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
How The General altered all that, wherever his influence was felt! He
made all his people understand that not merely are they responsible for
understanding and heeding God's commands themselves, but for enforcing
attention to them, as those who must give account of their success or
failure.
The sister leader of some little Meeting in the far-away Outpost of a
Corps, thousands of miles from the centre, when she insists upon having
a verse sung for the third time because "I'm sure some of you lads were
not half singing," has little idea of the religious revolution she
represents. That the dislike of so many for any "such innovations"
continues, may help to convince any one who thinks of the urgent need
there was, and is still, for the substitution of responsible for
irresponsible leadership in "Divine Service."
During his visit to the United States in 1907 The General had a severe
illness which seriously threatened to cut short his career. His death
was indeed cabled as an item of news from Chicago. But the report was,
as Mark Twain would have said, "grossly exaggerated." Nobody will
wonder, however, at his having been ill when they read Commissioner
Lawley's report. He writes:--
"We have calculated that in the thirteen meetings of his New York
Campaign the General was on his feet speaking about twenty-six and
three-quarters hours.
"He spent less than six weeks in the Country, travelled about 3,700
miles by train, spoke about eighty-five hours to fifty audiences,
before conferring many hours with leading Officers, and talking to
the Newspaper Reporters in each town he visited."
An Officer describing his illness wrote:--
"I never shall forget his effort to ascend the staircase of the
Commissioner's house on Friday morning after his victory at
Milwaukee the night before. The veteran Warrior had to rest his
head and hands on the rail and pray 'My Lord.' It was clear to me
that the chill he had sustained days before, and which he fought in
vain against would make him a prisoner for days."
What that meant to him when he was already announced for a number of
other cities can be imagined.
His symptoms the following day were very serious, and one cannot but be
glad that he had at his side at the time his daughter--Commander Eva
Booth. Under her loving care, and with all the help of Doctors and
Masters that could be got in Chicago, The General recovered so as to be
able to go on after a few days with his interrupted tour, after which he
wrote in his farewell letter to his American Troops:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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