Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1912-09-12

We not that there is prince and a
great man fallen this day in Israel.
A noteworthy world event is the
passing of General William Booth Of
the Salvation Army at the advanced
age of 81 years-a death deplored by
all of the civilized nations. William
Booth sprang from the ranks of the
common people, but while his birth
was inconspicuous, he became one Of
the most famous men Of his day, and
has left the world universally re-
spected.
There is every reason to believe
that Booth as boy was nutured in a
markedly moral atmosphere and
Christian environment, for at the age
of fifteen he was active in religious
labors In that old land where ne
first saw the light it is the custom to
use laymen as preachers, among what
are termed the non-conformist bodies,
or to use a more recent term-the
Free churches. Any youth exhibiting
talents for public speech upon sacred
themes is Immediately picked out by
ministerial authorities, placed upon
what is known as the plan, and sent
forth tc preach upon the Sabbath to
country congregations. Dr. Cadman,
who is pastor of the second most
commanding church in the Congrega-
tional body in this country, had hia
beginnings as lay preacher in York
shire, England.
Young Booth took to preaching the
gospel easily and naturally and pass
ed quite readily into the ranks of the
regular ministry. But events that
soon transpired showed that the
young minister was what We would
designate in the American parlance
of today an insurgent. The ordinary
round of journalistic church service
was neither sufficient nor satisfactory
to his ardent temperament. lie,
therefore, requested that he be set
apart for special evangelism within
the pale of the denomination with
which he WIS connected; this desire
was perempt orily refused by confer
ence officialdom. Being turned down
upon a second asking, he withdrew
from the ministry and membership OF
the communion and started a mission
of his own in London
There is somewhat Of a parallel be-
tween Booth and those other religious
progressives Martin Luther, John
Knox and John Wesley. The revolt
from a corrupt Roman Catholicism,
from staitl Presbyterianism, and
from ritualistic Argicanism stands
side by side with the protest against
an unyielding and stilted Wesleyan
ISM There was no sufficient reason
for the enforced exit Of the flaming
Booth from the regulars if the ecclesi-
astical stand-patters had had insight
and foresight as this secessiOnist I'M
doubtedly had. The unWavering LII
Their, the resolute Knox, the inVincible
Wesley, and the logically enthusiastic
Booth are in the same class, and their
names will go down in history among
Shining more and more unto the per-
feet day.
And what a scene of operations to
this gospel glowing man, did London
present. The gospel Of redemption
and the fire of the Holy Spirit were
fitting emblems to indicate that pro-
paganda of power that then began
against Satan in one Of his most for
midable entertainments. Such vile
and deplorable conditions necessitated
the adoption Of extraordinary and
militant methods. Armies galore had
marched for centuries thru those his
tOric streets, with plummets Wav-
ing, swords clanking, drums beating
and trumpets blaring, but here was
another, a nobler, a lOftier, a suhliu-
er, one more compelling and more ap-
pealing-an army of the living God,
the Salvation Army Beneath the
shadows OF the tower let the banners
now wave, let the bands now play,
and let the soldiers now shout for
King Emmanuel, for the battle-cry OF
Jehovah is among these troops and
the souls of Spirit-hlled men are
marching on to spiritual victory in the
midst OF an Ubiquitous and complex
civilization.
This religious leader OF 1878 locked
= upon no one as common. The humblest
the most derraved, the most degraded