2.  Our aggressive spirit—­ever marching on, like the Japanese soldiers in the last war with Russia.

3.  Our adaptation to the circumstances of every country.

4.  Our straightforward and practical way of preaching Salvation.

5.  Our principle of self-support.  Teaching men and women to help themselves.

6.  Our scientific and business-like methods, as distinct from mere sentimentality.

Some day, surely, men equally eminent in other countries will begin to speak as heartily and thoughtfully of The General’s life work.

That the great Mikado, to whose wisdom and energy Japan owed so much of its great renewal and entry amongst the “civilised” nations, should have passed into eternity only a few months before the Founder of a wider and grander, because spiritual, Empire, is an interesting fact.  The Mikado received our General, in spite of every court usage that might have hindered, because he found that all the greatest leaders and heroes of Japan, like their Press, saw in him the personification of the highest and noblest purpose for every land and every people.

The Japanese Government gave our Officers, women as well as men, a liberty of access to their prisoners greater than we as yet possess in this and most other “Christian” countries, because they saw the value of our love for the victims of sin, and our power, by God’s grace, to inspire them with hope for themselves.  How many more years, I wonder, will it take other nations to follow this common-sense example?

Chapter XVIII

Co-operating With Governments

The Government of the Dutch East Indies, which was in the hands, at the time, of a military man, has won for ever the honour of appreciating and utilising The Army of The General they had never seen, before any of those who had seen him.  Certainly, The General never ran after earthly rulers, or showed any disposition to court their favour; but he said constantly, “Here we are; if any Government, municipal or national, likes to use us, we can save them more than half of what they now spend upon their poor and criminal classes, and do for these far more than Christian Government officials, however excellent, ever hope to do.  They are invariably so bound to avoid any meddling with religion that they cannot bring to bear upon those most in need of it, the heavenly light and love and power, in which we place all our confidence for dealing with these classes.”

“Gentlemen,” said a Town Councillor, in a German city, when the question of subsidising The Army was being discussed, “The Army can do for your poor what you never can attempt.  You can only deal with them from without.  The Army works upon them from within, and produces results that will considerably lighten your burdens.”

The General had arranged for the Dutch Indies to be missioned from Australia, that country being our nearest Field and one accustomed to deal with pioneer effort.  But when he found that Dutch officialdom dreaded contact with British agents, though ready to welcome Dutch ones, he very quickly changed his plans, and as soon as the Colonial Government found that The Army was as much Dutch as English, and could send them a Dutch leader, they showed themselves ready to use us as fully as possible.