Charles Simeon – The Full Story

Here it is! The full story from Logos of how my e-mail to them led to one of the most exciting pre-pub offers they have had for a long time.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you – you definitely have to move fast to get these at the low price!

This is an e-mail from a regular news e-mail Logos sent out. To sign up for more Logos e-mails, see www.logos.com/newswire.

Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae Commentary (21 Volumes)

Suggested Retail Price: $699.95
Logos Sale Price: $489.95
Pre-Publication Special: $299.95

Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae: or Discourses Digested into One Continuous Series and Forming a Commentary Upon Every Book of the Old and New Testament is a 12,000 page commentary which is becoming more and more respected and referenced every day. Think of it as owning Simeon’s sermon outlines from fifty-four years of preaching designed to “humble the sinner, exalt the Saviour and promote holiness”.

“What Simeon experienced in the Word was remarkable. And it is so utterly different from the counsel that we receive today that it is worth looking at …”

—John Piper

Our story begins late one night in foggy London town . . .

Several months ago we received an e-mail from one of our users in London. He wanted to make sure that we were aware of a listing for an extremely rare out-of-print commentary series that was being sold as a part of an old library collection. He assured us that it was an excellent resource that was recently being rediscovered by many people, and he begged us to take advantage of this opportunity to get a complete set in good condition so we could put it on pre-pub.

After doing a little more research on the title, we decided it would be worth a try, and since this did appear to be quite a rare opportunity to get a complete set in good condition, we got in on the auction – and we won – for around $700.

Moving on to Dallas, Texas . . .

When we went to pay the seller for this title and he discovered that his customer was actually “Logos Bible Software,” and the reason we were buying it was to put it on pre-pub, not only did he volunteer to shave $200 off the selling price, but he told us he would hand-deliver the complete set to our people in Texas personally – as his contribution to making sure that this title would make it through the pre-pub process and go into production.

It turns out he was personal friends with our main contact in Dallas, who was working on our projects there. He drove it over and handed it off himself.

Now to the reference shelves of libraries around the world . . .

We were not sure how such a popular 12,000 page commentary on the entire Old and New Testaments could have escaped our notice for so long, but we wanted to know. We did our research and checked in with some of the most prestigious libraries in the world that were around in 1832 to see which libraries took notice and endorsed it by adding it to their reference sections. Then we took a look at some of the newer libraries to see which ones knew it was so important to have – that they tracked down their own rare copies to add to their collections.

We were surprised at what we discovered . . .

Take a look at 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

That’s a pretty impressive list, and it doesn’t even include dozens more that we found, not to mention all the ones we didn’t find. Needless to say we soon realized that this was a title we needed to publish for Logos Bible Software.

And now on to Bellingham Washington . . .

After the series was scanned in Dallas, we received the set back here at headquarters and put up the pre-pub page. We told a few people about it who we knew were interested in the author, and we were blown away by the results.

At the time of writing this e-mail, we had over 50% of the interest needed to put this title into production, and lots of excited bloggers talking about it out there.

What makes these 21 volumes so highly sought after?

These 21 volumes, featuring Simeon’s collected sermons, represent the fruit of his fifty-four years of preaching. Published originally in 1832 for the benefit of younger pastors seeking practical improvement at the task of sermon creation, Horae Homileticae reflects the rich source of Biblical understanding of its author, a towering figure in the history of evangelical theology.

“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

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.

And now for the “bad news” . . .

As you read earlier, we won the auction for the set at around $700. From the feedback we are already getting – we know that we got away with a bargain. Others have reported that the going rate for a complete set is more like $1,000.00 if you can e

ven find a complete set.

When the fans of this work saw that the starting pre-pub price was just $299.95, they told us how much more they paid for their print copies and got very excited about our extremely low introductory price – and the potential to get it in a much more usable format than print.

Even though we have over half of the required orders already booked, we are going to go ahead and keep the original listing price of $299.95 up for at least the rest of this week – after that, the price will go up.

Lock in the lowest price now!

Charles Simeon’s 21 Volume Horae Homileticae: or Discourses Digested into One Continuous Series and Forming a Commentary Upon Every Book of the Old and New Testament will most likely go up in price in less than a week from the time we send this message. Lock in the low price while you can.

Charles Simeon’s 21 Volume Horae Homileticae
Suggested Retail Price: $699.95
Logos Sale Price: $489.95
Pre-Publication Special: $299.95

For all the details, please visit the website at:

http://logos.directtrack.com/z/179/cd156

Or call 800-875-6467 to order.

NewsWire! — Logos Research Systems, Inc.
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