"I was told that ninety-five in every hundred of the population of our larger towns and cities never crossed the threshold of any place of worship, and I thought, 'Cannot something be done to reach these people with the Gospel?' Fifteen years ago I thus fell in love with the great crowds of people who seemed to be out of the pale of all Christian Churches. It seemed to me that if we could get them to think about Hell they would be certain to want to turn from it. If we could get them to think about Heaven they would want to go there. If we could get them to think about Christ they would want to rush to His open arms.
"I resolved to try, and 'The Salvation Army' is the outcome of that resolution. In August, 1877, we had 26 Stations. We have now, in 1880, 162. In 1877, we had 35 Evangelists. We have now 285 Evangelists, or, as we now call them, Officers, and in many instances they have the largest audiences in the towns where they are at work.
"We have got all those Officers without any promise or guarantee of salary, and without any assurance that when they reach the railway station to which they book they will find anybody in the town to sympathise with them. The bulk would cheerfully and gladly go anywhere.
"We have got, I think, an improvement upon John Wesley's penny a week and shilling a quarter, by way of financial support from our Converts. We say to them, 'You used to give three or four shillings a week for beer and tobacco before you were converted, and we shall not be content with a penny a week and a shilling a quarter. Give as the Lord has prospered you, and down with the money.'" (Loud laughter.) "When I asked one of my Officers the other day at a Meeting held after a tea, for which the people had paid a shilling each, to announce the collection, the woman-Captain, to my astonishment, simply said, 'Now, friends, go into the collection. Whack it into the baskets.' The whole audience was evidently fond of her, and they very heartily responded.
"If asked to explain our methods, I would say: Firstly, we do not fish in other people's waters, or try to set up a rival sect. Out of the gutters we pick up our Converts, and if there be one man worse than another our Officers rejoice the most over the case of that man.
"When a man gets saved, no matter how low he is, he rises immediately. His wife gets his coat from the pawn-shop, and if she cannot get him a shirt she buys him a paper front, and he gets his head up, and is soon unable to see the hole of the pit from which he has been digged, and would like to convert our rough concern into a chapel, and make things respectable. That is not our plan. We are moral scavengers, netting the very sewers. We want all we can get, but we want the lowest of the low.
"My heart has gone out much after Ireland of late, and ten weeks ago I sent out there a little woman who had been much blessed, and four of her Converts. They landed at Belfast at two o'clock in the morning. They did not know a soul. Our pioneer (contrary to our usual customs) had taken them a lodging. We had said to her, 'Rest yourselves till Sunday morning'; but she was not content with this. After a wash, a cup of tea, and a little sleep, they turned out, found a Christian gentleman who lent them a little hall, had it crowded at once, and now, though only ten weeks have passed away, we have Stations in four other towns, two in Belfast, and two others are getting ready for opening. Blessed results have followed. The people, we are told, come in crowds--they are very poor--they sit and listen and weep, rush out to the Penitent-Form, and many are saved.
"Now, Mr. President, I think I may say that it is a matter for great thankfulness to God that there is a way--a simple, ready way--a cheap way, to get at the masses of the people.
"Secondly. We get at these people by adapting our measures. There is a most bitter prejudice, amongst the lower classes, against churches and chapels. I am sorry for this; I did not create it, but it is the fact. They will not go into a church or chapel; but they will go into a theatre or warehouse, and therefore we use these places. In one of our villages we use the pawnshop, and they gave it the name of 'The Salvation Pawnshop,' and many souls were saved there. Let me say that I am not the inventor of all the strange terms that are used in The Army. I did not invent the term 'Hallelujah Lassies.' When I first heard of it I was somewhat shocked; but telegram after telegram brought me word that no buildings would contain the people who came to hear the Hallelujah Lassies. Rough, uncouth fellows liked the term. One had a lassie at home, another went to hear them because he used to call his wife 'Lassie' before he was married. My end was gained, and I was satisfied.
"Thirdly. We set the Converts to work." (Hear, hear.) "As soon as a man gets saved we put him up to say so, and in this testimony lies much of the power of our work. One of our lassies was holding a Meeting in a large town the other day when a conceited fellow came up to her saying, 'What does an ignorant girl like you know about religion? I know more than you do. I can say the Lord's Prayer in Latin.' 'Oh, but,' she replied, 'I can say more than that. I can say the Lord has saved my soul in English.' (Laughter and cheers.)
"Lastly. We succeed by dint of hard work. I tell my people that hard work and Holiness will succeed anywhere."
Of course, every day's march forward brought with it lessons that were learned and utilised. Not long could The General continue to interview Candidates himself, and then forms of application were evolved. The Candidate must have every opportunity to understand what would be required of him, and to express his agreement or otherwise with the teachings and principles of The Army. It was made clear to him or her that, whilst called upon to offer up a life-long service to this work for Christ's sake, he must expect no guarantee of salary whatever, and no engagement even to continue to employ him, should he at any time cease to act up to his promises, or show himself to be inefficient in the work.
As for the Soldiers, it was soon required of them that they should sign "Articles of War" before they could be enrolled. These Articles formed so simple and clear an expression of The Army's teachings and system, that the most illiterate in every land could at once take in their practical effect.
The Articles simply required every one to give up the use of intoxicants; to keep from any resorts, habits, company, or language that would be harmful; and to devote all the leisure time, spare energy and money to the War.
As time went on The General published Orders and Regulations for Soldiers, a booklet of 164 pages, and perhaps as complete a handbook for the direction of every department of life, public and private, as was ever written; Orders and Regulations for Field Officers, containing 626 pages of the minutest directions for every branch of the Work; and Orders and Regulation's for Staff Officers, the most extraordinary directory for the management of missionaries and missionary affairs that could well be packed in 357 pages. At later dates he issued Orders and Regulations for Territorial Commissioners and Chief Secretaries, containing 176 pages, and Orders and Regulation's for Social Officers, the latter a complete explanation of his thoughts and wishes for the conduct of every form of effort for the elevation of the homeless and workless and fallen; and Orders and Regulations for Local Officers, containing precise details as to the duties of all the various non-commissioned or lay Officers, whether engaged in work for old or young. Smaller handbooks of Orders and Regulations for Bands and Songster Brigades, and for almost every other class of agents were also issued from time to time.
Thus, step by step, The General not merely led those who gave themselves up to follow him in the ever-extending War; but furnished them with such simple and clear directions in print as would enable them at any distance from him to study his thoughts, principles, and practices, and sock God's help to do for the people around them all that had been shown to be possible elsewhere.
With such a complete code of instructions there naturally arose a system of reporting and inspection which enabled The General to ascertain, with remarkable accuracy, how far his wishes were being carried out, or neglected, by any of his followers. He sometimes said, "I would like, if I could, to get a return from every man and every woman in The Army as to what they do for God and their fellow-men every day." It soon became impossible, of course, for any one person to examine the returns which were furnished by the Corps; but records were kept, and, as the work increased, Divisional and Provincial Officers were appointed, with particular responsibility for the Work in their areas; so that in even the most distant corners of the world, wherever there is a registered Salvationist, there is some Staff Officer to whom he must report what he is doing, and who is expected periodically to visit each Corps, see that the reports made are accurate, and that the work is not merely being done "somehow," but done as it ought to be, in the Master's Spirit of Love and Hope for the vilest. And all this without the absolute promise of a penny reward to any one! In fact, from the first, The General taught his Officers that they must try to raise all expenses of the work in their Commands within the borders of the districts in which they were operating. He has always regarded it as a proper test of the value of work done that those who see it are willing to pay as much as they can towards its continuance. And, to this day, The Army's resources consist not so much in large gifts from outsiders as of the pence of those who take part in or attend its services.
Regulations are made, from time to time, as to the amount any Officer may draw for himself, according to the cost of living where he is at work, though a considerable number do not regularly receive the full amount. So utterly, indeed, above any such consideration have our Officers, everywhere, proved themselves to be that, to guard against needless sacrifice of health and life, it has been necessary to fix, also, in each country, a minimum allowance, which the Staff Officers must see that the Field Officers receive. Knowing, as I do, that many devoted Officers have, for months together, been down at the minimum level of six shillings per week, in little places where we have no wealthy friends to help a Corps into greater prosperity, I feel it safe to say that never was there a religious society raised and led to victory with so much reliance upon Divine Grace to keep its workers in a perfectly unselfish and happy condition.
Space forbids any description of the heroic labours by which The General and Mrs. Booth, travelling, holding Meetings, and corresponding, managed to extend The Army's work throughout Great Britain; so that before its name had been adopted ten years, it had made itself loved or dreaded in many parts.
At the earliest possible date in The Army's history, The General took steps to get its constitution and rights so legally established that it should be impossible for any one, after his death, to wrest from it or turn to other purposes any of the property which had been acquired for its use by a Deed Poll enrolled in the High Court of Chancery of England, August 7, 1878. The construction, aims and practices of The Army are so defined that its identity can never be disputed. Another Deed Poll, enrolled January 30, 1891, similarly safeguarded The Army's Social Work, so that persons or corporations desiring to contribute only to the Social funds could make sure that they were doing so. Similar Deeds or other provisions are made in every other country where we are at work, containing such references to the British Deeds, that the absolute unity of The Army, and the entire subjection of every part of it to its one General is, in conformity with the laws of each country, secured for all time.