THE SALVATION ARMY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2325, 10 January 1890, Page 3

THE SALVATION ARMY

1 Those who sneered when they were told in these columns some six months ago that this strange expression of the dtep inborn character of the English race was one of the mosi remarkable religious phenomena of our generation, says the " Pall Mall Gazette," are in a much less contemptuous mood to-day. The foreign work of the a<my has contributed mnch to compel a change ia the attitude of its critics. It is the oLly Engiish religious body of our time that has made the impact of a religious idea felt-within a Jew years throughout the world. Since Loyola founded the Society of Jesus there has been nothing Lke it in modem times. A whole library oi books upon the origin and diffusion of Christianity will teach us less of the vital realities of that great world-event in the distant past than a month's study of the actual daily w^rk of the Salvation Army. This is very strikingly illustrated by the application made by General Booth to the Home Secretary for a State grant for the carryii g ouc of its secular activeness It seems as if even the mistakes of the early church were to be repeated by its latest oS shoot. The application sheds much light upon the origin of our State churches. The colony of Victoria, which ia perhaps the most democratic community on the planets, has v3ted sums of money to the Salvation Army, and has made over to it an old detective barracks and an old law court. It has done this not because of the religious -teaching of the army, but solely because, in its rescue and reformatory work, out of the waste and debris of society these people manufactured good citizens. Therefore the Colonial Government granted them buildings and cash, in order to enable them to carry on their benevolent and useful labours. The Cape Government, we hear, is likely to follow suit, and it was perhaps only uatural that Mr Booth should have thought that it would be well if the mother country followed the example of her colonies. There is an admitted void in our social organisation which the Salvation Army has shown itself better able to fill than any other body—secular or religious. Its homes and refuges are crowded with voluntary inmates, and every night two score unfortunates pleading fora chance to earn a decent livelihood have to be thrust back in the abyss. Its food and shelter depot at the West Inaia docks has been a great success.