From Discourse 1201, Horae Homileticae (1832)
In the case before us, God, in reversing the sentence denounced against that city, might appear weak, or mutable, or unworthy to be feared. And his prophet would appear to them as a deceiver. But God was more careful of their welfare than of his own honor, or of his servant’s reputation. Having produced a change in the people, he instantly changed his dispensations towards them. Not that the change was in him, it was in them only. For the removal of his threatened judgments was rather an execution, than a reversal, of his own decrees – decrees, which from eternity, have been to pardon the penitent and to bless the contrite. But in your ease there is no such obstacle in his way. He has told you that if you confess your sins, he will not only forgive them, but display and magnify his own faithfulness and justice in that very dispensation towards you.
Charles Simeon (1759-1836) was an English cleric, the most prominent evangelical Anglican leader of his time. He served Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge for 43 years, converting thousands of students, and inspiring many to ordained ministry, especially in the mission field. He helped to organize the Church Missionary Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society. His great work was the Horae Homileticae, a sermonical commentary on the whole Bible. He is commemorated on November 12 on the calendars of several Anglican churches.
