WORK OF REDEMPTION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 270, 15 November 1932, Page 8

WORK OF REDEMPTION

SALVATION ARMY EFFORTS COMMISSIONER'S ADDRESS Six glimpses of examples of the sue cessful work of the Salvation Army were given at a meeting iu the Wanganui Citadel by Commissioner T . Cunningham, last evening He referred to intimate details of the lives of six men who had each tome to live a different and a better life than that which each had previously led. There was not a reprobate who could not be transported and transformed, said the speaker; not a man who could not be reclaimed by the power of God. Manv years ago a man sat with his back to an Army shelter near the Thames. He wag determined to be the first to enter. When others approached h e kicked at them with his feet. The door was opened and the old man literally fell into the shelter. He was given a good wholesome supper, a comfortable bed, and breakfast the next morning. Being inyjted to stay for a service, ho did, and there professed his faith in the Lord.

At five years of age the old man had been taken by a gang of burglars, who had used him to their ends. All were captured by the police two years later and at the age ot' seven he was given seven years’ penal servitude. During his life he had spent 39 years in gaol. After the service at the shelter he became an Army member and went to the gates of the Bentonville gaol, there carrying on the work of the Salvation Army among those who were leaving. Ho was indeed a trophy of grace, said Commissioner Cunningham. Next* the scene moved to H dland, with a drunken sailor reeling down the quay to see on what type of boat tho Salvation .Army service was being held that night. The boat moved about the waterways in Holland, services being held where occasion warranted. Tho sailor found himself among a congregation of about 250. He heard the prayers in Dutch, heard the hymns sung in Dutch and that evening gave himself to God. He remained sober the next day, went tj the service that night and came home still sober. The next day his w’ife and son went to the service, too. They followed the example of the man. The wife became ill, and a doctor noticed her broken noso when she was in hospital. He persuaded her to allow him to attend to it. The result was that not only did she have a new husband, a new home, and a new nose, but also a new life.

When operations on the goldfields commenced at .Johannesburg, the Salvation Army was the first to commence services there. A staff captain, a big man, was crossing the square and camo upon a bundle of rags. He turned it with his foot to find that it was a man in delerium tremens. He took the man home on his shoulder, nursed him back to life, and later had him selling War Cries in some of his old haunts. One man set fire to them as a joke and received a hiding from the convert who had formerly been a boxing instructor. But he changed his ways and the boxing instructor became a strong member of the Army, being held in the highest esteem. He was another trophy of grace.

A confirmed drunkard at Queenstown went to see the Salvation Army when he was especially inebriated. One night the speaker told him that the best thing lie could do was to steal a horse. Theu lie would be given prison, and would have the opportunity to become properly sober. Tho man took the remark to heart, and because of his later association with tho Salvation Army did not touch drink for 20 years. Such was another trophy cf gra\?. On a trip out to South Africa a young man became friendly with a vivacious gul of his own race. They married, he becoming an addict to drink and she, too. Their daughter went, to a Salvation Army service and invited an officer to visit her home. Both man and wife followed the will of God. and the man became not only successful in business but also treasurer of the branch oi. the Salvation Army. Those of the town said that if the Salvation Army had done nothing else their work had not been in vain, because for 20 years man had lived apart from drink. Ihe last of the glimpses was of a New Zealand man who was at the Miramar Prison Gate Home, in Wellington. V\ hen lb months of age he had been found on the steps of tho Christchurch I olice Station. Ho had had no relations in his life, no one had cared for 3j he had cared for none. Forty years of his life ho had spent in gaol. A Salvation Array captain at Auckland had talked to him in a cell of the love Jesus had for all, and* the man had thought that if Jesus loved him, then ho should love Jesus. He had told tho commissioner at Wellington that he was not allowed to wear the red Salvation Army jersey, but the commissioner had sorted out the jersey he had worn manv years before and had it sent out to the man at Miramar. The result was that the man was clothed in the red jersey of the Salvation Army—the commissioner’s jersey. (Applause). The evening took the form of a service, several items being given by Salvation Army members. The company sang a hymn, a lesson was read, and the meeting closed with the singing of the Doxology. Mr F. Symes presided in tho unavoidable absence of the Mayor, Mr N. G, Armstrong.