Charles Simeon (24 September 1759 – 13 November 1836) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric.
Life and career
He was born at Reading, Berkshire, in 1759 and baptised at St Laurence's parish church on 24 October of that year.[1][2] He was the fourth and youngest son of Richard Simeon (died 1784) and Elizabeth Hutton.[3] His eldest brother, named Richard after their father, died early. His second brother, John, entered the legal profession, became an MP and received a baronetcy. The third brother, Edward Simeon, was a director of the Bank of England.[1]
Simeon received the living of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, 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, and he was appointed, under the age of 23, as a curate-in-charge for the bishop.[5] 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.[6][7][8] Simeon remained there for the rest of his life, eventually with a crowded church.[4]
According to the historian Thomas Macaulay, 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."[12]
Works
In 1792, Simeon read An Essay on the Composition of a Sermon by the French Reformed minister Jean Claude. 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).
He established a trust for the purpose of acquiring church patronage to perpetuate evangelical clergy in Church of England parishes.[6] It arose from the bequest of John Thornton, who died in 1813, of ten advowsons, left to a trust, of which Simeon was one of the trustees. Simeon expanded the group of livings with money he had inherited.[4] 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.[15]
There is also a Charles Simeon Trust, founded in 2001,[16] and the Charles Simeon Institute, established in 2014,[17] that operate in the United States and Canada.