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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7125-8.txt b/7125-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66ef899 --- /dev/null +++ b/7125-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3421 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine Booth, by Mildred Duff + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Catherine Booth + A Sketch + +Author: Mildred Duff + +Posting Date: September 11, 2012 [EBook #7125] +Release Date: December, 2004 +First Posted: March 12, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +CATHERINE BOOTH +A SKETCH + +_Reprinted from The Warriors' Library_ + +BY +COLONEL MILDRED DUFF + +WITH A PREFACE BY +GENERAL BRAMWELL BOOTH + + + + +PREFACE + + + +Colonel Duff has, at my request, written the following very interesting +and touching account of my dear Mother; and she has done so in the hope +that those who read it will be helped to follow in the footsteps of that +wonderful servant of God. + +But how can they do so? Was not Mrs. Booth, you ask, an exceptional +woman? Had she not great gifts and very remarkable powers, and was she +not trained in a very special way to do the work to which God called her? +How, then, can ordinary people follow in her steps? Let me tell you. + +Mrs. Booth walked with God. When she was only a timid girl, helping her +mother in the household, she continually sought after Him; and when, in +later years, she became known by multitudes, and was written of in the +newspapers, and greatly beloved by the good in many lands, there was no +difference in her life in that matter. She was not content with being +Mrs. General Booth of The Salvation Army, and with being looked upon as a +great and good woman, giving her life to bless others. No! she listened +daily for God's voice in her own heart, sought after His will, and leaned +continually for strength and grace upon her Saviour. You can be like her +in that. + +Mrs. Booth was a soul-winner. A little while before her spirit passed +into the presence of God, and when she knew that death was quite near to +her, she said: 'Tell the Soldiers that the great consolation for a +Salvationist on his dying bed is to feel that he has been a soul-winner.' +Wherever she went--in the houses of strangers as well as of friends, in +the Meetings, great and small, when she was welcomed and when she was +not, whether alone or with others--she laboured to lead souls to Christ. +I have known her at one time spend as much trouble to win one as at +another time to win fifty. You can follow her example in that. + +Mrs. Booth always declared herself and took sides with right. Whatever +was happening around her, people always knew which side she was on. She +spoke out for the right, the good, and the true, even when doing so +involved very disagreeable experiences and the bearing of much +unkindness. She hated the spirit which can look on at what is wicked and +false or cruel, and say, 'Oh, that is not my affair!' You can follow her +example in this also. + +Mrs. Booth laboured all her life to improve her gifts. She thought; she +prayed; she worked; she read--above all, she read her Bible. It was her +companion as a child, as a young follower of Christ, and then as a Leader +in The Army. Those miserable words which some of us hear so often about +some bad or unfinished work--'Oh, that will do'--were seldom heard from +her lips. She was always striving, striving, striving to do better, and +yet better, and again better still. All this also you can do. + +Mrs. Booth was full of sympathy. No one who was in need or in sorrow, or +who was suffering, could meet her without finding out that, she was in +sympathy with them. Her heart was tender with the love of Christ, and so +she was deeply touched by the sin and sorrow around her just as He was. +Even the miseries of the dumb animals moved her to efforts on their +behalf. This sympathy made Mrs. Booth quick to see and appreciate the +toil and self-denial of others, and ever grateful for any kindness shown +to her or to The Army or to those in need of any kind. The very humblest +and youngest of those who read this little book can be like her in all +this. + +Mrs. Booth endured to the end. She never turned back. She was faithful. +Her life and work would have been spoilt if she had given up the fight. +She was often sorely tempted. She was slandered and misrepresented by +enemies, betrayed by false friends, and often deeply wounded by those who +professed to love her, though they deserted the Flag. But she held fast. +You can be like her in that. You may make many mistakes, suffer many +defeats, but you can still keep going on, and it is to those who go on to +the very end, whether in weakness or in strength, that Jesus will give +the crown of life. + +Mrs. Booth trusted with all her heart in the love and sacrifice of her +Saviour. These were her hope and her strength. When at the height of her +influence and popularity she delighted in that wonderful song which we +still so often sing:-- + + I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me, + And purchased my pardon when nailed to the tree; + +and when, amid much suffering, she lay dying, we often sang together +with her:-- + + Victory for me! + Through the Blood of Christ my Saviour; + Victory for me! + Through the precious Blood. + +This was her victory. You can follow her in the faith that won it. Will +you? + +BRAMWELL BOOTH. + +_International Headquarters._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PREFACE + + I. CHILDHOOD + II. CONVERSION AND SOUL STRUGGLES + III. A THREE-YEARS ENGAGEMENT + IV. A LIFE OF SACRIFICE + V. THE SPEAKER + VI. THE MOTHER + VII. THE WORKER +VIII. GOODNESS + IX. LOVE + X. THE WARRIOR + XI. LAST DAYS + XII. DATES IN MRS. BOOTH'S LIFE + + + + + +CATHERINE BOOTH: +A SKETCH + + + + +I + +CHILDHOOD + + +'Parents who love God best will not allow their children to learn +anything which could not be pressed into His service.'--MRS. BOOTH. + + +The Mother of The Salvation Army was born at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, on +January 17, 1829, and God gave to her the very best gift He can give to +any child--a good and holy mother. + +Katie Mumford, as she was then called, had no sister to play with, and of +her four brothers only one lived to be a man. But her dear mother more +than made up for every lack, and from her lips the little girl learned +those blessed lessons which, in her turn, she has taught to us. + +One lesson which Mrs. Mumford early taught her daughter was that our +bodies will not live for ever. She took Katie to see the body of her +infant brother who had just died; and, though she was not more than two +years old at the time, Katie never forgot that first lesson. Spiritual +things were even then real to her, just because they were so real to her +mother. Heaven was home to her, and Jesus her best Friend, ever near to +help and guide her. + +Truthfulness was a second of those early lessons which remained with our +Army Mother all her life. She was but four years old when Mrs. Mumford +found her one evening sobbing bitterly in her little cot long after she +should have been asleep. She had told a falsehood, and conscience would +not let her rest. When she had sobbed out her confession, her mother +talked and prayed with her, and at last left her, happy in the assurance +that she was forgiven by her Heavenly Father. + +After this you will not be surprised to hear that another lesson early +taught to Katie by her mother was to love her Bible. She could read +nicely when she was but five years old, and she loved to stand by her +mother's side, and read the Bible stories aloud, with just a little help +over the very long words. And this love for God's Word grew deeper every +year, so that by the time she was twelve years old she had read it +through eight times. In later years people often wondered how it was that +Mrs. Booth knew her Bible so well, and could so quickly answer their +difficulties and objections in Bible words. Much of the secret lay in +this early training, and in the hours she spent in Bible study later on, +when she had reached the age of some of our younger Corps Cadets. + +I wish we could have seen her in those days. She had very dark hair, +which curled naturally; black, flashing eyes, and such a warm heart, and +strong, impetuous nature that she could do nothing by halves. Whatever it +was, work or play, her whole soul had to be in it. + +Since she was not at all strong, and had few girl friends, Katie did not +play rough or noisy games, but her love for her dolls made her quite a +little mother to them. She treated them almost like real children, and +would sew and toil, and never rest till she felt she had in every way +done her duty to them. She loved animals, too, especially dogs and +horses, and could not bear to see any one ill-treat them. Oh, how she +suffered one day, watching some poor sheep driven down the road! She +watched the man beat them--she could not stop him; and at last she tore +home, and flung herself down almost choking and speechless with +indignation and distress. + +Her mother did not check Katie for feeling so keenly. She encouraged her; +for she knew that a hard, indifferent child, who can see suffering and +not care or be distressed over it, would make a hard woman; and she +wanted her Katie to be full of love and tenderness for all, and +especially for those needing help. + +When Catherine was twelve years old she became very interested in the +drink question. She wrote letters about it, and sent them to different +newspapers, for there was no 'War Cry' nor 'Young Soldier' in those days; +and she also became the secretary of what was then called a Juvenile +Temperance Society, and did all she could to get boys and girls to +promise never to touch the drink. + +Katie was also, like many of you, much interested in the heathen. She +would go round to all her friends collecting money to pay for preachers +to be sent to them; and in order to get more money she would deny herself +sugar and other small luxuries. No one told Katie to do this; but you see +our Army Mother herself taught us, by her example when only a child, to +keep our great Self-Denial Week. + +Of course, most of Katie's time was taken up with her lessons, and, as +she loved to learn and study, they were no hardship to her. For two years +she went to a boarding-school, and here her companions soon found out how +straight and truthful she was. 'You'll never get _her_ to tell a +lie,' the girls said, 'nor even to exaggerate, so it's no use trying.' +Every one knew also that Katie felt for the backward girls and those who +were slow and dull. She wanted them to succeed, and would help them +between school hours. That was her joy, you see--to help and care for +others; whether at school or at home she was the same. + +But you must not think that Catherine was perfect. Oh, no, indeed! +Sometimes her schoolmates would tease her because she was so quiet, and +liked to read better than to play; and at such times, instead of being +patient, she would flare up into a passion, and say harsh, angry words. +When the storm was over she would be, however, Oh! so sorry, and would +beg her schoolfellows to forgive her. + +When Katie had been at school two years, God sent her a very great trial. +Instead of being able to go on learning and keeping up with the other +girls, she had to return home, and for three long years to lie nearly all +the time on her back, often suffering very much. She had a serious spinal +complaint, and her friends sometimes doubted whether she would ever walk +again. + +You wonder what she did in those three years? I will tell you. When the +pain would permit it, she would knit and sew. She could not, of course, +hold heavy needlework; but little things, like babies' socks and hoods, +pin-cushions, and so forth, she would make most beautifully, and then +they would be sold to help on the work of God. + +Besides her sewing, Katie read a great deal. First, as I have already +told you, she read her Bible, and learnt to know God's thoughts about the +world and sin, and His wishes for His people. For seven months at one +time Catherine had to lie on her face on a special sort of couch made on +purpose for her; but she invented a contrivance by which, even then, she +could read her Bible, though still remaining in the position that the +doctors wished. Then, too, she would read good books--explanations of the +Bible, about Holiness, soul-saving, lives of those who have lived and +worked for God, and so on. When she had read a chapter she would shut the +book, and write down as much as she could remember of it. This helped her +to think clearly and to remember what she read, and also to put her +thoughts into words. + +But she never wasted her time reading stories and novels. Later on in her +life she said she was so thankful for this, for she thought that novels +and silly story books made people discontented with their own homes and +duties, and put wrong, hurtful ideas into their minds. Let us recollect +and follow our Army Mother's example here, and not waste time on stories +which are not true. + +We, if we had known Katie Mumford in those three years of pain and +weariness, should have pitied her very much. We might have been tempted +to feel that God was hard in not letting her be strong like other girls; +but we now see that all the time He was fitting her for the wonderful +future before her; and when she became Mrs. Booth, the great preacher, +she herself understood this. + +'Being so much alone in my youth,' she said, 'and so thrown on my own +thoughts and on those expressed in books, has been very helpful to me. +Had I been given to gossip, and had there been people for me to gossip +with, I should certainly never have accomplished what I did.' + +So, you see, God was all the time giving her the very best training He +could, and teaching her, as she lay there alone on her bed, what she +never could have learned in the ordinary way. And He will train you, too, +in the very best way for your future, if you will but determine to trust +and serve Him as did Catherine Mumford. + + + + +II + +CONVERSION AND SOUL STRUGGLES + + + +'No soul was ever yet saved who was too idle to seek.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +Perhaps you, the Corps Cadet, for whom I am especially writing this +little book, have been tempted to break your vows by becoming engaged to +some one who does not want to be an Officer. And you think, perhaps, that +no one understands your feelings. + +You will be surprised, then, to know that our Army Mother had just such a +battle to fight when she was a girl. + +She had a cousin, a little older than herself, who was tall and very +clever. He came with his parents to stay in her home, and Katie had not +seen him since they were young children. He quickly grew very fond of his +cousin, and Catherine found how nice it was to have some one to give her +presents and to love her as he did. At last he begged her to promise that +by and by she would be engaged to him. Now Katie was very perplexed. On +the one hand she loved her cousin, and did not want to grieve him, and +yet in her heart she knew he was not truly given up to God, and would not +help her in her soul. + +'Go to the Meeting with you, Katie?' he used to say. 'Of course, I'll go +anywhere to please you.' But then, while she was trying to get a +blessing, he would be scratching little pictures on the back of the seat +to make her laugh. Perhaps you can guess the struggle it was for Katie to +decide what her answer should be. 'If you will only say "yes," and be +engaged to him, I am sure you will be able to help him, and very likely +get him properly saved,' the Devil would whisper. 'Break it off now, +Katie; do not go another step; you know God cannot smile on it.' That was +how her conscience spoke. + +At last, one day as she was truly praying and seeking for light, she read +the verse in 2 Corinthians vi. 14: 'Be ye not unequally yoked together +with unbelievers.' It came to her as the voice of God. + +'I will do it, Lord,' she said, after a long struggle; and she sat down, +and wrote her cousin a letter, telling him just why she could never be +engaged to him, and breaking it all off for ever. Then she turned back to +her home duties, and did not re-open the question. + +And did our Army Mother in after years regret that she had acted like +this? No, indeed; she has told us that she saw plainly later on that, if +just then she had chosen to follow her own feelings and wishes, instead +of obeying God's command, all her life would have been altered, and she +would never have done the glorious work He had planned for her. It was a +hard battle at the time, and cost her many tears; but it was worth it, +ten thousand times over, as we can all see to-day. + +Very soon after this victory Catherine became really converted. + +'What!' you say. 'Was she not converted before this?' + +No. All her life she had, like many children trained to-day in +Salvationist homes, felt God's Holy Spirit striving with her. Sometimes, +when quite a little girl, her mother would find her crying because she +felt how she had sinned against God. + +But when she was about fifteen she longed to know that she was really +saved. + +'Don't be silly,' said the Devil in her heart. 'You have been as good as +saved all your life. You have always wanted to do right. How can you +expect such a sudden change as if you were a great big drunkard? It's +absurd.' + +'But my _heart_ is as bad as the heart of a big sinner,' cried poor +Katie in an agony of fear. 'I have been as bad inside, if not in my +outward actions and words.' + +And then she took hold of God in faith. 'Lord, I must be converted. I +cannot rest till Thou hast changed my whole nature; do for me what Thou +dost do, for the thieves and drunkards.' + +But for six weeks it seemed as if God did not hear her cry. She grew more +and more unhappy. All her past sins rose before her: those bursts of +temper when she was at school, those wrong thoughts and feelings. Yes, +the Bible was true when it said: 'The heart is deceitful above all things +and desperately wicked.' + +Katie argued, too, like this: 'I cannot recollect any time or place where +I claimed Salvation and the forgiveness of my sins; if God _has_ +saved me, He would surely have made me certain of it. Anyway, I must and +will know it. I must have the assurance that I am God's child.' + +Unable to rest, she would pace her room till two o'clock in the morning, +and would lie down at last, with her Bible and hymn-book under her +pillow, praying that God would Himself tell her that her sins were +forgiven. At last, one morning, as she woke, she opened her hymn-book, +and read these words:-- + + My God, I am Thine, + What a comfort divine, + What a blessing to know that my Jesus is mine. + +Now she had read and sung these lines scores of times before, but they +came this morning with a new power to her soul. + +'I am Thine!' 'My Jesus is mine!' she exclaimed. 'Lord, it is true!--I do +believe it! My sins are forgiven. I belong to Thee!' and her whole soul +was filled with light and joy. She now possessed what she had been +seeking all these weeks--the assurance of Salvation! And then what do you +think she did? She threw on a wrapper, and, without waiting to dress, +hurried across to her mother's room, and tapped at the door. + +'Come in,' said her mother's voice; and Katie, her face shining with joy, +burst into the room. 'Mamma, mamma, I am a child of God! My sins are +forgiven--Jesus is my Saviour!' she cried, flinging herself into her +mother's arms. And this was the same Katie, who had been so shy and +backward that she had never before dared to speak about her spiritual +anxieties, even to her mother! Ah! what a change real conversion, or +change of heart, had made. + +For the next six months Katie was so happy that she felt as if she were +walking on air. 'I used to tremble,' she tells us, 'and even long to die, +lest I should back-slide or lose the sense of God's favour.' + +But as time went on she learned, as we all have to do, to walk by faith, +not by sight, and to serve and follow the Saviour whether she had happy +feelings or not. + +But you must not suppose, because Katie had the assurance of Salvation, +that therefore she had no more fighting. No--indeed, her fighting days +had only just begun. + +One of her great difficulties, which many Corps Cadets will understand, +was that she felt so nervous about doing anything in public. No one, of +course, asked her to speak--such a thing was never dreamed of; but the +lady who took the Bible Class which she attended regularly would now and +then ask her to pray. 'Miss Mumford will pray,' the lady would say, when +they were all kneeling together. + +But Katie was too shy to begin, and sometimes they would wait for several +minutes before she had courage to say a few words. 'Don't ask me to pray +again,' she said one day to her leader; 'the excitement and agitation +make me quite ill.' + +'I can't help that,' was the very wise answer; 'you must break through +your timidity; for otherwise you will be of no use to God.' + +And did Katie persevere? Yes, indeed, she did. Here is an entry made some +time later in the diary that she kept, which shows you how very much her +experience was like yours:-- + +'I have not been blessed so much for weeks as I was to-night. I prayed +aloud. The cross was great, but so was the reward. + +My heart beat violently, but I felt some liberty.' + +Though Catherine's spine difficulty was better, she was still very +delicate, and at the age of eighteen every one felt sure she was going +into a decline. But, sick or well, her soul grew stronger, and her desire +to please and serve God better increased every day. + +'I do love Thee,' she wrote in the same little diary, 'but I want to love +Thee more.' + +It was not till many years later that Catherine received the blessing of +a clean heart; but even now she had begun to desire and long for it. She +also writes at this time: 'I see that this Full Salvation is very +necessary if I am to glorify God below, and find my way to Heaven. I want +a _clean_ heart. Lord, take me and seal me.' + +Some people, even after they are converted, are too proud to own +themselves wrong, or to confess when they have sinned. Catherine was not +of that sort. In one of her letters to her mother she ends with these +words:-- + +'Pray for me, dear mother, and believe me, with all my faults and +besetments, your loving child.' + +Her hunger after a holy life was real and practical. She knew she must +learn to live by method--that is, doing right, whether she liked it or +not--and not by feelings, if she was to be of use in the world. + +So at the end of the year she wrote some new resolutions; and as they may +be of help to you, I will copy them for you just as she put them down:-- + +'I have been writing a few daily rules for the coming year, which I hope +will prove a blessing to me, by the grace of God. I have got a paper of +printed rules also, which I intend to read once a week. May the Lord help +me to keep to them! But, above all, I am determined to search the +Scriptures more attentively, for in them I have eternal life. I have read +my Bible through twice during the past sixteen months, but I must read it +with more prayer for light and understanding. Oh, may it be my meat and +drink! May I meditate on it day and night! And then I shall bring forth +fruit in season; my leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever I do shall +prosper.' + +She had also her own private ways of denying herself, not for the sake of +earning money or praise by it, but simply because she felt it was right. +One of these rules was to do without dinner, and butter at breakfast, +once in the week, because she felt it helped her in her soul. + +I cannot end this chapter without telling you of the one great sorrow +which darkened all her early years. Some of you, I know, will enter into +her feelings so well. + +Her father, at one time saved and earnest about the souls of others, had +grown cold and backslidden, and now never even went near a Meeting. You +can fancy what agony this was to both Mrs. Mumford and her daughter. They +prayed and wept in vain--he only seemed to get more indifferent. +Catherine would sometimes write her feelings and her sorrow in her diary, +and there we read:-- + +'I sometimes get into an agony of feeling while praying for my dear +father. Oh, my Lord, answer prayer, and bring him back to Thyself! Never +let that tongue which once delighted in praising Thee, and in showing +others Thy willingness to save, be engaged in uttering the lamentations +of the lost! Oh, awful thought! Lord, have mercy! Save, Oh! save him in +any way Thou seest best, though it be ever so painful. If by removing me +Thou canst do this, cut short Thy work, and take me Home. Let me be bold +to speak in Thy name. Oh, give me true courage and liberty, and when I +write to him, bless what I say to the good of his soul!' + +For many years this prayer of Catherine's was not answered; but she held +on, as you must do for those you love, in faith and prayer; and at last +she had the unspeakable joy of seeing her dear father come back to God +through one of her own Meetings which he had attended. His last years +were full of peace, and were spent in serving God and rejoicing in His +Salvation. + + + + +III + +A THREE-YEARS ENGAGEMENT + + + +'What a need there is for effort and energy; or real religion and common +sense!'--MRS. BOOTH. + +One Sunday, when Catherine and her mother went to the Meeting as usual, +they found a 'Special' there, taking the services. He was quite different +from the other Specials, and Catherine could not help noticing him with +extra interest. He spoke to the people's hearts, and was not so much +occupied in preaching a good sermon as in getting some one converted. But +he did preach a very good sermon for all that, and chose this verse as +his text--'This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.' + +A few days later Catherine and her mother were spending the evening with +a friend, when the very same preacher came in, and was introduced to them +as the Rev. William Booth. + +Catherine knew they had one subject in common--love for souls; but before +the evening ended she discovered that the young minister was quite as +earnest as she was herself in fighting the Drink curse and all that was +connected with it. + +A few Sundays later Mr. Booth preached again in the same building, this +time as the minister, or, as we should say, 'Officer in charge,' and no +longer as a Special. And now you will guess that the two often met, and +that, because they had so many interests in common, they soon learned to +know each other well, till respect grew into friendship, and friendship +into love. + +Catherine was at this time twenty-two years old, and Mr. Booth was three +months younger; but, though you would have said they were old enough to +know their own minds, they did nothing hastily, and would enter into no +engagement till they were quite sure of God's Will in the matter. + +Had Catherine ever before thought of the day when she would get married? +you, perhaps, ask. Oh, yes, indeed, and when but a girl of +sixteen--directly, in fact, after she was saved--she settled in her own +heart what sort of a man her future husband must be. First, she decided, +he must be truly converted, and a total abstainer, not to please her, +but from his own choice. Then he must be a man of sense, or she could +never respect him; and, if they were to be happy, they must feel and +think alike on all important matters. + +Ah, if our women-Soldiers and Cadets to-day would but follow our Army +Mother's example, there would be fewer unhappy marriages and wrecked +lives! + +But in her secret heart Catherine had also, girl-like, some ideas about +the sort of man she would like to marry, if she might choose. He should +be a minister--that was the nearest she could get to an Officer in those +days; William was a name she particularly liked, and--if only he might be +tall and dark! If you had been there when Katie Mumford first listened to +his preaching you would have seen that he was 'tall and dark' indeed. + +But though William Booth loved Catherine with a deep and holy love, which +increased each time they met, yet he was very poor, and he wondered if he +ought, under the circumstances, to ask her to share his lot. He wrote a +letter to her, telling her how perplexed and troubled he was, and her +answer shows us that, right from the very earliest days, before they were +even engaged, her one desire was that his soul should prosper. + +'My dear friend,' she begins ... 'The thought that I should cause you any +suffering or increase your perplexity is almost unbearable. I am tempted +to wish that we had never seen each other. Do try to forget me, as far as +the remembrance would injure your usefulness or spoil your peace. If I +have no alternative but to oppose the Will of God, or trample on the +desolations of my own heart, _my choice is made_. "Thy will be done" +is my constant cry. I care not for myself; but Oh, if I cause you to err, +I shall never be happy again.' + +It was not the fear of poverty that frightened her, for a few days later +she says:-- + +'I fear you did not fully understand my difficulty. It was not +circumstances. I thought I had assured you that a bright prospect would +not allure me, nor a dark one affright me, if only we are _one in +heart_. + +My only reason for wishing to defer the engagement was that _you_ +might feel satisfied in your mind that the step is right.... If you are +convinced on this point, let circumstances go, and let us be one, come +what may.' + +This is exactly what they did, and after meeting, and together +consecrating their lives to God, they solemnly pledged themselves to each +other. + +And now began a three-years' engagement, in which, though often for long +months at a time they never met, they remained true to each other and to +God, in thought and word and deed. + +Many of the beautiful letters that our Army Mother wrote to The General +at this time, I am glad to tell you, have been kept, and we will look +together at some of the ways in which she tried to help and cheer him. + +In the first letter after their engagement she ends with these words:-- + +'The more you lead me up to Christ in all things, the more highly shall I +esteem you; and if it be possible to love you more than I do now, the +more shall I love you. You are always present in my thoughts.' + +Now you must not think that, even in these early days, our General had a +very easy life. He was often much perplexed and troubled, longing above +all to do God's Will for the Salvation of the people, and yet not quite +sure what that Will was. At these times Catherine was of untold help to +him. + +Once he was very unsettled--not certain whether he should remain away in +the North of England, or accept a place in London, where the two could +often meet. Most girls would have said, 'Oh, come, then we shall be near +to each other'; but you will see that her advice to him is just as +suitable for you when you are not certain of your duty--that she does not +consider her own feelings at all. + +'I wish,' she writes, 'you prayed more and talked less about the matter. +Try it, and be determined to get clear and settled views as to your +course. Leave your heart before God, and get satisfied in His sight, and +then do it, be it what it may. I cannot bear the idea of your being +unhappy. Pray do in this as you feel in your soul it will be right. My +conscience is no standard for yours.' + +Then she adds, lower down:-- + +'Oh, if you come to London, let us be determined to reap a blessed +harvest. Let our fellowship be sanctified to our souls' everlasting good. +My mind is made up to do my part towards it. I hope to be firm as a rock +on some points. The Lord help me. We must aim to improve each other's +mind and character. Let us pray for grace to do it in the best way and to +the fullest extent possible.' + +'Anyway,' she says, a day or two later--and ever remember her words when +outside things try and distress you--'don't let the controversy hurt your +soul. Live near to God by prayer.... You believe He answers prayer. Then +take courage. Just fall down at His feet, and open your very soul before +Him, and throw yourself right into His arms. Tell Him that if you are +wrong you only wait to be set right, and, be the path rough or smooth, +you will walk in it. + +'Oh, you must live close to God! If you are a greater distance from Him +than you were, just stop the whirl of outward things, or rather leave it, +and shut yourself up with Him till all is clear and bright upwards. Do, +there's a dear. Oh, how much we lose by not coming to the point. Now, at +once, realize your union with Christ, and trust Him to lead you through +this perplexity. Bless you. Excuse this advice. I am anxious for your +soul. Look up. If God hears my prayers, He must guide you--He will guide +you.' + +In these early days our General was tempted, as some of us are tempted +to-day, to feel nervous and shy when talking before large crowds, and +where the people were better dressed and better off than usual. He wrote +his feelings to Catherine, and she sends him back her wise advice and +help. 'I am sorry for this,' she says, 'and am persuaded it is the fear +of man which shackles you. Do not give place to this feeling. Remember +you are _the_ Lord's servant, and if you are a faithful one it will +be a small matter with you to be judged of man's judgment. Let nothing be +wanting beforehand to make what you say helpful, but when you are before +the people try to think only of your own responsibility to Him who hath +sent you.' + +Again, later, she writes:-- + +'Try and cast off the fear of man. Fix your eyes simply on the glory of +God, and care not for frown or praise of man. Rest not till your soul is +fully alive to God.' How truly she herself carried this out in her own +Meetings you will hear later on. + +Miss Mumford was very anxious that The General should improve himself +with plenty of hard work. She saw what he might become, and she also knew +that unless he did _his_ part all those wonderful powers which God +had lent to him would be thrown away. + +'Do assure me,' she writes, 'my own dear William, that no want of energy +or effort on your part shall hinder the improvement of those talents God +has given you.' + +So that, with his constant travelling and preaching, he might get time to +read and think and learn, she suggested a little plan to him in his +billets. + +'Could you not,' she says, 'provide yourself with a small leather bag or +case, large enough to hold your Bible and any other book you might +require--pens, ink, paper and a candle? And, presuming that you generally +have a room to yourself, could you not rise by six o'clock every morning, +and convert your bedroom into a study till breakfast time?... I hope, my +dearest love, you will consider this plan, and keep to it, if possible, +as a general practice. Don't let little difficulties prevent your +carrying it out.' + +You must remember that at this time neither Catherine nor Mr. Booth ever +dreamed of the wonderful work they were to be called to do. He was then +preaching and getting souls saved, mostly in country places, and had many +a 'hard go,' but _that_ was no reason why he should not improve. + +Did The General like this advice and counsel? Or did he feel, as some men +do to-day, that women cannot judge nor understand such things? + +Ah! he was wise, and only too glad to have all the help that Catherine +could give him. In fact, he often wrote begging her to help him more. The +outlines for addresses which she sent him weekly he valued and used, as +this letter shows:-- + +'I have,' he writes, 'just taken hold of that sketch you sent me on "Be +not deceived," and am about to make a full sermon on it. I like it much. +It is admirable. + +'I want a sermon on the Flood, one on Jonah, and one on the Judgment. +Send me some bare thoughts, some clear, startling outlines. We must have +that kind of truth which will move sinners.' + +But if Catherine Mumford was anxious about the mind and work of her +future husband, much more was she anxious about his soul. To her, there +could be no true love without faithfulness, and where she felt it +necessary, she cautioned him in the truest and tenderest way:-- + +'You have special need,' she writes, 'for watchfulness and for much +private intercourse with God. + +'My dearest love, beware how you indulge that dangerous element of +character, ambition. Misdirected, it will be everlasting ruin to +yourself, and perhaps to me also. Oh, my love, let nothing earthly excite +it; let not the wish to be great fire it. Fix it on the Throne of the +Eternal, and let it find the realization of its loftiest aspirations in +the promotion of His glory, and it shall be consummated with the richest +enjoyments and brightest glories of God's own Heaven.' + +You wonder, perhaps, if Catherine ever wrote 'love letters,' as we call +them. She never wrote the foolish and sentimental letters which say a +great deal, and mean very little; but she was able to put her great love +into words strong, intense, and full of tenderness. + +'Do I remember?' she asks in one letter. 'Yes, I remember all--all that +has bound us together. All the bright and happy, as well as the clouded +and sorrowful times of our fellowship. Nothing relating to you can time +or place erase from my memory. Your words, your looks, your actions, even +the most trivial and incidental, come up before me as fresh as life. If I +meet a child called William, I am more interested in him than in any +other. Bless you. Keep your spirits up, and hope much for the future. God +lives and loves us, and we shall be one in Him, loving each other as +Christ loved us.' + +William Booth and Catherine Mumford were married in London, on June 15, +1855; and here are a few lines from the last letter she wrote to him +before the engagement was ended, and the long thirty-five years of happy +married life began:-- + +'I long to see you. Your letters do not satisfy the yearnings of my +heart. Perhaps they ought to. I wish it were differently constituted. I +might be much happier. But it _will_ be extravagant and enthusiastic +in spite of all my schooling. If I ever get to Heaven, what rapture shall +I know! No, there is no fear of our loving each other too much. How can +we love each other more than Christ has loved us? And this is the +standard He has given us. What a precious thing is the religion of Jesus! +It makes our first duties our highest happiness. It has the promise of +the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. We will spend +all our energies in trying to persuade men to receive and practise it.' + +How wonderfully she carried this intention into practice, and, together +with The General, lived every moment 'publishing the Sinner's Friend,' +you shall read later on. + + + + +IV + +A LIFE OF SACRIFICE + + + +'Since I came to the crucifixion of myself, I have not cared much what +men might say of me.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +At the time when our Army Mother married The General's work was, as we +have seen, that of an 'Evangelist' or 'Travelling Minister.' He would +stay in a town for some weeks or months, as the case might be, preaching +and holding Meetings, and getting people saved, both in the town itself +and the places round. + +It was a blessed and useful life, but very wearying; and we can fancy how +trying it must have been for Mrs. Booth after her marriage not to have +any home of her own, but to billet first in one stranger's house, and +then in another's. + +But she did not complain, though we see what it cost her by a letter she +writes to her mother, telling the good news that they are to live in +lodgings while at Sheffield:-- + +'You cannot think,' she writes, 'with what joy I look forward to being to +ourselves once more. For though I get literally oppressed with kindness, +I must say I would prefer a home where we could sit down together at our +own little table, myself the mistress, and my husband the only guest. But +the work of God so abundantly prospers that I dare not repine, or else I +feel this constant packing and unpacking and staying amongst strangers to +be a great burden, especially while so weak and poorly. But then I have +many mercies and advantages. My precious William is all I desire, and +without this what would the most splendid home be but a glittering +bauble?' + +For several years Mrs. Booth travelled in this way from place to place, +helping, cheering, and encouraging her husband in his soul-saving +campaigns. She felt her duty lay here, and even when she had a little son +to care for, she was unwilling to settle down. Writing to her mother, who +urged her to leave off this trying life; or, at any rate, to hand the +baby over to her, she says:-- + +'My objection to leaving William gets stronger as I see the need he has +of my presence, care, and sympathy; neither is he willing for it himself. +Nor can I make up my mind to parting with Willie.' + +Mrs. Booth's object was to be a help to her husband--not a hindrance; to +push him forward in his soul-saving work--not to hold him back; and +therefore, instead of rejoicing, as most wives and mothers would have +done, when a settled home and work were offered him, she was doubtful. + +'Personally considered,' she writes to her mother, 'I care nothing about +it. I feel that a good rest in one place will be a boon to us. Anyhow, if +God wills him to be an Evangelist, He will open the way. I find that I +love the work itself far more than I thought I did, and I am willing to +risk something for it.' + +After this came several years of great conflict and struggle. The +Conference (or, as we would say, Headquarters) under whom The General +worked did not wish him to continue the great Salvation Campaigns for +which God had so marvellously fitted him. They wanted him to 'settle +down,' and spend perhaps several years in one place like ordinary +ministers. + +To please those who were over him he did this, and spent four years in +one town. But though God blessed his efforts, The General was convinced +that he was called to greater things. He loved the sinners; wherever he +went crowds flocked to hear him, and the vilest were converted. Was it +God's will, therefore, that he should sacrifice the work his soul loved, +and 'settle down' into an ordinary life, helping and reaching only the +people of one small city? + +This question our Army Mother helped him to decide. Try to picture her +position. She had by this time a family of little children, and her +health was very delicate. By counselling The General to 'settle down,' as +his friends wished him to do, she would have a nice home, a comfortable +income, and, above all, the constant presence of her husband, who would +no longer need to leave her on his long soul-saving tours. + +By refusing the position offered, and choosing instead to take up the +'evangelistic life' again, The General turned his back on salary, home, +and work, and went out into the world, with his wife and four children, +friendless and alone. Do you wonder that the struggle was a severe one? + +'Pray for me,' she wrote to her mother, when the question was about to be +settled. 'I have many a conflict in regard to the proposed new departure; +not as to our support--I feel as though I can trust the Lord implicitly +for all that; but the Devil tells me I shall never be able to endure the +loneliness and separation of the life. He draws many a picture of most +dark and melancholy shade. But I cling to the promise, "No man hath +forsaken," etc., and, having sworn to my own hurt, may I stand fast. I +have told William that if he takes the step, and it should bring me to +the workhouse, I would never say one upbraiding word. No. To blame him +for making such a sacrifice for God and conscience' sake would be worse +than wicked. So, whatever be the result, I shall make up my mind to +endure it patiently, looking to the Lord for grace and strength.' + +But if it was difficult for Mrs. Booth, the path was equally dark and +hard for The General. + +'William hesitates,' she writes a few weeks later. 'He thinks of me and +the children, and I appreciate his love and care. But I tell him that God +will provide, if he will only go straight on in the path of duty. It is +strange that I, who always used to shrink from the sacrifice, should be +the first in making it. But when I made the surrender I did it +whole-heartedly, and ever since I have been like another being. Oh, pray +for us yet more and more! We have no money coming in from any quarter now. +Nor has William any invitations at present. The time is unfavourable. I am +much tempted to feel it hard that God has not cleared our path more +satisfactorily. But I will not "charge God foolishly." I know that His +way is often in the whirlwind, and He rides upon the storm: I will try to +possess my soul in patience, and to wait on Him.' + +Sometimes you have heard your Officers talking in a Meeting, and telling +the people that, if they will but step out in faith, and do right, God +will open up the way for them. The example of our General and Army Mother +has taught us this lesson, for few ever took a step of faith into greater +darkness and difficulty than they did at this time. + +'My dearest,' writes Mrs. Booth to her mother, 'is starting for London. +Pray for him. He is much harassed. But I have promised to keep a brave +heart. At times it appears to me that God may have something very +glorious in store for us, and when He has tried us He will bring us forth +as gold. It will not be the first time I have taken a leap in the dark, +humanly speaking, for conscience' sake.' + +It was, indeed, a 'leap in the dark': to break up their little home in +the North, and, travelling by boat, to save expense, to bring their four +children to Mrs. Mumford's house in London. There they separated: the +father and mother went to Cornwall, to hold a Salvation campaign in a +little chapel that had been lent to them, and the children remained +behind. + +Of the marvellous way in which God blessed the Cornish work, I cannot +stop to tell you. Mrs. Booth's name as a preacher was by this time +becoming as widely known as that of her husband; and they went from one +place to another, at first together, and then, afterwards, separately, so +as to be able to do more good, for four long years. + +Whenever possible, our Army Mother took her children with her: she never +left them to others when she could help it, and later on I shall tell you +what a devoted and tender mother she was; but the strain of those four +long years no one will ever know. I want you to see the dark as well as +the bright side of her wonderful life; and here is part of a letter to +her mother, written at that time:-- + +'I feel dreadfully unsettled at present. I don't like this mode of living +at all. William has now been away from home, except on Friday and +Saturday, for twelve weeks. I long to get fixed together again once more. +The going backwards and forwards and being in other people's houses does +not suit William. Nor do I like leaving home for the Sabbaths. I am much +tempted to look gloomily towards the future. But "my heart is fixed." "I +will trust, and not be afraid."' + +Then again, a little later on:-- + +'Pray for me. I sometimes feel as though I had taken a path which is too +hard for me, and duties too heavy for me to perform; but it is my +privilege to say, and to feel, "I can do all things through Christ which +strengtheneth me."' + +Once again she says:-- + +'Well, the Lord help us to be faithful to our convictions, even in the +dark and cloudy day! I have felt it hard work to do so lately. Many a +time have I longed to be where the weary are at rest. + +'Well, we must labour and wait a little longer; it may be that the clouds +will break, and surround us with sunshine. Anyway, God lives above the +clouds, and He will direct our path.' + +The General and Mrs. Booth were holding Salvation services in London when +our Army Mother was called to make a fresh sacrifice, never dreaming of +the wonderful results that would spring from it. You shall read about it +in her own words, spoken many years afterwards:-- + +'I remember well,' she says, 'when The General decided at last to give up +the evangelistic life and to devote himself to the Salvation of the +East-Enders. He had come home from a Meeting one night, tired out, as +usual. It was between eleven and twelve o'clock. Flinging himself into +an easy chair, he said to me, "O Kate, as I passed by the doors of the +flaming gin-palaces to-night I seemed to hear a voice sounding in my ears, +'Where can you go and find such heathen as these, and where is there so +great a need for your labours?' And I felt as though I ought at every +cost to stop and preach to these East-End crowds." + +'I remember the emotion that this produced in my soul. I sat gazing into +the fire, and the Devil whispered to me, "This means another new +departure--another start in life." + +'The question of our support I saw at once to be a serious difficulty. +Hitherto we had been able to meet our expenses by the collections which +we had made from our respectable audiences. But it was impossible to +suppose that we could do so among the poverty-stricken East-Enders. We +did not then see things as we do to-day. We were afraid even to ask for a +collection among the East London crowds. + +'Nevertheless, I did not answer discouragingly. After a moment's pause +for thought and prayer, I answered, "Well, if you feel you ought to stay, +stay. We have trusted the Lord once for our support, and we can trust Him +again."' + +Mrs. Booth, when she answered like this, had no idea of all that was to +follow. She never dreamt that, from The General's standing alone in +Whitechapel, a mighty wave of Salvation would sweep over the earth, nor +that God was about to raise up an Army of which she and The General were +to be the leaders. + +But, as always before, she willingly agreed to whatever would be for +God's glory and the Salvation of souls; and we all know to-day how, from +that little Whitechapel beginning, grew the Christian Mission, and how, +at last, the Christian Mission became The Salvation Army. + +Do not think, however, that our dear Army Mother's consecration stopped +here! No, indeed. One by one, as they became old enough, she gave up her +children to the Work, and we shall never know all we owe as an Army to +her beautiful spirit of devotion and sacrifice. + +Let us stand together by her open grave in the autumn twilight. Her +twenty-six years of fight and toil in The Salvation Army are over now, +her spirit has been summoned Home. Listen. The Army Founder himself is +the speaker. He is recalling the forty years which he and our dear Army +Mother had trod together, and his words sum up better than any other +words could do what she was to our Leader:-- + +'If you had had a tree,' he said, speaking to the vast crowd that stood +round the grave, 'that had grown up in your garden, under your window, +which for forty years had been your shadow from the burning sun, whose +flowers had been the adornment and beauty of your life, whose fruit had +been almost the stay of your existence, and the gardener had come along +and swung his glittering axe and cut it down before your eyes, I think +you would feel as though you had a blank--it might not be a big one--but +a little blank in your life. + +'If you had had a servant who for all this long time had served you +without fee or reward, who had administered, for very love, to your +health and comfort, and who suddenly passed away, you would miss that +servant. + +'If you had had a counsellor who, in hours--continually occurring--of +perplexity and amazement, had ever advised you, and seldom advised wrong; +whose advice you had followed, and seldom had reason to regret it; and +the counsellor, while you were in the same intricate mazes of your +existence, had passed away, you would miss that counsellor. + +'If you had had a friend who had understood your very nature, the rise +and fall of your feelings, the bent of your thoughts, and the purpose of +your existence; a friend whose communion had ever been pleasant--the +most pleasant of all other friends--to whom you had ever turned with +satisfaction, and your friend had been taken away, you would feel some +sorrow at the loss. + +'If you had had a mother for your children who had cradled and nursed and +trained them for the service of the living God, in which you most +delighted--a mother, indeed, who had never ceased to bear their sorrows +on her heart, and who had been ever willing to pour forth that heart's +blood in order to nourish them, and that darling mother had been taken +from your side, you would feel it a sorrow. + +'If you had had a wife, a sweet love of a wife, who for forty years had +never given you real cause for grief; a wife who had stood with you, side +by side, in the battle's front, who had been a comrade to you, ever +willing to interpose herself between you and the enemy, and ever the +strongest when the battle was fiercest, and your beloved one had fallen +before your eyes, I am sure there would be some excuse for your sorrow. + +'Well, my comrades, you can roll all these qualities into one +personality, and what would be lost in all I have lost in one. There has +been taken away from me the light of my eyes, the inspiration of my soul, +and we are about to lay all that remains of her in the grave. I have been +looking right at the bottom of it here, and calculating how soon they may +bring and lay me alongside of her, and my cry to God has been that every +remaining hour of my life may make me readier to come and join her in +death, to go and embrace her in life in the Eternal City.' + + + + +V + +THE SPEAKER + + + +'I will never speak to sinners so that one man or woman in my audience +can stand up and say, "You might have warned me more faithfully, spoken +more plainly than you did." I would rather die than that should be the +case.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +No one must think that Mrs. Booth became a great speaker all in a moment, +or by any 'royal road.' She started when about eighteen, as many a Corps +Cadet has since done, by just taking a class or Company on Sundays, never +dreaming of doing more. An elder girls' Company was given to her; and she +had fifteen girls to teach, whose ages varied from twelve to nineteen. + +Two half-days she spent every week in preparing for her Company, and in +trying to make each lesson end in a practical way, so as to do them real +good. + +Then on Sunday, when the rest of the children had been dismissed, Miss +Mumford would beg to be given the key of the room and would remain +behind, holding a little Prayer Meeting with her girls. Sometimes they +would stay on for an hour and a half, and many by this means became truly +converted. + +Often with so much praying and singing Catherine quite lost her voice +before the end of the Meeting; but, so long as souls were saved, she did +not mind that. + +Soon after her marriage Mrs. Booth took another class of this same kind, +and also a little sort of Sergeants' Meeting, and then--for you see our +Army Mother was led on, just as you or I may be, step by step--she gave +a short talk to the Band of Hope children (something like our Band of +Love of today) on the evils of drink. + +'Oh, how I wish,' she wrote to her father, 'that I had started speaking +years ago!' + +A little later on Mr. and Mrs. Booth moved to Gateshead, and there the +people were very much surprised to hear their minister's wife pray aloud +when her husband had done speaking; for in those days very few women +thought of praying, much less of speaking, in public. + +'Since you can pray so beautifully, will you come and talk to us on our +special Prayer-Meeting night?' some of the people asked. But Mrs. Booth +was horrified. + +'Of course, I said "No,"' she wrote. 'I don't know what they can be +thinking of.' + +Just at this time an argument began in one of the newspapers as to +whether women had the right to speak for God or not. Mrs. Booth wrote an +answer to this question you can read it for yourself in her book, +'Practical Religion'--and she showed from God's Word, that women have the +same right to help to get people saved that the men have. The little +pamphlet was already printed and being widely read, and our Army Mother +lay alone in her room very ill, when the thought flashed into her soul, +'You have been helping other women to preach and to speak for God. What +about yourself?' + +'Oh, no, Lord, not me; I can't. I am, as Thou knowest, the most timid and +bashful disciple ever saved by grace.' That was her answer. + +Then the Lord took her back to the days when she first gave herself to +Him, at the age of fifteen. He showed her that all the way along this one +thing had hindered and stopped her from 'being the blessing or from +getting the blessing He intended.' + +'Lord,' she cried, 'if Thou wilt come back to me as in the old days, I +will obey, though I die in the attempt.' + +But at the moment God seemed not to answer her cry, and when she was well +again all went on as before. + +Three months later Mrs. Booth was quietly sitting one Sunday morning in +chapel with her eldest boy, when a very wonderful thing happened. You +shall read about it in her own words:-- + +'I felt much depressed in mind,' she says, 'and was not expecting +anything particular, but as the testimonies proceeded I felt the Holy +Spirit come upon me. It seemed as if a voice said to me: "Now, if you +were to go and testify, you know I would bless it to your own soul as +well as to the people!" I gasped again, and said in my heart: "Yes, Lord, +I believe Thou wouldst, but I cannot do it!" I had forgotten my vow. + +'A moment afterwards there flashed across my mind the memory of the time +when I had promised the Lord that I would obey Him at all costs. And then +the voice seemed to ask me if this was consistent with that promise. I +almost jumped up and said, "No, Lord, it is the old thing over again. But +I cannot do it!" I felt as though I would sooner die than speak. And then +the Devil said, "Besides, you are not prepared. You will look like a +fool, and will have nothing to say." He made a mistake. He overreached +himself for once. It was this word that settled it. "Ah!" I said, "this +is just the point. I have never yet been willing to be a fool for Christ. +Now I will be one!" + +'Without stopping another moment, I rose up from my seat and walked down +the aisle. My dear husband thought something had happened to me, and so +did the people. We had been there two years, and they knew my timid, +bashful nature. He stepped down, and asked me, "What is the matter, my +dear?" I replied, "I want to say a word!" He was so taken by surprise +that he could only say, "My dear wife wishes to speak!" and sat down. For +years he had been trying to persuade me to do it. Only that very week he +had wanted me to go and address a little Cottage Meeting of some twenty +working people, but I had refused. + +'I stood--God only knows how--and if any mortal ever did hang on the arm +of Omnipotence, I did. I just stood and told the people how it had come +about. I confessed, as I think everybody should who has been in the wrong +and has misrepresented the religion of Jesus Christ. I said, "I dare say +many of you have been looking upon me as a very devoted woman, and one +who has been living faithfully to God. But I have come to realize that I +have been disobeying Him, and thus brought darkness and leanness into my +soul. I have promised the Lord to do so no longer, and have come to tell +you that henceforth I will be obedient to the holy vision." + +'There was more weeping, they said, in the chapel that day than on any +previous occasion. Many dated a renewal in righteousness from that very +moment, and began a life of devotion and consecration to God. + +'Now I might have "talked good" to them till now. That honest confession +did what twenty years of preaching could not have accomplished.' + +After this wonderful victory Mrs. Booth never again drew back. The same +night she spoke once more, with even greater power than in the morning, +and before long invitations came pouring in from all parts, for wherever +she went souls were saved and people sanctified. + +But it cost her a great deal to preach like this. She writes of one +Meeting held soon after:-- + +'I got on very well, and had three beautiful cases, but I cannot tell you +how I felt all day about it. I could neither eat nor sleep. I never was +in such a state, and when I saw the people, I felt like melting away. +However, I got through.' + +Even to the last, when she was known all round the world as one of the +greatest women-preachers of the day, she never spoke without feeling +deeply the responsibility and importance of her work, nor without having +prepared carefully beforehand what she wanted to say. + +It was very difficult for her, with four little children, the eldest only +four years and three months old, to get enough time and quiet. We should +have said it was impossible, for she was not well off, and could not +afford to put her sewing out, or to have many servants to work for her; +but she says:-- + +'God forced me to begin to think and work, and He gave me grace and +strength to do it. Many a time while I was nursing my baby I was thinking +of what I should say next Sunday, and between times I noted down with a +pencil the thoughts as they struck me. Then I would appear with an +outline scratched in pencil, trusting in the Lord to give me the power of +His Holy Spirit; and from the day I began He has never allowed me to open +my mouth without giving me signs of His presence and blessing.' + +The two books she always used in getting ready for her Meetings were her +Bible and Concordance. + +In later years she taught her children how to prepare for their Meetings, +and some of the advice she gives is very helpful to Corps Cadets. + +'"Jesus wept,"' she writes to her eldest girl, who was then fourteen, +'would be a nice subject for you at one of your little Meetings. And you +could find some texts to show how David wept, and Daniel, and Jeremiah, +etc., if you like it. But don't take it because _I_ say so--you must +ask the Lord for your subjects.' + +Later on, however, as The Salvation Army grew, Mrs. Booth felt that, +though it was just as necessary to prepare, yet to speak from notes was +often not helpful to either the Officer or the people, so she writes to +one of her sons:-- + +'Get out of them! They don't fit our work. When you get on, you don't +want them; and when you don't, they are no good. At first, if your memory +won't serve you, just jot on a small bit of paper the size of a ticket +your main divisions in large writing, but no more. Like this:-- + + 'Day of wrath is come. + '1. God's wrath. + '2. Just wrath. + '3. Uttermost wrath. + '4. Eternal wrath.' + +On the platform Mrs. Booth's manner was as simple and natural as when by +her own fireside; anything 'put on' or affected she hated. + +'If I were asked,' she says, 'to put into one word what I consider to be +the greatest hindrance to the success of Divine truth, even when spoken +by sincere and real people, I should say _stiffness_. Simplicity is +indispensable to success, _naturalness_ in putting the truth. It +seems as if people, the moment they come to religion, put on a different +tone, a different look and manner--in short, become unnatural.' + +But Mrs. Booth not only prepared for her Meetings by thought and study, +but she prepared most of all by prayer. + +'Oh, if we could,' she writes, 'get more of the spirit of prayer into +those who love God! Few understand it at all. + +'I always find an exact proportion in the results to the spirit of +intercession I have had beforehand. That is why I like to be alone in +lodgings.' + +Before her Meeting she would wrestle and plead with God for hours, in +tears and agony, and then would face her congregation overflowing with +love and faith. + +'Pray for me,' she writes during her marvellous Portsmouth campaign. 'No +one knows how I feel. I think I never realized my responsibility as I did +on Sunday night. I felt really awful before rising to speak. The sight +almost overwhelmed me. With its two galleries, its dome-like roof and +vast proportions, when crammed with people, the building presents a most +imposing appearance. The top gallery is ten or twelve seats deep in +front, and it was full of men. Such a sight as I have never seen on any +previous occasion. Oh, how I _yearned_ over them! I felt as if it +would be a small thing to die _there and then_, if that would have +brought them to Jesus.' + +Nothing short of men and women getting converted satisfied her. + +'They say,' she writes of another campaign, 'the sinners here will +"_bide some bringing down_." Well, the Lord can do it. They tell me, +too, that I am immensely popular with the people. But _that_ is no +comfort unless they will be saved.' + +She laboured to get the truth home to the hearts of her listeners, and +that is why her talking was so blessed. + +'God made you responsible,' she said, 'not for delivering the truth, but +for GETTING IT IN--getting it home, fixing it in the conscience as a +red-hot iron, as a bolt, straight from His throne; and He has given you +also the _power to do it_; and if you do not do it, _blood_ will be +on your skirts. Oh, this genteel way of putting the truth! How God hates +it! "If you please, dear friends, will you listen? If you please, will +you be converted? Will you come to Jesus? Shall we read just this, that, +and the other?" No more like apostolic preaching than darkness is like +light.' + +How can I show you some of the marvellous results of her preaching? In +every part of our land her influence and words made themselves felt; the +largest buildings were crowded with all classes of society, and glorious +cases of conversion and sanctification crowned her labours everywhere. A +lady who was at some of her women's Meetings at Lye, near Birmingham, +tells us:-- + +'The women left their work, and in all sorts of odd costumes flocked to +the Meetings, some with bonnets, some with shawls fastened over their +head, others with little children clinging to their necks. All, with +eager, inquiring faces, took their seats and listened to the gracious +words which fell from the lips of dear Mrs. Booth. And when the +invitation was given, what a scene ensued! It baffles all description. +Crowding, weeping, rushing to the penitent-form came convicted sinners +and repentant backsliders. When the form was filled the penitents dropped +upon their knees in the aisles or in their seats, so that it was +difficult to move about.' + +When holding some Meetings in a Rotherhithe chapel (for The Army was only +just beginning its work, and our Army Mother took Meetings in different +churches and chapels up and down the land), the victories were just as +glorious, and one of her Converts says:-- + +'There were many remarkable cases of conversion at these Meetings. +Amongst others there were the two daughters of a publican. When one +sister was saved the other went to hear Mrs. Booth on purpose to ridicule +the services. But she was seized with such an agonizing realization of +her sins that she came down from the top of the gallery to the +penitent-form, crying out aloud, "I must come! I must come!" Soon after +their father gave up the public-house, and they afterwards became members +of Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle. + +'I have seen as many as thirty persons seeking Salvation in a single +Meeting, and some years afterwards, when I looked at the register of our +chapel, I found about one hundred names of those who had professed to be +converted at this time.' + +Our Army Mother, too, was equally straight and fearless with the rich +when, later on, they also came in crowds to hear her. She had but one +message and one gospel for all alike. She says, 'By God's help I will not +regard the person of man, but will plainly and fearlessly declare the +truth, come what may.' God honoured this spirit, and her Meetings in the +West-End of London, where the great and rich live, were some of the most +glorious of her life. Of one such she writes:-- + +'The Lord has very graciously stood by me, and given me much precious +fruit. Last Sunday we had the Hall crowded, and a large proportion of +gentlemen. The Lord was there in power, and twenty-one came forward--some +for Salvation and some for purity. Several were most blessed cases of +full surrender. We did not get away till nearly six, and we began at +three. Everybody is amazed at this for the West-End! The audience is very +select, we never having published a bill. Pray much, dear friend, that +God may do a deep and permanent work in this Babylon. It seems as though +He gave me words of fire for them, and they sat spellbound.' + +You say you wish you had heard her speak? Indeed, we all wish you had: +you could never have forgotten it. But several of her addresses were +taken down in shorthand at the time, and are reprinted in her books, so +you can get and read them; and they will bless and teach you as they have +taught thousands before you. + + + + +VI + +THE MOTHER + + + +'A lady once said to me, "How have you managed to get your children +converted so early?" "Oh," I said, "I have been beforehand with the +Devil."'--MRS. BOOTH. + +I have already told you how Mrs. Booth had the true mother spirit when +but a little child, loving and tending her dolls as if they had been real +babies; you will, therefore, guess that with her own children she was the +best and most careful of mothers. She began early to train them in the +right way, and never left them unless forced to do so. + +'I cannot part with Willie,' she writes to her mother, who offered to +free Mrs. Booth by taking charge of the baby for her; 'first, because I +know the child's affections could not but be weaned from us; and +secondly, because the next year will be the most important of his life +with reference to managing his will; and in this I cannot but distrust +you. I know, my darling mother, you could not wage war with his self-will +so resolutely as to subdue it. And then my child would be ruined, for he +must be taught implicit, uncompromising obedience.' + +But long before writing this she had already claimed her boy for God and +His war. 'I had from the first,' she says, 'definite longings over +Bramwell, and lifted him up to God as soon as I had strength to do so, +especially desiring he should be a teacher of Holiness.' These prayers +began to be answered very early. The boy had a truthful and conscientious +nature. Never, his mother says, does she remember his telling her a lie. +But, for all that, he needed, as do all children, training and teaching, +and Mrs. Booth was too wise not to be firm. She writes therefore: + +'I believe he will be a thoroughly noble lad, if I can preserve him from +all evil influence. The Lord help me! I have had to whip him twice lately +severely for disobedience, and it has cost me some tears. But it has done +him good, and I am reaping the reward already of my self-sacrifice. The +Lord help me to be faithful and firm as a rock in the path of duty +towards my children!' + +We know how practical our Army Mother always was; sentimental pity +without help she despised. When her little son, therefore, saw and pitied +a small boy with shoeless feet, his mother quickly reminded him of his +little money-box. + +'Would you rather keep the money for barley-sugar, Willie, or give it to +the poor boy?' she asked. 'Give it to the boy,' he said at once, and so +learnt his first lesson in self-denial. + +When the boy was seven years old he was converted, to his mother's +deepest joy. Some time before she had talked to him in a Meeting, and +urged him to get saved. The boy sat still and said nothing. 'Willie, I +insist,' said his mother at last. 'You must answer me. Will you give your +heart to God or not? Yes or no?' + +Willie looked up in her face steadily and answered back 'No.' + +Mrs. Booth said no more just then, but held on in faith and prayer, and +some months later, to her unutterable thankfulness, she found him +squeezed in among a number of other children at the penitent-form. He +had, unasked, made his way there, and was weeping and confessing his sins +with all his heart. + +Needless to say, he was faithfully dealt with, and the boy, now our +beloved General, dates his conversion from that moment. A little later +Mrs. Booth wrote of him:-- + +'Willie has begun to serve God, of course as a child, but still, I trust, +taught of the Spirit. I feel a great increase of responsibility with +respect to him. Oh! to cherish the tender plant of grace aright. Lord +help!' + +And as with the eldest so with the other seven. One by one they gave +their hearts to the Lord as soon as they grew old enough to do so. + +'She used to gather us round her,' says one of her daughters,' and pray +with us. I wore then a low frock, and her hot tears would often drop upon +my neck, sending a thrill through me which I can never forget.' + +She would pray again and again that she might lay them in their graves +rather than she should see them grow up wicked. + +Mrs. Booth was very particular about the way in which her children were +dressed. + +Of course, there was no uniform in those days, but The Army spirit was +already in The Army Mother, and she would not have any finery or show, +either for herself or her children. + +'Accept,' she writes to her mother, 'my warm thanks for the little frock +you sent. There is only one difficulty--it is too smart. We must set an +example in this direction. I feel no temptation now to decorate myself, +but I cannot say the same about the children; and yet, Oh, I see I must +be decided. Besides, I find it would be dangerous for their own sakes. +The seed of vanity is too deeply sown in their young hearts for me to +dare to cultivate it.' + +Even in her early days Mrs. Booth felt how wrong it was to spend time and +money over dress:-- + +'I remember feeling condemned,' she says, 'when quite a child, not more +than eight years old, at having to wear a lace tippet such as was +fashionable in those days. From a worldly point of view it would have +been considered, no doubt, very neat and consistent. But on several +occasions I had good crying fits over it. Not only did I instinctively +feel it to be immodest, because people could see through it, but I +thought it was not such as a Christian child should wear.' + +In everything to do with her home Mrs. Booth was a most practical and +careful mother. She hated waste and luxury, but her children were always +properly dressed and fed and cared for, and never lacked what was +necessary for them. + +Ladies who had been blessed by her words came to consult her about their +souls, and to their surprise found the great preacher, not shut away in +her study, but hard at work perhaps ironing the baby's pinafores, or +cutting out a pair of trousers for one of her boys! 'I must try,' she +said, when she began to live this two-fold life, 'to do all in the +kitchen as well as in the pulpit to the glory of God. The Lord help me.' +He did help her, and it was this practical mother-spirit at home which +gave her so much force and power on the platform. + +As the children grew older, they were more away from her side, and her +letters to them are suitable, not only to her actual sons and daughters, +but to her spiritual grandchildren who will read this little book. +Therefore I am going to give you some extracts, which you may take as +though written by our Army Mother straight to your own heart. + +To one of her boys at school she wrote:-- + +'I do hope you are industrious, and do not lose time in play and +inattention. Remember Satan steals his marches on us by _littles_--a +minute now, and a minute then. Be on the look out, and don't be cheated +by him! + +'All your little trials will soon be over, so far as school life is +concerned; and every one of them, if borne with patience, will make you a +wiser and better man. Never forget my advice about not listening to +_secrets_! Don't hear anything that needs to be whispered--it is +sure to be bad. Choose the boys to be your companions who most love and +fear God, and pray together when you can, and help each other.' + +Here is a very beautiful letter written when one of her children desired +to go in for some higher education, which Mrs. Booth feared might spoil +the soul life:-- + +'I do so want you and all my children to live supremely for God. I do so +deeply deplore my own failure compared with what my life might have been, +and I feel as if I could die to save you from making a mistake. Perhaps +you say, "You don't want me, then, to learn any more?" Yes, I do, a great +deal more; but of the right kind, in the right way, and for a right +purpose, even the _highest good of your race_. I would like you to +learn to put your thoughts together well, to think logically and clearly, +to speak powerfully--that is, with good but simple language--and to write +clearly and well.' + +Just the wish we have now for all our Young People! + +Early in their childhood the elder children were taught to be responsible +for the younger, and when at school they were given places of trust as +monitors, and so on. As if knowing the responsibilities they would by and +by be called to fill in our ranks, Mrs. Booth gives them some wise +counsel:-- + +'I hope,' she says to one who has been left in charge of the other +children, 'you will show yourself to be a true son of your mother, and a +consistent disciple of the Lord. Very much depends on you as to the ease +and comfort of managing the little ones. Do all you can. Be forbearing +where only your own feelings or comfort are concerned, and don't raise +unnecessary difficulties; but where their obedience to us or their health +is at stake, be firm in trying to put them right.' + +'I am pleased,' she says to one of the boys who has been in charge of +others at school, 'that Mr. W. puts such confidence in you; but do not be +puffed up by it. Remember how weak you are, and ask the Lord to save you +from conceit and self-sufficiency. Try to be fair and just in all +dealings with the boys--i.e., do not be hard on a boy whom you may not +happen to like so well as another; but be fair, and treat all alike when +left in charge.' + +Again, she warns one of them against extremes, even in well doing: + +'You are under a mistake to suppose that sacrificing your recreation-time +will help you in the end. It will not. Cramming the mind acts just in the +same way as cramming the stomach. It is what you digest well that +benefits you, not what you cram in. So many hours spent in study, and +then relaxation and walking, will do your mind much more good than "all +work, and no play." Now mark this. Do not be looking so much at what you +_have_ to do as to what you are _doing_. Leave the future (you +may spend it in Heaven), and go steadily on doing to-day's work in +to-day's hours, with recreation in between to shake the seed in. One +step well and firmly taken is better than two with a slip backwards. +Poor human nature seems as though it must go to extremes--either all or +none, too much or too little, idleness or being killed with work! May +the Lord show you the happy medium.' + +'I was sorry about the cause of the accident. I don't like that way of +doing things in fun! Though it was very wrong and wicked of the boy to +throw the brick, yet it would have been better to let him look at the +guinea-pigs being fed, and thus have pleased him. There was no harm in +what he wanted to do. You should watch against a hectoring spirit, and +mind the difference between a sacrifice of truth and principle, and one +only of self-importance or of mere feeling. If a boy wants you to do +wrong, then be firm as a rock and brave for God and goodness.' + +'Mind your soul,' she says at another time. 'Do not let your thoughts get +so absorbed, even in study, as to lead you to forget your Bible and to +neglect prayer.' + +Later, again, as a wise mother she warns them in the tenderest way +against their special temptations. + +Against lightness:-- + +'Be watchful against levity. C. is a good, devoted fellow, but naturally +an incorrigible joker. It may not hurt him much, because it is his +nature; but it will hurt you if you give way to it. It hurts nearly +everybody. + +Watch! Don't descend to buffoonery. While you become all things to win +some, don't forfeit your natural self-respect and the dignity of your +position as a servant of Christ.' + +Against too much talk:-- + +'The Spirit is teaching you this--is showing you that you must be more +silent. The tongue is one of the greatest enemies to grace (James iii. +5-13). Strive to obey these teachings of God. Yield yourself up to obey; +and though you sometimes fail and slip, do not be discouraged, but yield +yourself up again and again, and plead more fervently with God to keep +you. Fourteen years ago you were learning to walk, and in the process you +got many a tumble. But now you can not only walk yourself, but teach +others. So, spiritually, if you will only let God lead you, He will +perfect that which is lacking in you.' + +But it was not at first easy for the mother-spirit in Mrs. Booth to allow +her delicate girls of fourteen or fifteen to undertake a public life, and +to speak and sing at the street corners, surrounded by a rough, low +crowd. Such a thing was unheard-of in those days. + +Once, hearing that her daughter Catherine had spoken in the open air to a +large crowd, Mrs. Booth objected, as other mothers have since objected: +the girl was too young as yet--she must wait awhile. + +But her eldest son, looking at his mother in the tenderest and most +solemn way, said, 'Mamma, dear, you will have to settle this question +with God; for Katie is as surely called and inspired by Him for the +particular work as you are yourself.' + +Mrs. Booth said no more. She took this as the voice of God, and gave her +girl up to the marvellous work which God had called her to do. + +Later she writes of her to a friend:-- + +'Join me in praying that she may be kept humble and simple, and that all +that the Lord has given her may be used for Him.' + +'I see,' she says, writing at this same time to her daughter, 'what a +glorious, blessed, useful life you may live; but I also see your danger, +and I pray for you that you may be enabled to cast aside the world in +every form, to look down upon its opinions, and to despise its spirit, +maxims, and fashions.' + +Later on, again, came the days when the boys had to choose, as you have +to do, how they would spend their lives. Mrs. Booth might be writing to a +Corps Cadet of to-day when, in a letter to one of her sons, she says:-- + +'I hope the Lord will make you so miserable everywhere and at everything +else that you will be _compelled_ to preach! Oh, my boy, the Lord +wants such as you--_just such_--to go out amongst the people, +seeking nothing but the things that are Jesus Christ's! You are free to +do it; able by His grace; born to do it, with splendid opportunities. +Will you not rise to your destiny? "Have courage, and be strong, and I +(the I Am) will be with thee." "Get thee out, and I will go with thee." +Dare you not take hold of the arm that holds the world and all things up? +And if you do, can you fail? The Lord gird you with His strength, and +make your brow brass, and your tongue as a flame of fire. You _must +preach_!' + +To another of her boys she writes:-- + +'You may, perhaps, be wanted to stand and do battle for the Lord. Surely +you will not sell your birthright? The Lord help you! Take hold of +David's God. Hold your head up, keep your shoulders back, and go +forward.' + +Again:-- + +'This is what the world wants: men of one idea--that of getting people +saved. There are plenty of men of one idea--that of _gold_-getting. +They make no secret of it; they are of a worldly spirit. Now we want men +who are set on soul-saving, who are not ashamed to let everybody know +it--men of a Christ-like spirit. There need be no mistake or mystery about +it. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Paul and every other man of +like spirit has had his fruits, and will have to the end of time. It is +"Not by might, nor by power, but by _My Spirit_, saith the Lord of +Hosts."' + +With one of her daughters she reasons and pleads:-- + +'Oh, it seems to me that if I were in your place--young, no cares or +anxieties, with such a start, such influence, and such a prospect--I +should not be able to contain myself for joy! I should, indeed, aspire to +be the "bride of the Lamb," and to follow Him in conflict for the +Salvation of poor, lost, miserable man. I pray the Lord to show it to +you, and so to enamour you of Himself, that you may see and feel it to be +your chief joy to win them for Him. I say I pray for this--yes, I groan +for it, with groanings that cannot be uttered; and if ever you tell me it +is so, I shall be overjoyed. + +'I don't want you to make any vows (unless, indeed, the Spirit leads you +to do so); but I want you to set your mind and heart on winning souls, +and to leave everything else with the Lord. When you do this you will be +happy--Oh, so happy! Your soul will then find perfect rest. The Lord +grant it to you, my dear child.' + +She made all her children feel that the only reward they could give her +for her ceaseless toil and labour on their behalf was that they should +give themselves to the War:-- + +'I hope, my dear boy, that, whatever sense of obligation or gratitude you +have towards me, you will try to return it by resolutely resisting all +temptation to evil, and by fitting yourself to your utmost to be useful +to your fellow-men. I ask from you, as I asked from God, no other reward. +If I know my own heart, I would rather that you should work for the +Salvation of souls, making bad hearts good, and miserable homes happy, +and preparing joy and gladness for men at the Judgment bar, if you only +get bread and cheese all your life, than that you should fill any other +capacity with £10,000 per year.' + +To one of her children, when tempted to be over-anxious, she writes:-- + +'Keep your mind quiet. Lean back on God, and don't worry. It is His +affair, and if you have done what you could, that is enough. Alas! how +little we have of the faith that can "stand still, and see the Salvation +of God." What would you do if you were put in custody for two years, like +Paul was? And yet that imprisonment at Rome sent the Gospel far and wide! +God's ways are not our ways. He takes in the whole field at once, and +does the best He can for the entire world. Human wisdom never has been +able at the time to comprehend His plans, but years after it has often +seen their wisdom. Let us learn to trust in the dark--to stand still.' + +To another, tried and discouraged at the start of his public life:-- + +'I have only a minute or two; but, lest you should think I don't +sympathize with you, I send you a line. You ask, did I ever feel so? Yes, +I think just as bad as any mortal _could_ feel--_empty_, inside +and out, as though I had nothing human or Divine to aid me, as if all +Hell were let loose upon me. + +But I have generally felt _the worse before the best results_, which +proves it was Satanic opposition. And it has been the same with many of +God's most honoured instruments. I believe nearly all who are truly +called of God to special usefulness pass through this buffeting. + +'It stands to sense, if there is a Devil, that he should desperately +withstand those whom he sees are going to be used of God. Supposing +_you_ were the Devil, and had set your heart on circumventing God, +how would you do it but by opposing those who were bent on building up +His Kingdom? He hopes to drive us from the field by blood and fire and +vapour of smoke. But our Captain fought and won the battle for us, and we +have only to hold on long enough, and victory is sure. "Courage!" your +Captain cries. "Only be thou strong, and of good courage, and I will be +with thee, and teach thee what to say." + +'"He hath chosen the weak things." He has not _made shift with +them_--taken them because there were no others. No! He hath +_chosen_ them. Will He ever forsake them, and thus make Himself a +laughing-stock for Hell? Never! Will He ever let the Devil say, "Ah, ah! +He chose this weak one, and then let him fail"? No, no, no!' + +On the important question of courtship, she writes:-- + +'The Devil sets such innocent-looking traps--_spiritual traps_--to +catch young people! Ah, he is a serpent still! Beware of his devices, and +always cry to God for wisdom and strength of will to put down all foolish +tampering. You are born for greater things. God may want you to be a +leader in some vast continent, and you will want a companion and a +counsellor--a "helpmeet." The original word means "_a help +corresponding to his dignity_" This is the meaning given by the best +expositors. Oh, what wisdom there is even in the _words_ which God +has chosen to express His ideas! "Corresponding to his dignity!" Yes, and +no man ever takes one below this mark who does not suffer for it; and, +worse still, generations yet unborn have to suffer also. Mind what God +says, and keep yourself till that one comes. + +'A wrong step on this point, and you are undone. Oh, the misery of an +unsuitable match! It is beyond description. I could tell you tales of woe +that are now being enacted. But I must wait till we meet. + +'I have seen too much of life, and know too much of human nature, to have +much confidence in promises given under such circumstances. For my own +part, I made up my mind when I was but sixteen that I would not have a +man, though a Christian, who should offer to become even an abstainer for +my sake. I felt that such a promise would not afford me ground for +confidence afterwards. And do not we see enough all round us to show that +unless people adopt things on principle, because they see it to be right, +they soon change? Look at the folks who promise to give up tobacco and +dress, for the sake of getting into berths; how soon it evaporates! No, +my lad, wait a bit. "Couldst thou not watch with Me one hour?" Jesus +lived a single life for your sake all the way through. Can you not live +so till He finds you one after His own heart? I feel sure He will. Pray +about it in faith. I am doing so; and God will answer. But Oh, don't run +before Him! Wait on the Lord. + +'A little longer and you will be saying, "Oh, how glad I am I waited! I +have now found a treasure indeed!" When God's time and person are come, +He will bring you together. How delighted and satisfied Isaac must have +felt when the servant told him the way God led him (Genesis xxiv.).' + +When standing by her grave The General said she was _The Army +Mother_. He said the truth. + +One of her early promises, given to her as a girl, when she only saw its +greatness and hid it away in her heart as too sacred to be spoken of, and +almost too wonderful ever to be accomplished, were the words: 'I will +make thee a mother of nations.' + +When called to send her children abroad, she paid to the full the heavy +price; but she also saw the glorious outcome, and from her death-bed sent +tenderest messages to those of distant lands and far-off nations who +owned her as their Army Mother. + + + + +VII + +THE WORKER + + + +'What the Lord wants is, that you shall go about the business to which He +sets you, not asking for an easy post, nor grumbling at a hard +one.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +If she had not been a worker, our Army Mother would have done little with +her life. The wonderful call which came to her, her great gifts, the zeal +and love which filled her heart, would all have been useless had she not +been willing to work, and to work hard, and to work every day. + +Stop and think about this. No life accomplishes anything unless it is +full of hard work--often work accompanied by much drudgery, whether it is +the life of a king or of a poor man. Mrs. Booth has set us all an example +in this, for she would work ceaselessly with head or hands or heart, as +long as ever her health allowed her to do so. Laziness and idleness of +all kinds she detested; nor could she tolerate a lazy person in her +service. + +She worked first of all in her home. When she spent a morning in her +kitchen, the work there was perfectly done. The dinner was ready at the +right time, properly cooked, good and wholesome. She allowed no waste and +no extravagance. Her bread was light and beautifully baked, and when she +had finished her morning's work her kitchen was as neat as when she +began. She finished everything, and put it straight as she went along. + +It was the same with the children. She was alike nurse and doctor, +dressmaker and tailor; she made and mended, washed and ironed for her +boys and girls during their early years, and herself attended to every +smallest detail of their lives. Strangers who asked where Mrs. Booth +bought her children's things, so that they could go to the same shop, +could scarcely believe the reply: 'Mamma makes all our clothes +herself'--so beautifully were they cut and finished. + +And when the little garments were of no further service to her, she would +alter and mend them once again, and give them away. Her baby-clothes, +when the last daughter had outgrown them, were given to a member of the +Mission for his child. + +He will never forget taking the little bundle home to his wife and +turning over the tiny things. 'I had often heard Mrs. Booth preach,' he +said, 'but those baby-clothes preached a louder sermon to me and my wife +than ever her words had done. They were all darned and mended and +patched, and the work--but, there, I never saw such stitches! And as we +looked, and knew the hours of toil she must have put into them, rather +than throw them away, as many another would have done--well, I tell you I +listened to her next sermon as I had never listened before.' + +And this same diligent, tireless spirit was with her to the last. When on +her deathbed, able only to use her left hand, and propped up by pillows, +she devised a little frame on which, painfully, stitch by stitch, she +could work a last token of love for The General. + +When her hands were folded still in death, I saw those slippers. They +were beautifully embroidered, one with the words, 'He will keep the feet +of His Saints'; and the other with the sure and certain hope which lay +beyond the parting, 'Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O +Jerusalem'--a fitting and sacred service with which to close her many +years of toil and labour for others. + +But our Army Mother had another way of working in her home--that is, she +worked over others. If a girl wished to learn, Mrs. Booth would take +endless trouble in showing her the best way to wash or iron, or clean a +grate, or do whatever the work on hand might be. She instructed her +servants, explaining to them the reason for doing their duties in a +certain way, teaching them forethought and common sense, and dealing +faithfully with them over all their failures. + +'Better,' she said, in one of her addresses--and she lived it out in her +own home--'better take a girl whom you have to teach how to wash a +child's face, or to stitch a button on, if she is true and sincere, than +have one ever so clever, who will teach your children to lie and +deceive.' + +She worked, too, over the cases of need and poverty which were often at +her door. Not content, like so many, with giving a few coppers to a +beggar, or some broken food, she would inquire into the _cause_ of +the distress; and then, if the need seemed genuine, she would help, +either by getting the father work, or by having the home visited and +suitable relief given after the true condition of things had been found +out. + +And this was only a little of the homework with which her hands were ever +full. Of her ceaseless care over her children's mind and soul training I +have told you elsewhere. But of her public work perhaps the most +exhausting was that which resulted from her Meetings. For she could not +rest content with the most careful preparation beforehand, nor with +pouring out her whole soul upon the people during the forty or fifty +minutes that her address lasted. At the close of the Meeting, whenever +her health allowed it, she would labour and toil, often for two hours and +more, dealing herself with the penitents, meeting their difficulties, one +by one, and was unwilling to leave them until, as far as possible, all +had claimed and received the blessing they sought. + +The next day, too, she would follow up any special case with a long +personal letter from her own pen, or she would arrange another interview, +or in some way keep in close, actual touch with the struggling soul, +until the step of obedience had been taken, and he or she was fairly +started on the Narrow Way. + +And it was this careful, earnest, patient after-work which gave such +glorious harvests to her soul-saving campaigns. Labour and trouble were a +joy to her, if she could but help one sincere, seeking soul into the +light. + +But remember this: while she so toiled over all who came to her for +advice and guidance, she never repeated nor passed on to others their +confidences. If she had done so, people would soon have left off corning +to her; they would have said, 'We cannot trust her.' She was, as you +know, a mighty speaker; but about other people's affairs she was entirely +silent--as you must learn to be if you wish to be of any service to God +or man. + +And Mrs. Booth strove constantly to teach all who were around her to work +as she did. 'You have begun well enough--now carry it through,' she would +say again and again to her children, and whether it was a doll's frock, +or an article for 'The War Cry,' or a series of Meetings, it was always +the same. Unfinished, half-done work she detested with all her soul. 'If +a thing is worth beginning at all, then it is worth finishing,' she would +say; and this great principle followed her through her life in small +things as in great. + +This was the reason that, on her deathbed, she could say, turning to the +Chief of the Staff, 'I have no vain regrets about the past. As far as my +strength allowed, I have finished the work I had to do as I went along; +and now I leave it, all imperfect as it has been, in His hands.' + +Perhaps, by nature, you are not a worker. But what you are not by nature, +you can become by grace. God can teach you to love work. And as you work, +you will, like our dear Army Mother, learn better and better how to work; +and your life, whenever God calls you to lay it down, shall be like hers, +not unfinished, but complete. + + + + +VIII + +GOODNESS + + + +'I see more than ever that the religion which is pleasing to God consists +in doing and enduring His will, rather than in good sentiments and +feelings. The Lord help us to endure as seeing Him who is +invisible.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +When our first General stood on that October evening by the grave of his +beloved wife, and spoke to us with a breaking heart of our Army Mother, +he unfolded to us the three great qualities which made her character so +beautiful. First, and foremost, she was good; secondly, she was love; +and, thirdly, she was a Warrior. Let us, following The General's outline, +look at these three leading qualities in her life. 'First,' he said, 'she +was _good_. She was washed in the Blood of the Lamb. To the last +moment her cry was "a sinner saved by grace." She was a thorough hater of +shams, hypocrisies, and make-believes. Her goodness was of a practical +sort. "By their fruits ye shall know them" was a text she often quoted, +and one by which she was always willing to be judged.' + +It is of this 'goodness of a practical sort' that I want first to tell +you, before we consider that soul goodness which made her life so holy. + +Mrs. Booth could not imagine any goodness apart from industry. As we have +already seen, she considered it a sin to waste precious time. Any one who +was lazy she could not endure, and when one such offered for the work she +wrote of him:-- + +'I do hope you will not throw a lot of money away in trying H------, just +for want of courage to tell him at once that he will not do, because I am +sure that it will be thrown away. It is the _nature_ of the man that +is at fault, and not his _circumstances_. He is a _drone_, and +nothing, no change of place or position, can ever make him into a bee. He +never ought to have left his trade; he never _would_ have done so if +he had thought soul-saving was harder work!' + +Extravagance and waste of every kind she abhorred, and had she not been +so careful in planning and arranging, her time and money would again and +again have run short. The sewing, mending, and housekeeping needed for a +family of little children when means are scarce would have been burden +enough for most mothers. But besides this came her own letter-writing, +preparing for her Meetings, and also the hours she spent consulting and +advising The General, whose voice, 'Here, Kate,' would call her from the +nursery or kitchen to help him decide some important question. + +Again, it was impossible to talk to Mrs. Booth, even for five minutes, +without finding how true and sincere she was. To please no one would she +keep back the truth, or appear different from her real self. + +'I believe,' she writes, when quite a young woman, 'honesty to be the +best policy, and I shall act upon it. Let me have truth, if it shakes the +foundation of the earth.' + +She was sincere and faithful in every part of her nature: faithful with +her own soul and in dealing with the souls of others. Great or small, +rich or poor, she made no difference, and never held back from reproving +sin when it was needful. + +'I see more than ever,' she said, 'the need of making righteous people +true in their _inward parts_. Let us be more thorough than ever with +souls under conviction. Let us not be afraid to wound too deeply. +Thousands of professors have never been truly convinced of sin, much less +truly converted. Sin to them is _being found out_!' + +Though all through her life our Army Mother hungered and thirsted to +know God better, and to serve Him more perfectly, yet it was not till +some time after her marriage that she received the blessing of a clean +heart. + +Of the struggle and conflict which she went through, before the blessing +of Holiness became hers, she shall tell you in her own words:-- + +'I had been earnestly seeking all the week to know Jesus as an +all-sufficient Saviour dwelling in my heart, and thus cleansing it every +moment of all sin; but on Thursday and Friday I laid aside almost +everything else, and spent the chief part of the day in reading and +prayer, and trying to believe for it. On Thursday afternoon at tea-time I +was well-nigh discouraged, and felt my old visitant, irritability, and +the Devil told me I should never get it, and so I might as well give it +up at once. However, I know him of old as a liar and the father of lies, +and pressed on, cast down, yet not destroyed. + +'On Friday morning God gave me two precious passages. First, "Come unto +Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, +how sweet it sounded to my poor, weary, sin-stricken soul! I almost dared +to believe that He did give me rest from inbred sin--the rest of perfect +Holiness. But I staggered at the promise through unbelief, and therefore +failed to enter in. The second passage consisted of those thrice-blessed +words, "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, +righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." But again unbelief +hindered me, although I felt as if getting gradually nearer. + +'I struggled through the day until a little after six in the evening, +when William joined me in prayer. We had a blessed season. While he was +saying, "Lord, we open our hearts to receive Thee," that word was spoken +to my soul, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My +voice, and open unto Me, I will come in, and sup with him." I felt sure +He had long been knocking, and Oh, how I yearned to receive Him as a +perfect Saviour! But Oh, the inveterate habit of unbelief! How wonderful +that God should have borne so long with me! When we got up from our +knees, I lay on the sofa, exhausted with the excitement and effort of the +day. William said, "Don't you lay all on the altar?" I replied, "I am +sure I do!" Then he said, "And isn't the altar holy?" I replied in the +language of the Holy Ghost, "The altar is most holy, and whatsoever +toucheth it is holy." Then, said he, "Are you not holy?" I replied with +my heart full of emotion and with some faith, "Oh, I think I am!" +Immediately the word was given me to confirm my faith. "Now are ye clean +through the word which I have spoken unto you." And I took hold--true, +with a trembling hand, and not unmolested by the tempter, but I held fast +the beginning of my confidence, and it grew stronger, and from that +moment I have dared to reckon myself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto +God through Jesus Christ my Lord. + +'I did not feel much rapturous joy, but perfect peace, the sweet rest +which Jesus promised to the heavy laden. I have understood the Apostle's +meaning when he says, "We who believe do enter into rest." This is just +descriptive of my state at present. Not that I am not tempted, but I am +allowed to know the Devil when he approaches me, and I look to my +Deliverer Jesus, and He still gives me rest. Two or three very trying +things occurred on Saturday, which at another time would have excited +impatience, but I was kept by the power of God through faith unto full +Salvation. + +'And now what shall I say? "Unto Him who has washed me in His own Blood +be glory and dominion for ever and ever," and all within me says "Amen!" +Oh! I cannot describe, I have no words to set forth the sense I have of +my own utter unworthiness. Satan has met me frequently with my peculiarly +aggravated sins, and I have admitted it all. But then I have said, the +Lord has not made my sanctification to depend in any measure on my own +worthiness or unworthiness, but on the worthiness of my Saviour. He came +to seek and to save "that which was lost." "Where sin hath abounded, +grace doth much more abound"' + +How wonderfully in after years Mrs. Booth explained and led others into +this same blessing, we know. Was not, then, the long struggle and agony +on her own behalf worth it? Yes, indeed, and it will be so with you when +you get this glorious blessing in your soul. + +You will have noticed how in struggling for Holiness Mrs. Booth had to +fight unbelief. This determination to trust God fully marked her out as +strong in faith. + +She had this marvellous faith because she obeyed and struggled to throw +herself on the Lord; but faith was not _natural_ to her any more +than it is to you or me. + +Often money was short, and she hardly knew how she would be able to feed +and clothe her family: this was a sore trial of her faith. On one such +occasion she wrote to her mother:-- + +'We have not at present received as much as our travelling expenses and +house rent. I feel a good deal perplexed, and am sometimes tempted to +mistrust the Lord. But I will not allow it. Our Father knows!' + +Later on we get a sight of her own experience in one of her letters, when +she said:-- + +'I am much tried just now by perplexities of every kind; uncertainty, +from a human standpoint, hedges me in on every side. Satan says it is +useless trying to steer straight through such a labyrinth; but I am +determined to hold on to the promises, come what will. My God is the +living God. He sees me, knows me, loves me, cares for me, wants to have +me with Him in Glory, as much as He did Abraham, or Paul, or John. If +this be true, what have I to fear?' + +And again:-- + +'"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see +the Salvation of God?" This is a precious word. It has kept my soul alive +many a time when Satan has almost overthrown me. "If thou canst believe, +all things are possible to thee. Never mind whether anybody else can or +cannot. If others are too strong to let Me carry them, if thou art weak +enough to throw up all self-effort, and trust Me with thy whole weight, I +will carry thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." I know this is the way. +Hence the babes go in with the simple and the great sinners, while the +reasoners, and the strong, and the proud, and the fearful are shut out.' + +Again, to one who was cast down, and tempted to be discouraged because of +his failings, she writes:-- + +'It is well to see them, for how can we take hold of Jesus to mend what +we don't see? It is best to know ourselves, but we Salvationists are in +danger of erring on the other side. We look too much at ourselves apart +from Him who is or would be our righteousness, sanctification, and +redemption. Faith in Him as your keeper will do more in five minutes than +years of conflict without it.' + +Once, in another letter, she gives us a beautiful bit of her own soul's +experience on this subject:-- + +'I had such a view of His love and faithfulness on the journey from +Wellingborough, that I thought I would never doubt again about anything. +I had the carriage to myself, and such a precious season with the Lord, +that the time seemed to fly. As the lightning gleamed around I felt ready +to shout, "The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." Oh, how +precious it is when we see as well as believe, but yet more blessed to +believe and not see! Lord, work this determined, obstinate, blind, +unquestioning, unanswering faith in me and my beloved friend, and let us +two dare to trust Thee in the midst of our peculiar trials. As I looked +at the waving fields, and grazing sheep, the flashing sky, a Voice said +in my soul, "Of what oughtest thou to be afraid? Am I not God? Cannot I +supply thy little, tiny needs?" My heart replied, "It is enough, Lord; I +will trust Thee, forgive my unbelief."' + + + + +IX + +LOVE + + + +The truest love must ever seek the highest good of its object; sometimes +even with forgetfulness of important smaller advantages.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +The second great quality in Mrs. Booth's character, as given by the first +General, was her love. + +'She was _love_,' he says. 'Her whole soul was full of tender, deep +compassion. Oh, how she loved, how she pitied the suffering poor! How she +longed to put her arms round the sorrowful, and help them!' + +'How,' asked Mrs. Booth once, 'are we to put heart into people? Even +grace seems to fail to do so in many instances. I think it needs mothers +to do this from infancy upwards.' + +You will recollect that Mrs. Mumford fostered this 'heart' and love in +her little girl; and you will remember how keenly Katie felt, blazing up +into wrath at any story of wrong or injury, and ready to sacrifice her +life for those she loved. This spirit grew with her. She could not help +caring and struggling to help all who needed her. The General often told +her in later years that she was killing herself by carrying every one's +burdens. Then she would try to leave off for a little, but her heart was +too strong, and she could not hold it back. + +When but a child, running down the road with her hoop and stick, she saw +a drunkard being dragged off to prison by a policeman. All the people +were jeering and mocking at the poor friendless wretch. Instantly Katie's +pity and love fired up. She dashed across the street, and marched along +close by the man's side, so that he might feel that at least one little +heart cared for him, and wanted to help him. + +To the end of her life she carried this deep, tender pity wherever she +went. She loved the poor. 'With all their faults,' she said, 'they have +larger hearts than the rich'; and she loved them for it. + +Where any one had a warm heart, she could forgive and overlook many +mistakes; but with cold, narrow, 'fishy' souls, she had neither sympathy +nor patience. + +Our Army Mother's help was practical. She did not only give money or +pity, but she--so to speak--rolled up her sleeves and helped the +suffering herself. + +Every sort of suffering and need appealed to her. If an animal was +wounded or in pain, she stopped, and herself relieved it as best she +could; and to the last, if she saw a horse or any creature being +ill-treated, she would not hesitate to rush out and stop the driver, or +in some way force him to leave off his cruelty. + +She was not only kind and helpful to those she liked, but every living +thing that suffered had a claim upon her, and the greater the need the +more tender and ready was her help. + +Mrs. Booth was a people's woman, and she was never weary of scheming and +planning how to help the poor in the most practical way. + +'When I see people going wrong,' she said, when but a girl of twelve, 'I +must tell the poor things how to manage.' + +Dirt and sin, and drink and misery, could not quench this love; it was a +part of her very nature. Long, long before Slum Sisters were ever thought +of, Mrs. Booth did their work herself, just because she so loved the +poor, and longed to help them. You shall read the story in her own +words:-- + +'I remember in one case finding a poor woman lying on a heap of rags. She +had just given birth to twins, and there was nobody of any sort to wait +upon her. I can never forget the desolation of that room. By her side was +a crust of bread and a small lump of lard. "I fancied a bit o' bootter +(butter)," the woman remarked apologetically, noticing my eye fall upon +the scanty meal, "and my mon, he'd do owt for me he could, bless'm--he +couldna git me iny bootter, so he fitcht me this bit o' lard. Have +_you_ iver tried lard isted o' bootter? It's _rare good_!" said +the poor creature, making me wish I had taken lard for "bootter" all my +life, that I might have been the better able to minister to her needs. +However, I was soon busy trying to make her a little more comfortable. +The babies I washed in a broken pie-dish, the nearest approach to a tub +that I could find. And the gratitude of those large eyes, that gazed upon +me from out of that wan and shrunken face, can never fade from my +memory.' + +Before public Meetings took up so much of her time, she delighted in this +house-to-house visiting, and went especially for the drunkards, over whom +God gave her a wonderful power. + +'I used to visit in the evenings,' she says, 'because it was the only +part of the day in which I could get away; and, besides, I should not +have found the men at home at any other time. I used to ask one +drunkard's wife where another lived. They always knew. After getting hold +of eight or ten in this way, and getting them to sign the pledge, I used +to arrange Cottage Meetings for them, and try to get them saved. They +used to let me talk to them in homes where there was not a stick of +furniture, and nothing to sit down upon.' + +In this way our Army Mother sought and cared for the drunkards long +before Drunkards' Brigades were dreamt of. + +When, at a later time in her life, she first heard of the wicked and +cruel way in which young girls are trapped and drawn into sin, Mrs. +Booth's soul was filled with a whirlwind of holy indignation. + +'I feel as though I could not rest, but as though I must go and ferret +out these monsters myself,' she wrote. 'Almost everybody, notwithstanding +the indignation, seems so content with talking. Nobody appears willing to +take the responsibility of doing or risking anything. Oh, what a state +the world has got into!' + +But, deep and practical as was her love in earthly things, her passion +for lifting and leading souls into Salvation and Holiness was a thousand +times more intense. 'If we only realized, as we ought, the value of +souls, we should not live long under it,' she said; and she herself +realized it fully enough to make her fight on ceaselessly in spite of +intense weakness. 'If it were not for eternity,' she often sighed, 'I +should soon give up this life.' + +It was love for souls which made her go from town to town, care-worn, +weary, often quite unfit to meet the immense congregations which came to +hear her. + +It was love for souls which kept her sitting for hours at her +writing-table, when she should have been resting, trying to help those +who turned to her for counsel and direction from every part of the globe. + +It was love for souls which gave her many a sleepless night, and chained +her to her knees, weeping and pleading, agonizing with God on behalf of +the people she was to face the next day. + +And this love for souls grew even stronger as death came near. 'Eva,' she +exclaimed to one of her daughters, as she lay racked with agonizing pain, +'don't you forget that man with the handcuffs on. Find him. Go to +Lancaster Jail; let somebody go with you, and find that man. Tell him +that your mother, when she was dying, prayed for him, and that she had a +feeling in her heart that God would save him; and tell him, hard as the +ten years of imprisonment may be, it will be easier with Christ than it +would be without Him.' + +She was lying between earth and Heaven, thinking of the joy and peace +awaiting her, when it seemed as if she saw the dark face of a heathen +woman, and heard the cry, 'Won't you help us?' The old love for perishing +souls woke again directly, and she cried, 'Oh, yes, Lord, I will go +anywhere to help poor struggling people. I would go on an errand to Hell, +if the Lord would promise me that the Devil should not keep me there.' + +In one of these last days she sent a dying message to the Officers. 'Tell +them,' she said, 'that the only consolation for a Salvationist on his +death-bed is to have been a soul-winner. After all my labours I feel I +have come far short of the prize of my high calling. Beseech them to +redeem their time, for we can do but little at the best.' + +A little maid who was a Candidate came into Mrs. Booth's sick-room once +as she was speaking, and she called her to her bedside, giving her +warning and counsel which every Corps Cadet can take as though spoken to +herself:-- + +'You will be finished with the dishes soon,' she said, 'and you are going +to be a Cadet. I have been very pleased with you while you have been +here, because you have worked out of sight with a good will, and I think +you will make a brave Officer. You will promise me, will you?' she said, +as she laid her trembling hand on the girl's head. 'Yes,' was the reply, +'I will,' amid stifled sobs. + +'Give me a kiss, then,' said Mrs. Booth. 'Promise me that you will never +get spoiled by any unfaithful Officer. If you ever get mixed up with +such, do not hide it from Headquarters, but let them know about it, and +they will soon move the false away from you. I shan't be here; but, Oh! +may God help them to get rid of the wrong. Discernment of spirits! Oh, +why should we not have that gift back? It is very necessary.' + +Mrs. Booth's whole heart was wrapped up in the spread of The Army, and +she was never more of a warrior than when fighting its battles. And The +Army needed some one to stand up for it in those days. We who live to-day +can hardly fancy the fierce, bitter persecution the early-day +Salvationists had to fight through. + +Now, even those who dislike and despise us are forced to admit that 'The +Army does a great deal of good'; but then it was different, and again and +again, both by speech and writing, Mrs. Booth had to defend and stand up +for our methods. + +'I would not,' she says, after she had spoken too plainly for some rich +people who were offended at her words, 'sit down and listen to their +abuse of The Salvation Army for all their money. But I did not say a word +that I would object to have published upon the housetops. Such, however, +is often the spirit of the rich. They think that one must sit and hear +whatever they may choose to say, and hold one's breath, because of their +money! But, no, I will never be dumb before a golden idol!' + +She loved the Uniform: she herself planned that worn by Army women, and +always wore her own, rejoicing to be able to give to our people a way of +escape from the fashions and extravagances of the world. + +She loved the Flag, and was true to its beautiful meaning. She loved to +present Colours to the newly-opened Corps, or to parties of Officers +going abroad; and when, shortly before she passed away, she changed her +room, she begged that the dear Army Flag might be brought in and hung +above her bed. + +'There,' said The General, 'the Colours are over you now, my darling.' + +And she clasped them fondly with her left hand, and traced the +motto--'Blood and Fire.' + +'Yes,' she said, 'Blood and Fire; that is just what my life has been--a +constant and severe fight.' + +'It ought to be "Blood and Fire and Victory,"' said The General. + +'I'll fight on till I get it,' she answered. 'I won't give in. Next time +I see them I shall be above the pain and sorrow for ever.' + +But, though at the last she longed to be at rest, it was not easy for her +great mother's heart to unloose itself from those she loved, and from the +thousands in all lands who looked to her as to a mother. + +If you have learnt to love very deeply you will also have to suffer, and +her very love made the parting so difficult. + +'Oh,' she exclaimed, when speaking of leaving The General and her +children, 'mine is such a heart! it seems as if it had got roots all +round the world clutching on to one and another, and that it will not let +them go! And yet You can take care of them, Lord, better than I could. I +do, I do believe! O Eternal Father, Shepherd of the sheep, do Thou look +after my little flock!' + +'Amen,' we who read these lines may say; adding to her prayer, 'And give +us that same heart and love which made her life of such mighty power.' + + + + +X + +THE WARRIOR + + + +'Fighting is hard work, whatever sort of fighting it is. You cannot fight +without wounds of body, heart, or soul.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +'Lastly,' said The General in that same beautiful tribute to our Army +Mother that I have already quoted from,' she was a _warrior_. She +liked the fight. She was not one who said to others, "Go," but "Here, let +_me_ go"; and when there was the necessity she said, "I _will_ +go!" I never knew her flinch until her poor body compelled her to lie on +one side.' + +Our Army Mother was, indeed, before all things a warrior; she fought +bravely and unceasingly her whole life through. + +In thought and purpose she was independent, and dared to stand out for +what she felt right. Cowardice, in her opinion, was one of the commonest +and most subtle sins of the day, and she had no patience with those who +dared not say 'No,' and feared to stand alone. + +She thought for herself, and though always eager to hear and learn as +much as possible from others, yet she was not carried away by their +opinions, but carefully weighed and considered their arguments, and then +formed her own judgments. + +Mrs. Booth strove earnestly for doctrine. + +'Let us take care,' she said, in The Army's early days, 'what Gospel we +preach. Let us mind our doctrine.' + +And again:-- + +'We must stick to the form of sound words, for there is more in it than +appears on the surface. "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and the Holy +Ghost," was the theology of our forefathers, and I am suspicious of all +attempts to mend it.' + +And once more:-- + +'Let us beware of wrong doctrine, come through whomsoever it may. Holy +men make sad mistakes. "Well, but," say some, "is not a person who holds +wrong views with a right heart better than a person with right views and +a wrong heart?" Yes, so far as his personal state before God is +concerned, but not in his influence on man. My charity must extend to +those likely to be deceived or ruined by his doctrines as well as to +him.' + +Mrs. Booth's whole life was a continual fight against sin--sin of all +kinds. Whether her Meeting was held for the very lowest and roughest, or +whether rows of clergy and lawyers, and lords and ladies sat to listen, +it made no difference to her. She attacked sin, and went straight at the +very heart-sins of the people in front of her. + +'We need great grace,' she says in the midst of her wonderful West-End +campaign, where even princes and princesses came to hear her. 'I think +the Lord never enabled me to be more plain and faithful. As a lady in +high circles said to me, "We never heard this sort of Gospel before." No, +poor things, they are sadly deceived.' + +Drink, too, was another evil which Mrs. Booth fought against during the +whole of her life. She began, as you remember, when a girl by being +secretary of the 'Band of Love' of those days. + +In the early days of their engagement The General was strongly advised to +take a little wine for the sake of his health. Our Army Mother wrote him +a long letter, showing him how false and foolish such advice was, and +ending with:-- + +'I have had it recommended to me scores of times, but I am fully and for +ever settled on the physical side of the question. [Footnote: That means +taking it for the sake of health.--ED.] + +'It is a subject on which I am most anxious you should be thorough. I +have far more hope for your health _because_ you abstain, than I +should if you took wine. Flee the detestable thing as you would a +serpent; be a teetotaller in principle and practice.' + +Though, as we have seen, full of boundless faith and pity for the +drunkard, Mrs. Booth attacked the makers and sellers of drink +unmercifully. She says, on one occasion:-- + +'By your peace of conscience on a dying bed; by the eternal destinies of +your children, by your care for never-dying souls; by the love you owe +your Saviour, I beseech you _banish the drink_. + +'Tell me no more of charity towards brewers, distillers, and publicans. +Your false charity to these has already consigned millions to an untimely +Hell!... Arise, Christians, arise, and fight this foe! You and you alone +are able, for your God will fight for you!' + +Another thing for which our Army Mother fought, and which to-day we owe +in great measure to her efforts, is the position to which women have been +lifted as speakers and teachers in God's work. She first, as we have +seen, opened the way herself; and then she left it open, encouraging and +helping tens of thousands of simple, holy women all round the world to +follow in her steps. + +She had a tough battle to wage. All classes wrote and spoke against women +being allowed to stand and speak for God in the open air or in public +halls; but, strong in faith and courage, convinced that she had Divine +authority for what she did, our Army Mother fought on, arguing, writing, +preaching on the matter. Now to-day there is scarcely a land where The +Army bonnet is not known and loved, nor where Army women cannot gain a +crowd of respectful listeners. + +Now I am going to show you some of the hindrances in spite of which our +Army Mother fought on. + +The first of these hindrances was the burden which God allowed Mrs. Booth +to carry all through her life--a weak and suffering body. She said, when +her life was drawing to its close, that suffering seemed to have been her +special lot, and that she could scarcely remember a day in her life when +she had been wholly free from pain. + +'I don't care about my body,' she exclaimed when lying in her last +illness. 'It has been a poor old troublesome affair. I shall be glad for +it to be sealed up. It is time it was. Oh, I have dragged it wearily +about.' + +Most women suffering as she did, with a weak spine, heart disease, and +over-strained nerves, would have lived the life of an invalid. But the +warrior spirit within forced her body along. Scores of times she has gone +from her bed to the Meeting, and then, exhausted and fainting with the +effort, has had to be almost carried home. But she had done her work, and +sent the arrow of conviction into hundreds of hearts. + +Writing after one special strain of work and anxiety, she says:-- + +'The excitement made me worse than I have been for two years. My heart +was really alarming, and for two days I could hardly bear any clothes to +touch me. This has disheartened me again as to my condition. But God +reigns, and He will keep me alive as long as He needs me.' + +Another of her hindrances, and one which was almost more difficult to +overcome than weakness of body, was depression. + +I wonder if you know what that is? If so, it will help you to realize +that Mrs. Booth had to fight it also. + +The Devil seemed allowed to try and test her faith to the uttermost, and +at times to blot out all peace and glory from her soul. During one such +time of darkness she writes:-- + +'I know I ought not, of all saints, or sinners either, to be depressed. I +know it dishonours my Lord, grieves His Spirit, and injures me greatly; +and I would fain hide from everybody to prevent their seeing it. But I +cannot help it. I have struggled hard, more than any one knows, for a +long time against it. Sometimes I have literally held myself, head and +heart and hand, and waited for the floods to pass over me.' + +But our Army Mother did not give up working for God, and sit down in +despair, because she was thus tried. One day, just before leaving for a +great West-End Meeting, in which God made her words as a sharp two-edged +sword, she wrote this to one of her children:-- + +'I have been very much depressed since you left--more so than usual. It +is of no use reasoning with myself when these fits of despondency are on +me. I must hold on and fight my passage through; and when I get to Heaven +the light and joy will be all the greater. If I dared give up working I +should do so a hundred times over; but I _dare_ not.' + +Another and constant hindrance which our Army Mother had to fight for the +greater part of her life was poverty. It was so difficult, many times, to +make two ends meet. She had, during many years of her life, no regular +money coming in on which to depend, and during that time it was a +constant struggle to have her children properly cared for and give them +the needed education. + +But most of all did our Army Mother show herself a warrior in her own +Salvation campaigns. In those early days there were no praying Soldiers +and Sergeants to be had to deal with the penitents--no one, either, to +lead her singing, scarcely even to keep the doors or take up the +collection. She would arrive in a town absolutely alone. A hall had been +taken in which she was to speak, and she would hire a tiny lodging, or +stay in whatever home would receive her, and set to work. We can scarcely +understand the loneliness of her position. Here was a proof of her mighty +faith in God. + +She began these solitary campaigns when her sixth child was but a few +weeks old, and God most wonderfully owned her labours. At one place she +saw one hundred grown-up people and two hundred children come to her +penitent-form in six days. But it was a fearful battle. + +'I have a comfortable little cot to stay in,' she writes to her mother +from one such battle-field, 'very small and humble; but it is clean and +quiet; and when I feel nervous no one knows the value of quietness. I +have felt it hard work lately. Many a time have I longed to be where the +weary are at rest.' + +At Margate, some years later, she commenced her Meetings without knowing +a single person in the place. For some weeks she had not even a helper in +the Prayer Meetings, nor one who would give out a song for her. Mrs. +Booth could not sing herself, and there was often an awkward pause before +any one would be willing to pitch her tune. 'If only,' she said when The +Army was fairly on its feet, 'I had been able to command a dozen reliable +people such as I could have anywhere now, I think I could have done +almost anything.' + +Even more wonderful was her experience at Brighton. + +The Dome, a great building holding three thousand people, had been taken +for her Meetings. + +'I can never forget my feelings,' says this Soldier-saint, 'as I stood +upon the platform and looked upon the people, realizing that among them +all there was no one to help me. When I commenced the Prayer Meeting, for +which I should think quite nine hundred remained, Satan said to me, as I +came down from the platform according to my custom, "You will never ask +such people as these to come and kneel down here? You will only make a +fool of yourself if you do." I felt stunned for a moment; but I answered, +"Yes, I shall. I shall not make it any easier for them than for the +others. If they do not realize their sins enough to be willing to come +and kneel here, they will not be of much use to the kingdom."' + +The Lord set His seal upon Mrs. Booth's faith and courage, for the first +to volunteer were two old gentlemen, both over seventy years of age; and +she had ten or twelve at the mercy-seat before the Meeting ended. + +Writing from Portsmouth, she tells the same story of loneliness and +victory:-- + +'You say, "How do you get on personally?" Oh, I never was so hampered for +help in every way in all my life! The most able man I have keeps a +milliner's shop, and the one that opens for me generally is an overseer; +so their attention is divided and the time limited. Pray for me. I never +needed your prayers so much. This is a dreadfully wicked place.' + +Yet during the seventeen weeks of her stay some six hundred names were +taken, many of them wonderful trophies of God's mercy. + +Having lived such a warrior's life, you think, very likely, that the +death-bed experience of our Army Mother would be all peace and glory. But +no. Right down into the Valley she needed to use the Sword of the Spirit +and the Shield of Faith, for to the last Satan was allowed to test and +try her. + +But she fought on! + +'One of my hardest lessons,' she said in her last hours, 'has been the +difference between faith and realization; and if I have had to conquer +all through life by naked faith, I can only expect it to be the same now. +All our enemies have to be conquered by _faith_, not realization; +and is it not so with the last enemy, death? Yes, if it please the Lord +that I should go down into the dark valley without any realization, +simply knowing that I am His, and He is mine, I am quite willing--I +accept it.' + +This is the faith that made our Army Mother and all the Bible saints such +conquerors. It is the secret of their victory--the faith without which it +is impossible to please God, and for which we all need to pray, 'Lord, +increase our faith.' + + + + +XI + +LAST DAYS + + + +'As I look back on life I do not remember the houses I have lived in, the +people that I have known, the things of passing interest at the moment. +They are all gone. There is nothing stands out before my mind as of any +consequence, but the work I have done for God and Eternity.'--MRS. +BOOTH. + +If The General and those who loved our Army Mother best had been able to +choose for her, they would most likely have said: 'Let her live and fight +and work on, up to within a few days of her promotion to Glory. Let the +call come quickly and painlessly, as it has come to others in our ranks.' + +But the Lord, who loved her more than we did, saw fit to send to her two +and a half years of ever-increasing weariness and suffering. For long +months she lay on the very bank of the River, longing for the messenger +of Death to carry her across. Those who loved her could not tell why the +Lord sent her this last fiery trial; they could only bow with her, and +say, 'Thy will be done.' + +It was in February, 1888, that Mrs. Booth, who was anxious about her +health, went to consult a great doctor and get his opinion. She was +alone, for no one had thought her illness was so serious. She asked him +to tell her the truth--all through her life, as you know, she wanted the +truth; and after a little hesitation he told her. + +The truth was the saddest that she could hear. That dreadful +illness--cancer--through which she had so tenderly nursed her own dear +mother, had come to her, and in the doctor's opinion she had much +suffering to pass through, and only two or, at the most, three years +longer to live. Mrs. Booth listened calmly, thanked the doctor, and +then, getting once more into the cab, drove home all alone. + +It was a dark journey. The War needed her. The General needed her. Her +children needed her. And yet the sentence of Death had been passed upon +her, and she must soon leave them all. What did she do? I think you can +guess. + +She knelt down in the cab, and in prayer committed to God, in a new and +deeper way than ever before, her own body, and her dear ones and the work +He had given her to do. + +At last the cab stopped before her own door, and The General came out to +meet her. + +'I shall never forget that meeting in this world, or the next,' he says. +'I had been watching for the cab, and had run out to meet her and help +her up the steps. She tried to smile on me through her tears; but, +drawing me into the room, soon told me, bit by bit, what the doctor had +said. I sat down speechless. She rose from her seat, and came and knelt +beside me, saying: "Do you know what was my first thought? That I should +not be there to nurse you in your last hour." + +'I was stunned. I felt as if the whole world were coming to a standstill. +Opposite me, on the wall, was a picture of Christ on the cross. I thought +I could understand it then, as never before. She talked to me like an +angel; she talked as she had never talked before. I could say little or +nothing. I could only kneel with her and try to pray. That very same +night The General was to leave London for some great Meetings in Holland, +and Mrs. Booth would not hear of his changing his plans and remaining +with her. + +'The War must go on' was her thought, even when all her family stood +stunned and heart-broken around her, unwilling to leave her even for a +moment. + +Two years later, when but a few more days of suffering remained to her, a +last message from her lips reached us as Self-Denial Week began. 'The War +must go on' was one of its sentences. + +'The War must go on' had been as her motto, lived out in all the long, +long months that lay between. Instead of immediately laying aside her +work, when the doctors gave their dreadful judgment, and beginning to +think only of herself, she went on with it as long as her increasing +weakness allowed. + +But step by step the disease grew worse. First she was forced to give up +Meetings and public work. Then it became impossible for her to use her +right hand, and she was therefore obliged to give up her correspondence, +though she still continued to dictate her letters, and learnt also to +write with her left hand. + +Soon her daily drives became too tiring, and by and by she went out of +the house into the little garden for the last time; and then for the +concluding twelve months of her life she was a prisoner in her room, +lying in constant suffering. + +But during these long months the greatest joy and relief that could come +to her was to hear of some fresh victory or triumph for the Kingdom of +Jesus. Her interest in The Army and her love for the people were as keen +as ever, and War Councils were held and new developments planned in her +chamber, and much of The General's Darkest England Scheme for the poor +and outcast was thought out and decided upon beside her sick bed. + +Again and again, too, Mrs. Booth would receive deputations of Officers of +different classes and from various countries in which The Army was at +work, who came to Clacton-on-Sea, where the last fifteen months of her +life were spent, to listen to her words of advice and inspiration. + +There were no Corps Cadets in those days; but our Army Mother left some +specially beautiful words about the Juniors, to which I must refer. + +When she was told by the Officer then in charge of our Junior Work in +England that the children loved and prayed continually for her, she +smiled. + +'The thought of the little ones,' says some one who was there, 'brought +our beloved Army Mother wholly out of herself and her pain and +weariness.' + +'A very choice branch of the work,' she said. 'I have often told Emma +that I hoped when I was too old for public work God would let me end +where I began--with the children. But it seems that it is not to be so.' + +'Give the children,' she went on, in reply to the messages they had sent, +'my dear love, and tell them that if there had been a Salvation Army when +I was ten I should have been a Soldier then, as I am to-day. + +Never allow yourself to be discouraged in your work. I know you must meet +with many discouragements; but I am sure the Spirit of God works mightily +on little children long before grown people think they are able to +understand.' + +Again and again during that last year of awful suffering it seemed as if +Mrs. Booth were about to leave us; but then she would revive, and come +back to endure more weeks and months of agony. + +But at last, on October 4, 1890, all could see that she was on the brink +of the River, and even those who loved her the most tenderly could not +wish to hold her back. + +'O Emma, let me go, darling,' she whispered; and hearing the reply, 'Yes, +we will, we will,' she said, 'Now! Yes, Lord, come, Oh, come!' + +The singing of The Army songs seemed to comfort her; and once she raised +her suffering arm, and pointed to the text, '_My grace is sufficient +for thee_,' which hung on the wall. It was lifted down and placed at +the foot of her bed, so that her eyes could often rest on it during those +last hours. + +'Soon after noon,' says the present General, 'I felt that the deepening +darkness of the Valley was closing around my dear mother, and a little +later I took my last farewell. Her lips moved, and she gave me one look +of unspeakable tenderness and trust which will live with me for ever. +Again we sang:-- + + My mistakes His free grace doth cover, + My sins He doth wash away; + These feet which shrink and falter + Shall enter the Gates of Day. + +And, holding her hand, The General gave her up to God. It was a solemn +and wonderful scene.' + +The Chief of the Staff and Mrs. Bramwell Booth, Mrs. Booth-Tucker, and +the Commander, and her three daughters, Marian, Eva, and Lucy, knelt +round the bed, upon which were placed photographs of the other members of +her family who were unavoidably absent. Near to her stood her faithful +nurse, Captain Carr, and others of the household, the dear General bowing +over his beloved wife and companion in life's long strife, and giving her +up to the keeping of the Father. + +One by one the members of the family tenderly embraced her; then a gleam +of recognition passed over the brightening countenance as The General +bent over her. Their eyes met---the last kiss of love on earth, the last +word till the Morning, and without a movement the breathing gently +ceased, and a warrior laid down her sword to receive her crown. + + * * * * * + +You may have heard of those wonderful days from Tuesday morning till +Sunday night, when the coffin containing the precious remains of our Army +Mother lay at the Congress Hall, Clapton, and when more than fifty +thousand people came to have a last look at her dear face. + +A piece of glass had been let into the plain oak coffin. It was just +large enough to show the head and shoulders, and she lay as if in a sweet +sleep. + +You wonder if many came merely from curiosity. Some did, of course, but +most of the people came because her life and example and words had been +so blessed to their souls; and they came as they would come to look at +the dead face of their own mother. It was the most wonderful tribute to a +woman's life and words that London had ever seen. + +For all kinds of people came--rich and poor, good and bad, people of many +different religions, and many with no religion at all. Working men came +in their dinner-hour, with their tools on their backs and tears in their +eyes; mothers lifted up their little children to look at the one who had +taught them the way of life; and, best of all, by the side of her coffin +knelt many a wanderer and backslider to give themselves afresh to God. + +More than one poor girl went direct from the Congress Hall to the Rescue +Homes, to begin to live 'as she would have wished'; and the Cadets on +guard were all the time dealing with drunkards and helping those who +desired to begin from thenceforth to live a new and different life. + +Even to-day, twenty-four years later, we often meet those who date their +conversion, or their first step in the Narrow Way, from their look at +that face lying in its simple coffin. + +One of Mrs. Booth's own grandchildren, Mary, the present General's second +daughter, looks back to that scene as the time when God in an +unmistakable manner sealed her as His. She was only five years old as she +knelt by the coffin, but nevertheless she decided there, in her childish +consecration, like Ruth of old, that 'Thy people shall be my people, and +thy God my God'; and in the spirit of this consecration she lives to-day. + + * * * * * + +In order that some of the crowds who wished to share in the funeral +service might be present, the largest hall in London, the Olympia, was +taken. Twenty-six thousand people filled it; and though it was, of +course, impossible for them all to hear, they followed the service given +on printed papers with reverent sympathy. + +The coffin was carried down the immense hall by Officers; The General and +his family followed. + +Those who arranged for this last mighty gathering remembered that Mrs. +Booth, when with us, was never happy to leave a Meeting unless it had +been brought to a point, and something definite had been done; and +therefore, when the songs and prayers and readings were over, the huge +crowd was asked to kneel and make a solemn covenant with God. + +It was a beautiful covenant, and ended with these words:-- + +'And now, in this solemn hour, and in the presence of death, I come again +to Thy footstool, and make this covenant with Thee.' + +Then all who had made the covenant from their hearts rose and sang +together:-- + + Just as I am Thou dost receive, + Dost welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, + Because Thy promise I believe, + O Lamb of God, I come! + +It was just such an ending to the wonderful service as our Army Mother +would have chosen had she been still on earth with us. + + * * * * * + +The next morning was dry and bright. 'I shall ask God to give you a fine +day for my funeral, Emma, so that you mayn't take cold,' our Army Mother +had said, for she was ever thoughtful for others; and her prayer was +answered, for though the white mist crept up from the river to the +Embankment, where the procession was forming up, there was no rain nor +wind. + +Tens of thousands of our dear Soldiers would gladly have sacrificed a +day's work in order to follow in the funeral procession of one they so +dearly loved; but, so as not to gather too large a crowd, only Officers +were allowed in the march, which passed through countless throngs of +people from International Headquarters to Abney Park Cemetery, a distance +of about five miles. + +All along the route the crowds stood in dense masses, and roofs, windows, +and every nook and corner were packed with human beings. Nothing had been +seen like it, said the police, since the Duke of Wellington's funeral, +forty years before. + +It was a wonderful march. I wish you could have seen it! Sometimes it +seemed as if every one was weeping; and when the open hearse, with its +plain oak coffin, crowned by The Army bonnet and well-worn Bible, passed, +all heads were bared, all voices hushed, and tears filled all eyes. + +The General, standing alone in his open carriage all along the long, sad +way, must have felt that he had the people's sympathy and love with him +in his grief, for scores of heartfelt 'God bless you's!' came from lips +that are unused to such words. + +And at last the yellow evening sun shone out as the great procession +reached the gates of Abney Park Cemetery and wound towards the open +grave. + +Only a part of the mighty throng could hear The General's beautiful +words, so strong and yet so tender, from which I have already quoted, but +all joined in the song, 'Rock of Ages,' which seemed to roll up to the +heavens themselves. + +Several leading Officers and members of The General's own family prayed +and spoke, wonderfully upheld in spite of their deep grief and the strain +of the last days. And then by the open grave the present General led all +hearts to make a fresh consecration, the whole assembly promising, with +God's help, that they would be + +'Faithful to Thee, faithful to one another, and faithful to a dying +world, till we meet our beloved Mother in the Morning. Amen.' + + * * * * * + +If ever you are in Abney Park Cemetery you should visit her grave. It is +very simple. Around the little piece of earth runs a grey stone, with +these words carved on it:-- + + CATHERINE BOOTH, + + MOTHER OF THE SALVATION ARMY + + More than Conqueror, through Him that loved us, + and gave Himself for all the world and for you. + + Do you also follow Christ? + +and above are two small beds of flowers. + +Do many people go to see it? you wonder. + +Oh, yes. All round it a path is worn in the grass, made by the tread of +many feet; for mothers bring their boys and girls to see it, and tell +them what a mother she was, and men and women of all creeds and races +pause beside it, and remember. + +Many Officers, too--from distant lands, and speaking strange tongues you +could not understand--come to The Army Mother's grave when they visit our +shores. For she was their Mother as well as ours, they say. + +They kneel beside the stone, and spell out the name, and then they +consecrate themselves afresh to God and the needs of the heathen lands, +and they claim His grace to follow in her steps. + +For our Army Mother is not dead. True, her body lies in the quiet grave +at Abney Park, and her spirit is in Heaven; but her life and influence +still live among us, her words are treasured, and our greatest prayer and +desire for the girls and wives and mothers in our ranks is that they may +live to be worthy daughters of Catherine Booth. + + + + +DATES IN MRS. BOOTH'S LIFE + + + +1829. January 17th. Catherine Mumford born at Ashbourne, Derby. +1829. April 10th. William Booth born at Nottingham. +1843. Catherine has to leave school owing to severe illness. +1844. Refuses to be engaged to her cousin. +1845. Is converted. +1846. Seems likely to go into consumption. +1850. Takes Sunday class of elder girls. +1851. June. Miss Mumford hears Mr. Booth preach; later meets him at a + friend's house. +1852. May 15th. They are engaged to be married. +1855. June 16th. The wedding. +1857. Mrs. Booth speaks to a children's meeting on Temperance. +1859. She starts work among drunkards. She writes her first pamphlet on + woman's right to preach. +1860. Mrs. Booth speaks for the first time in public. +1861. Mr. and Mrs. Booth break up their home in the north, and come to + London, choosing an evangelistic life. +1864. Mrs. Booth begins to hold Evangelistic campaigns apart from her + husband. +1864. July. East End Mission begun. +1868. First Headquarters established. +1869. Mrs. Booth's wonderful Brighton campaign. +1870. East London Mission becomes the 'Christian Mission.' +1871. Mrs. Booth publishes her first book. +1877. Christian Mission becomes 'The Salvation Army.' +1878. The uniform is chosen. +1886. First Self-Denial Week. +1888. February. Mrs. Booth learns that she is suffering from cancer. +1888. June 21st. Mrs. Booth speaks in public for the last time (at the + City Temple). +1889. August. She goes to Clacton-on-Sea. +1890. October 4th. Mrs. Booth is promoted to Glory. +1890. October 6th. Her body brought to Congress Hall, Clapton. +1890. October 11th. Funeral at Abney Park. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine Booth, by Mildred Duff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + +***** This file should be named 7125-8.txt or 7125-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/1/2/7125/ + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/7125-8.zip b/7125-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a4fd34 --- /dev/null +++ b/7125-8.zip diff --git a/7125-h.zip b/7125-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..495ae51 --- /dev/null +++ b/7125-h.zip diff --git a/7125-h/7125-h.htm b/7125-h/7125-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e032202 --- /dev/null +++ b/7125-h/7125-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4205 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + +<head> +<title>Catherine Booth: A Sketch, by Colonel Mildred Duff</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + h1,h2,h3,h4 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps } + h1 { margin-top: 2em } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + --> +</style> +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine Booth, by Mildred Duff + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Catherine Booth + A Sketch + +Author: Mildred Duff + +Posting Date: September 11, 2012 [EBook #7125] +Release Date: December, 2004 +First Posted: March 12, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>Catherine Booth</h1> + +<h2>A Sketch</h2> + +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Reprinted from The Warriors’ Library</i></p> + +<p style="text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps">by</p> + +<h3>Colonel Mildred Duff</h3> + +<p style="text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps">With a Preface by<br /> +General Bramwell Booth</p> + +<h1>Preface</h1> + +<p>Colonel Duff has, at my request, written the following +very interesting +and touching account of my dear Mother; and she has +done so in the hope +that those who read it will be helped to follow in +the footsteps of that +wonderful servant of God.</p> + +<p>But how can they do so? Was not Mrs. Booth, you ask, +an exceptional +woman? Had she not great gifts and very remarkable +powers, and was she +not trained in a very special way to do the work to +which God called her? +How, then, can ordinary people follow in her steps? +Let me tell you.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth walked with God. When she was only a timid +girl, helping her +mother in the household, she continually sought after +Him; and when, in +later years, she became known by multitudes, and was +written of in the +newspapers, and greatly beloved by the good in many +lands, there was no +difference in her life in that matter. She was not +content with being +Mrs. General Booth of The Salvation Army, and with +being looked upon as a +great and good woman, giving her life to bless others. +No! she listened +daily for God’s voice in her own heart, sought +after His will, and leaned +continually for strength and grace upon her Saviour. + You can be like her +in that.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth was a soul-winner. A little while before +her spirit passed +into the presence of God, and when she knew that death +was quite near to +her, she said: ’Tell the Soldiers that the great +consolation for a +Salvationist on his dying bed is to feel that he has +been a soul-winner.’<br /> +Wherever she went–in the houses of strangers as well +as of friends, in +the Meetings, great and small, when she was welcomed +and when she was +not, whether alone or with others–she laboured to +lead souls to Christ. +I have known her at one time spend as much trouble +to win one as at +another time to win fifty. You can follow her example +in that.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth always declared herself and took sides +with right. Whatever +was happening around her, people always knew which +side she was on. She +spoke out for the right, the good, and the true, even +when doing so +involved very disagreeable experiences and the bearing +of much +unkindness. She hated the spirit which can look on +at what is wicked and +false or cruel, and say, ‘Oh, that is not my +affair!’ You can follow her<br /> +example in this also.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth laboured all her life to improve her gifts. +She thought; she +prayed; she worked; she read–above all, she read +her Bible. It was her +companion as a child, as a young follower of Christ, +and then as a Leader +in The Army. Those miserable words which some of us +hear so often about +some bad or unfinished work–’Oh, that will +do’–were seldom heard from +her lips. She was always striving, striving, striving +to do better, and +yet better, and again better still. All this also +you can do.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth was full of sympathy. No one who was in +need or in sorrow, or +who was suffering, could meet her without finding +out that, she was in +sympathy with them. Her heart was tender with the +love of Christ, and so +she was deeply touched by the sin and sorrow around +her just as He was. +Even the miseries of the dumb animals moved her to +efforts on their +behalf. This sympathy made Mrs. Booth quick to see +and appreciate the +toil and self-denial of others, and ever grateful +for any kindness shown +to her or to The Army or to those in need of any kind. +The very humblest +and youngest of those who read this little book can +be like her in all this.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth endured to the end. She never turned back. +She was faithful. +Her life and work would have been spoilt if she had +given up the fight. +She was often sorely tempted. She was slandered and +misrepresented by +enemies, betrayed by false friends, and often deeply +wounded by those who +professed to love her, though they deserted the Flag. +But she held fast. +You can be like her in that. You may make many mistakes, +suffer many +defeats, but you can still keep going on, and it is +to those who go on to +the very end, whether in weakness or in strength, +that Jesus will give +the crown of life.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth trusted with all her heart in the love +and sacrifice of her +Saviour. These were her hope and her strength. When +at the height of her +influence and popularity she delighted in that wonderful +song which we<br /> +still so often sing:–</p> + +<blockquote>I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,<br /> +And purchased my pardon when nailed to the tree;</blockquote> + +<p>and when, amid much suffering, she lay dying, we often +sang together with her:–</p> + +<blockquote>Victory for me!<br /> +Through the Blood of Christ my Saviour;<br /> +Victory for me!<br /> +Through the precious Blood.</blockquote> + +<p>This was her victory. You can follow her in the faith +that won it. Will you?</p> + +<p class="smallcaps">Bramwell Booth</p> + +<p><i>International Headquarters.</i></p> + +<h1>Contents</h1> + +<p><a href="#preface" class="smallcaps">Preface</a></p> + +<ol style="list-style-type: upper-roman"> + <li><a href="#ch_01" class="smallcaps">Childhood</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_02" class="smallcaps">Conversion and Soul Struggles</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_03" class="smallcaps">A Three-Years Engagement</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_04" class="smallcaps">A Life of Sacrifice</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_05" class="smallcaps">The Speaker</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_06" class="smallcaps">The Mother</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_07" class="smallcaps">The Worker</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_08" class="smallcaps">Goodness</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_09" class="smallcaps">Love</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_10" class="smallcaps">The Warrior</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_11" class="smallcaps">Last Days</a></li> +</ol> + +<p><a href="#dates" class="smallcaps">Dates in Mrs. Booth's Life</a></p> + + +<h1>Catherine Booth:</h1> + +<h2>A Sketch</h2> + + +<h1><a name="ch_01"></a>I</h1> + +<h2>Childhood</h2> + +<p>’Parents who love God best will not allow their +children to learn anything which could not be pressed +into His service.’–<i>Mrs</i>. <i>Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>The Mother of The Salvation Army was born at Ashbourne, +in Derbyshire, on January 17, 1829, and God gave to +her the very best gift He can give to any child–a +good and holy mother.</p> + +<p>Katie Mumford, as she was then called, had no sister +to play with, and of her four brothers only one lived +to be a man. But her dear mother more than made up +for every lack, and from her lips the little girl learned +those blessed lessons which, in her turn, she has taught +to us.</p> + +<p>One lesson which Mrs. Mumford early taught her daughter +was that our bodies will not live for ever. She took +Katie to see the body of her infant brother who had +just died; and, though she was not more than two years +old at the time, Katie never forgot that first lesson. +Spiritual things were even then real to her, just +because they were so real to her mother. Heaven was +home to her, and Jesus her best Friend, ever near to +help and guide her.</p> + +<p>Truthfulness was a second of those early lessons which +remained with our Army Mother all her life. She was +but four years old when Mrs. Mumford found her one +evening sobbing bitterly in her little cot long after +she should have been asleep. She had told a falsehood, +and conscience would not let her rest. When she had +sobbed out her confession, her mother talked and prayed +with her, and at last left her, happy in the assurance +that she was forgiven by her Heavenly Father.</p> + +<p>After this you will not be surprised to hear that +another lesson early taught to Katie by her mother +was to love her Bible. She could read nicely when +she was but five years old, and she loved to stand +by her mother’s side, and read the Bible stories +aloud, with just a little help over the very long +words. And this love for God’s Word grew deeper +every year, so that by the time she was twelve years +old she had read it through eight times. In later +years people often wondered how it was that Mrs. Booth +knew her Bible so well, and could so quickly answer +their difficulties and objections in Bible words. +Much of the secret lay in this early training, and +in the hours she spent in Bible study later on, when +she had reached the age of some of our younger Corps +Cadets.</p> + +<p>I wish we could have seen her in those days. She had +very dark hair, which curled naturally; black, flashing +eyes, and such a warm heart, and strong, impetuous +nature that she could do nothing by halves. Whatever +it was, work or play, her whole soul had to be in +it.</p> + +<p>Since she was not at all strong, and had few girl +friends, Katie did not play rough or noisy games, +but her love for her dolls made her quite a little +mother to them. She treated them almost like real children, +and would sew and toil, and never rest till she felt +she had in every way done her duty to them. She loved +animals, too, especially dogs and horses, and could +not bear to see any one ill-treat them. Oh, how she +suffered one day, watching some poor sheep driven down +the road! She watched the man beat them–she could +not stop him; and at last she tore home, and flung +herself down almost choking and speechless with indignation +and distress.</p> + +<p>Her mother did not check Katie for feeling so keenly. +She encouraged her; for she knew that a hard, indifferent +child, who can see suffering and not care or be distressed +over it, would make a hard woman; and she wanted her +Katie to be full of love and tenderness for all, and +especially for those needing help.</p> + +<p>When Catherine was twelve years old she became very +interested in the drink question. She wrote letters +about it, and sent them to different newspapers, for +there was no ‘War Cry’ nor ‘Young +Soldier’ in those days; and she also became +the secretary of what was then called a Juvenile Temperance +Society, and did all she could to get boys and girls +to promise never to touch the drink.</p> + +<p>Katie was also, like many of you, much interested +in the heathen. She would go round to all her friends +collecting money to pay for preachers to be sent to +them; and in order to get more money she would deny +herself sugar and other small luxuries. No one told +Katie to do this; but you see our Army Mother herself +taught us, by her example when only a child, to keep +our great Self-Denial Week.</p> + +<p>Of course, most of Katie’s time was taken up +with her lessons, and, as she loved to learn and study, +they were no hardship to her. For two years she went +to a boarding-school, and here her companions soon +found out how straight and truthful she was. ’You’ll +never get <i>her</i> to tell a lie,’ the +girls said, ‘nor even to exaggerate, so it’s +no use trying.’ Every one knew also that Katie +felt for the backward girls and those who were slow +and dull. She wanted them to succeed, and would help +them between school hours. That was her joy, you see–to +help and care for others; whether at school or at +home she was the same.</p> + +<p>But you must not think that Catherine was perfect. +Oh, no, indeed! Sometimes her schoolmates would tease +her because she was so quiet, and liked to read better +than to play; and at such times, instead of being +patient, she would flare up into a passion, and say +harsh, angry words. When the storm was over she would +be, however, Oh! so sorry, and would beg her schoolfellows +to forgive her.</p> + +<p>When Katie had been at school two years, God sent +her a very great trial. Instead of being able to go +on learning and keeping up with the other girls, she +had to return home, and for three long years to lie +nearly all the time on her back, often suffering very +much. She had a serious spinal complaint, and her +friends sometimes doubted whether she would ever walk +again.</p> + +<p>You wonder what she did in those three years? I will +tell you. When the pain would permit it, she would +knit and sew. She could not, of course, hold heavy +needlework; but little things, like babies’ socks +and hoods, pin-cushions, and so forth, she would make +most beautifully, and then they would be sold to help +on the work of God.</p> + +<p>Besides her sewing, Katie read a great deal. First, +as I have already told you, she read her Bible, and +learnt to know God’s thoughts about the world +and sin, and His wishes for His people. For seven months +at one time Catherine had to lie on her face on a +special sort of couch made on purpose for her; but +she invented a contrivance by which, even then, she +could read her Bible, though still remaining in the +position that the doctors wished. Then, too, she would +read good books–explanations of the Bible, about +Holiness, soul-saving, lives of those who have lived +and worked for God, and so on. When she had read a +chapter she would shut the book, and write down as +much as she could remember of it. This helped her +to think clearly and to remember what she read, and +also to put her thoughts into words.</p> + +<p>But she never wasted her time reading stories and +novels. Later on in her life she said she was so thankful +for this, for she thought that novels and silly story +books made people discontented with their own homes +and duties, and put wrong, hurtful ideas into their +minds. Let us recollect and follow our Army Mother’s +example here, and not waste time on stories which +are not true.</p> + +<p>We, if we had known Katie Mumford in those three years +of pain and weariness, should have pitied her very +much. We might have been tempted to feel that God +was hard in not letting her be strong like other girls; +but we now see that all the time He was fitting her +for the wonderful future before her; and when she +became Mrs. Booth, the great preacher, she herself +understood this.</p> + +<p>‘Being so much alone in my youth,’ she +said, ’and so thrown on my own thoughts and +on those expressed in books, has been very helpful +to me. Had I been given to gossip, and had there been +people for me to gossip with, I should certainly never +have accomplished what I did.’</p> + +<p>So, you see, God was all the time giving her the very +best training He could, and teaching her, as she lay +there alone on her bed, what she never could have +learned in the ordinary way. And He will train you, +too, in the very best way for your future, if you +will but determine to trust and serve Him as did Catherine +Mumford.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_02"></a>II</h1> + +<h2>Conversion and Soul Struggles</h2> + +<p>’No soul was ever yet saved who was too idle +to seek.’–<i>Mrs</i>. <i>Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>Perhaps you, the Corps Cadet, for whom I am especially +writing this little book, have been tempted to break +your vows by becoming engaged to some one who does +not want to be an Officer. And you think, perhaps, +that no one understands your feelings.</p> + +<p>You will be surprised, then, to know that our Army +Mother had just such a battle to fight when she was +a girl.</p> + +<p>She had a cousin, a little older than herself, who +was tall and very clever. He came with his parents +to stay in her home, and Katie had not seen him since +they were young children. He quickly grew very fond +of his cousin, and Catherine found how nice it was +to have some one to give her presents and to love +her as he did. At last he begged her to promise that +by and by she would be engaged to him. Now Katie was +very perplexed. On the one hand she loved her cousin, +and did not want to grieve him, and yet in her heart +she knew he was not truly given up to God, and would +not help her in her soul.</p> + +<p>‘Go to the Meeting with you, Katie?’ he +used to say. ’Of course, I’ll go anywhere +to please you.’ But then, while she was trying +to get a blessing, he would be scratching little pictures +on the back of the seat to make her laugh. Perhaps +you can guess the struggle it was for Katie to decide +what her answer should be. ’If you will only +say “yes,” and be engaged to him, I am +sure you will be able to help him, and very likely +get him properly saved,’ the Devil would whisper. +’Break it off now, Katie; do not go another +step; you know God cannot smile on it.’ That +was how her conscience spoke.</p> + +<p>At last, one day as she was truly praying and seeking +for light, she read the verse in 2 Corinthians vi. +14: ’Be ye not unequally yoked together with +unbelievers.’ It came to her as the voice of +God.</p> + +<p>‘I will do it, Lord,’ she said, after +a long struggle; and she sat down, and wrote her cousin +a letter, telling him just why she could never be +engaged to him, and breaking it all off for ever. Then +she turned back to her home duties, and did not re-open +the question.</p> + +<p>And did our Army Mother in after years regret that +she had acted like this? No, indeed; she has told +us that she saw plainly later on that, if just then +she had chosen to follow her own feelings and wishes, +instead of obeying God’s command, all her life +would have been altered, and she would never have +done the glorious work He had planned for her. It was +a hard battle at the time, and cost her many tears; +but it was worth it, ten thousand times over, as we +can all see to-day.</p> + +<p>Very soon after this victory Catherine became really +converted.</p> + +<p>‘What!’ you say. ‘Was she not converted +before this?’</p> + +<p>No. All her life she had, like many children trained +to-day in Salvationist homes, felt God’s Holy +Spirit striving with her. Sometimes, when quite a +little girl, her mother would find her crying because +she felt how she had sinned against God.</p> + +<p>But when she was about fifteen she longed to know +that she was really saved.</p> + +<p>‘Don’t be silly,’ said the Devil +in her heart. ’You have been as good as saved +all your life. You have always wanted to do right. +How can you expect such a sudden change as if you +were a great big drunkard? It’s absurd.’</p> + +<p>‘But my <i>heart</i> is as bad as the heart +of a big sinner,’ cried poor Katie in an agony +of fear. ’I have been as bad inside, if not in +my outward actions and words.’</p> + +<p>And then she took hold of God in faith. ’Lord, +I must be converted. I cannot rest till Thou hast +changed my whole nature; do for me what Thou dost +do, for the thieves and drunkards.’</p> + +<p>But for six weeks it seemed as if God did not hear +her cry. She grew more and more unhappy. All her past +sins rose before her: those bursts of temper when +she was at school, those wrong thoughts and feelings. +Yes, the Bible was true when it said: ’The heart +is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.’</p> + +<p>Katie argued, too, like this: ’I cannot recollect +any time or place where I claimed Salvation and the +forgiveness of my sins; if God <i>has</i> saved +me, He would surely have made me certain of it. Anyway, +I must and will know it. I must have the assurance +that I am God’s child.’</p> + +<p>Unable to rest, she would pace her room till two o’clock +in the morning, and would lie down at last, with her +Bible and hymn-book under her pillow, praying that +God would Himself tell her that her sins were forgiven. +At last, one morning, as she woke, she opened her hymn-book, +and read these words:–</p> + +<p align="center">My God, I am Thine,<br /> +What a comfort divine,<br /> +What a blessing to know that my Jesus is mine.</p> + +<p>Now she had read and sung these lines scores of times +before, but they came this morning with a new power +to her soul.</p> + +<p>‘I am Thine!’ ‘My Jesus is mine!’ +she exclaimed. ’Lord, it is true!–I do believe +it! My sins are forgiven. I belong to Thee!’ +and her whole soul was filled with light and joy. +She now possessed what she had been seeking all these +weeks–the assurance of Salvation! And then what do +you think she did? She threw on a wrapper, and, without +waiting to dress, hurried across to her mother’s +room, and tapped at the door.</p> + +<p>‘Come in,’ said her mother’s voice; +and Katie, her face shining with joy, burst into the +room. ’Mamma, mamma, I am a child of God! My +sins are forgiven–Jesus is my Saviour!’ she +cried, flinging herself into her mother’s arms. +And this was the same Katie, who had been so shy and +backward that she had never before dared to speak about +her spiritual anxieties, even to her mother! Ah! what +a change real conversion, or change of heart, had +made.</p> + +<p>For the next six months Katie was so happy that she +felt as if she were walking on air. ‘I used +to tremble,’ she tells us, ’and even long +to die, lest I should back-slide or lose the sense +of God’s favour.’</p> + +<p>But as time went on she learned, as we all have to +do, to walk by faith, not by sight, and to serve and +follow the Saviour whether she had happy feelings +or not.</p> + +<p>But you must not suppose, because Katie had the assurance +of Salvation, that therefore she had no more fighting. +No–indeed, her fighting days had only just begun.</p> + +<p>One of her great difficulties, which many Corps Cadets +will understand, was that she felt so nervous about +doing anything in public. No one, of course, asked +her to speak–such a thing was never dreamed of; but +the lady who took the Bible Class which she attended +regularly would now and then ask her to pray. ‘Miss +Mumford will pray,’ the lady would say, when +they were all kneeling together.</p> + +<p>But Katie was too shy to begin, and sometimes they +would wait for several minutes before she had courage +to say a few words. ’Don’t ask me to pray +again,’ she said one day to her leader; ’the +excitement and agitation make me quite ill.’</p> + +<p>‘I can’t help that,’ was the very +wise answer; ’you must break through your timidity; +for otherwise you will be of no use to God.’</p> + +<p>And did Katie persevere? Yes, indeed, she did. Here +is an entry made some time later in the diary that +she kept, which shows you how very much her experience +was like yours:–</p> + +<p>’I have not been blessed so much for weeks as +I was to-night. I prayed aloud. The cross was great, +but so was the reward.</p> + +<p>My heart beat violently, but I felt some liberty.’</p> + +<p>Though Catherine’s spine difficulty was better, +she was still very delicate, and at the age of eighteen +every one felt sure she was going into a decline. +But, sick or well, her soul grew stronger, and her +desire to please and serve God better increased every +day.</p> + +<p>‘I do love Thee,’ she wrote in the same +little diary, ’but I want to love Thee more.’</p> + +<p>It was not till many years later that Catherine received +the blessing of a clean heart; but even now she had +begun to desire and long for it. She also writes at +this time: ’I see that this Full Salvation is +very necessary if I am to glorify God below, and find +my way to Heaven. I want a <i>clean</i> heart. +Lord, take me and seal me.’</p> + +<p>Some people, even after they are converted, are too +proud to own themselves wrong, or to confess when +they have sinned. Catherine was not of that sort. +In one of her letters to her mother she ends with these +words:–</p> + +<p>’Pray for me, dear mother, and believe me, with +all my faults and besetments, your loving child.’</p> + +<p>Her hunger after a holy life was real and practical. +She knew she must learn to live by method–that is, +doing right, whether she liked it or not–and not +by feelings, if she was to be of use in the world.</p> + +<p>So at the end of the year she wrote some new resolutions; +and as they may be of help to you, I will copy them +for you just as she put them down:–</p> + +<p>’I have been writing a few daily rules for the +coming year, which I hope will prove a blessing to +me, by the grace of God. I have got a paper of printed +rules also, which I intend to read once a week. May +the Lord help me to keep to them! But, above all, +I am determined to search the Scriptures more attentively, +for in them I have eternal life. I have read my Bible +through twice during the past sixteen months, but I +must read it with more prayer for light and understanding. +Oh, may it be my meat and drink! May I meditate on +it day and night! And then I shall bring forth fruit +in season; my leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever +I do shall prosper.’</p> + +<p>She had also her own private ways of denying herself, +not for the sake of earning money or praise by it, +but simply because she felt it was right. One of these +rules was to do without dinner, and butter at breakfast, +once in the week, because she felt it helped her in +her soul.</p> + +<p>I cannot end this chapter without telling you of the +one great sorrow which darkened all her early years. +Some of you, I know, will enter into her feelings +so well.</p> + +<p>Her father, at one time saved and earnest about the +souls of others, had grown cold and backslidden, and +now never even went near a Meeting. You can fancy +what agony this was to both Mrs. Mumford and her daughter. +They prayed and wept in vain–he only seemed to get +more indifferent. Catherine would sometimes write +her feelings and her sorrow in her diary, and there +we read:–</p> + +<p>’I sometimes get into an agony of feeling while +praying for my dear father. Oh, my Lord, answer prayer, +and bring him back to Thyself! Never let that tongue +which once delighted in praising Thee, and in showing +others Thy willingness to save, be engaged in uttering +the lamentations of the lost! Oh, awful thought! Lord, +have mercy! Save, Oh! save him in any way Thou seest +best, though it be ever so painful. If by removing +me Thou canst do this, cut short Thy work, and take +me Home. Let me be bold to speak in Thy name. Oh, +give me true courage and liberty, and when I write +to him, bless what I say to the good of his soul!’</p> + +<p>For many years this prayer of Catherine’s was +not answered; but she held on, as you must do for +those you love, in faith and prayer; and at last she +had the unspeakable joy of seeing her dear father come +back to God through one of her own Meetings which +he had attended. His last years were full of peace, +and were spent in serving God and rejoicing in His +Salvation.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_03"></a>III</h1> + +<h2>A Three-Years Engagement</h2> + +<p>’What a need there is for effort and energy; +or real religion and common sense!’–<i>Mrs</i>. +<i>Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>One Sunday, when Catherine and her mother went to +the Meeting as usual, they found a ‘Special’ +there, taking the services. He was quite different +from the other Specials, and Catherine could not help +noticing him with extra interest. He spoke to the +people’s hearts, and was not so much occupied +in preaching a good sermon as in getting some one converted. +But he did preach a very good sermon for all that, +and chose this verse as his text–’This is indeed +the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’</p> + +<p>A few days later Catherine and her mother were spending +the evening with a friend, when the very same preacher +came in, and was introduced to them as the Rev. William +Booth.</p> + +<p>Catherine knew they had one subject in common–love +for souls; but before the evening ended she discovered +that the young minister was quite as earnest as she +was herself in fighting the Drink curse and all that +was connected with it.</p> + +<p>A few Sundays later Mr. Booth preached again in the +same building, this time as the minister, or, as we +should say, ‘Officer in charge,’ and no +longer as a Special. And now you will guess that the +two often met, and that, because they had so many +interests in common, they soon learned to know each +other well, till respect grew into friendship, and +friendship into love.</p> + +<p>Catherine was at this time twenty-two years old, and +Mr. Booth was three months younger; but, though you +would have said they were old enough to know their +own minds, they did nothing hastily, and would enter +into no engagement till they were quite sure of God’s +Will in the matter.</p> + +<p>Had Catherine ever before thought of the day when +she would get married? you, perhaps, ask. Oh, yes, +indeed, and when but a girl of sixteen–directly, +in fact, after she was saved–she settled in her own +heart what sort of a man her future husband must be. +First, she decided, he must be truly converted, and +a total abstainer, not to please her, but from his +own choice. Then he must be a man of sense, or she +could never respect him; and, if they were to be happy, +they must feel and think alike on all important matters.</p> + +<p>Ah, if our women-Soldiers and Cadets to-day would +but follow our Army Mother’s example, there +would be fewer unhappy marriages and wrecked lives!</p> + +<p>But in her secret heart Catherine had also, girl-like, +some ideas about the sort of man she would like to +marry, if she might choose. He should be a minister–that +was the nearest she could get to an Officer in those +days; William was a name she particularly liked, and–if +only he might be tall and dark! If you had been there +when Katie Mumford first listened to his preaching +you would have seen that he was ‘tall and dark’ +indeed.</p> + +<p>But though William Booth loved Catherine with a deep +and holy love, which increased each time they met, +yet he was very poor, and he wondered if he ought, +under the circumstances, to ask her to share his lot. +He wrote a letter to her, telling her how perplexed +and troubled he was, and her answer shows us that, +right from the very earliest days, before they were +even engaged, her one desire was that his soul should +prosper.</p> + +<p>‘My dear friend,’ she begins ... ’The +thought that I should cause you any suffering or increase +your perplexity is almost unbearable. I am tempted +to wish that we had never seen each other. Do try to +forget me, as far as the remembrance would injure +your usefulness or spoil your peace. If I have no +alternative but to oppose the Will of God, or trample +on the desolations of my own heart, <i>my choice +is made</i>. “Thy will be done” is +my constant cry. I care not for myself; but Oh, if +I cause you to err, I shall never be happy again.’</p> + +<p>It was not the fear of poverty that frightened her, +for a few days later she says:–</p> + +<p>’I fear you did not fully understand my difficulty. +It was not circumstances. I thought I had assured +you that a bright prospect would not allure me, nor +a dark one affright me, if only we are <i>one in +heart</i>.</p> + +<p>My only reason for wishing to defer the engagement +was that <i>you</i> might feel satisfied in your +mind that the step is right.... If you are convinced +on this point, let circumstances go, and let us be +one, come what may.’</p> + +<p>This is exactly what they did, and after meeting, +and together consecrating their lives to God, they +solemnly pledged themselves to each other.</p> + +<p>And now began a three-years’ engagement, in +which, though often for long months at a time they +never met, they remained true to each other and to +God, in thought and word and deed.</p> + +<p>Many of the beautiful letters that our Army Mother +wrote to The General at this time, I am glad to tell +you, have been kept, and we will look together at +some of the ways in which she tried to help and cheer +him.</p> + +<p>In the first letter after their engagement she ends +with these words:–</p> + +<p>’The more you lead me up to Christ in all things, +the more highly shall I esteem you; and if it be possible +to love you more than I do now, the more shall I love +you. You are always present in my thoughts.’</p> + +<p>Now you must not think that, even in these early days, +our General had a very easy life. He was often much +perplexed and troubled, longing above all to do God’s +Will for the Salvation of the people, and yet not quite +sure what that Will was. At these times Catherine was +of untold help to him.</p> + +<p>Once he was very unsettled–not certain whether he +should remain away in the North of England, or accept +a place in London, where the two could often meet. +Most girls would have said, ’Oh, come, then we +shall be near to each other’; but you will see +that her advice to him is just as suitable for you +when you are not certain of your duty–that she does +not consider her own feelings at all.</p> + +<p>‘I wish,’ she writes, ’you prayed +more and talked less about the matter. Try it, and +be determined to get clear and settled views as to +your course. Leave your heart before God, and get +satisfied in His sight, and then do it, be it what +it may. I cannot bear the idea of your being unhappy. +Pray do in this as you feel in your soul it will be +right. My conscience is no standard for yours.’</p> + +<p>Then she adds, lower down:–</p> + +<p>’Oh, if you come to London, let us be determined +to reap a blessed harvest. Let our fellowship be sanctified +to our souls’ everlasting good. My mind is made +up to do my part towards it. I hope to be firm as a +rock on some points. The Lord help me. We must aim +to improve each other’s mind and character. +Let us pray for grace to do it in the best way and +to the fullest extent possible.’</p> + +<p>‘Anyway,’ she says, a day or two later–and +ever remember her words when outside things try and +distress you–’don’t let the controversy +hurt your soul. Live near to God by prayer.... You +believe He answers prayer. Then take courage. Just +fall down at His feet, and open your very soul before +Him, and throw yourself right into His arms. Tell Him +that if you are wrong you only wait to be set right, +and, be the path rough or smooth, you will walk in +it.</p> + +<p>’Oh, you must live close to God! If you are +a greater distance from Him than you were, just stop +the whirl of outward things, or rather leave it, and +shut yourself up with Him till all is clear and bright +upwards. Do, there’s a dear. Oh, how much we +lose by not coming to the point. Now, at once, realize +your union with Christ, and trust Him to lead you through +this perplexity. Bless you. Excuse this advice. I am +anxious for your soul. Look up. If God hears my prayers, +He must guide you–He will guide you.’</p> + +<p>In these early days our General was tempted, as some +of us are tempted to-day, to feel nervous and shy +when talking before large crowds, and where the people +were better dressed and better off than usual. He wrote +his feelings to Catherine, and she sends him back her +wise advice and help. ‘I am sorry for this,’ +she says, ’and am persuaded it is the fear of +man which shackles you. Do not give place to this feeling. +Remember you are <i>the</i> Lord’s servant, +and if you are a faithful one it will be a small matter +with you to be judged of man’s judgment. Let +nothing be wanting beforehand to make what you say +helpful, but when you are before the people try to +think only of your own responsibility to Him who hath +sent you.’</p> + +<p>Again, later, she writes:–</p> + +<p>’Try and cast off the fear of man. Fix your +eyes simply on the glory of God, and care not for +frown or praise of man. Rest not till your soul is +fully alive to God.’ How truly she herself carried +this out in her own Meetings you will hear later on.</p> + +<p>Miss Mumford was very anxious that The General should +improve himself with plenty of hard work. She saw +what he might become, and she also knew that unless +he did <i>his</i> part all those wonderful powers +which God had lent to him would be thrown away.</p> + +<p>‘Do assure me,’ she writes, ’my +own dear William, that no want of energy or effort +on your part shall hinder the improvement of those +talents God has given you.’</p> + +<p>So that, with his constant travelling and preaching, +he might get time to read and think and learn, she +suggested a little plan to him in his billets.</p> + +<p>‘Could you not,’ she says, ’provide +yourself with a small leather bag or case, large enough +to hold your Bible and any other book you might require–pens, +ink, paper and a candle? And, presuming that you generally +have a room to yourself, could you not rise by six +o’clock every morning, and convert your bedroom +into a study till breakfast time?... I hope, my dearest +love, you will consider this plan, and keep to it, +if possible, as a general practice. Don’t let +little difficulties prevent your carrying it out.’</p> + +<p>You must remember that at this time neither Catherine +nor Mr. Booth ever dreamed of the wonderful work they +were to be called to do. He was then preaching and +getting souls saved, mostly in country places, and +had many a ‘hard go,’ but <i>that</i> +was no reason why he should not improve.</p> + +<p>Did The General like this advice and counsel? Or did +he feel, as some men do to-day, that women cannot +judge nor understand such things?</p> + +<p>Ah! he was wise, and only too glad to have all the +help that Catherine could give him. In fact, he often +wrote begging her to help him more. The outlines for +addresses which she sent him weekly he valued and used, +as this letter shows:–</p> + +<p>‘I have,’ he writes, ’just taken +hold of that sketch you sent me on “Be not deceived,” +and am about to make a full sermon on it. I like it +much. It is admirable.</p> + +<p>’I want a sermon on the Flood, one on Jonah, +and one on the Judgment. Send me some bare thoughts, +some clear, startling outlines. We must have that +kind of truth which will move sinners.’</p> + +<p>But if Catherine Mumford was anxious about the mind +and work of her future husband, much more was she +anxious about his soul. To her, there could be no +true love without faithfulness, and where she felt +it necessary, she cautioned him in the truest and +tenderest way:–</p> + +<p>‘You have special need,’ she writes, ’for +watchfulness and for much private intercourse with +God.</p> + +<p>’My dearest love, beware how you indulge that +dangerous element of character, ambition. Misdirected, +it will be everlasting ruin to yourself, and perhaps +to me also. Oh, my love, let nothing earthly excite +it; let not the wish to be great fire it. Fix it on +the Throne of the Eternal, and let it find the realization +of its loftiest aspirations in the promotion of His +glory, and it shall be consummated with the richest +enjoyments and brightest glories of God’s own +Heaven.’</p> + +<p>You wonder, perhaps, if Catherine ever wrote ‘love +letters,’ as we call them. She never wrote the +foolish and sentimental letters which say a great +deal, and mean very little; but she was able to put +her great love into words strong, intense, and full +of tenderness.</p> + +<p>‘Do I remember?’ she asks in one letter. +’Yes, I remember all–all that has bound us +together. All the bright and happy, as well as the +clouded and sorrowful times of our fellowship. Nothing +relating to you can time or place erase from my memory. +Your words, your looks, your actions, even the most +trivial and incidental, come up before me as fresh +as life. If I meet a child called William, I am more +interested in him than in any other. Bless you. Keep +your spirits up, and hope much for the future. God +lives and loves us, and we shall be one in Him, loving +each other as Christ loved us.’</p> + +<p>William Booth and Catherine Mumford were married in +London, on June 15, 1855; and here are a few lines +from the last letter she wrote to him before the engagement +was ended, and the long thirty-five years of happy +married life began:–</p> + +<p>’I long to see you. Your letters do not satisfy +the yearnings of my heart. Perhaps they ought to. +I wish it were differently constituted. I might be +much happier. But it <i>will</i> be extravagant +and enthusiastic in spite of all my schooling. If +I ever get to Heaven, what rapture shall I know! No, +there is no fear of our loving each other too much. +How can we love each other more than Christ has loved +us? And this is the standard He has given us. What +a precious thing is the religion of Jesus! It makes +our first duties our highest happiness. It has the +promise of the life that now is, as well as of that +which is to come. We will spend all our energies in +trying to persuade men to receive and practise it.’</p> + +<p>How wonderfully she carried this intention into practice, +and, together with The General, lived every moment +‘publishing the Sinner’s Friend,’ +you shall read later on.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_04"></a>IV</h1> + +<h2>A Life of Sacrifice</h2> + +<p>’Since I came to the crucifixion of myself, +I have not cared much what men might say of me.’–<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>At the time when our Army Mother married The General’s +work was, as we have seen, that of an ‘Evangelist’ +or ‘Travelling Minister.’ He would stay +in a town for some weeks or months, as the case might +be, preaching and holding Meetings, and getting people +saved, both in the town itself and the places round.</p> + +<p>It was a blessed and useful life, but very wearying; +and we can fancy how trying it must have been for +Mrs. Booth after her marriage not to have any home +of her own, but to billet first in one stranger’s +house, and then in another’s.</p> + +<p>But she did not complain, though we see what it cost +her by a letter she writes to her mother, telling +the good news that they are to live in lodgings while +at Sheffield:–</p> + +<p>‘You cannot think,’ she writes, ’with +what joy I look forward to being to ourselves once +more. For though I get literally oppressed with kindness, +I must say I would prefer a home where we could sit +down together at our own little table, myself the +mistress, and my husband the only guest. But the work +of God so abundantly prospers that I dare not repine, +or else I feel this constant packing and unpacking +and staying amongst strangers to be a great burden, +especially while so weak and poorly. But then I have +many mercies and advantages. My precious William is +all I desire, and without this what would the most +splendid home be but a glittering bauble?’</p> + +<p>For several years Mrs. Booth travelled in this way +from place to place, helping, cheering, and encouraging +her husband in his soul-saving campaigns. She felt +her duty lay here, and even when she had a little son +to care for, she was unwilling to settle down. Writing +to her mother, who urged her to leave off this trying +life; or, at any rate, to hand the baby over to her, +she says:–</p> + +<p>’My objection to leaving William gets stronger +as I see the need he has of my presence, care, and +sympathy; neither is he willing for it himself. Nor +can I make up my mind to parting with Willie.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth’s object was to be a help to her +husband–not a hindrance; to push him forward in his +soul-saving work–not to hold him back; and therefore, +instead of rejoicing, as most wives and mothers would +have done, when a settled home and work were offered +him, she was doubtful.</p> + +<p>‘Personally considered,’ she writes to +her mother, ’I care nothing about it. I feel +that a good rest in one place will be a boon to us. +Anyhow, if God wills him to be an Evangelist, He will +open the way. I find that I love the work itself far +more than I thought I did, and I am willing to risk +something for it.’</p> + +<p>After this came several years of great conflict and +struggle. The Conference (or, as we would say, Headquarters) +under whom The General worked did not wish him to +continue the great Salvation Campaigns for which God +had so marvellously fitted him. They wanted him to +’settle down,’ and spend perhaps several +years in one place like ordinary ministers.</p> + +<p>To please those who were over him he did this, and +spent four years in one town. But though God blessed +his efforts, The General was convinced that he was +called to greater things. He loved the sinners; wherever +he went crowds flocked to hear him, and the vilest +were converted. Was it God’s will, therefore, +that he should sacrifice the work his soul loved, +and ‘settle down’ into an ordinary life, +helping and reaching only the people of one small +city?</p> + +<p>This question our Army Mother helped him to decide. +Try to picture her position. She had by this time +a family of little children, and her health was very +delicate. By counselling The General to ‘settle +down,’ as his friends wished him to do, she +would have a nice home, a comfortable income, and, +above all, the constant presence of her husband, who +would no longer need to leave her on his long soul-saving +tours.</p> + +<p>By refusing the position offered, and choosing instead +to take up the ‘evangelistic life’ again, +The General turned his back on salary, home, and work, +and went out into the world, with his wife and four +children, friendless and alone. Do you wonder that +the struggle was a severe one?</p> + +<p>‘Pray for me,’ she wrote to her mother, +when the question was about to be settled. ’I +have many a conflict in regard to the proposed new +departure; not as to our support–I feel as though +I can trust the Lord implicitly for all that; but +the Devil tells me I shall never be able to endure +the loneliness and separation of the life. He draws +many a picture of most dark and melancholy shade. +But I cling to the promise, “No man hath forsaken,” +<i>etc</i>., and, having sworn to my own hurt, may I +stand fast. I have told William that if he takes the +step, and it should bring me to the workhouse, I would +never say one upbraiding word. No. To blame him for +making such a sacrifice for God and conscience’ +sake would be worse than wicked. So, whatever be the +result, I shall make up my mind to endure it patiently, +looking to the Lord for grace and strength.’</p> + +<p>But if it was difficult for Mrs. Booth, the path was +equally dark and hard for The General.</p> + +<p>‘William hesitates,’ she writes a few +weeks later. ’He thinks of me and the children, +and I appreciate his love and care. But I tell him +that God will provide, if he will only go straight +on in the path of duty. It is strange that I, who +always used to shrink from the sacrifice, should be +the first in making it. But when I made the surrender +I did it whole-heartedly, and ever since I have been +like another being. Oh, pray for us yet more and more! +We have no money coming in from any quarter now. Nor +has William any invitations at present. The time is +unfavourable. I am much tempted to feel it hard that +God has not cleared our path more satisfactorily. +But I will not “charge God foolishly.” +I know that His way is often in the whirlwind, and +He rides upon the storm: I will try to possess my +soul in patience, and to wait on Him.’</p> + +<p>Sometimes you have heard your Officers talking in +a Meeting, and telling the people that, if they will +but step out in faith, and do right, God will open +up the way for them. The example of our General and +Army Mother has taught us this lesson, for few ever +took a step of faith into greater darkness and difficulty +than they did at this time.</p> + +<p>‘My dearest,’ writes Mrs. Booth to her +mother, ’is starting for London. Pray for him. +He is much harassed. But I have promised to keep a +brave heart. At times it appears to me that God may +have something very glorious in store for us, and +when He has tried us He will bring us forth as gold. +It will not be the first time I have taken a leap in +the dark, humanly speaking, for conscience’ +sake.’</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, a ‘leap in the dark’: +to break up their little home in the North, and, travelling +by boat, to save expense, to bring their four children +to Mrs. Mumford’s house in London. There they +separated: the father and mother went to Cornwall, +to hold a Salvation campaign in a little chapel that +had been lent to them, and the children remained behind.</p> + +<p>Of the marvellous way in which God blessed the Cornish +work, I cannot stop to tell you. Mrs. Booth’s +name as a preacher was by this time becoming as widely +known as that of her husband; and they went from one +place to another, at first together, and then, afterwards, +separately, so as to be able to do more good, for +four long years.</p> + +<p>Whenever possible, our Army Mother took her children +with her: she never left them to others when she could +help it, and later on I shall tell you what a devoted +and tender mother she was; but the strain of those +four long years no one will ever know. I want you +to see the dark as well as the bright side of her +wonderful life; and here is part of a letter to her +mother, written at that time:–</p> + +<p>’I feel dreadfully unsettled at present. I don’t +like this mode of living at all. William has now been +away from home, except on Friday and Saturday, for +twelve weeks. I long to get fixed together again once +more. The going backwards and forwards and being in +other people’s houses does not suit William. +Nor do I like leaving home for the Sabbaths. I am much +tempted to look gloomily towards the future. But “my +heart is fixed.” “I will trust, and not +be afraid."’</p> + +<p>Then again, a little later on:–</p> + +<p>’Pray for me. I sometimes feel as though I had +taken a path which is too hard for me, and duties +too heavy for me to perform; but it is my privilege +to say, and to feel, “I can do all things through +Christ which strengtheneth me."’</p> + +<p>Once again she says:–</p> + +<p>’Well, the Lord help us to be faithful to our +convictions, even in the dark and cloudy day! I have +felt it hard work to do so lately. Many a time have +I longed to be where the weary are at rest.</p> + +<p>’Well, we must labour and wait a little longer; +it may be that the clouds will break, and surround +us with sunshine. Anyway, God lives above the clouds, +and He will direct our path.’</p> + +<p>The General and Mrs. Booth were holding Salvation +services in London when our Army Mother was called +to make a fresh sacrifice, never dreaming of the wonderful +results that would spring from it. You shall read about +it in her own words, spoken many years afterwards:–</p> + +<p>‘I remember well,’ she says, ’when +The General decided at last to give up the evangelistic +life and to devote himself to the Salvation of the +East-Enders. He had come home from a Meeting one +night, tired out, as usual. It was between eleven +and twelve o’clock. Flinging himself into an +easy chair, he said to me, “O Kate, as I passed +by the doors of the flaming gin-palaces to-night I +seemed to hear a voice sounding in my ears, ’Where +can you go and find such heathen as these, and where +is there so great a need for your labours?’ +And I felt as though I ought at every cost to stop +and preach to these East-End crowds.”</p> + +<p>’I remember the emotion that this produced in +my soul. I sat gazing into the fire, and the Devil +whispered to me, “This means another new departure–another +start in life.”</p> + +<p>’The question of our support I saw at once to +be a serious difficulty. Hitherto we had been able +to meet our expenses by the collections which we had +made from our respectable audiences. But it was impossible +to suppose that we could do so among the poverty-stricken +East-Enders. We did not then see things as we do to-day. +We were afraid even to ask for a collection among +the East London crowds.</p> + +<p>’Nevertheless, I did not answer discouragingly. +After a moment’s pause for thought and prayer, +I answered, “Well, if you feel you ought to stay, +stay. We have trusted the Lord once for our support, +and we can trust Him again."’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth, when she answered like this, had no idea +of all that was to follow. She never dreamt that, +from The General’s standing alone in Whitechapel, +a mighty wave of Salvation would sweep over the earth, +nor that God was about to raise up an Army of which +she and The General were to be the leaders.</p> + +<p>But, as always before, she willingly agreed to whatever +would be for God’s glory and the Salvation of +souls; and we all know to-day how, from that little +Whitechapel beginning, grew the Christian Mission, +and how, at last, the Christian Mission became The +Salvation Army.</p> + +<p>Do not think, however, that our dear Army Mother’s +consecration stopped here! No, indeed. One by one, +as they became old enough, she gave up her children +to the Work, and we shall never know all we owe as +an Army to her beautiful spirit of devotion and sacrifice.</p> + +<p>Let us stand together by her open grave in the autumn +twilight. Her twenty-six years of fight and toil in +The Salvation Army are over now, her spirit has been +summoned Home. Listen. The Army Founder himself is +the speaker. He is recalling the forty years which +he and our dear Army Mother had trod together, and +his words sum up better than any other words could +do what she was to our Leader:–</p> + +<p>‘If you had had a tree,’ he said, speaking +to the vast crowd that stood round the grave, ’that +had grown up in your garden, under your window, which +for forty years had been your shadow from the burning +sun, whose flowers had been the adornment and beauty +of your life, whose fruit had been almost the stay +of your existence, and the gardener had come along +and swung his glittering axe and cut it down before +your eyes, I think you would feel as though you had +a blank–it might not be a big one–but a little blank +in your life.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a servant who for all this long +time had served you without fee or reward, who had +administered, for very love, to your health and comfort, +and who suddenly passed away, you would miss that +servant.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a counsellor who, in hours–continually +occurring–of perplexity and amazement, had ever advised +you, and seldom advised wrong; whose advice you had +followed, and seldom had reason to regret it; and +the counsellor, while you were in the same intricate +mazes of your existence, had passed away, you would +miss that counsellor.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a friend who had understood +your very nature, the rise and fall of your feelings, +the bent of your thoughts, and the purpose of your +existence; a friend whose communion had ever been pleasant–the +most pleasant of all other friends–to whom you had +ever turned with satisfaction, and your friend had +been taken away, you would feel some sorrow at the +loss.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a mother for your children who +had cradled and nursed and trained them for the service +of the living God, in which you most delighted–a +mother, indeed, who had never ceased to bear their +sorrows on her heart, and who had been ever willing +to pour forth that heart’s blood in order to +nourish them, and that darling mother had been taken +from your side, you would feel it a sorrow.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a wife, a sweet love of a wife, +who for forty years had never given you real cause +for grief; a wife who had stood with you, side by +side, in the battle’s front, who had been a comrade +to you, ever willing to interpose herself between +you and the enemy, and ever the strongest when the +battle was fiercest, and your beloved one had fallen +before your eyes, I am sure there would be some excuse +for your sorrow.</p> + +<p>’Well, my comrades, you can roll all these qualities +into one personality, and what would be lost in all +I have lost in one. There has been taken away from +me the light of my eyes, the inspiration of my soul, +and we are about to lay all that remains of her in +the grave. I have been looking right at the bottom +of it here, and calculating how soon they may bring +and lay me alongside of her, and my cry to God has +been that every remaining hour of my life may make +me readier to come and join her in death, to go and +embrace her in life in the Eternal City.’</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_05"></a>V</h1> + +<h2>The Speaker</h2> + +<p>’I will never speak to sinners so that one man +or woman in my audience can stand up and say, “You +might have warned me more faithfully, spoken more +plainly than you did.” I would rather die than +that should be the case.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>No one must think that Mrs. Booth became a great speaker +all in a moment, or by any ‘royal road.’ +She started when about eighteen, as many a Corps Cadet +has since done, by just taking a class or Company on +Sundays, never dreaming of doing more. An elder girls’ +Company was given to her; and she had fifteen girls +to teach, whose ages varied from twelve to nineteen.</p> + +<p>Two half-days she spent every week in preparing for +her Company, and in trying to make each lesson end +in a practical way, so as to do them real good.</p> + +<p>Then on Sunday, when the rest of the children had +been dismissed, Miss Mumford would beg to be given +the key of the room and would remain behind, holding +a little Prayer Meeting with her girls. Sometimes they +would stay on for an hour and a half, and many by this +means became truly converted.</p> + +<p>Often with so much praying and singing Catherine quite +lost her voice before the end of the Meeting; but, +so long as souls were saved, she did not mind that.</p> + +<p>Soon after her marriage Mrs. Booth took another class +of this same kind, and also a little sort of Sergeants’ +Meeting, and then–for you see our Army Mother was +led on, just as you or I may be, step by step–she +gave a short talk to the Band of Hope children (something +like our Band of Love of today) on the evils of drink.</p> + +<p>‘Oh, how I wish,’ she wrote to her father, +’that I had started speaking years ago!’</p> + +<p>A little later on Mr. and Mrs. Booth moved to Gateshead, +and there the people were very much surprised to hear +their minister’s wife pray aloud when her husband +had done speaking; for in those days very few women +thought of praying, much less of speaking, in public.</p> + +<p>’Since you can pray so beautifully, will you +come and talk to us on our special Prayer-Meeting +night?’ some of the people asked. But Mrs. Booth +was horrified.</p> + +<p>‘Of course, I said “No,"’ she wrote. +’I don’t know what they can be thinking +of.’</p> + +<p>Just at this time an argument began in one of the +newspapers as to whether women had the right to speak +for God or not. Mrs. Booth wrote an answer to this +question you can read it for yourself in her book, +’Practical Religion’–and she showed from +God’s Word, that women have the same right to +help to get people saved that the men have. The little +pamphlet was already printed and being widely read, +and our Army Mother lay alone in her room very ill, +when the thought flashed into her soul, ’You +have been helping other women to preach and to speak +for God. What about yourself?’</p> + +<p>’Oh, no, Lord, not me; I can’t. I am, +as Thou knowest, the most timid and bashful disciple +ever saved by grace.’ That was her answer.</p> + +<p>Then the Lord took her back to the days when she first +gave herself to Him, at the age of fifteen. He showed +her that all the way along this one thing had hindered +and stopped her from ’being the blessing or from +getting the blessing He intended.’</p> + +<p>‘Lord,’ she cried, ’if Thou wilt +come back to me as in the old days, I will obey, though +I die in the attempt.’</p> + +<p>But at the moment God seemed not to answer her cry, +and when she was well again all went on as before.</p> + +<p>Three months later Mrs. Booth was quietly sitting +one Sunday morning in chapel with her eldest boy, +when a very wonderful thing happened. You shall read +about it in her own words:–</p> + +<p>‘I felt much depressed in mind,’ she says, +’and was not expecting anything particular, +but as the testimonies proceeded I felt the Holy Spirit +come upon me. It seemed as if a voice said to me: “Now, +if you were to go and testify, you know I would bless +it to your own soul as well as to the people!” +I gasped again, and said in my heart: “Yes, Lord, +I believe Thou wouldst, but I cannot do it!” +I had forgotten my vow.</p> + +<p>’A moment afterwards there flashed across my +mind the memory of the time when I had promised the +Lord that I would obey Him at all costs. And then +the voice seemed to ask me if this was consistent with +that promise. I almost jumped up and said, “No, +Lord, it is the old thing over again. But I cannot +do it!” I felt as though I would sooner die than +speak. And then the Devil said, “Besides, you +are not prepared. You will look like a fool, and will +have nothing to say.” He made a mistake. He overreached +himself for once. It was this word that settled it. +“Ah!” I said, “this is just the +point. I have never yet been willing to be a fool for +Christ. Now I will be one!”</p> + +<p>’Without stopping another moment, I rose up +from my seat and walked down the aisle. My dear husband +thought something had happened to me, and so did the +people. We had been there two years, and they knew +my timid, bashful nature. He stepped down, and asked +me, “What is the matter, my dear?” I replied, +“I want to say a word!” He was so taken +by surprise that he could only say, “My dear +wife wishes to speak!” and sat down. For years +he had been trying to persuade me to do it. Only that +very week he had wanted me to go and address a little +Cottage Meeting of some twenty working people, but +I had refused.</p> + +<p>’I stood–God only knows how–and if any mortal +ever did hang on the arm of Omnipotence, I did. I +just stood and told the people how it had come about. +I confessed, as I think everybody should who has been +in the wrong and has misrepresented the religion of +Jesus Christ. I said, “I dare say many of you +have been looking upon me as a very devoted woman, +and one who has been living faithfully to God. But +I have come to realize that I have been disobeying +Him, and thus brought darkness and leanness into my +soul. I have promised the Lord to do so no longer, +and have come to tell you that henceforth I will be +obedient to the holy vision.”</p> + +<p>’There was more weeping, they said, in the chapel +that day than on any previous occasion. Many dated +a renewal in righteousness from that very moment, +and began a life of devotion and consecration to God.</p> + +<p>’Now I might have “talked good” +to them till now. That honest confession did what +twenty years of preaching could not have accomplished.’</p> + +<p>After this wonderful victory Mrs. Booth never again +drew back. The same night she spoke once more, with +even greater power than in the morning, and before +long invitations came pouring in from all parts, for +wherever she went souls were saved and people sanctified.</p> + +<p>But it cost her a great deal to preach like this. +She writes of one Meeting held soon after:–</p> + +<p>’I got on very well, and had three beautiful +cases, but I cannot tell you how I felt all day about +it. I could neither eat nor sleep. I never was in +such a state, and when I saw the people, I felt like +melting away. However, I got through.’</p> + +<p>Even to the last, when she was known all round the +world as one of the greatest women-preachers of the +day, she never spoke without feeling deeply the responsibility +and importance of her work, nor without having prepared +carefully beforehand what she wanted to say.</p> + +<p>It was very difficult for her, with four little children, +the eldest only four years and three months old, to +get enough time and quiet. We should have said it +was impossible, for she was not well off, and could +not afford to put her sewing out, or to have many +servants to work for her; but she says:–</p> + +<p>’God forced me to begin to think and work, and +He gave me grace and strength to do it. Many a time +while I was nursing my baby I was thinking of what +I should say next Sunday, and between times I noted +down with a pencil the thoughts as they struck me. +Then I would appear with an outline scratched in pencil, +trusting in the Lord to give me the power of His Holy +Spirit; and from the day I began He has never allowed +me to open my mouth without giving me signs of His +presence and blessing.’</p> + +<p>The two books she always used in getting ready for +her Meetings were her Bible and Concordance.</p> + +<p>In later years she taught her children how to prepare +for their Meetings, and some of the advice she gives +is very helpful to Corps Cadets.</p> + +<p>‘"Jesus wept,"’ she writes to her eldest +girl, who was then fourteen, ’would be a nice +subject for you at one of your little Meetings. And +you could find some texts to show how David wept, +and Daniel, and Jeremiah, <i>etc</i>., if you like it. +But don’t take it because <i>I</i> say so–you +must ask the Lord for your subjects.’</p> + +<p>Later on, however, as The Salvation Army grew, Mrs. +Booth felt that, though it was just as necessary to +prepare, yet to speak from notes was often not helpful +to either the Officer or the people, so she writes +to one of her sons:–</p> + +<p>’Get out of them! They don’t fit our work. +When you get on, you don’t want them; and when +you don’t, they are no good. At first, if your +memory won’t serve you, just jot on a small +bit of paper the size of a ticket your main divisions +in large writing, but no more. Like this:–</p> + +<blockquote>’Day of wrath is come.<br /> +’1. God’s wrath.<br /> +’2. Just wrath.<br /> +’3. Uttermost wrath.<br /> +‘4. Eternal wrath.’</blockquote> + +<p>On the platform Mrs. Booth’s manner was as simple +and natural as when by her own fireside; anything +‘put on’ or affected she hated.</p> + +<p>‘If I were asked,’ she says, ’to +put into one word what I consider to be the greatest +hindrance to the success of Divine truth, even when +spoken by sincere and real people, I should say <i>stiffness</i>. +Simplicity is indispensable to success, <i>naturalness</i> +in putting the truth. It seems as if people, the moment +they come to religion, put on a different tone, a +different look and manner–in short, become unnatural.’</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Booth not only prepared for her Meetings +by thought and study, but she prepared most of all +by prayer.</p> + +<p>‘Oh, if we could,’ she writes, ’get +more of the spirit of prayer into those who love God! +Few understand it at all.</p> + +<p>’I always find an exact proportion in the results +to the spirit of intercession I have had beforehand. +That is why I like to be alone in lodgings.’</p> + +<p>Before her Meeting she would wrestle and plead with +God for hours, in tears and agony, and then would +face her congregation overflowing with love and faith.</p> + +<p>‘Pray for me,’ she writes during her marvellous +Portsmouth campaign. ’No one knows how I feel. +I think I never realized my responsibility as I did +on Sunday night. I felt really awful before rising +to speak. The sight almost overwhelmed me. With its +two galleries, its dome-like roof and vast proportions, +when crammed with people, the building presents a most +imposing appearance. The top gallery is ten or twelve +seats deep in front, and it was full of men. Such +a sight as I have never seen on any previous occasion. +Oh, how I <i>yearned</i> over them! I felt as +if it would be a small thing to die <i>there and +then</i>, if that would have brought them to Jesus.’</p> + +<p>Nothing short of men and women getting converted satisfied +her.</p> + +<p>‘They say,’ she writes of another campaign, +’the sinners here will “<i>bide some +bringing down</i>.” Well, the Lord can do +it. They tell me, too, that I am immensely popular +with the people. But <i>that</i> is no comfort +unless they will be saved.’</p> + +<p>She laboured to get the truth home to the hearts of +her listeners, and that is why her talking was so +blessed.</p> + +<p>‘God made you responsible,’ she said, +’not for delivering the truth, but for <strong class="smallcaps">getting it in</strong>–getting it home, fixing it in the conscience +as a red-hot iron, as a bolt, straight from His throne; +and He has given you also the <i>power to do it</i>; +and if you do not do it, <i>blood</i> will be +on your skirts. Oh, this genteel way of putting the +truth! How God hates it! “If you please, dear +friends, will you listen? If you please, will you +be converted? Will you come to Jesus? Shall we read +just this, that, and the other?” No more like +apostolic preaching than darkness is like light.’</p> + +<p>How can I show you some of the marvellous results +of her preaching? In every part of our land her influence +and words made themselves felt; the largest buildings +were crowded with all classes of society, and glorious +cases of conversion and sanctification crowned her +labours everywhere. A lady who was at some of her +women’s Meetings at Lye, near Birmingham, tells +us:–</p> + +<p>’The women left their work, and in all sorts +of odd costumes flocked to the Meetings, some with +bonnets, some with shawls fastened over their head, +others with little children clinging to their necks. +All, with eager, inquiring faces, took their seats +and listened to the gracious words which fell from +the lips of dear Mrs. Booth. And when the invitation +was given, what a scene ensued! It baffles all description. +Crowding, weeping, rushing to the penitent-form came +convicted sinners and repentant backsliders. When +the form was filled the penitents dropped upon their +knees in the aisles or in their seats, so that it was +difficult to move about.’</p> + +<p>When holding some Meetings in a Rotherhithe chapel +(for The Army was only just beginning its work, and +our Army Mother took Meetings in different churches +and chapels up and down the land), the victories were +just as glorious, and one of her Converts says:–</p> + +<p>’There were many remarkable cases of conversion +at these Meetings. Amongst others there were the two +daughters of a publican. When one sister was saved +the other went to hear Mrs. Booth on purpose to ridicule +the services. But she was seized with such an agonizing +realization of her sins that she came down from the +top of the gallery to the penitent-form, crying out +aloud, “I must come! I must come!” Soon +after their father gave up the public-house, and they +afterwards became members of Mr. Spurgeon’s +Tabernacle.</p> + +<p>’I have seen as many as thirty persons seeking +Salvation in a single Meeting, and some years afterwards, +when I looked at the register of our chapel, I found +about one hundred names of those who had professed +to be converted at this time.’</p> + +<p>Our Army Mother, too, was equally straight and fearless +with the rich when, later on, they also came in crowds +to hear her. She had but one message and one gospel +for all alike. She says, ’By God’s help +I will not regard the person of man, but will plainly +and fearlessly declare the truth, come what may.’ +God honoured this spirit, and her Meetings in the +West-End of London, where the great and rich live, +were some of the most glorious of her life. Of one +such she writes:–</p> + +<p>’The Lord has very graciously stood by me, and +given me much precious fruit. Last Sunday we had the +Hall crowded, and a large proportion of gentlemen. +The Lord was there in power, and twenty-one came forward–some +for Salvation and some for purity. Several were most +blessed cases of full surrender. We did not get away +till nearly six, and we began at three. Everybody +is amazed at this for the West-End! The audience is +very select, we never having published a bill. Pray +much, dear friend, that God may do a deep and permanent +work in this Babylon. It seems as though He gave me +words of fire for them, and they sat spellbound.’</p> + +<p>You say you wish you had heard her speak? Indeed, +we all wish you had: you could never have forgotten +it. But several of her addresses were taken down in +shorthand at the time, and are reprinted in her books, +so you can get and read them; and they will bless +and teach you as they have taught thousands before +you.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_06"></a>VI</h1> + +<h2>The Mother</h2> + +<p>’A lady once said to me, “How have you +managed to get your children converted so early?” +“Oh,” I said, “I have been beforehand +with the Devil."’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>I have already told you how Mrs. Booth had the true +mother spirit when but a little child, loving and +tending her dolls as if they had been real babies; +you will, therefore, guess that with her own children +she was the best and most careful of mothers. She +began early to train them in the right way, and never +left them unless forced to do so.</p> + +<p>‘I cannot part with Willie,’ she writes +to her mother, who offered to free Mrs. Booth by taking +charge of the baby for her; ’first, because I +know the child’s affections could not but be +weaned from us; and secondly, because the next year +will be the most important of his life with reference +to managing his will; and in this I cannot but distrust +you. I know, my darling mother, you could not wage +war with his self-will so resolutely as to subdue +it. And then my child would be ruined, for he must +be taught implicit, uncompromising obedience.’</p> + +<p>But long before writing this she had already claimed +her boy for God and His war. ‘I had from the +first,’ she says, ’definite longings over +Bramwell, and lifted him up to God as soon as I had +strength to do so, especially desiring he should be +a teacher of Holiness.’ These prayers began +to be answered very early. The boy had a truthful and +conscientious nature. Never, his mother says, does +she remember his telling her a lie. But, for all that, +he needed, as do all children, training and teaching, +and Mrs. Booth was too wise not to be firm. She writes +therefore:</p> + +<p>’I believe he will be a thoroughly noble lad, +if I can preserve him from all evil influence. The +Lord help me! I have had to whip him twice lately +severely for disobedience, and it has cost me some +tears. But it has done him good, and I am reaping +the reward already of my self-sacrifice. The Lord +help me to be faithful and firm as a rock in the path +of duty towards my children!’</p> + +<p>We know how practical our Army Mother always was; +sentimental pity without help she despised. When her +little son, therefore, saw and pitied a small boy +with shoeless feet, his mother quickly reminded him +of his little money-box.</p> + +<p>’Would you rather keep the money for barley-sugar, +Willie, or give it to the poor boy?’ she asked. +‘Give it to the boy,’ he said at once, +and so learnt his first lesson in self-denial.</p> + +<p>When the boy was seven years old he was converted, +to his mother’s deepest joy. Some time before +she had talked to him in a Meeting, and urged him +to get saved. The boy sat still and said nothing. ’Willie, +I insist,’ said his mother at last. ’You +must answer me. Will you give your heart to God or +not? Yes or no?’</p> + +<p>Willie looked up in her face steadily and answered +back ‘No.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth said no more just then, but held on in +faith and prayer, and some months later, to her unutterable +thankfulness, she found him squeezed in among a number +of other children at the penitent-form. He had, unasked, +made his way there, and was weeping and confessing +his sins with all his heart.</p> + +<p>Needless to say, he was faithfully dealt with, and +the boy, now our beloved General, dates his conversion +from that moment. A little later Mrs. Booth wrote +of him:–</p> + +<p>’Willie has begun to serve God, of course as +a child, but still, I trust, taught of the Spirit. +I feel a great increase of responsibility with respect +to him. Oh! to cherish the tender plant of grace aright. +Lord help!’</p> + +<p>And as with the eldest so with the other seven. One +by one they gave their hearts to the Lord as soon +as they grew old enough to do so.</p> + +<p>‘She used to gather us round her,’ says +one of her daughters,’ and pray with us. I wore +then a low frock, and her hot tears would often drop +upon my neck, sending a thrill through me which I +can never forget.’</p> + +<p>She would pray again and again that she might lay +them in their graves rather than she should see them +grow up wicked.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth was very particular about the way in which +her children were dressed.</p> + +<p>Of course, there was no uniform in those days, but +The Army spirit was already in The Army Mother, and +she would not have any finery or show, either for +herself or her children.</p> + +<p>‘Accept,’ she writes to her mother, ’my +warm thanks for the little frock you sent. There is +only one difficulty–it is too smart. We must set an +example in this direction. I feel no temptation now +to decorate myself, but I cannot say the same about +the children; and yet, Oh, I see I must be decided. +Besides, I find it would be dangerous for their own +sakes. The seed of vanity is too deeply sown in their +young hearts for me to dare to cultivate it.’</p> + +<p>Even in her early days Mrs. Booth felt how wrong it +was to spend time and money over dress:–</p> + +<p>‘I remember feeling condemned,’ she says, +’when quite a child, not more than eight years +old, at having to wear a lace tippet such as was fashionable +in those days. From a worldly point of view it would +have been considered, no doubt, very neat and consistent. +But on several occasions I had good crying fits over +it. Not only did I instinctively feel it to be immodest, +because people could see through it, but I thought +it was not such as a Christian child should wear.’</p> + +<p>In everything to do with her home Mrs. Booth was a +most practical and careful mother. She hated waste +and luxury, but her children were always properly +dressed and fed and cared for, and never lacked what +was necessary for them.</p> + +<p>Ladies who had been blessed by her words came to consult +her about their souls, and to their surprise found +the great preacher, not shut away in her study, but +hard at work perhaps ironing the baby’s pinafores, +or cutting out a pair of trousers for one of her boys! +‘I must try,’ she said, when she began +to live this two-fold life, ’to do all in the +kitchen as well as in the pulpit to the glory of God. +The Lord help me.’ He did help her, and it was +this practical mother-spirit at home which gave her +so much force and power on the platform.</p> + +<p>As the children grew older, they were more away from +her side, and her letters to them are suitable, not +only to her actual sons and daughters, but to her +spiritual grandchildren who will read this little book. +Therefore I am going to give you some extracts, which +you may take as though written by our Army Mother +straight to your own heart.</p> + +<p>To one of her boys at school she wrote:–</p> + +<p>’I do hope you are industrious, and do not lose +time in play and inattention. Remember Satan steals +his marches on us by <i>littles</i>–a minute +now, and a minute then. Be on the look out, and don’t +be cheated by him!</p> + +<p>’All your little trials will soon be over, so +far as school life is concerned; and every one of +them, if borne with patience, will make you a wiser +and better man. Never forget my advice about not listening +to <i>secrets</i>! Don’t hear anything +that needs to be whispered–it is sure to be bad. +Choose the boys to be your companions who most love +and fear God, and pray together when you can, and +help each other.’</p> + +<p>Here is a very beautiful letter written when one of +her children desired to go in for some higher education, +which Mrs. Booth feared might spoil the soul life:–</p> + +<p>’I do so want you and all my children to live +supremely for God. I do so deeply deplore my own failure +compared with what my life might have been, and I +feel as if I could die to save you from making a mistake. +Perhaps you say, “You don’t want me, then, +to learn any more?” Yes, I do, a great deal +more; but of the right kind, in the right way, and +for a right purpose, even the <i>highest good of +your race</i>. I would like you to learn to put +your thoughts together well, to think logically and +clearly, to speak powerfully–that is, with good but +simple language–and to write clearly and well.’</p> + +<p>Just the wish we have now for all our Young People!</p> + +<p>Early in their childhood the elder children were taught +to be responsible for the younger, and when at school +they were given places of trust as monitors, and so +on. As if knowing the responsibilities they would by +and by be called to fill in our ranks, Mrs. Booth +gives them some wise counsel:–</p> + +<p>‘I hope,’ she says to one who has been +left in charge of the other children, ’you will +show yourself to be a true son of your mother, and +a consistent disciple of the Lord. Very much depends +on you as to the ease and comfort of managing the +little ones. Do all you can. Be forbearing where only +your own feelings or comfort are concerned, and don’t +raise unnecessary difficulties; but where their obedience +to us or their health is at stake, be firm in trying +to put them right.’</p> + +<p>‘I am pleased,’ she says to one of the +boys who has been in charge of others at school, ’that +Mr. W. puts such confidence in you; but do not be +puffed up by it. Remember how weak you are, and ask +the Lord to save you from conceit and self-sufficiency. +Try to be fair and just in all dealings with the boys–i.e., +do not be hard on a boy whom you may not happen to +like so well as another; but be fair, and treat all +alike when left in charge.’</p> + +<p>Again, she warns one of them against extremes, even +in well doing:</p> + +<p>’You are under a mistake to suppose that sacrificing +your recreation-time will help you in the end. It +will not. Cramming the mind acts just in the same +way as cramming the stomach. It is what you digest +well that benefits you, not what you cram in. So many +hours spent in study, and then relaxation and walking, +will do your mind much more good than “all work, +and no play.” Now mark this. Do not be looking +so much at what you <i>have</i> to do as to what +you are <i>doing</i>. Leave the future (you may +spend it in Heaven), and go steadily on doing to-day’s +work in to-day’s hours, with recreation in between +to shake the seed in. One step well and firmly taken +is better than two with a slip backwards. Poor human +nature seems as though it must go to extremes–either +all or none, too much or too little, idleness or being +killed with work! May the Lord show you the happy +medium.’</p> + +<p>’I was sorry about the cause of the accident. +I don’t like that way of doing things in fun! +Though it was very wrong and wicked of the boy to +throw the brick, yet it would have been better to let +him look at the guinea-pigs being fed, and thus have +pleased him. There was no harm in what he wanted to +do. You should watch against a hectoring spirit, and +mind the difference between a sacrifice of truth and +principle, and one only of self-importance or of mere +feeling. If a boy wants you to do wrong, then be firm +as a rock and brave for God and goodness.’</p> + +<p>‘Mind your soul,’ she says at another +time. ’Do not let your thoughts get so absorbed, +even in study, as to lead you to forget your Bible +and to neglect prayer.’</p> + +<p>Later, again, as a wise mother she warns them in the +tenderest way against their special temptations.</p> + +<p>Against lightness:–</p> + +<p>’Be watchful against levity. C. is a good, devoted +fellow, but naturally an incorrigible joker. It may +not hurt him much, because it is his nature; but it +will hurt you if you give way to it. It hurts nearly +everybody.</p> + +<p>Watch! Don’t descend to buffoonery. While you +become all things to win some, don’t forfeit +your natural self-respect and the dignity of your +position as a servant of Christ.’</p> + +<p>Against too much talk:–</p> + +<p>’The Spirit is teaching you this–is showing +you that you must be more silent. The tongue is one +of the greatest enemies to grace (James iii. 5-13). +Strive to obey these teachings of God. Yield yourself +up to obey; and though you sometimes fail and slip, +do not be discouraged, but yield yourself up again +and again, and plead more fervently with God to keep +you. Fourteen years ago you were learning to walk, +and in the process you got many a tumble. But now +you can not only walk yourself, but teach others. +So, spiritually, if you will only let God lead you, +He will perfect that which is lacking in you.’</p> + +<p>But it was not at first easy for the mother-spirit +in Mrs. Booth to allow her delicate girls of fourteen +or fifteen to undertake a public life, and to speak +and sing at the street corners, surrounded by a rough, +low crowd. Such a thing was unheard-of in those days.</p> + +<p>Once, hearing that her daughter Catherine had spoken +in the open air to a large crowd, Mrs. Booth objected, +as other mothers have since objected: the girl was +too young as yet–she must wait awhile.</p> + +<p>But her eldest son, looking at his mother in the tenderest +and most solemn way, said, ’Mamma, dear, you +will have to settle this question with God; for Katie +is as surely called and inspired by Him for the particular +work as you are yourself.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth said no more. She took this as the voice +of God, and gave her girl up to the marvellous work +which God had called her to do.</p> + +<p>Later she writes of her to a friend:–</p> + +<p>’Join me in praying that she may be kept humble +and simple, and that all that the Lord has given her +may be used for Him.’</p> + +<p>‘I see,’ she says, writing at this same +time to her daughter, ’what a glorious, blessed, +useful life you may live; but I also see your danger, +and I pray for you that you may be enabled to cast +aside the world in every form, to look down upon its +opinions, and to despise its spirit, maxims, and fashions.’</p> + +<p>Later on, again, came the days when the boys had to +choose, as you have to do, how they would spend their +lives. Mrs. Booth might be writing to a Corps Cadet +of to-day when, in a letter to one of her sons, she +says:–</p> + +<p>’I hope the Lord will make you so miserable +everywhere and at everything else that you will be +<i>compelled</i> to preach! Oh, my boy, the Lord +wants such as you–<i>just such</i>–to go out +amongst the people, seeking nothing but the things +that are Jesus Christ’s! You are free to do +it; able by His grace; born to do it, with splendid +opportunities. Will you not rise to your destiny? +“Have courage, and be strong, and I (the I Am) +will be with thee.” “Get thee out, and +I will go with thee.” Dare you not take hold +of the arm that holds the world and all things up? +And if you do, can you fail? The Lord gird you with +His strength, and make your brow brass, and your tongue +as a flame of fire. You <i>must preach</i>!’</p> + +<p>To another of her boys she writes:–</p> + +<p>’You may, perhaps, be wanted to stand and do +battle for the Lord. Surely you will not sell your +birthright? The Lord help you! Take hold of David’s +God. Hold your head up, keep your shoulders back, and +go forward.’</p> + +<p>Again:–</p> + +<p>’This is what the world wants: men of one idea–that +of getting people saved. There are plenty of men of +one idea–that of <i>gold</i>-getting. They make +no secret of it; they are of a worldly spirit. Now +we want men who are set on soul-saving, who are not +ashamed to let everybody know it–men of a Christ-like +spirit. There need be no mistake or mystery about +it. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” +Paul and every other man of like spirit has had his +fruits, and will have to the end of time. It is “Not +by might, nor by power, but by <i>My Spirit</i>, +saith the Lord of Hosts."’</p> + +<p>With one of her daughters she reasons and pleads:–</p> + +<p>’Oh, it seems to me that if I were in your place–young, +no cares or anxieties, with such a start, such influence, +and such a prospect–I should not be able to contain +myself for joy! I should, indeed, aspire to be the +“bride of the Lamb,” and to follow Him +in conflict for the Salvation of poor, lost, miserable +man. I pray the Lord to show it to you, and so to +enamour you of Himself, that you may see and feel it +to be your chief joy to win them for Him. I say I +pray for this–yes, I groan for it, with groanings +that cannot be uttered; and if ever you tell me it +is so, I shall be overjoyed.</p> + +<p>’I don’t want you to make any vows (unless, +indeed, the Spirit leads you to do so); but I want +you to set your mind and heart on winning souls, and +to leave everything else with the Lord. When you do +this you will be happy–Oh, so happy! Your soul will +then find perfect rest. The Lord grant it to you, +my dear child.’</p> + +<p>She made all her children feel that the only reward +they could give her for her ceaseless toil and labour +on their behalf was that they should give themselves +to the War:–</p> + +<p>’I hope, my dear boy, that, whatever sense of +obligation or gratitude you have towards me, you will +try to return it by resolutely resisting all temptation +to evil, and by fitting yourself to your utmost to +be useful to your fellow-men. I ask from you, as I +asked from God, no other reward. If I know my own +heart, I would rather that you should work for the +Salvation of souls, making bad hearts good, and miserable +homes happy, and preparing joy and gladness for men +at the Judgment bar, if you only get bread and cheese +all your life, than that you should fill any other +capacity with £10,000 per year.’</p> + +<p>To one of her children, when tempted to be over-anxious, +she writes:–</p> + +<p>’Keep your mind quiet. Lean back on God, and +don’t worry. It is His affair, and if you have +done what you could, that is enough. Alas! how little +we have of the faith that can “stand still, and +see the Salvation of God.” What would you do +if you were put in custody for two years, like Paul +was? And yet that imprisonment at Rome sent the Gospel +far and wide! God’s ways are not our ways. He +takes in the whole field at once, and does the best +He can for the entire world. Human wisdom never has +been able at the time to comprehend His plans, but +years after it has often seen their wisdom. Let us +learn to trust in the dark–to stand still.’</p> + +<p>To another, tried and discouraged at the start of +his public life:–</p> + +<p>’I have only a minute or two; but, lest you +should think I don’t sympathize with you, I +send you a line. You ask, did I ever feel so? Yes, +I think just as bad as any mortal <i>could</i> +feel–<i>empty</i>, inside and out, as though +I had nothing human or Divine to aid me, as if all +Hell were let loose upon me.</p> + +<p>But I have generally felt <i>the worse before the +best results</i>, which proves it was Satanic opposition. +And it has been the same with many of God’s +most honoured instruments. I believe nearly all who +are truly called of God to special usefulness pass +through this buffeting.</p> + +<p>’It stands to sense, if there is a Devil, that +he should desperately withstand those whom he sees +are going to be used of God. Supposing <i>you</i> +were the Devil, and had set your heart on circumventing +God, how would you do it but by opposing those who +were bent on building up His Kingdom? He hopes to +drive us from the field by blood and fire and vapour +of smoke. But our Captain fought and won the battle +for us, and we have only to hold on long enough, and +victory is sure. “Courage!” your Captain +cries. “Only be thou strong, and of good courage, +and I will be with thee, and teach thee what to say.”</p> + +<p>’"He hath chosen the weak things.” He +has not <i>made shift with them</i>–taken them +because there were no others. No! He hath <i>chosen</i> +them. Will He ever forsake them, and thus make Himself +a laughing-stock for Hell? Never! Will He ever let +the Devil say, “Ah, ah! He chose this weak one, +and then let him fail”? No, no, no!’</p> + +<p>On the important question of courtship, she writes:–</p> + +<p>’The Devil sets such innocent-looking traps–<i>spiritual +traps</i>–to catch young people! Ah, he is a serpent +still! Beware of his devices, and always cry to God +for wisdom and strength of will to put down all foolish +tampering. You are born for greater things. God may +want you to be a leader in some vast continent, and +you will want a companion and a counsellor–a “helpmeet.” +The original word means “<i>a help corresponding +to his dignity</i>” This is the meaning given +by the best expositors. Oh, what wisdom there is even +in the <i>words</i> which God has chosen to express +His ideas! “Corresponding to his dignity!” +Yes, and no man ever takes one below this mark who +does not suffer for it; and, worse still, generations +yet unborn have to suffer also. Mind what God says, +and keep yourself till that one comes.</p> + +<p>’A wrong step on this point, and you are undone. +Oh, the misery of an unsuitable match! It is beyond +description. I could tell you tales of woe that are +now being enacted. But I must wait till we meet.</p> + +<p>’I have seen too much of life, and know too +much of human nature, to have much confidence in promises +given under such circumstances. For my own part, I +made up my mind when I was but sixteen that I would +not have a man, though a Christian, who should offer +to become even an abstainer for my sake. I felt that +such a promise would not afford me ground for confidence +afterwards. And do not we see enough all round us to +show that unless people adopt things on principle, +because they see it to be right, they soon change? +Look at the folks who promise to give up tobacco and +dress, for the sake of getting into berths; how soon +it evaporates! No, my lad, wait a bit. “Couldst +thou not watch with Me one hour?” Jesus lived +a single life for your sake all the way through. Can +you not live so till He finds you one after His own +heart? I feel sure He will. Pray about it in faith. +I am doing so; and God will answer. But Oh, don’t +run before Him! Wait on the Lord.</p> + +<p>’A little longer and you will be saying, “Oh, +how glad I am I waited! I have now found a treasure +indeed!” When God’s time and person are +come, He will bring you together. How delighted and +satisfied Isaac must have felt when the servant told +him the way God led him (Genesis xxiv.).’</p> + +<p>When standing by her grave The General said she was +<i>The Army Mother</i>. He said the truth.</p> + +<p>One of her early promises, given to her as a girl, +when she only saw its greatness and hid it away in +her heart as too sacred to be spoken of, and almost +too wonderful ever to be accomplished, were the words: +’I will make thee a mother of nations.’</p> + +<p>When called to send her children abroad, she paid +to the full the heavy price; but she also saw the +glorious outcome, and from her death-bed sent tenderest +messages to those of distant lands and far-off nations +who owned her as their Army Mother.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_07"></a>VII</h1> + +<h2>The Worker</h2> + +<p>’What the Lord wants is, that you shall go about +the business to which He sets you, not asking for +an easy post, nor grumbling at a hard one.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>If she had not been a worker, our Army Mother would +have done little with her life. The wonderful call +which came to her, her great gifts, the zeal and love +which filled her heart, would all have been useless +had she not been willing to work, and to work hard, +and to work every day.</p> + +<p>Stop and think about this. No life accomplishes anything +unless it is full of hard work–often work accompanied +by much drudgery, whether it is the life of a king +or of a poor man. Mrs. Booth has set us all an example +in this, for she would work ceaselessly with head or +hands or heart, as long as ever her health allowed +her to do so. Laziness and idleness of all kinds she +detested; nor could she tolerate a lazy person in her +service.</p> + +<p>She worked first of all in her home. When she spent +a morning in her kitchen, the work there was perfectly +done. The dinner was ready at the right time, properly +cooked, good and wholesome. She allowed no waste and +no extravagance. Her bread was light and beautifully +baked, and when she had finished her morning’s +work her kitchen was as neat as when she began. She +finished everything, and put it straight as she went +along.</p> + +<p>It was the same with the children. She was alike nurse +and doctor, dressmaker and tailor; she made and mended, +washed and ironed for her boys and girls during their +early years, and herself attended to every smallest +detail of their lives. Strangers who asked where Mrs. +Booth bought her children’s things, so that +they could go to the same shop, could scarcely believe +the reply: ‘Mamma makes all our clothes herself’–so beautifully were they cut and finished.</p> + +<p>And when the little garments were of no further service +to her, she would alter and mend them once again, +and give them away. Her baby-clothes, when the last +daughter had outgrown them, were given to a member +of the Mission for his child.</p> + +<p>He will never forget taking the little bundle home +to his wife and turning over the tiny things. ‘I +had often heard Mrs. Booth preach,’ he said, +’but those baby-clothes preached a louder sermon +to me and my wife than ever her words had done. They +were all darned and mended and patched, and the work–but, +there, I never saw such stitches! And as we looked, +and knew the hours of toil she must have put into them, +rather than throw them away, as many another would +have done–well, I tell you I listened to her next +sermon as I had never listened before.’</p> + +<p>And this same diligent, tireless spirit was with her +to the last. When on her deathbed, able only to use +her left hand, and propped up by pillows, she devised +a little frame on which, painfully, stitch by stitch, +she could work a last token of love for The General.</p> + +<p>When her hands were folded still in death, I saw those +slippers. They were beautifully embroidered, one with +the words, ’He will keep the feet of His Saints’; +and the other with the sure and certain hope which +lay beyond the parting, ‘Our feet shall stand +within thy gates, O Jerusalem’–a fitting and +sacred service with which to close her many years of +toil and labour for others.</p> + +<p>But our Army Mother had another way of working in +her home–that is, she worked over others. If a girl +wished to learn, Mrs. Booth would take endless trouble +in showing her the best way to wash or iron, or clean +a grate, or do whatever the work on hand might be. +She instructed her servants, explaining to them the +reason for doing their duties in a certain way, teaching +them forethought and common sense, and dealing faithfully +with them over all their failures.</p> + +<p>‘Better,’ she said, in one of her addresses–and +she lived it out in her own home–’better take +a girl whom you have to teach how to wash a child’s +face, or to stitch a button on, if she is true and +sincere, than have one ever so clever, who will teach +your children to lie and deceive.’</p> + +<p>She worked, too, over the cases of need and poverty +which were often at her door. Not content, like so +many, with giving a few coppers to a beggar, or some +broken food, she would inquire into the <i>cause</i> +of the distress; and then, if the need seemed genuine, +she would help, either by getting the father work, +or by having the home visited and suitable relief +given after the true condition of things had been found +out.</p> + +<p>And this was only a little of the homework with which +her hands were ever full. Of her ceaseless care over +her children’s mind and soul training I have +told you elsewhere. But of her public work perhaps +the most exhausting was that which resulted from her +Meetings. For she could not rest content with the +most careful preparation beforehand, nor with pouring +out her whole soul upon the people during the forty +or fifty minutes that her address lasted. At the close +of the Meeting, whenever her health allowed it, she +would labour and toil, often for two hours and more, +dealing herself with the penitents, meeting their difficulties, +one by one, and was unwilling to leave them until, +as far as possible, all had claimed and received the +blessing they sought.</p> + +<p>The next day, too, she would follow up any special +case with a long personal letter from her own pen, +or she would arrange another interview, or in some +way keep in close, actual touch with the struggling +soul, until the step of obedience had been taken, +and he or she was fairly started on the Narrow Way.</p> + +<p>And it was this careful, earnest, patient after-work +which gave such glorious harvests to her soul-saving +campaigns. Labour and trouble were a joy to her, if +she could but help one sincere, seeking soul into the +light.</p> + +<p>But remember this: while she so toiled over all who +came to her for advice and guidance, she never repeated +nor passed on to others their confidences. If she +had done so, people would soon have left off corning +to her; they would have said, ‘We cannot trust +her.’ She was, as you know, a mighty speaker; +but about other people’s affairs she was entirely +silent–as you must learn to be if you wish to be of +any service to God or man.</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Booth strove constantly to teach all who +were around her to work as she did. ‘You have +begun well enough–now carry it through,’ she +would say again and again to her children, and whether +it was a doll’s frock, or an article for ‘The +War Cry,’ or a series of Meetings, it was always +the same. Unfinished, half-done work she detested with +all her soul. ’If a thing is worth beginning +at all, then it is worth finishing,’ she would +say; and this great principle followed her through +her life in small things as in great.</p> + +<p>This was the reason that, on her deathbed, she could +say, turning to the Chief of the Staff, ’I have +no vain regrets about the past. As far as my strength +allowed, I have finished the work I had to do as I +went along; and now I leave it, all imperfect as it +has been, in His hands.’</p> + +<p>Perhaps, by nature, you are not a worker. But what +you are not by nature, you can become by grace. God +can teach you to love work. And as you work, you will, +like our dear Army Mother, learn better and better +how to work; and your life, whenever God calls you +to lay it down, shall be like hers, not unfinished, +but complete.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_08"></a>VIII</h1> + +<h2>Goodness</h2> + +<p>’I see more than ever that the religion which +is pleasing to God consists in doing and enduring +His will, rather than in good sentiments and feelings. +The Lord help us to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>When our first General stood on that October evening +by the grave of his beloved wife, and spoke to us +with a breaking heart of our Army Mother, he unfolded +to us the three great qualities which made her character +so beautiful. First, and foremost, she was good; secondly, +she was love; and, thirdly, she was a Warrior. Let +us, following The General’s outline, look at +these three leading qualities in her life. ‘First,’ +he said, ’she was <i>good</i>. She was +washed in the Blood of the Lamb. To the last moment +her cry was “a sinner saved by grace.” +She was a thorough hater of shams, hypocrisies, and +make-believes. Her goodness was of a practical sort. +“By their fruits ye shall know them” was +a text she often quoted, and one by which she was +always willing to be judged.’</p> + +<p>It is of this ‘goodness of a practical sort’ +that I want first to tell you, before we consider +that soul goodness which made her life so holy.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth could not imagine any goodness apart from +industry. As we have already seen, she considered +it a sin to waste precious time. Any one who was lazy +she could not endure, and when one such offered for +the work she wrote of him:–</p> + +<p>’I do hope you will not throw a lot of money away in trying H–––, just +for want of courage to tell him at once that he will not do, because I am +sure that it will be thrown away. It is the <i>nature</i> of the man that +is at fault, and not his <i>circumstances</i>. He is a <i>drone</i>, and +nothing, no change of place or position, can ever make him into a bee. He +never ought to have left his trade; he never <i>would</i> have done so if +he had thought soul-saving was harder work!’</p> + +<p>Extravagance and waste of every kind she abhorred, +and had she not been so careful in planning and arranging, +her time and money would again and again have run +short. The sewing, mending, and housekeeping needed +for a family of little children when means are scarce +would have been burden enough for most mothers. But +besides this came her own letter-writing, preparing +for her Meetings, and also the hours she spent consulting +and advising The General, whose voice, ‘Here, +Kate,’ would call her from the nursery or kitchen +to help him decide some important question.</p> + +<p>Again, it was impossible to talk to Mrs. Booth, even +for five minutes, without finding how true and sincere +she was. To please no one would she keep back the +truth, or appear different from her real self.</p> + +<p>‘I believe,’ she writes, when quite a +young woman, ’honesty to be the best policy, +and I shall act upon it. Let me have truth, if it shakes +the foundation of the earth.’</p> + +<p>She was sincere and faithful in every part of her +nature: faithful with her own soul and in dealing +with the souls of others. Great or small, rich or +poor, she made no difference, and never held back from +reproving sin when it was needful.</p> + +<p>‘I see more than ever,’ she said, ’the +need of making righteous people true in their <i>inward +parts</i>. Let us be more thorough than ever with +souls under conviction. Let us not be afraid to wound +too deeply. Thousands of professors have never been +truly convinced of sin, much less truly converted. +Sin to them is <i>being found out</i>!’</p> + +<p>Though all through her life our Army Mother hungered +and thirsted to know God better, and to serve Him +more perfectly, yet it was not till some time after +her marriage that she received the blessing of a clean +heart.</p> + +<p>Of the struggle and conflict which she went through, +before the blessing of Holiness became hers, she shall +tell you in her own words:–</p> + +<p>’I had been earnestly seeking all the week to +know Jesus as an all-sufficient Saviour dwelling +in my heart, and thus cleansing it every moment of +all sin; but on Thursday and Friday I laid aside almost +everything else, and spent the chief part of the day +in reading and prayer, and trying to believe for it. +On Thursday afternoon at tea-time I was well-nigh +discouraged, and felt my old visitant, irritability, +and the Devil told me I should never get it, and so +I might as well give it up at once. However, I know +him of old as a liar and the father of lies, and pressed +on, cast down, yet not destroyed.</p> + +<p>’On Friday morning God gave me two precious +passages. First, “Come unto Me all ye that labour +and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” +Oh, how sweet it sounded to my poor, weary, sin-stricken +soul! I almost dared to believe that He did give me +rest from inbred sin–the rest of perfect Holiness. +But I staggered at the promise through unbelief, and +therefore failed to enter in. The second passage consisted +of those thrice-blessed words, “Of Him are ye +in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, +sanctification, and redemption.” But again unbelief +hindered me, although I felt as if getting gradually +nearer.</p> + +<p>’I struggled through the day until a little +after six in the evening, when William joined me in +prayer. We had a blessed season. While he was saying, +“Lord, we open our hearts to receive Thee,” +that word was spoken to my soul, “Behold, I +stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My voice, +and open unto Me, I will come in, and sup with him.” +I felt sure He had long been knocking, and Oh, how +I yearned to receive Him as a perfect Saviour! But +Oh, the inveterate habit of unbelief! How wonderful +that God should have borne so long with me! When we +got up from our knees, I lay on the sofa, exhausted +with the excitement and effort of the day. William +said, “Don’t you lay all on the altar?” +I replied, “I am sure I do!” Then he said, +“And isn’t the altar holy?” I replied +in the language of the Holy Ghost, “The altar +is most holy, and whatsoever toucheth it is holy.” +Then, said he, “Are you not holy?” I replied +with my heart full of emotion and with some faith, +“Oh, I think I am!” Immediately the word +was given me to confirm my faith. “Now are ye +clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” +And I took hold–true, with a trembling hand, and +not unmolested by the tempter, but I held fast the +beginning of my confidence, and it grew stronger, and +from that moment I have dared to reckon myself dead +indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus +Christ my Lord.</p> + +<p>’I did not feel much rapturous joy, but perfect +peace, the sweet rest which Jesus promised to the +heavy laden. I have understood the Apostle’s +meaning when he says, “We who believe do enter +into rest.” This is just descriptive of my state +at present. Not that I am not tempted, but I am allowed +to know the Devil when he approaches me, and I look +to my Deliverer Jesus, and He still gives me rest. +Two or three very trying things occurred on Saturday, +which at another time would have excited impatience, +but I was kept by the power of God through faith unto +full Salvation.</p> + +<p>’And now what shall I say? “Unto Him who +has washed me in His own Blood be glory and dominion +for ever and ever,” and all within me says “Amen!” +Oh! I cannot describe, I have no words to set forth +the sense I have of my own utter unworthiness. Satan +has met me frequently with my peculiarly aggravated +sins, and I have admitted it all. But then I have said, +the Lord has not made my sanctification to depend +in any measure on my own worthiness or unworthiness, +but on the worthiness of my Saviour. He came to seek +and to save “that which was lost.” “Where +sin hath abounded, grace doth much more abound"’</p> + +<p>How wonderfully in after years Mrs. Booth explained +and led others into this same blessing, we know. Was +not, then, the long struggle and agony on her own +behalf worth it? Yes, indeed, and it will be so with +you when you get this glorious blessing in your soul.</p> + +<p>You will have noticed how in struggling for Holiness +Mrs. Booth had to fight unbelief. This determination +to trust God fully marked her out as strong in faith.</p> + +<p>She had this marvellous faith because she obeyed and +struggled to throw herself on the Lord; but faith +was not <i>natural</i> to her any more than it +is to you or me.</p> + +<p>Often money was short, and she hardly knew how she +would be able to feed and clothe her family: this +was a sore trial of her faith. On one such occasion +she wrote to her mother:–</p> + +<p>’We have not at present received as much as +our travelling expenses and house rent. I feel a good +deal perplexed, and am sometimes tempted to mistrust +the Lord. But I will not allow it. Our Father knows!’</p> + +<p>Later on we get a sight of her own experience in one +of her letters, when she said:–</p> + +<p>’I am much tried just now by perplexities of +every kind; uncertainty, from a human standpoint, +hedges me in on every side. Satan says it is useless +trying to steer straight through such a labyrinth; +but I am determined to hold on to the promises, come +what will. My God is the living God. He sees me, knows +me, loves me, cares for me, wants to have me with +Him in Glory, as much as He did Abraham, or Paul, or +John. If this be true, what have I to fear?’</p> + +<p>And again:–</p> + +<p>’"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst +believe, thou shouldst see the Salvation of God?” +This is a precious word. It has kept my soul alive +many a time when Satan has almost overthrown me. “If +thou canst believe, all things are possible to thee. +Never mind whether anybody else can or cannot. If +others are too strong to let Me carry them, if thou +art weak enough to throw up all self-effort, and trust +Me with thy whole weight, I will carry thee, and thou +shalt glorify Me.” I know this is the way. Hence +the babes go in with the simple and the great sinners, +while the reasoners, and the strong, and the proud, +and the fearful are shut out.’</p> + +<p>Again, to one who was cast down, and tempted to be +discouraged because of his failings, she writes:–</p> + +<p>’It is well to see them, for how can we take +hold of Jesus to mend what we don’t see? It +is best to know ourselves, but we Salvationists are +in danger of erring on the other side. We look too +much at ourselves apart from Him who is or would be +our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. +Faith in Him as your keeper will do more in five minutes +than years of conflict without it.’</p> + +<p>Once, in another letter, she gives us a beautiful +bit of her own soul’s experience on this subject:–</p> + +<p>’I had such a view of His love and faithfulness +on the journey from Wellingborough, that I thought +I would never doubt again about anything. I had the +carriage to myself, and such a precious season with +the Lord, that the time seemed to fly. As the lightning +gleamed around I felt ready to shout, “The chariot +of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.” Oh, how +precious it is when we see as well as believe, but +yet more blessed to believe and not see! Lord, work +this determined, obstinate, blind, unquestioning, +unanswering faith in me and my beloved friend, and +let us two dare to trust Thee in the midst of our +peculiar trials. As I looked at the waving fields, +and grazing sheep, the flashing sky, a Voice said +in my soul, “Of what oughtest thou to be afraid? +Am I not God? Cannot I supply thy little, tiny needs?” +My heart replied, “It is enough, Lord; I will +trust Thee, forgive my unbelief."’</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_09"></a>IX</h1> + +<h2>Love</h2> + +<p>The truest love must ever seek the highest good of +its object; sometimes even with forgetfulness of important +smaller advantages.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>The second great quality in Mrs. Booth’s character, +as given by the first General, was her love.</p> + +<p>‘She was <i>love</i>,’ he says. ’Her +whole soul was full of tender, deep compassion. Oh, +how she loved, how she pitied the suffering poor! How +she longed to put her arms round the sorrowful, and +help them!’</p> + +<p>‘How,’ asked Mrs. Booth once, ’are +we to put heart into people? Even grace seems to fail +to do so in many instances. I think it needs mothers +to do this from infancy upwards.’</p> + +<p>You will recollect that Mrs. Mumford fostered this +‘heart’ and love in her little girl; and +you will remember how keenly Katie felt, blazing up +into wrath at any story of wrong or injury, and ready +to sacrifice her life for those she loved. This spirit +grew with her. She could not help caring and struggling +to help all who needed her. The General often told +her in later years that she was killing herself by +carrying every one’s burdens. Then she would +try to leave off for a little, but her heart was too +strong, and she could not hold it back.</p> + +<p>When but a child, running down the road with her hoop +and stick, she saw a drunkard being dragged off to +prison by a policeman. All the people were jeering +and mocking at the poor friendless wretch. Instantly +Katie’s pity and love fired up. She dashed across +the street, and marched along close by the man’s +side, so that he might feel that at least one little +heart cared for him, and wanted to help him.</p> + +<p>To the end of her life she carried this deep, tender +pity wherever she went. She loved the poor. ‘With +all their faults,’ she said, ’they have +larger hearts than the rich’; and she loved them +for it.</p> + +<p>Where any one had a warm heart, she could forgive +and overlook many mistakes; but with cold, narrow, +‘fishy’ souls, she had neither sympathy +nor patience.</p> + +<p>Our Army Mother’s help was practical. She did +not only give money or pity, but she–so to speak–rolled +up her sleeves and helped the suffering herself.</p> + +<p>Every sort of suffering and need appealed to her. +If an animal was wounded or in pain, she stopped, +and herself relieved it as best she could; and to +the last, if she saw a horse or any creature being +ill-treated, she would not hesitate to rush out and +stop the driver, or in some way force him to leave +off his cruelty.</p> + +<p>She was not only kind and helpful to those she liked, +but every living thing that suffered had a claim upon +her, and the greater the need the more tender and +ready was her help.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth was a people’s woman, and she was +never weary of scheming and planning how to help the +poor in the most practical way.</p> + +<p>‘When I see people going wrong,’ she said, +when but a girl of twelve, ’I must tell the +poor things how to manage.’</p> + +<p>Dirt and sin, and drink and misery, could not quench +this love; it was a part of her very nature. Long, +long before Slum Sisters were ever thought of, Mrs. +Booth did their work herself, just because she so loved +the poor, and longed to help them. You shall read +the story in her own words:–</p> + +<p>’I remember in one case finding a poor woman +lying on a heap of rags. She had just given birth +to twins, and there was nobody of any sort to wait +upon her. I can never forget the desolation of that +room. By her side was a crust of bread and a small +lump of lard. “I fancied a bit o’ bootter +(butter),” the woman remarked apologetically, +noticing my eye fall upon the scanty meal, “and +my mon, he’d do owt for me he could, bless’m–he +couldna git me iny bootter, so he fitcht me this bit +o’ lard. Have <i>you</i> iver tried lard +isted o’ bootter? It’s <i>rare good</i>!” +said the poor creature, making me wish I had taken +lard for “bootter” all my life, that I +might have been the better able to minister to her +needs. However, I was soon busy trying to make her +a little more comfortable. The babies I washed in +a broken pie-dish, the nearest approach to a tub that +I could find. And the gratitude of those large eyes, +that gazed upon me from out of that wan and shrunken +face, can never fade from my memory.’</p> + +<p>Before public Meetings took up so much of her time, +she delighted in this house-to-house visiting, and +went especially for the drunkards, over whom God gave +her a wonderful power.</p> + +<p>‘I used to visit in the evenings,’ she +says, ’because it was the only part of the day +in which I could get away; and, besides, I should not +have found the men at home at any other time. I used +to ask one drunkard’s wife where another lived. +They always knew. After getting hold of eight or ten +in this way, and getting them to sign the pledge, I +used to arrange Cottage Meetings for them, and try +to get them saved. They used to let me talk to them +in homes where there was not a stick of furniture, +and nothing to sit down upon.’</p> + +<p>In this way our Army Mother sought and cared for the +drunkards long before Drunkards’ Brigades were +dreamt of.</p> + +<p>When, at a later time in her life, she first heard +of the wicked and cruel way in which young girls are +trapped and drawn into sin, Mrs. Booth’s soul +was filled with a whirlwind of holy indignation.</p> + +<p>’I feel as though I could not rest, but as though +I must go and ferret out these monsters myself,’ +she wrote. ’Almost everybody, notwithstanding +the indignation, seems so content with talking. Nobody +appears willing to take the responsibility of doing +or risking anything. Oh, what a state the world has +got into!’</p> + +<p>But, deep and practical as was her love in earthly +things, her passion for lifting and leading souls +into Salvation and Holiness was a thousand times more +intense. ’If we only realized, as we ought, the +value of souls, we should not live long under it,’ +she said; and she herself realized it fully enough +to make her fight on ceaselessly in spite of intense +weakness. ‘If it were not for eternity,’ +she often sighed, ’I should soon give up this +life.’</p> + +<p>It was love for souls which made her go from town +to town, care-worn, weary, often quite unfit to meet +the immense congregations which came to hear her.</p> + +<p>It was love for souls which kept her sitting for hours +at her writing-table, when she should have been resting, +trying to help those who turned to her for counsel +and direction from every part of the globe.</p> + +<p>It was love for souls which gave her many a sleepless +night, and chained her to her knees, weeping and pleading, +agonizing with God on behalf of the people she was +to face the next day.</p> + +<p>And this love for souls grew even stronger as death +came near. ‘Eva,’ she exclaimed to one +of her daughters, as she lay racked with agonizing +pain, ’don’t you forget that man with +the handcuffs on. Find him. Go to Lancaster Jail; +let somebody go with you, and find that man. Tell him +that your mother, when she was dying, prayed for him, +and that she had a feeling in her heart that God would +save him; and tell him, hard as the ten years of imprisonment +may be, it will be easier with Christ than it would +be without Him.’</p> + +<p>She was lying between earth and Heaven, thinking of +the joy and peace awaiting her, when it seemed as +if she saw the dark face of a heathen woman, and heard +the cry, ‘Won’t you help us?’ The +old love for perishing souls woke again directly, +and she cried, ’Oh, yes, Lord, I will go anywhere +to help poor struggling people. I would go on an errand +to Hell, if the Lord would promise me that the Devil +should not keep me there.’</p> + +<p>In one of these last days she sent a dying message +to the Officers. ’Tell them,’ she said, +’that the only consolation for a Salvationist +on his death-bed is to have been a soul-winner. After +all my labours I feel I have come far short of the +prize of my high calling. Beseech them to redeem their +time, for we can do but little at the best.’</p> + +<p>A little maid who was a Candidate came into Mrs. Booth’s +sick-room once as she was speaking, and she called +her to her bedside, giving her warning and counsel +which every Corps Cadet can take as though spoken to +herself:–</p> + +<p>‘You will be finished with the dishes soon,’ +she said, ’and you are going to be a Cadet. +I have been very pleased with you while you have been +here, because you have worked out of sight with a good +will, and I think you will make a brave Officer. You +will promise me, will you?’ she said, as she +laid her trembling hand on the girl’s head. ‘Yes,’ +was the reply, ‘I will,’ amid stifled +sobs.</p> + +<p>‘Give me a kiss, then,’ said Mrs. Booth. +’Promise me that you will never get spoiled +by any unfaithful Officer. If you ever get mixed up +with such, do not hide it from Headquarters, but let +them know about it, and they will soon move the false +away from you. I shan’t be here; but, Oh! may +God help them to get rid of the wrong. Discernment +of spirits! Oh, why should we not have that gift back? +It is very necessary.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth’s whole heart was wrapped up in the +spread of The Army, and she was never more of a warrior +than when fighting its battles. And The Army needed +some one to stand up for it in those days. We who live +to-day can hardly fancy the fierce, bitter persecution +the early-day Salvationists had to fight through.</p> + +<p>Now, even those who dislike and despise us are forced +to admit that ’The Army does a great deal of +good’; but then it was different, and again and +again, both by speech and writing, Mrs. Booth had to +defend and stand up for our methods.</p> + +<p>‘I would not,’ she says, after she had +spoken too plainly for some rich people who were offended +at her words, ’sit down and listen to their +abuse of The Salvation Army for all their money. But +I did not say a word that I would object to have published +upon the housetops. Such, however, is often the spirit +of the rich. They think that one must sit and hear +whatever they may choose to say, and hold one’s +breath, because of their money! But, no, I will never +be dumb before a golden idol!’</p> + +<p>She loved the Uniform: she herself planned that worn +by Army women, and always wore her own, rejoicing +to be able to give to our people a way of escape from +the fashions and extravagances of the world.</p> + +<p>She loved the Flag, and was true to its beautiful +meaning. She loved to present Colours to the newly-opened +Corps, or to parties of Officers going abroad; and +when, shortly before she passed away, she changed her +room, she begged that the dear Army Flag might be brought +in and hung above her bed.</p> + +<p>‘There,’ said The General, ‘the +Colours are over you now, my darling.’</p> + +<p>And she clasped them fondly with her left hand, and +traced the motto–‘Blood and Fire.’</p> + +<p>‘Yes,’ she said, ’Blood and Fire; +that is just what my life has been–a constant and +severe fight.’</p> + +<p>‘It ought to be “Blood and Fire and Victory,"’ +said The General.</p> + +<p>‘I’ll fight on till I get it,’ she +answered. ’I won’t give in. Next time +I see them I shall be above the pain and sorrow for +ever.’</p> + +<p>But, though at the last she longed to be at rest, +it was not easy for her great mother’s heart +to unloose itself from those she loved, and from the +thousands in all lands who looked to her as to a mother.</p> + +<p>If you have learnt to love very deeply you will also +have to suffer, and her very love made the parting +so difficult.</p> + +<p>‘Oh,’ she exclaimed, when speaking of +leaving The General and her children, ’mine +is such a heart! it seems as if it had got roots all +round the world clutching on to one and another, and +that it will not let them go! And yet You can take +care of them, Lord, better than I could. I do, I do +believe! O Eternal Father, Shepherd of the sheep, do +Thou look after my little flock!’</p> + +<p>‘Amen,’ we who read these lines may say; +adding to her prayer, ’And give us that same +heart and love which made her life of such mighty power.’</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_10"></a>X</h1> + +<h2>The Warrior</h2> + +<p>’Fighting is hard work, whatever sort of fighting +it is. You cannot fight without wounds of body, heart, +or soul.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>‘Lastly,’ said The General in that same +beautiful tribute to our Army Mother that I have already +quoted from,’ she was a <i>warrior</i>. +She liked the fight. She was not one who said to others, +“Go,” but “Here, let <i>me</i> +go”; and when there was the necessity she said, +“I <i>will</i> go!” I never knew +her flinch until her poor body compelled her to lie +on one side.’</p> + +<p>Our Army Mother was, indeed, before all things a warrior; +she fought bravely and unceasingly her whole life +through.</p> + +<p>In thought and purpose she was independent, and dared +to stand out for what she felt right. Cowardice, in +her opinion, was one of the commonest and most subtle +sins of the day, and she had no patience with those +who dared not say ‘No,’ and feared to +stand alone.</p> + +<p>She thought for herself, and though always eager to +hear and learn as much as possible from others, yet +she was not carried away by their opinions, but carefully +weighed and considered their arguments, and then formed +her own judgments.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth strove earnestly for doctrine.</p> + +<p>‘Let us take care,’ she said, in The Army’s +early days, ’what Gospel we preach. Let us mind +our doctrine.’</p> + +<p>And again:–</p> + +<p>’We must stick to the form of sound words, for +there is more in it than appears on the surface. “Glory +be to the Father, to the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” +was the theology of our forefathers, and I am suspicious +of all attempts to mend it.’</p> + +<p>And once more:–</p> + +<p>’Let us beware of wrong doctrine, come through +whomsoever it may. Holy men make sad mistakes. “Well, +but,” say some, “is not a person who holds +wrong views with a right heart better than a person +with right views and a wrong heart?” Yes, so +far as his personal state before God is concerned, +but not in his influence on man. My charity must extend +to those likely to be deceived or ruined by his doctrines +as well as to him.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth’s whole life was a continual fight +against sin–sin of all kinds. Whether her Meeting +was held for the very lowest and roughest, or whether +rows of clergy and lawyers, and lords and ladies sat +to listen, it made no difference to her. She attacked +sin, and went straight at the very heart-sins of the +people in front of her.</p> + +<p>‘We need great grace,’ she says in the +midst of her wonderful West-End campaign, where even +princes and princesses came to hear her. ’I think +the Lord never enabled me to be more plain and faithful. +As a lady in high circles said to me, “We never +heard this sort of Gospel before.” No, poor +things, they are sadly deceived.’</p> + +<p>Drink, too, was another evil which Mrs. Booth fought +against during the whole of her life. She began, as +you remember, when a girl by being secretary of the +‘Band of Love’ of those days.</p> + +<p>In the early days of their engagement The General +was strongly advised to take a little wine for the +sake of his health. Our Army Mother wrote him a long +letter, showing him how false and foolish such advice +was, and ending with:–</p> + +<p>’I have had it recommended to me scores of times, +but I am fully and for ever settled on the physical +side of the question. [Footnote: That means taking +it for the sake of health.–<i>Ed</i>.]</p> + +<p>’It is a subject on which I am most anxious +you should be thorough. I have far more hope for your +health <i>because</i> you abstain, than I should +if you took wine. Flee the detestable thing as you +would a serpent; be a teetotaller in principle and +practice.’</p> + +<p>Though, as we have seen, full of boundless faith and +pity for the drunkard, Mrs. Booth attacked the makers +and sellers of drink unmercifully. She says, on one +occasion:–</p> + +<p>’By your peace of conscience on a dying bed; +by the eternal destinies of your children, by your +care for never-dying souls; by the love you owe your +Saviour, I beseech you <i>banish the drink</i>.</p> + +<p>’Tell me no more of charity towards brewers, +distillers, and publicans. Your false charity to these +has already consigned millions to an untimely Hell!... +Arise, Christians, arise, and fight this foe! You and +you alone are able, for your God will fight for you!’</p> + +<p>Another thing for which our Army Mother fought, and +which to-day we owe in great measure to her efforts, +is the position to which women have been lifted as +speakers and teachers in God’s work. She first, +as we have seen, opened the way herself; and then +she left it open, encouraging and helping tens of +thousands of simple, holy women all round the world +to follow in her steps.</p> + +<p>She had a tough battle to wage. All classes wrote +and spoke against women being allowed to stand and +speak for God in the open air or in public halls; +but, strong in faith and courage, convinced that she +had Divine authority for what she did, our Army Mother +fought on, arguing, writing, preaching on the matter. +Now to-day there is scarcely a land where The Army +bonnet is not known and loved, nor where Army women +cannot gain a crowd of respectful listeners.</p> + +<p>Now I am going to show you some of the hindrances +in spite of which our Army Mother fought on.</p> + +<p>The first of these hindrances was the burden which +God allowed Mrs. Booth to carry all through her life–a +weak and suffering body. She said, when her life was +drawing to its close, that suffering seemed to have +been her special lot, and that she could scarcely +remember a day in her life when she had been wholly +free from pain.</p> + +<p>‘I don’t care about my body,’ she +exclaimed when lying in her last illness. ’It +has been a poor old troublesome affair. I shall be +glad for it to be sealed up. It is time it was. Oh, +I have dragged it wearily about.’</p> + +<p>Most women suffering as she did, with a weak spine, +heart disease, and over-strained nerves, would have +lived the life of an invalid. But the warrior spirit +within forced her body along. Scores of times she has +gone from her bed to the Meeting, and then, exhausted +and fainting with the effort, has had to be almost +carried home. But she had done her work, and sent +the arrow of conviction into hundreds of hearts.</p> + +<p>Writing after one special strain of work and anxiety, +she says:–</p> + +<p>’The excitement made me worse than I have been +for two years. My heart was really alarming, and for +two days I could hardly bear any clothes to touch +me. This has disheartened me again as to my condition. +But God reigns, and He will keep me alive as long +as He needs me.’</p> + +<p>Another of her hindrances, and one which was almost +more difficult to overcome than weakness of body, +was depression.</p> + +<p>I wonder if you know what that is? If so, it will +help you to realize that Mrs. Booth had to fight it +also.</p> + +<p>The Devil seemed allowed to try and test her faith +to the uttermost, and at times to blot out all peace +and glory from her soul. During one such time of darkness +she writes:–</p> + +<p>’I know I ought not, of all saints, or sinners +either, to be depressed. I know it dishonours my Lord, +grieves His Spirit, and injures me greatly; and I +would fain hide from everybody to prevent their seeing +it. But I cannot help it. I have struggled hard, more +than any one knows, for a long time against it. Sometimes +I have literally held myself, head and heart and hand, +and waited for the floods to pass over me.’</p> + +<p>But our Army Mother did not give up working for God, +and sit down in despair, because she was thus tried. +One day, just before leaving for a great West-End +Meeting, in which God made her words as a sharp two-edged +sword, she wrote this to one of her children:–</p> + +<p>’I have been very much depressed since you left–more +so than usual. It is of no use reasoning with myself +when these fits of despondency are on me. I must hold +on and fight my passage through; and when I get to +Heaven the light and joy will be all the greater. +If I dared give up working I should do so a hundred +times over; but I <i>dare</i> not.’</p> + +<p>Another and constant hindrance which our Army Mother +had to fight for the greater part of her life was +poverty. It was so difficult, many times, to make +two ends meet. She had, during many years of her life, +no regular money coming in on which to depend, and +during that time it was a constant struggle to have +her children properly cared for and give them the +needed education.</p> + +<p>But most of all did our Army Mother show herself a +warrior in her own Salvation campaigns. In those early +days there were no praying Soldiers and Sergeants +to be had to deal with the penitents–no one, either, +to lead her singing, scarcely even to keep the doors +or take up the collection. She would arrive in a town +absolutely alone. A hall had been taken in which she +was to speak, and she would hire a tiny lodging, or +stay in whatever home would receive her, and set to +work. We can scarcely understand the loneliness of +her position. Here was a proof of her mighty faith +in God.</p> + +<p>She began these solitary campaigns when her sixth +child was but a few weeks old, and God most wonderfully +owned her labours. At one place she saw one hundred +grown-up people and two hundred children come to her +penitent-form in six days. But it was a fearful battle.</p> + +<p>‘I have a comfortable little cot to stay in,’ +she writes to her mother from one such battle-field, +’very small and humble; but it is clean and +quiet; and when I feel nervous no one knows the value +of quietness. I have felt it hard work lately. Many +a time have I longed to be where the weary are at +rest.’</p> + +<p>At Margate, some years later, she commenced her Meetings +without knowing a single person in the place. For +some weeks she had not even a helper in the Prayer +Meetings, nor one who would give out a song for her. +Mrs. Booth could not sing herself, and there was often +an awkward pause before any one would be willing to +pitch her tune. ‘If only,’ she said when +The Army was fairly on its feet, ’I had been +able to command a dozen reliable people such as I +could have anywhere now, I think I could have done +almost anything.’</p> + +<p>Even more wonderful was her experience at Brighton.</p> + +<p>The Dome, a great building holding three thousand +people, had been taken for her Meetings.</p> + +<p>‘I can never forget my feelings,’ says +this Soldier-saint, ’as I stood upon the platform +and looked upon the people, realizing that among them +all there was no one to help me. When I commenced the +Prayer Meeting, for which I should think quite nine +hundred remained, Satan said to me, as I came down +from the platform according to my custom, “You +will never ask such people as these to come and kneel +down here? You will only make a fool of yourself if +you do.” I felt stunned for a moment; but I answered, +“Yes, I shall. I shall not make it any easier +for them than for the others. If they do not realize +their sins enough to be willing to come and kneel +here, they will not be of much use to the kingdom."’</p> + +<p>The Lord set His seal upon Mrs. Booth’s faith +and courage, for the first to volunteer were two old +gentlemen, both over seventy years of age; and she +had ten or twelve at the mercy-seat before the Meeting +ended.</p> + +<p>Writing from Portsmouth, she tells the same story +of loneliness and victory:–</p> + +<p>’You say, “How do you get on personally?” +Oh, I never was so hampered for help in every way +in all my life! The most able man I have keeps a milliner’s +shop, and the one that opens for me generally is an +overseer; so their attention is divided and the time +limited. Pray for me. I never needed your prayers +so much. This is a dreadfully wicked place.’</p> + +<p>Yet during the seventeen weeks of her stay some six +hundred names were taken, many of them wonderful trophies +of God’s mercy.</p> + +<p>Having lived such a warrior’s life, you think, +very likely, that the death-bed experience of our +Army Mother would be all peace and glory. But no. +Right down into the Valley she needed to use the Sword +of the Spirit and the Shield of Faith, for to the +last Satan was allowed to test and try her.</p> + +<p>But she fought on!</p> + +<p>‘One of my hardest lessons,’ she said +in her last hours, ’has been the difference +between faith and realization; and if I have had to +conquer all through life by naked faith, I can only +expect it to be the same now. All our enemies have +to be conquered by <i>faith</i>, not realization; +and is it not so with the last enemy, death? Yes, if +it please the Lord that I should go down into the +dark valley without any realization, simply knowing +that I am His, and He is mine, I am quite willing–I +accept it.’</p> + +<p>This is the faith that made our Army Mother and all +the Bible saints such conquerors. It is the secret +of their victory–the faith without which it is impossible +to please God, and for which we all need to pray, ’Lord, +increase our faith.’</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_11"></a>XI</h1> + +<h2>Last Days</h2> + +<p>’As I look back on life I do not remember the +houses I have lived in, the people that I have known, +the things of passing interest at the moment. They +are all gone. There is nothing stands out before my +mind as of any consequence, but the work I have done +for God and Eternity.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>If The General and those who loved our Army Mother +best had been able to choose for her, they would most +likely have said: ’Let her live and fight and +work on, up to within a few days of her promotion to +Glory. Let the call come quickly and painlessly, as +it has come to others in our ranks.’</p> + +<p>But the Lord, who loved her more than we did, saw +fit to send to her two and a half years of ever-increasing +weariness and suffering. For long months she lay on +the very bank of the River, longing for the messenger +of Death to carry her across. Those who loved her could +not tell why the Lord sent her this last fiery trial; +they could only bow with her, and say, ‘Thy +will be done.’</p> + +<p>It was in February, 1888, that Mrs. Booth, who was +anxious about her health, went to consult a great +doctor and get his opinion. She was alone, for no +one had thought her illness was so serious. She asked +him to tell her the truth–all through her life, as +you know, she wanted the truth; and after a little +hesitation he told her.</p> + +<p>The truth was the saddest that she could hear. That +dreadful illness–cancer–through which she had so +tenderly nursed her own dear mother, had come to her, +and in the doctor’s opinion she had much suffering +to pass through, and only two or, at the most, three +years longer to live. Mrs. Booth listened calmly, +thanked the doctor, and then, getting once more into +the cab, drove home all alone.</p> + +<p>It was a dark journey. The War needed her. The General +needed her. Her children needed her. And yet the sentence +of Death had been passed upon her, and she must soon +leave them all. What did she do? I think you can guess.</p> + +<p>She knelt down in the cab, and in prayer committed +to God, in a new and deeper way than ever before, +her own body, and her dear ones and the work He had +given her to do.</p> + +<p>At last the cab stopped before her own door, and The +General came out to meet her.</p> + +<p>‘I shall never forget that meeting in this world, +or the next,’ he says. ’I had been watching +for the cab, and had run out to meet her and help +her up the steps. She tried to smile on me through +her tears; but, drawing me into the room, soon told +me, bit by bit, what the doctor had said. I sat down +speechless. She rose from her seat, and came and knelt +beside me, saying: “Do you know what was my first +thought? That I should not be there to nurse you in +your last hour.”</p> + +<p>’I was stunned. I felt as if the whole world +were coming to a standstill. Opposite me, on the wall, +was a picture of Christ on the cross. I thought I +could understand it then, as never before. She talked +to me like an angel; she talked as she had never talked +before. I could say little or nothing. I could only +kneel with her and try to pray. That very same night +The General was to leave London for some great Meetings +in Holland, and Mrs. Booth would not hear of his changing +his plans and remaining with her.</p> + +<p>‘The War must go on’ was her thought, +even when all her family stood stunned and heart-broken +around her, unwilling to leave her even for a moment.</p> + +<p>Two years later, when but a few more days of suffering +remained to her, a last message from her lips reached +us as Self-Denial Week began. ’The War must +go on’ was one of its sentences.</p> + +<p>‘The War must go on’ had been as her motto, +lived out in all the long, long months that lay between. +Instead of immediately laying aside her work, when +the doctors gave their dreadful judgment, and beginning +to think only of herself, she went on with it as long +as her increasing weakness allowed.</p> + +<p>But step by step the disease grew worse. First she +was forced to give up Meetings and public work. Then +it became impossible for her to use her right hand, +and she was therefore obliged to give up her correspondence, +though she still continued to dictate her letters, +and learnt also to write with her left hand.</p> + +<p>Soon her daily drives became too tiring, and by and +by she went out of the house into the little garden +for the last time; and then for the concluding twelve +months of her life she was a prisoner in her room, +lying in constant suffering.</p> + +<p>But during these long months the greatest joy and +relief that could come to her was to hear of some +fresh victory or triumph for the Kingdom of Jesus. +Her interest in The Army and her love for the people +were as keen as ever, and War Councils were held and +new developments planned in her chamber, and much +of The General’s Darkest England Scheme for the +poor and outcast was thought out and decided upon +beside her sick bed.</p> + +<p>Again and again, too, Mrs. Booth would receive deputations +of Officers of different classes and from various +countries in which The Army was at work, who came +to Clacton-on-Sea, where the last fifteen months of +her life were spent, to listen to her words of advice +and inspiration.</p> + +<p>There were no Corps Cadets in those days; but our +Army Mother left some specially beautiful words about +the Juniors, to which I must refer.</p> + +<p>When she was told by the Officer then in charge of +our Junior Work in England that the children loved +and prayed continually for her, she smiled.</p> + +<p>‘The thought of the little ones,’ says +some one who was there, ’brought our beloved +Army Mother wholly out of herself and her pain and +weariness.’</p> + +<p>‘A very choice branch of the work,’ she +said. ’I have often told Emma that I hoped when +I was too old for public work God would let me end +where I began–with the children. But it seems that +it is not to be so.’</p> + +<p>‘Give the children,’ she went on, in reply +to the messages they had sent, ’my dear love, +and tell them that if there had been a Salvation Army +when I was ten I should have been a Soldier then, +as I am to-day.</p> + +<p>Never allow yourself to be discouraged in your work. +I know you must meet with many discouragements; but +I am sure the Spirit of God works mightily on little +children long before grown people think they are able +to understand.’</p> + +<p>Again and again during that last year of awful suffering +it seemed as if Mrs. Booth were about to leave us; +but then she would revive, and come back to endure +more weeks and months of agony.</p> + +<p>But at last, on October 4, 1890, all could see that +she was on the brink of the River, and even those +who loved her the most tenderly could not wish to +hold her back.</p> + +<p>‘O Emma, let me go, darling,’ she whispered; +and hearing the reply, ’Yes, we will, we will,’ +she said, ‘Now! Yes, Lord, come, Oh, come!’</p> + +<p>The singing of The Army songs seemed to comfort her; +and once she raised her suffering arm, and pointed +to the text, ’<i>My grace is sufficient for +thee</i>,’ which hung on the wall. It was +lifted down and placed at the foot of her bed, so +that her eyes could often rest on it during those +last hours.</p> + +<p>‘Soon after noon,’ says the present General, +’I felt that the deepening darkness of the Valley +was closing around my dear mother, and a little later +I took my last farewell. Her lips moved, and she gave +me one look of unspeakable tenderness and trust which +will live with me for ever. Again we sang:–</p> + +<blockquote>My mistakes His free grace doth cover,<br /> +  My sins He doth wash away;<br /> +These feet which shrink and falter<br /> +  Shall enter the Gates of Day.</blockquote> + +<p>And, holding her hand, The General gave her up to +God. It was a solemn and wonderful scene.’</p> + +<p>The Chief of the Staff and Mrs. Bramwell Booth, Mrs. +Booth-Tucker, and the Commander, and her three daughters, +Marian, Eva, and Lucy, knelt round the bed, upon which +were placed photographs of the other members of her +family who were unavoidably absent. Near to her stood +her faithful nurse, Captain Carr, and others of the +household, the dear General bowing over his beloved +wife and companion in life’s long strife, and +giving her up to the keeping of the Father.</p> + +<p>One by one the members of the family tenderly embraced +her; then a gleam of recognition passed over the brightening +countenance as The General bent over her. Their eyes +met–-the last kiss of love on earth, the last word +till the Morning, and without a movement the breathing +gently ceased, and a warrior laid down her sword to +receive her crown.</p> + +<hr width="75%" size="1" /> + +<p>You may have heard of those wonderful days from Tuesday +morning till Sunday night, when the coffin containing +the precious remains of our Army Mother lay at the +Congress Hall, Clapton, and when more than fifty thousand +people came to have a last look at her dear face.</p> + +<p>A piece of glass had been let into the plain oak coffin. +It was just large enough to show the head and shoulders, +and she lay as if in a sweet sleep.</p> + +<p>You wonder if many came merely from curiosity. Some +did, of course, but most of the people came because +her life and example and words had been so blessed +to their souls; and they came as they would come to +look at the dead face of their own mother. It was +the most wonderful tribute to a woman’s life +and words that London had ever seen.</p> + +<p>For all kinds of people came–rich and poor, good +and bad, people of many different religions, and many +with no religion at all. Working men came in their +dinner-hour, with their tools on their backs and tears +in their eyes; mothers lifted up their little children +to look at the one who had taught them the way of +life; and, best of all, by the side of her coffin +knelt many a wanderer and backslider to give themselves +afresh to God.</p> + +<p>More than one poor girl went direct from the Congress +Hall to the Rescue Homes, to begin to live ‘as +she would have wished’; and the Cadets on guard +were all the time dealing with drunkards and helping +those who desired to begin from thenceforth to live +a new and different life.</p> + +<p>Even to-day, twenty-four years later, we often meet +those who date their conversion, or their first step +in the Narrow Way, from their look at that face lying +in its simple coffin.</p> + +<p>One of Mrs. Booth’s own grandchildren, Mary, +the present General’s second daughter, looks +back to that scene as the time when God in an unmistakable +manner sealed her as His. She was only five years old +as she knelt by the coffin, but nevertheless she decided +there, in her childish consecration, like Ruth of +old, that ’Thy people shall be my people, and +thy God my God’; and in the spirit of this consecration +she lives to-day.</p> + +<hr width="75%" size="1" /> + +<p>In order that some of the crowds who wished to share +in the funeral service might be present, the largest +hall in London, the Olympia, was taken. Twenty-six +thousand people filled it; and though it was, of course, +impossible for them all to hear, they followed the +service given on printed papers with reverent sympathy.</p> + +<p>The coffin was carried down the immense hall by Officers; +The General and his family followed.</p> + +<p>Those who arranged for this last mighty gathering +remembered that Mrs. Booth, when with us, was never +happy to leave a Meeting unless it had been brought +to a point, and something definite had been done; and +therefore, when the songs and prayers and readings +were over, the huge crowd was asked to kneel and make +a solemn covenant with God.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful covenant, and ended with these +words:–</p> + +<p>’And now, in this solemn hour, and in the presence +of death, I come again to Thy footstool, and make +this covenant with Thee.’</p> + +<p>Then all who had made the covenant from their hearts +rose and sang together:–</p> + +<blockquote>Just as I am Thou dost receive,<br /> +Dost welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,<br /> +Because Thy promise I believe,<br /> +O Lamb of God, I come!</blockquote> + +<p>It was just such an ending to the wonderful service +as our Army Mother would have chosen had she been +still on earth with us.</p> + +<hr width="75%" size="1" /> + +<p>The next morning was dry and bright. ’I shall +ask God to give you a fine day for my funeral, Emma, +so that you mayn’t take cold,’ our Army +Mother had said, for she was ever thoughtful for others; +and her prayer was answered, for though the white +mist crept up from the river to the Embankment, where +the procession was forming up, there was no rain nor +wind.</p> + +<p>Tens of thousands of our dear Soldiers would gladly +have sacrificed a day’s work in order to follow +in the funeral procession of one they so dearly loved; +but, so as not to gather too large a crowd, only Officers +were allowed in the march, which passed through countless +throngs of people from International Headquarters +to Abney Park Cemetery, a distance of about five miles.</p> + +<p>All along the route the crowds stood in dense masses, +and roofs, windows, and every nook and corner were +packed with human beings. Nothing had been seen like +it, said the police, since the Duke of Wellington’s +funeral, forty years before.</p> + +<p>It was a wonderful march. I wish you could have seen +it! Sometimes it seemed as if every one was weeping; +and when the open hearse, with its plain oak coffin, +crowned by The Army bonnet and well-worn Bible, passed, +all heads were bared, all voices hushed, and tears +filled all eyes.</p> + +<p>The General, standing alone in his open carriage all +along the long, sad way, must have felt that he had +the people’s sympathy and love with him in his +grief, for scores of heartfelt ‘God bless you’s!’ +came from lips that are unused to such words.</p> + +<p>And at last the yellow evening sun shone out as the +great procession reached the gates of Abney Park Cemetery +and wound towards the open grave.</p> + +<p>Only a part of the mighty throng could hear The General’s +beautiful words, so strong and yet so tender, from +which I have already quoted, but all joined in the +song, ‘Rock of Ages,’ which seemed to roll +up to the heavens themselves.</p> + +<p>Several leading Officers and members of The General’s +own family prayed and spoke, wonderfully upheld in +spite of their deep grief and the strain of the last +days. And then by the open grave the present General +led all hearts to make a fresh consecration, the whole +assembly promising, with God’s help, that they +would be</p> + +<p>’Faithful to Thee, faithful to one another, +and faithful to a dying world, till we meet our beloved +Mother in the Morning. Amen.’</p> + +<hr width="75%" size="1" /> + +<p>If ever you are in Abney Park Cemetery you should +visit her grave. It is very simple. Around the little +piece of earth runs a grey stone, with these words +carved on it:–</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;font-varian: small-caps">Catherine Booth,</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;font-varian: small-caps">Mother of The Salvation Army</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">More than Conqueror, through Him that loved us,<br /> +and gave Himself for all the world and for you.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">Do you also follow Christ?</p> + +<p>and above are two small beds of flowers.</p> + +<p>Do many people go to see it? you wonder.</p> + +<p>Oh, yes. All round it a path is worn in the grass, +made by the tread of many feet; for mothers bring +their boys and girls to see it, and tell them what +a mother she was, and men and women of all creeds and +races pause beside it, and remember.</p> + +<p>Many Officers, too–from distant lands, and speaking +strange tongues you could not understand–come to +The Army Mother’s grave when they visit our +shores. For she was their Mother as well as ours, they +say.</p> + +<p>They kneel beside the stone, and spell out the name, +and then they consecrate themselves afresh to God +and the needs of the heathen lands, and they claim +His grace to follow in her steps.</p> + +<p>For our Army Mother is not dead. True, her body lies +in the quiet grave at Abney Park, and her spirit is +in Heaven; but her life and influence still live among +us, her words are treasured, and our greatest prayer +and desire for the girls and wives and mothers in +our ranks is that they may live to be worthy daughters +of Catherine Booth.</p> + +<h1><a name="dates"></a>Dates in Mrs. Booth’s Life</h1> + +<p>1829. January 17th. Catherine Mumford born at Ashbourne, +Derby.<br /> +1829. April 10th. William Booth born at Nottingham.<br /> +1843. Catherine has to leave school owing to severe +illness. 1844. Refuses to be engaged to her cousin.<br /> +1845. Is converted. 1846. Seems likely to go into +consumption.<br /> 1850. Takes Sunday class of elder girls.<br /> +1851. June. Miss Mumford hears Mr. Booth preach; later +meets him at a friend’s house.<br /> +1852. May 15th. They are engaged to be married. <br />1855. +June 16th. The wedding.<br />1857. Mrs. Booth speaks to +a children’s meeting on Temperance. <br />1859. She +starts work among drunkards. She writes her first pamphlet +on woman’s right to preach.<br /> +1860. Mrs. Booth speaks for the first time in public.<br /> +1861. Mr. and Mrs. Booth break up their home in the +north, and come to London, choosing +an evangelistic life.<br /> +1864. Mrs. Booth begins to hold Evangelistic campaigns +apart from her husband.<br /> +1864. July. East End Mission begun.<br /> 1868. First Headquarters +established.<br /> 1869. Mrs. Booth’s wonderful Brighton +campaign. <br />1870. East London Mission becomes the ‘Christian +Mission.’<br /> 1871. Mrs. Booth publishes her first +book.<br /> 1877. Christian Mission becomes ‘The Salvation +Army.’<br /> 1878. The uniform is chosen.<br /> 1886. First +Self-Denial Week.<br /> 1888. February. Mrs. Booth learns +that she is suffering from cancer.<br /> 1888. June 21st. +Mrs. Booth speaks in public for the last time (at the City Temple).<br /> +1889. August. She goes to Clacton-on-Sea.<br /> 1890. October +4th. Mrs. Booth is promoted to Glory.<br /> 1890. October +6th. Her body brought to Congress Hall, Clapton.<br /> 1890. +October 11th. Funeral at Abney Park.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine Booth, by Mildred Duff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + +***** This file should be named 7125-h.htm or 7125-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/1/2/7125/ + +Produced by Curtis A. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Catherine Booth + A Sketch + +Author: Mildred Duff + +Posting Date: September 11, 2012 [EBook #7125] +Release Date: December, 2004 +First Posted: March 12, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +CATHERINE BOOTH +A SKETCH + +_Reprinted from The Warriors' Library_ + +BY +COLONEL MILDRED DUFF + +WITH A PREFACE BY +GENERAL BRAMWELL BOOTH + + + + +PREFACE + + + +Colonel Duff has, at my request, written the following very interesting +and touching account of my dear Mother; and she has done so in the hope +that those who read it will be helped to follow in the footsteps of that +wonderful servant of God. + +But how can they do so? Was not Mrs. Booth, you ask, an exceptional +woman? Had she not great gifts and very remarkable powers, and was she +not trained in a very special way to do the work to which God called her? +How, then, can ordinary people follow in her steps? Let me tell you. + +Mrs. Booth walked with God. When she was only a timid girl, helping her +mother in the household, she continually sought after Him; and when, in +later years, she became known by multitudes, and was written of in the +newspapers, and greatly beloved by the good in many lands, there was no +difference in her life in that matter. She was not content with being +Mrs. General Booth of The Salvation Army, and with being looked upon as a +great and good woman, giving her life to bless others. No! she listened +daily for God's voice in her own heart, sought after His will, and leaned +continually for strength and grace upon her Saviour. You can be like her +in that. + +Mrs. Booth was a soul-winner. A little while before her spirit passed +into the presence of God, and when she knew that death was quite near to +her, she said: 'Tell the Soldiers that the great consolation for a +Salvationist on his dying bed is to feel that he has been a soul-winner.' +Wherever she went--in the houses of strangers as well as of friends, in +the Meetings, great and small, when she was welcomed and when she was +not, whether alone or with others--she laboured to lead souls to Christ. +I have known her at one time spend as much trouble to win one as at +another time to win fifty. You can follow her example in that. + +Mrs. Booth always declared herself and took sides with right. Whatever +was happening around her, people always knew which side she was on. She +spoke out for the right, the good, and the true, even when doing so +involved very disagreeable experiences and the bearing of much +unkindness. She hated the spirit which can look on at what is wicked and +false or cruel, and say, 'Oh, that is not my affair!' You can follow her +example in this also. + +Mrs. Booth laboured all her life to improve her gifts. She thought; she +prayed; she worked; she read--above all, she read her Bible. It was her +companion as a child, as a young follower of Christ, and then as a Leader +in The Army. Those miserable words which some of us hear so often about +some bad or unfinished work--'Oh, that will do'--were seldom heard from +her lips. She was always striving, striving, striving to do better, and +yet better, and again better still. All this also you can do. + +Mrs. Booth was full of sympathy. No one who was in need or in sorrow, or +who was suffering, could meet her without finding out that, she was in +sympathy with them. Her heart was tender with the love of Christ, and so +she was deeply touched by the sin and sorrow around her just as He was. +Even the miseries of the dumb animals moved her to efforts on their +behalf. This sympathy made Mrs. Booth quick to see and appreciate the +toil and self-denial of others, and ever grateful for any kindness shown +to her or to The Army or to those in need of any kind. The very humblest +and youngest of those who read this little book can be like her in all +this. + +Mrs. Booth endured to the end. She never turned back. She was faithful. +Her life and work would have been spoilt if she had given up the fight. +She was often sorely tempted. She was slandered and misrepresented by +enemies, betrayed by false friends, and often deeply wounded by those who +professed to love her, though they deserted the Flag. But she held fast. +You can be like her in that. You may make many mistakes, suffer many +defeats, but you can still keep going on, and it is to those who go on to +the very end, whether in weakness or in strength, that Jesus will give +the crown of life. + +Mrs. Booth trusted with all her heart in the love and sacrifice of her +Saviour. These were her hope and her strength. When at the height of her +influence and popularity she delighted in that wonderful song which we +still so often sing:-- + + I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me, + And purchased my pardon when nailed to the tree; + +and when, amid much suffering, she lay dying, we often sang together +with her:-- + + Victory for me! + Through the Blood of Christ my Saviour; + Victory for me! + Through the precious Blood. + +This was her victory. You can follow her in the faith that won it. Will +you? + +BRAMWELL BOOTH. + +_International Headquarters._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PREFACE + + I. CHILDHOOD + II. CONVERSION AND SOUL STRUGGLES + III. A THREE-YEARS ENGAGEMENT + IV. A LIFE OF SACRIFICE + V. THE SPEAKER + VI. THE MOTHER + VII. THE WORKER +VIII. GOODNESS + IX. LOVE + X. THE WARRIOR + XI. LAST DAYS + XII. DATES IN MRS. BOOTH'S LIFE + + + + + +CATHERINE BOOTH: +A SKETCH + + + + +I + +CHILDHOOD + + +'Parents who love God best will not allow their children to learn +anything which could not be pressed into His service.'--MRS. BOOTH. + + +The Mother of The Salvation Army was born at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, on +January 17, 1829, and God gave to her the very best gift He can give to +any child--a good and holy mother. + +Katie Mumford, as she was then called, had no sister to play with, and of +her four brothers only one lived to be a man. But her dear mother more +than made up for every lack, and from her lips the little girl learned +those blessed lessons which, in her turn, she has taught to us. + +One lesson which Mrs. Mumford early taught her daughter was that our +bodies will not live for ever. She took Katie to see the body of her +infant brother who had just died; and, though she was not more than two +years old at the time, Katie never forgot that first lesson. Spiritual +things were even then real to her, just because they were so real to her +mother. Heaven was home to her, and Jesus her best Friend, ever near to +help and guide her. + +Truthfulness was a second of those early lessons which remained with our +Army Mother all her life. She was but four years old when Mrs. Mumford +found her one evening sobbing bitterly in her little cot long after she +should have been asleep. She had told a falsehood, and conscience would +not let her rest. When she had sobbed out her confession, her mother +talked and prayed with her, and at last left her, happy in the assurance +that she was forgiven by her Heavenly Father. + +After this you will not be surprised to hear that another lesson early +taught to Katie by her mother was to love her Bible. She could read +nicely when she was but five years old, and she loved to stand by her +mother's side, and read the Bible stories aloud, with just a little help +over the very long words. And this love for God's Word grew deeper every +year, so that by the time she was twelve years old she had read it +through eight times. In later years people often wondered how it was that +Mrs. Booth knew her Bible so well, and could so quickly answer their +difficulties and objections in Bible words. Much of the secret lay in +this early training, and in the hours she spent in Bible study later on, +when she had reached the age of some of our younger Corps Cadets. + +I wish we could have seen her in those days. She had very dark hair, +which curled naturally; black, flashing eyes, and such a warm heart, and +strong, impetuous nature that she could do nothing by halves. Whatever it +was, work or play, her whole soul had to be in it. + +Since she was not at all strong, and had few girl friends, Katie did not +play rough or noisy games, but her love for her dolls made her quite a +little mother to them. She treated them almost like real children, and +would sew and toil, and never rest till she felt she had in every way +done her duty to them. She loved animals, too, especially dogs and +horses, and could not bear to see any one ill-treat them. Oh, how she +suffered one day, watching some poor sheep driven down the road! She +watched the man beat them--she could not stop him; and at last she tore +home, and flung herself down almost choking and speechless with +indignation and distress. + +Her mother did not check Katie for feeling so keenly. She encouraged her; +for she knew that a hard, indifferent child, who can see suffering and +not care or be distressed over it, would make a hard woman; and she +wanted her Katie to be full of love and tenderness for all, and +especially for those needing help. + +When Catherine was twelve years old she became very interested in the +drink question. She wrote letters about it, and sent them to different +newspapers, for there was no 'War Cry' nor 'Young Soldier' in those days; +and she also became the secretary of what was then called a Juvenile +Temperance Society, and did all she could to get boys and girls to +promise never to touch the drink. + +Katie was also, like many of you, much interested in the heathen. She +would go round to all her friends collecting money to pay for preachers +to be sent to them; and in order to get more money she would deny herself +sugar and other small luxuries. No one told Katie to do this; but you see +our Army Mother herself taught us, by her example when only a child, to +keep our great Self-Denial Week. + +Of course, most of Katie's time was taken up with her lessons, and, as +she loved to learn and study, they were no hardship to her. For two years +she went to a boarding-school, and here her companions soon found out how +straight and truthful she was. 'You'll never get _her_ to tell a +lie,' the girls said, 'nor even to exaggerate, so it's no use trying.' +Every one knew also that Katie felt for the backward girls and those who +were slow and dull. She wanted them to succeed, and would help them +between school hours. That was her joy, you see--to help and care for +others; whether at school or at home she was the same. + +But you must not think that Catherine was perfect. Oh, no, indeed! +Sometimes her schoolmates would tease her because she was so quiet, and +liked to read better than to play; and at such times, instead of being +patient, she would flare up into a passion, and say harsh, angry words. +When the storm was over she would be, however, Oh! so sorry, and would +beg her schoolfellows to forgive her. + +When Katie had been at school two years, God sent her a very great trial. +Instead of being able to go on learning and keeping up with the other +girls, she had to return home, and for three long years to lie nearly all +the time on her back, often suffering very much. She had a serious spinal +complaint, and her friends sometimes doubted whether she would ever walk +again. + +You wonder what she did in those three years? I will tell you. When the +pain would permit it, she would knit and sew. She could not, of course, +hold heavy needlework; but little things, like babies' socks and hoods, +pin-cushions, and so forth, she would make most beautifully, and then +they would be sold to help on the work of God. + +Besides her sewing, Katie read a great deal. First, as I have already +told you, she read her Bible, and learnt to know God's thoughts about the +world and sin, and His wishes for His people. For seven months at one +time Catherine had to lie on her face on a special sort of couch made on +purpose for her; but she invented a contrivance by which, even then, she +could read her Bible, though still remaining in the position that the +doctors wished. Then, too, she would read good books--explanations of the +Bible, about Holiness, soul-saving, lives of those who have lived and +worked for God, and so on. When she had read a chapter she would shut the +book, and write down as much as she could remember of it. This helped her +to think clearly and to remember what she read, and also to put her +thoughts into words. + +But she never wasted her time reading stories and novels. Later on in her +life she said she was so thankful for this, for she thought that novels +and silly story books made people discontented with their own homes and +duties, and put wrong, hurtful ideas into their minds. Let us recollect +and follow our Army Mother's example here, and not waste time on stories +which are not true. + +We, if we had known Katie Mumford in those three years of pain and +weariness, should have pitied her very much. We might have been tempted +to feel that God was hard in not letting her be strong like other girls; +but we now see that all the time He was fitting her for the wonderful +future before her; and when she became Mrs. Booth, the great preacher, +she herself understood this. + +'Being so much alone in my youth,' she said, 'and so thrown on my own +thoughts and on those expressed in books, has been very helpful to me. +Had I been given to gossip, and had there been people for me to gossip +with, I should certainly never have accomplished what I did.' + +So, you see, God was all the time giving her the very best training He +could, and teaching her, as she lay there alone on her bed, what she +never could have learned in the ordinary way. And He will train you, too, +in the very best way for your future, if you will but determine to trust +and serve Him as did Catherine Mumford. + + + + +II + +CONVERSION AND SOUL STRUGGLES + + + +'No soul was ever yet saved who was too idle to seek.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +Perhaps you, the Corps Cadet, for whom I am especially writing this +little book, have been tempted to break your vows by becoming engaged to +some one who does not want to be an Officer. And you think, perhaps, that +no one understands your feelings. + +You will be surprised, then, to know that our Army Mother had just such a +battle to fight when she was a girl. + +She had a cousin, a little older than herself, who was tall and very +clever. He came with his parents to stay in her home, and Katie had not +seen him since they were young children. He quickly grew very fond of his +cousin, and Catherine found how nice it was to have some one to give her +presents and to love her as he did. At last he begged her to promise that +by and by she would be engaged to him. Now Katie was very perplexed. On +the one hand she loved her cousin, and did not want to grieve him, and +yet in her heart she knew he was not truly given up to God, and would not +help her in her soul. + +'Go to the Meeting with you, Katie?' he used to say. 'Of course, I'll go +anywhere to please you.' But then, while she was trying to get a +blessing, he would be scratching little pictures on the back of the seat +to make her laugh. Perhaps you can guess the struggle it was for Katie to +decide what her answer should be. 'If you will only say "yes," and be +engaged to him, I am sure you will be able to help him, and very likely +get him properly saved,' the Devil would whisper. 'Break it off now, +Katie; do not go another step; you know God cannot smile on it.' That was +how her conscience spoke. + +At last, one day as she was truly praying and seeking for light, she read +the verse in 2 Corinthians vi. 14: 'Be ye not unequally yoked together +with unbelievers.' It came to her as the voice of God. + +'I will do it, Lord,' she said, after a long struggle; and she sat down, +and wrote her cousin a letter, telling him just why she could never be +engaged to him, and breaking it all off for ever. Then she turned back to +her home duties, and did not re-open the question. + +And did our Army Mother in after years regret that she had acted like +this? No, indeed; she has told us that she saw plainly later on that, if +just then she had chosen to follow her own feelings and wishes, instead +of obeying God's command, all her life would have been altered, and she +would never have done the glorious work He had planned for her. It was a +hard battle at the time, and cost her many tears; but it was worth it, +ten thousand times over, as we can all see to-day. + +Very soon after this victory Catherine became really converted. + +'What!' you say. 'Was she not converted before this?' + +No. All her life she had, like many children trained to-day in +Salvationist homes, felt God's Holy Spirit striving with her. Sometimes, +when quite a little girl, her mother would find her crying because she +felt how she had sinned against God. + +But when she was about fifteen she longed to know that she was really +saved. + +'Don't be silly,' said the Devil in her heart. 'You have been as good as +saved all your life. You have always wanted to do right. How can you +expect such a sudden change as if you were a great big drunkard? It's +absurd.' + +'But my _heart_ is as bad as the heart of a big sinner,' cried poor +Katie in an agony of fear. 'I have been as bad inside, if not in my +outward actions and words.' + +And then she took hold of God in faith. 'Lord, I must be converted. I +cannot rest till Thou hast changed my whole nature; do for me what Thou +dost do, for the thieves and drunkards.' + +But for six weeks it seemed as if God did not hear her cry. She grew more +and more unhappy. All her past sins rose before her: those bursts of +temper when she was at school, those wrong thoughts and feelings. Yes, +the Bible was true when it said: 'The heart is deceitful above all things +and desperately wicked.' + +Katie argued, too, like this: 'I cannot recollect any time or place where +I claimed Salvation and the forgiveness of my sins; if God _has_ +saved me, He would surely have made me certain of it. Anyway, I must and +will know it. I must have the assurance that I am God's child.' + +Unable to rest, she would pace her room till two o'clock in the morning, +and would lie down at last, with her Bible and hymn-book under her +pillow, praying that God would Himself tell her that her sins were +forgiven. At last, one morning, as she woke, she opened her hymn-book, +and read these words:-- + + My God, I am Thine, + What a comfort divine, + What a blessing to know that my Jesus is mine. + +Now she had read and sung these lines scores of times before, but they +came this morning with a new power to her soul. + +'I am Thine!' 'My Jesus is mine!' she exclaimed. 'Lord, it is true!--I do +believe it! My sins are forgiven. I belong to Thee!' and her whole soul +was filled with light and joy. She now possessed what she had been +seeking all these weeks--the assurance of Salvation! And then what do you +think she did? She threw on a wrapper, and, without waiting to dress, +hurried across to her mother's room, and tapped at the door. + +'Come in,' said her mother's voice; and Katie, her face shining with joy, +burst into the room. 'Mamma, mamma, I am a child of God! My sins are +forgiven--Jesus is my Saviour!' she cried, flinging herself into her +mother's arms. And this was the same Katie, who had been so shy and +backward that she had never before dared to speak about her spiritual +anxieties, even to her mother! Ah! what a change real conversion, or +change of heart, had made. + +For the next six months Katie was so happy that she felt as if she were +walking on air. 'I used to tremble,' she tells us, 'and even long to die, +lest I should back-slide or lose the sense of God's favour.' + +But as time went on she learned, as we all have to do, to walk by faith, +not by sight, and to serve and follow the Saviour whether she had happy +feelings or not. + +But you must not suppose, because Katie had the assurance of Salvation, +that therefore she had no more fighting. No--indeed, her fighting days +had only just begun. + +One of her great difficulties, which many Corps Cadets will understand, +was that she felt so nervous about doing anything in public. No one, of +course, asked her to speak--such a thing was never dreamed of; but the +lady who took the Bible Class which she attended regularly would now and +then ask her to pray. 'Miss Mumford will pray,' the lady would say, when +they were all kneeling together. + +But Katie was too shy to begin, and sometimes they would wait for several +minutes before she had courage to say a few words. 'Don't ask me to pray +again,' she said one day to her leader; 'the excitement and agitation +make me quite ill.' + +'I can't help that,' was the very wise answer; 'you must break through +your timidity; for otherwise you will be of no use to God.' + +And did Katie persevere? Yes, indeed, she did. Here is an entry made some +time later in the diary that she kept, which shows you how very much her +experience was like yours:-- + +'I have not been blessed so much for weeks as I was to-night. I prayed +aloud. The cross was great, but so was the reward. + +My heart beat violently, but I felt some liberty.' + +Though Catherine's spine difficulty was better, she was still very +delicate, and at the age of eighteen every one felt sure she was going +into a decline. But, sick or well, her soul grew stronger, and her desire +to please and serve God better increased every day. + +'I do love Thee,' she wrote in the same little diary, 'but I want to love +Thee more.' + +It was not till many years later that Catherine received the blessing of +a clean heart; but even now she had begun to desire and long for it. She +also writes at this time: 'I see that this Full Salvation is very +necessary if I am to glorify God below, and find my way to Heaven. I want +a _clean_ heart. Lord, take me and seal me.' + +Some people, even after they are converted, are too proud to own +themselves wrong, or to confess when they have sinned. Catherine was not +of that sort. In one of her letters to her mother she ends with these +words:-- + +'Pray for me, dear mother, and believe me, with all my faults and +besetments, your loving child.' + +Her hunger after a holy life was real and practical. She knew she must +learn to live by method--that is, doing right, whether she liked it or +not--and not by feelings, if she was to be of use in the world. + +So at the end of the year she wrote some new resolutions; and as they may +be of help to you, I will copy them for you just as she put them down:-- + +'I have been writing a few daily rules for the coming year, which I hope +will prove a blessing to me, by the grace of God. I have got a paper of +printed rules also, which I intend to read once a week. May the Lord help +me to keep to them! But, above all, I am determined to search the +Scriptures more attentively, for in them I have eternal life. I have read +my Bible through twice during the past sixteen months, but I must read it +with more prayer for light and understanding. Oh, may it be my meat and +drink! May I meditate on it day and night! And then I shall bring forth +fruit in season; my leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever I do shall +prosper.' + +She had also her own private ways of denying herself, not for the sake of +earning money or praise by it, but simply because she felt it was right. +One of these rules was to do without dinner, and butter at breakfast, +once in the week, because she felt it helped her in her soul. + +I cannot end this chapter without telling you of the one great sorrow +which darkened all her early years. Some of you, I know, will enter into +her feelings so well. + +Her father, at one time saved and earnest about the souls of others, had +grown cold and backslidden, and now never even went near a Meeting. You +can fancy what agony this was to both Mrs. Mumford and her daughter. They +prayed and wept in vain--he only seemed to get more indifferent. +Catherine would sometimes write her feelings and her sorrow in her diary, +and there we read:-- + +'I sometimes get into an agony of feeling while praying for my dear +father. Oh, my Lord, answer prayer, and bring him back to Thyself! Never +let that tongue which once delighted in praising Thee, and in showing +others Thy willingness to save, be engaged in uttering the lamentations +of the lost! Oh, awful thought! Lord, have mercy! Save, Oh! save him in +any way Thou seest best, though it be ever so painful. If by removing me +Thou canst do this, cut short Thy work, and take me Home. Let me be bold +to speak in Thy name. Oh, give me true courage and liberty, and when I +write to him, bless what I say to the good of his soul!' + +For many years this prayer of Catherine's was not answered; but she held +on, as you must do for those you love, in faith and prayer; and at last +she had the unspeakable joy of seeing her dear father come back to God +through one of her own Meetings which he had attended. His last years +were full of peace, and were spent in serving God and rejoicing in His +Salvation. + + + + +III + +A THREE-YEARS ENGAGEMENT + + + +'What a need there is for effort and energy; or real religion and common +sense!'--MRS. BOOTH. + +One Sunday, when Catherine and her mother went to the Meeting as usual, +they found a 'Special' there, taking the services. He was quite different +from the other Specials, and Catherine could not help noticing him with +extra interest. He spoke to the people's hearts, and was not so much +occupied in preaching a good sermon as in getting some one converted. But +he did preach a very good sermon for all that, and chose this verse as +his text--'This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.' + +A few days later Catherine and her mother were spending the evening with +a friend, when the very same preacher came in, and was introduced to them +as the Rev. William Booth. + +Catherine knew they had one subject in common--love for souls; but before +the evening ended she discovered that the young minister was quite as +earnest as she was herself in fighting the Drink curse and all that was +connected with it. + +A few Sundays later Mr. Booth preached again in the same building, this +time as the minister, or, as we should say, 'Officer in charge,' and no +longer as a Special. And now you will guess that the two often met, and +that, because they had so many interests in common, they soon learned to +know each other well, till respect grew into friendship, and friendship +into love. + +Catherine was at this time twenty-two years old, and Mr. Booth was three +months younger; but, though you would have said they were old enough to +know their own minds, they did nothing hastily, and would enter into no +engagement till they were quite sure of God's Will in the matter. + +Had Catherine ever before thought of the day when she would get married? +you, perhaps, ask. Oh, yes, indeed, and when but a girl of +sixteen--directly, in fact, after she was saved--she settled in her own +heart what sort of a man her future husband must be. First, she decided, +he must be truly converted, and a total abstainer, not to please her, +but from his own choice. Then he must be a man of sense, or she could +never respect him; and, if they were to be happy, they must feel and +think alike on all important matters. + +Ah, if our women-Soldiers and Cadets to-day would but follow our Army +Mother's example, there would be fewer unhappy marriages and wrecked +lives! + +But in her secret heart Catherine had also, girl-like, some ideas about +the sort of man she would like to marry, if she might choose. He should +be a minister--that was the nearest she could get to an Officer in those +days; William was a name she particularly liked, and--if only he might be +tall and dark! If you had been there when Katie Mumford first listened to +his preaching you would have seen that he was 'tall and dark' indeed. + +But though William Booth loved Catherine with a deep and holy love, which +increased each time they met, yet he was very poor, and he wondered if he +ought, under the circumstances, to ask her to share his lot. He wrote a +letter to her, telling her how perplexed and troubled he was, and her +answer shows us that, right from the very earliest days, before they were +even engaged, her one desire was that his soul should prosper. + +'My dear friend,' she begins ... 'The thought that I should cause you any +suffering or increase your perplexity is almost unbearable. I am tempted +to wish that we had never seen each other. Do try to forget me, as far as +the remembrance would injure your usefulness or spoil your peace. If I +have no alternative but to oppose the Will of God, or trample on the +desolations of my own heart, _my choice is made_. "Thy will be done" +is my constant cry. I care not for myself; but Oh, if I cause you to err, +I shall never be happy again.' + +It was not the fear of poverty that frightened her, for a few days later +she says:-- + +'I fear you did not fully understand my difficulty. It was not +circumstances. I thought I had assured you that a bright prospect would +not allure me, nor a dark one affright me, if only we are _one in +heart_. + +My only reason for wishing to defer the engagement was that _you_ +might feel satisfied in your mind that the step is right.... If you are +convinced on this point, let circumstances go, and let us be one, come +what may.' + +This is exactly what they did, and after meeting, and together +consecrating their lives to God, they solemnly pledged themselves to each +other. + +And now began a three-years' engagement, in which, though often for long +months at a time they never met, they remained true to each other and to +God, in thought and word and deed. + +Many of the beautiful letters that our Army Mother wrote to The General +at this time, I am glad to tell you, have been kept, and we will look +together at some of the ways in which she tried to help and cheer him. + +In the first letter after their engagement she ends with these words:-- + +'The more you lead me up to Christ in all things, the more highly shall I +esteem you; and if it be possible to love you more than I do now, the +more shall I love you. You are always present in my thoughts.' + +Now you must not think that, even in these early days, our General had a +very easy life. He was often much perplexed and troubled, longing above +all to do God's Will for the Salvation of the people, and yet not quite +sure what that Will was. At these times Catherine was of untold help to +him. + +Once he was very unsettled--not certain whether he should remain away in +the North of England, or accept a place in London, where the two could +often meet. Most girls would have said, 'Oh, come, then we shall be near +to each other'; but you will see that her advice to him is just as +suitable for you when you are not certain of your duty--that she does not +consider her own feelings at all. + +'I wish,' she writes, 'you prayed more and talked less about the matter. +Try it, and be determined to get clear and settled views as to your +course. Leave your heart before God, and get satisfied in His sight, and +then do it, be it what it may. I cannot bear the idea of your being +unhappy. Pray do in this as you feel in your soul it will be right. My +conscience is no standard for yours.' + +Then she adds, lower down:-- + +'Oh, if you come to London, let us be determined to reap a blessed +harvest. Let our fellowship be sanctified to our souls' everlasting good. +My mind is made up to do my part towards it. I hope to be firm as a rock +on some points. The Lord help me. We must aim to improve each other's +mind and character. Let us pray for grace to do it in the best way and to +the fullest extent possible.' + +'Anyway,' she says, a day or two later--and ever remember her words when +outside things try and distress you--'don't let the controversy hurt your +soul. Live near to God by prayer.... You believe He answers prayer. Then +take courage. Just fall down at His feet, and open your very soul before +Him, and throw yourself right into His arms. Tell Him that if you are +wrong you only wait to be set right, and, be the path rough or smooth, +you will walk in it. + +'Oh, you must live close to God! If you are a greater distance from Him +than you were, just stop the whirl of outward things, or rather leave it, +and shut yourself up with Him till all is clear and bright upwards. Do, +there's a dear. Oh, how much we lose by not coming to the point. Now, at +once, realize your union with Christ, and trust Him to lead you through +this perplexity. Bless you. Excuse this advice. I am anxious for your +soul. Look up. If God hears my prayers, He must guide you--He will guide +you.' + +In these early days our General was tempted, as some of us are tempted +to-day, to feel nervous and shy when talking before large crowds, and +where the people were better dressed and better off than usual. He wrote +his feelings to Catherine, and she sends him back her wise advice and +help. 'I am sorry for this,' she says, 'and am persuaded it is the fear +of man which shackles you. Do not give place to this feeling. Remember +you are _the_ Lord's servant, and if you are a faithful one it will +be a small matter with you to be judged of man's judgment. Let nothing be +wanting beforehand to make what you say helpful, but when you are before +the people try to think only of your own responsibility to Him who hath +sent you.' + +Again, later, she writes:-- + +'Try and cast off the fear of man. Fix your eyes simply on the glory of +God, and care not for frown or praise of man. Rest not till your soul is +fully alive to God.' How truly she herself carried this out in her own +Meetings you will hear later on. + +Miss Mumford was very anxious that The General should improve himself +with plenty of hard work. She saw what he might become, and she also knew +that unless he did _his_ part all those wonderful powers which God +had lent to him would be thrown away. + +'Do assure me,' she writes, 'my own dear William, that no want of energy +or effort on your part shall hinder the improvement of those talents God +has given you.' + +So that, with his constant travelling and preaching, he might get time to +read and think and learn, she suggested a little plan to him in his +billets. + +'Could you not,' she says, 'provide yourself with a small leather bag or +case, large enough to hold your Bible and any other book you might +require--pens, ink, paper and a candle? And, presuming that you generally +have a room to yourself, could you not rise by six o'clock every morning, +and convert your bedroom into a study till breakfast time?... I hope, my +dearest love, you will consider this plan, and keep to it, if possible, +as a general practice. Don't let little difficulties prevent your +carrying it out.' + +You must remember that at this time neither Catherine nor Mr. Booth ever +dreamed of the wonderful work they were to be called to do. He was then +preaching and getting souls saved, mostly in country places, and had many +a 'hard go,' but _that_ was no reason why he should not improve. + +Did The General like this advice and counsel? Or did he feel, as some men +do to-day, that women cannot judge nor understand such things? + +Ah! he was wise, and only too glad to have all the help that Catherine +could give him. In fact, he often wrote begging her to help him more. The +outlines for addresses which she sent him weekly he valued and used, as +this letter shows:-- + +'I have,' he writes, 'just taken hold of that sketch you sent me on "Be +not deceived," and am about to make a full sermon on it. I like it much. +It is admirable. + +'I want a sermon on the Flood, one on Jonah, and one on the Judgment. +Send me some bare thoughts, some clear, startling outlines. We must have +that kind of truth which will move sinners.' + +But if Catherine Mumford was anxious about the mind and work of her +future husband, much more was she anxious about his soul. To her, there +could be no true love without faithfulness, and where she felt it +necessary, she cautioned him in the truest and tenderest way:-- + +'You have special need,' she writes, 'for watchfulness and for much +private intercourse with God. + +'My dearest love, beware how you indulge that dangerous element of +character, ambition. Misdirected, it will be everlasting ruin to +yourself, and perhaps to me also. Oh, my love, let nothing earthly excite +it; let not the wish to be great fire it. Fix it on the Throne of the +Eternal, and let it find the realization of its loftiest aspirations in +the promotion of His glory, and it shall be consummated with the richest +enjoyments and brightest glories of God's own Heaven.' + +You wonder, perhaps, if Catherine ever wrote 'love letters,' as we call +them. She never wrote the foolish and sentimental letters which say a +great deal, and mean very little; but she was able to put her great love +into words strong, intense, and full of tenderness. + +'Do I remember?' she asks in one letter. 'Yes, I remember all--all that +has bound us together. All the bright and happy, as well as the clouded +and sorrowful times of our fellowship. Nothing relating to you can time +or place erase from my memory. Your words, your looks, your actions, even +the most trivial and incidental, come up before me as fresh as life. If I +meet a child called William, I am more interested in him than in any +other. Bless you. Keep your spirits up, and hope much for the future. God +lives and loves us, and we shall be one in Him, loving each other as +Christ loved us.' + +William Booth and Catherine Mumford were married in London, on June 15, +1855; and here are a few lines from the last letter she wrote to him +before the engagement was ended, and the long thirty-five years of happy +married life began:-- + +'I long to see you. Your letters do not satisfy the yearnings of my +heart. Perhaps they ought to. I wish it were differently constituted. I +might be much happier. But it _will_ be extravagant and enthusiastic +in spite of all my schooling. If I ever get to Heaven, what rapture shall +I know! No, there is no fear of our loving each other too much. How can +we love each other more than Christ has loved us? And this is the +standard He has given us. What a precious thing is the religion of Jesus! +It makes our first duties our highest happiness. It has the promise of +the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. We will spend +all our energies in trying to persuade men to receive and practise it.' + +How wonderfully she carried this intention into practice, and, together +with The General, lived every moment 'publishing the Sinner's Friend,' +you shall read later on. + + + + +IV + +A LIFE OF SACRIFICE + + + +'Since I came to the crucifixion of myself, I have not cared much what +men might say of me.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +At the time when our Army Mother married The General's work was, as we +have seen, that of an 'Evangelist' or 'Travelling Minister.' He would +stay in a town for some weeks or months, as the case might be, preaching +and holding Meetings, and getting people saved, both in the town itself +and the places round. + +It was a blessed and useful life, but very wearying; and we can fancy how +trying it must have been for Mrs. Booth after her marriage not to have +any home of her own, but to billet first in one stranger's house, and +then in another's. + +But she did not complain, though we see what it cost her by a letter she +writes to her mother, telling the good news that they are to live in +lodgings while at Sheffield:-- + +'You cannot think,' she writes, 'with what joy I look forward to being to +ourselves once more. For though I get literally oppressed with kindness, +I must say I would prefer a home where we could sit down together at our +own little table, myself the mistress, and my husband the only guest. But +the work of God so abundantly prospers that I dare not repine, or else I +feel this constant packing and unpacking and staying amongst strangers to +be a great burden, especially while so weak and poorly. But then I have +many mercies and advantages. My precious William is all I desire, and +without this what would the most splendid home be but a glittering +bauble?' + +For several years Mrs. Booth travelled in this way from place to place, +helping, cheering, and encouraging her husband in his soul-saving +campaigns. She felt her duty lay here, and even when she had a little son +to care for, she was unwilling to settle down. Writing to her mother, who +urged her to leave off this trying life; or, at any rate, to hand the +baby over to her, she says:-- + +'My objection to leaving William gets stronger as I see the need he has +of my presence, care, and sympathy; neither is he willing for it himself. +Nor can I make up my mind to parting with Willie.' + +Mrs. Booth's object was to be a help to her husband--not a hindrance; to +push him forward in his soul-saving work--not to hold him back; and +therefore, instead of rejoicing, as most wives and mothers would have +done, when a settled home and work were offered him, she was doubtful. + +'Personally considered,' she writes to her mother, 'I care nothing about +it. I feel that a good rest in one place will be a boon to us. Anyhow, if +God wills him to be an Evangelist, He will open the way. I find that I +love the work itself far more than I thought I did, and I am willing to +risk something for it.' + +After this came several years of great conflict and struggle. The +Conference (or, as we would say, Headquarters) under whom The General +worked did not wish him to continue the great Salvation Campaigns for +which God had so marvellously fitted him. They wanted him to 'settle +down,' and spend perhaps several years in one place like ordinary +ministers. + +To please those who were over him he did this, and spent four years in +one town. But though God blessed his efforts, The General was convinced +that he was called to greater things. He loved the sinners; wherever he +went crowds flocked to hear him, and the vilest were converted. Was it +God's will, therefore, that he should sacrifice the work his soul loved, +and 'settle down' into an ordinary life, helping and reaching only the +people of one small city? + +This question our Army Mother helped him to decide. Try to picture her +position. She had by this time a family of little children, and her +health was very delicate. By counselling The General to 'settle down,' as +his friends wished him to do, she would have a nice home, a comfortable +income, and, above all, the constant presence of her husband, who would +no longer need to leave her on his long soul-saving tours. + +By refusing the position offered, and choosing instead to take up the +'evangelistic life' again, The General turned his back on salary, home, +and work, and went out into the world, with his wife and four children, +friendless and alone. Do you wonder that the struggle was a severe one? + +'Pray for me,' she wrote to her mother, when the question was about to be +settled. 'I have many a conflict in regard to the proposed new departure; +not as to our support--I feel as though I can trust the Lord implicitly +for all that; but the Devil tells me I shall never be able to endure the +loneliness and separation of the life. He draws many a picture of most +dark and melancholy shade. But I cling to the promise, "No man hath +forsaken," etc., and, having sworn to my own hurt, may I stand fast. I +have told William that if he takes the step, and it should bring me to +the workhouse, I would never say one upbraiding word. No. To blame him +for making such a sacrifice for God and conscience' sake would be worse +than wicked. So, whatever be the result, I shall make up my mind to +endure it patiently, looking to the Lord for grace and strength.' + +But if it was difficult for Mrs. Booth, the path was equally dark and +hard for The General. + +'William hesitates,' she writes a few weeks later. 'He thinks of me and +the children, and I appreciate his love and care. But I tell him that God +will provide, if he will only go straight on in the path of duty. It is +strange that I, who always used to shrink from the sacrifice, should be +the first in making it. But when I made the surrender I did it +whole-heartedly, and ever since I have been like another being. Oh, pray +for us yet more and more! We have no money coming in from any quarter now. +Nor has William any invitations at present. The time is unfavourable. I am +much tempted to feel it hard that God has not cleared our path more +satisfactorily. But I will not "charge God foolishly." I know that His +way is often in the whirlwind, and He rides upon the storm: I will try to +possess my soul in patience, and to wait on Him.' + +Sometimes you have heard your Officers talking in a Meeting, and telling +the people that, if they will but step out in faith, and do right, God +will open up the way for them. The example of our General and Army Mother +has taught us this lesson, for few ever took a step of faith into greater +darkness and difficulty than they did at this time. + +'My dearest,' writes Mrs. Booth to her mother, 'is starting for London. +Pray for him. He is much harassed. But I have promised to keep a brave +heart. At times it appears to me that God may have something very +glorious in store for us, and when He has tried us He will bring us forth +as gold. It will not be the first time I have taken a leap in the dark, +humanly speaking, for conscience' sake.' + +It was, indeed, a 'leap in the dark': to break up their little home in +the North, and, travelling by boat, to save expense, to bring their four +children to Mrs. Mumford's house in London. There they separated: the +father and mother went to Cornwall, to hold a Salvation campaign in a +little chapel that had been lent to them, and the children remained +behind. + +Of the marvellous way in which God blessed the Cornish work, I cannot +stop to tell you. Mrs. Booth's name as a preacher was by this time +becoming as widely known as that of her husband; and they went from one +place to another, at first together, and then, afterwards, separately, so +as to be able to do more good, for four long years. + +Whenever possible, our Army Mother took her children with her: she never +left them to others when she could help it, and later on I shall tell you +what a devoted and tender mother she was; but the strain of those four +long years no one will ever know. I want you to see the dark as well as +the bright side of her wonderful life; and here is part of a letter to +her mother, written at that time:-- + +'I feel dreadfully unsettled at present. I don't like this mode of living +at all. William has now been away from home, except on Friday and +Saturday, for twelve weeks. I long to get fixed together again once more. +The going backwards and forwards and being in other people's houses does +not suit William. Nor do I like leaving home for the Sabbaths. I am much +tempted to look gloomily towards the future. But "my heart is fixed." "I +will trust, and not be afraid."' + +Then again, a little later on:-- + +'Pray for me. I sometimes feel as though I had taken a path which is too +hard for me, and duties too heavy for me to perform; but it is my +privilege to say, and to feel, "I can do all things through Christ which +strengtheneth me."' + +Once again she says:-- + +'Well, the Lord help us to be faithful to our convictions, even in the +dark and cloudy day! I have felt it hard work to do so lately. Many a +time have I longed to be where the weary are at rest. + +'Well, we must labour and wait a little longer; it may be that the clouds +will break, and surround us with sunshine. Anyway, God lives above the +clouds, and He will direct our path.' + +The General and Mrs. Booth were holding Salvation services in London when +our Army Mother was called to make a fresh sacrifice, never dreaming of +the wonderful results that would spring from it. You shall read about it +in her own words, spoken many years afterwards:-- + +'I remember well,' she says, 'when The General decided at last to give up +the evangelistic life and to devote himself to the Salvation of the +East-Enders. He had come home from a Meeting one night, tired out, as +usual. It was between eleven and twelve o'clock. Flinging himself into +an easy chair, he said to me, "O Kate, as I passed by the doors of the +flaming gin-palaces to-night I seemed to hear a voice sounding in my ears, +'Where can you go and find such heathen as these, and where is there so +great a need for your labours?' And I felt as though I ought at every +cost to stop and preach to these East-End crowds." + +'I remember the emotion that this produced in my soul. I sat gazing into +the fire, and the Devil whispered to me, "This means another new +departure--another start in life." + +'The question of our support I saw at once to be a serious difficulty. +Hitherto we had been able to meet our expenses by the collections which +we had made from our respectable audiences. But it was impossible to +suppose that we could do so among the poverty-stricken East-Enders. We +did not then see things as we do to-day. We were afraid even to ask for a +collection among the East London crowds. + +'Nevertheless, I did not answer discouragingly. After a moment's pause +for thought and prayer, I answered, "Well, if you feel you ought to stay, +stay. We have trusted the Lord once for our support, and we can trust Him +again."' + +Mrs. Booth, when she answered like this, had no idea of all that was to +follow. She never dreamt that, from The General's standing alone in +Whitechapel, a mighty wave of Salvation would sweep over the earth, nor +that God was about to raise up an Army of which she and The General were +to be the leaders. + +But, as always before, she willingly agreed to whatever would be for +God's glory and the Salvation of souls; and we all know to-day how, from +that little Whitechapel beginning, grew the Christian Mission, and how, +at last, the Christian Mission became The Salvation Army. + +Do not think, however, that our dear Army Mother's consecration stopped +here! No, indeed. One by one, as they became old enough, she gave up her +children to the Work, and we shall never know all we owe as an Army to +her beautiful spirit of devotion and sacrifice. + +Let us stand together by her open grave in the autumn twilight. Her +twenty-six years of fight and toil in The Salvation Army are over now, +her spirit has been summoned Home. Listen. The Army Founder himself is +the speaker. He is recalling the forty years which he and our dear Army +Mother had trod together, and his words sum up better than any other +words could do what she was to our Leader:-- + +'If you had had a tree,' he said, speaking to the vast crowd that stood +round the grave, 'that had grown up in your garden, under your window, +which for forty years had been your shadow from the burning sun, whose +flowers had been the adornment and beauty of your life, whose fruit had +been almost the stay of your existence, and the gardener had come along +and swung his glittering axe and cut it down before your eyes, I think +you would feel as though you had a blank--it might not be a big one--but +a little blank in your life. + +'If you had had a servant who for all this long time had served you +without fee or reward, who had administered, for very love, to your +health and comfort, and who suddenly passed away, you would miss that +servant. + +'If you had had a counsellor who, in hours--continually occurring--of +perplexity and amazement, had ever advised you, and seldom advised wrong; +whose advice you had followed, and seldom had reason to regret it; and +the counsellor, while you were in the same intricate mazes of your +existence, had passed away, you would miss that counsellor. + +'If you had had a friend who had understood your very nature, the rise +and fall of your feelings, the bent of your thoughts, and the purpose of +your existence; a friend whose communion had ever been pleasant--the +most pleasant of all other friends--to whom you had ever turned with +satisfaction, and your friend had been taken away, you would feel some +sorrow at the loss. + +'If you had had a mother for your children who had cradled and nursed and +trained them for the service of the living God, in which you most +delighted--a mother, indeed, who had never ceased to bear their sorrows +on her heart, and who had been ever willing to pour forth that heart's +blood in order to nourish them, and that darling mother had been taken +from your side, you would feel it a sorrow. + +'If you had had a wife, a sweet love of a wife, who for forty years had +never given you real cause for grief; a wife who had stood with you, side +by side, in the battle's front, who had been a comrade to you, ever +willing to interpose herself between you and the enemy, and ever the +strongest when the battle was fiercest, and your beloved one had fallen +before your eyes, I am sure there would be some excuse for your sorrow. + +'Well, my comrades, you can roll all these qualities into one +personality, and what would be lost in all I have lost in one. There has +been taken away from me the light of my eyes, the inspiration of my soul, +and we are about to lay all that remains of her in the grave. I have been +looking right at the bottom of it here, and calculating how soon they may +bring and lay me alongside of her, and my cry to God has been that every +remaining hour of my life may make me readier to come and join her in +death, to go and embrace her in life in the Eternal City.' + + + + +V + +THE SPEAKER + + + +'I will never speak to sinners so that one man or woman in my audience +can stand up and say, "You might have warned me more faithfully, spoken +more plainly than you did." I would rather die than that should be the +case.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +No one must think that Mrs. Booth became a great speaker all in a moment, +or by any 'royal road.' She started when about eighteen, as many a Corps +Cadet has since done, by just taking a class or Company on Sundays, never +dreaming of doing more. An elder girls' Company was given to her; and she +had fifteen girls to teach, whose ages varied from twelve to nineteen. + +Two half-days she spent every week in preparing for her Company, and in +trying to make each lesson end in a practical way, so as to do them real +good. + +Then on Sunday, when the rest of the children had been dismissed, Miss +Mumford would beg to be given the key of the room and would remain +behind, holding a little Prayer Meeting with her girls. Sometimes they +would stay on for an hour and a half, and many by this means became truly +converted. + +Often with so much praying and singing Catherine quite lost her voice +before the end of the Meeting; but, so long as souls were saved, she did +not mind that. + +Soon after her marriage Mrs. Booth took another class of this same kind, +and also a little sort of Sergeants' Meeting, and then--for you see our +Army Mother was led on, just as you or I may be, step by step--she gave +a short talk to the Band of Hope children (something like our Band of +Love of today) on the evils of drink. + +'Oh, how I wish,' she wrote to her father, 'that I had started speaking +years ago!' + +A little later on Mr. and Mrs. Booth moved to Gateshead, and there the +people were very much surprised to hear their minister's wife pray aloud +when her husband had done speaking; for in those days very few women +thought of praying, much less of speaking, in public. + +'Since you can pray so beautifully, will you come and talk to us on our +special Prayer-Meeting night?' some of the people asked. But Mrs. Booth +was horrified. + +'Of course, I said "No,"' she wrote. 'I don't know what they can be +thinking of.' + +Just at this time an argument began in one of the newspapers as to +whether women had the right to speak for God or not. Mrs. Booth wrote an +answer to this question you can read it for yourself in her book, +'Practical Religion'--and she showed from God's Word, that women have the +same right to help to get people saved that the men have. The little +pamphlet was already printed and being widely read, and our Army Mother +lay alone in her room very ill, when the thought flashed into her soul, +'You have been helping other women to preach and to speak for God. What +about yourself?' + +'Oh, no, Lord, not me; I can't. I am, as Thou knowest, the most timid and +bashful disciple ever saved by grace.' That was her answer. + +Then the Lord took her back to the days when she first gave herself to +Him, at the age of fifteen. He showed her that all the way along this one +thing had hindered and stopped her from 'being the blessing or from +getting the blessing He intended.' + +'Lord,' she cried, 'if Thou wilt come back to me as in the old days, I +will obey, though I die in the attempt.' + +But at the moment God seemed not to answer her cry, and when she was well +again all went on as before. + +Three months later Mrs. Booth was quietly sitting one Sunday morning in +chapel with her eldest boy, when a very wonderful thing happened. You +shall read about it in her own words:-- + +'I felt much depressed in mind,' she says, 'and was not expecting +anything particular, but as the testimonies proceeded I felt the Holy +Spirit come upon me. It seemed as if a voice said to me: "Now, if you +were to go and testify, you know I would bless it to your own soul as +well as to the people!" I gasped again, and said in my heart: "Yes, Lord, +I believe Thou wouldst, but I cannot do it!" I had forgotten my vow. + +'A moment afterwards there flashed across my mind the memory of the time +when I had promised the Lord that I would obey Him at all costs. And then +the voice seemed to ask me if this was consistent with that promise. I +almost jumped up and said, "No, Lord, it is the old thing over again. But +I cannot do it!" I felt as though I would sooner die than speak. And then +the Devil said, "Besides, you are not prepared. You will look like a +fool, and will have nothing to say." He made a mistake. He overreached +himself for once. It was this word that settled it. "Ah!" I said, "this +is just the point. I have never yet been willing to be a fool for Christ. +Now I will be one!" + +'Without stopping another moment, I rose up from my seat and walked down +the aisle. My dear husband thought something had happened to me, and so +did the people. We had been there two years, and they knew my timid, +bashful nature. He stepped down, and asked me, "What is the matter, my +dear?" I replied, "I want to say a word!" He was so taken by surprise +that he could only say, "My dear wife wishes to speak!" and sat down. For +years he had been trying to persuade me to do it. Only that very week he +had wanted me to go and address a little Cottage Meeting of some twenty +working people, but I had refused. + +'I stood--God only knows how--and if any mortal ever did hang on the arm +of Omnipotence, I did. I just stood and told the people how it had come +about. I confessed, as I think everybody should who has been in the wrong +and has misrepresented the religion of Jesus Christ. I said, "I dare say +many of you have been looking upon me as a very devoted woman, and one +who has been living faithfully to God. But I have come to realize that I +have been disobeying Him, and thus brought darkness and leanness into my +soul. I have promised the Lord to do so no longer, and have come to tell +you that henceforth I will be obedient to the holy vision." + +'There was more weeping, they said, in the chapel that day than on any +previous occasion. Many dated a renewal in righteousness from that very +moment, and began a life of devotion and consecration to God. + +'Now I might have "talked good" to them till now. That honest confession +did what twenty years of preaching could not have accomplished.' + +After this wonderful victory Mrs. Booth never again drew back. The same +night she spoke once more, with even greater power than in the morning, +and before long invitations came pouring in from all parts, for wherever +she went souls were saved and people sanctified. + +But it cost her a great deal to preach like this. She writes of one +Meeting held soon after:-- + +'I got on very well, and had three beautiful cases, but I cannot tell you +how I felt all day about it. I could neither eat nor sleep. I never was +in such a state, and when I saw the people, I felt like melting away. +However, I got through.' + +Even to the last, when she was known all round the world as one of the +greatest women-preachers of the day, she never spoke without feeling +deeply the responsibility and importance of her work, nor without having +prepared carefully beforehand what she wanted to say. + +It was very difficult for her, with four little children, the eldest only +four years and three months old, to get enough time and quiet. We should +have said it was impossible, for she was not well off, and could not +afford to put her sewing out, or to have many servants to work for her; +but she says:-- + +'God forced me to begin to think and work, and He gave me grace and +strength to do it. Many a time while I was nursing my baby I was thinking +of what I should say next Sunday, and between times I noted down with a +pencil the thoughts as they struck me. Then I would appear with an +outline scratched in pencil, trusting in the Lord to give me the power of +His Holy Spirit; and from the day I began He has never allowed me to open +my mouth without giving me signs of His presence and blessing.' + +The two books she always used in getting ready for her Meetings were her +Bible and Concordance. + +In later years she taught her children how to prepare for their Meetings, +and some of the advice she gives is very helpful to Corps Cadets. + +'"Jesus wept,"' she writes to her eldest girl, who was then fourteen, +'would be a nice subject for you at one of your little Meetings. And you +could find some texts to show how David wept, and Daniel, and Jeremiah, +etc., if you like it. But don't take it because _I_ say so--you must +ask the Lord for your subjects.' + +Later on, however, as The Salvation Army grew, Mrs. Booth felt that, +though it was just as necessary to prepare, yet to speak from notes was +often not helpful to either the Officer or the people, so she writes to +one of her sons:-- + +'Get out of them! They don't fit our work. When you get on, you don't +want them; and when you don't, they are no good. At first, if your memory +won't serve you, just jot on a small bit of paper the size of a ticket +your main divisions in large writing, but no more. Like this:-- + + 'Day of wrath is come. + '1. God's wrath. + '2. Just wrath. + '3. Uttermost wrath. + '4. Eternal wrath.' + +On the platform Mrs. Booth's manner was as simple and natural as when by +her own fireside; anything 'put on' or affected she hated. + +'If I were asked,' she says, 'to put into one word what I consider to be +the greatest hindrance to the success of Divine truth, even when spoken +by sincere and real people, I should say _stiffness_. Simplicity is +indispensable to success, _naturalness_ in putting the truth. It +seems as if people, the moment they come to religion, put on a different +tone, a different look and manner--in short, become unnatural.' + +But Mrs. Booth not only prepared for her Meetings by thought and study, +but she prepared most of all by prayer. + +'Oh, if we could,' she writes, 'get more of the spirit of prayer into +those who love God! Few understand it at all. + +'I always find an exact proportion in the results to the spirit of +intercession I have had beforehand. That is why I like to be alone in +lodgings.' + +Before her Meeting she would wrestle and plead with God for hours, in +tears and agony, and then would face her congregation overflowing with +love and faith. + +'Pray for me,' she writes during her marvellous Portsmouth campaign. 'No +one knows how I feel. I think I never realized my responsibility as I did +on Sunday night. I felt really awful before rising to speak. The sight +almost overwhelmed me. With its two galleries, its dome-like roof and +vast proportions, when crammed with people, the building presents a most +imposing appearance. The top gallery is ten or twelve seats deep in +front, and it was full of men. Such a sight as I have never seen on any +previous occasion. Oh, how I _yearned_ over them! I felt as if it +would be a small thing to die _there and then_, if that would have +brought them to Jesus.' + +Nothing short of men and women getting converted satisfied her. + +'They say,' she writes of another campaign, 'the sinners here will +"_bide some bringing down_." Well, the Lord can do it. They tell me, +too, that I am immensely popular with the people. But _that_ is no +comfort unless they will be saved.' + +She laboured to get the truth home to the hearts of her listeners, and +that is why her talking was so blessed. + +'God made you responsible,' she said, 'not for delivering the truth, but +for GETTING IT IN--getting it home, fixing it in the conscience as a +red-hot iron, as a bolt, straight from His throne; and He has given you +also the _power to do it_; and if you do not do it, _blood_ will be +on your skirts. Oh, this genteel way of putting the truth! How God hates +it! "If you please, dear friends, will you listen? If you please, will +you be converted? Will you come to Jesus? Shall we read just this, that, +and the other?" No more like apostolic preaching than darkness is like +light.' + +How can I show you some of the marvellous results of her preaching? In +every part of our land her influence and words made themselves felt; the +largest buildings were crowded with all classes of society, and glorious +cases of conversion and sanctification crowned her labours everywhere. A +lady who was at some of her women's Meetings at Lye, near Birmingham, +tells us:-- + +'The women left their work, and in all sorts of odd costumes flocked to +the Meetings, some with bonnets, some with shawls fastened over their +head, others with little children clinging to their necks. All, with +eager, inquiring faces, took their seats and listened to the gracious +words which fell from the lips of dear Mrs. Booth. And when the +invitation was given, what a scene ensued! It baffles all description. +Crowding, weeping, rushing to the penitent-form came convicted sinners +and repentant backsliders. When the form was filled the penitents dropped +upon their knees in the aisles or in their seats, so that it was +difficult to move about.' + +When holding some Meetings in a Rotherhithe chapel (for The Army was only +just beginning its work, and our Army Mother took Meetings in different +churches and chapels up and down the land), the victories were just as +glorious, and one of her Converts says:-- + +'There were many remarkable cases of conversion at these Meetings. +Amongst others there were the two daughters of a publican. When one +sister was saved the other went to hear Mrs. Booth on purpose to ridicule +the services. But she was seized with such an agonizing realization of +her sins that she came down from the top of the gallery to the +penitent-form, crying out aloud, "I must come! I must come!" Soon after +their father gave up the public-house, and they afterwards became members +of Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle. + +'I have seen as many as thirty persons seeking Salvation in a single +Meeting, and some years afterwards, when I looked at the register of our +chapel, I found about one hundred names of those who had professed to be +converted at this time.' + +Our Army Mother, too, was equally straight and fearless with the rich +when, later on, they also came in crowds to hear her. She had but one +message and one gospel for all alike. She says, 'By God's help I will not +regard the person of man, but will plainly and fearlessly declare the +truth, come what may.' God honoured this spirit, and her Meetings in the +West-End of London, where the great and rich live, were some of the most +glorious of her life. Of one such she writes:-- + +'The Lord has very graciously stood by me, and given me much precious +fruit. Last Sunday we had the Hall crowded, and a large proportion of +gentlemen. The Lord was there in power, and twenty-one came forward--some +for Salvation and some for purity. Several were most blessed cases of +full surrender. We did not get away till nearly six, and we began at +three. Everybody is amazed at this for the West-End! The audience is very +select, we never having published a bill. Pray much, dear friend, that +God may do a deep and permanent work in this Babylon. It seems as though +He gave me words of fire for them, and they sat spellbound.' + +You say you wish you had heard her speak? Indeed, we all wish you had: +you could never have forgotten it. But several of her addresses were +taken down in shorthand at the time, and are reprinted in her books, so +you can get and read them; and they will bless and teach you as they have +taught thousands before you. + + + + +VI + +THE MOTHER + + + +'A lady once said to me, "How have you managed to get your children +converted so early?" "Oh," I said, "I have been beforehand with the +Devil."'--MRS. BOOTH. + +I have already told you how Mrs. Booth had the true mother spirit when +but a little child, loving and tending her dolls as if they had been real +babies; you will, therefore, guess that with her own children she was the +best and most careful of mothers. She began early to train them in the +right way, and never left them unless forced to do so. + +'I cannot part with Willie,' she writes to her mother, who offered to +free Mrs. Booth by taking charge of the baby for her; 'first, because I +know the child's affections could not but be weaned from us; and +secondly, because the next year will be the most important of his life +with reference to managing his will; and in this I cannot but distrust +you. I know, my darling mother, you could not wage war with his self-will +so resolutely as to subdue it. And then my child would be ruined, for he +must be taught implicit, uncompromising obedience.' + +But long before writing this she had already claimed her boy for God and +His war. 'I had from the first,' she says, 'definite longings over +Bramwell, and lifted him up to God as soon as I had strength to do so, +especially desiring he should be a teacher of Holiness.' These prayers +began to be answered very early. The boy had a truthful and conscientious +nature. Never, his mother says, does she remember his telling her a lie. +But, for all that, he needed, as do all children, training and teaching, +and Mrs. Booth was too wise not to be firm. She writes therefore: + +'I believe he will be a thoroughly noble lad, if I can preserve him from +all evil influence. The Lord help me! I have had to whip him twice lately +severely for disobedience, and it has cost me some tears. But it has done +him good, and I am reaping the reward already of my self-sacrifice. The +Lord help me to be faithful and firm as a rock in the path of duty +towards my children!' + +We know how practical our Army Mother always was; sentimental pity +without help she despised. When her little son, therefore, saw and pitied +a small boy with shoeless feet, his mother quickly reminded him of his +little money-box. + +'Would you rather keep the money for barley-sugar, Willie, or give it to +the poor boy?' she asked. 'Give it to the boy,' he said at once, and so +learnt his first lesson in self-denial. + +When the boy was seven years old he was converted, to his mother's +deepest joy. Some time before she had talked to him in a Meeting, and +urged him to get saved. The boy sat still and said nothing. 'Willie, I +insist,' said his mother at last. 'You must answer me. Will you give your +heart to God or not? Yes or no?' + +Willie looked up in her face steadily and answered back 'No.' + +Mrs. Booth said no more just then, but held on in faith and prayer, and +some months later, to her unutterable thankfulness, she found him +squeezed in among a number of other children at the penitent-form. He +had, unasked, made his way there, and was weeping and confessing his sins +with all his heart. + +Needless to say, he was faithfully dealt with, and the boy, now our +beloved General, dates his conversion from that moment. A little later +Mrs. Booth wrote of him:-- + +'Willie has begun to serve God, of course as a child, but still, I trust, +taught of the Spirit. I feel a great increase of responsibility with +respect to him. Oh! to cherish the tender plant of grace aright. Lord +help!' + +And as with the eldest so with the other seven. One by one they gave +their hearts to the Lord as soon as they grew old enough to do so. + +'She used to gather us round her,' says one of her daughters,' and pray +with us. I wore then a low frock, and her hot tears would often drop upon +my neck, sending a thrill through me which I can never forget.' + +She would pray again and again that she might lay them in their graves +rather than she should see them grow up wicked. + +Mrs. Booth was very particular about the way in which her children were +dressed. + +Of course, there was no uniform in those days, but The Army spirit was +already in The Army Mother, and she would not have any finery or show, +either for herself or her children. + +'Accept,' she writes to her mother, 'my warm thanks for the little frock +you sent. There is only one difficulty--it is too smart. We must set an +example in this direction. I feel no temptation now to decorate myself, +but I cannot say the same about the children; and yet, Oh, I see I must +be decided. Besides, I find it would be dangerous for their own sakes. +The seed of vanity is too deeply sown in their young hearts for me to +dare to cultivate it.' + +Even in her early days Mrs. Booth felt how wrong it was to spend time and +money over dress:-- + +'I remember feeling condemned,' she says, 'when quite a child, not more +than eight years old, at having to wear a lace tippet such as was +fashionable in those days. From a worldly point of view it would have +been considered, no doubt, very neat and consistent. But on several +occasions I had good crying fits over it. Not only did I instinctively +feel it to be immodest, because people could see through it, but I +thought it was not such as a Christian child should wear.' + +In everything to do with her home Mrs. Booth was a most practical and +careful mother. She hated waste and luxury, but her children were always +properly dressed and fed and cared for, and never lacked what was +necessary for them. + +Ladies who had been blessed by her words came to consult her about their +souls, and to their surprise found the great preacher, not shut away in +her study, but hard at work perhaps ironing the baby's pinafores, or +cutting out a pair of trousers for one of her boys! 'I must try,' she +said, when she began to live this two-fold life, 'to do all in the +kitchen as well as in the pulpit to the glory of God. The Lord help me.' +He did help her, and it was this practical mother-spirit at home which +gave her so much force and power on the platform. + +As the children grew older, they were more away from her side, and her +letters to them are suitable, not only to her actual sons and daughters, +but to her spiritual grandchildren who will read this little book. +Therefore I am going to give you some extracts, which you may take as +though written by our Army Mother straight to your own heart. + +To one of her boys at school she wrote:-- + +'I do hope you are industrious, and do not lose time in play and +inattention. Remember Satan steals his marches on us by _littles_--a +minute now, and a minute then. Be on the look out, and don't be cheated +by him! + +'All your little trials will soon be over, so far as school life is +concerned; and every one of them, if borne with patience, will make you a +wiser and better man. Never forget my advice about not listening to +_secrets_! Don't hear anything that needs to be whispered--it is +sure to be bad. Choose the boys to be your companions who most love and +fear God, and pray together when you can, and help each other.' + +Here is a very beautiful letter written when one of her children desired +to go in for some higher education, which Mrs. Booth feared might spoil +the soul life:-- + +'I do so want you and all my children to live supremely for God. I do so +deeply deplore my own failure compared with what my life might have been, +and I feel as if I could die to save you from making a mistake. Perhaps +you say, "You don't want me, then, to learn any more?" Yes, I do, a great +deal more; but of the right kind, in the right way, and for a right +purpose, even the _highest good of your race_. I would like you to +learn to put your thoughts together well, to think logically and clearly, +to speak powerfully--that is, with good but simple language--and to write +clearly and well.' + +Just the wish we have now for all our Young People! + +Early in their childhood the elder children were taught to be responsible +for the younger, and when at school they were given places of trust as +monitors, and so on. As if knowing the responsibilities they would by and +by be called to fill in our ranks, Mrs. Booth gives them some wise +counsel:-- + +'I hope,' she says to one who has been left in charge of the other +children, 'you will show yourself to be a true son of your mother, and a +consistent disciple of the Lord. Very much depends on you as to the ease +and comfort of managing the little ones. Do all you can. Be forbearing +where only your own feelings or comfort are concerned, and don't raise +unnecessary difficulties; but where their obedience to us or their health +is at stake, be firm in trying to put them right.' + +'I am pleased,' she says to one of the boys who has been in charge of +others at school, 'that Mr. W. puts such confidence in you; but do not be +puffed up by it. Remember how weak you are, and ask the Lord to save you +from conceit and self-sufficiency. Try to be fair and just in all +dealings with the boys--i.e., do not be hard on a boy whom you may not +happen to like so well as another; but be fair, and treat all alike when +left in charge.' + +Again, she warns one of them against extremes, even in well doing: + +'You are under a mistake to suppose that sacrificing your recreation-time +will help you in the end. It will not. Cramming the mind acts just in the +same way as cramming the stomach. It is what you digest well that +benefits you, not what you cram in. So many hours spent in study, and +then relaxation and walking, will do your mind much more good than "all +work, and no play." Now mark this. Do not be looking so much at what you +_have_ to do as to what you are _doing_. Leave the future (you +may spend it in Heaven), and go steadily on doing to-day's work in +to-day's hours, with recreation in between to shake the seed in. One +step well and firmly taken is better than two with a slip backwards. +Poor human nature seems as though it must go to extremes--either all or +none, too much or too little, idleness or being killed with work! May +the Lord show you the happy medium.' + +'I was sorry about the cause of the accident. I don't like that way of +doing things in fun! Though it was very wrong and wicked of the boy to +throw the brick, yet it would have been better to let him look at the +guinea-pigs being fed, and thus have pleased him. There was no harm in +what he wanted to do. You should watch against a hectoring spirit, and +mind the difference between a sacrifice of truth and principle, and one +only of self-importance or of mere feeling. If a boy wants you to do +wrong, then be firm as a rock and brave for God and goodness.' + +'Mind your soul,' she says at another time. 'Do not let your thoughts get +so absorbed, even in study, as to lead you to forget your Bible and to +neglect prayer.' + +Later, again, as a wise mother she warns them in the tenderest way +against their special temptations. + +Against lightness:-- + +'Be watchful against levity. C. is a good, devoted fellow, but naturally +an incorrigible joker. It may not hurt him much, because it is his +nature; but it will hurt you if you give way to it. It hurts nearly +everybody. + +Watch! Don't descend to buffoonery. While you become all things to win +some, don't forfeit your natural self-respect and the dignity of your +position as a servant of Christ.' + +Against too much talk:-- + +'The Spirit is teaching you this--is showing you that you must be more +silent. The tongue is one of the greatest enemies to grace (James iii. +5-13). Strive to obey these teachings of God. Yield yourself up to obey; +and though you sometimes fail and slip, do not be discouraged, but yield +yourself up again and again, and plead more fervently with God to keep +you. Fourteen years ago you were learning to walk, and in the process you +got many a tumble. But now you can not only walk yourself, but teach +others. So, spiritually, if you will only let God lead you, He will +perfect that which is lacking in you.' + +But it was not at first easy for the mother-spirit in Mrs. Booth to allow +her delicate girls of fourteen or fifteen to undertake a public life, and +to speak and sing at the street corners, surrounded by a rough, low +crowd. Such a thing was unheard-of in those days. + +Once, hearing that her daughter Catherine had spoken in the open air to a +large crowd, Mrs. Booth objected, as other mothers have since objected: +the girl was too young as yet--she must wait awhile. + +But her eldest son, looking at his mother in the tenderest and most +solemn way, said, 'Mamma, dear, you will have to settle this question +with God; for Katie is as surely called and inspired by Him for the +particular work as you are yourself.' + +Mrs. Booth said no more. She took this as the voice of God, and gave her +girl up to the marvellous work which God had called her to do. + +Later she writes of her to a friend:-- + +'Join me in praying that she may be kept humble and simple, and that all +that the Lord has given her may be used for Him.' + +'I see,' she says, writing at this same time to her daughter, 'what a +glorious, blessed, useful life you may live; but I also see your danger, +and I pray for you that you may be enabled to cast aside the world in +every form, to look down upon its opinions, and to despise its spirit, +maxims, and fashions.' + +Later on, again, came the days when the boys had to choose, as you have +to do, how they would spend their lives. Mrs. Booth might be writing to a +Corps Cadet of to-day when, in a letter to one of her sons, she says:-- + +'I hope the Lord will make you so miserable everywhere and at everything +else that you will be _compelled_ to preach! Oh, my boy, the Lord +wants such as you--_just such_--to go out amongst the people, +seeking nothing but the things that are Jesus Christ's! You are free to +do it; able by His grace; born to do it, with splendid opportunities. +Will you not rise to your destiny? "Have courage, and be strong, and I +(the I Am) will be with thee." "Get thee out, and I will go with thee." +Dare you not take hold of the arm that holds the world and all things up? +And if you do, can you fail? The Lord gird you with His strength, and +make your brow brass, and your tongue as a flame of fire. You _must +preach_!' + +To another of her boys she writes:-- + +'You may, perhaps, be wanted to stand and do battle for the Lord. Surely +you will not sell your birthright? The Lord help you! Take hold of +David's God. Hold your head up, keep your shoulders back, and go +forward.' + +Again:-- + +'This is what the world wants: men of one idea--that of getting people +saved. There are plenty of men of one idea--that of _gold_-getting. +They make no secret of it; they are of a worldly spirit. Now we want men +who are set on soul-saving, who are not ashamed to let everybody know +it--men of a Christ-like spirit. There need be no mistake or mystery about +it. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Paul and every other man of +like spirit has had his fruits, and will have to the end of time. It is +"Not by might, nor by power, but by _My Spirit_, saith the Lord of +Hosts."' + +With one of her daughters she reasons and pleads:-- + +'Oh, it seems to me that if I were in your place--young, no cares or +anxieties, with such a start, such influence, and such a prospect--I +should not be able to contain myself for joy! I should, indeed, aspire to +be the "bride of the Lamb," and to follow Him in conflict for the +Salvation of poor, lost, miserable man. I pray the Lord to show it to +you, and so to enamour you of Himself, that you may see and feel it to be +your chief joy to win them for Him. I say I pray for this--yes, I groan +for it, with groanings that cannot be uttered; and if ever you tell me it +is so, I shall be overjoyed. + +'I don't want you to make any vows (unless, indeed, the Spirit leads you +to do so); but I want you to set your mind and heart on winning souls, +and to leave everything else with the Lord. When you do this you will be +happy--Oh, so happy! Your soul will then find perfect rest. The Lord +grant it to you, my dear child.' + +She made all her children feel that the only reward they could give her +for her ceaseless toil and labour on their behalf was that they should +give themselves to the War:-- + +'I hope, my dear boy, that, whatever sense of obligation or gratitude you +have towards me, you will try to return it by resolutely resisting all +temptation to evil, and by fitting yourself to your utmost to be useful +to your fellow-men. I ask from you, as I asked from God, no other reward. +If I know my own heart, I would rather that you should work for the +Salvation of souls, making bad hearts good, and miserable homes happy, +and preparing joy and gladness for men at the Judgment bar, if you only +get bread and cheese all your life, than that you should fill any other +capacity with L10,000 per year.' + +To one of her children, when tempted to be over-anxious, she writes:-- + +'Keep your mind quiet. Lean back on God, and don't worry. It is His +affair, and if you have done what you could, that is enough. Alas! how +little we have of the faith that can "stand still, and see the Salvation +of God." What would you do if you were put in custody for two years, like +Paul was? And yet that imprisonment at Rome sent the Gospel far and wide! +God's ways are not our ways. He takes in the whole field at once, and +does the best He can for the entire world. Human wisdom never has been +able at the time to comprehend His plans, but years after it has often +seen their wisdom. Let us learn to trust in the dark--to stand still.' + +To another, tried and discouraged at the start of his public life:-- + +'I have only a minute or two; but, lest you should think I don't +sympathize with you, I send you a line. You ask, did I ever feel so? Yes, +I think just as bad as any mortal _could_ feel--_empty_, inside +and out, as though I had nothing human or Divine to aid me, as if all +Hell were let loose upon me. + +But I have generally felt _the worse before the best results_, which +proves it was Satanic opposition. And it has been the same with many of +God's most honoured instruments. I believe nearly all who are truly +called of God to special usefulness pass through this buffeting. + +'It stands to sense, if there is a Devil, that he should desperately +withstand those whom he sees are going to be used of God. Supposing +_you_ were the Devil, and had set your heart on circumventing God, +how would you do it but by opposing those who were bent on building up +His Kingdom? He hopes to drive us from the field by blood and fire and +vapour of smoke. But our Captain fought and won the battle for us, and we +have only to hold on long enough, and victory is sure. "Courage!" your +Captain cries. "Only be thou strong, and of good courage, and I will be +with thee, and teach thee what to say." + +'"He hath chosen the weak things." He has not _made shift with +them_--taken them because there were no others. No! He hath +_chosen_ them. Will He ever forsake them, and thus make Himself a +laughing-stock for Hell? Never! Will He ever let the Devil say, "Ah, ah! +He chose this weak one, and then let him fail"? No, no, no!' + +On the important question of courtship, she writes:-- + +'The Devil sets such innocent-looking traps--_spiritual traps_--to +catch young people! Ah, he is a serpent still! Beware of his devices, and +always cry to God for wisdom and strength of will to put down all foolish +tampering. You are born for greater things. God may want you to be a +leader in some vast continent, and you will want a companion and a +counsellor--a "helpmeet." The original word means "_a help +corresponding to his dignity_" This is the meaning given by the best +expositors. Oh, what wisdom there is even in the _words_ which God +has chosen to express His ideas! "Corresponding to his dignity!" Yes, and +no man ever takes one below this mark who does not suffer for it; and, +worse still, generations yet unborn have to suffer also. Mind what God +says, and keep yourself till that one comes. + +'A wrong step on this point, and you are undone. Oh, the misery of an +unsuitable match! It is beyond description. I could tell you tales of woe +that are now being enacted. But I must wait till we meet. + +'I have seen too much of life, and know too much of human nature, to have +much confidence in promises given under such circumstances. For my own +part, I made up my mind when I was but sixteen that I would not have a +man, though a Christian, who should offer to become even an abstainer for +my sake. I felt that such a promise would not afford me ground for +confidence afterwards. And do not we see enough all round us to show that +unless people adopt things on principle, because they see it to be right, +they soon change? Look at the folks who promise to give up tobacco and +dress, for the sake of getting into berths; how soon it evaporates! No, +my lad, wait a bit. "Couldst thou not watch with Me one hour?" Jesus +lived a single life for your sake all the way through. Can you not live +so till He finds you one after His own heart? I feel sure He will. Pray +about it in faith. I am doing so; and God will answer. But Oh, don't run +before Him! Wait on the Lord. + +'A little longer and you will be saying, "Oh, how glad I am I waited! I +have now found a treasure indeed!" When God's time and person are come, +He will bring you together. How delighted and satisfied Isaac must have +felt when the servant told him the way God led him (Genesis xxiv.).' + +When standing by her grave The General said she was _The Army +Mother_. He said the truth. + +One of her early promises, given to her as a girl, when she only saw its +greatness and hid it away in her heart as too sacred to be spoken of, and +almost too wonderful ever to be accomplished, were the words: 'I will +make thee a mother of nations.' + +When called to send her children abroad, she paid to the full the heavy +price; but she also saw the glorious outcome, and from her death-bed sent +tenderest messages to those of distant lands and far-off nations who +owned her as their Army Mother. + + + + +VII + +THE WORKER + + + +'What the Lord wants is, that you shall go about the business to which He +sets you, not asking for an easy post, nor grumbling at a hard +one.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +If she had not been a worker, our Army Mother would have done little with +her life. The wonderful call which came to her, her great gifts, the zeal +and love which filled her heart, would all have been useless had she not +been willing to work, and to work hard, and to work every day. + +Stop and think about this. No life accomplishes anything unless it is +full of hard work--often work accompanied by much drudgery, whether it is +the life of a king or of a poor man. Mrs. Booth has set us all an example +in this, for she would work ceaselessly with head or hands or heart, as +long as ever her health allowed her to do so. Laziness and idleness of +all kinds she detested; nor could she tolerate a lazy person in her +service. + +She worked first of all in her home. When she spent a morning in her +kitchen, the work there was perfectly done. The dinner was ready at the +right time, properly cooked, good and wholesome. She allowed no waste and +no extravagance. Her bread was light and beautifully baked, and when she +had finished her morning's work her kitchen was as neat as when she +began. She finished everything, and put it straight as she went along. + +It was the same with the children. She was alike nurse and doctor, +dressmaker and tailor; she made and mended, washed and ironed for her +boys and girls during their early years, and herself attended to every +smallest detail of their lives. Strangers who asked where Mrs. Booth +bought her children's things, so that they could go to the same shop, +could scarcely believe the reply: 'Mamma makes all our clothes +herself'--so beautifully were they cut and finished. + +And when the little garments were of no further service to her, she would +alter and mend them once again, and give them away. Her baby-clothes, +when the last daughter had outgrown them, were given to a member of the +Mission for his child. + +He will never forget taking the little bundle home to his wife and +turning over the tiny things. 'I had often heard Mrs. Booth preach,' he +said, 'but those baby-clothes preached a louder sermon to me and my wife +than ever her words had done. They were all darned and mended and +patched, and the work--but, there, I never saw such stitches! And as we +looked, and knew the hours of toil she must have put into them, rather +than throw them away, as many another would have done--well, I tell you I +listened to her next sermon as I had never listened before.' + +And this same diligent, tireless spirit was with her to the last. When on +her deathbed, able only to use her left hand, and propped up by pillows, +she devised a little frame on which, painfully, stitch by stitch, she +could work a last token of love for The General. + +When her hands were folded still in death, I saw those slippers. They +were beautifully embroidered, one with the words, 'He will keep the feet +of His Saints'; and the other with the sure and certain hope which lay +beyond the parting, 'Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O +Jerusalem'--a fitting and sacred service with which to close her many +years of toil and labour for others. + +But our Army Mother had another way of working in her home--that is, she +worked over others. If a girl wished to learn, Mrs. Booth would take +endless trouble in showing her the best way to wash or iron, or clean a +grate, or do whatever the work on hand might be. She instructed her +servants, explaining to them the reason for doing their duties in a +certain way, teaching them forethought and common sense, and dealing +faithfully with them over all their failures. + +'Better,' she said, in one of her addresses--and she lived it out in her +own home--'better take a girl whom you have to teach how to wash a +child's face, or to stitch a button on, if she is true and sincere, than +have one ever so clever, who will teach your children to lie and +deceive.' + +She worked, too, over the cases of need and poverty which were often at +her door. Not content, like so many, with giving a few coppers to a +beggar, or some broken food, she would inquire into the _cause_ of +the distress; and then, if the need seemed genuine, she would help, +either by getting the father work, or by having the home visited and +suitable relief given after the true condition of things had been found +out. + +And this was only a little of the homework with which her hands were ever +full. Of her ceaseless care over her children's mind and soul training I +have told you elsewhere. But of her public work perhaps the most +exhausting was that which resulted from her Meetings. For she could not +rest content with the most careful preparation beforehand, nor with +pouring out her whole soul upon the people during the forty or fifty +minutes that her address lasted. At the close of the Meeting, whenever +her health allowed it, she would labour and toil, often for two hours and +more, dealing herself with the penitents, meeting their difficulties, one +by one, and was unwilling to leave them until, as far as possible, all +had claimed and received the blessing they sought. + +The next day, too, she would follow up any special case with a long +personal letter from her own pen, or she would arrange another interview, +or in some way keep in close, actual touch with the struggling soul, +until the step of obedience had been taken, and he or she was fairly +started on the Narrow Way. + +And it was this careful, earnest, patient after-work which gave such +glorious harvests to her soul-saving campaigns. Labour and trouble were a +joy to her, if she could but help one sincere, seeking soul into the +light. + +But remember this: while she so toiled over all who came to her for +advice and guidance, she never repeated nor passed on to others their +confidences. If she had done so, people would soon have left off corning +to her; they would have said, 'We cannot trust her.' She was, as you +know, a mighty speaker; but about other people's affairs she was entirely +silent--as you must learn to be if you wish to be of any service to God +or man. + +And Mrs. Booth strove constantly to teach all who were around her to work +as she did. 'You have begun well enough--now carry it through,' she would +say again and again to her children, and whether it was a doll's frock, +or an article for 'The War Cry,' or a series of Meetings, it was always +the same. Unfinished, half-done work she detested with all her soul. 'If +a thing is worth beginning at all, then it is worth finishing,' she would +say; and this great principle followed her through her life in small +things as in great. + +This was the reason that, on her deathbed, she could say, turning to the +Chief of the Staff, 'I have no vain regrets about the past. As far as my +strength allowed, I have finished the work I had to do as I went along; +and now I leave it, all imperfect as it has been, in His hands.' + +Perhaps, by nature, you are not a worker. But what you are not by nature, +you can become by grace. God can teach you to love work. And as you work, +you will, like our dear Army Mother, learn better and better how to work; +and your life, whenever God calls you to lay it down, shall be like hers, +not unfinished, but complete. + + + + +VIII + +GOODNESS + + + +'I see more than ever that the religion which is pleasing to God consists +in doing and enduring His will, rather than in good sentiments and +feelings. The Lord help us to endure as seeing Him who is +invisible.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +When our first General stood on that October evening by the grave of his +beloved wife, and spoke to us with a breaking heart of our Army Mother, +he unfolded to us the three great qualities which made her character so +beautiful. First, and foremost, she was good; secondly, she was love; +and, thirdly, she was a Warrior. Let us, following The General's outline, +look at these three leading qualities in her life. 'First,' he said, 'she +was _good_. She was washed in the Blood of the Lamb. To the last +moment her cry was "a sinner saved by grace." She was a thorough hater of +shams, hypocrisies, and make-believes. Her goodness was of a practical +sort. "By their fruits ye shall know them" was a text she often quoted, +and one by which she was always willing to be judged.' + +It is of this 'goodness of a practical sort' that I want first to tell +you, before we consider that soul goodness which made her life so holy. + +Mrs. Booth could not imagine any goodness apart from industry. As we have +already seen, she considered it a sin to waste precious time. Any one who +was lazy she could not endure, and when one such offered for the work she +wrote of him:-- + +'I do hope you will not throw a lot of money away in trying H------, just +for want of courage to tell him at once that he will not do, because I am +sure that it will be thrown away. It is the _nature_ of the man that +is at fault, and not his _circumstances_. He is a _drone_, and +nothing, no change of place or position, can ever make him into a bee. He +never ought to have left his trade; he never _would_ have done so if +he had thought soul-saving was harder work!' + +Extravagance and waste of every kind she abhorred, and had she not been +so careful in planning and arranging, her time and money would again and +again have run short. The sewing, mending, and housekeeping needed for a +family of little children when means are scarce would have been burden +enough for most mothers. But besides this came her own letter-writing, +preparing for her Meetings, and also the hours she spent consulting and +advising The General, whose voice, 'Here, Kate,' would call her from the +nursery or kitchen to help him decide some important question. + +Again, it was impossible to talk to Mrs. Booth, even for five minutes, +without finding how true and sincere she was. To please no one would she +keep back the truth, or appear different from her real self. + +'I believe,' she writes, when quite a young woman, 'honesty to be the +best policy, and I shall act upon it. Let me have truth, if it shakes the +foundation of the earth.' + +She was sincere and faithful in every part of her nature: faithful with +her own soul and in dealing with the souls of others. Great or small, +rich or poor, she made no difference, and never held back from reproving +sin when it was needful. + +'I see more than ever,' she said, 'the need of making righteous people +true in their _inward parts_. Let us be more thorough than ever with +souls under conviction. Let us not be afraid to wound too deeply. +Thousands of professors have never been truly convinced of sin, much less +truly converted. Sin to them is _being found out_!' + +Though all through her life our Army Mother hungered and thirsted to +know God better, and to serve Him more perfectly, yet it was not till +some time after her marriage that she received the blessing of a clean +heart. + +Of the struggle and conflict which she went through, before the blessing +of Holiness became hers, she shall tell you in her own words:-- + +'I had been earnestly seeking all the week to know Jesus as an +all-sufficient Saviour dwelling in my heart, and thus cleansing it every +moment of all sin; but on Thursday and Friday I laid aside almost +everything else, and spent the chief part of the day in reading and +prayer, and trying to believe for it. On Thursday afternoon at tea-time I +was well-nigh discouraged, and felt my old visitant, irritability, and +the Devil told me I should never get it, and so I might as well give it +up at once. However, I know him of old as a liar and the father of lies, +and pressed on, cast down, yet not destroyed. + +'On Friday morning God gave me two precious passages. First, "Come unto +Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, +how sweet it sounded to my poor, weary, sin-stricken soul! I almost dared +to believe that He did give me rest from inbred sin--the rest of perfect +Holiness. But I staggered at the promise through unbelief, and therefore +failed to enter in. The second passage consisted of those thrice-blessed +words, "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, +righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." But again unbelief +hindered me, although I felt as if getting gradually nearer. + +'I struggled through the day until a little after six in the evening, +when William joined me in prayer. We had a blessed season. While he was +saying, "Lord, we open our hearts to receive Thee," that word was spoken +to my soul, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My +voice, and open unto Me, I will come in, and sup with him." I felt sure +He had long been knocking, and Oh, how I yearned to receive Him as a +perfect Saviour! But Oh, the inveterate habit of unbelief! How wonderful +that God should have borne so long with me! When we got up from our +knees, I lay on the sofa, exhausted with the excitement and effort of the +day. William said, "Don't you lay all on the altar?" I replied, "I am +sure I do!" Then he said, "And isn't the altar holy?" I replied in the +language of the Holy Ghost, "The altar is most holy, and whatsoever +toucheth it is holy." Then, said he, "Are you not holy?" I replied with +my heart full of emotion and with some faith, "Oh, I think I am!" +Immediately the word was given me to confirm my faith. "Now are ye clean +through the word which I have spoken unto you." And I took hold--true, +with a trembling hand, and not unmolested by the tempter, but I held fast +the beginning of my confidence, and it grew stronger, and from that +moment I have dared to reckon myself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto +God through Jesus Christ my Lord. + +'I did not feel much rapturous joy, but perfect peace, the sweet rest +which Jesus promised to the heavy laden. I have understood the Apostle's +meaning when he says, "We who believe do enter into rest." This is just +descriptive of my state at present. Not that I am not tempted, but I am +allowed to know the Devil when he approaches me, and I look to my +Deliverer Jesus, and He still gives me rest. Two or three very trying +things occurred on Saturday, which at another time would have excited +impatience, but I was kept by the power of God through faith unto full +Salvation. + +'And now what shall I say? "Unto Him who has washed me in His own Blood +be glory and dominion for ever and ever," and all within me says "Amen!" +Oh! I cannot describe, I have no words to set forth the sense I have of +my own utter unworthiness. Satan has met me frequently with my peculiarly +aggravated sins, and I have admitted it all. But then I have said, the +Lord has not made my sanctification to depend in any measure on my own +worthiness or unworthiness, but on the worthiness of my Saviour. He came +to seek and to save "that which was lost." "Where sin hath abounded, +grace doth much more abound"' + +How wonderfully in after years Mrs. Booth explained and led others into +this same blessing, we know. Was not, then, the long struggle and agony +on her own behalf worth it? Yes, indeed, and it will be so with you when +you get this glorious blessing in your soul. + +You will have noticed how in struggling for Holiness Mrs. Booth had to +fight unbelief. This determination to trust God fully marked her out as +strong in faith. + +She had this marvellous faith because she obeyed and struggled to throw +herself on the Lord; but faith was not _natural_ to her any more +than it is to you or me. + +Often money was short, and she hardly knew how she would be able to feed +and clothe her family: this was a sore trial of her faith. On one such +occasion she wrote to her mother:-- + +'We have not at present received as much as our travelling expenses and +house rent. I feel a good deal perplexed, and am sometimes tempted to +mistrust the Lord. But I will not allow it. Our Father knows!' + +Later on we get a sight of her own experience in one of her letters, when +she said:-- + +'I am much tried just now by perplexities of every kind; uncertainty, +from a human standpoint, hedges me in on every side. Satan says it is +useless trying to steer straight through such a labyrinth; but I am +determined to hold on to the promises, come what will. My God is the +living God. He sees me, knows me, loves me, cares for me, wants to have +me with Him in Glory, as much as He did Abraham, or Paul, or John. If +this be true, what have I to fear?' + +And again:-- + +'"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see +the Salvation of God?" This is a precious word. It has kept my soul alive +many a time when Satan has almost overthrown me. "If thou canst believe, +all things are possible to thee. Never mind whether anybody else can or +cannot. If others are too strong to let Me carry them, if thou art weak +enough to throw up all self-effort, and trust Me with thy whole weight, I +will carry thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." I know this is the way. +Hence the babes go in with the simple and the great sinners, while the +reasoners, and the strong, and the proud, and the fearful are shut out.' + +Again, to one who was cast down, and tempted to be discouraged because of +his failings, she writes:-- + +'It is well to see them, for how can we take hold of Jesus to mend what +we don't see? It is best to know ourselves, but we Salvationists are in +danger of erring on the other side. We look too much at ourselves apart +from Him who is or would be our righteousness, sanctification, and +redemption. Faith in Him as your keeper will do more in five minutes than +years of conflict without it.' + +Once, in another letter, she gives us a beautiful bit of her own soul's +experience on this subject:-- + +'I had such a view of His love and faithfulness on the journey from +Wellingborough, that I thought I would never doubt again about anything. +I had the carriage to myself, and such a precious season with the Lord, +that the time seemed to fly. As the lightning gleamed around I felt ready +to shout, "The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." Oh, how +precious it is when we see as well as believe, but yet more blessed to +believe and not see! Lord, work this determined, obstinate, blind, +unquestioning, unanswering faith in me and my beloved friend, and let us +two dare to trust Thee in the midst of our peculiar trials. As I looked +at the waving fields, and grazing sheep, the flashing sky, a Voice said +in my soul, "Of what oughtest thou to be afraid? Am I not God? Cannot I +supply thy little, tiny needs?" My heart replied, "It is enough, Lord; I +will trust Thee, forgive my unbelief."' + + + + +IX + +LOVE + + + +The truest love must ever seek the highest good of its object; sometimes +even with forgetfulness of important smaller advantages.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +The second great quality in Mrs. Booth's character, as given by the first +General, was her love. + +'She was _love_,' he says. 'Her whole soul was full of tender, deep +compassion. Oh, how she loved, how she pitied the suffering poor! How she +longed to put her arms round the sorrowful, and help them!' + +'How,' asked Mrs. Booth once, 'are we to put heart into people? Even +grace seems to fail to do so in many instances. I think it needs mothers +to do this from infancy upwards.' + +You will recollect that Mrs. Mumford fostered this 'heart' and love in +her little girl; and you will remember how keenly Katie felt, blazing up +into wrath at any story of wrong or injury, and ready to sacrifice her +life for those she loved. This spirit grew with her. She could not help +caring and struggling to help all who needed her. The General often told +her in later years that she was killing herself by carrying every one's +burdens. Then she would try to leave off for a little, but her heart was +too strong, and she could not hold it back. + +When but a child, running down the road with her hoop and stick, she saw +a drunkard being dragged off to prison by a policeman. All the people +were jeering and mocking at the poor friendless wretch. Instantly Katie's +pity and love fired up. She dashed across the street, and marched along +close by the man's side, so that he might feel that at least one little +heart cared for him, and wanted to help him. + +To the end of her life she carried this deep, tender pity wherever she +went. She loved the poor. 'With all their faults,' she said, 'they have +larger hearts than the rich'; and she loved them for it. + +Where any one had a warm heart, she could forgive and overlook many +mistakes; but with cold, narrow, 'fishy' souls, she had neither sympathy +nor patience. + +Our Army Mother's help was practical. She did not only give money or +pity, but she--so to speak--rolled up her sleeves and helped the +suffering herself. + +Every sort of suffering and need appealed to her. If an animal was +wounded or in pain, she stopped, and herself relieved it as best she +could; and to the last, if she saw a horse or any creature being +ill-treated, she would not hesitate to rush out and stop the driver, or +in some way force him to leave off his cruelty. + +She was not only kind and helpful to those she liked, but every living +thing that suffered had a claim upon her, and the greater the need the +more tender and ready was her help. + +Mrs. Booth was a people's woman, and she was never weary of scheming and +planning how to help the poor in the most practical way. + +'When I see people going wrong,' she said, when but a girl of twelve, 'I +must tell the poor things how to manage.' + +Dirt and sin, and drink and misery, could not quench this love; it was a +part of her very nature. Long, long before Slum Sisters were ever thought +of, Mrs. Booth did their work herself, just because she so loved the +poor, and longed to help them. You shall read the story in her own +words:-- + +'I remember in one case finding a poor woman lying on a heap of rags. She +had just given birth to twins, and there was nobody of any sort to wait +upon her. I can never forget the desolation of that room. By her side was +a crust of bread and a small lump of lard. "I fancied a bit o' bootter +(butter)," the woman remarked apologetically, noticing my eye fall upon +the scanty meal, "and my mon, he'd do owt for me he could, bless'm--he +couldna git me iny bootter, so he fitcht me this bit o' lard. Have +_you_ iver tried lard isted o' bootter? It's _rare good_!" said +the poor creature, making me wish I had taken lard for "bootter" all my +life, that I might have been the better able to minister to her needs. +However, I was soon busy trying to make her a little more comfortable. +The babies I washed in a broken pie-dish, the nearest approach to a tub +that I could find. And the gratitude of those large eyes, that gazed upon +me from out of that wan and shrunken face, can never fade from my +memory.' + +Before public Meetings took up so much of her time, she delighted in this +house-to-house visiting, and went especially for the drunkards, over whom +God gave her a wonderful power. + +'I used to visit in the evenings,' she says, 'because it was the only +part of the day in which I could get away; and, besides, I should not +have found the men at home at any other time. I used to ask one +drunkard's wife where another lived. They always knew. After getting hold +of eight or ten in this way, and getting them to sign the pledge, I used +to arrange Cottage Meetings for them, and try to get them saved. They +used to let me talk to them in homes where there was not a stick of +furniture, and nothing to sit down upon.' + +In this way our Army Mother sought and cared for the drunkards long +before Drunkards' Brigades were dreamt of. + +When, at a later time in her life, she first heard of the wicked and +cruel way in which young girls are trapped and drawn into sin, Mrs. +Booth's soul was filled with a whirlwind of holy indignation. + +'I feel as though I could not rest, but as though I must go and ferret +out these monsters myself,' she wrote. 'Almost everybody, notwithstanding +the indignation, seems so content with talking. Nobody appears willing to +take the responsibility of doing or risking anything. Oh, what a state +the world has got into!' + +But, deep and practical as was her love in earthly things, her passion +for lifting and leading souls into Salvation and Holiness was a thousand +times more intense. 'If we only realized, as we ought, the value of +souls, we should not live long under it,' she said; and she herself +realized it fully enough to make her fight on ceaselessly in spite of +intense weakness. 'If it were not for eternity,' she often sighed, 'I +should soon give up this life.' + +It was love for souls which made her go from town to town, care-worn, +weary, often quite unfit to meet the immense congregations which came to +hear her. + +It was love for souls which kept her sitting for hours at her +writing-table, when she should have been resting, trying to help those +who turned to her for counsel and direction from every part of the globe. + +It was love for souls which gave her many a sleepless night, and chained +her to her knees, weeping and pleading, agonizing with God on behalf of +the people she was to face the next day. + +And this love for souls grew even stronger as death came near. 'Eva,' she +exclaimed to one of her daughters, as she lay racked with agonizing pain, +'don't you forget that man with the handcuffs on. Find him. Go to +Lancaster Jail; let somebody go with you, and find that man. Tell him +that your mother, when she was dying, prayed for him, and that she had a +feeling in her heart that God would save him; and tell him, hard as the +ten years of imprisonment may be, it will be easier with Christ than it +would be without Him.' + +She was lying between earth and Heaven, thinking of the joy and peace +awaiting her, when it seemed as if she saw the dark face of a heathen +woman, and heard the cry, 'Won't you help us?' The old love for perishing +souls woke again directly, and she cried, 'Oh, yes, Lord, I will go +anywhere to help poor struggling people. I would go on an errand to Hell, +if the Lord would promise me that the Devil should not keep me there.' + +In one of these last days she sent a dying message to the Officers. 'Tell +them,' she said, 'that the only consolation for a Salvationist on his +death-bed is to have been a soul-winner. After all my labours I feel I +have come far short of the prize of my high calling. Beseech them to +redeem their time, for we can do but little at the best.' + +A little maid who was a Candidate came into Mrs. Booth's sick-room once +as she was speaking, and she called her to her bedside, giving her +warning and counsel which every Corps Cadet can take as though spoken to +herself:-- + +'You will be finished with the dishes soon,' she said, 'and you are going +to be a Cadet. I have been very pleased with you while you have been +here, because you have worked out of sight with a good will, and I think +you will make a brave Officer. You will promise me, will you?' she said, +as she laid her trembling hand on the girl's head. 'Yes,' was the reply, +'I will,' amid stifled sobs. + +'Give me a kiss, then,' said Mrs. Booth. 'Promise me that you will never +get spoiled by any unfaithful Officer. If you ever get mixed up with +such, do not hide it from Headquarters, but let them know about it, and +they will soon move the false away from you. I shan't be here; but, Oh! +may God help them to get rid of the wrong. Discernment of spirits! Oh, +why should we not have that gift back? It is very necessary.' + +Mrs. Booth's whole heart was wrapped up in the spread of The Army, and +she was never more of a warrior than when fighting its battles. And The +Army needed some one to stand up for it in those days. We who live to-day +can hardly fancy the fierce, bitter persecution the early-day +Salvationists had to fight through. + +Now, even those who dislike and despise us are forced to admit that 'The +Army does a great deal of good'; but then it was different, and again and +again, both by speech and writing, Mrs. Booth had to defend and stand up +for our methods. + +'I would not,' she says, after she had spoken too plainly for some rich +people who were offended at her words, 'sit down and listen to their +abuse of The Salvation Army for all their money. But I did not say a word +that I would object to have published upon the housetops. Such, however, +is often the spirit of the rich. They think that one must sit and hear +whatever they may choose to say, and hold one's breath, because of their +money! But, no, I will never be dumb before a golden idol!' + +She loved the Uniform: she herself planned that worn by Army women, and +always wore her own, rejoicing to be able to give to our people a way of +escape from the fashions and extravagances of the world. + +She loved the Flag, and was true to its beautiful meaning. She loved to +present Colours to the newly-opened Corps, or to parties of Officers +going abroad; and when, shortly before she passed away, she changed her +room, she begged that the dear Army Flag might be brought in and hung +above her bed. + +'There,' said The General, 'the Colours are over you now, my darling.' + +And she clasped them fondly with her left hand, and traced the +motto--'Blood and Fire.' + +'Yes,' she said, 'Blood and Fire; that is just what my life has been--a +constant and severe fight.' + +'It ought to be "Blood and Fire and Victory,"' said The General. + +'I'll fight on till I get it,' she answered. 'I won't give in. Next time +I see them I shall be above the pain and sorrow for ever.' + +But, though at the last she longed to be at rest, it was not easy for her +great mother's heart to unloose itself from those she loved, and from the +thousands in all lands who looked to her as to a mother. + +If you have learnt to love very deeply you will also have to suffer, and +her very love made the parting so difficult. + +'Oh,' she exclaimed, when speaking of leaving The General and her +children, 'mine is such a heart! it seems as if it had got roots all +round the world clutching on to one and another, and that it will not let +them go! And yet You can take care of them, Lord, better than I could. I +do, I do believe! O Eternal Father, Shepherd of the sheep, do Thou look +after my little flock!' + +'Amen,' we who read these lines may say; adding to her prayer, 'And give +us that same heart and love which made her life of such mighty power.' + + + + +X + +THE WARRIOR + + + +'Fighting is hard work, whatever sort of fighting it is. You cannot fight +without wounds of body, heart, or soul.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +'Lastly,' said The General in that same beautiful tribute to our Army +Mother that I have already quoted from,' she was a _warrior_. She +liked the fight. She was not one who said to others, "Go," but "Here, let +_me_ go"; and when there was the necessity she said, "I _will_ +go!" I never knew her flinch until her poor body compelled her to lie on +one side.' + +Our Army Mother was, indeed, before all things a warrior; she fought +bravely and unceasingly her whole life through. + +In thought and purpose she was independent, and dared to stand out for +what she felt right. Cowardice, in her opinion, was one of the commonest +and most subtle sins of the day, and she had no patience with those who +dared not say 'No,' and feared to stand alone. + +She thought for herself, and though always eager to hear and learn as +much as possible from others, yet she was not carried away by their +opinions, but carefully weighed and considered their arguments, and then +formed her own judgments. + +Mrs. Booth strove earnestly for doctrine. + +'Let us take care,' she said, in The Army's early days, 'what Gospel we +preach. Let us mind our doctrine.' + +And again:-- + +'We must stick to the form of sound words, for there is more in it than +appears on the surface. "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and the Holy +Ghost," was the theology of our forefathers, and I am suspicious of all +attempts to mend it.' + +And once more:-- + +'Let us beware of wrong doctrine, come through whomsoever it may. Holy +men make sad mistakes. "Well, but," say some, "is not a person who holds +wrong views with a right heart better than a person with right views and +a wrong heart?" Yes, so far as his personal state before God is +concerned, but not in his influence on man. My charity must extend to +those likely to be deceived or ruined by his doctrines as well as to +him.' + +Mrs. Booth's whole life was a continual fight against sin--sin of all +kinds. Whether her Meeting was held for the very lowest and roughest, or +whether rows of clergy and lawyers, and lords and ladies sat to listen, +it made no difference to her. She attacked sin, and went straight at the +very heart-sins of the people in front of her. + +'We need great grace,' she says in the midst of her wonderful West-End +campaign, where even princes and princesses came to hear her. 'I think +the Lord never enabled me to be more plain and faithful. As a lady in +high circles said to me, "We never heard this sort of Gospel before." No, +poor things, they are sadly deceived.' + +Drink, too, was another evil which Mrs. Booth fought against during the +whole of her life. She began, as you remember, when a girl by being +secretary of the 'Band of Love' of those days. + +In the early days of their engagement The General was strongly advised to +take a little wine for the sake of his health. Our Army Mother wrote him +a long letter, showing him how false and foolish such advice was, and +ending with:-- + +'I have had it recommended to me scores of times, but I am fully and for +ever settled on the physical side of the question. [Footnote: That means +taking it for the sake of health.--ED.] + +'It is a subject on which I am most anxious you should be thorough. I +have far more hope for your health _because_ you abstain, than I +should if you took wine. Flee the detestable thing as you would a +serpent; be a teetotaller in principle and practice.' + +Though, as we have seen, full of boundless faith and pity for the +drunkard, Mrs. Booth attacked the makers and sellers of drink +unmercifully. She says, on one occasion:-- + +'By your peace of conscience on a dying bed; by the eternal destinies of +your children, by your care for never-dying souls; by the love you owe +your Saviour, I beseech you _banish the drink_. + +'Tell me no more of charity towards brewers, distillers, and publicans. +Your false charity to these has already consigned millions to an untimely +Hell!... Arise, Christians, arise, and fight this foe! You and you alone +are able, for your God will fight for you!' + +Another thing for which our Army Mother fought, and which to-day we owe +in great measure to her efforts, is the position to which women have been +lifted as speakers and teachers in God's work. She first, as we have +seen, opened the way herself; and then she left it open, encouraging and +helping tens of thousands of simple, holy women all round the world to +follow in her steps. + +She had a tough battle to wage. All classes wrote and spoke against women +being allowed to stand and speak for God in the open air or in public +halls; but, strong in faith and courage, convinced that she had Divine +authority for what she did, our Army Mother fought on, arguing, writing, +preaching on the matter. Now to-day there is scarcely a land where The +Army bonnet is not known and loved, nor where Army women cannot gain a +crowd of respectful listeners. + +Now I am going to show you some of the hindrances in spite of which our +Army Mother fought on. + +The first of these hindrances was the burden which God allowed Mrs. Booth +to carry all through her life--a weak and suffering body. She said, when +her life was drawing to its close, that suffering seemed to have been her +special lot, and that she could scarcely remember a day in her life when +she had been wholly free from pain. + +'I don't care about my body,' she exclaimed when lying in her last +illness. 'It has been a poor old troublesome affair. I shall be glad for +it to be sealed up. It is time it was. Oh, I have dragged it wearily +about.' + +Most women suffering as she did, with a weak spine, heart disease, and +over-strained nerves, would have lived the life of an invalid. But the +warrior spirit within forced her body along. Scores of times she has gone +from her bed to the Meeting, and then, exhausted and fainting with the +effort, has had to be almost carried home. But she had done her work, and +sent the arrow of conviction into hundreds of hearts. + +Writing after one special strain of work and anxiety, she says:-- + +'The excitement made me worse than I have been for two years. My heart +was really alarming, and for two days I could hardly bear any clothes to +touch me. This has disheartened me again as to my condition. But God +reigns, and He will keep me alive as long as He needs me.' + +Another of her hindrances, and one which was almost more difficult to +overcome than weakness of body, was depression. + +I wonder if you know what that is? If so, it will help you to realize +that Mrs. Booth had to fight it also. + +The Devil seemed allowed to try and test her faith to the uttermost, and +at times to blot out all peace and glory from her soul. During one such +time of darkness she writes:-- + +'I know I ought not, of all saints, or sinners either, to be depressed. I +know it dishonours my Lord, grieves His Spirit, and injures me greatly; +and I would fain hide from everybody to prevent their seeing it. But I +cannot help it. I have struggled hard, more than any one knows, for a +long time against it. Sometimes I have literally held myself, head and +heart and hand, and waited for the floods to pass over me.' + +But our Army Mother did not give up working for God, and sit down in +despair, because she was thus tried. One day, just before leaving for a +great West-End Meeting, in which God made her words as a sharp two-edged +sword, she wrote this to one of her children:-- + +'I have been very much depressed since you left--more so than usual. It +is of no use reasoning with myself when these fits of despondency are on +me. I must hold on and fight my passage through; and when I get to Heaven +the light and joy will be all the greater. If I dared give up working I +should do so a hundred times over; but I _dare_ not.' + +Another and constant hindrance which our Army Mother had to fight for the +greater part of her life was poverty. It was so difficult, many times, to +make two ends meet. She had, during many years of her life, no regular +money coming in on which to depend, and during that time it was a +constant struggle to have her children properly cared for and give them +the needed education. + +But most of all did our Army Mother show herself a warrior in her own +Salvation campaigns. In those early days there were no praying Soldiers +and Sergeants to be had to deal with the penitents--no one, either, to +lead her singing, scarcely even to keep the doors or take up the +collection. She would arrive in a town absolutely alone. A hall had been +taken in which she was to speak, and she would hire a tiny lodging, or +stay in whatever home would receive her, and set to work. We can scarcely +understand the loneliness of her position. Here was a proof of her mighty +faith in God. + +She began these solitary campaigns when her sixth child was but a few +weeks old, and God most wonderfully owned her labours. At one place she +saw one hundred grown-up people and two hundred children come to her +penitent-form in six days. But it was a fearful battle. + +'I have a comfortable little cot to stay in,' she writes to her mother +from one such battle-field, 'very small and humble; but it is clean and +quiet; and when I feel nervous no one knows the value of quietness. I +have felt it hard work lately. Many a time have I longed to be where the +weary are at rest.' + +At Margate, some years later, she commenced her Meetings without knowing +a single person in the place. For some weeks she had not even a helper in +the Prayer Meetings, nor one who would give out a song for her. Mrs. +Booth could not sing herself, and there was often an awkward pause before +any one would be willing to pitch her tune. 'If only,' she said when The +Army was fairly on its feet, 'I had been able to command a dozen reliable +people such as I could have anywhere now, I think I could have done +almost anything.' + +Even more wonderful was her experience at Brighton. + +The Dome, a great building holding three thousand people, had been taken +for her Meetings. + +'I can never forget my feelings,' says this Soldier-saint, 'as I stood +upon the platform and looked upon the people, realizing that among them +all there was no one to help me. When I commenced the Prayer Meeting, for +which I should think quite nine hundred remained, Satan said to me, as I +came down from the platform according to my custom, "You will never ask +such people as these to come and kneel down here? You will only make a +fool of yourself if you do." I felt stunned for a moment; but I answered, +"Yes, I shall. I shall not make it any easier for them than for the +others. If they do not realize their sins enough to be willing to come +and kneel here, they will not be of much use to the kingdom."' + +The Lord set His seal upon Mrs. Booth's faith and courage, for the first +to volunteer were two old gentlemen, both over seventy years of age; and +she had ten or twelve at the mercy-seat before the Meeting ended. + +Writing from Portsmouth, she tells the same story of loneliness and +victory:-- + +'You say, "How do you get on personally?" Oh, I never was so hampered for +help in every way in all my life! The most able man I have keeps a +milliner's shop, and the one that opens for me generally is an overseer; +so their attention is divided and the time limited. Pray for me. I never +needed your prayers so much. This is a dreadfully wicked place.' + +Yet during the seventeen weeks of her stay some six hundred names were +taken, many of them wonderful trophies of God's mercy. + +Having lived such a warrior's life, you think, very likely, that the +death-bed experience of our Army Mother would be all peace and glory. But +no. Right down into the Valley she needed to use the Sword of the Spirit +and the Shield of Faith, for to the last Satan was allowed to test and +try her. + +But she fought on! + +'One of my hardest lessons,' she said in her last hours, 'has been the +difference between faith and realization; and if I have had to conquer +all through life by naked faith, I can only expect it to be the same now. +All our enemies have to be conquered by _faith_, not realization; +and is it not so with the last enemy, death? Yes, if it please the Lord +that I should go down into the dark valley without any realization, +simply knowing that I am His, and He is mine, I am quite willing--I +accept it.' + +This is the faith that made our Army Mother and all the Bible saints such +conquerors. It is the secret of their victory--the faith without which it +is impossible to please God, and for which we all need to pray, 'Lord, +increase our faith.' + + + + +XI + +LAST DAYS + + + +'As I look back on life I do not remember the houses I have lived in, the +people that I have known, the things of passing interest at the moment. +They are all gone. There is nothing stands out before my mind as of any +consequence, but the work I have done for God and Eternity.'--MRS. +BOOTH. + +If The General and those who loved our Army Mother best had been able to +choose for her, they would most likely have said: 'Let her live and fight +and work on, up to within a few days of her promotion to Glory. Let the +call come quickly and painlessly, as it has come to others in our ranks.' + +But the Lord, who loved her more than we did, saw fit to send to her two +and a half years of ever-increasing weariness and suffering. For long +months she lay on the very bank of the River, longing for the messenger +of Death to carry her across. Those who loved her could not tell why the +Lord sent her this last fiery trial; they could only bow with her, and +say, 'Thy will be done.' + +It was in February, 1888, that Mrs. Booth, who was anxious about her +health, went to consult a great doctor and get his opinion. She was +alone, for no one had thought her illness was so serious. She asked him +to tell her the truth--all through her life, as you know, she wanted the +truth; and after a little hesitation he told her. + +The truth was the saddest that she could hear. That dreadful +illness--cancer--through which she had so tenderly nursed her own dear +mother, had come to her, and in the doctor's opinion she had much +suffering to pass through, and only two or, at the most, three years +longer to live. Mrs. Booth listened calmly, thanked the doctor, and +then, getting once more into the cab, drove home all alone. + +It was a dark journey. The War needed her. The General needed her. Her +children needed her. And yet the sentence of Death had been passed upon +her, and she must soon leave them all. What did she do? I think you can +guess. + +She knelt down in the cab, and in prayer committed to God, in a new and +deeper way than ever before, her own body, and her dear ones and the work +He had given her to do. + +At last the cab stopped before her own door, and The General came out to +meet her. + +'I shall never forget that meeting in this world, or the next,' he says. +'I had been watching for the cab, and had run out to meet her and help +her up the steps. She tried to smile on me through her tears; but, +drawing me into the room, soon told me, bit by bit, what the doctor had +said. I sat down speechless. She rose from her seat, and came and knelt +beside me, saying: "Do you know what was my first thought? That I should +not be there to nurse you in your last hour." + +'I was stunned. I felt as if the whole world were coming to a standstill. +Opposite me, on the wall, was a picture of Christ on the cross. I thought +I could understand it then, as never before. She talked to me like an +angel; she talked as she had never talked before. I could say little or +nothing. I could only kneel with her and try to pray. That very same +night The General was to leave London for some great Meetings in Holland, +and Mrs. Booth would not hear of his changing his plans and remaining +with her. + +'The War must go on' was her thought, even when all her family stood +stunned and heart-broken around her, unwilling to leave her even for a +moment. + +Two years later, when but a few more days of suffering remained to her, a +last message from her lips reached us as Self-Denial Week began. 'The War +must go on' was one of its sentences. + +'The War must go on' had been as her motto, lived out in all the long, +long months that lay between. Instead of immediately laying aside her +work, when the doctors gave their dreadful judgment, and beginning to +think only of herself, she went on with it as long as her increasing +weakness allowed. + +But step by step the disease grew worse. First she was forced to give up +Meetings and public work. Then it became impossible for her to use her +right hand, and she was therefore obliged to give up her correspondence, +though she still continued to dictate her letters, and learnt also to +write with her left hand. + +Soon her daily drives became too tiring, and by and by she went out of +the house into the little garden for the last time; and then for the +concluding twelve months of her life she was a prisoner in her room, +lying in constant suffering. + +But during these long months the greatest joy and relief that could come +to her was to hear of some fresh victory or triumph for the Kingdom of +Jesus. Her interest in The Army and her love for the people were as keen +as ever, and War Councils were held and new developments planned in her +chamber, and much of The General's Darkest England Scheme for the poor +and outcast was thought out and decided upon beside her sick bed. + +Again and again, too, Mrs. Booth would receive deputations of Officers of +different classes and from various countries in which The Army was at +work, who came to Clacton-on-Sea, where the last fifteen months of her +life were spent, to listen to her words of advice and inspiration. + +There were no Corps Cadets in those days; but our Army Mother left some +specially beautiful words about the Juniors, to which I must refer. + +When she was told by the Officer then in charge of our Junior Work in +England that the children loved and prayed continually for her, she +smiled. + +'The thought of the little ones,' says some one who was there, 'brought +our beloved Army Mother wholly out of herself and her pain and +weariness.' + +'A very choice branch of the work,' she said. 'I have often told Emma +that I hoped when I was too old for public work God would let me end +where I began--with the children. But it seems that it is not to be so.' + +'Give the children,' she went on, in reply to the messages they had sent, +'my dear love, and tell them that if there had been a Salvation Army when +I was ten I should have been a Soldier then, as I am to-day. + +Never allow yourself to be discouraged in your work. I know you must meet +with many discouragements; but I am sure the Spirit of God works mightily +on little children long before grown people think they are able to +understand.' + +Again and again during that last year of awful suffering it seemed as if +Mrs. Booth were about to leave us; but then she would revive, and come +back to endure more weeks and months of agony. + +But at last, on October 4, 1890, all could see that she was on the brink +of the River, and even those who loved her the most tenderly could not +wish to hold her back. + +'O Emma, let me go, darling,' she whispered; and hearing the reply, 'Yes, +we will, we will,' she said, 'Now! Yes, Lord, come, Oh, come!' + +The singing of The Army songs seemed to comfort her; and once she raised +her suffering arm, and pointed to the text, '_My grace is sufficient +for thee_,' which hung on the wall. It was lifted down and placed at +the foot of her bed, so that her eyes could often rest on it during those +last hours. + +'Soon after noon,' says the present General, 'I felt that the deepening +darkness of the Valley was closing around my dear mother, and a little +later I took my last farewell. Her lips moved, and she gave me one look +of unspeakable tenderness and trust which will live with me for ever. +Again we sang:-- + + My mistakes His free grace doth cover, + My sins He doth wash away; + These feet which shrink and falter + Shall enter the Gates of Day. + +And, holding her hand, The General gave her up to God. It was a solemn +and wonderful scene.' + +The Chief of the Staff and Mrs. Bramwell Booth, Mrs. Booth-Tucker, and +the Commander, and her three daughters, Marian, Eva, and Lucy, knelt +round the bed, upon which were placed photographs of the other members of +her family who were unavoidably absent. Near to her stood her faithful +nurse, Captain Carr, and others of the household, the dear General bowing +over his beloved wife and companion in life's long strife, and giving her +up to the keeping of the Father. + +One by one the members of the family tenderly embraced her; then a gleam +of recognition passed over the brightening countenance as The General +bent over her. Their eyes met---the last kiss of love on earth, the last +word till the Morning, and without a movement the breathing gently +ceased, and a warrior laid down her sword to receive her crown. + + * * * * * + +You may have heard of those wonderful days from Tuesday morning till +Sunday night, when the coffin containing the precious remains of our Army +Mother lay at the Congress Hall, Clapton, and when more than fifty +thousand people came to have a last look at her dear face. + +A piece of glass had been let into the plain oak coffin. It was just +large enough to show the head and shoulders, and she lay as if in a sweet +sleep. + +You wonder if many came merely from curiosity. Some did, of course, but +most of the people came because her life and example and words had been +so blessed to their souls; and they came as they would come to look at +the dead face of their own mother. It was the most wonderful tribute to a +woman's life and words that London had ever seen. + +For all kinds of people came--rich and poor, good and bad, people of many +different religions, and many with no religion at all. Working men came +in their dinner-hour, with their tools on their backs and tears in their +eyes; mothers lifted up their little children to look at the one who had +taught them the way of life; and, best of all, by the side of her coffin +knelt many a wanderer and backslider to give themselves afresh to God. + +More than one poor girl went direct from the Congress Hall to the Rescue +Homes, to begin to live 'as she would have wished'; and the Cadets on +guard were all the time dealing with drunkards and helping those who +desired to begin from thenceforth to live a new and different life. + +Even to-day, twenty-four years later, we often meet those who date their +conversion, or their first step in the Narrow Way, from their look at +that face lying in its simple coffin. + +One of Mrs. Booth's own grandchildren, Mary, the present General's second +daughter, looks back to that scene as the time when God in an +unmistakable manner sealed her as His. She was only five years old as she +knelt by the coffin, but nevertheless she decided there, in her childish +consecration, like Ruth of old, that 'Thy people shall be my people, and +thy God my God'; and in the spirit of this consecration she lives to-day. + + * * * * * + +In order that some of the crowds who wished to share in the funeral +service might be present, the largest hall in London, the Olympia, was +taken. Twenty-six thousand people filled it; and though it was, of +course, impossible for them all to hear, they followed the service given +on printed papers with reverent sympathy. + +The coffin was carried down the immense hall by Officers; The General and +his family followed. + +Those who arranged for this last mighty gathering remembered that Mrs. +Booth, when with us, was never happy to leave a Meeting unless it had +been brought to a point, and something definite had been done; and +therefore, when the songs and prayers and readings were over, the huge +crowd was asked to kneel and make a solemn covenant with God. + +It was a beautiful covenant, and ended with these words:-- + +'And now, in this solemn hour, and in the presence of death, I come again +to Thy footstool, and make this covenant with Thee.' + +Then all who had made the covenant from their hearts rose and sang +together:-- + + Just as I am Thou dost receive, + Dost welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, + Because Thy promise I believe, + O Lamb of God, I come! + +It was just such an ending to the wonderful service as our Army Mother +would have chosen had she been still on earth with us. + + * * * * * + +The next morning was dry and bright. 'I shall ask God to give you a fine +day for my funeral, Emma, so that you mayn't take cold,' our Army Mother +had said, for she was ever thoughtful for others; and her prayer was +answered, for though the white mist crept up from the river to the +Embankment, where the procession was forming up, there was no rain nor +wind. + +Tens of thousands of our dear Soldiers would gladly have sacrificed a +day's work in order to follow in the funeral procession of one they so +dearly loved; but, so as not to gather too large a crowd, only Officers +were allowed in the march, which passed through countless throngs of +people from International Headquarters to Abney Park Cemetery, a distance +of about five miles. + +All along the route the crowds stood in dense masses, and roofs, windows, +and every nook and corner were packed with human beings. Nothing had been +seen like it, said the police, since the Duke of Wellington's funeral, +forty years before. + +It was a wonderful march. I wish you could have seen it! Sometimes it +seemed as if every one was weeping; and when the open hearse, with its +plain oak coffin, crowned by The Army bonnet and well-worn Bible, passed, +all heads were bared, all voices hushed, and tears filled all eyes. + +The General, standing alone in his open carriage all along the long, sad +way, must have felt that he had the people's sympathy and love with him +in his grief, for scores of heartfelt 'God bless you's!' came from lips +that are unused to such words. + +And at last the yellow evening sun shone out as the great procession +reached the gates of Abney Park Cemetery and wound towards the open +grave. + +Only a part of the mighty throng could hear The General's beautiful +words, so strong and yet so tender, from which I have already quoted, but +all joined in the song, 'Rock of Ages,' which seemed to roll up to the +heavens themselves. + +Several leading Officers and members of The General's own family prayed +and spoke, wonderfully upheld in spite of their deep grief and the strain +of the last days. And then by the open grave the present General led all +hearts to make a fresh consecration, the whole assembly promising, with +God's help, that they would be + +'Faithful to Thee, faithful to one another, and faithful to a dying +world, till we meet our beloved Mother in the Morning. Amen.' + + * * * * * + +If ever you are in Abney Park Cemetery you should visit her grave. It is +very simple. Around the little piece of earth runs a grey stone, with +these words carved on it:-- + + CATHERINE BOOTH, + + MOTHER OF THE SALVATION ARMY + + More than Conqueror, through Him that loved us, + and gave Himself for all the world and for you. + + Do you also follow Christ? + +and above are two small beds of flowers. + +Do many people go to see it? you wonder. + +Oh, yes. All round it a path is worn in the grass, made by the tread of +many feet; for mothers bring their boys and girls to see it, and tell +them what a mother she was, and men and women of all creeds and races +pause beside it, and remember. + +Many Officers, too--from distant lands, and speaking strange tongues you +could not understand--come to The Army Mother's grave when they visit our +shores. For she was their Mother as well as ours, they say. + +They kneel beside the stone, and spell out the name, and then they +consecrate themselves afresh to God and the needs of the heathen lands, +and they claim His grace to follow in her steps. + +For our Army Mother is not dead. True, her body lies in the quiet grave +at Abney Park, and her spirit is in Heaven; but her life and influence +still live among us, her words are treasured, and our greatest prayer and +desire for the girls and wives and mothers in our ranks is that they may +live to be worthy daughters of Catherine Booth. + + + + +DATES IN MRS. BOOTH'S LIFE + + + +1829. January 17th. Catherine Mumford born at Ashbourne, Derby. +1829. April 10th. William Booth born at Nottingham. +1843. Catherine has to leave school owing to severe illness. +1844. Refuses to be engaged to her cousin. +1845. Is converted. +1846. Seems likely to go into consumption. +1850. Takes Sunday class of elder girls. +1851. June. Miss Mumford hears Mr. Booth preach; later meets him at a + friend's house. +1852. May 15th. They are engaged to be married. +1855. June 16th. The wedding. +1857. Mrs. Booth speaks to a children's meeting on Temperance. +1859. She starts work among drunkards. She writes her first pamphlet on + woman's right to preach. +1860. Mrs. Booth speaks for the first time in public. +1861. Mr. and Mrs. Booth break up their home in the north, and come to + London, choosing an evangelistic life. +1864. Mrs. Booth begins to hold Evangelistic campaigns apart from her + husband. +1864. July. East End Mission begun. +1868. First Headquarters established. +1869. Mrs. Booth's wonderful Brighton campaign. +1870. East London Mission becomes the 'Christian Mission.' +1871. Mrs. Booth publishes her first book. +1877. Christian Mission becomes 'The Salvation Army.' +1878. The uniform is chosen. +1886. First Self-Denial Week. +1888. February. Mrs. Booth learns that she is suffering from cancer. +1888. June 21st. Mrs. Booth speaks in public for the last time (at the + City Temple). +1889. August. She goes to Clacton-on-Sea. +1890. October 4th. Mrs. Booth is promoted to Glory. +1890. October 6th. Her body brought to Congress Hall, Clapton. +1890. October 11th. Funeral at Abney Park. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine Booth, by Mildred Duff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + +***** This file should be named 7125.txt or 7125.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/1/2/7125/ + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Catherine Booth + A Sketch + +Author: Colonel Mildred Duff + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7125] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 12, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +CATHERINE BOOTH +A SKETCH + +_Reprinted from The Warriors' Library_ + +BY +COLONEL MILDRED DUFF + +WITH A PREFACE BY +GENERAL BRAMWELL BOOTH + + + + +PREFACE + + + +Colonel Duff has, at my request, written the following very interesting +and touching account of my dear Mother; and she has done so in the hope +that those who read it will be helped to follow in the footsteps of that +wonderful servant of God. + +But how can they do so? Was not Mrs. Booth, you ask, an exceptional +woman? Had she not great gifts and very remarkable powers, and was she +not trained in a very special way to do the work to which God called her? +How, then, can ordinary people follow in her steps? Let me tell you. + +Mrs. Booth walked with God. When she was only a timid girl, helping her +mother in the household, she continually sought after Him; and when, in +later years, she became known by multitudes, and was written of in the +newspapers, and greatly beloved by the good in many lands, there was no +difference in her life in that matter. She was not content with being +Mrs. General Booth of The Salvation Army, and with being looked upon as a +great and good woman, giving her life to bless others. No! she listened +daily for God's voice in her own heart, sought after His will, and leaned +continually for strength and grace upon her Saviour. You can be like her +in that. + +Mrs. Booth was a soul-winner. A little while before her spirit passed +into the presence of God, and when she knew that death was quite near to +her, she said: 'Tell the Soldiers that the great consolation for a +Salvationist on his dying bed is to feel that he has been a soul-winner.' +Wherever she went--in the houses of strangers as well as of friends, in +the Meetings, great and small, when she was welcomed and when she was +not, whether alone or with others--she laboured to lead souls to Christ. +I have known her at one time spend as much trouble to win one as at +another time to win fifty. You can follow her example in that. + +Mrs. Booth always declared herself and took sides with right. Whatever +was happening around her, people always knew which side she was on. She +spoke out for the right, the good, and the true, even when doing so +involved very disagreeable experiences and the bearing of much +unkindness. She hated the spirit which can look on at what is wicked and +false or cruel, and say, 'Oh, that is not my affair!' You can follow her +example in this also. + +Mrs. Booth laboured all her life to improve her gifts. She thought; she +prayed; she worked; she read--above all, she read her Bible. It was her +companion as a child, as a young follower of Christ, and then as a Leader +in The Army. Those miserable words which some of us hear so often about +some bad or unfinished work--'Oh, that will do'--were seldom heard from +her lips. She was always striving, striving, striving to do better, and +yet better, and again better still. All this also you can do. + +Mrs. Booth was full of sympathy. No one who was in need or in sorrow, or +who was suffering, could meet her without finding out that, she was in +sympathy with them. Her heart was tender with the love of Christ, and so +she was deeply touched by the sin and sorrow around her just as He was. +Even the miseries of the dumb animals moved her to efforts on their +behalf. This sympathy made Mrs. Booth quick to see and appreciate the +toil and self-denial of others, and ever grateful for any kindness shown +to her or to The Army or to those in need of any kind. The very humblest +and youngest of those who read this little book can be like her in all +this. + +Mrs. Booth endured to the end. She never turned back. She was faithful. +Her life and work would have been spoilt if she had given up the fight. +She was often sorely tempted. She was slandered and misrepresented by +enemies, betrayed by false friends, and often deeply wounded by those who +professed to love her, though they deserted the Flag. But she held fast. +You can be like her in that. You may make many mistakes, suffer many +defeats, but you can still keep going on, and it is to those who go on to +the very end, whether in weakness or in strength, that Jesus will give +the crown of life. + +Mrs. Booth trusted with all her heart in the love and sacrifice of her +Saviour. These were her hope and her strength. When at the height of her +influence and popularity she delighted in that wonderful song which we +still so often sing:-- + + I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me, + And purchased my pardon when nailed to the tree; + +and when, amid much suffering, she lay dying, we often sang together +with her:-- + + Victory for me! + Through the Blood of Christ my Saviour; + Victory for me! + Through the precious Blood. + +This was her victory. You can follow her in the faith that won it. Will +you? + +BRAMWELL BOOTH. + +_International Headquarters._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PREFACE + + I. CHILDHOOD + II. CONVERSION AND SOUL STRUGGLES + III. A THREE-YEARS ENGAGEMENT + IV. A LIFE OF SACRIFICE + V. THE SPEAKER + VI. THE MOTHER + VII. THE WORKER +VIII. GOODNESS + IX. LOVE + X. THE WARRIOR + XI. LAST DAYS + XII. DATES IN MRS. BOOTH'S LIFE + + + + + +CATHERINE BOOTH: +A SKETCH + + + + +I + +CHILDHOOD + + +'Parents who love God best will not allow their children to learn +anything which could not be pressed into His service.'--MRS. BOOTH. + + +The Mother of The Salvation Army was born at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, on +January 17, 1829, and God gave to her the very best gift He can give to +any child--a good and holy mother. + +Katie Mumford, as she was then called, had no sister to play with, and of +her four brothers only one lived to be a man. But her dear mother more +than made up for every lack, and from her lips the little girl learned +those blessed lessons which, in her turn, she has taught to us. + +One lesson which Mrs. Mumford early taught her daughter was that our +bodies will not live for ever. She took Katie to see the body of her +infant brother who had just died; and, though she was not more than two +years old at the time, Katie never forgot that first lesson. Spiritual +things were even then real to her, just because they were so real to her +mother. Heaven was home to her, and Jesus her best Friend, ever near to +help and guide her. + +Truthfulness was a second of those early lessons which remained with our +Army Mother all her life. She was but four years old when Mrs. Mumford +found her one evening sobbing bitterly in her little cot long after she +should have been asleep. She had told a falsehood, and conscience would +not let her rest. When she had sobbed out her confession, her mother +talked and prayed with her, and at last left her, happy in the assurance +that she was forgiven by her Heavenly Father. + +After this you will not be surprised to hear that another lesson early +taught to Katie by her mother was to love her Bible. She could read +nicely when she was but five years old, and she loved to stand by her +mother's side, and read the Bible stories aloud, with just a little help +over the very long words. And this love for God's Word grew deeper every +year, so that by the time she was twelve years old she had read it +through eight times. In later years people often wondered how it was that +Mrs. Booth knew her Bible so well, and could so quickly answer their +difficulties and objections in Bible words. Much of the secret lay in +this early training, and in the hours she spent in Bible study later on, +when she had reached the age of some of our younger Corps Cadets. + +I wish we could have seen her in those days. She had very dark hair, +which curled naturally; black, flashing eyes, and such a warm heart, and +strong, impetuous nature that she could do nothing by halves. Whatever it +was, work or play, her whole soul had to be in it. + +Since she was not at all strong, and had few girl friends, Katie did not +play rough or noisy games, but her love for her dolls made her quite a +little mother to them. She treated them almost like real children, and +would sew and toil, and never rest till she felt she had in every way +done her duty to them. She loved animals, too, especially dogs and +horses, and could not bear to see any one ill-treat them. Oh, how she +suffered one day, watching some poor sheep driven down the road! She +watched the man beat them--she could not stop him; and at last she tore +home, and flung herself down almost choking and speechless with +indignation and distress. + +Her mother did not check Katie for feeling so keenly. She encouraged her; +for she knew that a hard, indifferent child, who can see suffering and +not care or be distressed over it, would make a hard woman; and she +wanted her Katie to be full of love and tenderness for all, and +especially for those needing help. + +When Catherine was twelve years old she became very interested in the +drink question. She wrote letters about it, and sent them to different +newspapers, for there was no 'War Cry' nor 'Young Soldier' in those days; +and she also became the secretary of what was then called a Juvenile +Temperance Society, and did all she could to get boys and girls to +promise never to touch the drink. + +Katie was also, like many of you, much interested in the heathen. She +would go round to all her friends collecting money to pay for preachers +to be sent to them; and in order to get more money she would deny herself +sugar and other small luxuries. No one told Katie to do this; but you see +our Army Mother herself taught us, by her example when only a child, to +keep our great Self-Denial Week. + +Of course, most of Katie's time was taken up with her lessons, and, as +she loved to learn and study, they were no hardship to her. For two years +she went to a boarding-school, and here her companions soon found out how +straight and truthful she was. 'You'll never get _her_ to tell a +lie,' the girls said, 'nor even to exaggerate, so it's no use trying.' +Every one knew also that Katie felt for the backward girls and those who +were slow and dull. She wanted them to succeed, and would help them +between school hours. That was her joy, you see--to help and care for +others; whether at school or at home she was the same. + +But you must not think that Catherine was perfect. Oh, no, indeed! +Sometimes her schoolmates would tease her because she was so quiet, and +liked to read better than to play; and at such times, instead of being +patient, she would flare up into a passion, and say harsh, angry words. +When the storm was over she would be, however, Oh! so sorry, and would +beg her schoolfellows to forgive her. + +When Katie had been at school two years, God sent her a very great trial. +Instead of being able to go on learning and keeping up with the other +girls, she had to return home, and for three long years to lie nearly all +the time on her back, often suffering very much. She had a serious spinal +complaint, and her friends sometimes doubted whether she would ever walk +again. + +You wonder what she did in those three years? I will tell you. When the +pain would permit it, she would knit and sew. She could not, of course, +hold heavy needlework; but little things, like babies' socks and hoods, +pin-cushions, and so forth, she would make most beautifully, and then +they would be sold to help on the work of God. + +Besides her sewing, Katie read a great deal. First, as I have already +told you, she read her Bible, and learnt to know God's thoughts about the +world and sin, and His wishes for His people. For seven months at one +time Catherine had to lie on her face on a special sort of couch made on +purpose for her; but she invented a contrivance by which, even then, she +could read her Bible, though still remaining in the position that the +doctors wished. Then, too, she would read good books--explanations of the +Bible, about Holiness, soul-saving, lives of those who have lived and +worked for God, and so on. When she had read a chapter she would shut the +book, and write down as much as she could remember of it. This helped her +to think clearly and to remember what she read, and also to put her +thoughts into words. + +But she never wasted her time reading stories and novels. Later on in her +life she said she was so thankful for this, for she thought that novels +and silly story books made people discontented with their own homes and +duties, and put wrong, hurtful ideas into their minds. Let us recollect +and follow our Army Mother's example here, and not waste time on stories +which are not true. + +We, if we had known Katie Mumford in those three years of pain and +weariness, should have pitied her very much. We might have been tempted +to feel that God was hard in not letting her be strong like other girls; +but we now see that all the time He was fitting her for the wonderful +future before her; and when she became Mrs. Booth, the great preacher, +she herself understood this. + +'Being so much alone in my youth,' she said, 'and so thrown on my own +thoughts and on those expressed in books, has been very helpful to me. +Had I been given to gossip, and had there been people for me to gossip +with, I should certainly never have accomplished what I did.' + +So, you see, God was all the time giving her the very best training He +could, and teaching her, as she lay there alone on her bed, what she +never could have learned in the ordinary way. And He will train you, too, +in the very best way for your future, if you will but determine to trust +and serve Him as did Catherine Mumford. + + + + +II + +CONVERSION AND SOUL STRUGGLES + + + +'No soul was ever yet saved who was too idle to seek.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +Perhaps you, the Corps Cadet, for whom I am especially writing this +little book, have been tempted to break your vows by becoming engaged to +some one who does not want to be an Officer. And you think, perhaps, that +no one understands your feelings. + +You will be surprised, then, to know that our Army Mother had just such a +battle to fight when she was a girl. + +She had a cousin, a little older than herself, who was tall and very +clever. He came with his parents to stay in her home, and Katie had not +seen him since they were young children. He quickly grew very fond of his +cousin, and Catherine found how nice it was to have some one to give her +presents and to love her as he did. At last he begged her to promise that +by and by she would be engaged to him. Now Katie was very perplexed. On +the one hand she loved her cousin, and did not want to grieve him, and +yet in her heart she knew he was not truly given up to God, and would not +help her in her soul. + +'Go to the Meeting with you, Katie?' he used to say. 'Of course, I'll go +anywhere to please you.' But then, while she was trying to get a +blessing, he would be scratching little pictures on the back of the seat +to make her laugh. Perhaps you can guess the struggle it was for Katie to +decide what her answer should be. 'If you will only say "yes," and be +engaged to him, I am sure you will be able to help him, and very likely +get him properly saved,' the Devil would whisper. 'Break it off now, +Katie; do not go another step; you know God cannot smile on it.' That was +how her conscience spoke. + +At last, one day as she was truly praying and seeking for light, she read +the verse in 2 Corinthians vi. 14: 'Be ye not unequally yoked together +with unbelievers.' It came to her as the voice of God. + +'I will do it, Lord,' she said, after a long struggle; and she sat down, +and wrote her cousin a letter, telling him just why she could never be +engaged to him, and breaking it all off for ever. Then she turned back to +her home duties, and did not re-open the question. + +And did our Army Mother in after years regret that she had acted like +this? No, indeed; she has told us that she saw plainly later on that, if +just then she had chosen to follow her own feelings and wishes, instead +of obeying God's command, all her life would have been altered, and she +would never have done the glorious work He had planned for her. It was a +hard battle at the time, and cost her many tears; but it was worth it, +ten thousand times over, as we can all see to-day. + +Very soon after this victory Catherine became really converted. + +'What!' you say. 'Was she not converted before this?' + +No. All her life she had, like many children trained to-day in +Salvationist homes, felt God's Holy Spirit striving with her. Sometimes, +when quite a little girl, her mother would find her crying because she +felt how she had sinned against God. + +But when she was about fifteen she longed to know that she was really +saved. + +'Don't be silly,' said the Devil in her heart. 'You have been as good as +saved all your life. You have always wanted to do right. How can you +expect such a sudden change as if you were a great big drunkard? It's +absurd.' + +'But my _heart_ is as bad as the heart of a big sinner,' cried poor +Katie in an agony of fear. 'I have been as bad inside, if not in my +outward actions and words.' + +And then she took hold of God in faith. 'Lord, I must be converted. I +cannot rest till Thou hast changed my whole nature; do for me what Thou +dost do, for the thieves and drunkards.' + +But for six weeks it seemed as if God did not hear her cry. She grew more +and more unhappy. All her past sins rose before her: those bursts of +temper when she was at school, those wrong thoughts and feelings. Yes, +the Bible was true when it said: 'The heart is deceitful above all things +and desperately wicked.' + +Katie argued, too, like this: 'I cannot recollect any time or place where +I claimed Salvation and the forgiveness of my sins; if God _has_ +saved me, He would surely have made me certain of it. Anyway, I must and +will know it. I must have the assurance that I am God's child.' + +Unable to rest, she would pace her room till two o'clock in the morning, +and would lie down at last, with her Bible and hymn-book under her +pillow, praying that God would Himself tell her that her sins were +forgiven. At last, one morning, as she woke, she opened her hymn-book, +and read these words:-- + + My God, I am Thine, + What a comfort divine, + What a blessing to know that my Jesus is mine. + +Now she had read and sung these lines scores of times before, but they +came this morning with a new power to her soul. + +'I am Thine!' 'My Jesus is mine!' she exclaimed. 'Lord, it is true!--I do +believe it! My sins are forgiven. I belong to Thee!' and her whole soul +was filled with light and joy. She now possessed what she had been +seeking all these weeks--the assurance of Salvation! And then what do you +think she did? She threw on a wrapper, and, without waiting to dress, +hurried across to her mother's room, and tapped at the door. + +'Come in,' said her mother's voice; and Katie, her face shining with joy, +burst into the room. 'Mamma, mamma, I am a child of God! My sins are +forgiven--Jesus is my Saviour!' she cried, flinging herself into her +mother's arms. And this was the same Katie, who had been so shy and +backward that she had never before dared to speak about her spiritual +anxieties, even to her mother! Ah! what a change real conversion, or +change of heart, had made. + +For the next six months Katie was so happy that she felt as if she were +walking on air. 'I used to tremble,' she tells us, 'and even long to die, +lest I should back-slide or lose the sense of God's favour.' + +But as time went on she learned, as we all have to do, to walk by faith, +not by sight, and to serve and follow the Saviour whether she had happy +feelings or not. + +But you must not suppose, because Katie had the assurance of Salvation, +that therefore she had no more fighting. No--indeed, her fighting days +had only just begun. + +One of her great difficulties, which many Corps Cadets will understand, +was that she felt so nervous about doing anything in public. No one, of +course, asked her to speak--such a thing was never dreamed of; but the +lady who took the Bible Class which she attended regularly would now and +then ask her to pray. 'Miss Mumford will pray,' the lady would say, when +they were all kneeling together. + +But Katie was too shy to begin, and sometimes they would wait for several +minutes before she had courage to say a few words. 'Don't ask me to pray +again,' she said one day to her leader; 'the excitement and agitation +make me quite ill.' + +'I can't help that,' was the very wise answer; 'you must break through +your timidity; for otherwise you will be of no use to God.' + +And did Katie persevere? Yes, indeed, she did. Here is an entry made some +time later in the diary that she kept, which shows you how very much her +experience was like yours:-- + +'I have not been blessed so much for weeks as I was to-night. I prayed +aloud. The cross was great, but so was the reward. + +My heart beat violently, but I felt some liberty.' + +Though Catherine's spine difficulty was better, she was still very +delicate, and at the age of eighteen every one felt sure she was going +into a decline. But, sick or well, her soul grew stronger, and her desire +to please and serve God better increased every day. + +'I do love Thee,' she wrote in the same little diary, 'but I want to love +Thee more.' + +It was not till many years later that Catherine received the blessing of +a clean heart; but even now she had begun to desire and long for it. She +also writes at this time: 'I see that this Full Salvation is very +necessary if I am to glorify God below, and find my way to Heaven. I want +a _clean_ heart. Lord, take me and seal me.' + +Some people, even after they are converted, are too proud to own +themselves wrong, or to confess when they have sinned. Catherine was not +of that sort. In one of her letters to her mother she ends with these +words:-- + +'Pray for me, dear mother, and believe me, with all my faults and +besetments, your loving child.' + +Her hunger after a holy life was real and practical. She knew she must +learn to live by method--that is, doing right, whether she liked it or +not--and not by feelings, if she was to be of use in the world. + +So at the end of the year she wrote some new resolutions; and as they may +be of help to you, I will copy them for you just as she put them down:-- + +'I have been writing a few daily rules for the coming year, which I hope +will prove a blessing to me, by the grace of God. I have got a paper of +printed rules also, which I intend to read once a week. May the Lord help +me to keep to them! But, above all, I am determined to search the +Scriptures more attentively, for in them I have eternal life. I have read +my Bible through twice during the past sixteen months, but I must read it +with more prayer for light and understanding. Oh, may it be my meat and +drink! May I meditate on it day and night! And then I shall bring forth +fruit in season; my leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever I do shall +prosper.' + +She had also her own private ways of denying herself, not for the sake of +earning money or praise by it, but simply because she felt it was right. +One of these rules was to do without dinner, and butter at breakfast, +once in the week, because she felt it helped her in her soul. + +I cannot end this chapter without telling you of the one great sorrow +which darkened all her early years. Some of you, I know, will enter into +her feelings so well. + +Her father, at one time saved and earnest about the souls of others, had +grown cold and backslidden, and now never even went near a Meeting. You +can fancy what agony this was to both Mrs. Mumford and her daughter. They +prayed and wept in vain--he only seemed to get more indifferent. +Catherine would sometimes write her feelings and her sorrow in her diary, +and there we read:-- + +'I sometimes get into an agony of feeling while praying for my dear +father. Oh, my Lord, answer prayer, and bring him back to Thyself! Never +let that tongue which once delighted in praising Thee, and in showing +others Thy willingness to save, be engaged in uttering the lamentations +of the lost! Oh, awful thought! Lord, have mercy! Save, Oh! save him in +any way Thou seest best, though it be ever so painful. If by removing me +Thou canst do this, cut short Thy work, and take me Home. Let me be bold +to speak in Thy name. Oh, give me true courage and liberty, and when I +write to him, bless what I say to the good of his soul!' + +For many years this prayer of Catherine's was not answered; but she held +on, as you must do for those you love, in faith and prayer; and at last +she had the unspeakable joy of seeing her dear father come back to God +through one of her own Meetings which he had attended. His last years +were full of peace, and were spent in serving God and rejoicing in His +Salvation. + + + + +III + +A THREE-YEARS ENGAGEMENT + + + +'What a need there is for effort and energy; or real religion and common +sense!'--MRS. BOOTH. + +One Sunday, when Catherine and her mother went to the Meeting as usual, +they found a 'Special' there, taking the services. He was quite different +from the other Specials, and Catherine could not help noticing him with +extra interest. He spoke to the people's hearts, and was not so much +occupied in preaching a good sermon as in getting some one converted. But +he did preach a very good sermon for all that, and chose this verse as +his text--'This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.' + +A few days later Catherine and her mother were spending the evening with +a friend, when the very same preacher came in, and was introduced to them +as the Rev. William Booth. + +Catherine knew they had one subject in common--love for souls; but before +the evening ended she discovered that the young minister was quite as +earnest as she was herself in fighting the Drink curse and all that was +connected with it. + +A few Sundays later Mr. Booth preached again in the same building, this +time as the minister, or, as we should say, 'Officer in charge,' and no +longer as a Special. And now you will guess that the two often met, and +that, because they had so many interests in common, they soon learned to +know each other well, till respect grew into friendship, and friendship +into love. + +Catherine was at this time twenty-two years old, and Mr. Booth was three +months younger; but, though you would have said they were old enough to +know their own minds, they did nothing hastily, and would enter into no +engagement till they were quite sure of God's Will in the matter. + +Had Catherine ever before thought of the day when she would get married? +you, perhaps, ask. Oh, yes, indeed, and when but a girl of sixteen-- +directly, in fact, after she was saved--she settled in her own heart what +sort of a man her future husband must be. First, she decided, he must be +truly converted, and a total abstainer, not to please her, but from his +own choice. Then he must be a man of sense, or she could never respect +him; and, if they were to be happy, they must feel and think alike on all +important matters. + +Ah, if our women-Soldiers and Cadets to-day would but follow our Army +Mother's example, there would be fewer unhappy marriages and wrecked +lives! + +But in her secret heart Catherine had also, girl-like, some ideas about +the sort of man she would like to marry, if she might choose. He should +be a minister--that was the nearest she could get to an Officer in those +days; William was a name she particularly liked, and--if only he might be +tall and dark! If you had been there when Katie Mumford first listened to +his preaching you would have seen that he was 'tall and dark' indeed. + +But though William Booth loved Catherine with a deep and holy love, which +increased each time they met, yet he was very poor, and he wondered if he +ought, under the circumstances, to ask her to share his lot. He wrote a +letter to her, telling her how perplexed and troubled he was, and her +answer shows us that, right from the very earliest days, before they were +even engaged, her one desire was that his soul should prosper. + +'My dear friend,' she begins ... 'The thought that I should cause you any +suffering or increase your perplexity is almost unbearable. I am tempted +to wish that we had never seen each other. Do try to forget me, as far as +the remembrance would injure your usefulness or spoil your peace. If I +have no alternative but to oppose the Will of God, or trample on the +desolations of my own heart, _my choice is made_. "Thy will be done" +is my constant cry. I care not for myself; but Oh, if I cause you to err, +I shall never be happy again.' + +It was not the fear of poverty that frightened her, for a few days later +she says:-- + +'I fear you did not fully understand my difficulty. It was not +circumstances. I thought I had assured you that a bright prospect would +not allure me, nor a dark one affright me, if only we are _one in +heart_. + +My only reason for wishing to defer the engagement was that _you_ +might feel satisfied in your mind that the step is right.... If you are +convinced on this point, let circumstances go, and let us be one, come +what may.' + +This is exactly what they did, and after meeting, and together +consecrating their lives to God, they solemnly pledged themselves to each +other. + +And now began a three-years' engagement, in which, though often for long +months at a time they never met, they remained true to each other and to +God, in thought and word and deed. + +Many of the beautiful letters that our Army Mother wrote to The General +at this time, I am glad to tell you, have been kept, and we will look +together at some of the ways in which she tried to help and cheer him. + +In the first letter after their engagement she ends with these words:-- + +'The more you lead me up to Christ in all things, the more highly shall I +esteem you; and if it be possible to love you more than I do now, the +more shall I love you. You are always present in my thoughts.' + +Now you must not think that, even in these early days, our General had a +very easy life. He was often much perplexed and troubled, longing above +all to do God's Will for the Salvation of the people, and yet not quite +sure what that Will was. At these times Catherine was of untold help to +him. + +Once he was very unsettled--not certain whether he should remain away in +the North of England, or accept a place in London, where the two could +often meet. Most girls would have said, 'Oh, come, then we shall be near +to each other'; but you will see that her advice to him is just as +suitable for you when you are not certain of your duty--that she does not +consider her own feelings at all. + +'I wish,' she writes, 'you prayed more and talked less about the matter. +Try it, and be determined to get clear and settled views as to your +course. Leave your heart before God, and get satisfied in His sight, and +then do it, be it what it may. I cannot bear the idea of your being +unhappy. Pray do in this as you feel in your soul it will be right. My +conscience is no standard for yours.' + +Then she adds, lower down:-- + +'Oh, if you come to London, let us be determined to reap a blessed +harvest. Let our fellowship be sanctified to our souls' everlasting good. +My mind is made up to do my part towards it. I hope to be firm as a rock +on some points. The Lord help me. We must aim to improve each other's +mind and character. Let us pray for grace to do it in the best way and to +the fullest extent possible.' + +'Anyway,' she says, a day or two later--and ever remember her words when +outside things try and distress you--'don't let the controversy hurt your +soul. Live near to God by prayer.... You believe He answers prayer. Then +take courage. Just fall down at His feet, and open your very soul before +Him, and throw yourself right into His arms. Tell Him that if you are +wrong you only wait to be set right, and, be the path rough or smooth, +you will walk in it. + +'Oh, you must live close to God! If you are a greater distance from Him +than you were, just stop the whirl of outward things, or rather leave it, +and shut yourself up with Him till all is clear and bright upwards. Do, +there's a dear. Oh, how much we lose by not coming to the point. Now, at +once, realize your union with Christ, and trust Him to lead you through +this perplexity. Bless you. Excuse this advice. I am anxious for your +soul. Look up. If God hears my prayers, He must guide you--He will guide +you.' + +In these early days our General was tempted, as some of us are tempted +to-day, to feel nervous and shy when talking before large crowds, and +where the people were better dressed and better off than usual. He wrote +his feelings to Catherine, and she sends him back her wise advice and +help. 'I am sorry for this,' she says, 'and am persuaded it is the fear +of man which shackles you. Do not give place to this feeling. Remember +you are _the_ Lord's servant, and if you are a faithful one it will +be a small matter with you to be judged of man's judgment. Let nothing be +wanting beforehand to make what you say helpful, but when you are before +the people try to think only of your own responsibility to Him who hath +sent you.' + +Again, later, she writes:-- + +'Try and cast off the fear of man. Fix your eyes simply on the glory of +God, and care not for frown or praise of man. Rest not till your soul is +fully alive to God.' How truly she herself carried this out in her own +Meetings you will hear later on. + +Miss Mumford was very anxious that The General should improve himself +with plenty of hard work. She saw what he might become, and she also knew +that unless he did _his_ part all those wonderful powers which God +had lent to him would be thrown away. + +'Do assure me,' she writes, 'my own dear William, that no want of energy +or effort on your part shall hinder the improvement of those talents God +has given you.' + +So that, with his constant travelling and preaching, he might get time to +read and think and learn, she suggested a little plan to him in his +billets. + +'Could you not,' she says, 'provide yourself with a small leather bag or +case, large enough to hold your Bible and any other book you might +require--pens, ink, paper and a candle? And, presuming that you generally +have a room to yourself, could you not rise by six o'clock every morning, +and convert your bedroom into a study till breakfast time?... I hope, my +dearest love, you will consider this plan, and keep to it, if possible, +as a general practice. Don't let little difficulties prevent your +carrying it out.' + +You must remember that at this time neither Catherine nor Mr. Booth ever +dreamed of the wonderful work they were to be called to do. He was then +preaching and getting souls saved, mostly in country places, and had many +a 'hard go,' but _that_ was no reason why he should not improve. + +Did The General like this advice and counsel? Or did he feel, as some men +do to-day, that women cannot judge nor understand such things? + +Ah! he was wise, and only too glad to have all the help that Catherine +could give him. In fact, he often wrote begging her to help him more. The +outlines for addresses which she sent him weekly he valued and used, as +this letter shows:-- + +'I have,' he writes, 'just taken hold of that sketch you sent me on "Be +not deceived," and am about to make a full sermon on it. I like it much. +It is admirable. + +'I want a sermon on the Flood, one on Jonah, and one on the Judgment. +Send me some bare thoughts, some clear, startling outlines. We must have +that kind of truth which will move sinners.' + +But if Catherine Mumford was anxious about the mind and work of her +future husband, much more was she anxious about his soul. To her, there +could be no true love without faithfulness, and where she felt it +necessary, she cautioned him in the truest and tenderest way:-- + +'You have special need,' she writes, 'for watchfulness and for much +private intercourse with God. + +'My dearest love, beware how you indulge that dangerous element of +character, ambition. Misdirected, it will be everlasting ruin to +yourself, and perhaps to me also. Oh, my love, let nothing earthly excite +it; let not the wish to be great fire it. Fix it on the Throne of the +Eternal, and let it find the realization of its loftiest aspirations in +the promotion of His glory, and it shall be consummated with the richest +enjoyments and brightest glories of God's own Heaven.' + +You wonder, perhaps, if Catherine ever wrote 'love letters,' as we call +them. She never wrote the foolish and sentimental letters which say a +great deal, and mean very little; but she was able to put her great love +into words strong, intense, and full of tenderness. + +'Do I remember?' she asks in one letter. 'Yes, I remember all--all that +has bound us together. All the bright and happy, as well as the clouded +and sorrowful times of our fellowship. Nothing relating to you can time +or place erase from my memory. Your words, your looks, your actions, even +the most trivial and incidental, come up before me as fresh as life. If I +meet a child called William, I am more interested in him than in any +other. Bless you. Keep your spirits up, and hope much for the future. God +lives and loves us, and we shall be one in Him, loving each other as +Christ loved us.' + +William Booth and Catherine Mumford were married in London, on June 15, +1855; and here are a few lines from the last letter she wrote to him +before the engagement was ended, and the long thirty-five years of happy +married life began:-- + +'I long to see you. Your letters do not satisfy the yearnings of my +heart. Perhaps they ought to. I wish it were differently constituted. I +might be much happier. But it _will_ be extravagant and enthusiastic +in spite of all my schooling. If I ever get to Heaven, what rapture shall +I know! No, there is no fear of our loving each other too much. How can +we love each other more than Christ has loved us? And this is the +standard He has given us. What a precious thing is the religion of Jesus! +It makes our first duties our highest happiness. It has the promise of +the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. We will spend +all our energies in trying to persuade men to receive and practise it.' + +How wonderfully she carried this intention into practice, and, together +with The General, lived every moment 'publishing the Sinner's Friend,' +you shall read later on. + + + + +IV + +A LIFE OF SACRIFICE + + + +'Since I came to the crucifixion of myself, I have not cared much what +men might say of me.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +At the time when our Army Mother married The General's work was, as we +have seen, that of an 'Evangelist' or 'Travelling Minister.' He would +stay in a town for some weeks or months, as the case might be, preaching +and holding Meetings, and getting people saved, both in the town itself +and the places round. + +It was a blessed and useful life, but very wearying; and we can fancy how +trying it must have been for Mrs. Booth after her marriage not to have +any home of her own, but to billet first in one stranger's house, and +then in another's. + +But she did not complain, though we see what it cost her by a letter she +writes to her mother, telling the good news that they are to live in +lodgings while at Sheffield:-- + +'You cannot think,' she writes, 'with what joy I look forward to being to +ourselves once more. For though I get literally oppressed with kindness, +I must say I would prefer a home where we could sit down together at our +own little table, myself the mistress, and my husband the only guest. But +the work of God so abundantly prospers that I dare not repine, or else I +feel this constant packing and unpacking and staying amongst strangers to +be a great burden, especially while so weak and poorly. But then I have +many mercies and advantages. My precious William is all I desire, and +without this what would the most splendid home be but a glittering +bauble?' + +For several years Mrs. Booth travelled in this way from place to place, +helping, cheering, and encouraging her husband in his soul-saving +campaigns. She felt her duty lay here, and even when she had a little son +to care for, she was unwilling to settle down. Writing to her mother, who +urged her to leave off this trying life; or, at any rate, to hand the +baby over to her, she says:-- + +'My objection to leaving William gets stronger as I see the need he has +of my presence, care, and sympathy; neither is he willing for it himself. +Nor can I make up my mind to parting with Willie.' + +Mrs. Booth's object was to be a help to her husband--not a hindrance; to +push him forward in his soul-saving work--not to hold him back; and +therefore, instead of rejoicing, as most wives and mothers would have +done, when a settled home and work were offered him, she was doubtful. + +'Personally considered,' she writes to her mother, 'I care nothing about +it. I feel that a good rest in one place will be a boon to us. Anyhow, if +God wills him to be an Evangelist, He will open the way. I find that I +love the work itself far more than I thought I did, and I am willing to +risk something for it.' + +After this came several years of great conflict and struggle. The +Conference (or, as we would say, Headquarters) under whom The General +worked did not wish him to continue the great Salvation Campaigns for +which God had so marvellously fitted him. They wanted him to 'settle +down,' and spend perhaps several years in one place like ordinary +ministers. + +To please those who were over him he did this, and spent four years in +one town. But though God blessed his efforts, The General was convinced +that he was called to greater things. He loved the sinners; wherever he +went crowds flocked to hear him, and the vilest were converted. Was it +God's will, therefore, that he should sacrifice the work his soul loved, +and 'settle down' into an ordinary life, helping and reaching only the +people of one small city? + +This question our Army Mother helped him to decide. Try to picture her +position. She had by this time a family of little children, and her +health was very delicate. By counselling The General to 'settle down,' as +his friends wished him to do, she would have a nice home, a comfortable +income, and, above all, the constant presence of her husband, who would +no longer need to leave her on his long soul-saving tours. + +By refusing the position offered, and choosing instead to take up the +'evangelistic life' again, The General turned his back on salary, home, +and work, and went out into the world, with his wife and four children, +friendless and alone. Do you wonder that the struggle was a severe one? + +'Pray for me,' she wrote to her mother, when the question was about to be +settled. 'I have many a conflict in regard to the proposed new departure; +not as to our support--I feel as though I can trust the Lord implicitly +for all that; but the Devil tells me I shall never be able to endure the +loneliness and separation of the life. He draws many a picture of most +dark and melancholy shade. But I cling to the promise, "No man hath +forsaken," etc., and, having sworn to my own hurt, may I stand fast. I +have told William that if he takes the step, and it should bring me to +the workhouse, I would never say one upbraiding word. No. To blame him +for making such a sacrifice for God and conscience' sake would be worse +than wicked. So, whatever be the result, I shall make up my mind to +endure it patiently, looking to the Lord for grace and strength.' + +But if it was difficult for Mrs. Booth, the path was equally dark and +hard for The General. + +'William hesitates,' she writes a few weeks later. 'He thinks of me and +the children, and I appreciate his love and care. But I tell him that God +will provide, if he will only go straight on in the path of duty. It is +strange that I, who always used to shrink from the sacrifice, should be +the first in making it. But when I made the surrender I did it whole- +heartedly, and ever since I have been like another being. Oh, pray for us +yet more and more! We have no money coming in from any quarter now. Nor +has William any invitations at present. The time is unfavourable. I am +much tempted to feel it hard that God has not cleared our path more +satisfactorily. But I will not "charge God foolishly." I know that His +way is often in the whirlwind, and He rides upon the storm: I will try to +possess my soul in patience, and to wait on Him.' + +Sometimes you have heard your Officers talking in a Meeting, and telling +the people that, if they will but step out in faith, and do right, God +will open up the way for them. The example of our General and Army Mother +has taught us this lesson, for few ever took a step of faith into greater +darkness and difficulty than they did at this time. + +'My dearest,' writes Mrs. Booth to her mother, 'is starting for London. +Pray for him. He is much harassed. But I have promised to keep a brave +heart. At times it appears to me that God may have something very +glorious in store for us, and when He has tried us He will bring us forth +as gold. It will not be the first time I have taken a leap in the dark, +humanly speaking, for conscience' sake.' + +It was, indeed, a 'leap in the dark': to break up their little home in +the North, and, travelling by boat, to save expense, to bring their four +children to Mrs. Mumford's house in London. There they separated: the +father and mother went to Cornwall, to hold a Salvation campaign in a +little chapel that had been lent to them, and the children remained +behind. + +Of the marvellous way in which God blessed the Cornish work, I cannot +stop to tell you. Mrs. Booth's name as a preacher was by this time +becoming as widely known as that of her husband; and they went from one +place to another, at first together, and then, afterwards, separately, so +as to be able to do more good, for four long years. + +Whenever possible, our Army Mother took her children with her: she never +left them to others when she could help it, and later on I shall tell you +what a devoted and tender mother she was; but the strain of those four +long years no one will ever know. I want you to see the dark as well as +the bright side of her wonderful life; and here is part of a letter to +her mother, written at that time:-- + +'I feel dreadfully unsettled at present. I don't like this mode of living +at all. William has now been away from home, except on Friday and +Saturday, for twelve weeks. I long to get fixed together again once more. +The going backwards and forwards and being in other people's houses does +not suit William. Nor do I like leaving home for the Sabbaths. I am much +tempted to look gloomily towards the future. But "my heart is fixed." "I +will trust, and not be afraid."' + +Then again, a little later on:-- + +'Pray for me. I sometimes feel as though I had taken a path which is too +hard for me, and duties too heavy for me to perform; but it is my +privilege to say, and to feel, "I can do all things through Christ which +strengtheneth me."' + +Once again she says:-- + +'Well, the Lord help us to be faithful to our convictions, even in the +dark and cloudy day! I have felt it hard work to do so lately. Many a +time have I longed to be where the weary are at rest. + +'Well, we must labour and wait a little longer; it may be that the clouds +will break, and surround us with sunshine. Anyway, God lives above the +clouds, and He will direct our path.' + +The General and Mrs. Booth were holding Salvation services in London when +our Army Mother was called to make a fresh sacrifice, never dreaming of +the wonderful results that would spring from it. You shall read about it +in her own words, spoken many years afterwards:-- + +'I remember well,' she says, 'when The General decided at last to give up +the evangelistic life and to devote himself to the Salvation of the East- +Enders. He had come home from a Meeting one night, tired out, as usual. +It was between eleven and twelve o'clock. Flinging himself into an easy +chair, he said to me, "O Kate, as I passed by the doors of the flaming +gin-palaces to-night I seemed to hear a voice sounding in my ears, 'Where +can you go and find such heathen as these, and where is there so great a +need for your labours?' And I felt as though I ought at every cost to +stop and preach to these East-End crowds." + +'I remember the emotion that this produced in my soul. I sat gazing into +the fire, and the Devil whispered to me, "This means another new +departure--another start in life." + +'The question of our support I saw at once to be a serious difficulty. +Hitherto we had been able to meet our expenses by the collections which +we had made from our respectable audiences. But it was impossible to +suppose that we could do so among the poverty-stricken East-Enders. We +did not then see things as we do to-day. We were afraid even to ask for a +collection among the East London crowds. + +'Nevertheless, I did not answer discouragingly. After a moment's pause +for thought and prayer, I answered, "Well, if you feel you ought to stay, +stay. We have trusted the Lord once for our support, and we can trust Him +again."' + +Mrs. Booth, when she answered like this, had no idea of all that was to +follow. She never dreamt that, from The General's standing alone in +Whitechapel, a mighty wave of Salvation would sweep over the earth, nor +that God was about to raise up an Army of which she and The General were +to be the leaders. + +But, as always before, she willingly agreed to whatever would be for +God's glory and the Salvation of souls; and we all know to-day how, from +that little Whitechapel beginning, grew the Christian Mission, and how, +at last, the Christian Mission became The Salvation Army. + +Do not think, however, that our dear Army Mother's consecration stopped +here! No, indeed. One by one, as they became old enough, she gave up her +children to the Work, and we shall never know all we owe as an Army to +her beautiful spirit of devotion and sacrifice. + +Let us stand together by her open grave in the autumn twilight. Her +twenty-six years of fight and toil in The Salvation Army are over now, +her spirit has been summoned Home. Listen. The Army Founder himself is +the speaker. He is recalling the forty years which he and our dear Army +Mother had trod together, and his words sum up better than any other +words could do what she was to our Leader:-- + +'If you had had a tree,' he said, speaking to the vast crowd that stood +round the grave, 'that had grown up in your garden, under your window, +which for forty years had been your shadow from the burning sun, whose +flowers had been the adornment and beauty of your life, whose fruit had +been almost the stay of your existence, and the gardener had come along +and swung his glittering axe and cut it down before your eyes, I think +you would feel as though you had a blank--it might not be a big one--but +a little blank in your life. + +'If you had had a servant who for all this long time had served you +without fee or reward, who had administered, for very love, to your +health and comfort, and who suddenly passed away, you would miss that +servant. + +'If you had had a counsellor who, in hours--continually occurring--of +perplexity and amazement, had ever advised you, and seldom advised wrong; +whose advice you had followed, and seldom had reason to regret it; and +the counsellor, while you were in the same intricate mazes of your +existence, had passed away, you would miss that counsellor. + +'If you had had a friend who had understood your very nature, the rise +and fall of your feelings, the bent of your thoughts, and the purpose of +your existence; a friend whose communion had ever been pleasant--the +most pleasant of all other friends--to whom you had ever turned with +satisfaction, and your friend had been taken away, you would feel some +sorrow at the loss. + +'If you had had a mother for your children who had cradled and nursed and +trained them for the service of the living God, in which you most +delighted--a mother, indeed, who had never ceased to bear their sorrows +on her heart, and who had been ever willing to pour forth that heart's +blood in order to nourish them, and that darling mother had been taken +from your side, you would feel it a sorrow. + +'If you had had a wife, a sweet love of a wife, who for forty years had +never given you real cause for grief; a wife who had stood with you, side +by side, in the battle's front, who had been a comrade to you, ever +willing to interpose herself between you and the enemy, and ever the +strongest when the battle was fiercest, and your beloved one had fallen +before your eyes, I am sure there would be some excuse for your sorrow. + +'Well, my comrades, you can roll all these qualities into one +personality, and what would be lost in all I have lost in one. There has +been taken away from me the light of my eyes, the inspiration of my soul, +and we are about to lay all that remains of her in the grave. I have been +looking right at the bottom of it here, and calculating how soon they may +bring and lay me alongside of her, and my cry to God has been that every +remaining hour of my life may make me readier to come and join her in +death, to go and embrace her in life in the Eternal City.' + + + + +V + +THE SPEAKER + + + +'I will never speak to sinners so that one man or woman in my audience +can stand up and say, "You might have warned me more faithfully, spoken +more plainly than you did." I would rather die than that should be the +case.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +No one must think that Mrs. Booth became a great speaker all in a moment, +or by any 'royal road.' She started when about eighteen, as many a Corps +Cadet has since done, by just taking a class or Company on Sundays, never +dreaming of doing more. An elder girls' Company was given to her; and she +had fifteen girls to teach, whose ages varied from twelve to nineteen. + +Two half-days she spent every week in preparing for her Company, and in +trying to make each lesson end in a practical way, so as to do them real +good. + +Then on Sunday, when the rest of the children had been dismissed, Miss +Mumford would beg to be given the key of the room and would remain +behind, holding a little Prayer Meeting with her girls. Sometimes they +would stay on for an hour and a half, and many by this means became truly +converted. + +Often with so much praying and singing Catherine quite lost her voice +before the end of the Meeting; but, so long as souls were saved, she did +not mind that. + +Soon after her marriage Mrs. Booth took another class of this same kind, +and also a little sort of Sergeants' Meeting, and then--for you see our +Army Mother was led on, just as you or I may be, step by step--she gave +a short talk to the Band of Hope children (something like our Band of +Love of today) on the evils of drink. + +'Oh, how I wish,' she wrote to her father, 'that I had started speaking +years ago!' + +A little later on Mr. and Mrs. Booth moved to Gateshead, and there the +people were very much surprised to hear their minister's wife pray aloud +when her husband had done speaking; for in those days very few women +thought of praying, much less of speaking, in public. + +'Since you can pray so beautifully, will you come and talk to us on our +special Prayer-Meeting night?' some of the people asked. But Mrs. Booth +was horrified. + +'Of course, I said "No,"' she wrote. 'I don't know what they can be +thinking of.' + +Just at this time an argument began in one of the newspapers as to +whether women had the right to speak for God or not. Mrs. Booth wrote an +answer to this question you can read it for yourself in her book, +'Practical Religion'--and she showed from God's Word, that women have the +same right to help to get people saved that the men have. The little +pamphlet was already printed and being widely read, and our Army Mother +lay alone in her room very ill, when the thought flashed into her soul, +'You have been helping other women to preach and to speak for God. What +about yourself?' + +'Oh, no, Lord, not me; I can't. I am, as Thou knowest, the most timid and +bashful disciple ever saved by grace.' That was her answer. + +Then the Lord took her back to the days when she first gave herself to +Him, at the age of fifteen. He showed her that all the way along this one +thing had hindered and stopped her from 'being the blessing or from +getting the blessing He intended.' + +'Lord,' she cried, 'if Thou wilt come back to me as in the old days, I +will obey, though I die in the attempt.' + +But at the moment God seemed not to answer her cry, and when she was well +again all went on as before. + +Three months later Mrs. Booth was quietly sitting one Sunday morning in +chapel with her eldest boy, when a very wonderful thing happened. You +shall read about it in her own words:-- + +'I felt much depressed in mind,' she says, 'and was not expecting +anything particular, but as the testimonies proceeded I felt the Holy +Spirit come upon me. It seemed as if a voice said to me: "Now, if you +were to go and testify, you know I would bless it to your own soul as +well as to the people!" I gasped again, and said in my heart: "Yes, Lord, +I believe Thou wouldst, but I cannot do it!" I had forgotten my vow. + +'A moment afterwards there flashed across my mind the memory of the time +when I had promised the Lord that I would obey Him at all costs. And then +the voice seemed to ask me if this was consistent with that promise. I +almost jumped up and said, "No, Lord, it is the old thing over again. But +I cannot do it!" I felt as though I would sooner die than speak. And then +the Devil said, "Besides, you are not prepared. You will look like a +fool, and will have nothing to say." He made a mistake. He overreached +himself for once. It was this word that settled it. "Ah!" I said, "this +is just the point. I have never yet been willing to be a fool for Christ. +Now I will be one!" + +'Without stopping another moment, I rose up from my seat and walked down +the aisle. My dear husband thought something had happened to me, and so +did the people. We had been there two years, and they knew my timid, +bashful nature. He stepped down, and asked me, "What is the matter, my +dear?" I replied, "I want to say a word!" He was so taken by surprise +that he could only say, "My dear wife wishes to speak!" and sat down. For +years he had been trying to persuade me to do it. Only that very week he +had wanted me to go and address a little Cottage Meeting of some twenty +working people, but I had refused. + +'I stood--God only knows how--and if any mortal ever did hang on the arm +of Omnipotence, I did. I just stood and told the people how it had come +about. I confessed, as I think everybody should who has been in the wrong +and has misrepresented the religion of Jesus Christ. I said, "I dare say +many of you have been looking upon me as a very devoted woman, and one +who has been living faithfully to God. But I have come to realize that I +have been disobeying Him, and thus brought darkness and leanness into my +soul. I have promised the Lord to do so no longer, and have come to tell +you that henceforth I will be obedient to the holy vision." + +'There was more weeping, they said, in the chapel that day than on any +previous occasion. Many dated a renewal in righteousness from that very +moment, and began a life of devotion and consecration to God. + +'Now I might have "talked good" to them till now. That honest confession +did what twenty years of preaching could not have accomplished.' + +After this wonderful victory Mrs. Booth never again drew back. The same +night she spoke once more, with even greater power than in the morning, +and before long invitations came pouring in from all parts, for wherever +she went souls were saved and people sanctified. + +But it cost her a great deal to preach like this. She writes of one +Meeting held soon after:-- + +'I got on very well, and had three beautiful cases, but I cannot tell you +how I felt all day about it. I could neither eat nor sleep. I never was +in such a state, and when I saw the people, I felt like melting away. +However, I got through.' + +Even to the last, when she was known all round the world as one of the +greatest women-preachers of the day, she never spoke without feeling +deeply the responsibility and importance of her work, nor without having +prepared carefully beforehand what she wanted to say. + +It was very difficult for her, with four little children, the eldest only +four years and three months old, to get enough time and quiet. We should +have said it was impossible, for she was not well off, and could not +afford to put her sewing out, or to have many servants to work for her; +but she says:-- + +'God forced me to begin to think and work, and He gave me grace and +strength to do it. Many a time while I was nursing my baby I was thinking +of what I should say next Sunday, and between times I noted down with a +pencil the thoughts as they struck me. Then I would appear with an +outline scratched in pencil, trusting in the Lord to give me the power of +His Holy Spirit; and from the day I began He has never allowed me to open +my mouth without giving me signs of His presence and blessing.' + +The two books she always used in getting ready for her Meetings were her +Bible and Concordance. + +In later years she taught her children how to prepare for their Meetings, +and some of the advice she gives is very helpful to Corps Cadets. + +'"Jesus wept,"' she writes to her eldest girl, who was then fourteen, +'would be a nice subject for you at one of your little Meetings. And you +could find some texts to show how David wept, and Daniel, and Jeremiah, +etc., if you like it. But don't take it because _I_ say so--you must +ask the Lord for your subjects.' + +Later on, however, as The Salvation Army grew, Mrs. Booth felt that, +though it was just as necessary to prepare, yet to speak from notes was +often not helpful to either the Officer or the people, so she writes to +one of her sons:-- + +'Get out of them! They don't fit our work. When you get on, you don't +want them; and when you don't, they are no good. At first, if your memory +won't serve you, just jot on a small bit of paper the size of a ticket +your main divisions in large writing, but no more. Like this:-- + + 'Day of wrath is come. + '1. God's wrath. + '2. Just wrath. + '3. Uttermost wrath. + '4. Eternal wrath.' + +On the platform Mrs. Booth's manner was as simple and natural as when by +her own fireside; anything 'put on' or affected she hated. + +'If I were asked,' she says, 'to put into one word what I consider to be +the greatest hindrance to the success of Divine truth, even when spoken +by sincere and real people, I should say _stiffness_. Simplicity is +indispensable to success, _naturalness_ in putting the truth. It +seems as if people, the moment they come to religion, put on a different +tone, a different look and manner--in short, become unnatural.' + +But Mrs. Booth not only prepared for her Meetings by thought and study, +but she prepared most of all by prayer. + +'Oh, if we could,' she writes, 'get more of the spirit of prayer into +those who love God! Few understand it at all. + +'I always find an exact proportion in the results to the spirit of +intercession I have had beforehand. That is why I like to be alone in +lodgings.' + +Before her Meeting she would wrestle and plead with God for hours, in +tears and agony, and then would face her congregation overflowing with +love and faith. + +'Pray for me,' she writes during her marvellous Portsmouth campaign. 'No +one knows how I feel. I think I never realized my responsibility as I did +on Sunday night. I felt really awful before rising to speak. The sight +almost overwhelmed me. With its two galleries, its dome-like roof and +vast proportions, when crammed with people, the building presents a most +imposing appearance. The top gallery is ten or twelve seats deep in +front, and it was full of men. Such a sight as I have never seen on any +previous occasion. Oh, how I _yearned_ over them! I felt as if it +would be a small thing to die _there and then_, if that would have +brought them to Jesus.' + +Nothing short of men and women getting converted satisfied her. + +'They say,' she writes of another campaign, 'the sinners here will +"_bide some bringing down_." Well, the Lord can do it. They tell me, +too, that I am immensely popular with the people. But _that_ is no +comfort unless they will be saved.' + +She laboured to get the truth home to the hearts of her listeners, and +that is why her talking was so blessed. + +'God made you responsible,' she said, 'not for delivering the truth, but +for GETTING IT IN--getting it home, fixing it in the conscience as a red- +hot iron, as a bolt, straight from His throne; and He has given you also +the _power to do it_; and if you do not do it, _blood_ will be +on your skirts. Oh, this genteel way of putting the truth! How God hates +it! "If you please, dear friends, will you listen? If you please, will +you be converted? Will you come to Jesus? Shall we read just this, that, +and the other?" No more like apostolic preaching than darkness is like +light.' + +How can I show you some of the marvellous results of her preaching? In +every part of our land her influence and words made themselves felt; the +largest buildings were crowded with all classes of society, and glorious +cases of conversion and sanctification crowned her labours everywhere. A +lady who was at some of her women's Meetings at Lye, near Birmingham, +tells us:-- + +'The women left their work, and in all sorts of odd costumes flocked to +the Meetings, some with bonnets, some with shawls fastened over their +head, others with little children clinging to their necks. All, with +eager, inquiring faces, took their seats and listened to the gracious +words which fell from the lips of dear Mrs. Booth. And when the +invitation was given, what a scene ensued! It baffles all description. +Crowding, weeping, rushing to the penitent-form came convicted sinners +and repentant backsliders. When the form was filled the penitents dropped +upon their knees in the aisles or in their seats, so that it was +difficult to move about.' + +When holding some Meetings in a Rotherhithe chapel (for The Army was only +just beginning its work, and our Army Mother took Meetings in different +churches and chapels up and down the land), the victories were just as +glorious, and one of her Converts says:-- + +'There were many remarkable cases of conversion at these Meetings. +Amongst others there were the two daughters of a publican. When one +sister was saved the other went to hear Mrs. Booth on purpose to ridicule +the services. But she was seized with such an agonizing realization of +her sins that she came down from the top of the gallery to the penitent- +form, crying out aloud, "I must come! I must come!" Soon after their +father gave up the public-house, and they afterwards became members of +Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle. + +'I have seen as many as thirty persons seeking Salvation in a single +Meeting, and some years afterwards, when I looked at the register of our +chapel, I found about one hundred names of those who had professed to be +converted at this time.' + +Our Army Mother, too, was equally straight and fearless with the rich +when, later on, they also came in crowds to hear her. She had but one +message and one gospel for all alike. She says, 'By God's help I will not +regard the person of man, but will plainly and fearlessly declare the +truth, come what may.' God honoured this spirit, and her Meetings in the +West-End of London, where the great and rich live, were some of the most +glorious of her life. Of one such she writes:-- + +'The Lord has very graciously stood by me, and given me much precious +fruit. Last Sunday we had the Hall crowded, and a large proportion of +gentlemen. The Lord was there in power, and twenty-one came forward--some +for Salvation and some for purity. Several were most blessed cases of +full surrender. We did not get away till nearly six, and we began at +three. Everybody is amazed at this for the West-End! The audience is very +select, we never having published a bill. Pray much, dear friend, that +God may do a deep and permanent work in this Babylon. It seems as though +He gave me words of fire for them, and they sat spellbound.' + +You say you wish you had heard her speak? Indeed, we all wish you had: +you could never have forgotten it. But several of her addresses were +taken down in shorthand at the time, and are reprinted in her books, so +you can get and read them; and they will bless and teach you as they have +taught thousands before you. + + + + +VI + +THE MOTHER + + + +'A lady once said to me, "How have you managed to get your children +converted so early?" "Oh," I said, "I have been beforehand with the +Devil."'--MRS. BOOTH. + +I have already told you how Mrs. Booth had the true mother spirit when +but a little child, loving and tending her dolls as if they had been real +babies; you will, therefore, guess that with her own children she was the +best and most careful of mothers. She began early to train them in the +right way, and never left them unless forced to do so. + +'I cannot part with Willie,' she writes to her mother, who offered to +free Mrs. Booth by taking charge of the baby for her; 'first, because I +know the child's affections could not but be weaned from us; and +secondly, because the next year will be the most important of his life +with reference to managing his will; and in this I cannot but distrust +you. I know, my darling mother, you could not wage war with his self-will +so resolutely as to subdue it. And then my child would be ruined, for he +must be taught implicit, uncompromising obedience.' + +But long before writing this she had already claimed her boy for God and +His war. 'I had from the first,' she says, 'definite longings over +Bramwell, and lifted him up to God as soon as I had strength to do so, +especially desiring he should be a teacher of Holiness.' These prayers +began to be answered very early. The boy had a truthful and conscientious +nature. Never, his mother says, does she remember his telling her a lie. +But, for all that, he needed, as do all children, training and teaching, +and Mrs. Booth was too wise not to be firm. She writes therefore: + +'I believe he will be a thoroughly noble lad, if I can preserve him from +all evil influence. The Lord help me! I have had to whip him twice lately +severely for disobedience, and it has cost me some tears. But it has done +him good, and I am reaping the reward already of my self-sacrifice. The +Lord help me to be faithful and firm as a rock in the path of duty +towards my children!' + +We know how practical our Army Mother always was; sentimental pity +without help she despised. When her little son, therefore, saw and pitied +a small boy with shoeless feet, his mother quickly reminded him of his +little money-box. + +'Would you rather keep the money for barley-sugar, Willie, or give it to +the poor boy?' she asked. 'Give it to the boy,' he said at once, and so +learnt his first lesson in self-denial. + +When the boy was seven years old he was converted, to his mother's +deepest joy. Some time before she had talked to him in a Meeting, and +urged him to get saved. The boy sat still and said nothing. 'Willie, I +insist,' said his mother at last. 'You must answer me. Will you give your +heart to God or not? Yes or no?' + +Willie looked up in her face steadily and answered back 'No.' + +Mrs. Booth said no more just then, but held on in faith and prayer, and +some months later, to her unutterable thankfulness, she found him +squeezed in among a number of other children at the penitent-form. He +had, unasked, made his way there, and was weeping and confessing his sins +with all his heart. + +Needless to say, he was faithfully dealt with, and the boy, now our +beloved General, dates his conversion from that moment. A little later +Mrs. Booth wrote of him:-- + +'Willie has begun to serve God, of course as a child, but still, I trust, +taught of the Spirit. I feel a great increase of responsibility with +respect to him. Oh! to cherish the tender plant of grace aright. Lord +help!' + +And as with the eldest so with the other seven. One by one they gave +their hearts to the Lord as soon as they grew old enough to do so. + +'She used to gather us round her,' says one of her daughters,' and pray +with us. I wore then a low frock, and her hot tears would often drop upon +my neck, sending a thrill through me which I can never forget.' + +She would pray again and again that she might lay them in their graves +rather than she should see them grow up wicked. + +Mrs. Booth was very particular about the way in which her children were +dressed. + +Of course, there was no uniform in those days, but The Army spirit was +already in The Army Mother, and she would not have any finery or show, +either for herself or her children. + +'Accept,' she writes to her mother, 'my warm thanks for the little frock +you sent. There is only one difficulty--it is too smart. We must set an +example in this direction. I feel no temptation now to decorate myself, +but I cannot say the same about the children; and yet, Oh, I see I must +be decided. Besides, I find it would be dangerous for their own sakes. +The seed of vanity is too deeply sown in their young hearts for me to +dare to cultivate it.' + +Even in her early days Mrs. Booth felt how wrong it was to spend time and +money over dress:-- + +'I remember feeling condemned,' she says, 'when quite a child, not more +than eight years old, at having to wear a lace tippet such as was +fashionable in those days. From a worldly point of view it would have +been considered, no doubt, very neat and consistent. But on several +occasions I had good crying fits over it. Not only did I instinctively +feel it to be immodest, because people could see through it, but I +thought it was not such as a Christian child should wear.' + +In everything to do with her home Mrs. Booth was a most practical and +careful mother. She hated waste and luxury, but her children were always +properly dressed and fed and cared for, and never lacked what was +necessary for them. + +Ladies who had been blessed by her words came to consult her about their +souls, and to their surprise found the great preacher, not shut away in +her study, but hard at work perhaps ironing the baby's pinafores, or +cutting out a pair of trousers for one of her boys! 'I must try,' she +said, when she began to live this two-fold life, 'to do all in the +kitchen as well as in the pulpit to the glory of God. The Lord help me.' +He did help her, and it was this practical mother-spirit at home which +gave her so much force and power on the platform. + +As the children grew older, they were more away from her side, and her +letters to them are suitable, not only to her actual sons and daughters, +but to her spiritual grandchildren who will read this little book. +Therefore I am going to give you some extracts, which you may take as +though written by our Army Mother straight to your own heart. + +To one of her boys at school she wrote:-- + +'I do hope you are industrious, and do not lose time in play and +inattention. Remember Satan steals his marches on us by _littles_--a +minute now, and a minute then. Be on the look out, and don't be cheated +by him! + +'All your little trials will soon be over, so far as school life is +concerned; and every one of them, if borne with patience, will make you a +wiser and better man. Never forget my advice about not listening to +_secrets_! Don't hear anything that needs to be whispered--it is +sure to be bad. Choose the boys to be your companions who most love and +fear God, and pray together when you can, and help each other.' + +Here is a very beautiful letter written when one of her children desired +to go in for some higher education, which Mrs. Booth feared might spoil +the soul life:-- + +'I do so want you and all my children to live supremely for God. I do so +deeply deplore my own failure compared with what my life might have been, +and I feel as if I could die to save you from making a mistake. Perhaps +you say, "You don't want me, then, to learn any more?" Yes, I do, a great +deal more; but of the right kind, in the right way, and for a right +purpose, even the _highest good of your race_. I would like you to +learn to put your thoughts together well, to think logically and clearly, +to speak powerfully--that is, with good but simple language--and to write +clearly and well.' + +Just the wish we have now for all our Young People! + +Early in their childhood the elder children were taught to be responsible +for the younger, and when at school they were given places of trust as +monitors, and so on. As if knowing the responsibilities they would by and +by be called to fill in our ranks, Mrs. Booth gives them some wise +counsel:-- + +'I hope,' she says to one who has been left in charge of the other +children, 'you will show yourself to be a true son of your mother, and a +consistent disciple of the Lord. Very much depends on you as to the ease +and comfort of managing the little ones. Do all you can. Be forbearing +where only your own feelings or comfort are concerned, and don't raise +unnecessary difficulties; but where their obedience to us or their health +is at stake, be firm in trying to put them right.' + +'I am pleased,' she says to one of the boys who has been in charge of +others at school, 'that Mr. W. puts such confidence in you; but do not be +puffed up by it. Remember how weak you are, and ask the Lord to save you +from conceit and self-sufficiency. Try to be fair and just in all +dealings with the boys--i.e., do not be hard on a boy whom you may not +happen to like so well as another; but be fair, and treat all alike when +left in charge.' + +Again, she warns one of them against extremes, even in well doing: + +'You are under a mistake to suppose that sacrificing your recreation-time +will help you in the end. It will not. Cramming the mind acts just in the +same way as cramming the stomach. It is what you digest well that +benefits you, not what you cram in. So many hours spent in study, and +then relaxation and walking, will do your mind much more good than "all +work, and no play." Now mark this. Do not be looking so much at what you +_have_ to do as to what you are _doing_. Leave the future (you +may spend it in Heaven), and go steadily on doing to-day's work in +to-day's hours, with recreation in between to shake the seed in. One +step well and firmly taken is better than two with a slip backwards. +Poor human nature seems as though it must go to extremes--either all or +none, too much or too little, idleness or being killed with work! May +the Lord show you the happy medium.' + +'I was sorry about the cause of the accident. I don't like that way of +doing things in fun! Though it was very wrong and wicked of the boy to +throw the brick, yet it would have been better to let him look at the +guinea-pigs being fed, and thus have pleased him. There was no harm in +what he wanted to do. You should watch against a hectoring spirit, and +mind the difference between a sacrifice of truth and principle, and one +only of self-importance or of mere feeling. If a boy wants you to do +wrong, then be firm as a rock and brave for God and goodness.' + +'Mind your soul,' she says at another time. 'Do not let your thoughts get +so absorbed, even in study, as to lead you to forget your Bible and to +neglect prayer.' + +Later, again, as a wise mother she warns them in the tenderest way +against their special temptations. + +Against lightness:-- + +'Be watchful against levity. C. is a good, devoted fellow, but naturally +an incorrigible joker. It may not hurt him much, because it is his +nature; but it will hurt you if you give way to it. It hurts nearly +everybody. + +Watch! Don't descend to buffoonery. While you become all things to win +some, don't forfeit your natural self-respect and the dignity of your +position as a servant of Christ.' + +Against too much talk:-- + +'The Spirit is teaching you this--is showing you that you must be more +silent. The tongue is one of the greatest enemies to grace (James iii. +5-13). Strive to obey these teachings of God. Yield yourself up to obey; +and though you sometimes fail and slip, do not be discouraged, but yield +yourself up again and again, and plead more fervently with God to keep +you. Fourteen years ago you were learning to walk, and in the process you +got many a tumble. But now you can not only walk yourself, but teach +others. So, spiritually, if you will only let God lead you, He will +perfect that which is lacking in you.' + +But it was not at first easy for the mother-spirit in Mrs. Booth to allow +her delicate girls of fourteen or fifteen to undertake a public life, and +to speak and sing at the street corners, surrounded by a rough, low +crowd. Such a thing was unheard-of in those days. + +Once, hearing that her daughter Catherine had spoken in the open air to a +large crowd, Mrs. Booth objected, as other mothers have since objected: +the girl was too young as yet--she must wait awhile. + +But her eldest son, looking at his mother in the tenderest and most +solemn way, said, 'Mamma, dear, you will have to settle this question +with God; for Katie is as surely called and inspired by Him for the +particular work as you are yourself.' + +Mrs. Booth said no more. She took this as the voice of God, and gave her +girl up to the marvellous work which God had called her to do. + +Later she writes of her to a friend:-- + +'Join me in praying that she may be kept humble and simple, and that all +that the Lord has given her may be used for Him.' + +'I see,' she says, writing at this same time to her daughter, 'what a +glorious, blessed, useful life you may live; but I also see your danger, +and I pray for you that you may be enabled to cast aside the world in +every form, to look down upon its opinions, and to despise its spirit, +maxims, and fashions.' + +Later on, again, came the days when the boys had to choose, as you have +to do, how they would spend their lives. Mrs. Booth might be writing to a +Corps Cadet of to-day when, in a letter to one of her sons, she says:-- + +'I hope the Lord will make you so miserable everywhere and at everything +else that you will be _compelled_ to preach! Oh, my boy, the Lord +wants such as you--_just such_--to go out amongst the people, +seeking nothing but the things that are Jesus Christ's! You are free to +do it; able by His grace; born to do it, with splendid opportunities. +Will you not rise to your destiny? "Have courage, and be strong, and I +(the I Am) will be with thee." "Get thee out, and I will go with thee." +Dare you not take hold of the arm that holds the world and all things up? +And if you do, can you fail? The Lord gird you with His strength, and +make your brow brass, and your tongue as a flame of fire. You _must +preach_!' + +To another of her boys she writes:-- + +'You may, perhaps, be wanted to stand and do battle for the Lord. Surely +you will not sell your birthright? The Lord help you! Take hold of +David's God. Hold your head up, keep your shoulders back, and go +forward.' + +Again:-- + +'This is what the world wants: men of one idea--that of getting people +saved. There are plenty of men of one idea--that of _gold_-getting. +They make no secret of it; they are of a worldly spirit. Now we want men +who are set on soul-saving, who are not ashamed to let everybody know it +--men of a Christ-like spirit. There need be no mistake or mystery about +it. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Paul and every other man of +like spirit has had his fruits, and will have to the end of time. It is +"Not by might, nor by power, but by _My Spirit_, saith the Lord of +Hosts."' + +With one of her daughters she reasons and pleads:-- + +'Oh, it seems to me that if I were in your place--young, no cares or +anxieties, with such a start, such influence, and such a prospect--I +should not be able to contain myself for joy! I should, indeed, aspire to +be the "bride of the Lamb," and to follow Him in conflict for the +Salvation of poor, lost, miserable man. I pray the Lord to show it to +you, and so to enamour you of Himself, that you may see and feel it to be +your chief joy to win them for Him. I say I pray for this--yes, I groan +for it, with groanings that cannot be uttered; and if ever you tell me it +is so, I shall be overjoyed. + +'I don't want you to make any vows (unless, indeed, the Spirit leads you +to do so); but I want you to set your mind and heart on winning souls, +and to leave everything else with the Lord. When you do this you will be +happy--Oh, so happy! Your soul will then find perfect rest. The Lord +grant it to you, my dear child.' + +She made all her children feel that the only reward they could give her +for her ceaseless toil and labour on their behalf was that they should +give themselves to the War:-- + +'I hope, my dear boy, that, whatever sense of obligation or gratitude you +have towards me, you will try to return it by resolutely resisting all +temptation to evil, and by fitting yourself to your utmost to be useful +to your fellow-men. I ask from you, as I asked from God, no other reward. +If I know my own heart, I would rather that you should work for the +Salvation of souls, making bad hearts good, and miserable homes happy, +and preparing joy and gladness for men at the Judgment bar, if you only +get bread and cheese all your life, than that you should fill any other +capacity with L10,000 per year.' + +To one of her children, when tempted to be over-anxious, she writes:-- + +'Keep your mind quiet. Lean back on God, and don't worry. It is His +affair, and if you have done what you could, that is enough. Alas! how +little we have of the faith that can "stand still, and see the Salvation +of God." What would you do if you were put in custody for two years, like +Paul was? And yet that imprisonment at Rome sent the Gospel far and wide! +God's ways are not our ways. He takes in the whole field at once, and +does the best He can for the entire world. Human wisdom never has been +able at the time to comprehend His plans, but years after it has often +seen their wisdom. Let us learn to trust in the dark--to stand still.' + +To another, tried and discouraged at the start of his public life:-- + +'I have only a minute or two; but, lest you should think I don't +sympathize with you, I send you a line. You ask, did I ever feel so? Yes, +I think just as bad as any mortal _could_ feel--_empty_, inside +and out, as though I had nothing human or Divine to aid me, as if all +Hell were let loose upon me. + +But I have generally felt _the worse before the best results_, which +proves it was Satanic opposition. And it has been the same with many of +God's most honoured instruments. I believe nearly all who are truly +called of God to special usefulness pass through this buffeting. + +'It stands to sense, if there is a Devil, that he should desperately +withstand those whom he sees are going to be used of God. Supposing +_you_ were the Devil, and had set your heart on circumventing God, +how would you do it but by opposing those who were bent on building up +His Kingdom? He hopes to drive us from the field by blood and fire and +vapour of smoke. But our Captain fought and won the battle for us, and we +have only to hold on long enough, and victory is sure. "Courage!" your +Captain cries. "Only be thou strong, and of good courage, and I will be +with thee, and teach thee what to say." + +'"He hath chosen the weak things." He has not _made shift with +them_--taken them because there were no others. No! He hath +_chosen_ them. Will He ever forsake them, and thus make Himself a +laughing-stock for Hell? Never! Will He ever let the Devil say, "Ah, ah! +He chose this weak one, and then let him fail"? No, no, no!' + +On the important question of courtship, she writes:-- + +'The Devil sets such innocent-looking traps--_spiritual traps_--to +catch young people! Ah, he is a serpent still! Beware of his devices, and +always cry to God for wisdom and strength of will to put down all foolish +tampering. You are born for greater things. God may want you to be a +leader in some vast continent, and you will want a companion and a +counsellor--a "helpmeet." The original word means "_a help +corresponding to his dignity_" This is the meaning given by the best +expositors. Oh, what wisdom there is even in the _words_ which God +has chosen to express His ideas! "Corresponding to his dignity!" Yes, and +no man ever takes one below this mark who does not suffer for it; and, +worse still, generations yet unborn have to suffer also. Mind what God +says, and keep yourself till that one comes. + +'A wrong step on this point, and you are undone. Oh, the misery of an +unsuitable match! It is beyond description. I could tell you tales of woe +that are now being enacted. But I must wait till we meet. + +'I have seen too much of life, and know too much of human nature, to have +much confidence in promises given under such circumstances. For my own +part, I made up my mind when I was but sixteen that I would not have a +man, though a Christian, who should offer to become even an abstainer for +my sake. I felt that such a promise would not afford me ground for +confidence afterwards. And do not we see enough all round us to show that +unless people adopt things on principle, because they see it to be right, +they soon change? Look at the folks who promise to give up tobacco and +dress, for the sake of getting into berths; how soon it evaporates! No, +my lad, wait a bit. "Couldst thou not watch with Me one hour?" Jesus +lived a single life for your sake all the way through. Can you not live +so till He finds you one after His own heart? I feel sure He will. Pray +about it in faith. I am doing so; and God will answer. But Oh, don't run +before Him! Wait on the Lord. + +'A little longer and you will be saying, "Oh, how glad I am I waited! I +have now found a treasure indeed!" When God's time and person are come, +He will bring you together. How delighted and satisfied Isaac must have +felt when the servant told him the way God led him (Genesis xxiv.).' + +When standing by her grave The General said she was _The Army +Mother_. He said the truth. + +One of her early promises, given to her as a girl, when she only saw its +greatness and hid it away in her heart as too sacred to be spoken of, and +almost too wonderful ever to be accomplished, were the words: 'I will +make thee a mother of nations.' + +When called to send her children abroad, she paid to the full the heavy +price; but she also saw the glorious outcome, and from her death-bed sent +tenderest messages to those of distant lands and far-off nations who +owned her as their Army Mother. + + + + +VII + +THE WORKER + + + +'What the Lord wants is, that you shall go about the business to which He +sets you, not asking for an easy post, nor grumbling at a hard one.'-- +MRS. BOOTH. + +If she had not been a worker, our Army Mother would have done little with +her life. The wonderful call which came to her, her great gifts, the zeal +and love which filled her heart, would all have been useless had she not +been willing to work, and to work hard, and to work every day. + +Stop and think about this. No life accomplishes anything unless it is +full of hard work--often work accompanied by much drudgery, whether it is +the life of a king or of a poor man. Mrs. Booth has set us all an example +in this, for she would work ceaselessly with head or hands or heart, as +long as ever her health allowed her to do so. Laziness and idleness of +all kinds she detested; nor could she tolerate a lazy person in her +service. + +She worked first of all in her home. When she spent a morning in her +kitchen, the work there was perfectly done. The dinner was ready at the +right time, properly cooked, good and wholesome. She allowed no waste and +no extravagance. Her bread was light and beautifully baked, and when she +had finished her morning's work her kitchen was as neat as when she +began. She finished everything, and put it straight as she went along. + +It was the same with the children. She was alike nurse and doctor, +dressmaker and tailor; she made and mended, washed and ironed for her +boys and girls during their early years, and herself attended to every +smallest detail of their lives. Strangers who asked where Mrs. Booth +bought her children's things, so that they could go to the same shop, +could scarcely believe the reply: 'Mamma makes all our clothes herself' +--so beautifully were they cut and finished. + +And when the little garments were of no further service to her, she would +alter and mend them once again, and give them away. Her baby-clothes, +when the last daughter had outgrown them, were given to a member of the +Mission for his child. + +He will never forget taking the little bundle home to his wife and +turning over the tiny things. 'I had often heard Mrs. Booth preach,' he +said, 'but those baby-clothes preached a louder sermon to me and my wife +than ever her words had done. They were all darned and mended and +patched, and the work--but, there, I never saw such stitches! And as we +looked, and knew the hours of toil she must have put into them, rather +than throw them away, as many another would have done--well, I tell you I +listened to her next sermon as I had never listened before.' + +And this same diligent, tireless spirit was with her to the last. When on +her deathbed, able only to use her left hand, and propped up by pillows, +she devised a little frame on which, painfully, stitch by stitch, she +could work a last token of love for The General. + +When her hands were folded still in death, I saw those slippers. They +were beautifully embroidered, one with the words, 'He will keep the feet +of His Saints'; and the other with the sure and certain hope which lay +beyond the parting, 'Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem' +--a fitting and sacred service with which to close her many years of toil +and labour for others. + +But our Army Mother had another way of working in her home--that is, she +worked over others. If a girl wished to learn, Mrs. Booth would take +endless trouble in showing her the best way to wash or iron, or clean a +grate, or do whatever the work on hand might be. She instructed her +servants, explaining to them the reason for doing their duties in a +certain way, teaching them forethought and common sense, and dealing +faithfully with them over all their failures. + +'Better,' she said, in one of her addresses--and she lived it out in her +own home--'better take a girl whom you have to teach how to wash a +child's face, or to stitch a button on, if she is true and sincere, than +have one ever so clever, who will teach your children to lie and +deceive.' + +She worked, too, over the cases of need and poverty which were often at +her door. Not content, like so many, with giving a few coppers to a +beggar, or some broken food, she would inquire into the _cause_ of +the distress; and then, if the need seemed genuine, she would help, +either by getting the father work, or by having the home visited and +suitable relief given after the true condition of things had been found +out. + +And this was only a little of the homework with which her hands were ever +full. Of her ceaseless care over her children's mind and soul training I +have told you elsewhere. But of her public work perhaps the most +exhausting was that which resulted from her Meetings. For she could not +rest content with the most careful preparation beforehand, nor with +pouring out her whole soul upon the people during the forty or fifty +minutes that her address lasted. At the close of the Meeting, whenever +her health allowed it, she would labour and toil, often for two hours and +more, dealing herself with the penitents, meeting their difficulties, one +by one, and was unwilling to leave them until, as far as possible, all +had claimed and received the blessing they sought. + +The next day, too, she would follow up any special case with a long +personal letter from her own pen, or she would arrange another interview, +or in some way keep in close, actual touch with the struggling soul, +until the step of obedience had been taken, and he or she was fairly +started on the Narrow Way. + +And it was this careful, earnest, patient after-work which gave such +glorious harvests to her soul-saving campaigns. Labour and trouble were a +joy to her, if she could but help one sincere, seeking soul into the +light. + +But remember this: while she so toiled over all who came to her for +advice and guidance, she never repeated nor passed on to others their +confidences. If she had done so, people would soon have left off corning +to her; they would have said, 'We cannot trust her.' She was, as you +know, a mighty speaker; but about other people's affairs she was entirely +silent--as you must learn to be if you wish to be of any service to God +or man. + +And Mrs. Booth strove constantly to teach all who were around her to work +as she did. 'You have begun well enough--now carry it through,' she would +say again and again to her children, and whether it was a doll's frock, +or an article for 'The War Cry,' or a series of Meetings, it was always +the same. Unfinished, half-done work she detested with all her soul. 'If +a thing is worth beginning at all, then it is worth finishing,' she would +say; and this great principle followed her through her life in small +things as in great. + +This was the reason that, on her deathbed, she could say, turning to the +Chief of the Staff, 'I have no vain regrets about the past. As far as my +strength allowed, I have finished the work I had to do as I went along; +and now I leave it, all imperfect as it has been, in His hands.' + +Perhaps, by nature, you are not a worker. But what you are not by nature, +you can become by grace. God can teach you to love work. And as you work, +you will, like our dear Army Mother, learn better and better how to work; +and your life, whenever God calls you to lay it down, shall be like hers, +not unfinished, but complete. + + + + +VIII + +GOODNESS + + + +'I see more than ever that the religion which is pleasing to God consists +in doing and enduring His will, rather than in good sentiments and +feelings. The Lord help us to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.'-- +MRS. BOOTH. + +When our first General stood on that October evening by the grave of his +beloved wife, and spoke to us with a breaking heart of our Army Mother, +he unfolded to us the three great qualities which made her character so +beautiful. First, and foremost, she was good; secondly, she was love; +and, thirdly, she was a Warrior. Let us, following The General's outline, +look at these three leading qualities in her life. 'First,' he said, 'she +was _good_. She was washed in the Blood of the Lamb. To the last +moment her cry was "a sinner saved by grace." She was a thorough hater of +shams, hypocrisies, and make-believes. Her goodness was of a practical +sort. "By their fruits ye shall know them" was a text she often quoted, +and one by which she was always willing to be judged.' + +It is of this 'goodness of a practical sort' that I want first to tell +you, before we consider that soul goodness which made her life so holy. + +Mrs. Booth could not imagine any goodness apart from industry. As we have +already seen, she considered it a sin to waste precious time. Any one who +was lazy she could not endure, and when one such offered for the work she +wrote of him:-- + +'I do hope you will not throw a lot of money away in trying H------, just +for want of courage to tell him at once that he will not do, because I am +sure that it will be thrown away. It is the _nature_ of the man that +is at fault, and not his _circumstances_. He is a _drone_, and +nothing, no change of place or position, can ever make him into a bee. He +never ought to have left his trade; he never _would_ have done so if +he had thought soul-saving was harder work!' + +Extravagance and waste of every kind she abhorred, and had she not been +so careful in planning and arranging, her time and money would again and +again have run short. The sewing, mending, and housekeeping needed for a +family of little children when means are scarce would have been burden +enough for most mothers. But besides this came her own letter-writing, +preparing for her Meetings, and also the hours she spent consulting and +advising The General, whose voice, 'Here, Kate,' would call her from the +nursery or kitchen to help him decide some important question. + +Again, it was impossible to talk to Mrs. Booth, even for five minutes, +without finding how true and sincere she was. To please no one would she +keep back the truth, or appear different from her real self. + +'I believe,' she writes, when quite a young woman, 'honesty to be the +best policy, and I shall act upon it. Let me have truth, if it shakes the +foundation of the earth.' + +She was sincere and faithful in every part of her nature: faithful with +her own soul and in dealing with the souls of others. Great or small, +rich or poor, she made no difference, and never held back from reproving +sin when it was needful. + +'I see more than ever,' she said, 'the need of making righteous people +true in their _inward parts_. Let us be more thorough than ever with +souls under conviction. Let us not be afraid to wound too deeply. +Thousands of professors have never been truly convinced of sin, much less +truly converted. Sin to them is _being found out_!' + +Though all through her life our Army Mother hungered and thirsted to +know God better, and to serve Him more perfectly, yet it was not till +some time after her marriage that she received the blessing of a clean +heart. + +Of the struggle and conflict which she went through, before the blessing +of Holiness became hers, she shall tell you in her own words:-- + +'I had been earnestly seeking all the week to know Jesus as an all- +sufficient Saviour dwelling in my heart, and thus cleansing it every +moment of all sin; but on Thursday and Friday I laid aside almost +everything else, and spent the chief part of the day in reading and +prayer, and trying to believe for it. On Thursday afternoon at tea-time I +was well-nigh discouraged, and felt my old visitant, irritability, and +the Devil told me I should never get it, and so I might as well give it +up at once. However, I know him of old as a liar and the father of lies, +and pressed on, cast down, yet not destroyed. + +'On Friday morning God gave me two precious passages. First, "Come unto +Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, +how sweet it sounded to my poor, weary, sin-stricken soul! I almost dared +to believe that He did give me rest from inbred sin--the rest of perfect +Holiness. But I staggered at the promise through unbelief, and therefore +failed to enter in. The second passage consisted of those thrice-blessed +words, "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, +righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." But again unbelief +hindered me, although I felt as if getting gradually nearer. + +'I struggled through the day until a little after six in the evening, +when William joined me in prayer. We had a blessed season. While he was +saying, "Lord, we open our hearts to receive Thee," that word was spoken +to my soul, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My +voice, and open unto Me, I will come in, and sup with him." I felt sure +He had long been knocking, and Oh, how I yearned to receive Him as a +perfect Saviour! But Oh, the inveterate habit of unbelief! How wonderful +that God should have borne so long with me! When we got up from our +knees, I lay on the sofa, exhausted with the excitement and effort of the +day. William said, "Don't you lay all on the altar?" I replied, "I am +sure I do!" Then he said, "And isn't the altar holy?" I replied in the +language of the Holy Ghost, "The altar is most holy, and whatsoever +toucheth it is holy." Then, said he, "Are you not holy?" I replied with +my heart full of emotion and with some faith, "Oh, I think I am!" +Immediately the word was given me to confirm my faith. "Now are ye clean +through the word which I have spoken unto you." And I took hold--true, +with a trembling hand, and not unmolested by the tempter, but I held fast +the beginning of my confidence, and it grew stronger, and from that +moment I have dared to reckon myself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto +God through Jesus Christ my Lord. + +'I did not feel much rapturous joy, but perfect peace, the sweet rest +which Jesus promised to the heavy laden. I have understood the Apostle's +meaning when he says, "We who believe do enter into rest." This is just +descriptive of my state at present. Not that I am not tempted, but I am +allowed to know the Devil when he approaches me, and I look to my +Deliverer Jesus, and He still gives me rest. Two or three very trying +things occurred on Saturday, which at another time would have excited +impatience, but I was kept by the power of God through faith unto full +Salvation. + +'And now what shall I say? "Unto Him who has washed me in His own Blood +be glory and dominion for ever and ever," and all within me says "Amen!" +Oh! I cannot describe, I have no words to set forth the sense I have of +my own utter unworthiness. Satan has met me frequently with my peculiarly +aggravated sins, and I have admitted it all. But then I have said, the +Lord has not made my sanctification to depend in any measure on my own +worthiness or unworthiness, but on the worthiness of my Saviour. He came +to seek and to save "that which was lost." "Where sin hath abounded, +grace doth much more abound"' + +How wonderfully in after years Mrs. Booth explained and led others into +this same blessing, we know. Was not, then, the long struggle and agony +on her own behalf worth it? Yes, indeed, and it will be so with you when +you get this glorious blessing in your soul. + +You will have noticed how in struggling for Holiness Mrs. Booth had to +fight unbelief. This determination to trust God fully marked her out as +strong in faith. + +She had this marvellous faith because she obeyed and struggled to throw +herself on the Lord; but faith was not _natural_ to her any more +than it is to you or me. + +Often money was short, and she hardly knew how she would be able to feed +and clothe her family: this was a sore trial of her faith. On one such +occasion she wrote to her mother:-- + +'We have not at present received as much as our travelling expenses and +house rent. I feel a good deal perplexed, and am sometimes tempted to +mistrust the Lord. But I will not allow it. Our Father knows!' + +Later on we get a sight of her own experience in one of her letters, when +she said:-- + +'I am much tried just now by perplexities of every kind; uncertainty, +from a human standpoint, hedges me in on every side. Satan says it is +useless trying to steer straight through such a labyrinth; but I am +determined to hold on to the promises, come what will. My God is the +living God. He sees me, knows me, loves me, cares for me, wants to have +me with Him in Glory, as much as He did Abraham, or Paul, or John. If +this be true, what have I to fear?' + +And again:-- + +'"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see +the Salvation of God?" This is a precious word. It has kept my soul alive +many a time when Satan has almost overthrown me. "If thou canst believe, +all things are possible to thee. Never mind whether anybody else can or +cannot. If others are too strong to let Me carry them, if thou art weak +enough to throw up all self-effort, and trust Me with thy whole weight, I +will carry thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." I know this is the way. +Hence the babes go in with the simple and the great sinners, while the +reasoners, and the strong, and the proud, and the fearful are shut out.' + +Again, to one who was cast down, and tempted to be discouraged because of +his failings, she writes:-- + +'It is well to see them, for how can we take hold of Jesus to mend what +we don't see? It is best to know ourselves, but we Salvationists are in +danger of erring on the other side. We look too much at ourselves apart +from Him who is or would be our righteousness, sanctification, and +redemption. Faith in Him as your keeper will do more in five minutes than +years of conflict without it.' + +Once, in another letter, she gives us a beautiful bit of her own soul's +experience on this subject:-- + +'I had such a view of His love and faithfulness on the journey from +Wellingborough, that I thought I would never doubt again about anything. +I had the carriage to myself, and such a precious season with the Lord, +that the time seemed to fly. As the lightning gleamed around I felt ready +to shout, "The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." Oh, how +precious it is when we see as well as believe, but yet more blessed to +believe and not see! Lord, work this determined, obstinate, blind, +unquestioning, unanswering faith in me and my beloved friend, and let us +two dare to trust Thee in the midst of our peculiar trials. As I looked +at the waving fields, and grazing sheep, the flashing sky, a Voice said +in my soul, "Of what oughtest thou to be afraid? Am I not God? Cannot I +supply thy little, tiny needs?" My heart replied, "It is enough, Lord; I +will trust Thee, forgive my unbelief."' + + + + +IX + +LOVE + + + +The truest love must ever seek the highest good of its object; sometimes +even with forgetfulness of important smaller advantages.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +The second great quality in Mrs. Booth's character, as given by the first +General, was her love. + +'She was _love_,' he says. 'Her whole soul was full of tender, deep +compassion. Oh, how she loved, how she pitied the suffering poor! How she +longed to put her arms round the sorrowful, and help them!' + +'How,' asked Mrs. Booth once, 'are we to put heart into people? Even +grace seems to fail to do so in many instances. I think it needs mothers +to do this from infancy upwards.' + +You will recollect that Mrs. Mumford fostered this 'heart' and love in +her little girl; and you will remember how keenly Katie felt, blazing up +into wrath at any story of wrong or injury, and ready to sacrifice her +life for those she loved. This spirit grew with her. She could not help +caring and struggling to help all who needed her. The General often told +her in later years that she was killing herself by carrying every one's +burdens. Then she would try to leave off for a little, but her heart was +too strong, and she could not hold it back. + +When but a child, running down the road with her hoop and stick, she saw +a drunkard being dragged off to prison by a policeman. All the people +were jeering and mocking at the poor friendless wretch. Instantly Katie's +pity and love fired up. She dashed across the street, and marched along +close by the man's side, so that he might feel that at least one little +heart cared for him, and wanted to help him. + +To the end of her life she carried this deep, tender pity wherever she +went. She loved the poor. 'With all their faults,' she said, 'they have +larger hearts than the rich'; and she loved them for it. + +Where any one had a warm heart, she could forgive and overlook many +mistakes; but with cold, narrow, 'fishy' souls, she had neither sympathy +nor patience. + +Our Army Mother's help was practical. She did not only give money or +pity, but she--so to speak--rolled up her sleeves and helped the +suffering herself. + +Every sort of suffering and need appealed to her. If an animal was +wounded or in pain, she stopped, and herself relieved it as best she +could; and to the last, if she saw a horse or any creature being ill- +treated, she would not hesitate to rush out and stop the driver, or in +some way force him to leave off his cruelty. + +She was not only kind and helpful to those she liked, but every living +thing that suffered had a claim upon her, and the greater the need the +more tender and ready was her help. + +Mrs. Booth was a people's woman, and she was never weary of scheming and +planning how to help the poor in the most practical way. + +'When I see people going wrong,' she said, when but a girl of twelve, 'I +must tell the poor things how to manage.' + +Dirt and sin, and drink and misery, could not quench this love; it was a +part of her very nature. Long, long before Slum Sisters were ever thought +of, Mrs. Booth did their work herself, just because she so loved the +poor, and longed to help them. You shall read the story in her own +words:-- + +'I remember in one case finding a poor woman lying on a heap of rags. She +had just given birth to twins, and there was nobody of any sort to wait +upon her. I can never forget the desolation of that room. By her side was +a crust of bread and a small lump of lard. "I fancied a bit o' bootter +(butter)," the woman remarked apologetically, noticing my eye fall upon +the scanty meal, "and my mon, he'd do owt for me he could, bless'm--he +couldna git me iny bootter, so he fitcht me this bit o' lard. Have +_you_ iver tried lard isted o' bootter? It's _rare good_!" said +the poor creature, making me wish I had taken lard for "bootter" all my +life, that I might have been the better able to minister to her needs. +However, I was soon busy trying to make her a little more comfortable. +The babies I washed in a broken pie-dish, the nearest approach to a tub +that I could find. And the gratitude of those large eyes, that gazed upon +me from out of that wan and shrunken face, can never fade from my +memory.' + +Before public Meetings took up so much of her time, she delighted in this +house-to-house visiting, and went especially for the drunkards, over whom +God gave her a wonderful power. + +'I used to visit in the evenings,' she says, 'because it was the only +part of the day in which I could get away; and, besides, I should not +have found the men at home at any other time. I used to ask one +drunkard's wife where another lived. They always knew. After getting hold +of eight or ten in this way, and getting them to sign the pledge, I used +to arrange Cottage Meetings for them, and try to get them saved. They +used to let me talk to them in homes where there was not a stick of +furniture, and nothing to sit down upon.' + +In this way our Army Mother sought and cared for the drunkards long +before Drunkards' Brigades were dreamt of. + +When, at a later time in her life, she first heard of the wicked and +cruel way in which young girls are trapped and drawn into sin, Mrs. +Booth's soul was filled with a whirlwind of holy indignation. + +'I feel as though I could not rest, but as though I must go and ferret +out these monsters myself,' she wrote. 'Almost everybody, notwithstanding +the indignation, seems so content with talking. Nobody appears willing to +take the responsibility of doing or risking anything. Oh, what a state +the world has got into!' + +But, deep and practical as was her love in earthly things, her passion +for lifting and leading souls into Salvation and Holiness was a thousand +times more intense. 'If we only realized, as we ought, the value of +souls, we should not live long under it,' she said; and she herself +realized it fully enough to make her fight on ceaselessly in spite of +intense weakness. 'If it were not for eternity,' she often sighed, 'I +should soon give up this life.' + +It was love for souls which made her go from town to town, care-worn, +weary, often quite unfit to meet the immense congregations which came to +hear her. + +It was love for souls which kept her sitting for hours at her writing- +table, when she should have been resting, trying to help those who turned +to her for counsel and direction from every part of the globe. + +It was love for souls which gave her many a sleepless night, and chained +her to her knees, weeping and pleading, agonizing with God on behalf of +the people she was to face the next day. + +And this love for souls grew even stronger as death came near. 'Eva,' she +exclaimed to one of her daughters, as she lay racked with agonizing pain, +'don't you forget that man with the handcuffs on. Find him. Go to +Lancaster Jail; let somebody go with you, and find that man. Tell him +that your mother, when she was dying, prayed for him, and that she had a +feeling in her heart that God would save him; and tell him, hard as the +ten years of imprisonment may be, it will be easier with Christ than it +would be without Him.' + +She was lying between earth and Heaven, thinking of the joy and peace +awaiting her, when it seemed as if she saw the dark face of a heathen +woman, and heard the cry, 'Won't you help us?' The old love for perishing +souls woke again directly, and she cried, 'Oh, yes, Lord, I will go +anywhere to help poor struggling people. I would go on an errand to Hell, +if the Lord would promise me that the Devil should not keep me there.' + +In one of these last days she sent a dying message to the Officers. 'Tell +them,' she said, 'that the only consolation for a Salvationist on his +death-bed is to have been a soul-winner. After all my labours I feel I +have come far short of the prize of my high calling. Beseech them to +redeem their time, for we can do but little at the best.' + +A little maid who was a Candidate came into Mrs. Booth's sick-room once +as she was speaking, and she called her to her bedside, giving her +warning and counsel which every Corps Cadet can take as though spoken to +herself:-- + +'You will be finished with the dishes soon,' she said, 'and you are going +to be a Cadet. I have been very pleased with you while you have been +here, because you have worked out of sight with a good will, and I think +you will make a brave Officer. You will promise me, will you?' she said, +as she laid her trembling hand on the girl's head. 'Yes,' was the reply, +'I will,' amid stifled sobs. + +'Give me a kiss, then,' said Mrs. Booth. 'Promise me that you will never +get spoiled by any unfaithful Officer. If you ever get mixed up with +such, do not hide it from Headquarters, but let them know about it, and +they will soon move the false away from you. I shan't be here; but, Oh! +may God help them to get rid of the wrong. Discernment of spirits! Oh, +why should we not have that gift back? It is very necessary.' + +Mrs. Booth's whole heart was wrapped up in the spread of The Army, and +she was never more of a warrior than when fighting its battles. And The +Army needed some one to stand up for it in those days. We who live to-day +can hardly fancy the fierce, bitter persecution the early-day +Salvationists had to fight through. + +Now, even those who dislike and despise us are forced to admit that 'The +Army does a great deal of good'; but then it was different, and again and +again, both by speech and writing, Mrs. Booth had to defend and stand up +for our methods. + +'I would not,' she says, after she had spoken too plainly for some rich +people who were offended at her words, 'sit down and listen to their +abuse of The Salvation Army for all their money. But I did not say a word +that I would object to have published upon the housetops. Such, however, +is often the spirit of the rich. They think that one must sit and hear +whatever they may choose to say, and hold one's breath, because of their +money! But, no, I will never be dumb before a golden idol!' + +She loved the Uniform: she herself planned that worn by Army women, and +always wore her own, rejoicing to be able to give to our people a way of +escape from the fashions and extravagances of the world. + +She loved the Flag, and was true to its beautiful meaning. She loved to +present Colours to the newly-opened Corps, or to parties of Officers +going abroad; and when, shortly before she passed away, she changed her +room, she begged that the dear Army Flag might be brought in and hung +above her bed. + +'There,' said The General, 'the Colours are over you now, my darling.' + +And she clasped them fondly with her left hand, and traced the motto-- +'Blood and Fire.' + +'Yes,' she said, 'Blood and Fire; that is just what my life has been--a +constant and severe fight.' + +'It ought to be "Blood and Fire and Victory,"' said The General. + +'I'll fight on till I get it,' she answered. 'I won't give in. Next time +I see them I shall be above the pain and sorrow for ever.' + +But, though at the last she longed to be at rest, it was not easy for her +great mother's heart to unloose itself from those she loved, and from the +thousands in all lands who looked to her as to a mother. + +If you have learnt to love very deeply you will also have to suffer, and +her very love made the parting so difficult. + +'Oh,' she exclaimed, when speaking of leaving The General and her +children, 'mine is such a heart! it seems as if it had got roots all +round the world clutching on to one and another, and that it will not let +them go! And yet You can take care of them, Lord, better than I could. I +do, I do believe! O Eternal Father, Shepherd of the sheep, do Thou look +after my little flock!' + +'Amen,' we who read these lines may say; adding to her prayer, 'And give +us that same heart and love which made her life of such mighty power.' + + + + +X + +THE WARRIOR + + + +'Fighting is hard work, whatever sort of fighting it is. You cannot fight +without wounds of body, heart, or soul.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +'Lastly,' said The General in that same beautiful tribute to our Army +Mother that I have already quoted from,' she was a _warrior_. She +liked the fight. She was not one who said to others, "Go," but "Here, let +_me_ go"; and when there was the necessity she said, "I _will_ +go!" I never knew her flinch until her poor body compelled her to lie on +one side.' + +Our Army Mother was, indeed, before all things a warrior; she fought +bravely and unceasingly her whole life through. + +In thought and purpose she was independent, and dared to stand out for +what she felt right. Cowardice, in her opinion, was one of the commonest +and most subtle sins of the day, and she had no patience with those who +dared not say 'No,' and feared to stand alone. + +She thought for herself, and though always eager to hear and learn as +much as possible from others, yet she was not carried away by their +opinions, but carefully weighed and considered their arguments, and then +formed her own judgments. + +Mrs. Booth strove earnestly for doctrine. + +'Let us take care,' she said, in The Army's early days, 'what Gospel we +preach. Let us mind our doctrine.' + +And again:-- + +'We must stick to the form of sound words, for there is more in it than +appears on the surface. "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and the Holy +Ghost," was the theology of our forefathers, and I am suspicious of all +attempts to mend it.' + +And once more:-- + +'Let us beware of wrong doctrine, come through whomsoever it may. Holy +men make sad mistakes. "Well, but," say some, "is not a person who holds +wrong views with a right heart better than a person with right views and +a wrong heart?" Yes, so far as his personal state before God is +concerned, but not in his influence on man. My charity must extend to +those likely to be deceived or ruined by his doctrines as well as to +him.' + +Mrs. Booth's whole life was a continual fight against sin--sin of all +kinds. Whether her Meeting was held for the very lowest and roughest, or +whether rows of clergy and lawyers, and lords and ladies sat to listen, +it made no difference to her. She attacked sin, and went straight at the +very heart-sins of the people in front of her. + +'We need great grace,' she says in the midst of her wonderful West-End +campaign, where even princes and princesses came to hear her. 'I think +the Lord never enabled me to be more plain and faithful. As a lady in +high circles said to me, "We never heard this sort of Gospel before." No, +poor things, they are sadly deceived.' + +Drink, too, was another evil which Mrs. Booth fought against during the +whole of her life. She began, as you remember, when a girl by being +secretary of the 'Band of Love' of those days. + +In the early days of their engagement The General was strongly advised to +take a little wine for the sake of his health. Our Army Mother wrote him +a long letter, showing him how false and foolish such advice was, and +ending with:-- + +'I have had it recommended to me scores of times, but I am fully and for +ever settled on the physical side of the question. [Footnote: That means +taking it for the sake of health.--ED.] + +'It is a subject on which I am most anxious you should be thorough. I +have far more hope for your health _because_ you abstain, than I +should if you took wine. Flee the detestable thing as you would a +serpent; be a teetotaller in principle and practice.' + +Though, as we have seen, full of boundless faith and pity for the +drunkard, Mrs. Booth attacked the makers and sellers of drink +unmercifully. She says, on one occasion:-- + +'By your peace of conscience on a dying bed; by the eternal destinies of +your children, by your care for never-dying souls; by the love you owe +your Saviour, I beseech you _banish the drink_. + +'Tell me no more of charity towards brewers, distillers, and publicans. +Your false charity to these has already consigned millions to an untimely +Hell!... Arise, Christians, arise, and fight this foe! You and you alone +are able, for your God will fight for you!' + +Another thing for which our Army Mother fought, and which to-day we owe +in great measure to her efforts, is the position to which women have been +lifted as speakers and teachers in God's work. She first, as we have +seen, opened the way herself; and then she left it open, encouraging and +helping tens of thousands of simple, holy women all round the world to +follow in her steps. + +She had a tough battle to wage. All classes wrote and spoke against women +being allowed to stand and speak for God in the open air or in public +halls; but, strong in faith and courage, convinced that she had Divine +authority for what she did, our Army Mother fought on, arguing, writing, +preaching on the matter. Now to-day there is scarcely a land where The +Army bonnet is not known and loved, nor where Army women cannot gain a +crowd of respectful listeners. + +Now I am going to show you some of the hindrances in spite of which our +Army Mother fought on. + +The first of these hindrances was the burden which God allowed Mrs. Booth +to carry all through her life--a weak and suffering body. She said, when +her life was drawing to its close, that suffering seemed to have been her +special lot, and that she could scarcely remember a day in her life when +she had been wholly free from pain. + +'I don't care about my body,' she exclaimed when lying in her last +illness. 'It has been a poor old troublesome affair. I shall be glad for +it to be sealed up. It is time it was. Oh, I have dragged it wearily +about.' + +Most women suffering as she did, with a weak spine, heart disease, and +over-strained nerves, would have lived the life of an invalid. But the +warrior spirit within forced her body along. Scores of times she has gone +from her bed to the Meeting, and then, exhausted and fainting with the +effort, has had to be almost carried home. But she had done her work, and +sent the arrow of conviction into hundreds of hearts. + +Writing after one special strain of work and anxiety, she says:-- + +'The excitement made me worse than I have been for two years. My heart +was really alarming, and for two days I could hardly bear any clothes to +touch me. This has disheartened me again as to my condition. But God +reigns, and He will keep me alive as long as He needs me.' + +Another of her hindrances, and one which was almost more difficult to +overcome than weakness of body, was depression. + +I wonder if you know what that is? If so, it will help you to realize +that Mrs. Booth had to fight it also. + +The Devil seemed allowed to try and test her faith to the uttermost, and +at times to blot out all peace and glory from her soul. During one such +time of darkness she writes:-- + +'I know I ought not, of all saints, or sinners either, to be depressed. I +know it dishonours my Lord, grieves His Spirit, and injures me greatly; +and I would fain hide from everybody to prevent their seeing it. But I +cannot help it. I have struggled hard, more than any one knows, for a +long time against it. Sometimes I have literally held myself, head and +heart and hand, and waited for the floods to pass over me.' + +But our Army Mother did not give up working for God, and sit down in +despair, because she was thus tried. One day, just before leaving for a +great West-End Meeting, in which God made her words as a sharp two-edged +sword, she wrote this to one of her children:-- + +'I have been very much depressed since you left--more so than usual. It +is of no use reasoning with myself when these fits of despondency are on +me. I must hold on and fight my passage through; and when I get to Heaven +the light and joy will be all the greater. If I dared give up working I +should do so a hundred times over; but I _dare_ not.' + +Another and constant hindrance which our Army Mother had to fight for the +greater part of her life was poverty. It was so difficult, many times, to +make two ends meet. She had, during many years of her life, no regular +money coming in on which to depend, and during that time it was a +constant struggle to have her children properly cared for and give them +the needed education. + +But most of all did our Army Mother show herself a warrior in her own +Salvation campaigns. In those early days there were no praying Soldiers +and Sergeants to be had to deal with the penitents--no one, either, to +lead her singing, scarcely even to keep the doors or take up the +collection. She would arrive in a town absolutely alone. A hall had been +taken in which she was to speak, and she would hire a tiny lodging, or +stay in whatever home would receive her, and set to work. We can scarcely +understand the loneliness of her position. Here was a proof of her mighty +faith in God. + +She began these solitary campaigns when her sixth child was but a few +weeks old, and God most wonderfully owned her labours. At one place she +saw one hundred grown-up people and two hundred children come to her +penitent-form in six days. But it was a fearful battle. + +'I have a comfortable little cot to stay in,' she writes to her mother +from one such battle-field, 'very small and humble; but it is clean and +quiet; and when I feel nervous no one knows the value of quietness. I +have felt it hard work lately. Many a time have I longed to be where the +weary are at rest.' + +At Margate, some years later, she commenced her Meetings without knowing +a single person in the place. For some weeks she had not even a helper in +the Prayer Meetings, nor one who would give out a song for her. Mrs. +Booth could not sing herself, and there was often an awkward pause before +any one would be willing to pitch her tune. 'If only,' she said when The +Army was fairly on its feet, 'I had been able to command a dozen reliable +people such as I could have anywhere now, I think I could have done +almost anything.' + +Even more wonderful was her experience at Brighton. + +The Dome, a great building holding three thousand people, had been taken +for her Meetings. + +'I can never forget my feelings,' says this Soldier-saint, 'as I stood +upon the platform and looked upon the people, realizing that among them +all there was no one to help me. When I commenced the Prayer Meeting, for +which I should think quite nine hundred remained, Satan said to me, as I +came down from the platform according to my custom, "You will never ask +such people as these to come and kneel down here? You will only make a +fool of yourself if you do." I felt stunned for a moment; but I answered, +"Yes, I shall. I shall not make it any easier for them than for the +others. If they do not realize their sins enough to be willing to come +and kneel here, they will not be of much use to the kingdom."' + +The Lord set His seal upon Mrs. Booth's faith and courage, for the first +to volunteer were two old gentlemen, both over seventy years of age; and +she had ten or twelve at the mercy-seat before the Meeting ended. + +Writing from Portsmouth, she tells the same story of loneliness and +victory:-- + +'You say, "How do you get on personally?" Oh, I never was so hampered for +help in every way in all my life! The most able man I have keeps a +milliner's shop, and the one that opens for me generally is an overseer; +so their attention is divided and the time limited. Pray for me. I never +needed your prayers so much. This is a dreadfully wicked place.' + +Yet during the seventeen weeks of her stay some six hundred names were +taken, many of them wonderful trophies of God's mercy. + +Having lived such a warrior's life, you think, very likely, that the +death-bed experience of our Army Mother would be all peace and glory. But +no. Right down into the Valley she needed to use the Sword of the Spirit +and the Shield of Faith, for to the last Satan was allowed to test and +try her. + +But she fought on! + +'One of my hardest lessons,' she said in her last hours, 'has been the +difference between faith and realization; and if I have had to conquer +all through life by naked faith, I can only expect it to be the same now. +All our enemies have to be conquered by _faith_, not realization; +and is it not so with the last enemy, death? Yes, if it please the Lord +that I should go down into the dark valley without any realization, +simply knowing that I am His, and He is mine, I am quite willing--I +accept it.' + +This is the faith that made our Army Mother and all the Bible saints such +conquerors. It is the secret of their victory--the faith without which it +is impossible to please God, and for which we all need to pray, 'Lord, +increase our faith.' + + + + +XI + +LAST DAYS + + + +'As I look back on life I do not remember the houses I have lived in, the +people that I have known, the things of passing interest at the moment. +They are all gone. There is nothing stands out before my mind as of any +consequence, but the work I have done for God and Eternity.'--MRS. +BOOTH. + +If The General and those who loved our Army Mother best had been able to +choose for her, they would most likely have said: 'Let her live and fight +and work on, up to within a few days of her promotion to Glory. Let the +call come quickly and painlessly, as it has come to others in our ranks.' + +But the Lord, who loved her more than we did, saw fit to send to her two +and a half years of ever-increasing weariness and suffering. For long +months she lay on the very bank of the River, longing for the messenger +of Death to carry her across. Those who loved her could not tell why the +Lord sent her this last fiery trial; they could only bow with her, and +say, 'Thy will be done.' + +It was in February, 1888, that Mrs. Booth, who was anxious about her +health, went to consult a great doctor and get his opinion. She was +alone, for no one had thought her illness was so serious. She asked him +to tell her the truth--all through her life, as you know, she wanted the +truth; and after a little hesitation he told her. + +The truth was the saddest that she could hear. That dreadful illness-- +cancer--through which she had so tenderly nursed her own dear mother, +had come to her, and in the doctor's opinion she had much suffering to +pass through, and only two or, at the most, three years longer to live. +Mrs. Booth listened calmly, thanked the doctor, and then, getting once +more into the cab, drove home all alone. + +It was a dark journey. The War needed her. The General needed her. Her +children needed her. And yet the sentence of Death had been passed upon +her, and she must soon leave them all. What did she do? I think you can +guess. + +She knelt down in the cab, and in prayer committed to God, in a new and +deeper way than ever before, her own body, and her dear ones and the work +He had given her to do. + +At last the cab stopped before her own door, and The General came out to +meet her. + +'I shall never forget that meeting in this world, or the next,' he says. +'I had been watching for the cab, and had run out to meet her and help +her up the steps. She tried to smile on me through her tears; but, +drawing me into the room, soon told me, bit by bit, what the doctor had +said. I sat down speechless. She rose from her seat, and came and knelt +beside me, saying: "Do you know what was my first thought? That I should +not be there to nurse you in your last hour." + +'I was stunned. I felt as if the whole world were coming to a standstill. +Opposite me, on the wall, was a picture of Christ on the cross. I thought +I could understand it then, as never before. She talked to me like an +angel; she talked as she had never talked before. I could say little or +nothing. I could only kneel with her and try to pray. That very same +night The General was to leave London for some great Meetings in Holland, +and Mrs. Booth would not hear of his changing his plans and remaining +with her. + +'The War must go on' was her thought, even when all her family stood +stunned and heart-broken around her, unwilling to leave her even for a +moment. + +Two years later, when but a few more days of suffering remained to her, a +last message from her lips reached us as Self-Denial Week began. 'The War +must go on' was one of its sentences. + +'The War must go on' had been as her motto, lived out in all the long, +long months that lay between. Instead of immediately laying aside her +work, when the doctors gave their dreadful judgment, and beginning to +think only of herself, she went on with it as long as her increasing +weakness allowed. + +But step by step the disease grew worse. First she was forced to give up +Meetings and public work. Then it became impossible for her to use her +right hand, and she was therefore obliged to give up her correspondence, +though she still continued to dictate her letters, and learnt also to +write with her left hand. + +Soon her daily drives became too tiring, and by and by she went out of +the house into the little garden for the last time; and then for the +concluding twelve months of her life she was a prisoner in her room, +lying in constant suffering. + +But during these long months the greatest joy and relief that could come +to her was to hear of some fresh victory or triumph for the Kingdom of +Jesus. Her interest in The Army and her love for the people were as keen +as ever, and War Councils were held and new developments planned in her +chamber, and much of The General's Darkest England Scheme for the poor +and outcast was thought out and decided upon beside her sick bed. + +Again and again, too, Mrs. Booth would receive deputations of Officers of +different classes and from various countries in which The Army was at +work, who came to Clacton-on-Sea, where the last fifteen months of her +life were spent, to listen to her words of advice and inspiration. + +There were no Corps Cadets in those days; but our Army Mother left some +specially beautiful words about the Juniors, to which I must refer. + +When she was told by the Officer then in charge of our Junior Work in +England that the children loved and prayed continually for her, she +smiled. + +'The thought of the little ones,' says some one who was there, 'brought +our beloved Army Mother wholly out of herself and her pain and +weariness.' + +'A very choice branch of the work,' she said. 'I have often told Emma +that I hoped when I was too old for public work God would let me end +where I began--with the children. But it seems that it is not to be so.' + +'Give the children,' she went on, in reply to the messages they had sent, +'my dear love, and tell them that if there had been a Salvation Army when +I was ten I should have been a Soldier then, as I am to-day. + +Never allow yourself to be discouraged in your work. I know you must meet +with many discouragements; but I am sure the Spirit of God works mightily +on little children long before grown people think they are able to +understand.' + +Again and again during that last year of awful suffering it seemed as if +Mrs. Booth were about to leave us; but then she would revive, and come +back to endure more weeks and months of agony. + +But at last, on October 4, 1890, all could see that she was on the brink +of the River, and even those who loved her the most tenderly could not +wish to hold her back. + +'O Emma, let me go, darling,' she whispered; and hearing the reply, 'Yes, +we will, we will,' she said, 'Now! Yes, Lord, come, Oh, come!' + +The singing of The Army songs seemed to comfort her; and once she raised +her suffering arm, and pointed to the text, '_My grace is sufficient +for thee_,' which hung on the wall. It was lifted down and placed at +the foot of her bed, so that her eyes could often rest on it during those +last hours. + +'Soon after noon,' says the present General, 'I felt that the deepening +darkness of the Valley was closing around my dear mother, and a little +later I took my last farewell. Her lips moved, and she gave me one look +of unspeakable tenderness and trust which will live with me for ever. +Again we sang:-- + + My mistakes His free grace doth cover, + My sins He doth wash away; + These feet which shrink and falter + Shall enter the Gates of Day. + +And, holding her hand, The General gave her up to God. It was a solemn +and wonderful scene.' + +The Chief of the Staff and Mrs. Bramwell Booth, Mrs. Booth-Tucker, and +the Commander, and her three daughters, Marian, Eva, and Lucy, knelt +round the bed, upon which were placed photographs of the other members of +her family who were unavoidably absent. Near to her stood her faithful +nurse, Captain Carr, and others of the household, the dear General bowing +over his beloved wife and companion in life's long strife, and giving her +up to the keeping of the Father. + +One by one the members of the family tenderly embraced her; then a gleam +of recognition passed over the brightening countenance as The General +bent over her. Their eyes met---the last kiss of love on earth, the last +word till the Morning, and without a movement the breathing gently +ceased, and a warrior laid down her sword to receive her crown. + + * * * * * + +You may have heard of those wonderful days from Tuesday morning till +Sunday night, when the coffin containing the precious remains of our Army +Mother lay at the Congress Hall, Clapton, and when more than fifty +thousand people came to have a last look at her dear face. + +A piece of glass had been let into the plain oak coffin. It was just +large enough to show the head and shoulders, and she lay as if in a sweet +sleep. + +You wonder if many came merely from curiosity. Some did, of course, but +most of the people came because her life and example and words had been +so blessed to their souls; and they came as they would come to look at +the dead face of their own mother. It was the most wonderful tribute to a +woman's life and words that London had ever seen. + +For all kinds of people came--rich and poor, good and bad, people of many +different religions, and many with no religion at all. Working men came +in their dinner-hour, with their tools on their backs and tears in their +eyes; mothers lifted up their little children to look at the one who had +taught them the way of life; and, best of all, by the side of her coffin +knelt many a wanderer and backslider to give themselves afresh to God. + +More than one poor girl went direct from the Congress Hall to the Rescue +Homes, to begin to live 'as she would have wished'; and the Cadets on +guard were all the time dealing with drunkards and helping those who +desired to begin from thenceforth to live a new and different life. + +Even to-day, twenty-four years later, we often meet those who date their +conversion, or their first step in the Narrow Way, from their look at +that face lying in its simple coffin. + +One of Mrs. Booth's own grandchildren, Mary, the present General's second +daughter, looks back to that scene as the time when God in an +unmistakable manner sealed her as His. She was only five years old as she +knelt by the coffin, but nevertheless she decided there, in her childish +consecration, like Ruth of old, that 'Thy people shall be my people, and +thy God my God'; and in the spirit of this consecration she lives to-day. + + * * * * * + +In order that some of the crowds who wished to share in the funeral +service might be present, the largest hall in London, the Olympia, was +taken. Twenty-six thousand people filled it; and though it was, of +course, impossible for them all to hear, they followed the service given +on printed papers with reverent sympathy. + +The coffin was carried down the immense hall by Officers; The General and +his family followed. + +Those who arranged for this last mighty gathering remembered that Mrs. +Booth, when with us, was never happy to leave a Meeting unless it had +been brought to a point, and something definite had been done; and +therefore, when the songs and prayers and readings were over, the huge +crowd was asked to kneel and make a solemn covenant with God. + +It was a beautiful covenant, and ended with these words:-- + +'And now, in this solemn hour, and in the presence of death, I come again +to Thy footstool, and make this covenant with Thee.' + +Then all who had made the covenant from their hearts rose and sang +together:-- + + Just as I am Thou dost receive, + Dost welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, + Because Thy promise I believe, + O Lamb of God, I come! + +It was just such an ending to the wonderful service as our Army Mother +would have chosen had she been still on earth with us. + + * * * * * + +The next morning was dry and bright. 'I shall ask God to give you a fine +day for my funeral, Emma, so that you mayn't take cold,' our Army Mother +had said, for she was ever thoughtful for others; and her prayer was +answered, for though the white mist crept up from the river to the +Embankment, where the procession was forming up, there was no rain nor +wind. + +Tens of thousands of our dear Soldiers would gladly have sacrificed a +day's work in order to follow in the funeral procession of one they so +dearly loved; but, so as not to gather too large a crowd, only Officers +were allowed in the march, which passed through countless throngs of +people from International Headquarters to Abney Park Cemetery, a distance +of about five miles. + +All along the route the crowds stood in dense masses, and roofs, windows, +and every nook and corner were packed with human beings. Nothing had been +seen like it, said the police, since the Duke of Wellington's funeral, +forty years before. + +It was a wonderful march. I wish you could have seen it! Sometimes it +seemed as if every one was weeping; and when the open hearse, with its +plain oak coffin, crowned by The Army bonnet and well-worn Bible, passed, +all heads were bared, all voices hushed, and tears filled all eyes. + +The General, standing alone in his open carriage all along the long, sad +way, must have felt that he had the people's sympathy and love with him +in his grief, for scores of heartfelt 'God bless you's!' came from lips +that are unused to such words. + +And at last the yellow evening sun shone out as the great procession +reached the gates of Abney Park Cemetery and wound towards the open +grave. + +Only a part of the mighty throng could hear The General's beautiful +words, so strong and yet so tender, from which I have already quoted, but +all joined in the song, 'Rock of Ages,' which seemed to roll up to the +heavens themselves. + +Several leading Officers and members of The General's own family prayed +and spoke, wonderfully upheld in spite of their deep grief and the strain +of the last days. And then by the open grave the present General led all +hearts to make a fresh consecration, the whole assembly promising, with +God's help, that they would be + +'Faithful to Thee, faithful to one another, and faithful to a dying +world, till we meet our beloved Mother in the Morning. Amen.' + + * * * * * + +If ever you are in Abney Park Cemetery you should visit her grave. It is +very simple. Around the little piece of earth runs a grey stone, with +these words carved on it:-- + + CATHERINE BOOTH, + + MOTHER OF THE SALVATION ARMY + + More than Conqueror, through Him that loved us, + and gave Himself for all the world and for you. + + Do you also follow Christ? + +and above are two small beds of flowers. + +Do many people go to see it? you wonder. + +Oh, yes. All round it a path is worn in the grass, made by the tread of +many feet; for mothers bring their boys and girls to see it, and tell +them what a mother she was, and men and women of all creeds and races +pause beside it, and remember. + +Many Officers, too--from distant lands, and speaking strange tongues you +could not understand--come to The Army Mother's grave when they visit our +shores. For she was their Mother as well as ours, they say. + +They kneel beside the stone, and spell out the name, and then they +consecrate themselves afresh to God and the needs of the heathen lands, +and they claim His grace to follow in her steps. + +For our Army Mother is not dead. True, her body lies in the quiet grave +at Abney Park, and her spirit is in Heaven; but her life and influence +still live among us, her words are treasured, and our greatest prayer and +desire for the girls and wives and mothers in our ranks is that they may +live to be worthy daughters of Catherine Booth. + + + + +DATES IN MRS. BOOTH'S LIFE + + + +1829. January 17th. Catherine Mumford born at Ashbourne, Derby. +1829. April 10th. William Booth born at Nottingham. +1843. Catherine has to leave school owing to severe illness. +1844. Refuses to be engaged to her cousin. +1845. Is converted. +1846. Seems likely to go into consumption. +1850. Takes Sunday class of elder girls. +1851. June. Miss Mumford hears Mr. Booth preach; later meets him at a + friend's house. +1852. May 15th. They are engaged to be married. +1855. June 16th. The wedding. +1857. Mrs. Booth speaks to a children's meeting on Temperance. +1859. She starts work among drunkards. She writes her first pamphlet on + woman's right to preach. +1860. Mrs. Booth speaks for the first time in public. +1861. Mr. and Mrs. Booth break up their home in the north, and come to + London, choosing an evangelistic life. +1864. Mrs. Booth begins to hold Evangelistic campaigns apart from her + husband. +1864. July. East End Mission begun. +1868. First Headquarters established. +1869. Mrs. Booth's wonderful Brighton campaign. +1870. East London Mission becomes the 'Christian Mission.' +1871. Mrs. Booth publishes her first book. +1877. Christian Mission becomes 'The Salvation Army.' +1878. The uniform is chosen. +1886. First Self-Denial Week. +1888. February. Mrs. Booth learns that she is suffering from cancer. +1888. June 21st. Mrs. Booth speaks in public for the last time (at the + City Temple). +1889. August. She goes to Clacton-on-Sea. +1890. October 4th. Mrs. Booth is promoted to Glory. +1890. October 6th. Her body brought to Congress Hall, Clapton. +1890. October 11th. Funeral at Abney Park. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine Booth, by Colonel Mildred Duff + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + +This file should be named 7cbth10.txt or 7cbth10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7cbth11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7cbth10a.txt + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/7cbth10.zip b/old/7cbth10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3035d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7cbth10.zip diff --git a/old/7cbth10h.htm b/old/7cbth10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..487b933 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7cbth10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4186 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html> + +<head> +<title>Catherine Booth: A Sketch, by Colonel Mildred Duff</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + h1,h2,h3,h4 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps } + h1 { margin-top: 2em } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + --> +</style> +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine Booth, by Colonel Mildred Duff + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Catherine Booth + A Sketch + +Author: Colonel Mildred Duff + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7125] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 12, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>Catherine Booth</h1> + +<h2>A Sketch</h2> + +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Reprinted from The Warriors’ Library</i></p> + +<p style="text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps">by</p> + +<h3>Colonel Mildred Duff</h3> + +<p style="text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps">With a Preface by<br /> +General Bramwell Booth</p> + +<h1>Preface</h1> + +<p>Colonel Duff has, at my request, written the following +very interesting +and touching account of my dear Mother; and she has +done so in the hope +that those who read it will be helped to follow in +the footsteps of that +wonderful servant of God.</p> + +<p>But how can they do so? Was not Mrs. Booth, you ask, +an exceptional +woman? Had she not great gifts and very remarkable +powers, and was she +not trained in a very special way to do the work to +which God called her? +How, then, can ordinary people follow in her steps? +Let me tell you.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth walked with God. When she was only a timid +girl, helping her +mother in the household, she continually sought after +Him; and when, in +later years, she became known by multitudes, and was +written of in the +newspapers, and greatly beloved by the good in many +lands, there was no +difference in her life in that matter. She was not +content with being +Mrs. General Booth of The Salvation Army, and with +being looked upon as a +great and good woman, giving her life to bless others. +No! she listened +daily for God’s voice in her own heart, sought +after His will, and leaned +continually for strength and grace upon her Saviour. + You can be like her +in that.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth was a soul-winner. A little while before +her spirit passed +into the presence of God, and when she knew that death +was quite near to +her, she said: ’Tell the Soldiers that the great +consolation for a +Salvationist on his dying bed is to feel that he has +been a soul-winner.’<br /> +Wherever she went–in the houses of strangers as well +as of friends, in +the Meetings, great and small, when she was welcomed +and when she was +not, whether alone or with others–she laboured to +lead souls to Christ. +I have known her at one time spend as much trouble +to win one as at +another time to win fifty. You can follow her example +in that.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth always declared herself and took sides +with right. Whatever +was happening around her, people always knew which +side she was on. She +spoke out for the right, the good, and the true, even +when doing so +involved very disagreeable experiences and the bearing +of much +unkindness. She hated the spirit which can look on +at what is wicked and +false or cruel, and say, ‘Oh, that is not my +affair!’ You can follow her<br /> +example in this also.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth laboured all her life to improve her gifts. +She thought; she +prayed; she worked; she read–above all, she read +her Bible. It was her +companion as a child, as a young follower of Christ, +and then as a Leader +in The Army. Those miserable words which some of us +hear so often about +some bad or unfinished work–’Oh, that will +do’–were seldom heard from +her lips. She was always striving, striving, striving +to do better, and +yet better, and again better still. All this also +you can do.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth was full of sympathy. No one who was in +need or in sorrow, or +who was suffering, could meet her without finding +out that, she was in +sympathy with them. Her heart was tender with the +love of Christ, and so +she was deeply touched by the sin and sorrow around +her just as He was. +Even the miseries of the dumb animals moved her to +efforts on their +behalf. This sympathy made Mrs. Booth quick to see +and appreciate the +toil and self-denial of others, and ever grateful +for any kindness shown +to her or to The Army or to those in need of any kind. +The very humblest +and youngest of those who read this little book can +be like her in all this.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth endured to the end. She never turned back. +She was faithful. +Her life and work would have been spoilt if she had +given up the fight. +She was often sorely tempted. She was slandered and +misrepresented by +enemies, betrayed by false friends, and often deeply +wounded by those who +professed to love her, though they deserted the Flag. +But she held fast. +You can be like her in that. You may make many mistakes, +suffer many +defeats, but you can still keep going on, and it is +to those who go on to +the very end, whether in weakness or in strength, +that Jesus will give +the crown of life.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth trusted with all her heart in the love +and sacrifice of her +Saviour. These were her hope and her strength. When +at the height of her +influence and popularity she delighted in that wonderful +song which we<br /> +still so often sing:–</p> + +<blockquote>I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,<br /> +And purchased my pardon when nailed to the tree;</blockquote> + +<p>and when, amid much suffering, she lay dying, we often +sang together with her:–</p> + +<blockquote>Victory for me!<br /> +Through the Blood of Christ my Saviour;<br /> +Victory for me!<br /> +Through the precious Blood.</blockquote> + +<p>This was her victory. You can follow her in the faith +that won it. Will you?</p> + +<p class="smallcaps">Bramwell Booth</p> + +<p><i>International Headquarters.</i></p> + +<h1>Contents</h1> + +<p><a href="#preface" class="smallcaps">Preface</a></p> + +<ol style="list-style-type: upper-roman"> + <li><a href="#ch_01" class="smallcaps">Childhood</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_02" class="smallcaps">Conversion and Soul Struggles</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_03" class="smallcaps">A Three-Years Engagement</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_04" class="smallcaps">A Life of Sacrifice</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_05" class="smallcaps">The Speaker</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_06" class="smallcaps">The Mother</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_07" class="smallcaps">The Worker</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_08" class="smallcaps">Goodness</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_09" class="smallcaps">Love</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_10" class="smallcaps">The Warrior</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch_11" class="smallcaps">Last Days</a></li> +</ol> + +<p><a href="#dates" class="smallcaps">Dates in Mrs. Booth's Life</a></p> + + +<h1>Catherine Booth:</h1> + +<h2>A Sketch</h2> + + +<h1><a name="ch_01"></a>I</h1> + +<h2>Childhood</h2> + +<p>’Parents who love God best will not allow their +children to learn anything which could not be pressed +into His service.’–<i>Mrs</i>. <i>Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>The Mother of The Salvation Army was born at Ashbourne, +in Derbyshire, on January 17, 1829, and God gave to +her the very best gift He can give to any child–a +good and holy mother.</p> + +<p>Katie Mumford, as she was then called, had no sister +to play with, and of her four brothers only one lived +to be a man. But her dear mother more than made up +for every lack, and from her lips the little girl learned +those blessed lessons which, in her turn, she has taught +to us.</p> + +<p>One lesson which Mrs. Mumford early taught her daughter +was that our bodies will not live for ever. She took +Katie to see the body of her infant brother who had +just died; and, though she was not more than two years +old at the time, Katie never forgot that first lesson. +Spiritual things were even then real to her, just +because they were so real to her mother. Heaven was +home to her, and Jesus her best Friend, ever near to +help and guide her.</p> + +<p>Truthfulness was a second of those early lessons which +remained with our Army Mother all her life. She was +but four years old when Mrs. Mumford found her one +evening sobbing bitterly in her little cot long after +she should have been asleep. She had told a falsehood, +and conscience would not let her rest. When she had +sobbed out her confession, her mother talked and prayed +with her, and at last left her, happy in the assurance +that she was forgiven by her Heavenly Father.</p> + +<p>After this you will not be surprised to hear that +another lesson early taught to Katie by her mother +was to love her Bible. She could read nicely when +she was but five years old, and she loved to stand +by her mother’s side, and read the Bible stories +aloud, with just a little help over the very long +words. And this love for God’s Word grew deeper +every year, so that by the time she was twelve years +old she had read it through eight times. In later +years people often wondered how it was that Mrs. Booth +knew her Bible so well, and could so quickly answer +their difficulties and objections in Bible words. +Much of the secret lay in this early training, and +in the hours she spent in Bible study later on, when +she had reached the age of some of our younger Corps +Cadets.</p> + +<p>I wish we could have seen her in those days. She had +very dark hair, which curled naturally; black, flashing +eyes, and such a warm heart, and strong, impetuous +nature that she could do nothing by halves. Whatever +it was, work or play, her whole soul had to be in +it.</p> + +<p>Since she was not at all strong, and had few girl +friends, Katie did not play rough or noisy games, +but her love for her dolls made her quite a little +mother to them. She treated them almost like real children, +and would sew and toil, and never rest till she felt +she had in every way done her duty to them. She loved +animals, too, especially dogs and horses, and could +not bear to see any one ill-treat them. Oh, how she +suffered one day, watching some poor sheep driven down +the road! She watched the man beat them–she could +not stop him; and at last she tore home, and flung +herself down almost choking and speechless with indignation +and distress.</p> + +<p>Her mother did not check Katie for feeling so keenly. +She encouraged her; for she knew that a hard, indifferent +child, who can see suffering and not care or be distressed +over it, would make a hard woman; and she wanted her +Katie to be full of love and tenderness for all, and +especially for those needing help.</p> + +<p>When Catherine was twelve years old she became very +interested in the drink question. She wrote letters +about it, and sent them to different newspapers, for +there was no ‘War Cry’ nor ‘Young +Soldier’ in those days; and she also became +the secretary of what was then called a Juvenile Temperance +Society, and did all she could to get boys and girls +to promise never to touch the drink.</p> + +<p>Katie was also, like many of you, much interested +in the heathen. She would go round to all her friends +collecting money to pay for preachers to be sent to +them; and in order to get more money she would deny +herself sugar and other small luxuries. No one told +Katie to do this; but you see our Army Mother herself +taught us, by her example when only a child, to keep +our great Self-Denial Week.</p> + +<p>Of course, most of Katie’s time was taken up +with her lessons, and, as she loved to learn and study, +they were no hardship to her. For two years she went +to a boarding-school, and here her companions soon +found out how straight and truthful she was. ’You’ll +never get <i>her</i> to tell a lie,’ the +girls said, ‘nor even to exaggerate, so it’s +no use trying.’ Every one knew also that Katie +felt for the backward girls and those who were slow +and dull. She wanted them to succeed, and would help +them between school hours. That was her joy, you see–to +help and care for others; whether at school or at +home she was the same.</p> + +<p>But you must not think that Catherine was perfect. +Oh, no, indeed! Sometimes her schoolmates would tease +her because she was so quiet, and liked to read better +than to play; and at such times, instead of being +patient, she would flare up into a passion, and say +harsh, angry words. When the storm was over she would +be, however, Oh! so sorry, and would beg her schoolfellows +to forgive her.</p> + +<p>When Katie had been at school two years, God sent +her a very great trial. Instead of being able to go +on learning and keeping up with the other girls, she +had to return home, and for three long years to lie +nearly all the time on her back, often suffering very +much. She had a serious spinal complaint, and her +friends sometimes doubted whether she would ever walk +again.</p> + +<p>You wonder what she did in those three years? I will +tell you. When the pain would permit it, she would +knit and sew. She could not, of course, hold heavy +needlework; but little things, like babies’ socks +and hoods, pin-cushions, and so forth, she would make +most beautifully, and then they would be sold to help +on the work of God.</p> + +<p>Besides her sewing, Katie read a great deal. First, +as I have already told you, she read her Bible, and +learnt to know God’s thoughts about the world +and sin, and His wishes for His people. For seven months +at one time Catherine had to lie on her face on a +special sort of couch made on purpose for her; but +she invented a contrivance by which, even then, she +could read her Bible, though still remaining in the +position that the doctors wished. Then, too, she would +read good books–explanations of the Bible, about +Holiness, soul-saving, lives of those who have lived +and worked for God, and so on. When she had read a +chapter she would shut the book, and write down as +much as she could remember of it. This helped her +to think clearly and to remember what she read, and +also to put her thoughts into words.</p> + +<p>But she never wasted her time reading stories and +novels. Later on in her life she said she was so thankful +for this, for she thought that novels and silly story +books made people discontented with their own homes +and duties, and put wrong, hurtful ideas into their +minds. Let us recollect and follow our Army Mother’s +example here, and not waste time on stories which +are not true.</p> + +<p>We, if we had known Katie Mumford in those three years +of pain and weariness, should have pitied her very +much. We might have been tempted to feel that God +was hard in not letting her be strong like other girls; +but we now see that all the time He was fitting her +for the wonderful future before her; and when she +became Mrs. Booth, the great preacher, she herself +understood this.</p> + +<p>‘Being so much alone in my youth,’ she +said, ’and so thrown on my own thoughts and +on those expressed in books, has been very helpful +to me. Had I been given to gossip, and had there been +people for me to gossip with, I should certainly never +have accomplished what I did.’</p> + +<p>So, you see, God was all the time giving her the very +best training He could, and teaching her, as she lay +there alone on her bed, what she never could have +learned in the ordinary way. And He will train you, +too, in the very best way for your future, if you +will but determine to trust and serve Him as did Catherine +Mumford.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_02"></a>II</h1> + +<h2>Conversion and Soul Struggles</h2> + +<p>’No soul was ever yet saved who was too idle +to seek.’–<i>Mrs</i>. <i>Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>Perhaps you, the Corps Cadet, for whom I am especially +writing this little book, have been tempted to break +your vows by becoming engaged to some one who does +not want to be an Officer. And you think, perhaps, +that no one understands your feelings.</p> + +<p>You will be surprised, then, to know that our Army +Mother had just such a battle to fight when she was +a girl.</p> + +<p>She had a cousin, a little older than herself, who +was tall and very clever. He came with his parents +to stay in her home, and Katie had not seen him since +they were young children. He quickly grew very fond +of his cousin, and Catherine found how nice it was +to have some one to give her presents and to love +her as he did. At last he begged her to promise that +by and by she would be engaged to him. Now Katie was +very perplexed. On the one hand she loved her cousin, +and did not want to grieve him, and yet in her heart +she knew he was not truly given up to God, and would +not help her in her soul.</p> + +<p>‘Go to the Meeting with you, Katie?’ he +used to say. ’Of course, I’ll go anywhere +to please you.’ But then, while she was trying +to get a blessing, he would be scratching little pictures +on the back of the seat to make her laugh. Perhaps +you can guess the struggle it was for Katie to decide +what her answer should be. ’If you will only +say “yes,” and be engaged to him, I am +sure you will be able to help him, and very likely +get him properly saved,’ the Devil would whisper. +’Break it off now, Katie; do not go another +step; you know God cannot smile on it.’ That +was how her conscience spoke.</p> + +<p>At last, one day as she was truly praying and seeking +for light, she read the verse in 2 Corinthians vi. +14: ’Be ye not unequally yoked together with +unbelievers.’ It came to her as the voice of +God.</p> + +<p>‘I will do it, Lord,’ she said, after +a long struggle; and she sat down, and wrote her cousin +a letter, telling him just why she could never be +engaged to him, and breaking it all off for ever. Then +she turned back to her home duties, and did not re-open +the question.</p> + +<p>And did our Army Mother in after years regret that +she had acted like this? No, indeed; she has told +us that she saw plainly later on that, if just then +she had chosen to follow her own feelings and wishes, +instead of obeying God’s command, all her life +would have been altered, and she would never have +done the glorious work He had planned for her. It was +a hard battle at the time, and cost her many tears; +but it was worth it, ten thousand times over, as we +can all see to-day.</p> + +<p>Very soon after this victory Catherine became really +converted.</p> + +<p>‘What!’ you say. ‘Was she not converted +before this?’</p> + +<p>No. All her life she had, like many children trained +to-day in Salvationist homes, felt God’s Holy +Spirit striving with her. Sometimes, when quite a +little girl, her mother would find her crying because +she felt how she had sinned against God.</p> + +<p>But when she was about fifteen she longed to know +that she was really saved.</p> + +<p>‘Don’t be silly,’ said the Devil +in her heart. ’You have been as good as saved +all your life. You have always wanted to do right. +How can you expect such a sudden change as if you +were a great big drunkard? It’s absurd.’</p> + +<p>‘But my <i>heart</i> is as bad as the heart +of a big sinner,’ cried poor Katie in an agony +of fear. ’I have been as bad inside, if not in +my outward actions and words.’</p> + +<p>And then she took hold of God in faith. ’Lord, +I must be converted. I cannot rest till Thou hast +changed my whole nature; do for me what Thou dost +do, for the thieves and drunkards.’</p> + +<p>But for six weeks it seemed as if God did not hear +her cry. She grew more and more unhappy. All her past +sins rose before her: those bursts of temper when +she was at school, those wrong thoughts and feelings. +Yes, the Bible was true when it said: ’The heart +is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.’</p> + +<p>Katie argued, too, like this: ’I cannot recollect +any time or place where I claimed Salvation and the +forgiveness of my sins; if God <i>has</i> saved +me, He would surely have made me certain of it. Anyway, +I must and will know it. I must have the assurance +that I am God’s child.’</p> + +<p>Unable to rest, she would pace her room till two o’clock +in the morning, and would lie down at last, with her +Bible and hymn-book under her pillow, praying that +God would Himself tell her that her sins were forgiven. +At last, one morning, as she woke, she opened her hymn-book, +and read these words:–</p> + +<p align="center">My God, I am Thine,<br /> +What a comfort divine,<br /> +What a blessing to know that my Jesus is mine.</p> + +<p>Now she had read and sung these lines scores of times +before, but they came this morning with a new power +to her soul.</p> + +<p>‘I am Thine!’ ‘My Jesus is mine!’ +she exclaimed. ’Lord, it is true!–I do believe +it! My sins are forgiven. I belong to Thee!’ +and her whole soul was filled with light and joy. +She now possessed what she had been seeking all these +weeks–the assurance of Salvation! And then what do +you think she did? She threw on a wrapper, and, without +waiting to dress, hurried across to her mother’s +room, and tapped at the door.</p> + +<p>‘Come in,’ said her mother’s voice; +and Katie, her face shining with joy, burst into the +room. ’Mamma, mamma, I am a child of God! My +sins are forgiven–Jesus is my Saviour!’ she +cried, flinging herself into her mother’s arms. +And this was the same Katie, who had been so shy and +backward that she had never before dared to speak about +her spiritual anxieties, even to her mother! Ah! what +a change real conversion, or change of heart, had +made.</p> + +<p>For the next six months Katie was so happy that she +felt as if she were walking on air. ‘I used +to tremble,’ she tells us, ’and even long +to die, lest I should back-slide or lose the sense +of God’s favour.’</p> + +<p>But as time went on she learned, as we all have to +do, to walk by faith, not by sight, and to serve and +follow the Saviour whether she had happy feelings +or not.</p> + +<p>But you must not suppose, because Katie had the assurance +of Salvation, that therefore she had no more fighting. +No–indeed, her fighting days had only just begun.</p> + +<p>One of her great difficulties, which many Corps Cadets +will understand, was that she felt so nervous about +doing anything in public. No one, of course, asked +her to speak–such a thing was never dreamed of; but +the lady who took the Bible Class which she attended +regularly would now and then ask her to pray. ‘Miss +Mumford will pray,’ the lady would say, when +they were all kneeling together.</p> + +<p>But Katie was too shy to begin, and sometimes they +would wait for several minutes before she had courage +to say a few words. ’Don’t ask me to pray +again,’ she said one day to her leader; ’the +excitement and agitation make me quite ill.’</p> + +<p>‘I can’t help that,’ was the very +wise answer; ’you must break through your timidity; +for otherwise you will be of no use to God.’</p> + +<p>And did Katie persevere? Yes, indeed, she did. Here +is an entry made some time later in the diary that +she kept, which shows you how very much her experience +was like yours:–</p> + +<p>’I have not been blessed so much for weeks as +I was to-night. I prayed aloud. The cross was great, +but so was the reward.</p> + +<p>My heart beat violently, but I felt some liberty.’</p> + +<p>Though Catherine’s spine difficulty was better, +she was still very delicate, and at the age of eighteen +every one felt sure she was going into a decline. +But, sick or well, her soul grew stronger, and her +desire to please and serve God better increased every +day.</p> + +<p>‘I do love Thee,’ she wrote in the same +little diary, ’but I want to love Thee more.’</p> + +<p>It was not till many years later that Catherine received +the blessing of a clean heart; but even now she had +begun to desire and long for it. She also writes at +this time: ’I see that this Full Salvation is +very necessary if I am to glorify God below, and find +my way to Heaven. I want a <i>clean</i> heart. +Lord, take me and seal me.’</p> + +<p>Some people, even after they are converted, are too +proud to own themselves wrong, or to confess when +they have sinned. Catherine was not of that sort. +In one of her letters to her mother she ends with these +words:–</p> + +<p>’Pray for me, dear mother, and believe me, with +all my faults and besetments, your loving child.’</p> + +<p>Her hunger after a holy life was real and practical. +She knew she must learn to live by method–that is, +doing right, whether she liked it or not–and not +by feelings, if she was to be of use in the world.</p> + +<p>So at the end of the year she wrote some new resolutions; +and as they may be of help to you, I will copy them +for you just as she put them down:–</p> + +<p>’I have been writing a few daily rules for the +coming year, which I hope will prove a blessing to +me, by the grace of God. I have got a paper of printed +rules also, which I intend to read once a week. May +the Lord help me to keep to them! But, above all, +I am determined to search the Scriptures more attentively, +for in them I have eternal life. I have read my Bible +through twice during the past sixteen months, but I +must read it with more prayer for light and understanding. +Oh, may it be my meat and drink! May I meditate on +it day and night! And then I shall bring forth fruit +in season; my leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever +I do shall prosper.’</p> + +<p>She had also her own private ways of denying herself, +not for the sake of earning money or praise by it, +but simply because she felt it was right. One of these +rules was to do without dinner, and butter at breakfast, +once in the week, because she felt it helped her in +her soul.</p> + +<p>I cannot end this chapter without telling you of the +one great sorrow which darkened all her early years. +Some of you, I know, will enter into her feelings +so well.</p> + +<p>Her father, at one time saved and earnest about the +souls of others, had grown cold and backslidden, and +now never even went near a Meeting. You can fancy +what agony this was to both Mrs. Mumford and her daughter. +They prayed and wept in vain–he only seemed to get +more indifferent. Catherine would sometimes write +her feelings and her sorrow in her diary, and there +we read:–</p> + +<p>’I sometimes get into an agony of feeling while +praying for my dear father. Oh, my Lord, answer prayer, +and bring him back to Thyself! Never let that tongue +which once delighted in praising Thee, and in showing +others Thy willingness to save, be engaged in uttering +the lamentations of the lost! Oh, awful thought! Lord, +have mercy! Save, Oh! save him in any way Thou seest +best, though it be ever so painful. If by removing +me Thou canst do this, cut short Thy work, and take +me Home. Let me be bold to speak in Thy name. Oh, +give me true courage and liberty, and when I write +to him, bless what I say to the good of his soul!’</p> + +<p>For many years this prayer of Catherine’s was +not answered; but she held on, as you must do for +those you love, in faith and prayer; and at last she +had the unspeakable joy of seeing her dear father come +back to God through one of her own Meetings which +he had attended. His last years were full of peace, +and were spent in serving God and rejoicing in His +Salvation.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_03"></a>III</h1> + +<h2>A Three-Years Engagement</h2> + +<p>’What a need there is for effort and energy; +or real religion and common sense!’–<i>Mrs</i>. +<i>Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>One Sunday, when Catherine and her mother went to +the Meeting as usual, they found a ‘Special’ +there, taking the services. He was quite different +from the other Specials, and Catherine could not help +noticing him with extra interest. He spoke to the +people’s hearts, and was not so much occupied +in preaching a good sermon as in getting some one converted. +But he did preach a very good sermon for all that, +and chose this verse as his text–’This is indeed +the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’</p> + +<p>A few days later Catherine and her mother were spending +the evening with a friend, when the very same preacher +came in, and was introduced to them as the Rev. William +Booth.</p> + +<p>Catherine knew they had one subject in common–love +for souls; but before the evening ended she discovered +that the young minister was quite as earnest as she +was herself in fighting the Drink curse and all that +was connected with it.</p> + +<p>A few Sundays later Mr. Booth preached again in the +same building, this time as the minister, or, as we +should say, ‘Officer in charge,’ and no +longer as a Special. And now you will guess that the +two often met, and that, because they had so many +interests in common, they soon learned to know each +other well, till respect grew into friendship, and +friendship into love.</p> + +<p>Catherine was at this time twenty-two years old, and +Mr. Booth was three months younger; but, though you +would have said they were old enough to know their +own minds, they did nothing hastily, and would enter +into no engagement till they were quite sure of God’s +Will in the matter.</p> + +<p>Had Catherine ever before thought of the day when +she would get married? you, perhaps, ask. Oh, yes, +indeed, and when but a girl of sixteen– directly, +in fact, after she was saved–she settled in her own +heart what sort of a man her future husband must be. +First, she decided, he must be truly converted, and +a total abstainer, not to please her, but from his +own choice. Then he must be a man of sense, or she +could never respect him; and, if they were to be happy, +they must feel and think alike on all important matters.</p> + +<p>Ah, if our women-Soldiers and Cadets to-day would +but follow our Army Mother’s example, there +would be fewer unhappy marriages and wrecked lives!</p> + +<p>But in her secret heart Catherine had also, girl-like, +some ideas about the sort of man she would like to +marry, if she might choose. He should be a minister–that +was the nearest she could get to an Officer in those +days; William was a name she particularly liked, and–if +only he might be tall and dark! If you had been there +when Katie Mumford first listened to his preaching +you would have seen that he was ‘tall and dark’ +indeed.</p> + +<p>But though William Booth loved Catherine with a deep +and holy love, which increased each time they met, +yet he was very poor, and he wondered if he ought, +under the circumstances, to ask her to share his lot. +He wrote a letter to her, telling her how perplexed +and troubled he was, and her answer shows us that, +right from the very earliest days, before they were +even engaged, her one desire was that his soul should +prosper.</p> + +<p>‘My dear friend,’ she begins ... ’The +thought that I should cause you any suffering or increase +your perplexity is almost unbearable. I am tempted +to wish that we had never seen each other. Do try to +forget me, as far as the remembrance would injure +your usefulness or spoil your peace. If I have no +alternative but to oppose the Will of God, or trample +on the desolations of my own heart, <i>my choice +is made</i>. “Thy will be done” is +my constant cry. I care not for myself; but Oh, if +I cause you to err, I shall never be happy again.’</p> + +<p>It was not the fear of poverty that frightened her, +for a few days later she says:–</p> + +<p>’I fear you did not fully understand my difficulty. +It was not circumstances. I thought I had assured +you that a bright prospect would not allure me, nor +a dark one affright me, if only we are <i>one in +heart</i>.</p> + +<p>My only reason for wishing to defer the engagement +was that <i>you</i> might feel satisfied in your +mind that the step is right.... If you are convinced +on this point, let circumstances go, and let us be +one, come what may.’</p> + +<p>This is exactly what they did, and after meeting, +and together consecrating their lives to God, they +solemnly pledged themselves to each other.</p> + +<p>And now began a three-years’ engagement, in +which, though often for long months at a time they +never met, they remained true to each other and to +God, in thought and word and deed.</p> + +<p>Many of the beautiful letters that our Army Mother +wrote to The General at this time, I am glad to tell +you, have been kept, and we will look together at +some of the ways in which she tried to help and cheer +him.</p> + +<p>In the first letter after their engagement she ends +with these words:–</p> + +<p>’The more you lead me up to Christ in all things, +the more highly shall I esteem you; and if it be possible +to love you more than I do now, the more shall I love +you. You are always present in my thoughts.’</p> + +<p>Now you must not think that, even in these early days, +our General had a very easy life. He was often much +perplexed and troubled, longing above all to do God’s +Will for the Salvation of the people, and yet not quite +sure what that Will was. At these times Catherine was +of untold help to him.</p> + +<p>Once he was very unsettled–not certain whether he +should remain away in the North of England, or accept +a place in London, where the two could often meet. +Most girls would have said, ’Oh, come, then we +shall be near to each other’; but you will see +that her advice to him is just as suitable for you +when you are not certain of your duty–that she does +not consider her own feelings at all.</p> + +<p>‘I wish,’ she writes, ’you prayed +more and talked less about the matter. Try it, and +be determined to get clear and settled views as to +your course. Leave your heart before God, and get +satisfied in His sight, and then do it, be it what +it may. I cannot bear the idea of your being unhappy. +Pray do in this as you feel in your soul it will be +right. My conscience is no standard for yours.’</p> + +<p>Then she adds, lower down:–</p> + +<p>’Oh, if you come to London, let us be determined +to reap a blessed harvest. Let our fellowship be sanctified +to our souls’ everlasting good. My mind is made +up to do my part towards it. I hope to be firm as a +rock on some points. The Lord help me. We must aim +to improve each other’s mind and character. +Let us pray for grace to do it in the best way and +to the fullest extent possible.’</p> + +<p>‘Anyway,’ she says, a day or two later–and +ever remember her words when outside things try and +distress you–’don’t let the controversy +hurt your soul. Live near to God by prayer.... You +believe He answers prayer. Then take courage. Just +fall down at His feet, and open your very soul before +Him, and throw yourself right into His arms. Tell Him +that if you are wrong you only wait to be set right, +and, be the path rough or smooth, you will walk in +it.</p> + +<p>’Oh, you must live close to God! If you are +a greater distance from Him than you were, just stop +the whirl of outward things, or rather leave it, and +shut yourself up with Him till all is clear and bright +upwards. Do, there’s a dear. Oh, how much we +lose by not coming to the point. Now, at once, realize +your union with Christ, and trust Him to lead you through +this perplexity. Bless you. Excuse this advice. I am +anxious for your soul. Look up. If God hears my prayers, +He must guide you–He will guide you.’</p> + +<p>In these early days our General was tempted, as some +of us are tempted to-day, to feel nervous and shy +when talking before large crowds, and where the people +were better dressed and better off than usual. He wrote +his feelings to Catherine, and she sends him back her +wise advice and help. ‘I am sorry for this,’ +she says, ’and am persuaded it is the fear of +man which shackles you. Do not give place to this feeling. +Remember you are <i>the</i> Lord’s servant, +and if you are a faithful one it will be a small matter +with you to be judged of man’s judgment. Let +nothing be wanting beforehand to make what you say +helpful, but when you are before the people try to +think only of your own responsibility to Him who hath +sent you.’</p> + +<p>Again, later, she writes:–</p> + +<p>’Try and cast off the fear of man. Fix your +eyes simply on the glory of God, and care not for +frown or praise of man. Rest not till your soul is +fully alive to God.’ How truly she herself carried +this out in her own Meetings you will hear later on.</p> + +<p>Miss Mumford was very anxious that The General should +improve himself with plenty of hard work. She saw +what he might become, and she also knew that unless +he did <i>his</i> part all those wonderful powers +which God had lent to him would be thrown away.</p> + +<p>‘Do assure me,’ she writes, ’my +own dear William, that no want of energy or effort +on your part shall hinder the improvement of those +talents God has given you.’</p> + +<p>So that, with his constant travelling and preaching, +he might get time to read and think and learn, she +suggested a little plan to him in his billets.</p> + +<p>‘Could you not,’ she says, ’provide +yourself with a small leather bag or case, large enough +to hold your Bible and any other book you might require–pens, +ink, paper and a candle? And, presuming that you generally +have a room to yourself, could you not rise by six +o’clock every morning, and convert your bedroom +into a study till breakfast time?... I hope, my dearest +love, you will consider this plan, and keep to it, +if possible, as a general practice. Don’t let +little difficulties prevent your carrying it out.’</p> + +<p>You must remember that at this time neither Catherine +nor Mr. Booth ever dreamed of the wonderful work they +were to be called to do. He was then preaching and +getting souls saved, mostly in country places, and +had many a ‘hard go,’ but <i>that</i> +was no reason why he should not improve.</p> + +<p>Did The General like this advice and counsel? Or did +he feel, as some men do to-day, that women cannot +judge nor understand such things?</p> + +<p>Ah! he was wise, and only too glad to have all the +help that Catherine could give him. In fact, he often +wrote begging her to help him more. The outlines for +addresses which she sent him weekly he valued and used, +as this letter shows:–</p> + +<p>‘I have,’ he writes, ’just taken +hold of that sketch you sent me on “Be not deceived,” +and am about to make a full sermon on it. I like it +much. It is admirable.</p> + +<p>’I want a sermon on the Flood, one on Jonah, +and one on the Judgment. Send me some bare thoughts, +some clear, startling outlines. We must have that +kind of truth which will move sinners.’</p> + +<p>But if Catherine Mumford was anxious about the mind +and work of her future husband, much more was she +anxious about his soul. To her, there could be no +true love without faithfulness, and where she felt +it necessary, she cautioned him in the truest and +tenderest way:–</p> + +<p>‘You have special need,’ she writes, ’for +watchfulness and for much private intercourse with +God.</p> + +<p>’My dearest love, beware how you indulge that +dangerous element of character, ambition. Misdirected, +it will be everlasting ruin to yourself, and perhaps +to me also. Oh, my love, let nothing earthly excite +it; let not the wish to be great fire it. Fix it on +the Throne of the Eternal, and let it find the realization +of its loftiest aspirations in the promotion of His +glory, and it shall be consummated with the richest +enjoyments and brightest glories of God’s own +Heaven.’</p> + +<p>You wonder, perhaps, if Catherine ever wrote ‘love +letters,’ as we call them. She never wrote the +foolish and sentimental letters which say a great +deal, and mean very little; but she was able to put +her great love into words strong, intense, and full +of tenderness.</p> + +<p>‘Do I remember?’ she asks in one letter. +’Yes, I remember all–all that has bound us +together. All the bright and happy, as well as the +clouded and sorrowful times of our fellowship. Nothing +relating to you can time or place erase from my memory. +Your words, your looks, your actions, even the most +trivial and incidental, come up before me as fresh +as life. If I meet a child called William, I am more +interested in him than in any other. Bless you. Keep +your spirits up, and hope much for the future. God +lives and loves us, and we shall be one in Him, loving +each other as Christ loved us.’</p> + +<p>William Booth and Catherine Mumford were married in +London, on June 15, 1855; and here are a few lines +from the last letter she wrote to him before the engagement +was ended, and the long thirty-five years of happy +married life began:–</p> + +<p>’I long to see you. Your letters do not satisfy +the yearnings of my heart. Perhaps they ought to. +I wish it were differently constituted. I might be +much happier. But it <i>will</i> be extravagant +and enthusiastic in spite of all my schooling. If +I ever get to Heaven, what rapture shall I know! No, +there is no fear of our loving each other too much. +How can we love each other more than Christ has loved +us? And this is the standard He has given us. What +a precious thing is the religion of Jesus! It makes +our first duties our highest happiness. It has the +promise of the life that now is, as well as of that +which is to come. We will spend all our energies in +trying to persuade men to receive and practise it.’</p> + +<p>How wonderfully she carried this intention into practice, +and, together with The General, lived every moment +‘publishing the Sinner’s Friend,’ +you shall read later on.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_04"></a>IV</h1> + +<h2>A Life of Sacrifice</h2> + +<p>’Since I came to the crucifixion of myself, +I have not cared much what men might say of me.’–<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>At the time when our Army Mother married The General’s +work was, as we have seen, that of an ‘Evangelist’ +or ‘Travelling Minister.’ He would stay +in a town for some weeks or months, as the case might +be, preaching and holding Meetings, and getting people +saved, both in the town itself and the places round.</p> + +<p>It was a blessed and useful life, but very wearying; +and we can fancy how trying it must have been for +Mrs. Booth after her marriage not to have any home +of her own, but to billet first in one stranger’s +house, and then in another’s.</p> + +<p>But she did not complain, though we see what it cost +her by a letter she writes to her mother, telling +the good news that they are to live in lodgings while +at Sheffield:–</p> + +<p>‘You cannot think,’ she writes, ’with +what joy I look forward to being to ourselves once +more. For though I get literally oppressed with kindness, +I must say I would prefer a home where we could sit +down together at our own little table, myself the +mistress, and my husband the only guest. But the work +of God so abundantly prospers that I dare not repine, +or else I feel this constant packing and unpacking +and staying amongst strangers to be a great burden, +especially while so weak and poorly. But then I have +many mercies and advantages. My precious William is +all I desire, and without this what would the most +splendid home be but a glittering bauble?’</p> + +<p>For several years Mrs. Booth travelled in this way +from place to place, helping, cheering, and encouraging +her husband in his soul-saving campaigns. She felt +her duty lay here, and even when she had a little son +to care for, she was unwilling to settle down. Writing +to her mother, who urged her to leave off this trying +life; or, at any rate, to hand the baby over to her, +she says:–</p> + +<p>’My objection to leaving William gets stronger +as I see the need he has of my presence, care, and +sympathy; neither is he willing for it himself. Nor +can I make up my mind to parting with Willie.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth’s object was to be a help to her +husband–not a hindrance; to push him forward in his +soul-saving work–not to hold him back; and therefore, +instead of rejoicing, as most wives and mothers would +have done, when a settled home and work were offered +him, she was doubtful.</p> + +<p>‘Personally considered,’ she writes to +her mother, ’I care nothing about it. I feel +that a good rest in one place will be a boon to us. +Anyhow, if God wills him to be an Evangelist, He will +open the way. I find that I love the work itself far +more than I thought I did, and I am willing to risk +something for it.’</p> + +<p>After this came several years of great conflict and +struggle. The Conference (or, as we would say, Headquarters) +under whom The General worked did not wish him to +continue the great Salvation Campaigns for which God +had so marvellously fitted him. They wanted him to +’settle down,’ and spend perhaps several +years in one place like ordinary ministers.</p> + +<p>To please those who were over him he did this, and +spent four years in one town. But though God blessed +his efforts, The General was convinced that he was +called to greater things. He loved the sinners; wherever +he went crowds flocked to hear him, and the vilest +were converted. Was it God’s will, therefore, +that he should sacrifice the work his soul loved, +and ‘settle down’ into an ordinary life, +helping and reaching only the people of one small +city?</p> + +<p>This question our Army Mother helped him to decide. +Try to picture her position. She had by this time +a family of little children, and her health was very +delicate. By counselling The General to ‘settle +down,’ as his friends wished him to do, she +would have a nice home, a comfortable income, and, +above all, the constant presence of her husband, who +would no longer need to leave her on his long soul-saving +tours.</p> + +<p>By refusing the position offered, and choosing instead +to take up the ‘evangelistic life’ again, +The General turned his back on salary, home, and work, +and went out into the world, with his wife and four +children, friendless and alone. Do you wonder that +the struggle was a severe one?</p> + +<p>‘Pray for me,’ she wrote to her mother, +when the question was about to be settled. ’I +have many a conflict in regard to the proposed new +departure; not as to our support–I feel as though +I can trust the Lord implicitly for all that; but +the Devil tells me I shall never be able to endure +the loneliness and separation of the life. He draws +many a picture of most dark and melancholy shade. +But I cling to the promise, “No man hath forsaken,” +<i>etc</i>., and, having sworn to my own hurt, may I +stand fast. I have told William that if he takes the +step, and it should bring me to the workhouse, I would +never say one upbraiding word. No. To blame him for +making such a sacrifice for God and conscience’ +sake would be worse than wicked. So, whatever be the +result, I shall make up my mind to endure it patiently, +looking to the Lord for grace and strength.’</p> + +<p>But if it was difficult for Mrs. Booth, the path was +equally dark and hard for The General.</p> + +<p>‘William hesitates,’ she writes a few +weeks later. ’He thinks of me and the children, +and I appreciate his love and care. But I tell him +that God will provide, if he will only go straight +on in the path of duty. It is strange that I, who +always used to shrink from the sacrifice, should be +the first in making it. But when I made the surrender +I did it whole-heartedly, and ever since I have been +like another being. Oh, pray for us yet more and more! +We have no money coming in from any quarter now. Nor +has William any invitations at present. The time is +unfavourable. I am much tempted to feel it hard that +God has not cleared our path more satisfactorily. +But I will not “charge God foolishly.” +I know that His way is often in the whirlwind, and +He rides upon the storm: I will try to possess my +soul in patience, and to wait on Him.’</p> + +<p>Sometimes you have heard your Officers talking in +a Meeting, and telling the people that, if they will +but step out in faith, and do right, God will open +up the way for them. The example of our General and +Army Mother has taught us this lesson, for few ever +took a step of faith into greater darkness and difficulty +than they did at this time.</p> + +<p>‘My dearest,’ writes Mrs. Booth to her +mother, ’is starting for London. Pray for him. +He is much harassed. But I have promised to keep a +brave heart. At times it appears to me that God may +have something very glorious in store for us, and +when He has tried us He will bring us forth as gold. +It will not be the first time I have taken a leap in +the dark, humanly speaking, for conscience’ +sake.’</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, a ‘leap in the dark’: +to break up their little home in the North, and, travelling +by boat, to save expense, to bring their four children +to Mrs. Mumford’s house in London. There they +separated: the father and mother went to Cornwall, +to hold a Salvation campaign in a little chapel that +had been lent to them, and the children remained behind.</p> + +<p>Of the marvellous way in which God blessed the Cornish +work, I cannot stop to tell you. Mrs. Booth’s +name as a preacher was by this time becoming as widely +known as that of her husband; and they went from one +place to another, at first together, and then, afterwards, +separately, so as to be able to do more good, for +four long years.</p> + +<p>Whenever possible, our Army Mother took her children +with her: she never left them to others when she could +help it, and later on I shall tell you what a devoted +and tender mother she was; but the strain of those +four long years no one will ever know. I want you +to see the dark as well as the bright side of her +wonderful life; and here is part of a letter to her +mother, written at that time:–</p> + +<p>’I feel dreadfully unsettled at present. I don’t +like this mode of living at all. William has now been +away from home, except on Friday and Saturday, for +twelve weeks. I long to get fixed together again once +more. The going backwards and forwards and being in +other people’s houses does not suit William. +Nor do I like leaving home for the Sabbaths. I am much +tempted to look gloomily towards the future. But “my +heart is fixed.” “I will trust, and not +be afraid."’</p> + +<p>Then again, a little later on:–</p> + +<p>’Pray for me. I sometimes feel as though I had +taken a path which is too hard for me, and duties +too heavy for me to perform; but it is my privilege +to say, and to feel, “I can do all things through +Christ which strengtheneth me."’</p> + +<p>Once again she says:–</p> + +<p>’Well, the Lord help us to be faithful to our +convictions, even in the dark and cloudy day! I have +felt it hard work to do so lately. Many a time have +I longed to be where the weary are at rest.</p> + +<p>’Well, we must labour and wait a little longer; +it may be that the clouds will break, and surround +us with sunshine. Anyway, God lives above the clouds, +and He will direct our path.’</p> + +<p>The General and Mrs. Booth were holding Salvation +services in London when our Army Mother was called +to make a fresh sacrifice, never dreaming of the wonderful +results that would spring from it. You shall read about +it in her own words, spoken many years afterwards:–</p> + +<p>‘I remember well,’ she says, ’when +The General decided at last to give up the evangelistic +life and to devote himself to the Salvation of the +East-Enders. He had come home from a Meeting one +night, tired out, as usual. It was between eleven +and twelve o’clock. Flinging himself into an +easy chair, he said to me, “O Kate, as I passed +by the doors of the flaming gin-palaces to-night I +seemed to hear a voice sounding in my ears, ’Where +can you go and find such heathen as these, and where +is there so great a need for your labours?’ +And I felt as though I ought at every cost to stop +and preach to these East-End crowds.”</p> + +<p>’I remember the emotion that this produced in +my soul. I sat gazing into the fire, and the Devil +whispered to me, “This means another new departure–another +start in life.”</p> + +<p>’The question of our support I saw at once to +be a serious difficulty. Hitherto we had been able +to meet our expenses by the collections which we had +made from our respectable audiences. But it was impossible +to suppose that we could do so among the poverty-stricken +East-Enders. We did not then see things as we do to-day. +We were afraid even to ask for a collection among +the East London crowds.</p> + +<p>’Nevertheless, I did not answer discouragingly. +After a moment’s pause for thought and prayer, +I answered, “Well, if you feel you ought to stay, +stay. We have trusted the Lord once for our support, +and we can trust Him again."’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth, when she answered like this, had no idea +of all that was to follow. She never dreamt that, +from The General’s standing alone in Whitechapel, +a mighty wave of Salvation would sweep over the earth, +nor that God was about to raise up an Army of which +she and The General were to be the leaders.</p> + +<p>But, as always before, she willingly agreed to whatever +would be for God’s glory and the Salvation of +souls; and we all know to-day how, from that little +Whitechapel beginning, grew the Christian Mission, +and how, at last, the Christian Mission became The +Salvation Army.</p> + +<p>Do not think, however, that our dear Army Mother’s +consecration stopped here! No, indeed. One by one, +as they became old enough, she gave up her children +to the Work, and we shall never know all we owe as +an Army to her beautiful spirit of devotion and sacrifice.</p> + +<p>Let us stand together by her open grave in the autumn +twilight. Her twenty-six years of fight and toil in +The Salvation Army are over now, her spirit has been +summoned Home. Listen. The Army Founder himself is +the speaker. He is recalling the forty years which +he and our dear Army Mother had trod together, and +his words sum up better than any other words could +do what she was to our Leader:–</p> + +<p>‘If you had had a tree,’ he said, speaking +to the vast crowd that stood round the grave, ’that +had grown up in your garden, under your window, which +for forty years had been your shadow from the burning +sun, whose flowers had been the adornment and beauty +of your life, whose fruit had been almost the stay +of your existence, and the gardener had come along +and swung his glittering axe and cut it down before +your eyes, I think you would feel as though you had +a blank–it might not be a big one–but a little blank +in your life.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a servant who for all this long +time had served you without fee or reward, who had +administered, for very love, to your health and comfort, +and who suddenly passed away, you would miss that +servant.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a counsellor who, in hours–continually +occurring–of perplexity and amazement, had ever advised +you, and seldom advised wrong; whose advice you had +followed, and seldom had reason to regret it; and +the counsellor, while you were in the same intricate +mazes of your existence, had passed away, you would +miss that counsellor.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a friend who had understood +your very nature, the rise and fall of your feelings, +the bent of your thoughts, and the purpose of your +existence; a friend whose communion had ever been pleasant–the +most pleasant of all other friends–to whom you had +ever turned with satisfaction, and your friend had +been taken away, you would feel some sorrow at the +loss.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a mother for your children who +had cradled and nursed and trained them for the service +of the living God, in which you most delighted–a +mother, indeed, who had never ceased to bear their +sorrows on her heart, and who had been ever willing +to pour forth that heart’s blood in order to +nourish them, and that darling mother had been taken +from your side, you would feel it a sorrow.</p> + +<p>’If you had had a wife, a sweet love of a wife, +who for forty years had never given you real cause +for grief; a wife who had stood with you, side by +side, in the battle’s front, who had been a comrade +to you, ever willing to interpose herself between +you and the enemy, and ever the strongest when the +battle was fiercest, and your beloved one had fallen +before your eyes, I am sure there would be some excuse +for your sorrow.</p> + +<p>’Well, my comrades, you can roll all these qualities +into one personality, and what would be lost in all +I have lost in one. There has been taken away from +me the light of my eyes, the inspiration of my soul, +and we are about to lay all that remains of her in +the grave. I have been looking right at the bottom +of it here, and calculating how soon they may bring +and lay me alongside of her, and my cry to God has +been that every remaining hour of my life may make +me readier to come and join her in death, to go and +embrace her in life in the Eternal City.’</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_05"></a>V</h1> + +<h2>The Speaker</h2> + +<p>’I will never speak to sinners so that one man +or woman in my audience can stand up and say, “You +might have warned me more faithfully, spoken more +plainly than you did.” I would rather die than +that should be the case.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>No one must think that Mrs. Booth became a great speaker +all in a moment, or by any ‘royal road.’ +She started when about eighteen, as many a Corps Cadet +has since done, by just taking a class or Company on +Sundays, never dreaming of doing more. An elder girls’ +Company was given to her; and she had fifteen girls +to teach, whose ages varied from twelve to nineteen.</p> + +<p>Two half-days she spent every week in preparing for +her Company, and in trying to make each lesson end +in a practical way, so as to do them real good.</p> + +<p>Then on Sunday, when the rest of the children had +been dismissed, Miss Mumford would beg to be given +the key of the room and would remain behind, holding +a little Prayer Meeting with her girls. Sometimes they +would stay on for an hour and a half, and many by this +means became truly converted.</p> + +<p>Often with so much praying and singing Catherine quite +lost her voice before the end of the Meeting; but, +so long as souls were saved, she did not mind that.</p> + +<p>Soon after her marriage Mrs. Booth took another class +of this same kind, and also a little sort of Sergeants’ +Meeting, and then–for you see our Army Mother was +led on, just as you or I may be, step by step–she +gave a short talk to the Band of Hope children (something +like our Band of Love of today) on the evils of drink.</p> + +<p>‘Oh, how I wish,’ she wrote to her father, +’that I had started speaking years ago!’</p> + +<p>A little later on Mr. and Mrs. Booth moved to Gateshead, +and there the people were very much surprised to hear +their minister’s wife pray aloud when her husband +had done speaking; for in those days very few women +thought of praying, much less of speaking, in public.</p> + +<p>’Since you can pray so beautifully, will you +come and talk to us on our special Prayer-Meeting +night?’ some of the people asked. But Mrs. Booth +was horrified.</p> + +<p>‘Of course, I said “No,"’ she wrote. +’I don’t know what they can be thinking +of.’</p> + +<p>Just at this time an argument began in one of the +newspapers as to whether women had the right to speak +for God or not. Mrs. Booth wrote an answer to this +question you can read it for yourself in her book, +’Practical Religion’–and she showed from +God’s Word, that women have the same right to +help to get people saved that the men have. The little +pamphlet was already printed and being widely read, +and our Army Mother lay alone in her room very ill, +when the thought flashed into her soul, ’You +have been helping other women to preach and to speak +for God. What about yourself?’</p> + +<p>’Oh, no, Lord, not me; I can’t. I am, +as Thou knowest, the most timid and bashful disciple +ever saved by grace.’ That was her answer.</p> + +<p>Then the Lord took her back to the days when she first +gave herself to Him, at the age of fifteen. He showed +her that all the way along this one thing had hindered +and stopped her from ’being the blessing or from +getting the blessing He intended.’</p> + +<p>‘Lord,’ she cried, ’if Thou wilt +come back to me as in the old days, I will obey, though +I die in the attempt.’</p> + +<p>But at the moment God seemed not to answer her cry, +and when she was well again all went on as before.</p> + +<p>Three months later Mrs. Booth was quietly sitting +one Sunday morning in chapel with her eldest boy, +when a very wonderful thing happened. You shall read +about it in her own words:–</p> + +<p>‘I felt much depressed in mind,’ she says, +’and was not expecting anything particular, +but as the testimonies proceeded I felt the Holy Spirit +come upon me. It seemed as if a voice said to me: “Now, +if you were to go and testify, you know I would bless +it to your own soul as well as to the people!” +I gasped again, and said in my heart: “Yes, Lord, +I believe Thou wouldst, but I cannot do it!” +I had forgotten my vow.</p> + +<p>’A moment afterwards there flashed across my +mind the memory of the time when I had promised the +Lord that I would obey Him at all costs. And then +the voice seemed to ask me if this was consistent with +that promise. I almost jumped up and said, “No, +Lord, it is the old thing over again. But I cannot +do it!” I felt as though I would sooner die than +speak. And then the Devil said, “Besides, you +are not prepared. You will look like a fool, and will +have nothing to say.” He made a mistake. He overreached +himself for once. It was this word that settled it. +“Ah!” I said, “this is just the +point. I have never yet been willing to be a fool for +Christ. Now I will be one!”</p> + +<p>’Without stopping another moment, I rose up +from my seat and walked down the aisle. My dear husband +thought something had happened to me, and so did the +people. We had been there two years, and they knew +my timid, bashful nature. He stepped down, and asked +me, “What is the matter, my dear?” I replied, +“I want to say a word!” He was so taken +by surprise that he could only say, “My dear +wife wishes to speak!” and sat down. For years +he had been trying to persuade me to do it. Only that +very week he had wanted me to go and address a little +Cottage Meeting of some twenty working people, but +I had refused.</p> + +<p>’I stood–God only knows how–and if any mortal +ever did hang on the arm of Omnipotence, I did. I +just stood and told the people how it had come about. +I confessed, as I think everybody should who has been +in the wrong and has misrepresented the religion of +Jesus Christ. I said, “I dare say many of you +have been looking upon me as a very devoted woman, +and one who has been living faithfully to God. But +I have come to realize that I have been disobeying +Him, and thus brought darkness and leanness into my +soul. I have promised the Lord to do so no longer, +and have come to tell you that henceforth I will be +obedient to the holy vision.”</p> + +<p>’There was more weeping, they said, in the chapel +that day than on any previous occasion. Many dated +a renewal in righteousness from that very moment, +and began a life of devotion and consecration to God.</p> + +<p>’Now I might have “talked good” +to them till now. That honest confession did what +twenty years of preaching could not have accomplished.’</p> + +<p>After this wonderful victory Mrs. Booth never again +drew back. The same night she spoke once more, with +even greater power than in the morning, and before +long invitations came pouring in from all parts, for +wherever she went souls were saved and people sanctified.</p> + +<p>But it cost her a great deal to preach like this. +She writes of one Meeting held soon after:–</p> + +<p>’I got on very well, and had three beautiful +cases, but I cannot tell you how I felt all day about +it. I could neither eat nor sleep. I never was in +such a state, and when I saw the people, I felt like +melting away. However, I got through.’</p> + +<p>Even to the last, when she was known all round the +world as one of the greatest women-preachers of the +day, she never spoke without feeling deeply the responsibility +and importance of her work, nor without having prepared +carefully beforehand what she wanted to say.</p> + +<p>It was very difficult for her, with four little children, +the eldest only four years and three months old, to +get enough time and quiet. We should have said it +was impossible, for she was not well off, and could +not afford to put her sewing out, or to have many +servants to work for her; but she says:–</p> + +<p>’God forced me to begin to think and work, and +He gave me grace and strength to do it. Many a time +while I was nursing my baby I was thinking of what +I should say next Sunday, and between times I noted +down with a pencil the thoughts as they struck me. +Then I would appear with an outline scratched in pencil, +trusting in the Lord to give me the power of His Holy +Spirit; and from the day I began He has never allowed +me to open my mouth without giving me signs of His +presence and blessing.’</p> + +<p>The two books she always used in getting ready for +her Meetings were her Bible and Concordance.</p> + +<p>In later years she taught her children how to prepare +for their Meetings, and some of the advice she gives +is very helpful to Corps Cadets.</p> + +<p>‘"Jesus wept,"’ she writes to her eldest +girl, who was then fourteen, ’would be a nice +subject for you at one of your little Meetings. And +you could find some texts to show how David wept, +and Daniel, and Jeremiah, <i>etc</i>., if you like it. +But don’t take it because <i>I</i> say so–you +must ask the Lord for your subjects.’</p> + +<p>Later on, however, as The Salvation Army grew, Mrs. +Booth felt that, though it was just as necessary to +prepare, yet to speak from notes was often not helpful +to either the Officer or the people, so she writes +to one of her sons:–</p> + +<p>’Get out of them! They don’t fit our work. +When you get on, you don’t want them; and when +you don’t, they are no good. At first, if your +memory won’t serve you, just jot on a small +bit of paper the size of a ticket your main divisions +in large writing, but no more. Like this:–</p> + +<blockquote>’Day of wrath is come.<br /> +’1. God’s wrath.<br /> +’2. Just wrath.<br /> +’3. Uttermost wrath.<br /> +‘4. Eternal wrath.’</blockquote> + +<p>On the platform Mrs. Booth’s manner was as simple +and natural as when by her own fireside; anything +‘put on’ or affected she hated.</p> + +<p>‘If I were asked,’ she says, ’to +put into one word what I consider to be the greatest +hindrance to the success of Divine truth, even when +spoken by sincere and real people, I should say <i>stiffness</i>. +Simplicity is indispensable to success, <i>naturalness</i> +in putting the truth. It seems as if people, the moment +they come to religion, put on a different tone, a +different look and manner–in short, become unnatural.’</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Booth not only prepared for her Meetings +by thought and study, but she prepared most of all +by prayer.</p> + +<p>‘Oh, if we could,’ she writes, ’get +more of the spirit of prayer into those who love God! +Few understand it at all.</p> + +<p>’I always find an exact proportion in the results +to the spirit of intercession I have had beforehand. +That is why I like to be alone in lodgings.’</p> + +<p>Before her Meeting she would wrestle and plead with +God for hours, in tears and agony, and then would +face her congregation overflowing with love and faith.</p> + +<p>‘Pray for me,’ she writes during her marvellous +Portsmouth campaign. ’No one knows how I feel. +I think I never realized my responsibility as I did +on Sunday night. I felt really awful before rising +to speak. The sight almost overwhelmed me. With its +two galleries, its dome-like roof and vast proportions, +when crammed with people, the building presents a most +imposing appearance. The top gallery is ten or twelve +seats deep in front, and it was full of men. Such +a sight as I have never seen on any previous occasion. +Oh, how I <i>yearned</i> over them! I felt as +if it would be a small thing to die <i>there and +then</i>, if that would have brought them to Jesus.’</p> + +<p>Nothing short of men and women getting converted satisfied +her.</p> + +<p>‘They say,’ she writes of another campaign, +’the sinners here will “<i>bide some +bringing down</i>.” Well, the Lord can do +it. They tell me, too, that I am immensely popular +with the people. But <i>that</i> is no comfort +unless they will be saved.’</p> + +<p>She laboured to get the truth home to the hearts of +her listeners, and that is why her talking was so +blessed.</p> + +<p>‘God made you responsible,’ she said, +’not for delivering the truth, but for <strong class="smallcaps">getting it in</strong>–getting it home, fixing it in the conscience +as a red-hot iron, as a bolt, straight from His throne; +and He has given you also the <i>power to do it</i>; +and if you do not do it, <i>blood</i> will be +on your skirts. Oh, this genteel way of putting the +truth! How God hates it! “If you please, dear +friends, will you listen? If you please, will you +be converted? Will you come to Jesus? Shall we read +just this, that, and the other?” No more like +apostolic preaching than darkness is like light.’</p> + +<p>How can I show you some of the marvellous results +of her preaching? In every part of our land her influence +and words made themselves felt; the largest buildings +were crowded with all classes of society, and glorious +cases of conversion and sanctification crowned her +labours everywhere. A lady who was at some of her +women’s Meetings at Lye, near Birmingham, tells +us:–</p> + +<p>’The women left their work, and in all sorts +of odd costumes flocked to the Meetings, some with +bonnets, some with shawls fastened over their head, +others with little children clinging to their necks. +All, with eager, inquiring faces, took their seats +and listened to the gracious words which fell from +the lips of dear Mrs. Booth. And when the invitation +was given, what a scene ensued! It baffles all description. +Crowding, weeping, rushing to the penitent-form came +convicted sinners and repentant backsliders. When +the form was filled the penitents dropped upon their +knees in the aisles or in their seats, so that it was +difficult to move about.’</p> + +<p>When holding some Meetings in a Rotherhithe chapel +(for The Army was only just beginning its work, and +our Army Mother took Meetings in different churches +and chapels up and down the land), the victories were +just as glorious, and one of her Converts says:–</p> + +<p>’There were many remarkable cases of conversion +at these Meetings. Amongst others there were the two +daughters of a publican. When one sister was saved +the other went to hear Mrs. Booth on purpose to ridicule +the services. But she was seized with such an agonizing +realization of her sins that she came down from the +top of the gallery to the penitent-form, crying out +aloud, “I must come! I must come!” Soon +after their father gave up the public-house, and they +afterwards became members of Mr. Spurgeon’s +Tabernacle.</p> + +<p>’I have seen as many as thirty persons seeking +Salvation in a single Meeting, and some years afterwards, +when I looked at the register of our chapel, I found +about one hundred names of those who had professed +to be converted at this time.’</p> + +<p>Our Army Mother, too, was equally straight and fearless +with the rich when, later on, they also came in crowds +to hear her. She had but one message and one gospel +for all alike. She says, ’By God’s help +I will not regard the person of man, but will plainly +and fearlessly declare the truth, come what may.’ +God honoured this spirit, and her Meetings in the +West-End of London, where the great and rich live, +were some of the most glorious of her life. Of one +such she writes:–</p> + +<p>’The Lord has very graciously stood by me, and +given me much precious fruit. Last Sunday we had the +Hall crowded, and a large proportion of gentlemen. +The Lord was there in power, and twenty-one came forward–some +for Salvation and some for purity. Several were most +blessed cases of full surrender. We did not get away +till nearly six, and we began at three. Everybody +is amazed at this for the West-End! The audience is +very select, we never having published a bill. Pray +much, dear friend, that God may do a deep and permanent +work in this Babylon. It seems as though He gave me +words of fire for them, and they sat spellbound.’</p> + +<p>You say you wish you had heard her speak? Indeed, +we all wish you had: you could never have forgotten +it. But several of her addresses were taken down in +shorthand at the time, and are reprinted in her books, +so you can get and read them; and they will bless +and teach you as they have taught thousands before +you.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_06"></a>VI</h1> + +<h2>The Mother</h2> + +<p>’A lady once said to me, “How have you +managed to get your children converted so early?” +“Oh,” I said, “I have been beforehand +with the Devil."’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>I have already told you how Mrs. Booth had the true +mother spirit when but a little child, loving and +tending her dolls as if they had been real babies; +you will, therefore, guess that with her own children +she was the best and most careful of mothers. She +began early to train them in the right way, and never +left them unless forced to do so.</p> + +<p>‘I cannot part with Willie,’ she writes +to her mother, who offered to free Mrs. Booth by taking +charge of the baby for her; ’first, because I +know the child’s affections could not but be +weaned from us; and secondly, because the next year +will be the most important of his life with reference +to managing his will; and in this I cannot but distrust +you. I know, my darling mother, you could not wage +war with his self-will so resolutely as to subdue +it. And then my child would be ruined, for he must +be taught implicit, uncompromising obedience.’</p> + +<p>But long before writing this she had already claimed +her boy for God and His war. ‘I had from the +first,’ she says, ’definite longings over +Bramwell, and lifted him up to God as soon as I had +strength to do so, especially desiring he should be +a teacher of Holiness.’ These prayers began +to be answered very early. The boy had a truthful and +conscientious nature. Never, his mother says, does +she remember his telling her a lie. But, for all that, +he needed, as do all children, training and teaching, +and Mrs. Booth was too wise not to be firm. She writes +therefore:</p> + +<p>’I believe he will be a thoroughly noble lad, +if I can preserve him from all evil influence. The +Lord help me! I have had to whip him twice lately +severely for disobedience, and it has cost me some +tears. But it has done him good, and I am reaping +the reward already of my self-sacrifice. The Lord +help me to be faithful and firm as a rock in the path +of duty towards my children!’</p> + +<p>We know how practical our Army Mother always was; +sentimental pity without help she despised. When her +little son, therefore, saw and pitied a small boy +with shoeless feet, his mother quickly reminded him +of his little money-box.</p> + +<p>’Would you rather keep the money for barley-sugar, +Willie, or give it to the poor boy?’ she asked. +‘Give it to the boy,’ he said at once, +and so learnt his first lesson in self-denial.</p> + +<p>When the boy was seven years old he was converted, +to his mother’s deepest joy. Some time before +she had talked to him in a Meeting, and urged him +to get saved. The boy sat still and said nothing. ’Willie, +I insist,’ said his mother at last. ’You +must answer me. Will you give your heart to God or +not? Yes or no?’</p> + +<p>Willie looked up in her face steadily and answered +back ‘No.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth said no more just then, but held on in +faith and prayer, and some months later, to her unutterable +thankfulness, she found him squeezed in among a number +of other children at the penitent-form. He had, unasked, +made his way there, and was weeping and confessing +his sins with all his heart.</p> + +<p>Needless to say, he was faithfully dealt with, and +the boy, now our beloved General, dates his conversion +from that moment. A little later Mrs. Booth wrote +of him:–</p> + +<p>’Willie has begun to serve God, of course as +a child, but still, I trust, taught of the Spirit. +I feel a great increase of responsibility with respect +to him. Oh! to cherish the tender plant of grace aright. +Lord help!’</p> + +<p>And as with the eldest so with the other seven. One +by one they gave their hearts to the Lord as soon +as they grew old enough to do so.</p> + +<p>‘She used to gather us round her,’ says +one of her daughters,’ and pray with us. I wore +then a low frock, and her hot tears would often drop +upon my neck, sending a thrill through me which I +can never forget.’</p> + +<p>She would pray again and again that she might lay +them in their graves rather than she should see them +grow up wicked.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth was very particular about the way in which +her children were dressed.</p> + +<p>Of course, there was no uniform in those days, but +The Army spirit was already in The Army Mother, and +she would not have any finery or show, either for +herself or her children.</p> + +<p>‘Accept,’ she writes to her mother, ’my +warm thanks for the little frock you sent. There is +only one difficulty–it is too smart. We must set an +example in this direction. I feel no temptation now +to decorate myself, but I cannot say the same about +the children; and yet, Oh, I see I must be decided. +Besides, I find it would be dangerous for their own +sakes. The seed of vanity is too deeply sown in their +young hearts for me to dare to cultivate it.’</p> + +<p>Even in her early days Mrs. Booth felt how wrong it +was to spend time and money over dress:–</p> + +<p>‘I remember feeling condemned,’ she says, +’when quite a child, not more than eight years +old, at having to wear a lace tippet such as was fashionable +in those days. From a worldly point of view it would +have been considered, no doubt, very neat and consistent. +But on several occasions I had good crying fits over +it. Not only did I instinctively feel it to be immodest, +because people could see through it, but I thought +it was not such as a Christian child should wear.’</p> + +<p>In everything to do with her home Mrs. Booth was a +most practical and careful mother. She hated waste +and luxury, but her children were always properly +dressed and fed and cared for, and never lacked what +was necessary for them.</p> + +<p>Ladies who had been blessed by her words came to consult +her about their souls, and to their surprise found +the great preacher, not shut away in her study, but +hard at work perhaps ironing the baby’s pinafores, +or cutting out a pair of trousers for one of her boys! +‘I must try,’ she said, when she began +to live this two-fold life, ’to do all in the +kitchen as well as in the pulpit to the glory of God. +The Lord help me.’ He did help her, and it was +this practical mother-spirit at home which gave her +so much force and power on the platform.</p> + +<p>As the children grew older, they were more away from +her side, and her letters to them are suitable, not +only to her actual sons and daughters, but to her +spiritual grandchildren who will read this little book. +Therefore I am going to give you some extracts, which +you may take as though written by our Army Mother +straight to your own heart.</p> + +<p>To one of her boys at school she wrote:–</p> + +<p>’I do hope you are industrious, and do not lose +time in play and inattention. Remember Satan steals +his marches on us by <i>littles</i>–a minute +now, and a minute then. Be on the look out, and don’t +be cheated by him!</p> + +<p>’All your little trials will soon be over, so +far as school life is concerned; and every one of +them, if borne with patience, will make you a wiser +and better man. Never forget my advice about not listening +to <i>secrets</i>! Don’t hear anything +that needs to be whispered–it is sure to be bad. +Choose the boys to be your companions who most love +and fear God, and pray together when you can, and +help each other.’</p> + +<p>Here is a very beautiful letter written when one of +her children desired to go in for some higher education, +which Mrs. Booth feared might spoil the soul life:–</p> + +<p>’I do so want you and all my children to live +supremely for God. I do so deeply deplore my own failure +compared with what my life might have been, and I +feel as if I could die to save you from making a mistake. +Perhaps you say, “You don’t want me, then, +to learn any more?” Yes, I do, a great deal +more; but of the right kind, in the right way, and +for a right purpose, even the <i>highest good of +your race</i>. I would like you to learn to put +your thoughts together well, to think logically and +clearly, to speak powerfully–that is, with good but +simple language–and to write clearly and well.’</p> + +<p>Just the wish we have now for all our Young People!</p> + +<p>Early in their childhood the elder children were taught +to be responsible for the younger, and when at school +they were given places of trust as monitors, and so +on. As if knowing the responsibilities they would by +and by be called to fill in our ranks, Mrs. Booth +gives them some wise counsel:–</p> + +<p>‘I hope,’ she says to one who has been +left in charge of the other children, ’you will +show yourself to be a true son of your mother, and +a consistent disciple of the Lord. Very much depends +on you as to the ease and comfort of managing the +little ones. Do all you can. Be forbearing where only +your own feelings or comfort are concerned, and don’t +raise unnecessary difficulties; but where their obedience +to us or their health is at stake, be firm in trying +to put them right.’</p> + +<p>‘I am pleased,’ she says to one of the +boys who has been in charge of others at school, ’that +Mr. W. puts such confidence in you; but do not be +puffed up by it. Remember how weak you are, and ask +the Lord to save you from conceit and self-sufficiency. +Try to be fair and just in all dealings with the boys–i.e., +do not be hard on a boy whom you may not happen to +like so well as another; but be fair, and treat all +alike when left in charge.’</p> + +<p>Again, she warns one of them against extremes, even +in well doing:</p> + +<p>’You are under a mistake to suppose that sacrificing +your recreation-time will help you in the end. It +will not. Cramming the mind acts just in the same +way as cramming the stomach. It is what you digest +well that benefits you, not what you cram in. So many +hours spent in study, and then relaxation and walking, +will do your mind much more good than “all work, +and no play.” Now mark this. Do not be looking +so much at what you <i>have</i> to do as to what +you are <i>doing</i>. Leave the future (you may +spend it in Heaven), and go steadily on doing to-day’s +work in to-day’s hours, with recreation in between +to shake the seed in. One step well and firmly taken +is better than two with a slip backwards. Poor human +nature seems as though it must go to extremes–either +all or none, too much or too little, idleness or being +killed with work! May the Lord show you the happy +medium.’</p> + +<p>’I was sorry about the cause of the accident. +I don’t like that way of doing things in fun! +Though it was very wrong and wicked of the boy to +throw the brick, yet it would have been better to let +him look at the guinea-pigs being fed, and thus have +pleased him. There was no harm in what he wanted to +do. You should watch against a hectoring spirit, and +mind the difference between a sacrifice of truth and +principle, and one only of self-importance or of mere +feeling. If a boy wants you to do wrong, then be firm +as a rock and brave for God and goodness.’</p> + +<p>‘Mind your soul,’ she says at another +time. ’Do not let your thoughts get so absorbed, +even in study, as to lead you to forget your Bible +and to neglect prayer.’</p> + +<p>Later, again, as a wise mother she warns them in the +tenderest way against their special temptations.</p> + +<p>Against lightness:–</p> + +<p>’Be watchful against levity. C. is a good, devoted +fellow, but naturally an incorrigible joker. It may +not hurt him much, because it is his nature; but it +will hurt you if you give way to it. It hurts nearly +everybody.</p> + +<p>Watch! Don’t descend to buffoonery. While you +become all things to win some, don’t forfeit +your natural self-respect and the dignity of your +position as a servant of Christ.’</p> + +<p>Against too much talk:–</p> + +<p>’The Spirit is teaching you this–is showing +you that you must be more silent. The tongue is one +of the greatest enemies to grace (James iii. 5-13). +Strive to obey these teachings of God. Yield yourself +up to obey; and though you sometimes fail and slip, +do not be discouraged, but yield yourself up again +and again, and plead more fervently with God to keep +you. Fourteen years ago you were learning to walk, +and in the process you got many a tumble. But now +you can not only walk yourself, but teach others. +So, spiritually, if you will only let God lead you, +He will perfect that which is lacking in you.’</p> + +<p>But it was not at first easy for the mother-spirit +in Mrs. Booth to allow her delicate girls of fourteen +or fifteen to undertake a public life, and to speak +and sing at the street corners, surrounded by a rough, +low crowd. Such a thing was unheard-of in those days.</p> + +<p>Once, hearing that her daughter Catherine had spoken +in the open air to a large crowd, Mrs. Booth objected, +as other mothers have since objected: the girl was +too young as yet–she must wait awhile.</p> + +<p>But her eldest son, looking at his mother in the tenderest +and most solemn way, said, ’Mamma, dear, you +will have to settle this question with God; for Katie +is as surely called and inspired by Him for the particular +work as you are yourself.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth said no more. She took this as the voice +of God, and gave her girl up to the marvellous work +which God had called her to do.</p> + +<p>Later she writes of her to a friend:–</p> + +<p>’Join me in praying that she may be kept humble +and simple, and that all that the Lord has given her +may be used for Him.’</p> + +<p>‘I see,’ she says, writing at this same +time to her daughter, ’what a glorious, blessed, +useful life you may live; but I also see your danger, +and I pray for you that you may be enabled to cast +aside the world in every form, to look down upon its +opinions, and to despise its spirit, maxims, and fashions.’</p> + +<p>Later on, again, came the days when the boys had to +choose, as you have to do, how they would spend their +lives. Mrs. Booth might be writing to a Corps Cadet +of to-day when, in a letter to one of her sons, she +says:–</p> + +<p>’I hope the Lord will make you so miserable +everywhere and at everything else that you will be +<i>compelled</i> to preach! Oh, my boy, the Lord +wants such as you–<i>just such</i>–to go out +amongst the people, seeking nothing but the things +that are Jesus Christ’s! You are free to do +it; able by His grace; born to do it, with splendid +opportunities. Will you not rise to your destiny? +“Have courage, and be strong, and I (the I Am) +will be with thee.” “Get thee out, and +I will go with thee.” Dare you not take hold +of the arm that holds the world and all things up? +And if you do, can you fail? The Lord gird you with +His strength, and make your brow brass, and your tongue +as a flame of fire. You <i>must preach</i>!’</p> + +<p>To another of her boys she writes:–</p> + +<p>’You may, perhaps, be wanted to stand and do +battle for the Lord. Surely you will not sell your +birthright? The Lord help you! Take hold of David’s +God. Hold your head up, keep your shoulders back, and +go forward.’</p> + +<p>Again:–</p> + +<p>’This is what the world wants: men of one idea–that +of getting people saved. There are plenty of men of +one idea–that of <i>gold</i>-getting. They make +no secret of it; they are of a worldly spirit. Now +we want men who are set on soul-saving, who are not +ashamed to let everybody know it –men of a Christ-like +spirit. There need be no mistake or mystery about +it. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” +Paul and every other man of like spirit has had his +fruits, and will have to the end of time. It is “Not +by might, nor by power, but by <i>My Spirit</i>, +saith the Lord of Hosts."’</p> + +<p>With one of her daughters she reasons and pleads:–</p> + +<p>’Oh, it seems to me that if I were in your place–young, +no cares or anxieties, with such a start, such influence, +and such a prospect–I should not be able to contain +myself for joy! I should, indeed, aspire to be the +“bride of the Lamb,” and to follow Him +in conflict for the Salvation of poor, lost, miserable +man. I pray the Lord to show it to you, and so to +enamour you of Himself, that you may see and feel it +to be your chief joy to win them for Him. I say I +pray for this–yes, I groan for it, with groanings +that cannot be uttered; and if ever you tell me it +is so, I shall be overjoyed.</p> + +<p>’I don’t want you to make any vows (unless, +indeed, the Spirit leads you to do so); but I want +you to set your mind and heart on winning souls, and +to leave everything else with the Lord. When you do +this you will be happy–Oh, so happy! Your soul will +then find perfect rest. The Lord grant it to you, +my dear child.’</p> + +<p>She made all her children feel that the only reward +they could give her for her ceaseless toil and labour +on their behalf was that they should give themselves +to the War:–</p> + +<p>’I hope, my dear boy, that, whatever sense of +obligation or gratitude you have towards me, you will +try to return it by resolutely resisting all temptation +to evil, and by fitting yourself to your utmost to +be useful to your fellow-men. I ask from you, as I +asked from God, no other reward. If I know my own +heart, I would rather that you should work for the +Salvation of souls, making bad hearts good, and miserable +homes happy, and preparing joy and gladness for men +at the Judgment bar, if you only get bread and cheese +all your life, than that you should fill any other +capacity with £10,000 per year.’</p> + +<p>To one of her children, when tempted to be over-anxious, +she writes:–</p> + +<p>’Keep your mind quiet. Lean back on God, and +don’t worry. It is His affair, and if you have +done what you could, that is enough. Alas! how little +we have of the faith that can “stand still, and +see the Salvation of God.” What would you do +if you were put in custody for two years, like Paul +was? And yet that imprisonment at Rome sent the Gospel +far and wide! God’s ways are not our ways. He +takes in the whole field at once, and does the best +He can for the entire world. Human wisdom never has +been able at the time to comprehend His plans, but +years after it has often seen their wisdom. Let us +learn to trust in the dark–to stand still.’</p> + +<p>To another, tried and discouraged at the start of +his public life:–</p> + +<p>’I have only a minute or two; but, lest you +should think I don’t sympathize with you, I +send you a line. You ask, did I ever feel so? Yes, +I think just as bad as any mortal <i>could</i> +feel–<i>empty</i>, inside and out, as though +I had nothing human or Divine to aid me, as if all +Hell were let loose upon me.</p> + +<p>But I have generally felt <i>the worse before the +best results</i>, which proves it was Satanic opposition. +And it has been the same with many of God’s +most honoured instruments. I believe nearly all who +are truly called of God to special usefulness pass +through this buffeting.</p> + +<p>’It stands to sense, if there is a Devil, that +he should desperately withstand those whom he sees +are going to be used of God. Supposing <i>you</i> +were the Devil, and had set your heart on circumventing +God, how would you do it but by opposing those who +were bent on building up His Kingdom? He hopes to +drive us from the field by blood and fire and vapour +of smoke. But our Captain fought and won the battle +for us, and we have only to hold on long enough, and +victory is sure. “Courage!” your Captain +cries. “Only be thou strong, and of good courage, +and I will be with thee, and teach thee what to say.”</p> + +<p>’"He hath chosen the weak things.” He +has not <i>made shift with them</i>–taken them +because there were no others. No! He hath <i>chosen</i> +them. Will He ever forsake them, and thus make Himself +a laughing-stock for Hell? Never! Will He ever let +the Devil say, “Ah, ah! He chose this weak one, +and then let him fail”? No, no, no!’</p> + +<p>On the important question of courtship, she writes:–</p> + +<p>’The Devil sets such innocent-looking traps–<i>spiritual +traps</i>–to catch young people! Ah, he is a serpent +still! Beware of his devices, and always cry to God +for wisdom and strength of will to put down all foolish +tampering. You are born for greater things. God may +want you to be a leader in some vast continent, and +you will want a companion and a counsellor–a “helpmeet.” +The original word means “<i>a help corresponding +to his dignity</i>” This is the meaning given +by the best expositors. Oh, what wisdom there is even +in the <i>words</i> which God has chosen to express +His ideas! “Corresponding to his dignity!” +Yes, and no man ever takes one below this mark who +does not suffer for it; and, worse still, generations +yet unborn have to suffer also. Mind what God says, +and keep yourself till that one comes.</p> + +<p>’A wrong step on this point, and you are undone. +Oh, the misery of an unsuitable match! It is beyond +description. I could tell you tales of woe that are +now being enacted. But I must wait till we meet.</p> + +<p>’I have seen too much of life, and know too +much of human nature, to have much confidence in promises +given under such circumstances. For my own part, I +made up my mind when I was but sixteen that I would +not have a man, though a Christian, who should offer +to become even an abstainer for my sake. I felt that +such a promise would not afford me ground for confidence +afterwards. And do not we see enough all round us to +show that unless people adopt things on principle, +because they see it to be right, they soon change? +Look at the folks who promise to give up tobacco and +dress, for the sake of getting into berths; how soon +it evaporates! No, my lad, wait a bit. “Couldst +thou not watch with Me one hour?” Jesus lived +a single life for your sake all the way through. Can +you not live so till He finds you one after His own +heart? I feel sure He will. Pray about it in faith. +I am doing so; and God will answer. But Oh, don’t +run before Him! Wait on the Lord.</p> + +<p>’A little longer and you will be saying, “Oh, +how glad I am I waited! I have now found a treasure +indeed!” When God’s time and person are +come, He will bring you together. How delighted and +satisfied Isaac must have felt when the servant told +him the way God led him (Genesis xxiv.).’</p> + +<p>When standing by her grave The General said she was +<i>The Army Mother</i>. He said the truth.</p> + +<p>One of her early promises, given to her as a girl, +when she only saw its greatness and hid it away in +her heart as too sacred to be spoken of, and almost +too wonderful ever to be accomplished, were the words: +’I will make thee a mother of nations.’</p> + +<p>When called to send her children abroad, she paid +to the full the heavy price; but she also saw the +glorious outcome, and from her death-bed sent tenderest +messages to those of distant lands and far-off nations +who owned her as their Army Mother.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_07"></a>VII</h1> + +<h2>The Worker</h2> + +<p>’What the Lord wants is, that you shall go about +the business to which He sets you, not asking for +an easy post, nor grumbling at a hard one.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>If she had not been a worker, our Army Mother would +have done little with her life. The wonderful call +which came to her, her great gifts, the zeal and love +which filled her heart, would all have been useless +had she not been willing to work, and to work hard, +and to work every day.</p> + +<p>Stop and think about this. No life accomplishes anything +unless it is full of hard work–often work accompanied +by much drudgery, whether it is the life of a king +or of a poor man. Mrs. Booth has set us all an example +in this, for she would work ceaselessly with head or +hands or heart, as long as ever her health allowed +her to do so. Laziness and idleness of all kinds she +detested; nor could she tolerate a lazy person in her +service.</p> + +<p>She worked first of all in her home. When she spent +a morning in her kitchen, the work there was perfectly +done. The dinner was ready at the right time, properly +cooked, good and wholesome. She allowed no waste and +no extravagance. Her bread was light and beautifully +baked, and when she had finished her morning’s +work her kitchen was as neat as when she began. She +finished everything, and put it straight as she went +along.</p> + +<p>It was the same with the children. She was alike nurse +and doctor, dressmaker and tailor; she made and mended, +washed and ironed for her boys and girls during their +early years, and herself attended to every smallest +detail of their lives. Strangers who asked where Mrs. +Booth bought her children’s things, so that +they could go to the same shop, could scarcely believe +the reply: ‘Mamma makes all our clothes herself’–so beautifully were they cut and finished.</p> + +<p>And when the little garments were of no further service +to her, she would alter and mend them once again, +and give them away. Her baby-clothes, when the last +daughter had outgrown them, were given to a member +of the Mission for his child.</p> + +<p>He will never forget taking the little bundle home +to his wife and turning over the tiny things. ‘I +had often heard Mrs. Booth preach,’ he said, +’but those baby-clothes preached a louder sermon +to me and my wife than ever her words had done. They +were all darned and mended and patched, and the work–but, +there, I never saw such stitches! And as we looked, +and knew the hours of toil she must have put into them, +rather than throw them away, as many another would +have done–well, I tell you I listened to her next +sermon as I had never listened before.’</p> + +<p>And this same diligent, tireless spirit was with her +to the last. When on her deathbed, able only to use +her left hand, and propped up by pillows, she devised +a little frame on which, painfully, stitch by stitch, +she could work a last token of love for The General.</p> + +<p>When her hands were folded still in death, I saw those +slippers. They were beautifully embroidered, one with +the words, ’He will keep the feet of His Saints’; +and the other with the sure and certain hope which +lay beyond the parting, ‘Our feet shall stand +within thy gates, O Jerusalem’ –a fitting and +sacred service with which to close her many years of +toil and labour for others.</p> + +<p>But our Army Mother had another way of working in +her home–that is, she worked over others. If a girl +wished to learn, Mrs. Booth would take endless trouble +in showing her the best way to wash or iron, or clean +a grate, or do whatever the work on hand might be. +She instructed her servants, explaining to them the +reason for doing their duties in a certain way, teaching +them forethought and common sense, and dealing faithfully +with them over all their failures.</p> + +<p>‘Better,’ she said, in one of her addresses–and +she lived it out in her own home–’better take +a girl whom you have to teach how to wash a child’s +face, or to stitch a button on, if she is true and +sincere, than have one ever so clever, who will teach +your children to lie and deceive.’</p> + +<p>She worked, too, over the cases of need and poverty +which were often at her door. Not content, like so +many, with giving a few coppers to a beggar, or some +broken food, she would inquire into the <i>cause</i> +of the distress; and then, if the need seemed genuine, +she would help, either by getting the father work, +or by having the home visited and suitable relief +given after the true condition of things had been found +out.</p> + +<p>And this was only a little of the homework with which +her hands were ever full. Of her ceaseless care over +her children’s mind and soul training I have +told you elsewhere. But of her public work perhaps +the most exhausting was that which resulted from her +Meetings. For she could not rest content with the +most careful preparation beforehand, nor with pouring +out her whole soul upon the people during the forty +or fifty minutes that her address lasted. At the close +of the Meeting, whenever her health allowed it, she +would labour and toil, often for two hours and more, +dealing herself with the penitents, meeting their difficulties, +one by one, and was unwilling to leave them until, +as far as possible, all had claimed and received the +blessing they sought.</p> + +<p>The next day, too, she would follow up any special +case with a long personal letter from her own pen, +or she would arrange another interview, or in some +way keep in close, actual touch with the struggling +soul, until the step of obedience had been taken, +and he or she was fairly started on the Narrow Way.</p> + +<p>And it was this careful, earnest, patient after-work +which gave such glorious harvests to her soul-saving +campaigns. Labour and trouble were a joy to her, if +she could but help one sincere, seeking soul into the +light.</p> + +<p>But remember this: while she so toiled over all who +came to her for advice and guidance, she never repeated +nor passed on to others their confidences. If she +had done so, people would soon have left off corning +to her; they would have said, ‘We cannot trust +her.’ She was, as you know, a mighty speaker; +but about other people’s affairs she was entirely +silent–as you must learn to be if you wish to be of +any service to God or man.</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Booth strove constantly to teach all who +were around her to work as she did. ‘You have +begun well enough–now carry it through,’ she +would say again and again to her children, and whether +it was a doll’s frock, or an article for ‘The +War Cry,’ or a series of Meetings, it was always +the same. Unfinished, half-done work she detested with +all her soul. ’If a thing is worth beginning +at all, then it is worth finishing,’ she would +say; and this great principle followed her through +her life in small things as in great.</p> + +<p>This was the reason that, on her deathbed, she could +say, turning to the Chief of the Staff, ’I have +no vain regrets about the past. As far as my strength +allowed, I have finished the work I had to do as I +went along; and now I leave it, all imperfect as it +has been, in His hands.’</p> + +<p>Perhaps, by nature, you are not a worker. But what +you are not by nature, you can become by grace. God +can teach you to love work. And as you work, you will, +like our dear Army Mother, learn better and better +how to work; and your life, whenever God calls you +to lay it down, shall be like hers, not unfinished, +but complete.</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_08"></a>VIII</h1> + +<h2>Goodness</h2> + +<p>’I see more than ever that the religion which +is pleasing to God consists in doing and enduring +His will, rather than in good sentiments and feelings. +The Lord help us to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>When our first General stood on that October evening +by the grave of his beloved wife, and spoke to us +with a breaking heart of our Army Mother, he unfolded +to us the three great qualities which made her character +so beautiful. First, and foremost, she was good; secondly, +she was love; and, thirdly, she was a Warrior. Let +us, following The General’s outline, look at +these three leading qualities in her life. ‘First,’ +he said, ’she was <i>good</i>. She was +washed in the Blood of the Lamb. To the last moment +her cry was “a sinner saved by grace.” +She was a thorough hater of shams, hypocrisies, and +make-believes. Her goodness was of a practical sort. +“By their fruits ye shall know them” was +a text she often quoted, and one by which she was +always willing to be judged.’</p> + +<p>It is of this ‘goodness of a practical sort’ +that I want first to tell you, before we consider +that soul goodness which made her life so holy.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth could not imagine any goodness apart from +industry. As we have already seen, she considered +it a sin to waste precious time. Any one who was lazy +she could not endure, and when one such offered for +the work she wrote of him:–</p> + +<p>’I do hope you will not throw a lot of money away in trying H–––, just +for want of courage to tell him at once that he will not do, because I am +sure that it will be thrown away. It is the <i>nature</i> of the man that +is at fault, and not his <i>circumstances</i>. He is a <i>drone</i>, and +nothing, no change of place or position, can ever make him into a bee. He +never ought to have left his trade; he never <i>would</i> have done so if +he had thought soul-saving was harder work!’</p> + +<p>Extravagance and waste of every kind she abhorred, +and had she not been so careful in planning and arranging, +her time and money would again and again have run +short. The sewing, mending, and housekeeping needed +for a family of little children when means are scarce +would have been burden enough for most mothers. But +besides this came her own letter-writing, preparing +for her Meetings, and also the hours she spent consulting +and advising The General, whose voice, ‘Here, +Kate,’ would call her from the nursery or kitchen +to help him decide some important question.</p> + +<p>Again, it was impossible to talk to Mrs. Booth, even +for five minutes, without finding how true and sincere +she was. To please no one would she keep back the +truth, or appear different from her real self.</p> + +<p>‘I believe,’ she writes, when quite a +young woman, ’honesty to be the best policy, +and I shall act upon it. Let me have truth, if it shakes +the foundation of the earth.’</p> + +<p>She was sincere and faithful in every part of her +nature: faithful with her own soul and in dealing +with the souls of others. Great or small, rich or +poor, she made no difference, and never held back from +reproving sin when it was needful.</p> + +<p>‘I see more than ever,’ she said, ’the +need of making righteous people true in their <i>inward +parts</i>. Let us be more thorough than ever with +souls under conviction. Let us not be afraid to wound +too deeply. Thousands of professors have never been +truly convinced of sin, much less truly converted. +Sin to them is <i>being found out</i>!’</p> + +<p>Though all through her life our Army Mother hungered +and thirsted to know God better, and to serve Him +more perfectly, yet it was not till some time after +her marriage that she received the blessing of a clean +heart.</p> + +<p>Of the struggle and conflict which she went through, +before the blessing of Holiness became hers, she shall +tell you in her own words:–</p> + +<p>’I had been earnestly seeking all the week to +know Jesus as an all-sufficient Saviour dwelling +in my heart, and thus cleansing it every moment of +all sin; but on Thursday and Friday I laid aside almost +everything else, and spent the chief part of the day +in reading and prayer, and trying to believe for it. +On Thursday afternoon at tea-time I was well-nigh +discouraged, and felt my old visitant, irritability, +and the Devil told me I should never get it, and so +I might as well give it up at once. However, I know +him of old as a liar and the father of lies, and pressed +on, cast down, yet not destroyed.</p> + +<p>’On Friday morning God gave me two precious +passages. First, “Come unto Me all ye that labour +and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” +Oh, how sweet it sounded to my poor, weary, sin-stricken +soul! I almost dared to believe that He did give me +rest from inbred sin–the rest of perfect Holiness. +But I staggered at the promise through unbelief, and +therefore failed to enter in. The second passage consisted +of those thrice-blessed words, “Of Him are ye +in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, +sanctification, and redemption.” But again unbelief +hindered me, although I felt as if getting gradually +nearer.</p> + +<p>’I struggled through the day until a little +after six in the evening, when William joined me in +prayer. We had a blessed season. While he was saying, +“Lord, we open our hearts to receive Thee,” +that word was spoken to my soul, “Behold, I +stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My voice, +and open unto Me, I will come in, and sup with him.” +I felt sure He had long been knocking, and Oh, how +I yearned to receive Him as a perfect Saviour! But +Oh, the inveterate habit of unbelief! How wonderful +that God should have borne so long with me! When we +got up from our knees, I lay on the sofa, exhausted +with the excitement and effort of the day. William +said, “Don’t you lay all on the altar?” +I replied, “I am sure I do!” Then he said, +“And isn’t the altar holy?” I replied +in the language of the Holy Ghost, “The altar +is most holy, and whatsoever toucheth it is holy.” +Then, said he, “Are you not holy?” I replied +with my heart full of emotion and with some faith, +“Oh, I think I am!” Immediately the word +was given me to confirm my faith. “Now are ye +clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” +And I took hold–true, with a trembling hand, and +not unmolested by the tempter, but I held fast the +beginning of my confidence, and it grew stronger, and +from that moment I have dared to reckon myself dead +indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus +Christ my Lord.</p> + +<p>’I did not feel much rapturous joy, but perfect +peace, the sweet rest which Jesus promised to the +heavy laden. I have understood the Apostle’s +meaning when he says, “We who believe do enter +into rest.” This is just descriptive of my state +at present. Not that I am not tempted, but I am allowed +to know the Devil when he approaches me, and I look +to my Deliverer Jesus, and He still gives me rest. +Two or three very trying things occurred on Saturday, +which at another time would have excited impatience, +but I was kept by the power of God through faith unto +full Salvation.</p> + +<p>’And now what shall I say? “Unto Him who +has washed me in His own Blood be glory and dominion +for ever and ever,” and all within me says “Amen!” +Oh! I cannot describe, I have no words to set forth +the sense I have of my own utter unworthiness. Satan +has met me frequently with my peculiarly aggravated +sins, and I have admitted it all. But then I have said, +the Lord has not made my sanctification to depend +in any measure on my own worthiness or unworthiness, +but on the worthiness of my Saviour. He came to seek +and to save “that which was lost.” “Where +sin hath abounded, grace doth much more abound"’</p> + +<p>How wonderfully in after years Mrs. Booth explained +and led others into this same blessing, we know. Was +not, then, the long struggle and agony on her own +behalf worth it? Yes, indeed, and it will be so with +you when you get this glorious blessing in your soul.</p> + +<p>You will have noticed how in struggling for Holiness +Mrs. Booth had to fight unbelief. This determination +to trust God fully marked her out as strong in faith.</p> + +<p>She had this marvellous faith because she obeyed and +struggled to throw herself on the Lord; but faith +was not <i>natural</i> to her any more than it +is to you or me.</p> + +<p>Often money was short, and she hardly knew how she +would be able to feed and clothe her family: this +was a sore trial of her faith. On one such occasion +she wrote to her mother:–</p> + +<p>’We have not at present received as much as +our travelling expenses and house rent. I feel a good +deal perplexed, and am sometimes tempted to mistrust +the Lord. But I will not allow it. Our Father knows!’</p> + +<p>Later on we get a sight of her own experience in one +of her letters, when she said:–</p> + +<p>’I am much tried just now by perplexities of +every kind; uncertainty, from a human standpoint, +hedges me in on every side. Satan says it is useless +trying to steer straight through such a labyrinth; +but I am determined to hold on to the promises, come +what will. My God is the living God. He sees me, knows +me, loves me, cares for me, wants to have me with +Him in Glory, as much as He did Abraham, or Paul, or +John. If this be true, what have I to fear?’</p> + +<p>And again:–</p> + +<p>’"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst +believe, thou shouldst see the Salvation of God?” +This is a precious word. It has kept my soul alive +many a time when Satan has almost overthrown me. “If +thou canst believe, all things are possible to thee. +Never mind whether anybody else can or cannot. If +others are too strong to let Me carry them, if thou +art weak enough to throw up all self-effort, and trust +Me with thy whole weight, I will carry thee, and thou +shalt glorify Me.” I know this is the way. Hence +the babes go in with the simple and the great sinners, +while the reasoners, and the strong, and the proud, +and the fearful are shut out.’</p> + +<p>Again, to one who was cast down, and tempted to be +discouraged because of his failings, she writes:–</p> + +<p>’It is well to see them, for how can we take +hold of Jesus to mend what we don’t see? It +is best to know ourselves, but we Salvationists are +in danger of erring on the other side. We look too +much at ourselves apart from Him who is or would be +our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. +Faith in Him as your keeper will do more in five minutes +than years of conflict without it.’</p> + +<p>Once, in another letter, she gives us a beautiful +bit of her own soul’s experience on this subject:–</p> + +<p>’I had such a view of His love and faithfulness +on the journey from Wellingborough, that I thought +I would never doubt again about anything. I had the +carriage to myself, and such a precious season with +the Lord, that the time seemed to fly. As the lightning +gleamed around I felt ready to shout, “The chariot +of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.” Oh, how +precious it is when we see as well as believe, but +yet more blessed to believe and not see! Lord, work +this determined, obstinate, blind, unquestioning, +unanswering faith in me and my beloved friend, and +let us two dare to trust Thee in the midst of our +peculiar trials. As I looked at the waving fields, +and grazing sheep, the flashing sky, a Voice said +in my soul, “Of what oughtest thou to be afraid? +Am I not God? Cannot I supply thy little, tiny needs?” +My heart replied, “It is enough, Lord; I will +trust Thee, forgive my unbelief."’</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_09"></a>IX</h1> + +<h2>Love</h2> + +<p>The truest love must ever seek the highest good of +its object; sometimes even with forgetfulness of important +smaller advantages.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>The second great quality in Mrs. Booth’s character, +as given by the first General, was her love.</p> + +<p>‘She was <i>love</i>,’ he says. ’Her +whole soul was full of tender, deep compassion. Oh, +how she loved, how she pitied the suffering poor! How +she longed to put her arms round the sorrowful, and +help them!’</p> + +<p>‘How,’ asked Mrs. Booth once, ’are +we to put heart into people? Even grace seems to fail +to do so in many instances. I think it needs mothers +to do this from infancy upwards.’</p> + +<p>You will recollect that Mrs. Mumford fostered this +‘heart’ and love in her little girl; and +you will remember how keenly Katie felt, blazing up +into wrath at any story of wrong or injury, and ready +to sacrifice her life for those she loved. This spirit +grew with her. She could not help caring and struggling +to help all who needed her. The General often told +her in later years that she was killing herself by +carrying every one’s burdens. Then she would +try to leave off for a little, but her heart was too +strong, and she could not hold it back.</p> + +<p>When but a child, running down the road with her hoop +and stick, she saw a drunkard being dragged off to +prison by a policeman. All the people were jeering +and mocking at the poor friendless wretch. Instantly +Katie’s pity and love fired up. She dashed across +the street, and marched along close by the man’s +side, so that he might feel that at least one little +heart cared for him, and wanted to help him.</p> + +<p>To the end of her life she carried this deep, tender +pity wherever she went. She loved the poor. ‘With +all their faults,’ she said, ’they have +larger hearts than the rich’; and she loved them +for it.</p> + +<p>Where any one had a warm heart, she could forgive +and overlook many mistakes; but with cold, narrow, +‘fishy’ souls, she had neither sympathy +nor patience.</p> + +<p>Our Army Mother’s help was practical. She did +not only give money or pity, but she–so to speak–rolled +up her sleeves and helped the suffering herself.</p> + +<p>Every sort of suffering and need appealed to her. +If an animal was wounded or in pain, she stopped, +and herself relieved it as best she could; and to +the last, if she saw a horse or any creature being +ill-treated, she would not hesitate to rush out and +stop the driver, or in some way force him to leave +off his cruelty.</p> + +<p>She was not only kind and helpful to those she liked, +but every living thing that suffered had a claim upon +her, and the greater the need the more tender and +ready was her help.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth was a people’s woman, and she was +never weary of scheming and planning how to help the +poor in the most practical way.</p> + +<p>‘When I see people going wrong,’ she said, +when but a girl of twelve, ’I must tell the +poor things how to manage.’</p> + +<p>Dirt and sin, and drink and misery, could not quench +this love; it was a part of her very nature. Long, +long before Slum Sisters were ever thought of, Mrs. +Booth did their work herself, just because she so loved +the poor, and longed to help them. You shall read +the story in her own words:–</p> + +<p>’I remember in one case finding a poor woman +lying on a heap of rags. She had just given birth +to twins, and there was nobody of any sort to wait +upon her. I can never forget the desolation of that +room. By her side was a crust of bread and a small +lump of lard. “I fancied a bit o’ bootter +(butter),” the woman remarked apologetically, +noticing my eye fall upon the scanty meal, “and +my mon, he’d do owt for me he could, bless’m–he +couldna git me iny bootter, so he fitcht me this bit +o’ lard. Have <i>you</i> iver tried lard +isted o’ bootter? It’s <i>rare good</i>!” +said the poor creature, making me wish I had taken +lard for “bootter” all my life, that I +might have been the better able to minister to her +needs. However, I was soon busy trying to make her +a little more comfortable. The babies I washed in +a broken pie-dish, the nearest approach to a tub that +I could find. And the gratitude of those large eyes, +that gazed upon me from out of that wan and shrunken +face, can never fade from my memory.’</p> + +<p>Before public Meetings took up so much of her time, +she delighted in this house-to-house visiting, and +went especially for the drunkards, over whom God gave +her a wonderful power.</p> + +<p>‘I used to visit in the evenings,’ she +says, ’because it was the only part of the day +in which I could get away; and, besides, I should not +have found the men at home at any other time. I used +to ask one drunkard’s wife where another lived. +They always knew. After getting hold of eight or ten +in this way, and getting them to sign the pledge, I +used to arrange Cottage Meetings for them, and try +to get them saved. They used to let me talk to them +in homes where there was not a stick of furniture, +and nothing to sit down upon.’</p> + +<p>In this way our Army Mother sought and cared for the +drunkards long before Drunkards’ Brigades were +dreamt of.</p> + +<p>When, at a later time in her life, she first heard +of the wicked and cruel way in which young girls are +trapped and drawn into sin, Mrs. Booth’s soul +was filled with a whirlwind of holy indignation.</p> + +<p>’I feel as though I could not rest, but as though +I must go and ferret out these monsters myself,’ +she wrote. ’Almost everybody, notwithstanding +the indignation, seems so content with talking. Nobody +appears willing to take the responsibility of doing +or risking anything. Oh, what a state the world has +got into!’</p> + +<p>But, deep and practical as was her love in earthly +things, her passion for lifting and leading souls +into Salvation and Holiness was a thousand times more +intense. ’If we only realized, as we ought, the +value of souls, we should not live long under it,’ +she said; and she herself realized it fully enough +to make her fight on ceaselessly in spite of intense +weakness. ‘If it were not for eternity,’ +she often sighed, ’I should soon give up this +life.’</p> + +<p>It was love for souls which made her go from town +to town, care-worn, weary, often quite unfit to meet +the immense congregations which came to hear her.</p> + +<p>It was love for souls which kept her sitting for hours +at her writing-table, when she should have been resting, +trying to help those who turned to her for counsel +and direction from every part of the globe.</p> + +<p>It was love for souls which gave her many a sleepless +night, and chained her to her knees, weeping and pleading, +agonizing with God on behalf of the people she was +to face the next day.</p> + +<p>And this love for souls grew even stronger as death +came near. ‘Eva,’ she exclaimed to one +of her daughters, as she lay racked with agonizing +pain, ’don’t you forget that man with +the handcuffs on. Find him. Go to Lancaster Jail; +let somebody go with you, and find that man. Tell him +that your mother, when she was dying, prayed for him, +and that she had a feeling in her heart that God would +save him; and tell him, hard as the ten years of imprisonment +may be, it will be easier with Christ than it would +be without Him.’</p> + +<p>She was lying between earth and Heaven, thinking of +the joy and peace awaiting her, when it seemed as +if she saw the dark face of a heathen woman, and heard +the cry, ‘Won’t you help us?’ The +old love for perishing souls woke again directly, +and she cried, ’Oh, yes, Lord, I will go anywhere +to help poor struggling people. I would go on an errand +to Hell, if the Lord would promise me that the Devil +should not keep me there.’</p> + +<p>In one of these last days she sent a dying message +to the Officers. ’Tell them,’ she said, +’that the only consolation for a Salvationist +on his death-bed is to have been a soul-winner. After +all my labours I feel I have come far short of the +prize of my high calling. Beseech them to redeem their +time, for we can do but little at the best.’</p> + +<p>A little maid who was a Candidate came into Mrs. Booth’s +sick-room once as she was speaking, and she called +her to her bedside, giving her warning and counsel +which every Corps Cadet can take as though spoken to +herself:–</p> + +<p>‘You will be finished with the dishes soon,’ +she said, ’and you are going to be a Cadet. +I have been very pleased with you while you have been +here, because you have worked out of sight with a good +will, and I think you will make a brave Officer. You +will promise me, will you?’ she said, as she +laid her trembling hand on the girl’s head. ‘Yes,’ +was the reply, ‘I will,’ amid stifled +sobs.</p> + +<p>‘Give me a kiss, then,’ said Mrs. Booth. +’Promise me that you will never get spoiled +by any unfaithful Officer. If you ever get mixed up +with such, do not hide it from Headquarters, but let +them know about it, and they will soon move the false +away from you. I shan’t be here; but, Oh! may +God help them to get rid of the wrong. Discernment +of spirits! Oh, why should we not have that gift back? +It is very necessary.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth’s whole heart was wrapped up in the +spread of The Army, and she was never more of a warrior +than when fighting its battles. And The Army needed +some one to stand up for it in those days. We who live +to-day can hardly fancy the fierce, bitter persecution +the early-day Salvationists had to fight through.</p> + +<p>Now, even those who dislike and despise us are forced +to admit that ’The Army does a great deal of +good’; but then it was different, and again and +again, both by speech and writing, Mrs. Booth had to +defend and stand up for our methods.</p> + +<p>‘I would not,’ she says, after she had +spoken too plainly for some rich people who were offended +at her words, ’sit down and listen to their +abuse of The Salvation Army for all their money. But +I did not say a word that I would object to have published +upon the housetops. Such, however, is often the spirit +of the rich. They think that one must sit and hear +whatever they may choose to say, and hold one’s +breath, because of their money! But, no, I will never +be dumb before a golden idol!’</p> + +<p>She loved the Uniform: she herself planned that worn +by Army women, and always wore her own, rejoicing +to be able to give to our people a way of escape from +the fashions and extravagances of the world.</p> + +<p>She loved the Flag, and was true to its beautiful +meaning. She loved to present Colours to the newly-opened +Corps, or to parties of Officers going abroad; and +when, shortly before she passed away, she changed her +room, she begged that the dear Army Flag might be brought +in and hung above her bed.</p> + +<p>‘There,’ said The General, ‘the +Colours are over you now, my darling.’</p> + +<p>And she clasped them fondly with her left hand, and +traced the motto– ‘Blood and Fire.’</p> + +<p>‘Yes,’ she said, ’Blood and Fire; +that is just what my life has been–a constant and +severe fight.’</p> + +<p>‘It ought to be “Blood and Fire and Victory,"’ +said The General.</p> + +<p>‘I’ll fight on till I get it,’ she +answered. ’I won’t give in. Next time +I see them I shall be above the pain and sorrow for +ever.’</p> + +<p>But, though at the last she longed to be at rest, +it was not easy for her great mother’s heart +to unloose itself from those she loved, and from the +thousands in all lands who looked to her as to a mother.</p> + +<p>If you have learnt to love very deeply you will also +have to suffer, and her very love made the parting +so difficult.</p> + +<p>‘Oh,’ she exclaimed, when speaking of +leaving The General and her children, ’mine +is such a heart! it seems as if it had got roots all +round the world clutching on to one and another, and +that it will not let them go! And yet You can take +care of them, Lord, better than I could. I do, I do +believe! O Eternal Father, Shepherd of the sheep, do +Thou look after my little flock!’</p> + +<p>‘Amen,’ we who read these lines may say; +adding to her prayer, ’And give us that same +heart and love which made her life of such mighty power.’</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_10"></a>X</h1> + +<h2>The Warrior</h2> + +<p>’Fighting is hard work, whatever sort of fighting +it is. You cannot fight without wounds of body, heart, +or soul.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>‘Lastly,’ said The General in that same +beautiful tribute to our Army Mother that I have already +quoted from,’ she was a <i>warrior</i>. +She liked the fight. She was not one who said to others, +“Go,” but “Here, let <i>me</i> +go”; and when there was the necessity she said, +“I <i>will</i> go!” I never knew +her flinch until her poor body compelled her to lie +on one side.’</p> + +<p>Our Army Mother was, indeed, before all things a warrior; +she fought bravely and unceasingly her whole life +through.</p> + +<p>In thought and purpose she was independent, and dared +to stand out for what she felt right. Cowardice, in +her opinion, was one of the commonest and most subtle +sins of the day, and she had no patience with those +who dared not say ‘No,’ and feared to +stand alone.</p> + +<p>She thought for herself, and though always eager to +hear and learn as much as possible from others, yet +she was not carried away by their opinions, but carefully +weighed and considered their arguments, and then formed +her own judgments.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth strove earnestly for doctrine.</p> + +<p>‘Let us take care,’ she said, in The Army’s +early days, ’what Gospel we preach. Let us mind +our doctrine.’</p> + +<p>And again:–</p> + +<p>’We must stick to the form of sound words, for +there is more in it than appears on the surface. “Glory +be to the Father, to the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” +was the theology of our forefathers, and I am suspicious +of all attempts to mend it.’</p> + +<p>And once more:–</p> + +<p>’Let us beware of wrong doctrine, come through +whomsoever it may. Holy men make sad mistakes. “Well, +but,” say some, “is not a person who holds +wrong views with a right heart better than a person +with right views and a wrong heart?” Yes, so +far as his personal state before God is concerned, +but not in his influence on man. My charity must extend +to those likely to be deceived or ruined by his doctrines +as well as to him.’</p> + +<p>Mrs. Booth’s whole life was a continual fight +against sin–sin of all kinds. Whether her Meeting +was held for the very lowest and roughest, or whether +rows of clergy and lawyers, and lords and ladies sat +to listen, it made no difference to her. She attacked +sin, and went straight at the very heart-sins of the +people in front of her.</p> + +<p>‘We need great grace,’ she says in the +midst of her wonderful West-End campaign, where even +princes and princesses came to hear her. ’I think +the Lord never enabled me to be more plain and faithful. +As a lady in high circles said to me, “We never +heard this sort of Gospel before.” No, poor +things, they are sadly deceived.’</p> + +<p>Drink, too, was another evil which Mrs. Booth fought +against during the whole of her life. She began, as +you remember, when a girl by being secretary of the +‘Band of Love’ of those days.</p> + +<p>In the early days of their engagement The General +was strongly advised to take a little wine for the +sake of his health. Our Army Mother wrote him a long +letter, showing him how false and foolish such advice +was, and ending with:–</p> + +<p>’I have had it recommended to me scores of times, +but I am fully and for ever settled on the physical +side of the question. [Footnote: That means taking +it for the sake of health.–<i>Ed</i>.]</p> + +<p>’It is a subject on which I am most anxious +you should be thorough. I have far more hope for your +health <i>because</i> you abstain, than I should +if you took wine. Flee the detestable thing as you +would a serpent; be a teetotaller in principle and +practice.’</p> + +<p>Though, as we have seen, full of boundless faith and +pity for the drunkard, Mrs. Booth attacked the makers +and sellers of drink unmercifully. She says, on one +occasion:–</p> + +<p>’By your peace of conscience on a dying bed; +by the eternal destinies of your children, by your +care for never-dying souls; by the love you owe your +Saviour, I beseech you <i>banish the drink</i>.</p> + +<p>’Tell me no more of charity towards brewers, +distillers, and publicans. Your false charity to these +has already consigned millions to an untimely Hell!... +Arise, Christians, arise, and fight this foe! You and +you alone are able, for your God will fight for you!’</p> + +<p>Another thing for which our Army Mother fought, and +which to-day we owe in great measure to her efforts, +is the position to which women have been lifted as +speakers and teachers in God’s work. She first, +as we have seen, opened the way herself; and then +she left it open, encouraging and helping tens of +thousands of simple, holy women all round the world +to follow in her steps.</p> + +<p>She had a tough battle to wage. All classes wrote +and spoke against women being allowed to stand and +speak for God in the open air or in public halls; +but, strong in faith and courage, convinced that she +had Divine authority for what she did, our Army Mother +fought on, arguing, writing, preaching on the matter. +Now to-day there is scarcely a land where The Army +bonnet is not known and loved, nor where Army women +cannot gain a crowd of respectful listeners.</p> + +<p>Now I am going to show you some of the hindrances +in spite of which our Army Mother fought on.</p> + +<p>The first of these hindrances was the burden which +God allowed Mrs. Booth to carry all through her life–a +weak and suffering body. She said, when her life was +drawing to its close, that suffering seemed to have +been her special lot, and that she could scarcely +remember a day in her life when she had been wholly +free from pain.</p> + +<p>‘I don’t care about my body,’ she +exclaimed when lying in her last illness. ’It +has been a poor old troublesome affair. I shall be +glad for it to be sealed up. It is time it was. Oh, +I have dragged it wearily about.’</p> + +<p>Most women suffering as she did, with a weak spine, +heart disease, and over-strained nerves, would have +lived the life of an invalid. But the warrior spirit +within forced her body along. Scores of times she has +gone from her bed to the Meeting, and then, exhausted +and fainting with the effort, has had to be almost +carried home. But she had done her work, and sent +the arrow of conviction into hundreds of hearts.</p> + +<p>Writing after one special strain of work and anxiety, +she says:–</p> + +<p>’The excitement made me worse than I have been +for two years. My heart was really alarming, and for +two days I could hardly bear any clothes to touch +me. This has disheartened me again as to my condition. +But God reigns, and He will keep me alive as long +as He needs me.’</p> + +<p>Another of her hindrances, and one which was almost +more difficult to overcome than weakness of body, +was depression.</p> + +<p>I wonder if you know what that is? If so, it will +help you to realize that Mrs. Booth had to fight it +also.</p> + +<p>The Devil seemed allowed to try and test her faith +to the uttermost, and at times to blot out all peace +and glory from her soul. During one such time of darkness +she writes:–</p> + +<p>’I know I ought not, of all saints, or sinners +either, to be depressed. I know it dishonours my Lord, +grieves His Spirit, and injures me greatly; and I +would fain hide from everybody to prevent their seeing +it. But I cannot help it. I have struggled hard, more +than any one knows, for a long time against it. Sometimes +I have literally held myself, head and heart and hand, +and waited for the floods to pass over me.’</p> + +<p>But our Army Mother did not give up working for God, +and sit down in despair, because she was thus tried. +One day, just before leaving for a great West-End +Meeting, in which God made her words as a sharp two-edged +sword, she wrote this to one of her children:–</p> + +<p>’I have been very much depressed since you left–more +so than usual. It is of no use reasoning with myself +when these fits of despondency are on me. I must hold +on and fight my passage through; and when I get to +Heaven the light and joy will be all the greater. +If I dared give up working I should do so a hundred +times over; but I <i>dare</i> not.’</p> + +<p>Another and constant hindrance which our Army Mother +had to fight for the greater part of her life was +poverty. It was so difficult, many times, to make +two ends meet. She had, during many years of her life, +no regular money coming in on which to depend, and +during that time it was a constant struggle to have +her children properly cared for and give them the +needed education.</p> + +<p>But most of all did our Army Mother show herself a +warrior in her own Salvation campaigns. In those early +days there were no praying Soldiers and Sergeants +to be had to deal with the penitents–no one, either, +to lead her singing, scarcely even to keep the doors +or take up the collection. She would arrive in a town +absolutely alone. A hall had been taken in which she +was to speak, and she would hire a tiny lodging, or +stay in whatever home would receive her, and set to +work. We can scarcely understand the loneliness of +her position. Here was a proof of her mighty faith +in God.</p> + +<p>She began these solitary campaigns when her sixth +child was but a few weeks old, and God most wonderfully +owned her labours. At one place she saw one hundred +grown-up people and two hundred children come to her +penitent-form in six days. But it was a fearful battle.</p> + +<p>‘I have a comfortable little cot to stay in,’ +she writes to her mother from one such battle-field, +’very small and humble; but it is clean and +quiet; and when I feel nervous no one knows the value +of quietness. I have felt it hard work lately. Many +a time have I longed to be where the weary are at +rest.’</p> + +<p>At Margate, some years later, she commenced her Meetings +without knowing a single person in the place. For +some weeks she had not even a helper in the Prayer +Meetings, nor one who would give out a song for her. +Mrs. Booth could not sing herself, and there was often +an awkward pause before any one would be willing to +pitch her tune. ‘If only,’ she said when +The Army was fairly on its feet, ’I had been +able to command a dozen reliable people such as I +could have anywhere now, I think I could have done +almost anything.’</p> + +<p>Even more wonderful was her experience at Brighton.</p> + +<p>The Dome, a great building holding three thousand +people, had been taken for her Meetings.</p> + +<p>‘I can never forget my feelings,’ says +this Soldier-saint, ’as I stood upon the platform +and looked upon the people, realizing that among them +all there was no one to help me. When I commenced the +Prayer Meeting, for which I should think quite nine +hundred remained, Satan said to me, as I came down +from the platform according to my custom, “You +will never ask such people as these to come and kneel +down here? You will only make a fool of yourself if +you do.” I felt stunned for a moment; but I answered, +“Yes, I shall. I shall not make it any easier +for them than for the others. If they do not realize +their sins enough to be willing to come and kneel +here, they will not be of much use to the kingdom."’</p> + +<p>The Lord set His seal upon Mrs. Booth’s faith +and courage, for the first to volunteer were two old +gentlemen, both over seventy years of age; and she +had ten or twelve at the mercy-seat before the Meeting +ended.</p> + +<p>Writing from Portsmouth, she tells the same story +of loneliness and victory:–</p> + +<p>’You say, “How do you get on personally?” +Oh, I never was so hampered for help in every way +in all my life! The most able man I have keeps a milliner’s +shop, and the one that opens for me generally is an +overseer; so their attention is divided and the time +limited. Pray for me. I never needed your prayers +so much. This is a dreadfully wicked place.’</p> + +<p>Yet during the seventeen weeks of her stay some six +hundred names were taken, many of them wonderful trophies +of God’s mercy.</p> + +<p>Having lived such a warrior’s life, you think, +very likely, that the death-bed experience of our +Army Mother would be all peace and glory. But no. +Right down into the Valley she needed to use the Sword +of the Spirit and the Shield of Faith, for to the +last Satan was allowed to test and try her.</p> + +<p>But she fought on!</p> + +<p>‘One of my hardest lessons,’ she said +in her last hours, ’has been the difference +between faith and realization; and if I have had to +conquer all through life by naked faith, I can only +expect it to be the same now. All our enemies have +to be conquered by <i>faith</i>, not realization; +and is it not so with the last enemy, death? Yes, if +it please the Lord that I should go down into the +dark valley without any realization, simply knowing +that I am His, and He is mine, I am quite willing–I +accept it.’</p> + +<p>This is the faith that made our Army Mother and all +the Bible saints such conquerors. It is the secret +of their victory–the faith without which it is impossible +to please God, and for which we all need to pray, ’Lord, +increase our faith.’</p> + +<h1><a name="ch_11"></a>XI</h1> + +<h2>Last Days</h2> + +<p>’As I look back on life I do not remember the +houses I have lived in, the people that I have known, +the things of passing interest at the moment. They +are all gone. There is nothing stands out before my +mind as of any consequence, but the work I have done +for God and Eternity.’—<i>Mrs. Booth</i>.</p> + +<p>If The General and those who loved our Army Mother +best had been able to choose for her, they would most +likely have said: ’Let her live and fight and +work on, up to within a few days of her promotion to +Glory. Let the call come quickly and painlessly, as +it has come to others in our ranks.’</p> + +<p>But the Lord, who loved her more than we did, saw +fit to send to her two and a half years of ever-increasing +weariness and suffering. For long months she lay on +the very bank of the River, longing for the messenger +of Death to carry her across. Those who loved her could +not tell why the Lord sent her this last fiery trial; +they could only bow with her, and say, ‘Thy +will be done.’</p> + +<p>It was in February, 1888, that Mrs. Booth, who was +anxious about her health, went to consult a great +doctor and get his opinion. She was alone, for no +one had thought her illness was so serious. She asked +him to tell her the truth–all through her life, as +you know, she wanted the truth; and after a little +hesitation he told her.</p> + +<p>The truth was the saddest that she could hear. That +dreadful illness– cancer–through which she had so +tenderly nursed her own dear mother, had come to her, +and in the doctor’s opinion she had much suffering +to pass through, and only two or, at the most, three +years longer to live. Mrs. Booth listened calmly, +thanked the doctor, and then, getting once more into +the cab, drove home all alone.</p> + +<p>It was a dark journey. The War needed her. The General +needed her. Her children needed her. And yet the sentence +of Death had been passed upon her, and she must soon +leave them all. What did she do? I think you can guess.</p> + +<p>She knelt down in the cab, and in prayer committed +to God, in a new and deeper way than ever before, +her own body, and her dear ones and the work He had +given her to do.</p> + +<p>At last the cab stopped before her own door, and The +General came out to meet her.</p> + +<p>‘I shall never forget that meeting in this world, +or the next,’ he says. ’I had been watching +for the cab, and had run out to meet her and help +her up the steps. She tried to smile on me through +her tears; but, drawing me into the room, soon told +me, bit by bit, what the doctor had said. I sat down +speechless. She rose from her seat, and came and knelt +beside me, saying: “Do you know what was my first +thought? That I should not be there to nurse you in +your last hour.”</p> + +<p>’I was stunned. I felt as if the whole world +were coming to a standstill. Opposite me, on the wall, +was a picture of Christ on the cross. I thought I +could understand it then, as never before. She talked +to me like an angel; she talked as she had never talked +before. I could say little or nothing. I could only +kneel with her and try to pray. That very same night +The General was to leave London for some great Meetings +in Holland, and Mrs. Booth would not hear of his changing +his plans and remaining with her.</p> + +<p>‘The War must go on’ was her thought, +even when all her family stood stunned and heart-broken +around her, unwilling to leave her even for a moment.</p> + +<p>Two years later, when but a few more days of suffering +remained to her, a last message from her lips reached +us as Self-Denial Week began. ’The War must +go on’ was one of its sentences.</p> + +<p>‘The War must go on’ had been as her motto, +lived out in all the long, long months that lay between. +Instead of immediately laying aside her work, when +the doctors gave their dreadful judgment, and beginning +to think only of herself, she went on with it as long +as her increasing weakness allowed.</p> + +<p>But step by step the disease grew worse. First she +was forced to give up Meetings and public work. Then +it became impossible for her to use her right hand, +and she was therefore obliged to give up her correspondence, +though she still continued to dictate her letters, +and learnt also to write with her left hand.</p> + +<p>Soon her daily drives became too tiring, and by and +by she went out of the house into the little garden +for the last time; and then for the concluding twelve +months of her life she was a prisoner in her room, +lying in constant suffering.</p> + +<p>But during these long months the greatest joy and +relief that could come to her was to hear of some +fresh victory or triumph for the Kingdom of Jesus. +Her interest in The Army and her love for the people +were as keen as ever, and War Councils were held and +new developments planned in her chamber, and much +of The General’s Darkest England Scheme for the +poor and outcast was thought out and decided upon +beside her sick bed.</p> + +<p>Again and again, too, Mrs. Booth would receive deputations +of Officers of different classes and from various +countries in which The Army was at work, who came +to Clacton-on-Sea, where the last fifteen months of +her life were spent, to listen to her words of advice +and inspiration.</p> + +<p>There were no Corps Cadets in those days; but our +Army Mother left some specially beautiful words about +the Juniors, to which I must refer.</p> + +<p>When she was told by the Officer then in charge of +our Junior Work in England that the children loved +and prayed continually for her, she smiled.</p> + +<p>‘The thought of the little ones,’ says +some one who was there, ’brought our beloved +Army Mother wholly out of herself and her pain and +weariness.’</p> + +<p>‘A very choice branch of the work,’ she +said. ’I have often told Emma that I hoped when +I was too old for public work God would let me end +where I began–with the children. But it seems that +it is not to be so.’</p> + +<p>‘Give the children,’ she went on, in reply +to the messages they had sent, ’my dear love, +and tell them that if there had been a Salvation Army +when I was ten I should have been a Soldier then, +as I am to-day.</p> + +<p>Never allow yourself to be discouraged in your work. +I know you must meet with many discouragements; but +I am sure the Spirit of God works mightily on little +children long before grown people think they are able +to understand.’</p> + +<p>Again and again during that last year of awful suffering +it seemed as if Mrs. Booth were about to leave us; +but then she would revive, and come back to endure +more weeks and months of agony.</p> + +<p>But at last, on October 4, 1890, all could see that +she was on the brink of the River, and even those +who loved her the most tenderly could not wish to +hold her back.</p> + +<p>‘O Emma, let me go, darling,’ she whispered; +and hearing the reply, ’Yes, we will, we will,’ +she said, ‘Now! Yes, Lord, come, Oh, come!’</p> + +<p>The singing of The Army songs seemed to comfort her; +and once she raised her suffering arm, and pointed +to the text, ’<i>My grace is sufficient for +thee</i>,’ which hung on the wall. It was +lifted down and placed at the foot of her bed, so +that her eyes could often rest on it during those +last hours.</p> + +<p>‘Soon after noon,’ says the present General, +’I felt that the deepening darkness of the Valley +was closing around my dear mother, and a little later +I took my last farewell. Her lips moved, and she gave +me one look of unspeakable tenderness and trust which +will live with me for ever. Again we sang:–</p> + +<blockquote>My mistakes His free grace doth cover,<br /> +  My sins He doth wash away;<br /> +These feet which shrink and falter<br /> +  Shall enter the Gates of Day.</blockquote> + +<p>And, holding her hand, The General gave her up to +God. It was a solemn and wonderful scene.’</p> + +<p>The Chief of the Staff and Mrs. Bramwell Booth, Mrs. +Booth-Tucker, and the Commander, and her three daughters, +Marian, Eva, and Lucy, knelt round the bed, upon which +were placed photographs of the other members of her +family who were unavoidably absent. Near to her stood +her faithful nurse, Captain Carr, and others of the +household, the dear General bowing over his beloved +wife and companion in life’s long strife, and +giving her up to the keeping of the Father.</p> + +<p>One by one the members of the family tenderly embraced +her; then a gleam of recognition passed over the brightening +countenance as The General bent over her. Their eyes +met–-the last kiss of love on earth, the last word +till the Morning, and without a movement the breathing +gently ceased, and a warrior laid down her sword to +receive her crown.</p> + +<hr width="75%" size="1" /> + +<p>You may have heard of those wonderful days from Tuesday +morning till Sunday night, when the coffin containing +the precious remains of our Army Mother lay at the +Congress Hall, Clapton, and when more than fifty thousand +people came to have a last look at her dear face.</p> + +<p>A piece of glass had been let into the plain oak coffin. +It was just large enough to show the head and shoulders, +and she lay as if in a sweet sleep.</p> + +<p>You wonder if many came merely from curiosity. Some +did, of course, but most of the people came because +her life and example and words had been so blessed +to their souls; and they came as they would come to +look at the dead face of their own mother. It was +the most wonderful tribute to a woman’s life +and words that London had ever seen.</p> + +<p>For all kinds of people came–rich and poor, good +and bad, people of many different religions, and many +with no religion at all. Working men came in their +dinner-hour, with their tools on their backs and tears +in their eyes; mothers lifted up their little children +to look at the one who had taught them the way of +life; and, best of all, by the side of her coffin +knelt many a wanderer and backslider to give themselves +afresh to God.</p> + +<p>More than one poor girl went direct from the Congress +Hall to the Rescue Homes, to begin to live ‘as +she would have wished’; and the Cadets on guard +were all the time dealing with drunkards and helping +those who desired to begin from thenceforth to live +a new and different life.</p> + +<p>Even to-day, twenty-four years later, we often meet +those who date their conversion, or their first step +in the Narrow Way, from their look at that face lying +in its simple coffin.</p> + +<p>One of Mrs. Booth’s own grandchildren, Mary, +the present General’s second daughter, looks +back to that scene as the time when God in an unmistakable +manner sealed her as His. She was only five years old +as she knelt by the coffin, but nevertheless she decided +there, in her childish consecration, like Ruth of +old, that ’Thy people shall be my people, and +thy God my God’; and in the spirit of this consecration +she lives to-day.</p> + +<hr width="75%" size="1" /> + +<p>In order that some of the crowds who wished to share +in the funeral service might be present, the largest +hall in London, the Olympia, was taken. Twenty-six +thousand people filled it; and though it was, of course, +impossible for them all to hear, they followed the +service given on printed papers with reverent sympathy.</p> + +<p>The coffin was carried down the immense hall by Officers; +The General and his family followed.</p> + +<p>Those who arranged for this last mighty gathering +remembered that Mrs. Booth, when with us, was never +happy to leave a Meeting unless it had been brought +to a point, and something definite had been done; and +therefore, when the songs and prayers and readings +were over, the huge crowd was asked to kneel and make +a solemn covenant with God.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful covenant, and ended with these +words:–</p> + +<p>’And now, in this solemn hour, and in the presence +of death, I come again to Thy footstool, and make +this covenant with Thee.’</p> + +<p>Then all who had made the covenant from their hearts +rose and sang together:–</p> + +<blockquote>Just as I am Thou dost receive,<br /> +Dost welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,<br /> +Because Thy promise I believe,<br /> +O Lamb of God, I come!</blockquote> + +<p>It was just such an ending to the wonderful service +as our Army Mother would have chosen had she been +still on earth with us.</p> + +<hr width="75%" size="1" /> + +<p>The next morning was dry and bright. ’I shall +ask God to give you a fine day for my funeral, Emma, +so that you mayn’t take cold,’ our Army +Mother had said, for she was ever thoughtful for others; +and her prayer was answered, for though the white +mist crept up from the river to the Embankment, where +the procession was forming up, there was no rain nor +wind.</p> + +<p>Tens of thousands of our dear Soldiers would gladly +have sacrificed a day’s work in order to follow +in the funeral procession of one they so dearly loved; +but, so as not to gather too large a crowd, only Officers +were allowed in the march, which passed through countless +throngs of people from International Headquarters +to Abney Park Cemetery, a distance of about five miles.</p> + +<p>All along the route the crowds stood in dense masses, +and roofs, windows, and every nook and corner were +packed with human beings. Nothing had been seen like +it, said the police, since the Duke of Wellington’s +funeral, forty years before.</p> + +<p>It was a wonderful march. I wish you could have seen +it! Sometimes it seemed as if every one was weeping; +and when the open hearse, with its plain oak coffin, +crowned by The Army bonnet and well-worn Bible, passed, +all heads were bared, all voices hushed, and tears +filled all eyes.</p> + +<p>The General, standing alone in his open carriage all +along the long, sad way, must have felt that he had +the people’s sympathy and love with him in his +grief, for scores of heartfelt ‘God bless you’s!’ +came from lips that are unused to such words.</p> + +<p>And at last the yellow evening sun shone out as the +great procession reached the gates of Abney Park Cemetery +and wound towards the open grave.</p> + +<p>Only a part of the mighty throng could hear The General’s +beautiful words, so strong and yet so tender, from +which I have already quoted, but all joined in the +song, ‘Rock of Ages,’ which seemed to roll +up to the heavens themselves.</p> + +<p>Several leading Officers and members of The General’s +own family prayed and spoke, wonderfully upheld in +spite of their deep grief and the strain of the last +days. And then by the open grave the present General +led all hearts to make a fresh consecration, the whole +assembly promising, with God’s help, that they +would be</p> + +<p>’Faithful to Thee, faithful to one another, +and faithful to a dying world, till we meet our beloved +Mother in the Morning. Amen.’</p> + +<hr width="75%" size="1" /> + +<p>If ever you are in Abney Park Cemetery you should +visit her grave. It is very simple. Around the little +piece of earth runs a grey stone, with these words +carved on it:–</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;font-varian: small-caps">Catherine Booth,</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;font-varian: small-caps">Mother of The Salvation Army</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">More than Conqueror, through Him that loved us,<br /> +and gave Himself for all the world and for you.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">Do you also follow Christ?</p> + +<p>and above are two small beds of flowers.</p> + +<p>Do many people go to see it? you wonder.</p> + +<p>Oh, yes. All round it a path is worn in the grass, +made by the tread of many feet; for mothers bring +their boys and girls to see it, and tell them what +a mother she was, and men and women of all creeds and +races pause beside it, and remember.</p> + +<p>Many Officers, too–from distant lands, and speaking +strange tongues you could not understand–come to +The Army Mother’s grave when they visit our +shores. For she was their Mother as well as ours, they +say.</p> + +<p>They kneel beside the stone, and spell out the name, +and then they consecrate themselves afresh to God +and the needs of the heathen lands, and they claim +His grace to follow in her steps.</p> + +<p>For our Army Mother is not dead. True, her body lies +in the quiet grave at Abney Park, and her spirit is +in Heaven; but her life and influence still live among +us, her words are treasured, and our greatest prayer +and desire for the girls and wives and mothers in +our ranks is that they may live to be worthy daughters +of Catherine Booth.</p> + +<h1><a name="dates"></a>Dates in Mrs. Booth’s Life</h1> + +<p>1829. January 17th. Catherine Mumford born at Ashbourne, +Derby.<br /> +1829. April 10th. William Booth born at Nottingham.<br /> +1843. Catherine has to leave school owing to severe +illness. 1844. Refuses to be engaged to her cousin.<br /> +1845. Is converted. 1846. Seems likely to go into +consumption.<br /> 1850. Takes Sunday class of elder girls.<br /> +1851. June. Miss Mumford hears Mr. Booth preach; later +meets him at a friend’s house.<br /> +1852. May 15th. They are engaged to be married. <br />1855. +June 16th. The wedding.<br />1857. Mrs. Booth speaks to +a children’s meeting on Temperance. <br />1859. She +starts work among drunkards. She writes her first pamphlet +on woman’s right to preach.<br /> +1860. Mrs. Booth speaks for the first time in public.<br /> +1861. Mr. and Mrs. Booth break up their home in the +north, and come to London, choosing +an evangelistic life.<br /> +1864. Mrs. Booth begins to hold Evangelistic campaigns +apart from her husband.<br /> +1864. July. East End Mission begun.<br /> 1868. First Headquarters +established.<br /> 1869. Mrs. Booth’s wonderful Brighton +campaign. <br />1870. East London Mission becomes the ‘Christian +Mission.’<br /> 1871. Mrs. Booth publishes her first +book.<br /> 1877. Christian Mission becomes ‘The Salvation +Army.’<br /> 1878. The uniform is chosen.<br /> 1886. First +Self-Denial Week.<br /> 1888. February. Mrs. Booth learns +that she is suffering from cancer.<br /> 1888. June 21st. +Mrs. Booth speaks in public for the last time (at the City Temple).<br /> +1889. August. She goes to Clacton-on-Sea.<br /> 1890. October +4th. Mrs. Booth is promoted to Glory.<br /> 1890. October +6th. Her body brought to Congress Hall, Clapton.<br /> 1890. +October 11th. Funeral at Abney Park.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine Booth, by Colonel Mildred Duff + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + +This file should be named 7cbth10h.htm or 7cbth10h.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7cbth11h.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7cbth10ha.txt + +Produced by Curtis A. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Catherine Booth + A Sketch + +Author: Colonel Mildred Duff + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7125] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 12, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +CATHERINE BOOTH +A SKETCH + +_Reprinted from The Warriors' Library_ + +BY +COLONEL MILDRED DUFF + +WITH A PREFACE BY +GENERAL BRAMWELL BOOTH + + + + +PREFACE + + + +Colonel Duff has, at my request, written the following very interesting +and touching account of my dear Mother; and she has done so in the hope +that those who read it will be helped to follow in the footsteps of that +wonderful servant of God. + +But how can they do so? Was not Mrs. Booth, you ask, an exceptional +woman? Had she not great gifts and very remarkable powers, and was she +not trained in a very special way to do the work to which God called her? +How, then, can ordinary people follow in her steps? Let me tell you. + +Mrs. Booth walked with God. When she was only a timid girl, helping her +mother in the household, she continually sought after Him; and when, in +later years, she became known by multitudes, and was written of in the +newspapers, and greatly beloved by the good in many lands, there was no +difference in her life in that matter. She was not content with being +Mrs. General Booth of The Salvation Army, and with being looked upon as a +great and good woman, giving her life to bless others. No! she listened +daily for God's voice in her own heart, sought after His will, and leaned +continually for strength and grace upon her Saviour. You can be like her +in that. + +Mrs. Booth was a soul-winner. A little while before her spirit passed +into the presence of God, and when she knew that death was quite near to +her, she said: 'Tell the Soldiers that the great consolation for a +Salvationist on his dying bed is to feel that he has been a soul-winner.' +Wherever she went--in the houses of strangers as well as of friends, in +the Meetings, great and small, when she was welcomed and when she was +not, whether alone or with others--she laboured to lead souls to Christ. +I have known her at one time spend as much trouble to win one as at +another time to win fifty. You can follow her example in that. + +Mrs. Booth always declared herself and took sides with right. Whatever +was happening around her, people always knew which side she was on. She +spoke out for the right, the good, and the true, even when doing so +involved very disagreeable experiences and the bearing of much +unkindness. She hated the spirit which can look on at what is wicked and +false or cruel, and say, 'Oh, that is not my affair!' You can follow her +example in this also. + +Mrs. Booth laboured all her life to improve her gifts. She thought; she +prayed; she worked; she read--above all, she read her Bible. It was her +companion as a child, as a young follower of Christ, and then as a Leader +in The Army. Those miserable words which some of us hear so often about +some bad or unfinished work--'Oh, that will do'--were seldom heard from +her lips. She was always striving, striving, striving to do better, and +yet better, and again better still. All this also you can do. + +Mrs. Booth was full of sympathy. No one who was in need or in sorrow, or +who was suffering, could meet her without finding out that, she was in +sympathy with them. Her heart was tender with the love of Christ, and so +she was deeply touched by the sin and sorrow around her just as He was. +Even the miseries of the dumb animals moved her to efforts on their +behalf. This sympathy made Mrs. Booth quick to see and appreciate the +toil and self-denial of others, and ever grateful for any kindness shown +to her or to The Army or to those in need of any kind. The very humblest +and youngest of those who read this little book can be like her in all +this. + +Mrs. Booth endured to the end. She never turned back. She was faithful. +Her life and work would have been spoilt if she had given up the fight. +She was often sorely tempted. She was slandered and misrepresented by +enemies, betrayed by false friends, and often deeply wounded by those who +professed to love her, though they deserted the Flag. But she held fast. +You can be like her in that. You may make many mistakes, suffer many +defeats, but you can still keep going on, and it is to those who go on to +the very end, whether in weakness or in strength, that Jesus will give +the crown of life. + +Mrs. Booth trusted with all her heart in the love and sacrifice of her +Saviour. These were her hope and her strength. When at the height of her +influence and popularity she delighted in that wonderful song which we +still so often sing:-- + + I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me, + And purchased my pardon when nailed to the tree; + +and when, amid much suffering, she lay dying, we often sang together +with her:-- + + Victory for me! + Through the Blood of Christ my Saviour; + Victory for me! + Through the precious Blood. + +This was her victory. You can follow her in the faith that won it. Will +you? + +BRAMWELL BOOTH. + +_International Headquarters._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PREFACE + + I. CHILDHOOD + II. CONVERSION AND SOUL STRUGGLES + III. A THREE-YEARS ENGAGEMENT + IV. A LIFE OF SACRIFICE + V. THE SPEAKER + VI. THE MOTHER + VII. THE WORKER +VIII. GOODNESS + IX. LOVE + X. THE WARRIOR + XI. LAST DAYS + XII. DATES IN MRS. BOOTH'S LIFE + + + + + +CATHERINE BOOTH: +A SKETCH + + + + +I + +CHILDHOOD + + +'Parents who love God best will not allow their children to learn +anything which could not be pressed into His service.'--MRS. BOOTH. + + +The Mother of The Salvation Army was born at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, on +January 17, 1829, and God gave to her the very best gift He can give to +any child--a good and holy mother. + +Katie Mumford, as she was then called, had no sister to play with, and of +her four brothers only one lived to be a man. But her dear mother more +than made up for every lack, and from her lips the little girl learned +those blessed lessons which, in her turn, she has taught to us. + +One lesson which Mrs. Mumford early taught her daughter was that our +bodies will not live for ever. She took Katie to see the body of her +infant brother who had just died; and, though she was not more than two +years old at the time, Katie never forgot that first lesson. Spiritual +things were even then real to her, just because they were so real to her +mother. Heaven was home to her, and Jesus her best Friend, ever near to +help and guide her. + +Truthfulness was a second of those early lessons which remained with our +Army Mother all her life. She was but four years old when Mrs. Mumford +found her one evening sobbing bitterly in her little cot long after she +should have been asleep. She had told a falsehood, and conscience would +not let her rest. When she had sobbed out her confession, her mother +talked and prayed with her, and at last left her, happy in the assurance +that she was forgiven by her Heavenly Father. + +After this you will not be surprised to hear that another lesson early +taught to Katie by her mother was to love her Bible. She could read +nicely when she was but five years old, and she loved to stand by her +mother's side, and read the Bible stories aloud, with just a little help +over the very long words. And this love for God's Word grew deeper every +year, so that by the time she was twelve years old she had read it +through eight times. In later years people often wondered how it was that +Mrs. Booth knew her Bible so well, and could so quickly answer their +difficulties and objections in Bible words. Much of the secret lay in +this early training, and in the hours she spent in Bible study later on, +when she had reached the age of some of our younger Corps Cadets. + +I wish we could have seen her in those days. She had very dark hair, +which curled naturally; black, flashing eyes, and such a warm heart, and +strong, impetuous nature that she could do nothing by halves. Whatever it +was, work or play, her whole soul had to be in it. + +Since she was not at all strong, and had few girl friends, Katie did not +play rough or noisy games, but her love for her dolls made her quite a +little mother to them. She treated them almost like real children, and +would sew and toil, and never rest till she felt she had in every way +done her duty to them. She loved animals, too, especially dogs and +horses, and could not bear to see any one ill-treat them. Oh, how she +suffered one day, watching some poor sheep driven down the road! She +watched the man beat them--she could not stop him; and at last she tore +home, and flung herself down almost choking and speechless with +indignation and distress. + +Her mother did not check Katie for feeling so keenly. She encouraged her; +for she knew that a hard, indifferent child, who can see suffering and +not care or be distressed over it, would make a hard woman; and she +wanted her Katie to be full of love and tenderness for all, and +especially for those needing help. + +When Catherine was twelve years old she became very interested in the +drink question. She wrote letters about it, and sent them to different +newspapers, for there was no 'War Cry' nor 'Young Soldier' in those days; +and she also became the secretary of what was then called a Juvenile +Temperance Society, and did all she could to get boys and girls to +promise never to touch the drink. + +Katie was also, like many of you, much interested in the heathen. She +would go round to all her friends collecting money to pay for preachers +to be sent to them; and in order to get more money she would deny herself +sugar and other small luxuries. No one told Katie to do this; but you see +our Army Mother herself taught us, by her example when only a child, to +keep our great Self-Denial Week. + +Of course, most of Katie's time was taken up with her lessons, and, as +she loved to learn and study, they were no hardship to her. For two years +she went to a boarding-school, and here her companions soon found out how +straight and truthful she was. 'You'll never get _her_ to tell a +lie,' the girls said, 'nor even to exaggerate, so it's no use trying.' +Every one knew also that Katie felt for the backward girls and those who +were slow and dull. She wanted them to succeed, and would help them +between school hours. That was her joy, you see--to help and care for +others; whether at school or at home she was the same. + +But you must not think that Catherine was perfect. Oh, no, indeed! +Sometimes her schoolmates would tease her because she was so quiet, and +liked to read better than to play; and at such times, instead of being +patient, she would flare up into a passion, and say harsh, angry words. +When the storm was over she would be, however, Oh! so sorry, and would +beg her schoolfellows to forgive her. + +When Katie had been at school two years, God sent her a very great trial. +Instead of being able to go on learning and keeping up with the other +girls, she had to return home, and for three long years to lie nearly all +the time on her back, often suffering very much. She had a serious spinal +complaint, and her friends sometimes doubted whether she would ever walk +again. + +You wonder what she did in those three years? I will tell you. When the +pain would permit it, she would knit and sew. She could not, of course, +hold heavy needlework; but little things, like babies' socks and hoods, +pin-cushions, and so forth, she would make most beautifully, and then +they would be sold to help on the work of God. + +Besides her sewing, Katie read a great deal. First, as I have already +told you, she read her Bible, and learnt to know God's thoughts about the +world and sin, and His wishes for His people. For seven months at one +time Catherine had to lie on her face on a special sort of couch made on +purpose for her; but she invented a contrivance by which, even then, she +could read her Bible, though still remaining in the position that the +doctors wished. Then, too, she would read good books--explanations of the +Bible, about Holiness, soul-saving, lives of those who have lived and +worked for God, and so on. When she had read a chapter she would shut the +book, and write down as much as she could remember of it. This helped her +to think clearly and to remember what she read, and also to put her +thoughts into words. + +But she never wasted her time reading stories and novels. Later on in her +life she said she was so thankful for this, for she thought that novels +and silly story books made people discontented with their own homes and +duties, and put wrong, hurtful ideas into their minds. Let us recollect +and follow our Army Mother's example here, and not waste time on stories +which are not true. + +We, if we had known Katie Mumford in those three years of pain and +weariness, should have pitied her very much. We might have been tempted +to feel that God was hard in not letting her be strong like other girls; +but we now see that all the time He was fitting her for the wonderful +future before her; and when she became Mrs. Booth, the great preacher, +she herself understood this. + +'Being so much alone in my youth,' she said, 'and so thrown on my own +thoughts and on those expressed in books, has been very helpful to me. +Had I been given to gossip, and had there been people for me to gossip +with, I should certainly never have accomplished what I did.' + +So, you see, God was all the time giving her the very best training He +could, and teaching her, as she lay there alone on her bed, what she +never could have learned in the ordinary way. And He will train you, too, +in the very best way for your future, if you will but determine to trust +and serve Him as did Catherine Mumford. + + + + +II + +CONVERSION AND SOUL STRUGGLES + + + +'No soul was ever yet saved who was too idle to seek.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +Perhaps you, the Corps Cadet, for whom I am especially writing this +little book, have been tempted to break your vows by becoming engaged to +some one who does not want to be an Officer. And you think, perhaps, that +no one understands your feelings. + +You will be surprised, then, to know that our Army Mother had just such a +battle to fight when she was a girl. + +She had a cousin, a little older than herself, who was tall and very +clever. He came with his parents to stay in her home, and Katie had not +seen him since they were young children. He quickly grew very fond of his +cousin, and Catherine found how nice it was to have some one to give her +presents and to love her as he did. At last he begged her to promise that +by and by she would be engaged to him. Now Katie was very perplexed. On +the one hand she loved her cousin, and did not want to grieve him, and +yet in her heart she knew he was not truly given up to God, and would not +help her in her soul. + +'Go to the Meeting with you, Katie?' he used to say. 'Of course, I'll go +anywhere to please you.' But then, while she was trying to get a +blessing, he would be scratching little pictures on the back of the seat +to make her laugh. Perhaps you can guess the struggle it was for Katie to +decide what her answer should be. 'If you will only say "yes," and be +engaged to him, I am sure you will be able to help him, and very likely +get him properly saved,' the Devil would whisper. 'Break it off now, +Katie; do not go another step; you know God cannot smile on it.' That was +how her conscience spoke. + +At last, one day as she was truly praying and seeking for light, she read +the verse in 2 Corinthians vi. 14: 'Be ye not unequally yoked together +with unbelievers.' It came to her as the voice of God. + +'I will do it, Lord,' she said, after a long struggle; and she sat down, +and wrote her cousin a letter, telling him just why she could never be +engaged to him, and breaking it all off for ever. Then she turned back to +her home duties, and did not re-open the question. + +And did our Army Mother in after years regret that she had acted like +this? No, indeed; she has told us that she saw plainly later on that, if +just then she had chosen to follow her own feelings and wishes, instead +of obeying God's command, all her life would have been altered, and she +would never have done the glorious work He had planned for her. It was a +hard battle at the time, and cost her many tears; but it was worth it, +ten thousand times over, as we can all see to-day. + +Very soon after this victory Catherine became really converted. + +'What!' you say. 'Was she not converted before this?' + +No. All her life she had, like many children trained to-day in +Salvationist homes, felt God's Holy Spirit striving with her. Sometimes, +when quite a little girl, her mother would find her crying because she +felt how she had sinned against God. + +But when she was about fifteen she longed to know that she was really +saved. + +'Don't be silly,' said the Devil in her heart. 'You have been as good as +saved all your life. You have always wanted to do right. How can you +expect such a sudden change as if you were a great big drunkard? It's +absurd.' + +'But my _heart_ is as bad as the heart of a big sinner,' cried poor +Katie in an agony of fear. 'I have been as bad inside, if not in my +outward actions and words.' + +And then she took hold of God in faith. 'Lord, I must be converted. I +cannot rest till Thou hast changed my whole nature; do for me what Thou +dost do, for the thieves and drunkards.' + +But for six weeks it seemed as if God did not hear her cry. She grew more +and more unhappy. All her past sins rose before her: those bursts of +temper when she was at school, those wrong thoughts and feelings. Yes, +the Bible was true when it said: 'The heart is deceitful above all things +and desperately wicked.' + +Katie argued, too, like this: 'I cannot recollect any time or place where +I claimed Salvation and the forgiveness of my sins; if God _has_ +saved me, He would surely have made me certain of it. Anyway, I must and +will know it. I must have the assurance that I am God's child.' + +Unable to rest, she would pace her room till two o'clock in the morning, +and would lie down at last, with her Bible and hymn-book under her +pillow, praying that God would Himself tell her that her sins were +forgiven. At last, one morning, as she woke, she opened her hymn-book, +and read these words:-- + + My God, I am Thine, + What a comfort divine, + What a blessing to know that my Jesus is mine. + +Now she had read and sung these lines scores of times before, but they +came this morning with a new power to her soul. + +'I am Thine!' 'My Jesus is mine!' she exclaimed. 'Lord, it is true!--I do +believe it! My sins are forgiven. I belong to Thee!' and her whole soul +was filled with light and joy. She now possessed what she had been +seeking all these weeks--the assurance of Salvation! And then what do you +think she did? She threw on a wrapper, and, without waiting to dress, +hurried across to her mother's room, and tapped at the door. + +'Come in,' said her mother's voice; and Katie, her face shining with joy, +burst into the room. 'Mamma, mamma, I am a child of God! My sins are +forgiven--Jesus is my Saviour!' she cried, flinging herself into her +mother's arms. And this was the same Katie, who had been so shy and +backward that she had never before dared to speak about her spiritual +anxieties, even to her mother! Ah! what a change real conversion, or +change of heart, had made. + +For the next six months Katie was so happy that she felt as if she were +walking on air. 'I used to tremble,' she tells us, 'and even long to die, +lest I should back-slide or lose the sense of God's favour.' + +But as time went on she learned, as we all have to do, to walk by faith, +not by sight, and to serve and follow the Saviour whether she had happy +feelings or not. + +But you must not suppose, because Katie had the assurance of Salvation, +that therefore she had no more fighting. No--indeed, her fighting days +had only just begun. + +One of her great difficulties, which many Corps Cadets will understand, +was that she felt so nervous about doing anything in public. No one, of +course, asked her to speak--such a thing was never dreamed of; but the +lady who took the Bible Class which she attended regularly would now and +then ask her to pray. 'Miss Mumford will pray,' the lady would say, when +they were all kneeling together. + +But Katie was too shy to begin, and sometimes they would wait for several +minutes before she had courage to say a few words. 'Don't ask me to pray +again,' she said one day to her leader; 'the excitement and agitation +make me quite ill.' + +'I can't help that,' was the very wise answer; 'you must break through +your timidity; for otherwise you will be of no use to God.' + +And did Katie persevere? Yes, indeed, she did. Here is an entry made some +time later in the diary that she kept, which shows you how very much her +experience was like yours:-- + +'I have not been blessed so much for weeks as I was to-night. I prayed +aloud. The cross was great, but so was the reward. + +My heart beat violently, but I felt some liberty.' + +Though Catherine's spine difficulty was better, she was still very +delicate, and at the age of eighteen every one felt sure she was going +into a decline. But, sick or well, her soul grew stronger, and her desire +to please and serve God better increased every day. + +'I do love Thee,' she wrote in the same little diary, 'but I want to love +Thee more.' + +It was not till many years later that Catherine received the blessing of +a clean heart; but even now she had begun to desire and long for it. She +also writes at this time: 'I see that this Full Salvation is very +necessary if I am to glorify God below, and find my way to Heaven. I want +a _clean_ heart. Lord, take me and seal me.' + +Some people, even after they are converted, are too proud to own +themselves wrong, or to confess when they have sinned. Catherine was not +of that sort. In one of her letters to her mother she ends with these +words:-- + +'Pray for me, dear mother, and believe me, with all my faults and +besetments, your loving child.' + +Her hunger after a holy life was real and practical. She knew she must +learn to live by method--that is, doing right, whether she liked it or +not--and not by feelings, if she was to be of use in the world. + +So at the end of the year she wrote some new resolutions; and as they may +be of help to you, I will copy them for you just as she put them down:-- + +'I have been writing a few daily rules for the coming year, which I hope +will prove a blessing to me, by the grace of God. I have got a paper of +printed rules also, which I intend to read once a week. May the Lord help +me to keep to them! But, above all, I am determined to search the +Scriptures more attentively, for in them I have eternal life. I have read +my Bible through twice during the past sixteen months, but I must read it +with more prayer for light and understanding. Oh, may it be my meat and +drink! May I meditate on it day and night! And then I shall bring forth +fruit in season; my leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever I do shall +prosper.' + +She had also her own private ways of denying herself, not for the sake of +earning money or praise by it, but simply because she felt it was right. +One of these rules was to do without dinner, and butter at breakfast, +once in the week, because she felt it helped her in her soul. + +I cannot end this chapter without telling you of the one great sorrow +which darkened all her early years. Some of you, I know, will enter into +her feelings so well. + +Her father, at one time saved and earnest about the souls of others, had +grown cold and backslidden, and now never even went near a Meeting. You +can fancy what agony this was to both Mrs. Mumford and her daughter. They +prayed and wept in vain--he only seemed to get more indifferent. +Catherine would sometimes write her feelings and her sorrow in her diary, +and there we read:-- + +'I sometimes get into an agony of feeling while praying for my dear +father. Oh, my Lord, answer prayer, and bring him back to Thyself! Never +let that tongue which once delighted in praising Thee, and in showing +others Thy willingness to save, be engaged in uttering the lamentations +of the lost! Oh, awful thought! Lord, have mercy! Save, Oh! save him in +any way Thou seest best, though it be ever so painful. If by removing me +Thou canst do this, cut short Thy work, and take me Home. Let me be bold +to speak in Thy name. Oh, give me true courage and liberty, and when I +write to him, bless what I say to the good of his soul!' + +For many years this prayer of Catherine's was not answered; but she held +on, as you must do for those you love, in faith and prayer; and at last +she had the unspeakable joy of seeing her dear father come back to God +through one of her own Meetings which he had attended. His last years +were full of peace, and were spent in serving God and rejoicing in His +Salvation. + + + + +III + +A THREE-YEARS ENGAGEMENT + + + +'What a need there is for effort and energy; or real religion and common +sense!'--MRS. BOOTH. + +One Sunday, when Catherine and her mother went to the Meeting as usual, +they found a 'Special' there, taking the services. He was quite different +from the other Specials, and Catherine could not help noticing him with +extra interest. He spoke to the people's hearts, and was not so much +occupied in preaching a good sermon as in getting some one converted. But +he did preach a very good sermon for all that, and chose this verse as +his text--'This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.' + +A few days later Catherine and her mother were spending the evening with +a friend, when the very same preacher came in, and was introduced to them +as the Rev. William Booth. + +Catherine knew they had one subject in common--love for souls; but before +the evening ended she discovered that the young minister was quite as +earnest as she was herself in fighting the Drink curse and all that was +connected with it. + +A few Sundays later Mr. Booth preached again in the same building, this +time as the minister, or, as we should say, 'Officer in charge,' and no +longer as a Special. And now you will guess that the two often met, and +that, because they had so many interests in common, they soon learned to +know each other well, till respect grew into friendship, and friendship +into love. + +Catherine was at this time twenty-two years old, and Mr. Booth was three +months younger; but, though you would have said they were old enough to +know their own minds, they did nothing hastily, and would enter into no +engagement till they were quite sure of God's Will in the matter. + +Had Catherine ever before thought of the day when she would get married? +you, perhaps, ask. Oh, yes, indeed, and when but a girl of sixteen-- +directly, in fact, after she was saved--she settled in her own heart what +sort of a man her future husband must be. First, she decided, he must be +truly converted, and a total abstainer, not to please her, but from his +own choice. Then he must be a man of sense, or she could never respect +him; and, if they were to be happy, they must feel and think alike on all +important matters. + +Ah, if our women-Soldiers and Cadets to-day would but follow our Army +Mother's example, there would be fewer unhappy marriages and wrecked +lives! + +But in her secret heart Catherine had also, girl-like, some ideas about +the sort of man she would like to marry, if she might choose. He should +be a minister--that was the nearest she could get to an Officer in those +days; William was a name she particularly liked, and--if only he might be +tall and dark! If you had been there when Katie Mumford first listened to +his preaching you would have seen that he was 'tall and dark' indeed. + +But though William Booth loved Catherine with a deep and holy love, which +increased each time they met, yet he was very poor, and he wondered if he +ought, under the circumstances, to ask her to share his lot. He wrote a +letter to her, telling her how perplexed and troubled he was, and her +answer shows us that, right from the very earliest days, before they were +even engaged, her one desire was that his soul should prosper. + +'My dear friend,' she begins ... 'The thought that I should cause you any +suffering or increase your perplexity is almost unbearable. I am tempted +to wish that we had never seen each other. Do try to forget me, as far as +the remembrance would injure your usefulness or spoil your peace. If I +have no alternative but to oppose the Will of God, or trample on the +desolations of my own heart, _my choice is made_. "Thy will be done" +is my constant cry. I care not for myself; but Oh, if I cause you to err, +I shall never be happy again.' + +It was not the fear of poverty that frightened her, for a few days later +she says:-- + +'I fear you did not fully understand my difficulty. It was not +circumstances. I thought I had assured you that a bright prospect would +not allure me, nor a dark one affright me, if only we are _one in +heart_. + +My only reason for wishing to defer the engagement was that _you_ +might feel satisfied in your mind that the step is right.... If you are +convinced on this point, let circumstances go, and let us be one, come +what may.' + +This is exactly what they did, and after meeting, and together +consecrating their lives to God, they solemnly pledged themselves to each +other. + +And now began a three-years' engagement, in which, though often for long +months at a time they never met, they remained true to each other and to +God, in thought and word and deed. + +Many of the beautiful letters that our Army Mother wrote to The General +at this time, I am glad to tell you, have been kept, and we will look +together at some of the ways in which she tried to help and cheer him. + +In the first letter after their engagement she ends with these words:-- + +'The more you lead me up to Christ in all things, the more highly shall I +esteem you; and if it be possible to love you more than I do now, the +more shall I love you. You are always present in my thoughts.' + +Now you must not think that, even in these early days, our General had a +very easy life. He was often much perplexed and troubled, longing above +all to do God's Will for the Salvation of the people, and yet not quite +sure what that Will was. At these times Catherine was of untold help to +him. + +Once he was very unsettled--not certain whether he should remain away in +the North of England, or accept a place in London, where the two could +often meet. Most girls would have said, 'Oh, come, then we shall be near +to each other'; but you will see that her advice to him is just as +suitable for you when you are not certain of your duty--that she does not +consider her own feelings at all. + +'I wish,' she writes, 'you prayed more and talked less about the matter. +Try it, and be determined to get clear and settled views as to your +course. Leave your heart before God, and get satisfied in His sight, and +then do it, be it what it may. I cannot bear the idea of your being +unhappy. Pray do in this as you feel in your soul it will be right. My +conscience is no standard for yours.' + +Then she adds, lower down:-- + +'Oh, if you come to London, let us be determined to reap a blessed +harvest. Let our fellowship be sanctified to our souls' everlasting good. +My mind is made up to do my part towards it. I hope to be firm as a rock +on some points. The Lord help me. We must aim to improve each other's +mind and character. Let us pray for grace to do it in the best way and to +the fullest extent possible.' + +'Anyway,' she says, a day or two later--and ever remember her words when +outside things try and distress you--'don't let the controversy hurt your +soul. Live near to God by prayer.... You believe He answers prayer. Then +take courage. Just fall down at His feet, and open your very soul before +Him, and throw yourself right into His arms. Tell Him that if you are +wrong you only wait to be set right, and, be the path rough or smooth, +you will walk in it. + +'Oh, you must live close to God! If you are a greater distance from Him +than you were, just stop the whirl of outward things, or rather leave it, +and shut yourself up with Him till all is clear and bright upwards. Do, +there's a dear. Oh, how much we lose by not coming to the point. Now, at +once, realize your union with Christ, and trust Him to lead you through +this perplexity. Bless you. Excuse this advice. I am anxious for your +soul. Look up. If God hears my prayers, He must guide you--He will guide +you.' + +In these early days our General was tempted, as some of us are tempted +to-day, to feel nervous and shy when talking before large crowds, and +where the people were better dressed and better off than usual. He wrote +his feelings to Catherine, and she sends him back her wise advice and +help. 'I am sorry for this,' she says, 'and am persuaded it is the fear +of man which shackles you. Do not give place to this feeling. Remember +you are _the_ Lord's servant, and if you are a faithful one it will +be a small matter with you to be judged of man's judgment. Let nothing be +wanting beforehand to make what you say helpful, but when you are before +the people try to think only of your own responsibility to Him who hath +sent you.' + +Again, later, she writes:-- + +'Try and cast off the fear of man. Fix your eyes simply on the glory of +God, and care not for frown or praise of man. Rest not till your soul is +fully alive to God.' How truly she herself carried this out in her own +Meetings you will hear later on. + +Miss Mumford was very anxious that The General should improve himself +with plenty of hard work. She saw what he might become, and she also knew +that unless he did _his_ part all those wonderful powers which God +had lent to him would be thrown away. + +'Do assure me,' she writes, 'my own dear William, that no want of energy +or effort on your part shall hinder the improvement of those talents God +has given you.' + +So that, with his constant travelling and preaching, he might get time to +read and think and learn, she suggested a little plan to him in his +billets. + +'Could you not,' she says, 'provide yourself with a small leather bag or +case, large enough to hold your Bible and any other book you might +require--pens, ink, paper and a candle? And, presuming that you generally +have a room to yourself, could you not rise by six o'clock every morning, +and convert your bedroom into a study till breakfast time?... I hope, my +dearest love, you will consider this plan, and keep to it, if possible, +as a general practice. Don't let little difficulties prevent your +carrying it out.' + +You must remember that at this time neither Catherine nor Mr. Booth ever +dreamed of the wonderful work they were to be called to do. He was then +preaching and getting souls saved, mostly in country places, and had many +a 'hard go,' but _that_ was no reason why he should not improve. + +Did The General like this advice and counsel? Or did he feel, as some men +do to-day, that women cannot judge nor understand such things? + +Ah! he was wise, and only too glad to have all the help that Catherine +could give him. In fact, he often wrote begging her to help him more. The +outlines for addresses which she sent him weekly he valued and used, as +this letter shows:-- + +'I have,' he writes, 'just taken hold of that sketch you sent me on "Be +not deceived," and am about to make a full sermon on it. I like it much. +It is admirable. + +'I want a sermon on the Flood, one on Jonah, and one on the Judgment. +Send me some bare thoughts, some clear, startling outlines. We must have +that kind of truth which will move sinners.' + +But if Catherine Mumford was anxious about the mind and work of her +future husband, much more was she anxious about his soul. To her, there +could be no true love without faithfulness, and where she felt it +necessary, she cautioned him in the truest and tenderest way:-- + +'You have special need,' she writes, 'for watchfulness and for much +private intercourse with God. + +'My dearest love, beware how you indulge that dangerous element of +character, ambition. Misdirected, it will be everlasting ruin to +yourself, and perhaps to me also. Oh, my love, let nothing earthly excite +it; let not the wish to be great fire it. Fix it on the Throne of the +Eternal, and let it find the realization of its loftiest aspirations in +the promotion of His glory, and it shall be consummated with the richest +enjoyments and brightest glories of God's own Heaven.' + +You wonder, perhaps, if Catherine ever wrote 'love letters,' as we call +them. She never wrote the foolish and sentimental letters which say a +great deal, and mean very little; but she was able to put her great love +into words strong, intense, and full of tenderness. + +'Do I remember?' she asks in one letter. 'Yes, I remember all--all that +has bound us together. All the bright and happy, as well as the clouded +and sorrowful times of our fellowship. Nothing relating to you can time +or place erase from my memory. Your words, your looks, your actions, even +the most trivial and incidental, come up before me as fresh as life. If I +meet a child called William, I am more interested in him than in any +other. Bless you. Keep your spirits up, and hope much for the future. God +lives and loves us, and we shall be one in Him, loving each other as +Christ loved us.' + +William Booth and Catherine Mumford were married in London, on June 15, +1855; and here are a few lines from the last letter she wrote to him +before the engagement was ended, and the long thirty-five years of happy +married life began:-- + +'I long to see you. Your letters do not satisfy the yearnings of my +heart. Perhaps they ought to. I wish it were differently constituted. I +might be much happier. But it _will_ be extravagant and enthusiastic +in spite of all my schooling. If I ever get to Heaven, what rapture shall +I know! No, there is no fear of our loving each other too much. How can +we love each other more than Christ has loved us? And this is the +standard He has given us. What a precious thing is the religion of Jesus! +It makes our first duties our highest happiness. It has the promise of +the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. We will spend +all our energies in trying to persuade men to receive and practise it.' + +How wonderfully she carried this intention into practice, and, together +with The General, lived every moment 'publishing the Sinner's Friend,' +you shall read later on. + + + + +IV + +A LIFE OF SACRIFICE + + + +'Since I came to the crucifixion of myself, I have not cared much what +men might say of me.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +At the time when our Army Mother married The General's work was, as we +have seen, that of an 'Evangelist' or 'Travelling Minister.' He would +stay in a town for some weeks or months, as the case might be, preaching +and holding Meetings, and getting people saved, both in the town itself +and the places round. + +It was a blessed and useful life, but very wearying; and we can fancy how +trying it must have been for Mrs. Booth after her marriage not to have +any home of her own, but to billet first in one stranger's house, and +then in another's. + +But she did not complain, though we see what it cost her by a letter she +writes to her mother, telling the good news that they are to live in +lodgings while at Sheffield:-- + +'You cannot think,' she writes, 'with what joy I look forward to being to +ourselves once more. For though I get literally oppressed with kindness, +I must say I would prefer a home where we could sit down together at our +own little table, myself the mistress, and my husband the only guest. But +the work of God so abundantly prospers that I dare not repine, or else I +feel this constant packing and unpacking and staying amongst strangers to +be a great burden, especially while so weak and poorly. But then I have +many mercies and advantages. My precious William is all I desire, and +without this what would the most splendid home be but a glittering +bauble?' + +For several years Mrs. Booth travelled in this way from place to place, +helping, cheering, and encouraging her husband in his soul-saving +campaigns. She felt her duty lay here, and even when she had a little son +to care for, she was unwilling to settle down. Writing to her mother, who +urged her to leave off this trying life; or, at any rate, to hand the +baby over to her, she says:-- + +'My objection to leaving William gets stronger as I see the need he has +of my presence, care, and sympathy; neither is he willing for it himself. +Nor can I make up my mind to parting with Willie.' + +Mrs. Booth's object was to be a help to her husband--not a hindrance; to +push him forward in his soul-saving work--not to hold him back; and +therefore, instead of rejoicing, as most wives and mothers would have +done, when a settled home and work were offered him, she was doubtful. + +'Personally considered,' she writes to her mother, 'I care nothing about +it. I feel that a good rest in one place will be a boon to us. Anyhow, if +God wills him to be an Evangelist, He will open the way. I find that I +love the work itself far more than I thought I did, and I am willing to +risk something for it.' + +After this came several years of great conflict and struggle. The +Conference (or, as we would say, Headquarters) under whom The General +worked did not wish him to continue the great Salvation Campaigns for +which God had so marvellously fitted him. They wanted him to 'settle +down,' and spend perhaps several years in one place like ordinary +ministers. + +To please those who were over him he did this, and spent four years in +one town. But though God blessed his efforts, The General was convinced +that he was called to greater things. He loved the sinners; wherever he +went crowds flocked to hear him, and the vilest were converted. Was it +God's will, therefore, that he should sacrifice the work his soul loved, +and 'settle down' into an ordinary life, helping and reaching only the +people of one small city? + +This question our Army Mother helped him to decide. Try to picture her +position. She had by this time a family of little children, and her +health was very delicate. By counselling The General to 'settle down,' as +his friends wished him to do, she would have a nice home, a comfortable +income, and, above all, the constant presence of her husband, who would +no longer need to leave her on his long soul-saving tours. + +By refusing the position offered, and choosing instead to take up the +'evangelistic life' again, The General turned his back on salary, home, +and work, and went out into the world, with his wife and four children, +friendless and alone. Do you wonder that the struggle was a severe one? + +'Pray for me,' she wrote to her mother, when the question was about to be +settled. 'I have many a conflict in regard to the proposed new departure; +not as to our support--I feel as though I can trust the Lord implicitly +for all that; but the Devil tells me I shall never be able to endure the +loneliness and separation of the life. He draws many a picture of most +dark and melancholy shade. But I cling to the promise, "No man hath +forsaken," etc., and, having sworn to my own hurt, may I stand fast. I +have told William that if he takes the step, and it should bring me to +the workhouse, I would never say one upbraiding word. No. To blame him +for making such a sacrifice for God and conscience' sake would be worse +than wicked. So, whatever be the result, I shall make up my mind to +endure it patiently, looking to the Lord for grace and strength.' + +But if it was difficult for Mrs. Booth, the path was equally dark and +hard for The General. + +'William hesitates,' she writes a few weeks later. 'He thinks of me and +the children, and I appreciate his love and care. But I tell him that God +will provide, if he will only go straight on in the path of duty. It is +strange that I, who always used to shrink from the sacrifice, should be +the first in making it. But when I made the surrender I did it whole- +heartedly, and ever since I have been like another being. Oh, pray for us +yet more and more! We have no money coming in from any quarter now. Nor +has William any invitations at present. The time is unfavourable. I am +much tempted to feel it hard that God has not cleared our path more +satisfactorily. But I will not "charge God foolishly." I know that His +way is often in the whirlwind, and He rides upon the storm: I will try to +possess my soul in patience, and to wait on Him.' + +Sometimes you have heard your Officers talking in a Meeting, and telling +the people that, if they will but step out in faith, and do right, God +will open up the way for them. The example of our General and Army Mother +has taught us this lesson, for few ever took a step of faith into greater +darkness and difficulty than they did at this time. + +'My dearest,' writes Mrs. Booth to her mother, 'is starting for London. +Pray for him. He is much harassed. But I have promised to keep a brave +heart. At times it appears to me that God may have something very +glorious in store for us, and when He has tried us He will bring us forth +as gold. It will not be the first time I have taken a leap in the dark, +humanly speaking, for conscience' sake.' + +It was, indeed, a 'leap in the dark': to break up their little home in +the North, and, travelling by boat, to save expense, to bring their four +children to Mrs. Mumford's house in London. There they separated: the +father and mother went to Cornwall, to hold a Salvation campaign in a +little chapel that had been lent to them, and the children remained +behind. + +Of the marvellous way in which God blessed the Cornish work, I cannot +stop to tell you. Mrs. Booth's name as a preacher was by this time +becoming as widely known as that of her husband; and they went from one +place to another, at first together, and then, afterwards, separately, so +as to be able to do more good, for four long years. + +Whenever possible, our Army Mother took her children with her: she never +left them to others when she could help it, and later on I shall tell you +what a devoted and tender mother she was; but the strain of those four +long years no one will ever know. I want you to see the dark as well as +the bright side of her wonderful life; and here is part of a letter to +her mother, written at that time:-- + +'I feel dreadfully unsettled at present. I don't like this mode of living +at all. William has now been away from home, except on Friday and +Saturday, for twelve weeks. I long to get fixed together again once more. +The going backwards and forwards and being in other people's houses does +not suit William. Nor do I like leaving home for the Sabbaths. I am much +tempted to look gloomily towards the future. But "my heart is fixed." "I +will trust, and not be afraid."' + +Then again, a little later on:-- + +'Pray for me. I sometimes feel as though I had taken a path which is too +hard for me, and duties too heavy for me to perform; but it is my +privilege to say, and to feel, "I can do all things through Christ which +strengtheneth me."' + +Once again she says:-- + +'Well, the Lord help us to be faithful to our convictions, even in the +dark and cloudy day! I have felt it hard work to do so lately. Many a +time have I longed to be where the weary are at rest. + +'Well, we must labour and wait a little longer; it may be that the clouds +will break, and surround us with sunshine. Anyway, God lives above the +clouds, and He will direct our path.' + +The General and Mrs. Booth were holding Salvation services in London when +our Army Mother was called to make a fresh sacrifice, never dreaming of +the wonderful results that would spring from it. You shall read about it +in her own words, spoken many years afterwards:-- + +'I remember well,' she says, 'when The General decided at last to give up +the evangelistic life and to devote himself to the Salvation of the East- +Enders. He had come home from a Meeting one night, tired out, as usual. +It was between eleven and twelve o'clock. Flinging himself into an easy +chair, he said to me, "O Kate, as I passed by the doors of the flaming +gin-palaces to-night I seemed to hear a voice sounding in my ears, 'Where +can you go and find such heathen as these, and where is there so great a +need for your labours?' And I felt as though I ought at every cost to +stop and preach to these East-End crowds." + +'I remember the emotion that this produced in my soul. I sat gazing into +the fire, and the Devil whispered to me, "This means another new +departure--another start in life." + +'The question of our support I saw at once to be a serious difficulty. +Hitherto we had been able to meet our expenses by the collections which +we had made from our respectable audiences. But it was impossible to +suppose that we could do so among the poverty-stricken East-Enders. We +did not then see things as we do to-day. We were afraid even to ask for a +collection among the East London crowds. + +'Nevertheless, I did not answer discouragingly. After a moment's pause +for thought and prayer, I answered, "Well, if you feel you ought to stay, +stay. We have trusted the Lord once for our support, and we can trust Him +again."' + +Mrs. Booth, when she answered like this, had no idea of all that was to +follow. She never dreamt that, from The General's standing alone in +Whitechapel, a mighty wave of Salvation would sweep over the earth, nor +that God was about to raise up an Army of which she and The General were +to be the leaders. + +But, as always before, she willingly agreed to whatever would be for +God's glory and the Salvation of souls; and we all know to-day how, from +that little Whitechapel beginning, grew the Christian Mission, and how, +at last, the Christian Mission became The Salvation Army. + +Do not think, however, that our dear Army Mother's consecration stopped +here! No, indeed. One by one, as they became old enough, she gave up her +children to the Work, and we shall never know all we owe as an Army to +her beautiful spirit of devotion and sacrifice. + +Let us stand together by her open grave in the autumn twilight. Her +twenty-six years of fight and toil in The Salvation Army are over now, +her spirit has been summoned Home. Listen. The Army Founder himself is +the speaker. He is recalling the forty years which he and our dear Army +Mother had trod together, and his words sum up better than any other +words could do what she was to our Leader:-- + +'If you had had a tree,' he said, speaking to the vast crowd that stood +round the grave, 'that had grown up in your garden, under your window, +which for forty years had been your shadow from the burning sun, whose +flowers had been the adornment and beauty of your life, whose fruit had +been almost the stay of your existence, and the gardener had come along +and swung his glittering axe and cut it down before your eyes, I think +you would feel as though you had a blank--it might not be a big one--but +a little blank in your life. + +'If you had had a servant who for all this long time had served you +without fee or reward, who had administered, for very love, to your +health and comfort, and who suddenly passed away, you would miss that +servant. + +'If you had had a counsellor who, in hours--continually occurring--of +perplexity and amazement, had ever advised you, and seldom advised wrong; +whose advice you had followed, and seldom had reason to regret it; and +the counsellor, while you were in the same intricate mazes of your +existence, had passed away, you would miss that counsellor. + +'If you had had a friend who had understood your very nature, the rise +and fall of your feelings, the bent of your thoughts, and the purpose of +your existence; a friend whose communion had ever been pleasant--the +most pleasant of all other friends--to whom you had ever turned with +satisfaction, and your friend had been taken away, you would feel some +sorrow at the loss. + +'If you had had a mother for your children who had cradled and nursed and +trained them for the service of the living God, in which you most +delighted--a mother, indeed, who had never ceased to bear their sorrows +on her heart, and who had been ever willing to pour forth that heart's +blood in order to nourish them, and that darling mother had been taken +from your side, you would feel it a sorrow. + +'If you had had a wife, a sweet love of a wife, who for forty years had +never given you real cause for grief; a wife who had stood with you, side +by side, in the battle's front, who had been a comrade to you, ever +willing to interpose herself between you and the enemy, and ever the +strongest when the battle was fiercest, and your beloved one had fallen +before your eyes, I am sure there would be some excuse for your sorrow. + +'Well, my comrades, you can roll all these qualities into one +personality, and what would be lost in all I have lost in one. There has +been taken away from me the light of my eyes, the inspiration of my soul, +and we are about to lay all that remains of her in the grave. I have been +looking right at the bottom of it here, and calculating how soon they may +bring and lay me alongside of her, and my cry to God has been that every +remaining hour of my life may make me readier to come and join her in +death, to go and embrace her in life in the Eternal City.' + + + + +V + +THE SPEAKER + + + +'I will never speak to sinners so that one man or woman in my audience +can stand up and say, "You might have warned me more faithfully, spoken +more plainly than you did." I would rather die than that should be the +case.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +No one must think that Mrs. Booth became a great speaker all in a moment, +or by any 'royal road.' She started when about eighteen, as many a Corps +Cadet has since done, by just taking a class or Company on Sundays, never +dreaming of doing more. An elder girls' Company was given to her; and she +had fifteen girls to teach, whose ages varied from twelve to nineteen. + +Two half-days she spent every week in preparing for her Company, and in +trying to make each lesson end in a practical way, so as to do them real +good. + +Then on Sunday, when the rest of the children had been dismissed, Miss +Mumford would beg to be given the key of the room and would remain +behind, holding a little Prayer Meeting with her girls. Sometimes they +would stay on for an hour and a half, and many by this means became truly +converted. + +Often with so much praying and singing Catherine quite lost her voice +before the end of the Meeting; but, so long as souls were saved, she did +not mind that. + +Soon after her marriage Mrs. Booth took another class of this same kind, +and also a little sort of Sergeants' Meeting, and then--for you see our +Army Mother was led on, just as you or I may be, step by step--she gave +a short talk to the Band of Hope children (something like our Band of +Love of today) on the evils of drink. + +'Oh, how I wish,' she wrote to her father, 'that I had started speaking +years ago!' + +A little later on Mr. and Mrs. Booth moved to Gateshead, and there the +people were very much surprised to hear their minister's wife pray aloud +when her husband had done speaking; for in those days very few women +thought of praying, much less of speaking, in public. + +'Since you can pray so beautifully, will you come and talk to us on our +special Prayer-Meeting night?' some of the people asked. But Mrs. Booth +was horrified. + +'Of course, I said "No,"' she wrote. 'I don't know what they can be +thinking of.' + +Just at this time an argument began in one of the newspapers as to +whether women had the right to speak for God or not. Mrs. Booth wrote an +answer to this question you can read it for yourself in her book, +'Practical Religion'--and she showed from God's Word, that women have the +same right to help to get people saved that the men have. The little +pamphlet was already printed and being widely read, and our Army Mother +lay alone in her room very ill, when the thought flashed into her soul, +'You have been helping other women to preach and to speak for God. What +about yourself?' + +'Oh, no, Lord, not me; I can't. I am, as Thou knowest, the most timid and +bashful disciple ever saved by grace.' That was her answer. + +Then the Lord took her back to the days when she first gave herself to +Him, at the age of fifteen. He showed her that all the way along this one +thing had hindered and stopped her from 'being the blessing or from +getting the blessing He intended.' + +'Lord,' she cried, 'if Thou wilt come back to me as in the old days, I +will obey, though I die in the attempt.' + +But at the moment God seemed not to answer her cry, and when she was well +again all went on as before. + +Three months later Mrs. Booth was quietly sitting one Sunday morning in +chapel with her eldest boy, when a very wonderful thing happened. You +shall read about it in her own words:-- + +'I felt much depressed in mind,' she says, 'and was not expecting +anything particular, but as the testimonies proceeded I felt the Holy +Spirit come upon me. It seemed as if a voice said to me: "Now, if you +were to go and testify, you know I would bless it to your own soul as +well as to the people!" I gasped again, and said in my heart: "Yes, Lord, +I believe Thou wouldst, but I cannot do it!" I had forgotten my vow. + +'A moment afterwards there flashed across my mind the memory of the time +when I had promised the Lord that I would obey Him at all costs. And then +the voice seemed to ask me if this was consistent with that promise. I +almost jumped up and said, "No, Lord, it is the old thing over again. But +I cannot do it!" I felt as though I would sooner die than speak. And then +the Devil said, "Besides, you are not prepared. You will look like a +fool, and will have nothing to say." He made a mistake. He overreached +himself for once. It was this word that settled it. "Ah!" I said, "this +is just the point. I have never yet been willing to be a fool for Christ. +Now I will be one!" + +'Without stopping another moment, I rose up from my seat and walked down +the aisle. My dear husband thought something had happened to me, and so +did the people. We had been there two years, and they knew my timid, +bashful nature. He stepped down, and asked me, "What is the matter, my +dear?" I replied, "I want to say a word!" He was so taken by surprise +that he could only say, "My dear wife wishes to speak!" and sat down. For +years he had been trying to persuade me to do it. Only that very week he +had wanted me to go and address a little Cottage Meeting of some twenty +working people, but I had refused. + +'I stood--God only knows how--and if any mortal ever did hang on the arm +of Omnipotence, I did. I just stood and told the people how it had come +about. I confessed, as I think everybody should who has been in the wrong +and has misrepresented the religion of Jesus Christ. I said, "I dare say +many of you have been looking upon me as a very devoted woman, and one +who has been living faithfully to God. But I have come to realize that I +have been disobeying Him, and thus brought darkness and leanness into my +soul. I have promised the Lord to do so no longer, and have come to tell +you that henceforth I will be obedient to the holy vision." + +'There was more weeping, they said, in the chapel that day than on any +previous occasion. Many dated a renewal in righteousness from that very +moment, and began a life of devotion and consecration to God. + +'Now I might have "talked good" to them till now. That honest confession +did what twenty years of preaching could not have accomplished.' + +After this wonderful victory Mrs. Booth never again drew back. The same +night she spoke once more, with even greater power than in the morning, +and before long invitations came pouring in from all parts, for wherever +she went souls were saved and people sanctified. + +But it cost her a great deal to preach like this. She writes of one +Meeting held soon after:-- + +'I got on very well, and had three beautiful cases, but I cannot tell you +how I felt all day about it. I could neither eat nor sleep. I never was +in such a state, and when I saw the people, I felt like melting away. +However, I got through.' + +Even to the last, when she was known all round the world as one of the +greatest women-preachers of the day, she never spoke without feeling +deeply the responsibility and importance of her work, nor without having +prepared carefully beforehand what she wanted to say. + +It was very difficult for her, with four little children, the eldest only +four years and three months old, to get enough time and quiet. We should +have said it was impossible, for she was not well off, and could not +afford to put her sewing out, or to have many servants to work for her; +but she says:-- + +'God forced me to begin to think and work, and He gave me grace and +strength to do it. Many a time while I was nursing my baby I was thinking +of what I should say next Sunday, and between times I noted down with a +pencil the thoughts as they struck me. Then I would appear with an +outline scratched in pencil, trusting in the Lord to give me the power of +His Holy Spirit; and from the day I began He has never allowed me to open +my mouth without giving me signs of His presence and blessing.' + +The two books she always used in getting ready for her Meetings were her +Bible and Concordance. + +In later years she taught her children how to prepare for their Meetings, +and some of the advice she gives is very helpful to Corps Cadets. + +'"Jesus wept,"' she writes to her eldest girl, who was then fourteen, +'would be a nice subject for you at one of your little Meetings. And you +could find some texts to show how David wept, and Daniel, and Jeremiah, +etc., if you like it. But don't take it because _I_ say so--you must +ask the Lord for your subjects.' + +Later on, however, as The Salvation Army grew, Mrs. Booth felt that, +though it was just as necessary to prepare, yet to speak from notes was +often not helpful to either the Officer or the people, so she writes to +one of her sons:-- + +'Get out of them! They don't fit our work. When you get on, you don't +want them; and when you don't, they are no good. At first, if your memory +won't serve you, just jot on a small bit of paper the size of a ticket +your main divisions in large writing, but no more. Like this:-- + + 'Day of wrath is come. + '1. God's wrath. + '2. Just wrath. + '3. Uttermost wrath. + '4. Eternal wrath.' + +On the platform Mrs. Booth's manner was as simple and natural as when by +her own fireside; anything 'put on' or affected she hated. + +'If I were asked,' she says, 'to put into one word what I consider to be +the greatest hindrance to the success of Divine truth, even when spoken +by sincere and real people, I should say _stiffness_. Simplicity is +indispensable to success, _naturalness_ in putting the truth. It +seems as if people, the moment they come to religion, put on a different +tone, a different look and manner--in short, become unnatural.' + +But Mrs. Booth not only prepared for her Meetings by thought and study, +but she prepared most of all by prayer. + +'Oh, if we could,' she writes, 'get more of the spirit of prayer into +those who love God! Few understand it at all. + +'I always find an exact proportion in the results to the spirit of +intercession I have had beforehand. That is why I like to be alone in +lodgings.' + +Before her Meeting she would wrestle and plead with God for hours, in +tears and agony, and then would face her congregation overflowing with +love and faith. + +'Pray for me,' she writes during her marvellous Portsmouth campaign. 'No +one knows how I feel. I think I never realized my responsibility as I did +on Sunday night. I felt really awful before rising to speak. The sight +almost overwhelmed me. With its two galleries, its dome-like roof and +vast proportions, when crammed with people, the building presents a most +imposing appearance. The top gallery is ten or twelve seats deep in +front, and it was full of men. Such a sight as I have never seen on any +previous occasion. Oh, how I _yearned_ over them! I felt as if it +would be a small thing to die _there and then_, if that would have +brought them to Jesus.' + +Nothing short of men and women getting converted satisfied her. + +'They say,' she writes of another campaign, 'the sinners here will +"_bide some bringing down_." Well, the Lord can do it. They tell me, +too, that I am immensely popular with the people. But _that_ is no +comfort unless they will be saved.' + +She laboured to get the truth home to the hearts of her listeners, and +that is why her talking was so blessed. + +'God made you responsible,' she said, 'not for delivering the truth, but +for GETTING IT IN--getting it home, fixing it in the conscience as a red- +hot iron, as a bolt, straight from His throne; and He has given you also +the _power to do it_; and if you do not do it, _blood_ will be +on your skirts. Oh, this genteel way of putting the truth! How God hates +it! "If you please, dear friends, will you listen? If you please, will +you be converted? Will you come to Jesus? Shall we read just this, that, +and the other?" No more like apostolic preaching than darkness is like +light.' + +How can I show you some of the marvellous results of her preaching? In +every part of our land her influence and words made themselves felt; the +largest buildings were crowded with all classes of society, and glorious +cases of conversion and sanctification crowned her labours everywhere. A +lady who was at some of her women's Meetings at Lye, near Birmingham, +tells us:-- + +'The women left their work, and in all sorts of odd costumes flocked to +the Meetings, some with bonnets, some with shawls fastened over their +head, others with little children clinging to their necks. All, with +eager, inquiring faces, took their seats and listened to the gracious +words which fell from the lips of dear Mrs. Booth. And when the +invitation was given, what a scene ensued! It baffles all description. +Crowding, weeping, rushing to the penitent-form came convicted sinners +and repentant backsliders. When the form was filled the penitents dropped +upon their knees in the aisles or in their seats, so that it was +difficult to move about.' + +When holding some Meetings in a Rotherhithe chapel (for The Army was only +just beginning its work, and our Army Mother took Meetings in different +churches and chapels up and down the land), the victories were just as +glorious, and one of her Converts says:-- + +'There were many remarkable cases of conversion at these Meetings. +Amongst others there were the two daughters of a publican. When one +sister was saved the other went to hear Mrs. Booth on purpose to ridicule +the services. But she was seized with such an agonizing realization of +her sins that she came down from the top of the gallery to the penitent- +form, crying out aloud, "I must come! I must come!" Soon after their +father gave up the public-house, and they afterwards became members of +Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle. + +'I have seen as many as thirty persons seeking Salvation in a single +Meeting, and some years afterwards, when I looked at the register of our +chapel, I found about one hundred names of those who had professed to be +converted at this time.' + +Our Army Mother, too, was equally straight and fearless with the rich +when, later on, they also came in crowds to hear her. She had but one +message and one gospel for all alike. She says, 'By God's help I will not +regard the person of man, but will plainly and fearlessly declare the +truth, come what may.' God honoured this spirit, and her Meetings in the +West-End of London, where the great and rich live, were some of the most +glorious of her life. Of one such she writes:-- + +'The Lord has very graciously stood by me, and given me much precious +fruit. Last Sunday we had the Hall crowded, and a large proportion of +gentlemen. The Lord was there in power, and twenty-one came forward--some +for Salvation and some for purity. Several were most blessed cases of +full surrender. We did not get away till nearly six, and we began at +three. Everybody is amazed at this for the West-End! The audience is very +select, we never having published a bill. Pray much, dear friend, that +God may do a deep and permanent work in this Babylon. It seems as though +He gave me words of fire for them, and they sat spellbound.' + +You say you wish you had heard her speak? Indeed, we all wish you had: +you could never have forgotten it. But several of her addresses were +taken down in shorthand at the time, and are reprinted in her books, so +you can get and read them; and they will bless and teach you as they have +taught thousands before you. + + + + +VI + +THE MOTHER + + + +'A lady once said to me, "How have you managed to get your children +converted so early?" "Oh," I said, "I have been beforehand with the +Devil."'--MRS. BOOTH. + +I have already told you how Mrs. Booth had the true mother spirit when +but a little child, loving and tending her dolls as if they had been real +babies; you will, therefore, guess that with her own children she was the +best and most careful of mothers. She began early to train them in the +right way, and never left them unless forced to do so. + +'I cannot part with Willie,' she writes to her mother, who offered to +free Mrs. Booth by taking charge of the baby for her; 'first, because I +know the child's affections could not but be weaned from us; and +secondly, because the next year will be the most important of his life +with reference to managing his will; and in this I cannot but distrust +you. I know, my darling mother, you could not wage war with his self-will +so resolutely as to subdue it. And then my child would be ruined, for he +must be taught implicit, uncompromising obedience.' + +But long before writing this she had already claimed her boy for God and +His war. 'I had from the first,' she says, 'definite longings over +Bramwell, and lifted him up to God as soon as I had strength to do so, +especially desiring he should be a teacher of Holiness.' These prayers +began to be answered very early. The boy had a truthful and conscientious +nature. Never, his mother says, does she remember his telling her a lie. +But, for all that, he needed, as do all children, training and teaching, +and Mrs. Booth was too wise not to be firm. She writes therefore: + +'I believe he will be a thoroughly noble lad, if I can preserve him from +all evil influence. The Lord help me! I have had to whip him twice lately +severely for disobedience, and it has cost me some tears. But it has done +him good, and I am reaping the reward already of my self-sacrifice. The +Lord help me to be faithful and firm as a rock in the path of duty +towards my children!' + +We know how practical our Army Mother always was; sentimental pity +without help she despised. When her little son, therefore, saw and pitied +a small boy with shoeless feet, his mother quickly reminded him of his +little money-box. + +'Would you rather keep the money for barley-sugar, Willie, or give it to +the poor boy?' she asked. 'Give it to the boy,' he said at once, and so +learnt his first lesson in self-denial. + +When the boy was seven years old he was converted, to his mother's +deepest joy. Some time before she had talked to him in a Meeting, and +urged him to get saved. The boy sat still and said nothing. 'Willie, I +insist,' said his mother at last. 'You must answer me. Will you give your +heart to God or not? Yes or no?' + +Willie looked up in her face steadily and answered back 'No.' + +Mrs. Booth said no more just then, but held on in faith and prayer, and +some months later, to her unutterable thankfulness, she found him +squeezed in among a number of other children at the penitent-form. He +had, unasked, made his way there, and was weeping and confessing his sins +with all his heart. + +Needless to say, he was faithfully dealt with, and the boy, now our +beloved General, dates his conversion from that moment. A little later +Mrs. Booth wrote of him:-- + +'Willie has begun to serve God, of course as a child, but still, I trust, +taught of the Spirit. I feel a great increase of responsibility with +respect to him. Oh! to cherish the tender plant of grace aright. Lord +help!' + +And as with the eldest so with the other seven. One by one they gave +their hearts to the Lord as soon as they grew old enough to do so. + +'She used to gather us round her,' says one of her daughters,' and pray +with us. I wore then a low frock, and her hot tears would often drop upon +my neck, sending a thrill through me which I can never forget.' + +She would pray again and again that she might lay them in their graves +rather than she should see them grow up wicked. + +Mrs. Booth was very particular about the way in which her children were +dressed. + +Of course, there was no uniform in those days, but The Army spirit was +already in The Army Mother, and she would not have any finery or show, +either for herself or her children. + +'Accept,' she writes to her mother, 'my warm thanks for the little frock +you sent. There is only one difficulty--it is too smart. We must set an +example in this direction. I feel no temptation now to decorate myself, +but I cannot say the same about the children; and yet, Oh, I see I must +be decided. Besides, I find it would be dangerous for their own sakes. +The seed of vanity is too deeply sown in their young hearts for me to +dare to cultivate it.' + +Even in her early days Mrs. Booth felt how wrong it was to spend time and +money over dress:-- + +'I remember feeling condemned,' she says, 'when quite a child, not more +than eight years old, at having to wear a lace tippet such as was +fashionable in those days. From a worldly point of view it would have +been considered, no doubt, very neat and consistent. But on several +occasions I had good crying fits over it. Not only did I instinctively +feel it to be immodest, because people could see through it, but I +thought it was not such as a Christian child should wear.' + +In everything to do with her home Mrs. Booth was a most practical and +careful mother. She hated waste and luxury, but her children were always +properly dressed and fed and cared for, and never lacked what was +necessary for them. + +Ladies who had been blessed by her words came to consult her about their +souls, and to their surprise found the great preacher, not shut away in +her study, but hard at work perhaps ironing the baby's pinafores, or +cutting out a pair of trousers for one of her boys! 'I must try,' she +said, when she began to live this two-fold life, 'to do all in the +kitchen as well as in the pulpit to the glory of God. The Lord help me.' +He did help her, and it was this practical mother-spirit at home which +gave her so much force and power on the platform. + +As the children grew older, they were more away from her side, and her +letters to them are suitable, not only to her actual sons and daughters, +but to her spiritual grandchildren who will read this little book. +Therefore I am going to give you some extracts, which you may take as +though written by our Army Mother straight to your own heart. + +To one of her boys at school she wrote:-- + +'I do hope you are industrious, and do not lose time in play and +inattention. Remember Satan steals his marches on us by _littles_--a +minute now, and a minute then. Be on the look out, and don't be cheated +by him! + +'All your little trials will soon be over, so far as school life is +concerned; and every one of them, if borne with patience, will make you a +wiser and better man. Never forget my advice about not listening to +_secrets_! Don't hear anything that needs to be whispered--it is +sure to be bad. Choose the boys to be your companions who most love and +fear God, and pray together when you can, and help each other.' + +Here is a very beautiful letter written when one of her children desired +to go in for some higher education, which Mrs. Booth feared might spoil +the soul life:-- + +'I do so want you and all my children to live supremely for God. I do so +deeply deplore my own failure compared with what my life might have been, +and I feel as if I could die to save you from making a mistake. Perhaps +you say, "You don't want me, then, to learn any more?" Yes, I do, a great +deal more; but of the right kind, in the right way, and for a right +purpose, even the _highest good of your race_. I would like you to +learn to put your thoughts together well, to think logically and clearly, +to speak powerfully--that is, with good but simple language--and to write +clearly and well.' + +Just the wish we have now for all our Young People! + +Early in their childhood the elder children were taught to be responsible +for the younger, and when at school they were given places of trust as +monitors, and so on. As if knowing the responsibilities they would by and +by be called to fill in our ranks, Mrs. Booth gives them some wise +counsel:-- + +'I hope,' she says to one who has been left in charge of the other +children, 'you will show yourself to be a true son of your mother, and a +consistent disciple of the Lord. Very much depends on you as to the ease +and comfort of managing the little ones. Do all you can. Be forbearing +where only your own feelings or comfort are concerned, and don't raise +unnecessary difficulties; but where their obedience to us or their health +is at stake, be firm in trying to put them right.' + +'I am pleased,' she says to one of the boys who has been in charge of +others at school, 'that Mr. W. puts such confidence in you; but do not be +puffed up by it. Remember how weak you are, and ask the Lord to save you +from conceit and self-sufficiency. Try to be fair and just in all +dealings with the boys--i.e., do not be hard on a boy whom you may not +happen to like so well as another; but be fair, and treat all alike when +left in charge.' + +Again, she warns one of them against extremes, even in well doing: + +'You are under a mistake to suppose that sacrificing your recreation-time +will help you in the end. It will not. Cramming the mind acts just in the +same way as cramming the stomach. It is what you digest well that +benefits you, not what you cram in. So many hours spent in study, and +then relaxation and walking, will do your mind much more good than "all +work, and no play." Now mark this. Do not be looking so much at what you +_have_ to do as to what you are _doing_. Leave the future (you +may spend it in Heaven), and go steadily on doing to-day's work in +to-day's hours, with recreation in between to shake the seed in. One +step well and firmly taken is better than two with a slip backwards. +Poor human nature seems as though it must go to extremes--either all or +none, too much or too little, idleness or being killed with work! May +the Lord show you the happy medium.' + +'I was sorry about the cause of the accident. I don't like that way of +doing things in fun! Though it was very wrong and wicked of the boy to +throw the brick, yet it would have been better to let him look at the +guinea-pigs being fed, and thus have pleased him. There was no harm in +what he wanted to do. You should watch against a hectoring spirit, and +mind the difference between a sacrifice of truth and principle, and one +only of self-importance or of mere feeling. If a boy wants you to do +wrong, then be firm as a rock and brave for God and goodness.' + +'Mind your soul,' she says at another time. 'Do not let your thoughts get +so absorbed, even in study, as to lead you to forget your Bible and to +neglect prayer.' + +Later, again, as a wise mother she warns them in the tenderest way +against their special temptations. + +Against lightness:-- + +'Be watchful against levity. C. is a good, devoted fellow, but naturally +an incorrigible joker. It may not hurt him much, because it is his +nature; but it will hurt you if you give way to it. It hurts nearly +everybody. + +Watch! Don't descend to buffoonery. While you become all things to win +some, don't forfeit your natural self-respect and the dignity of your +position as a servant of Christ.' + +Against too much talk:-- + +'The Spirit is teaching you this--is showing you that you must be more +silent. The tongue is one of the greatest enemies to grace (James iii. +5-13). Strive to obey these teachings of God. Yield yourself up to obey; +and though you sometimes fail and slip, do not be discouraged, but yield +yourself up again and again, and plead more fervently with God to keep +you. Fourteen years ago you were learning to walk, and in the process you +got many a tumble. But now you can not only walk yourself, but teach +others. So, spiritually, if you will only let God lead you, He will +perfect that which is lacking in you.' + +But it was not at first easy for the mother-spirit in Mrs. Booth to allow +her delicate girls of fourteen or fifteen to undertake a public life, and +to speak and sing at the street corners, surrounded by a rough, low +crowd. Such a thing was unheard-of in those days. + +Once, hearing that her daughter Catherine had spoken in the open air to a +large crowd, Mrs. Booth objected, as other mothers have since objected: +the girl was too young as yet--she must wait awhile. + +But her eldest son, looking at his mother in the tenderest and most +solemn way, said, 'Mamma, dear, you will have to settle this question +with God; for Katie is as surely called and inspired by Him for the +particular work as you are yourself.' + +Mrs. Booth said no more. She took this as the voice of God, and gave her +girl up to the marvellous work which God had called her to do. + +Later she writes of her to a friend:-- + +'Join me in praying that she may be kept humble and simple, and that all +that the Lord has given her may be used for Him.' + +'I see,' she says, writing at this same time to her daughter, 'what a +glorious, blessed, useful life you may live; but I also see your danger, +and I pray for you that you may be enabled to cast aside the world in +every form, to look down upon its opinions, and to despise its spirit, +maxims, and fashions.' + +Later on, again, came the days when the boys had to choose, as you have +to do, how they would spend their lives. Mrs. Booth might be writing to a +Corps Cadet of to-day when, in a letter to one of her sons, she says:-- + +'I hope the Lord will make you so miserable everywhere and at everything +else that you will be _compelled_ to preach! Oh, my boy, the Lord +wants such as you--_just such_--to go out amongst the people, +seeking nothing but the things that are Jesus Christ's! You are free to +do it; able by His grace; born to do it, with splendid opportunities. +Will you not rise to your destiny? "Have courage, and be strong, and I +(the I Am) will be with thee." "Get thee out, and I will go with thee." +Dare you not take hold of the arm that holds the world and all things up? +And if you do, can you fail? The Lord gird you with His strength, and +make your brow brass, and your tongue as a flame of fire. You _must +preach_!' + +To another of her boys she writes:-- + +'You may, perhaps, be wanted to stand and do battle for the Lord. Surely +you will not sell your birthright? The Lord help you! Take hold of +David's God. Hold your head up, keep your shoulders back, and go +forward.' + +Again:-- + +'This is what the world wants: men of one idea--that of getting people +saved. There are plenty of men of one idea--that of _gold_-getting. +They make no secret of it; they are of a worldly spirit. Now we want men +who are set on soul-saving, who are not ashamed to let everybody know it +--men of a Christ-like spirit. There need be no mistake or mystery about +it. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Paul and every other man of +like spirit has had his fruits, and will have to the end of time. It is +"Not by might, nor by power, but by _My Spirit_, saith the Lord of +Hosts."' + +With one of her daughters she reasons and pleads:-- + +'Oh, it seems to me that if I were in your place--young, no cares or +anxieties, with such a start, such influence, and such a prospect--I +should not be able to contain myself for joy! I should, indeed, aspire to +be the "bride of the Lamb," and to follow Him in conflict for the +Salvation of poor, lost, miserable man. I pray the Lord to show it to +you, and so to enamour you of Himself, that you may see and feel it to be +your chief joy to win them for Him. I say I pray for this--yes, I groan +for it, with groanings that cannot be uttered; and if ever you tell me it +is so, I shall be overjoyed. + +'I don't want you to make any vows (unless, indeed, the Spirit leads you +to do so); but I want you to set your mind and heart on winning souls, +and to leave everything else with the Lord. When you do this you will be +happy--Oh, so happy! Your soul will then find perfect rest. The Lord +grant it to you, my dear child.' + +She made all her children feel that the only reward they could give her +for her ceaseless toil and labour on their behalf was that they should +give themselves to the War:-- + +'I hope, my dear boy, that, whatever sense of obligation or gratitude you +have towards me, you will try to return it by resolutely resisting all +temptation to evil, and by fitting yourself to your utmost to be useful +to your fellow-men. I ask from you, as I asked from God, no other reward. +If I know my own heart, I would rather that you should work for the +Salvation of souls, making bad hearts good, and miserable homes happy, +and preparing joy and gladness for men at the Judgment bar, if you only +get bread and cheese all your life, than that you should fill any other +capacity with £10,000 per year.' + +To one of her children, when tempted to be over-anxious, she writes:-- + +'Keep your mind quiet. Lean back on God, and don't worry. It is His +affair, and if you have done what you could, that is enough. Alas! how +little we have of the faith that can "stand still, and see the Salvation +of God." What would you do if you were put in custody for two years, like +Paul was? And yet that imprisonment at Rome sent the Gospel far and wide! +God's ways are not our ways. He takes in the whole field at once, and +does the best He can for the entire world. Human wisdom never has been +able at the time to comprehend His plans, but years after it has often +seen their wisdom. Let us learn to trust in the dark--to stand still.' + +To another, tried and discouraged at the start of his public life:-- + +'I have only a minute or two; but, lest you should think I don't +sympathize with you, I send you a line. You ask, did I ever feel so? Yes, +I think just as bad as any mortal _could_ feel--_empty_, inside +and out, as though I had nothing human or Divine to aid me, as if all +Hell were let loose upon me. + +But I have generally felt _the worse before the best results_, which +proves it was Satanic opposition. And it has been the same with many of +God's most honoured instruments. I believe nearly all who are truly +called of God to special usefulness pass through this buffeting. + +'It stands to sense, if there is a Devil, that he should desperately +withstand those whom he sees are going to be used of God. Supposing +_you_ were the Devil, and had set your heart on circumventing God, +how would you do it but by opposing those who were bent on building up +His Kingdom? He hopes to drive us from the field by blood and fire and +vapour of smoke. But our Captain fought and won the battle for us, and we +have only to hold on long enough, and victory is sure. "Courage!" your +Captain cries. "Only be thou strong, and of good courage, and I will be +with thee, and teach thee what to say." + +'"He hath chosen the weak things." He has not _made shift with +them_--taken them because there were no others. No! He hath +_chosen_ them. Will He ever forsake them, and thus make Himself a +laughing-stock for Hell? Never! Will He ever let the Devil say, "Ah, ah! +He chose this weak one, and then let him fail"? No, no, no!' + +On the important question of courtship, she writes:-- + +'The Devil sets such innocent-looking traps--_spiritual traps_--to +catch young people! Ah, he is a serpent still! Beware of his devices, and +always cry to God for wisdom and strength of will to put down all foolish +tampering. You are born for greater things. God may want you to be a +leader in some vast continent, and you will want a companion and a +counsellor--a "helpmeet." The original word means "_a help +corresponding to his dignity_" This is the meaning given by the best +expositors. Oh, what wisdom there is even in the _words_ which God +has chosen to express His ideas! "Corresponding to his dignity!" Yes, and +no man ever takes one below this mark who does not suffer for it; and, +worse still, generations yet unborn have to suffer also. Mind what God +says, and keep yourself till that one comes. + +'A wrong step on this point, and you are undone. Oh, the misery of an +unsuitable match! It is beyond description. I could tell you tales of woe +that are now being enacted. But I must wait till we meet. + +'I have seen too much of life, and know too much of human nature, to have +much confidence in promises given under such circumstances. For my own +part, I made up my mind when I was but sixteen that I would not have a +man, though a Christian, who should offer to become even an abstainer for +my sake. I felt that such a promise would not afford me ground for +confidence afterwards. And do not we see enough all round us to show that +unless people adopt things on principle, because they see it to be right, +they soon change? Look at the folks who promise to give up tobacco and +dress, for the sake of getting into berths; how soon it evaporates! No, +my lad, wait a bit. "Couldst thou not watch with Me one hour?" Jesus +lived a single life for your sake all the way through. Can you not live +so till He finds you one after His own heart? I feel sure He will. Pray +about it in faith. I am doing so; and God will answer. But Oh, don't run +before Him! Wait on the Lord. + +'A little longer and you will be saying, "Oh, how glad I am I waited! I +have now found a treasure indeed!" When God's time and person are come, +He will bring you together. How delighted and satisfied Isaac must have +felt when the servant told him the way God led him (Genesis xxiv.).' + +When standing by her grave The General said she was _The Army +Mother_. He said the truth. + +One of her early promises, given to her as a girl, when she only saw its +greatness and hid it away in her heart as too sacred to be spoken of, and +almost too wonderful ever to be accomplished, were the words: 'I will +make thee a mother of nations.' + +When called to send her children abroad, she paid to the full the heavy +price; but she also saw the glorious outcome, and from her death-bed sent +tenderest messages to those of distant lands and far-off nations who +owned her as their Army Mother. + + + + +VII + +THE WORKER + + + +'What the Lord wants is, that you shall go about the business to which He +sets you, not asking for an easy post, nor grumbling at a hard one.'-- +MRS. BOOTH. + +If she had not been a worker, our Army Mother would have done little with +her life. The wonderful call which came to her, her great gifts, the zeal +and love which filled her heart, would all have been useless had she not +been willing to work, and to work hard, and to work every day. + +Stop and think about this. No life accomplishes anything unless it is +full of hard work--often work accompanied by much drudgery, whether it is +the life of a king or of a poor man. Mrs. Booth has set us all an example +in this, for she would work ceaselessly with head or hands or heart, as +long as ever her health allowed her to do so. Laziness and idleness of +all kinds she detested; nor could she tolerate a lazy person in her +service. + +She worked first of all in her home. When she spent a morning in her +kitchen, the work there was perfectly done. The dinner was ready at the +right time, properly cooked, good and wholesome. She allowed no waste and +no extravagance. Her bread was light and beautifully baked, and when she +had finished her morning's work her kitchen was as neat as when she +began. She finished everything, and put it straight as she went along. + +It was the same with the children. She was alike nurse and doctor, +dressmaker and tailor; she made and mended, washed and ironed for her +boys and girls during their early years, and herself attended to every +smallest detail of their lives. Strangers who asked where Mrs. Booth +bought her children's things, so that they could go to the same shop, +could scarcely believe the reply: 'Mamma makes all our clothes herself' +--so beautifully were they cut and finished. + +And when the little garments were of no further service to her, she would +alter and mend them once again, and give them away. Her baby-clothes, +when the last daughter had outgrown them, were given to a member of the +Mission for his child. + +He will never forget taking the little bundle home to his wife and +turning over the tiny things. 'I had often heard Mrs. Booth preach,' he +said, 'but those baby-clothes preached a louder sermon to me and my wife +than ever her words had done. They were all darned and mended and +patched, and the work--but, there, I never saw such stitches! And as we +looked, and knew the hours of toil she must have put into them, rather +than throw them away, as many another would have done--well, I tell you I +listened to her next sermon as I had never listened before.' + +And this same diligent, tireless spirit was with her to the last. When on +her deathbed, able only to use her left hand, and propped up by pillows, +she devised a little frame on which, painfully, stitch by stitch, she +could work a last token of love for The General. + +When her hands were folded still in death, I saw those slippers. They +were beautifully embroidered, one with the words, 'He will keep the feet +of His Saints'; and the other with the sure and certain hope which lay +beyond the parting, 'Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem' +--a fitting and sacred service with which to close her many years of toil +and labour for others. + +But our Army Mother had another way of working in her home--that is, she +worked over others. If a girl wished to learn, Mrs. Booth would take +endless trouble in showing her the best way to wash or iron, or clean a +grate, or do whatever the work on hand might be. She instructed her +servants, explaining to them the reason for doing their duties in a +certain way, teaching them forethought and common sense, and dealing +faithfully with them over all their failures. + +'Better,' she said, in one of her addresses--and she lived it out in her +own home--'better take a girl whom you have to teach how to wash a +child's face, or to stitch a button on, if she is true and sincere, than +have one ever so clever, who will teach your children to lie and +deceive.' + +She worked, too, over the cases of need and poverty which were often at +her door. Not content, like so many, with giving a few coppers to a +beggar, or some broken food, she would inquire into the _cause_ of +the distress; and then, if the need seemed genuine, she would help, +either by getting the father work, or by having the home visited and +suitable relief given after the true condition of things had been found +out. + +And this was only a little of the homework with which her hands were ever +full. Of her ceaseless care over her children's mind and soul training I +have told you elsewhere. But of her public work perhaps the most +exhausting was that which resulted from her Meetings. For she could not +rest content with the most careful preparation beforehand, nor with +pouring out her whole soul upon the people during the forty or fifty +minutes that her address lasted. At the close of the Meeting, whenever +her health allowed it, she would labour and toil, often for two hours and +more, dealing herself with the penitents, meeting their difficulties, one +by one, and was unwilling to leave them until, as far as possible, all +had claimed and received the blessing they sought. + +The next day, too, she would follow up any special case with a long +personal letter from her own pen, or she would arrange another interview, +or in some way keep in close, actual touch with the struggling soul, +until the step of obedience had been taken, and he or she was fairly +started on the Narrow Way. + +And it was this careful, earnest, patient after-work which gave such +glorious harvests to her soul-saving campaigns. Labour and trouble were a +joy to her, if she could but help one sincere, seeking soul into the +light. + +But remember this: while she so toiled over all who came to her for +advice and guidance, she never repeated nor passed on to others their +confidences. If she had done so, people would soon have left off corning +to her; they would have said, 'We cannot trust her.' She was, as you +know, a mighty speaker; but about other people's affairs she was entirely +silent--as you must learn to be if you wish to be of any service to God +or man. + +And Mrs. Booth strove constantly to teach all who were around her to work +as she did. 'You have begun well enough--now carry it through,' she would +say again and again to her children, and whether it was a doll's frock, +or an article for 'The War Cry,' or a series of Meetings, it was always +the same. Unfinished, half-done work she detested with all her soul. 'If +a thing is worth beginning at all, then it is worth finishing,' she would +say; and this great principle followed her through her life in small +things as in great. + +This was the reason that, on her deathbed, she could say, turning to the +Chief of the Staff, 'I have no vain regrets about the past. As far as my +strength allowed, I have finished the work I had to do as I went along; +and now I leave it, all imperfect as it has been, in His hands.' + +Perhaps, by nature, you are not a worker. But what you are not by nature, +you can become by grace. God can teach you to love work. And as you work, +you will, like our dear Army Mother, learn better and better how to work; +and your life, whenever God calls you to lay it down, shall be like hers, +not unfinished, but complete. + + + + +VIII + +GOODNESS + + + +'I see more than ever that the religion which is pleasing to God consists +in doing and enduring His will, rather than in good sentiments and +feelings. The Lord help us to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.'-- +MRS. BOOTH. + +When our first General stood on that October evening by the grave of his +beloved wife, and spoke to us with a breaking heart of our Army Mother, +he unfolded to us the three great qualities which made her character so +beautiful. First, and foremost, she was good; secondly, she was love; +and, thirdly, she was a Warrior. Let us, following The General's outline, +look at these three leading qualities in her life. 'First,' he said, 'she +was _good_. She was washed in the Blood of the Lamb. To the last +moment her cry was "a sinner saved by grace." She was a thorough hater of +shams, hypocrisies, and make-believes. Her goodness was of a practical +sort. "By their fruits ye shall know them" was a text she often quoted, +and one by which she was always willing to be judged.' + +It is of this 'goodness of a practical sort' that I want first to tell +you, before we consider that soul goodness which made her life so holy. + +Mrs. Booth could not imagine any goodness apart from industry. As we have +already seen, she considered it a sin to waste precious time. Any one who +was lazy she could not endure, and when one such offered for the work she +wrote of him:-- + +'I do hope you will not throw a lot of money away in trying H------, just +for want of courage to tell him at once that he will not do, because I am +sure that it will be thrown away. It is the _nature_ of the man that +is at fault, and not his _circumstances_. He is a _drone_, and +nothing, no change of place or position, can ever make him into a bee. He +never ought to have left his trade; he never _would_ have done so if +he had thought soul-saving was harder work!' + +Extravagance and waste of every kind she abhorred, and had she not been +so careful in planning and arranging, her time and money would again and +again have run short. The sewing, mending, and housekeeping needed for a +family of little children when means are scarce would have been burden +enough for most mothers. But besides this came her own letter-writing, +preparing for her Meetings, and also the hours she spent consulting and +advising The General, whose voice, 'Here, Kate,' would call her from the +nursery or kitchen to help him decide some important question. + +Again, it was impossible to talk to Mrs. Booth, even for five minutes, +without finding how true and sincere she was. To please no one would she +keep back the truth, or appear different from her real self. + +'I believe,' she writes, when quite a young woman, 'honesty to be the +best policy, and I shall act upon it. Let me have truth, if it shakes the +foundation of the earth.' + +She was sincere and faithful in every part of her nature: faithful with +her own soul and in dealing with the souls of others. Great or small, +rich or poor, she made no difference, and never held back from reproving +sin when it was needful. + +'I see more than ever,' she said, 'the need of making righteous people +true in their _inward parts_. Let us be more thorough than ever with +souls under conviction. Let us not be afraid to wound too deeply. +Thousands of professors have never been truly convinced of sin, much less +truly converted. Sin to them is _being found out_!' + +Though all through her life our Army Mother hungered and thirsted to +know God better, and to serve Him more perfectly, yet it was not till +some time after her marriage that she received the blessing of a clean +heart. + +Of the struggle and conflict which she went through, before the blessing +of Holiness became hers, she shall tell you in her own words:-- + +'I had been earnestly seeking all the week to know Jesus as an all- +sufficient Saviour dwelling in my heart, and thus cleansing it every +moment of all sin; but on Thursday and Friday I laid aside almost +everything else, and spent the chief part of the day in reading and +prayer, and trying to believe for it. On Thursday afternoon at tea-time I +was well-nigh discouraged, and felt my old visitant, irritability, and +the Devil told me I should never get it, and so I might as well give it +up at once. However, I know him of old as a liar and the father of lies, +and pressed on, cast down, yet not destroyed. + +'On Friday morning God gave me two precious passages. First, "Come unto +Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, +how sweet it sounded to my poor, weary, sin-stricken soul! I almost dared +to believe that He did give me rest from inbred sin--the rest of perfect +Holiness. But I staggered at the promise through unbelief, and therefore +failed to enter in. The second passage consisted of those thrice-blessed +words, "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, +righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." But again unbelief +hindered me, although I felt as if getting gradually nearer. + +'I struggled through the day until a little after six in the evening, +when William joined me in prayer. We had a blessed season. While he was +saying, "Lord, we open our hearts to receive Thee," that word was spoken +to my soul, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My +voice, and open unto Me, I will come in, and sup with him." I felt sure +He had long been knocking, and Oh, how I yearned to receive Him as a +perfect Saviour! But Oh, the inveterate habit of unbelief! How wonderful +that God should have borne so long with me! When we got up from our +knees, I lay on the sofa, exhausted with the excitement and effort of the +day. William said, "Don't you lay all on the altar?" I replied, "I am +sure I do!" Then he said, "And isn't the altar holy?" I replied in the +language of the Holy Ghost, "The altar is most holy, and whatsoever +toucheth it is holy." Then, said he, "Are you not holy?" I replied with +my heart full of emotion and with some faith, "Oh, I think I am!" +Immediately the word was given me to confirm my faith. "Now are ye clean +through the word which I have spoken unto you." And I took hold--true, +with a trembling hand, and not unmolested by the tempter, but I held fast +the beginning of my confidence, and it grew stronger, and from that +moment I have dared to reckon myself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto +God through Jesus Christ my Lord. + +'I did not feel much rapturous joy, but perfect peace, the sweet rest +which Jesus promised to the heavy laden. I have understood the Apostle's +meaning when he says, "We who believe do enter into rest." This is just +descriptive of my state at present. Not that I am not tempted, but I am +allowed to know the Devil when he approaches me, and I look to my +Deliverer Jesus, and He still gives me rest. Two or three very trying +things occurred on Saturday, which at another time would have excited +impatience, but I was kept by the power of God through faith unto full +Salvation. + +'And now what shall I say? "Unto Him who has washed me in His own Blood +be glory and dominion for ever and ever," and all within me says "Amen!" +Oh! I cannot describe, I have no words to set forth the sense I have of +my own utter unworthiness. Satan has met me frequently with my peculiarly +aggravated sins, and I have admitted it all. But then I have said, the +Lord has not made my sanctification to depend in any measure on my own +worthiness or unworthiness, but on the worthiness of my Saviour. He came +to seek and to save "that which was lost." "Where sin hath abounded, +grace doth much more abound"' + +How wonderfully in after years Mrs. Booth explained and led others into +this same blessing, we know. Was not, then, the long struggle and agony +on her own behalf worth it? Yes, indeed, and it will be so with you when +you get this glorious blessing in your soul. + +You will have noticed how in struggling for Holiness Mrs. Booth had to +fight unbelief. This determination to trust God fully marked her out as +strong in faith. + +She had this marvellous faith because she obeyed and struggled to throw +herself on the Lord; but faith was not _natural_ to her any more +than it is to you or me. + +Often money was short, and she hardly knew how she would be able to feed +and clothe her family: this was a sore trial of her faith. On one such +occasion she wrote to her mother:-- + +'We have not at present received as much as our travelling expenses and +house rent. I feel a good deal perplexed, and am sometimes tempted to +mistrust the Lord. But I will not allow it. Our Father knows!' + +Later on we get a sight of her own experience in one of her letters, when +she said:-- + +'I am much tried just now by perplexities of every kind; uncertainty, +from a human standpoint, hedges me in on every side. Satan says it is +useless trying to steer straight through such a labyrinth; but I am +determined to hold on to the promises, come what will. My God is the +living God. He sees me, knows me, loves me, cares for me, wants to have +me with Him in Glory, as much as He did Abraham, or Paul, or John. If +this be true, what have I to fear?' + +And again:-- + +'"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see +the Salvation of God?" This is a precious word. It has kept my soul alive +many a time when Satan has almost overthrown me. "If thou canst believe, +all things are possible to thee. Never mind whether anybody else can or +cannot. If others are too strong to let Me carry them, if thou art weak +enough to throw up all self-effort, and trust Me with thy whole weight, I +will carry thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." I know this is the way. +Hence the babes go in with the simple and the great sinners, while the +reasoners, and the strong, and the proud, and the fearful are shut out.' + +Again, to one who was cast down, and tempted to be discouraged because of +his failings, she writes:-- + +'It is well to see them, for how can we take hold of Jesus to mend what +we don't see? It is best to know ourselves, but we Salvationists are in +danger of erring on the other side. We look too much at ourselves apart +from Him who is or would be our righteousness, sanctification, and +redemption. Faith in Him as your keeper will do more in five minutes than +years of conflict without it.' + +Once, in another letter, she gives us a beautiful bit of her own soul's +experience on this subject:-- + +'I had such a view of His love and faithfulness on the journey from +Wellingborough, that I thought I would never doubt again about anything. +I had the carriage to myself, and such a precious season with the Lord, +that the time seemed to fly. As the lightning gleamed around I felt ready +to shout, "The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." Oh, how +precious it is when we see as well as believe, but yet more blessed to +believe and not see! Lord, work this determined, obstinate, blind, +unquestioning, unanswering faith in me and my beloved friend, and let us +two dare to trust Thee in the midst of our peculiar trials. As I looked +at the waving fields, and grazing sheep, the flashing sky, a Voice said +in my soul, "Of what oughtest thou to be afraid? Am I not God? Cannot I +supply thy little, tiny needs?" My heart replied, "It is enough, Lord; I +will trust Thee, forgive my unbelief."' + + + + +IX + +LOVE + + + +The truest love must ever seek the highest good of its object; sometimes +even with forgetfulness of important smaller advantages.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +The second great quality in Mrs. Booth's character, as given by the first +General, was her love. + +'She was _love_,' he says. 'Her whole soul was full of tender, deep +compassion. Oh, how she loved, how she pitied the suffering poor! How she +longed to put her arms round the sorrowful, and help them!' + +'How,' asked Mrs. Booth once, 'are we to put heart into people? Even +grace seems to fail to do so in many instances. I think it needs mothers +to do this from infancy upwards.' + +You will recollect that Mrs. Mumford fostered this 'heart' and love in +her little girl; and you will remember how keenly Katie felt, blazing up +into wrath at any story of wrong or injury, and ready to sacrifice her +life for those she loved. This spirit grew with her. She could not help +caring and struggling to help all who needed her. The General often told +her in later years that she was killing herself by carrying every one's +burdens. Then she would try to leave off for a little, but her heart was +too strong, and she could not hold it back. + +When but a child, running down the road with her hoop and stick, she saw +a drunkard being dragged off to prison by a policeman. All the people +were jeering and mocking at the poor friendless wretch. Instantly Katie's +pity and love fired up. She dashed across the street, and marched along +close by the man's side, so that he might feel that at least one little +heart cared for him, and wanted to help him. + +To the end of her life she carried this deep, tender pity wherever she +went. She loved the poor. 'With all their faults,' she said, 'they have +larger hearts than the rich'; and she loved them for it. + +Where any one had a warm heart, she could forgive and overlook many +mistakes; but with cold, narrow, 'fishy' souls, she had neither sympathy +nor patience. + +Our Army Mother's help was practical. She did not only give money or +pity, but she--so to speak--rolled up her sleeves and helped the +suffering herself. + +Every sort of suffering and need appealed to her. If an animal was +wounded or in pain, she stopped, and herself relieved it as best she +could; and to the last, if she saw a horse or any creature being ill- +treated, she would not hesitate to rush out and stop the driver, or in +some way force him to leave off his cruelty. + +She was not only kind and helpful to those she liked, but every living +thing that suffered had a claim upon her, and the greater the need the +more tender and ready was her help. + +Mrs. Booth was a people's woman, and she was never weary of scheming and +planning how to help the poor in the most practical way. + +'When I see people going wrong,' she said, when but a girl of twelve, 'I +must tell the poor things how to manage.' + +Dirt and sin, and drink and misery, could not quench this love; it was a +part of her very nature. Long, long before Slum Sisters were ever thought +of, Mrs. Booth did their work herself, just because she so loved the +poor, and longed to help them. You shall read the story in her own +words:-- + +'I remember in one case finding a poor woman lying on a heap of rags. She +had just given birth to twins, and there was nobody of any sort to wait +upon her. I can never forget the desolation of that room. By her side was +a crust of bread and a small lump of lard. "I fancied a bit o' bootter +(butter)," the woman remarked apologetically, noticing my eye fall upon +the scanty meal, "and my mon, he'd do owt for me he could, bless'm--he +couldna git me iny bootter, so he fitcht me this bit o' lard. Have +_you_ iver tried lard isted o' bootter? It's _rare good_!" said +the poor creature, making me wish I had taken lard for "bootter" all my +life, that I might have been the better able to minister to her needs. +However, I was soon busy trying to make her a little more comfortable. +The babies I washed in a broken pie-dish, the nearest approach to a tub +that I could find. And the gratitude of those large eyes, that gazed upon +me from out of that wan and shrunken face, can never fade from my +memory.' + +Before public Meetings took up so much of her time, she delighted in this +house-to-house visiting, and went especially for the drunkards, over whom +God gave her a wonderful power. + +'I used to visit in the evenings,' she says, 'because it was the only +part of the day in which I could get away; and, besides, I should not +have found the men at home at any other time. I used to ask one +drunkard's wife where another lived. They always knew. After getting hold +of eight or ten in this way, and getting them to sign the pledge, I used +to arrange Cottage Meetings for them, and try to get them saved. They +used to let me talk to them in homes where there was not a stick of +furniture, and nothing to sit down upon.' + +In this way our Army Mother sought and cared for the drunkards long +before Drunkards' Brigades were dreamt of. + +When, at a later time in her life, she first heard of the wicked and +cruel way in which young girls are trapped and drawn into sin, Mrs. +Booth's soul was filled with a whirlwind of holy indignation. + +'I feel as though I could not rest, but as though I must go and ferret +out these monsters myself,' she wrote. 'Almost everybody, notwithstanding +the indignation, seems so content with talking. Nobody appears willing to +take the responsibility of doing or risking anything. Oh, what a state +the world has got into!' + +But, deep and practical as was her love in earthly things, her passion +for lifting and leading souls into Salvation and Holiness was a thousand +times more intense. 'If we only realized, as we ought, the value of +souls, we should not live long under it,' she said; and she herself +realized it fully enough to make her fight on ceaselessly in spite of +intense weakness. 'If it were not for eternity,' she often sighed, 'I +should soon give up this life.' + +It was love for souls which made her go from town to town, care-worn, +weary, often quite unfit to meet the immense congregations which came to +hear her. + +It was love for souls which kept her sitting for hours at her writing- +table, when she should have been resting, trying to help those who turned +to her for counsel and direction from every part of the globe. + +It was love for souls which gave her many a sleepless night, and chained +her to her knees, weeping and pleading, agonizing with God on behalf of +the people she was to face the next day. + +And this love for souls grew even stronger as death came near. 'Eva,' she +exclaimed to one of her daughters, as she lay racked with agonizing pain, +'don't you forget that man with the handcuffs on. Find him. Go to +Lancaster Jail; let somebody go with you, and find that man. Tell him +that your mother, when she was dying, prayed for him, and that she had a +feeling in her heart that God would save him; and tell him, hard as the +ten years of imprisonment may be, it will be easier with Christ than it +would be without Him.' + +She was lying between earth and Heaven, thinking of the joy and peace +awaiting her, when it seemed as if she saw the dark face of a heathen +woman, and heard the cry, 'Won't you help us?' The old love for perishing +souls woke again directly, and she cried, 'Oh, yes, Lord, I will go +anywhere to help poor struggling people. I would go on an errand to Hell, +if the Lord would promise me that the Devil should not keep me there.' + +In one of these last days she sent a dying message to the Officers. 'Tell +them,' she said, 'that the only consolation for a Salvationist on his +death-bed is to have been a soul-winner. After all my labours I feel I +have come far short of the prize of my high calling. Beseech them to +redeem their time, for we can do but little at the best.' + +A little maid who was a Candidate came into Mrs. Booth's sick-room once +as she was speaking, and she called her to her bedside, giving her +warning and counsel which every Corps Cadet can take as though spoken to +herself:-- + +'You will be finished with the dishes soon,' she said, 'and you are going +to be a Cadet. I have been very pleased with you while you have been +here, because you have worked out of sight with a good will, and I think +you will make a brave Officer. You will promise me, will you?' she said, +as she laid her trembling hand on the girl's head. 'Yes,' was the reply, +'I will,' amid stifled sobs. + +'Give me a kiss, then,' said Mrs. Booth. 'Promise me that you will never +get spoiled by any unfaithful Officer. If you ever get mixed up with +such, do not hide it from Headquarters, but let them know about it, and +they will soon move the false away from you. I shan't be here; but, Oh! +may God help them to get rid of the wrong. Discernment of spirits! Oh, +why should we not have that gift back? It is very necessary.' + +Mrs. Booth's whole heart was wrapped up in the spread of The Army, and +she was never more of a warrior than when fighting its battles. And The +Army needed some one to stand up for it in those days. We who live to-day +can hardly fancy the fierce, bitter persecution the early-day +Salvationists had to fight through. + +Now, even those who dislike and despise us are forced to admit that 'The +Army does a great deal of good'; but then it was different, and again and +again, both by speech and writing, Mrs. Booth had to defend and stand up +for our methods. + +'I would not,' she says, after she had spoken too plainly for some rich +people who were offended at her words, 'sit down and listen to their +abuse of The Salvation Army for all their money. But I did not say a word +that I would object to have published upon the housetops. Such, however, +is often the spirit of the rich. They think that one must sit and hear +whatever they may choose to say, and hold one's breath, because of their +money! But, no, I will never be dumb before a golden idol!' + +She loved the Uniform: she herself planned that worn by Army women, and +always wore her own, rejoicing to be able to give to our people a way of +escape from the fashions and extravagances of the world. + +She loved the Flag, and was true to its beautiful meaning. She loved to +present Colours to the newly-opened Corps, or to parties of Officers +going abroad; and when, shortly before she passed away, she changed her +room, she begged that the dear Army Flag might be brought in and hung +above her bed. + +'There,' said The General, 'the Colours are over you now, my darling.' + +And she clasped them fondly with her left hand, and traced the motto-- +'Blood and Fire.' + +'Yes,' she said, 'Blood and Fire; that is just what my life has been--a +constant and severe fight.' + +'It ought to be "Blood and Fire and Victory,"' said The General. + +'I'll fight on till I get it,' she answered. 'I won't give in. Next time +I see them I shall be above the pain and sorrow for ever.' + +But, though at the last she longed to be at rest, it was not easy for her +great mother's heart to unloose itself from those she loved, and from the +thousands in all lands who looked to her as to a mother. + +If you have learnt to love very deeply you will also have to suffer, and +her very love made the parting so difficult. + +'Oh,' she exclaimed, when speaking of leaving The General and her +children, 'mine is such a heart! it seems as if it had got roots all +round the world clutching on to one and another, and that it will not let +them go! And yet You can take care of them, Lord, better than I could. I +do, I do believe! O Eternal Father, Shepherd of the sheep, do Thou look +after my little flock!' + +'Amen,' we who read these lines may say; adding to her prayer, 'And give +us that same heart and love which made her life of such mighty power.' + + + + +X + +THE WARRIOR + + + +'Fighting is hard work, whatever sort of fighting it is. You cannot fight +without wounds of body, heart, or soul.'--MRS. BOOTH. + +'Lastly,' said The General in that same beautiful tribute to our Army +Mother that I have already quoted from,' she was a _warrior_. She +liked the fight. She was not one who said to others, "Go," but "Here, let +_me_ go"; and when there was the necessity she said, "I _will_ +go!" I never knew her flinch until her poor body compelled her to lie on +one side.' + +Our Army Mother was, indeed, before all things a warrior; she fought +bravely and unceasingly her whole life through. + +In thought and purpose she was independent, and dared to stand out for +what she felt right. Cowardice, in her opinion, was one of the commonest +and most subtle sins of the day, and she had no patience with those who +dared not say 'No,' and feared to stand alone. + +She thought for herself, and though always eager to hear and learn as +much as possible from others, yet she was not carried away by their +opinions, but carefully weighed and considered their arguments, and then +formed her own judgments. + +Mrs. Booth strove earnestly for doctrine. + +'Let us take care,' she said, in The Army's early days, 'what Gospel we +preach. Let us mind our doctrine.' + +And again:-- + +'We must stick to the form of sound words, for there is more in it than +appears on the surface. "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and the Holy +Ghost," was the theology of our forefathers, and I am suspicious of all +attempts to mend it.' + +And once more:-- + +'Let us beware of wrong doctrine, come through whomsoever it may. Holy +men make sad mistakes. "Well, but," say some, "is not a person who holds +wrong views with a right heart better than a person with right views and +a wrong heart?" Yes, so far as his personal state before God is +concerned, but not in his influence on man. My charity must extend to +those likely to be deceived or ruined by his doctrines as well as to +him.' + +Mrs. Booth's whole life was a continual fight against sin--sin of all +kinds. Whether her Meeting was held for the very lowest and roughest, or +whether rows of clergy and lawyers, and lords and ladies sat to listen, +it made no difference to her. She attacked sin, and went straight at the +very heart-sins of the people in front of her. + +'We need great grace,' she says in the midst of her wonderful West-End +campaign, where even princes and princesses came to hear her. 'I think +the Lord never enabled me to be more plain and faithful. As a lady in +high circles said to me, "We never heard this sort of Gospel before." No, +poor things, they are sadly deceived.' + +Drink, too, was another evil which Mrs. Booth fought against during the +whole of her life. She began, as you remember, when a girl by being +secretary of the 'Band of Love' of those days. + +In the early days of their engagement The General was strongly advised to +take a little wine for the sake of his health. Our Army Mother wrote him +a long letter, showing him how false and foolish such advice was, and +ending with:-- + +'I have had it recommended to me scores of times, but I am fully and for +ever settled on the physical side of the question. [Footnote: That means +taking it for the sake of health.--ED.] + +'It is a subject on which I am most anxious you should be thorough. I +have far more hope for your health _because_ you abstain, than I +should if you took wine. Flee the detestable thing as you would a +serpent; be a teetotaller in principle and practice.' + +Though, as we have seen, full of boundless faith and pity for the +drunkard, Mrs. Booth attacked the makers and sellers of drink +unmercifully. She says, on one occasion:-- + +'By your peace of conscience on a dying bed; by the eternal destinies of +your children, by your care for never-dying souls; by the love you owe +your Saviour, I beseech you _banish the drink_. + +'Tell me no more of charity towards brewers, distillers, and publicans. +Your false charity to these has already consigned millions to an untimely +Hell!... Arise, Christians, arise, and fight this foe! You and you alone +are able, for your God will fight for you!' + +Another thing for which our Army Mother fought, and which to-day we owe +in great measure to her efforts, is the position to which women have been +lifted as speakers and teachers in God's work. She first, as we have +seen, opened the way herself; and then she left it open, encouraging and +helping tens of thousands of simple, holy women all round the world to +follow in her steps. + +She had a tough battle to wage. All classes wrote and spoke against women +being allowed to stand and speak for God in the open air or in public +halls; but, strong in faith and courage, convinced that she had Divine +authority for what she did, our Army Mother fought on, arguing, writing, +preaching on the matter. Now to-day there is scarcely a land where The +Army bonnet is not known and loved, nor where Army women cannot gain a +crowd of respectful listeners. + +Now I am going to show you some of the hindrances in spite of which our +Army Mother fought on. + +The first of these hindrances was the burden which God allowed Mrs. Booth +to carry all through her life--a weak and suffering body. She said, when +her life was drawing to its close, that suffering seemed to have been her +special lot, and that she could scarcely remember a day in her life when +she had been wholly free from pain. + +'I don't care about my body,' she exclaimed when lying in her last +illness. 'It has been a poor old troublesome affair. I shall be glad for +it to be sealed up. It is time it was. Oh, I have dragged it wearily +about.' + +Most women suffering as she did, with a weak spine, heart disease, and +over-strained nerves, would have lived the life of an invalid. But the +warrior spirit within forced her body along. Scores of times she has gone +from her bed to the Meeting, and then, exhausted and fainting with the +effort, has had to be almost carried home. But she had done her work, and +sent the arrow of conviction into hundreds of hearts. + +Writing after one special strain of work and anxiety, she says:-- + +'The excitement made me worse than I have been for two years. My heart +was really alarming, and for two days I could hardly bear any clothes to +touch me. This has disheartened me again as to my condition. But God +reigns, and He will keep me alive as long as He needs me.' + +Another of her hindrances, and one which was almost more difficult to +overcome than weakness of body, was depression. + +I wonder if you know what that is? If so, it will help you to realize +that Mrs. Booth had to fight it also. + +The Devil seemed allowed to try and test her faith to the uttermost, and +at times to blot out all peace and glory from her soul. During one such +time of darkness she writes:-- + +'I know I ought not, of all saints, or sinners either, to be depressed. I +know it dishonours my Lord, grieves His Spirit, and injures me greatly; +and I would fain hide from everybody to prevent their seeing it. But I +cannot help it. I have struggled hard, more than any one knows, for a +long time against it. Sometimes I have literally held myself, head and +heart and hand, and waited for the floods to pass over me.' + +But our Army Mother did not give up working for God, and sit down in +despair, because she was thus tried. One day, just before leaving for a +great West-End Meeting, in which God made her words as a sharp two-edged +sword, she wrote this to one of her children:-- + +'I have been very much depressed since you left--more so than usual. It +is of no use reasoning with myself when these fits of despondency are on +me. I must hold on and fight my passage through; and when I get to Heaven +the light and joy will be all the greater. If I dared give up working I +should do so a hundred times over; but I _dare_ not.' + +Another and constant hindrance which our Army Mother had to fight for the +greater part of her life was poverty. It was so difficult, many times, to +make two ends meet. She had, during many years of her life, no regular +money coming in on which to depend, and during that time it was a +constant struggle to have her children properly cared for and give them +the needed education. + +But most of all did our Army Mother show herself a warrior in her own +Salvation campaigns. In those early days there were no praying Soldiers +and Sergeants to be had to deal with the penitents--no one, either, to +lead her singing, scarcely even to keep the doors or take up the +collection. She would arrive in a town absolutely alone. A hall had been +taken in which she was to speak, and she would hire a tiny lodging, or +stay in whatever home would receive her, and set to work. We can scarcely +understand the loneliness of her position. Here was a proof of her mighty +faith in God. + +She began these solitary campaigns when her sixth child was but a few +weeks old, and God most wonderfully owned her labours. At one place she +saw one hundred grown-up people and two hundred children come to her +penitent-form in six days. But it was a fearful battle. + +'I have a comfortable little cot to stay in,' she writes to her mother +from one such battle-field, 'very small and humble; but it is clean and +quiet; and when I feel nervous no one knows the value of quietness. I +have felt it hard work lately. Many a time have I longed to be where the +weary are at rest.' + +At Margate, some years later, she commenced her Meetings without knowing +a single person in the place. For some weeks she had not even a helper in +the Prayer Meetings, nor one who would give out a song for her. Mrs. +Booth could not sing herself, and there was often an awkward pause before +any one would be willing to pitch her tune. 'If only,' she said when The +Army was fairly on its feet, 'I had been able to command a dozen reliable +people such as I could have anywhere now, I think I could have done +almost anything.' + +Even more wonderful was her experience at Brighton. + +The Dome, a great building holding three thousand people, had been taken +for her Meetings. + +'I can never forget my feelings,' says this Soldier-saint, 'as I stood +upon the platform and looked upon the people, realizing that among them +all there was no one to help me. When I commenced the Prayer Meeting, for +which I should think quite nine hundred remained, Satan said to me, as I +came down from the platform according to my custom, "You will never ask +such people as these to come and kneel down here? You will only make a +fool of yourself if you do." I felt stunned for a moment; but I answered, +"Yes, I shall. I shall not make it any easier for them than for the +others. If they do not realize their sins enough to be willing to come +and kneel here, they will not be of much use to the kingdom."' + +The Lord set His seal upon Mrs. Booth's faith and courage, for the first +to volunteer were two old gentlemen, both over seventy years of age; and +she had ten or twelve at the mercy-seat before the Meeting ended. + +Writing from Portsmouth, she tells the same story of loneliness and +victory:-- + +'You say, "How do you get on personally?" Oh, I never was so hampered for +help in every way in all my life! The most able man I have keeps a +milliner's shop, and the one that opens for me generally is an overseer; +so their attention is divided and the time limited. Pray for me. I never +needed your prayers so much. This is a dreadfully wicked place.' + +Yet during the seventeen weeks of her stay some six hundred names were +taken, many of them wonderful trophies of God's mercy. + +Having lived such a warrior's life, you think, very likely, that the +death-bed experience of our Army Mother would be all peace and glory. But +no. Right down into the Valley she needed to use the Sword of the Spirit +and the Shield of Faith, for to the last Satan was allowed to test and +try her. + +But she fought on! + +'One of my hardest lessons,' she said in her last hours, 'has been the +difference between faith and realization; and if I have had to conquer +all through life by naked faith, I can only expect it to be the same now. +All our enemies have to be conquered by _faith_, not realization; +and is it not so with the last enemy, death? Yes, if it please the Lord +that I should go down into the dark valley without any realization, +simply knowing that I am His, and He is mine, I am quite willing--I +accept it.' + +This is the faith that made our Army Mother and all the Bible saints such +conquerors. It is the secret of their victory--the faith without which it +is impossible to please God, and for which we all need to pray, 'Lord, +increase our faith.' + + + + +XI + +LAST DAYS + + + +'As I look back on life I do not remember the houses I have lived in, the +people that I have known, the things of passing interest at the moment. +They are all gone. There is nothing stands out before my mind as of any +consequence, but the work I have done for God and Eternity.'--MRS. +BOOTH. + +If The General and those who loved our Army Mother best had been able to +choose for her, they would most likely have said: 'Let her live and fight +and work on, up to within a few days of her promotion to Glory. Let the +call come quickly and painlessly, as it has come to others in our ranks.' + +But the Lord, who loved her more than we did, saw fit to send to her two +and a half years of ever-increasing weariness and suffering. For long +months she lay on the very bank of the River, longing for the messenger +of Death to carry her across. Those who loved her could not tell why the +Lord sent her this last fiery trial; they could only bow with her, and +say, 'Thy will be done.' + +It was in February, 1888, that Mrs. Booth, who was anxious about her +health, went to consult a great doctor and get his opinion. She was +alone, for no one had thought her illness was so serious. She asked him +to tell her the truth--all through her life, as you know, she wanted the +truth; and after a little hesitation he told her. + +The truth was the saddest that she could hear. That dreadful illness-- +cancer--through which she had so tenderly nursed her own dear mother, +had come to her, and in the doctor's opinion she had much suffering to +pass through, and only two or, at the most, three years longer to live. +Mrs. Booth listened calmly, thanked the doctor, and then, getting once +more into the cab, drove home all alone. + +It was a dark journey. The War needed her. The General needed her. Her +children needed her. And yet the sentence of Death had been passed upon +her, and she must soon leave them all. What did she do? I think you can +guess. + +She knelt down in the cab, and in prayer committed to God, in a new and +deeper way than ever before, her own body, and her dear ones and the work +He had given her to do. + +At last the cab stopped before her own door, and The General came out to +meet her. + +'I shall never forget that meeting in this world, or the next,' he says. +'I had been watching for the cab, and had run out to meet her and help +her up the steps. She tried to smile on me through her tears; but, +drawing me into the room, soon told me, bit by bit, what the doctor had +said. I sat down speechless. She rose from her seat, and came and knelt +beside me, saying: "Do you know what was my first thought? That I should +not be there to nurse you in your last hour." + +'I was stunned. I felt as if the whole world were coming to a standstill. +Opposite me, on the wall, was a picture of Christ on the cross. I thought +I could understand it then, as never before. She talked to me like an +angel; she talked as she had never talked before. I could say little or +nothing. I could only kneel with her and try to pray. That very same +night The General was to leave London for some great Meetings in Holland, +and Mrs. Booth would not hear of his changing his plans and remaining +with her. + +'The War must go on' was her thought, even when all her family stood +stunned and heart-broken around her, unwilling to leave her even for a +moment. + +Two years later, when but a few more days of suffering remained to her, a +last message from her lips reached us as Self-Denial Week began. 'The War +must go on' was one of its sentences. + +'The War must go on' had been as her motto, lived out in all the long, +long months that lay between. Instead of immediately laying aside her +work, when the doctors gave their dreadful judgment, and beginning to +think only of herself, she went on with it as long as her increasing +weakness allowed. + +But step by step the disease grew worse. First she was forced to give up +Meetings and public work. Then it became impossible for her to use her +right hand, and she was therefore obliged to give up her correspondence, +though she still continued to dictate her letters, and learnt also to +write with her left hand. + +Soon her daily drives became too tiring, and by and by she went out of +the house into the little garden for the last time; and then for the +concluding twelve months of her life she was a prisoner in her room, +lying in constant suffering. + +But during these long months the greatest joy and relief that could come +to her was to hear of some fresh victory or triumph for the Kingdom of +Jesus. Her interest in The Army and her love for the people were as keen +as ever, and War Councils were held and new developments planned in her +chamber, and much of The General's Darkest England Scheme for the poor +and outcast was thought out and decided upon beside her sick bed. + +Again and again, too, Mrs. Booth would receive deputations of Officers of +different classes and from various countries in which The Army was at +work, who came to Clacton-on-Sea, where the last fifteen months of her +life were spent, to listen to her words of advice and inspiration. + +There were no Corps Cadets in those days; but our Army Mother left some +specially beautiful words about the Juniors, to which I must refer. + +When she was told by the Officer then in charge of our Junior Work in +England that the children loved and prayed continually for her, she +smiled. + +'The thought of the little ones,' says some one who was there, 'brought +our beloved Army Mother wholly out of herself and her pain and +weariness.' + +'A very choice branch of the work,' she said. 'I have often told Emma +that I hoped when I was too old for public work God would let me end +where I began--with the children. But it seems that it is not to be so.' + +'Give the children,' she went on, in reply to the messages they had sent, +'my dear love, and tell them that if there had been a Salvation Army when +I was ten I should have been a Soldier then, as I am to-day. + +Never allow yourself to be discouraged in your work. I know you must meet +with many discouragements; but I am sure the Spirit of God works mightily +on little children long before grown people think they are able to +understand.' + +Again and again during that last year of awful suffering it seemed as if +Mrs. Booth were about to leave us; but then she would revive, and come +back to endure more weeks and months of agony. + +But at last, on October 4, 1890, all could see that she was on the brink +of the River, and even those who loved her the most tenderly could not +wish to hold her back. + +'O Emma, let me go, darling,' she whispered; and hearing the reply, 'Yes, +we will, we will,' she said, 'Now! Yes, Lord, come, Oh, come!' + +The singing of The Army songs seemed to comfort her; and once she raised +her suffering arm, and pointed to the text, '_My grace is sufficient +for thee_,' which hung on the wall. It was lifted down and placed at +the foot of her bed, so that her eyes could often rest on it during those +last hours. + +'Soon after noon,' says the present General, 'I felt that the deepening +darkness of the Valley was closing around my dear mother, and a little +later I took my last farewell. Her lips moved, and she gave me one look +of unspeakable tenderness and trust which will live with me for ever. +Again we sang:-- + + My mistakes His free grace doth cover, + My sins He doth wash away; + These feet which shrink and falter + Shall enter the Gates of Day. + +And, holding her hand, The General gave her up to God. It was a solemn +and wonderful scene.' + +The Chief of the Staff and Mrs. Bramwell Booth, Mrs. Booth-Tucker, and +the Commander, and her three daughters, Marian, Eva, and Lucy, knelt +round the bed, upon which were placed photographs of the other members of +her family who were unavoidably absent. Near to her stood her faithful +nurse, Captain Carr, and others of the household, the dear General bowing +over his beloved wife and companion in life's long strife, and giving her +up to the keeping of the Father. + +One by one the members of the family tenderly embraced her; then a gleam +of recognition passed over the brightening countenance as The General +bent over her. Their eyes met---the last kiss of love on earth, the last +word till the Morning, and without a movement the breathing gently +ceased, and a warrior laid down her sword to receive her crown. + + * * * * * + +You may have heard of those wonderful days from Tuesday morning till +Sunday night, when the coffin containing the precious remains of our Army +Mother lay at the Congress Hall, Clapton, and when more than fifty +thousand people came to have a last look at her dear face. + +A piece of glass had been let into the plain oak coffin. It was just +large enough to show the head and shoulders, and she lay as if in a sweet +sleep. + +You wonder if many came merely from curiosity. Some did, of course, but +most of the people came because her life and example and words had been +so blessed to their souls; and they came as they would come to look at +the dead face of their own mother. It was the most wonderful tribute to a +woman's life and words that London had ever seen. + +For all kinds of people came--rich and poor, good and bad, people of many +different religions, and many with no religion at all. Working men came +in their dinner-hour, with their tools on their backs and tears in their +eyes; mothers lifted up their little children to look at the one who had +taught them the way of life; and, best of all, by the side of her coffin +knelt many a wanderer and backslider to give themselves afresh to God. + +More than one poor girl went direct from the Congress Hall to the Rescue +Homes, to begin to live 'as she would have wished'; and the Cadets on +guard were all the time dealing with drunkards and helping those who +desired to begin from thenceforth to live a new and different life. + +Even to-day, twenty-four years later, we often meet those who date their +conversion, or their first step in the Narrow Way, from their look at +that face lying in its simple coffin. + +One of Mrs. Booth's own grandchildren, Mary, the present General's second +daughter, looks back to that scene as the time when God in an +unmistakable manner sealed her as His. She was only five years old as she +knelt by the coffin, but nevertheless she decided there, in her childish +consecration, like Ruth of old, that 'Thy people shall be my people, and +thy God my God'; and in the spirit of this consecration she lives to-day. + + * * * * * + +In order that some of the crowds who wished to share in the funeral +service might be present, the largest hall in London, the Olympia, was +taken. Twenty-six thousand people filled it; and though it was, of +course, impossible for them all to hear, they followed the service given +on printed papers with reverent sympathy. + +The coffin was carried down the immense hall by Officers; The General and +his family followed. + +Those who arranged for this last mighty gathering remembered that Mrs. +Booth, when with us, was never happy to leave a Meeting unless it had +been brought to a point, and something definite had been done; and +therefore, when the songs and prayers and readings were over, the huge +crowd was asked to kneel and make a solemn covenant with God. + +It was a beautiful covenant, and ended with these words:-- + +'And now, in this solemn hour, and in the presence of death, I come again +to Thy footstool, and make this covenant with Thee.' + +Then all who had made the covenant from their hearts rose and sang +together:-- + + Just as I am Thou dost receive, + Dost welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, + Because Thy promise I believe, + O Lamb of God, I come! + +It was just such an ending to the wonderful service as our Army Mother +would have chosen had she been still on earth with us. + + * * * * * + +The next morning was dry and bright. 'I shall ask God to give you a fine +day for my funeral, Emma, so that you mayn't take cold,' our Army Mother +had said, for she was ever thoughtful for others; and her prayer was +answered, for though the white mist crept up from the river to the +Embankment, where the procession was forming up, there was no rain nor +wind. + +Tens of thousands of our dear Soldiers would gladly have sacrificed a +day's work in order to follow in the funeral procession of one they so +dearly loved; but, so as not to gather too large a crowd, only Officers +were allowed in the march, which passed through countless throngs of +people from International Headquarters to Abney Park Cemetery, a distance +of about five miles. + +All along the route the crowds stood in dense masses, and roofs, windows, +and every nook and corner were packed with human beings. Nothing had been +seen like it, said the police, since the Duke of Wellington's funeral, +forty years before. + +It was a wonderful march. I wish you could have seen it! Sometimes it +seemed as if every one was weeping; and when the open hearse, with its +plain oak coffin, crowned by The Army bonnet and well-worn Bible, passed, +all heads were bared, all voices hushed, and tears filled all eyes. + +The General, standing alone in his open carriage all along the long, sad +way, must have felt that he had the people's sympathy and love with him +in his grief, for scores of heartfelt 'God bless you's!' came from lips +that are unused to such words. + +And at last the yellow evening sun shone out as the great procession +reached the gates of Abney Park Cemetery and wound towards the open +grave. + +Only a part of the mighty throng could hear The General's beautiful +words, so strong and yet so tender, from which I have already quoted, but +all joined in the song, 'Rock of Ages,' which seemed to roll up to the +heavens themselves. + +Several leading Officers and members of The General's own family prayed +and spoke, wonderfully upheld in spite of their deep grief and the strain +of the last days. And then by the open grave the present General led all +hearts to make a fresh consecration, the whole assembly promising, with +God's help, that they would be + +'Faithful to Thee, faithful to one another, and faithful to a dying +world, till we meet our beloved Mother in the Morning. Amen.' + + * * * * * + +If ever you are in Abney Park Cemetery you should visit her grave. It is +very simple. Around the little piece of earth runs a grey stone, with +these words carved on it:-- + + CATHERINE BOOTH, + + MOTHER OF THE SALVATION ARMY + + More than Conqueror, through Him that loved us, + and gave Himself for all the world and for you. + + Do you also follow Christ? + +and above are two small beds of flowers. + +Do many people go to see it? you wonder. + +Oh, yes. All round it a path is worn in the grass, made by the tread of +many feet; for mothers bring their boys and girls to see it, and tell +them what a mother she was, and men and women of all creeds and races +pause beside it, and remember. + +Many Officers, too--from distant lands, and speaking strange tongues you +could not understand--come to The Army Mother's grave when they visit our +shores. For she was their Mother as well as ours, they say. + +They kneel beside the stone, and spell out the name, and then they +consecrate themselves afresh to God and the needs of the heathen lands, +and they claim His grace to follow in her steps. + +For our Army Mother is not dead. True, her body lies in the quiet grave +at Abney Park, and her spirit is in Heaven; but her life and influence +still live among us, her words are treasured, and our greatest prayer and +desire for the girls and wives and mothers in our ranks is that they may +live to be worthy daughters of Catherine Booth. + + + + +DATES IN MRS. BOOTH'S LIFE + + + +1829. January 17th. Catherine Mumford born at Ashbourne, Derby. +1829. April 10th. William Booth born at Nottingham. +1843. Catherine has to leave school owing to severe illness. +1844. Refuses to be engaged to her cousin. +1845. Is converted. +1846. Seems likely to go into consumption. +1850. Takes Sunday class of elder girls. +1851. June. Miss Mumford hears Mr. Booth preach; later meets him at a + friend's house. +1852. May 15th. They are engaged to be married. +1855. June 16th. The wedding. +1857. Mrs. Booth speaks to a children's meeting on Temperance. +1859. She starts work among drunkards. She writes her first pamphlet on + woman's right to preach. +1860. Mrs. Booth speaks for the first time in public. +1861. Mr. and Mrs. Booth break up their home in the north, and come to + London, choosing an evangelistic life. +1864. Mrs. Booth begins to hold Evangelistic campaigns apart from her + husband. +1864. July. East End Mission begun. +1868. First Headquarters established. +1869. Mrs. Booth's wonderful Brighton campaign. +1870. East London Mission becomes the 'Christian Mission.' +1871. Mrs. Booth publishes her first book. +1877. Christian Mission becomes 'The Salvation Army.' +1878. The uniform is chosen. +1886. First Self-Denial Week. +1888. February. Mrs. Booth learns that she is suffering from cancer. +1888. June 21st. Mrs. Booth speaks in public for the last time (at the + City Temple). +1889. August. She goes to Clacton-on-Sea. +1890. October 4th. Mrs. Booth is promoted to Glory. +1890. October 6th. Her body brought to Congress Hall, Clapton. +1890. October 11th. Funeral at Abney Park. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine Booth, by Colonel Mildred Duff + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE BOOTH *** + +This file should be named 8cbth10.txt or 8cbth10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8cbth11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8cbth10a.txt + +Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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