In November 1782, Charles Simeon, the new pastor of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, England, arrived eager to begin his ministry. Yet to his horror, he faced the prospect of preaching to a cold, empty church. The congregation, in protest at his appointment, decided to stay away from services, locking their pews so that no one else could use the seats. Simeon could either quit his post or have any who came to hear him stand in the aisle.

The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution had sapped the Church of England of much of its strength in those days. Not surprisingly, the parishioners of Holy Trinity had little patience for Simeon’s enthusiastic evangelicalism. They preferred the assistant curate, Mr. Hammond. When at his own expense Simeon purchased pews for the aisles, the churchwardens threw them out into the churchyard. And when Simeon held a third service in the evening for the poor who couldn’t get out in the day, the churchwardens went one step further and locked the doors!1

The hostility was not only from the congregation. Although a fellow at King’s College, Simeon was derided by the university; he was attacked by students and held in contempt by his peers. Students who did go were mocked as “Sims” and, as a result, went circuitous routes to avoid being noticed. For years, the streets leading to the church were the “scenes of the most disgraceful tumults” as those attending church were insulted or assaulted.2 Students were warned not to attend Holy Trinity, and, when that failed, Greek classes were arranged in one college for Sunday evenings to prevent students from hearing Simeon.3

Yet despite these trials and recurring bouts of ill-health, Simeon persevered, staying at Holy Trinity for fifty-four years until his death in November 1836. He did so by recognizing criticism and opposition as the inevitable result of being a minister of Christ. When, in the early days, he was essentially locked out of his church and out of people’s homes, he saw “no remedy but faith and patience.” Despite great provocation, he was constrained by recalling that a “servant of the Lord must not quarrel” (2 Tim. 2:24).4 When buffeted by university derision, he reflected on Simon of Cyrene who bore the cross of Christ (Mark 15:21):

What a word of instruction was here—what a blessed hint for my encouragement! To have the Cross laid upon me, that I might bear it after Jesus—what a privilege! It was enough. Now I could leap and sing for joy as one whom Jesus was honouring with a participation of his suffering . . . I henceforth bound persecution as a wreath of glory round my brow!5

The vicar of Holy Trinity knew where to turn when in trouble—the comfort of God’s Word. He would often devote the first four hours of the day to private prayer and the devotional study of the Scriptures.

In 1831, Simeon’s friend, Joseph Gurney, asked him about suffering for Christ’s sake. How had Simeon overcome persecution and prejudice over the last forty-nine years in Cambridge, to the extent that he now enjoyed such popularity? The wise 71 year old commented:

My dear brother, we must not mind a little suffering. When I am getting through a hedge, if my head and shoulders are safely through, I can bear the pricking of my legs. Let us rejoice in the remembrance that our holy Head has surmounted all His suffering and triumphed over death. Let us follow Him patiently; we shall soon be partakers of His victory.6

Many pastors today will be suffering for the sake of Christ. They can be encouraged by Simeon’s model of endurance, as they fix their eyes on one of those who “through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb. 6:12). Rather than seeing opposition and derision as part and parcel of faithful gospel ministry, pastors often feel that they have no alternative but to move on. Simeon’s example urges them not to flee their flock in the face of criticism, but to fix their focus on Christ. Most of all, Simeon’s life urges pastors today to “share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (2 Tim. 1:8).
 
Footnotes:
 
1  Hugh Evans Hopkins, Charles Simeon of Cambridge (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1977), 36-39.
 
2  Handley Carr Glyn Moule, Charles Simeon: Pastor of a Generation (Christian Focus, 1997), 58.
 
3  Simeon urged the students of that college “to attend the class in obedience to the oath they had sworn to the master and as a lesson to themselves in self-denial.” Cf. Arthur Pollard, “The influence and significance of Simeon’s work” in Charles Simeon (1759-1836): Essays Written in Commemoration of His Bi-Centenary, eds. Michael Hennell & Arthur Pollard, (London: SPCK, 1959), 161.
 
4  Moule, 36.
 
5  Hopkins, 81.
 
6  Moule, 167.Article adoped by Kairos Journal

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