It was considered a high honor in those days for a family to have one of their sons called to be a minister. Many families at that time dedicated their firstborn to God, as the children of Israel did of old. In the Simpson family, both Albert and his older brother were inclined to go this way. Simpson's parents realized that they must play a role in the developing of these young men if they were to become useful vessels for the Master. Albert's parents were willing to allow their sons to be set apart to be educated and trained for their eventual service. This involved a price - giving them up from work on the family farm.

At the age of fourteen Albert encountered a spiritual and physical crisis. At this time he was considering his future and was torn between his dutiful feelings for the ministry and his pursuits and delights in the world. He tried to grope his way to God, knowing that he needed salvation. However, the God he knew up to that point was awesome and severe. He said, "My whole religious training had left me without any conception of the sweet and simple Gospel of Jesus Christ." In doctrine he knew that "only God could give in some mysterious way a wonderful change called the new birth or regeneration."

Albert's sensitive nature was weighed down by his inward conflict. That, coupled with his frail health, brought him to a physical and emotional breakdown. At one point Albert feared he was dying. At the height of his distress, he cried out to his father to pray for him, which he did in love and tenderness. But his father, for all his strict religion, may not have known clearly the way of peace himself. "No one," Simpson said, "shared with me the simple way of believing in the promises and accepting the salvation fully provided and freely offered."

Until you do this, all your works, prayers, tears, and good resolutions are vain. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to believe that He saves you according to His word, that He receives and saves you here and now, for He has said: 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.'" This was food enough for Simpson's hungry soul. He knelt in prayer and restfully realized the forgiveness of his sins and the sweeping away of all his fears. God had delivered him. He was regenerated. Albert described his experience: "To my bewildered soul this was like the light from heaven that fell upon Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus. I immediately fell upon my knees, and looking up to the Lord, I said, Lord Jesus, Thou hast said, 'Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.' Thou knowest how long and earnestly I have tried to come, but I did not know how. Now I come the best I can, and dare to believe that Thou dost receive me and save me, and that I am now Thy child, forgiven and saved simply because I have taken Thee at Thy word. Abba Father, Thou art mine, and I am Thine."

His new birth was accompanied by an early joy of salvation and followed by a time of rapid spiritual growth. He became hungry for the Scriptures and took them into his soul with "unspeakable ecstasy." He marveled that the former "empty words" became "divine revelations." "The promises of God," he said, "burst upon my soul with a new and marvelous light."

He was also moved to give himself to the Lord. At the age of seventeen, he spent a whole day in fasting and prayer and wrote a covenant with God, which he solemnly signed. This covenant was mingled with the word and with hymns he had previously learned. The seeds of his life and service were contained in this covenant. In it he asked the Lord to give him a double portion of the Spirit to proclaim Him to transgressors. He asked the Lord to sanctify him, and declared that he was now a soldier of the cross. As he put it, "I have one King, even Jesus." He concluded his covenant with the following prayer: "Now give me Thy Spirit and Thy protection in my heart at all times, and then I shall drink of the rivers of salvation, lie down by still waters, and be infinitely happy in the favor of God." He renewed this covenant at the age of nineteen, after a period of backsliding and restoration, and once again when he was 34.

Years later Simpson said he was grateful for the struggle of working for his education. "Nothing under God has been a greater blessing to me than the hard places that began with me more than half a century ago and have not yet ended." Teaching, studying, and making vows-this was how this purposeful young man was being prepared for the Master's use. Before his eighteenth birthday the Presbyterian board in London, Ontario, approved Albert for admission to Knox College in Toronto. There he studied Hebrew, Greek, theology, church history and government, and was also perfected in his speaking. He learned during his college years to trust in the Lord to meet his needs. There were times when he was in sore straits. Years later he related these experiences to a group of young students. He said, "Many a time I found myself without a penny. I have thrown myself down on the college lawn, in the darkness of night and deeper darkness of soul, crying to God for money to pay my board bill. And, fellow students, He did not fail me then, nor has He failed me yet. Neither will He fail you if you will dare to trust Him."

All was not glorious, however, in those college years. Simpson said, "I did not cease to pray or walk in some measure with God, but the sweetness and preciousness of my early piety withered. I am sorry to say that I did not fully recover my lost blessing until I had been a minister of the gospel for more than ten years. My religious life was chiefly that of duty, with little joy or fellowship. In a word, my heart was unsanctified, and I had not yet learned the secret of the indwelling Christ and the baptism of the Holy Spirit."

Albert completed his education at the age of 21 and applied to be a minister. He was examined by a board as to his character, spiritual experience, soundness of faith, and calling. Subsequently he was licensed as a Presbyterian minister. His mother's petition, the missionary's prayer, and his own heart's desire were finally fulfilled.

That Albert was a gifted speaker was apparent even when he was a young man. The young minister was receiving nods of approval by the Presbyterians, who carefully scrutinized both the message and the messenger. Albert, however, did not allow anyone to congratulate him on his eloquence or work. Later in life when another minister was about to commend him for inspiring his own ministry, Simpson interrupted and said, "That is all very well, but tell me something about what Christ has done for you."

The newly-licensed minister was offered two positions, one serving a small congregation and the other with a larger one. He describes his consideration and eventual conclusion to take the assignment with the larger congregation: "If I take the small church it will demand little, and I will give little. Result, stagnation; I will get soft and cease to grow. If I take the large church I will be compelled to rise to meet its heavier demands, and the very effort will develop the gifts of God that are in me. The small church may break me; the large church will certainly help to make me."