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.
THE USES OF ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
The uses of anecdotes and illustrations are manifold; but we may reduce
them to seven, so far as our present purposes are concerned, not for a
moment imagining that this will be a complete list.
We use them, first, _to interest the mind and secure the attention of
our hearers_. We cannot endure a sleepy audience. To us, a slumbering
man is no man. Sydney Smith observed that, although Eve was taken out of
the side of Adam while he was asleep, it was not possible to remove sin
from men's hearts in that manner. We do not agree with Hodge, the hedger
and ditcher, who remarked to a Christian man with whom he was talking,
"I loikes Sunday, I does; I loikes Sunday." "And what makes you like
Sunday?" "Cause, you see, it's a day of rest: I goes down to the old
church, I gets into a pew, and puts my legs up, and I thinks o'
nothin'." It is to be feared that in town as well as in country this
thinking of nothing is a very usual thing. But your regard for the
sacred day, and the ministry to which you are called, and the worshiping
assembly, will not allow you to give your people the chance of thinking
of nothing. You want to arouse every faculty in them to receive the Word
of God, that it may be a blessing to them.
We want to win attention at the commencement of the service, and to hold
it till the close. With this aim, many methods may be tried; but
possibly none will succeed better than the introduction of an
interesting story. This sets Hodge listening, and although he will miss
the fresh air of the fields, and begin to feel drowsy in your stuffy
chapel, another tale will stir him to renewed attention. If he hears
some narrative in connection with his village or county, you will have
him "all there," and you may then hope to do him good.
The anecdote in the sermon answers the purpose of an engraving in a
book. Everybody knows that people are attracted by volumes with pictures
in them; and that, when a child gets a book, although it may pass over
the letterpress without observation, it is quite sure to pause over the
woodcuts. Let us not be too great to use a method which many have found
successful. We must have attention. In some audiences we cannot get it
if we begin with solid instruction; they are not desirous of being
taught, and consequently they are not in a condition to receive the
truth if we set it before them nakedly. Now for a bunch of flowers to
attract these people to our table, for afterward we can feed them with
the food they so much need. Just as the Salvation Army goes trumpeting
and drumming through the streets to draw the people into the barracks,
so may an earnest man spend the first few minutes with an unprepared
congregation in waking the folks up, and enticing them to enter the
inner chamber of the truth. Even this awakening prelude must have in it
that which is worthy of the occasion; but if it is not up to your usual
average in weight of doctrine, it may not only be excused, but
commended, if it prepares the audience to receive that which is to
follow. Ground-bait may catch no fish; but it answers its purpose if it
brings them near the bait and the hook.
A congregation which has been well instructed, and is mainly made up of
established believers, will not need to be addressed in the same style
as an audience gathered fresh from the world, or a meeting of dull,
formal church-goers. Your common sense will teach you to suit your
manner to your audience. It is possible to maintain profound and
long-continued attention without the use of an illustration; I have
frequently done so in the Tabernacle when it has been mainly filled with
church-members; but when my own people are away, and strangers fill
their places, I bring out all my store of stories, similes, and
parables.
I have sometimes told anecdotes in the pulpit, and very delicate and
particular people have expressed their regret and horror that I should
say such things; but when I have found that God has blessed some of the
illustrations I have used, I have often thought of the story of the man
with a halberd, who was attacked by a nobleman's dog, and, of course, in
defending himself, he killed the animal. The nobleman was very angry,
and asked the man how he dared to kill the dog; and the man replied that
if he had not killed it the dog would have bitten him and torn him in
pieces. "Well," said the nobleman, "but you should not have struck it on
the head with the halberd; why did you not hit it with the handle?" "My
lord," answered the man, "so I would if it had tried to bite me with its
tail." So, when I have to deal with sin, some people say, "Why don't you
address it delicately? Why don't you speak to it in courtly language?"
And I answer, "So I would if it would bite me with its tail; but as
long as ever I find that it deals roughly with me, I will deal roughly
with it; and any kind of weapon that will help to slay the monster, I
shall not find unfitted to my hand."