William Haslam

© 2008 Chris Wright

Morwenstow

CONVERTED BY HIS OWN SERMON

Everyone seems to have heard of a preacher who was converted while preaching his own sermon. That man was William Haslam. He wrote the story of his life as a minister in the Church of England in two volumes - From Death Into Life and Yet  Not I. Both titles were reprinted many times, and From Death Into Life is still available today.

William Haslam certainly knew how to make a story interesting, but many readers now would find the 214,000 words he used in the two books rather daunting, because his very readable accounts are often interwoven with fairly complex expositions on theology, and this book concentrates mainly on the story. I have cut words from some sentences, sentences from some paragraphs, paragraphs from some chapters, and even cut whole chapters to abridge the two books into a single volume. Readers can be assured that all the words used are Haslam’s, apart from a couple of word changes where the word has either changed its meaning or dropped out of use, and very occasional simple words that have been used to join edited sections. I have added many notes to help the reader understand Haslam’s situation, plus four Appendices ranging from Haslam’s archaeology to his biography.

With a modern type face, shorter sentences and simpler punctuation, Haslam’s Journey at 95,000 words is very much for today’s reader. In the Foreword, Mike Cain, Associate Vicar of Christ Church Clifton in Bristol, writes:

“I was thrilled to hear that Chris Wright had made the writings of William Haslam available for modern readers. I first read From Death Into Life just before going to theological college – someone had recommended it on a conference and a number of us got hold of second-hand copies. Word about the book seemed to spread. It made a big impact on us all. ...

“I hope and pray that it will be possible to get this book into the hands of not just people already engaged in Christian ministry – as an inspiration to them – but also into the hands of the sort of everyday Christian who fears that they can’t possibly be used by God, but might, by reading Haslam, see how God by His Spirit takes hold of the most unlikely people and uses them in extraordinary ways.”

Make no mistake, this  book is not just for Christians in the ministry, and not just for those who would like to be better at sharing their faith - it will also interest people who think there may be a God, and are wondering if they ought to be doing something about it.