Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul
Octavius Winslow [1841]
Quotes from the Second Edition by John F. Shaw, London (1843)
Via Banner of Truth:
“What causes spiritual decline? Is there a remedy?
Many who are conscious that their spiritual experience and vitality have sadly declined have only a hazy notion of the nature and causes of their condition. The kind of searching analysis which would help to clarify their thoughts and concentrate their sense of conviction is largely absent from the contemporary pulpit and from the Christian literature of the day.
But such help is available, and can be found in works like Octavius Winslow’s Personal Declension and Revival. It discusses the areas of life in which backsliding takes place, examines the consequences, and in the concluding chapters points to the Lord who is the restorer and keeper of his people.
The passage of time since this book was first published in 1841 has not diminished its value, and the fact that it has been frequently reprinted eloquently testifies to its continuing spiritual usefulness.”
New copies can be purchased here: Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul
Incipient Declension
p1 — If there is one consideration more humbling than another to a spiritually-minded believer, it is, after all God has done for him,—after all the rich displays of his grace, the patience and tenderness of his instructions, the repeated discipline of his covenant, the tokens of love received, and the lessons of experience learned, there should still exist in the heart a principle, the tendency of which is to secret, perpetual, and alarming departure from God!
p2 — We often think of faith and love, and their kindred graces, as though they were essentially omnipotent; forgetting that though they undoubtedly are divine in their origin, spiritual in their nature, and sanctifying in their effects, they yet are sustained by no self-supporting power, but by constant communication of life and nourishment from Jesus; that, the moment of their being left to their inherent strength, is the moment of their certain declension and decay.
p2 — A flower may droop, and yet live; a plant may be sickly, and yet not die. In the lowest stage of spiritual declension, in the feeblest state of grace, there is a life that never dies.