Sunday Morning at The Salvation Army - Regent Hall

Sunday morning, I had arranged for Sandy and me to attend the service at the Salvation Army Corps at Regent Hall in central London, near Oxford Circus. While this particular corps has no direct link to my family, it is one of the largest and most popular corps in London, with a wonderful band and songster brigade. My grandfather, Sidney Cox left England for Canada in 1907 as a 19 year-old young man. During the remainder of his life, he only returned to his homeland one time in 1960. He visited the Regent Hall Corps on that occasion, an event that received coverage in an article in The War Cry, a Salvation Army periodical publication.



My Salvation Army contacts in London had told me that this being "holiday", that the congregation, band and songsters might be seriously depleted of members; however we found a quite large and enthusiastic group.


My grandfather was a noted Salvationist and composed a great body of music still used extensively throughout the world by The Salvation Army. He was very beloved by Salvationists everywhere.


For special music, the young peoples songsters performed an arrangement of my grandfather's song, "He Sought Me." This was a particular thrill, because the selection of this piece was made with no knowlege of the fact that I was to be in attendance. Sidney Cox was smiling in Heaven as he heard the children sing his song -

The Saviour sought and found me,

Far from the narrow way,

He made my blinded eyes to see,

On that wonderful, wonderful day.

He sought me, He sought me,

When I was wandering far away,

He found me, He found me,

Oh, what a wonderful day.

Later in the service, the band and congregation joined in for a rousing rendition of "I Want To Tell You What The Lord Has Done", a very popular upbeat piece composed by my grandfather. Just prior, Sandy and I were introduced to the congregation by the Corps officer, and this song was added to the service in honor of our attendance.

I want to tell what God had done,

Through Christ, his well beloved son,

How my poor heart he sought and won,

Can you wonder that I love to tell it?

I want to tell what God can do,

For sinners lost like me and you,

Of sins washed white and garments new,

Can you wonder that I love to tell it?

I want to tell you what the Lord has done,

What the Lord has done for me,

He lifted me from the miry clay,

Oh, what a happy day,

I want to tell you what the Lord can do,

What the Lord can do for you,

He can change your life as he did mine,

And make it anew.

(For my family, I have a vidio clip of these numbers; however, the file is too large to upload onto the blog.)

It exceeded all of my expectations to sit in London, where the Salvation Army was founded, and hear my grandfather's music and know that it is still loved and used. He was "Promoted To Glory" over 30 years ago.

Major John Reed, Corps Officer, Regent Hall