Booths Writing Boldly: Part 8

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 8

"The law of adaptation is the only law laid down in the New Testament with respect to modes and measures." 

—Catherine Booth 

This typically bold Catherine Booth statement is found in the even bolder Papers on Aggressive Christianity. She first delivered these addresses in "a series of services at the West End of London, in the summer of 1880" — described by the speaker herself as "largely unpremeditated utterances." We catch a glimpse of a remarkable woman. 

Interestingly, this is not a biblical, inspirational, or theological exhortation. We do not find "the law of adaptation" in the Bible or theological tomes, let alone as "the only law laid down in the New Testament with respect to modes and measures." It is more philosophical in content. 

Here Catherine is addressing a range of matters such as sacraments, women as clergy, strategies of evangelism, music, outdoor ministry, and deployment of laity. The recently named Salvation Army was growing numerically and in influence at a rapid rate, and this brought a concomitant wave of criticism, from respectable society and clergy even. Catherine is unflinching. Here is an army leader brimming with confidence. 

The thought is based on such verses as "I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22) and "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them" (1 Corinthians 12:4). 

Can we truly accept this for our day, and unerringly apply the principle in our decision-making bodies? There are hints, here and there. The 1999 International Spiritual Life Commission report emphasizes our freedom in Christ and calmly affirms that "the setting of fixed forms of words or acts is not part of Salvationist tradition." General Shaw Clifton urges the value of "holiness without ritual," and Commissioner Joe Noland famously says that a corps could be "a group of people who meet under a tree, on the 19th hole of a golf course or in a portable double decker bus fitted for that purpose, wherever the Spirit leads." 

Versatility is important in corporate, military, and commercial enterprise. Why not religious? The dynamism between God's unchanging nature, His immutability, and the undomesticated wind of the Spirit is endlessly fascinating. In a real sense we crave stasis; however, we are also drawn to the adrenaline of innovation. 

General Albert Orsborn describes The Salvation Army as "the stormiest wind that ever blew through the halls of orthodoxy." Where elements of that still remain, it is quite likely that Catherine's "law of adaptation" is operating. 

Long may it stay. 

Click here to read more from Papers on Aggressive Christianity.