Happy birthday, Charles Simeon!

Today is the 250th birthday of Charles Simeon, who was a major figure in the Evangelical Revival of the 18th/19th centuries and for 54 years was vicar of Holy Trinity Church, the church I attend in Cambridge. (The pictures are from a series of silhouettes of Simeon preaching cut by the French silhouette artist Augustin Edouart.)



On Justin Taylor's blog, there is a guest post marking the day with a short biography by David Helm, pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Chicago. More extended reflections on Simeon and lessons we (particularly church leaders) can learn from his life include Vaughan Roberts' article ‘What we can learn from Charles Simeon’ and John Piper's biographical address ‘Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering’. These three admirers of Charles Simeon are Anglican, Baptist and Presbyterian pastors, suggesting the breadth of Simeon's legacy.



Charles Simeon had a bit of a rough start to his Christian life and ministry, since for two years after his conversion he knew no-one with the same living faith as he had. On his appointment to Holy Trinity, he had his services boycotted by his parishioners (who locked their pews) for twelve years, things were thrown at him in the street and fellow academics refused to speak to him. By the end of his life all the shops of Cambridge closed in honour of his funeral.



Simeon played an enormous role in promoting the cause of the gospel in the Cambridge, the national Church of England and overseas. Besides his passionate preaching, his initiatives included holding tea parties where he answered students' questions and taught them to preach, sending out many of his curates to mission work in India, and playing a leading role in the formation of the Bible Society and the Church Mission Society. He also had quite a sense of fashion and was one of the first people in Cambridge to carry an umbrella.



Simeon's teapot and umbrella are in the possession of Holy Trinity - apparently John Stott has commented that this is the only evangelical church he knows of with relics.



Notwithstanding all his achievements, how Charles Simeon wanted to be remembered is encapsulated by the inscription on the memorial tablet in the chancel of Holy Trinity:

In Memory of
THE REV. CHARLES SIMEON, M.A.,
SENIOR FELLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE,
AND FIFTY-FOUR YEARS VICAR OF THIS PARISH, WHO,
WHETHER AS THE GROUND OF HIS OWN HOPES,
OR AS
THE SUBJECT OF ALL HIS MINISTRATIONS,
DETERMINED
TO KNOW NOTHING BUT
JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED
1 Cor. 2.2