The Salvation Army

A Christian church and charity born in the streets of East London in 1865: soldiers and officers, brass bands and the mercy seat, and no baptism or Lord's Supper in its worship.

The Salvation Army International Headquarters, What we believe (the eleven doctrines)

The Salvation Army International Headquarters, Soldier's Covenant

The Salvation Army, Handbook of Doctrine (2010), PDF hosted by International Headquarters

International Spiritual Life Commission Report, 7 May 1998, reprinted in Caring magazine

Sacramental Moments... Sacramental Lives, Caring magazine (The Salvation Army)

James Pedlar, Three Quotes from William Booth on the Sacraments (quoting The War Cry, 17 January 1883, and Roger Green, The Life and Ministry of William Booth)

International Heritage Centre, 'The Foundation Deeds have never failed': The Salvation Army Acts deconstructed

The Salvation Army International Headquarters, History (Transforming lives since 1865)

The Salvation Army UK, Our history

International Heritage Centre, Catherine Booth

The Salvation Army International Headquarters, Women's Ministries

The Salvation Army International Headquarters, Worship with us

RE:Quest (religious education resource), The Salvation Army: what it is like to be a member, in the words of a Salvationist

The Salvation Army International Headquarters, International Positional Statement: Alcohol in Society

The Salvation Army International Headquarters, The General

The Salvation Army International Trust, 35th Annual Report and Accounts (year to 31 March 2025), Worldwide Facts & Figures

William Booth, In Darkest England, and the Way Out (1890), Project Gutenberg

William Booth was born in Nottingham in 1829 and was a Methodist who preached and helped the poor. In 1865, outside a London pub, he preached to the crowd, and the Christian Mission was born. In 1878 it took the name The Salvation Army and an army's structure, and the deed signed that year put it under the direction of one General. In 1883 Booth set aside baptism and the Lord's Supper in Army worship. The Army grew into a church and charity at work in 134 countries.

Catherine Booth defends women's preaching, then preaches

In 1859 Catherine Booth published Female Ministry; or, Woman's right to preach the Gospel, in defense of the American revivalist Phoebe Palmer. William Booth was at first opposed to women preaching. From 1860 Catherine began preaching herself. The Heritage Centre says she won many converts and changed William's stance.

The Christian Mission begins

In June 1865 William Booth preached to crowds outside the Blind Beggar pub on Whitechapel Road, and a new organization, the Christian Mission, was born. The Army says it began on the streets of East London when the Methodists William and Catherine Booth took God's word directly to the people, in a practical Christianity summed up as "soup, soap and salvation."

The Foundation Deed

On 15 June 1875 William Booth, who had drawn up a document of beliefs and oaths with the earliest members in 1870, made it a legally binding Deed Poll, the Foundation Deed.

The Deed of Constitution

On 7 August 1878 Booth annulled the 1875 deed and replaced it with the Deed of Constitution. It set out eleven permanent professed beliefs and placed the Mission "always hereafter under the oversight direction and control of some one person who shall be the General Superintendent." Booth refused a clause allowing the deed to be reviewed and altered, so it could not be changed without a private Act of Parliament.

The name The Salvation Army

The Christian Mission got its present name in 1878. William Booth objected to a phrase in that year's annual report, "The Christian Mission... is a Volunteer Army," and by replacing the word "volunteer" The Salvation Army had its new title. The organization adopted a quasi-military structure, with officers and members in military-style uniform.

The first brass band

A Methodist preacher named Charles Fry and his three sons played instruments in open-air meetings in Salisbury in 1878. They were soon traveling with Booth, and brass bands became a distinctive feature of the Army's style.

The name written into the deed

On 24 June 1880 an addition to the back of the 1878 deed shortened General Superintendent to General and changed the name Christian Mission to The Salvation Army.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper set aside

In January 1883 The War Cry printed William Booth's New Year address to his officers. The Army's magazine Caring says that while he did not prohibit anyone from taking the sacraments, they would no longer be endorsed as the official worship of the Army. Booth asked whether it was not wise to postpone any settlement of the question "to leave it over for some future day, when we shall have more light." The Army has not observed either ordinance since.

In Darkest England, and the Way Out

William Booth's book, whose preface is dated October 1890, proposed a city colony, a farm colony and an over-sea colony as the way out for the poor of England.

The first change to the 1878 deed

The Salvation Army Act 1931 was passed on 31 July 1931, the first alteration to the 1878 deed. A further Act of 1 August 1980 revised and consolidated the Army's constitution.

The International Spiritual Life Commission

On 7 May 1998 the Commission reported. It reaffirmed the Army's long-held beliefs that no outward observance is necessary to inward grace, issued statements on baptism and on Holy Communion, and made a statement on the mercy seat.

General Lyndon Buckingham

Lyndon Buckingham took office as the 22nd General on 3 August 2023, with Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham as World President of Women's Ministries.

William Booth

Born in Nottingham on 10 April 1829, he was a Methodist preacher who founded the Christian Mission, shaped it into an army and served as its first General. His New Year address of 1883 set the sacraments aside.

Catherine Booth

Born in Derbyshire in 1829, she married William in 1855. Influenced by Wesley and by Charles Finney, she argued for the right of women to preach, began preaching in 1860 and is remembered by Salvationists as the Army Mother. She died on 4 October 1890.

Lyndon Buckingham

The 22nd General and the Army's world leader, responsible for its ministry in 134 countries.

Bronwyn Buckingham

A commissioner who has served as an officer since she and her husband were commissioned in 1990, she leads the Army's international Women's Ministries.

The Army and the churches. In his 1883 address Booth reasoned from what the Army claimed to be. He wrote that "if we are not professing to be a church, not aiming at being one, but simply a force for aggressive salvation purposes, is it not wise for us to postpone any settlement of the question." The historian James Pedlar, who quotes the address, points out that most Salvationists today say the Army is a church. Booth also wrote in 1885 that when such an ordinance is helpful to the faith of soldiers, "we recommend its adoption," and in 1895 he said the question was not settled with the Army.

Orders and Regulations. The Heritage Centre says that after Catherine's success a statement on sexual equality in ministry was published in the Army's Orders and Regulations. The page gives no date for it.

The deed. The Heritage Centre says the 1878 deed still governs the Army: any change to the Army's regulations has to be made through a private Act of Parliament, and the first came in 1931.

The Bible is the foundation and authority of faith and life. Eleven doctrines are fixed by deed and by Act of Parliament, and every soldier signs them.

The Army teaches that the Scriptures are inspired by God and are the rule of faith and practice. It also holds eleven doctrines, given legal force by the deed of 1878 and by the Salvation Army Act 1980, and every intending soldier signs the Soldier's Covenant, which sets the eleven doctrines out. The Handbook of Doctrine explains them.

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.

We believe that the Bible is inspired by God. It is the foundation and authority of our faith and life.

These eleven doctrines set out the formal beliefs of The Salvation Army as detailed in Schedule 1 of The Salvation Army Act 1980.

The Soldier's Covenant begins with these words: "The Soldier's Covenant, or articles of war, is the statement of beliefs and promises which every intending soldier is required to sign before enrolment." The Covenant has the soldier say, "I believe and will live by the truths of the word of God expressed in The Salvation Army's eleven Articles of Faith."

A person is saved by repentance, faith and the new birth, and a soldier confesses Christ without baptism. The Army holds that the water is only a sign and that the Spirit's baptism is what matters.

The Army teaches that salvation comes through repentance toward God, faith in Jesus Christ and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and that a believer who is justified by grace through faith must continue in obedient faith. It does not baptize. The Army's account is that the baptism that matters is the baptism of the Spirit into Christ's body, and that the water used by other Christians is a witness to an encounter with Christ that has already happened. A soldier is sworn in beneath the Army flag, and the Commission teaches that this swearing-in fulfills the Lord's command to make disciples, baptizing them. Babies are not baptized but dedicated.

We believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, are necessary to salvation.

We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.

We believe that soldiership is discipleship and that the public swearing-in of a soldier of The Salvation Army beneath the Army's Trinitarian flag fulfills this command.

The Commission's Statement on Baptism says: "The Salvation Army rejoices in the truth that all who are in Christ are baptized into the one body by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13)." It says the swearing-in "is a public response and witness to a life-changing encounter with Christ which has already taken place, as is the water baptism practiced by some other Christians." It adds that "The Salvation Army acknowledges that there are many worthy ways of publicly witnessing to having been baptized into Christ's body by the Holy Spirit and expressing a desire to be his disciple."

The Handbook of Doctrine states the Army's reason for the practice: "The Salvation Army was led of God not to observe specific sacraments, that is baptism and the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion, as prescribed rituals. In this we remind ourselves and others of the danger of trusting in the external rather than the grace it signifies or points to." It also guards the other side: "Nevertheless, we would also guard against the possibility that non-observance of the sign may also lead to neglect of the reality that is represented."

The Army does not observe the Lord's Supper, holding that no outward observance is necessary to inward grace. Christ is the one true Sacrament, and a meal shared in his name may be hallowed anywhere.

The Army's worship has had no Lord's Supper since 1883. Its teaching is that God's grace is freely open to all people at all times and in all places, so no particular outward observance is needed for it. It speaks of Christ as the one true sacrament and of the whole of life, and every meal shared in his name, as sacramental. Where Salvationists share meals or a love feast in remembrance of the Lord, the Commission asks that these never become established rituals and that no frequency be set. Salvationists who attend other churches may take the Supper there if the host church allows.

No particular outward observance is necessary to inward grace.

We confess one sacramental meal, not administered ritually, but presided over by Christ himself at any table where he is received and honoured.

such remembrances and celebrations, where observed, will not become established rituals, nor will frequency be prescribed.

William Booth's own reasons in his address of January 1883, as James Pedlar prints them from The War Cry: "Now if the sacraments are not conditions of salvation, and if the introduction of them would create division of opinion and heart burning, and if we are not professing to be a church, not aiming at being one, but simply a force for aggressive salvation purposes, is it not wise for us to postpone any settlement of the question, to leave it over for some future day, when we shall have more light?" He also said, "Moreover we do not prohibit our own people... from taking the sacraments." In 1895 he said, "We never disclaim against the Sacraments; we never even state our own position."

The Army's magazine Caring writes that in 1883 Booth "confirmed the position that the sacraments are not necessary for salvation," and that "many Salvationists are beginning to revisit this issue."

One General holds command under a deed that Parliament alone can change. Commissioned officers are posted to corps, and soldiers sign the Articles of War.

The Army is led as an army. The deed of 1878 placed the whole body under the oversight, direction and control of one person, the General. Officers are men and women who leave their former work and take a course of training, and a corps is run by a commanding officer or officers. Soldiers are members who have signed the Soldier's Covenant, the articles of war. The Army affirms what it calls the priesthood of all believers, and local officers are volunteers who serve as treasurer, secretary and the like.

shall be always hereafter under the oversight direction and control of some one person who shall be the General Superintendent

Each Salvation Army corps is run by a Commanding Officer or Officers.

Over time, the organisation gained military-style titles

The Salvationist writer in RE:Quest says officers "have a similar role to that of a minister or a priest in another church," and that they are men and women who have left their jobs and taken a course of training, at William Booth College in London or while helping to run a corps. The Commission lists among the aspects of Army life that Salvationists confirmed as integral "the priesthood of all believers (total mobilization)."

The Heritage Centre writes that "Despite advice to the contrary, Booth refused to include a clause that would allow the 1878 deed to be reviewed and altered," so that neither he nor the council could change the deed without a private Act of Parliament.

Worship is free in form: singing, brass bands, prayer, a Bible reading and sermon, testimony and the mercy seat. There is no set pattern, and it is not a sacramental service.

The Army's worship has no set order. A meeting includes singing, which may be led by a brass band or by a contemporary group, prayer, the reading of the Bible, a sermon and testimony. Instruments came early: concertinas, tambourines and guitars at first, then brass from 1878. The distinctive act of Army worship is the mercy seat, a place at the front where anyone may kneel at any time, particularly in response to the word preached. The Commission describes it as a place for repentance and forgiveness and also for communion and commitment. The Army holds that all of worship is sacramental, since the whole of life is.

The Salvation Army is known for its musical tradition, from brass bands to contemporary worship to dance and performance.

We affirm that the mercy seat in our meetings symbolizes God's unremitting call to his people to meet with him.

The Army holds the view that as all of life is sacramental, so is all of worship.

The Commission says of the mercy seat: "It is not only a place for repentance and forgiveness, but also a place for communion and commitment." The Army's history page notes that "Concertinas, tambourines and guitars were played at first, but it was not long before a style more suited to outdoor services was found" in the brass band.

The Spirit gives new life, leads the believer and equips the Body with gifts, and the Army teaches that believers can be wholly sanctified in this life.

The Army's teaching on the Spirit is first about holiness and new life. A soldier promises to be responsive to the Holy Spirit's work and obedient to his leading. The Army teaches that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, which it takes to mean freedom from the power of sin, not sinless perfection. It also speaks of the gifts of the Spirit: the Commission says the Body of Christ is equipped for warfare and service through them, and it rejects both denial of the demonic and obsession with it. The Army's documents here do not describe tongues, healing or miracles as present-day marks.

We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Entire sanctification means that, while we abide in Christ, we are free from the power of sin to undermine, destroy or divide us.

We affirm that the Body of Christ is equipped for warfare and service through the gifts of the Spirit.

Christ will return and judge the world; the body will rise; the righteous will have eternal happiness and the wicked endless punishment. The Army avoids speculation about the details.

The last of the eleven doctrines states the Army's hope in five clauses. The Handbook of Doctrine says the return of Christ is an integral part of the gospel, and that the Army has "avoided speculation about details of the return of Christ."

We believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; in the general judgment at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the endless punishment of the wicked.

The Salvation Army has avoided speculation about details of the return of Christ.

An army: soldiers, officers and the Articles of War

Members are soldiers who sign the Articles of War before the Army flag, in uniform, under officers who hold military titles.

The Army describes itself in military terms. Ministers are officers, members are soldiers, and the uniform is meant to show a commitment to God publicly. A person becomes a soldier by signing the Soldier's Covenant, called the articles of war, and is sworn in beside the flag. The Army says this is a public response to what has already taken place in the heart.

The Soldier's Covenant, or articles of war, is the statement of beliefs and promises which every intending soldier is required to sign before enrolment.

I will be true to the principles and practices of The Salvation Army, loyal to its leaders

They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief: for this were unprofitable for you.

The soldier's life of discipline has a New Testament root: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them" (Hebrews 13:17), and Christians are to give themselves wholly. But the apostles built no army. They "appointed for them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), a plurality in each congregation, and told the elders to tend the flock, "neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:3). A member joined the church on the day of hearing and obeying the word: "They then that received his word were baptized" (Acts 2:41). Promising loyalty to the Army's leaders and principles as the condition of membership, and placing a corps under an officer in a chain that ends in one General, puts a rank and a pledge where the Lord set a congregation and its elders.

The Army is right that discipline, courage and obedience belong to the Christian life, and it has taken them seriously. The error is not in the courage but in the chain of command. The New Testament knows no authority above the congregation but Christ and his apostles, whose word is now written.

Total abstinence

Every soldier promises to abstain from alcohol, tobacco, non-medical drugs, gambling and more, as a witness and a safeguard.

The Soldier's Covenant requires that the soldier abstain from alcoholic drink, tobacco and other things that could enslave the body or spirit. The Army's statement on alcohol says that as a witness soldiers choose an alcohol free life, and it encourages the same for everyone. The Army traces this to the earliest days, when the Booths saw lives destroyed by drink.

I will abstain from alcoholic drink, tobacco, the non-medical use of addictive drugs, gambling, pornography, the occult, and all else that could enslave the body or spirit.

As a witness to this, Salvation Army soldiers choose to live an alcohol free life.

And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;

It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth.

Be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

The Army deserves plain credit here. Total abstinence as a personal discipline is a good and lawful choice, and the Army has made it a refuge for people drink had ruined. It is right that drunkenness is sin: "be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot" (Ephesians 5:18). It is also right that a Christian may give up wine for another's sake: "It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth" (Romans 14:21). The weakness is in the binding. The Lord does not require abstinence of his people, and Paul told Timothy to "use a little wine" (1 Timothy 5:23). Kept as a personal vow, abstinence is wise. Bound as a term of membership, so that a sober believer who drinks a glass of wine cannot be a soldier, it makes a rule of "Handle not, nor taste, nor touch" (Colossians 2:21), and Paul said such rules "have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship" but are of no value against the flesh.

Entire sanctification

The Army teaches that every believer may be wholly sanctified, kept blameless in spirit, soul and body, while it says that further growth never ends.

Holiness is the Army's central call, and the main Sunday meeting is called the Holiness Meeting. The Handbook of Doctrine says the term does not mean sinless perfection: a person who sins acknowledges it honestly, confesses it and moves on.

The term should not be used, however, to suggest a state of sinless perfection.

And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before. I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The Army starts from a text it did not invent: "the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly" (1 Thessalonians 5:23), and it holds a call the apostles gave: "like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy" (1 Peter 1:15). It also guards the other side, for "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves" (1 John 1:8). The weakness is in setting a second state of holiness that a believer enters and in naming it as a doctrine for membership. The New Testament calls the whole church "sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (1 Corinthians 1:2) from the first day, and Paul, who was no beginner, said "I count not myself yet to have laid hold" (Philippians 3:13). The call to holiness is right, and the Army would do well to keep the call and drop the stage.

Women as officers and preachers

The Army holds men and women equally eligible for officership and preaching, a position William Booth reached after first opposing women preachers.

Catherine Booth argued in 1859 that women had the right to preach, and began to preach in 1860. William Booth was at first opposed, but she changed his stance, and afterward the Army published a statement of sexual equality in ministry in its Orders and Regulations. Today the Army's international Women's Ministries leads the Army's work with women, and a woman, Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham, serves as its World President.

whilst Catherine believed in the potential of female ministry as a powerful tool to reach new audiences, William was initially opposed to women preaching.

From 1860 Catherine began preaching herself.

a statement regarding sexual equality in ministry was published in The Salvation Army's Orders and Regulations

Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness.

let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. And if they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home: for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church.

and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more accurately.

I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae:

The Army deserves credit for what the New Testament also shows: women who served, taught in private and prophesied. Priscilla and Aquila "expounded unto him the way of God more accurately" (Acts 18:26), and Paul commended "Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae" (Romans 16:1). But the apostle also wrote, "I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness" (1 Timothy 2:12), and "let the women keep silence in the churches" (1 Corinthians 14:34). The case for women preachers usually rests on the daughters who prophesy (Acts 2:17-18; Acts 21:9), but the same letter that speaks of a woman praying or prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5) commands their silence in the churches (1 Corinthians 14:34), so the first cannot mean the assembly is open to her teaching. The appeal to Galatians 3:28 settles nothing either, for it speaks of standing in Christ, not of who leads the assembly. Women in the pulpit and in command of a corps go against what the apostle commanded for the assembly.

The mercy seat

The place at the front where anyone may kneel to repent, be forgiven, commune with God or commit again, the Army's answer to the call of the preached word.

At the end of a meeting those moved by the word are invited to the mercy seat. The Army says it may be used by anyone, at any time, for repentance and forgiveness and also for communion and commitment.

The mercy seat may be used by anyone, at any time, and particularly in Army meetings when, in response to the proclaimed word, all are invited to share loving and humble communion with the Lord.

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And as they went on the way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch saith, Behold, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.

A call to come forward after the word is not wrong. The crowd at Pentecost, "pricked in their heart" asked "what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37), and the Army is right that a person under conviction should be told to act at once. But the apostle's answer was not a place to kneel. It was "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), and the eunuch said "what doth hinder me to be baptized?" (Acts 8:36). A believer may draw near to "the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16) anywhere, at any hour, so the mercy seat is a good custom. Made the place of conversion, it replaces the act the Lord set for the penitent.

Social service

The Army's world-wide work with the poor, the homeless and the stricken is the thing it is best known for, and it began with In Darkest England.

The Booths preached what the Army calls a practical Christianity, "soup, soap and salvation": soup kitchens and showers alongside sermons, a prison-gate home in Melbourne in 1883, a women's rescue home in London the next year, and a labor exchange in 1890. The Army's annual report counts residential accommodation for the homeless, children's homes and other care in many countries, and its aim, as the report states it, is to preach the gospel and to meet human needs without discrimination.

to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in his name without discrimination

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.

If any woman that believeth hath widows, let her relieve them, and let not the church be burdened; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.

This is the Army's finest work and the sharpest challenge to other churches, and it deserves credit without hedging. "Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction" (James 1:27), and "as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men" (Galatians 6:10). Individual Christians are to do good to everyone. The church as a body, with its treasury, has a narrower charge: relieve "them that are widows indeed" and "let not the church be burdened" (1 Timothy 5:16), and the household of faith comes first. An organization that raises money from the public for the poor does a good work, but it is not the church of the New Testament doing the church's work.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Salvation Army has done great good for the poor, and it holds the gospel of repentance and faith. Where it stands near the pattern that is said plainly, and where it stands far that is said too.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

The Army puts Scripture first in so many words: the Bible is "the foundation and authority of our faith and life," and only the Scriptures "constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice." That is the plumb line itself (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and the eleven doctrines are drawn from the Bible. The Army stands short in what it binds beside the text. Its doctrines are fixed by a deed, put into an Act of Parliament and signed by every soldier, a creed of men that, by the Army's own account, cannot be changed except by Parliament. The church is to "learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6), and a statement made a condition of membership goes beyond it, even where it is true. The Army also treats the silence of Scripture as room to build, and what it builds are not means of carrying out a command but other offices and other acts: the ranks, the mercy seat as the act of response, and the swearing-in where the apostles baptized. The chart places it one step nearer than the lineage fragment's mean, because that fragment carries the parent's binding of doctrine at the rung for dogmas bound under anathema, and the Army's eleven doctrines are signed, not anathemas.

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

The Army is right that a person is saved by repentance and faith, and right that no infant is baptized: it holds that a soldier must confess Christ himself. It is also right that continuing in faith is required: "if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end" (Hebrews 3:14). But it has no baptism at all, and that verdict is not close. On Pentecost "They then that received his word were baptized" (Acts 2:41), and the eunuch, as soon as he believed, asked "what doth hinder me to be baptized?" (Acts 8:36). Baptism is where the New Testament puts the penitent believer's forgiveness: "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), and "arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16). The Lord's command was to make disciples, "baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19), and a body that does not baptize at all has set aside the act he named in his last charge.

The Army's reasons, and the answers. First, the Army says the sacraments are not necessary to salvation and that the danger is trusting the sign instead of the grace. The Lord did not give baptism as a rival to faith, and the fear that people will trust a rite is not a reason to drop it. The apostles taught faith and baptized in the same breath, and Peter says baptism "doth now save you" as "the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:21). The remedy for trusting the rite is to teach it rightly, not to set it aside.

Second, Booth said the introduction of the sacraments "would create division of opinion," and that the Army was "simply a force for aggressive salvation purposes," not a church. That was an argument for postponing the question "to leave it over for some future day, when we shall have more light." Nearly a century and a half has passed, the Army now calls itself a church, and the day has not come. A command of Christ does not wait for agreement.

Third, the 1998 Commission says that "the public swearing-in of a soldier of The Salvation Army beneath the Army's Trinitarian flag fulfills this command." But the command names an act, "baptizing them" (Matthew 28:19), and a flag is not water. The apostles did not read the command that way. Philip and the eunuch "went down into the water" (Acts 8:38), and Peter said of Cornelius's household, "Can any man forbid the water" (Acts 10:47). To put a new rite in the place of the old one is to change what the Lord commanded.

Fourth, the Army says the baptism that counts is the Spirit's. That is true, and no one denies it. But the Spirit's baptism and the water were never alternatives in Acts, and Paul's "Christ sent me not to baptize" (1 Corinthians 1:17) is a rebuke to quarreling over who baptized, in a letter where he had himself baptized "Crispus and Gaius" and the household of Stephanas (1 Corinthians 1:14-16). The Army's own Handbook is honest that "non-observance of the sign may also lead to neglect of the reality that is represented."

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

When therefore ye assemble yourselves together, it is not possible to eat the Lord’s supper: for in your eating each one taketh before other his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you? In this I praise you not.

The Army does not keep the Lord's Supper at all. The Lord said of the bread, "this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19), and the apostles went on doing it: "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7), and the church "continued stedfastly" "in the breaking of bread" (Acts 2:42). The Army's reply is that every meal in Christ's name is a sacramental meal, but Paul separates the two: when each takes his own supper "it is not possible to eat" the Lord's supper, and he asks, "have ye not houses to eat and to drink in?" (1 Corinthians 11:20-22). The Supper is a particular meal with a particular purpose, to proclaim the Lord's death till he come (1 Corinthians 11:26). The Lord's words are a command for his church, "this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:25), and the Commission's answer, that "No particular outward observance is necessary to inward grace," sets the giver's command beneath a principle he did not state. That omission is plainly wrong. The placement scores only what the Army teaches about the Supper's nature; the omission itself is charged once, on the lineage chart, as an ordinance of Christ left out.

The Army has not made itself an enemy of the Supper. Its members are free to take it in other churches, and the Army denies none of its meaning. It says it has kept Christ's atoning sacrifice at the center of its worship, and it celebrates Christ's real presence at all meals and in all meetings. That is nearer the text than a rite made an offering by a priest. But a remembrance the Lord commanded cannot be moved from the assembly to the home meal and the love feast, and the Commission's rule that "frequency" will not "be prescribed" refuses the very pattern the apostles left. Booth's own reason in 1883 was to "postpone any settlement of the question" until "more light" came, but the light was given in the apostles' letters, and Paul said he "received of the Lord" what he delivered (1 Corinthians 11:23). The disciples at Troas came together "upon the first day of the week" to break bread (Acts 20:7), and that apostolic example binds.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren.

The New Testament church had no General. Paul told Titus to "appoint elders in every city" (Titus 1:5), and Luke records that the apostles "appointed for them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), a plurality in each congregation, who are to tend the flock "neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:3). The Army has put the whole body under one person by deed, runs each corps by an officer and has its soldiers promise to be "loyal to its leaders." One body under one command is not the pattern: the Lord said "one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren" (Matthew 23:8). The Army's affirmation of the priesthood of all believers is true, and it deserves credit; its structure does not carry it out.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The Army's meeting has the plain parts the apostles gave their churches: prayer, the reading and teaching of the word, singing, and the testimony and exhortation of the members (1 Corinthians 14:26). Its worship is free of ceremony, and that is near the text. It stands short in two things. The New Testament commands the singing, "singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19), and the Army adds brass bands and other instruments, which the text does not name. It also adds the mercy seat as the act of response, in place of the one the apostles commanded, and a meeting without the Lord's Supper has left out the act for which the disciples came together on the first day (Acts 20:7). The course stands at the lineage fragment's mean, which records the instruments the Army has used since its first years and the brass bands it has had since 1878.

The Army has deep and honest love for music, and its bands have carried the gospel into the streets. That is not a small thing. The question the chart asks is narrow: what the churches of the New Testament did in their assemblies, and whether adding instruments adds to what was specified. They sang. Nothing the apostles wrote about the assembly names an instrument.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,

The Army is right that the Spirit gives new life, leads the believer and produces fruit: it takes holiness seriously and teaches that the Spirit's power is the only way to it. It is also careful not to put tongues or miracles at the center, and that restraint is to its credit. But it affirms that "the Body of Christ is equipped for warfare and service through the gifts of the Spirit" without separating the miraculous gifts, which the Lord gave through the apostles' hands (Acts 8:18) and which confirmed the word "by signs and wonders" (Hebrews 2:4), from the gifts of teaching and service that remain. The gifts of tongues and prophecy "shall cease" (1 Corinthians 13:8), and the apostles' witness is now in the written word. The Army's teaching of a state of entire sanctification stands in the distinctive on holiness above.

And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority.

The Army's last article is plain and scriptural: the resurrection, a general judgment, eternal life for the righteous and "eternal punishment" (Matthew 25:46) for the wicked, which it states as "endless." It does not teach universal salvation or annihilation, and it has declined to build a millennial scheme, which is wise: "It is not for you to know times or seasons" (Acts 1:7). The article is short on the Lord's return, which it does not state as a doctrine of its own, though the Handbook of Doctrine treats it as part of the gospel. And "the immortality of the soul" is a philosophers' phrase for what the Scripture says of resurrection. These are small weaknesses in a sound confession.

The Salvation Army holds much that Scripture also teaches. It confesses one God in three persons, Jesus Christ as truly God and truly man, and his death as an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved. It holds that repentance, faith and the new birth are necessary to salvation, and that a person must go on in obedient faith. It teaches the Bible as the rule of faith, the resurrection and the judgment, and eternal life and eternal punishment. It does not baptize infants, and it makes no sacrifice of the Supper, which it does not keep. It takes holiness seriously and asks it of every member. And it has carried the gospel to people the churches passed by, and fed, housed and clothed them in Christ's name, in 134 countries, as few have.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Salvation Army stands near the line in what it teaches about repentance, faith, judgment and the Bible, and far from it in what it has left out and what it has set up in its place. It stands short in four places: no baptism, no Lord's Supper, one General over the whole body, and instruments and a mercy seat in the place of the assembly the apostles kept. Baptism is for the remission of sins, and an Army without it sends penitent believers to a kneeling place where the apostles sent them to the water. The Supper belongs to the first day of every week, and a body that has it at no time has dropped the Lord's own memorial. The Army's reasons are serious and are stated honestly: that the sign may be trusted in place of the grace, that grace is free to all, that a rite divides. But the Lord who gave the commands knew these dangers and gave them anyway.

The Army's love for the poor is not in question, and neither is its courage. What remains is to take the next step of that same obedience: to hear "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you" (Matthew 28:20) as a word to the Army, to go down into the water as the eunuch did, to break the bread on the first day of the week as the church at Troas did, and to be led by elders in each congregation, not by officers appointed over them. That is not to leave the Army's work. It is to do the work in the church the Lord built.

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