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Instant Glory is a one chapter work about the death of Hannah Winslow by her husband.
Instant Glory! The Death of Hannah Winslow
By her husband, Octavius Winslow, 1867
Instant Glory is a one chapter work about the death of Hannah Winslow by her husband.
The writer shrinks from any express allusion to an event so personal and sacred to himself as that which the reader is aware suggested the subject of this address, and which now so affectingly and forcibly illustrates it. No other course, however, was open to him of meeting the numerous inquiries of distant friends, for whose sympathy he is sincerely grateful, and to whose wishes he would respectfully bow. The narrative is simple and brief.
On Monday morning, October the 8th, the writer left home to fulfill a pulpit engagement in town. Mrs. Winslow, with some members of the family, accompanied him to the station. Arriving half an hour before the departure of the train, an opportunity was afforded for that quiet, unreserved fellowship so rarely permitted amid the incessant and absorbing claims and excitement of professional and public life. It seemed as if a lifetime of thought and feelings were crowded within the space of that fleeting half hour! It was a remarkable circumstance, and this it was which gave a character and a history to the entire scene, that the writer was at the time suffering from a depression of spirits in a way quite unusual, and to a degree almost overwhelming.
A “horror of great darkness” came over him, tinging, at the moment, with its somber hue, every object upon which the mental eye rested. Even nature, painted with the brilliant hues of a warm autumnal sun, seemed to lose its beauty and its charm. He freely communicated his feelings to her who leaned upon his arm, treading with him. Alas — how unsuspected by either of us — the last stage of wedded life! I remarked to her that the words of Paul, when parting from the Ephesian Elders, most appropriately expressed what I then felt, “Behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there.”
And now it was her mission to sympathize and comfort. And if ever, through a life of unswerving fidelity to duty and love, she rose to the loftiest height of that mission, it was then! From that moment — how fleeting and precious were those moments now — a tide of the most spiritual and consolatory thoughts, enriched with some of the most appropriate promises and portions of God’s Word, flowed as a silvery stream from her lips. Her whole soul, animated to a degree, seemed moved with an inspiration from above. One of my daughters remarked that “she never saw her mamma appear so heavenly as then.”
She dwelt with great earnestness upon . . .
the faithfulness of God,
the rectitude of all His ways,
the utter impossibility of any variation in His love,
the knowledge that Jesus had of all His people’s needs,
and the power and readiness with which His heart was prepared to meet it.
Octavius Winslow
Octavius Winslow (1 August 1808 – 5 March 1878), also known as "The Pilgrim's Companion", was a prominent 19th-century evangelical preacher in England and America. A Baptist minister for most of his life and contemporary of Charles Spurgeon and J. C. Ryle, he seceded to the Anglican church in his last decade.
Historical family information
Winslow 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[citation needed] 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. [expand title="see more on Octavius Winslow"]
Education and American Ministry
It is suggested that Winslow began his ministerial training in Stepney, London, but then moved to Columbia College, New York. Twice he was granted the privilege of receiving honorary degrees. The first was a Masters of Arts (M.A.) by the University of the City of New York (NYU) in 1836. Secondly, in 1851, Columbia College in New York City conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity (D.D.). The second degree was given mostly because of the body and scope of his written works. Winslow's official ordination would later be on 21 July 1833 at the Oliver Street Baptist Church.
After completing a short service as a moderator at a Stanton Street church, he was dismissed on 18 May 1831 and he went on to found or "plant" the 20 members Bowery Baptist Church which was organized in March 1833 and met in the Military Hall on the Bowery. After meeting in this Hall for a year, they relocated to Broadway Hall and renamed the church Central Baptist Church. These years would bring the church a "moderate degree of prosperity" and would bring Winslow trials of depression. When Winslow would later leave this flock, there would be no written records as to why he left.
He is said to have ministered in the newly started Second Baptist Church there in Brooklyn on the corner of Tillary and Lawrence Streets in 1836 and 1837, the work sadly closing in 1838 and the church was sold to the Free Presbyterian congregation. In 1839 he moved back to England where he became one of the most valued ministers of his time. This was largely due to the earnestness of his preaching and the excellence of his prolific writings.
Ministry in England
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