receive on God's testimony what He has revealed, whether I can unravel all the difficulties that attend it or not; and from that day to this I have never had a doubt respecting the truth of that doctrine, nor a wish, as far as I know, to be wise above that which is written. I feel that I cannot even explain how it is that I move my finger, and therefore I am content to be ignorant of innumerable things which exceed not only my wisdom, but the wisdom of the most learned men in the universe. For this disposition of mind I have unbounded reason to be thankful to God; for I have not only avoided many perplexities by means of it, but actually learned much which I should otherwise never have learned. I was not then aware that this simple exercise of faith is the only way of attaining Divine knowledge; but I now see it is so; and, in fact, it is the true way in which we attain human knowledge also."

He is thus described at the time by Henry Venn : 66 In less than seventeen Sundays by preaching for Mr. Atkinson in a church at Cambridge he filled it with hearers-a thing unknown there for near a century. He has been over to see me six times within the last

three months: he is calculated for great usefulness, and is full of faith and love. My soul is always the better for his visits. Oh to flame as he does with zeal, and yet be beautified with meekness! . . . It is amazing what success he has met with."

His Cambridge life was very nearly coming to a sudden close, for on the death of his brother Richard it was thought he ought to take his place in presiding over his father's household. At this moment died the Vicar of Trinity Church, Cambridge. Simeon had wished for this parish; his father knew the Bishop of Ely, with whom lay the nomination, and the Bishop appointed him. The parishioners wanted Hammond, the curate, and immediately presented him to a lectureship, to which they had the right of election, and which the late vicar had held with the vicarage, writing at the same time to the Bishop to ask him to make him vicar. Simeon had wished to stand aside, but the Bishop told him he certainly should not appoint Hammond. Simeon accepted, and preached his first sermon in Trinity Church on November 10th, 1782. He held the parish fifty-four years, till his death on November 13th, 1836.

The disappointed parishioners began a persecution of their new vicar which his kindness. and goodness did not overcome for eight years. They absented themselves from his ministrations and locked up their pews. For the sake of peace Simeon refrained from standing on his rights, and filled the aisles with benches. "To visit the parishioners in their own homes,' he writes, "was impracticable, for they were so embittered against me that there was scarcely one who would admit me to his house. In this state of things I saw no remedy but faith and patience. The passage of Scripture which subdued and controlled my mind was, 'The servant of the Lord must not strive.' painful to see the church, with the exception of the aisles, almost forsaken; but I thought if God would only give a double blessing to the congregation that did attend, there would be on the whole as much good done."

It was

Simeon was at this time the object of much persecution. Cambridge was full of a mere worldly and professional religion. Simeon's exemplification of the faith of the New Testament as a living power was deeply resented. Godless undergraduates attended his church for the purposes of ridicule. He became a

by-word. On one occasion, when a fellow of his own college ventured to walk up and down with him for a short time on a grass-plot, he was quite astonished, as he was accustomed to consider himself an outcast. Of these days he wrote long after: " Many years ago, when I was the object of much contempt and derision in this University, I strolled forth one day, buffeted and afflicted, with my little Testament in my hand. I prayed earnestly to my God

that He would comfort me with some cordial from His Word, and that, on opening the book, I might find some text which should sustain me. The first text which caught my eye was this: They found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they compelled to bear His cross.' (You know Simon is the same name as Simeon.) What a word of instruction was here! 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 with joy as one whom Jesus was honouring with a participation in His sufferings."

Towards the close of 1786 he preached his first University sermon in the pulpit of St. Mary's. The scene is thus described by Mr.

Carus-Wilson, of Casterton Hall: "The greatest excitement prevailed on this occasion. St. Mary's was crowded with gownsmen; and at first there seemed a disposition to disturb and annoy the preacher in a manner at that period unhappily not unusual. But scarcely had he proceeded more than a few sentences, when the lucid arrangement of his exordium, and his serious and commanding manner, impressed the whole assembly with feelings of deep solemnity, and he was heard to the end with the most respectful and riveted attention. The vast congregation departed in a mood very different from that in which it had assembled ; and it was evident from the remarks that were heard at going out, and the subdued tone in which they were made, that many were seriously affected, as well as surprised, at what they had heard. Of two young men who had come among the scoffers, one was heard to say to the other, Well! Simeon is no fool, however! Fool!' replied his companion; did you ever hear such a sermon before?""

A friend who at this time shared his room for three months says: "Never did I see such consistency and reality of devotion, such warmth of piety, such zeal and love! Never did I see