Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-09-02

- "SSA0esife. IL does nov III
vite men to come to the gospel it carries
the gospel to them. 1t is literal and
thoroughly old-fashioned. Il boggles at
no scriptural difficulties. 1t repudiates all
modern refinements of doctrine. It holds
by all the old orthodox ideas. As Gene
raj" Booth puts it Il: "The old.fashioned
gospel that tells man he is thoroughly
bad and under the power of the devil,
" that drags out the very hidden things OF
iniquity to the light of the great iudg.
"ment throne, that denounces sin with
"out mercy, and warns men of eternal
wrath to come, unless they repent and
g believe in the only Savior the gospel
"whose goodness does not consist in the
suppression of all but sweet sounds of
s. love, but in the plain straightforward
ceaseless announcement of the whole
truth the gospel of a crucified Savior
"who shed real blood to save men from a
:" real guilt and real danger of real
hell, and who lives again to give real
pardon to the really penitent, real de-
iverance from the guilt and power and
pollution and the fall of sin to all who
really give up to Him whole heart
and trust Him with a perfect truth
" such is the gospel of the Salvation
Army" There is no mistake about the
plainness OF this, and all the methods of
the Army are well calculated to give to its
vigorous, robust, emphatically non-intel.
lectual work, the attraction and fascination
of sensationalism. 1t is advertised in the
most adroit and taking ways. Brass bands,
PROFESSIONS, queer and grotesque cos
tunes and devices, allure the lower classes
to the halls where the services are held.
The preachers are chosen for their orig.
inality as much as possible. They are very
primitive in their language. They seek to
catch their audiences by homely and often
vulgar illustrations. They sing hymns
and songs which are often singularly pro.
fame in their references. Here is a speci-
men from one which Miss Cobbe heard
sung:
"EHja Jolly old man,
Aud was carried up to heaven in fiery van"
And it had chorus which ran thus:
" Let every one be Jolly old man,
And be carried up to heaven in a fiery van"
The same reaching after the sensational
is responsible for the publication of a
Hailelujah Galop," played by one of the
Salvation Army bands, and for such titles
of articles in the Var Cry as Jumbo and
"Jesus." And of course there is danger
In this tendency. An organization which
sets out to feed the people with such
highly-spiced meats will be compelled to
increase the havoring continually, and pro.
ceeding in the present direction it cannot
go much further without DESTROYING all
that is reverential in the popular mind
and converting the religion it breaches into
complete burlesque. Nevertheless it is
admitted by Church of England clergymer
that the Salvation Army has succeeded in
reac hing and influencing classes which the
Church herself has never been able to GET
at and it is also said that in several cities
the very worst classes have been apparently
redeemed, and made at least to behave
themselves better than they ever did be.
fore. There is one of the Army methods
| which is no doubt very effective Every
new convert is at once put to work. Thus
his enthusiasm is enlisted and sustained,
and since be is required to reuounce some
bad habit, such as drinking or smoking,
he acquires that abnormal frame of mind
which is perhaps the best calculated to
carry on this kind of work with, The in.
fiuence already yerted by the Army is IN
deniable. 1t is controlled by General "
Booth in very arbitrary way. Indeed
its constitution has been compared to that
of the Society of Jesus, which it resembles
in several particulars. The probability
that the Salvation Army will become
a permanent institution, or that it
will make lasting impression upon
even the lower orders, is very small. In
the first place it occupies wholly un-
tenable position in regard to doctrine.
The time has come when even the lower
orders understand something about the
new lights of criticism and science, and when
they are capable of asking questions and
entertaining doubts which cannot be met
in General Booths way. This fact
alone would secure the disruption of the
organization before long, but its sensa-
tional methods constitute still more de.
structive agency. 1t has thus far en-
ployed those methods to attract hearers.
but its leaders do not seem to realize that
it may be very difficult to determine how
much OF the popularity OF the Army is due
to its seasatiouslism, and how much to
the matter of its message. An organiza.
ton which sings comic hymns, and
| delivers comic sermons, must obviously be
indebted very greatly to the grotesque ele.
ment in its instrumentalities for the interest
it creates. But this kind of attraction is
incompatible with any enduring religion:
conversion, and in the end is calculated te
bring religion into contemp. even among
those lower classes which have seemed the
most affected by the work of the Army
There is no doubt OF the enthusiasm and
sincerity OF the leaders of the Army. There
is 10 doubt thas it has done some good
Bnt it seems equally certain that it ha,
done great deal of mischief also, and
that in the nature of things it cannot be a
lasting agency for the dissemination of re.
ligious belief.