God made his religion a refuge, but men often make it a subterfuge. Whenever a man thinks that by religious observances he can condone for a wicked or selfish life; when he thinks that he can screen himself from the eye of God behind churchgoings and making prayers and giving money for religious work, and under cover of these things pursue his own fleshly course, he has just miscalculated the One with whom he has to do. He may smother his conscience by that kind of maneuver, but he cannot fool God. He may cheat men, himself to boot, but God is not mocked. When he will be dragged out from behind the screen of names and claims and empty performances, into the light of God's countenance, all pretense will be at an end. If anything on earth disgusts God, it is this effort to cheat him with appearances. Read Isa. 1:11-18. God looks with mercy upon a weak, faltering child; but the hypocrite shall bear his iniquity.

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