The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1890-12-12
BODIES AND SOULS.

Gen. Booths Plan for Rejuvenatfng the
Outcasts of London.
I say get the man right and he will
put his circumstances and his reputation
right, and in this new departure am
not departing one iota from that. But
the difficulty is in getting men in such
a condition as / have described to come
to God. They are like people at the up
per windows Of q building on fire. You
hold out sheet or net underneath and
call to them to leap, but they are afraid,
they have not nerve enough, and they
fall back into the fire. These people
have not got nerve; they are preoccu-
pied; the man wants some dinner; the
woman is thinking about her hungry
children; the man is in the turmoil Of
crime, and the police are after him; and
if you talk to him about heaven and
hell, he says, "This is hell; how can I
get out of this help He has no thought
to give to this subject OF religion, and
he goes on and perishes. Therefore, If
you don't care for their bodies, and it is
only their souls you are after, say get
at their souls through their circum-
stances.
How do we propose to help thems T
propose to have number of harbors Of
refuge in this dark sea into which they
can be brought by agents who shall go
out and persuade them to come in.
From these harbors, which propose to
have in every center of poverty and des-
titution, we shall send out our social
lifeboats. that will take up the hungry.
the harlot, the criminal, the drunkard-
the men and women who are ready to
sink. There are three planks in my plat
form. say to a man: 81 don't care
how bad you are. You may be without
friend in the world, without character.
I don't care how sunken, how desolate,
how devilish you are. You can come
into the harbor of refuge, but only on
two conditions. Two things you must
swear to-namely, that you are willing
to work and to obey orders. We shall
have all sorts of patience with you.
suppose that for man who has not
worked for twenty years even eight
hours a day will be too much at first.
Well, we will begin with less; we will
nurse him up to it; we will give him
plenty to eat and kind words; we will
wash him well and titivate him up a
bit. If he won't work we shall apply
the apostolic injunction to him and say,
neither shall he eat" People may ask,
"But how will you manage them?n Oh,
we will manage them. If you want to
know how it is done come and be a SOL
der in the army. We believe in gov
ernment and regulations, and you have
never known good government como
to the bad. Those who enter the refugees
will have to work for what they get.
/ spoke last week to seyenty-eight men
in our new workshops in Whitechapel
fashioned on this model. These men
were scooped up from the very sludge Of
mankind-beg casuals, thieves
some Of them have spent twenty, thirty,
forty years in prison there they were.
I looked at them. Everybody was at
work and cheerful. They sung nearly
as well as you people have done here to-
night; they sung a great deal better than
many of you in the reserved seats
[laughterl. They also prayed; they fell
on their knees, and cried to God for
blessings on themselves and those about
them. There was not one Of them that
had not got his foot on the ladder-it
may have been on the lowest step
which led upward. From the City
refuge many will go away to their
friends and relatives. Mothers will
take their prodigals home to lead new
lives; masters will send for their old
workmen; poor wives who had been lost
a. h,,z H. l.
bands reclaimed will go back to their
wives and children.-Gen. Booth, of the
Salvation Army.