- sibility and obligation. It is true that the
great man with his gifts must not be judged by ordinary rules—he must be held to extraordinary rules and standards doubly severe. Selfishness can be pardoned in a peasant soldier, not in a great general.—N. D. Hillis.
(2740)
Responsibility of Privilege—See Privilege Involves Responsibility.
Responsibility, Personal—See Place,
Filling One's.
Responsibility, Sense of—See Personal
Preaching.
RESPONSIBILITY, UNDESIRABLE
The following Lincoln anecdote is quoted in the Literary Digest:
One evening, just before the close of the
Civil War, he had some visitors at the White
House, among them some Senators and
members of Congress. One of the guests
asked the President what he would do with
Jefferson Davis if he were captured. Crossing
his legs and looking at his friends with
that peculiar twinkle in his eyes, he said:
"Gentlemen, that reminds me of an incident
of my home in Illinois. One morning, when
I was on my way to the office, I saw a small
boy standing on a street corner crying as if
his heart would break. I asked him what
was the cause of his sorrow. He said,
'Mister, don't you see that coon?' pointing to
a poor little beast that he had tied to a
string. 'Well, that animal has given me a
heap of trouble all the way along, and now
he has nearly gnawed the string in two. I
wish to goodness he would gnaw it in two
and get away, so I could go home and tell
my folks he had escaped from me.'"
(2741)
RESPONSIVENESS
One of the wonders of China is the Bell
Temple near Peking. Its great curiosity is
the great bell. It was cast five centuries ago
and weighs fifty-three and a half tons—the
largest hanging bell in the world. It is
covered all over with extracts from the
Buddhist canon, in Chinese characters. It
is rung by means of a huge hanging timber
swung against it, calling forth tones the
sweetest, most melodious, and resounding, as
if echoing the chords of eternity. But the
striking thing about this great bell is that
its tones vary in proportion to the quality
of the sounding-board receiving them.
Does not a ringing truth or a loving
deed depend upon the response it gets?
(2742)
We are told that if one were to suspend a bell weighing a hundred tons, and a little child were to stand beneath it and play upon a flute, the vibrations of the air produced by the playing of the flute would cause the bell to tremble like a living thing and resound through all its mass.
As bell responds to flute, so the heart
of the Christian responds to the music
of the message that issues from that
manger cradle of the Babe of Bethlehem.
The time will come when the
music from that manger shall melt into
itself all earth's Babel sounds and fill
the world with harmony.—J. D. Freeman,
"Concerning the Christ."
(2743)
REST
There is no music in a rest, but there is
the making of music in it. In our whole
life-melody the music is broken off here and
there by "rests," and we foolishly think that
we have come to the end of the time. God
sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed
plans, frustrated efforts, and makes
a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our
lives, and we lament that our voices must be
silent, and our part missing in the music
which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator.
How does the musician read the rest? See
him beat the time with unvarying counts and
catch up the next note true and steady, as
if no breaking place had come between. Not
without design does God write the music of
our lives. Be it ours to learn the time, and
not be dismayed at the "rests." They are
not to be slurred over, not to be omitted, not
to destroy the melody, not to change the keynote.
If we look up, God Himself will beat
the time for us. With the eye on Him, we
shall strike the next note full and clear. If
we say sadly to ourselves, "There is no
music in a rest," let us not forget "there is
making of music in it."
(2744)
Rest-day, Weekly—See Sunday Work Discontinued.
