The Call To Preach - General William Booth

[b]The Call To Preach - General William Booth[/b]

How can anybody with spiritual eyesight talk of having no call, when there are such multitudes around them who never hear a word about God, and never intend to; who can never hear, indeed, without the sort of preacher who will force himself upon them? Can a man keep right in his own soul, who can see all that, and yet stand waiting for a 'call' to preach? Would they wait so for a 'call' to help anyone escape from a burning building, or to snatch a sinking child from a watery grave?
Does not growth in grace, or even ordinary growth of intelligence, necessarily bring with it that deepened sense of eternal truths which must intensify the conviction of duty to the perishing world?
Does not an unselfish love, the love that goes out towards the unloving, demand of a truly loving soul immediate action for the salvation of the unloved?
And are there not persons who know that they possess special gifts, such as robust health, natural eloquence or power of voice, which specially make them responsible for doing something for souls?
And yet I do not at all forget, that above and beyond all these things, there does come to some a special and direct call which it is particularly fatal to disregard, and peculiarly strengthening to enjoy and act upon.
I believe that there have been many eminently holy and useful men who never had such a call; but that does not at all prevent anyone from asking God for it, or blessing Him for His special kindness when He gives it.

(Written by William in the early 1850's)

[b]On Singing - General William Booth[/b]

"Let us persevere in our singing of the simple old truths in the simple old hearty way that God has already blessed so widely to the salvation of souls and making and training of red-hot soldiers. How thoughtlessly many sing familiar words. Yet, here is a great treasury of truth you will but search into its riches. Be determined that by God's grace you will never sing what you do not really mean and that you will be fit to sing all you find here!

Sing to make the world hear! The highest value of our singing after all has not been the mere gladness we have felt because of our own salvation, but the joy of pouring out the praises of our God to those who have not known Him, or of arousing them by our singing to new thoughts and a new life.

Sing till your whole soul is lifted up to God, and then sing till you lift the eyes of those who know not God to Him who is the fountain of our joy. I cannot imagine in Heaven itself we can cease to remember and to repeat to each other the strains our souls have reveled in most here below. Till then, let us all sing!"

[b]Saved - General William Booth[/b]

It was in the open street that this great change passed over me, and if I could only have possessed the flagstone on which I stood at that happy moment, the sight of it occasionally might have been as useful to me as the stones carried up long ago from the bed of the Jordan were to the Israelites who had passed over them dry-shod.
The entrance to the Heavenly Kingdom was closed against me by an evil act of the past which required restitution. In a boyish trading affair I had managed to make a profit out of my companions, whilst giving them to suppose that what I did was all in the way of a generous fellowship. As a testimonial of their gratitude they had given me a silver pencil-case. Merely to return their gift would have been comparatively easy, but to confess the deception I had practiced upon them was a humiliation to which for some days I could not bring myself.
I remember, as if it were but yesterday, the spot in the corner of the room under the chapel, the hour, the resolution to end the matter, the rising up and rushing forth, the finding of the young fellow I had chiefly wronged, the acknowledgement of my sin, the return of the pencil-case -- the instant rolling away from my heart of the guilty burden, the peace that came in it's place, and the going forth to serve my God and my generation from that hour. I felt... that I could willingly and joyfully travel to the ends of the earth for Jesus Christ, and suffer anything imaginable to help the souls of other men.
One reason for the victory I daily gained from the moment of my conversion was, no doubt, my complete and immediate separation from the godless world. I turned my back on it. I gave it up, having made up my mind beforehand that if I did go in for God I would do so with all my might.

(William recalling his conversation.)

[b]A Soldier's Conversation - General William Booth[/b]

The profit and pleasure proceeding from useful conversation can scarcely be overstated. Only count up the number of hours spent in a single year, in company with kindred friends, or strangers, which afford us the chance of profitable talk, and you will be surprised at the total. Instead of wasting all this precious time in useless gossip, think how large a portion of it could be agreeably employed in doing good to the people around you by profitable talk.
It must be borne in mind that in conversation we have opportunities for usefulness that we cannot find elsewhere. It seems to me that multitudes of people take more notice, and have a clearer understanding of things that are said to them from the platform, although accompanied by all sorts of denunciations and promises. Moreover, the person to whom you are speaking at such times has the opportunity, which is not possessed by the individual in a public audience, for seeking information on aspects of a question that he does not exactly understand. Then again, in conversation the people speak back to you, thus compelling them to think of what is being said.
Tell them your own experience and God will help you to pour light into their minds which may be of the utmost value, making them fast friends of the Army, or better still, leading them to Salvation.
To make the most of the privilege of conversation must, then, be an important duty which every Salvationist ought, with all his heart, to endeavour to discharge. If every officer and every soldier will labour to make their conversation profitable, what interesting and useeful talks there will be when comrades meet together; when they sit at the tables where they take their daily food; in their journeyings to and fro; at the family gatherings, whether of joy or sorrow -- nay, in every place to which the providence of God may sen them.

(William in Religion for Every Day 1902)

[b]I'll Fight![/b]

While women weep as they do now, I'll fight.
While little children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight.
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight
While there is a drunkard left,
while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets,
while there remains one dark soul without the light of God,
I'll fight - I'll fight to the very end.