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Octavius Winslow
Octavius Winslow (1808–1878) was an English preacher and evangelical writer whose Christ-centered ministry left a lasting mark on 19th-century Christianity. Born on August 1, 1808, in Pentonville, London, he was the eighth of thirteen children of Thomas Winslow, an army captain, and Mary Forbes, who hailed from Bermuda with Scottish roots. A descendant of Mayflower Pilgrims John Winslow and Mary Chilton, he moved with his family to New York City at age seven after his father’s death, where his widowed mother raised her children in poverty yet deep faith. Converted in 1827 under the ministry of Samuel Eastman at Stanton Street Baptist Church, Winslow was baptized in the Hudson River and soon felt called to preach. In 1834, he married Hannah Ann Ring, with whom he had ten children, though several died young, and she predeceased him in 1866. Winslow’s preaching career began with his ordination in 1833 in New York, followed by pastorates at churches like Union Baptist in Brooklyn. Moving to England in 1839, he served at Warwick Road Baptist Church in Leamington Spa until 1858, then founded Kensington Chapel in Bath, transitioning it to a Union Church by 1865. In 1870, he seceded to the Anglican Church, ordained as a deacon and priest, and ministered at Emmanuel Church in Brighton until his death. A contemporary of Charles Spurgeon and J.C. Ryle, he preached at the opening of Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1861. Author of over 40 books, including The Precious Things of God and Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul, Winslow’s devotional writings earned him the title "The Pilgrim’s Companion." He died on March 5, 1878, in Brighton, leaving a legacy of fervent preaching and rich spiritual literature.
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Octavius Winslow emphasizes that God is our ultimate provider, urging believers to live by faith rather than sight. He reflects on the pressing needs of life and reassures that God will supply all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Winslow draws parallels between our daily needs and God's provision, encouraging believers to trust in His promises even in times of extremity. He highlights that God is not only the provider of our physical needs but also abundantly supplies our spiritual needs through Christ. Ultimately, he calls us to anchor our souls in the truth that God is our God, who will never fail us.
The Lord My Provider
"The Lord is my portion, says my soul." "And my God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philip. 4:19 The anxious care of yesterday has expanded into the pressing need of today. The trouble that was near has come, and the need you anticipated is urgent. Be it so. The life God intends His people should live is not one of sight but of faith, not one for tomorrow but for today. For the most part, He will allow them to have nothing in hand, lest it should mar the simplicity, and so interfere with the operation of their faith. Like the poor widow whose little oil God increased by Elisha, we are often led to exclaim--"Your handmaid has nothing in the house but a jar of oil." Our dear Lord recognized our daily life of faith, by teaching us to offer the daily prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." The apostle wrote these words in grateful acknowledgment of a gift of love he had just received from the Philippian saints. He had ministered to them of his spiritual things, and they, in return, ministered unto him of their temporal things, "an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God." And now, as if conscious of his inability to make them any adequate return in kind, he instructs them in a truth, and breathes for them a prayer, most precious--"And my God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Let your soul anchor itself on this truth, "God is my God," and though the winds may blow, and the billows surge, and the sky darken, you shall not be moved. Needs may be great and urgent, claimants harsh and pressing, resources clean gone, yet, if the believing soul can take hold of God, and claim its interest and proprietorship in Him, none of these things shall move it. And God is your God, O my soul! Your God in an everlasting covenant, your God in Christ Jesus, your God in a thousand troubles past, your God and your Guide even unto death. God is as pledged as He is able to supply all our temporal need. He would have us recognize and deal with Him as the God of providence equally as the God of grace. The divine promise is, "Your bread and your water shall be sure." Has He ever failed you? He may have brought you to an extremity--the barrel of meal and the cruise of oil well-near exhausted--"not anything in the house but a jar of oil"--yet He knows your need, and at the last will appear and supply it. Faith may be sharply tried, but it shall surely triumph in the end. "Gad, a troop shall overcome him--but he shall overcome at the last." There may be a present and a temporary defeat of faith in its battle with trying and afflictive circumstances, but, like the tribe of Gad, it "shall overcome at the last." God shall supply all your temporal needs according to His covenant engagement and inexhaustible resources. Only trust Him. Above all, is the Lord our spiritual Provider. If He provides for the body, most assuredly, and yet more richly and amply, will He provide for the soul. "There is grain in Egypt." There is the raining manna and the gushing rock in the desert. All the supplies of the covenant of grace, all the fullness that is in Christ Jesus, all the boundless resources of the Triune Jehovah, are for the needs of the believing soul. You need more faith--Jesus is its Author, and He will increase it. You need more grace--out of His fullness you may draw 'grace for grace,' or, as it is in the Greek--wave on wave. You need more love--feed its waning flame at the altar of His, and while you are musing on His wondrous love, the fire of yours shall burn. Thus take all you need to your Heavenly Provider, and He will supply it--not according to your stinted desires, or unbelieving expectations, or personal deserts--but, "according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." "What need shall not our God supply From His abundant store; What streams of mercy from on high An arm almighty pour? "From Christ, the ever-living spring, Those ample blessings flow; Prepare, my lips, His name to sing Whose heart has loved you so."
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Octavius Winslow (1808–1878) was an English preacher and evangelical writer whose Christ-centered ministry left a lasting mark on 19th-century Christianity. Born on August 1, 1808, in Pentonville, London, he was the eighth of thirteen children of Thomas Winslow, an army captain, and Mary Forbes, who hailed from Bermuda with Scottish roots. A descendant of Mayflower Pilgrims John Winslow and Mary Chilton, he moved with his family to New York City at age seven after his father’s death, where his widowed mother raised her children in poverty yet deep faith. Converted in 1827 under the ministry of Samuel Eastman at Stanton Street Baptist Church, Winslow was baptized in the Hudson River and soon felt called to preach. In 1834, he married Hannah Ann Ring, with whom he had ten children, though several died young, and she predeceased him in 1866. Winslow’s preaching career began with his ordination in 1833 in New York, followed by pastorates at churches like Union Baptist in Brooklyn. Moving to England in 1839, he served at Warwick Road Baptist Church in Leamington Spa until 1858, then founded Kensington Chapel in Bath, transitioning it to a Union Church by 1865. In 1870, he seceded to the Anglican Church, ordained as a deacon and priest, and ministered at Emmanuel Church in Brighton until his death. A contemporary of Charles Spurgeon and J.C. Ryle, he preached at the opening of Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1861. Author of over 40 books, including The Precious Things of God and Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul, Winslow’s devotional writings earned him the title "The Pilgrim’s Companion." He died on March 5, 1878, in Brighton, leaving a legacy of fervent preaching and rich spiritual literature.