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
"'O Kate, I have found my destiny! These are the people for whose
Salvation I have been longing all these years. As I passed by the
doors of the flaming gin-palaces to-night I seemed to hear a voice
sounding in my ears, "Where can you go and find such heathen as
these, and where is there so great a need for your labours?" And
there and then in my soul I offered myself and you and the children
up to this great work. Those people shall be our people, and they
shall have our God for their God.'"
Mrs. Booth herself wrote:--
"I remember the emotion that this produced in my soul. I sat gazing
into the fire, and the Devil whispered to me, 'This means another
departure, another start in life!' The question of our support
constituted a serious difficulty. Hitherto we had been able to meet
our expenses out of the collections which we had made from our more
respectable audiences. But it was impossible to suppose that we
could do so among the poverty-stricken East-Enders--we were afraid
even to ask for a collection in such a locality.
"Nevertheless, I did not answer discouragingly. After a momentary
pause for thought and prayer, I replied, 'Well, if you feel you
ought to stay, stay. We have trusted the Lord _once_ for our
support, and we can trust Him _again_!'"
"That night," says The General, "The Salvation Army was born."
Before long God moved the heart of one of the most benevolent men in
England, Mr. Samuel Morley, to promise them his influence and support
without any condition but the continuance of the work thus begun. But no
amount of monetary help could have placed The General in a position to
establish anything like the permanent work he desired. He writes:--
"I had hardly got successfully started on this new path before my
old experience of difficulty met me once more. On the third Sunday
morning, I think it was, we found the old tent which formed our
cathedral, blown down, and so damaged by the fall, as well as so
rotten, that it could not be put up again. Another tent was
impossible, as we had no money to buy one; so, as no suitable
building could be obtained, there was nothing for it but for us to
do our best out of doors.
"After a time we secured an old dancing-room for Sunday Meetings.
But, there being no seats in it, our Converts had to come at 4
o'clock on Sunday morning to bring the benches in, and work till
midnight, or later still, when the day's Meetings were over, to
move them out again. For our week-night Meetings we had hired an
old shed, formerly used to store rags in, and there we fought for
months."
What a testimony to the character of the work already accomplished, and
the readiness of the little force already raised to toil like pioneer
soldiers for the love of Christ!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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