William Edwin Boardman (1810–1886) was an American pastor and teacher, and the author in 1858 of The Higher Christian Life, a book which as a major international success and helped ignite the Higher Life movement.
Boardman's work attracted international attention, especially in England, where Boardman exercised great influence during 1873–1874.
Life
Boardman was born in 1810 to Isaac Smith and Abigail Saltmarsh Boardman.
In his youth he had religious training and had a knowledge of the gospel.
He married Mary Adams in 1837, and she grew closer to god in their marriage.
In 1858 he published the first edition of The Higher Christian Life.
Elizabeth Baxter reported that reading "Gladness in Jesus" in 1873 had caused her to re-evaluate her beliefs and to trust more to God.
Baxter was to found the Bethshan mission which was base for healing by prayer.
She would say that Boardman was the founder of the mission, but others see Baxter as the driving spirit.
Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sankey led evangelistic campaigns and Boardman was speaking throughout England on Holiness and the Higher Life.
This led to the establishing of the Keswick Conventions.
Boardman also came to be a leader in the ministry of spiritual healing, and he had inspired the Bethshan Healing Home in London.
He joined with the Canadian pastor A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the 1885 Bethshan Conference on Holiness and Healing in London.
This conference is regarded by many as a turning point in the origins of the modern Pentecostal movement.
His ministry would continue until his death on the 4th of February 1886 in London.
The Bethshan mission continued and Baxter visited the Indian mission twice after his death.
Works
The Higher Christian Life, Boston: Henry Hoyt (1858)
He That Overcomenth: or the Conquering Gospel, London: James Nisbet & Co. (1869)
Gladness in Jesus
Faith Work under Dr Cullis, in Boston 1873 (biography of Charles Cullis)
In The Power Of The Spirit, or, Christian experience in the light of the Bible 1875
The Great Physician (Jehovah Rophi) 1881
References
External links
"The Higher Christian Life" article about Boardman
