The Auckland Star:

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 201, 22 August 1912, Page 4

The Auckland Star:

WITH WHICH ABE XKOOKroKjLTB 'Silt Staring Jltios, morning §.im ann Eije «fcto. For the cause that laden attietatiM, For the wrong that need* resistamoe, For the futwe in the distance, And the good that toe can do.

The death of itihe venerable, founder and leader of the Salvation Army closes a career which has exercised a deep and far-reaching influence upon the progress of humanity during (the past forty years. The history of the Salvation Army, -with its sudden line, its rapid growth, its organisation and direction by the one controlling mind and will, its marvellous extension through every country in the 'World, and its wonderful

.achievemente in th© way of practical philanthropy and social reform, reads almost like a fantastic romance. But there was nothing fantastic or romantic about William Booth; and it wae owing ■to his marvellous faculty for organise tion and his administrative ability almost as much as to the true moral fervour of his temperament and his high religious ideals, that his life work has been each an unqualified and startling success. It is fifty-one years since the young Methodist preacher, finding the appointed way of his ministration too narrow for him, withdrew himself from <tibe church in which he (had been reared, and devoted 'himeelf to the ■work which henceforth filled his life. Within this last half-century, it is safe to cay, not all the organisations of all the other recognised churches hare ooHectively done so much as the Salvation Army ■for the uplifting of the masses and the practical regeneration of the demoralised residuum, tfhe "submerged "tenth," to "which General Booth devoted; tie beet part of (his energies; and the <wh.ole of thne wonderful record of successful achievement ie wrapped up in the life and labour olf the great man who baa just passed away.

For that General Booth was a truly great man has long sin-so been admitted by many of 'the keenest observers of contemporary life and th* ablest critics of the world's social and public affairs. I-jord Wotealey once termed General Booth "the greatest organiser in the world"; lEarl Grey, when GovernorGenoral of Canada, declared: "I know of no organisation, political, social or industrial, whitjh has left co deep en- impression Sot good as ithe Salva-tion Army"; tile Right Hon. Cine. Booth, "the author and editor of that moon mental work, "Life and (Labour in Jxjn<lon,"' testifies t3uvt "far earneat 'faith, «brenuou9 work, and real eelfeanrifke for tlho good' of aihere," the Salvation Army . stands first among bhe religions lorganisaibionß of tiho day. General .Booth -hiniecSf ibae been compared with John Wesley for the nobility of im rfeligious conceptions and hie zealous eupplSccitrion of -his ido&ls "to titte practieai work of lifo; iwitli Ntrpoleon tf or his comprcheneivo edminiebrative

faculty and power of organisation; with Cromwell lor 'bis rare combination of mystiu and almost fanatical fervour -with shrewd common cense and; practical ability; with St. Dominic for the fervent faith that he has inspired in others, and the spirit of ee-lf-eaCTifke that he has 'breathed i«to 'hie followers. And it mist not be forgotten that though

Lbhe extraordinary abilrfciee end virtues I of General Booth are now so widely reoognised, it waß many yeans before *fche ■Salvation Army could command anything like toleration or decent teeatmenlt from the general public or fche authorities. Writing of General Booth on his SOtih 'birthday, Mr. Hianriltatt Fyfc eeid-: "Thirty years ago he was regarded as a mountebank, a vulgarise* of religion—a nuisance. Tootsy there is no man more (honoured or respected t throughout the -whole world." It Bhtmld bo superfluous for us to ' dwell upon the nature of the evangelical work which .the 6aJvafck»n Army carries on everywhere from day to day. It was not till 1879 that the idea of eueh an organisation, took root an William Booth's mind, and the- methods—often startling and gro|te9qiic—"that he employed began to take effect. People called the Army services a "parody at religion"; drureb-going folk declared that "such goings-on •were disgraceful"; eminent coratroversiaifisie like Huxley sneered at the drums and tambourines, the "Oorybantic Christianity" of the Army} the police were constantly being urged to "more the Army on"; but nothing made any difference to Booth's faith in Mmself and his nrissioa. And gradually the knowledge of the wonderfnl moral effect produced v by the labours erf tho Salvation Army told ite 1 tale oven upon the incredulity and cynicism of the most decorous and worldly-minded. The people ol [England same to believe in

General Booth and Hue work, and ■when in 1890 he sent forth his "Darkest England" manifesto they subscribed at ante the £100,000 he needed to start hi? great scheme of social reform. It would take a long time and mucin space tn expound even in outline the whole of General Booth's plane— city colonies, his farm colonies, his oversea colonies, and the various means he suggested lor dealing "with the proibleme of the unemployed and the unemplloyaM'e, and for uplifting and saving the "submerged tenth." Bttrt we may point out that the general principles tie laid dawn as fundamental to the success of its scheme, I prove beyond doubt his remarkably comprefeensivo grasp of his subject and hte clear insight into the essentials of permanent social and moral reform. He died with his work unfinished; for to the aspirations of such a. man no limits could ever be set, and one achievement ■was always trot the prelude to further efforts and wider ambitions. It ha» been! urged against his organisation -bhat it depended for coherence and driving power solely on his personal energy, and that ■when he has disappeared the tfhole system will run down. Of this' the future alone can tell; but "we can ' at least say with certainty of him to-day j that he was "a great Englishman, who \ strove mightily rwibh evil, who never lost ■ sight of hie ideals, and whose ambition j •was not to advance or to enrich himself,' but to leave the world , better than he i found it; to hasten file coming of the Kingdom of God.'"