Rom. 12:2; 8:29; John 8:32; Rom. 6:2; 8:3; Heb. 9:26; Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 3:18.

I Asked the Father, once, to mold
Me to the image of His Son;
But, brooding o'er the matrix cold,
Shrank back before He had begun.

I pleaded that subservient
To His, alone, my will might be;
And here, alas, willed to relent
Ere He His will made known to me.

Resistless marble, next, I sought
To be, and He, the Sculptor rare;
Still, ere creation could be wrought,
Repented was the creature's prayer.

As silver, then, I would be tried,
With Christ in the Refiner's seat;
Yet scarce the test had been applied,
Than quailed I at the glowing heat.

At length, I prayed, "O, Father, show
Why thus, in bondage, I should be."
The answer came, " My child should know
My pledge,' The truth shall make you free.' "

Then to the blessed Book I turned,
Deliverance found from sin's fell sway;
"Sin in the flesh," there fully learned,
The cross "condemned," and "put away;"

And Scripture proved me "dead to sin"-
Thus, by "the truth," was I "made free"-
And should no longer "live therein,"
But live the life of "Christ in me."

So, now, the Word abides in me,
And God the Spirit wields His sword,
That Father's heart and eye may see
The growing image of my Lord.

No need for matrix do I feel,
No thought of crucible recall,
Nor yearns the marble for the steel-
Christ Jesus is my ALL IN ALL.

G. K.