The Cab Horse Charter Project

“We believe in rebuilding lives” says Maxwell Ryan

In  1890 William Booth’s famous book, In Darkest England and the Way Out, was published, to great acclaim. This bestseller was and remains to this day an unequalled blueprint for social action. Unfortunately few Salvationists have read the book and many are completely unaware of its existence.

Out of this seminal book came the idea of a cab horse charter. With his penchant for an unforgettable phrase Booth wrote:

“When a cab horse, weary or careless or stupid, falls in the midst of traffic, there is no question of debating how he came to stumble before we try to get him on his legs again. In order to put him on his feet, you’ll have to pick him up. Everything is done to help him, and he is restored to his work. The cab horse has, in addition to work, two things: shelter for the night and food for his stomach. Here are the two points of the Cab Horse Charter: when the horse is down, he is helped up, and while he lives he has food, shelter and work. The cab horse is a very real illustration of poor broken-down humanity.”

The bottom line for Booth and his Salvationists was that a person should have at least the same benefits as a horse.

In Booth’s day at least ten per cent of the people in London had less than the horses that pulled the cabs of the day. The Founder found that outrageous, and did something about it.

In the community where you live, what percentage of the population lives broken and despairing lives, as did the denizens of Victorian England?  Do you know, or do you even care? Do you read your society well enough to know the lost? The Army has the expertise, the knowledge and the background to be God’s shock troops.  We know how to do it. In fact, in many places we ARE doing it well. But it’s not enough. What about a contemporary Cab Horse Charter Project? Is this what the 614 network is all about?

Ed: Download an e-Copy of IN DARKEST ENGLAND AND THE WAY OUT http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/475

Writer: Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell Ryan is a former Editor in Chief in Canada and the UK. In retirement he is a copy editor of theRubicon and the author of two series on theRubicon - Resurrected Writers and Thinkaloud

No comments yet.

Leave a comment