第121章 A PRACTICAL CONCLUSION.(5)

and Bandsman 23,069Number of Scribes and Office Employes 471Average weekly reception of telegrams,600 and letters,5,400at the London Headquarters Sum raised annually from all sources by the Army #750,000Balance Sheets,duly audited by chartered accountants,are issued annually in connection with the International Headquarters.

See the Annual Report of 1889--"Apostolic Warfare."Balance Sheets are also produced quarterly at every Corps in the world,audited and signed by the Local Officers.Divisional Balance Sheets issued monthly and audited by a Special Department at Headquarters.

Duly and independently audited Balance Sheets are also issued annually from every Territorial Headquarters.

THE AUXILIARY LEAGUE.

1.--Of persons who,without necessarily endorsing or approving of every single method used by thee Salvation Army,are sufficiently in sympathy with its great work of reclaiming drunkards,rescuing the fallen--in a word,saving the lost--as to give it their PRAYERS,INFLUENCE,AND MONEY.

2.--Of persons who,although seeing eye to eye with the Army,yet are unable to join it,owing to being actively engaged in the work of their own denominations,or by reason of bad health or other infirmities,which forbid their taking any active part in Christian work.

Persons are enrolled either as Subscribing or Collecting Auxiliaries.

The League comprises persons of influence and position,members of nearly all denominations,and many ministers.

PAMPHLETS.--Auxiliaries will always be supplied gratis with copies of our Annual Report and Balance Sheet and other pamphlets for distribution on application to Headquarters.Some of our Auxiliaries have materially helped us in this way by distributing our literature at the seaside and elsewhere,and by making arrangements for the regular supply of waiting rooms,hydropathics,and hotels,thus helping to dispel the prejudice under which many persons unacquainted with the Army are found to labour.

"All The World"posted free regularly each month to Auxiliaries.

For further information,and for full particulars of the work of The Salvation Army,apply personally or by letter to GENERAL BOOTH,.

or to the Financial Secretary at International Headquarters,101,Queen Victoria St.,London,E.C.,to whom also contributions should be sent.

Cheques and Postal Orders crossed "City Bank."THE SALVATION ARMY:A SKETCH.

BY AN OFFICER OF SEVENTEEN YEARS'STANDING.What is the Salvation Army?

It is an Organisation existing to effect a radical revolution in the spiritual condition of the enormous majority of the people of all lands.Its aim is to produce a change not only in the opinions,feelings,and principles of these vast populations,but to alter the whole course of their lives,so that instead of spending their time in frivolity and pleasure-seeking,if not in the grossest forms of vice,they shall spend it in the service of their generation and in the worship of God.So far it has mainly operated in professedly Christian countries,where the overwhelming majority of the people have ceased,publicly,at any rate,to worship Jesus Christ,or to submit themselves in any way to His authority.To what extent has the Army succeeded?

Its flag is now flying in 34countries or colonies,where under the leadership of nearly 10,000men and women,whose lives are entirely given up to the work,it is holding some 49,800religious meetings every week,attended by millions of persons,who ten years ago would have laughed at the idea of praying.

And these operations are but the means for further extension,as will be seen,especially when it is remembered that the Army has its 27weekly newspapers,of which no less than 31,000,000copies are sold in the streets,public houses,and popular resorts of the godless majority.From its,ranks it is therefore certain that an ever-increasing multitude of men and women must eventually be won.

That all this has not amounted to the creation of a mere passing gust of feeling,may best be demonstrated perhaps from the fact that the Army has accumulated no less than #775,000worth of property,pays rentals amounting to #220,000per annum for its meeting places,and has a total income from all sources of three-quarters of a million per annum.Now consider from whence all this has sprung.

It is only twenty-five years since the author of this volume stood absolutely alone in the East of London,to endeavour to Christianise its irreligious multitudes,without the remotest conception in his own mind of the possibility of any such Organisation being created.

Consider,moreover,through what opposition the Salvation Army has ever had to make its way.

In each country it has to face universal prejudice,distrust,and contempt,and often stronger antipathy still.This opposition has generally found expression in systematic,Governmental,and Police restriction,followed in too many cases by imprisonment,and by the condemnatory outpourings of Bishops,Clergy,Pressmen and others,naturally followed in too many instances by the oaths and curses,the blows and insults of the populace.Through all this,in country after country,the Army makes its way to the position of universal respect,that respect,at any rate,which is shown to those who have conquered.And of what material has this conquering host been made?

Wherever the Army goes it gathers into its meetings,in the first instance,a crowd of the most debased,brutal,blasphemous elements that can be found who,if permitted,interrupt the services,and if they see the slightest sign of police tolerance for their misconduct,frequently fall upon the Army officers or their property with violence.Yet a couple of Officers face such an audience with the absolute certainty of recruiting out of it an Army Corps.