In 1887, he began a series of sermons called “Fourfold Gospel” (“4-sided Gospel” or “
Full Gospel”) in New York. According to him, this concept represents the 4 aspects of the ministry of
Jesus Christ: "Jesus our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King". This Fourfold understanding defined the evangelical Christianity that emerged from the
Restorationist movement and laid a critical theological foundation for the
Pentecostal movement. The Fourfold Gospel is symbolized in the logo of the C&MA: the Cross (Savior), the Laver (Sanctifier), the Pitcher (Healer), and the Crown (Coming King). He came to his special emphasis in ministry through his absolute Christ-centeredness in doctrine and experience. Albert Benjamin Simpson was largely
Keswickian, teaching the doctrine of
entire sanctification heralded by the
Higher Life movement. Simpson, however, departed from traditional Keswickian teaching in his view of progressive sanctification and rejection of suppressionism. Plagued by illness for much of his life since childhood, Simpson believed he experienced
divine healing after understanding it to be part of the blessing of abiding in Christ as Life and healing. He emphasized healing in his Fourfold Gospel and usually devoted one meeting a week for teaching,
testimonies and prayer on these lines. Although such teaching isolated him (and the C&MA) from the
mainline churches that either did not emphasize or outright rejected healing, Simpson was uncompromising in his beliefs. Simpson's heart for evangelism was to become the driving force behind the creation of the C&MA. Initially, the Christian and Missionary Alliance was not founded as a denomination, but as an organized movement of world evangelism. In his 1890 book,
A Larger Christian Life, Simpson discussed his vision for the church: Simpson composed the lyrics of over 120 hymns, 77 of which appear in the C&MA's 1962 hymnal,
Hymns of the Christian Life, co-edited with R. Kelso Carter
. His missionary vision is illustrated by these words of his hymn, "The Missionary Cry": At the turn of the 20th century, numerous Alliance members began adopting
Pentecostal beliefs as a result of the widespread experience of tongues and other spiritual manifestations within the Alliance movement and at Alliance meetings. While Simpson remained an ardent proponent of the doctrine of Spirit Baptism that was a central teaching in late nineteenth-century evangelicalism, he became publicly critical of various practices within the Pentecostal movement that he considered excessive. In particular, Simpson publicly challenged the emerging Pentecostal teaching that "
speaking in tongues" was the sole acceptable evidence of
baptism with the Holy Spirit. Notwithstanding his public criticism, however, in his private spiritual life, Simpson sought for the gift of tongues. While he did not ever speak in tongues, he did, in the course of his seeking, have other ecstatic experiences of the kind that often bore the criticism of Pentecostal excessiveness, such as an experience he described in his private journal, saying, "The Spirit came with a baptism of
Holy laughter for an hour or more and I am waiting for all He has yet to give and manifest." ==Death==