Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae Commentary (21 Vols.)

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. Be sure to check out our Product Guide to Multi-Volume Commentaries.

"Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering" Audio: 1:25:22 | 19.5 MB Listen to John Piper's message, "Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering: Meditations on the Life of Charles Simeon," which was delivered on April 15, 1989 at the 1989 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors. Or read the transcript.

Praise for the Print Edition

[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. It is so utterly different from the counsel that we receive today that it is worth looking at carefully.
—John Piper

One can easily find suggestive and practical helps in the preparation of sermons, devotional talks, young people’s messages, prayer meeting talks, Sunday School lessons and personal Bible study. The study of these outlines will contribute greatly to expository preaching.
—B. B. Siegel, Bibliotheca Sacra

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

Hours and hours of toil and labour have produced this veritable treasure, full of scholarship and intellectual endeavour.
—Paul Mizzi, Truth for Today

[The volumes of Horae Homileticae] have been called 'a valley of dry bones': be a prophet and they will live.
—Charles Spurgeon

College and University Libraries Featuring Copies of Horae Homileticae

In the course of searching the internet for more information on Horae Homiletice, a large number of college and university library links were returned. These links led to both institutions established prior to 1832 that acknowledged the significance of the commentary’s publication by immediately adding it to their reference sections, as well as more recently established colleges and universities who deemed the work as important enough to track down a rare copy for their libraries.

Here is 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

This impressive list includes only the most recognized colleges and universities. Dozens of other libraries from around the world also have copies of Simeon’s masterpiece. These venerated institutions have found the commentary important enough to feature it in their library - and now you, too, can include Horae Homileticae in your library of electronic books.

Additional Information

• Title: Horae Homileticae: or Discourses Digested into One Continuous Series and Forming a Commentary Upon Every Book of the Old and New Testament
• Author: Charles Simeon
• 12,414 pages
• Holdsworth and Ball, 1832

About the Author

Charles Simeon (1759–1836), Anglican clergyman and evangelical leader, was born in Reading and educated at Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, the benefice of Holy Trinity Church became vacant and Simeon petitioned for and was appointed to the position. There, Simeon influenced thirteen to fourteen generations of students over the course of his fifty-four year ministry.

[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.
—Thomas Macaulay

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, at a time when there was no formal ordination training, Simeon began teaching a fortnightly sermon class for those intending to be ordained and started hosting a weekly conversation party open to all undergraduates. Also during this time, Simeon began outlining his convictions in a series of university sermons. 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.

Simeon was neither an Arminian nor a Calvinist but described himself as “a moderate Calvinist” or “a Bible Christian.” His conviction can be witnessed in a well-known dialogue between himself and the Arminian John Wesley:

[Simeon:] 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?

[Wesley:] Yes, I do indeed.

[S:] 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?

[W:] Yes, solely through Christ.

[S:] But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?

[W:] No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last.

[S:] 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?

[W:] No.

[S:] What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother's arms?

[W:] Yes, altogether.

[S:] And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom?

[W:] Yes, I have no hope but in Him.

[S:] 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. (from Charles Simeon: Biography of a Sane Saint)

Never marrying, Simeon instead concentrated his entire efforts into his ministry, which included preaching across England as well as abroad; acting as adviser to the British East India Company in the choice of chaplains for India; and founding the Church Missionary Society. His life is the inspiration behind the Simeon Trust. For more on Charles Simeon's role as a mentor and model, see his entry from the book 131 Christians Everyone Should Know from Christian History.

Electronic Books Included

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