He lived exactly in the middle of the nineteenth century as he was born in 1833 (17 years before 1850) and died in 1867 (17 years after 1850). Through the influence of a Harrisburg revival experience early in 1855, he began a relationship with Jesus Christ that eventually led to his landing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 12, 1859, exactly 150 years ago.
In the six months following the revival experience, Simonton made his profession of faith at the Market Square Church in Harrisburg, Pa., (organized in 1794) and matriculated in Princeton Theological Seminary. His interest in foreign missions began when he heard a sermon by theologian Charles Hodge in Miller Chapel at Princeton. In December 1858 Simonton was appointed as the first missionary to Brazil by the Presbyterian Church USA’s Board of Foreign Missions in New York.
His going to Brazil at that moment required unusual courage. Less than ten years before his arrival more than half of the population of Rio had contracted yellow fever and more than 4,000 died of the disease. Brazil was a difficult mission field at a time when Protestants were not granted complete religious freedom — a privilege that would eventually come 30 years later (1889) when the country became a republic.
Simonton took only one furlough during his eight years of missionary service. On that occasion, in 1863, he married Helen Murdoch of Baltimore. She died in Brazil of complications from childbirth at the age of 30, a year and a half after the wedding, Simonton died of yellow fever while on a visit to São Paulo just before his 35th birthday.
In spite of all the difficulties and hardships he faced, Simonton had an incredibly productive ministry in his less than six years of activity in Brazil. He organized the first Presbyterian church in 1862, the first presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil (1865) and the first Protestant parochial school (1866). He also founded the first seminary (1867), the first Protestant publication in Brazil and in all of Latin America, The Evangelical Press (1864), and participated in the ordination of ex-priest José Manoel da Conceição, the first Protestant pastor in Latin America (1865). Simonton’s life was very transparent thanks to the diary he faithfully kept between 1852 and 1866, his articles published in The Evangelical Press, the written reports he sent to his Board in New York and his sermons, which were published by that Board.
One of Simonton’s most notable characteristics was his personal piety. When he entered Princeton in 1855 he adopted the following personal guidelines for his life: make use of all the means of grace; read the Bible devotionally; read good Christian books and biographies of great Christians; maintain a constant, intimate communion with God; cultivate the gift of prayer; be alert so as not to fall into sin.
After he became a member of the church in May of 1855, Simonton began to give much attention to his own sanctification. He sought to identify his personal defects and failures and then to correct them. To commemorate his first full year in Brazil he registered in his diary. “I go into my second year of ministry in Brazil with my goal clearly defined — to be more careful with my interior life, to seek sanctity and full consecration to Christ. Every sin, every sinful indulgence is not only a blow against my own soul, but tends to instantly work against my activity and success.” Simonton had the rare ability to keep a balance between theological understanding and Christian piety. Perhaps he had learned from Jonathan Edwards to maintain both light and heat at the same time.
The young missionary was very cautious with regard to growth in numbers of the first churches. It would not be right to enlarge the narrow door and the straight path nor to lower the level of morality expected of believers in order to increase membership.
Every Presbyterian in Brazil is grateful for the ministry among us of Ashbel Green Simonton and to the New York Board of Foreign Missions that sent him. All over the country the sesquicentennial of Simonton’s arrival in Brazil is being commemorated. The biggest celebration will be held in Rio de Janeiro where a sculpture of the figures of Simonton and Helen will be unveiled at the port where he disembarked 150 years ago. That night there will be a special worship service of thanksgiving for the life and ministry of this notable figure and for the church he did so much to establish, with the possible presence of Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio da Silva.
The Rev. Elben M. Lenz César, is a minister member of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, the church that was started by Ashbel Green Simonton. The Rev. César is also the editor of a popular journal (Ultimato) and publishing house Editora Ultimato (Ultimatum Publishing House). He is the author of several books and his biography of Ashbel Green Simonton is now being published in the Portuguese language in Brazil. Frank L. Arnold, former PC(USA) missionary to Brazil, translated this article into English.
