▼ "DARKEST ENGLAND" SCHEME. 247 



and placing themselves before all others. So no 

 faithful man now believes he can be saved, except he 

 is directed by the counsels of the Preachers and 

 Minorites." — Matthew Paris's English History. 

 Translated by the Kev. J. A. Giles, 1889, Vol. I. 



11. 



The " Times" December 9th, 1890. 



SiK, — The purpose of my previous letter about 

 Mr. Booth's scheme was to arouse the contributors 

 to the military chest of the Salvation Army to a 

 clear sense of what they are doing. I thought 

 it desirable that they should be distinctly aware 

 that they are setting up and endowing a sect, in 

 many ways analogous to the " Banters " and " Re- 

 vivalists " of undesirable notoriety in former 

 times; but with this immensely important differ- 

 ence, that it possesses a strong, far-reaching, cen- 

 tralized organization, the disposal of the physical, 

 moral, and financial strength of which rests with 

 an irresponsible chief, who, according to his own 

 account, is assured of the blind obedience of nearly 

 10,000 subordinates. I wish them to ask them- 

 selves. Ought prudent men and good citizens to 

 aid in the establishment of an organization which, 

 under sundry, by no means improbable, contin- 

 gencies, may easily become a worse and more dan- 



