But now all such satisfactions are denied.  To be a good citizen you must put your mind on the job, and it is no easy one.  You must be up and doing.  And when you are doing one good thing there will be keen-eyed critics who will ask why you have not been doing other things which are much more important; and they will sternly demand of you, “What do you mean by such criminal negligence?”

What we call the awakening of the social conscience marks an important step in progress, But, like all progress, it involves hardship to individuals.  For the higher moral classes, the saints and the reformers, it is the occasion of wholehearted rejoicing.  It is just what they have, all the while, been trying to bring about.  But I confess to a sympathy for the middle class, morally considered, the plain people, who feel the pinch.  They have invested their little all in the old-fashioned securities, and when these are depreciated they feel that there is nothing to keep the wolf from the door.  After reading a few searching articles in the magazines they feel that, so far from being excellent citizens, they are little better than enemies of society.  I am not pleading for the predatory rich, but only for the well-meaning persons in moderately comfortable circumstances, whose predatoriness has been suddenly revealed to them.

Many of the most conscientious persons go about with an habitually apologetic manner.  They are rapidly acquiring the evasive air of the conscious criminal.  It is only a very hardened philanthropist, or an unsophisticated beginner in good works, who can look a sociologist in the eye.  Most persons, when they do one thing, begin to apologize for not doing something else.  They are like a one-track railroad that has been congested with traffic.  They are not sure which train has the right of way, and which should go on the siding.  Progress is a series of rear-end collisions.

There is little opportunity for self-satisfaction.  The old-fashioned private virtues which used to be exhibited with such innocent pride as family heirlooms are now scrutinized with suspicion.  They are subjected to rigid tests to determine their value as public utilities.

Perhaps I may best illustrate the need of some receivership by drawing attention to the case of my friend the Reverend Augustus Bagster.

Bagster is not by nature a spiritual genius; he is only a modern man who is sincerely desirous of doing what is expected of him.  I do not think that he is capable of inventing a duty, but he is morally impressionable, and recognizes one when it is pointed out to him.  A generation ago such a man would have lived a useful and untroubled life in a round of parish duties.  He would have been placidly contented with himself and his achievements.  But when he came to a city pulpit he heard the Call of the Modern.  The multitudinous life around him must be translated into immediate action.  His conscience was not merely awakened:  it soon reached a state of persistent insomnia.