PEACE TO A LOFTY SOUL.

Evening Star, Issue 14964, 26 August 1912, Page 3

PEACE TO A LOFTY SOUL.

GENERAL BOOTH,

THE PROPHET OF THE POOR. "... The. actions of thr. just Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust." Yesterday, in Dunedin, as in every town where the militant banner of the Salvation Army has been lifted, there was sorrowing for the weary old leader whose spirit was drawn a few days ago into and under the great dark river that runs round the world. The principal memorial service in Dunedin took jilace in the evening at the South Dunedin Town Hall, when clergymen representing most of the Protestant churches were present to place a flower upon the bier of the man whose lofty character and magnetic, fascinating personality created the Army, beneath whose integument of frenzied adjuration and strident emotion surges a rich spirit of charity and optimism that has brought Heaven a» close to the wretched and sintul as the foes of misery and sickness and despair that press them so implacably. At 8 o'clock the Army Band outside the hall began Handel's ' Dead March,' and a few minutes later Brigadier Jago led tho great audience in the most human of all music, the music of many voices caxight into unison. It was a. hymn composed by the dead, man —' O Boundless Salvation, Deep Ocean of Love'—and at its end the Brigadier spoke briefly cf the finished life, the persecutions and sorrows of the earlier days through which the General steadfastly pursued his work of service, till the recognition and respect of Kings and the great ones of the earth were added to tho love of the multitude, for whom he worked.

Then, briefly, the clergymen paid their tribute in turn. The Rev. R. Fairmaid said that no man could fail to realise that the work of the dead General had been a great one, performed by a whole-souled, faithful, ;'".d consecrated servant of the Master. The heroic purpose of the institution ho founded, its devotion to duty, its desire to lift the fallen, and to bring the gospel of hope to these who were regarded as hopeless, must retain the enduring admiration of mankind. No man ever engaged in religious work had inspired so many people as General Booth had, and two of the vital principles of a life lived for Christ ard Christ alone had been his earnest belief in prayer and in personal conversion before service.

The- Rev. D. J. Murray spoke of him in the words of the Bible : " Know ye not that in LsTael a great man is fallen?" And yet not fallen, the preacher urged, but gone triumphant where his works followed him ; like that great prophet of which he was the modern example, of whose passage to Heaven the one who stood with him exlaimed : "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." Mr H. D. Bedford, the one layman, dwelt rather upon the social side of General Booth's work, whose death, he said, carried his mind back 15 years, when, on the threshold of manhood, he became possessed of two books—a biography of William Ewart Gladstone and ' Darkest England,' by Booth. "From that clay," said Mr Bedford, "those two men, Gladstone and Booth, have rilled my imagination. They were the two great prophets of the 19th century. ... I like to think of his Salvation lasses rescuing the fallen women from the streets and taking them to homes. 1 like to think of those lasses and the Army men in the police courts taking charge of the convicted. I like to think of these soldiers standing at the gate of the gaol, and receiving with the warm hand of Christian love the men set free from those places. 1 like to think of the efforts that General Booth put forth—of the great schemes he propounded for giving employment to those who could not find it. His , work stands as the greatest colonising force in the Empire. Ho was a great Empire | builder as well as a saver of men's 60u15." . The Rev. E. Drake dwelt upon the splendid csanitv of the dead man's vision, and his grasp" of the essential principle that the Gospel has to deal with the whole life of man. The Rev. R. Scott Allan drew a picture of an hour 27 years ago when, as a student in New College, Edinburgh, he had been privileged, with other students, to dine with the Army leader. He described the flashing eye, the strong, impassioned voice, that drove home hi 6 charge upon the souls of his hearers that they should consecrate bodv, soul, and spirit to the work of the ministrv. . Then Mr Allan told how he had once followed tho crowd into a Salvation Army meeting; of the choking fervor of the preacher, his impassioned entreaty : " Only believe, only come—come now"; of the penitents tottering to tho vacant form in the front; of the inspiration that was there. '" My prayer to-night." said Mr Allan. "is that we may catch something of the inspiration of his mind and spirit.."-

The Rev. A. J. Seamer counted as General Booth's greatest power his strength to bend everything in life to the one end he had in vie'w; and the Rev. W. Perry concluded with the most appropriate commentary on the great life, and the most fitting epitaph, the words which the General himself used when asked the secret of his success : " God lias had all there was of me."

Finally, the Brigadier read tho 14 verses from the 22nd chapter of Revelations, which the dying man had asked to he " read at his memorial service; and delivered a brief, impassioned address on Salvation in faith and the menace of eternity. AT THE FORTRESS. The service at the fortress in Dowling street last night, as was to be expected, was very largely attended. The front of the stage was draped in white, and each soldier "in the army wore a white band on his arm. Before the service the band played the Dead March in 'Saul.' Staff-captain Newby said the General had been converted when 15 year's of age in a Methodist class meeting, and from that time on he seemed to have, set his heart on winning men and.women to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some had an idea, that the General was a sort of millionaire, but he (the epeaker) heard him tell when in Australia his life story, his struggleshe had opened his heart to them—and he said that when he cam* to the end of .his life he questioned whether he would have enough money to be buried with. The Staff-captain went on to relate the work done by the General in a tent situated in a Quaker cemetery in London, and .spoke of the toil and 'labor ho went through there in bringing the people to a knowledge of the love of Jesus. Christ—people, the General had said, who had as clear a definition of Jesus Christ as the heathen. Tho General bad left behind the Salvation Army, which the speaker said the world would not regard as a small asset. He had left behind 22.000 men and women officers to-day. whose lives were given to carrying- the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Somebody had asked the question as to the membership of the Army—it had always been a debatable point—but he knew some few years ago that there were over 2.0G0.C00 on the rolls of the Army throughout the world. There were also about 200,000 men, women, and children looked after —their ! bodies and souls attended to —and thus they could try to grasp some little idea, of the mighty work that God had, through the General, raised up. The General had said some years ago that when he was <]en-d and posterity was. p:\ssina; its verdict upon him he hoped they would bo able to say " He lived to win souls." " I believe that will be the verdict," said the speaker. He referred to the great help the departed General had received from his late wife. and quoted the saying of St. Paul : " I have fought tho good fight ; I have kept tho faith " as peculiarly befitting the work of their General. The other speakers were the Revs. YV. ■Slade. W. Hay. and G. Knowlrs Smith. who all spoke eloquently and earnestly of the character and life work of the late General. Mr Hay said "William Booth was one of the greatest heroes of the Cross of Jesus Christ." and Mr Slade said that in "the General's life one saw the value of concentration: that .the secret of his success was in taking up one thing and doing it well." THE MODERATOR'S EULOGY. The Rev. G. Lindsay, Moderator of the General Assembly of the . Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, said at the end of his sermon at St. Clair last night : In common with others throughout the Dominion, I wish to add my word of admiration and esteem for the late General and the very great work accomplished by him. No man of the present age, I believe, has done more for the salvation of mankind and the uplifting of humanity than William Booth. There is no need for reference to his early struggles and the determinating factors which led him into that sphere of work (a sphere all his own) in which he accomplished such great things for the cause and kinjrdom of our Lord and Savious Jesus Christ. Let me mention some of the outstanding features of his character which lay at the foundation of his life's great work. There can be little doubt that "it was-his burning passion for the salvation of his fellow-men which moved him so deeply and led him to spend and be spent in the service of his Lord, and Master. The thought of rescuing the perishing seems to have been ever present to his mind in all his plans and purposes, in all his schemes and efforts for the well-being of mankind. They were only means to an end. and that end. salvation. The General was a .great organiser. With a perseverance and determination that called forth our admiration and highest commendation, he planned and wrought. What energy and zeal he displayed in urging on his'comrades, officers, and men in order to bring to fruition the schemes which he inaugurated .' Those who have read his books on social servic-e know how were his efforts for the . bettericent of. the.-sunken juasees and the hwge-measure-of success!.

which has attended these, The General had. implicit faith in the power of the- Old Gospel. Ho had seen that power manifested in the lives of thousands and tens of thousands. He knew that if only ;ilowed to hold place in the heart and life it could change even the most degraded and debased—make them honest and upright and strong to live a clean, true life. It was this fact, we believe, that made him somewhat impatient to those who sought the uplifting of humanity by means that left out or gave the Gospel only a. secondary place in the salvation of sinners. Although the General was autocratic in a very high degree, yet there can be no doubt that he was tender-hearted and full of compassion. Some of the things which. are told of him give emple evidence of this. He was a man full of courage;. ready to brave any danger or difficulty in order to carry salvation to all mankind. The resignation displayed by the General in the closing days of his noble career axe not onlv worthy of note, but'are calculated to stir all hearts and lend to implicit trust in the wisdom of Gcd. He met the sad loss of his eyesight with great fortitude, as seen in the message- which 'ho sent, to his soldiers : "Pile up "all my losses (he said), and they are serious and manv, I admit, but look at all the blessingsTthat are left me. First, there is my confidence in God. T n.m not going to allow a few things that are in conflict with am- judgment to interfere with my confidence in Him and His wisdom—a confidence inspired by a lifetime's experience of His guidance "and goodness. I have not lost the confidence and love ofniy pcople. Anyway, my 'comrades, in light or in the dark, you may count, upon your General to trust'in Gcd' and go forward."' There can bo no doubt that when the history of the present age comes to be written General TJooth will rank high among its great men because of the remarkable energy and indomitable zeal displayed in his personal service for Christ ancl his sincere and unselfish labors to lead men back to God.

After the senr.cn Mr S. F. Benton sang Gounod's .setting of ' For Ever with the Lord,' and the "closing hymn wss ' Xowthe Laborer's Task is O'er.'

References were made in most of the city and suburban churches yesterday to the* life and work of General Booth. The Rev. Dr Waddell. preaching at St. Andrew's Chm ch laet night, «ud : "When philosophers and kings and statesmen were at their wits' end to "know what to do with the savagery and crime of their slums this

spirituallv-minded man etepped to the front and'shamed them all. He had started with nothing but an unwavering faith in the promises of the Bible. He throw himself out upon them as a strong swimmer upon the sea, and they bore him up. His last clear call was that we too should verify these promises as he did, and venture'our lives upon them." At All -Suints' Church last evening the congregation sang the hymn ' The Saints of God,' the Dean intimating that it was intended to have special reference to General Booth's death.