The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-06-20
THE LATE BISHOP SIMPSON.
A Sketch of the Life and Church Work of
the Famous Methodist. Divine.
Philadelphia Special.

Philadelphia Special.
The name of Simpson was a magnetic word in
every Methodist home. A bishop for over three
decades of years, a prominent church man for
full half a century, he gained and held the es-
TEEN and admiration of his entire church, won
fame in America as its recognized chief, and
became known the world over as a representa-
tive American and a powerful leader in the
Protestant schools of theology.
On his fathers side Bishop Simpson traced his
ancestry back to Scotch and Irish families.
His mother came of an old family of French and
English blood, which early implanted itself upon
American soil. James Simpson, his father,
cam to Baltimore from Ireland in 1893. Sarah
Tingley, his mother, lived with her father,
Jeremiah Tingley, in New Jersey, and soon
after the opening of the country moved to Cadiz,
o., where she met young James Simpson.
They were soon married, and on June %, 1911,
Matthew was born. A year later his father
died in Pittsburg, whittier the family had moved.
The young widow took her son back to Ohio,
and there the education of the future bishop
began.
In Cadiz Academy and in Madison College,
Pennsylvania. he read Latin, Greek, Hebrew
and the modern languages, and disciplined
his intellectual faculties with constant reviewing
of the mathematical sciences. The first recOg-
milton of his youthful toll was an appointment
as college tutor, which he held until he gave up
college work and returned to Ohio. There he
studied medicine, and had just entered upon its
practice when his friends persuaded him to aban-
don secular labor aud prepare himself for the
Christian ministry. He yielded to their induce
ments, and in the summer Of 1S33-just five
years after he began his collegiate education
he was received into the Pittsburg Conference,
at once placed on the circuit in which he had
lived, and in 1884 was given a charge in Pitts
burg, which he surrendered at the end of two
years to accept a position in Monongahela
City. Here he remained until 1887 He
was then only twenty-six years old, but honors
were already seeking his acceptance. First came
the vice presidency of the Allegheny College,
with its chair of natural sciences, followed in
1889 with the presidency of Indiana Asbury
University, which position he held until l84S.
The presidents chair and a life trusteeship
in Woodward College, in Cincinnati, were offered
to him, but declined.
HIS TO THE BIsHoPRIC.
When the year 1874 cam the Methodist
Church was sorely divided-the North arrayed
against the South. The question of the actual
separation was discussed in the General Confer
ence held that year in Boston The young min
lister was there and won his first laurels as q
strong thinker and an able speaker in the memo
rable debate, the final outcome of which was
the division of the Methodist Church into the
two sectional branches.
In 1913 he became editor of the Western
Christian Advocate. This place he held for
four years. Then came his great step of prog
ress. The presidency of the Northwestern
University at Evanston, ILL.,, and the same posi-
ton in Dickinson College. Pennsylvania. had
been urged upon him, but he declined both. A
higher reward was in store for him-the honora-
bic place of bishop. There were then only
three ia active service, Waugh, Morris and
james. These, and others appointed since
then, Bishop Simpson outlived, and at the time
of his death he was the oldest episcopal ser
want of the Methodist Church, both in years
of life and years of service.
The thirty-two years of his bishoprie were
filled with events big with interest to him and
to his church. First came the Irish conference
of the churches at Cork in 1857, and the British
conference in the same year at Liverpool. To
these and the sessions of the Evangelical Ali
ance at Berlin, Bishop Simpson was the ae-
credited representative of the Methodists in
America. In 1883 he returned TO the United
States, having passed through Europe, Asia and
Egypt.
A great question was then agitating Metho-
dists throughout the country-'Should the
church establish theological schools and have
a highly educated ministryW Bishop Simpson
believed in higher education for the preachers
of the gospel, ard labored earnestly to secure
the adoption of such a policy. To the weight of
his argument in favor of this step he added the
SbfenGJn OF MS own acceptance OIL the presidency
of the Garrett Biblical Institute, at Evasion.
H., and there continued the advocacy of the
new scheme. The church at large was brought
to side with his views, and theological institu-
tons were at once recognized as a necessary
factor in the growth Of the Methodist Church.
THE FRIEND OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Bishop Simpson was an intimate friend of
President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton, and
all through the civil war was in their close con-
fdence. One of the first to suggest the enamel
patton of the slaves, he was constantly at the
side of the war President as the greatest private
citizen in the Northern States. After the death
of Mr.. Lincoln, Secretary Stanton urged him to
go South and study the condition of the negro,
with the purpose of founding a freedman's bu-
reau, but Bishop Simpson declined, saying: MY
duty to my church must come first" President
Grant offered him a commission to San Domin-
go, but this he refused for the same reason.
Bishop Simpson appeared before the public
not as d church officer alone, but also as an au-
thor and orator, and a noble citizen, having at
heart the welfare of his country. He edited the
Encyclopedia of Methodism." the great book of
the Methodist Church. Other works were IA
Hundred Years of Methodism, ard Lectures
on Preaching, and various fugitive pamphlets.
His ability as An orator was always felt.
Whether it was in the simple sermon of the Sab
bath, or in the great effort of a grand and note
worthy public occasion, his tall form, clear cut
features, with shaven face and intellectual brow,
commanded attention before a word was uttered.
His voice was a power, supreme in itself, clear
and musical, soft yet powerful. He always made
heard, and was always heard with pleas
ure. He spoke upon many memorable events.
Immediately after the capture of Fort Sumter
he preached in the "Wigwam" in Chicago on
the troubles of the nation-their cause and
their settlement. In 1868 he spoke on 1.-THE Flu
ture of Our Country" before the Christian Com
mission, then in session in the Academy of
Music IN Philadelphia. This address became
famous as a lecture and was delivered in all
the large cities. On the death of Lincoln he
made the prayer at the White House before the
funeral procession started and delivered the ad-
dress at Springfield, ILL.,, while the body was be-
ING hlaced in the tomb. He nude the o~neninc