The W. W. Prescott Armadale Sermons - Fred Bischoff

White.[5] His letters reflect the impact upon his thinking of both 1888 and
the Bible conference of 1891. They help catalog the extent to which his new
perceptions influenced his approach to evangelism. And that approach
provides a clue as to why the Holy Spirit was able to bless his endeavors.
Before examining the method, however, let us look at the man.[6]
Washburn fell far short of our modem image of a successful evangelist.
No one of us would have been impressed by his presence or delivery. For
years he wore the same suit, until it became shiny. Though avoiding actual
untidiness, he could never have been accused of being a snappy dresser.
He delivered his sermons in front of, rather than behind, the lectern. To
the astonishment of his hearers, he frequently preached for two hours without
notes or a Bible. Washburn knew the whole New Testament by heart,
together with portions of the Old Testament, including the book of Daniel.
Verse by verse he could at will draw from what he had memorized.
"I began meetings here in Bath ... on 10 January [1892]," Washburn told
Ellen White. "There was a company of five or six before the work began."
He preached twice during the workweek, in addition to once on Sabbath and
once on Sunday. The Sunday meetings drew the largest attendance. He
began with 30 and, as the crusade gathered momentum, eventually preached
to 450. The population of the city was 60,000.
Prior to his departure from the United States, Washburn sought advice
on how to evangelize the English. The advice proved indecisive and only
implanted in his mind some unhelpful stereotypes regarding those he would
seek to save. From the start, he told Ellen White, he had abandoned the
approach favored in the United States. Like Paul in Corinth, he "determined
not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 2:2). "We
thought we would not begin in the old way here, so began with Christ as
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