What Think Ye Of Christ?

"Ordained into the Church of England ministry in 1842, he (Reverend William Haslam) served conscientiously in a parish of North Cornwall. He was a Tractarian clergyman with a hearty dislike for dissenters, and an authority in things antiquarian and architectural. But he was not satisfied, having no spring of living water within him. Then in 1851, nine years after his ordination, while preaching the gospel of the day on the text, 'What think ye of Christ?', the Holy Spirit (in answer no doubt to many prayers) opened his eyes to see the Christ of whom he was speaking, and his heart to believe in him. The change which came over him was so obvious that a local preacher, who happened to be in church, jumped up and shouted, 'The parson is converted! Hallelujah!', at which hi svoice was drowned by the praises of 300 or 400 of the congregation. As for Haslam himself, he 'joined in the outburst of praise, and, to make it more orderly... gave out the Doxology... and the people sang it with heart and voice, over and over again.' The news spread like wildfire 'that the parson was converted, and that by his own sermon, in his own pulpit!' His conversion was the beginning of a great revival in his parish, which lasted for nearly three years, with a vivid sense of God's presence, and conversions almost daily, while in later years God called him into the most unusual ministry of leading many of his fellow clergy to a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ." (Stott Between Two Worlds pg 263)

Thought this was an interesting story of how the Holy Spirit can work in spite of the preacher... the exception rather than the rule, but interesting nonetheless.