Authoritative Life of General William Booth — Tributes, Part 1

Tributes The great tribute The General received by the vast assemblies in every country at his Funeral and Memorial services, said far more than any words could have expressed of the extent to which he had become recognised everywhere as a true friend of all who were in need, and of the degree to which he had succeeded in prompting all his Officers and people to act up to that ideal.

The following, a small selection of the most prominent testimonies borne to his life by the Press of various countries, will give some idea of what was thought and felt by his contemporaries about him and his work:-- The Christian World, _August 22, 1912_ "No name is graven more deeply in the history of his time than that of William Booth, Founder and General of The Salvation Army, who passed to his rest on Tuesday night.

At sixteen, the Nottingham builder's son underwent an 'old-fashioned conversion,' and, as he told a representative of _The Christian World_, 'within six hours he was going in and out of the cottages in the back streets, preaching the Gospel that had saved himself.'

From that day he toiled terribly, and never more terribly than since his sixtieth year, after which the Social Scheme was launched, and The General undertook those evangelistic tours in which he traversed England again and again in every direction, and covered a great part of the Western world.

How he kept up is a miracle, for he was a frail-looking figure, and he ate next to nothing--a slice or two of toast or bread and butter or rice pudding and a roasted apple, were his meals for many years past.

It was his great heart, his invincible faith, his indomitable courage that kept him going.

"Plutarch would have put William Booth and John Wesley together in his 'Parallel Lives.'

Each man 'thought in continents.'

'The world is my parish,' said Wesley, and Methodism to-day covers the world.

So General Booth believed in world conquest for Christ, because he believed in Christ's all-conquering power, and he had the courage of his conviction.

He learnt much from Wesley, for he began as a Methodist.

He knew what can be done by thorough organisation, and what financial resources there are in the multiplication of small but cheerful givers.

Like Wesley, too, he combined the genius for great conceptions with the genius for practical detail, without which great conceptions soon vanish into thin air.

He was more masterful than Wesley.

When he broke away from the Methodist New Connexion, and founded the Christian Mission of which The Salvation Army was the evolution, he found that committees wasted their time in talk and were distracted in opinion.

He read lives of Napoleon, Wellington, and other great commanders, and came to the conclusion that a committee is an excellent thing to receive and carry out instructions from a masterful man who knows what he wants, but otherwise they are worthless.

He persuaded those of his colleagues who had unbounded belief in him, and whose sole concern was the progress of the Mission, to accept the military organisation with himself as Commander-in-Chief, and with his driving power and the inspiration of his heroic example, those Officers went to every part of Great Britain and to something like fifty different countries and 'did exploits.'

That system may work with a selfless Christian hero who is a born Cæsar or Napoleon.

The Salvation Army's severe testing time has now come, when it will be seen whether, after all, the more cautious Wellingtonian methods of Wesley laid firmer foundations.

"The secret of General Booth's personal force and commanding power was an open one.

To him there were no realities so demonstrable as the realities of the spiritual world--most of all, the reality of Christ's real personal presence and saving power to-day.

He found that unquestioning faith in Christ's saving power worked everywhere and under all conditions.

We differed from him on theological details, but we gladly recognise that scores of thousands of 'moral miracles,' in the shape of lives remade that were apparently shattered beyond repair and trodden in the mud of dissipation and bold habitual sinning, verified the faith.

The burglar who had been forty years in prison and penal servitude, the most shameless of Magdalens, the drinker and gambler brought down to the Embankment at midnight, greedy for a meal of soup and bread, the man or woman determined to end a state of despair and disgust with the world by suicide, these, under the influence of The Salvation Army, became 'new creations.'

But the same conviction, and the evidences of its miraculous Operation, captured a large number of men and women of the cultured and refined classes, who were either the victims of moral weakness, or who felt the challenge to service and sacrifice for the sake of others.

Kings, Queens, and Royal Princes and Princesses were glad to see General Booth, and gave their encouragement to his work, and it was fitting that, when King Edward died, a Salvation Army band should comfort the widowed lady by playing in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace her husband's favourite hymns.

"The Social Work was an inevitable outcome of the evangelistic work.

It had its dangers, and The Salvation Army has not escaped all of them without scathe.

But it was found that the difficulty with thousands of the Converts was that of giving them a chance to redeem their past, and to nurse them physically and morally till they were able to stand alone, in a position to take their places again in the ranks of decent and self-respecting citizenship.

Then there was the 'Submerged Tenth'--the human wreckage tossed hither and thither by the swirling currents of the social sea.

To safeguard the one class, and to save the other from themselves and their circumstances, the Social scheme was launched, and those who estimate its success by moral valuation rather than in terms of finance, will say that it has justified itself, though it never accomplished what The General fondly hoped.

"Now that his worn-out body lies awaiting burial, The General's personal worth and the worth of his work are frankly confessed even by those who were once his bitterest critics.

_The Times_ had a leader in which it said that he rose from obscurity to be known as the head of a vast organisation 'well known over all the world, and yielding to him an obedience scarcely less complete than that which the Catholic Church yields to the Roman Pontiff.'

We wish _The Times_ had followed _The Standard_ in dropping the invidious quotation marks from the title, General.

William Booth was a great leader of men in a world campaign of individual and social Salvation.

Why reserve the title only for men skilled in the art of wholesale human slaughter?"

The Times, _August 8, 1912_ "The death of General Booth, which we announce with great regret this morning, closes a strange career, one of the most remarkable that our age has seen, and will set the world meditating on that fervent, forceful character, and that keen, though, as some would say, narrow intelligence.

Born of unrecorded parentage, educated anyhow, he had raised himself from a position of friendless obscurity to be the head of a vast Organisation not confined to this country or to the British race, but well known over half the world, and yielding to him an obedience scarcely less complete than that which the Catholic Church yields to the Roman Pontiff.

The full memoir which we publish to-day shows how this Salvation Army grew up--the creation of one man, or rather of a pair of human beings, for the late Mrs. Booth was scarcely less important to its early development than was her husband.

Both of them belonged to the Wesleyan body, of which William Booth at the time of his marriage was a minister, though a very independent and insubordinate one; and deep ingrained in both was the belief which is a more essential part of the Wesleyan than of any other creed, the belief in conversion as an instantaneous change affecting the whole life.

Booth himself had been converted at fifteen, and at sixty he wrote of 'the hour, the place of this glorious transaction' as an undying memory.

Out of this idea of conversion, as not only the most powerful motive force in life, but as a force which was, so to speak, waiting to be applied to all, arose the whole Salvation Army Movement.

It was not, of course, in any sense a new idea.

Christians had been familiar with it in all ages, and both the New Testament and the history of the early saints supply instances in support of it.

But Booth was probably more affected by more recent evidence.

Imperfect as had been his training for the ministry, he doubtless learnt pretty thoroughly the history of Wesley and Whitefield, and of the astonishing early years of the Methodist movement.

In his own youth, too, Revivalism was an active force, and he himself had been strongly moved by an American missionary.

His originality lay in carrying down the doctrine not only to the highways and hedges, but to the slums, the homes of the very poor, the haunts of criminals and riff-raff; in getting hold of these people; in using the worst of them--'converted,' as he honestly believed--as a triumphant advertisement; and then in organising his followers into a vast Army, with himself as absolute Chief.

On the methods adopted nothing need be added to what is said in the memoir; they are familiar to all, though not so familiar as they were some twenty years ago.

"The root-idea of William Booth's religion, the object of his missionary work, was 'the saving of souls.'

Translated into other language, this means the establishment of a conviction in the minds of men, women, and children that they were reconciled to God, saved, and preserved to all eternity from the penalties of sin.

We do not propose to enter on the delicate ground of theological discussion, or to argue for or against the truth or value of such a conviction.

The interesting point, in relation to General Booth's ideas and personality, is to note how this belief is worked into the system of The Army in the official programme, fantastically called the Articles of War, which has to be signed by every Candidate for enrolment.

This curious document, which will greatly interest future social historians, consists of three parts--a creed, as definite as any taught by the Churches; a promise to abstain from drink, bad language, dishonesty, etc. ; and a solemn promise to obey the lawful orders of the Officers, and never on any consideration to oppose the interests of The Salvation Army.

The last part, the promissory part, is made much stricter in the case of Candidates for the position of Officer; these solemnly promise not only to obey The General, but to report any case they may observe in others of 'neglect or variation from his orders and directions.'

Membership of the Organisation thus depends on absolute obedience, and on a profession of faith in Salvation in the definite sense formulated in the Articles of War.

The two are inseparably conjoined.

When we reflect upon what human nature is, in the class from which so many of the members of The Army have been drawn, when we think how difficult it is to reconcile the hand-to-mouth existence of the casual labourer with any high standard of conduct, let alone of religion, General Booth's success, partial though it has been, is an astonishing fact.

It implies a prodigious strength of character, and a genius for seeing what would appeal to large numbers of humble folk.

"Will that success continue now that General Booth is dead?

Everywhere we hear that The Army is not bringing in Recruits as fast as of old.

Its novelty has worn off; its uniforms are no longer impressive; its street services, though they provoke no opposition, do not seem to attract the wastrel and the 'rough' as they did at first.

We can readily believe that the work goes on more or less as before; but the gatherings, we suspect, are mostly composed of those who have long frequented them and of a certain number of new members drawn rather from existing sects than from persons till now untouched by religion.

Then, with regard to the other side of The Army's work, the Social Schemes outlined in _In Darkest England_ have met with only moderate success, as all cool observers foretold in 1890. They have, at least, provided no panacea for poverty.

Probably Mr. Booth felt this during the last years of his life;

but he has been spared the sight of the still further decline of his projects, which to most of us seems inevitable.

Of course, some persons are more confident: they argue that Napoleon's system did not disappear after Waterloo, nor Wesley's system with the death of its founder, and that the Roman Catholic Church is as strong as ever, though Pope after Pope disappears.

That is true, but for the very reason that these systems were elaborate organisations, based on the facts of life.

The Code Napoleon and the Methodist Connexion were much too well adapted to human needs to disappear with their authors.

On the other hand, movements and systems which depend wholly upon one man do not often prove to be more than ephemeral.

But none would deny that there is much to be learnt from The Salvation Army and from the earnest, strenuous, and resourceful personality of the man who made it.

Let us hope that, if The Army as an Organisation should ultimately fade away, the great lesson of its even temporary success will not be forgotten: the lesson that any force which is to move mankind must regard man's nature as spiritual as well as material, and that the weak and humble, the poor and the 'submerged,' share in that double nature as much as those who spend their lives in the sunshine of worldly prosperity."

The Daily Chronicle, _August 21, 1912_ "To-day we have the mournful duty of chronicling the passing of William Booth, the Head of that vast Organisation, the Salvation Army.

The world has lost its greatest missionary evangelist, one of the supermen of the age.

Almost every land on the face of the globe knows this pioneer and his Army, The Army which has waged such long, determined, and successful battle against the world's ramparts of sin and woe.

Not one country, but fifty, will feel to-day a severe personal loss.

From Lapland to Honolulu heads will be bowed in sorrow at the news that that striking figure who has been responsible for so much of the religious progress of the world of to-day is no more.

"The stupendous crusade which he initiated had the very humblest beginnings.

It opened in the slummy purlieus of Nottingham, that city which gave to the world two of the greatest religious leaders of modern times--General Booth and Dr. Paton.

It has passed through periods of open enmity, opposition, criticism, but its Leader and his band of devoted helpers have never lost sight of their high aim.

They were engaged in 'war on the hosts that keep the underworld submerged,' and they have now long been justified by their unparalleled achievements.

The time of scorn and indifference passed, and General Booth lived to receive honour at the hands of kings and princes, and to have their support for his work.

"It is not given to every man who sets out with a great purpose to accomplish his aims.

But of General Booth it may be said that he did more.

His Movement reached dimensions of which he probably never dreamed in its early days, yet the extraordinary results made him ever hungrier for conquest.

In a way the latter years of his life were perhaps the most notable of his whole career.

He displayed a vitality and enthusiasm which seemed to increase with the weight of time.

At a time when most men seek a greater measure of repose, General Booth worked on with all the freshness of early years.

And it can be said that he has died in harness.

He did not lift his finger from the pulse of the far-reaching Organisation which he brought into being until death called.

"The story of the growth of The Salvation Army is the most remarkable in the history of the work of the spiritual, social, and material regeneration of the submerged.

From the by-ways of all the world human derelicts, which other agencies passed by, have been rescued.

No one was too degraded, too repulsive to be neglected.

The work is too great to be estimated in a way which can show its extent.

It has been achieved mainly by two great factors.

The first is perfect organisation.

Lord Wolseley once described General Booth as the greatest organiser in the world.

The second feature was the wonderful personality of The Army's chief.

He impressed it not only upon his colleagues but upon those whom he wished to rescue, and on the public at large.

He radiated human sympathy and enthusiasm.

His loss will be a heavy one for the world; it will be a severe blow for The Army.

But we cannot think that his good work has not been built upon sound foundations, and that the war he directed so ably and so long will be relaxed.

Nationally The Army has done magnificent work in fifty countries, and it has, therefore, tended to promote a greater spirit of brotherhood among the nations.

To-day the whole world will unite to pay its tribute to a splendid life of devotion to a great cause.

To that world he leaves a splendid example, and it will be the highest tribute that can be paid to his memory to keep green that lofty example which he set before all peoples."