William Haslam grew up in India admiring the Hindu religion but on his return to Britain was ordained to the Anglican ministry in 1842 and took charge of the parish of Perranzabuloe in West Cornwall. His custom was to preach abridged and simplified versions of John Henry (later Cardinal) Newman’s sermons. He was disappointed that his parishioners showed no interest in ‘ecclesiastical antiquities or architectural science’ and reproached them from the pulpit for not being more loyal to the Church of England. Unsurprisingly his flock began to dwindle. 

As people left he accused them of being schismatic. In his view separation from the Church of England was ‘… a most deadly sin.’ Later he reflected: ‘I little dreamt then that many of the people with whom I thus contended, and whom I grieved so much, were real spiritual members of Christ, and had only ceased to be members of the Church of England because I did not preach the Gospel… . I was the schismatic, for I was separated from Christ.’ 

In 1846 he took charge of newly-created parish at Baldhu, near Truro. His ministry continued in its High Church character and he insisted that the new church building should have all the paraphernalia – ‘super-altar, candles, triptych, painted window, organ, choir and six bells.’ 

‘Building from the top’ 

During the construction of this church Haslam had been puzzled by the comment of an old woman observing the work while knitting. ‘Will you begin to build your spire from the top?’ she had asked. Years later he realised how perceptive the woman had been. He had been teaching people to live before they were born, preaching holy living without conversion. It was like trying to erect the church spire before the foundation or walls were there!  For Haslam there was no salvation outside the Church. It was the ark, and baptism (christening) was the door. ‘I longed to save John Bunyan’, he writes, ‘but he was such a determined schismatic that it was impossible to make out a hope for him! Sometimes I was cheered by the thought that he had been duly baptized in infancy, and that his after-life was one of ignorance.’ Haslam even baptised himself one day, in case he had not been properly baptised in infancy ‘… and consequently should be lost hereafter.’ 

Eventually, hearing how popular the sermons of the Evangelicals were, he took to writing some out and using them from his own pulpit, with the occasional negative statement to ‘correct’ them. He nervously went, in his cassock and cap, to a bookshop which sold evangelical publications by the Religious Tract Society. He was rather embarrassed both by the warm welcome and the generous discount the owner gave him! Leaving the shop proved even more embarrassing than entering, since he was carrying what was obviously a large parcel of evangelical literature. He felt everyone was staring at him. 

What is ‘conversion’?

Haslam distributed the tracts and booklets and soon heard that three of his parishioners had been ‘converted’ through reading them. He began to ask his friends what conversion was. One lent him Southey’s life of John Wesley. Then Haslam came across a tract by John Berridge entitled ‘Great Error Detected’. He found that Berridge had preached for eight years without bringing a soul to Christ, before his eyes were opened to his own condition and the way of salvation. Berridge had begun to preach Christ instead of the Church and as a result many were converted. Around this time Haslam’s gardener, a former tin-miner, became very ill with tuberculosis. The dying man did not send for his priest but a converted friend to pray with him. Whereas Haslam’s approach had been to build the man up, the friend did the opposite – showing the man that he was a lost sinner and needed to come to Jesus just as he was for pardon and salvation. 

News of the gardener’s conversion brought joy to many in the village, but was a bitter disappointment to Haslam, who felt he had gone away from the Church. Now the gardener called repeatedly for Haslam to visit. When he finally he went to the house, he found the gardener not lying on his death bed but walking around his room in a joyful state. ‘My soul is saved,’ he shouted. ‘Glory be to God!’ To which Haslam replied, ‘Come John, sit down and be quiet and I will have a talk with you… .’ But the gardener would have none of it. Haslam was glad to leave and for weeks was in a state of misery and soul-searching. 

‘The parson’s converted! Hallelujah!’ 

The clinching moment came when Haslam visited Rev. Robert Aitken at Pendeen. Aitken had an influential gospel ministry in the parish church there. Haslam told him about his gardener’s conversion and how dismayed he was. Aitken in reply dropped this bombshell: ‘Well if I were taken ill, I certainly would not send for you. I am sure you could not do me any good, for you are not converted yourself.’ The two men talked until 2am. In the morning Aitken asked him if he had peace with God. Not satisfied with his answer, Aitken read John 4:10: Thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. ‘Shall we ask him?’ said Haslam. Immediately Aitken pushed back his chair and knelt down at the table. Haslam did the same. He wrote later: ‘What he prayed for I do not know. I was completely overcome, and melted to tears.’ He walked and ran the seven miles to Penzance in a state of great excitement. Haslam saw a booklet by Aitken in a shop window and bought it before catching the train back to Baldhu. He was struck by the words quoted in the booklet, Then shall He say to them, ‘Depart from me; I never knew you.’ He thought, ‘What if he says that to me?’ Haslam felt quite ill on the following Sunday but resolved to say a few words from the appointed text, Matthew 22:42: What think ye of Christ? He explained that the scribes and Pharisees did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God or that he had come to save them. As he spoke he kept hearing a voice saying, ‘You are no better than the Pharisees yourself.’ Then he felt ‘a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul’. Suddenly a local preacher who was in the congregation stood up and shouted, ‘The parson is converted! The parson is converted! Hallelujah!’ At this the whole congregation erupted into praise. At least twenty other people were converted on that occasion and William Haslam was greatly used in other places where the Holy Spirit worked in reviving power.

Back to main articles page

Top of page