CHAPTER VIII
THE REV. WILSON CARLILE
Rector of St Mary-at-Hill, City—Founder and Hon.
Chief Secretary of the Church Army.
RECLAIMING THE SUBMERGED TENTH OF THE CHURCH.
“In God's great field of labour
All work is not the same,
He hath a service for each one
Who loves His holy name.
And you to whom the secrets
Of all sweet sounds are known,
Rise up ! for He hath called you
To a mission of your own.”
- Francis Ridley Havergal.
Mr Carlile bears His Scars like a General of the Forces—The Life Story: Agnostic but becomes Christian—Joins the Anglican Church—Shuns Commerce for the Ministry—Unusual Methods at St Mary-at-Hill—Influenced by the Work of the Booths in Whitechapel—Need for a Fresh Movement in the Church—With the Bishop of Peterboro’ at Kensington—Appalled by the Condition of the Masses—The Small Beginnings which tell—Smashed up in Westminster—Establishment of the Church Army—The Labour Homes—Carrying the Message and Consolation into Gaols—Bringing the Fallen into Christian Comradeship—Statistics—Erstwhile Thief Happy with His Own Watch—Burglar turned Evangelist—Outlay and Needs of the Church Army.
Close on twenty years ago a curious scene was enacted in Horse Ferry Road, Westminster,
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