THE KING’ S BUSINESS
534
Him and used in His sermons. The whole fieaven and earth became to Him a picture gallery o f illustrations. He saw the deep est truths illustrated in the world around Him, The star, the dew-drop, the flower, the field—all were ablaze with lustrous truth for Him. Why should not we behold all these things which God hath made : fhe sky, the star, the dew-drop, the lily, the sparrow? These are all here with us, as they were with Him. Having eyes, let us see; and, having ears, let us hear. Let us not be content to find all our illustrations in musty, worn-out books o f stock anecdotes when all around us nature is alive with illumin ated and illustrative truth. The preacher who has wide open eyes and ears will always be looking for things about him to which he can liken the truth he is seeking to present. 2. Coming More Particularly to the Sources of Illustration, Mention May Be Made of the Following: The Newspapers —to see how “ our Father is ruling the world.” One o f the most inter esting pages in the Christian Herald is entitled, “ The Bible and the Newspaper.” History —ancient, medieval, modern. It has à peculiar and almost unrivalled charm for illustrative purposes. Poetry should not be neglected as a fruit ful field for illustration. Be at home with the poets. Read a good poem each day. Classify it after you have read it, so that you can have it ready for .use any time you need it. Biography —What a rich mine is to be found in this subject! How full o f illus tration is human life! Is not that the rea son why the Old Testament is so interest ing—it is so full o f biography ? How often Paul intersperses his discourses with lit tle personal snatches- from his own life. Everybody is interested in real life, in biography. Read the lives o f great explor ers, great missionaries; great prèachers, great men, great women. - The Sciences, the Arts, and the Inven tions furnish rich material in this direc-
could remain unmoved, no hearer could any longer be indifferent to the truth pro claimed. Our Lord’s auditors seem to have been so deeply moved, so intensely inter ested, so wholly absorbed in what He had to say that • they seem to have forgotten that He was Using mere illustrations, so that once at least they interrupted Him, and broke in upon one o f His parables with the declaration, “Lord, he hath ten pounds !” How. keenly David’s conscience was aroused by the story of the little ewe lamb as told by Nathan the prophet! How viv idly Ezekiel portrayed the religious condi tion o f Israel by his use o f such figures as scales, shears, razor, knife, fire, tiles ! II. THE SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. In General, One Should Be on the Lookout for Them Everywhere. He should seek to “ Find tongues in trees, books in running brooks ; sermons in stones, and (illustrations) in everything.” It is said of Christ, in the Gospels, that He marked how the Pharisees chose the chief seats. Note the words—“He ob served”—how they did the marketing, dressed themselves, trained or mistrained their families, went to church for good or evil purposes, spake hard words to or con cerning ope another. This is how Christ got His illustrations—He observed. He kept an open eye. for them. The audience gave this great preacher His illustrations, and what they gave Him He took, and gave back to them. Christ drew His illus trations from the lilies, the raven, salt, a candle, a bushel, a long-faced hypocrite, gnats, moths, large gates and small gates, a needle’s eye, yeast in bread, a mustard- seed, a fishing-net, debtors and creditors, etc. What a ■yvonderful eye Jesus had for the suggestiveness of the material world ! The falling o f a sparrow to the ground, the growing of a lily, the sailing of a ship, the readiness o f the fields for the harvest, the grinding of meal by women at the mill, the reddening glow o f the evening sky—all these things were quickly caught up by
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs