and work, and went out into the world, with his wife and four children,
friendless and alone. Do you wonder that the struggle was a severe one?

'Pray for me,' she wrote to her mother, when the question was about to be
settled. 'I have many a conflict in regard to the proposed new departure;
not as to our support--I feel as though I can trust the Lord implicitly
for all that; but the Devil tells me I shall never be able to endure the
loneliness and separation of the life. He draws many a picture of most
dark and melancholy shade. But I cling to the promise, "No man hath
forsaken," etc., and, having sworn to my own hurt, may I stand fast. I
have told William that if he takes the step, and it should bring me to
the workhouse, I would never say one upbraiding word. No. To blame him
for making such a sacrifice for God and conscience' sake would be worse
than wicked. So, whatever be the result, I shall make up my mind to
endure it patiently, looking to the Lord for grace and strength.'

But if it was difficult for Mrs. Booth, the path was equally dark and
hard for The General.

'William hesitates,' she writes a few weeks later. 'He thinks of me and
the children, and I appreciate his love and care. But I tell him that God
will provide, if he will only go straight on in the path of duty. It is
strange that I, who always used to shrink from the sacrifice, should be
the first in making it. But when I made the surrender I did it whole-
heartedly, and ever since I have been like another being. Oh, pray for us
yet more and more! We have no money coming in from any quarter now. Nor
has William any invitations at present. The time is unfavourable. I am
much tempted to feel it hard that God has not cleared our path more
satisfactorily. But I will not "charge God foolishly." I know that His
way is often in the whirlwind, and He rides upon the storm: I will try to