Evening star., 1935-06-23
GODS SOLDIER: GEN. WILLIAM


hundred pages each, cost its
l. distinguished author, so he
tells US In the preface, more than six
years labor. BY its title 1t purports
to be q history Of William Booth, the
founder of the Salvation Army. Ac-
tually, 1t Is much more; it is a history
of the army itself, its early saints,
prosecutions, martyrdoms and tr1-
umphs, and, to some extent, Of the
England which brought 1t forth and
which despised 1t and then accepted
and honored 1t. And, since the re-
ligion Of the Salvationists was founded
on social needs, the book becomes a
religious-social document. But 1t Is
also an absorbing and moving account
of human endeavor and it must be
considered as such, first of all.
The early Salvation Army, Of course,
was Booth, and Booth was the army,
so that there is no real distinction be-
tween the histories Of man and move
ment. But the present work Is done
on q vast and comprehensive scale,
and so includes many personalities
besides the general. The early saints
of the army were a strange and mot
lev crew--thoSe blood-washed Cor
nishmen, Hallelujah Fiddlers, Saved
Railway Guards, Gods Chimney
sweeps, and so on-like most authen-
tic saints of history elected for other
reasons than mention OF their fam
lilies in the peerage or the social regis
ter; assembled together by so skilled a
writer as st. John Ervine, they make
fascinating and romantic reading.
They throng his pages with the hVelier
attributes of sanctifcation, with gatety
and sweetness, and the capacity Tor
appallingly realistic action ana
thought. But back of them all looms
the gigantic figure Of Booth, for a
history of the Salvation Army Is as
much q history of its founder as an
account of the early years OF the
Jesuits would needs be one Of st. 1gna-
titus Loyola. Indeed, the comparison
Is a favorite one with the author, who
repeats it again and again.
To be sure, Booth as a person and
not as a directing force does not
emerge very clearly from the work
until its latter part. Excerpts from
his correspondence are the chief per-
sonal records of the earlier years OF
his endeavor, and his letters are
usually brief and limited to accounts
of his beloved meetings" Even the
letters to his fancee partake Of this
character to great degree, their ten
derest passages are expressive OF the
Joy it will be to have her working with
him In the vineyard. But toward the
end Of the book, when the army has
attained honor and success, Booth
seemed to feel, with ViSionary's
prescience, the imminence of the loss
of aggressive virtue from the corps
whose life breath had been opposition.
Then, suddenly, there appears an
3rresistibly moving picture Of the aged
warrior, puzzled that the work" could
now be directed from a desk, ranging
up and down the land, seeking to find
once more the old combat, longing in
his heart to lock horns again with
satan, but discovering, to his secret
dismay, that, In the day of fulhllment,
even the devil had turned respectable.
These passages, set down very simply,
even journalistically, have quality
that is profoundly touching. We
know Booth through them, if we did
not know him earlier.
He had begun his campaign against
the willy adversary, Mr.. Ervine tells us,
quite alone. One dismal London night
he took his stand outside a public
house called the Blind Beggar on the
mile end waste, and there he solitarily
banged on his Bible and waved an
umbrella in the hope of attracting
converts. His immediate reward was
to be pelted with garbage.
Years later Booth was entertained
by most of the reigning monarchs, the
great statesmen, and by churchmen Of
all denominations. He was made a
doctor by Oxford University-he who
dropped about half his aitches" and
was the son Of an illiterate trades
man and domestic servant. But, the
present work tells us, it was not for
honors that he had striven. Indeed,
this biography does not treat Of Booth
as a great organizer, brilliant pub
licity genius or mover for q more
active social conscience, all of which
roles he undoubtedly filled. 1t treats
Of him instead as great saint, the
word being used to describe his rela-
tion and function toward society. He
had, says st. John Ervine, "a thirst
for souls" His conquering purpose
was to save the unfortunate from he'll.
1t was not to engage in social service.
1t was to see the sinner washed in
the blood Of the lamb. To satisfy this
thirst" Booth built up a structure
that, in his lifetime, reached from
Scotland to Australia and from India
to California, with absolute authority
vested in himself. No wonder the
appreciation Of peers seemed to him
incidental. He trusted God, and he
trusted himself. Mr.. Ervine allows
us to doubt that any other PERSONAL
tiles ever assumed any great reality
for him.
<AS oOOOll dofdHCCQ, 50 ClQ MS aTmy.
From slander and martyrdom he led
1t on to prosperity and success. He
began his preaching about l846, at
the age Of II, and the army, as such,
was not decreed until about 1880, but
the years between were q growth Of
the idea. The army was their natural
outcome. It was not sudden crystal
hzation. Mr.. Ervine, indeed, goes back
beyond Booths day, into the eight
eenth century, and traces the likeness
between the army and its founder and
Methodism and John Wesley. The
material Is handled In such q way
that The England or the various Eng.
lands Of the years appear In vivid pic
lures. We are aware Of the Industrial
1zatton process, we see the mushroom
factory towns, the tenements, The gin
palaces, the strictly middle-class re-
ligion, the disappearing priests and
parsons, and the starved and brutalized
workers, whose first hearty response to
the Salvationists was to toss them into
horseponds and drive packs Of hounds