Nineteen hundred? A forecast and a story

by Marianne Farningham

The first ten days of Arthur’s return were very memorable ones.

One of the incidents that ever afterward remained in his memory was that of his first attempt to speak to English people of that which was in his heart. He was passing down the City-road when he noticed that men were rapidly entering the historical Wesley Chapel. He went into the building, and found that a Conference of Christian men had been called to consider whether means could not be taken beforehand to prevent the misery which every recurring winter brought to the East-end of London. It was felt by the conveners of the meeting that it would be a wise step to prepare for the inevitable, and that the appalling distress might be to a great extent prevented if good arrangements were made in time.

Arthur Knight knew that the Wesleyans had been moving forward for a considerable period. He knew, too, that the last few years had seen the Salvation Army and other organisations making extraordinary endeavours to stem the tide of misery and sin, and that, indeed, every department of the Christian Church was working for this end, with much personal effort, and by means of enormous sums of money both specially and annually contributed. But the disappointing thing was that so little difference seemed to have been made by it all. The world of London was scarcely better. Still men cursed God and died. Still there were cases of death from starvation and cold; even in the last winter thousands of men were unemployed, while drunkenness, cruelty and sin seemed as strong as ever.

The speakers at the meeting referred to this in tones of disappointment and sorrow. They could not but thank God for what had been done; but they felt that the work was piecemeal and inefficient. A paper was read suggesting some new methods of raising money, and indicating some fresh methods of service, and then the meeting was thrown open, and any one who had anything to say which could be said in five minutes was invited to say it.

This was Arthur Knight’s opportunity. He waited until several persons had spoken, and then he sent up his name, and made his five minutes’ speech.

“Much that we wish for could be accomplished in a single year, in one way,” he said. “Christian brothers, let us be heroic for Christ’s sake! Let us join our forces and work together. We have our differences and divisions, and these are the things that weaken us. How long shall we ourselves hinder the fulfilment of our Lord’s prayer, ‘That they all may be one, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.’ If we were to lift up the white flag of truce and fight under it, every Christian man, shoulder to shoulder, the battle of peace and righteousness could be won. These things that you deplore need not exist another year. England is so small, and, therefore, so manageable. It is mapped out into parishes and into Parliamentary divisions. You have no difficulty in getting into contact with every man when you want his vote. Your School Board officers know the number and age of every child in the kingdom. It will be easy, therefore, for a committee of church members to ascertain the circumstances of every individual around the centre of a church or chapel. Gentlemen, nearly two-thirds of the entire population of England are members of some Christian church; the money, the intelligence, the influence, the character, the ability of the nation are mostly among these two-thirds. What of the other third? Do you believe that we are powerless to deal with it—two to one, and more? Why, we are strong enough to see that every man has work to do, and every man does it, that the idle shall be forced to labour, that the inefficient shall be taught, that the sick shall be nursed and the children fed, that our ships shall be laden with good things only, that our people shall not be drunken, that another language than that of swearing and blasphemy shall be heard in our streets, that cruelty and vice shall hide their heads. Sirs, we are the masters in England; why, then, do we allow the things which shame us to exist? Only because we are craven and selfish, and small when we ought to be great; only because we care more for our denominations, and our party, and our own personal ease than for Christ and righteousness. Shall we change all this? You are able. Are you willing and ready? Will you, sons of Wesley, who occupy the middle position between the Church of England and Nonconformity, lead the way?”

Cries of “Yes, yes!” greeted this appeal, and when Knight sat down many rose to their feet to echo his words. Later they called for him to speak again; but it was found that he had left, and he did not know till afterwards what was the result of his first speech.

His heart was beating rapidly as he went forth into the London streets. He had only uttered a part of his convictions, but he was thankful to have had the opportunity to do that. He crossed over, and stood for a few minutes among the graves of Bunhill Fields, and saw the names of the brave men who had done the work which God gave them to do; and he vowed that he would lose no chance of using his voice, whenever and wherever he could, for he longed to see the Church united in the work which was so evidently waiting to be done.

But he had much to engross him in his own and his father’s affairs. He spent some hours of every day in the office, endeavouring to grasp the real state of things there, and finding much to make him sad. His father was very disinclined to give way to the men; and one of those much-to-be-regretted labour disputes seemed inevitable. The men appeared to have very little power, really, to secure that which they wanted. Crowds of unemployed were always ready to step into vacant places. For one situation there would be fifty applicants, and this made it possible for masters to be to some extent independent of the men, notwithstanding the trades unions. And there had arisen an antiunionist association composed of men who helped each other and fought for each other, and who were now numerically strong enough to resist the trades union men who in a strike tried to keep them out of wharves, docks, and factories. Mr. Knight, finding that women and boys could do his work as well as men, and for less wages, had in his employ many thousands of these, and this was a grievance of which the men bitterly complained. It happened in an enormous number of cases that men were idling about, and drinking, while their wives were employed at factories, in consequence of which the homes were wretched, and the children sorely neglected. There were, indeed, a hundred wrongs that called for reform, and a crying need of some one with a clear head and a kindly Christian heart to put matters straight.

Arthur Knight knew from the first day that he spent in his father’s office that under existing conditions it was no place for him. He would not, he simply could not, for the sake of all the wealth of the world, so do violence to his conscience, and slay all that was best in him, as to continue to sell goods that were next to worthless, and keep thousands of families on the verge of starvation, while he was getting richer every year. So much he settled with himself once for all, although he equally resolved to have no rupture with his father.