It describes spiritual exercises that are meant to lead people to Christ, reminiscent of much popular spiritual disciplines literature today and the message of most preachers who fuss at their congregations week after week for not getting better and doing more. George Whitefield thought the book was so bad that he once caught an orphan with a copy of it and made him throw it into a fire. William Cowper blamed it for the cause of his depression and "a repository of self-righteousness and pharisaical lumber."

Charles Simeon's biographer (Hugh Evan Hopkins) tells of Simeon arriving as a student in Cambridge in 1779 when he was scared to death to be informed that it was compulsory to receive Holy Communion in the chapel. He later wrote, "the thought rushed into my mind that Satan himself was as fit to attend as I." He first consulted The Whole Duty of Man, and that led him to a deeper sense of unworthiness - that's the purpose of law-based Christianity: to expose our sin and to show us that we need a Savior.

Then he turned to a book on the Lord's Supper by Bishop Wilson and learned that the Jews knew relief and peace by transferring their guilt to the head of their offering. God used this book to show Charles Simeon that he could gain salvation and peace by transferring his sins to "the sacred head of Jesus," as Jesus transfers his own righteousness to sinful people. When he awoke Easter morning 1779 the words on his lips and in his heart were, "Jesus Christ is risen today: Hallelujah! Hallelujah!!"

Simeon died at the age of 77 November 12, 1836 after devoting his whole life to students in a humble ministry as Anglican vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge for over 50 years. By the time of his death it was estimated that 1/3 of all English clergy had, at one point or another, sat under his teaching and preaching. It's hard to overstate the impact Charles Simeon and the gospel of God's grace had on Cambridge University, the Church of England, and on Christian missions around the world.