solved
that, regardless of man's opinions, and my own gain or position, I
would ever seek the one thing.

"Whilst kneeling in that room, there came into my soul a fresh
realisation of the greatness of the opportunity before me of
leading men and women out of their miseries and their sin, and of
my responsibility to go in for that with all my might. In obedience
to the heavenly vision, I made a consecration of the present and
future, of all I had, and hoped to have, to the fulfilment of this
mission, and I believe God accepted the offering.

"I continued my public efforts in line with my new experience."

Happily and freely as William Booth had been allowed to lead his people,
however, he and his intended wife both saw that there could be no
permanent prospect of victory amongst these "Reformers." The very
popularity of a preacher was sure to lead to contention about the sphere
of his labours.

"The people," he writes, "with whom I had come into union were
sorely unorganised, and I could not approve of the ultra-radicalism
that prevailed. Consequently, I looked about for a Church nearer my
notions of system and order, and in the one I chose, the Methodist
New Connexion, I found a people who were, in those days, all I
could desire, and who received me with as much heartiness as my
Lincolnshire friends had done.

"Ignorance has different effects on different people. Some it puffs
up with self-satisfaction. To others it is a source of mortifying
regret. I belonged to the latter class. I was continually crying
out, 'O God, how little I am, and how little I know! Give me a
chance of acquiring information, and of learning how more
successfully to conduct this all-important business of saving men
to which Thou hast called me, and which lies so near my heart.'

"To gratify this yearning for improvement, the Church with which I
had come into union gave me, at my request, an opportunity of
studying under a then rather celebrated theologian. But instead of
better qualifying me for the work of saving men, by imparting to me
the knowledge necessary for the task, and showing me in every-day
practice how to put it to practical use, I was set to study Latin,
Greek, various Sciences, and other subjects, which, as I saw at a
glance, could little help me in the all-important w