ANECDOTES FROM THE PULPIT.
Charles Spurgeon · The Art of Illustration
It is pretty generally admitted that sermons may wisely be adorned with
a fair share of illustrations; but anecdotes used to that end are still
regarded by the prudes of the pulpit with a measure of suspicion. They
will come down low enough to quote an emblem, they will deign to use
poetic imagery; but they cannot stoop to tell a simple, homely story.
They would probably say in confidence to their younger brethren, "Beware
how you lower yourselves and your sacred office by repeating anecdotes,
which are best appreciated by the vulgar and uneducated." We would not
retort by exhorting all men to abound in stories, for there ought to be
discrimination. It is freely admitted that there are useful and
admirable styles of oratory which would be disfigured by a rustic tale;
and there are honored brethren whose genius would never allow them to
relate a story, for it would not appear suitable to their mode of
thought. Upon these we would not even by implication hint at a censure;
but when we are dealing with others who seem to be somewhat, and are not
what they seem, we feel no tenderness; nay, we are even moved to assail
their stilted greatness. If they sneer at anecdotes, we smile at _them_
and their sneers, and wish them more sense and less starch. Affectation
of intellectual superiority and love of rhetorical splendor have
prevented many from setting forth gospel truth in the easiest imaginable
manner, namely, by analogies drawn from common events. Because they
could not condescend to men of low estate, they have refrained from
repeating incidents which would have accurately explained their meaning.
Fearing to be thought vulgar, they have lost golden opportunities. As
well might David have refused to sling one of the smooth stones at
Goliath's brow because he found it in a common brook.
From individuals so lofty in their ideas nothing is likely to flow down
to the masses of the people but a glacial eloquence--a river of ice.
Dignity is a most poor and despicable consideration unless it be the
dignity of turning many to righteousness; and yet divines who have had
scarcely enough of real dignity to save themselves from contempt have
swollen "huge as high Olympus" through the affectation of it. A young
gentleman, after delivering an elaborate discourse, was told that not
more than five or six in the congregation had been able to understand
him. This he accepted as a tribute to his genius; but I take leave to
place him in the same class with another person who was accustomed to
shake his head in the most profound manner, that he might make his
prelections the more impressive; and this had some effect with the
groundlings, until a shrewd Christian woman made the remark that he did
shake his head certainly, but that _there was nothing in it_. Those who
are too refined to be simple need to be refined again. Luther has well
put it in his "Table Talk": "Cursed are all preachers that in the church
aim at high and hard things; and neglecting the saving health of the
poor unlearned people, seek their own honor and praise, and therefore
try to please one or two great persons. _When I preach I sink myself
deep down._" It may be superfluous to remind you of the oft-quoted
passage from George Herbert's "Country Parson," and yet I cannot omit
it, because it is so much to my mind: "The Parson also serves himself of
the judgments of God, as of those of ancient times, so especially of the
late ones; and those most which are nearest to his parish; for people
are very attentive at such discourses, and think it behooves them to be
so when God is so near them, and even over their heads. Sometimes he
tells them stories and sayings of others, according as his text invites
him; for them also men heed, and remember better than exhortations;
which, though earnest, yet often die with the sermon, especially with
country people, which are thick and heavy, and hard to raise to a point
of zeal and fervency, and need a mountain of fire to kindle them, but
stories and sayings they will well remember."
It ought never to be forgotten that the great God himself, when he would
instruct men, employs histories and biographies. Our Bible contains
doctrines, promises, and precepts; but these are not left alone--the
whole book is vivified and illustrated by marvelous records of things
said and done by God and by men. He who is taught of God values the
sacred histories, and knows that in them there is a special fulness and
forcibleness of instruction. Teachers of Scripture cannot do better than
instruct their fellows after the manner of the Scriptures.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the great teacher of teachers, did not disdain
the use of anecdotes. To my mind it seems clear that certain of his
parables were facts and, consequently, anecdotes. May not the story of
the Prodigal Son have been a literal truth? Were there not actual
instances of an enemy sowing tares among the wheat? May not the rich
fool who said, "Take thine ease," have been a photograph taken from
life? Did not Dives and Lazarus actually figure on the stage of history?
Certainly the story of those who were crushed by the fall of the tower
of Siloam, and the sad tragedy of the Galileans, "whose blood Pilate had
mingled with their sacrifices," were matters of current Jewish gossip,
and our Lord turned both of them to good account. What HE did we need
not be ashamed to do. That we may do it with all wisdom and prudence let
us seek the guidance of the Divine Spirit which rested upon him so
continually.
I shall make up this present address by quoting the examples of great
preachers, beginning with the era of the Reformation, and following on
without any very rigid chronological order down to our own day. Examples
are more powerful than precepts; hence I quote them.
First, let me mention that grand old preacher, _Hugh Latimer_, the most
English of all our divines, and one whose influence over our land was
undoubtedly most powerful. Southey says, "Latimer more than any other
man promoted the Reformation by his preaching;" and in this he echoes
the more important utterance of Ridley, who wrote from his prison, "I do
think that the Lord hath placed old father Latimer to be his
standard-bearer in our age and country against his mortal foe,
Antichrist." If you have read any of his sermons, you must have been
struck with the number of his quaint stories, seasoned with a homely
humor which smacks of that Leicestershire farmhouse wherein he was
brought up by a father who did yeoman's service, and a mother who milked
thirty kine. No doubt we may attribute to these stories the breaking
down of pews by the overwhelming rush of the people to hear him, and the
general interest which his sermons excited. More of such, preaching, and
we should have less fear of the return of popery. The common people
heard him gladly, and his lively anecdotes accounted for much of their
eager attention. A few of these narratives one could hardly repeat, for
the taste of our age has happily improved in delicacy; but others are
most admirable and instructive. Here are two of them:
THE FRIAR'S MAN AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.--I will tell you now a
pretty story of a friar, to refresh you withal. A limiter of the
Gray Friars in the time of his limitation preached many times, and
had but one sermon at all times; which sermon was of the Ten
Commandments. And because this friar had preached this sermon so
often, one that heard it before told the friar's servant that his
master was called "Friar John Ten Commandments"; wherefore the
servant showed the friar his master thereof, and advised him to
preach of some other matters; for it grieved the servant to hear
his master derided. Now, the friar made answer saying, "Belike,
then, thou canst say the Ten Commandments well, seeing thou hast
heard them so many a time." "Yea," said the servant, "I warrant
you." "Let me hear them," saith the master. Then he began: "Pride,
covetousness, lechery," and so numbered the deadly sins for the Ten
Commandments. And so there be many at this time which be weary of
the old gospel. They would fain hear some new things, they think
themselves so perfect in the old, when they be no more skilful than
this servant was in his Ten Commandments.
SAINT ANTHONY AND THE COBBLER.--We read a pretty story of Saint
Anthony, which, being in the wilderness, led there a very hard and
straight life, insomuch as none at that time did the like, to whom
came a voice from heaven saying, "Anthony, thou art not so perfect
as is a cobbler that dwelleth at Alexandria." Anthony hearing this
rose up forthwith and took his staff and went till he came to
Alexandria, where he found the cobbler. The cobbler was astonished
to see so reverend a father to come into his house. Then Anthony
said unto him, "Come and tell me thy whole conversation and how
thou spendest thy time." "Sir," said the cobbler, "as for me, good
works I have none, for my life is but simple and slender. I am but
a poor cobbler. In the morning when I arise I pray for the whole
city wherein I dwell, especially for all such neighbors and poor
friends as I have. After, I set me at my labor, where I spend the
whole day in getting of my living, and keep me from all falsehood,
for I hate nothing so much as I do deceitfulness. Wherefore, when I
make to any man a promise I keep it and do it truly, and so spend
my time poorly with my wife and children, whom I teach and
instruct, as far as my wit will serve me, to fear and dread God.
This is the sum of my simple life."
In this story you see how God loveth those that follow their
vocation and live uprightly without any falsehood in their dealing.
This Anthony was a great and holy man, yet this cobbler was as much
esteemed before God as he.
Let us take a long leap of about a century, and we come to _Jeremy
Taylor_, another bishop, whom I mention immediately after _Latimer_
because he is apparently such a contrast to that homely divine, while
yet in very truth he has a measure of likeness to him as to the point
now in hand. They both rejoiced in figure and metaphor, and equally
delighted in incident and narrative. True, the one would talk of John
and William, and the other of Anexagoras and Scipio; but actual scenes
were the delight of each. In this respect Jeremy Taylor may be said to
be Latimer turned into Latin. Jeremy Taylor is as full of classical
allusions as a king's palace is full of rare treasures, and his language
is of the lofty order which more becomes a patrician audience than a
popular assembly; but when you come to the essence of things, you see
that if Latimer is homely, so also Taylor narrates incidents which are
_homely to him_; but his home is among philosophers of Greece and
senators of Rome. This being understood, we venture to say that no one
used more anecdotes than this splendid poet-preacher. His biographer
truly says: "It would be hard to point out a branch of learning or of
scientific pursuit to which he does not occasionally allude; or any
author of eminence, either ancient or modern, with whom he does not
evince himself acquainted. He more than once refers to obscure stories
in ancient writers, as if they were of necessity as familiar to all his
readers as to himself; as, for instance, he talks of 'poor Attillius
Aviola,' and again of 'the Libyan lion that brake loose into his
wilderness and killed two Roman boys.'" In all this he is eminently
select and classical, and therefore I the more freely introduce him
here; for there can be no reason why our anecdotes should all be rustic;
we, too, may rifle the treasures of antiquity, and make the heathen
contribute to the gospel, even as Hiram of Tyre served under Solomon's
direction for the building of the temple of the Lord.
I am no admirer of Taylor's style in other respects, and his teaching
seems to be at times semi-popish; but in this place I have only to deal
with him upon one particular, and of that matter he is an admirable
example. He lavishes classic stories even as an Asiatic queen bedecks
herself with countless pearls. Out of a sermon I extract the following,
which may suffice for our purpose:
STUDENTS PROGRESSING BACKWARD.--Menedemus was wont to say "that the
young boys that went to Athens the first year were wise men, the
second year philosophers, the third orators, and the fourth were
but plebeians, and understood nothing but their own ignorance." And
just so it happens to some in the progresses of religion. At first
they are violent and active, and then they satiate all the
appetites of religion; and that which is left is that they were
soon weary and sat down in displeasure, and return to the world and
dwell in the business of pride or money; and by this time they
understand that their religion is declined, and passed from the
heats and follies of youth to the coldness and infirmities of old
age.
DIOGENES AND THE YOUNG MAN.--Diogenes once spied a young man coming
out of a tavern or place of entertainment, who, perceiving himself
observed by the philosopher, with some confusion stepped back
again, that he might, if possible, preserve his fame with that
severe person. But Diogenes told him, "_Quanto magis intraveris,
tanto magis eris in caupona_" ("The more you go back the longer you
are in the place where you are ashamed to be seen"). He that
conceals his sin still retains that which he counts his shame and
burden.
No examples will have greater weight with you than those taken from
among the Puritans, in whose steps it is our desire to walk, though,
alas! we follow with feeble feet. Certain of them abounded in anecdotes
and stories. _Thomas Brooks_ is a signal instance of the wise and
wealthy use of holy fancy. I put him first, because I reckon him to be
the first in the special art which is now under consideration. He hath
dust of gold; for even in the margins of his books there are sentences
of exceeding preciousness, and hints at classic stories. His style is
clear and full; he never so exceeds in illustration as to lose sight of
his doctrine. His floods of metaphor never drown his meaning, but float
it upon their surface. If you have never read his works I almost envy
you the joy of entering for the first time upon his "Unsearchable
Riches," trying his "Precious Remedies," tasting his "Apples of Gold,"
communing with his "Mute Christian," and enjoying his other masterly
writings. Let me give you a taste of his quality in the way of
anecdotes. Here are two brief ones; but he so abounds with them that you
may readily cull scores of better ones for yourselves.
MR. WELCH WEEPING.--A soul under special manifestations of love
weeps that it can love Christ no more. Mr. Welch, a Suffolk
minister, weeping at table, and being asked the reason of it,
answered it was because he could love Christ no more. The true
lovers of Christ can never rise high enough in their love to
Christ. They count a little love to be no love, great love to be
but little, strong love to be but weak, and the highest love to be
infinitely below the worth of Christ, the beauty and glory of
Christ, the fulness, sweetness, and goodness of Christ. The top of
their misery in this life is that they love so little though they
are so much beloved.
SUBMISSIVE SILENCE.--Such was the silence of Philip the Second,
King of Spain, that when his Invincible Armada, that had been three
years a-fitting, was lost, he gave command that all over Spain they
should give thanks to God and the saints that it was no more
grievous.
_Thomas Adams_, the Conforming Puritan, whose sermons are full of rugged
force and profound meaning, never hesitated to insert a story when he
felt that it would enforce his teaching. His starting-point is ever some
Biblical sentence, or scriptural history; and this he works out with
much elaboration, bringing to it all the treasures of his mind. As
Stowell says, "Fables, anecdotes, classical poetry, gems from the
fathers and other old writers, are scattered over almost every page."
His anecdotes are usually rough-and-ready ones, and might be compared to
those of Latimer, only they are not so genial; their humor is generally
grim and caustic. The following may serve as fair specimens:
THE HUSBAND AND HIS WITTY WIFE.--The husband told his wife that he
had one ill quality--he was given to be angry without cause. She
wittily replied that she would keep him from that fault, for she
would give him cause enough. It is the folly of some that they will
be offended without cause, to whom the world promises that they
shall have causes enough--"In the world ye shall have tribulation."
THE SERVANT AT THE SERMON.--It is ordinary with many to commend the
lecture to others' ears, but few commend it to their own hearts. It
is morally true what the _Christian Tell-Truth_ relates: A servant
coming from church praiseth the sermon to his master. He asks him
what was the text. "Nay," quoth the servant, "it was begun before I
came in." "What, then, was his conclusion?" He answered, "I came
out before it was done." "But what said he in the midst?" "Indeed I
was asleep in the midst." Many crowd to get into the church, but
make no room for the sermon to get into them.
_William Gurnall_, the author of "The Christian in Complete Armor," must
surely have been a relater of pertinent stories in his sermons, since
even in his set and solid writings they occur. Perhaps I need not have
made the distinction between his writings and his preaching, for it
appears from the preface that his "Christian in Complete Armor" was
preached before it was printed. In vivid imagery every page of his
famous book abounds, and whenever this is the case we are sure to light
upon short narratives and striking incidents. He is as profuse in
illustration as either Brooks, Watson, or Swinnock. Happy Lavenham, to
have been served by such a pastor! By the way, this "Complete Armor" is
beyond all others a preacher's book: I should think that more discourses
have been suggested by it than by any other uninspired volume. I have
often resorted to it when my own fire has been burning low, and I have
seldom failed to find a glowing coal upon Gurnall's hearth. John Newton
said that if he might read only one book beside the Bible, he would
choose "The Christian in Complete Armor," and Cecil was of much the same
opinion. J. C. Ryle has said of it, "You will often find in a line and a
half some great truth, put so concisely, and yet so fully, that you
really marvel how so much thought could be got into so few words." One
or two stories from the early part of his great work must suffice for
our purpose.
BIRD SAFE IN A MAN'S BOSOM.--A heathen could say when a bird
(feared by a hawk) flew into his bosom, "I will not betray thee
unto thine enemy, seeing thou comest for sanctuary unto me." How
much less will God yield up a soul unto its enemy when it takes
sanctuary in his name, saying, "Lord, I am hunted with such a
temptation, dogged with such a lust; either thou must pardon it, or
I am damned; mortify it, or I shall be a slave to it; take me into
the bosom of thy love for Christ's sake; castle me in the arms of
thy everlasting strength. It is in thy power to save me from or
give me up into the hands of my enemy. I have no confidence in
myself or any other. Into thy hands I commit my cause, my life,
and rely on thee." This dependence of a soul undoubtedly will
awaken the almighty power of God for such a one's defense. He hath
sworn the greatest oath that can come out of his blessed lips, even
by himself, that such as "flee for refuge" to hope in him shall
have "strong consolation" (Heb. vi. 17, 18).
THE PRINCE WITH HIS FAMILY IN DANGER.--Suppose a king's son should
get out of a besieged city where he hath left his wife and
children, whom he loves as his own soul, and these all ready to die
by sword or famine, if supply come not the sooner. Could this
prince, when arrived at his father's house, please himself with the
delights of the court and forget the distress of his family? or
rather would he not come post to his father, having their cries and
groans always in his ears, and before he ate or drank do his errand
to his father, and entreat him if he ever loved him that he would
send all the force of his kingdom to raise the siege rather than
any of his dear relations should perish? Surely, sirs, though
Christ be in the top of his preferment and out of the storm in
regard of his own person, yet his children, left behind in the
midst of sin's, Satan's, and the world's batteries, are in his
heart, and shall not be forgotten a moment by him. The care he
takes in our business appeared in the speedy despatch he made of
his spirit to his apostles' supply, which, as soon almost as he was
warm in his seat at his Father's right hand, he sent, to the
incomparable comfort of his apostles and us that to this day--yea,
to the end of the world--do or shall believe on him.
_John Flavel_ was greatest in metaphor and allegory; but in the matter
of anecdote his preaching is a fine example. It was said of his ministry
that he who was unaffected by it must either have had a very soft head
or a very hard heart. He had a fund of striking incidents, and a faculty
of happy illustration, and as he was a man in whose manner cheerfulness
was blended with solemnity, he was popular in the highest degree both at
home and abroad. He sought out words which might suit the sailors of
Dartmouth and farmers of Devon, and therefore he has left behind him his
"Navigation Spiritualized," and his "Husbandry Spiritualized," a legacy
for each of the two orders of men who plow the sea and the land. He was
a man worth making a pilgrimage to hear. What a crime it was to silence
his heaven-touched lips by the abominable Act of Uniformity! Instead of
quoting several passages from his sermons, each one containing an
anecdote, I have thought it as well to give a mass of stories as we find
them in his prelections upon
PROVIDENCE IN CONVERSION.--A scrap of paper accidentally coming to
view hath been used as an occasion of conversion. This was the case
of a minister of Wales who had two livings but took little care of
either. He, being at a fair, bought something at a peddler's
standing, and rent off a leaf of Mr. Perkins' catechism to wrap it
in, and reading a line or two of it, God sent it home so as it did
the work.
The marriage of a godly man into a carnal family hath been ordered
by Providence for the conversion and salvation of many therein.
Thus we read in the life of that renowned English worthy, Mr. John
Bruen, that in his second match it was agreed that he should have
one year's diet in his mother-in-law's house. During his abode
there that year, saith Mr. Clark, the Lord was pleased by his means
graciously to work upon her soul, as also upon his wife's sister
and half-sister, their brothers, Mr. William and Mr. Thomas Fox,
with one or two of the servants in that family.
Not only the reading of a book or hearing of a minister, but--which
is most remarkable--the very mistake or forgetfulness of a minister
hath been improved by Providence for this end and purpose.
Augustine, once preaching to his congregation, forgot the argument
which he first proposed, and fell upon the errors of the Manichees
beside his first intention, by which discourse he converted one
Firmus, his auditor, who fell down at his feet weeping and
confessing he had lived a Manichee many years. Another I knew who,
going to preach, took up another Bible than that he had designed,
in which, not only missing his notes but the chapter also in which
his text lay, was put to some loss thereby. But after a short pause
he resolved to speak about any other Scripture that might be
presented to him, and accordingly read the text, "The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise" (2 Pet. iii. 9); and though he had
nothing prepared, yet the Lord helped him to speak both
methodically and pertinently from it, by which discourse a gracious
change was wrought upon one in the congregation, who hath since
given good evidence of a sound conversion, and acknowledged this
sermon to be the first and only means thereof.
_George Swinnock_, for some years chaplain to Hampden, had the gift of
illustration largely developed, as his works prove. Some of his similes
are far-fetched, and the growth of knowledge has rendered certain of
them obsolete; but they served his purpose, and made his teaching
attractive. After deducting all his fancies, which in the present age
would be judged to be strained, there remains "a rare amount of
sanctified wit and wisdom"; and sparkling here and there we spy out a
few telling stories, mostly of classic origin.
THE PRAYER OF PAULINUS.--It was the speech of Paulinus when his
city was taken by the barbarians, "_Domine, ne excrucier ob aurum
et argentum_" ("Lord, let me not be troubled for my silver and gold
which I have lost, for thou art all things"). As Noah, when the
whole world was overwhelmed with water, had a fair epitome of it in
the ark, having all sorts of beasts and fowls there, so he that in
a deluge hath God to be his God hath the original of all mercies.
He who enjoyeth the ocean may rejoice, though some drops are taken
from him.
QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE MILKMAID.--Queen Elizabeth envied the
milkmaid when she was in prison, but had she known the glorious
reign which she was to have for forty-four years she would not have
repined at the poor happiness of so mean a person. Christians are
too prone to envy the husks which wandering sinners fill themselves
with here below; but would they set before them their glorious
hopes of a heaven, how they must reign with Christ forever and
ever, they would see little reason for their repining.
THE BELIEVING CHILD.--I have read a story of a little child about
eight or nine years old, that, being extremely pinched with hunger,
looked one day pitifully necessitous on her mother, and said,
"Mother, do you think that God will starve us?" The mother
answered, "No, child; he will not." The child replied, "But if he
do, yet we must love him and serve him." Here was language that
spake a well-grown Christian. For, indeed, God brings us to want
and misery to try us whether we love him for his own sake or for
our own sakes, for those excellencies that are in him or for those
mercies we have from him, to see whether we will say with the cynic
to Antisthenes, "_Nullus tam durus erit baculus_," etc. ("There
should be no cudgel so crabbed as to beat me from thee").
_Thomas Watson_ was one of the many Puritan preachers who won the
popular ear by their frequent illustrations. In the clear flowing stream
of his teaching we find pearls of anecdote very frequently. No one ever
grew weary under such pleasant yet weighty discourse as that which we
find in his "Beatitudes." Let two quotations serve to show his skill:
THE VESTAL AND THE BRACELETS.--Most men think because God hath
blessed them with an estate therefore they are blessed. Alas! God
often gives these things in anger. He loads his enemies with gold
and silver: as Plutarch reports of Tarpeia, a Vestal nun, who
bargained with the enemy to betray the Capitol of Rome to them in
case she might have the golden bracelets on their left hands, which
they promised; and being entered into the Capitol, they threw not
only their bracelets but their bucklers, too, upon her, through the
weight whereof she was pressed to death. God often lets men have
the golden bracelets of worldly substance, the weight whereof
sinks them into hell. Oh, let us, _superna anhelare_, get our eyes
"fixed" and our hearts "united" to God the supreme good. This is to
pursue blessedness as in a chase.
HEDGEHOG AND CONIES.--The Fabulist tells a story of the hedgehog
that came to the cony-burrows in stormy weather and desired harbor,
promising that he would be a quiet guest; but when once he had
gotten entertainment he did set up his prickles, and did never
leave till he had thrust the poor conies out of their burrows. So
covetousness, though it hath many fair pleas to insinuate and wind
itself into the heart, yet as soon as you have let it in, this
thorn will never cease pricking till it hath choked all good
beginnings and thrust all religion out of your hearts.
I think this must suffice to represent the men of the Puritanic period,
who added to their profound theology and varied learning a zeal to be
understood, and a skill in setting forth truth by the help of every-day
occurrences. The age which followed them was barren of spiritual life,
and was afflicted by a race of rhetorical divines, whose words had
little connection with _the Word_ of life. The scanty thought of the
Queen Anne dignitaries needed no aid of metaphor or parable: there was
nothing to explain to the people; the utmost endeavor of these divines
was to hide the nakedness of their discourses with the fig-leaves of
Latinized verbiage. Living preaching was gone, spiritual life was gone,
and consequently a pulpit was set up which had no voice for the common
people; no voice, indeed, for anybody except the mere formalist, who is
content if decorum be observed and respectability maintained. Of course,
our notion of making truth clear by stories did not suit the dignified
death of the period, and it was only when the dry bones began to be
stirred that the popular method was again brought to the front.
The illustrious _George Whitefield_ stands, with Wesley, at the head of
that noble army who led the Revival of the last century. It is not at
this present any part of my plan to speak of his matchless eloquence,
unquenchable earnestness, and incessant labor; but it is quite according
to the run of my lecture to remind you of his own saying, "I use market
language." He employed pure, good, flowing English; but he was as simple
as if he spoke to children. Although by no means abounding in
illustration, yet he always employed it when needed, and he narrated
incidents with great power of action and emphasis. His stories were so
told that they thrilled the people: they saw as well as heard, for each
word had its proper gesture. One reason why he could be understood at so
great a distance was the fact that the eye helped the ear. As specimens
of his anecdotes I have selected two, which follow:
THE TWO CHAPLAINS.--You cannot do without the grace of God when you
come to die. There was a nobleman that kept a deistical chaplain
and his lady a Christian one. When he was dying he says to his
chaplain, "I liked you very well when I was in health, but it is my
lady's chaplain I must have when I am sick."
NEVER SATISFIED.--My dear hearers, there is not a single soul of
you all that is satisfied in your station. Is not the language of
your hearts when apprentices. We think we shall do very well when
journeymen; when journeymen, that we shall do very well when
masters; when single, that we shall do well when married? And, to
be sure, you think you shall do well when you keep a carriage. I
have heard of one who began low. He first wanted a house; then,
says he, "I want two, then four, then six." And when he had them he
said, "I think I want nothing else." "Yes," says his friend, "you
will soon want another thing; that is a hearse-and-six to carry you
to your grave." And that made him tremble.
Fearing that the quotation of any more examples might prove tedious, I
would only remind you that such men as Berridge, Rowland Hill, Matthew
Wilks, Christmas Evans, William Jay, and others who have but lately
departed from us, owed much of their attractiveness to the way in which
they aroused their audiences, and flashed truth into their faces by
well-chosen anecdotes. Time calls upon me to have done, and how can I
come to a better close than by mentioning one living man, who, above
all others, has in two continents stirred the masses of the people? I
refer to D. L. Moody. This admirable brother has a great aversion to the
printing of his sermons; and well he may have, for he is incessantly
preaching, and has no time allowed him for the preparation of fresh
discourses; and therefore it would be great unwisdom on his part to
print at once those addresses with which he is working through a
campaign. We hope, however, that when he has done with a sermon he will
never suffer it to die out, but give it to the church and to the world
through the press. Our esteemed brother has a lively, telling style, and
he thinks it wise frequently to fasten a nail with the hammer of
anecdote. Here are three extracts from the little book entitled "Arrows
and Anecdotes by D. L. Moody."
THE IDIOT'S MOTHER.--I know a mother who has an idiot child. For it
she gave up all society--almost everything--and devoted her whole
life to it. "And now," said she, "for fourteen years I have tended
it and loved it, and it does not even know me. Oh, it is breaking
my heart!" Oh, how the Lord must say this of hundreds here! Jesus
comes here, and goes from seat to seat asking if there is a place
for him. Oh, will not some of you take him into your hearts?
SURGEON AND PATIENT.--When I was in Belfast I knew a doctor who had
a friend, a leading surgeon there, and he told me that the
surgeon's custom was, before performing any operation, to say to
the patient, "Take a good look at the wound and then fix your eyes
on me, and don't take them off till I get through the operation." I
thought at the time that was a good illustration. Sinner, take a
good look at the wound to-night, and then fix your eyes on Christ
and don't take them off. It is better to look at the remedy than at
the wound.
THE ROLL-CALL.--A soldier lay on his dying couch during our last
war, and they heard him say, "Here!" They asked him what he wanted,
and he put up his hand and said, "Hush! They are calling the roll
of heaven, and I am answering to my name." And presently he
whispered, "Here!" and he was gone.
I will weary you no longer. You may safely do what the most useful of
men have done before you. Copy them not only in their use of
illustration, but in their wisely keeping it in subservience to their
design. They were not story-tellers, but preachers of the gospel; they
did not aim at the entertainment of the people, but at their conversion.
Never did they go out of their way to drag in a telling bit which they
had been saving up for display, and never could any one say of their
illustrations that they were
Windows that exclude the light,
And passages that lead to nothing.
Keep you the due proportion of things lest I do worse than lose my
labor, by becoming the cause of your presenting to the people strings
of anecdotes instead of sound doctrines, for that would be as evil a
thing as if you offered to hungry men flowers instead of bread, and gave
to the naked gauze of gossamer instead of woolen cloth.
LECTURE III.