Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Charles Franks and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team.
CATHERINE BOOTH
A SKETCH
_Reprinted from The Warriors' Library_
BY
COLONEL MILDRED DUFF
WITH A PREFACE BY
GENERAL BRAMWELL BOOTH
PREFACE
Colonel Duff has, at my request, written the following very interesting
and touching account of my dear Mother; and she has done so in the hope
that those who read it will be helped to follow in the footsteps of that
wonderful servant of God.
But how can they do so? Was not Mrs. Booth, you ask, an exceptional
woman? Had she not great gifts and very remarkable powers, and was she
not trained in a very special way to do the work to which God called her?
How, then, can ordinary people follow in her steps? Let me tell you.
Mrs. Booth walked with God. When she was only a timid girl, helping her
mother in the household, she continually sought after Him; and when, in
later years, she became known by multitudes, and was written of in the
newspapers, and greatly beloved by the good in many lands, there was no
difference in her life in that matter. She was not content with being
Mrs. General Booth of The Salvation Army, and with being looked upon as a
great and good woman, giving her life to bless others. No! she listened
daily for God's voice in her own heart, sought after His will, and leaned
continually for strength and grace upon her Saviour. You can be like her
in that.
Mrs. Booth was a soul-winner. A little while before her spirit passed
into the presence of God, and when she knew that death was quite near to
her, she said: 'Tell the Soldiers that the great consolation for a
Salvationist on his dying bed is to feel that he has been a soul-winner.'
Wherever she went--in the houses of strangers as well as of friends, in
the Meetings, great and small, when she was welcomed and when she was
not, whether alone or with others--she laboured to lead souls to Christ.
I have known her at one time spend as much trouble to win one as at
another time to win fifty. You can follow her example in that.
Mrs. Booth always declared herself and took sides with right. Whatever
was happening around her, people always knew which side she was on. She
spoke out for the right, the good, and the true, even when doing so
involved very disagreeable experiences and the bearing of much
unkindness. She hated the spirit which can look on at what is wicked and
false or cruel, and say, 'Oh, that is not my affair!' You can follow her
example in this also.
Mrs. Booth laboured all her life to improve her gifts. She thought; she
prayed; she worked; she read--above all, she read her Bible. It was her
companion as a child, as a young follower of Christ, and then as a Leader
in The Army. Those miserable words which some of us hear so often about
some bad or unfinished work--'Oh, that will do'--were seldom heard from
her lips. She was always striving, striving, striving to do better, and
yet better, and again better still. All this also you can do.
Mrs. Booth was full of sympathy. No one who was in need or in sorrow, or
who was suffering, could meet her without finding out that, she was in
sympathy with them. Her heart was tender with the love of Christ, and so
she was deeply touched by the sin and sorrow around her just as He was.
Even the miseries of the dumb animals moved her to efforts on their
behalf. This sympathy made Mrs. Booth quick to see and appreciate the
toil and self-denial of others, and ever grateful for any kindness shown
to her or to The Army or to those in need of any kind. The very humblest
and youngest of those who read this little book can be like her in all
this.
Mrs. Booth endured to the end. She never turned back. She was faithful.
Her life and work would have been spoilt if she had given up the fight.
She was often sorely tempted. She was slandered and misrepresented by
enemies, betrayed by false friends, and often deeply wounded by those who
professed to love her, though they deserted the Flag. But she held fast.
You can be like her in that. You may make many mistakes, suffer many
defeats, but you can still keep going on, and it is to those who go on to
the very end, whether in weakness or in strength, that Jesus will give
the crown of life.
Mrs. Booth trusted with all her heart in the love and sacrifice of her
Saviour. These were her hope and her strength. When at the height of her
influence and popularity she delighted in that wonderful song which we
still so often sing:--
I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon when nailed to the tree;
and when, amid much suffering, she lay dying, we often sang together
with her:--
Victory for me!
Through the Blood of Christ my Saviour;
Victory for me!
Through the precious Blood.
This was her victory. You can follow her in the faith that won it. Will
you?