2 of 3 Herbert Bootht laid the foundation and established the standard of music for the Salvation Army.

            HERBERT BOOTH 

 THE Salvationis tgives clearest expression to his emotion in music and song. These being the natural expression. of praise he is acting under constraint of a primitive instinct. 


The joy of redemption is ever and best voiced in the song of the soul, the pastoral crescendo of earth reaching fullness and strength when joined to the voices of all the redeemed in Heaven.

Herbert had directed the grand diapason of the Band Festival in Crystal Palace. And, he’d built the Army’s music sections in the UK into effective evangelists.

Following that demonstration his father, the General at the Officers' Council, said—"We must fill the world with music."

 But who amongst the Salvationists had the genius to carry into effect the Founder's wish ? Certainly not Bramwell the present General and then Chief of Staff. For music he had no special taste either natural or acquired, and he could play no musical instrument. As Chief of Staff he could exercise authority and in so doing he was and is ingeniously adroit. He did follow the lead of Herbert in the organization of bands and he was prolific in framing rules and regulations for them. He could insist upon their enforcement, but to inspire and develop any potential talent for music among the Salvationists he was caput mortuuni.                                                                                                       It was Herbert Booth, associated with the gifted musician Richard Slater,that laid the foundation and established the standard of music for the Salvation Army. 

Richard Slater was pivotal in creating a self-contained Salvationist musical world... Research and reveal that Slater and his scholarly and extensive contribution to the shaping, development and the evolution of Army music.Slater’s contribution to the wealth of Salvation Army music and of its place and function within our movement and broader social context is inestimable. Slater was termed ‘the father of Salvation Army Music’.                                                                                        Herbert asked Richard, on occasion to assist in the writing 

of his songs, and in fact was instrumental in assisting Herbert in writing, Grace There is My Every Debt to Pay, his most famous chorus..

- In 1889, Herbert, then commanding the Army through­out the British Isles, was requested to compose a song for the Christmas Number of All the World, by the General.                                                                            
On a dark November night of that year Major Slater was sent to the Commandant to collect the song. It was not ready and the need of a copy was urgent! The Commandant was pacing up and down the room. Within him was still sounding the melody of the "song without words". Some verses had been composed but no chorus. As the Commandant paced to and fro there came slowly together the words—

Grace there is my every debt to pay.

Slater, at the request of the Commandant, played the tune upon the organ. "There was a halt"—writes Major Slater —"and then the vague feeling took a definite form in the clear-cut line—

Blood to wash my every sin away ;

which was again followed by hesitation, difficulty and effort. 

The tune still went on, and as the notes rose and fell the third line, with an eager hand, was hastily put on paper—

Power to keep me spotless day by day,

and, with a feeling of triumph won, the closing words were added—

For me, for me.

And thus that wonderful chorus grew and went forth from the darkness of that November night to carry light and hope and warmth, with soul comfort to tens of thousands."-

The question remained; “he’d built the Army’s music sections in the UK into the hundreds, each section wonderfully effective evangelists.

The General had said—"We must fill the world with music."

 But who amongst the Salvationists had the genius to carry into effect the Founder's wish ? 

With Herbert’s task accomplished he was commissioned to Canada! If there has been declension, spiritual or artistic in the bandsmen, it is because the master-hand of leadership was stricken from control.

Part 3, next - Was Herbert's move across the Atlantic initiated by Bramwell?