nfidence.

Twenty-sixth Day.

HOLY IN CHRIST.

Holiness and the Will of God.

'This is _the will of God_, even your _sanctification_.'--1 Thess.
iv. 3.

'Lo, I am come to do _Thy will_. By _which will_ we have been
_sanctified_, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all.'--Heb. x. 9, 10.

In the will of God we have the union of His Wisdom and Power. The Wisdom
decides and declares what is to be: the Power secures the performance.
The declarative will is only one side; its complement, the executive
will, is the living energy in which everything good has its origin and
existence. So long as we only look at the will of God in the former
light, as law, we feel it a burden, because we have not the power to
perform--it is too high for us. When faith looks to the Power that works
in God's will, and carries it out, it has the courage to accept it and
fulfil it, because it knows God Himself is working it out. The surrender
in faith to the Divine will as Wisdom thus becomes the pathway to the
experience of it as a Power. 'He doeth according to His will,' is then
the language not only of forced submission, but of joyful expectation.

'This is the will of God, your sanctification.' In the ordinary
acceptation of these words, they simply mean that among many other
things that God has willed, sanctification is one; it is something in
accordance with His will. This thought contains teaching of great value.
God very distinctly and definitely has willed your sanctification: your
sanctification has its source and certainty in its being God's will. We
are 'elect in sanctification of the Spirit,' 'chosen to be holy;' the
purpose of God's will from eternity, and His will now, is our
sanctification. We have only to think of what we said of God's will
being a Divine power that works out what His wisdom has chosen, to see
what strength this truth will give to our faith that we shall be holy:
God wills it, and will work it out for all and in all who do not resist
it, but yield themselves to its power. Seek your sanctification, not
only in the will of God, as a declaration of what He wants you to be,
but as a revelation of what He Himself will work out in you.

There is, however, another most precious thought suggested. If our
sanctification be God's will, its central thought and its contents,
_every part of that will_ must bear upon it, and the sure entrance to
sanctification will be the hearty