WILLIAM & CATHERINE BOOTH "THROUGH BLOOD AND FIRE (PART 4)

A Path of Repentance

As personal sins came to mind, he would repent and make restitution whenever possible. One example involved a silver pencil case he had obtained from some friends through trickery. Although he had to swallow his pride, he faced them and returned it.

A Sense of Certainty

In the days that followed, William became certain that he belonged to God. Years later, he described his sense of certainty this way: “My brethren, if you have salvation, you are sure of it. This is not because you have heard it preached; not because you have read it with your eyes or heard it read by others in that wonderful book, the wonderful story of the love of God to you; not because you have seen with your eyes transformations of character wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost—changes as marvelous, miraculous, and as divine as any that ever took place in the apostolic or any other days. These things may have led up to it, but these things, wonderful as they may be, have not power to make you sure of your part and lot in the matter of salvation. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but God Himself, by His Spirit, has made this known.”

Seeking God

William began attending every service and Bible class he could at the Wesleyan Chapel. He filled himself with the Word of God and the fire of God.

While others gathered in the streets to riot or preach social reform, William was seeking God.

READ ALSO: WILLIAM J. SEYMOUR (PART 1)

A Life of Purpose

With his talents and enthusiasm, William could easily have become a successful politician or revolutionary. But God reached him first.

Because God got to him first, William would go on to do more to reform the social ills of his nation than perhaps any other person in the nineteenth century.

Catherine Mumford’s Early Life

Some three months before William’s birth, Catherine Mumford was born on January 17, 1829, in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. She was the only daughter of John and Sarah Mumford.

The Mumfords also had four sons, but only one lived beyond childhood. Catherine’s mother, Sarah, had been a devout believer from her youth.

READ ALSO: WILLIAM AND CATHERINE (PART 3)

A Sickly but Devoted Child

Catherine was a sickly child. She remained fragile and frequently unwell throughout her life. Yet something burned within her that made such frailty seem almost insignificant. She possessed a compassion and intensity of feeling that was unparalleled in anyone but her future husband.

Catherine was anything but an unhappy child. Constant illness kept her indoors much of the time. As a result, she developed a deep love for books and treasured no book more than the Bible.

Her mother valued the truth of God so highly that she allowed no novels or other fiction in their home. She considered them foolish and a waste of time.

To be continued…