Convictions such as we have just been reading of were bound to lead to
immediate action. But it is most interesting to find that William
Booth's first regular service for Christ was not called forth by any
church, but simply by the spontaneous efforts of one or two young
Converts like himself. No one could be more inclined towards the use of
organisation and system than he always was, and yet he always advocated
an organisation so open to all, and a system so elastic, that zeal might
never be repressed, but only made the most of. It is, perhaps, fortunate
that we have in one of his addresses to his own young Officers the
following description of the way he began to work for the Salvation of
his fellow-townsmen:--

"Directly after my conversion I had a bad attack of fever, and was
brought to the very edge of the grave. But God raised me up, and
led me out to work for Him, after a fashion which, considering my
youth and inexperience, must be pronounced remarkable. While
recovering from this illness, which left me far from strong, I
received a note from a companion, Will Sansom, asking me to make
haste and get well again, and help him in a Mission he had started
in a slum part of the town. No sooner was I able to get about than
I gladly joined him.

"The Meetings we held were very remarkable for those days. We used
to take out a chair into the street, and one of us mounting it
would give out a hymn, which we then sang with the help of, at the
most, three or four people. Then I would talk to the people, and
invite them to come with us to a Meeting in one of the houses.

"How I worked in those days! Remember that I was only an apprentice