Manila, Luzon Island –Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo District.
Cool breeze. Three visitors today. Gave part of my time to conversation with visitors. Prayed with two. Cooked breakfast of coca, oatmeal mush and fried bacon. Dinner & supper together was supplied by Rev. & Mrs. Owens. Put in a little time reading. Wrote three letters & copied them.
(1) Ly-Col. Wm Evans (2) Gilbert Findlay S.F. with his letter at his request, also wrote a one page address to his Sunday School class, Mariner’s church S.F. (3) Lieut-Col. J.J. Keppel in answer to his re his reason for leaving the Salvation Army. In the letter I did not blame him for leaving the S.A. neither did I encourage him. Kept my thoughts re the Booth’s & my opinion of them to myself as I do not wish to injure the leaders of the S.A. in the eyes of other people. Although at times feeling heart sick and ashamed because of the bad treatment of Americans by the Booth’s, I do not pass my thoughts beyond my own mind. Wish to keep peace in the S.A. & prevent discord if possible, even when selfish officers like these great religious leaders sacrifice the hearts, and brains and time & strength and lives of thousands of devoted subordinates to the Moloch of their unworthy ambition. My hope and trust is that God will over rule their doings & make the wrath of man to praise Him & the balance restrain. I have often to myself wondered at the articles written for S.A. publications & the public platform addresses of these people –the Booths– feeling as I have that their public utterances were so foreign to their practice. (Oh, my God I do hope that my conclusions regarding the Booths are not correct!) How gladly I would avail myself of an opportunity to alter my opinion of them! Time was when I thought the Booth family above doing wrong or making mistakes. Wrong doing was always laid at the door of lesser lights. As the years passed by, & officer after officer was pushed aside, many of them of long service & some of world-wide reputation as soul-savers, I always blamed the subordinates and never the Booths, but alas have learned that their heartless elbowing of faithful officers out of the S.A. because they (the officers) did not always think as they thought, showed a very un-Christ like spirit.
Wrote 6 pages note size MS. for the S.F. War Cry –narrative of the War & my experiences in the Philippines.