Women’s Ministries Programs

Theme:

“Messages of Love”

Love Letters of William and Catherine Booth

By

Kathleen Bearcroft

Education—May 2008

Decorations

Place feathered quills around the room with old fashioned inkwells. Invite the women to practice writing the old fashioned way by using pen and ink.

Refreshments

In honor of the British background of William and Catherine, serve a proper English tea with scones, cream and jam.

Our Story

The following excerpt from A Sketch, by Colonel Mildred Duff, tells how William and Catherine Booth met. “One Sunday when Catherine and her mother went to the meeting as usual, they found a ‘special’ there, taking the services. He was quite different ...  Catherine could not help noticing him with extra interest. A few days later ... the very same preacher came in, and was introduced to them as the Rev. William Booth. Catherine knew they had one subject in common—love for souls; but before the evening ended she

discovered that the young minister was quite as earnest as she was herself in fighting ‘the drink curse’ and all that was connected with it.”

This was the beginning of a relationship that God had planned and would result in the founding of The Salvation Army by the Booths. Their engagement lasted for three years.

Catherine had an intense practicality about her and laid down some essential prerequisites in the man she would take as a husband. She wrote, “As quite a young girl I made up my

mind. He must be a sincere Christian; not a nominal one, or a mere church member, but truly converted to God. I resolved that he should be a man of sense. I knew that I could never respect a fool, or one much weaker mentally than myself. Another resolution

I made was that I would never marry a man who was not a total abstainer and this from conviction and not merely to gratify me.”

Unessential, but desirable, Catherine thought, giving imagination a little innocent freedom, was that he should be a minister. “I could be most useful to God as a minister’s wife,” she told herself and, still looking into the future, she added that he should be “dark, tall and for preference called William!” (Taken from Catherine Booth, by Catherine Bramwell Booth.)

Love Letters

The story of Catherine Mumford and William Booth is not a typical love story, nor are their love letters ordinary. Following are some excerpts of letters from Catherine to William:

“The more you lead me up to Christ in all things, the more highly shall I esteem you, and if it be possible to love you more than I do now, the more shall I love you.”

“The nearest our assimilation to Jesus, the more perfect and heavenly our union.”

“Do you ever think how kind it was of God to make such a relationship a Holy one, so that His own children may realize more bliss in it than any other?”

“Any idea of lordship or ownership is lost in love … there will be mutual yielding wherever there is proper love, because it is a joy to yield our own will to those for whom we have real affection.”

“Our home, if we live in love, as Christ hath loved us, what a little heaven below.” “It is the highest ambition of my soul that you should be a man of God and live only to save souls.”

“That you love me so well, now you love the Lord better, makes me rejoice, and I feel now that I may love you as much as I like.”

Program Idea

The art of writing love letters seems to be a thing of the past. Rekindle this art by having the women write to a daughter, sister or grandchild expressing their feelings of love.

Website

The following web site has more love letters and information about the Booths: www.outfo.org/literature/pg/etext04/7cbth10h.htm.