VICTORIA COLLEGE CHRISTIAN UNION

Evening Post, Volume xciv, Issue 73, 24 September 1917, Page 2

VICTORIA COLLEGE CHRISTIAN UNION

At Victoria College last week, under the auspices of 1 the Christian Union, Professor T. A. Hunter delivered an address on "Tho Social Problem and Personal Responsibility." Ho said that '-no one. who reflected at all could fail to be impressed with tho gravity of the present situation, and in tho presence of such class hatred and national strife- the insignificance of individual effort scorned apparent. Yet the salvation, of the world, if it was ever to be. saved, could be achieved only through individual effort. The Professor traced tho development, of, the idea of individual responsibility through the gxoup and customary sta-ges. He showed that the -real great men of history were those who had had convictions, and had been prepared to stand by them. Such men were. Martin Luther, Kepler, and Mill. These and others believed that their responsibility lay not in obeying the letter of the law or in following the cfc-wd, but in following those convictions which their intelligence had revealed. It was this "idea of personal responsibility vchich must be taught. When we came to look a.t man in his social relations we must see that under society as organised the great masses of the people could never attain to a high type of life. The luxuTy and ease of the few weTe being- purchased- by the suffering of the many. Must it; ever bo so ? .Were we to accept the position as it stood? Two problems faced us—tho conflict of classes and the conflict <& nations. Each must consider his relation, to £hese problems. It was no use our saying that we did not know. It was our duty to make ourselves acquainted with the social conditions of our day. At- thi3 stage tho Professor, by a. sories of lantern slides, gave some idea of the present economic condition. There was, he said, no ready-made solution of the problem. The only_ solution lay with those who know tho conditions and were willing to ameliorate them. It was for us to ally ourselves with these, and by intelligent and sustained endeavour strive to fulfil our personal responsibility.