Memoir, 1759–1782

Fncntage and birth of Mr. Simeon — Hk education at Eton College — Remarkabk actrrity — Letter finxn Dr. Goodall — His early Habits and Character — Hie Antobiomphy — Faat-dinr in 1775 — His manner of keeping it — Mr. MicheU’a account — %is

ffii fill — of mind respecting uMng fidth — Review of Hervey — His econony, and religious distribation of his Income — Extracts from his Diary.

1759 — 1782.

Charles Simeon, the subject of this Memoir, was the fourth and youngest son of Richard Simeon, Esq., of Reading, by his marriage with Elizabeth Hutton, the descendant of a family remarkable for having numbered amongst its members two Archbishops of York. His immediate ancestors, in the two preceding generations, had been the incumbents of the living of Bucklebury in Berkshire; a circumstance which may possibly have had some influence in directing his thoughts to that profession, of which he afterwards became so distinguished’ and influential a member. The family trace their descent directly from the ancient house of the Simeons of Pyrton in Oxfordshire, in which county, and that of Stafford, they formerly held very large possessions. Their only male representatives are now to be found’ in Mr. Simeon’s branch of the family: the other branches having terminated in females; one of whom intermarried with the celebrated John Hampden; and others are merged in the families of the Welds of Lulworth Castle, and the Lords Vaux of Harrowden.

The eldest son of Richard Simeon, who was named after his father, died early in life. John, the secx)nd son, was bred to the bar; be became Senior Master of the Court of Chancery, and

2 NARRATIVE OF HIB EARLY LIFE. [cHAF. L

was one of the Commissioners, conjointly with Sir Herbert Tay* lor and Count Munster, for the management of the private pro* perty of George the Third. For many years he represented the borough of Reading in Parliament; and in 1815 was created a baronet, an honor previously held by the family from a period almost coeval with the institution of the order. The third brother, Edward, was an eminen| merchant in London, and for many years one of the Directors of the Bank of England. He realized a large fortune, but was cut off in the prime of life by a peculiar and distressm malady, during which he derived the most important benefit from the devoted attention and faithful instruction of his youngest brother.

Charles Simeon was born at Reading, September 24, 1758, and was baptized at the parish church, October 24 foliowinff. Very little can be ascertained with accuracy respecting his earlv history. Whilst yet very young he was sent to the Royal College of Eton, where he was in due course admitted on the foundation; and in his nineteenth year he succeeded to a Scholarship of King’s College in the University of Cambridge. The energy and vigor which so remarkably distinguished him throuph life, were much noticed in his youth. Horsemanship was his favorite exercise; and few persons, it is well known, were better judges of the merits of a horse, or more dexterous and bold in the management of one. In feats of strength and activity he was surpassed by none: of some of these he was pleasantly reminded in, the decline of life by his early school-fellow and constant friend. Dr. Goodall, the late Provost of Eton, who, in a letter September 29, 1833, writes to him, — “I much doubt if you could now snuff a candle with your feet, or jump over half a dozen chairs in succession. Sed quid ego hsec revoco? — at 73, moniti meliora sequamur.” With regard to his moral character and habits, there is every reason to believe, from observations that occasionally escaped from him, that he was by no means profligate or vicious in the usual sense of the terms. It would rather appear that, though exposed to scenes and temptations, which he often spoke of with horror, he was, on the whole, in early life, regular in his habits, and correct in his general conduct. His failings were principally such as arose from a constitutional vehemence and warmth of temper, the more easily provoked from certain feelings of vanity and self-importance, which during the whole of his life were a subject of conflict and trial to him. These feelings would display themselves at school in too great attention to dress, and in little peculiarities of manner, which quickly attracted the notice and provoked the ridicule of his companions.

It seemed necessary to premise thus much respecting Mr. Simeon’s early habits and behavior; as it might easily be supposed, from the strong language he has used when describing the vanity and wickedness” of his youth, that he had been guilty

OlAF. I.] NARRATIVE OF HIB BARLT LIFE. S

of some gross violations of morality. Those however who are accustomed to searching self-examination, and habitually compare their lives and tempers with the requirements of God’s holy law, will have no difficulty in understanding Mr. Simeon’s unreserved expressions of sorrow and humiliation when reviewing the past It should be remembered too, that the statements of the following autobiography are those of an advanced Christian, recording with matured views his judgment of the unprofitableness of his youth. We now enter upon Mr, Simeon’s own narrative.

•

MEMOIR WRITTEN IN 1813.

I begin then with my early life, — But what an awful scene does that present to my view I Never have I reviewed it for thirty-four years past, nor ever can I to my dying hour, without the deepest shame and sorrow. My vanity, my folly, my wickedness, Grod alone knoweth, or can bear to know. To enter Into a detail of particulars would answer no good end. If I be found at last a prodigal restored to his Father’s house, God will in no ordinary measure be glorified in me; the abundance of my sinfulness will display in most afifecting colors the superabundance of his grace.

There is, however, one remarkable circumstance which I will mention. About two years before I left Eton, on one of the fast days during the American War, I was particularly struck with the idea of the whole nation uniting in fasting and prayer on account of the sins which had brought down the Divine judgments upon us: and I thought that, if there was one who had more dis-

£ leased Grod than others, it was I. To humble myself therefore efore God appeared to me a duty of immediate and indispensable necessity. Accordingly I spent the day in fasting and prayer. But I had not learned the happy art of ’ washing my face and anointing my head, that I might not appear unto men to fast’ My companions therefore noticed the change in my deportment* and immediately cried out, O^i, o6ai ^/jty, jinoxqiiat, (Woe, woe unto you hypocrites,) by which means they soon dissipated my good desires, and reduced me to my former state of thoughtlessness and sin. I do not remember that these good desires ever returned during my stay at school; but I think that they were from God, and that God would at that time have communicated richer blessings to me, if I had not resisted the operations of his grace, and done despite to his blessed Spirit.”

[The late Rev. J. H. Michell, Rector of Kelshal, who was Mr. Simeon’s schoolfellow at Eton, from the year 1766 to their removal together to King’s College, gives the following account of this circumstance in a letter to the Editor in 1837: —

‘’On the fast day in 1776 we attended the chapel twice, and beard a sermon from Dr. Barnard, the Provost Though few of

4 NAREATIVB OF HIS BAftLT LIFB. [OHAT. !•

US had any clear notion of a fast, except that we were to abstain from meat and amusement till the afternoon after the second service, vet we could not forbear from observing and ridiculing our schoolfellow, who shut himself within his study, and instead of

Sining us in the public hall, contented himself with one hard egg. is dress and manners from this time became more plain and unfashionable. This was very observable to myself, who slept within a few feet of his bed. As it was the custom for the upper boys to meet, after the outward doors were closed, in their lower chamber, many a direct and indirect jest was uttered against him. * * We learnt also that he kept a small box with several divisions, into which, on having been tempted to say or do what he afterwards considered as immoral or unlawful, it was his custom to put money for the poor. — His habits from that period became peculiarly strict” — He adds: ‘’ We used to have a song about him, ridiculing his strictness and devotion: and the chorus of that song, referring to his box, I am ashamed to say I once joined in: and it haunts me to this day.”]

“* On my coming to College Jan. 29, 1779, the gracious designs of God towards me were soon manifest It was but the third day after my arrival that I understood I should be expected in the space oi about three weeks to attend the Lord’s Supper. What I said I, must I attend? On being informed that I mustf the thought rushed into my mind that Satan himself was as fit to attend as I; and that if I must attend, I must prqpare for my attendance there. Without a moment’s loss of time, 1 boueht the old Wkoh Duty of Man, (the only religious book that I had ever heard of,) and began to read it with great diligence; at the same time calling my ways to remembrance, and crying to God for mercy; and so earnest was I in these exercises, that within the three weeks I made myself quite ill Mrith reading, fasting, and prayer. From that day to this, blessed, for ever blessed, be my God, I have never ceaied to regard the salvation of my soul as the one thing needful.

‘’ I am far from considering it a good thin that youns men in the university should be compelled to go to the table of the Lord; for it has an evident tendency to lower in their estimation that sacred ordinance, and to harden them in their iniquities; but Grod was pleased to make use of that compulsion for the ^ood of my soul, ind to bring me to repentance by means, which for the most part, I fear, drive men into a total disregard of all religion.

‘* I soon became a member of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, because iHhought that the books of that society. would be the most useful of any that I could procure, and that I might do good to others by the circulation of them. The first book whicn I got to instruct me in reference to the Lord’s Sup- - per (for I knew that on Easter Sunday I must receive it again)

OHAP. I.] HAIEATITS OF HI8 EARLY LIFB. 5

was Kettlewell on the Sacrament; but I remember that it required more of me than I could bear, and therefore I procured Bishop Wilson on the Lord’s Supper, which seemed to be more moderate in its requirements. I continued with unabated earnestness to search out, and mourn over the numberless iniquities of my former life; and so greatly was my mind oppressed with the weight of them, that I frequently looked upon the dogs with envy; wishing, if it were possible, that I could be blessed with their mortality, and they be cursed with my immortality in my stead. I set myself immediately to undo all my former sins, as far as I could; and did it in some instances which required great self-denial, though I do not think it quite expedient to record them; bat the having done it has been a comfort to me even to this very hour, inasmuch as it gives me reason to hope that my repentance was genuine. One little instance of quite mferior consideration was this: on leaving Eton I took a receipt in full of every person with whom I had dealt; but one man, who let out boats, had charged me, as I verily believed, at least double the amount of my just debt; and therefore I paid him only half; and gave him his option, to receive that or none. This, on reflection, appeared to me an act of oppression; for though the man was certainly not in high repute for honesty, I could not prove that he had imposed upon me; and it was better that I should sufier loss, than run any risk of doing an unjust thing. I therefore determined to pay him the other half of his bill, the very first moment I should see him. This also was a relief to my mind, because it was doing as I would be done unto.*

My distress of mind continued for about three months, and well might it have continued for years, since my sins were more in number than the hairs of my head, or than the sands upon the sea-shore; but God in infinite condescension began at last to smile upon me, and to give me a hope of acceptance with him. The circumstances attendant on this were very peculiar. My efibrts to remedy my former misdeeds had been steadily pursued, and in a manner that leaves me no doubt to whose gracious assistance they were owing; and, io comparison of approving myself to God in this matter, I made no account of shame, or loss, or anything in the world; and if I could have practised it to a far greater extent, with the hope of ultimate benefit to mvself and others, I think I should have done it. In proportion as 1 proceeded in this work, I felt somewhat of hope springing up in my mind; but it was an indistinct kind of hope, founded on God’s mercy to real penitents. But in Easter week, as I was reading Bishop Wilson

* It 18 a cariooB fiuct, however, that this very man, a year or two after I had executed my |wirpoae, met me in Eton, and claimed from me the original bill; but as, for three or irnr yean, I carried in my pocket the small card on which all the receipts were written. I showed him his receipt, and brought to his remembrance all the circumstances that had psMed. From that day I have been very careful in keeping my receipts; and have, on 006 ooeasiaB in paiticdiar, saved a great deal of money by it.

6 WABRATIVE OF HIS EARLY LIFB. [oHAP. I.

on the Lord’s Supper, I met with an expression to this effect; ‘That the Jews knew what they did when they transferred their sin to the head of their offering.’ The thought rushed into my mind, What I may I transfer all my guilt to another 7 Has God provided an offering for me, that I may lay my sins on his head? then, God willing, I will not bear them on my own soul one moment longer. Accordingly I sought to lay my sins upon the sacred heaa of Jesus; and on the W* ednesday began to have a hope of mercy; on the Thursday that hope increased; on the Friday and Saturday it became more strong; and on the Sunday morning ffiaster-day, April 4,) I awoke early with those words upon my neart and lips, * Jesus Christ is risen to-day; Hallelujah! Hallelujah!’ From that hour peace flowed in rich abundance into my soul; and at the Lord s table in our chapel I had the sweetest access to God through my blessed Saviour. I remember on that occasion there being more bread consecrated than was sufficient for the communicants, the clergyman gave some of us a piece more of it after the service; and on my putting it into my mouth I covered my face with my hand ana prayed. The clergyman seeing it smiled at me: but I thought, if he had felt such a load taken off from his soul as I did, and had been as sensible of his obligations to the Lord Jesus Christ as I was, he would not deem my prayers and praises at all superfluous.

The service in our chapel has almost at all times, been very irreverently performed :* but such was the state of my soul for many months from that time, that the prayers were as marrow and fatness to me. Of course, there was a great difference in my frames at different times; but for the most part they were “very devout, and oilen, throughout a great part of the service, I prayed unto the Lord ‘with strong crying and tears.* This is a proof to me that the deadness and formality experienced in the worship of the Church, arise far more from the low state of our graces, than from any defect in our Liturgy; if only we had our hearts deeply penitent and contrite, I know from my experience at this hour, that no prayers in the world could be better to our wants, or more delightful to our souls.

From the time that I found peace with God myself, I wished to impart to others the benefits I had received. I therefore adopted a measure which must have appeared most singular to others, and which perhaps a more matured judgment might have disapproved; but I acted in the simplicity of my heart, and I am persuaded that God accepted it at my hands. 1 told my servant, that as she and the other servants were prevented almost entirely from going to church, I wsfuld do my best to instruct them on a Sunday evening, if they chose to come to me for that purpose. Several of them thankfully availed themselves of the offer, and

Contrasted with this psinfiil state of things we cannot but notice here the lejeienoe and derotion which now prevail in this and our other Coli Chapels. — Eo.

GHAF. I.] NAKRATIVE OF HIS EAKLT UFE. 7

came to me; and I read some good book to them, and used some of the prayers of the Liturgy for prayer; and though I do not know that any of them ever received substantial benefits to their souIs» I think that the opportunities were not lost upon myself; for I thereby cultivated a spirit of benevolence, and fulfilled in some measure that divine precept, * Freely ye have received, freely give.’ -

in the long vacation I went home; and carried with me the same blessed desires. I had then a brother, eight years older than myself, living with my father, and managing, as it were, his house. I wished to instruct the servants, and to unite with them in family prayer; but I had no hope that a proposal to that effect would be acceded to either by my father or my brother: I there* fore proposed it to the servants, and established it myself, leaving to my brother to join with us or not, as he saw good. To my great joy, after it was established, ray brother cordially united with me, and we statedly worshipped God, morning and evening, in the family. I take for granted that my father knew of it; but I do not remember that one word ever passed between him and me on the subject.

As yet, and indeed for three years after, I knew not any religious person, and consequently continued to have my society among the world. When the races came, T went to them, as I had been used to do, and attended at the race-balls as usual,, though without the pleasure which I had formerly experienced. I felt them to be empty vanities; but I did not see them to be sinful; I did not then understand those words, * be not conformed to this worldJ* At the latter ball, Major B. of Windsor, asked me to go over with him the next day to Windsor, to join in a match at cricket, and* to spend a few d!ays with him; this I did; and it led to an event which I desire ever to remember with the deepest shame, and the most lively gratitude to (Jod. On the Sunday he proposed to go and visit a friend about fifteen miles off; and to that proposal I acceded. Here I sinned against God and my own conscience; for though I knew not the evil of races and balls, I, knew full well that I ought to keep holy the Sabbath day. He carried me about ten miles in his phaeton; and then we proceeded the remainder of our way on horseback. The day was hot; it was about the 26th day of August, 1779, and when we arrived at the gentleman’s house, I drank a good deal of cool tankard. After dinner, not aware of the strength of the cool tankard, I drank wine just as I should have done if I had drunk nothing else; and when I came to return on horseback, I was in a state of utter intoxication. The motion of the horse increased the effect of the liquor, and deprived me entirely of my senses. Major B. rode before, and I followed; but my horse, just before I came’ to a very large heath, turned in to an inn; and the people seeing my state took me off my horse. Major B. not seeing me

8 HAUtATIVB OF HIB EAELT UFB. {oHAF. E.

behind, rode back to inquire for me; and when he found what condition I was in, he put me into a post-chaise, and carried me to the inn whence we had taken our horses. Here we were forced to stop ali night. The next morning we returned in his phaeton to Windsor. I do not recollect whether my feelings were very acute that day; I rather think not. The next morning we went to a public breakfast and dance at Egham, which at that time was always on the Tuesday after the Reading races- There I passed an hour or two, and after returning with him to Windsor proceeded on horseback to Reading. I went through Salthill, and seeing Mrs. Marsh standing at her inn-door, I entered into a little conversation with her. Sue asked me whether I had heard of the accident that had happened to a gentleman of Reading on the Sunday evening before; and then told me that a gentleman of Reading had fallen from his horse in a state of intoxication, and bad been killed on the spot What were my feelings now! I had eighteen miles to ride, and all alone: how was I filled with wonder at the mercy of God towards me! Why was it not myself, instead of the other gentleman? Why was he taken, and I left 7 And what must have been my state to all eternity if I had then been taken away! In violating the Sabbath, I had sinned deliberately; and for so do in, God had left me to all the other sins that followed! How shall I adore his name to all eternity that he did not cut me off in these sins, and make me a monument of his heaviest displeasure!

There have been two seasons in my life when God might have Cut me off in most righteous judgment: namely, in August, 1778, when my horse fell with me in Piccadilly, and broke my spur, but without my falling off; (at which time 1 was at the very summit of all my wickedness, without one seriousconcem about my soul; and when the stumbling of my horse called forth only a bitter curse at him, instead of a thanksgiving to God;) and on this occasion, when, after having received so much mercy from Grod as I had since done, I sinned so grievously against him. On either of these occasions he might well have made me a monument of his heaviest indignation. Never have I since gone through Egham without the most lively emotions of gratitude blended with the deepest humiliation of soul before God. I always look for the Assembly Room, that I may begin there my acknowledgments to my heavenly Father; and it is remarkable that on the very da, of August in the last year, (1812,) I went through Egham with my dear invalid brother, on our way to the Isle of Wight. What a mercy did I feel it, that after the lapse of thirty-three years the mercy was as fresh in my remembrance as at the first, and that all my feelings, if not quite so acute as at first, were quite as sincere. Blessed, for ever blessed, be my Grod, who has not to this hour cast off my soul 1

*’ During this vacation, and all the following vacations till* I

GHAF. U] VAEBATIVB OP HIS EABIiY LIFS. 9

Ottered into Orders, I used to attend the parish church at Reading every aftemoim, and frequently in a morning; and I used to find many sweet seasons of refreshment and comfort in the use of the stated prayers.

•”After this I went on, through the goodness of God, comfortably for nearly a year; but having read a great deal of Hervey’s works, I was much perplexed in my mind respecting the nature of saving faith. I have some idea that I expressed a wish to my father to have some person who could give me information on the subject; and that it was he who advised me to apply to Dr. Loveday of Caversham for instruction. To him I did apply, and he lent me Archbishop Sharpens third volume, containing his casuistical sermons. These I read with great proRTTthey showed me that Hervey*s view of saving faith was erroneous; and from that day to this I have never had a doubt upon the subject. I think it clear, even to demonstration, that assurance is not necessary to saving faith; a simple reliance on Christ for salvation is that faith which the word oi God requires; assurance is a.privilege, but not a duty. The true source of all the niistakes that are made in the religious world about assurance is, that men do not distinguish as they ought between an assurance of faith and an assurance of hope. There are three kinds of full assurance spoken of in the Scriptures, (as I have shown in my printed Skeletons;) a full assurance of understanding, (Col. ii. 2,) of faith, (Heb. X. 22,) and of hope, (Heb. vi. 11.) The first relates to a clear view of revealed truth in all its parts; the second, to the power and willmgness of Christ to save to*^ the uttermost all that come unto God Dy him; and the third, (which is generally understood by the word assurance,) to our own personal interest in Christ. This last m doubtless be enjoyed: but a person may possess saving faith without it, and even a full assurance of faith without it; he may be fully assured of Christ’s power and willingness to save him, and yet not be assured that Christ has actually imparted salvation to him. The truth is, that these two kinds of assurance, namely of faith and hope, have respect to very diflerent things; assurance of faith having respect only to the truth of God in his word, whilst assurance of hope is founded on the coirespondence of our character with that word: the one believes that God will fulfil his promises to persons of a particular description; and the other, that we ourselves are of that very character to whom they are and shall be iulfilled. This latter therefore, I say again, is not a duty but a privilege, (an inestimable privilege no doubt;) and it is certain that our Lord himself very highly commended the faith of the Canaanitish woman and others, who possessed the former assurance without one atom of the latter.

This shows, I think, that we ought to read all human compositions with caution. The best of writers have their favorite notions, which they are apt to carry too far; and this I consider to

10 NARKATIVB OF HI8 BAKLT LIFB. [OHAP. I.

be the case with Hervey, both with respect to the doctrine of assurance and that also of imputed righteousness. I do myself believe the doctrine of imputed righteousness; but I do not approve of refining upon it in the way that Hervey does: I love the simplicity of the Scriptures, and I wish to receive and inculcate every truth precisely in the way and to the extent that it is set forth in the inspired volume. Were this the habit of all divines, there would soon be an end of most of the controversies that have agitated and divided the Church of Christ.

‘’During my Scholarship at King’s College, I made many attempts to benefit my friends, and sometimes thoufirht I had sue* ceeded in conveying to them some spiritual good; but I now see that I expected too much from my own exertions, and from their resolutions. If good be done to any, the work must be God’s alone; ’ the help that is done upon earth, he doeth it himself.’

“I am not aware of anything very particular occurring previous to my becoming a Fellow of King’s; but there were certainly some great benefits which I received from my religious turn of mind.

“Though by nature and habit of an extravagant disposition, I practised the most rigid economy; and in this! was very much assisted by allotting my small income so as to provide for every the minutest expense, and at the same time consecrating a stated part of my income to the Lord, together with all that I could save out of the part reserved for my own use. This made economy truly deligntful; and enabled me to finish my three years of scholarship without owing a shilling, whilst others, my contemporaries, incurred debts of several hundred pounds. To this hour do I reap the benefit of these habits; for though my income is now very large, I never indulge in any ‘extravagance. I have, it is true, my establishment on rather a high scale in comparison of others; but I never throw away my money in foolish indulgences, nor spend more of my income upon myself, than I believe God himself approves. I appear to spend a great deal; but by constant and careful economy, I in reality spend scarcely half what I should in general be thought to spend; and of the indulgences I have, I am persuaded I could sacrifice far the greater part without a moment’s regret, if there were occasion for my so doing.”

It appears from his books of accounts, which from the first were kept with remarkable neatness and accuracy, that his whole income in 1780, (the second year of his residence in College) was only £125; and after gradually increasing for fourteen years, it became in 1793 about £300 per annum. On examining the mode of its disbursement during this period, it seems to have been his plan regularly to dispose of one-third of his income in charity.

OBAP. I.] NABSATIYS OF HIB EARLY LIFB. 11

At the close of this part of my narrative, it may not perhaps be uninteresting to observe the manner in which Mr. Simeon was accustomed to record his ^’ thoughts and actions at this early period. A few extracts from his Diary will suffice; all the memo* randa are brief, and very similar in character: and it will be remembered that they are merely the private remarks of a oung man at College, in the earliest stage of his religions career.

The first entry in his Diary occurs February 18, 1780, and runs thus: —

Friday. — ^I took the hint of keeping a diaxy of my thoughts ayd actions from StoDhooee’a Spirihud hutruetum to the Vmnatrtictedf and ahall uink my religion cooled Teiy nmch when I remit it

Saturday. — I began not my repentance till pcwt 12, and continued it all day, bat exerciaed it chiefly on only one set of my rins, and made good resolutions concerning one, though am waverine on the other. At E. C* not so much wandering as usual.

Sunday. — PrayecTtolerably fervent in and before M. u.t and recciyed the Sacrament id; but after chapel found a lassitude, and only read in Wilson till dinner: had no devotion at St Mary’s. Had wanderings in E. C.: read to servants and to Mr. R. ’ trust in QodJ Prayed, but very languidly, at night

Monday. — In M. C. quite lukewarm; and much wandering in prayer. In E. C nearly the same; after which I went to M. R., but talked only on indifferent subjects; piayed at night without a true and proper fervor.

Tuesday. — Took physic, and was not in M. G. Rose at 9 tolerably devout At E. C. sad wanderincs and coldness: at night I seemed almost to sleep over my prayers, such was their weaSLneas, and so frequent wanderings.

Wednesday. — In M. C. The Sacrament surely has not given me much more fervor. Vcfy deficient indeed! Johnson gave us an exposition or sermon on Conscience: aft 11 read Bishop Beveridges’s sermon on Common Prayer till 13, and then prayed fervently for several graces out of the Whole Dutj/. la E. C. prayed devoutly without much wandering: at night but short prayers, but tolerably performed.

Thniaday. — M. C. very little wandering, and pretty devout, owing to my prayers ye»- tnday morning. Went to St. Mary’s — Kelhan — Charity. Did not keep my attention well. E. C. so, so. Spent the whole evening with M. R.: read Psalms and Lessons pretty devoutly. Chemul evening. Did not go to the concert. Prayed pooriy.’’

The Diary proceeds much in the same manner, recording the state of his devotional feelings, till we come to the following pas- 8age» noticing a circumstance at Trinity Church, to which Mr. S. frequently alluded as a striking contrast to what he afterwards witnessed there.

March 6th. Sunday. — M. C. very deficient, and much wandering. Breakftstcd with Dr. Glynn. Went to hear Mr. (^ooke at Trinity Church, and turning at the Creed, saw the table covered: prayed fervently, though with some wandering, and stayed the Sacrament Mrs. and Miss Burleiffh the only two CoTnmimicants — adounistered by Mr. Relhan. Dr. HaUfiuc and Mr. Cooke went away.

8th. Wednesday. — M. C. kneeled down before service, nor dp I see any impropriety in it Why should I be afraid or ashamed of all the world seeing me do my duty 1 Matt V. 16: OSrw Xoftrf/irw rd fiof ifiuv iftir(HKrBs» ruv dvdpairtiiVf Stroit I6<i»9i¥ in<av ri KoXhipyUf Koi 6o(69UCi t6v varipa iftwu rdv if rSts ovpavoTf.

90th. Monday. — (Passion Week.^ M. C. at ton o’clock, without surplices. When I arose was very penitent and very devout In M. C. nearly the same. I have determined that I will ndther eat nor drink all this week, except at dinner, and that sparingly till Sunday. E. C. very fervent: at night very devout and penitent.”

The following entries exhibit his habits of early rising at this period and his efforts for the spiritual welfare of his servant.

B. C. BveoiDg Chapel. t M. C. Momiiig ChapeL

12 NABBATIVB OF HIB EARLY HTM. [OHAP. I.

“Hay 98th. Went into the water, and shall oontiniie it ai & 29th. — Roae beibie 5; read from 6. M. C. a great deal of wandering. Jane 8th. — 6, after retuming from the water prayed devoutly with my servant, and am to do the same every morning and evening that I am at home. HoUis will abo come in the evening from this tmie. H. C. much earnestness and mu wandering.. E. C. indifferently. At night read to my” servant and Hollis, and prayed with them from the Litany; and afVerwards shortly by myself — veiy fervent.”

After September the Diary is much interrupted; no entries being made for many days together. Mr. Simeon never succeeded for any length of time in his attempts to keep a Journal; and he confessed he had little ‘* taste for Diaries.”