Sunday, December 8, 2013

Dickens and Van Dyke: Recommended Reading for the Christmas Season

Charles Dickens wrote The Life of Our Lord for his own children. It was very personal to him and to his family, and so was not published until many years after he passed away. It is a treasure, explaining Jesus' life in terms a child can understand. It shows the strength of Dickens' testimony of Christ.

This little book contains one of my favorite first paragraphs from all literature: "My dear children, I am very anxious that you should know something about the History of Jesus Christ. For everybody ought to know about Him. No one ever lived, who was so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for all people who did wrong, or were in anyway ill or miserable, as he was. And as he is now in Heaven, where we hope to go, and all to meet each other after we are dead, and there be happy always together, you never can think what a good place Heaven, is without knowing who he was and what he did."

Highly recommended. I found it on line at The Life of Our Lord.

The other short book that I like to read during this time of year is Henry Van Dyke's The Mansion. This is a sort of parable about our reward on earth vs. our reward in heaven, and is a good reminder of what our real priorities should be. Though Van Dyke did not word it this way, he clearly teaches in this story that "when you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of your God."

I also like it because one of the characters is named Harold. Not that this should make any difference...

I found it on line at The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke.

I hope you enjoy these books. I think they would be well worth your time.

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