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THE HISTORY OF THE MONTH. 



By the Acting Editor. 



Death of 

 William Booth. 



Melbourne. August 29. igi2. 

 Austrnlians, more than Engli.shmen, 

 liiok with a<lmiring eyes on men of 

 worth who dwell in other religiou.s 

 camps than their own. Hence the 

 death of the great Salvationist has deeply touched 

 the hearts of all classes of our community. The 

 General on .se\'eral occasions visited our shores, and 

 although his proposals for the estalilishment of 

 colonies for the unemployed of the old land ne\'er 

 took root, he was ever welcome on account of his 

 pronoun<"ed religious enthusiasm, and his practical 

 and comprehensive philanthro]i\-. He was a great 

 and creative personalitv, and his works follow him 

 in a fashion that makes them visible from the rising 

 to the setting sun. .Sc<:ts had l">een founded in jilenty 

 lietore his time, and in that respect there was nothing 

 unique alx)ut thi- "Army," but the lx)ld ron- 

 ception of a body of ardent people organised aftei- 

 the styli- of an aggressive armv. with uniform, 

 titles, divisions all corresponding to tlie ide-a. was 

 as daring as it proved to be effective. Tlif .-Xrmv 

 is a church without sacraments, in that it is liki- 

 the Society of Friends. It is a lx>dy inspired bv 

 evangelism, thus re.st-mbling Methodism in its origin. 

 Between \Ve.sley and Barth there are .striking re- 

 semblance,s. Each Iiegan his work with a per.sonal 

 e.\|ierience of an inten.se kind. Both met with fierce 

 hostility from the rowdyism of the streets. Both 

 were rlisparaged by the Churches to which they 

 CM'iginally l)elonged. Each lived to be honoured by 

 his King and by all sections of the people. Each 

 set in full tide great philanthropic movements. 

 Each left a great and powerful organisation to make 

 hi.story. The two great deaths of the nionth have 

 been the Mikado, the maker of New Japan, a great 

 politiail ruler, and William Booth, a Prince in that 

 great spiritual kingdom which is destined to last 

 while sun and mcion endure. 



On all sides flags have lx;en hung at 

 Reiirct and Its half-mast on public iiuildings. From 

 8i(5nificance. Governors, Prime Minister. State 

 Premiers — from politikians of all 

 ranks, aiul from every class of people, have come 

 e.vpressions of respect. What dnes^ill diis signify? 

 No doubt the thing that is upp<'rmos| in the mind of 



the man in the street is the thought of the philan- 

 thropic work accomplisherl by the "Armv." Men 

 who care little for the spiritual realities of religion 

 aie drawn to sympathise with its application to the 

 relief of poverty and distress. To find work for th(> 

 vvorkless — above all, to make a worker out of a 

 shirker, to feed the hungry, to befriend the friend- 

 less — ^^this is what the world applauds. It is Scrip- 

 ■ tural Christianity that can never go out of favour so 

 long as the need for it remains. Prison-gate Bri- 

 gades, Inebriate Retreats. Homes for Fallen 

 Women. Shelters. Lal)Our Colonies, are among its 

 beneiicial institutions. But the " Army " did more 

 by indirect influence. Every Church is the richer 

 to-day becaii.se of the energetic example set it by this 

 youngest sister of the Churrhes. It gave a great 

 insi)iration to others. But after all we mu.st look to 

 tile motive ])O^Vl'r that is behiiiil all this class of 

 work, and this is the intense evangelistic fervour 

 ot these militant Christians. All -this philanthropic 

 work could never have Ijeen built up on a basis of 

 religious negation. No company of unlielievers 

 ever did so. On many sides it is whispered that the 

 " Armv ■' is less a s])iritaal bodv. and more a 

 trading organisation than it u.sed to be. We be- , 

 lieve, however, that its business jirofits are only used' 

 for the extension of the work. Be that as it may, 

 the simple fact remains that out of a purely reli- 

 gious movement there have ari.sen those mightv 

 vv\>rks of mercy that have called forth the admira- 

 tion iK)t only of King Edward and King George, 

 but the ungrudging prai.sc of King Demos himself. 



The Endurance 



of Spiritual 



Forces. 



Hut. more than all, the rise of a 

 great religious personalitv and .i 

 great religious organisation is a 

 portent to men who prophesy the 

 decadence of religion. Again and again when men 

 have sunk into torpor and even gro.ss contempt for 

 the spiritual, and some man, in the name of science, 

 has pronouiwed the funer.il oration over its sup- 

 po.s<'d corpse, it has st(X)d up and shaken itsel f out 

 of slumlier with a.stonishing eflect. Wesley and 

 Whitfield afforded a remarkable example of this at 

 the clo.se of the eighteenth centurv. William Booth 

 and the " Army " gave us another a century later, 

 while gre.at sjiiritiial hercx-s like Spurgeon, Hudson, 



