fore 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