The Authoritative Life of General William Booth, Founder of the Salvation ArmyRailton, George S. (George Scott)
History
The Authoritative Life of General William Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army
Railton, George S. (George Scott)
Booth, William, 1829-1912; Salvation Army
"Some of the Converts resided in other parts of London, and they
soon commenced themselves to hold Meetings afterwards, and to win
souls in their localities. I was entreated to care for these also.
The Christian Churches, even when they were willing to receive
these Converts, were as a result generally so much occupied with
the maintenance of their own existence, or so lukewarm in coping
with the necessities of the poor people, as to be unequal to the
task of caring for them. I soon found that the majority of those
who joined the Churches either relapsed again into open
backsliding, or became half-hearted professors. I was, therefore,
driven to select men and women who I knew to be lovers of souls,
and to be living holy lives, for the purpose of caring for these
new Converts. These helpers I afterwards directed to hold Meetings
in the streets and in cottages, and then in Halls and other Meeting
Places. The Lord was with them in great power, and hundreds of
wicked and godless people were converted and united together in
separate societies.
"These operations were, in course of time, extended to the
Provinces, where my late beloved wife, who was my unfailing helper
and companion in this work until God took her from me, preached
with much acceptance and remarkable results. It soon became
difficult, and at length impossible, for me to express my wishes
and give my instructions to my helpers by word of mouth, and
consequently I had to issue them in the form of correspondence.
This I also soon found to be a task beyond my ability. And yet, if
unity and harmony were to be preserved among the people God had
given me, and if the work were to be carried on successfully, it
was evident that they must know my wishes. I was, therefore,
compelled to _print_ such Directions and Rules as I deemed to be
necessary.
"This practice has continued to the present day, and been increased
by reason of the advance of the Work to an extent I never could
have anticipated. Some seventeen years ago I issued a volume of
_Orders and Regulations for Field Officers_. More than once since
then this book has been enlarged, and revised to date, and,
although some further developments have been made since that time,
that volume may be taken as the expression, in general terms, of my
present convictions of what a Field Officer of The Salvation Army
should be and do, and as such I commend it to the attention of
Officers and Soldiers of every rank in The Army throughout the
world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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