Joy was characteristic of the Christian community so long
as it was growing, expanding, and creating healthfully.  The
time came when the Church had ceased to grow, except externally
in wealth, power, and prestige; and these are mere outward
adornments, or hampering burdens, very likely.  They do not
imply growth or creativeness.  The time came when dogmatism,
tyranny, and ignorance strangled the free intellectual activity
of the Church, and worldliness destroyed its moral
fruitfulness.  Then joy spread her wings and flew away.  The
Christian graces care nothing for names and labels; where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there they abide, but not in great
Churches that have forgotten Him.  How little of joy there is
in the character of the religious bigot or fanatic, or in the
prudent ecclesiastical statesman!  A show of cheerfulness they
may cultivate, as they often do; but it is like the crackling
of thorns under a pot: we cannot mistake it for the joy of the
Lord which is the strength of the true Christian.
                         ... William R. Inge, Personal Religion

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 1999, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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