THE SALVATION ARMY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 140, 12 July 1909, Page 1

THE SALVATION ARMY

WHAT IT IS DUIXG. We are in receipt of the annual re-' port and balance-sheet of that wonderful and successful organisation, the Salvation Army. The "foreword" epitomises the work done during the past, year. It is a great record of noble and disinterested work. To quote the "Foreword": "As trustees of that publie faith and goodwill which have su nobly seconded the efforts of the Salvation Army in its social department, we submit the annual statement for 1008. fn doing so we desire to place emphasis upon the fact that this so-called socia. work is a most important part of our religion, and that it is never separated from nor permitted to be in any sense a secular pursuit or aim. Primarily every agency controlled by the Army exists for the salvation of the souls of men. That is the cnd-4he sole endin view, while the means are as varied as human conditions and needs, one of the most powerful and effective of which ; s the social, as it .involves the largest proportion of human consciousness. Many people are totally ignorant of spiritual or religious facts, and can be reached only through their social conditions, many of which are the actual Loads of their moral slavery. The Army insists that the approach to soul-win-ning is most intelligently effected by moral influences which in many cases can be established only through a vigorous attack upon false, sinful, abnormal, and diseased social conditions. Thus, while the disch? 'jed criminal is deaf, dumb, and blihtf to your spiritual homily, he is acutely alive to food, clothing, shelter, employment;, and friendly interest, with hope.in the future; and while your incorrigible boy is absolutely indifferent to your spiritual proverbs and your piraitivo dangers, he is responsive, sympathetic, and alert to your scheme for dealing with a horse, milking a cow, or pruning or grafting a fruit tree. We find a multitude of 'unexplored remainders' among the young girl victims of lust, and even the fallen Magdalene of the street. With the inebriate and the would-be suicide we confidently pick up the gauntlets thrown down by so-called "Fate," and declare that the omnipotence of Christ can and will defeat the powers of hell; and this is done at first by changed <en j vironment and social conditions. He I said that to visit the imprisoned, IoS feed and clothe the poor, to visit the sick, to make peace among those who quarrel, to have compassion upon the devil-possessed (dipsomaniacs, suicides.) ramblers, harlots), was to do His will; in short, that was His religion, proven as He fed the five thousand Or cast out the devils. Therefore, government, society, and the individual, in the degree ' that they are related socially, must be approached socially. In fact, religion i; impossible without it; no church or re iigious organisation can cohere a da> : without their social organism. Child | hood, old age, the family, motherhood, home, and all the associations that elus ter about them cry at the shrine of the world's Christianity—'Give us the aread and not the stone. Oh, feed us with' the Bread of Life.' He calls to u9— 'lnasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these, ye did it not unto Me.' Broken hearts, abandoned homes, dishevelled lives; pain, sorrow, tears, wounds, ignorance, vice, crime, soulmadness, and sin leprosy call for the redeemers, the Saviours among men who love the Redeemer, the Saviour, Who clone can rescue. We answer, choosinp. the most effective tools, agents and agencies for the purpose, assuring our critics that the moment they can showUS better tools, agents, and agencies fwe will adopt them. The paths trodden by the Army officers during 100S follow 'in His steps.' They show a record oi which we are justly proud. They reprc fent sunshine and darkness, heat ami cold, dust-storm* and perspiration baths, mud and rain, welcome and rebuff, self-denial and hand-to-hand combat with sin in many forms, 305 days and nights. Is it too much to ask a few minutes of your time to read the story of labor, patience, defeat and victory, hope and fear, joy and sorrow, ir. Hie storm-tossed spa of human need am! faithful ministry? "Read how the ten;of thousands of homeless have cared for, how the hungry have beer, fed? Read about those.s72 fallen women who have been brought into Homes! Read of the 54!) friendless pregnan: women admitted to the Maternity Homes, where 514 babes were born amir' comfortable surroundings? Give thii brief hour to reading about the 450 little girls cared for in our Orphanages dur ing the year. Then there are the 957 hoys who were inmates of the Army Homes at live liieginning of the vcar, anil the 185 admitted during 11108. Read about the old men, seventy of whom came to our Homes in 1008, and the male inebriates, sixty-seven in number, entrusted to our care. Think of the regiment of 1105 men who found safe refuge in our Prison-gate Homes, and the 755 sick people nursed free of all cost through sickness and want by our noble sisterhood. A little time is all it will cost you to 'feel, if for one brief moment only, this .pain in your brother's side,' and then allow the Holy Spirit of Christ to finish this our plea "for the unhappy, the sick in body and soul, 'the moral leper and the social pirate'—let Him plead their cause with you and help you to resolve to do something for them and Him."