Darkest India / A Supplement to General Booth's "In Darkest England, and the Way Out"

by Frederick St. George De Lautour Booth-Tucker

The Book of the year.

I do not think I say too much when I say it will not be the attitude ten per cent. after they have read from cover to cover the most remarkable volume that has been issued from the press this year.

A UNIQUE BOOK.

It is a book that stands by itself. In one sense it may be said that there is nothing new in it. That many men are miserable, that it is the duty of all calling themselves by the name of Christian, to do their utmost to save their perishing brethren, and that if they set about the task in earnest, certain well-known methods will have to be resorted to; all this is familiar enough. Neither can it be said that the spirit of exalted enthusiasm which breathes in every page of the book is one appears for the first time in the writings of General Booth. It is on the contrary the abiding evidence of the presence of the Divine Spirit in men, which has never failed in this world since "the first man stood God conquered, with his face to heaven upturned." But the unique character of the book arises from the combination of all these elements, with others which have never hitherto been united even within the covers of a single volume. There is a buoyant enthusiasm in every page, a sanguine optimism at which the youngest among us might marvel, combined with a familiar acquaintance with the saddest and darkest phenomena of existence. The book deals with problems which of all others are most calculated to appal, and overwhelm the minds with the sense of desolation and despair, yet it is instinct throughout with a joyous hope and glowing confidence. General Booth, face to face with the devil, still believes in God.

A MIRACLE OF THE BURNING BUSH.

Another distinctive feature of the book is the extent to which it combines the shrewdest and most practical business capacity with the most exalted religious enthusiasm. The fanatic is usually regarded as somewhat of a fool; no one can read this book through and think that General Booth has the least deficiency in practical capacity, in shrewd common sense and enormous knowledge of men. From one point of view it is easy to be a saint, and it is easy to be a man of the world; the difficulty is to combine the two qualities, the cunning of the serpent with the innocence of the dove. There is nothing of the naive and guileless innocence of a cloistered virtue in the book, but though the serpent is very cunning his wiliness and craftiness coexist with a simple enthusiasm of humanity which is very marvellous to behold. When we read General Booth's expressions of confidence in the salvability of mankind and note the intrepid audacity with which he sallies forth like another David to attack the huge Goliath who threatens the hosts of our modern Israel, and remember that he is no mere shepherd boy fresh from the fold, but one who for forty years of his life has lived and laboured in an atmosphere saturated with emanations from every form of human vice and wretchedness, then we feel somewhat as did Moses when he stood before the burning bush, "and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed."

THOMAS CARLYLE REDIVIVUS.

It is impossible not to be impressed by the parallel and at the same time by the contrast between General Booth's book and the latter day prophecies of Mr. Carlyle. For forty years and more Mr. Carlyle prophesied unto the men of his generation, proclaiming in accents of deep earnestness, tinged, however, by a bitter despair, what should be done if we were not utterly to perish. I remember the bitterness with which he told me, while the shadows of the dark valley were gathering round him, that when he wrote his whole soul out in "Latter Day Pamphlets," and delivered to the public that which he believed to be the very truth and inner secret of all things, his message was flouted, and "it was currently reported," said he, with grim resentfulness "it was currently reported that I had written them under the influence of too much whiskey." Now, however, another prophet has arisen with practically the same gospel, but with oh, how different a setting! In Mr. Carlyle's books, his prophetic message shines out lurid as from the background of thunder-cloud amid the gloom as of an eclipse heralded by portents of ruin and decay. Here "In Darkest England and the Way Out" there is a brightness and a gladness as of a May day sunrise. Infinite hope bubbles up in every page, and in every chapter there is a calm confidence which comes from the experience of one who in sixty years of troubled life can say with full assurance "I know in whom I have believed." That is not the only contrast between the two. Mr. Carlyle as befitted the philosopher in his study, contented himself with writing in large characters of livid fire, "This is the way, walk ye in it;" but the generation scoffed and walked otherwhere. General Booth, equally with Mr. Carlyle writes up in characters so plain that the way-faring man, though a fool, cannot help reading it, "This is the way, walk ye in it." But he does more. He himself offers to lead the van, "This is the way," he declares, "I will lead you along it, follow me!"

CATHOLICITY—SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS.

Another distinctive characteristic of this book is its extraordinary catholicity. In this respect I know no book like it that has appeared in our time. While declaring with passionate conviction the truth and necessity of the gospel which the Salvation Army preaches, there is not one word of intolerance from the first page to the last. It is easy to be broad when there is no intensity of conviction. The liberality of indifference is one of the most familiar phenomena of the day. But General Booth is broad without being shallow, and his liberalism certainly cannot be attributed to indifference! He is as earnest as John the Baptist, for now and then the aboriginal preacher reappears crying aloud, Jonah-like, messages calling men to flee from the wrath to come. But no broad churchman of our time, from Dean Stanley downwards, could display a more catholic spirit to all fellow workers in the great harvest field, which is white unto the harvest, but where the labourers are so few. This spirit he displays not only in the religious field, but what is still more remarkable, he carries it into the domain of social experiment. The old intolerance and fierce hatred which raged in the churches at many great crises in the history of the world is with us still, but it is no longer in religious dress. The rival sects of socialists hate each other and contend with each other with a savagery which recalls the worst days of the early church. Every man has got his own favourite short cut to Utopia and he damns all those who do not work therein with the unhesitating assurance of an Athanasius. Hence catholicity is much more needed and much more rarely found in the domain of social economics than in that of religious polemices. General Booth as befits a practical man is supremely indifferent to any particular fad, and constructs his scheme on the principle of selecting every proposal which seems to have stuff in it, or is calculated to do any good to suffering humanity. The socialist, the individualist, the political economist, the advocate of emigration, and all social reformers will find what is best in their own particular schemes incorporated in General Booth's schemes. He claims no originality, he disclaims all prejudice even in favour of his own scheme. His suggestions, he says, seem for the moment the most practicable, but he is ready, he tells us with uncompromising frankness, to abandon them to-morrow if any one can show him a better way.