Throughout this book I have more constantly used the first personal pronoun than ever before in anything I have written.I have done this deliberately,not from egotism,but in order to make it more clearly manifest that here is a definite proposal made by an individual who is prepared,if the means are furnished him,to carry it out.At the same time I want it to be clearly understood that it is not in my own strength,nor at my own charge,that I purpose to embark upon this great undertaking.Unless God wills that I should work out the idea of which I believe He has given me the conception,nothing can come of any attempt at its execution but confusion,disaster,and disappointment.
But if it be His will--and whether it is or not,visible and manifest tokens will soon be forthcoming--who is there that can stand against it?
Trusting in Him for guidance,encouragement,and support,I propose at once to enter upon this formidable campaign.
I do not run without being called.I do not press forward to fill this breach without being urgently pushed from behind.Whether or not,I am called of God,as well as by the agonising cries of suffering men and women and children,He will make plain to me,and to us all;for as Gideon looked for a sign before he,at the bidding of the heavenly messenger,undertook the leading of the chosen people against the hosts of Midian,even so do I look for a sign.Gideon's sign was arbitrary.He selected it.He dictated his own terms;and out of compassion for his halting faith,a sign was given to him,and that twice over.First,his fleece was dry when all the country round was drenched with dew;and,secondly,his fleece was drenched with dew when all the country round was dry.
The sign for which I ask to embolden me to go forwards is single,not double.It is necessary and not arbitrary,and it is one which the veriest sceptic or the most cynical materialist will recognise as sufficient.If I am to work out the Scheme I have outlined in this book,I must have ample means for doing so.How much would be required to establish this Plan of Campaign in all its fulness,overshadowing all the land with its branches laden with all manner of pleasant fruit,I cannot even venture to form a conception.But I have a definite idea as to how much would be required to set it fairly in operation.
Why do I talk about commencing?We have already begun,and that with considerable effect.Our hand has been forced by circumstances.
The mere rumour of our undertaking reaching the Antipodes,as before described,called forth such a demonstration of approval that my Officers there were compelled to begin action without waiting orders from home.In this country we have been working on the verge of the deadly morass for some years gone by,and not without marvellous effect.We have our Shelters,our Labour Bureau,our Factory,our Inquiry Officers,our Rescue Homes,our Slum Sisters,and other kindred agencies,all in good going order.The sphere of these operations may be a limited one;still,what we have done already is ample proof that when I propose to do much more I am not speaking without my book;and though the sign I ask for may not be given,I shall go struggling forward on the same lines;still,to seriously take in hand the work which I have sketched out--to establish this triple Colony,with all its affiliated agencies,I must have,at least,a hundred thousand pounds.
A hundred thousand pounds!That is the dew on my fleece.It is not much considering the money that is raised by my poor people for the work of the Salvation Army.The proceeds of the Self-denial Week alone last year brought us in #20,000.This year it will not fall short of #25,000.If our poor people can do so much out of their poverty,I do not think I am making an extravagant demand when I ask that out of the millions of the wealth of the world I raise,as a first instalment,a hundred thousand pounds,and say that I cannot consider myself effectually called to undertake this work unless it is forthcoming.
It is in no spirit of dictation or arrogance that I ask the sign.
It is a necessity.Even Moses could not have taken the Children of Israel dry-shod through the Red Sea unless the waves had divided.
That was the sign which marked out his duty,aided his faith,and determined his action.The sign which I seek is somewhat similar.
Money is not everything.It is not by any means the main thing.
Midas,with all his millions,could no more do the work than he could win the battle of Waterloo,or hold the Pass of Thermopylae.
But the millions of Midas are capable of accomplishing great and mighty things,if they be sent about doing good under the direction of Divine wisdom and Christ-like love.
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!It is easier to make a hundred poor men sacrifice their lives than it is to induce one rich man to sacrifice his fortune,or even a portion of it,to a cause in which,in his half-hearted fashion,he seems to believe.When I look over the roll of men and women who have given up friends,parents,home prospects,and everything they possess in order to walk bare-footed beneath a burning sun in distant India,to live on a handful of rice,and die in the midst of the dark heathen for God and the Salvation Army,I sometimes marvel how it is that they should be so eager to give up all,even life itself,in a cause which has not power enough in it to induce any reasonable number of wealthy men to give to it the mere superfluities and luxuries of their existence.From those to whom much is given much is expected;but,alas,alas,how little is realised!It is still the widow who casts her all into the Lord's treasury--the wealthy deem it a preposterous suggestion when we allude to the Lord's tithe,and count it boredom when we ask only for the crumbs that fall from their tables.
