SOCIAL GOSPEL
William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was brushing his manelike white hair when
his son Bramwell stepped into the room. "Bramwell!" he cried. "Did you know
that men sleep out all night on the bridges?"
"Well, yes," the son replied. "A lot of poor fellows I suppose do
that."
"Then you ought to be ashamed of yourself to have known it and to have done nothing
for them!" his father retorted. And when the son began to talk about the Poor Law
program, General Booth waved a hand and said, "Go and do something! We must do
something!"
"What can we do?"
"Get them a shelter!"
"That will cost money," replied Bramwell.
"Well, that is your affair. Something must be done. Get hold of a warehouse and warm
it, and find something to cover them. But mind, Bramwell, no coddling!"
That was the beginning of Salvation Army shelters.
The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W.
Wiersbe,
p. 184.
Amy Carmichael when criticized for her humanitarian work in India, responded, "One
cannot save and then pitchfork souls into heaven...Souls are more or less securely
fastened to bodies...and as you cannot get the souls out and deal with them separately,
you have to take them both together."
Quoted in: Ruth A. Tucker, Guardians of the Great Commission.
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