261 LETTERS TO TEiE -TIMES." v 



''' Then, it will be remembered, it professed to 

 be the humble handmaid of the existing churches; 

 its professed object was the evangelization of the 

 masses. It repudiated the idea of building up a 

 separate religious body, and it denounced the 

 practice of gathering together wealth and the 

 accumulation of property. Men and women other 

 than its own converts gathered around it and 

 threw themselves heart and soul into the work, 

 for the simple reason that it offered, as they sup- 

 posed, a more extended and widely open field 

 for evangelical effort. Ministers everywhere were 

 invited and welcomed to its platforms, majors and 

 colonels were few and far between, and the su- 

 premacy and power of the General were things 

 unknown. . . . Care was taken to avoid any- 

 thing like proselytism; its converts were never 

 coerced into joining its ranks. ... In a word, the 

 organization occupied the position of an auxiliary 

 mission and recruiting agency for the various re- 

 ligious bodies. . . . The meetings were crowded, 

 people professed conversion by the score, the pub- 

 lic liberally supplied the means to carry on the 

 work in their respective communities; therefore 

 every corps was wholly self-supporting, its officers 

 were properly, if not luxuriously, cared for, the 

 local expenditure was amply provided, and, under 

 the supervision of the secretary, a local member, 

 and the officer in charge, the funds were disbursed 

 in the towns where they were collected, and the 



