250 LETTERS TO THE " TIMES " v 



Baptist and the Apostles, 1800 years ago, in their 

 notions of the way in which the metanoia, the 

 change of mind of the ill-doer, is to be brought 

 about. Yet the new model was there, ready for 

 the imitation of those ancient savers of souls. 

 The ranting and roaring mystagogues of some of 

 the most venerable of Greek and Syrian cults also 

 had their processions and banners, their fifes and 

 cymbals and holy chants, their hierarchy of officers 

 to whom the art of making collections was not 

 wholly unknown; and who, as freely as their 

 modern imitators, promised an Elysian future to 

 contributory converts. The success of these 

 antique Salvation armies was enormous. Simon 

 Magus was quite as notorious a personage, and 

 probably had as strong a following as Mr. Booth. 

 Yet the Apostles, with their old-fashioned ways, 

 would not accept such a success as a satisfactory 

 sign of the Divine sanction, nor depart from their 

 own methods of leading the way to the higher life. 

 I deem it unessential to verify Mr. Booth's 

 statistics. The exact strength of the population 

 of the realm of misery, be it one, two, or three 

 millions, has nothing to do with the efficacy of 

 any means proposed for the highly desirable end 

 of reducing it to a minimum. The sole question 

 for consideration at present is whether the scheme, 

 keeping specially in view the spirit in which it 

 is to be worked, is likely to do more good than 

 harm. 



