The Master Sculptor by Margaret J. Preston

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 19, 1913

The Master Sculptor

By Margaret J. Preston

MARGARET J. PRESTON

'Tis the Master who holds the mallet, and day by day He is chipping whatever environs the form, away; Which under His skilful cutting, He means shall be Wrought silently out to beauty of such degree Of faultless and full perfection that angel eyes Shall look on the finished labor with new surprise, That even His boundless patience could grave His own Features upon such fractured and stubborn stone.

'Tis the Master who holds the chisel. He knows just where Its edge should be driven sharpest to fashion there The semblance that He is carving; nor will He let One delicate stroke too many, or few, be set On forehead or cheek, where only He sees how all Is tending, and where the hardest the blow should fall, Which crumbles away whatever superfluous line Would hinder His hand from making the work divine.

With tools of Thy choosing, Master, we pray Thee, then, Strike just as Thou wilt, as often and where and when Thy vehement stroke is needed; we shall not mind If only Thy chilling chisel shall leave behind Such marks of Thy wondrous working and loving skill, Clear carven on aspect, statue, and face, as will, When discipline's ends are over, have all-sufficed To mold us into the likeness and form of Christ.

— The Examiner.