A friend in the States is one of many who have a real passion for the writings of Octavius Winslow. He asked me if I could find out anything about the man. With some difficulty I was able to put the following together. My friend has also provided a rare image of Winslow, which I'll include in the second post.
Winslow stood out as a one of the foremost evangelical preachers of the 19th Century. A Baptist minister for most of his life, he seceded to the Anglican church in his last decade. His Christ-centred writings show devotion, practicality and excellence. He is richly devotional and warms the soul and inflames the heart with sincere love, reverence and praise to Christ.
He was a direct descendant of John Winslow and Mary Chilton, who braved the Atlantic to travel to America on the Mayflower in 1620. Legend has it that Mary was the first female of the little band to set foot in the New World. In 1624 she married John, brother to Edward Winslow (1595-1655), a celebrated Pilgrim leader.
Octavius's mother, Mary Forbes (1774-1854) had Scots roots but was born and raised in Bermuda, the only child of Dr and Mrs George Forbes. In 1791 British soldiers of the Forty-seventh foot came to the island and a whirlwind romance ensued. On September 6, 1791, when she was just 17, she married Lieutenant Thomas Winslow. Shortly after this, she came under spiritual convictions and was brought to gospel deliverance while pleading the promise, 'Ask, and ye shall receive'. Christ Himself powerfully told her heart, 'I am Thy salvation!' and she was saved.
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