👴 jdcard

Articles of War

This table provides a side-by-side comparison of the text of three different versions of The Salvations Army's "Articles of War" document, signed by people who wish to become members of the church.

     Note                1952                  1966                2015
============== ======================== =================== ====================
               This is the text as I
               copied it from my
               mother's signed and                          The current text as
               framed document from     I copied this text  available as
               1952. It may have been   from my own         [SOLDIER'S COVENANT]
Source         in use in this form ever document that I     at The Salvation
               since the 1880s; it      signed in December  Army International
               appears to have been     1966.               Headquarters
               quoted in Thomas H.                          website.
               Huxley's "[Legal
               Opinions]".

-------------- ----------1952--------01 -------1966------01 -------2015-------01
Title          Articles of War          Articles of War     SOLDIER'S COVENANT

-------------- ----------1952--------02 -------1966------02 -------2015-------02
                                                            (Promises made when
                                        Signed by all       becoming a soldier
               Signed by all Salvation  Salvation Army      in The Salvation
Explanation    Army Soldiers            Soldiers            Army. Formerly
                                                            called 'Articles of
                                                            War'.)

-------------- ----------1952--------03 -------1966------03 -------2015-------03
                                        Having received
                                        with all my heart
               Having received with all the Salvation
               my heart the salvation   offered to me by
               offered to me by the     the tender mercy of
               tender mercy of Jehovah, God, I do here and  HAVING accepted
               I do here and now        now acknowledge God Jesus Christ as my
               publicly acknowledge God the Father to be my Saviour and Lord,
               the Father to be my      King; God the Son,  and desiring to
               king, God the Son, Jesus Jesus Christ our    fulfil my
               Christ our Lord, to be   Lord, to be my      membership of His
Motivation     my Saviour, God the Holy Saviour; and God    Church on earth as
               Spirit to be my Guide,   the Holy Spirit to  a soldier of The
               Comforter, and Strength; be my Guide,        Salvation Army, I
               and I will, by His help, Comforter and       now by God's grace
               love, serve, worship and Strength; and I     enter into a sacred
               obey this glorious God   will, by His help,  covenant.
               through time and through love, serve,
               eternity.                worship, and obey
                                        this glorious God
                                        through time and
                                        through eternity.

-------------- ----------1952--------04 -------1966------04 -------2015-------04
               Believing solemnly that  Believing that The
               The Salvation Army has   Salvation Army has
               been raised up by God,   been raised up by
               and is sustained and     God, and is         I believe and will
               directed by Him, I do    sustained and       live by the truths
               here declare my full     directed by Him, I  of the word of God
Affirmation of determination, by God's  do here declare     expressed in The
the Army's     help, to be a true       that I am           Salvation Army's
doctrine       Soldier of The Army till thoroughly          eleven articles of
               I die.                   convinced of the    faith:
                                    05  truth of the Army's
               I am thoroughly          teaching, that is
               convinced of the truth   to say:
               of The Army's teaching.

               E L E V E N   A R T I C L E S   O F   F A I T H
-------------- ----------1952--------08 -------1966------05 -------2015-------05
               I believe that the
               Scriptures were given by I believe that the  We believe that the
               inspiration of God, and  Scriptures of the   Scriptures of the
               that they teach that not Old and New         Old and New
               only does continuance in Testaments were     Testaments were
               the favor of God depend  given by            given by
Scriptures     upon continued faith in, inspiration of God  inspiration of God:
inspired       and obedience to Christ, and that they only  and that they only
               but that it is possible  constitute the      constitute the
               for those who have been  divine rule of      Divine rule of
               truly converted to fall  Christian faith and Christian faith and
               away and be eternally    practice.           practice.
               lost.

-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966------06 -------2015-------06
                                        I believe that      We believe that
                                        there is only one   there is only one
                                        God, who is         God, who is
                                        infinitely perfect, infinitely perfect,
                                        the Creator,        the Creator.
One God                                 Preserver and       Preserver, and
                                        Governor of all     Governor of all
                                        things and who is   things, and who is
                                        the only proper     the only proper
                                        object of religious object of religious
                                        worship.            worship.

-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966------07 -------2015-------07
                                        I believe that      We believe that
                                        there are three     there are three
                                        persons in the      persons in the
                                        Godhead, the        Godhead--the
                                        Father, the Son,    Father, the Son and
The Trinity                             and the Holy Ghost, the Holy
                                        undivided in        Ghost--undivided in
                                        essence and         essence and coequal
                                        co-equal in power   in power and glory.
                                        and glory.

-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966------08 -------2015-------08
                                        I believe that in   We believe that in
                                        the person of Jesus the person of Jesus
                                        Christ the divine   Christ the Divine
                                        and human natures   and human natures
Nature of                               are united, so that are united, so that
Christ                                  He is truly and     He is truly and
                                        properly God and    properly God and
                                        truly and properly  truly and properly
                                        man.                man.

-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966------09 -------2015-------09
                                        I believe that our  We believe that our
                                        first parents were  first parents were
                                        created in a state  created in a state
                                        of innocency but by of innocency. but
                                        their disobedience  by their
                                        they lost their     disobedience they
                                        purity and          lost their purity
                                        happiness and that  and happiness; and
Original sin                            in consequence of   that in consequence
                                        their fall all men  of their fall all
                                        have become         men have become
                                        sinners, totally    sinners, totally
                                        depraved, and as    depraved. and as
                                        such are justly     such are justly
                                        exposed to the      exposed to the
                                        wrath of God.       wrath of God.

-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966------10 -------2015-------10
                                        I believe that the  We believe that the
                                        Lord Jesus Christ   Lord Jesus Christ
                                        has by His          has, by His
                                        suffering and death suffering and
Atonement                               made an atonement   death, made an
                                        for the whole world atonement for the
                                        so that whosoever   whole world so that
                                        will may be saved.  whosoever will may
                                                            be saved.

-------------- ----------1952--------06 -------1966------11 -------2015-------11
               I believe that           I believe that      We believe that
               repentance towards God,  repentance toward   repentance towards
               faith in our Lord Jesus  God, faith in our   God, faith in our
Essentials of  Christ, and conversion   Lord Jesus Christ   Lord Jesus Christ
salvation      by the Holy Spirit are   and regeneration by and regeneration by
               necessary to Salvation,  the Holy Spirit are the Holy Spirit are
               and that all men may be  necessary to        necessary to
               saved.                   Salvation.          salvation.

-------------- ----------1952--------07 -------1966------12 -------2015-------12
               I believe that we are    I believe that we   We believe that we
               saved by grace, through  are justified by    are justified by
               faith in our Lord Jesus  grace through faith grace, through
Means of       Christ, and he that      in our Lord Jesus   faith in our Lord
salvation      believeth hath the       Christ and that he  Jesus Christ; and
               witness of it in         that believeth hath that he that
               himself. I have got it.  the witness in      believeth hath the
               Thank God!               himself.            witness in himself.

-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966------13 -------2015-------13
                                        I believe that      We believe that
                                        continuance in a    continuance in a
Possible to    [see paragraph 1952-08,  state of Salvation  state of salvation
fall away      above]                   depends upon        depends upon
                                        continued obedient  continued obedient
                                        faith in Christ.    faith in Christ.

-------------- ----------1952--------09 -------1966------14 -------2015-------14
               I believe that it is the
               privilege of all God's
               people 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." That is
               to say, I believe that
               after conversion there
               remain in the heart of   I believe that it
               the believer,            is the privilege of We believe that it
               inclinations to evil, or all believers to be is the privilege of
               roots of bitterness,     "wholly sanctified" all believers to be
               which, unless            and that their      wholly sanctified,
               overpowered by Divine    "whole spirit and   and that their
Complete       grace, produce actual    soul and body" may  whole spirit and
salvation      sin; but these evil      "be preserved       soul and body may
               tendencies can be        blameless unto the  be preserved
               entirely taken away by   coming of our Lord  blameless unto the
               the Spirit of God, and   Jesus Christ" (I    coming of our Lord
               the whole heart thus     Thessalonians       Jesus Christ.
               cleansed from anything   5:23).
               contrary to the will of
               God, or entirely
               sanctified, will then
               produce the fruit of the
               Spirit only. And I
               believe that persons
               thus entirely sanctified
               may, by the power of
               God, be kept unblameable
               and unrepovable before
               Him.

-------------- ----------1952--------10 -------1966------15 -------2015-------15
                                        I believe in the    We believe in the
               I believe in the         immortality of the  immortality of the
               immortality of the soul  soul, in the        soul; in the
               in the resurrection of   resurrection of the resurrection of the
               the body; in the general body, in the        body; in the
               judgement at the end of  general judgment at general judgment at
The afterlife  the world; in the        the end of the      the end of the
               eternal happiness of the world, in the       world; in the
               righteous; and in the    eternal happiness   eternal happiness
               everlasting punishment   of the righteous    of the righteous;
               of the wicked.           and in the endless  and in the endless
                                        punishment of the   punishment of the
                                        wicked.             wicked.


-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966-------- -------2015-------16
                                                            THEREFORE

-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966-------- -------2015-------17
                                                            I will be
                                                            responsive to the
                                                            Holy Spirit's work
                                                            and obedient to His
Growth through                                              leading in my life,
obedience                                                   growing in grace
                                                            through worship,
                                                            prayer, service and
                                                            the reading of the
                                                            Bible.

-------------- ----------1952--------11 -------1966------16 -------2015-------18
                                        Therefore, I do
                                        here and now, and
               Therefore, I do here and forever, renounce
               now, and forever,        the world with all
               renounce the world with  its sinful
               all its sinful           pleasures,
               pleasures,               companionships,     I will make the
               companionships,          treasures, and      values of the
               treasures, and objects,  objects, and        Kingdom of God and
Leave the      and declare my full      declare my full     not the values of
world, serve   determination boldly to  determination       the world the
God            show myself a Soldier of boldly to show      standard for my
               Jesus Christ in all      myself a soldier of life.
               places and companies, no Jesus Christ in all
               matter what I may have   places and
               to suffer, do, or lose,  companies, no
               by so doing.             matter what I may
                                        have to suffer, do
                                        or lose by so
                                        doing.

-------------- ----------1952--------13 -------1966------18 -------2015-------19
               I do here and now        I do here and now
               declare that I will      declare that I will
               abstain from the use of  abstain from the    I will uphold
               all low or profane       use of all low or   Christian integrity
               language; from the       profane language    in every area of my
               taking of the name of    and from all        life, allowing
               God in vain; and from    impurity, including nothing in thought.
Personal       all impurity, or from    unclean             word or deed that
purity         taking part in any       conversation, the   is unworthy,
               unclean conversation, or reading of any      unclean, untrue,
               the reading of any       obscene book or     profane, dishonest
               obscene book or paper at paper at any time,  or immoral.
               any time, in any         in any company, or
               company, or in any       in any place.
               place.

-------------- ----------1952--------14 -------1966------19 -------2015-------20
               I do here and now        I do here declare
               declare that I will not  that I will not
               allow myself in any      allow myself in any I will maintain
               falsehood, deceit,       deceit or           Christian ideals in
               misrepresentation, or    dishonesty; nor     all my
               dishonesty; neither will will I practice any relationships with
               I practice any           fraudulent conduct  others: my family
               fraudulent conduct in my in my business, my  and neighbours, my
Maintain       business, my home, nor   home or in any      colleagues and
personal       in any other             other relation in   fellow
integrity      relationship in which I  which I may stand   Salvationists,
               may stand to my fellow   to my fellow men;   those to whom and
               men; but will deal       but that I will     for whom I am
               truthfully, fairly,      deal truthfully,    responsible, and
               honorably, and kindly    honorably and       the wider
               with all those who may   kindly with all     community.
               employ me, or whom I     those who employ me
               myself may employ.       or whom I may
                                        myself employ.

-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966-------- -------2015-------21
                                                            I will uphold the
Marriage                                                    sanctity of
sacred                                                      marriage and of
                                                            family life.

-------------- ----------1952---------- -------1966-------- -------2015-------22
                                                            I will be a
                                                            faithful steward of
                                                            my time and gifts,
                                                            my money and
Personal                                                    possessions, my
responsibility                                              body, my mind and
                                                            my spirit, knowing
                                                            that I am
                                                            accountable to God.

-------------- ----------1952--------12 -------1966------17 -------2015-------23
               I do here and now        I do here and now   I will abstain from
               declare that I will      declare that I will alcoholic drink.
               abstain from the use of  abstain from the    tobacco, the
               all intoxicating         use of all          non-medical use of
               liquors, and from the    intoxicating        addictive drugs.
No alcohol,    habitual use of opium,   liquor, and from    gambling,
drugs, or      laudanum, morphia, and   the use of all      pornography, the
tobacco        all other baneful drugs, baneful drugs,      occult, and all
               except when in illness   except when such    else that could
               such drugs will be       drugs shall be      enslave the body or
               ordered for me by the    ordered for me by a spirit.
               doctor.                  doctor.

-------------- ----------1952--------15 -------1966------20 -------2015-------24
                                        I do here declare
                                        that I will never
               I do here and now        treat any woman,
               declare that I will      child or other
               never treat any woman,   person, whose life, I will be faithful
               child, or other person,  comfort or          to the purposes for
               whose life, comfort, or  happiness may be    which God raised up
               happiness may be placed  placed within my    The Salvation Army,
               within my power, in an   power, in an        sharing the good
               oppressive, cruel or     oppressive, cruel   news of Jesus
Duty to others cowardly manner, but     or cowardly manner; Christ,
               that I will protect such but that I will     endeavouring to win
               from evil and danger so  protect such from   others to Him, and
               far as I can, and        evil and danger so  in His name caring
               promote to the utmost of far as I can, and   for the needy and
               my ability, their        promote, to the     the disadvantaged.
               present welfare and      utmost of my
               eternal Salvation.       ability, their
                                        present welfare and
                                        eternal Salvation.

-------------- ----------1952--------16 -------1966------21 -------2015-------25
                                        I do here declare
                                        that I will spend
               I do here and now        all the time,
               declare that I will      strength, money and
               spend all the time,      influence I can in
               strength, money, and     supporting and
               influence I can in       carrying on the     I will be actively
               supporting and carrying  Salvation war, and  involved, as I am
               on this War, and that I  that I will         able, in the life,
               will endeavor to lead my endeavor to lead my work, worship and
Earnest        family, friends,         family, friends,    witness of the
support of     neighbors, and all       neighbors and all   corps, giving as
Army's         others whom I can        others whom I can   large a proportion
purposes       influence, to do the     influence to do the of my income as
               same, believing that the same, believing     possible to support
               sure and only way to     that the sure and   its ministries and
               remedy all the the evils only way to remedy  the worldwide work
               in the world is by       all the evils in    of the Army.
               bringing men to submit   the world is by
               themselves to the        bringing men to
               Government of the Lord   submit themselves
               Jesus Christ.            to the government
                                        of the Lord Jesus
                                        Christ.

-------------- ----------1952--------17 -------1966------22 -------2015-------26
                                        I do here declare
                                        that I will always
               I do here and now        obey the lawful
               declare that I will      orders of my
               always obey the lawful   officers, and that
               orders of my Officers,   I will carry out to
               and that I will carry    the utmost of my    I will be true to
               out to the utmost of my  power all the       the principles and
               power all the Orders and orders and          practices of The
               Regulations of The Army; regulations of the  Salvation Army,
               and further that I will  Army; and, further, loyal to its
Follow the     be an example of         that I will be an   leaders, and I will
Army's plan    faithfulness to its      example of          show the spirit of
               principles, advance to   faithfulness to its Salvationism
               the utmost of my ability principles, advance whether in times of
               its operations, and      to the utmost of my popularity or
               never allow, where I can ability its         persecution.
               prevent it, any injury   operations, and
               to its interests, or     never allow, where
               hindrance to its         I can prevent it,
               success.                 any injury to its
                                        interest, or
                                        hindrance to its
                                        success.

-------------- ----------1952--------18 -------1966------23 -------2015-------27
                                        And I do here and   I now call upon all
                                        now call upon all   present to witness
                                        present to witness  that I enter into
                                        that I have entered this covenant and
               And I do here and now    into this           sign these articles
               call upon all present to undertaking and     of war of my own
               witness that I enter     sign these Articles free will,
               into this undertaking,   of War of my own    convinced that the
               and sign these Articles  free will, feeling  love of Christ, who
               of War of my own free    that the love of    died and now lives
               will, feeling that the   Christ, who died to to save me,
Solemn         love of Christ, who died save me, requires   requires from me
commitment     to save me, requires     from me this        this devotion of my
               from me this devotion of devotion of my life life to His service
               my life to His Service   to His service for  for the salvation
               for the Salvation of the the Salvation of    of the whole world;
               whole world, and         the whole world,    and therefore do
               therefore wish now to be and therefore do    here declare my
               enrolled as a Soldier of here declare my     full determination,
               The Salvation Army.      full determination, by God's help, to
                                        by God's help, to   be a true soldier
                                        be a true soldier   of The Salvation
                                        of The Salvation    Army.
                                        Army till I die.

-------------- ------------------------ ------------------- --------------------
    

Some of the paragraphs of the 1966, and especially the 1952 version, are presented out of sequence. The entire text of each document is included here but their order matches that of the 2015 version to allow easy comparisons of the comparable clauses.

©2022 🅭🅯🄏🄎 Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

🌐 jdcard.tilde.team

Search this site at marginalia.nu