When Catherine Booth Made the Great Decision A Salvation Army Band led the singing and a Salvation Army officer delivered the address at one of the three meetings held in connection with the 150th anniversary of Stockwell Green Congregational Church, London, during the summer of 1946. Very special reasons lay back of the recognition of the Salvation Army on that occasion, for in that church the wife of General William Booth made the “great decision”; and in front of the speaker was the pew bearing the number 23 where Catherine Mumford always sat with her family. She was also a teacher in its Sunday School. In that church on one June day she was converted, and on another June day she was married to the Rev. William Booth, a young Methodist minister. The future years led these two young people, one a Congregationalist and the other a Methodist, in paths of Christian service beyond their utmost dreams. Catherine had a gloriously happy memory in the hymn which led to her conversion, and rejoiced in its emphatic assurance, as expressed by Charles Wesley: “My God, I am Thine; What a comfort divine, What a blessing to know that my Jesus is mine! In the heavenly lamb Thrice happy I am, And my heart it doth dance at the sound of His name.” This hymn has always been popular in British Methodism, and in the latest edition of their hymn-book (1933) it is set to the tune of _Harwich_. Telford characterized it as “a hymn with an extraordinary history of blessing ever since it was written.” One can easily imagine, therefore, with what delight the young convert could henceforth sing the second verse: “True pleasures abound In the rapturous sound; And whoever hath found it hath paradise found. My Jesus to know, And to feel His blood flow, ’Tis life everlasting, ’tis heaven below.” His Song and Experience in a Coal Mine “The greatest English poet of his age,” said Dr. James Moffatt when speaking of William Cowper. But this same writer gave us some of our most cherished hymns. They are greatly beloved in our American churches as well as in his native land. Among those richly cherished and frequently used in worship is the one which deals with Divine Providence: “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.” This hymn “has helped multitudes to bear up under the blows of apparently adverse fortune,” we are told by W. T. Stead. Referring to the verse which reads: “Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head,” we are told that “It has been much used in times of danger and distress.”