Editing Matthew Simpson

{{short description|American bishop and academic}}
{{about|the 19th-century American bishop|the Brisbane Bears player|Matthew Simpson (footballer)}}
{{similar names|Matt Simpson (disambiguation){{!}}Matt Simpson}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Matthew Simpson
|image=Matthew Simpson - Brady-Handy.jpg
|caption=
|birth_date={{Birth-date|June 21, 1811}} 
|birth_place=Cadiz, Ohio 
|nationality = American
|occupation  = Pastor
|death_date ={{death date and age|1884|6|18|1811|6|21}} 
|death_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
|signature = Signature of Matthew Simpson (1811–1884).png
}}

'''Matthew Simpson''' (June 21, 1811 – June 18, 1884) was an American bishop of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]], elected in 1852 and based mainly in Philadelphia. During the [[Reconstruction Era]] after the Civil War, most evangelical denominations in the North, especially the Methodists, were initially strong supporters of radical policies that favored the Freedmen (former slaves) and distrusted the Southern whites. However, by the late 1860s in border state conferences, the MEC North moved well away from their work with the Freedmen's Bureau and often sided with the grievances of Southern white members. Bishop Simpson played a leading role in mobilizing the Northern Methodists for the cause.  His biographer calls him the "High Priest of the [[Radical Republicans]]."<ref>Robert D.  Clark, ''The Life of Matthew Simpson'' (1956) pp. 245–267</ref>

==Early life 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 [[United States|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]].

Matthew was [[consecrated]] at birth for the [[Christian ministry|ministry]] by both of his parents.  He was [[baptized]] as an [[infant]] by Bishop [[Francis Asbury]]. He was [[Conversion to Christianity|converted]] to Christ in 1829. Matthew received an academic education in his hometown.  He then attended [[Madison College (Pennsylvania)|Madison College]] in [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name = "Paxson">{{cite book|last1=Oberholtzer|first1=Ellis Paxson|title=Philadelphia A History of the City and its People A Record of 225 Years (Volume 4)|date=1912|publisher=S.J. Clarke Publishing|pages=5–9|url=https://archive.org/stream/philadelphiahist04ober/philadelphiahist04ober_djvu.txt}}</ref>  Madison subsequently merged into [[Allegheny College]] in 1833.  Matthew was elected to the office of [[Tutor]] in his eighteenth year, then engaging in [[teaching]].  Having also studied medicine in 1830–1833, he began medical practice.

==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 conferences within Methodism|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.

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 movement|temperance]] and [[abolitionism in the United States|anti-slavery]] organ, from 1848 to 1852.

The Rev. Dr. Matthew Simpson was elected to the [[episcopacy]] of his [[Christian denomination|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 encompassing the [[Methodist Episcopal Church|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 [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] [[Methodist Church of Great Britain|Wesleyan]] (i.e., Methodist) Conferences in 1857, as well as to the Evangelical Alliance in Berlin the same year.  He traveled with [[John McClintock (theologian)|John McClintock]].  From Berlin, Bishop Simpson extended his travels through [[Turkey]], [[the Holy Land]], Egypt, and [[Greece]], returning to the United States 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]]).<ref name = "Paxson"/> In 1868 he became a Trustee of [[Drew Theological Seminary]] (today Drew University), the new Methodist seminary in Madison, NJ, and served as president of its board from 1877 to 1880.

==American Civil War==
Before the Civil War, debates over slavery were highly contentious among Northern Methodists, but Simpson did not take sides, playing instead a moderate and cautious role. With the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, he became a staunch champion of the Union and helped his denomination take a leading role in providing chaplains, volunteers and civilian support for the war effort.<ref>Clark, ''The Life of Matthew Simpson'' (1956) pp. 213, 219</ref>
 
Simpson became a trusted friend of President [[Abraham 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, Illinois|Springfield]].<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Morris|editor1-first=Benjamin Franklin|title=Memorial Record of the Nation's Tribute to Abraham Lincoln ... Compiled by B. F. Moore|date=1866|publisher=W.H. & O.H. Morrison|page=234|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sr9cAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA234}}</ref>  During the War, Bishop Simpson delivered a number of speeches in behalf of [[Union (American Civil War)|the Union]].  He was urged by the Secretary of War to undertake the organization of the [[freedmen]] at the establishment of the Freedman's Bureau.  After the war, Bishop Simpson was invited by [[U.S. Grant|President Grant]] to go as a [[commissioner]] to [[San Domingo]] but he declined both offers.

==More foreign travel==
In 1870, at the death of [[Calvin Kingsley|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 conferences within Methodism|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.<ref name = "Paxson"/>
Bishop Simpson was also a gifted orator and throughout the war he gave his much forgotten "Great War Speech" which was so powerful and stirring it could move entire audiences to tears and cheering pride. He delivered this speech over 60 times throughout the war, and it easily motivated and inspired cities wary of the long war.

==Death and burial==
Bishop Matthew Simpson was taken ill at San Francisco in 1880, but recovered to [[Preaching|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 June 18, 1884, in [[Philadelphia]] and was buried in [[West Laurel Hill Cemetery]], Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.<ref name = "Paxson"/>

==Selected writings==
* Sermon:  ''Influence on the Human Mind of the Manifestation of God's Glory - The Methodist Pulpit,'' in [[Davis Wasgatt Clark|Clark, D.W.]], ''Sermons for the College,'' Akers, 1851.
*''Sermon'' in ''Sermons for the Home Circle,'' T.P. Akers, Ed., 1859.
* [http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyctr/books/0501-0600/HDM0519.PDF ''A Hundred Years of Methodism''], 1876.
* ''Lectures on Preaching'' (1879), delivered before the Theological Department of [[Yale College]].
* A volume of his ''Sermons'' (1885) was edited by [[George R. Crooks]].
* [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=h77FJpdwfRYC ''Cyclopedia of Methodism''], 1858 (and subsequent editions).

==Biographies==
* Carwardine, Richard. [http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009640700072024 "Methodists, politics, and the coming of the American Civil War"]. ''Church history'' 69.03 (2000): 578–609.
* Clark, Robert D.  ''The Life of Matthew Simpson'' (1956)
* Stowell, Daniel W. "Simpson, Matthew"; [http://www.anb.org/articles/08/08-01389.html ''American National Biography Online'' February 2000.] Access July 24, 2014

==See also==
*[[List of bishops of the United Methodist Church]]
*[[Simpson College]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Biographical sources==
* [http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyctr/books/0801-0900/HDM0830.PDF ''Cyclopaedia of Methodism''], Matthew Simpson, [[D.D.]], [[LL.D.]], Ed., (''Revised Edition'')  [[Philadelphia]], Louis H. Everts, 1880.
* Leete, Frederick DeLand, ''Methodist Bishops''.  [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], The Methodist Publishing House, 1948.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://www.remembermyjourney.com/Memorial/384787 Biography at West Laurel Hill Cemetery website]
{{s-start}}
{{succession box |
  title = [[Ohio United Methodist Bishops]] |
  years = 1852|
  before = [[Thomas Asbury Morris]] |
  after = [[Edward Raymond Ames]] |
}}
{{s-end}}

{{EB1911|wstitle=Simpson, Matthew|volume=25|page=135}}
{{methodism footer}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Matthew}}
[[Category:1811 births]]
[[Category:1884 deaths]]
[[Category:American Methodist Episcopal bishops]]
[[Category:American theologians]]
[[Category:Physicians from Ohio]]
[[Category:American religion academics]]
[[Category:American sermon writers]]
[[Category:American newspaper editors]]
[[Category:American encyclopedists]]
[[Category:Presidents of DePauw University]]
[[Category:Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church]]
[[Category:Methodist theologians]]
[[Category:People from Cadiz, Ohio]]
[[Category:Methodist writers]]
[[Category:American historians of religion]]
[[Category:Editors of Christian publications]]
[[Category:Presidency of Abraham Lincoln]]
[[Category:19th-century Methodist bishops]]
[[Category:19th-century American bishops]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from Cincinnati]]
[[Category:Burials at West Laurel Hill Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century American journalists]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:Historians from Ohio]]