A.B. Simpson and the Experience of Glossolalia:
“To Seek or Not to Seek, To Forbid or Not to Forbid?”

  By: John A. Bertone

  I. Introduction

            In 1963 the Christian and Missionary Alliance issued an official statement regarding the gift of tongues in response to the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements.  It was an appeal to Alliance clergy and laity to reject the initial evidence doctrine and to maintain an attitude toward tongue speaking of “seek not, forbid not.”[1]  But the statement “seek not, forbid not,” was not to be found anywhere in A.B. Simpson’s writings.  It was most likely coined by A.W. Tozer, who prepared the final text of the statement.[2]  Subsequent Alliance historians, in an attempt to distance themselves further from the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements, also claimed that they had shifted Simpson’s Christocentric emphasis to a pneumatological one.  Pentecostalism had a fixation on the gift of tongues and had lost its focus upon Christ, the Dispenser of the gift.[3]   

Even though the Christian and Missionary Alliance articulated a “seek not, forbid not” position on paper, in practice Alliance churches today have gone more extreme than this to an “inquire not, practice not” position.  The “seek not” has been taken to mean “inquire not,” that is, don’t even seek information about the gift of tongues.[4]  There is little teaching on the gift of tongues in Alliance churches today.  As a result, the “forbid not” has in fact become a “practice not” position.  If there were a message in tongues and an accompanying interpretation during a Sunday morning worship service, most Alliance people would be in a state of disarray.  Certainly the abuses in many ecclesiastical bodies today contribute to this attitude, but within the Alliance itself there is a misconception that its founder himself, A.B. Simpson, lived by the “seek not, forbid not” philosophy. 

There is conclusive evidence that early Alliance meetings were characterized by various supernatural manifestations of the Spirit, including glossolalia.  A.B. Simpson affirmed these as a special visitation of God.  In fact, he had biting words for those churches in which the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit were absent, calling them “religious clubs bound together by social affinities.”[5]  Even though Simpson made his position clear that glossolalia is not always the initiatory sign of Spirit baptism,[6] he nevertheless did endorse a hunger for a deeper move of God in the lives of believers, which may ensue in an expression of tongues.  Simpson himself was a “seeker” and longed for a fullness of the Spirit and whatever manifestation would accompany this thirst for God, including glossolalia.  Even though there were excessive signs of emotions and fanaticism associated with the Azusa Street Revivals in the early 1900’s, Simpson exercised discriminating approval of these revivals, which was in stark contrast to the vitriolic rhetoric employed by other fundamentalist leaders.

II.  Glossolalia and Restorationist Ideology

              A.B. Simpson was committed to recovering the lost message and vitality of the New Testament and a return to the pristine apostolic beginnings of Christianity.  He was saturated in a restorationist ideology.  In a series of sermons given at a Gospel Tabernacle later published in 1897 under the title The Present Truth, he described the “progress of the times” as a devilish plot designed “to get the supernatural out of the Bible, out of the church…out of…individual Christian lives, and to reduce religion to a human science, obliterating everything that cannot be explained on a rational principle and from natural causes.”[7]  In response to society’s naturalism and rationalism, Simpson called for the restoration of a supernaturally empowered church, like the New Testament church, which was authenticated by “signs and wonders and…divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit…”[8]

            Simpson frequently interpreted the Joel 2 prophecy as part of the “latter rain” which had begun to take place in his own time, intensifying as the second advent of Christ approached and reaching proportions never before witnessed in church history.[9]  In the New Testament church supernatural manifestations of the Spirit such as tongues, miracles, and prophecy were part of the “early rain” and therefore, one could rightly expect these manifestations to be part of the “latter rain.”[10]  Believers were encouraged to pray for “a special manifestation of the supernatural power of God” because this is the manner in which God had done things in the revivals of the past.[11]  The Pentecostal promise of Joel 2 and 1 Corinthians 12 affirm the continued presence of supernatural gifts of the Spirit until the second advent[12]; “various gifts of knowledge, wisdom, faith, miracles, healing, prophecy, tongues…(and) discerning of Spirits” were “designed to be zealously sought, cherished and cultivated” by Christians.[13] 

            Simpson affirmed the use of glossolalia in ecclesiastical life.  In the public meetings, the church is to welcome all manifestations of the Spirit, including prophecy and tongues, provided that the “order…reverence and decorum due to the house of God” were not violated.[14]  In 1883 Simpson responded to critics who claimed that his views on divine healing concomitantly implied the continuance of glossolalia in the church.  He quickly stated that the gift of tongues was not to be excluded from those spiritual gifts being restored in the end time.  It would be present wherever “the church humbly claim(ed) it for the universal diffusion of the Gospel.”[15]

            After the Azusa Street revivals there was first hand experience of the gift of tongues in Alliance branches in 1906 and early 1907.  At Simpson’s Gospel Tabernacle in New York City, special weeknight meetings were convened to provide opportunities for testimony, prayer, and confession.  In some of the meetings there was an outbreak of tongues.  This evoked a response from Simpson.  He stated that tongues are not the necessary initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit[16] and continued to address his congregation on the differences between “true…and false fire” and “fervor and fanaticism,” in order to safeguard them against error.[17]  The frequency of manifestations of tongues steadily increased in Alliance gatherings in 1907.   It is most likely that all of the eight summer conventions in 1907 witnessed tongues speaking.[18]  He singled out the Beulah Park, Ohio (August 9-18) convention as a “Pentecostal convention,” the “greatest” and “most marvellous” of its kind in Alliance history.  The outpouring of the Spirit there witnessed tongue speaking, healings, exorcisms, confessions, intercessory prayer, and extraordinarily generous offerings.[19]  Various Alliance gatherings experienced manifestations of  glossolalia: Simpson’s Gospel Tabernacle in New York, in the Missionary Training Institute,[20] and in the Mission Field.[21]  Simpson was persuaded that these various manifestations of the Spirit in the Alliance gatherings were conclusive indications that the “latter rain” was falling upon the Alliance.

  III.  A.B. Simpson’s View of Glossolalia as a Gift of the Spirit

            Simpson’s criticisms of the Pentecostal movement focused upon the doctrine of tongues as the “initial evidence” of the baptism of the Spirit.  He regarded this teaching as an offence to sound biblical doctrine and injurious to unity.  He contended that those who promoted the “initial evidence” doctrine had fallen prey to one of the “evils of the apostolic age” against which Paul had written.[22]  Further to this, Simpson claimed that the exaltation of glossolalia was responsible for a movement fraught with “extravagance,” “excess,” “serious error,” “wildfire,” and “fanaticism.”[23]  He claimed that there is not to be an overemphasis on this one gift and that one should not be guilty of exalting a “mere manifestation of the Holy Ghost” above the Spirit’s “higher ministry of grace.”[24]

            Simpson demonstrated profound clarity of thinking with regard to the benefit of tongues in Christian life and worship, even in the face of the misuse of this gift of the Spirit that he encountered within his lifetime.  He described tongues as an experience of “lofty spiritual feeling” and exaltation that, though not intelligible, nonetheless testified in a unique way to the presence, guidance, and power of the Holy Spirit.[25]  He also added that it was a “showy gift,” the “least honoured” of all the supernatural powers.[26]  It was prone to abuse.  More importantly, an experience of glossolalia needed to be authenticated by humility, reverence for and literal adherence to the Scriptures, and a holy life consistent with the character of Jesus.[27]

A.B. Simpson believed that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an experience subsequent to conversion, where there is a “crisis experience” through which the Spirit becomes fully resident “within the converted heart” and transforms it into “the temple of the Holy Ghost.”[28]  This experience is not always associated with one specific sign or any immediate supernatural manifestation of the Spirit.  However, out of this experience there is power to manifest holy character, supernatural gifts, and to receive guidance in the service of Christ.[29]  Spirit baptism was not to be misconstrued as a terminal point in the believer but was an experience that introduces Christians into a life of repeated baptisms.[30] As a result, Simpson set apart days for seeking “a deeper filling, a mightier baptism” of the Holy Spirit, following the re-enactment of the apostles “tarrying for the first Pentecost.”[31] 

  IV.  “Did He or Didn’t He?”

            A.B. Simpson’s personal diary[32] covering the period from 1907-16, reveals that in May 1907, prior to the Alliance Council at Nyack, New York, he entered into a protracted time of prayer and fasting.  The motivation for this was both his concern for the approaching council and his desire for discernment regarding his role in the special movement of the Holy Spirit that was taking place during that time.  In Simpson’s own words he asked that God “would give me a special anointing of the Holy Ghost…and give to me all He has for me- and also for the work.”[33]  The entry for May 1907, explains further that the issue of discernment that Simpson prayed for was the “Gift of Tongues and other extraordinary manifestations” of which he claimed “some of which were certainly genuine, while others appeared to partake somewhat of the individual peculiarities and eccentricities of the subjects.”[34] 

            In the July 28, 1907 diary entry Simpson claims that at the Nyack convention he experienced a unique and life-changing experience of the Spirit:

                        As I waited in the after meeting a distinct touch of the might power of
                        the Holy Spirit- a kind of breaking through, accompanied by a sense
                        of awe and lighting up of my senses.  It was as if a wedge of light and
                        power were being driven through my inmost being and I all broken up
                        [sic].[35] 

However, Simpson claimed that the meeting was “abruptly closed.”  He was conscious of a unique sense of the Spirit resting upon both him and the others gathered.  Simpson said God was still “continuing to fill me,”[36] implying that he expected God had more to perform in his life.

             Approximately two weeks later (August 9), Simpson went to the place in the woods at Old Orchard, Maine, where God had healed him in the past in August 1881.  Here he asked God for “a Mighty Baptism of the Holy Ghost in His complete Pentecostal fullness embracing all the gifts and graces of the Spirit…”[37] Without disparaging the Spirit baptism he had received in the past, Simpson was now seeking for a “deeper and fuller baptism” and found the confirmation for his quest through Isaiah 49:8 and Acts 1:8, scriptures which God had given him.[38]

            Upon returning to his own home in Nyack, Simpson’s quest for a deeper baptism continued unabated.  During a “special season of mighty prayer” he had a special revelation of the “name of Jesus.”  This was accompanied by a unique prayer based upon Jer. 33:3 where Simpson was enabled to ask for other things which were still foreign to him.  He experienced a new revelation of “His (God’s) power and glory.”  But even in all of this Simpson admits that God had “much more” for him.[39]

            The entry for August 28, 1907, indicates that Simpson unequivocally and aggressively sought for the gifts of the Spirit by means of simple faith,[40] and on September 5, 1907, he explicitly asked God for “all His gifts and all His graces.”[41]  From September 6 to September 14, 1907, each entry in Simpson’s Nyack Diary indicates that he sought for special manifestations of the Spirit in his life.  Even though Simpson writes that God had met him in extraordinary ways, he still felt that God had more for him.[42]  All of the entries from May to September 14 in 1907 indicate that Simpson had experienced a unique manifestation of the Spirit and yet he expected more.  What was it that he wanted God to do through him?  The answer to this question is found in the next entry, five years later, dated October 6, 1912.

            It reads as follows:

Five years have passed since these mem. were written.  Much has come and gone.  God has been ever with me and wrought for me.  No extraordinary manifestation of the Spirit in tongues or similar gifts has come (italics added for emphasis).  Many of my friends have received such manifestations, but mine has still been a life of [   ] fellowship and service.  At times my spirit has been open to God for anything He might be pleased to reveal or bestow.  But he has met me still with the old touch and spiritual sense, and in distinct and marked answers to believing prayer in my practical life.[43]  

After a five-year hiatus in the diary, Simpson clarifies precisely what he was seeking from God; it was a Spirit baptism with tongues and other manifestations of the Spirit.  The entry claims that his need for personal renewal and the testimonies of close friends prompted him to seek such an experience from 1907 to 1912.  That Simpson was a “seeker” was further corroborated by a citation in Carl Brumback’s book, which records a conversation between Simpson and David McDowell (a one-time student at the Missionary Training Institute), who returned to Nyack in 1912.  McDowell recollected him as having said, “David, I did what I thought was best, but I am afraid I missed it.”[44]  Also, a long-time intimate friend of the Simpsons, Carrie Judd Montgomery, writes how Simpson was interested in her experience of glossolalia and had invited her to speak at his traditional Friday afternoon meeting.  She had received a Spirit baptism with tongues in 1908.  In her words she writes:

I accepted Mr. Simpson’s invitation to speak in one of his Friday afternoon meetings and was glad to tell them of the great things the Lord has done for me, not only in body, but also in mind and Spirit through the incoming, in all His fullness of the blessed Holy Ghost.[45]

Even though Simpson claimed the initial evidence doctrine promoted by Pentecostals was an erroneous distortion of biblical truth, his private writings and conversations revealed that he believed in the possibility that there could be a fresh visitation of the Spirit for himself and the Alliance, which could ensue in an experience of glossolalia.  He clearly was a “seeker” for God to work in his life in the manner in which He willed, even if this included speaking in tongues.  However, there is no recorded evidence that Simpson actually spoke in tongues.

V.  Conclusion

            The “seek not, forbid not” philosophy on glossolalia was not the policy promoted by A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church.  It is clear from his personal memoirs that he was a “seeker” and also that he personally adopted an aggressive policy of pursuing the manifestation of spiritual gifts.  In fact, he took active steps in hearing the testimony of others who had had such experiences and invited them to speak at his meetings to encourage other Alliance people who had not experienced this “deeper and fuller baptism.”

            The “seek not, forbid not” position was most likely promoted by A.W. Tozer,[46] who along with other various Alliance constituents, attempted to distance themselves from the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.[47]  Even though it may be true that there was misuse of the experience of glossolalia in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, the philosophy that Tozer and the Board of Managers of the Christian and Missionary Alliance adopted in 1963, would have no doubt met with A.B. Simpson’s disapproval.  To claim that we should not “seek” for this one charism clearly ran counter to the restorationist ideology with which Simpson was imbued.  With all sincerity he sought all that God had for him and welcomed whatever gifting God’s Spirit would bestow upon him.  Simpson never let others’ misuse of glossolalia cloud his judgement on a genuine move of the Spirit. 

            The reality of the matter is that a “seek not” position makes a “forbid not” possibility redundant.  People that are not “seeking” and expecting God to work in this way will most likely never encounter the situation of a glossolalic expression of the Spirit.  This forces God to work within the confines within which we have created for him.  It puts the onus on God to break the mould and deal with prejudices against one of the ways His Spirit works in the lives of His people, a manner that is clearly explicated in His Word.  Perhaps the restrictions on glossolalia that the Christian and Missionary Alliance has adopted, has in effect, resulted in putting restrictions upon God Himself.  There is a possibility that if A.B. Simpson were alive today, he would feel like a stranger within the church, which he himself founded.

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