The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-10-27 00:00:00

THE SALVATION ARMY AT EXETER
HALL.

In London, on Monday, in celebration of the liber-
ation of Miss Booth and her comrades from the Swiss
prison three special services were held by the Salve-
tion Army in Exeter Hall. The morning service com-
menced at eleven o'clock, when the lower portion of
the hall was crowded. As is usual on these occasions,
the large platform was occupied entirely by the
members of the "army." "General " Booth,
Mri. Booth, Miss Booth, the other members of the
" Ger.eral's " family, and Miss Charlesworth occu-
pied prominent positions on the platform. The
meeting was opened by prayer and the singing
of several "Songs of Deliverance." Among
these is one written by Miss Booth while in prison at
Neuchatel, to which there is a chorus, "We shad
conquer, surely conquer." This was sung by Miss
Booth, the chorus betng energetically taken up by the
members of the " army," and the references te bolts
and bars cheered by the congregation. In her address
Miss Booth said the decree forbidding Salvation Army
meetings in Switzerland was issued on the 22nd May
last. They were forbidden to meet anywhere, but
their friends in Switzerland did not hesitate to de-
clare the illegality ot the extraordinary decree as
loudly afpthe English Press had done. The meetings
were accordingly continued. Why? Because the
decree was illegal; because they judged it better to obey
God than man, and because she considered it was her
duty to her Swiss friends who bad borne the persecu-
tion, and her duty to Switzerland and her opponents
in that country. The meetings were continued from
the date .of the decree until the 9th day of September,
when she was arrested at a meeting on the mountain
at Neuchatel, and afterwards detained in prison for a
fortnight. And what, asked Miss Booth, was to be
the outcome of the imprisonment of herself and her
comrades? A determination to go on with the work
and win the people for Christ. The foundation of
the work was already laid, and all the Governments
and rulers, with hell to back them, could not
suppress or annihilate what God had done. The au-
thorities who prosecuted them were misled. The
gentleman who prosecuted them at Neuchatel had
never been to a single Salvation Army meeting. The
" army " desired to move the population—to move
England, America, Australia, India, and all the
nations under the sun. They bad now two Italian
officers, and they were now looking upon Italy, to
which country Garibaldi's son bad invited them. In
conclusion, Miss Booth appealed to the audience not
to allow the work in Switzerland to be crippled for
the want of funds.

The evening assembly was varied by an incident
which calls for special mention. Last winter the
marriage took place at the Congress Hall, Clapton, of
General Booth's 13013, Mr. W. Bramwell Booth, to a
lady Salvationist. On Monday night, after speeches
from "the General," and a number of songs, prayers,
and addresses, enlivened by the accompaniments
characteristic of the army, Mrs. Bramwell Booth
brought to the front of the platform her newly•born
child. General Booth, thereupon addressing the
audience, said:

"Now it is the principle of the Salvation Army that
everything we have or possess belongs to God; that the
misery of the world commenced with rebellion against
God • and in believing that we could manage better for
ourselves than God could manage for us, we hold it to
be a principle of true godliness, true religion, that we
should go back to God and give him our hearts, our
lives and all we possess. This father and the mother who
are here to•night, in the carrying out of that principle
and in the presence of this congregation and before all
the Holy Angels, bring the dearest, choicest treasure
with which God had entrusted them and offer this dear
precious child up to Him, and engage that they will
train and nurture and strengthen it to be not only a
child but a servant of the living God and a good soldier
of Jesus Christ to fight His battles and take His lot.
I will ask them, after I have explained it thus, if they
are willing so to do? • . We do it thus publicly
to encourage all other saints to do the same, and to
show that our hope for the Chrh•tian future of
mankind is in our children being trained up thus to
serve God, fight for Him, and live for his glory.
• • . (Turning to the father of the child:) My
son, twenty•eight years ago your father and mother,
thus in the presence of a great multitude, consecrated
you to God, and we have—very imperfectly at times—
kept you, with His help, and we rejoice to think to-
night that you are as fully His now as then. Are you
willing that this dear child of yours should be thus
consecrated to God, and will you engage to train it for
His service?

Mr. Bramwell Booth replied: "My dear General
and my dear friends,—l am willing that my dear child
should thus be given up to Him and His service, and I
do this night desire to consecrate it to His Word and
the Salvation Army, that His name may be glorified
by it."

General Booth, addressing himself to his daughter.
in•law, then said : "Are you willing, my dear girl,
that your child shall be consecrated to the service of
the living God, after rthe fashion I have described,
and will you join with your dear husband in keeping
from it everything in the shape of strong drink or
tobacco, or finery or wealth, or hurtful reading, or
dangerous acquaintance, or any other thing that
would be likely to interfere with the effect of such
training and such education?"
"The lady replied, "Yes, I promise with joy to
train it for the Salvation Army and God alone, and to
do my very utmost to make her understand from the
very commencement that that is the life she should
share, and that that will be sufficient for her."
Upon this General Booth banded the infant hack to
its mother, and pronounced, "Then, my dear children,
in the name of the Salvation Army, in the name of the
God of the Salvation Army, I take this child and pre-
sent it to Him. I rejoice to interpret the feelings you
have expressed, and which I bell, ve to be the sincerp
feelings of your soul, the purpose of your deepest
hearts. I thus interpret them, and in His name
I take the child for Him, and I receive it for the
Salvation Army ; and I pray, and your comrades
here I am sure pray, that Catherine Booth Booth
may be a true saint, a real servant, and a bold and
courageous soldier in the Salvation Army, having
grace not only to make her own title end election sure,
but to secure for a great multitude of other people
rescue from misery and sorrow here and everlasting
death hereafter. Take it, mother; take it. The father
will help you to train it for God and for the Salvation
Army. Let us pray."
Mrs. Booth offered prayer. Hymns and addresses
followed, and the congregation, most of whom wore
the badges of the Army, joined heartily in the pro.
ceedings,