 Section 6. FIGHT AGAINST FORMALITY The Army's invariable principle of avoiding even the appearance of attacking any other association of religionists, or their ideas or practices, renders it difficult to explain fully either why William Booth became the regular minister of a church, or why he gave up that position. And yet, he has himself told us sufficient to demonstrate at one stroke not only the entire absence of hostility in his mind, but the absolute separateness of his way of thinking from that which so generally prevails. The enthusiastic welcome given to the general wherever he went, by the clergy of almost every church, indicates that he had generally convinced them that he had no thought of attacking them or their churches, even when he most heartily expressed his thankfulness to God for having been able to escape from all those trammels of tradition and form, which would have made his great life work for all nations impossible. And I think there are a few who would nowadays question that his life, teaching, and example all tended greatly to modify many of the church formalities of the past. Just before leaving Lincolnshire, he says, I had been lifted up to a higher plane of the daily round of my beloved work than I had experienced before. Oh, the stagnation into which I had settled down, the contentment of my mind with the love offered me at every turn by the people. I still aimed at the salvation of the unconverted and the spiritual advance of my people, and still fought for these results. Indeed, I never fell below that, and yet, if the after meeting was well attended, and if one or two penitents responded, I was content and satisfied myself with that hackneyed excuse for so much unfruitful work that I had sown the seed. Having cast my bread on the waters, I persuaded myself that I must hope for its being found by and by. But I heard of a Reverend Richard Poole who was moving about the country, and the stories told me of the results attending his services had aroused in me memories of the years gone by, when I thought little and cared less about the acceptability of my own performances, so long as I could drag the people from the jaws of hell. I resolved to go and hear him. I found him at the house of a friend before the meeting, comparatively quiet, how I watched him. But when I had heard him preach from the text, said I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the salvation of God, and had observed the blessed results, I went to my own chamber. I remember that it was over a baker shop, and resolved that, regardless of man's opinions and my own gainer position, I would ever seek the one thing. While snealing in that room, there came into my soul a fresh realization of the greatness of the opportunity before me of leading men and women out of their miseries and their sin. And of my responsibility to go in for that with all my might. In obedience to the heavenly vision, I made a consecration of the present and future, of all I had and hoped to have, to the fulfillment of this mission, and I believe God accepted the offering. I continued my public efforts in line with my new experience. Happily and freely, as William Booth had been allowed to lead his people, however, he and his attended wife both saw that there could be no permanent prospect of victory amongst these reformers. The very popularity of a preacher was sure to lead to contention about the sphere of his labors. The people, he writes, with whom I had come into union, were sorely unorganized, and I could not approve of the ultra-radicalism that prevailed. Consequently, I looked about for a church nearer my notions of system and order, and in the one I chose, the Methodist New Connection, I found a people who were, in those days, all I could desire, and who received me with as much heartiness as my Lincolnshire friends had done. Ignorance has different effects on different people. Some it puffs up with self-satisfaction. To others it is a source of mortifying regret. I belonged to the latter class. I was continually crying out, oh God, how little I am and how little I know. Give me a chance of acquiring information, and of learning how more successfully to conduct this all-important business of saving men to which thou hast called me, and which lies so near my heart. To gratify this yearning for improvement, the church with which I had come into union gave me, at my request, an opportunity of studying under a then rather celebrated theologian. But instead of better qualifying me for the work of saving men by imparting to me the knowledge necessary for the task, and showing me in everyday practice how to put it into practical use, I was set to study Latin, Greek, various sciences, and other subjects which, as I saw at a glance, could little help me in the all-important work that lay before me. However, I set to work, and with all the powers I had, commenced to wrestle with my studies. My professor was a man of beautiful disposition and had an imposing presence. The books he wrote on abstract and difficult theological problems were highly prized in those days. Moreover, he belonged to a class of preachers, not altogether unknown today, who have a real love for that order of preaching which convicts and converts the soul, although unable to practice it themselves. He knew a good thing when he saw it. The first time he heard me preach was on a Sunday evening. I saw him seated before me at the end of the church. I knew he was going to judge me, and I realized that my future standing in his estimation, as well as my position in the society I had now made my home, would probably very much depend on the judgment he formed of me on that occasion. I am not ashamed to say that I wanted to stand well with him. I knew also that my simple, practical style was altogether different from his own, and from that of the overwhelming majority of the preachers he was accustomed to approve. But my mind was made up. I had no idea of altering my aim or style to please him, the world, or the devil. I saw dying souls before me. The gates of heaven wide open on the one hand, and the gates of hell opened on the other, while I saw Jesus Christ with his arms open between the two, crying out to all to come and be saved. My whole soul was in favor of doing what it could to second the invitation of my Lord, and doing it that very night. I cannot now remember much about the service, except the sight of my professor, with his family around him, a proud, worldly daughter sitting at his side. I can remember, however, that in my desire to impress the people with the fact that they could have salvation there and then, if they would seek it, and to illustrate their condition, I described a wreck on the ocean, with the affrighted people clinging to the masts between life and death, waving a flag of distress to those on shore, and in response the lifeboat going off to the rescue. And then I can remember how I reminded my hearers that they had suffered shipwreck on the ocean of time through their sins and rebellion, that they were sinking down to destruction, but that if they would only hoist the signal of distress, Jesus Christ would send off the lifeboat to their rescue. Then, jumping on the seat at the back of the pulpit, I waved my pocket handkerchief round and round my head to represent the signal of distress I wanted them to hoist, and closed with an appeal to those who wanted to be rescued to come at once and in the presence of the audience to the front of the auditorium. That night, twenty-four knelt at the Savior's feet, and one of them was the proud daughter of my professor. The next morning was the time for examination and criticism of the previous day's work, and I had to appear before this doctor of divinity. I entered the room with a fellow student. He was put through first. After listening to the doctor's judgment on his performance, my turn came. I was not a little curious as to what his opinion would be. Well, doctor, I said, what have you to say to me? You heard me last night. What is your judgment on my poor performance? My dear sir, he answered, I have only one thing to say to you, and that is, go on in the way you have begun, and God will bless you. But other difficulties were not far away, for I had hardly settled down to my studies before I got into a red-hot revival in a small London church where a remarkable work was done. In an account of this effort, my name appeared in the church's magazine, and I was invited to conduct special efforts in other parts of the country. This I must confess completely upset my plans once more, and I have not been able to find a heart or time for either Greek or Latin from that day to this. How sincerely this curious student long for improvement is manifested in the following entry in his journal, written, I presume, on a Monday morning when it was thought that some relaxation of his studies following a Sunday services would be advantageous. Monday, visited the British Museum, walked up and down there praying that God would enable me to acquire knowledge to increase my power of usefulness. Who will doubt that that museum prayer was heard and answered? The church he had joined was governed by an annual assembly called the Conference, at which candidates for the ministry were accepted into it, and were appointed to some sphere of labour called a circuit. Just before the conference met, he was astonished to hear that it was proposed to appoint him as superintendent of a London circuit. He was able to persuade the authorities concerned to alter this intention on the ground of his comparative lack of experience, although he expressed his willingness to take the post of assistant minister under whom so ever the conference might appoint as superintendent. In due course the appointment was made, and he found himself assistant to a superintendent who, he tells us, was stiff, hard and cold, making up in part for the want of heart and thought in his public performances by what sounded like a sanctimonious wail. This gentleman strongly objected when, as a result of the reports of Mr. Booth's services appearing in the press, he was urgently invited to visit other places, as he had visited Guernsey. The conference authorities however prevailed, and insisted in the general interest upon his place in London being taken by another preacher, and his services being utilized wherever called for. It was thus by no choice of his own but by the arrangement of his church that Mr. Booth, instead of remaining tied down to the ordinary routine of pastoral life, was sent for some time from place to place to conduct such evangelizing campaigns as his soul delighted in. Who can doubt that God's hand was in this disposal of his time? He was allowed to marry, though his young wife had to content herself with but occasional brief spells of association with him. His campaigns were really wonderful in their success. He would go for a fortnight, or even less, to some city where the congregation had dwindled almost nothing, and where one or two services a week conducted in a very quiet and formal way, were maintained with difficulty owing to the indifference or hopelessness of both minister and people. For the period of his stay all the usual program would be laid aside however, and he would be left free to carry out his own plans of daily service. How remarkable to find him so completely carrying with him all who had been accustomed to the old forms, and introducing with the evident sanction of the president and authorities of his church such rearrangements, records, and reorganization as he desired. But the strange and almost inexplicable thing is that without his even remarking upon it, all should go back to the old forms the moment his campaign ended. What is not at all strange is that there should have grown up within the church a strong opposition to him, so that at the end of two and a half years a majority of the conference voted against his continuing these campaigns, and required him to resume the ordinary routine of the ministry. Surely anyone might have foreseen that unless the old forms could be altered in favor of the new regime, the leader of this warfare must submit to the old routine. True, he might try to carry out in his circuit to the utmost of his power his ideas of free and daily warfare, but unless all who were under him in the various places which constituted a Methodist circuit would constantly agree and cooperate, no one man could prevent the old forms from prevailing. But William Booth was no revolutionist, and his willingness and submission to carry on the old routine with little alteration for four successive years surely proved that no desire for personal exaltation or mastery, but only the conquest of souls, was his guiding influence. In those four years spent in Brighouse and Gateshead, he tried to introduce into the churches as much as he could of the life of warfare which he considered necessary. In one year he so far won over the officialdom of Brighouse that they desired his reappointment. Whilst in Gateshead he so transformed the circuit that before many weeks had passed the central chapel, which had hitherto borne the dignified but cool sounding name of Bethesda, was dubbed by the mechanics who formed the bulk of the surrounding population, the converting shop. To those iron workers accustomed daily to see masses of metals suddenly changed whilst in a red hot state into any desired form by the action of powerful machinery set up for the purpose, such a name was both intelligible and expressive. It moreover accorded with the new pastor's idea of the proper utilization of any building devoted to the worship of Jesus Christ. There ought to be felt there, he thought, that marvelous hate of divine love which was implied in Christ's engagement to baptize all his followers with fire, and the services should above all else be such as would ensure the immediate conversion to God of all who came under their influence. But in Gateshead the general was to discover the most potent force that could be brought to bear upon all these questions in the liberation of Mrs. Booth from the customary silence which church system has almost universally imposed upon woman. It might almost be said that the whole problem of cold formality as against loving warmth can be solved by woman's liberation. True, in the ordinary state of things the most excellent ladies of any church become its most conservative bulwarks, and fortified as they imagine by a few words in one of St. Paul's epistles, such ladies can oppose every new spiritual force as powerfully as some of them opposed him in Antioch 1900 years ago. But daughters of God who have been liberated by his spirit generally make short work of any continued opposition. Mrs. Booth herself trained and hitherto fettered by this old school of silence to the astonishment of everyone, prayed in the church on the first Sunday evening in Gateshead. The opposition of an influential pastor in a neighboring city to the public ministrations of a Mrs. Palmer, a visitor from the United States, very soon afterward led Mrs. Booth to defend her sister's action in the press, and thus to see more clearly than before what God could do through her if she was willing. The general had not yet seen the importance of this advance, and in view of his wife's delicate health had not pressed her into any sort of activity, much as he had valued her perfect fellowship with him in private. But he rejoiced, of course, in her every forward step, and when she not only visited a street of the most godless and drunken people in the neighborhood, but began to speak in the services, he gave her all the weight of his official as well as his personal sanction, little imagining at the time what a mighty force for the spread of the truth he was thus enlisting. After faithfully serving the church in Gateshead for three years, he found the conference no more willing than before to release him for the evangelistic work which now both he and his wife more and more longed for. The final scene when, in the conference at Liverpool, Mrs. Booth confirmed the general's resolution to refuse to continue, even for one more year, his submission to form, by calling out, never marked a stage in his career which was decisive in a startling way as to the whole of his future. It is true that I had a wonderful sphere of usefulness and happiness, said the general, but I was not contented. I had many reasons for dissatisfaction. I was cribbed, convened, and confined by a body of cold, hard usages, and still colder and harder people. I desired freedom. I felt I was called to a different sphere of labor. I wanted liberty to move forward in it. So when the conference definitely declined my request to set me free for evangelistic work, I bade them farewell. It was a heartbreaking business. Here was a great crowd of people all over the land who loved me and my dear wife. I felt a deep regard for them, and to leave them was a sorrow beyond description. But I felt I must follow what appeared to be the beckoning finger of my Lord. So with my wife and four little children, I left my quarters and went out into the world once more, trusting in God, literally not knowing who would give me a shilling, or what to do, or where to go. All my earthly friends thought I was mistaken in this action. Some of them deemed me mad. I confess that it was one of the most perplexing steps of my life. When I took it, every avenue seemed closed against me. There was one thing I could do, however, and that was to trust in God and wait for His salvation. The difficulty of the church was really insurmountable at that time. Since those days most of the Protestant churches have learned that evangelistic work is just as essential as the ordinary pastoral ministrations. The fact is that neither the booths nor the church were then aware that God, behind all their perplexities, was working out a plan of his own. Who laments that separation today? As the evangelists of any church, they could not possibly have become to so large an extent the evangelists of all. End of Section 6. Recording by Tom Hirsch. Not many days passed after William Booth's retirement from the ministry of the Methodist New Connection before his faith was rewarded by a warm invitation to a small place at the other end of the country. One of his former converts was a minister in the Little Seaport Hale in Cornwall, and he sent the call, come over and help us. The church had got into the stagnant condition, which is so commonly experienced wherever contentment with routine long holds sway. Mr. and Mrs. Booth were not only welcomed but given a free hand to take any course they pleased to fill the building with hearers and to secure their salvation. Fighting now together as they had learned to do at Gateshead, they saw results more rapid and striking than they had ever known before. Although they found themselves face to face with a population more disinclined for novelty, and especially for the novelties they introduced, than any they had before had to deal with. The general thus described at the time for the Connectional Magazine some of his first battles in Cornwall. Hale, Cornwall. When in London you requested me to send now and then a report of the Lord's working in connection with my ministry, and thinking that the following account of the revival now in progress here will be interesting to you, I forward it. We arrived here on the tenth, and commenced labor on the following Sabbath. The chapel was crowded. Gracious influences accompanied the word. Many appeared to be deeply convicted of sin, but no decided cases of conversion took place that day. On Monday afternoon we had a service for Christians and spoke on the hindrances to Christian labor and Christian joy. Evening, chapel crowded. Very solemn season. Nearly all the congregation stayed to the prayer meeting that followed, and many appeared deeply affected, but refused to seek the mercy of God. A strong prejudice prevails here against the custom of inviting anxious inquirers to any particular part of the building. The friends told me that this plan never had succeeded in Cornwall, but I thought it the best, considering the crowded state of the chapel, and therefore determined to try it. I gave a short address, and again invited those who wished to decide for Christ to come forward. After waiting a minute or two, the solemn silence was broken by the cries of a woman who at once left her pew, and fell down at the mercy seat, and became the first fruits of what I trust will be a glorious harvest of immortal souls. She was quickly followed by others, when a scene ensued beyond description. The cries and groans were piercing in the extreme, and when the stricken spirits apprehended Jesus as their savior, the shouts of praise and thanksgiving were in proportion to the previous sorrow. Tuesday evening, congregation again large. Prayer meeting similar to Monday night, in some very blessed cases of conversion. Wednesday, Chapel Fall. Mrs. Booth spoke with much influence and power. Glorious prayer meeting. An old woman who found the Savior jumped on her feet and shouted with her face beaming with heavenly radiance. He saved me. Glory to God. He saved me. An old sinner. Sixty-three. Glory to God. Other cases of great interest transpired, and the people with swimming eyes and glowing hearts sang praise God from whom all blessings flow. Thursday, preached from him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Had a blessed meeting. A woman who had herself found Jesus during the week, pointed me to her husband, found him fully enlightened and deeply convicted. I urged him to immediate decision and the full surrender of himself to God. He came out and fell down among the penitents. He remained there about an hour. The meeting could not be concluded until near eleven o'clock, and many were very reluctant to retire even then. Friday, the first thing this morning my host informed me that he had just heard of a mason who had been at the services every night, and who had resolved to stop work until he found the Lord. Soon after a young lady came in to tell us of a woman who had found peace during the night. At the family altar this morning, a woman in the employ of the gentleman with whom we are staying commenced to bemoan her sinful condition and to cry for mercy. I asked her to remain and pointed her to Jesus, and she soon found rest through believing. In the afternoon met several anxious persons for prayer and conversation. In the evening we had announced a public prayer meeting. Before we reached the chapel, we could hear the cries and prayers of those already assembled. On entering we found a strong man praising God at the top of his voice for hearing his prayer and pardoning his sins. It was the mason. He had been under deep concern for three days, had not slept at all the night before, but after a day's agony he had found Jesus. In such tumultuous, rapturous joy I think I never witnessed. Again and again during the evening he broke out with a voice that drowned all others, and rose above our songs of praise, ascribing glory to Jesus for what he had done for his soul. There were many other cases of almost equal interest. The meeting was not closed until eleven. About midnight the Reverend Jay Shown, the minister in charge of the church, was called out to visit a woman who was in great distress. He afterwards described her agony in seeking and her joy in finding the Lord, together with the sympathy and exultation of her friends with her, as one of the most thrilling scenes he had ever witnessed. In a later report the general wrote, Hail Cornwall! The work of the Lord here goes on gloriously. The services have progressed with increasing power and success, and now the whole neighborhood is moved. Conversion is the topic of conversation in all sorts of society. Every night crowds are unable to gain admission to the sanctuary. The oldest man in the church cannot remember any religious movement of equal power. During the second week the Wesleyans opened a large room for United Prayer meetings at noon. Since then, by their invitation, we have on several occasions spoken in their chapels to densely crowded audiences, services being simultaneously conducted in the chapel where the movement originally commenced. One remarkable and gratifying feature of the work is the large number of men who are found every night amongst those who are anxious. Never have I seen so many men at the same time smiting their breasts and crying, God be merciful to me a sinner. Strong men, old men, young men, weeping like children, broken-hearted on account of their sins. A number of these are sailors, and scarcely a ship has gone out of this port the last few days without taking among its crew one or more souls newly born for heaven. Can it be believed that just such victories as these led to the closing of almost all the churches against him? In these days, the general has more recently written, it has become almost the fashion for the churches to hold yearly revival or special services, but forty years ago they were as unanimously opposed to anything of the kind and compelled me to gain outside every church organization the one liberty I desired to seek and save the lost ones who never enter any place of worship, whatever. Let nobody suppose that I cherish any resentment against any of the churches on account of their former treatment of me, or that I have a desire to throw a stone at any of them. From any such feelings I believe that God has most mercifully preserved me all my life, and I rejoice in the kindness on this account with which they load me now in every land as testimonies to that fact. But I want to make it clear to readers in lands far away from Christendom why I was driven into the formation of an organization entirely outside every Christian church in order to accomplish my object, and why my people everywhere whilst having no more desire than myself to come into dispute, or even discussion with any church near them, must needs act as independently of them all as I have done, no matter how friendly they may now be to us. Nothing could be more charming than the present attitude towards us of every religious community in the United States, from the Roman Catholics whose Archbishop has publicly commended us, to the Mormons who are generally regarded as enemies of all Christianity, and the Friends, commonly called Quakers, whose ideas of worship seem to be at the uttermost extreme from ours. All are satisfied that I and my people are not wishful to find fault with any religious body whatever, but to spend all our time and energy in combating the great evils of godlessness and selfishness which threaten to sweep away all the people everywhere from any thought above material things. Yet we have had to forbid our people to accept too often the pressing invitations that pour upon them from all sides to hold meetings in church buildings, lest they should lose touch with the masses outside, and begin to be content with audiences of admirers. The 36 years of my life whilst I was groping about in vain for a home and fellowship among churches gave me to understand, as only experience can, what are the thoughts and feelings of the millions in Christian lands who not only never enter a church, but who feel it to be inconceivable that they ever should do so. If this experience has been invaluable to us in Christian lands, how much more so is it in the far vaster countries of Asia and Africa, where our work is only as yet in its beginnings? When I went to Japan, the entire missionary community everywhere, united to uphold me as the exemplar of true Christ-like action for the good of all men, but the leaders of all the five sects of Buddhism were no less unanimous in their welcome to me, or in their expressions of prayerful desire for the success of my work. In India and Africa I have repeatedly seen supporting me in my indoor and outdoor demonstrations, the leaders of the Hindu, Parsi, Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish, and Mohammedan communities, who had never met with the Christians in so friendly a way before. I cannot think this would have been the case had I ever become settled amongst any Christian body in this country. Can anyone wonder then that I see in all the unpleasant experiences of my early days the hand of God Himself leading me by a way that I knew not, that I could scarcely believe indeed at the time to be His way? Why should it have been so difficult for a man who only wished to lead the lost ones to the great shepherd who seeks them all to get or to remain within any existing fold, if it was not that there lay before me and my soldiers, conquests infinitely greater and more important than had ever yet been made? Oh, with what impatience I turn from the very thought of any of the squabbles of Christian sects, when I see all around me the millions who want to avoid any thought of their great friend and father, and of the coming judge before whom we must all, perhaps this very day, appear. How easily excuses which sound most plausible are found for every sort of negligence in the service of God, indeed for not serving Him at all. It is not my way you see, says someone, who does not like to make any open profession of interest in Jesus Christ, as though our own preferences or opinions were to be the governing consideration in all that affects the interests of our Lord. The general has proved that the old ideas connected with the Master can not only be revived, but acted up to in our day. And the sense of shame for idle excuses drives out all the paltry pleas set up for indifference to the general ruin. At this season nothing can be done is as coolly pleaded today as if in season, out of season, had never been written in our divine order book. How often our forces, in the midst of fares and race days and slack times, have demonstrated that real soldiers of Christ can snatch victory, just when all around seems to insure their defeat. When the general began to form his army, it was ordinarily assumed as a settled principle that open-air work could only be done in fine weather, and the theory is still existent in many quarters, as if the comfort and convenience of the workers and not the danger and misery of the people were to fix the times of such effort. But the people will not come, as even now pleaded as an excuse for the omission or abandonment of any imaginable attempt to do good. As if the people's general disinclination for anything that has to do with God were not the precise reason for his wish to send out his servants. Such a plan would never succeed here, is an almost invariable excuse made for not undertaking anything new. The general was never blind to differences between this and that locality and population. But he insisted that no plan that could be devised by those on any given spot, and especially no plan that has manifestly been blessed and used by God elsewhere, should be dismissed without proper earnest trial. But that has never been done, or has never done well here, seemed to him rather a reason for trying it with perhaps some little modification than for leaving a plan untried. The inexorable law to which he insisted that everything should bend was that nothing can excuse inactivity and want of enterprise where souls are perishing, and he was spared to see even governments beginning to recognize that it is inexcusable to let sin triumph in a Christian country. He proved that it was possible to raise up Christian soldiers who would not only sing or hear singing in beautiful melody about marching onward as to war, but who would really do it, even when it led to real battle. End of Section 7. Recording by Tom Hirsch Section 8. East London Beginning. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. Recording by Tom Hirsch. What were Mr. and Mrs. Booth to do? They were excluded from most of the churches in which, during the last twenty years, they had led so many souls to Christ. They found themselves out of harmony with most of the undenominational evangelists of the day, and, moreover, they had experienced throughout even the brightest of their past years, annoying dissatisfaction with much of their work, which the general thus described in the preface to his book, In Darkest England and the Way Out. All the way through my career I have keenly felt the remedial measures usually enumerated in Christian programs, and ordinarily employed by Christian philanthropy, to be lamentably inadequate for any effectual dealing with the despairing miseries of the outcast classes. The rescued are appallingly few, a ghastly minority compared with the multitudes who struggle and sink in the open-mouthed abyss. I like, therefore, my humanity and my Christianity, if I may speak of them as in any way separate from each other, have cried out for some comprehensive method of reaching and saving the perishing crowds. The booths had settled in a London home, finding that they must needs have some fixed resting place for their children, and that abundant opportunities of one kind or another could be found for them both in the metropolis. But the general, who was waiting upon God and wondering what would happen to open his way to the unchurched masses, received an invitation to undertake some services in a tent, which had been erected in an old burial ground in Whitechapel, the expected missioner having fallen ill. He consented, and he thus describes his experiences. When I saw those masses of poor people, so many of them evidently without God or hope in the world, and found that they so readily and eagerly listened to me, following from open-air meeting to tent, and accepting, in many instances, my invitation to kneel at the Saviour's feet there and then, my whole heart went out to them. I walked back to our West End home and said to my wife, O Kate, I have found my destiny. These are the people for whose salvation I have been longing all these years. As I passed by the doors of the flaming gin palaces tonight, I seemed to hear a voice sounding in my ears. Where can you go and find such heathen as these? And where is there so great a need for your labours? And there and then in my soul I offered myself and you and the children up to this great work. Those people shall be our people, and they shall have our God for their God. Mrs. Booth herself wrote, I remember the emotion that this produced in my soul. I sat gazing into the fire, and the devil whispered to me, this means another departure, another start in life. The question of our support constituted a serious difficulty. Hitherto we had been able to meet our expenses out of the collections which we had made from our more respectable audiences. But it was impossible to suppose that we could do so among the poverty-stricken East Enders. We were afraid even to ask for a collection in such a locality. Nevertheless, I did not answer discouragingly. After a momentary pause for thought and prayer, I replied, Well, if you feel you ought to stay, stay. We have trusted the Lord once for our support, and we can trust him again. That night, says the General, the Salvation Army was born. Before long God moved the heart of one of the most benevolent men in England, Mr. Samuel Morley, to promise them his influence and support without any condition, but the continuance of the work thus begun. But no amount of monetary help could have placed the General in a position to establish anything like the permanent work he desired. He writes, I had hardly got successfully started on this new path before my old experience of difficulty met me once more. On the third Sunday morning, I think it was, we found the old tent which formed our cathedral, blown down and so damaged by the fall, as well as so rotten that it could not be put up again. Another tent was impossible as we had no money to buy one. So, as no suitable building could be obtained, there was nothing for it but for us to do our best out of doors. After a time, we secured an old dancing room for Sunday meetings. But there being no seats in it, our converts had to come at four o'clock on Sunday morning to bring the benches in, and worked till midnight or later still when the days meetings were over to move them out again. For our weeknight meetings, we had hired an old shed formerly used to store rags in, and there we fought for months. What a testimony to the character of the work already accomplished and the readiness of the little force already raised to toil like pioneer soldiers for the love of Christ. Most of the converts of those days had been forgiven much. The following letter from one of them may give some idea of both of the nature of the work done and the surrounding circumstances. Dear sir, I have reason to bless the hour that God put the thought into your head to open the mission at the east end of London, for it has been the means of making me and my family happy in the love of Christ. It has turned me from a drunkard, blasphemer, and liar to a true believing Christian. At the age of thirteen I went as a waiter-boy in a public house, where I remained until I was sixteen. Here I learned to love the flavor of drink, and I never lost it until I was converted to God through the blessed words spoken in the open air. When I look back and think how I have beaten my poor wife, it was through the drink. It makes me ashamed of myself. It was the word and the blow, but sometimes the blow first. After I got sober sometimes it would make me ashamed to look at her black eyes, but I do thank God there is no fear of black eyes now, for we are very happy together. I am a stoker and an engine driver, and I wonder I have never had an explosion, for I have been drunk for a week at a time. On one occasion I had been drunk overnight, and was not very sober in the morning. I went to work at half past five instead of five, and without looking to see if there was any water in the boiler, I began stoking the fire up. The fright sobered me. It cost above one hundred pounds before it was fit for work again. But that did not alter me, only for the worse. I broke up my home. I got worse after that, and cared for nothing. Half my wages went in drink. My wife was afraid to speak to me, and the poor children would get anywhere out of my way. Afterwards I was discharged, but although I soon got another job, I could not leave off the drink. I was reckoned a regular drunkard. I lost place after place, and was out of work several weeks at a time, for they did not care to employ a drunkard. Still I would have beers somehow. I did not care how. I've given one and six pence for the loan of a shilling, and though there was not a bit of bread at home, the shilling went in beer. I have often had the police called in for ill-using my wife. On one occasion she ran down to her mother's with her face bleeding, but I went to bed. When I woke I saw she was not there, so I went out and got drunk. I came home and got a large carving-knife, put it up my sleeve, and went down to her mother's with the intention of killing her. But they saw the knife. The police were called in, and I was taken to Spittles Field Station. But no one coming to press the charge. I got off. Eight years ago God had thought fit to lay me in a bed of sickness for thirteen weeks, and I was given up by all the doctors. When I got better people thought I would alter my life and become a steady man. But no, I was as bad as ever. While I was at work another time drunk I lost one of my eyes by an accident. But even that did not make me a sober man, nor make me leave off swearing and cursing. I was generally drunk two or three times on Sundays. The Sunday that I was convinced I was a sinner I had been drunk twice. I did not think there was so much happiness for me, but I do thank God for what He has done for me. He has changed my heart. He has filled me full of the love of Christ. And my greatest desire is to tell sinners what a dear Savior I have found. Best of all was the demonstration that out of such material God was able to raise up a fighting force. One great difficulty of those days was the obtaining of suitable buildings. For a time a theatre was hired for Sunday meetings. The law in England then not allowing theatres to give performances on Sundays. The great buildings to which the people have been accustomed to go for amusement have always proved admirably suited for the gathering of congregations of that sort. A gentleman who had had long experience in mission work thus describes what he saw when he went to spend a Sunday afternoon with William Booth. On the afternoon of Sunday, January 31st, I was able to see some of the results of William Booth's work in the east of London by attending his experience meeting held in the East London Theatre. About two o'clock some of his helpers and converts went out from the mission hall where they had been praying together and held an open-air meeting in front of a large brewery opposite the hall. The ground was damp and the wind high, but they secured an audience and then sang hymns along the road till they came to the theatre, taking in any who chose to follow them. Probably about five hundred were present, though many came in late. The meeting commenced at three and lasted one hour and a half. During this period, fifty-three persons gave their experience. Parts of eight hymns were sung and prayer was offered by four persons. After singing Philip Philip's beautiful hymn, I will sing for Jesus. Prayer was offered up by Mr. Booth and two others. A young man rose and told of his conversion a year ago, thanking God that he had been kept through the year. A negro of the name Burton interested the meeting much by telling of his first open-air service, which he had held during the past week in Ratcliffe Highway, one of the worst places in London. He said, when the people saw him kneel in the gutter, engaged in prayer for them, they thought he was mad. The verse, Christ now sits on Zion's hill, he receives poor sinners still, was then sung. A young man, under the right-hand gallery, having briefly spoken, one of Mr. Booth's helpers, a Yorkshire man with strong voice and hearty manner, told of the open-air meetings, the opposition they encountered, and his determination to go on in spite of all opposition from men and devils. A middle-aged man on the right, a sailor, told how he was brought to Christ during his passage home from Colombo. One of the Dublin tracks, entitled, John's Difficulty, was the means of his conversion. A young man to the right, having told how, as a backslider, he had recently been restored. A cabman said he used to be in the public houses constantly, but he thank God he ever heard William Booth, for it led to his conversion. Three young men on the right then spoke. The first, who comes five miles to these meetings, told how he was lost through the drink and restored by the gospel. The second said he was unspeakably happy. The third said he would go to the stake for Christ. A middle-aged man in the center spoke of his many trials. His sight was failing him, but the light of Christ shone brilliantly in his soul. The chorus, Let Us Walk in the Light, was then sung. A young man described his feelings as he had recently passed the place where he was born. And the sisters spoke of her husband's conversion and how they were both now rejoicing in God. After a young man on the left had told how his soul had recently revived, another on the right testified to the Lord having pardoned his sins in the theater on the previous Sunday. Two sailors followed. The first spoke of his conversion through reading a tract while on his way to the Indies four months ago. The other said he was going to see next week and was going to take some Bibles, hymns, and tracts with him to see what could be done for Christ on board. The verse, I believe I shall be there and walk with him in white, was then sung. A young man of the name of John, sometimes called Young Hallelujah, told of his trials while selling fish in the streets, but he comforted himself by saying, "'Tis better on before.' He had been drawn out in prayer at midnight on the previous night and had dreamed all night that he was in a prayer meeting. He was followed by a converted thief who told how he was picked up and of his persecutions daily while working with twenty unconverted men. A man in the center who had been a great drunkard said, "'What a miserable wretch I was till the Lord met with me. I used to think I could not do without my pint a day, but the Lord pulled me right bang out of a public house into a place of worship. He was followed by a young man who was converted at one of the breakfast meetings last year and who said he was exceedingly happy. Another young man on the left said his desire was to speak more and work more for Jesus. Two sisters then spoke. The first uttered a brief, inaudible sentence and the second told of being so happy every day and wanting to be more faithful. The verse, shall we meet beyond the river where the surges cease to roll, was then sung. A young woman said, "'I well remember the night I first heard Mr. Booth preach here. I had a heavy load of sin upon my shoulders, but I was invited to come on the stage. I did so and was pointed to Jesus and I obtained peace.' Another told of his conversion by attract four years ago on his passage to Sydney. "'To my sorrow,' he said, "'I became a backslider, but I thank God he ever brought me here. That blessed man, Mr. Booth, preached, and I gave my heart to God afresh. I now take tracks to see regularly. I have only eighteen shillings a week, but I save my tobacco and beer money to buy tracks.' The verse, I shall never forget the day when Jesus took my sins away, was then sung. A stout man, a navy, who said he had been one of the biggest drunkards in London, having briefly spoken, was followed by one known as Jemmy, the butcher, who keeps a stall in the Whitechapel Road. Someone had cruelly robbed him, but he found consolation by attending the Mission Hall prayer meeting. Two young lads recently converted, having given their experience, a dock laborer converted seventeen months ago, asked the prayers of the meeting for his wife, yet unconverted. Some of his comrades during the last week said, a difference there is in you now to what there used to be. Three young women followed. The first spoke but a sentence or two. The desire of the second was to live more to Christ. The third had a singularly clear voice and gave her experience very intelligently. It was a year and a half since she gave her heart to the Saviour, but her husband does not yet see with her. Her desire was to possess holiness of heart and to know more of the language of Canaan. The experience of an old man who next spoke was striking. Mr. Booth had announced his intention, sometime back, of preaching a sermon on the derby at the time of the race that goes by that name. This man was attracted by curiosity and, when listening, compared himself to a broken-down horse. This sermon was the means of his conversion. The verse, then sung, was, Can you tell me what ship is going to sail? O the old ship of Zion, hallelujah! Two sisters then spoke. The first had been very much cast down for seven or eight weeks, but she comforted herself by saying, Tis better on before. The second said it was two years since she found peace, and she was very happy. A young man told how his sins were taken away. He worked in the city, and someone took him to hear the Reverend E. P. Hammond. He did not find peace then, but afterwards, as a young man was talking to him in the street, he was able to see the way of salvation and rejoice in it. He used to fall asleep generally under the preaching, but here, he said, under Mr. Booth, I can't sleep. A little boy, one of Mr. Booth's sons, the prison general, gave a simple and good testimony. He was followed by a young man, and then an interesting blind girl, whom I had noticed singing heartily in the street, told of her conversion. A girl told how she found peace seventeen months ago, and then Mr. Booth offered a few concluding observations and prayed. The meeting closed by singing, I will not be discouraged for Jesus is my friend. Such is a brief outline of this most interesting meeting, held Sunday after Sunday. Mr. Booth led the singing by commencing the hymns without even giving them out. But the moment he began, the bulk of the people joined heartily in them. Only one or two verses of each hymn was sung as a rule. Most of them are found in his own admirably compiled songbook. I could not but wonder at the change which had come over the people. The majority of those present, probably nearly five hundred, owed their conversion to the preaching of Mr. Booth and his helpers. How would they have been spending Sunday afternoon if this blessed agency had not been set on foot? In the evening I preached in the Oriental Music Hall, High Street, Poplar, where five or six hundred persons were assembled. This is one of the more recent branches of Mr. Booth's work, and appears to be in a very prosperous condition. I found two groups of the helpers singing and preaching in the streets, who were only driven in by the rain just before the meeting commenced inside. This is how the people are laid hold of. Shall this good work be hindered for the want of a few hundred pounds? The supply of pounds, alas, though called for in such religious periodicals as at that time were willing to report the work, did not come. And the general says, after six years' hard work we had nothing better for our Sunday night meetings than a small covered alley attached to a drinking saloon, together with some old discarded chapels and a tumbledown penny theater for weeknights. At last the drinking saloon, the Eastern Star, having been burnt out, was acquired and rebuilt and fitted as a center for the work to be succeeded ere long by the large covered people's market in Whitechapel Road, which was for ten years to be the army's headquarters, in which is now the headquarters of its English men's social work. Throughout all these years of struggle, however, the converts were being drilled and fitted for the further extension of the work. The idea of forming them into a really permanent organization only came to their leader gradually. He says, my first thought was to constitute an evangelistic agency, the converts going to the churches. But to this were three main obstacles. One, they would not go where they were sent. Two, they were not wanted when they did go. And three, I soon found that I wanted them myself. And the more time he spent amongst them, the more the sense of responsibility with regard to them grew upon him. He had discovered what minds of unimagined power for good could be found amongst the very classes who seemed entirely severed from religious life. There they were, and if only proper machinery could be provided and kept going, they could be raised from their present useless if not pernicious life to that career of usefulness to others like themselves for which they were so well qualified. They could thus become a treasure of priceless value to their country and to the world. On the other hand, neglected or left with no other sort of worship than as yet existed to appeal to them, they must needs become worse and worse, more and more hostile to religion of any kind, more and more unlikely ever to take an interest in anything eternal. The general could not therefore but feel more and more satisfied that he had begun a work that ought to be permanently maintained and enlarged as opportunity might arise until it could cope with this state of things wherever it was to be found. And now that he had at length a center to which he could invite all his helpers from time to time, there was no hindrance to the curing out of such a purpose. With the establishment of a headquarters that cost thirty-five hundred pounds in one of the main thoroughfares of Eastern London, we may look upon the general as having at last got a footing in the world. What a place for a Christian mission center was Whitechapel Road. Just look here, said the general to his eldest son, then a boy of thirteen as he led him late one Sunday evening through the great swing doors of a public house into the crowded bar. These are the people I want you to live and labor for. The mere appearance of many a thousand in the neighborhood, whether inside or outside such houses, was enough to give some idea of the misery of their lives. The language and the laughter with which those ragged, dirty, unkempt men and women accompanied their drinking were such as to leave no doubt that they were wallowing in the mire. At that time, and indeed until the Children Act of 1909 came into force, it was the custom of thousands of mothers to take their babies and little children into the public houses with them so that the scenes of family misery and ruin were complete. In many of the side streets and back lanes, where there was little wheel traffic, groups of men and women might have been seen bargaining for the most elapidated and greasy articles of old clothing that could still be worn. Whilst lads and even children gambled with half-pence or even with marbles, as if they could not early enough learn how fully to follow the evil courses of their elders, there were and are still streets within ten minutes walk of the White Chapel Road, where dogs and birds were traded in or bedded on, competitions in running and singing being often indispensable to the satisfaction of the buyers and sellers. By the side of the road, along which there was and is, a continuous stream of wagon and omnibus, as well as foot traffic, was a broad strip of unpaved ground, part of it opposite that Sydney Street, which a few years ago became world-renowned as the scene of the Battle of the London Police with armed burglars. This was called the Mile End Waste and was utilized for all the ordinary purposes of a fairground. The merry-go-rounds and shows of every description which competed with the unfailing Punch and Judy and wooden swings kept up a continuous din, especially on Saturday nights and Sundays. Amidst all this the vendors of the vilest songs and books and of the most astounding medicines raised their voices so as to attract their own little rings of interested listeners. There too men spoke upon almost every imaginable evil theme, denouncing both God and government in words which one would have thought no decent workman would care to hear. But all who have seen a fairer will have some idea of the scene if they can only imagine all the deepest horrors of appearance and demeanor that drunkenness and poverty, illness and rags can crowd together within a few hundred yards of space. Once you can place all that fairly before your imagination you can form some conception of the mind that could look upon the doll and hunger to find just there a battlefield for life, as well as the faith that could reckon upon the victory of the gospel in such a place. We have all read accounts of missionaries approaching some faraway island shore and seeing the heathen dance around some cannibal feast. But such feasts could not have been very frequent amidst such limited populations whereas the ever-changing millions of London have furnished all these years, tragedies daily and nightly, numerous enough to crowd our memories with scenes no less appalling to the moral sense than anything witnessed on those distant pagan shores. To those who take time to think it out, the marvel of both the eagerness and the reluctance of Mr. and Mrs. Booth to plunge into this human Niagara will appear ever greater. As we look nowadays at the worldwide result of their resolve to do so, despite all their consciousness of ignorance and unfitness for the task, we cannot but see in the whole matter the hand of God himself fulfilling his great promise. Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, the prey of the terrible shall be delivered, for I will contend with them that contend with thee, and I will save thy children, and all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. As long as the God of that solitary, selfish tramp remains determined to redeem and save even the most depraved and abandoned of mankind, its white chapels and spittle fields and other moral jungles can be turned into gardens, blooming with every flower of moral innocence and beauty, if only gardeners capable of enough trust in God and toil for man can be found. The meetings held at noon daily in front of the new headquarters set an example of patient persevering combat which was followed in the meetings. Outdoors Orion, held by what was then known as the Christian Mission. The first name used by the general superintendent, as our founder was then called, was the East London Christian Revival Society. This was changed to the East London Christian Mission and the East London being dropped when the work extended outside London. The Christian Mission remained much as the name was always disliked from its appearance of implying a slight on all other missions. The steadily increasing success of the white chapel work was such that when I first saw it, after it had only had that center for two years, the hall seating more than twelve hundred persons, would be crowded on Sundays, and although the people had been got together from streets full of drunkenness and hostility, the audiences would be kept under perfect control once the outer gates were closed and would listen with the intense interest to all that was said and sung. On Sunday nights I have known ten different bands of speakers take their stand at various points along the white chapel road, and when they all marched to the hall, they could usually make their songs heard above all the din of traffic and in spite of any attempts at interruption made by the opposition. The enemy constantly displayed his hostility at the meetings held in the street, whether in white chapel or any of the other poor parishes to which the work had spread and was not often content with mere cries of derision, either. Dirt and garbage would be thrown at us. Blows and kicks would come, especially on dark evenings. And the sight of a policeman approaching so far from being of comfort was a still worse trial, as he would very rarely show any inclination to protect us. But more generally a wish to make us move on just when we had got a good crowd together on the plea that we were either obstructing the thoroughfare or creating a disturbance. But what a blessed training for war it all was. The converts learned not merely to raise their voices for God and to persist in their efforts in spite of every possible discouragement, but to bridle their tongues when abused, to endure hardness, and manifest a prayerful, strong spirit towards those who despitefully used them. The very fighting made bold and happy soldiers out of many of the tenderest and most timid converts. And yet I'm not sure whether a still more important part of the army-making was not accomplished in the prayer meetings and holiness meetings, which came to be more and more popular until under the name of days with God and nights of prayer they attracted in many of the great cities of England crowds, even of those who did not belong to us, but who wished to find out the secret of our strength, for it was by the light and help got in such meetings that converts became steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, so that instead of merely carrying on a mission for so many weeks, months, or years, many of them became reliable warriors for life. How few of the general's critics, who sneered at his meetings as though they were mere scenes of passing excitement, had any idea of the profound teaching he gave his people. The then-editor of the Christian, who took the trouble to visit them, as well as to converse with the general at length, with remarkable pressions, wrote, as early as 1871, in his preface to the general's first important publication, How to Reach the Masses with the Gospel. The following pages tell a fragment of the story of as wonderful a work of its kind as this generation has seen. No doubt it is open to the same kind of criticism as the sculptor's chisel might award to the excavator's pick. But I do not hesitate to believe that for every essential Christian virtue, faith, zeal, self-denial, love, prayer, and the like, numbers of the converts of this mission will bear not unfavorable comparison with the choicest members of the most cultivated churches. There is not in this kingdom an agency which more demands the hearty and liberal support of the Church of Christ. In the east of London are crowded and condensed a large proportion of the poor, laboring population of London. The ruined, the unfortunate, the depraved, the feeble ones outrun in the race of life gravitate thither and jostle one another in the daily struggle for bread. Thousands remain on the edge of starvation from day to day, and the bulk of these teeming multitudes are as careless of eternity as the heathen, and far more uncared for by the great majority of the professed people of God. Mr. Booth's operations are unparalleled in extent, unsectarian in character, a standing rebuke to the apathy of Christians, and a witness of the willingness of God to show his work unto his servants, and to establish the work of their hands upon them. From the beginning the general had taught his people to come together for an hour's prayer early each Sunday morning, and to delight in prayer at all times, looking ever to God to deliver them personally from all evil, and to make and keep them pure within. These phrases were familiar to all English people, but that their real meaning might not only be taken in, but kept ever before his people. The general had established two weekly holiness meetings in the mission halls, one on Sunday morning and the other on Friday evening. These practices, kept up wherever the army has gone all these forty-five years, have resulted in the cultivation of ideals far above those usual, even in the most refined Christian circles. Nothing has more astonished me amongst all the torrents of eulogy passed upon the general and his army since his death, than the almost invariable silence among Christian as well as secular papers about these holiness meetings. And that teaching of holiness which were the root and secret of all the success of the army. Any capable schoolmaster might compile volumes of rules, but how to get them obeyed is the question. How could it be possible to settle every question of who shall be the greatest in an army formed largely of the most independent and unruly elements if there were no superhuman power that could destroy the foundations of envy and ill feeling, and fill hearts once wide apart with the humble love that can prefer others' honor before one's own? The organization of the army has been and is in all countries a steady, careful development, but it has only been made possible by the continual maintenance of a complete confidence in God for the needed supplies of wisdom and grace to enable each to submit to others for Christ's sake, to bear and forbear for the good of the whole army, seeking ever to learn to do better, and yet being willing to be forgotten, and even to be undervalued, misunderstood, and ill-treated by a hasty or unjust superior for Christ's sake. General Booth himself did not always appear the most patient and kindly of leaders. He would have been the first to admit how he wounded tender hearts and perhaps even repulsed some who could have been of greater helpfulness to him had he been able to endure more patiently their slowness and timidity. But, conscious as he was of his own defects, he especially rejoiced when his son and successor began to shine as a holiness teacher whose weekly meetings at Whitechapel became a power that was felt all over the world. The teaching and enjoyment of this great blessing with all the deliverance from self-seeking and pride which it brings has made it possible to go on imposing more and more of regulation and discipline on all sorts of men and women without either souring their spirit or transforming the army system into mere machinery. The army will go on to carry out its founder's purpose better and better the more it learns how to sit constantly at the feet of the one great master. End of section 9 Recording by Tom Hirsch Section 10 Army Leading This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. Recording by Tom Hirsch. We have seen Mr. Booth beginning on the spot, now marked with a stone, near the site of the Vine public house. Since happily pulled down, the site being turned into a public garden. On July 5th, 1865, scrambling through the first six years' difficulties until he marched the beginnings of an army of saved drunkards, infidels and sinners into a people's market, transformed into a public hall and headquarters. He called all that the Christian mission with only a slowly dawning consciousness that it was an army for six years more. But he was leading it on in humble dependence upon God with increasing speed and force. He was really hindered by many things, amongst them his own ministerial habits of thought and plan. That nothing lasting could be achieved without system and organization he had always seen, but he had never yet known a formation equal to that of some of the churches around him, which depended upon more or less skilled preachers and a complete network of elected assemblies. For all purposes of conquest, he had got preachers enough out of the public houses, but he could not imagine their holding regular congregations or developing the work without having years for study and just such plans as the churches had established. Hence, when he wanted leaders for the enlargement of the work, he advertised for them in Methodist or other publications. He secured some excellent, well-meaning men, too. But in almost every instance, they proved to be slower than the troops they were supposed to lead, and a kind of ecclesiastical organization wrapped them all around with a sort of sol's armor in which fighting the heathen was unthinkable. He had got, by the testimony as we have seen of impartial observers, such a force as was unparalleled in extent, unsectarian in character, and a standing rebuke to the apathy of Christians. But how was he to go further afield with it? He had not a leader ready for its extension outside London. In 1873 Mrs. Booth, however, could not be content without doing something, at least for a season, in England's great naval base, Portsmouth, and after that in the sister arsenal city of Chatham. The force of new converts she gathered in each town must needs be led by somebody, and in each case the general sent men of proved ability to manufacture preachers of their own fighting type. After having led missions in those towns, they went and did likewise in two of the great manufacturing cities of the north. But their first achievements had led the general to venture upon sending out others of much less ability to smaller communities, where they were not less successful than the first two. Already another great difficulty had been solved, for it had been found that congregations of workmen gathered in the provincial towns would give collections generally large enough to defray the local expenses. Thus were cleared away not only two of the main blocks in the path of progress, but all need or desire for the officialdom that had already begun to grow threateningly stiff. After a while, writes the general, the work began to spread and show wonderful promise, and then when everything was looking like progress a new trouble arose. It came about in this wise. Some of the evangelists whom I had engaged to assist me rose up and wanted to convert our mission into a regular church, with a committee of management and all that sort of thing. They wanted to settle down in quietness. I wanted to go forward at all costs, but I was not to be defeated or turned from the object on which my heart was set in this fashion. So I called them together and addressing them said, my comrades, the formation of another church is not my aim. There are plenty of churches. I want to make an army. Those among you who are willing to help me to realize my purpose can stay with me. Those who do not must separate from me, and I will help them to find situations elsewhere. They, one and all, chose to stand by the general for those who were really set upon the formation of deliberative assemblies had already left us. This was in February 1877, and in the following July the last Christian Mission conference met to celebrate the abandonment of the entire system that conference represented, and to assure the general that he had got a real fighting army to lead. It was only at the end of 1878, during which year the stations, which we now call corps, had increased from 30 to 80, that in a brief description of the work we call the Mission, a Salvation Army, but the very name helped us to increase the speed of our advance. The rapidity with which the general selected and sent out his officers reminds one constantly of the stories of the gospel. One who became one of his foremost helpers had formerly been a notorious sinner, and had indeed only been converted a fortnight when because he already showed such splendid qualities he was sent by a girl officer to the general with the strongest recommendation for acceptance. It was arranged for him to speak with the general on the platform after a meeting. The general, who had no doubt observed him during the evening, looked at him for a moment and then said, You ought to do something for God with those eyes. Good night. I had never had such a shock, says the Commissioner, as he now is. If that's being accepted for the work, I said to myself, what next, I wonder? Sure enough, in another three weeks' time he was called out from his place of employment by a staff officer who asked him, Can you be ready to go to M next Monday? And he went. The young man had been a devotee of billiards, but had become interested in the Army by seeing two of our special speakers, one a very short officer, the other a giant doctor from Whitechapel who weighed some three hundred thirty-four pounds, wheeled up a steep hill in a pig cart to a great open-air meeting. After listening many times without yielding, he was startled out of his coolness by a large hall in which he attended a night of prayer being burned to the ground the next day. The next evening with one of his companions he went to the penitent form and found the mercy of God. When the general was at all in doubt about a candidate for officership, he would often draw such a one out by means of the most discouraging remarks. To one who had gone expecting a hearty welcome he said, Well, what good do you think you'll be? The general's eldest son being present, desiring to help her, remarked upon the high commendation her officers gave her. He wished to send her off directly to a core. But the general, still uncertain, said, Now send her to Emma, which opened the way for her immediately to leave her business and go to the newly opened training home for women under his daughter's direction. A similar home for young men, under the present chief of the staff, Commissioner Howard, provided means to take those about whose fitness for the work was any doubt and give them a training prior to sending them on to the field. In 1880 the general addressed the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of the United Kingdom. That conference is one of the most powerful church assemblies in the world, directing as it does the entire forces of its church within the British Empire and consequently influencing very largely all Methodists in the world. It was a remarkable testimony to the general's work that, so early as 1880, its most influential leaders should have been able to arrange, despite considerable opposition, for him to address the conference which that year sat in London. The President, in welcoming him, warned him that they could only give him a limited time in which to speak. What an expression of his sense of liberty and power from on high that the general should at once have begun by saying, Mr. President, in our meetings we are accustomed to bring any speech that seems likely to go on too long to a close by beginning to sing. I shall not take it amiss if you do so in my case. The general laughter with which this suggestion was greeted banished at once any appearance of stiffness from the solemn and exclusive assembly whose members alone were present. He then proceeded to explain the origin and work of the army as follows. I was told that 95 in every 100 of the population of our larger towns and cities never crossed the threshold of any place of worship. And I thought, cannot something be done to reach these people with the Gospel? Fifteen years ago I thus fell in love with the great crowds of people who seemed to be out of the pale of all Christian churches. It seemed to me that if we could get them to think about hell they would be certain to want to turn from it. If we could get them to think about heaven they would want to go there. If we could get them to think about Christ they would want to rush to his open arms. I resolved to try and the Salvation Army is the outcome of that resolution. In August 1877 we had 26 stations. We have now in 1880 162. In 1877 we had 35 evangelists. We have now 285 evangelists. Or as we now call them officers. And in many instances they have the largest audiences in the town where they are at work. We have got all those officers without any promise or guarantee of salary and without any assurance that when they reach the railway station to which they book they will find anybody in the town to sympathize with them. The bulk would cheerfully and gladly go anywhere. We have got, I think, an improvement upon John Wesley's penny a week and shilling a quarter by way of financial support from our converts. We say to them you used to give three or four shillings a week for beer and tobacco before you were converted with a penny a week and a shilling a quarter give as the Lord has prospered you and down with the money. This was followed by loud laughter. When I asked one of my officers the other day at a meeting held after a tea for which the people had paid a shilling each to announce the collection the woman captain to my astonishment simply said go into the collection whack it into the baskets the whole audience was evidently fond of her and they very heartily responded If asked to explain our methods I would say firstly we do not fish in other people's waters or try to set up a rival sect out of the gutters we pick up our converts and if there be one man worse than another officers rejoiced the most over the case of that man when a man gets saved no matter how low he is he rises immediately his wife gets his coat from the pawn shop and if she cannot get him a shirt she buys him a paper front and he gets his head up and is soon unable to see the hole of the pit from which he has been and would like to convert a rough concern into a chapel and make things respectable that is not our plan we are moral scavengers netting the very sewers we want all we can get but we want the lowest of the low my heart has gone out much after Ireland of late and ten weeks ago I sent out there a little woman who had been much blessed and four of her converts they landed at Belfast at two o'clock in the morning they did not know a soul our pioneer contrary to our usual customs had taken them a lodging we had said to her rest yourselves till Sunday morning but she was not content with this after a wash a cup of tea and a little sleep they turned out found a Christian gentleman who had them a little haul had it crowded at once and now though only ten weeks have passed away we have stations in four other towns two in Belfast and two others are getting ready for opening blessed results have followed the people we are told come in crowds they are very poor they sit and listen and weep rush out to the to inform and many are saved now Mr. President I think I may say that it is a matter for great thankfulness to God that there is a way a simple, ready way a cheap way to get at the masses of these people secondly we get at these people by adapting our measures there is a most bitter prejudice among the lower classes in the church or chapel I am sorry for this I did not create it but it is the fact they will not go into a church or chapel but they will go into a theater or warehouse and therefore we use these places in one of our villages we use the pawn shop and they gave it the name the salvation pawn shop and many souls were saved there let me say that I am not the inventor of all the strange terms that are used in the army I did not invent the term hallelujah lassies when I first heard of it I was somewhat shocked but telegram after telegram brought me word that no building would contain the people who came to hear the hallelujah lassies rough uncouth fellows like the term one had a lassie at home another went to hear them because he used to call his wife lassie before he was married my end was gained and I was satisfied thirdly we sent the converts to work as soon as a man gets saved we put him up to say so and in this testimony lies much of the power of our work one of our lassies was holding a meeting in a large town the other day a fellow came up to her saying what does an ignorant girl like you know about religion I know more than you do I can say the Lord's prayer in Latin oh but she replied I can say more than that I can say the Lord has saved my soul in English another round of laughter and cheers lastly we succeed by hard work I tell my people the hard work and holiness will succeed anywhere of course every day's march forward brought with it lessons that were learned and utilized not long could the general continue to interview candidates himself and then forms of application were evolved the candidate must have every opportunity to understand what would be required and to express his agreement or otherwise with the teachings and principles of the army it was made clear to him or her that whilst called upon to offer up a lifelong service to this work for Christ's sake he must expect no guarantee of salary whatever and no engagement even to continue to employ him should he at any time cease to his promises or show himself to be inefficient in the work as for the soldiers it was soon required of them that they should sign articles of war before they could be enrolled these articles formed so simple and clear an expression of the army's teaching and system that the most illiterate in every land could at once take in their practical effect the articles simply required everyone to give up the use of intoxicants to keep from any resorts, habits company or language that would be harmful and to devote all the leisure time spare energy and money to the war as time went on the general published orders and regulations for soldiers a booklet of 164 pages and perhaps as complete a handbook for the direction of every department of life public and private as was ever written orders and regulations for field officers containing 626 pages of the minutest directions for every branch of the work and orders and regulations for staff officers the most extraordinary directory for the management of missionaries and missionary affairs that could well be packed in 357 pages at later dates he issued orders and regulations for territorial commissioners and chief secretaries containing 176 pages and orders and regulations for social officers the latter a complete explanation of his thoughts and wishes for the conduct of every form of effort for the elevation of the homeless and work list and fallen and orders and regulations for local officers containing precise details as to the duties of all the various non-commissioned or lay officers whether engaged in work for old or young smaller handbooks of orders and regulations and songster brigades and for almost every other class of agents were also issued from time to time thus step by step the general not merely led those who gave themselves up to follow him in the ever extending war but furnished them with such simple and clear directions in print as would enable them at any distance from him to study his thoughts principles and practices and sock God's help to do for the people around them all that had been shown to be possible elsewhere with such a complete code of instructions there naturally arose a system of reporting and inspection which enabled the general to ascertain with remarkable accuracy how far his wishes were being carried out or neglected by any of his followers he sometimes said I would like if I could to get a return from every man and every woman in the army as to what they do for God and their fellow man every day it soon became impossible of course for any one person to examine the returns which were furnished by the court but records were kept and as the work increased divisional and provincial officers were appointed with particular responsibility for the work in their areas so that in even the most distant corners of the world wherever there is a registered salvationist there is some staff officer to whom he must report what he is doing and who is expected periodically to visit each corps and see that the reports made are accurate and that the work is not merely being done somehow but done as it ought to be in the master's spirit of love and hope for the violists and all this without the absolute promise of a penny reward to anyone in fact from the first the general taught his officers that they must try to raise all expenses of the work and their commands within the borders of the districts in which they were operating he has always regarded it as a proper test of the value of work done that those who see it are willing to pay as much as they can towards its continuance and to this day the army's resources consist not so much in large gifts from outsiders as of the pence that they part in or attend its services regulations are made from time to time as to the amount any officer may draw for himself according to the cost of living where he is at work though a considerable number do not regularly receive the full amount so utterly indeed above any such consideration have our officers everywhere to guard against needless sacrifice of health and life it has been necessary to fix also in each country a minimum allowance which the staff officers must see that the field officers receive knowing as I do that many devoted officers have for months together been down at the minimum level of six shillings per week in little places where I have no wealthy friends to help a corps into greater prosperity I feel it's safe to say that never was there a religious society raised and led to victory with so much reliance upon divine grace to keep its workers in a perfectly unselfish and happy condition space forbids any description of the heroic labors by which the general Mrs. Booth, traveling holding meetings and corresponding managed to extend the army's work throughout Great Britain so that before its name had been adopted ten years it had made itself loved or dreaded in many parts at the earliest possible date in the army's history the general took steps to get its constitution fully established that it should be impossible for anyone after his death to rest from it or turn to other purposes any of the property which had been acquired for its use by a deed pole enrolled in the High Court of Chancery of England August 7, 1878 the construction aims and practices of the army are so defined that its identity can never be disputed another deed pole enrolled January 30, 1891 similarly safeguarded the army's social work so that persons or corporations desiring to contribute only to the social funds could make sure that they were doing so similar deeds or other provisions are made in every other country or at work containing such references to the British deeds that the absolute unity of the army and the entire subjection of every part of it to its one general is in conformity with the laws of each country secured for all time and again a deed dated July 26, 1904 has provided for the case of a general's death without having first named his successor or for any other circumstances which might arise rendering a special appointment necessary subsequent chapters will show how wondrously God helped the general to carry on this work in other countries as well as in his own and we cannot believe that anyone will read this book through without being constrained to admit that there has not clearly been the accomplishment under the general's own eye of an enormous amount of good but the formation and maintenance of a force for the continual multiplication of it all in every climb such as no other leader ever before attempted or even planned and then most will be constrained surely to say with us it is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes end of section 10 recording by Tom Hirsch