O loving God, who orderest all things by thine unerring wisdom and unbounded love: Grant us in all things to see thy hand; that, following the example and teaching of thy servant Charles Simeon, we may walk with Christ in all simplicity, and serve thee with a quiet and contented mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Nice sentiment, but how can most beseech God to make them like someone they know nothing about? It is a sad testimony to Charles Simeon that so few contemporary Anglicans, and this includes most who identify themselves as evangelicals, have ever taken the time to read any of his works. They are not light reading material, but were published in a time when Anglicanism was the thinking man’s religion. Pity that isn’t the case today.
Have a look at the biography by Hugh Evan Hopkins ‘Charles Simeon of Cambridge’. It’s a good place to start.
Other titles by Simeon, which I have and recommend, are: Evangelical Preaching, Let Wisdom Judge, The Christian, His Conflict And His Armor, as well as his Twenty-one volume Expository Outlines On The Whole Bible. There is also another Biography of Simeon by H. C. G. Moule.