- He Leaps Over A Wall

The news that “Brother Simpson’s son, Albert” had been called to the ministry got around pretty fast up Chatham way and out among the country folk in Kent County, Ontario. But the aspiring prophet soon learns that a call from God is not sufficient; he must secure the approval of the senior prophets of the Presbytery before he can hope to make his voice heard in any Presbyterian pulpit in the land; and that approval is not an easy thing to obtain. The Presbyterian Church of that day had built a wall around its pulpit too high for any but the most heroic to leap over, and what is a green country boy to do?
The sponsorship of the highly respected Rev. William Walker, and the reputation of the boy’s father, James Simpson, the elder, brought him to the attention of the proper church authorities, so in the fall of the year 1861, while still two months short of his eighteenth birthday, he appears with a number of other candidates before the formidable and awe-inspiring Presbytery at London, Ontario. After sitting in silence for several hours, during which time they were studiously ignored by the members of that august body, they are subjected to an examination that singes their pride and roots out any conceit that might have survived that long siege of letting alone they had endured earlier in the day. The members of the examining board undoubtedly were one and all men of genuine Christian principles, and it is not hard to believe that they must have had good hearts about them somewhere, but this was no time to be soft, so they proceeded to take the boys apart piece by piece to see what made them run, and they examined the “parts” to see whether they were the stuff of which ministers are made.
We smile with sympathy for the country boy as he stands before his judges, and we could wish that they had been a bit less exacting in their demands, but in the light of the history of Protestant Christianity on the North American Continent over the last hundred years we cannot but admit the stern wisdom of their actions if the men of that day erred it was on the side of right, and their error was inspired by a lofty conception of the sacredness and dignity of the Christian ministry. The wave of amateurism that swept over the American pulpit a generation ago with such tragic results would not have been possible if the Christian churches had maintained a higher standard of requirements for the ministers of the sanctuary. Protestantism has been in the Book of Judges for three quarters of a century where “every man does that which is right in his own eyes,” and the evil consequences are beyond computing.
Well, that class of candidates must have been a well instructed lot, for they passed their examinations without any casualties, and were all recommended by the Presbytery for admission to Knox College to study for the regular ministry.
In less than a month after this Albert Simpson entered Knox College, Toronto, and began his course of studies there. From the first day it was apparent that a youth of unusual powers was among them. Whenever he arose to speak the eyes of everyone were upon him. Speaking came as easy to him as singing to a bird. As a preacher, he was a “natural”; he never had to learn how. The friends back home have been hearing good things of the boy away there in the big city. They know that he is a lad of parts, a keen and knowing lad who will go far in the learned world; but can he preach? That is the question these friends are asking. It was hoped that young Albert would prove to be a good speaker as well as a brainy student, but these cautious Scotch neighbors were not doing any wishful thinking. They would wait and hear for themselves.
When the Christmas holidays came around and it was known that the young man was coming back for a short vacation the interest ran so high that the church at Tilbury, near his home, arranged to have him preach at a Sunday morning service. A prophet hath no honor in his own country and among his own people, and who are these that crowd the little church that Sabbath morning but his own neighbors and kin folk? The skeptical are there, and the curious, and the whole Simpson family is there, all sitting in a row, hoping desperately that he may do well by himself, but getting braced for the shock in case he forgets his place and breaks down.
When the vestry door opens and the preacher walks in the silence is so deep the worshipers can hear each other breathe. There is many a suppressed smile as he takes his place in the pulpit, for he is but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. At the proper moment the boy preacher rises, announces a text and launches into his memorized sermon. He is soon speaking without effort, speaking not with his rich musical voice alone, but with his whole graceful body, every part of him alive and in tune with the melody of his words. It is a great sermon, an unbelievably great sermon for a youth of eighteen: For orthodoxy it is blameless, for clarity and logic it is of the first order, and for beauty and effectiveness of delivery it beats anything these old sermon lovers have heard for many a long day. After this there is no more doubt about Brother Simpsons’ son, Albert. He has proved his right to the prophet’s mantle. These stoical listeners say nothing, but they bless him with their eyes and adopt him with their hearts; they are proud of him. The boy is not only smart, he is a natural born preacher as well, a little young yet, but mighty good to listen to.
Reputations are hard to make among people such as these, but once made they travel far and fast. After that first sermon at Tilbury Albert Simpson had no trouble to get a hearing. Preachers were never too plentiful anyway, and preachers of the caliber of this young man were rare indeed, so there came to him many invitations to preach in churches large and small.
Back at college, Albert studied hard and made rapid progress—if indeed it is accurate to say that a young man studied hard who literally ate up his subjects without trying; He was gifted with such superb mental equipment as made anything like real grinding study unnecessary. The ease with which he carried forward his studies made it possible for him to accept quite a number of preaching engagements throughout the school year. This meant a bit of financial assistance—badly needed we may be sure—and it meant also opportunity to gain increased skill in the exercise of the art to which he was born, the art of the public speaker.
His fame as a boy preacher—just turned eighteen when he first came to public notice, and looking much younger—spread throughout the churches, but in spite of all they had heard of his extreme youth the steady-going Presbyterian congregations were seldom prepared to receive such a mere boy into their pulpits when he arrived to preach of a Sabbath morning. The good Scotch elders wrestled long with their scruples when they were compelled to hand the huge old pulpit Bible to this handsome stripling before the service could begin. They did na’ like it at a’, though for the life of them they could not tell what rule the lad was breaking being so “unco” young. But seeing that he had been sent out by the seminary there was nothing to do but swallow their fears and allow the service to proceed. And when the service was ended their qualms had given way to cautious smiles, as bright as becomes men in the hoos o’ God who are nevertheless mighty well pleased with the way things have turned out.
With the financial aid he received from his family plus the small amounts he could earn as supply preacher here and there and an occasional windfall in the form of a small scholarship earned in competitive examinations he managed to stay on in college until he had completed the required work. In April, 1865, he was graduated from Knox College. It must have been a big day for him, for in some sense it was the last payment on the promise he had made to his parents there in the parlor of the old farmhouse that memorable afternoon when be had humbly begged permission to enter the ministry and preach the Gospel provided he could manage to secure the necessary education.
The regular education he received did, without doubt, contribute much to the total of his greatness as a man and as a minister of Christ, but it did not in any sense make him what he was. Indeed he wore his collegiate honors lightly, accepting them casually and by the way. He was always bigger than his books. Happily for the church he was too much of an individualist to take the academic stamp. Saul’s armor was an interesting thing to have around, and maybe occasionally to try on for size, but when he went out after giants he asked for nothing more than his sling and five smooth stones from the brook.
Two months after graduation from Knox College Mr. Simpson was called to appear with a number of other candidates before the Presbytery at Toronto for examination with a view to their being licensed as ministers of the Canada Presbyterian Church. They called the examination “public probationary trial” and they tried to live up to the name. They went over the minds of these young men with a fine comb and searched their hearts with a candle. Biblical Hebrew and Greek, Theology, Church History and Church Government: The examiners would find out how much the candidates knew about these subjects (and they must know a great deal or they would be rejected). After that they were subjected to a searching examination concerning their personal religious experience. That they had already given proof of the genuineness of their spiritual experience as a necessary qualification for their admission to Knox College did not matter. Those old-time Christian scholars knew what they wanted, and they believed they knew what God wanted. They were not going to license an ignoramus or a sinner if they could help it. And they thought they could. So there followed a number of tough papers of various kinds to be prepared and read before the Presbytery, including a Latin thesis, an excursus, a popular sermon and a lecture, all given in cold blood as samples. It is not recorded that they also performed a sample marriage ceremony and baptized a baby, but we would not be too much surprised if we discovered that they did.
Anyway everything turned out for the best, and in due time Albert Simpson was licensed to the Presbyterian ministry. He has cleared the barrier. He is a minister at last.