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BIRKS, ROB – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 8-10 & 13 (not even paraphrased – reimagined): If I know the complete 153-year history of my movement, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I can recite all of the doctrines verbatim, and if I read each publication and book thoroughly, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I attend a service (or two) in a building owned by an organization that helps the poor and if I can write and preach an alliterated sermon which wows everyone who hears it and if I am a business wiz, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love never fails. But where there are uniforms, they will cease; where there are bands (brass & praise) & songsters & timbrels they will be stilled; where there are ranks, flags, kettles and an appointment system, they will pass away. For we know a little about a lot of things (and we know a lot about some little things). But when the time comes, it’s all for nothing. There is a lot to be thankful for and proficient in. But the greatest thing God’s Army has is love.

BOOTH, FLEUR, War Cry, September 3, 1966 – Some of us are afraid to use our intelligence, our reasoning powers, our thinking powers. We speak of being religious, but we are afraid, and fear takes the place of joyous, intelligent service. God needs intelligent Christians today. Let us not be afraid of the new thinkers. If they are wrong, they will fall, but let us think and study and use all our powers. Let us make use of what God has given to us.

BOOTH, FLORENCE – Some officers seem to be thinking of themselves, their reputation, reward, and appreciation, instead of realizing that the battle is at the gates, and going forward in the fight. What can we hope from officers who regard their work as a ladder by which they can mount to distinction and a place of comparative ease?

BOOTH, MAUDE – All over the world, 12:30 is kept as a time of special prayer for the Army work, and if you trace the established corps, you will realize that from East to West, the sun never sets on the Salvationist in prayer. No matter what difficulties an officer is meeting, he knows that somewhere, across the seas, hearts and voices are going up in fervent supplication for all those in the filed who are tempted and tried, and the thought encourages him and brings his mind out of present difficulties into quiet calm.

BOOTH, MAUDE – from Beneath Two Flags,  There are those in the ranks of the Army as conservative as the most ‘churchy’ people in the world; there are those who are always ‘desirous of new things;’ there are those who would like every meeting to be a Holiness meeting, and those who like better a ‘free-and-easy;’ there are those who like singing, and those who would rather hear sermons; but whatever they like or dislike, they are united on this point, that no matter how peculiar or how outrageous a measure seems, if it leads up to soul-saving, it shall be done.

BOOTH, MAUDE – from Beneath Two Flags,  A very interesting suggestion was made by a friend at Washington, D.C., with reference to our military nomenclature and customs which will bear repeating. His theory is that it satisfies the military instinct that almost every race possesses, that inborn enjoyment of marching movements, music, uniform, processions, and all the ‘pomp, pride, and circumstance of war,’ without injury or bloodshed; in point of fact, bringing peace instead of war.

BOOTH, MAUDE – from Beneath Two Flags, Years passed away before William Booth and his wife came to the point where they could step out, shake off traditional methods and means, and begin to carry out evangelistic work on lines forbidden by churches… in the same way, officers and soldiers think of and carry out numberless little ideas of their own that the leaders or higher officers in the Army never dreamed of, in ways which the General acknowledged would be to him well-nigh impossible.

BOOTH, MAUDE – from Beneath Two Flags, No man or woman can be a true Salvationist in his own strength. No words of human cunning will make a man powerful on a Salvation Army platform. Brains and address and oratory will not save him from being a failure.

BOOTH, MAUDE – from Beneath Two Flags, If people say they love God, the world has a right to watch them and test the truth of their statement.

BOOTH, MAUDE – from Beneath Two Flags, But in Christ’s kingdom people seem to leave out the practical side to such an extent that they expect to reap fruit, receive all the blessings of religion, and gain heaven without so much as stirring a finger. This lazy, easy-going, selfish kind of religion is a terrible check to the advancement of God’s kingdom, and we can see plenty of it everywhere… Souls cannot be won, heathen reached, criminals reformed, and infidels made God-fearing without work. There are those who say they wish to see souls saved, but they have not the power, just because they have not the willingness to work; and God will not send down showers of blessings, except upon those who are willing to again impart that blessing and help others. Those who would receive it only for themselves pray and weep for it forever, for God is not selfish, nor will He give His blessings to those who are… Many seem to leave all the work to ministers or missionaries, who should, in reality, be only the leaders and spiritual advisers of a church full of active workers for God. Each individual soul is as much called upon to work and is as responsible as any minister ever ordained; it may not be in a pulpit, but there are a thousand and one other ways of working… one may serve at home, another abroad; but every one who loves should work… If every Christian did his duty, the drink curse would disappear; infidelity would droop and die; the lost would be reclaimed; criminals reformed; heathen, Christianized; and the kingdom of Christ would be restored in a very short time.

BOOTH, MAUDE – from Beneath Two Flags, This is the secret of The Salvation Army workers’ success. You might hammer on a piece of ice but make a small dent, but with a fine needle you could split it to fragments. Just so Salvationists found that it was useless to preach, reprove, and blame the poor and vicious of this class. But could they once be made to feel that they were truly loved, half the battle would be won. Love may seem small, but it is might.

BOOTH, MAUDE – …If the Salvation Army were a merely human organization, depending upon party spirit for its continuance, its existence would be as temporary as its enemies could wish; but it cannot be denied by even the most prejudiced that God is in this movement, and that He has visibly put His seal of blessing upon it.

BOOTH, MAUDE – As in early colonial days, at the approach of the enemy or of a suspicious vessel in the bay, word was quickly passed along from neighbor to neighbor that in a few hours all might be ready to defend themselves, so, in the Salvation Army, its success depends under God upon the faithfulness of individual soldiers and officers. They have heeded the warning to escape from the coming destruction, and now it is their duty to warn others.

BOOTH, MAUDE – Let it never be said again that the Salvation Army is not needed in America, until the last hopeless woman has been lovingly shown the way of escape, and until the social evil curse has been wiped from the land.

BOOTH-TUCKER, FREDERICK – The mere outward paraphernalia of The Salvation Army constitute the least important elements of its success. If nothing more were needed than to copy these, who would not accomplish similar results? But the spirit which pervades its ranks is quite a different thing. This is not manufactured on earth, but in heaven.

BOOTH-TUCKER, EMMA – from Heart Messages, …called to live today for tomorrow…

BOSSHARDT, MAJOR ALIDA – To serve God is to serve people and to serve people is to serve God.

BOSSHARDT, MAJOR ALIDA – How or where can we meet the people in their time of need if we are not in the midst?

CARPENTER, MRS. GENERAL MINNIE – The Salvation Army was born in the fire of Pentecostal force, and can never survive if it descends to the level of ordinary religious performance.

CHO, EUGENE – The Salvation Army will die if it loses the commitment it exhibited in the past for creativity.

DUFF, MILDRED – from My Best Men Are Women… Be sure you always give more to the Army than you ever receive from it. In that way your service will be blessed and honored by God.

GOWANS, GENERAL JOHN – If The Salvation Army ever leaves the streets, it will die from lack of oxygen.

HOWARD, COMMISSIONER T.H. – To the Young People of The Salvation Army, I say, turn your eyes and hearts towards the Training College; be ready to follow God’s leading when the call comes for you to go there. But, above all, remember that, whether you are called to Officership or not, you should seek to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and devote yourself to the Salvation of the people about you.

LARSON, FLORA – from My Best Men Are Women… This is the crux of the inward battle for many young people. To serve God, yes; to serve people, yes; but to obey orders for the remainder of one’s long, long life, to go where sent and do any kind of work… this is hard indeed. It is only made possible through a firmly held belief that behind Salvation Army authority stands God, who takes the threads of the everyday into His own hands and weaves them into the pattern He desires.

PETRI, LAURA – from My Best Men Are Women… It is more difficult for women to reach the higher positions than for men. To be advanced a man requires hardly more than average gifts. A woman must be superior. 

RADER, GENERAL PAUL – from Terms of Empowerment …while other denominations are still embroiled in endless debate, The Salvation Army is, and must continue to be, a standard bearer of Gospel promise for all women, continuing to accord them the respect and acceptance our founders sought to guarantee, affording ever-expanding opportunities for women to enrich the life of the Church and enhance its effectiveness. This is an issue that impacts the whole church and its mission.

RADER, GENERAL PAUL – from Terms of Empowerment …no part of the Church has so consistently encouraged the public ministry of women, both married and single, as has The Salvation Army. Their right to respond to God’s call and to assume whatever ministry tasks or leadership roles for which they were equipped was written into the foundation documents of the movement.

RADER, KAY – We cannot drive into the future looking into the rear view mirror!

RADER, KAY – Ours are the goals of Catherine Booth: enabling women to realize their full potential in order to wake up the sleeping church worldwide; lift the burdens of the oppressed; feed hungry stomachs; clothe naked backs, to win lost souls.

RADER, KAY – Women of the Army must keep leaning in the direction of positive change, initiating and implementing agenda aimed at transformation. We must go forward, dear ones, toward the future, with renewed zeal, rejuvenated fervor and revitalized resolve to get something done and to get it done well; to choose for ourselves as well as for all who follow, today and always, the path of yesterday’s promise that leads to the hope of tomorrow. 

RADER, KAY – Increasingly, the culture of silence is being broken – with love, care, and understanding – on issues such as physical abuse, rape, family, and community conflict. Salvationist women, in concert with women clergy and lay leaders of other denominations, are discovering that being encumbered by traditions from another era may indeed become ‘the encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us’… Women in ministry, both lay and clergy, are eager to join hands and hearts to accomplish God’s purposes because theirs is a shared vision. But the partnership they desire is an authentic partnership, one that is based on what they can contribute.

These women envision a Church that leads the world on issues of social justice, a Church that accepts women and men as equals and helps them live integrated lives, a Church that helps women fulfill their responsibilities and contribute to all aspects of mission and ministry. They envision searching for ways they can contribute to the whole body of Christ.

If this vision is to be fully realized, the Church must be willing to own its decisions regarding the woman’s role. The Army is no exception. Women must accept the challenge and seize opportunities for making full proof of their ministry. Catherine [Booth] fought the battles using the weaponry available in 19thcentury England. However, in the week she died, she issued a solemn warning that she feared the women of The Salvation Army were not going to rise up to take the place she wished for them.

We’ve come a long way regarding women’s rights in the workplace. We’ve come a long way regarding women’s rights in ministry. But the fact remains, for every glass ceiling in the corporate world, there is a stained-glass ceiling in the Church. We must never allow women of the Army to be ‘ceilinged.’

TIDD, COMMISSIONER FLOYD – We should not be as concerned about who attends our corps from the community, but more concerned about how our corps attend the community.

TIDD, COMMISSIONER FLOYD – Innovation lies within individual soldiers, employees, volunteers and officers. We need to find ways to release that catalytic energy as people respond sacrificially in response to obedience to God’s leading.

UNKNOWN – Perhaps Higgins was referring to the fact that when he wrote his statement Salvation Army Worship was characterised by Brass Band music. Many would still identify with this today. But the original reasons for using brass band music no longer exist today, namely that it was the most popular form of music around in the 1850’s until the early 1900’s. For example Sousa composed “Stars and Stripes Forever” in 1896 and some claim that his band was the most popular musical act in the world for over 30 years. The new entertainment craze, the brass band, gave the Salvation Army the chance to proclaim the gospel. The Army with its brass band would play on street corners, especially pub corners. People would flock out of the pub and from all over the neighbourhood, and listen for hours. This is how an audience was gathered to whom the gospel could be preached. Salvation Army bands attracted large crowds that gave Salvationists an opportunity to present the gospel.
There was no doubt that this method of winning people for the Lord was distinctive, but it is not the brass band in itself or that it was part of our worship that was distinctive, but the fact that we were prepared to use the most modern popular music of the day to win people for the Lord. More than forty years ago the likelihood of someone coming to know the Lord through the playing of a brass band on a street corner had diminished to virtually zero. If Booth were alive today, he might ask: “Why are you guys walking around in funny looking outfits and playing brass bands? You should be doing the most current and relevant thing, not immortalizing some practice! The value was in preaching Christ, not the perpetuation of the band and the bonnet.”

UNKNOWN CADET, from A School of Prophets – Cadets are always young. The Salvation Army laughs at the Devil and the assertion that young blood will have its way of worldly pleasures and youthful lusts. Its battle-cry, ‘The World for Christ!’ includes the children and the spring of man and womanhood. Middle age and hoary head find place and welcome in the ranks; but to the adversary it opposes a fighting force of those he has been accustomed to consider his own prey – the young. No body of religionists existing offers such a career of work, success, and happiness to saved youth as The Army

UNKNOWN CADET, from A School of Prophets – Colonel Courageous, standing under the Flag, started the Meeting with a song. At the second verse the brave voices wavered and broke. Hands held hands, and such weeping from women I have never seen. It was silent, and you had to open your eyes, and look before you could understand. Their eyes were closed, but under the lids and down the upturned faces ran the tears. Here and there a little sob, but mostly silence and heaving breasts.

Why did they weep? Had you been through Salvation Army training you would know. The Army resembles nothing so much as an enormous and tenderly affectionate family. This circle being the size of the world, its members are at home the world over, but, since the world is large, the partings of the family are as poignant as if the circle were limited and broken. Moreover, the London Training College may be called the center of the circle, from whence all go, but few return. These girls went out that morning to carry others’ crosses with their own; to bear sorrows; to lead Soldiers; to take upon themselves no only preaching, but all sorts of difficulties in public and private.

Did they forget in their sense of weakness the strength of God? If they had they would never have reached that point of ending and beginning. Human love is made sweeter by the Divine, and if the farewells are solemn and sad, there lurks in them no bitterness, but sweet surety of reunion in our Father’s Home.

UNKNOWN CADET, from A School of Prophets – A cadet may fail in an examination on the ‘Doctrines’. He or she must not fail in the examinations on the Bible. What place does the ‘Doctrines’ fill, then? It teaches the Cadets the details of what they, as Salvationists, already believe – it gives the reasons and arguments for our belief. The little book holds a pronouncement on every vital religious point, briefly but thoroughly, and in such words as the most sluggish and unlettered mind can understand.

UNKNOWN CADET, from A School of Prophets – The Discipline of The Salvation Army is equally clear. It comprehends three things: –Obedience. Self-denial. Hard Work.

UNKNOWN CADET, from A School of Prophets – We had come in to be made Officers and – go out; yet we drew closer to one another, and made the most of ‘the last days’. Struggles and storms as well as peace and blessing had been our portion in the Training College, but we felt an epoch in our lives was ending; we should never be together, and just the same again. The pace had been learnt. Now to teach it to others, and set out on the road to run towards the mark and crown of victory! We were safe and sheltered in the Training College. What would the future hold?

UNKNOWN CADET, from A School of Prophets – We would go out with pure souls. How can you teach others, if you are conscious there is a trace or stain of evil in yourself? And, dear Christ of Calvary, what duty and responsibility were ours! We had fought with the beasts that dwell even in woman-hearts – with pride, self-love, self-will, ambition, worldly loves – and shut ourselves away from friends, and put ourselves under the yoke of instant and obedient service for nine months – for what? To lead the world to Thee, O Lamb of God! Thy weapons are in our hands; but if the hands that wield them be not clean, they are useless.

UNKNOWN CADET, from A School of Prophets – The main object in view is to make the character of the young man or woman good. In all things and everywhere the Salvation Army puts goodness first. The Cadet may be a scientist or a navy, a collegian or a scullery-maid, the Army cares not a whit. But the Cadet mustbe saved, mustbe anxious to devote the whole of his or her life to the care of souls, mustbe self-sacrificing, zealous, simple, and sincere in purpose. On these matters The Salvation Army centers its attentions before, during, and after Training. It demands that Officers shall exist only to be good themselves and to do good to others. This is the first aim of the Training College.