David Helm and John Piper on Charles Simeon

Today Charles Simeon (the great preacher) turns 250 years old.  Here are two excerpts for you about his life:

First, these are David Helm’s thoughts (from Between Two Worlds)

Simeon’s Life and Ministry

Born on September 24, 1759, Charles Simeon’s only distinction in childhood was that he was considered to be the ugliest boy in his school. After completing his education at Cambridge and being ordained, he accepted an appointment to Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge in 1782. The response to Simeon’s selection was one of strong opposition from the members of the church. For nearly ten years the congregation refused to listen to Simeon’s sermons by locking their pews so that even visitors would not have a place to sit. When Simeon rented chairs at his own expense and placed them in the aisles, the churchwardens threw them out into the street, forcing visitors to stand while he preached. Opposition to Simeon continued for another 20 years and even included incidents of student’s hurling bricks through his windows while he was preaching. He remained at Holy Trinity Church until his death, having preached there for 54 years.

Simeon’s Preaching

Simeon was an enthusiast, an evangelical. And for him, this meant a radical commitment to the rigorous study and proclamation of God’s Word—and God’s Word alone. This commitment is probably most evident in a statement he made in a letter to the publishers of his Horae Homileticae (his sermon outlines): “My endeavor is to bring out of Scripture what is there and not thrust in what I think might be there. I have a great jealousy on this head, never to speak more or less than I believe the mind of the Spirit in the passage I am expounding.”

Simeon’s Legacy

Bubbling below Simeon’s commitment to preaching the Word to the people of Cambridge was a devotion to training young men for Gospel ministry. He gathered a small group of men into his quarters twice per month to share some of his thoughts on preaching. Then one of them would preach a sermon that he had prepared and Simeon would give feedback. Simeon described this commitment to training this way: “I have, as my work, undertaken to provide ministers for eternal souls.” Recognizing that the anti-evangelical climate of the church in England at that point would make it difficult, if not impossible, for these young trainees to get parish appointments, Simeon established a Trust to purchase patronages (or the right to appoint the priest-in-charge) across England.

To this day, the legacy of Charles Simeon is carried on by at least two trusts bearing his name. Some of the patronages that Simeon left are still managed by the Simeon’s Trustees in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the Charles Simeon Trust is committed to the ongoing training of preachers through several Workshops on Biblical Exposition in North America an online training program called the Simeon Course on Biblical Exposition. The course offers a an elevated quality and breadth of instruction (video lectures from D.A. Carson, John Woodhouse, David Jackman, Kent Hughes, and others), adaptability to any context (it can be done by anyone anywhere), and a practicality of content (the tools for studying and teaching the Bible). The Simeon Course is publicly launching today in honor of Simeon’s Birthday.

Second, these are John Piper’s thoughts (from the Desiring God Blog)

Today, 250 years ago a great pastor was born, Charles Simeon. He was called to Trinity Church, Cambridge in May of 1782. And he endured fruitfully there through much fire for 54 years until his death November 13, 1836. Simeon never married. He “had deliberately and resolutely chosen the…celibacy of a Fellowship that he might…better work for God at Cambridge” (Moule, Charles Simeon, 111). His greatest influence was probably through sustained biblical preaching for 54 years. This was the central labor of his life. In 1833, he placed into the hands of King William IV the completed 21 volumes of his collected sermons. He tried to be conciliatory in doctrinal disputes. Here is an example of how he conversed with the elderly John Wesley:

Sir, I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions. Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart?

Yes, I do indeed.

And do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?

Yes, solely through Christ.

But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?

No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last.

Allowing, then, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?

No.

What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother’s arms?

Yes, altogether.

And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom?

Yes, I have no hope but in Him.

Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things where in we agree. (Moule, 79ff.)