250 LETTERS TO THE "TIMES." v 



beyond John the 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 fu- 

 ture 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-fash- 

 ioned 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. 



