《Simeon ’s Horae Homileticae –Jeremiah》(Charles Simeon)
Commentator
Charles Simeon (September 24, 1759 - November 13, 1836), was an English evangelical clergyman.
He was born at Reading, Berkshire and educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. In 1782 he became fellow of King's College, and took orders, receiving the living of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, in the following year. He was at first so unpopular that services were frequently interrupted, and he was often insulted in the streets. Having overcome public prejudice, he subsequently gained a remarkable and lasting influence among the undergraduates of the university.
He became a leader among evangelical churchmen, was one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society in 1799, 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 in the choice of chaplains for India.
In 1792 he 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, the result being Horae Homileticae, his chief work.
He published hundreds of sermons and outlines of sermons (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). The Simeon Trust was established by him for the purpose of acquiring church patronage to perpetuate evangelical clergy in Church of England parishes. It continues to operate to this day.
Charles Simeon is often hailed as something of an ancestor of the evangelical movement in the Church of England.
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." He is remembered in the Episcopal Church of the United States with a Lesser Feast and in the Anglican Church of Canada with a Commemoration on 12 November. In the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 13 November. His memorial by the monumental mason Hopper in Holy Trinity Church (Cambridge), was described by architectural critic Nikolaus Pevsner as an "epitaph in Gothic forms."
00 Introduction
CONTENTS TO VOL. IX.
Discourse / Text / SubjectJeremiah
1026. / Jeremiah 2:4-6. / The Ingratitude of Men
1027. / Jeremiah 2:12-13. / The Fountain of living Waters
1028. / Jeremiah 2:19. / The Evil of Backsliding
1029. / Jeremiah 2:23-24. / Self-Vindicating Sinners reproved
1030. / Jeremiah 2:27-28. / The Folly of neglecting God
1031. / Jeremiah 2:31-32. / God’s Complaint against the Rebellious
1032. / Jeremiah 3:11. / Comparative Criminality
1033. / Jeremiah 3:12-15. / God’s Invitation to his People
1034. / Jeremiah 3:19. / The true Source of Salvation
1035. / Jeremiah 3:22. / Invitation to Backsliders
1036. / Jeremiah 4:3-4. / Repentance the Means of preventing Ruin
1037. / Jeremiah 4:14. / The Importance of suppressing vain Thoughts
1038. / Jeremiah 4:19. / The Miseries of War
1039. / Jeremiah 5:23-24. / God’s Bounties and our Ingratitude
1040. / Jeremiah 6:16. / The good old Way
1041. / Jeremiah 8:4-8. / Expostulation with the Impenitent
1042. / Jeremiah 8:11. / Healing our Wounds slightly
1043. / Jeremiah 8:20-22. / The Remedy for those who have lost their Seasons of Grace
1044. / Jeremiah 8:22. / Christ our Physician
1045. / Jeremiah 9:3. / Fortitude recommended on the Side of Truth
1046. / Jeremiah 9:23-24. / True and sufficient Grounds of Glorying
1047. / Jeremiah 13:11. / The Contempt with which God’s richest Mercies are treated
1048. / Jeremiah 13:15-17. / A Call to Repentance
1049. / Jeremiah 13:23. / The Power of evil Habits
1050. / Jeremiah 13:27. / God is desirous of saving Men
1051. / Jeremiah 14:7. / God’s Name the Sinner’s Plea
1052. / Jeremiah 14:7-9. / A Pattern for National Humiliation
1053. / Jeremiah 14:20-21. / How to plead with God
1054. / Jeremiah 15:16. / The Word of God precious
1055. / Jeremiah 17:5-8. / The Duty of trusting in God
1056. / Jeremiah 17:9. / Necessity of knowing Ourselves
1057. / Jeremiah 17:10. / God’s Rule of Judgment
1058. / Jeremiah 18:6. / The Potter’s Power over the Clay
1059. / Jeremiah 20:9. / A Soul under Discouragement
1060. / Jeremiah 23:6. / The Lord our Righteousness
1061. / Jeremiah 23:23-24. / The Omnipresence of God
1062. / Jeremiah 23:28-29. / Fidelity required in Ministers
1063. / Jeremiah 25:5-6. / Religion is not a Source of Evil to those who embrace it
1064. / Jeremiah 29:11; Jeremiah 29:13. / God will be found of sincere Worshippers
1065. / Jeremiah 30:10-11. / God’s gracious Designs towards his chosen People
1066. / Jeremiah 30:17. / The Conversion of the Jews—our Duty to promote it
1067. / Jeremiah 30:21. / God’s Regard for those who approach unto Him
1068. / Jeremiah 31:3. / Gracious Influences the Fruit of electing Love
1069. / Jeremiah 31:7-9. / The Restoration of the Jews
1070. / Jeremiah 31:8-9. / The Christian Pilgrims
1071. / Jeremiah 31:10-14. / The preached Gospel a Source of Blessings to the World
1072. / Jeremiah 31:18-20. / The Reflections of a Penitent
1073. / Jeremiah 31:30 / The sure Consequences of sin
1074. / Jeremiah 31:31-34. / The New Covenant
1075. / Jeremiah 31:35-37. / The Church’s Security
1076. / Jeremiah 32:37-42. / The future Conversion of the Jews
1077. / Jeremiah 32:39-41. / Salvation is of God from first to last
1078. / Jeremiah 33:3. / The Importance of Prayer
1079. / Jeremiah 33:6-9. / Conversion of the Jews—a Matter of Importance to God and Man
1080. / Jeremiah 35:13-14. / Disobedience to God condemned
1081. / Jeremiah 36:27-28. / Jehoiakim burns the sacred Roll
1082. / Jeremiah 42:20-21. / Dissimulation reproved
1083. / Jeremiah 44:16-17. / The Impiety of ungodly Men
1084. / Jeremiah 45:5. / We must not seek great Things
1085. / Jeremiah 47:6-7. / The Means of terminating War
1086. / Jeremiah 50:4-5. / Repentance described
1087. / Jeremiah 50:20. / God’s Mercy to his People
1088. / Jeremiah 51:5. / God’s Mercy contrasted with our Sinfulness
1089. / Jeremiah 51:10. / Duty of acknowledging God’s Mercies
01 Chapter 1
02 Chapter 2
Verses 4-6
DISCOURSE: 1026
THE INGRATITUDE OF MEN
Jeremiah 2:4-6. Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? Neither said they, Where is the Lord, that brought us up out of the land of Egypt?
HOW marvellous is the condescension of Almighty God! There is not in the universe a man that would bear with his fellow-man as God beareth with his people. Amidst all the indignities that they offer him, he follows them with entreaties, reasonings, expostulations, if by any means he may prevail upon them to turn to him, and thus to avert from themselves his merited displeasure. In my text, all Israel are challenged by him to assign a reason for their contemptuous treatment of him. As by the Prophet Micah he says, “O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me [Note: Micah 6:3.]:” so here he challenges them all to say, “What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me?”
Here we are called to consider,
I. The complaint he makes—
Grievous, indeed, had been the departure of God’s people from him, and their insuperable attachment to idols. Jeremiah says of them: “It is the land of graven images: “they are mad upon their idols [Note: Jeremiah 50:38.].” And this was the more wonderful, because they believed that Jehovah had brought them out of Egypt, and led them through the wilderness, and established them in Canaan; and yet they did not, as one might have supposed, desire to know and serve Him, but turned their backs upon him, and sought in preference “the vanities of the Heathen [Note: Deuteronomy 32:21. Jeremiah 14:22.],” even their idols of wood and stone.
But if God utters this complaint against his ancient people, how much more justly may he urge it against us. For there is in us, alas!
1. The same folly—
[What has been the uniform tenour of our lives, but one constant state of departure from God, and a preferring of every vanity before him? True, we have not bowed down to idols of wood and stone: but we have cared for nothing, yea, and thought of nothing, but the pleasures, or riches, or honours of this vain world. Look at persons in early youth; see them growing up to manhood; see them in full maturity of mind and body; yea, look at them when grey hairs are come upon them, aye, and when bowed down with the infirmities of age; what is it they are seeking after? and what is it to which they look for satisfaction? It is the world, in some shape or other. Though they have found all that they ever enjoyed to be, in fact, nothing but “vanity and vexation of spirit,” yet they go on in the same infatuated course from year to year, withholding their hearts from God, who alone can make them happy, and setting their affections upon things which never did, nor ever can, administer to their comfort. In a word, “they forsake God, the fountain of living waters, and hew out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water [Note: ver. 13]” — — —]
2. The same ingratitude—
[If their ingratitude was base, who inquired not after Him who had redeemed them from Egypt, what must ours be, who have been redeemed from death and hell; and redeemed, too, not as Israel, by a mere act of power, but by the blood and righteousness of our incarnate God! Consider, in reference to the points specified in the passage before us, from what bondage we have been delivered; what provision God has made for us in the way; and what a rest he has prepared for us at the end [Note: ver. 6, 7.]! What were the afflictions of Egypt, in comparison of the miseries of hell? And what were the cloudy pillar for their direction, and the manna and water for their support, in comparison of the in-dwelling of the Spirit of God in our souls, as our Guide, our Sanctifier, and our Comforter? And what was a short possession of Canaan, in comparison of an eternal inheritance in heaven? What the Jews enjoyed was a mere shadow only, of which we possess the substance: and all this bought for us by the precious blood of Christ, who laid down his life for us?
Now, it might well be supposed that we should be continually inquiring after this Saviour; and that we should not have so much as a wish but to know him, love him, serve him, glorify him, and enjoy him. But has this been the case with us? Have we not, on the contrary, passed days, weeks, months, and years, without any anxious desire after him, or any diligent pursuit of him? Look back, I pray you, and see what has been the state of your souls, from your youth up even to the present moment. Compare your feelings about the things of this world, its cares, pleasures, vanities; and say whether they have not engrossed your minds far more than the Lord Jesus, and all the wonders of redeeming love. Tell me, then, What can exceed your ingratitude? and how justly may God be filled with indignation against you! — — —]
From this complaint, we pass on to notice,
II. His challenge in relation to it—
“What iniquity have your fathers found in me,” to justify such conduct towards me? — — — This was altogether unanswerable by them: but how much more so by us!
I now, in God’s name, challenge every one of you to say, What have you ever found in the Lord Jesus Christ that merits such treatment at your hands?
1. Have you ever found him a hard Master?
[The Jews might have said, that God imposed “a yoke upon them, which neither they nor their fathers were ever able to bear:” but can you speak thus of Christ’s yoke? Has he not declared, and do not your consciences attest, that “his yoke is easy, and his burthen light? Verily, there is not one of his commandments that is grievous;” not one “in the keeping of which you will not receive” a present, as well as an eternal, “great reward.”]
2. Have you found him, in any one respect, less gracious or merciful than he professed to be?
[Where is there a truly penitent soul that he ever spurned from his footstool? — — — Where is there one who ever cried to him for help, and did not find his grace sufficient for him? — — — Who ever delighted himself in him, and did not experience a reciprocation of his love? — — — And whom did he ever leave or forsake, provided he, on his part, “cleaved with full purpose of heart unto him?” — — — May he not address every one of you in the words nearly following my text; “O generation! Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? Wherefore then say ye, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee [Note: ver. 31.]?” Yes, Brethren, I challenge you, and God himself invites the whole world to sit in judgment, and decide the controversy between us: “O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard: What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes [Note: Isaiah 5:3-4.]?”]
Tell me then,
1. What will ye say in justification of yourselves?
[Are ye not guilty? and have ye so much as a shadow of an excuse for your base conduct? When the Lord Jesus, at the Last Day, shall call you to account, and say, Why did you prefer every vanity before me? — — — Why did not all the wonders which I had wrought for you, in bearing your sins and expiating your guilt, find a place in your minds, and constrain you to surrender up yourselves to me? — — — Tell me, will not your mouth be shut? Will you not then be amazed at the iniquity that was in you? — — — I pray you, then, put aside all your self-vindicating delusions, and cast yourselves at the feet of Jesus, crying, “Save, Lord, or I perish!” — — —]
2. What line of conduct will ye henceforth pursue?
[Will ye go on in your neglect of God and his Christ, and in a determined pursuit of earthly vanities? I trust ye will not. I do hope that you will see how unreasonable such conduct is, and will from this time turn unto God with your whole hearts. And see, for your encouragement, how rich are the offers of his grace! He says concerning you, “Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense; but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, and wearied me with thine iniquities, I, even I, am he that (What? will pour out my judgments upon thee? No: but that) blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins, Put me in remembrance (of this promise): let us plead together: “declare thou (thine affiance in it), that thou mayest be justified [Note: Isaiah 43:22-26.].” Verily, it seems incredible that God, that God whom we have so offended, should address us in such terms as these. But these are the very words of God, addressed even to the most rebellious of the human race. Apply them, then, to your own souls, my Brethren, and seek now the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Then shall you, notwithstanding all your past wickedness, find favour with God, and “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son shall cleanse you from all sin.”]
Verse 12-13
DISCOURSE: 1027
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS
Jeremiah 2:12-13. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
RELIGION may be considered as of two kinds, theoretical and practical. In the term theoretical, I include every thing that is necessary to prove the truth of Christianity: and under the term practical, whatever is required of those who embrace it. To understand the theoretical part, is desirable; to perform the practical is necessary. The two kinds, however are not necessarily united: the theoretical may exist where the practical is disregarded; and the practical may exist, where the theoretical is unknown. Thousands of pious persons have neither leisure nor talent for collating manuscripts, or for weighing the evidences that may be adduced in favour of particular hypotheses: and to say that these cannot be religious, because they are wanting in critical acumen, would be as absurd as to say that a man cannot be honest, because he has not sufficient knowledge of the laws to be a judge. The unlettered Christian assumes the truth of Christianity; and he finds it true by its effects. And such persons may well refer to the effects, in proof of the truth of that religion which they profess. But it is one thing to refer to practical effects, and another to ground their faith on any transient feelings: This no man of reflection can do: the other, no man of piety can forbear. Feelings may be excited by erroneous notions, as well as by those which are just: but holiness, radical and universal holiness, can be produced by Christianity alone. We will appeal to all the religions that ever appeared upon the face of the earth, and ask, Whether any of them ever produced in their votaries such effects as were visible in Christ and his Apostles? The reason is plain: It is the Spirit of God who sanctifies: and he is promised to those only who believe in Christ: and consequently, his sanctifying energy, in its full extent at least, can be found in them alone. I grant that it would be wrong to rest the truth of our religion on that ground only; but surely it may properly be referred to, as an additional and corroborating proof of our religion. If this be not a proper test of our religion, whereby shall the superior excellency of Christianity be known? If the Bible produce no better effects than the Koran, I do not hesitate to say that it is no better than the Koran: but if its effects be such as no other religion can produce, then will those effects be, though not the only, yet a solid and important proof of our religion: and those who cannot enter into learned disquisitions about the credibility of the Scriptures, have reason to thank God that they have within themselves an evidence of the truth of Christianity, which the objections of infidels can never set aside [Note: The author does not mean, that this is the only evidence which unlearned men have of the Divine authority of the Bible. They, as well as the learned, have other grounds for their faith. They see the provision, which the Bible makes for their restoration to happiness, to be precisely such as their necessities required. They see also, that the purity of its commands has a wonderful tendency to elevate their nature, and to produce universal happiness: and these two things form in their minds a strong internal evidence of the Divine origin of the Bible; whilst the general and long-continued reception of that book amongst those who have spent their whole lives in investigating its authenticity, serves in their minds as a strong external evidence, that the Bible is really given by the inspiration of God. Nevertheless, their actual experience of a change of heart and life, wrought in them by the Bible, is to them a strong additional evidence of its Divine authority. Of course, this change cannot produce any conviction in the minds of others; because none but God and a man’s own conscience can know the full extent of that change.]. The error lies in confounding the two kinds of religion. They are distinct; and they should be kept so.