Inoculated or On Fire?

We have all been inoculated with Christianity, and
are never likely to take it seriously now! You put
some of the virus of some dreadful illness into a
man's arm, and there is a little itchiness, some
scratchiness, a slight discomfort--disagreeable,
no doubt, but not the fever of the real disease,
the turning and the tossing, and the ebbing strength.

And we have all been inoculated with Christianity,
more or less. We are on Christ's side, we wish him
well, we hope that He will win, and we are even
prepared to do something for Him, provided, of
course, that He is reasonable, and does not make
too much of an upset among our cozy comforts and
our customary ways.

But there is not the passion of zeal, and the burning
enthusiasm, and the eagerness of self-sacrifice, of
the real faith that changes character and wins the world.
... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), From the Edge of the Crowd
[1924]



photo: summer's night thunderstorm,
Feeding Hills, MA