Samuel Logan Brengle

Samuel Logan Brengle was born on June 1, 1860, in Fredericksburg, Indiana, in a family of Methodist stock. His father, a physician, died during the Civil War, and his mother raised the boy in modest circumstances. He grew up in the Midwest, in the years of reconstruction. He was a bright and eager youth, with a gift for speech. He studied at DePauw University, in Greencastle, Indiana, where he took part in debates and was known as an orator, and he graduated in 1883. He planned to be a lawyer. But a call to the ministry came to him, and he went to the School of Theology of Boston University, where he studied under good teachers. He was ordained as a Methodist minister and soon had the offer of a fine pulpit. He was a young man of talent, with a bright future.

In Boston, in 1885, he heard William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, who was on a visit to America. Booth was an old man with a long beard, and he spoke with a burning conviction. Brengle was moved. He saw in the Army a movement that was reaching the poor, and he felt that his own ministry was lacking in power. Not long afterward, as he walked across the Boston Common, in distress, he asked God to fill him with the Holy Spirit. He said that he received the blessing of holiness, and that a great peace came upon him. He decided to join the Salvation Army, and in 1887, he went to London to train under Booth.

The Army's leaders were not impressed by his university degrees. The staff, in an act of discipline, set him to cleaning the boots of the other cadets. He did it with a good spirit, and he said that it was a lesson in humility. He returned to the United States as an officer, and he was posted to Boston. The Army was then a small and despised body, and its workers were mocked and attacked in the streets. In 1890, in the city of Chelsea, Massachusetts, a drunken man struck him on the head with a brick that was thrown at him. He nearly died. He was incapacitated for eighteen months. It was a long and painful time, in which he suffered from the effects of the blow.

During his recovery, he was asked to write for the Army's paper, the War Cry. He began a series of articles on holiness. They were simple, direct and warm, and they were drawn from his own experience. They were collected in a book, Heart Talks on Holiness, which was published in 1897. It was followed by Helps to Holiness, in 1896, and later by Love-Slaves and The Guest of the Soul. The books were read by thousands, in the Army and outside. They taught that the believer could be cleansed from sin and filled with the Spirit and that this gift is received by faith. He wrote that holiness is a life of love, and he warned against pride and against the pursuit of experience for its own sake.

He became the Army's leading teacher of holiness. He was appointed the national spiritual special, a post that was created for him, in which he traveled from corps to corps, holding meetings for the soldiers and officers. He was a quiet, gentle man, who attracted children and the poor. He spoke in a simple way and touched many. He also traveled abroad, to Britain, Canada, India and Australia. He had a great influence on the Army's officers, and he became a friend of the Booth family. He was made a commissioner in 1931, the first American-born commissioner in the Army's history.

He had to bear a number of sorrows. The head injury left a mark on him, and in his later years, he lost his sight. By the 1930s, he was almost blind. He had been separated from his wife, Elizabeth Swift, who was also an Army officer, for long periods, as the two were assigned to different tasks. She died in 1933, and he was heartbroken. He said that these trials had taught him to depend on the Lord. He was also criticized by some, who thought that the stress on a second blessing was too narrow. Others thought that he gave too little attention to social work. He did not argue. He held to what he had learned.

He died on May 20, 1936, at the age of seventy-five. His books continue to be read. His life shows the effect of an educated man who gave up a promising career to serve among the poor. He taught a generation of Salvation Army officers the way of holiness.