Agricultural colonies; Poor -- Great Britain; Salvation Army; Unemployed -- Great Britain
Take the meetings. With few exceptions, every one of these four
thousand centres has a Hall in which, on every evening in the week and
from early morning until nearly midnight on every Sabbath, services are
being held; that nearly every service held indoors is preceded by one
out of doors, the special purport of every one being the saving of
these wretched crowds. Indeed, when this Scheme is perfected and
fairly at work, every meeting and every procession will be looked upon
as an advertisement of the earthly as well as the heavenly conditions
of happiness. And every Barracks and Officer's quarters will become a
centre where poor sinful suffering men and women may find sympathy,
counsel, and practical assistance in every sorrow that can possibly
come upon them, and every Officer throughout our ranks in every quarter
of the globe will become a co-worker.
See how useful our people will be in the gathering in of this class.
They are in touch with them. They live in the same street, work in the
same shops and factories, and come in contact with them at every turn
and corner of life. If they don't live amongst them, they formerly did.
They know where to find them; they are their old chums, pot-house
companions, and pals in crime and mischief. This class is the
perpetual difficulty of a Salvationist's life. He feels that there is
no help for them in the conditions in which they are at present found.
They are so hopelessly weak, and their temptations are so terribly
strong, that they go down before them. The Salvationist feels this
when he attacks them in the tap-rooms, in the low lodging houses, or in
their own desolate homes. Hence, with many, the Crusader has lost all
heart. He has tried them so often. But this Scheme of taking them
right away from their old haunts and temptations will put new life into
him and he will gather up the poor social wrecks wholesale, pass them
along, and then go and hunt for more.
Then see how useful this army of Officers and Soldiers will be for the
regeneration of this festering mass of vice and crime when it is, so to
speak, in our possession. All the thousands of drunkards, and harlots,
and blasphemers, and idlers have to be made over again, to be renewed
in the spirit of their minds, that is--made good. What a host of
moral workers will be required to accomplish such a gigantic
transformation. In the Army we have a few thousands ready, anyway we
have as many as can be used at the outset, and the Scheme itself will
go on manufacturing more. Look at the qualifications of these warriors
for the work!
They have been trained themselves, brought into line and are examples
of the characters we want to produce.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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