Charles Simeon (24 September 1759 – 13 November 1836) was an English
evangelical Anglican
Evangelical Anglicanism or evangelical Episcopalianism is a tradition or church party within Anglicanism that shares affinity with broader evangelicalism. Evangelical Anglicans share with other evangelicals the attributes of "conversionism, a ...
cleric.
Life and career
He was born at
Reading, Berkshire
Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...
, in 1759 and baptised at
St Laurence's parish church on 24 October of that year.
He was the fourth and youngest son of Richard Simeon (died 1784) and Elizabeth Hutton. His eldest brother, named Richard after their father, died early. His second brother,
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
, entered the legal profession, became an MP and received a baronetcy. The third brother,
Edward Simeon, was a director of the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
.
Simeon was educated at
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
and
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
.
[ As an undergraduate at King's from 1779, brought up in the ]high church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
tradition, he read ''The Whole Duty of Man
''The Whole Duty of Man'' is an English high-church 'Protestant' devotional work, first published anonymously in 1658, with an introduction by Henry Hammond (1605-1660). It was both popular and influential for two centuries within the Anglica ...
'' and then a work by Thomas Wilson on the sacrament
A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...
, and taking communion at Easter experienced a Christian conversion. In 1782 he became fellow of King's College and was ordained deacon. He graduated B.A. in 1783 and, in the same year, was ordained a priest of the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. He began his ministry as deputy to Christopher Atkinson (1754–1795) at St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge. Atkinson introduced him to John Venn
John Venn, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA (4 August 1834 – 4 April 1923) was an English mathematician, logician and philosopher noted for introducing Venn diagrams, which are used in l ...
and Simeon then met Henry Venn, confirming his evangelical and Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
views.
Simeon received the living of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge
Holy Trinity Church is a church in Market Street, central Cambridge, England, on the corner with Sidney Street. Its current vicar is Stuart Browning. Theologically, it stands within the charismatic evangelical tradition of the Church of Englan ...
, in 1783. The appointment, technically a curacy, followed the death of the Rev. Henry Therond. Simeon's father intervened with James Yorke, the Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nort ...
, and he was appointed, under the age of 23, as a curate-in-charge for the bishop. He was at first unpopular, and indeed the congregation would have preferred John Hammond (died 1830), who had been curate there, and became lecturer. Services were disrupted, and he was insulted in the streets. Simeon remained there for the rest of his life, eventually with a crowded church.
Simeon died, unmarried, on 13 November 1836, and was buried on 19 November in King's College Chapel, Cambridge
King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan vault. The Chapel was bui ...
. His memorial by Humphrey Hopper
Humphrey Hopper (1767–1844) was an English sculptor and stonemason. He was given the government commission for the memorial in St Paul's Cathedral to General Andrew Hay.
Life
He was born in Wolsingham in County Durham in 1765 the son o ...
in Holy Trinity, Cambridge, was described by architectural critic Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
as an "epitaph in Gothic forms."
Influence
Simeon gained influence among the undergraduates of the university. He became a leader among evangelical churchmen, and was one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...
in 1799. He also helped found the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (now known as the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People or CMJ) in 1809, and acted as adviser to the British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
in the choice of chaplains for India Evangelical chaplains in India were a significant group of Anglican clergy around the year 1800, employed by the East India Company, especially in the Bengal presidency. They were not missionaries, but ministered to the British population. On the ot ...
.
According to the historian Thomas Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1 ...
, Simeon's "authority and influence … extended from Cambridge to the most remote corners of England ... his real sway in the Church was far greater than that of any primate."
Works
In 1792, Simeon read ''An Essay on the Composition of a Sermon'' by the French Reformed minister Jean Claude
Jean Claude (1619 – 13 January 1687) was a French Protestant divine.
He was born at La Sauvetat-du-Dropt near Agen. After studying at Montauban, Jean Claude entered the ministry in 1645. For eight years he was professor of theology in th ...
. Simeon found that their principles were identical and used the essay as the basis for his lectures on sermon composition. Claude's essay also inspired Simeon to make clear his own theological position. He published hundreds of sermons and sermon outlines (called "sermon skeletons"), still in print, that to some were an invitation to clerical plagiarism. His chief work is a commentary on the whole Bible, entitled ''Horae homileticae'' (London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
).
Legacy
Simeon is remembered in the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
with a lesser festival Lesser Festivals are a type of observance in the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England, considered to be less significant than a Principal Feast, Principal Holy Day, or Festival, but more significant than a Commemoration. Whereas Princ ...
and in the Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...
with a Commemoration
Commemoration may refer to:
*Commemoration (Anglicanism), a religious observance in Churches of the Anglican Communion
*Commemoration (liturgy)
In the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church, a commemoration is the recital, within the Li ...
on 13 November. He is commemorated in the Episcopal Church of the United States
The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...
with a Lesser Feast on 12 November.
He established a trust for the purpose of acquiring church patronage to perpetuate evangelical clergy in Church of England parishes. It arose from the bequest of John Thornton, who died in 1813, of ten advowson
Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...
s, left to a trust, of which Simeon was one of the trustees. Simeon expanded the group of livings with money he had inherited. The Simeon's Trustees, of what was called the Simeon Fund, are responsible for the patronage (or a share of the patronage) in over 160 Church of England parishes.
There is also a Charles Simeon Trust, founded in 2001, and the Charles Simeon Institute, established in 2014, that operate in the United States and Canada.
Notes
Attribution
*
References
*
Sources
* ''Memoirs of Charles Simeon'', with a selection from his writings and correspondence, edited by the Rev. W. Carus (3rd ed., 1848).
* W. D. Balda, ''Spheres of Influence: Simeon's Trust and its implications for evangelical patronage,'' Cambridge University dissertation (1981).
* Derek Prime, ''Charles Simeon: An Ordinary Pastor of Extraordinary Influence'' (Leominster, DayOne, 2011) (History Today).
* Andrew Atherstone, ''Charles Simeon on "The Excellency of the Liturgy"'' (Norwich, Hymns Ancient and Modern, 2011) (Alcuin/GROW liturgical study, 72).
* Hugh Evan Hopkins. Charles Simeon of Cambridge (Hodder, 1977)(Now published by Wipf & Stock, USA)
* H C G Moule. Charles Simeon (Methuen, 1892)(now published by Christian Focus Publications, Scotland)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simeon, Charles
1759 births
1836 deaths
People educated at Eton College
People from Reading, Berkshire
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Clapham Sect
English evangelicals
Evangelical Anglican clergy
Anglican saints
Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
18th-century Anglican theologians
19th-century Anglican theologians