第103章 CAN IT BE DONE,AND HOW?(2)

What a mighty agency for working out the Scheme is found in the Army in this respect!This will be apparent when we consider that it has already stretched itself through over thirty different Countries and Colonies,with a permanent location in something like 4,000different places,that it has either soldiers or friends sufficiently in sympathy with it to render assistance in almost every considerable population in the civilised world,and in much of the uncivilised,that it has nearly 10,000separated officers whose training,and leisure,and history qualify them to become its enthusiastic and earnest co-workers.

In fact,our whole people will hail it as the missing link in the great Scheme for the regeneration of mankind,enabling them to act out those impulses of their hearts which are ever prompting them to do good to the bodies as well as to the souls of men.

Take the meetings.With few exceptions,every one of these four thousand centres has a Hall in which,on every evening in the week and from early morning until nearly midnight on every Sabbath,services are being held;that nearly every service held indoors is preceded by one out of doors,the special purport of every one being the saving of these wretched crowds.Indeed,when this Scheme is perfected and fairly at work,every meeting and every procession will be looked upon as an advertisement of the earthly as well as the heavenly conditions of happiness.And every Barracks and Officer's quarters will become a centre where poor sinful suffering men and women may find sympathy,counsel,and practical assistance in every sorrow that can possibly come upon them,and every Officer throughout our ranks in every quarter of the globe will become a co-worker.

See how useful our people will be in the gathering in of this class.

They are in touch with them.They live in the same street,work in the same shops and factories,and come in contact with them at every turn and corner of life.If they don't live amongst them,they formerly did.

They know where to find them;they are their old chums,pot-house companions,and pals in crime and mischief.This class is the perpetual difficulty of a Salvationist's life.He feels that there is no help for them in the conditions in which they are at present found.

They are so hopelessly weak,and their temptations are so terribly strong,that they go down before them.The Salvationist feels this when he attacks them in the tap-rooms,in the low lodging houses,or in their own desolate homes.Hence,with many,the Crusader has lost all heart.He has tried them so often.But this Scheme of taking them right away from their old haunts and temptations will put new life into him and he will gather up the poor social wrecks wholesale,pass them along,and then go and hunt for more.

Then see how useful this army of Officers and Soldiers will be for the regeneration of this festering mass of vice and crime when it is,so to speak,in our possession.All the thousands of drunkards,and harlots,and blasphemers,and idlers have to be made over again,to be renewed in the spirit of their minds,that is--made good.What a host of moral workers will be required to accomplish such a gigantic transformation.In the Army we have a few thousands ready,anyway we have as many as can be used at the outset,and the Scheme itself will go on manufacturing more.Look at the qualifications of these warriors for the work!

They have been trained themselves,brought into line and are examples of the characters we want to produce.

They understand their pupils--having been dug out of the same pit.

Set a rogue to catch a rogue,they say,that is,we suppose,are formed rogue.Anyway,it is so with us.These rough-and-ready warriors will work shoulder to shoulder with them in the same manual employment.

They will engage in the task for love.This is a substantial part of their religion,the moving instinct of the new heavenly nature that has come upon them.They want to spend their lives in doing good.

Here will be an opportunity.

Then see how useful these Soldiers will be for distribution!

Every Salvation Officer and Soldier in every one of these 4,000centres,scattered through these thirty odd countries and colonies,with all their correspondents and friends and comrades living elsewhere,will be ever on the watch-tower looking out for homes and employments where these rescued men and women can be fixed up to advantage,nursed into moral vigour,picked up again on stumbling,and watched over generally until able to travel the rough and slippery paths of life alone.

I am,therefore,not without warrant for my confidence in the possibility of doing great things,if the problem so long deemed hopeless be approached with intelligence and determination on a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the evil with which we have to cope.

SECTION 2.--HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

A considerable amount of money will be required to fairly launch this Scheme,and some income may be necessary to sustain it for a season,but,once fairly afloat,we think there is good reason to believe that in all its branches it will be self-supporting,unless its area of operation is largely extended,on which we fully rely.Of course,the cost of the effort must depend very much upon its magnitude.

If anything is to be done commensurate with the extent of the evil,it will necessarily require a proportionate outlay.If it is only the drainage of a garden that is undertaken,a few pounds will meet the cost,but if it is a great dismal swamp of many miles in area,harbouring all manner of vermin,and breeding all kinds of deadly malaria,that has to be reclaimed and cultivated,a very different sum will not only be found necessary,but be deemed an economic investment.