This sermon recounts the early days of the Christian mission led by William Booth in the rough quarter of London, where unkempt crowds gathered in a tent despite challenges. As winter came, the mission faced hardships but eventually found a permanent headquarters in a converted beer shop. The use of flags and the growth of branches marked significant milestones in the mission's history, emphasizing the importance of meeting the physical needs of the community alongside spiritual outreach.

Meetings were held in a tent in a Quaker burial ground off Whitechapel, in those days an extremely rough quarter of London. Some two or three hundred unkempt, odorous, poorly clad people belonging to the lost land of the East End would gather here. William Booth's commanding figure and forceful words immediately challenged attention, and godless, heedless crowds packed the tent despite the fact that Ruff slashed it with knives and on more than one occasion cut the guy ropes, bringing it down upon those within. But winter came, cold chilly winds blew in through rents in the tent onto the people, and the congregation declined. Other meeting places had to be found. Meetings were held in theatres on Sunday nights, and various other buildings were used as a temporary expedient. In 1864 came the turning point in the mission's history. A beer shop known as the Eastern Star was acquired and converted into permanent headquarters. This picture from the cover of the report of the Christian mission in 1867 shows this building after the conversion. It provides also the first evidence of the use of flags. The flag flying over the building may be said to be the forerunner of the flags used in the Salvation Army to bear. A notice on the front of the building throws interesting light on the activities of William Booth at this time. He was by now general superintendent of the mission. Inside, a large room built for an American bowling saloon seated 300 people and was crowded to the doors every evening of the week. By 1869, the mission had a number of branches, but it still had no central hall. A building known as the People's Market had recently been erected on the Whitechapel Road, where cheap provisions of all kinds were sold. The venture was not successful, and William Booth appealed for funds to purchase the property and turn it into a The shop at the front was operated as a soup kitchen. It was characteristic of William Booth that he insisted on a wooden floor for the mission hall instead of an asphalt one, saying, poor people feel the cold quite as much, if not more, than do the rich people. No one gets a blessing if they have cold feet, and nobody ever got saved while they had toothaches.