In its earlier phases the Salvation Army met with a
good deal of hostility, amounting at times to positive:violence. The noise and explosiveness and hysteria associated with the movement disgusted many educated minds, and were summed up in the famous phrase " Corybantic Christianity" levelled against it by the late Professor Huxley, and now well-nigh forgotten. The unquenchable ardour and disinterestedness of General Booth converted many of his critics into ardent sup- porters—the late Frank Crossley of Ancoats, to mention only one. As a system of practical philanthropy the Salvation Army has its vulnerable points, and its methods have often been irreconcilable with sound economics. General Booth is aptly described by the author of the notice in the Times as an autocrat who disdained balance-sheets, and the shelter system has aided rather than restrained the manufacture of pauperism. But when criticism has done its worst, it is impossible to deny nobility to a leader who never despaired of a soul, however degraded, and who brought within the range of spiritual influences thousands of persons to whom no other form of religion could have appealed. The widespread mourning caused by his death has been shown in the messages received by the family from representatives of all creeds and classes, and the King has rightly interpreted the feeling of the country in saying that " the nation has lost a great organizer and the poor a whole-hearted and sincere friend, who devoted his life to helping them in a practical way."
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