The Authoritative Life of General William Booth, Founder of the Salvation ArmyRailton, George S. (George Scott)
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The Authoritative Life of General William Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army
Railton, George S. (George Scott)
Booth, William, 1829-1912; Salvation Army
"Nothing could be more charming than the present attitude towards
us of every religious community in the United States, from the
Roman Catholics, whose Archbishop has publicly commended us, to the
Mormons, who are generally regarded as enemies of all Christianity,
and the Friends (commonly called Quakers) whose ideas of worship
seem to be at the uttermost extreme from ours. All are satisfied
that I and my people are not wishful to find fault with any
religious body whatever, but to spend all our time and energy in
combating the great evils of godlessness and selfishness which
threaten to sweep away all the people everywhere from any thought
above material things.
"Yet we have had to forbid our people to accept too often the
pressing invitations that pour upon them from all sides to hold
Meetings in Church buildings, lest they should lose touch with the
masses outside, and begin to be content with audiences of admirers.
"The thirty-six years of my life whilst I was groping about in vain
for a home and fellowship amongst Churches gave me to understand,
as only experience can, what are the thoughts and feelings of the
millions in Christian lands, who not only never enter a church, but
who feel it to be inconceivable that they ever should do so.
"If this experience has been invaluable to us in Christian lands,
how much more so is it in the far vaster countries of Asia and
Africa, where our work is only as yet in its beginnings. When I
went to Japan, the entire missionary community everywhere united to
uphold me as the exemplar of true Christlike action for the good of
all men. But the leaders of all the five sects of Buddhism were no
less unanimous in their welcome to me, or in their expressions of
prayerful desire for the success of my work.
"In India and Africa I have repeatedly seen supporting me in my
indoor and outdoor demonstrations the leaders of the Hindu, Parsee,
Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish, and Mohammedan communities, who had never
met with the Christians in so friendly a way before. I cannot think
this would have been the case had I ever become settled amongst any
Christian body in this country.
"Can any one wonder then that I see in all the unpleasant
experiences of my early days the hand of God Himself, leading me by
a way that I knew not--that I could scarcely believe indeed at the
time to be His way. Why should it have been so difficult for a man,
who only wished to lead the lost ones to the great Shepherd who
seeks them all to get or to remain within any existing fold, if it
was not that there lay before me and my Soldiers conquests
infinitely greater and more important than had ever yet been made?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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