n the crucifix, and they said
that the prints of the nails would come in their hands and feet, and
the thorn-scars in their brow as they beheld. It was but a gross
fancy; yet in the fancy there is a spiritual truth. Gazing by faith
upon Christ, the lines of his beauty indeed print themselves on our
hearts. This is the meaning of St. Paul's word: "We all, with unveiled
face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed
into the same image." The Gospel is the mirror. There we see the
image of Christ. If we earnestly, continually, and lovingly behold it,
the effect will be the changing of our own lives into the same
likeness. The transformation is wrought by the divine Spirit, and our
part is only to behold, to continue beholding, the blessed beauty. We
sit before the camera, and our own picture is printed on the prepared
glass. We sit before Christ, and we become the camera, and his image
is printed on our soul.

There is a pathetic story of a French sculptor, which illustrates the
sacredness with which life's ideal should be cherished and guarded. He
was a genius, and was at work on his masterpiece. But he was a poor
man, and lived in a small garret, which was studio, workshop, and
bedroom to him. He had his statue almost finished, in clay, when one
night there came suddenly a great frost over the city. The sculptor
lay on his bed, with his statue before him in the centre of the
fireless room. As the chill air came down upon him, he knew that in
the intense cold there was danger that the water in the interstices of
the clay would freeze and destroy his precious work. So the old man
arose from his bed, and took the clothes that had covered him in his
sleep, and reverently wrapped them about his statue to save it, then
lay down himself in the cold, uncovered. In the morning, when his
friends came in, they found the old sculptor dead; but the image was
preserved unharmed.

We each have in our soul, if we are true believers in Christ, a vision
of spiritual loveliness into which we are striving to fashion our
lives. This vision is our conception of the character of Christ.
"That is what I am going to be some day," we say. Far away beyond our
present attainment as this vision may shine, yet we are ever striving
to reach it. This is the ideal which we carry in our heart amid all
our toiling and struggling. This ideal we must keep free from all
marring or stain. We must save it though, l