The Lily of the Valley

Christianity flourished during England's Victorian Era. As a result concern for the orphans, the poor, the homeless and those beaten by the rise of the Industrial Revolution were on the rise. One man was determined to help as many of them as he could.

William Booth became a Christian when he was a teenager. He began witnessing to others and winning them to Christ. He moved to London to be come a pawnbroker but changed careers and became a Methodist evangelist. By 1865 his ministry was mainly dealing with the poor on the east side of London. Many nights he came home beaten, battered and bleeding.

In 1878 Mr. Booth started the Salvation Army. Many men, women and children left their old lives behind and enlisted in the army of the Lord. The movement spread through England and eventually the entire world.

That same year a group from the Salvation Army tried to set up a ministry in Salisbury, England. They were treated very badly. Every time they tried to preach they were hit with eggs and bricks.

Charles Fry, an amateur musician and layman in the Methodist church, lived in Salisbury. He saw how badly the people of the town treated the Salvation Army workers. He took himself and his three strong sons, who were also musicians, to the streets and acted as bodyguards for the Salvation Army workers. They showed up with their weapons of two cornets, a trombone and a tuba. Not only did they fight off the more unruly members of the town but their music drew a crowd for the preachers. And so was born the Salvation Army Brass Band.

In 1881 Charles Fry wrote the hymn "Lily of the Valley". It was published on December 29th 1881 in the Salvation Army magazine The War Cry. In August of the following year Charles Fry died. On his grave was inscribed another verse that he had written.

The former things are past, and ended is the strife,

I'm save home at last! I live an endless life!

Charles Fry is pictured with his family in the photo above.