The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-04-01
THE SALVATION ARMY.
Its OrIgin-Its Method of vvork-what II
Has Done.


English journals during the past two
or three years, have been frequently
struck with the graphic descriptions
given of the doings and progress of
queer religious organization known as
the "Salvation Army" Now that
detachment of the army has come into
our midst, with ways and methods of
work so sharply in contrast with our
own modes of evangelical work, and as
they are likely to be an object of in
creasing interest for at least some time
to come, it may not be amiss to give the
readers of the Evening Mail a brief his
tory of the origin of this singular organ
ization, with some account of what it
has already done, and what it proposes
to do in connection with its visit to this
country.
The founder of the organization and
the present head of it, or generalissimo,
is Rev. William Booth, an ex-Wesleyan
Methodist clergyman, of London, Eng
land. EIe is a man of rare tenderness
and sensibility of heart, and was deeply
moved for the degraded and criminal
classes which crowd some parts
of the city, and whom it seemed
impossible to reach through any
of the ordinary methods of the
church. So deep was his interest in
these wretched classes, and such his de-
termination 10 do something for their
salvation, that he requested the confer
ence to make this special work, and
assign him to the charge of it. This,
however, the conference declined to do,
and assigned him instead to country
charge. With his whole soul absorbed
with this one idea the result may be
easily anticipated. He withdrew from
ho oil aH
took up the work upon which his heart
was set. He went among the lowest
slums, he visited freely the vilest dens,
and to the most wretched and degraded
refuse of humanity-so stepped i'll vice
and crime that all semblance OF hui
manity seemed to have faded out of
them-he freely offered the salvation of
Christ to all who would accept it. The
vile, the criminal, the besotted in sin and
wretched, the refuse of the alleys and
dens heard with astonishment, tor the
first time in their miserable lives, words
of sympathy and kindness. They could
hardly trust their ears as this new Ian
guage fell upon them. They crowded
around him by hundreds and thousands,
and followed him wherever he went.
Nor was it the dread of life" alone that
he gave them; like the Divine Master
" y
went about doing good to the bodies and
souls of men, so he dispensed also, when
it was needed, the bread that perisheth.
The result was that in a short time hun
dreds were converted.
1t now became the great question how
to secure these converts and utilize
them in the further advancement Of his
great work. 1t would be of no use to
| bring into operation the ordinary church
machinery in their case. 1t would not
| hold them single day. They were u
peculiar people," had led peculiar
lives and had peculiar modes of thought.
Their lives had been different from the
| lives of other men and women. Their
very modes of life had made them SEN
sational and prone to the extravagant,
the startling and the out-of the way,
and so it was necessary in their case
that some extraordinary and novel
method should be devised to enlist and
hold them. 1t is easy to see how TO a
mind and temperament like that of Mr..
Booth, who, in the course of his work
had many a hard fight with the archad-
yersary. and whose mind was full of the
militant figures of the Scriptures, the
idea of military organization, or II
fighting Christian army should suggest
itself; and so gradually the organiza-
ton grew into the Salvation Army
with its battalions, detachmentS, it:
professions and banners and music, its
captains and companies. its orders and
proclamations, and all the attractive ct
ceteras so calculated by their very
novelty to draw the attention of those
to whom all ordinary attractions had
become blase. The success of DR..
Booths organization is evidenced by the
| f,a hn So1u A A,.,t,xt
sists of lbs corps and stations with Us
officers wholly employed in its labor
while privates are numbered by ten!
of thousands. Its headquarters art
in the east of London, in White
chapel street, consisting of a larg'
building containing large hall for pub
lie meetings and smaller halls for busi
ness purposes connected with the work
Latterly the organization has rapid.
extended over all the principal cities ant
larger towns of England, Ireland ant
Scotland, and it has the hearty supper
of many wealthy and influential perso,
both in and out of the church, VIII
! freely advance the funds necessary 70
! the prosecution ofthe work.
1t is claimed that through the la jor
of the Salvation Army the character c
F, the whole population of South Vale
{ mas Deen changed 1OI tne DeIter, that I'll
, charge sheets of police courts have bee
greatly reduced, the liquor traffic almos
suspended, and whole counties reused t
! spiritual concern. The same good re
+ suits have been claimed for it in til
= principal towns of Great Britain i
o which it has operated, and, it must b
: confessed, with considerable degree {
+ truth. At any rate, tn re is one gref
y lesson being taught the church, an
,, Christian philanthropists generally,
n the rise and success of the Salvatio
q Army, and that is, if the lower classc
+ are ever reclaimed and brought
: Christ, it must be by going down
!. them with the gospel. The angel mu
: step down into the pool before IL
- waters can be troubled. And anoth,
q truth taught is, that even the lowest al
vilest can thus be reached; that thu
v thirst for human sympathy, long {,
q something better, and are ready eager
a to accept it when honestly offered and
O the right way. - NeU York Ecenii
o Moil.
: OF the SIT British peers, 478 ha
e seats in the house of lords, 43l by pc
a Sonal right and A by election, I6 by &