The Salvation Army is developing a somewhat unspiritually belligerent spirit,
in some of its officers. Its " captain " at Salisbury appears to have declared that, " but for the grace of God," he would " pull the noses " of " the bobbies, magistrates, or mayor of that city," towards whose authority he had ex- pressed the utmost indifference. The grace of God had evidently not worked very powerfully in its restraining effect upon him, when he uttered this bellicose threat ; and, of course, the con- sequence is that in Salisbury the Salvation Army is regarded as a sect hostile to the established authorities. But this is, we think, the tendency,—hitherto manfully held down,—of the whole military organisation. The physical excitement which is the basis of the whole business must stimulate the physical passions of the soldiers of the Army, and whenever they get such a captain as they seem to have got at Salisbury,—one who goes as far as physical threats, even though he does not venture to .go so far as physical violence,—they will be strongly tempted to outbreaks of violence against their foes. It is impossible to regard their hitherto very effective discipline as in. the best sense either moral or spiritual.
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