24 TOHU-VA-VOHU exhibitions of our own weakness, not proofs of its strength. The best argument for religion is to show it. No one can deny its reality then. Prove religion by your lives rather than by your words. Let us beware of impertinent familiarity in religion, such as some make their so-called assurance. It is | the old story of the parvenu, who tries to push himself into the closeness of intimate converse by vulgar, rude familiarity. He that 1s ‘ to the manner born,’ the real child, has and needs none of that obtrusive familiarity. God should be approached with reverence and holy awe—and most of all by His own children, who know Him best. Most people are wretchedly miserable, though they will not allow themselves to know it. It 1s a weary thing to be always play-acting—sometimes for bread, and sometimes for even less than that—whule sorrow wrings our heart. It may sound strange, but when we come to the innermost springs of our lives, there should be no ‘because’ in what makes them flow. A flower bursts into bloom for no other ‘because’ than that itis a