MORE REAR-M MIR RRO OR
BOOTH THE PROPHET
General John Larsson (Retired) shares fascinating glimpses of the early Army – 1890-1912
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ROM his middle years onwards, William Booth ‘looked like a prophet, roared like a lion [and] acted like a General’, wrote Bernard Watson in Soldier Saint. Historian St John Ervine filled out the picture: ‘Booth, as he aged, became beautiful. The word is deliberately used. When he came on to a platform, his tall figure, surmounted by a magnificent head in which deep eyes brooded like an eagle’s instantly commanded the attention of his audience.’ In meetings where no formal introductions were required, William Booth would go straight to the reading desk to establish contact with the audience, often with bantering words. ‘Everybody that is glad to see the General, say amen!’ he jested when visiting a location in the USA. ‘Everybody bound to get a blessing, General or no General, say amen!’ And he then warmed up the audience with words of greeting, encouragement and challenge before calling for the first song to be sung. ‘His voice is against him, he has the Nottingham sing-song, but this has no effect on the burden of his tale,’ recorded his future biographer Harold Begbie when accompanying him on a tour. ‘There is a nobleness of diction in his oratory. It is all simple and rugged and real.’ ‘Until the time came when he was to preach, he would crouch in his chair,’ described St John Ervine, ‘one hand thrust through the opening of his long frogged coat, as if he were trying to warm it on his red jersey… But his air of remoteness, as his officers knew, was extraordinarily deceptive, and he would suddenly show that his mind was absorbed in the meeting. Once, when
Commissioner Howard said, “Shall we sing hymn number…?” Booth banged his fist on the table and said, “No, Howard, we will sing hymn…!”’ Here was the General taking command, and the audience loved it. When the prophet rose to preach, ‘his opening was customarily quiet, almost lamb-like’, remembered Bramwell Booth. ‘It was an astonishing contrast – his striking and aggressive appearance, and the gentleness with which he began to talk.’ But the lamb-like opening was deceptive. ‘The passion in him soon became apparent,’ continued St John Ervine, ‘and he would begin to gesticulate, not with his hands, but with his whole body. He would point with himself rather than with his hands, and
as the long frame swayed forward – not from side to side, but to and fro – his tongue gathered strength and the words hurled themselves from his lips like thunderbolts from Heaven. And those who had come to listen to him for fun, or because they were curious about this odd preacher, either straightened themselves in their seats and sat bolt upright, as if they were under some compulsion, or cowered from him, afraid lest he should haul them to the penitent form and make a show of them before their respectable friends.’ When a lion roars at you, you pay attention. The effect of William Booth’s preaching over a lifetime remains incalculable. But here are some pointers. Bramwell Booth reckoned that in his father’s 60 years of evangelistic campaigning, he preached between 50,000 and 60,000 sermons. And historian RG Moyles estimated that William Booth in his lifetime preached to 15 million people. Nowadays radio, TV, film and the internet can multiply a speaker’s reach a millionfold. But in William Booth’s era, a preacher could only reach those who heard him live, person to person. And among them William Booth stood supreme. William T Stead wrote in 1912 that General Booth was the one man of his day ‘who has been seen by the greatest number of human eyes, whose voice has been heard by the greatest number of human ears, and who has appealed to a greater number of human hearts than any man who has ever lived upon this planet’. And every one of those 15 million who heard William Booth in his prophetic role heard the roar of a lion. Salvationist 1 February 2020
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