《Simeon ’s Horae Homileticae - Acts》(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. XIV
Discourse / Text / SubjectActs
1735. / Acts 1:9-11. / Christ’s Ascension
1736. / Acts 2:1-4. / Out-pouring of the Spirit
1737. / Acts 2:32-33. / Sending forth of the Holy Spirit
1738. / Acts 2:36. / Jesus is the Christ
1739. / Acts 2:37-39. / Repentance of the first Converts
1740. / Acts 2:40. / Separation from the Ungodly
1741. / Acts 2:44-47. / State of the Primitive Christians
1742. / Acts 3:6-8. / The Cripple healed
1743. / Acts 3:14-15. / Christ rejected
1744. / Acts 3:19. / Repentance encouraged
1745. / Acts 3:22-23. / Moses and Christ compared
1746. / Acts 3:26. / Holiness the greatest Blessing
1747. / Acts 4:8-10. / The Cripple healed by Peter
1748. / Acts 4:12. / Salvation by Christ alone
1749. / Acts 4:18-20. / Contest between Prejudice and Religion
1750. / Acts 4:27-28. / Christ’s Sufferings fore-ordained
1751. / Acts 4:31-32. / The Benefit of united Prayer
1752. / Acts 5:3-5. / Ananias and Sapphira
1753. / Acts 5:20. / The Duty of Ministers
1754. / Acts 5:30-32. / The Ends of Christ’s Exaltation
1755. / Acts 5:41-42. / The Magnanimity of the Apostles
1756. / Acts 7:22-23. / The Zeal of Moses
1757. / Acts 7:59-60. / The Death of Stephen
1758. / Acts 8:5-8. / Philip preaches Christ in Samaria
1759. / Acts 8:23. / The State of ungodly Men
1760. / Acts 8:35. / Philip and the Eunuch
1761. / Acts 8:37. / The Ethiopian Eunuch’s Confession
1762. / Acts 9:3-6. / Conversion of St. Paul
1763. / Acts 9:11. / Saul’s Prayer
1764. / Acts 9:39-40. / Dorcas restored to Life
1765. / Acts 10:33. / How to attend Ordinances
1766. / Acts 10:34-35. / Salvation offered equally to all
1767. / Acts 10:38. / Christ’s Diligence in benefiting Man
1768. / Acts 10:43. / Leading Doctrines of the Gospel
1769. / Acts 11:13-14. / Sufficiency of the Gospel Salvation
1770. / Acts 11:18. / Life granted to the Gentiles
1771. / Acts 11:22-23. / Duty of cleaving to the Lord
1772. / Acts 11:29-30. / Benevolence of the Church of Antioch
1773. / Acts 12:5. / Peter’s Deliverance from Prison
1774. / Acts 12:21-23. / The Evil of Pride
1775. / Acts 13:9-11. / Elymas the Sorcerer struck blind
1776. / Acts 13:26. / The Word of Salvation delivered
1777. / Acts 13:32-33. / The Resurrection of Christ glad Tidings
1778. / Acts 13:34. / The sure Mercies of David
1779. / Acts 13:38-41. / Danger of despising the Gospel Salvation
1780. / Acts 13:46-48. / The Gentiles receive the Gospel
1781. / Acts 14:22. / Tribulation the Way to Heaven
1782. / Acts 14:27. / Success of the Gospel a Ground of Joy
1783. / Acts 15:10-11. / The Ceremonial Law abrogated
1784. / Acts 15:36. / Inquiry unto the State of the Church
1785. / Acts 16:14-15 / The Conversion of Lydia
1786. / Acts 16:16-18. / A Spirit of Divination cast out
1787. / Acts 16:29-31. / The Conversion of the Jailor
1788. / Acts 17:2-5. / Proofs that Jesus is the Messiah
1789. / Acts 17:11-12. / Effects of Attention to the Gospel
1790. / Acts 17:30. / Repentance enjoined
1791. / Acts 17:31. / A Day appointed for Christ judge the World
1792. / Acts 18:17. / The Character of Gallio
1793. / Acts 18:24-28. / Character and Ministry of Apollos
1794. / Acts 19:15. / The Power of Christ and his Gospel
1795. / Acts 19:18-20. / Genuine Repentance
1796. / Acts 19:34. / Heathen and Christian Zeal compared
1797. / Acts 20:7. / Paul’s Sermon at Troas
1798. / Acts 20:17-21. / Paul’s Appeal to the Ephesian Elders
1799. / Acts 20:24. / Duty of Ministers
1800. / Acts 20:26-27. / Ministerial Fidelity
1801. / Acts 20:31. / Watchfulness recommended
1802. / Acts 20:32. / A farewell Discourse
1803. / Acts 20:35. / The Blessedness of Liberality
1804. / Acts 21:13. / Paul’s readiness to suffer for Christ’s sake
1805. / Acts 21:20-23. / Paul becoming a Nazarite
1806. / Acts 22:16. / Conversion of St. Paul
1807. / Acts 24:14-15. / Paul’s Vindication before Felix
1808. / Acts 24:16. / A Conscience void of Offence
1809. / Acts 24:16. / A Conscience void of Offence
1810. / Acts 24:25. / Paul’s Discourse before Felix
1811. / Acts 26:17-18. / Paul’s Commission
1812. / Acts 26:22-23. / Paul’s Testimony
1813. / Acts 26:24-25. / Paul’s Vindication of his Ministry
1814. / Acts 26:28-29. / The almost and the real Christian
1815. / Acts 27:25. / Paul’s Deliverance from Shipwreck
1816. / Acts 28:3-6. / Paul bitten by a Viper, and uninjured
1817. / Acts 28:22. / The Followers of Christ evil spoken of
1818. / Acts 28:28. / The Gospel sent to the Gentiles
01 Chapter 1
Verses 9-11
DISCOURSE: 1735
CHRIST’S ASCENSION
Acts 1:9-11. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
WE are surprised to see how slow of heart the Apostles were to receive and understand the instructions given them from time to time by their Divine Master. If he spoke to them of his death, they could not endure the thought of such an issue to his ministrations. If he spoke of his resurrection, they could not at all apprehend his meaning, or conceive to what he could refer. In like manner, when he spoke of his returning to his Father in heaven, and declared to them the special ends of his ascension, and of the deep interest which they themselves had in it, (since he was going to prepare a place for them, and to send them another Comforter, who should far more than compensate them for the loss of his bodily presence,) they could not enter into the subject. They thought, indeed, that they understood him, and said, “Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb [Note: John 16:28-29.]:” but they shewed, even after his resurrection, how ignorant they were; since they still dreamed of his establishing a temporal kingdom, and asked, in reference to it, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel [Note: ver. 6.]?” It was thus that they surveyed the ascension of their Lord at this time. Instead of being prepared for it, and expecting the completion of his work on earth, they stood and gazed at him, with a kind of stupid amazement; till two Angels, in the form of men, reproved their stupidity: and assured them, that, at a future period, their Divine Master should again return to earth, in a way similar to that of his departure from it.
The points for our present consideration are,
I. The ends of his ascension to heaven—
These are fully declared in the Holy Scriptures. He ascended,
1. To receive a recompence for himself—
[The Father had engaged in covenant with him, that, “if he would make his soul an offering for sin, he should see a seed, and prolong his days; and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hands [Note: Isaiah 53:10.].” In this compact, his human nature was ordained to have a full participation of his glory, being enthroned at the right hand of God, and, by its union with the Godhead, invested with all the honours due to the Most High God. “All the angels in heaven,” no less than his redeemed saints, were “bidden to worship him [Note: Psalms 97:7. with Hebrews 1:6.].” And to this, in part at least, he looked forward, as to “the joy that was set before him;” in consideration of which “he endured the cross, and despised the shame, till he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God [Note: Hebrews 12:2.].” All this was conferred on him as the recompence of his humiliation: for so says the holy Apostle: He, “being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father [Note: Philippians 2:6-11.].” And in his ascension was in some degree fulfilled that vision of the prophet Daniel: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed [Note: Daniel 7:13-14.].]
2. To carry on and perfect his work for us—
[As our great High-Priest, he offered himself a sacrifice upon the cross. But, in order to execute the whole of that sacred office, he must carry that blood within the veil, and offer incense also before the mercy-seat: nor, till he should have done this, would he have any authority to bless his people. Accordingly, in his ascension he performed this remaining part of his priestly office: entering into heaven with his own blood, and offering before God the incense of his continual intercession [Note: Hebrews 9:11-12; Hebrews 9:24.].
But his kingly office also was now to be executed, in a fuller manner than it had yet been. David had said, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool [Note: Psalms 110:1.].” And again; “The stone which the builders refused, the same is made the head of the corner [Note: Psalms 118:22.].” This, therefore, now remained to be fulfilled: and for the accomplishment of it, Christ was now exalted to glory. And this accords with the account given us by St. Peter: “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ [Note: Acts 2:32-36.].” To the same effect St. Paul also speaks: “Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he gave gifts unto men: he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ [Note: Ephesians 4:7-14.].” This then, I say, was the end of his ascension; and in this way was fulfilled what St. Paul had spoken respecting him: “God raised him up, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all [Note: Ephesians 1:20-23.].”]