hing but amuse themselves--are they
likely to bring up their children successfully?

To those who have no faith and to those who have lost it let me
recommend some wise words by Dean Inge. There are those who are as
explosively and suddenly "converted" as was St. Paul; but there are also
those who cannot have such an experience; and many, many are the ways to
God. Give the matter serious attention; it deserves it. It is the most
serious of all things.

Being educated means to prefer the best not only to the worst but to the
second best. It means in music to prefer Beethoven not only to jazz but
to Brahms. So it is in all forms of art, in athletics, in politics, in
everything.

Now, the Person celebrated in the Gospels is the greatest Personality in
all history. He knew more about life than Shakespeare. He was the
greatest nerve specialist who ever lived. "Come unto me ... and you
shall find rest unto your souls." His way is incomparably the best way;
it is the way to peace of mind, to courage, independence, fearlessness,
to joy. If we find faith lacking, try His way.

Listen to Dean Inge; he is discussing the illumination of the mind that
_follows recognition_ of the Master:

"This illumination must be earned, or rather prepared for, by a
strenuous course of moral discipline. The religious life begins with
Faith, which has been defined ... as the resolution to stand or fall by
the noblest hypothesis. This venture of the will and conscience
progressively verifies itself as we progress on the upward path. _That
which began as an experiment ends as an experience._ We become
accustomed to breathe the atmosphere of the spiritual world."

Young people about to be married, young people recently married, young
fathers and mothers, should give religion the most serious
consideration. To neglect it, to be indifferent to it, is worse and more
foolish than to be antagonistic. Religion is not a frill or an ornament
or a luxury; still less is it a thing to clutch at only in danger or in
heartbreak.

Religion is the greatest creative force in the world; it has made
thousands of saints and thousands of heroes; it has revolutionized
innumerable individual lives. It has changed people from selfishness to
unselfishness; from cowardice to courage; from despair to hope; from
vulgarity to decency; from barrenness of life to fruitfulness. When
religion can change the lives of millions, when it can produce supreme
creations in art, it