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发帖数: 8336 | 1 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.)
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/a-250-yr-old-model-how-ca | n********n
发帖数: 8336 | 2 But don’t take this to mean that Simeon pulled any punches when expounding
Biblical texts. He is very forthright in teaching what the Bible teaches and
calling error by its real name. But he is jealous of not getting things out
of balance.
He said that his invariable rule was “to endeavor to give to every portion
of the Word of God its full and proper force, without considering what
scheme it favours, or whose system it is likely to advance” (Moule, 79).
“My endeavor is to bring out of Scripture what is there, and not to 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 to be the mind of the Spirit in the
passage I am expounding” (Moule, 77).
He makes an observation that is true enough to sting every person who has
ever been tempted to adjust Scripture to fit a system.
“Of this he [speaking of himself in the third person] is sure, that there
is not a decided Calvinist or Arminian in the world who equally approves of
the whole of Scripture . . . who, if he had been in the company of St. Paul
whilst he was writing his Epistles, would not have recommended him to alter
one or other of his expressions.
But the author would not wish one of them altered; he finds as much
satisfaction in one class of passages as another; and employs the one, he
believes, as freely as the other. Where the inspired Writers speak in
unqualified terms, he thinks himself at liberty to do the same; judging that
they needed no instruction from him how to propagate the truth. He is
content to sit as a learner at the feet of the holy Apostles and has no
ambition to teach them how they ought to have spoken.” (Moule, 79)
With that remarkable devotion to Scripture, Simeon preached in the same
pulpit for fifty-four years. What drew me to him was his endurance – not
just because of the length of time, and not just because it was in the same
place for all that time, but also because it was through extraordinary
opposition and trials . . . .
In 1807, after twenty-five years of ministry, his health failed suddenly.
His voice gave way so that preaching was very difficult and at times he
could only speak in a whisper. After a sermon he would feel “more like one
dead than alive.” This broken condition lasted for thirteen years, till he
was sixty years old. In all this time Simeon pressed on in his work.
The way this weakness came to an end is remarkable and shows the amazing
hand of God on this man’s life. He tells the story that in 1819 he was on
his last visit to Scotland. As he crossed the border he says he was “almost
as perceptibly revived in strength as the woman was after she had touched
the hem of our Lord’s garment.” His interpretation of God’s providence in
this begins back before his weakness. Up till then he had promised himself
a very active life up to age sixty, and then a Sabbath evening. Now he
seemed to hear his Master saying:
I laid you aside, because you entertained with satisfaction the thought of
resting from your labour; but that now you have arrived at the very period
when you had promised yourself that satisfaction, and have determined
instead to spend your strength for me to the latest hour of your life, I
have doubled, trebled, quadrupled your strength, that you may execute your
desire on a more extended plan. (Moule, 127)
So at sixty years of age, Simeon renewed his commitment to his pulpit and
the mission of the church and preached vigorously for seventeen more years,
until two months before his death . . . .
Simeon was utterly unlike most of us today who think that we should get rid
once and for all of feelings of vileness and unworthiness as soon as we can.
For him, adoration only grew in the freshly plowed soil of humiliation for
sin. So he actually labored to know his true sinfulness and his remaining
corruption as a Christian.
I have continually had such a sense of my sinfulness as would sink me into
utter despair, if I had not an assured view of the sufficiency and
willingness of Christ to save me to the uttermost. And at the same time I
had such a sense of my acceptance through Christ as would overset my little
bark, if I had not ballast at the bottom sufficient to sink a vessel of no
ordinary size. (Moule 134f.)
He never lost sight of the need for the heavy ballast of his own humiliation
. After he had been a Christian forty years he wrote,
With this sweet hope of ultimate acceptance with God, I have always enjoyed
much cheerfulness before men; but I have at the same time laboured
incessantly to cultivate the deepest humiliation before God. I have never
thought that the circumstance of God’s having forgiven me was any reason
why I should forgive myself; on the contrary, I have always judged it better
to loathe myself the more, in proportion as I was assured that God was
pacified towards me (Ezekiel 16:63) . . . There are but two objects that I
have ever desired for these forty years to behold; the one is my own
vileness; and the other is, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ:
and I have always thought that they should be viewed together; just as Aaron
confessed all the sins of all Israel whi
lst he put them on the head of the scapegoat. The disease did not keep him
from applying to the remedy, nor did the remedy keep him from feeling the
disease. By this I seek to be, not only humbled and thankful, but humbled in
thankfulness, before my God and Saviour continually. (Carus, 518f.)
If Simeon is right, vast portions of contemporary Christianity are wrong.
And I can’t help wondering whether one of the reasons we are emotionally
capsized so easily today – so vulnerable to winds of criticism or
opposition – is that in the name of forgiveness and grace, we have thrown
the ballast overboard.
Simeon’s boat drew a lot of water. But it was steady and on course and the
mastheads were higher and the sails bigger and more full of the Spirit than
most people’s today who talk continuously about self-esteem.
Simeon’s missionary friend, Thomason, writes about a time in 1794 when a
friend of Simeon’s named Marsden entered his room and found Simeon “so
absorbed in the contemplation of the Son of God, and so overpowered with a
display of His mercy to his soul, that he was incapable of pronouncing a
single word,” till at length, he exclaimed, “Glory, glory.” But a few
days later Thomason himself found Simeon at the hour of the private lecture
on Sunday scarcely able to speak “from a deep humiliation and contrition.”
Moule comments that these two experiences are not the alternating excesses
of an ill-balanced mind. Rather they are “the two poles of a sphere of
profound experience” (Moule, 135). For Simeon, adoration of God grew best
in the plowed soil of his own contrition.
Simeon had no fear of turning up every sin in his life and looking upon with
great grief and hatred, because he had such a vision of Christ’s
sufficiency that this would always result in deeper cleansing and adoration.
Humiliation and adoration were inseparable. He wrote to Mary Elliott, the
sister of the writer of the hymn, “Just as I Am,”
I would have the whole of my experience one continued sense – first, of my
nothingness, and dependence on God; second, of my guiltiness and desert
before Him; third, of my obligations to redeeming love, as utterly
overwhelming me with its incomprehensible extent and grandeur. Now I do not
see why any one of these should swallow up another. (Moule, 160f.)
As an old man he said, “I have had deep and abundant cause for humiliation,
[but] I have never ceased to wash in that fountain that was opened for sin
and uncleanness, or to cast myself upon the tender mercy of my reconciled
God” (Carus, 518f). | n********n
发帖数: 8336 | 3 Simeon’s Writings
Piper mentions the massive 21-volume set of Simeon’s sermons that form a
commentary on the Bible. Having read what I did above, I was eager to get
ahold of these. Sadly they are not in print. So I have started a personal
campaign to persuade the good folks at Logos to produce a version of them.
If you, too, would be interested in purchasing an electronic, searchable
edition of his writings, then let me know via email or in the comments
section here.
Spurgeon seemed to love the work and said the following about it in his book
reviewing commentaries:
SIMEON (CHARLES, M. A. 1759-1836). Horae Homileticae; or, discourses
digested into one continued series, and forming a commentary upon every book
of the Old and New Testament; 21 vols. Seventh edition. London, H. G. Bohn,
1845. S.f2 10s. [Being the entire works of Charles Simeon, with copious
indexes, prepared by T. Hartwell Horne.] Not commentaries, but we could not
exclude them. They have been called ‘a valley of dry bones’: be a prophet
and they will live.
I am praying that they may live again! | J*******g
发帖数: 8775 | 4 有意思。谢谢分享。
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【在 n********n 的大作中提到】
: 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.
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