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The Crest
The symbolism of The Salvation Army crest is explained in the Chapter 11, Section 3 of Orders And Regulations for Officers, 1997, as follows:
(a) The round figure 'the sun' represents the light and fire of the Holy Spirit
(b) The cross in the centre represents the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
(c) The letter ‘S’ stands for Salvation
(d) The swords represent the warfare of salvation
(e) The shots represent the truths of the gospel
(f) The crown represents the crown of glory, which God will give to all his soldiers who are faithful to the end.
These explanations go back to the 1900 edition of Orders And Regulations for Field Officers, which is the earliest description of the crest we have found. Although the explanations have not changed, the details of the design have varied considerably through the years, and from country to country.
The number of shots varies from five, in our earliest examples, up to ten or more. Seven did not become standard until around 1910. From all our research, we have concluded that, as far as the symbolism of the crest is concerned, the number of gospel shots is not significant, any more than the number of rays on the sun, or whether the stars on the crown have three, four, or five points.
The Crest - further information...
The original design for the Crest was apparently submitted to Headquarters by Captain William Ebdon in 1878.
Captain William Ebdon
The idea was accepted and by March 1879 the Crest was printed on the official Salvation Army letterhead. It looked similar to the Crest now in use, but appears to have only five Gospel shots.
In 1884, William Booth applied to register the Crest as a Trade Mark on a number of items including, "knives, soap and buttons, not made of precious metal". A correspondent to a journal of the day wrote, "what ever next"?
Like the Flag, the Crest sums up the message of the Salvation Army, that Christ, through His death on the cross, has conquered sin and death, and through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit we may all become more like Him.
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