Practical Predestination by Octavius
Winslow There are no guesses, conjectures, or contingencies
with God as to the future. Not only does he know all, but
he has fixed, appointed, and ordered all things after the
counsel of his own will. It would seem impossible to form
any correct idea of God disassociated from the idea of predestination. The sole basis of predestination
is the practical belief that God is eternal and infinite in
and over all. Predestination is God's predetermined
appointment and for arrangement of all things beforehand according
to his divine and supreme will. God prearranges, predetermines,
and supremely rules in all the concerns of our world. He fixes
a constellation in the heavens, guides the gyrations of a bird
in the air, directs the falling of an autumn leaf in the pathless
desert, and conveys the seed born upon the wind to the spot
where it should fall. In predestination, we see the
everlasting love of God to, and His most free choice of, His
people to be His special and peculiar treasure. What doctrine
is more emptying, humbling, and therefore sanctifying than predestination? It lays the axe at the root of
all human boasting. in the light of this truth, the
most holy believer sees that there is no difference between
him and the vilest sinner who crawls the earth, but what the
sovereign grace of God has made. one blessing accruing from the
doctrine of predestination, is the sweet and holy submission
into which it brings the mind under all afflictive dispensations. Each step of his pilgrimage,
and each incident of his history, the believer sees appointed in
the everlasting covenant of grace. He recognizes the discipline
of the covenant to be as much a part of the original plan as
any positive mercy that it contains. that all the hairs of his head
are numbered. That affliction springs not out
of the earth, and therefore is not the result of accident or
chance, but is in harmony with God's purposes of love, and,
thus ordained and permitted, must work together for his good. The radiance which predestination
reflects upon the entire history of the child of God, and the
calm repose which it diffuses over the mind in all the perplexing,
painful, and mysterious events of that history, can only be
understood by those whose hearts have fully received this doctrine. whatever betides him, inexplicable
in its character, enshrouded in the deepest gloom, as may
be the circumstance, the believer in this truth can stand still
and, calmly surveying the scene, exclaim, This also comes forth
from the Lord Almighty, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent
in working. He who works all things after
the counsel of his own will has done it, and I am satisfied that
it is well done. This Puritan devotional has been
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