Thousands Of Homeless Babies Rescued By George Frideric Handel And His Messiah

George Frideric Handel

A wealthy shipbuilder, Thomas Coram, retired early in an upscale district in London. He stayed fit by vigorous walks, but had no idea that something he found on these walks would change his life. Babies... he found dead and dying babies left on the streets. They were called foundlings.

Foundlings were babies born to unmarried women. These women where in a horrible situation since there were no homes to take their babies and no jobs for an unmarried woman with a child at her breast. It was starvation for both mother and child. So in the early morning hours these heartbroken mothers took their babies to the upscale areas of London to leave them on the doorsteps of well-off families who they hoped would have pity on their innocent infants. The babies who survived were usually taken to workhouses where the death rate for foundlings was over 90%.

Thomas was appalled and committed his remaining years to rescuing foundlings. There were homes for orphans, but foundlings were considered a different class because of how they were born. Orphan homes, like the famed homes of George Mueller, would not take in a foundling. Before George Mueller would receive a child into his homes evidence had to be provided that the child was born to parents who were married when the child was conceived. Adoption was not a legal option on either side of the Atlantic at the time.

Mr. Coram faced great difficulty getting permission to open a foundling's home (called a Foundling's Hospital). But permission was not enough. There were thousands of foundlings born each year... where would the money come from to feed, house, and cloth these children? Where would he get enough wet-nurses and other caregivers for the babies?

Enter George Frideric Handel, the Kapellmeister to the future King George of Great Britain. George Handel became a life-long supporter of the efforts of Thomas Coram to rescue foundlings. He was a beloved friend of the children, a governor of the Foundling's Hospital, and opened the doors for Thomas Coram to British aristocracy which led to the founding and survival of this great endeavor to rescue children. There is a permanent exhibit in the Foundling Museum in London dedicated to George Handel.

Thousands of children were rescued! Hundreds of babies were placed into the care of the home by heartbroken mothers. In the first few years, after the age for entrance to the Home was raised from 2 months to 12 months, the home received 15,000 babies!

George Handel annually performed the Messiah at the Foundling's Home and donated all the income to the home. He was the chief fundraiser for the chapel, built so the children could learn of this great Messiah's love for them. He bequeathed a full copy of the Messiah to the home which can be seen today in the museum along with the organ he presented to the home.

His music legacy in the home was great. One of the most popular choirs of the day was a choir filled with blind children from the home. Many of the foundlings made successful careers as musicians playing in orchestras and bands throughout Britain.

This Christmas don't forget the foundlings and orphans. Give to a Children's Home. If you don't know of one you are welcome to give to the home sponsored by our Church. It is Amazing Grace Children's Home (Formerly Rivers Of Mercy). Every cent given to the home goes directly to the home, we take nothing out for administrative costs. If you want to be placed on our mailing list simply send me your e-mail at blawrencejones@hotmail.com. Make your checks payable to Santa Fe Baptist Church with children's home in the memo of your check. The mailing address is:

Santa Fe Baptist Church

12902 6^th Street

Santa Fe, Texas 77510

An Abused, Angry, Sullen Woman

John 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

We must keep this conversation in the context of the culture of that day. It was a man's world, and for women and children not willing to show humility in the presence of men it was, sadly, a brutal world. I think one purpose for retaining the first part of this conversation was to give us insight into the nature of this particular woman within that culture.

Twice Jesus told this woman what to do, and twice she argued with Him, and then didn't do what she was told. In that culture her responses would have been openly disrespectful. Then, while alone with a man from a neighboring nation in conflict with her own, she tried to start a religious argument about the superiority of her national religion over his. Dangerous...

I would expect to see scars on the face and knuckles of a woman who responded to men in that culture the way this woman responded to Jesus. She was a sullen, angry, abused woman, who had experienced a difficult life of broken relationships. She was living, unmarried, with her sixth man.

But... Jesus knew this, and was patient and kind with her. To Jesus she was His lost sheep in the wilderness. She was the one He came to save. He left the ninety and nine righteous to look for her. Other men may have seen her as someone to abuse, use, belittle, or ignore. Jesus saw a beloved soul; a person to value and sacrifice Himself to redeem. Even his disciples were surprised to see Him talking to her as they returned from an errand. He could have gone to a Samaritan queen… but He went to that water-well to save that woman, and I'm glad He did.