Matthew Simpson

Matthew Simpson (20 June 1811 – 18 June 1884), was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1852.

Birth and Family
Matthew was born in Cadiz, Ohio. His grandfather, Thomas Simpson, was a British soldier who emigrated to Ireland. Matthew's father came to America in 1793. Matthew's grandfather Tingley was a Revolutionary soldier.

Matthew's uncle also was Matthew Simpson, who also emigrated from Ireland to America in 1793. This Matthew Simpson represented Harrison County, Ohio in the Ohio State Senate for ten years, and served as Judge of the County Court for seven years. In later life he lived with his nephew, reaching the advanced age of ninety-eight. Matthew, the nephew, married Ellen H. Verner of Pittsburgh.

Conversion
Matthew was consecrated at birth for the ministry by both of his parents. He was baptized as an infant by Bishop Francis Asbury. Matthew then was religiously impressed in a Camp Meeting. He was converted to Christ in 1829.

Education and Early Work
Matthew received an academic education in his hometown. He then attended Madison College in Pennsylvania. Madison subsequently merged into Allegheny College in 1833. Matthew was elected to the office of Tutor in his eighteenth year, then engaging in teaching. Then, having also studied medicine in 1830-1833, he began to practice.

Ordained Ministry
Shortly thereafter, feeling it his duty to enter the ministry, Matthew was Licensed to Preach in the M.E. Church, and was received on-trial in the Pittsburgh Annual Conference in 1833. He was ordained by Bishop Robert Richford Roberts. Matthew was appointed Pastor of the Liberty Street Methodist Church in Pittsburgh in 1835, and of a church at Monongahela, Pennsylvania in 1836. He was ordained Elder in 1837.

Academic and Editorial Ministries
The Rev. Simpson was appointed Professor of Natural Science and elected Vice-President of Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1838 he was elected Professor, and in 1839 President of the newly established Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University) in Greencastle, Indiana, remaining until 1848. The Rev. Simpson was then elected Editor of the Western Christian Advocate, which he made a strong temperance and anti-slavery organ, from 1848 to 1852.

Episcopal Ministry
The Rev. Dr. Matthew Simpson was elected to the Episcopacy of his denomination by the M.E. General Conference, May 1852. In discharging his duties, Bishop Simpson visited and presided over Conferences in all of the States encompasing the M.E. Church as well as most of the related U.S. Territories. He was sent by the General Conference as a delegate to the Irish and British Wesleyan (i.e., Methodist) Conferences in 1857, as well as to the Evangelical Alliance in Berlin the same year. He traveled with John McClintock. From Berlin, Bishop Simpson extended his travels through Turkey, the Holy Land, Egypt, and Greece, returning to the U.S.A. in 1858.

In 1859, Bishop Simpson changed his residence from Pittsburgh to Evanston, Illinois, where he accepted the position of President of the Garrett Biblical Institute (now, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary). Nevertheless, much to his personal dissatisfaction Bishop Simpson was able to devote but little active service to Garrett.

American Civil War
Bishop Simpson was a close, personal and trusted friend of President Lincoln, who considered his advice of great value. He attended the family at Lincoln's death and gave the sermon at his funeral in Springfield. During the American Civil War, Bishop Simpson delivered a number of speeches in behalf of the Union. He was urged by the Secretary of War to undertake the organization of the freedmen at the establishment of the bureau. After the war, Bishop Simpson was invited by President Grant to go as a commissioner to San Domingo. Both of these offers he respectfully declined.

More Foreign Travel
In 1870, at the death of Bishop Kingsley, Bishop Simpson again visited Europe to complete the work which had been assigned to him on the Continent. He also went as a delegate again to the English Wesleyan Conference. In 1874, Bishop Simpson visited Mexico. He returned to Europe in 1875, presiding over the Annual Conference of Germany and Switzerland. He also met with the M.E. missionaries in different parts of Europe. He then addressed the Garfield Memorial Meeting at Exeter Hall, London, on September 24, 1881.

Death and Burial
Bishop Matthew Simpson was taken ill at San Francisco in 1880, but recovered to preach the opening sermon at the First Ecumenical Methodist Conference in London (1881). He was present at the M.E. General Conference in 1884, but took little part. He died 18 June 1884 in Philadelphia. His last words were "My Savior!" He was buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.

Selected Writings

 * Sermon: Influence on the Human Mind of the Manifestation of God's Glory - The Methodist Pulpit, in Clark, D.W., Sermons for the College, Akers, 1851.
 * Sermon in Sermons for the Home Circle, T.P. Akers, Ed., 1859.
 * A Hundred Years of Methodism, 1876.
 * Cyclopedia of Methodism, 1858 (and subsequent editions).
 * Lectures on Preaching (1879), delivered before the Theological Department of Yale College.
 * A volume of his Sermons (1885) was edited by George R. Crooks.

Biographies

 * Hughes, George, A Personal and Family Experience, Days of Power, 1874.
 * Crooks, George R., The Life of Bishop Matthew Simpson, New York, 1890.
 * Wood, E.M., The Peerless Orator, 1909.
 * Wilson, C.T., The Life of Matthew Simpson, Patriot, Preacher, Prophet, 1929.
 * Sketch in Wimberly, C.F., Modern Apostles of Faith, 1930.