LIFE of
The GOSPEL TRUTH WILLIAM BOOTH
FOUNDER and FIRST GENERAL
of the SALVATION ARMY
by
Harold Begbie
1920
In Two Volumes
Volume 2
Chapter 13
POPULARITY OF THE GENERAL, AND THE SPIRIT OF THE ARMY 1892
POPULARITY in its widest sense came to William Booth early in the 'nineties, and it came, unquestionably, from the instinctive feeling of the public that here was a man--whatever the expression of his religion might mean--who deeply felt for the outcasts of society and seriously sought to save them from misery.
Other men laboured at that time as earnestly in this heart-breaking region of human service as William Booth; but no one so dramatically caught the attention of the public or so convinced multitudes of people, usually indifferent to religion, that he possessed the secret which would change a condition of things everywhere acknowledged to be a scandal and disgrace to civilization.
It will be worth our while to consider what was the quality in William Booth which distinguished him from other reformers of the time; and in making this attempt we need not interrupt our narrative to any violent extent, since the quotations we intend to make from his writings were mainly inspired by his Darkest England Scheme, and are particularly characteristic of his work as a social reformer. We shall find from these quotations that the foundation of his popularity was the intense and profound earnestness of his love for unhappy people--a love which came home to the dullest man in the street and to the most selfish man of the world, because William Booth sacrificed every convention of society and every restraint common among average people in order to make this love, this "cosmic patriotism" a planetary power in the affairs of men. He cared nothing what men might say of him. He was indifferent to custom and usage. In comparison with the work of saving souls every canon of society appeared in his eyes as the trivial and pitiful etiquette of a child's doll's house. He wore a red jersey; he called himself a General; he marched through the streets behind a brass-band, waving an umbrella; and at every conceivable point he sacrificed his own comfort, his own peace of mind, his own domestic happiness, in order to make this centre of his life, love for humanity, the pivot of social existence.
At its outset the Salvation Army was the triumph of a personality; and that personality made its impression upon a formal, mechanical, and materialistic generation by the force of the love which inspired its existence. William Booth not only loved mankind, but he believed in love as the sole energy of progress. The late Professor William James seized upon this fact as the centre of Salvation Army activity. "General Booth," he says," . . . considers that the vital step in saving outcasts consists in making them feel that some decent human being cares enough for them to take an interest in the question whether they are to rise or sink." Goethe long ago had said that if we would improve a man we should make him believe that we already think him that which we desire to make him. But William Booth went deeper when he demanded not merely the affectation of sympathy, but a real love, and that for the lowest and most abandoned.
It will be seen from the quotations which follow how the emphasis of William Booth, in his instructions to his Officers, was always on this necessity for love. And it will be further seen that the love of which he was so vigorously mindful and heartful was neither the sentimental love of religious rhetoric, nor the impersonal, wistful, and praying love of the religious mystic, but the practical, active, seeking, and individual love which goes not only into the highways and by-ways of human existence, but into the swamps, the morasses, and the uttermost depths of depravity and suffering in its "passion for souls."
We think that nothing written by William Booth, except his letters, is so true a key to his character as the book from which the following quotations are made, a book not known outside the official circles of the Salvation Army, but over which he spent himself with infinitely more care and enthusiasm than marked his work In Darkest England. This book is entitled Orders and Regulations for Field Officers, and it expresses the mind of the General on almost every conceivable question of conduct, discipline, and belief concerning the Salvation Army. "My father," says Bramwell Booth, "was really less an organizer than a legislator; he was a whole legislature in himself. He laid down the law in every detail, thinking of everything, and left others to organize the machine. I think he gave more attention to the Orders and Regulations for Field Officers than to anything else he wrote. His anxiety was to compile in that book a set of regulations which would perpetuate the Salvation Army, and preserve it from the mistakes and confusions which have befallen so many other societies in the religious sphere. In that book you have the General's spirit, and the spirit which animates the Salvation Army."
Our quotations are taken from various parts of this informing book, and while our main object has been to choose such passages as reveal William Booth's insistence on the need for affection and sympathy in religious ministration, we have also chosen passages which seem to us characteristic of his practical nature and his extreme care for the most trivial details:
It must always be remembered by the F.O.[Field Officer] and by every one who is desirous of producing any great moral or spiritual changes in men, that the example of the individuals attempting this task will be much more powerful than the doctrines they set forth, or any particular methods they adopt for teaching those doctrines, however impressive these may be.
The same shot, with the same charge of gunpowder, from a rifled cannon will produce ten times a greater effect than from one with a smooth bore. The make of the gun gives the extra force to the shot. Just in the same way, the truth from the lips of one man whom his hearers believe to be holy and true, will strike with a hundred-fold more force than the same message will from another who has not so commended himself. The character of the man gives the extra force to the truth.
The F.O. must have been converted or changed by the power of the Holy Spirit from the old, worldly, selfish, sinful nature; and not only must he thus have received a new heart, but he must have the Holy Spirit living in that heart, possessing it, and working through it, to will and to do the good pleasure of God.
The F.O. who does not feel the perilous condition of the men and women about him, will not impress them with the tremendous meaning of his message. They will measure the extent of their danger by his anxiety. If he does not care, neither will they. If he is moved, they will be moved. If he weeps over them, they will be very likely to weep over themselves. There is nothing more certain than that the F.O. who is not concerned whether men are saved or damned, will accomplish little or nothing. Nowhere, perhaps, in the universe is a heart of stone--that is, a heart that is not tender and full of feeling--more out of place than in the breast of an F.O. in the Salvation Army. If he is earnest about success, the shortest way to win it will be to get the stony heart taken away, and to obtain a heart of flesh in its place. This done, he and everybody about him will soon see the change--and feel it too.
We have been talking to men about their souls for upwards of forty years, and we have had some opportunities of observing others who have been similarly engaged. Of nothing has our experience made us more certain than of the comparative uselessness of all soul-saving talk or effort which is not the outcome of a compassionate heart.
No matter how an Officer may exert himself in public or private, no matter how he may plead or weep, if his tears and words are not the expression of feelings which exist in his soul, their real character will be perceived by those who listen to him, and they will be of little or no avail.
If an Officer shuts himself up in his house, reading a few dried-up books or committing Mr. Somebody's speeches and anecdotes to memory to spout to the people his heart will grow colder and colder, and no wonder.
Instead of this, let him go out into the streets and lanes and slums, and listen to the tramp of the multitudes as they march down to the gates of Hell. Let him hear them cursing and swearing, and calling upon Jehovah to damn their bodies and souls and families and comrades. Let him listen as they jibe and sneer and flout the very name of God, and defy Him with uplifted eyes and hands. Then let him consider how miserably small is the minority of those who are on the side of the King--and how powerless, humanly speaking, the latter are in comparison. He will then be likely to consider the condition of the world--at the very headquarters of Christianity--to be awful. His soul will be moved whether he will or no; and he will go to work in dead earnest to alter things.
Success, however, as a rule, has a tendency to damage Officers by making them proud, and so injuring their usefulness. We have known Officers who, while fighting against great difficulties, with few friends, little money, and not many souls, have kept a simple and beautiful character and grown in grace and in favour with God and men. And we have known the same Officers, when suddenly launched on a tide of success, with money, souls, and the good wishes and approbation of the multitude, lose their humility, their love for sinners, and their power with God, and so, shorn of their spiritual strength, we have seen them become as weak and powerless for good as other men.
The F.O. in his general demeanour, both in private and in public, should have an earnest yet cheerful manner. He should be himself and not some one else; he must not imitate or mimic the manner of any one. Let him be natural, neither better nor worse than he is. To appear worse would be a pity and a shame. To appear better would be a pretence and a deception. Let him be himself.
At the same time the F.O. must beware of buffoonery and silly laughing, joking, giggling, flirting, and the like, such things being a huge folly and an outrage on his office and profession, and a standing impediment to the souls about him in the way which leads to the Kingdom of Heaven.
The F.O. should be himself influenced by his work. If the War, with all its solemnity, importance, and consequences, has its full influence upon his heart, it will make its mark upon his countenance and upon his every movement; this influence will be on him when he walks abroad, when he visits the people, when he sings and prays and talks, when he is alone or in company, wherever he may be, or whatever he may be doing.
There are elaborate instructions concerning health, diet, and clothing. We give a few characteristic illustrations of the General's Orders concerning cleanliness and modesty in apparel. The Field Officer, he says, should keep himself clean, with hands and face frequently washed, teeth brushed, finger-nails pared, and hair tidily cut, so presenting altogether a neat and decent appearance. If cleanliness is not next to godliness it is not very far away.
Worldly ornaments, such as light gloves, frillings, fur on collars, capes or jackets, rings (except the wedding ring) must be abandoned.
Ear-rings or hoops of every description are prohibited. The popular belief that they are beneficial to the eyes is a delusion. There is no possible connection betwixt rings in the ears and the condition of the eyes. Anyway, whatever view is held, Officers must not wear them. Gold and silver chains, or chains having the appearance of gold and silver, lockets, or ornaments of the same class, are strictly forbidden for either male or female Officers. The same applies to worldly ornaments or ornaments of every kind, even including articles such as brooches made of silver or fancy material, and bearing the name of the Army, or some good motto. If the F.Os trick themselves out in any degree, however trifling, the vanity will be observed by the Soldiers, who will feel that when Officers, subject to regulations, thus indulge in finery to a small extent, they show that they would indulge in it wholesale if they were free. This applies also to ornamental ways of doing the hair, such as frizzings, crimpings, fringes, or tufts let down over the forehead. Female Officers must not cut their hair, or part it, so as to resemble men; and men must not part their hair so as to resemble women.
The following passages are significant of the General's theology:
Nothing is more clearly revealed in the Bible, or better known by Salvationists, than that the world is in rebellion against God; that the majority of men defy His authority, have little or no regard for His laws, and do not in any form attempt to order their conduct according to His wishes; in short, that they neither love nor fear Him. Of the truth of this painful indictment the F.O. can find ample evidence in almost every street in which he moves, and in almost every house that he enters.
The F.O. must see that men, as rebels, are condemned to die by the law they have broken. Every intelligent transgressor of the Divine law is of necessity under its condemnation, the decree of Heaven being that, unless forgiven, "The soul that sinneth it shall die."
As a consequence of this rebellion, the F.O. sees misery everywhere. Sin means poverty, toil, suffering, affliction, cruelty, blasphemy, murder, war, death, and damnation. God has joined sin and suffering together in this world, as well as in the world to come.
The F.O. should realize that men are perpetually perishing; that every moment of his life, when he wakes and when he sleeps, some soul somewhere passes into eternity.
He should see that those who reject God's mercy are driven away in their wickedness--driven down to Hell. At death probation ends, the day of mercy closes, and there is no hope for evermore.
The F.O. must perceive that in all this misery men apart from God are totally unable to help themselves, that they get worse rather than better; that, unless deliverance is obtained from without, they must perish.
The F.O. should set apart a fixed time to read and think and pray about this state of things. He should do this, until he realizes it vividly in his soul, and until all his nature is possessed of the true conception of the awful condition, suffering, and danger of these millions of never-dying souls. The world will then appear to him to be full of people living in red-handed rebellion against their Maker; who are, in consequence, condemned criminals before Him: and that, as a result, multitudes of men are living in indescribable sufferings, are dying every moment without hope, and passing away to still further wretchedness and wrath in the world to come.
There must be no bitterness in his heart, in his words, or in his manner. He must not scold. If the people think he is angry with them, they will feel like answering him back, or justifying themselves: whereas, if they can see that while knowing how wrong they are, and feeling it, he is full of pitying tenderness towards them, they will melt down before him, condemn themselves, acknowledge their sin, and seek mercy.
. . . His condemnation will be modified, and his heart will rise up and plead on their behalf, if he remembers
(a) That sinners only act out their depraved nature; they are what their dispositions make them.
(b) That multitudes follow the example set before them from their babyhood; they have seen nothing else around them--father, mother, brothers, sisters, companions, all bad and devilish, and always so.
(c) That many of them have been not only actually born in iniquity, but bred up and trained in it as their natural condition of life.
(d) That many are totally ignorant of the evil nature of sin and of the love of God.
(e) That all are more or less possessed of the Devil, who drives them about at his good pleasure.
The recollection of these things will make the F.O. pity sinners, and impel him to do all he can to rescue them.
Compassion will prevent that stuck-up-ism and professionalism and unnatural, canting way of talking, which is so abominated by sinners in general. While sinners hate the whining talk which only comes from the tongue, they respect anything like conviction and reality in religion, and as a rule will be prepared to give it a favourable hearing; and when they can see that people are really concerned about them, there are very few people who will not listen and be moved, if nothing more. Love is a wonderful conqueror--compassion is eloquence. Words without it, no matter how clever or numerous, are only words; they may scratch the skin, but it is very seldom they prick the heart.
The first and most important duty of the F.O. with regard to his Soldiers is to love them. No matter what other qualifications he may possess, unless he has this one he will be comparatively powerless in dealing with his Corps. He may give his goods to feed them, if he has any to give; he might allow his body to be burned for their benefit, if that were possible; he might talk like Gabriel, so as to charm them in spite of themselves; he might work miracles before their eyes; he might heal their sick and do many wonderful things on their behalf; but unless he loves them, and makes them feel that he does so, he will be in their estimation as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. They will regard him as a mere hireling, and will look upon all his efforts as only so much work done to gain a livelihood or a position, and in consequence will have as little communication with him as they can help.
The royal and only way for the F.O. to make his Soldiers love others is for him to love them. The living waters of love that flow from him to his Soldiers will flow from them to others. Here is a stream--a life-giving stream--that neither men nor devils can dry up.
This invincible method of securing victory is possible to every Officer alike. All cannot equally solo, or speak eloquently, or invent new plans; but all can love. Love is a gift that grows with its exercise. The more an Officer loves, the more ability he has to love. Let every Officer prove the truth of this sentiment by putting it to practice.
The F.O. must love the unfaithful and wayward Soldiers of his Corps in order to get them put right. He must love them for Christ's sake. The Spirit of the Master within him will make him pity them, and strive to remove what is wrong in them, and to bring them up to that level of devotion and service on which he himself stands.
Under the heading "Roughs, Toughs, or Larrikins" we find the following instructions which reveal, with the rich humanity of William Booth, his sense of humour:
In all the large towns and cities of Great Britain, and even in the smaller places and villages, there are large numbers of young men belonging to the lowest orders of Society who are known by the general term of "roughs." In Australia they have named the same class "larrikins" and in the United States they pass by the name of "hoodlums" or "toughs."
A large portion of this class have no regular employment; they don't work if they can help it, and are therefore ever ready for fighting, riot, or any other mischief, and should there come, as any day there may, some great revolutionary upheaval of Society, these and multitudes of others equally godless and profane, whom they would drag along with them, will be ready and able to make serious trouble to Society.
Over this class, in the Protestant nations at least, the ministers of religion exercise little or no control or influence.
From this set has come nearly all the mob persecution. The Army has had to suffer in Great Britain and in other countries. They haunt the low public-houses or saloons and brothels and gambling dens, and consequently are very much under the influence of those parties who are interested in the maintenance of vice, and who, perceiving readily how antagonistic the principles of the Army are to their vicious and devilish purposes, burn with hatred against it, and find in this demoralized part of the community the ready tools and agents to carry out their designs.
Now an F.O. will see at a glance that the only hope for these roughs is in the Army. If they are not saved by its agency, there is no other that pretends in any shape or form to be able to touch them. Everywhere they are willing, as a rule, to come to our Halls, and every Sabbath tens of thousands of them are there. They listen to our message, sing our songs, accompany our processions, and in many cases are guardians of order for us in the open air: and, better still, numbers of them have become converted and become Soldiers in the Army, some of whom are now highly valued and very useful Officers.
Still, our success among this class has come far short of what it ought to have been. In many cases they have been driven from the Army in the most foolish, we might say wicked, manner: and where they might have been in our ranks in thousands, they now stand aloof, and if they don't persecute they secretly despise us, putting us down as being no more in sympathy with them than other Christians who, with a few professions of regret, pass them by on the other side.
Now, if these heathens, who are anyway as worthy of our notice as the Hindoos or the Africans, are not to be left to perish, our F. Os must seriously turn their attention to them, and learn to adapt themselves and their measures to the important task of saving them. We have not to cross the seas at great expense, and go to the trouble of learning another language, to get at them. There they are, speaking our mother tongue, in any numbers close to our doors. We have only to cross the streets to lay our hands upon them. They have hearts: they can be won, and once saved, they make splendid Soldiers, full of spirit and daring, ready to face any danger and endure any hardship.
HOW NOT TO REACH THEM To Officers who do not want to reach and save these roughs, we give the following counsels:
I. Don't go where they are; keep out of those neighbourhoods where they live. Act as though there were no such people. Leave them to harden in sin, sink lower in vice and crime, and to go to Hell without being disturbed on the way thither. You will then in time, perhaps, come to lose sight of them and to question their very existence, as some other people do.
2. Don't let them come where you are, if you can help it. Have Door-keepers who will keep them out of your Halls, or throw them down the stairs if they do come in, because they don't behave like ladies and gentlemen.
3. If they do come near you, don't talk to them in a language they can understand. Adapt your praying and singing and talking to the Church and Chapel and nice people; and there being nothing the roughs can understand or that interests them, they will soon cease to trouble you with their vulgar presence.
4. Make it evident that you look down upon them as an inferior class of people. Dress and talk and pray all above their notions, as though you belonged to a superior class. There is nothing they hate like stuck-up lady-and-gentlemanism.
5. Treat them as people who are never likely to become religious.
6. Scold them plenty. Be like the Judgment Day to them. Let them only see one side of the character of God, and that the angry side. In short, be just the reverse of what Jesus Christ was, who came not to condemn, but to save.
7. Be impatient with any little irregularities they may manifest. That is, if they keep their hats on, or speak to one another in the meeting, as they do at their places of amusement, lose your temper over it. Or, still worse, let a Door-keeper strike them, or use violence in keeping them out, or patronize and encourage Sergeants who do all this, and the roughs will never trouble overmuch, indeed they will soon find out that you do not love them, and then they will most certainly trouble you no more.
8. Threaten them a great deal and fail to perform your threats, and they will mark it down and reckon you up as not being true to your word, and despise and trifle with you ever after. Or if you don't do this, have plenty of law against them. Always be running for the police, getting out summonses, making them pay fines, or sending them to prison--in short, hate them where you should love them, drive them where you should draw them, and make their damnation more certain and terrible because of your appearing on the scenes, rather than be the means of making their calling and Salvation sure.
If you want to save the roughs, just go and do the opposite of all this.
These various quotations, we think, are helpful, among other and greater things, in explaining the popularity of William Booth. They manifest the hunger and thirst of his soul for the two great principles of human conduct--sincerity and love. His methods, which were spontaneous and entirely natural, although they attracted in the first instance, were in truth hindrances to his subsequent progress; but in spite of the grave impediments they created in his way, causing many just people to regard him as a fanatic, and many careless to dismiss him as a mountebank, he won, as no other man of his time succeeded in winning, the confidence of the world and the love of the poor. It is a curious and very remarkable fact of the Salvation Army that among its most liberal subscribers have been men who made no religious profession at all, or men of quite different religions. William Booth certainly succeeded in convincing the world, and a section of the world most difficult to convince about anything, that he was an honest man, doing with considerable success a work that entitled him not only to public assistance but to national gratitude.
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