Octavius Winslow Books: A Guide to All 12 and Where to Start
Christian LifeDevotionalRevivalHoly Spirit
Octavius Winslow (1808–1878) wrote dozens of books, and nearly all of them do one thing: they take a truth of Scripture and press it warmly on the heart. TheWay Library has twelve of them, all free to read. There are books on spiritual decline and revival, books of comfort for the suffering, books on Christ and on the Holy Spirit, and two memoirs of his own family. For his life story, see who was Octavius Winslow.
This guide sorts them so you can pick the right one.
Where to start
Most readers should start with one of these three:
- If your faith has grown cold: Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul. This is the book Winslow is best known for.
- If you're suffering or grieving: Christ Ever with You, a short book you can read in two hours.
- If you simply want to love Christ more: The Precious Things of God.
Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from. For many more, see our collection of Octavius Winslow quotes.
Decline and revival in the soul
Winslow wrote two books on how a Christian grows cold and how God brings him back. They overlap, so read one first and the other when you want more.
Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul (1848 edition)
A searching study for believers who have drifted. Winslow shows how decline begins unnoticed, then traces it in love, in faith and in prayer, which he calls its clearest sign. He warns about cherished doctrinal error and grieving the Holy Spirit, and ends with two chapters of comfort: the Lord is the restorer and the keeper of His people.
Love to God will expel love to the world; love to the world will deaden the soul's love to God.
Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul, Declension in Love
The Inner Life, Its Nature, Relapse, and Recovery (1853)
The same subject from another angle. The first half describes the life of God in the soul, its slow relapse and its counterfeit, religious form without life. The second half is about recovery: penitence, prayer, a fresh anointing of the Spirit, the use God makes of trials, and the power of Christ's resurrection. Its counsel is warm and plain: take your deadness straight to Christ. Read The Inner Life.
Books of comfort
Christ Ever with You (1863)
A small book on "Lo, I am with you alway." After a chapter on Christ's farewells, Winslow shows Christ with His people as their presence, guide, shield, teacher and Saviour, and then with them in service, suffering, solitude, bereavement, sickness, temptation, hard times and death. Short stories of believers illustrate each chapter. Chapter 10, on bereavement, is a good place to begin if you've lost someone. Read Christ Ever with You.
Midnight Harmonies (1856)
Thirteen meditations for Christians in sorrow, named from a line in the book of Job about God "who giveth songs in the night." Each takes one text: Jesus veiling His dealings, solitude sweetened by the Father's presence, honey in the wilderness, the weaned child, God comforting as a mother, Jesus only, and the day breaking.
Submission is sweet, resignation is sweeter, but joyous satisfaction with the whole of God's conduct is sweeter still.
Midnight Harmonies, Solitude Sweetened
Christ and the Holy Spirit
The Precious Things of God (1867)
Twelve chapters following the word "precious" through the Bible: Christ, faith, trial, God's thoughts, His promises, Christ's blood, the anointing of the Spirit, God's children, His Word, prayer, Christ's sympathy, and the death of the saints. It opens with 1 Peter 2:7, "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious." The chapter on prayer is the longest and one of the best. Read The Precious Things of God.
The Glory of the Redeemer in His Person and Work (1855)
Winslow's fullest book on Christ, written to warm the heart as well as inform the mind. Ten chapters trace Christ's glory from His life with the Father before creation, through the types and prophecies, His humiliation, resurrection and ascension, to His glory in His people, the Spirit's work of glorifying Him, and His second coming. Read The Glory of the Redeemer.
The Inquirer Directed to the Work of the Holy Spirit (1856)
A clear guide to what the Bible teaches about the Spirit, written for enquiring Christians. Winslow shows that the Spirit is God and a person, then treats Him as the One who gives new birth, dwells in believers, sanctifies, seals, bears witness, teaches us to pray and comforts. The last chapter shows the Spirit's work in the life of Christ Himself. Read The Inquirer Directed to the Work of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer is the breathing of the life of God in the soul.
The Inquirer Directed to the Work of the Holy Spirit, The Spirit the Author of Prayer
Devotional papers and addresses
Glimpses of the Truth as It Is in Jesus (1856)
Eight longer papers: the gospel as the voice of the charmer, being alone with Jesus, a pastor asking for his people's prayers, Christ's word to the weary, an appeal to the young called "The Axe Laid at the Root," broken cisterns, the Lord's coming and nominal Christianity, and Christian love as a test of true faith. Read Glimpses of the Truth.
The Ministry of Home (1867)
Twenty short addresses meant for reading aloud at home. Only the first, on Joshua's "as for me and my house," is about family life. The rest range from the woman who left her waterpot and the power of the tongue to the gift of suffering, the bereaved home, Christian giving and casting your burden on the Lord. Read The Ministry of Home.
The Silver Trumpet (1844)
A short treatise on the two silver trumpets of Numbers 10. Winslow reads them as a picture of the gospel: two trumpets for the two Testaments agreeing about Christ, pure silver for a Word with no dross, and their calls for the preaching that gathers, warns and guides God's people. It's especially for preachers. Read The Silver Trumpet.
Family memoirs
Life in Jesus: A Memoir of Mrs. Mary Winslow (1860)
Winslow's life of his mother, born in Bermuda in 1774, built from her letters and journals. It tells of her conversion, her years in Bermuda, America and England, and her gift for counsel and comfort, with many of her letters on the spiritual life. At about fifteen hours it's the longest book here. Read Life in Jesus.
Hidden Life: Memorials of John Whitmore Winslow (1872)
A grieving father's memorial of his son, a Trinity College, Dublin student who died suddenly at twenty-one. It draws on the young man's journals and letters: his quiet early faith, his conversion and baptism, his university years and his death. Read Hidden Life.
A note on these editions
All twelve books were restored from scans of the original printings and are still being proofread. Hidden Life has the most damage, with many misread words, especially in the preface. Midnight Harmonies and The Silver Trumpet also have scattered errors. The rest read cleanly for the most part.
Why read Winslow today
Winslow is honest about the coldness of the Christian heart and tender with the hurting, and he always ends at Christ. Start with Personal Declension or Christ Ever with You, depending on what you need. All twelve books are on the Octavius Winslow author page.