The Salvation Army

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 28, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 21.

The Salvation Army.

CHARACTER OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO COMPOSE IT.

It cannot be said that the faces of the men who go about wearing the uniform of the Salvation Army are commonly prepossessing; they are more likely to be coarse, sensual, and even sinister, or to indicate characters and dispositions which we should be inclined to distrust in the ordinary relations of life, for one reason or another. If they are not plainly bad, they are at least weak, or are the faces of men who are not controlled by steadfast principle, but are driven to good or evil according as the emotional impulse may be.

We are therefore not surprised to hear more or less frequently of gross misdoing on the part of members of the organization. The nomadic life of the Salvation Army attracts to it, because of its opportunities, some of those who are actually dissolute and criminal. They enjoy the fun of serving the devil in the livery of Heaven. Others make it their boast that they have in the past been rascals and reprobates, but were suddenly converted into saints by the operations of the army. As to the rest, they must be generally uneasy spirits, who crave excitement and are fond of making a noise, religious fanatics, or fellows of the disposition which produces tramps and adventurers.

Of course, most of these men are in earnest, and, at least for a moment, sincerely desire to make the world better; but there would be few in the ranks of the army were it not for the show and parade, the blood and thunder, the conspicuous uniforms, the drums, and the battle cries. And people who need such inducements to enter upon the work are not trustworthy evangelists. They are likely to soon get over their enthusiasm when the novelty of the business has worn off, and are just the sort of characters to be tempted to vary the excitement by immoral excesses.

Besides, the Salvation Army does much mischief in luring away from their homes and subjecting to dangerous temptations giddy and impressionable girls, who are infatuated by the pomp and parade, as they were by the tinsel of a circus of the olden time. They want to fight for the Lord, to wear red and sing of blood and battle, fearing no harm so long as they are with a company so loud in prayer and praise. Their vanity, their spirit of adventure, disposition to self-sacrifice, and religious emotion, are all appealed to, and they put themselves in association with the unbalanced or inherently vicious characters who make up the army, and run the terrible risk which familiarity with vice is so apt to involve.

We expect that eventually the bitterest enemies of the Salvation Army will be found among the religious people who now tolerate its coarseness and excess on the ground that the object for which it fights is good.—New York Sun.