The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-06-16
Specta1 Contributors.
THE MATTER OF RESPONSIBILITY
BY Rev. J. COLEMAN ADAMS.
(Chicago.)

1t is curious how the push for the
front in which we are all engaged when
the privileges of society are held up to
us becomes a rush for the rear when
the responsibilities which always go
with privilege are heldup in their turn.
People love to sit in the front seats as
long as they are the positions of honor,
but how they begin to empty when they
are turned into posts of duty We all
love to be there when the gifts and
prizes of life go around; but so soon as
the word of the Lord goes forth, ITO
whom much is given, of him shall
much be required" we think ourselves
the poorest of the poor, with nothing
to boast of and certainly nothing to
make us assume large duties-just as
everybody is inclined to talk expan-
sively about his wealth, and the value
of his real estate, and the value of his
personal property, until the assessor
comes in sight, when his talk suddenly
dwindles into plea of poverty and
complaint at the way things have
shrunk on his hands. There is large
class who want to be counted among
the first people in the town, its elite,
its select circles, its representative
men and women; and when they
have climbed up to their eminences,
when they have secured their good
standing, they utterly fail to recOg-
nize the duties which the elite are ex
pected to assume. They ignore their
: own promipenc They gToY suddenly
humble, and they are as anxious now
to be thought inconspicuous as once
they were to have all eyes upon them.
But there is a certain hard rule of
states that man may not resign his
position as a taxpayer. And there is
still more relentless rule of heaven
that we cannot avoid the obligations
we are under by process of declina-
tion. The obligation of duty is on
him who denies and ignores it as much
as it is on him who accepts it. And
that same inexorable principle of ethics
insists that rise in position brings an
addition to responsibility. The people
who stand highest in society, WELD the
most influence. And the people with
the largest influence will be held most
or fn 70
make of it. And you who stand in
the foremost places must accept the
heaviest responsibilities. The world
gets great help from the virtues of our
best society. All men and women are
the gamers when social leaders set
noble fashion. And the sins, the fol-
lies, the vices of those who set the
fashions for the world, the social lead
ers in nation, in city, or in quiet vii
lage, are milestone about the neck of
the community that looks up to them
for its social instructions. That is the
most valid and influential reason for
the honors paid recently in England
and America to the woman who for
fifty years has held the position of So
cial dictator in all Britain. There is
small field in England to-day for SOW
ereign to excel as ruler, for the scepter
has departed from the throne, and it is
the people Of England who rule. The
old divinity that hedged king is gone
and never will return. The crown has
been shOrn of prerogative after prerog-
ative, till to- day it is little more than
the symbol of departed glory. But
the changes which have wrought such
altered political relations seem hardly
to have touched the traditions which
cluster about royalty, and no queen
was ever more loved by her subjects
than Victoria. But the real root of
that love, as of the respect in which
EDgland's queen is held to-day, is her
pure life and its bene6cent influence.
Queen Victoria sits on a political
throne only III name. But she rules
with tTemend Jus power from throne
of social prestige aOd Influence. The
social habits which she sanctions will
set a fashion for 800 OO0, 600 people;
and her genuine virtues, her Christian
character, her faithful fostering in her
family and her court of the domestic
traits Of purity, honor, benevOlence,
and humanity have been blessing to
her kingdom and to the world. They
illustrate the faithful use of high posi-
ton. They mark heart that has
realized its high responsibilities and
has syrlven to fulfill them. Honor the
good queen Her virtues have strength