The General, has laid down his Sword

From:

On August 20th, 1912, Salvationists in 58 countries around the world were informed; ‘The General, has laid down his sword.’ His body lay in state for three days at the Congress Hall in Clapton while thousands of people filed past. Some 45,000 attended the memorial service for him at London’s Olympia.

 Among this vast crowd were 'thieves, tramps,

harlots, the lost and outcast to whom Booth had given his heart'. In Canada the Toronto Mail and Globe told its readers: 'William Booth ... accomplished in his lifetime a task of such world magnitude as commanded not recognition alone, but sincere personal admiration from three British sovereigns, and won the reverent affection of an innumerable host out of every nation of mankind’[1]  Also there – sitting unnoticed by many at the rear of the hall – was Queen Mary, wife of King George V. This was as clear a message as any that the man who had begun his work among the outcasts of society had touched the hearts – and maybe stirred the consciences – of even the most privileged people.2.             

And on the 29th five thousand uniformed Salvationists marched from the Army’s headquarters in Queen Victoria Street through the City of London with 40 Salvation Army bands playing, past huge crowds to the Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington, where the General was buried beside his wife Catherine, the Army’s co-founder.        

Booth’s passing stirred a rush of tributes from around the globe.  After the General was promoted to Glory, tributes poured in from all over the world. King George V of the United Kingdom wrote to the Army's new General (William's son, Bramwell): 'The nation has lost a great organiser and the poor a whole-hearted and sincere friend, who devoted his life to helping them in a practical way.'                                                 

President Howard Taft of the USA wrote that the Founder's 'long life and great talents were dedicated to the noble work of helping the poor and weak and giving them another chance to attain success and happiness'.                                                                       

The media reaction was swift and effusive. The Daily Express in the UK reported: 'The loss to the world is very real, and really felt.' The South African News said: 'William Booth is dead. And with him passed away one of the most vivid and striking personalities the world has ever seen.' Describing The Salvation Army as 'a miracle wrought in an age of materialism' it concluded: 'You may disagree with the methods of the Army ... but you must recognise the miracle and acknowledge the gifts of the miracle worker.'                              

The New York Times put it more simply: 'No man of his time did more for the benefit of the people than William Booth.'3                                                                                                                                  

The General's 'promotion to Glory' should be treated as just that – a 'promotion'; a moving on, a stepping forward. We do not reflect morbidly on what has been lost but instead we celebrate the legacy and influence of a great man who…. went to meet his maker and claim his eternal reward.                                                                                             The scale of the reaction to the promotion to Glory of the Salvation Army Founder is difficult to rationalise from a modern viewpoint. For many people the closest experience is perhaps the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. Her funeral procession went through London streets lined with more than a million people. Booth’s funeral procession drew crowds of double that size!

                      

The Salvation Army uses the expression “Promoted to Glory” when referring to the death of a Salvationist, a phrase Herbert Booth wrote while preparing for his mother’s funeral in 1890.  That phrase epitomizes the Army’s optimistic view of death. the understandable sadness of loss was accompanied by what The Times of London reported as an 'air of gladness pervading the ranks of the Army'.

When William Booth 'laid down his sword' – as Salvationists were informed in 1912 – his Salvation Army was at work in 58 countries.                                                                        

            The term came from the hymn of the same name:

Summoned home, 
the call has sounded,
Bidding a soldier his warfare cease;
And the song of angels resounded,
Welcomes a warrior to eternal peace.
Praise the Lord! from earthly struggles
A comrade has found release.
Death has lost its sting, the grave its victory;
Conflicts and dangers are over;
See him honored in the throne of glory,
Crowned by the hand of Jehovah!

Refrain

Strife and sorrow over,
The Lord’s true faithful soldier
Has been called to go from the ranks below,
To the conquering host above.

Once the sword, but now the scepter,
Once the fight, now the rest and fame,
Broken every earthly fetter,
Now the glory for the cross and shame;
Once the loss of all for Jesus,
But now the eternal gain.
Trials and sorrow here have found their meaning
Mysteries their explanation;
Safe, forever in the sunlight gleaming
Of His eternal salvation.

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[1]Taylor, Gordon, William Booth – His Life and Legacy; excerpt from his bookpublished in All the World magazine

[2]Collier, Richard, The General Next to God, biography of the Founder

[3] Taylor, Gordon, William Booth – His Life and Legacy; excerpt from his bookpublished in All the World magazine