idle dreaming or sentimental puttering; the hour has come and now is when
In these days of the twentieth century every thoughtful person who is awake to the signs of the times and the issues of the hour must see that idle dreaming or sentimental puttering about little things can no longer pass for religious thought or work. The hour has come and now is when those who are in earnest must have done with half-hearted and conventional dalliance with the church and religion, and begin to take the gospel of Jesus seriously and joyfully as an immediate call to responsibility and action; not about a problematical future in celestial realms, but about social and civic and public conditions right here in our own streets and neighborhoods.
ex Rev. H. Arnold Thomas, M. A., in British Congregationalist, in “from our exchanges” in The Christian Science Sentinel 11:50 (Boston; August 14, 1909) : 998 : link