“But the happy change which has been brought about is not the work of the Government. It is the work of a united Church,” said Mr. Emerson. “That which has been accomplished might have been done long ago if the Church had known its power and done its duty.”
“You might have said if the Church had been Christian,” suggested Tom Whitwell.
“But no new thing has happened, nor has any new doctrine been preached,” said Knight. “The only reason of all the change is that we have come to believe that what was said in Nazareth eighteen centuries ago is true and possible. We were told all along that the merciful were blessed, that the pure in heart should see God, that those who hungered and thirsted after righteousness should be filled, and we have simply discovered that when Jesus gave His few plain directions regarding His kingdom He did not make impossible regulations. That is all.”
“Yes, that is all. But it is not a little.”
“The best of it is that the light is flooding Germany and America as well as England,” said the German guest.
“And,” replied Arthur Knight, “Canada has been blessed that it has such a son as Macdonald. How I wish he could have been with us to-night! He has been invited to deliver his message in all the States of America. What he has done for and in the Church of England only God knows. He has been a second Wesley, or a Church Spurgeon, or a modern St. Francis of Assisi. If he has not taught the people to love poverty, he has made them ashamed of being afraid of it; and the young men of the Church are being convinced that there are more desirable things than luxury, wealth, and idleness, and they are proving that there are no such noble men in the world as Englishmen who are Christians. Macdonald, too, has done much to bring about that Christian union to which we owe everything. A united Church has done what nothing else could do, and completely lifted the poor and the degraded out of their former position.”
“One wonders now,” said Mr. Collinson, “how it could be that so many of the best people never seemed to give any thought to their social and relative duties.”
“It is strange, indeed; but it can scarcely ever be the case again.”
“Oh, surely not, for very shame! So many have come to realise that their birth, and education, and wealth are given to them in trust for others, that they will not dare to use them entirely for themselves in the future.”
“It is something that at last goodness and kindness are fashionable,” said Miss Wentworth.