CHRIST the TENDER-HEARTED: “Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk 1:78-79). Make no mistake, William Booth believed in the gospel. He wrote: “My only hope for the permanent deliverance of mankind from misery, either in this world or the next, is the regeneration or remaking of the individual by the power of the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ.” A beautiful story is told about his funeral, held Aug 29, 1912. A crowd of 40,000 jammed into the London Olympia. Queen Mary, almost unnoticed, slipped into the rear of the auditorium and sat near a woman who had survived by once selling her body. As the casket moved past her, the woman placed three somewhat faded flowers on it—the only flowers present on the coffin throughout the funeral. Turning to the queen, she explained: “He cared for the likes of us.”