William Haslam

We have written before about William Haslam, a preacher in Cornwall in the mid-19th century, who was converted through his own preaching from his own pulpit! I have recently been reading his autobiography called From Death Into Life . . . it is indeed a worthy read. For example, we read the following description about the service in which Haslam was converted:

"Whether it was something in my words, or my manner, or my look, I know not; but all of a sudden a local preacher, who happened to be in the congregation, stood up, and putting up his arms, shouted out in a Cornish manner, 'The parson is converted! the parson is converted! Hallelujah!' and in another moment his voice was lost in the shouts and praises of three or four hundred of the congregation. Instead of rebuking this extraordinary 'brawling,' as I should have done in a former time, I joined in the outburst of praise; and to make it more orderly, I gave out the Doxology -- 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow' -- and the people sang it with heart and voice, over and over again. My Churchmen were dismayed, and many of them fled precipitately from the place. Still the voice of praise went on, and was swelled by numbers of passers-by, who came into the church, greatly surprised to hear and see what was going on."

"When this subsided, I found at least twenty people crying for mercy, whose voices had not been heard in the excitement and noise of thanksgiving. They all professed to find peace and joy in believing. Amongst this number there were three from my own house; and we returned home praising God."