in the D.O. at such times will be instinctively felt by every Officer in the room before the Meeting has been going on for a quarter of an hour, and this will have far more influence—­as has been remarked before—­on his Command than anything he may say or do.  How important is it, then, that he should be as Saul among the prophets—­not only head and shoulders above every one present as regards authority, but in the possession of the wisdom and power of the Holy Ghost!”

Chapter XXVIII

The Spirit of The Army

As pointed out in the foregoing chapter, The General was always anxious to make clear to all, and to avoid, the possibility of a continuance of organisation and a routine of effort without the spirit in which the work has been begun.  We could not better describe that spirit than he did in the following address to his Officers gathered around him in London, in 1904.

He pictured to them the idea of Seven Spirits sent out from Heaven to possess the soul of every Officer, and thus described the action of two of them:—­

     “The Spirit of Life

“We begin with the good Spirit—­the Spirit of Life.  What did he say?  What were the words he brought to us from the Throne?  Let me repeat them:  ’O Officers, Officers, I am one of the Seven Spirits whom John saw.  I travel up and down the earth on special errands of mercy.  I am come from Him that sitteth on the Throne, and reigneth for ever and ever, to tell you that if you are going to succeed in your life-and-death struggle for God and man, the first thing you must possess, in all its full and rich maturity, is the Spirit of Divine Life.’

     “Now, before I go to the direct consideration of this message, let
     me have a word or two about life itself

“Life, as you know, is the opposite principle to death.  To be alive is to possess an inward force capable of action without any outside assistance.  For instance:  anything that has in it the principle by which it is able to act in some way, independent of the will of any other thing or creature outside of itself, may be said to be alive.  It has in it the principle of life.

     “This principle of life is the mainspring and glory of God’s
     universe.

     “We have it in different forms in this world.  For instance:  We have
     material life.  There is living and dead water, and there is living
     and dead earth.

     “Then there is vegetable life.  In the fields, and woods, and
     gardens, you have living trees, and flowers, and seeds.

     “Then there is animal life.  Only think of the variety, and
     usefulness, and instinctive skill of unnumbered members of the
     animal world.