the rule, he was alarmed. He felt unfit to take part and began to search for a way to prepare himself. He read a book by Bishop Thomas Wilson about the Lord's Supper and was struck by a section about the Jewish sacrifices, in which the sins of the people were laid on the animal. He saw that he could lay his sins on Christ.

On Easter Day, 1779, he found peace with God. He later wrote that he felt his sins were gone, and he took communion with joy. From that day, his life was given to the service of Christ. In 1782, at the age of twenty-two, he was appointed vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge. He was determined to preach the gospel. The congregation, however, did not want him. They had wanted another man and opposed Simeon. They locked the doors of their pews so that no one else could sit in them, and he had to bring in chairs for the poor to use in the aisles. For years he was ignored and insulted. He kept preaching.

He served as vicar for fifty-four years. Over time, his preaching won the respect of the town and the university. He gave himself to the young men of the university, inviting them to his rooms on Friday evenings for tea and conversation about the Bible. These gatherings became famous. Students came from all over to hear his advice on sermons and the ministry. He trained several generations of ministers in the Church of England, and many went out as missionaries and pastors. Among those he influenced was Henry Martyn, who became a missionary to India and Persia.

He had a large share in the founding of the Church Missionary Society in 1799, and he served on its committee for the rest of his life. He believed in sending the gospel to the ends of the earth. He also helped to set up a trust that purchased the right to appoint evangelical ministers to many parishes, so that the gospel would be preached in the Church of England after he was gone. The trust still exists.

His written work is large. He produced Horae Homileticae, a set of twenty-one volumes of sermon outlines on the whole Bible, a work of immense labor. He had a plan for preaching that aimed to bring out the meaning of the text without imposing a system. He said that he wanted to hold the balance of Scripture and not push one truth at the cost of another. This made him a bridge between those who held Calvinist doctrines and those who held Arminian teaching, and he was criticized by both.

He was never married. He was a man of strong feelings and a quick temper, and he struggled with pride and impatience. He admitted that these were his faults, and he worked at them. He lived simply and gave away much of his income. His health was often poor.

He died on November 13, 1836, at the age of seventy-seven. Many people lined the streets of Cambridge for his funeral. His life shows what perseverance can do. A young man whom his church rejected stayed in the same place for over half a century and left a mark on the church that has lasted to this day.