The Authoritative Life of General William Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army — John Shaqi
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
"The people," he writes, "with whom I had come into union were
sorely unorganised, 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 Connexion, 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, 'O 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 every-day
practice how to put it to 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 to-day,
who have a real love for that order of preaching which convicts and
converts the soul, although unable to practise 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 realised 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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