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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.
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A.B. Simpson emphasizes the importance of having both immediate and long-term goals in our Christian journey, likening it to ploughing a straight furrow. He illustrates that just as a ploughman needs two stakes to maintain a straight line, Christians must have a near and a distant vision to avoid straying from their path. This dual focus helps believers stay grounded in the present while also aiming for a glorious future in Christ. Simpson encourages the congregation to seek both immediate guidance and eternal purpose in their lives.
Scriptures
Strangers and Pilgrims
If you have ever tried to plough a straight furrow in the country-I feel sorry for the man who does not know how to plough and more sorry for the man who is too proud to want to know-you have no doubt found it necessary to have two stakes in a line and to drive your horses by these stakes. If you have only one stake before you, you will have no steadying point for your vision, and you can swerve about without knowing it, making your furrows as crooked as a serpent's coil. But if you have two stakes and always keep them in line, you cannot deviate an inch from a straight line, and your furrow will be as an arrow speeding to its target. This can be a great lesson to us in our Christian lives. If we would run a straight course, we must have two stakes-the near and the distant. it is not enough to be living in the present; it is likewise a great and glorious thing to have a distant goal.
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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.