The high reputation which The General gained as an Organiser seems to make it desirable to explain, as fully as we can, what he aimed at, and by what means he made The Army the remarkable combination it has become.  We have, happily, in several of our books his own dissertations on the subject, for he always sought to make clear to all who should follow him, especially in this respect, the reasons for his plans.  In his introduction to Orders and Regulations for Staff Officers, he writes as follows:—­

“Some of the Converts resided in other parts of London, and they soon commenced themselves to hold Meetings afterwards, and to win souls in their localities.  I was entreated to care for these also.  The Christian Churches, even when they were willing to receive these Converts, were as a result generally so much occupied with the maintenance of their own existence, or so lukewarm in coping with the necessities of the poor people, as to be unequal to the task of caring for them.  I soon found that the majority of those who joined the Churches either relapsed again into open backsliding, or became half-hearted professors.  I was, therefore, driven to select men and women who I knew to be lovers of souls, and to be living holy lives, for the purpose of caring for these new Converts.  These helpers I afterwards directed to hold Meetings in the streets and in cottages, and then in Halls and other Meeting Places.  The Lord was with them in great power, and hundreds of wicked and godless people were converted and united together in separate societies.

“These operations were, in course of time, extended to the Provinces, where my late beloved wife, who was my unfailing helper and companion in this work until God took her from me, preached with much acceptance and remarkable results.  It soon became difficult, and at length impossible, for me to express my wishes and give my instructions to my helpers by word of mouth, and consequently I had to issue them in the form of correspondence.  This I also soon found to be a task beyond my ability.  And yet, if unity and harmony were to be preserved among the people God had given me, and if the work were to be carried on successfully, it was evident that they must know my wishes.  I was, therefore, compelled to print such Directions and Rules as I deemed to be necessary.

“This practice has continued to the present day, and been increased by reason of the advance of the Work to an extent I never could have anticipated.  Some seventeen years ago I issued a volume of Orders and Regulations for Field Officers.  More than once since then this book has been enlarged, and revised to date, and, although some further developments have been made since that time, that volume may be taken as the expression, in general terms, of my present convictions of what a Field Officer of The Salvation Army should be and do, and as such I commend it to the attention of Officers and