1887 to 1914 · The churches · Featured Study
The Christian and Missionary Alliance
A missionary fellowship of the Holiness family whose books came from its own press in New York.
Pardington's history of 1914 tells of a woman in Canada who told Dr. Henry Wilson that the fourfold Gospel “means the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.”
- Began
- 1887 by Pardington's pages 36 and 39; 1889 by his page 78 (proposed)
- Bodies
- The Christian and Missionary Alliance
Rev. A. B. Simpson, frontispiece of G. P. Pardington, 1914. Public domain.
For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.
Summary
The Christian and Missionary Alliance gathered round A. B. Simpson's Fourfold Gospel. Its history of 1914 teaches that a believer enters a holy life in one crisis, when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell.
- Its watchword names Christ as Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming Lord.
- Its branches grew up state by state, Ohio first.
- Its count of 1914 gave branches and workers, and no total of members.
The Texts of the Four Heads
Each head of the Fourfold Gospel stands on a verse.
Christ our Saviour
And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Simpson pairs this cry of the great multitude with his chapter on Christ our Saviour.
Christ our Healer
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took on our infirmities and carried our diseases.”
Isaiah's words here describe Jesus' healing, and Simpson builds his healing chapter on them.
Matthew 8:17BSB
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Simpson gives it as his second text for healing.
Hebrews 13:8BSB
Christ our Coming Lord
And I will give him the morning star.
Simpson pairs this promise of the morning star with his chapter on Christ our Coming Lord.
Matthew 8:17, Hebrews 13:8, Revelation 2:28
The Alliance's Records Among the Holiness Churches
The Alliance's two books stand among the Holiness bodies from 1867 to 1914.
The Alliance's own books stand beside the Holiness bodies of their years.
1867 to 1890
- The Holiness churches
- The Four-Fold Gospel
1895 to 1906
1914
- Twenty-five Wonderful Years
Penuel dates the camp meetings, the Nazarene Manual the church of 1895, and each book its own year.
The Christian Traditions sets this church among the other families, from Ephesus in 431 to the Pentecostals in 1906.
The Alliance's Own Record: Simpson and Pardington
The Alliance tells its own story through two books from its own press.
The Four-Fold Gospel was printed by the Christian Alliance Publishing Co., 692 Eighth Avenue, New York. Its third edition, revised, carries a copyright of 1890.
G. P. Pardington wrote Twenty-five Wonderful Years for the same press in 1914, and dedicated it to Simpson and his wife.
Both books speak from inside the Alliance and give its own account.
Pardington dates the founding two ways. On page 36 the Christian Alliance and the Evangelical Missionary Alliance were organized at the second Old Orchard Convention, “The following summer, 1887.”
On page 78 he writes, “The Old Orchard Convention of 1889 witnessed the organization of the International Missionary Alliance and also the Christian Alliance.”
On page 39 he dates the union of the two societies as The Christian and Missionary Alliance to “the second day of April, 1897.”
The Truth It Preached: Holiness and Healing as Gifts
Simpson preached sanctification received as a gift and healing rooted in the cross.
In The Four-Fold Gospel (1890), chapter 2, Simpson wrote, “Sanctification is not your own work; it is not a gradual attainment which you can grow into by your own efforts.”
He taught that it “is to be received as one of the free gifts God desires to bestow upon us.”
On healing, in chapter 3, he wrote, “Divine healing is part of the redemption work of Jesus Christ. It is one of the things He came to bring. Its foundation stone is the cross of Calvary.”
Simpson denies a state beyond temptation, and the Nazarene Manual of 1908 speaks of sin destroyed.
| Source | On sin after sanctification |
|---|---|
| Simpson writes in The Four-Fold Gospel (1890), chapter 2 | “We shall never become so inherently good that there will be no possibility or temptation to sin. We shall never reach a place where we shall not need each moment to abide in Him.” |
| Manual of the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene (1908), pages 26 to 27 | Original sin “continues to exist with the new life of the regenerate until eradicated and destroyed by the baptism with the Holy Spirit.” |
The Alliance's Teaching in Its Own History
Pardington set out the watchword and the crisis of sanctification for the Alliance.
Pardington answers the woman's guess on pages 49 to 50. He calls the phrase “simply a striking watchword, which expresses the paramount calling and distinctive testimony of the Alliance,” and keeps the four heads of Simpson's book of 1890.
Under Christ our Sanctifier, on pages 53 to 54, he writes, “it is our clear and unmistakable teaching that the life of entire sanctification is entered by a definite experience.”
He marks that crisis “by the reception of the person of the Holy Ghost,” with growth after it.
The Alliance in Its Own Count of 1914
Pardington counted branches and workers district by district.
The Eastern District held 75 of the branches, the most of any district.
| District | Branches | Workers | Regular meetings held without organization |
|---|---|---|---|
| New England | 15 | not given | 10 |
| Canadian | 5 | 5 | not given |
| Eastern | 75 | about 70 | 20 |
| Central | 20 | 35 | 10 |
| Southern | 25 | 20 | 10 |
| Western | 15 | 10 | 15 |
| Pacific Coast | 20 | 18 | 12 |
Pardington says the exhibit “is not complete,” since “including unofficial workers and pastors of affiliated independent churches over a thousand names could be enrolled.”
He adds, “The entire membership of the movement has not been tabulated.”
Where the Alliance Spread
Branches grew out of conventions and were organized state by state from 1889.
Pardington writes on pages 86 to 87 that “As early as 1888” Simpson and his helpers visited the larger cities of the United States and Canada by invitation.
After the conventions, he writes, “companies of believers called Branches sprang up all over the land,” and the work was then organized by states.
“Ohio was the pioneer, in 1889,” he writes, “closely followed however by New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other states, and also by Western Ontario.”
The Question Pressed on the Alliance
The Reformed answer Simpson's crisis from the Westminster Confession.
The Westminster Confession of 1646 denies that any believer is made wholly holy in this life. It holds that sanctification is “imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part.”
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.The Reformed side sets this verse against a crisis of entire sanctification.
Books to Read Next
The Four-Fold Gospel
A. B. Simpson · 1890
Simpson gives a chapter to each of the four names.
Free at the Internet ArchiveTwenty-five Wonderful Years, 1889-1914
G. P. Pardington · 1914
The Alliance tells its first twenty-five years and its teaching.
Free at the Internet ArchiveWhat the Alliance Handed On
The Alliance handed on a short creed of four names for Christ and a holiness received as a gift. Simpson taught that the believer depends on Christ moment by moment.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible (read 2026)
- A. B. Simpson, The Four-Fold Gospel, third edition, revised (New York: Christian Alliance Publishing Co., copyright 1890), title page, contents and chapters 1 to 4.
- G. P. Pardington, Twenty-five Wonderful Years, 1889-1914: A Popular Sketch of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (New York: Christian Alliance Publishing Co., 1914), the frontispiece, the dedication and pages 36, 39, 49 to 50, 53 to 54, 78 and 86 to 88.
- Manual of the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene (Nazarene Publishing Company, 1908), Original Sin, pages 26 to 27.
- The Confession of Faith of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster (1646), chapter XIII.2, S. W. Carruthers's transcription of the manuscript (1946)
- Alexander McLean and Joel W. Eaton, editors, Penuel; or, Face to Face with God (New York: W. C. Palmer, Jr., 1869), pages 15 to 16.
Keep Studying
Subjects1
Church history1