Agricultural colonies; Poor -- Great Britain; Salvation Army; Unemployed -- Great Britain
5. But those show a curious ignorance who set down our successes to
this discipline, as though it were something of the prison order,
although enforced without any of the power lying either behind the
prison warder or the Catholic priest. On the contrary, wherever the
discipline of the Army has been endangered, and its regular success for
a time interrupted, it has been through an attempt to enforce it
without enough of that joyous, cheerful spirit of love which is its
main spring. Nobody can become acquainted with our soldiers in any
land, without being almost immediately struck with their extraordinary
gladness, and this joy is in itself one of the most infectious and
influential elements of the Army's success. But if this be so, amid the
comparatively well to do, judge of what its results are likely to be
amongst the poorest and most wretched! To those who have never known
bright days, the mere sight of a happy face is as it were a revelation
and inspiration in one.
6. But the Army's success does not come with magical rapidity;
it depends, like that of all real work, upon infinite perseverance.
To say nothing of the perseverance of the Officer who has made the
saving of men his life work, and who, occupied and absorbed with this
great pursuit, may naturally enough be expected to remain faithful,
there are multitudes of our Soldiers who, after a hard day's toil for
their daily bread, have but a few hours of leisure, but devote it
ungrudgingly to the service of the War. Again and again, when the
remains of some Soldier are laid to rest, amid the almost universal
respect of a town, which once knew him only as an evil-doer, we hear it
said that this man, since the date of his conversion, from five to ten
years ago, has seldom been absent from his post, and never without good
reason for it. His duty may have been comparatively insignificant,
"only a door-keeper," "only a War Cry seller," yet Sunday after Sunday,
evening after evening, he would be present, no matter who the
commanding officer might be, to do his part, bearing with the unruly,
breathing hope into the distressed, and showing unwavering faithfulness
to all. The continuance of these processes of mercy depends largely
upon leadership, and the creation and maintenance of this leadership
has been one of the marvels of the Movement. We have men to-day looked
up to and reverenced over wide areas of country, arousing multitudes to
the most devoted service, who a few years ago were champions of
iniquity, notorious in nearly every form of vice, and some of them
ringleaders in violent opposition to the Army. We have a right to
believe that on the same lines God is going to raise up just such
leaders without measure and without end.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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