Copy Book Archive

Twelve Poor Men and True Charles Dickens explains the thinking behind Jesus Christ’s choice of friends.
1846-1849
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
Music: George Frideric Handel

By Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source

About this picture …

St Bartholomew the Apostle, as imagined by Flemish artist Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640). He was knighted by King Charles I in 1630, in part a reflection of his efforts to broker peace between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands during the Eighty Years’ War. Rubens’s art was recognised by an honorary Master of Arts degree, awarded by the University of Cambridge in 1629.

Twelve Poor Men and True
Charles Dickens’s ‘The Life of Our Lord’ was written ‘for his children during the years 1846 to 1849’. Many of the themes that animate his novels find direct and uncomplicated expression in its pages, including the importance of a loving home and inspiring role-models close at hand.

JESUS Christ chose twelve poor men to be His companions. He chose them from among poor men, in order that the poor might know that Heaven was made for them as well as for the rich, and that God makes no difference between those who wear good clothes and those who go barefoot and in rags. The most miserable, the most ugly, deformed, wretched creatures that live, will be bright Angels in Heaven if they are good here on earth.

Never be proud or unkind to any poor man, woman, or child. If they are bad, think that they would have been better if they had had kind friends, and good homes, and had been better taught. So, always try to make them better by kind persuading words; and always try to teach them and relieve them if you can. And when people speak ill of the poor and miserable, think how Jesus Christ went among them, and taught them, and thought them worthy of His care.

Précis

Charles Dickens explains that Jesus Christ chose his twelve Apostles from among the poor to send the message that people with little money or health or beauty are promised heaven no less than the rich and fortunate. He adds that we should make all the allowances we can for any faults, and teach and encourage them as best we can. (60 / 60 words)

Source

Abridged from ‘The Life of Our Lord’, by Charles Dickens.

Suggested Music

Foundling Hospital Anthem

Blessed are they that consider the poor and needy

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Performed by the Choir of Winchester Cathedral and the Brandenburg Consort, directed by David Hill.

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Transcript / Notes

BLESSED are they that consider the poor and needy,
The Lord will deliver them in time of trouble,
The Lord preserve them and comfort them.

See Psalm 41:1.

For the text of the whole anthem, see Emmanuel Music.

How To Use This Passage

You can use this passage to help improve your command of English.

IRead it aloud, twice or more. IISummarise it in one sentence of up to 30 words. IIISummarise it in one paragraph of 40-80 words. IVMake notes on the passage, and reconstruct the original from them later on. VJot down any unfamiliar words, and make your own sentences with them later. VIMake a note of any words that surprise or impress you, and ask yourself what meaning they add to the words you would have expected to see. VIITurn any old-fashioned English into modern English. VIIITurn prose into verse, and verse into prose. IXAsk yourself what the author is trying to get you to feel or think. XHow would an artist or a photographer capture the scene? XIHow would a movie director shoot it, or a composer write incidental music for it?

For these and more ideas, see How to Use The Copy Book.

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