IN what sense is a believer to be conformed to the image of Christ? A Christian is not to bear the image of Christ as a penny bears the superscription of the queen. That image is put there to make the coin current among men; but a penny is not the image of the queen, it is only stamped with it. There are some Christians who think that they have the seal of the Spirit upon them, the stamp of Christ's warranty, and they can claim to be accepted as Christians, because they imagine they have the seal of the Spirit and the stamp of Christ's warranty upon them. Now as the penny is not conformed after the image of the person whose face it bears, so much a man is not, by any pretended warranty he thinks he has, really conformed to the image of Christ. Nor, again, have they attained to a conformity to the image of Christ, who are content with a cold morality. The true believer, like Christ, casts aside pride, minds not toil, conquers his constitutional sloth, and like Christ is full of love, not the love which cants and whines, but the love which is true and honest, and which for love's sake dare not flatter, which dwells not in words, which is legible upon his very face, which rids him of his crabbed and stern visage, till that sevenfold visage of intolerance and bigotry is cast out of him, till he has a heart on which the name of the church is written, and a breast which bears the name of all the redeemed, as the High Priest bore the breastplate before the mercy-seat. And further, we always associate with the name of Christ not simply humility, and service, and love, but devotion and prayerfulness. We know that when he had ceased to preach he began to pray. When he had left the mountain side, which had been his pulpit, he went to another mountain which became his silent oratory. The disciples might sleep, but not the Master. We can never be like the Master, till not only in public, but in private we are God's own; never till we know the power of knee-work, till we know how to struggle with strong crying and tears; never till our heart is ready to burst with a sacred agony, when we are wrestling with God—never till then shall we be conformed to the image of God's dear Son. Ah, my brethren, I feel, in trying to describe what that image is, like one who handles the brush with a shaking, palsied hand, although he has the outlines of the most beauteous form sketched upon the canvass of the age to paint. Lo! I have daubed where I ought to have been skillful. I have but sought to paint one feature; but who among us can describe the whole? We can but gather up all thoughts and say, one man is admirable for his faith, another for his patience; one is distinguished for his courage and another for his affection; but He is altogether lovely! Christ is not mixed of many beauties, but he is all beauty put together. But further, if we are ever conformed to Christ, we must bear his cross. Do you see him, Christian? He is despised and rejected of men. Do you see him passing through the midst of a crowd yelling and hooting at him? Men whom he had blessed are cursing him; lame men whom he had healed are using the power which he gave that they may run to scorn him; lips that had been dumb if he had not given them speech are venting blasphemies upon him, and he, the lovely one, forsaken of all, goes without the camp bearing his reproach. Do you see him, believer? The world counts him to be the offscouring of all things. It cries, "Away with him, away with him! It is not fit that he should live." It awards him a slave's death. See there an image of yourself, if you ever be conformed to his likeness; you must bear the cross of suffering; you must bear the shame and spitting of ungodly men. And—blessed thought!—the believer is to be conformed to the image of the crowned one as well as of the crucified one. If we be cross bearers we shall be crown wearers. If the hand shall feel the nail it shall grasp the palm. If the foot shall be tightly fastened to the wood, it shall one day be girt with the sandals of immortal bliss. Fear not, believer! It is necessary that you should first bear the image of the sorrowful, that you should afterwards bear the image of the glorious.—Spurgeon.