Latest / Reformed Thinking / Where Can We Find Anecdotes and Illustrations? | Charles Spurgeon

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Where Can We Find Anecdotes and Illustrations? | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to the deep Dives. Our mission is pretty clear.
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Yeah. You hand us the sources, the
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articles, the history, the core research and we we drill down to
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get you the most vital insights. We want to make sure you walk
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away well informed with knowledge that really stips.
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Today we are taking on a well, a powerful manual for effective
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communication. It's drawn from the 19th
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century, focusing on Charles Spurgeon's guidance on preparing
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and using illustrations and teaching and preaching.
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And this isn't just about sermons.
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It's really about how any communicator you know, whether
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you're in a lecture hall or just around the dinner table, can use
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stories and analogies to clarify spiritual realities.
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So our goal here is to distill Spurgeon's very practical, very
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comprehensive methods. Where should we look for these
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stories? How do we make sure they land
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with absolute clarity? We're giving in to his advice on
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finding gems from history, from nature, even from the daily
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grind, all to help you get the message across with unmistakable
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force. And this dive gives us a really
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fascinating look at pastoral application.
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It's not just about rhetoric, it's practical theology, how to
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handle and communicate the inspired word well.
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And for us, coming from a Reformed perspective, we get a
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unique angle on 2 huge themes, the connection between divine
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revelation and the material world and, you know, the
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practical workings of God's sovereignty through what seemed
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like random events in history. OK, let's get right into it, and
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we start with a pretty sharp, almost funny prohibition.
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Spurgeon is famously direct, and he immediately warns against
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making anecdotes. He paints this picture of a
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minister who was so intent on finding a good story that when
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someone visited on a Friday, his servant said her Master was in
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his study making anecdotes. Right.
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And Spurgeon's response is that this work will not do for a
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Christian minister. So why does he start with such a
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strict, you know, 0 tolerance policy against making things up?
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Well, it all comes down to trustworthiness.
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If the goal of your illustration is to support a spiritual truth,
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then the illustration itself has to be truthful.
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Credibility is everything for a minister.
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If you present a story as a fact, and there's even the
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slightest suspicion that it's invented, you whisk undermining
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not just that one illustration, but your entire message.
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So he's arguing that spiritual truth is just too serious to be
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propped up by spiritual fiction. Exactly.
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But he does add a little bit of nuance here, which is necessary.
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He admits that not every story needs to pass a Court of Justice
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truthfulness standard. OK, So what does that mean in
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practice? I mean, if you use well known
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fables or analogies or even historical accounts that are
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widely believed stories used just to illustrate a point, not
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to prove a doctrine, they can be used profitably.
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But the condition is that because the preacher has, and
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this is his phrase, the whole world to go to as a storehouse
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of illustration, there's just no excuse for making up doubtful
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facts. You have so many real sources,
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why would you risk deception? That makes the distinction much
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clearer. Don't invent an event, but feel
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free to use a true analogy. And Speaking of that whole
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world, one of his most practical pieces of advice feels
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surprisingly modern. He says to read the daily
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newspaper right alongside your Bible.
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He suggests using contemporary events that are getting public
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attention because you know the audience has already engaged
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them. He even lists some from his own
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day that he used the awful burning of a church in Santiago,
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the great fire at London Bridge, even the arrival of a public
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figure like Princess Alexandra or the census.
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Things everyone was talking about.
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That's the key, isn't it? Relevance.
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People are naturally concerned with what's happening now,
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especially tragic events. By connecting those very real,
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visible events to invisible spiritual truths, you bridge the
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gap between their daily lives and the gospel.
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The immediacy just makes the message hit harder.
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He has a fantastic illustration of this.
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It comes right from a police report.
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He calls it the poacher analogy from a newspaper account of a
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man caught at Wandsworth. So this man was found with a gun
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and a dog trespassing, and the keeper confronts him, asks what
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he's doing. And the denial is what makes it
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so useful. What was his first claim when
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he's caught red handed? He said he was just looking for
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mushrooms. Just a humble mushroom hunter.
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Right, a mycologist, not a poacher.
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But the keeper presses him and finds something soft in his
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pocket. The poacher tries to minimize
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it, saying oh, it's only a rabbit.
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But it wasn't just a rabbit. No, the keeper felt the size,
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the ears, and so the poacher downgraded his story again,
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calling it only a Leverett. Finally, it's pulled out and
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revealed to be a very fine and plump hair.
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And even then, the poacher goes back to his first defense,
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insisting he found the hair near the mushrooms.
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It's a perfect, almost step by step demonstration of the human
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heart trying to minimize its guilt.
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So how did Spurgeon connect that series of lies to theology?
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He tied it directly to the universal experience of
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resisting conviction of sin. When the law of the keeper
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confronts the Sinner, the immediate response is self
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justification. I was only doing a proper thing.
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I was looking for mushrooms. But as the Holy Spirit presses
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the truth of the law on the conscience, the Sinner has to
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admit some wrongdoing, but he immediately tries to shrink it.
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Well, maybe it was a little amiss, but it was only a rabbit.
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We try to call our serious sins minor faults.
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Right. And then when pressed further,
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even if you admit the sin is pretty big, you still struggle
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to admit that sin is exceeding sinful, that the hair is a large
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hair. The anecdote shows that
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reluctance is just universal. So the application isn't just
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about morality, it's strictly theological.
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It shows that human effort can't bring about genuine conviction.
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The keeper can only catch the poacher.
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It takes the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth about
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the plump hair. Precisely, it turns a simple
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police report into a clear explanation of Romans 7 that
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struggle against sin. And along the same lines, he
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mentions a terrible shipwreck caused by a lack of proper
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lights. The application there is so
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immediate, so painful. It is.
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He uses it to illustrate the destruction of souls due to a
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lack of the knowledge of Christ. It brings a real world danger
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right into the spiritual realm. The immediacy of the newspaper
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story really forces you to grapple with the stakes.
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Yes, If a missing lamp can destroy a ship and end physical
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lives, how much more devastating is the absence of the light of
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the world in the journey of the soul?
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Now, the news is great for immediacy, but it's also
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transient. Spurgeon makes a really strong
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case for digging into local history.
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Why does he think local specific history is so powerful?
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Because it catches people's attention where they live.
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He says. Ministers should look for county
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histories, topographical books, even if they seem dull at first,
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because they have these unique gems that make the distant past
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feel very present. It turns abstract ideas into a
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visible heritage. Can you give us an example of
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how that works? Imagine you're preaching in
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Winslow in Buckinghamshire. Instead of just talking
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generally about persecution, you can gain immediate relevance by
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telling the local story of Benjamin Keach, a Baptist pastor
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who stood right there in the town pillory in 1664 for writing
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The Child's Instructor. It links the doctrine of
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persecution for conscience sake directly to the ground your
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listeners walk on. It makes faithfulness and
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nonconformity part of their town's history.
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It makes that great clan of witnesses feel much closer.
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He used another powerful local story to the one about Lord
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Craven, who Craven Chapel is named after.
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This happened during the Great Plague of London.
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Right. Lord Craven, like a lot of
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wealthy people, was getting ready to flee the city for the
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safety of his country estate. His servant, though, gave him a
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profound, simple rebuke rooted in theology.
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The servant just asked. My Lord, does your God live only
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in the country? That's a direct hit.
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It was. Lord Craven immediately saw the
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truth in it and said the God was everywhere.
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The servant pressed the point. If God's Providence covers the
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city, then you'll be just as safe here as anywhere else.
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So Lord Craven stayed in London and relied on God's good
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Providence. And that transforms a place
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name, Craven Chapel, into a lasting lesson on the
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omnipresence and sovereignty of God over location and
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circumstance. It's a very effective way to
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make a geographical detail stick by tying it to doctrine.
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And you can see the underlying theological principle there,
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trusting God's Providence, not just human prudence.
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It's a perfect application of the Westminster Confessions view
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of Providence that God orders all secondary causes, whether
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we're in the country or the city.
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Moving on from the local, Spurgeon says that ancient and
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modern history, Roman, Greek, English provides lessons and
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narratives that can genuinely set the soul on fire.
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These stories, even the secular ones, offer these universal
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insights into human nature and morality.
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He gives a few striking examples from the classics that get at
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the danger of self glorification.
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Let's start with the story of the sculptor Phidias.
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OK, so Phidias creates this magnificent statue of a God,
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probably a huge figure for the Parthenon.
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But secretly, in tiny letters, he chisels his own name.
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Phidias into a discreet corner of the statue when it was
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discovered he was almost stoned by the Athenian assembly for
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daring to seek personal credit in a work dedicated to a deity.
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And what's the application Spurgeon drew from that ancient
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tale of vanity? It's an indictment of our human
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tendency to crave acknowledgement.
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We're so quick to want to put our own little name at the
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bottom of anything we've done for God, wanting to be seen or
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remembered. Spurgeon turns it inward,
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arguing we should be doing the opposite, reproaching ourselves
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for even wishing to have any credit for work that the Holy
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Spirit has enabled us to do. It forces any Christian worker
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to check their motives and put the focus completely on God's
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enablement, not personal fame. And that story is followed by
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one that's even more pointed about integrity, the story of
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the sculptor installing a statue of a God in a temple.
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The sculptor left the hidden part, the part that would be
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inside the wall, unfinished. Right when the priest protested,
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the sculptor argued it was just pragmatic.
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That part will be in the wall. It will never be seen by mortal
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eyes. But the priest's reply was
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devastatingly simple. It was the gods can see in the
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wall. That is immediate, stark, and so
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memorable. What theological concept does
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that lock into the listener's mind?
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Omniscience clearly defined, it shows the need for absolute care
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in the most private parts of our lives.
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Those secret thoughts, words, actions that never reached the
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human eye. It's not enough to keep up a
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flawless public reputation. The principle is that God can
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see in the wall. He notices our coldness and
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close communion. He sees our failures in the
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family circle, where human witnesses are few.
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It's a powerful, piercing illustration against hypocrisy.
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Now contrast that sharp warning with the the beautiful, positive
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picture from the life of Cyrus the Great, showing an ambassador
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his garden. Yes, Cyrus told the ambassador.
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You cannot possibly take such an interest in these flowers and
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trees as I do, for I laid out the whole garden myself, and
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every single plant here I planted with my own hand.
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That image moves from human achievement to divine affection.
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Absolutely. Spurgeon used this to describe
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the special, particular delight the Lord Jesus Jesus Christ has
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in his church. Christ loves his people, his
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fair garden, better than anyone in the universe, because he is
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the one who laid it all out, who planted every single plant with
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his own hand, watched over it, nourished it.
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It's a wonderful covenant analogy, picturing Christ's
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active personal involvement with every believer.
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Then we move to the era of the Crusades.
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Spurgeon singles this out as a period that's particularly full
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of noble stories, focusing on themes like zeal, honor, and
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humility. The moment the Army of Godfrey
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de Bullion first sees Jerusalem, the goal of their long struggle
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is used to describe the anticipation of heaven.
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The sources say the soldiers fell on their faces, completely
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overwhelmed, and then they rose up, clapping their hands and
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shouting for joy. The application is very direct.
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This is a picture of the joy and hallelujahs we will experience
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when we get with inside of the New Jerusalem, our eternal home.
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It provides a real visceral connection to that idea of
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glorious anticipation. But Godfrey himself gives an
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even more striking example of humility, doesn't he?
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He refuses the typical honors of a conquering hero.
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He does. He refused to wear the gold
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crown his soldiers offered him when he entered the city, and
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his reason was so simple. Why should I wear a crown of
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gold in the city where my Lord wore a crown of thorns?
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That's a truth that just cuts across time.
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The application for Christian service is vital.
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It is. It's a direct warning against
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seeking earthly honors or fame. In a world where Christ was
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despised and rejected. The disciples shouldn't think of
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being above his Master. If we serve Christ, we should
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expect scorn, not crowns and applause.
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This illustration gives a practical motivation for
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discipleship. And then there's the famous or
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maybe semi mythical example of Queen Eleanor and her husband
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illustrating spiritual self sacrifice.
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Right. The story, whether it's
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historically accurate or not, provides this unforgettable
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image of Queen Eleanor sucking the poison from her husband's
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wounded arm. The image is what's key.
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Spurgeon used it to illustrate the willingness of God's
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servants to suffer deeply for the church and for the Gospel.
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We should be willing to suck out the slander and venom aimed at
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Christchurch, bearing any amount of suffering ourselves, rather
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than letting the doctrines of Christ be dishonored.
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It speaks to extreme loyalty and self sacrifice.
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We've covered ancient and modern history, but religious history,
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the stories of the Reformers and the persecuted, is described as
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a mine of precious treasure. This is especially interesting
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for a listener grounded in Reformed thinking, since these
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are the figures who solidify the doctrines we hold.
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The story of Martin Luther and the would be assassin is a great
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example of connecting human caution to spiritual vigilance.
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Luther was given a portrait of a man who was seeking to stab him
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so that he could be on his guard.
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Luther himself applied this to temptation and sin.
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God knows there are spiritual threats that would destroy us,
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so He's given us portraits of those destructive sins in his
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Word, in the commandments, in the warnings, in the accounts of
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failure. When we see these sins in
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Scripture, we should respond, like Luther did, to the
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portrait. That is a sin that would stab
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me. I must be aware of that evil
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thing and keep out of its way. It turns reading Scripture into
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an act of defense against spiritual danger.
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Perhaps the most powerful illustrations come from the
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examples of divine Providence, often using these incredibly
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detailed historical scenarios. Let's look at Hugh Latimer's
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trial, which he used to show the omnipresence of God.
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OK, so Latimer recounts being brought before the bishops for
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examination in a chamber that had been subtly changed.
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The fire had been removed from the chimney and a heavy curtain,
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an eris or a tapestry was hungover the opening.
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He noticed where they placed the table and how an old Bishop
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asked him to speak out because he was thick of hearing.
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Latimer suspected something was up.
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He knew it was a setup. He listened closely, and sure
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enough, behind the heiress he heard the faint scratching of a
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pen. They had a clerk secretly
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recording all of his answers, making sure he couldn't start
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from them or change his story later.
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And that moment of secret recording becomes the basis for
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the lesson he delivered later from the pulpit.
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Absolutely. Latimer turned that private
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moment of treachery into a universal warning.
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He preached my hearer. There is a recording pen always
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at work behind the heiress, taking down all thou sayest and
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noting all thou doest. It forces the listener to
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realize that they are constantly in the presence of the
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omniscient One. It's all about being careful
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because God's Book of Remembrance records everything.
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Moving from omniscience to special Providence, the stories
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of God protecting his servants are just full of these
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illustrations. The incident with John Knox is
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stunning. Knox was getting ready to sit
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down 1 evening in his usual spot, but for no reason he could
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name he decided not to sit in as a custom chair.
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Moments later, a shot came through the window and struck
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the Candlestick that was right opposite where he would have
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been sitting. It's a physical, tangible
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demonstration of God's active control over the details.
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It is. It shows that God is actively
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watching over his servants, often diverting dangers in ways
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they can't even see. And this leads to a whole
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cluster of preservation stories that Spurgeon used, all
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emphasizing that God uses humble agents, as the outline noted, to
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achieve his sovereign will. It's not always a grand miracle.
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Not at all. There's the minister hiding from
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persecutors in a kiln. The soldiers gave up their
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search because a common spider had instantly woven a large web
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across the narrow entrance. The soldiers figured he could
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never have got in there without breaking it.
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A simple spider thread became the barrier God used.
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And the example of the man hiding in the hayloft.
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Yes, used in a small loft, soldiers thrusting their swords
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into the hay. One even scratched his foot.
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But they didn't find him. And beyond just protection, God
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sustained him through a humble agent.
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A hen, we're told, came to his hiding spot every day and laid
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an egg near him, providing food that kept him alive.
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So what's the big take away from this group of stories?
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Knocks the spider? The Hen.
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It's that God orchestrates Providence down to the smallest
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detail. He doesn't need a visible Angel
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or a booming voice from heaven. He uses the mundane a spider, a
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stray animal, or just a simple feeling that makes a man change
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his seat. This should give the believer a
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quiet confidence that God's sovereignty is active and
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specific in their daily life. Let's pivot to a story that's
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aimed at confronting a more modern kind of arrogance, the
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sort of infidel boasting that challenges spiritual truth in
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public. This is the anecdote of the
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Christian minister lost in the backwoods.
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Right. He stumbles upon an atheistical
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gathering, probably lit by pine torches, and here's a young man
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denying God's existence. A man gets more and more brazen
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until he actually dares Jehovah to destroy him right then and
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there. The minister was horrified Biden
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was about to step in. But a strong hailback woodsman
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stood up first, and this man didn't debate theology.
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He just offered a fact based on something that just happened.
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He told the gathering that only a week before, he had rescued
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that exact same young man from dangerous Rapids and falls.
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And the crucial detail was that the young man did when he
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thought he was about to die. He knelt in the boat and prayed
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to God, confessed his infidelity and promised to believe if he
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was saved. The Backwoodsmen managed to pull
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him to safety. The power of that truth is that
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it shifts the focus from an intellectual debate to a matter
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of the will and the conscience under pressure.
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The application is overwhelming. It's easy to brag about being an
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infidel in a place of safety, surrounded by people who applaud
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you. But peril changes people's
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speech very quickly. That anecdote not only silenced
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the scoffers, but provided a stark, memorable truth.
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The human soul, when stripped of all earthly confidence,
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instinctively cries out to the God it publicly denies.
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Our final historical anecdote really gets at the very purpose
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of why we gather for worship. It's the simple story of
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Ebenezer Erskine and the lady who was blessed one Sunday and
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left empty at the next. She told Erskine that during the
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first Communion service she was greatly blessed and felt immense
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spiritual satisfaction. But the second Sunday she felt
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no benefit at all. She was looking for the
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minister's diagnosis. And Erskine's diagnosis cuts
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right to the heart of the Christian life.
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He said, Madam, the first Sabbath you came to meet the
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Lord Jesus Christ and you had a blessing, but the second Sabbath
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you came to hear Ebenezer Erskine and you had no blessing
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and you had no right to expect any.
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It's a beautifully concise lesson.
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A general sermon telling people to focus on God might be
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forgotten, but this story just instantly locks that lesson into
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your memory. It teaches you to look past the
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human instrument, the eloquence, the personality, the style, and
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look directly to Christ who is the source of grace and
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blessing. So we spent a lot of time in
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human history, but what if those wells seem to run dry?
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Spurgeon directs us firmly to Natural History, where he says
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illustrations are in great abundance.
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And this isn't just based on utility, but on a theological
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principle, what he calls a sound philosophy.
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This is a critical point, especially for a Reformed
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audience that values the concept of general revelation.
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He's arguing that using nature isn't just window dressing, it's
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explaining one of God's books by another.
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How does he justify that dual authorship principle?
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The justification is in the nature of God Himself.
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The God who is the author of Revelation of Scripture is also
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the author of Creation, Providence, and history.
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Since a single mind conceived both the physical universe and
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spiritual doctrine, there have to be correspondences between
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them. They are two volumes by the same
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hand. I like that Spurgeon uses an
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analogy of two works by one author, a primer and a classic.
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Creation, History and Providence are the book for children, the
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primer written simply for carnal men to read and see something of
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God. The Word of God is the volume of
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more profound instruction, the classic.
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So when we hit an obscure or difficult passage in the
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advanced book in Scripture, we can look back to the primer to
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creation. The simple, visible narrative
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helps explain the difficult concepts of grace and doctrine
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because the same thought runs through both books.
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Exactly. This implies A purposeful design
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by God. The visible world is intended to
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be the symbol of the invisible. What can be seen, tasted and
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touched is meant to be the outward sign of the inward
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spiritual grace found in the Word.
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So bringing nature in to illustrate grace isn't forced or
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unnatural, Spurgeon suggests. It was ordained by God for that
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very purpose that. Philosophical framework gives
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the preacher incredible liberty to look all of her creation for
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similes, but he includes a warning which is key for
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balance. Yes, the caution is against
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monotony. Don't confine yourself or
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overuse 1 branch. He humorously tells the story of
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the learned doctor whose congregation finally complained
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that he gave them spiders continuously as illustrations.
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You have to vary the instruction using geology, astronomy, botany
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or any science that can shed a side light on the scriptures.
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The implication is that this requires cultivating a constant
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state of alertness. Spurgeon suggests that if your
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faculties are on alert, everything around you can be
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used, from the smallest animal to the weather.
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Let's talk about his domestic examples.
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The simple observation of a house cat is used to illustrate
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temptation. Think about a cat, how soft its
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pads are, how gentle and silent it moves, yet how sharp are its
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claws when it's angry or wants to cause harm.
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Spurgeon applies this directly to the nature of temptation.
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It's soft and gentle when it first comes to us.
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Right. It approaches quietly, appealing
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to our senses, but if we give in, it soon causes deadly
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damnable wounds. The soft exterior hides the
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deadly intent. He even shared a charming little
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incident from his own garden with a trespassing dog and his
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walking stick. He was rightly annoyed and he
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threw his walking stick at the dog.
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But instead of running away, the dog turned around, picked up the
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stick and laid it at his feet, wagging its tail, expecting
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praise or thanks. That's a little behavioral
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snapshot that is instantly ripe for spiritual application.
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Spurgeon used that seemingly trivial moment immediately in
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his preaching as an illustration of non resistance.
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The dog's complete submission, its patience and trust, overcame
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the righteous anger of its master.
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It showed him the value of applying even the most momentary
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daily observations to spiritual matters.
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I appreciate the story where he was struggling to find a sermon
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text and he looked across the street in Cambridge at the
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slates on the roof of the opposite house.
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What did he see there? He saw a Canary that had escaped
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its cage, and a flock of sparrows had surrounded it.
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And we're fiercely pecking at it, driving it away.
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That image, the small brightly colored bird being attacked by
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the dull common birds, instantly led him to the text.
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MyHeritage is unto me as a speckled bird.
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The birds roundabout are against her.
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That shows a key principle. Sometimes the illustration comes
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first and the text follows, not always the other way around.
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It shows a mind that's ready to connect sight and scripture.
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It speaks to the preparatory work, doesn't it?
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The mind must be so saturated with Scripture that when an
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illustration appears, the corresponding text is
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immediately available. One final nature example, the
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snow analogy covering black soil and making it look fair and
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white. This illustrates transient
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reformations and false holiness. Some people look as holy and
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pure as Saints while the snow is on them.
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They've adopted the outward appearance, the temporary
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goodliness. But when the sun of trial
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arises, or the heat of temptation cometh, the snow
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melts away, and it reveals the true blackness of the
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unreformed, unregenerate heart underneath.
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It's a powerful way to distinguish regeneration, which
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changes the heart from just outward conformity.
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The key take away from Spurgeon is really this.
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The whole world is hung around by God with pictures.
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The preacher's job is just to take them down.
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But that requires having your eyes open and training your mind
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to see the spiritual meaning in the visible world.
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He quotes Solomon. The wise man's eyes are in his
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head, and then he adds his own take.
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Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look
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straight before thee. Why the specific mention of the
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eyelids? Well, the eyes see, but the
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eyelids, metaphorically, are meant to shut in and preserve
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what the eyes have seen. It's not enough to be
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momentarily curious. We have to observe and then
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retain those observations for future use.
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You can contrast the active, perceptive mind with the one who
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only sees the surface, like the gentleman Wordsworth wrote
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about. A yellow primrose was to him,
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and it was nothing more. The illustrative mind sees the
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primrose, but also sees the potential lesson of God's
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intricate design or the fleeting nature of beauty.
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And if a communicator finds themselves being a bit dull,
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struggling to connect those dots, Spurgeon recommends a very
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practical training ground teaching children in Sunday
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school. Yes, necessity is a great
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teacher if you're dull. The children will illustrate the
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need for an anecdote very clearly by their inattention or
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by, as he says, making wheels of themselves, just twisting around
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on the benches. He tells that story about the
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persistent naughty boy. Boy, who would ask?
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This is very dull, Teacher. Can't you pitch us a yarn?
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That immediate, brutally honest feedback proves the necessity of
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giving your hearers something tangible and interesting to hold
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their attention. You have to learn to communicate
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clearly when the stakes are low, so you're prepared when the
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stakes are high. Beyond teaching, he also advises
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some specific reading strategies for cultivating metaphor.
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How should a minister or teacher read standard theological texts?
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He says to specifically study books known for their rich use
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of figures, like Gurnell's Christian name Complete Armor,
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or Matthew Henry's commentary. You have to read them with the
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goal of noticing all the figures, similes and metaphors,
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not just the doctrine. He suggests A discipline method.
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Read a book once, mark the figures, read it again, and note
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what you missed the first time, he says.
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You'll be surprised to find illustrations even in the common
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words themselves, like rich gems often passed over because we
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read too quickly. And what about the most
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important text? Well, biblical illusions are the
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most powerful and effective. We have to search Scripture
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constantly because God gave us types and symbols in the Old
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Testament precisely so we could use His Word to illustrate the
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greater truths of the New Testament gospel.
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The Bible is its own best interpreter in Illustrator.
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To manage this massive supply of ideas, he advocates for an older
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Puritan method, keeping a commonplace book.
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Many modern listeners might not know what that is.
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A commonplace book is basically a personalized reference
27:11
database, a journal where you collect and arrange material
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under specific subject headings like Providence, prayer,
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temptation, or family life. This tool was invaluable for the
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Puritans, and it's just as useful today for organizing
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notes, quotes, facts, and analogies.
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It keeps the speaker from becoming very commonplace
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themselves, but constantly recycling the same few tired
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examples. It's a way to preserve all those
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gems of observation and history for quick reference.
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This brings us back to that final, crucial distinction.
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Spurgeon warned against making anecdotes, inventing facts.
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But he strongly advises making illustrations, which is
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practicing comparison. This has to be a self-imposed
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deliberate task. It demands mental rigor.
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He suggests shutting the study door and refusing to leave until
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you've made six good illustrations.
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He even half jokingly ties this to the old Chinese proverb that
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says the intellect in the affections lie in the stomach,
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suggesting that hunger might quicken the illustrative mind.
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Necessity breeds invention. That pressure cooker method
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forces the mind to connect concepts that might otherwise
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just stay separate. Yes, and he even points out that
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the most mundane environment can yield results.
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Even a prison cell would furnish suggestions for metaphors like
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preaching on Bring my soul out of prison as an illustration of
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deliverance from sin. And if the study is too
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confining, where else should the diligent student look for
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analogies? Go outdoors, walk over the
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fields, stroll in the wood, or even look in the shop window or
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listen to idle talk to find symbols.
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It requires intentionality and mental discipline to recognize
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spiritual analogies in secular interactions.
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He also stresses that visiting the sick is a very beneficial
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practice. This is a form of spiritual
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research. It provides illustrations drawn
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from the varied raw experiences of tried children of God.
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You hear things in the quiet solitude of a sick room,
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confessions of faith, struggles with doubt, accounts of
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perseverance that you can quote with great effect to show how
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doctrine has lived out and suffering.
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To structure this development of comparison skills, he proposed A
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challenging framework for practice.
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Let's run through that four part exercise.
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It starts simply. First, you're given a subject
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and an object that already have a likeness.
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For example comparing X to Y. Just basic simile practice.
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Second, you're given a subject without an object.
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For instance, illustrate virtue. Tell us what virtue is like.
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This forces the mind to hunt for a corresponding image.
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Third, you're given an object without a subject, like a
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diamond. How will you use that as an
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illustration? This forces the mind to find a
29:43
theological concept that fits the attributes of the diamond.
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Purity, hardness, value, how it refracts light.
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And finally, the most difficult challenge.
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You're given neither, just the command.
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Bring me an illustration. This requires pure original
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thought. By practicing this structured
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comparison, the minds associative capacity rapidly
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improves. So the conclusion then, is that
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the ability to illustrate isn't some magical gift, but a
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cultivated skill. It is the way to get a mind
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worth having is to get one well stored with things worth
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keeping. And while it's hard to generate
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imagination where none exists, can't make a cheese out of a
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millstone. As he says, diligent attention,
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practice and methodical organization will certainly
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bring great improvement and develop that capacity that's so
30:26
necessary for an efficient communicator of the gospel.
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This deep dive into Spurgeon's methods has really shown us that
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the sources for inspiration are inexhaustible.
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We have to look to history, local, ancient and religious,
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for noble deeds and sharp warnings about human nature.
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We have to look to nature, recognizing the hand of God as
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the dual author of both the visible and the spiritual world.
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And most critically, we have to cultivate an eye that sees and a
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mind that records through diligence and practice, using
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tools like the Commonplace Book to organize our perceptions.
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The goal is always the same, to set the gospel before people in
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a way that really arrests their attention and conveys the truth
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clearly to their minds and hearts.
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And for you, the listener, whether you stand in a pulpit or
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just discuss truth and conversation, if the Lord Jesus
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made such frequent use of parables and illustrations to
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teach eternal principles, it must be right for us to do the
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same. This method isn't just for
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formal settings. It's essential for anyone who
31:25
wants to clarify complex ideas or spiritual doctrines.
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We discussed Spurgeon's humorous suggestion tied to that Chinese
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saying that maybe the pressure of hunger could quicken the
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illustrative mind, driving us to find 6 comparisons before we
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eat. And this leaves us with
31:41
something to consider. How often do we let physical or
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temporal needs drive our mental effort and give us laser focus?
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Should we maybe bring that same determined concentration and
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practical discipline, that self-imposed necessity to our
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spiritual learning and teaching? What might we proceed and what
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truths might we communicate if we deliberately apply that level
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of focus for the sake of the Word?
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A compelling challenge to take into the week.
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Thank you for joining us for this deep dive.
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We promise another synthesis of vital knowledge soon.