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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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Sermon Summary
A.B. Simpson emphasizes the paradoxical nature of God's work, illustrating how pain and pressure can lead to spiritual power and transformation. He compares the process of generating electricity through friction to the way God uses life's challenges to produce strength in believers. Simpson encourages those facing difficulties to embrace the pressure as a means of growth, urging them to be still and allow God to shape their lives according to His will.
Scriptures
Now No Chastening for the Present Seemeth to Be Joyous
God seems to love to work by paradoxes and contradictions. In the transformations of grace, the bitter is the base of the sweet, night is the mother of day and death is the gate of life. Many people want to have power. But, how is power produced? The other day I passed the large powerhouse where the trolley engines are supplied with electricity. I heard the hum and roar of countless wheels, and I asked my friend, "How do they make the power?" "Why," he said, "Just by the revolution of those wheels and the magnetic friction they produce. The friction creates the electric current." In this same manner, when God wants to bring more power into our lives, He brings more pressure. He is generating spiritual force by friction. Some of us do not like it. Some of us do not understand. We try to run away from the pressure instead of getting the power and using it to rise above the painful cause. O troubled soul, beneath the rod Thy Father speaks-be still, be still; Learn to be silent unto God, And let Him mold thee to His will.
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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.