London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
RELIGIOUS ARMIES.
The end of the century sees in existence two wonderful organisations-the Church Army and the Salvation Army. It has been the fashion to laugh at the latter and who commands it. Now and again I have come across some of his officers, and certainly, from what I have gathered from them, I cannot speak of the movement with disrespect. No doubt the music of the Salvationists in the streets is not always tuneful, and, to put it quite straight, frequently a nuisance. And there may be a lurking danger that the excitement created by long prayer meetings may lead to lunacy, as it did, I have been told, amongst the revivalists in America. But taking the Salvation Army as a whole, I believe that it has been the cause of a maximum of good and a minimum of evil. And I say this as a Christian who | |
26 | belongs to a creed which differs materially with the tenets held by the General. |
And here I may point out that the Salvation Army is no new thing. Those who have read Macaulay's essays dealing with the Reformation will find that the preaching monk was quite as much in earnest as the Fire and Iron captain. | |
