第102章 CAN IT BE DONE,AND HOW?(1)

SECTION 1.--THE CREDENTIALS OF THE SALVATION ARMY.

Can this great work be done?I believe it can.And I believe that it can be done by the Salvation Army,because it has ready to hand an organisation of men and women,numerous enough and zealous enough to grapple with the enormous undertaking.The work may prove beyond our powers.But this is not so manifest as to preclude us from wishing to make the attempt.That in itself is a qualification which is shared by no other organisation--at present.If we can do it we have the field entirely to ourselves.The wealthy churches show no inclination to compete for the onerous privilege of making the experiment in this definite and practical form.Whether we have the power or not,we have,at least,the will,the ambition to do this great thing for the sake of our brethren,and therein lies our first credential for being entrusted with the enterprise.

The second credential is the fact that,while using all material means,our reliance is on the co-working power of God.We keep our powder dry,but we trust in Jehovah.We go not forth in our own strength to this battle,our dependence is upon Him who can influence the heart of man.There is no doubt that the most satisfactory method of raising a man must be to effect such a change in his views and feelings that he shall voluntarily abandon his evil ways,give himself to industry and goodness in the midst of the very temptations and companionships that before led him astray,and live a Christian life,an example in himself of what can be done by the power of God in the very face of the most impossible circumstances.

But herein lies the great difficulty again and again referred to,men have not that force of character which will constrain them to avail themselves of the methods of deliverance.Now our Scheme is based on the necessity of helping such.

Our third credential is the fact that we have already out of practically nothing achieved so great a measure of success that we think we may reasonably be entrusted with this further duty.

The ordinary operations of the Army have already effected most wonderful changes in the conditions of the poorest and worst.

Multitudes of slaves of vice in every form have been delivered not only from these habits,but from the destitution and misery which they even produce.Instances have been given.Any number more can be produced.

Our experience,which has been almost world-wide,has ever shown that not only does the criminal become honest,the drunkard sober,the harlot chaste,but that poverty of the most abject and helpless type vanishes away.Our fourth credential is that our Organisation alone of England's religious bodies is founded upon the principle of implicit obedience.

For Discipline I can answer.The Salvation Army,largely recruited from among the poorest of the poor,is often reproached by its enemies on account of the severity of its rule.It is the only religious body founded in our time that is based upon the principle of voluntary subjection to an absolute authority.No one is bound to remain in the Army a day longer than he pleases.While he remains there he is bound by the conditions of the Service.The first condition of that Service is implicit,unquestioning obedience.The Salvationist is taught to obey as is the soldier on the field of battle.

From the time when the Salvation Army began to acquire strength and to grow from the grain of mustard seed until now,when its branches overshadow the whole earth,we have been constantly warned against the evils which this autocratic system would entail.Especially were we told that in a democratic age the people would never stand the establishment of what was described as a spiritual despotism.

It was contrary to the spirit of the times,it would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the masses to whom we appeal,and so forth and so forth.

But what has been the answer of accomplished facts to these predictions of theorists?Despite the alleged unpopularity of our discipline,perhaps because of the rigour of military authority upon which we have insisted,the Salvation Army has grown from year to year with a rapidity to which nothing in modern Christendom affords any parallel.

It is only twenty-five years since it was born.It is now the largest Home and Foreign Missionary Society in the Protestant world.We have nearly 10,000officers under our orders,a number increasing every day,every one of whom has taken service on the express condition that he or she will obey without questioning or gainsaying the orders from Headquarters.Of these,4,600are in Great Britain.The greatest number outside these islands,in any one country,are in the American Republic,where we have 1,018officers,and democratic Australia,where we have 800.

Nor is the submission to our discipline a mere paper loyalty.

These officers are in the field,constantly exposed to privation and ill-treatment of all kinds.A telegram from me will send any of them to the uttermost parts of the earth,will transfer them from the Slums of London to San Francisco,or despatch them to assist in opening missions in Holland,Zululand,Sweden,or South America.So far from resenting the exercise of authority,the Salvation Army rejoices to recognise it as one great secret of its success,a pillar of strength upon which all its soldiers can rely,a principle which stamps it as being different from all other religious organisations founded in our day.

With ten thousand officers,trained to obey,and trained equally to command,I do not feel that the organisation even of the disorganised,sweated,hopeless,drink-sodden denizens of darkest England is impossible.It is possible,because it has already been accomplished in the case of thousands who,before they were saved,were even such as those whose evil lot we are now attempting to deal with.

Our fifth credential is the extent and universality of the Army.