Among other places, a glorious work had broken out in the twin cities of Newcastle and Gateshead. It will be remembered under what peculiarly painful circumstances Mr. and Mrs. Booth had left this neighbourhood after the Conference of 1861. Little did they dream that their return at the end of eighteen years would be such an exceptionally triumphal one. The six girl-Officers who had been sent to Captain these towns had swept all before them in one glorious Salvation avalanche. The largest public halls could not contain the crowds who flocked to listen to them. The poor heard the Gospel preached to them with a simplicity and an unction that carried conviction to every heart. The mouth of gainsayers was for once effectually stopped. To make the best of the opportunity, Mr. Booth proclaimed a great Council of War which was to last for three days. Mrs. Booth accompanied him to their old field of labour. To say that their reception was without a parallel in the religious history of the great northern metropolis, but faintly describes the enthusiasm of the occasion. True, it was very largely confined to the poor—the poorest of the poor. But it was none the less phenomenal.

Writing to her daughter Emma to join her in witnessing the mighty work, she says:–

‘Yes, I want you to come. Try and get the children into a good state of soul before you leave them. The Mayor was at the meeting the other night. When shaking hands with me he said, “This is a most wonderful Movement !” Next Sunday we shall have, at the lowest calculation, 9,000 people at our places in these two towns alone! Hundreds of the greatest roughs have been converted. And all through the instrumentality of six young women, humble, simple souls, full of love and zeal. Truly, God hath chosen the weak things!

‘Oh, my Dear child, it makes me long to see you all at it in some way or other! Tell Eva and Lucy to get on, and to get ready, but above all to keep their souls right. It is not to the clever, or talented, or educated that these things are given, but to the whole-hearted and spiritual. It was so in Christ’s day, and it is so now. You must get to work to train us some women.’

But to return to the meetings at Gateshead and Newcastle. In another letter Mrs. Booth says:–

‘I am having glorious times here. All our places were packed to suffocation on Sunday; I have only seen such a jam as I had at the Town Hall a few times in my life. I am to preach next Sunday in the Circus; holds nearly 4,000! It is thought that many of our old friends among the higher classes will come to hear me who would not go to the other places. Pray for me. Oh, what a grand opportunity of influencing men for eternity! Pray that God may so fill me with His Spirit and power that they may forget the poor little instrument in the great and awful message. God helping me, I will sound an alarm to them in their sins and iniquities. My subject will be “A True and a False Faith”.’

On Saturday afternoon, May 17th, Mrs. Booth presented Flags in the Newcastle Circus to nine of the newly-formed Corps in the presence of about 4,000 people, who had gathered to witness the novel ceremony. As this meeting is typical of others of a similar character conducted by Mrs. Booth all over the country, in this and following years, we describe it somewhat fully.

The following are some of her remarks, delivered with great power to the vast and enthusiastic audience:–

‘Yes, we are marching on! Some of our friends say, “Well, but could you not march without a Flag?” Yes, we could, and we have marched a long time and a long way without one; but we can march better with one, and that is the reason we have one.

‘All armies have banners, and we are an Army; we grew into one, and then we found it out, and called ourselves one. Every Soldier of this Army is pledged to carry the standard of the Cross into every part of the world, as far as he has opportunity. Our motto is, “The world for Jesus”. We have all sworn fealty to the Lord Jesus Christ, and faithfulness to The Army, because it represents our highest conception of the work which He wants us to do.

‘This Flag is a symbol, first, of our devotion to our great Captain in Heaven and to the great purpose for which His Blood was shed—that He might redeem men and women from sin and death and Hell! When a Soldier enlists in the service of the Queen he gives up, not a little of his time, or of his money, or a part of his strength, talents, or influence, but HIMSELF ! So I trust every one who shall pledge himself to this Flag will resolve to give himself or herself up absolutely—body, soul, and spirit; all he has, all he is, and all he can do—to be used up in the glorious service of his Master and King!

Secondly. This Flag is emblematical of our faithfulness to our great trust. Jesus only wants faithful soldiers in order to win the heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. If Christian soldiers had been faithful in the past the world would have been won for Christ long ago! Why not? What a stir it has made because we have had 1,000 conversions in the Rhondda Valley in a few weeks; but on the day of Pentecost they had 3,000 in a few hours. When the Holy Ghost has fair play, and is allowed to use men and women as He likes, what are hours or weeks to Him? If God works, what does it signify about the instruments? Why did not the Church launch out from that Pentecostal day in obedience to the command of her great General, to go and preach His Gospel to every creature, following the tactics of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, “All things to all men”, that she might win them for Him? Oh, why? Because of the unfaithfulness of her soldiers ! She left her first simplicity, got entangled again with the yoke of bondage, and lost the fullness of the Spirit of Pentecost!

‘May God help us to be faithful; to be “faithful even unto death !” Sometimes soldiers are faithful unto trial— till hard marching, privations, short rations, cold, hunger, and death stare them in the face; then they strike their colours and desert. What would England say about such soldiers? And what will God say to those who desert His cause when tribulation comes? Soldiers of this Army, you must be faithful unto death, and then your King will give you a crown of life!

‘Ah! to be faithful unto death means a great deal. It means to be faithful when friends “forsake us and flee” when “no man stands by us”. “In perils among false brethren.” “In perils by land and sea”, when “suffering hunger”, as well as when we abound. “Through evil as well as good report”, when men misrepresent and slander us, and smite us “with the palms of their hands, and spit upon us!” Faithful at Pilate’s bar, before magistrates and rulers, and before mobs of bullies and blackguards. Faithful to conscience, to principles, to man, and to God. Oh, that every one of us may faithfully follow our Lord right on to dark Gethsemane’s garden, sweating under a sense of a world’s guilt and misery, and offering strong crying and tears for its deliverance! Yes, and right on to the Cross We cannot get further than that; but, bless Him, we can get as far! I know that you, my brethren and sisters, Officers in this Army, have trials and hardships, and sorrows and conflicts, which nobody knows anything about save your great Captain in Heaven; but He knows it all, and He says, “ Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life!” Oh, hallelujah!

‘This Flag is also an emblem of victory! When a soldier goes into a battle he may hope for victory, he may believe in victory, he may fight ever so valiantly for victory, but he is never sure of it. But in this war of ours victory is sure. WE SHALL WIN. The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our shield. He will put the crown on our heads with His own hand. His blessed lips will pronounce the Well done, good and faithful servant!” Only be faithful to the cannon’s mouth, or the martyr’s block —only stand to your Colours, and hold aloft the Cross— and victory is yours, and everlasting renown.

But by what power is this victory going to be achieved? By FIRE! The Holy Ghost. Fire is the most potent force in nature. Electricity, light, heat—all are fire. Everything must give way before fire. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses”; but our trust is in the Living Fire—the Holy Ghost—to burn up our enemies inside, and melt down or frighten away our enemies outside.

This fire of the Spirit can transform us as it did Peter, and make us not only bold enough to tight for our Lord, but enthusiastic enough to be crucified for Him. This fire can penetrate into the thickest, blackest, and hardest of the ranks of the enemy. It can melt their helmets of steel, and break their breastplates of adamant. When our Officers, crowned with this fire, charge on them, they are more discomfited than Pharaoh’s hosts when the waters broke over them. They cry and howl for anguish of heart. Out of the belly of Hell they cry aloud, “God be merciful to me a sinner !” They are smitten like persecuting Saul on his way to Damascus, and lo! they are changed into Pauls before we recognize them. This fire makes even the Devil run; “Paul I know, and Jesus I know”, said he to some would-be exorcists. “But who are ye? You have not got the fire.”

Oh, my comrades, all we want is enough of this fire, and whole towns shall shake at our approach, and all Hell be affrighted at our advance. True, we have a mighty task before us, but we have a mighty force. There is plenty of it, there is no stint; “we are not straitened in Him”, we may have as much as we want. Oh, take it in! Let all go that occupies the room which it might have in your souls, and take your fill, and charge on the hosts of Hell, and see whether they will not turn or flee! The time has come for fire. All other agents have been tried: intellect, learning, fine buildings, wealth, respectability, numbers. The great men and the mighty men and the learned men have all tried to cast out these devils before you, and have failed. TRY THE FIRE! There are legions of the enemies of our great King. Fire on them. There are the legions of strong drink, damning millions; of uncleanness, millions more; of debauchery, blasphemy, theft, millions more! Charge on them, pour the red-hot shot of the artillery of Heaven on them, and they will fall by thousands!”

The Flags were then handed to the respective Officers, who accepted them in the name of the Corps, promising fidelity to God and The Army in the great soul-saving work in which they were engaged.

On the next day, Sunday, an immense concourse of people, numbering some 20,000, assembled for the morning Open-Air Demonstration; while at night 12,000 persons were packed into the various buildings in which the great Salvation Meetings were carried on.

The Council was continued morning, afternoon, and evening on Monday, closing with an All-Night of Prayer. To those who are the advocates of short sermons and brief services, limited to the conventional clock-marked minutes, such prolonged efforts, which have become increasingly frequent in The Salvation Army, must indeed appear surprising, especially when the character of the audience is considered. The speakers were not educated ministers, turned out of theological seminaries. The discourses were not library-manufactured, but mostly delivered on the spur of the moment. The listeners were not the educated classes, accustomed to bridle their natural feelings, and to go through the meetings as a sort of spiritual penance. And vet there they sat, hour after hour, spell-bound, fascinated, glued to their seats, spiritually hypnotized for the time being.

Nor was it a mere transient effervescence; the wave of a political enthusiasm such as might greet the oration of a politician, without much practical result. Here were men and women whose ideas, actions, homes, and lives had been suddenly revolutionized. A change had taken place which could only be ascribed to Divine influences. Drunkards, wife-beaters, prize-fighters, horse-racers, pigeon-flyers, cock-fighters, harlots, and, in short, the very dregs of society had been taken hold of, and in an incredibly short space of time transformed into good, law-abiding men and women, who were not merely converted themselves, but in many instances were equally in earnest about the Salvation of others! At one of the concluding meetings of the Council, Mrs. Booth said:—

‘Some of our friends ask whether the Mission is going to last. I tell them it has lasted thirteen and a half years. It has grown on of its own aggressive and expansive force, through hurricanes of contempt, sarcasm, open and violent opposition, secret treachery, malignity, and slander. But it has grown on, like its Master, from the manger, and it is still growing in glory and in favour with God and all holy intelligences.’