“THE ARMY” TO-DAY

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 167, 11 April 1932, Page 10

“THE ARMY” TO-DAY

Unchallenged Position REASONS FOR GROWTH Great Need of Unity I LORD BLEDISLOE’S SPEECH “We greet General Higgins not only because lie is the supreme leader of a world crusade, which is a potent factor in establishing the Kingdom of God upon earth, but also because here in New Zealand we all recognise, without distinction of class or creed, the invaluable social and philanthropic work which, with characteristic self-effacement and remarkable efficiency, is being carried on in our midst by this powerful Army equipped not with lethal but with life-giving weapons, under the prudent direction of Commissioner Cunningham and his devoted colleagues.”

With these words the GovernorGeneral, Lord Bledlsloe, opened his speech at the Town ' Hall y ester^ ay afternoon at a Salvation Army meeting on the occasion of the visit of General E. J. and Mrs. Higgins to Wellington. “Never was this work more necessary than it is under present economic conditions, and nowhere in the world, I feel confident, is it being more efficiently conducted than in New Zealand, his Excellency said. “This efficiency is the outcome of that wise combination of human, sympathy and discriminating judgment which makes for success in all great social enterprises The manifold activities of the Salvation Army throughout this Dominion are bringing daily and hourly untold benefit not only to the bodies and the souls of those who are suffering from bodily and spiritual hunger, but also to the whole body politic and the State “Little more than half a century ago this bravely militant but non-military Army came into being through the inspiration and vision of William Booth, a young pawnbroker’s assistant at Nottingham, in England. He was deemed to be a fanatic and a vandalistie tres-' passer upon the decorous preserves of cultured and highly-orgainsed religious communities, with centuries of tradition, wealth, worldly power, and social influence behind them. Christendom Enriched. “To-day William Booth’s unconventional religious organisation takes its well-merited and now unchallenged position among the other great religious communities of the world, and the latter are no longer reluctant to confess that Christendom has been enriched and vitalised by the genuine religious fervour which it has evoked and by the emphasis which it has always placed upon the practice of Chrlstianty as distinct from its mere profession.

“It is well called an Army,” he, continued, “for it has not only had to battle for its very existence against the forces of tradition, prejudice, disparagement, and ridicule, but it has carried on an unceasing and marvellously successful fight for the faith among the great masses of people in the crowded cities of the world who have no denominational attachments and no definite provision for their spiritual welfare.

/‘To what, it may be asked, does this great movement owe the firm grip which it has upon the mind, the imagination, and the sympathy of the modern world? Surely first the fact that it has had in its leaders men of vision, intrepid courage, transparent integrity, and intimate knowledge of the weaknesses, and at the same time the spiritual potentialities, of their fellow men; secondly, its realisation that the modern world needs for its moral and spiritual advancement a somewhat different mode of approach to that practised by and among our forefathers —one which, in place of an earnest appeal to the careless and indifferent to enter the fold of the faithful, ‘goes out into the highways and .hedges and compels them to come in,’ that God’s household may be full; and, thirdly, its obvious conviction, judged by its numerous beneficent activities, that ‘faith without works is dead,’ and that although ‘man cannot live by bread alone,’ he suffers bftimes in this unbalanced world from bodily as well as spiritual hunger, and consequently that' the promotion of physical well-being is of the very essence of practical Christianity. Outdoor Service. “Its open-air gatherings and rousing music have broiight the joy of spiritual enthusiasm into the hearts of many to whom entry into a church or chapel, with its sedate well-dressed congregations, seems difficult and unattractive. Our Master’s first disciples had little knowledge of churches or tabernacles. They resorted, we are told, on the Sabbath Day to a place outside the city ‘where prayer was wont to be made.’ “Beautiful, peaceful, and inspiring though many of our places of worship are, and conducive to shelter, quietude, and concentration of thought, there are not a few amongst us, on a fine spring or summer morning, with the blue dome of Heaven —the roof of Nature’s Cathedral —above them, feel their minds better attuned to the Divine message in such an environment than they would when confined within any building made with human hands. I confess to being one of them. The-occasional outdoor service—under suitable climatic conditions—is one of many respects in which the Salvation Army has pointed the way to greater simplicity and flexibility of conventional modes of worship. “I am rejoiced to see on this platform and in this hall men and women of different religious denominations.

I believe that Hie grave issues which are to-day harassing a . bewildered world can only be solved by a more profound application of our religious principles and convictions to our several worldly problems.

“But too much segregation in different watertight compartments, when our main objective is the same, does not make for that dominant influence which religion, and above all Christianity, ought to wield in the affairs of men,and Ivhich it undoubtedly would wield for the betterment of mankind and the clarify of vision and wisdom of its leaders ,if it were a cohesive and irresistibly compelling force. “William Booth, with his wife’s Invaluable help, was a great pioneer in the field of social service, his successor, Bramwell Booth, and his wife, in that of missionary enterprise and of rescue work among women, and our guest of to-day gives promise of being a great organiser and exponent of wise readjustment of the Army’s multifarious activities,” concluded his Excellency.

An English agricultural labourer may have a range of only 500 fo 700 words. The vocabulary of a well-educated person is 2000 to 3000 words