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 work of the Lord here goes on gloriously. The services have
progressed with increasing power and success, and now the whole
neighbourhood 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 organisation 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 Organisation
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account