It's time once again to review another year's worth of blogging here at my place. I have made it something of a tradition to look back and reflect on the year that has passed. I have done this previously in December 2006, 2005, and 2004. The format is simple: I highlight some of the posts that I remember most, or enjoyed writing the most over the year. This time I will break it down into a series of posts.

This year I began January's blogging—after extending my customary Christmas break slightly longer than previously—by taking up my autobiographical story with a post entitled My Story Part Five—Learning to Value Being, Not Doing. I did not return to my story again this year, so this remains surely the longest running, as yet unfinished, series on my blog. I am sure that I will eventually return to this and catch up to the current day. In that post I talked about the value of silence and reflection.

In one of the shortest, but most personally challenging posts of the year, in the second post of 2007 I shared some Reflections of a Returning Blogger, citing Scripture that said few words were wiser than many. I suspect this contributed to a trend this year on my blog to shorter posts and, hopefully, to more careful consideration of what I say.

I also spent a few days in January on an interview with Wendy Alsup, a deacon in the Mars Hill Church—Seattle, where Mark Driscoll is pastor.

In February I began what would be an extended series on preaching with two posts that quoted the Together for the Gospel Statement Article 4, John Piper, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Expository Preaching.

I also mentioned that I had just heard a new book on the atonement would soon be released—Pierced for Our Transgressions. Little did I know then just how much I would be focused on that subject this year. I shared the audio of a talk I had given late in 2006 for Jubilee entitled What is the Bible?

I remember being stirred to ask Should We be Optimistic or Pessimistic About the Future? and challenging my readers to find a quote I was sure I had once read from Spurgeon. That readers' challenge remains open and can be answered via e-mail on reading Spurgeon's Prediction of a Future Revival. I did manage to find one quote where Spurgeon asks the question Will More Be Saved Than Lost?

It was also great to publish the news that I was able to play a small part in restoring the works of Charles Simeon to a larger audience.

I seem to have been somewhat distracted from my posts about preaching, and only quoted C. S. Lewis on the Need for Plain English Preaching all month. I did quote one of my greatest living hero's impressions of one of my greatest preaching heroes of the past—I am speaking, of course, about John Piper on Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

In March I returned to the subject of preaching, and there were a significant number of posts which culminated in Ten Conclusions About Expository Preaching. In the middle of this I wrote about The Risks and Rewards of Using Technology in Sermon Preparation.

I posted about the T4G Articles 5-6—The Attributes of God and the Trinity, which included the audio of another talk I had given at Jubilee late in 2006.

One of the traditions of this blog is that every now and then I engage in a gloves-off debate with the Pyromaniacs. In March, one of these was summarized in a post I entitled Am I a Thrill Seeker?

If I remember correctly, that debate with the Pyros was, at least in part, sparked by possibly the most controversial post of the year anywhere in the Christian blogosphere. It was published over on Desiring God, and my reflections on it were entitled John Piper Hears The Voice Of God. I also remember the call that went out that month for Prayer for an Exhausted Mark Driscoll.

March was a hectic blogging month, but nothing would prepare me for what was to come in April, especially as I had written many of my forthcoming posts on atonement in a single sitting and thought I would have a quiet time as my editor faithfully published them all for me. That, however, must wait for the next installment of this year in review series.

As regular readers will realize, this week I am swiftly working through the glorious doctrines of grace—the so-called "TULIP." Today we reach irresistible grace.

Today's first quote comes once more from Charles Simeon:

"A river flowing with a rapid and majestic current to the sea would defy the efforts of the whole world to turn it back again to its source; yet by the returning tide it is not only arrested in its course, but driven up again with equal rapidity towards the fountain-head. It is thus that a sinner, when rushing with the whole current of his affections towards this present world, is stopped in his career of sin, and turned back with an irresistible impulse towards high and heavenly things. Let men, yea, let all the angels in heaven, attempt to effect this change, and their united efforts would be in vain. Who then that witnesses this change, and beholds the believer’s victories over sin and Satan, and his progressive advancement in the ways of holiness, must not adore that power by which so great a miracle is wrought? In this Christ is indeed magnified: “the exceeding greatness of his power is made known;” and the sufficiency of his grace is incontrovertibly established."

Simeon, Charles: Horae Homileticae Vol. 18: Philippians to 1 Timothy, London, 1832-63, S. 25.

The second is from the Doctor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

". . . it is the internal operation of the Holy Spirit upon the soul and the heart of men and women that brings them into a condition in which the call can become effectual. And when the Spirit does it, of course, it is absolutely certain, and because of that some people have used the term—which I do not like myself—irresistible grace. I do not like the term because it seems to give the impression that something has happened which has been hammering at a person’s will and has knocked him down and bludgeoned him. But it is not that. It is that the Holy Spirit implants a principle within me which enables me, for the first time in my life, to discern and to apprehend something of this glorious, wondrous truth. He works upon my will. ‘It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do.’ He does not strike me; He does not beat me; He does not coerce me. No, thank God, what He does is operate upon my will so that I desire these things and rejoice in them and love them. He leads, He persuades, He acts upon my will in such a way that when He does, the call of the gospel is effectual, and it is certain, and it is sure. God’s work never fails, and when God works in a man or woman, the work is effective."

Lloyd-Jones, David Martyn: God the Holy Spirit, Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway Books, 1997, S. 73.

Last week, as you may know, I preached on Jacob. During my preparation I was, not surprisingly, taken once more to the glorious doctrines of grace—the so-called "TULIP." Jacob is used in Romans as a supreme example of God's free grace.

This post is part of a mini-series highlighting quotes from others on each of these five points of Calvinism. It will also provide links to some old posts I wrote on Calvinism. We began the series with a quote that claims the doctrine of total depravity helps your marriage.

To some degree the doctrines of grace, or rather one aspect of them, Unconditional Election, came up in my sermon last week (although I didn't use the words). One quote I have been meaning to share with you, but the baptism debate got in the way, has been the following from Simeon, whose works are now available from Logos Bible Software.

Like Spurgeon and myself, Simeon is adamant that there is no such thing as what some call "double-predestination." Thus, people are wholly to blame for their own damnation, while God is wholly credited with saving us. God does not foreordain that some go to hell in the same way he foreordains that some will be saved. This might sound illogical, but it is, I believe, biblical and a great mystery we cannot fully fathom.

Charles Simeon puts it like this in a quote that should whet your appetite for the rest of his works, which are proving to me to be as useful as Spurgeon's:

"If, as the Apostle says, 'there is a remnant according to the election of grace,' we are ready to suppose that those who are not of that number are not accountable for their sins, and that their final ruin is to be imputed rather to God’s decrees than to their own fault. But this is a perversion of the doctrine. It is a consequence which our proud reason is prone to draw from the decrees of God: but it is a consequence which the inspired volume totally disavows. There is not in the whole sacred writings one single word that fairly admits of such a construction. The glory of man’s salvation is invariably ascribed to the free, the sovereign, the efficacious grace of God: but the condemnation of men is invariably charged upon their own wilful sins and obstinate impenitence. If, because we know not how to reconcile these things, men will controvert and deny them, we shall content ourselves with the answer which St. Paul himself made to all such cavillers and objectors; 'Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?' And if neither the truth nor the authority of God will awe them into submission, we can only say with the fore-mentioned apostle, 'If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.' As for those, if such are to be found, who acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and take occasion from it to live in sin, we would warn them with all possible earnestness to cease from their fatal delusions. In comparison of such characters, the people who deny the sovereignty of God are innocent. We believe there are many persons in other respects excellent, who, from not being able to separate the idea of absolute reprobation from the doctrine of unconditional election, are led to reject both together: but what excellence can he have, who 'turns the very grace of God into licentiousness,' and 'continues in sin that grace may abound?' A man that can justify such a procedure, is beyond the reach of argument: we must leave him, as St. Paul does, with that awful warning, 'His damnation is just.'"

Simeon, Charles: Horae Homileticae Vol. 1: Genesis to Leviticus. London, 1832-63, S. 210

Phil is back with a quote from Charles Spurgeon that sounds like it could have come from Charles Simeon. I wonder whether those guys will comment on the great news that Simeon's works will now live again?

"I bless God I love the doctrines of grace, but I never considered the doctrines of grace to be like drawn swords with which to fight every man living."

Here it is! The full story from Logos of how my e-mail to them led to one of the most exciting pre-pub offers they have had for a long time.

Don't say I didn't warn you - you definitely have to move fast to get these at the low price!

This is an e-mail from a regular news e-mail Logos sent out. To sign up for more Logos e-mails, see www.logos.com/newswire.

Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae Commentary (21 Volumes)

Suggested Retail Price: $699.95
Logos Sale Price: $489.95
Pre-Publication Special: $299.95

Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae: or Discourses Digested into One Continuous Series and Forming a Commentary Upon Every Book of the Old and New Testament is a 12,000 page commentary which is becoming more and more respected and referenced every day. Think of it as owning Simeon's sermon outlines from fifty-four years of preaching designed to "humble the sinner, exalt the Saviour and promote holiness".

"What Simeon experienced in the Word was remarkable. And it is so utterly different from the counsel that we receive today that it is worth looking at …"

—John Piper

Our story begins late one night in foggy London town . . .

Several months ago we received an e-mail from one of our users in London. He wanted to make sure that we were aware of a listing for an extremely rare out-of-print commentary series that was being sold as a part of an old library collection. He assured us that it was an excellent resource that was recently being rediscovered by many people, and he begged us to take advantage of this opportunity to get a complete set in good condition so we could put it on pre-pub.

After doing a little more research on the title, we decided it would be worth a try, and since this did appear to be quite a rare opportunity to get a complete set in good condition, we got in on the auction - and we won - for around $700.

Moving on to Dallas, Texas . . .

When we went to pay the seller for this title and he discovered that his customer was actually "Logos Bible Software," and the reason we were buying it was to put it on pre-pub, not only did he volunteer to shave $200 off the selling price, but he told us he would hand-deliver the complete set to our people in Texas personally - as his contribution to making sure that this title would make it through the pre-pub process and go into production.

It turns out he was personal friends with our main contact in Dallas, who was working on our projects there. He drove it over and handed it off himself.

Now to the reference shelves of libraries around the world . . .

We were not sure how such a popular 12,000 page commentary on the entire Old and New Testaments could have escaped our notice for so long, but we wanted to know. We did our research and checked in with some of the most prestigious libraries in the world that were around in 1832 to see which libraries took notice and endorsed it by adding it to their reference sections. Then we took a look at some of the newer libraries to see which ones knew it was so important to have - that they tracked down their own rare copies to add to their collections.

We were surprised at what we discovered . . .

Take a look at a sampling of libraries that list this set in their collections:

• Trinity College
• Cambridge University
• Glasgow University Library
• Edinburgh University Library
• Harvard University, Harvard College Library
• Dallas Theological Seminary
• Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
• Duke University Library
• Princeton Theological Seminary
• Wellesley College
• University of Manchester
• University of Wales, Lampeter
• University of Hong Kong Library
• Graduate Theological Union Library
• California Baptist University
• University of Manitoba
• Bethel Seminary Library
• Luther Seminary Library
• Southern Methodist University, Bridwell Library
• Texas Christian University
• Michigan Theological Seminary
• Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Library
• Asbury Theological Seminary
• duPont Library
• Houghton College Library
• Eastern Mennonite University
• The State Library of Pennsylvania
• American University
• Amherst College
• Boston College
• Brown University

That's a pretty impressive list, and it doesn't even include dozens more that we found, not to mention all the ones we didn't find. Needless to say we soon realized that this was a title we needed to publish for Logos Bible Software.

And now on to Bellingham Washington . . .

After the series was scanned in Dallas, we received the set back here at headquarters and put up the pre-pub page. We told a few people about it who we knew were interested in the author, and we were blown away by the results.

At the time of writing this e-mail, we had over 50% of the interest needed to put this title into production, and lots of excited bloggers talking about it out there.

What makes these 21 volumes so highly sought after?

These 21 volumes, featuring Simeon’s collected sermons, represent the fruit of his fifty-four years of preaching. Published originally in 1832 for the benefit of younger pastors seeking practical improvement at the task of sermon creation, Horae Homileticae reflects the rich source of Biblical understanding of its author, a towering figure in the history of evangelical theology.

"If Wilberforce is the most famous evangelical layman in the Church of England, then Simeon is the most famous evangelical clergyman."

—Who's Who in Christian History

These expository outlines (or “skeletons”) are not a verse-by-verse explanation of the English Bible. Rather, they are a chapter-by-chapter study, with explanations of the most important and instructive verses in each chapter.

Simeon’s aim with this commentary is "Instruction Relative to the Composition of Sermons." To this end, his exposition of the Scriptures is designed to maintain a focus on the more general aspects of a passage over and above possible treatments of particulars. His test for a sermon, as he teaches in Horae Homileticae, is threefold: does it humble the sinner, exalt the Saviour, and promote holiness?

Opposing all human systems of divinity, Simeon’s commentary is also marked by an avoidance of any possible systemization of God’s Word and entanglement with theological controversies. A self-described “moderate Calvinist” or, more plainly, a “Biblical Christian,” Simeon believed that the Bible should speak for itself. “Be Bible Christians, not systems Christians” was his maxim; "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." With Horae Homileticae this conviction is soundly applied.

And now for the "bad news" . . .

As you read earlier, we won the auction for the set at around $700. From the feedback we are already getting - we know that we got away with a bargain. Others have reported that the going rate for a complete set is more like $1,000.00 if you can even find a complete set.

When the fans of this work saw that the starting pre-pub price was just $299.95, they told us how much more they paid for their print copies and got very excited about our extremely low introductory price - and the potential to get it in a much more usable format than print.

Even though we have over half of the required orders already booked, we are going to go ahead and keep the original listing price of $299.95 up for at least the rest of this week - after that, the price will go up.

Lock in the lowest price now!

Charles Simeon's 21 Volume Horae Homileticae: or Discourses Digested into One Continuous Series and Forming a Commentary Upon Every Book of the Old and New Testament will most likely go up in price in less than a week from the time we send this message. Lock in the low price while you can.

Charles Simeon's 21 Volume Horae Homileticae
Suggested Retail Price: $699.95
Logos Sale Price: $489.95
Pre-Publication Special: $299.95

For all the details, please visit the website at:

http://logos.directtrack.com/z/179/cd156

Or call 800-875-6467 to order.

---

NewsWire! -- Logos Research Systems, Inc.
1313 Commercial St., Bellingham WA 98225-4307
(800) 875-6467 -- (360) 527-1700
For technical support e-mail: tech@logos.com
www.Logos.com

Clearly the demand for Charles Simeon's brand of biblically-centered preaching is far from dead. Just over a week ago, as I reported here, Logos agreed to place Horae Homileticae on their pre-publication list. The deal is, when enough people pledge to buy it to cover their initial costs, they will hit the "go" button. Today, in what might even be record time, the Logos site reports enough of you have bought it already.

You need to move fast now if you want a copy at the special pre-pub price, and whilst you are at it, why not order some more Logos Bible software at 25% off to go with it?

UPDATE Logos have now posted a large number of scanned pages from Simeon's Sermons. Go and read them, they will thrill your heart and I trust stir your desire to obtain these amazing volumes

Back in November last year, I discovered a biographical article by John Piper on Charles Simeon. The article made a great impact on me and so I made extensive quotes from it in a post entitled Piper Friday - Charles Simeon and John Wesley.

In the post I detail Simeon's wonderful attitude at meeting the aging Wesley. Essentially he concluded that Wesley's moderate Arminianism really wasn't so far removed from his own moderate Calvinism.

The other day, perhaps inspired by Simeon, I was speaking with a new friend who asked about my Calvinism. I said something like this - look, if you can read Ephesians 1 and Romans 8 without crossing your fingers, you are Calvinistic enough for me!

Simeon was not against systematizing the Bible as such, but was against those systems taking precedence over a clear reading of the Scriptures. He firmly believed that by giving a proper weight to each passage of Scripture, a clear biblical system of theology would emerge. His sermon outlines were published as the massive, 21-volume, 12,000 page Horae Homileticae (originally published in 1832). Sadly this is currently out of print.

At the end of the post I said that I had started a personal campaign to persuade the good folks at Logos Bible Software to produce an electronic version of them and urged you to add your weight to that campaign. Well, the good news is that Logos have obtained a copy of all 21 volumes of this amazing resource and have it available on pre-pub. If you are interested in obtaining it please pop over there and place your order - there will need to be lots of orders for it to actually be produced since it is such a large resource.

Visit the Logos Bible Software pre-pub page on Charles Simeon.

The following list of people speaking approvingly of Simeon is impressive in its scope:

• John Piper says "[Horae Homileticae] is the best place to go for researching Simeon's theology. You can find his views on almost every key text in the Bible . . . . What Simeon experienced in the word was remarkable. And it is so utterly different from the counsel that we receive today that it is worth looking at . . . ." His original article on Charles Simeon is also available.

• C. H. Spurgeon said ". . . we could not exclude them. They have been called 'a valley of dry bones': be a prophet and they will live."

• Justin Taylor has linked to the prepub.

• Joe Carter linked to my article on Simeon.

• Mark Lauterbach believes Simeon has something to teach bloggers.

• David Wayne highlights Mark's post approvingly.

• Over at The Resurgence, Simeon's opposition to angry preaching is highlighted.

• Just this month the Pyromaniacs also highlighted the meeting between Wesley and Simeon.

Today I want to bring you quotes from a talk given by John Piper about Charles Simeon. We begin with a description of Simeon's recollection of a conversation he had with the Arminian, John Wesley, when he was a young man. The conversation is instructive about how we should deal with people we disagree with and about how sometimes moderates from both sides of a theological debate are closer than we realise.

"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 wherein we agree." (Moule, 79f)

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 whilst 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).

The whole talk is well worth a read or listen.

For more information on Charles Simeon visit the following:

Online biography of Charles Simeon

Biography of Charles Simeon used by John Piper

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!

By John Piper © Desiring God
Website: http://www.desiringgod.org/
Email: mail@desiringGod.org
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