Booths Writing Boldly: Part 6

by Colonel Richard Munn 

This 10-part series will look at bold written exhortations from William, Catherine, Bramwell, Herbert, and Evangeline. The force of their collective convictions still lands. Often quoted, they have the capacity to pierce straight into the heart of the matter, impatiently swatting aside distractions and equivocations. General John Larsson titled his 2015 book on the clan simply, Those Incredible Booths.

Booths Writing Boldly: Part 6  

“To the front! the cry is ringing; To the front!” 

—Herbert Booth 

One of several enduring features of Salvationist thinking is the bold idea of taking the initiative against sin. Not just holding ground but actually going forward against it, so to speak. There are times when spiritual daring manifests itself into a counteroffensive force.   

Herbert Booth, fifth child of William and Catherine, is beloved for his songwriting and wide range of emotive lyrics, as exemplified in this opening stanza, “To the front! the cry is ringing; / To the front! your place is there.” We can almost hear the charge, visualize the fog of battle, and feel the rush of adrenaline. What a way to start a song. 

Assuredly not fanciful rhetoric, we see this counterintuitive dynamic today when Salvation Army corps are planted in formidable Brazilian favelas, or when Australian Salvos exercise the “Dark Places” ministry going into dodgy parts of town late at night for outreach, or when Papua New Guinea Salvationists stand in the breach and negotiate a weapon-relinquishing peace treaty between warring tribes, deep in the inaccessible bush. 

The very idea is found in the audacious assertion from Jesus that “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And in His declaration: “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). Gates are not offensive structures. They are to be stormed, scaled, surmounted. 

We might say Herbert Booth believed “the pen is mightier than the sword,” as he then wrote the rallying chorus to this same song.   

No retreating, Hell defeating,
Shoulder to shoulder we stand;
God, look down, with glory crown
Our conquering band. 

Sometimes small, modest corps gatherings sing this song in humble settings, undaunted and unperturbed, convinced of the truth of Scripture: “The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble” (from Psalm 99:1). 

Stuff that makes an army.