AT THE GARRISON HALL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1967, 5 November 1891, Page 32

AT THE GARRISON HALL.

The Garrison Hall was the scene in the evening of a Salvation' Army demonstration of an imposing character. Mottoes *aud devices appropriate to the occasion were displayed on the walls, the most oonspicious being a large canvas which was extended across the front of the gallery, facing the stage, on which was the inscription, ' " Long live the General." Above this, stretched from side to side of the hall, was the legend " Dunedin gives a loyal and loving welcome to our General." "The memory of our departed mother inspires us," "I was an hungered and ye gave meat;'' " Our business is to save' souls," " Godspeed the social scheme," "Hearty greetings to 'Colonel Nicol," "We promise unswerving loyalty," " Dunedin is the cradle, New Zealand Army," "Our motto is still 'Blood and Fire'"— these were some of the other devices that were displayed. The staff officers and staff band occupied the stage proper, in front of which was erected a platform for the speakers, while in the body of the hall and gallery a large number of Salvation Army soldiers and others found seats The band played two, or three selections before the arrival of the general, the public meantime exhibiting .the mgst perfect orderliness. Suddenly a pair of arms on the stage are extended high. This is the signal, that General Booth is about to enter the hall, and immediately the whole of the large gathering roseto their feet to accord him a fitting welcome. A volley proceeds from the Salvationists, there is much wild cheering, and a great deal of handkerchief* waving, all of which continues till the general, is ' seated. He was accompanied by Mr James Allen "{who occupied the chair), the Rev. W. Saunders, the Hon. W. D.<£tewart, M.L.C., Mr W. Hutchison, M.H.R., Colonels Bailey and Nichol. The proceedings were opened by Colonel Bailey giving out the hymn, " God bless our Army," after which Colonel Nicol and then General Booth led the meeting in prayer. Having been welcomed by addresses from the Rev. W. Saunders, the Hon. W. D. Stewart, and the Chairman, " General Booth, who on rising was greeted with enthusiastic applause, spoke with muoh vigour for over an hour and a-half. As the speech was too long to be 'fully reported, we shall give only some of the more striking portions of his address. After greeting his audience as friends and Christian comrades, the general said that sometimes in the old country he was called pope. Well, that was quite right, pope meant papa, and that he was. — (Applause, and*a Voicb: "God bless papa!") Now, the children must behave themselves to-night, as they had company present. — (Laughter.) Taking them altogether, he thought he might call them his friends ; for if they could not all agree with the methods of the Salvation Army, or with what were known as its principles, yet any way they were, he was sure, all, friends to the objects on whioh the members of the army had set their hearts. He would be 'very glad if anything he could say would inspire his soldiers to go forward with greater boldness and determination than ever; and he would be glad if he could inspire in the hearts of those fighting in the same great army under the same Great Commander, under the blood-red banner of the Cross, or in the hearts of those in that oataide army, without the Cross of Christ waving over them, who might be fighting for the welfare *of their fellow men— if he could inspire in their hearts a desire to go forward and be more determined and more self-sacrificing than they had ever been, he would be very thankful, and would feel that his labour had not been thrown away. He thanked them very much for the kindly opinions that had been expressed concerning him. He rather rejoiced in the fact that of later years in his case another interpretation had' been given to the expression that a prophet was without honour in his own country ; for he was thankful to say that he had such honour, and that as great crowds listened to him and welcomed him under the shadow of his own headquarters as in any land to which his feet had turned.— (Applause.) After a good long life and very considerable misrepresentation, after almost; everything had been said against him that ingenuity could invent or malice inspire, this Btate of things had come about. He felt grateful for it, and would take the blessing as long as he could, and even if they were going to cry crucify him by-and-bye, he should be thankful and happy while the hosannahs lasted. Many kind things had been said concerning the work of the army and himself personally, and he could only say, as he had said before, that he ! I would endeavour for the remainder of his days to deserve the kindly expressions of feeling that had been indulged in, and to meet the expectations which had been raised.— (Applause.) Some people were very muoh puzzled to find him out. There was still a great

feeling 6f wonderment on the part of many, religious and irreligious, theological and nontheological, who wanted to know what he meant and what the organisation was. He understood that the other evening in Dunedin a gentleman had said he would like an opportunity of asking General Booth whether the Salvation Army was 1 a religious or a philanthropic organisation. To that question he must reply that it was both, and everything else that was good.— (Loud applause.) He believed that every soldier in the ranks of the Salvation ' Army realised that he must do something besides securing his own salvation, that he was in the ranks of the army so that he might to the utmost of his power do good to the bodies and souls of his fellow men, and that the army existed in its corporate capacity for the purpose of extending Christ's Kingdom. He often wished that in speaking of the army he could disassociate his own personality from it, but he also wished that others in regarding the army could rise above their own associations and look. calmly and in a, disinterested manner at this movement. , He supposed that the bulk of those present desired the amelioration and removal of the misery of mankind. Well, the Salvation Army was an organization that set itself to work for that purpose ; but it began far back and started by taking sides with God. It went upon the principle that the world was in rebellion against (Jod, against the God of the Bible, and that such rebellion ocght to be put down, as God alone had the right to reign in the hearts of the children of men. The Salvation Army went upon the principle that the miseries of mankind proceeded from this rebellion; that misery was caused by sin, and the soldiers of the army reckoned to give themselves up for the removal of misery by the remoyal of the sin, and that the sins of the individuals must be removed before they could have a holy nation. They did not believe that this was to be effected by perfect creed?, strict religious observances, or impressive ceremonials, but by the grace of God and through consecration to His service. The army did not propose to rectify the errors or mistakes which existed in outside organizations. They had enough washing to do at home without taking in washing for other people. — (Laughter and applause.) Far better than regard to any ceremonial was regard to the commandments, which were so beautifully summarised in .the words, " Thou shalfc love the Lord thy God with all thy mind and with all thy soul and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour— (that was the submerged tenth) — as thyself," If they loved God and the submerged tenth, they would be. saved, whatever their ceremonial might be. The Salvation Army, in its conflicts, contentions, and organisation, went on the principle that in order to bless mankind it must endeavour to turn them away from their iniquities. Itwanted to make the world blessed— high and low, rich and poor ;— though he did not know about the rich, they had not tackled them yet.— (Laughter.) They found it difficult to deal with the poor, and he was afraid they would find it a harder task to deal with the rich.— (Laughter.) The Salvation Army also went out to save those who were most turned away from God — the very k»t. Itthey -brought before him a very desperate sinner, whom everyone, had given up, who had given himself up, the very desperateness of his condition would induce the ' true Salvationist to see if he could not raise him up. What glorious trophies had the Salvation Army all the world round! He did not claim the glory for the Salvation Army, but gave' it to the Father. He felt more and more every day that the army was not the work of man but was the creation of God' Himself— (loud applause)— and he believed that God was with it. He graphically described the work of the army in raising falling men and women, and said .that if he .could bring before his audience a sketch of the people as they were and then by somewtransformation process .show, them as they are, he was sure those present would say, "God bless the Salvation Army." The idea of his social scheme had largely sprung out, of the 4 social triumphs won by the Army in days gone,' by, for had they not for years before been labouring for the social regeneration of mankind, but that scheme was devised to do on a wholesale scale what they had only been able to do in a retail way jui the past. As to the manner of his connection with the Salvation Army a little misconception existed, there was a general impression that the Salvation Army was the .child of his ambition — that he desired pp .achieve notoriety, and. not being able to do so, in the ordinary, walks of the Christian ministry, organised the. army to bring himself into pnblic notice. Nothing was further from the truth. ,It was, quite true that be wbb a minister, for many years before the movement originated which had grown into the Salvation Army, but at the same time God was pleased to bless his -work and give him a large measure of success in that particular sphere. When he was a boy of 15 or 16 he was converted, and he believed that religion came to him in that hour in the same form and aspect as it came to him now. Young though he was, he had tried the pleasures of life, and^lhad foand them to be totally unsatisfactory, and he saw that in the f atur%. they must grow more and more bo. He turned to his Saviour, and when he had his feet firm on the rook of His infinite mercy he looked and saw the people around him. He enjoyed bis salvation and he did not see why they should not enjoy salvation also. He went into the streets, and found the poor and wretched, and began to work in the same spirit as, he thanked God, he was enabled to continue to the present time.— (Applause.) Then he was led off into the work of -.the ordinary ministry, but he was, never satisfied— it always seamed to, him that there were two worlds, a Christian world and a worldly world", each knowing very little about the other. The Christian world had no charm for the large masses who were growing up outside the churches, and he longed, and panted, and pined to get at the people. They would not come to him, asd so he resolved, with his beloved, noble, and sainted wife, to leave the income and certainties with which God had favoured them in the church— which were more than they had ever deemed possible— and they gave themselves up to the outside world.— (Applause.) He saw the misery and wretchedness of the people, and bis heajtt was drawn to them. They were sheep without a shepherd ; a great crowd for whose souls no man seemed to care. He did not; say no one did care; but the ministers had their energies absorbed in their own organisations, and outside of their church doors was this surging ocean of humanity. Within the circumference of a mile there were a million people who never crossed the threshold of church or chapel, as ignorant as the savages of distant lands. He watched them with the deepest interest, for humanity always had. a great fascination for him. People told him he should go and see the mountains, the cataracts, and the lakes ; but men and women were of far deeper interest to him than scenery could possibly be. When he got to heaven he would see the hallelujah Switzerland, or whatever wonderful I things that were to be seen ; but down here , it took him all his time to look after men and women. To this missionary wqrk in London be had devoted himself, he had left the results in God's hands, and now by God's blessing the work then commenced had gone right round the world.— (Applause.) Still the work that was

done was indeed trifling compared with what was left undone, and he hoped to see the time when Christians would cease boasting of what they had done and would humbly give themselves up to a stronger _ determination to do something, or to die in the attempt, to make the world hear and know of the love of Christ and of the salvation of God. Nona who wanted to work for God need be afraid on account of smsllness of ability or littleness of knowledge when they saw what was done by tbe instrumentality of the despised Salvation Army; but perhaps he ought to say that' the leaders of the Army were men and women of average ability. Some of the members of the army [spoke from eight to a dozen languages, and that was about as many as those in the Presbyterian and other churches knew. Nevertheless, the great bulk of army workers had not passed through those schools of learning—the universities -but still learning was not the desideratum.^ Brain power and heart power were not got at the schools, and for these qualities, comparing them with the leaders of other Christian movements, he would back the Salvation Army leaders man for man, and especially would he back them woman for woman.— (Applause.) Twenty-six years ago he took his stand, and looking en the crowd said, " What shall Ido ? " His first business was to gain the attention of the people. There were men who wallowed in sin and who rolled down the road to ruin simply because they were thoughtless, and he held that whajb he had to do was to make men think, and to make them see with the eyes of the soul. He knew that if he could only get seen to look at heaven they would want to go there, especially as they knew they had fathers or mothers, or little children there, and he knew that if he could get a man to look at hell and keep him looking at it for a while, his nature was so constituted that he must cry out, "Is there no way of deliverance?" He was sure of that, and he knew that the hearts of the ragged and tattered crowd, the hearts of drunken, dissipated victims of "vice, the hearts of the crowds of Sabbath-breakers, were made much after the fashion of those of lady and gentlemen 'people who had been saved wholesale, and he believed that if he ceuld get the attention of the masses he would see them saved in crowds.— (Applause.) There they had the secret of the principles of the Salvation Army so far as its operatians were concerned. Whatever seemed likely to attract the people that was what he wanted ; he did not care what it was, whether the churches, liked it or not. He was under no obligation to fight his fight in the same way as his great-great-great-great-grandfather did. — (Laughter.) He did not know tbe old gentleman — (loud laughter) —but he hoped he was a respectable person—(laughter)—and he was under no obligation to' fight this fight in the same way as was done in other churches.— (Applause.) No one supposed that the churches approved of all that was done by the Salvation Army; he did not — (laughter) — but he might return the compliment and say to the churches that be did not agree HKb all that was done in their army, — (Laughter and hear, hear.) Always 'admitting that the methods of the Salvation Army were in harmony with the spirit of God, if they seem adapted to attain the purpose he bad in view he adopted them, and it was out of the growth of this feeling that they had got all that was peculiar in what the army had in the way of uniforms, sashes, and banners. He did not .suppose there was any virtue in a sash or in one of those lovely hallelujah bonnets— (loud laughter) — though they were most becoming, and set off a beautiful woman.— (Renewed laughter.) He would rather have the fashions from the Salvation Army than from Paris.— (Laughter.) He did' not pretend there was any virtue in the particular forms of ceremonials the army adopted. Nothing of the kind. The ceremonials acted as a bait in the same way as the bait a man would put on his hook when he was goinj; fishing. The Salvation Army started in that way, and while they had been mercilessly condemned and laughed at — if it was ridicule that killed' why, he asked, was not General Booth dead, buried, and pickled long ago P— they had gone on in spite of all ridicule, oppression, and persecution, and with God's blessing they had gone forward, and where' were they now? — (Loud applause). Their colours were now flying in 35 distinct countries and colonies ; they had something like 5000 separate self-governing societies, and the were led forward by no less than 11,000 offices, male and female, who had gone out to fight for Christ without guarantee of income, support or care of. any description . The Salvation Army had done something in putting an opportunity in the way of women to speak for the Lord, and right nobly had they risen to the opportunity ?— (Applause.) Could he not tell stories of the most; fascinating and romantic description of the results of the labours of his dear girls ?— (Applause.) He was going to Melbourne in a few days, if he were spared, and among other duties he had to perform there he had to set apart and consecrate a number of young women as slum officers. In England over 100 girls had left homes of comfort and had left all sorts of worldly, opportunities to go and live in the darkest, dirtiest, and most vicious alleys of the great city, where they laboured like the very angels of God for the people amongst whom they lived ; they , went where a police officer dare not go single-handed, and they were loved where they went, and their very example was intimately concerned in the outcome of his idea for the social regeneration of I the class of peopje who lived ,in those slums. Then, again, the War Cry was published in 23 countries and in 14 languages, and it biad a circulation of 750,000 copies weekly, besides monthly publications. Nearly a million of copies were issued monthly, not containing a single. advertisement in their sheets nor a single love story to make them interesting, yet they were full ' of the love stories of the loye stories. In conclusion, General Booth directed the attention of his hearers to what God had wrought for them, and addressed an eloquent exhortation to his people to prosecute with zeal and fidelity the work they had undertaken. He resumed his seat amid prolonged cheers. On the motion of Colonel Bailey, a hearty vote of thanks was .accorded to Mr James Allen for presiding, and to the Rev. Mr Saunders and the Hon. W. D. Stewart for the part, they had taken in the proceedings^ The Chairman then returned thanks, and Colonel Nicol having prayed and pronounced the benediction, the assemblage dispersed*