- Home
- Speakers
- A.B. Simpson
- When He Saw The Multitudes He Was Moved
A.B. Simpson

Albert Benjamin "A.B." Simpson (1843 - 1919). Canadian-American preacher, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), born in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. Raised Presbyterian, he experienced conversion at 14 and studied at Knox College, Toronto, graduating in 1865. Ordained, he pastored in Ontario, then Louisville, Kentucky, where his church grew to 1,000 members. In 1881, after a healing experience, he moved to New York, founding the independent Gospel Tabernacle to reach the marginalized. In 1882, he launched The Word, Work, and World magazine, and in 1887, merged two ministries to form the C&MA, emphasizing the "Fourfold Gospel": Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. Simpson authored 101 books, including The Fourfold Gospel, and composed hymns like "Jesus Only." In 1883, he started Nyack College, training 6,000 missionaries. Married to Margaret Henry in 1866, they had six children. His global vision sent 1,500 missionaries to 40 countries by 1919. Simpson’s teachings on holiness and divine healing shaped modern Pentecostalism.
Download
Sermon Summary
A.B. Simpson emphasizes the deep connection between Christ and our suffering, illustrating that Jesus is not just sympathetic but is profoundly affected by our afflictions. He highlights that our troubles are shared by Christ, who experiences our pain as His own, providing a source of comfort and strength for weary hearts. This understanding of Christ's empathy is foundational to His role as our High Priest, encouraging believers to approach Him boldly with their burdens. Simpson draws parallels between a mother's love for her child and Christ's love for us, reminding us that our sorrows resonate deeply with Him. Ultimately, he calls us to recognize our unity with Christ and to seek solace in His compassionate heart.
When He Saw the Multitudes He Was Moved
He is able to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). The word "touched" is very expressive. It means that our troubles are His troubles, and that in all our afflictions He is afflicted. It is not a sympathy of sentiment, but a sympathy of suffering. There is in this thought abundant help for the tired heart. It is the foundation of Christ's Priesthood, and God meant that it should be to us a source of unceasing consolation. Let us realize more fully our oneness with our Great High Priest, and cast all our burdens on His great heart of love. if we know what it is to ache in every nerve with the responsive pain of our suffering child, we can form some idea of how our sorrows touch the heart of Christ. As the mother feels her baby's pain, as the heart of friendship echoes every cry from another's anguish, so in heaven our exalted Savior, even in the raptures of that happy world, is suffering in His spirit and even in His flesh with all that His children bear. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, . . . let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:14,16) and let us come to our Great High Priest.
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download

Albert Benjamin "A.B." Simpson (1843 - 1919). Canadian-American preacher, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), born in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. Raised Presbyterian, he experienced conversion at 14 and studied at Knox College, Toronto, graduating in 1865. Ordained, he pastored in Ontario, then Louisville, Kentucky, where his church grew to 1,000 members. In 1881, after a healing experience, he moved to New York, founding the independent Gospel Tabernacle to reach the marginalized. In 1882, he launched The Word, Work, and World magazine, and in 1887, merged two ministries to form the C&MA, emphasizing the "Fourfold Gospel": Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. Simpson authored 101 books, including The Fourfold Gospel, and composed hymns like "Jesus Only." In 1883, he started Nyack College, training 6,000 missionaries. Married to Margaret Henry in 1866, they had six children. His global vision sent 1,500 missionaries to 40 countries by 1919. Simpson’s teachings on holiness and divine healing shaped modern Pentecostalism.