THE H'ARMY.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4944, 13 November 1884, Page 2

THE H'ARMY.

(To the Editor of the Evening Stab.) Sir, —A writer in the Belfast (Ireland) Evening Telegraph, signing himself " Public Decency," is up in arms anent the loose way in which things sacred are treated by the Salvation Array ia that j town, which is a portion of the Emerald Isle in which Protestantism is very strongly supported. His remarks, whjoh can well refer to other places than that to vfhich they wore intended to apply, are as follows, and I heartily endorse them :— *' Sir,—The sayings and doings of the socalled Salvation Army have been before the Belfast public for a considerable time, and most people have had an opportunity of witnessing these exhibitions. This is a matter in which every head of a family is interested. Many no doubt are (mite indifferent, and have come tq tyeat with contempt these silly e^hitniiioas, but those having families paa hardly afford to treat $h<=! scatter so lightly. Children have always been accustomed to amuse theni" selves in many ways, and perhaps ose of ' the commonest is that of s^ing their nonsensical, though, rhymes. Now, there is, nothing a child picks up qu4ck,er thau a Uttle rhyme, so (h^ jt

behoves all parents to try and protect their children from' anything in this way that might have a tendency to demoralise them. What is the fact? You can hardly pass through a street without being horrified atjhe frequent and irreverent use of the name of our blessed

Lord in the mouths of our children. They do not learn it from their parents, but have become familiarised to it by the 1 Salvation Army,' who daily parade our streets, and whose frequent and irreverent use of God's Holy Name is truly appalling. Parents are unable to prevent their children from picking up what they hear, and children in their turn think it no harm in* dulgiDg in what they see their elders do. They are thus trained to jumble up the sacred and prafane, until in this way the sacred name of God is degraded to the level of ' John Brown's Donkey.' When these children grow a little older, in all probability many of them will be treated to forty shillings and costs, for using similar irreverent expressions, and yet the authorities grant facilities to , the teachers of irreverence, and protect th»*m in instilling this irreverence into our youth. For instance, it is not an infrequent thing when passing through the streets inhabited by the working classes to hear the children singing some such mcd« ley as * Rise, Sally Walker,' alternated with ' Hallelujah ! Praise ye the Lord ;' or, ' We're the Jolly good Rovers,' alternated with • We'll fight for Jesus.' I know it is scarcely right to use such language so unseemly, aad I should be % sorry to do so were it not to point out that it is wholly, solely, and entirely due to the permitting of the • Salvation Army' to parade our streets, and with the hope that this state of things may be remedied. This would be useful employment for 1 Christian workers.' I have no desire to interfere with the civil or religious liberty of any man ; but why should the Army have a right to interfere with the civil or religious liberty of those who detest their ways? for it has now become a common practice for them to stop opposite, the* house of any one who may happen to dis* please them and to continue singing and shouting for ten or fifteen minutes ; and, although the speaker pretends to be addressing the members around him, his remarks are pointedly addressed to the, residents of the house, ahd have special reference to them. All other religious sects are confined to their place of worship, where each can indulge in his own peculiarity unmolested. Why then should this so-called Salvation Army be made an exception to the rule? Let them be placed on the same footing as their neighbours, and confined to their own places of worship, and let them have the same protection as their neigbours, but nothing more. Why should they be permitted to parade the public streets, demoralising our children, when sober and sedate forms of Christianity are confined to their own particular houses P This question deserves the serious consideration of all" true Christians. Ido not suggest the holding of a public meeting about the matter, but I do think that the ministers of the various denominations are neglecting a solemn duty if they do not—every man of them -go as a deputation to the Chief Magistrate of Belfast, and insist that no special privilege shall any longer be granted to the Salvation Army over those who worship God in a rational way, and that in the future these people shall be confiaed to their own places of worship." —I am, &c, T. B. HtCKB.