William Carvosso: A Memoir

This book is the story of an ordinary man made remarkable by the transforming grace of God. When only 21 years old, a visit from his newly-converted sister awakened him to his need of a Savior. Fearful conviction for sin soon seized him, and after many days of crying to God for mercy the devil tempted him with the words, “The day of grace is passed; it is now too late.” Carvosso’s answer was characteristic: “I am determined, whether I am saved or lost, that while I have breath I will never cease crying for mercy.” Immediately he experienced the pardoning grace of God and was born again. For the rest of his life, sixty-three years in all, he constantly labored for the salvation of the souls all around him. Many were brought under the power of the Gospel through his Spirit-filled life and loaded words.

William Carvosso was a native of Cornwall, England, the same southwestern corner of the British Isles from which the eccentric drunkard-turned-preacher, Billy Bray, hailed from. Carvosso lived several generations before Billy, however, and was a contemporary of John and Charles Wesley. For many years he was a Methodist class leader.

Rev. C. W. L. Christien writes: “Born of obscure parentage, unendowed with any remarkable talent, destitute of the slightest pretence to early education, having no worldly wealth or status, scarcely once outside the borders of his native county, with neither call nor talent to preach, without a solitary earthly circumstance to make him great, William Carvosso yet stands forth in the history of the church as “a burning and a shining light.” His memorial is known wherever Methodism has found its way, and is one of those glorious careers which it would be a sin to bury out of sight.” 196 pages.

Sample Chapters

Publisher's Foreword
Editor's Preface
Chapter One
Chapter Two