,transcriber's ,notes3 ,italic text is denoted by underscores and bold text by equal signs4 ,blank pages have been eliminated4 ,variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original4 ,a few typographical errors have been corrected4 ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,illustration ,,by ,c4 ,h4 ,,spurgeon ,,new-,,york ,,wilbur ,b4 ,,ketcham #b ,,cooper ,,union ,copyright1 #ahid1 ,by ,,wilbur ,b4 ,,ketcham4 ,,publisher',s ,,note4 ,the lectures in this volume were originally delivered to the students of the ,pastors' ,college1 ,metropolitan ,tabernacle1 ,london1 ,england4 ,it is the first of his unfinished books to be published1 and one to which he had himself given the title1 ,the ,art of ,illustration4 ,of the five lectures included in this volume1 the first two were revised during ,mr4 ,spurgeon's lifetime4 ,two were partially revised by him before being redelivered to a later company of students than those who had heard them for the first time4 ,the remaining lecture was printed substantially as it was taken by the reporter2 only such verbal corrections having been made as were absolutely necessary to insure accuracy of statement4 ,mr4 ,spurgeon has said of his lectures to his students3 ,i am as much at home with my young brethren as in the bosom of my family1 and therefore speak without restraint4 ,i do not offer that which has cost me nothing1 for ,i have done my best1 and taken abundant pains4 ,therefore1 with clear conscience1 ,i place my work at the service of my brethren1 especially hoping to have a careful reading from young preachers1 whose profiting has been my principal aim4 ,w4 ,b4 ,k4 ,,contents4 ,,lecture ,i4 ,,page ,,illustrations ,,in ,,preaching #g ,,lecture ,,ii4 ,,anecdotes ,,from ,,the ,,pulpit #cb ,,lecture ,,iii4 ,,the ,,uses ,,of ,,anecdotes ,,and ,,illustrations #eg ,,lecture ,,iv4 ,,where ,,can ,,we ,,find ,,anecdotes ,,and ,,illustrations8 #ajc ,,lecture ,v4 ,,the ,,sciences ,,as ,,sources ,,of ,,illustration--,,astronomy #acg ,,lecture ,i4 ,,illustrations ,,in ,,preaching4 ,the topic now before us is the use of illustrations in our sermons4 ,perhaps we shall best subserve our purpose by working out an illustration in the present address2 for there is no better way of teaching the art of pottery than by making a pot4 ,quaint ,thomas ,fuller says1 ,reasons are the pillars of the fabric of a sermon2 but similitudes are the windows which give the best lights4 ,the comparison is happy and suggestive1 and we will build up our discourse under its direction4 ,the chief reason for the construction of windows in a house is1 as ,fuller says1 to let in light4 ,parables1 similes1 and metaphors have that effect2 and hence we use them to illustrate our subject1 or1 in other words1 to brighten it with light1 for that is ,dr4 ,johnson's literal rendering of the word illustrate4 ,often when didactic speech fails to enlighten our hearers we may make them see our meaning by opening a window and letting in the pleasant light of analogy4 ,our ,saviour1 who is the light of the world1 took care to fill his speech with similitudes1 so that the common people heard him gladly2 his example stamps with high authority the practice of illuminating heavenly instruction with comparisons and similes4 ,to every preacher of righteousness as well as to ,noah1 wisdom gives the command1 ,a window shalt thou make in the ark4 ,you may build up laborious definitions and explanations and yet leave your hearers in the dark as to your meaning2 but a thoroughly suitable metaphor will wonderfully clear the sense4 ,the pictures in an illustrated paper give us a far better idea of the scenery which they represent than could be conveyed to us by the best descriptive letterpress2 and it is much the same with scriptural teaching3 abstract truth comes before us so much more vividly when a concrete example is given1 or the doctrine itself is clothed in figurative language4 ,there should1 if possible1 be at least one good metaphor in the shortest address2 as ,ezekiel1 in his vision of the temple1 saw that even to the little chambers there were windows suitable to their size4 ,if we are faithful to the spirit of the gospel we labor to make things plain3 it is our study to be simple and to be understood by the most illiterate of our hearers2 let us1 then1 set forth many a metaphor and parable before the people4 ,he wrote wisely who said1 ,the world below me is a glass in which ,i may see the world above4 ,the works of ,god are the shepherd's calendar and the plowman's alphabet4 ,having nothing to conceal1 we have no ambition to be obscure4 ,lycophron declared that he would hang himself upon a tree if he found a person who could understand his poem entitled ,the ,prophecy of ,cassandra4 ,happily no one arose to drive him to such a misuse of timber4 ,we think we could find brethren in the ministry who might safely run the same risk in connection with their sermons4 ,still have we among us those who are like ,heraclitus1 who was called the ,dark ,doctor because his language was beyond all comprehension4 ,certain mystical discourses are so dense that if light were admitted into them it would be extinguished like a torch in the ,grotta del ,cane3 they are made up of the palpably obscure and the inexplicably involved1 and all hope of understanding them may be abandoned4 ,this style of oratory we do not cultivate4 ,we are of the same mind as ,joshua ,shute1 who said3 ,that sermon has most learning in it that has most plainness4 ,hence it is that a great scholar was wont to say1 ',lord1 give me learning enough1 that ,i may preach plain enough4' ,windows greatly add to the pleasure and agreeableness of a habitation1 and so do illustrations make a sermon pleasurable and interesting4 ,a building without windows would be a prison rather than a house1 for it would be quite dark1 and no one would care to take it upon lease2 and1 in the same way1 a discourse without a parable is prosy and dull1 and involves a grievous weariness of the flesh4 ,the preacher in ,solomon's ,ecclesiastes sought to find out acceptable words1 or1 as the ,hebrew has it1 words of delight3 surely1 figures and comparisons are delectable to our hearers4 ,let us not deny them the salt of parable with the meat of doctrine4 ,our congregations hear us with pleasure when we give them a fair measure of imagery3 when an anecdote is being told they rest1 take breath1 and give play to their imaginations1 and thus prepare themselves for the sterner work which lies before them in listening to our profounder expositions4 ,riding in a third-class carriage some years ago in the eastern counties1 we had been for a long time without a lamp2 and when a traveler lighted a candle1 it was pleasant to see how all eyes turned that way1 and rejoiced in the light3 such is frequently the effect of an apt simile in the midst of a sermon2 it lights up the whole matter1 and gladdens every heart4 ,even the little children open their eyes and ears1 and a smile brightens up their faces as we tell a story2 for they1 too1 rejoice in the light which streams in through our windows4 ,we dare say they often wish that the sermon were all illustrations1 even as the boy desired to have a cake made all of plums2 but that must not be3 there is a happy medium1 and we must keep to it by making our discourse pleasant hearing1 but not a mere pastime4 ,no reason exists why the preaching of the gospel should be a miserable operation either to the speaker or to the hearer4 ,pleasantly profitable let all our sermons be4 ,a house must not have thick walls without openings1 neither must a discourse be all made up of solid slabs of doctrine without a window of comparison or a lattice of poetry2 if so1 our hearers will gradually forsake us1 and prefer to stay at home and read their favorite authors1 whose lively tropes and vivid images afford more pleasure to their minds4 ,every architect will tell you that he looks upon his windows as an opportunity for introducing ornament into his design4 ,a pile may be massive1 but it cannot be pleasing if it is not broken up with windows and other details4 ,the palace of the popes at ,avignon is an immense structure2 but the external windows are so few that it has all the aspect of a colossal prison1 and suggests nothing of what a palace should be4 ,sermons need to be broken up1 varied1 decorated1 and enlivened2 and nothing can do this so well as the introduction of types1 emblems1 and instances4 ,of course1 ornament is not the main point to be considered2 but still many little excellences go to make up perfection1 and this is one of the many1 and therefore it should not be overlooked4 ,when ,wisdom built her house she hewed out her seven pillars1 for glory and for beauty1 as well as for the support of the structure2 and shall we think that any rough hovel is good enough for the beauty of holiness to dwell in8 ,certainly a gracious discourse is none the better for being bereft of every grace of language4 ,meretricious ornament we deprecate1 but an appropriate beauty of speech we cultivate4 ,truth is a king's daughter1 and her raiment should be of wrought gold2 her house is a palace1 and it should be adorned with windows of agate and gates of carbuncle4 ,illustrations tend to enliven an audience and quicken attention4 ,windows1 when they will open--which1 alas6 is not often the case in our places of worship--are a great blessing by refreshing and reviving the audience with a little pure air1 and arousing the poor mortals who are rendered sleepy by the stagnant atmosphere4 ,a window should1 according to its name1 be a wind-door1 through which a breath of air may visit the audience2 even so1 an original figure1 a noble image1 a quaint comparison1 a rich allegory1 should open upon our hearers a breeze of happy thought1 which will pass over them like life-giving breath1 arousing them from their apathy1 and quickening their faculties to receive the truth4 ,those who are accustomed to the soporific sermonizings of certain dignified divines would marvel greatly if they could see the enthusiasm and lively delight with which congregations listen to speech through which there flows a quiet current of happy1 natural illustration4 ,arid as a desert are many volumes of discourses which are to be met with upon the booksellers' dust-covered shelves2 but if in the course of a thousand paragraphs they contain a single simile1 it is as an oasis in the ,sahara1 and serves to keep the reader's soul alive4 ,in fashioning a discourse think little of the bookworm1 which will be sure of its portion of meat however dry your doctrine1 but have pity upon those hungering ones immediately around you who must find life through your sermon or they will never find it at all4 ,if some of your hearers sleep on they will of necessity wake up in eternal perdition1 for they hear no other helpful voice4 ,while we thus commend illustrations for necessary uses1 it must be remembered that they are not the strength of a sermon any more than a window is the strength of a house2 and for this reason1 among others1 they should not be too numerous4 ,too many openings for light may seriously detract from the stability of a building4 ,we have known sermons so full of metaphors that they became weak1 and we had almost said crazy1 structures4 ,sermons must not be nosegays of flowers1 but sheaves of wheat4 ,very beautiful sermons are generally very useless ones4 ,to aim at elegance is to court failure4 ,it is possible to have too much of a good thing3 a glass house is not the most comfortable of abodes1 and besides other objectionable qualities it has the great fault of being sadly tempting to stone-throwers4 ,when a critical adversary attacks our metaphors he generally makes short work of them4 ,to friendly minds images are arguments1 but to opponents they are opportunities for attack2 the enemy climbs up by the window4 ,comparisons are swords with two edges which cut both ways2 and frequently what seems a sharp and telling illustration may be wittily turned against you1 so as to cause a laugh at your expense3 therefore do not rely upon your metaphors and parables4 ,even a second-rate man may defend himself from a superior mind if he can dexterously turn his assailant's gun upon himself4 ,here is an instance which concerns myself1 and ,i give it for that reason1 since these lectures have all along been autobiographical4 ,i give a cutting from one of our religious papers3 ,mr4 ,beecher was neatly tripped up in ',the ,sword and the ,trowel4' ,in his ',lectures on ,preaching' he asserts that ,mr4 ,spurgeon has succeeded 'in spite of his ,calvinism'2 adding the remark that 'the camel does not travel any better1 nor is it any more useful1 because of the hump on its back4' ,the illustration is not a felicitous one1 for ,mr4 ,spurgeon thus retorts3 ',naturalists assure us the camel's hump is of great importance in the eyes of the ,arabs1 who judge of the condition of their beasts by the size1 shape1 and firmness of their humps4 ,the camel feeds upon his hump when he traverses the wilderness1 so that in proportion as the animal travels over the sandy wastes1 and suffers from privation and fatigue1 the mass diminishes2 and he is not fit for a long journey till the hump has regained its proportions4 ,calvinism1 then1 is the spiritual meat which enables a man to labor on in the ways of ,christian service2 and1 though ridiculed as a hump by those who are only lookers-on1 those who traverse the weary paths of a wilderness experience know too well its value to be willing to part with it1 even if a ,beecher's splendid talents could be given in exchange4' ,illustrate1 by all means1 but do not let the sermon be all illustrations1 or it will be only suitable for an assembly of simpletons4 ,a volume is all the better for engravings1 but a scrap-book which is all woodcuts is usually intended for the use of little children4 ,our house should be built up with the substantial masonry of doctrine1 upon the deep foundation of inspiration2 its pillars should be of solid scriptural argument1 and every stone of truth should be carefully laid in its place2 and then the windows should be ranged in due order1 three rows if we will3 light against light1 like the house of the forest of ,lebanon4 ,but a house is not erected for the sake of the windows1 nor may a sermon be arranged with the view of fitting in a favorite apologue4 ,a window is merely a convenience subordinate to the entire design1 and so is the best illustration4 ,we shall be foolish indeed if we compose a discourse to display a metaphor2 as foolish as if an architect should build a cathedral with the view of exhibiting a stained-glass window4 ,we are not sent into the world to build a ,crystal ,palace in which to set out works of art and elegancies of fashion2 but as wise master-builders we are to edify a spiritual house for the divine inhabiting4 ,our building is intended to last1 and is meant for every-day use1 and hence it must not be all crystal and color4 ,we miss our way altogether1 as gospel ministers1 if we aim at flash and finery4 ,it is impossible to lay down a rule as to how much adornment shall be found in each discourse3 every man must judge for himself in that matter4 ,true taste in dress could not be readily defined1 yet every one knows what it is2 and there is a literary and spiritual taste which should be displayed in the measuring out of tropes and figures in every public speech4 ,ne quid nimis is a good caution3 do not be too eager to garnish and adorn4 ,some men seem never to have enough of metaphors3 each one of their sentences must be a flower4 ,they compass sea and land to find a fresh piece of colored glass for their windows1 and they break down the walls of their discourses to let in superfluous ornaments1 till their productions rather resemble a fantastic grotto than a house to dwell in4 ,they are grievously in error if they think that thus they manifest their own wisdom1 or benefit their hearers4 ,i could almost wish for a return of the window-tax if it would check these poetical brethren4 ,the law1 ,i believe1 allowed eight windows free from duty1 and we might also exempt a few1 that is eight metaphors from criticism2 but more than that ought to pay heavily4 ,flowers upon the table at a banquet are well enough2 but as nobody can live upon bouquets1 they will become objects of contempt if they are set before us in lieu of substantial viands4 ,the difference between a little salt with your meat and being compelled to empty the salt-cellar is clear to all2 and we could wish that those who pour out so many symbols1 emblems1 figures1 and devices would remember that nausea in oratory is not more agreeable than in food4 ,enough is as good as a feast2 and too many pretty things may be a greater evil than none at all4 ,it is a suggestive fact that the tendency to abound in metaphor and illustration becomes weaker as men grow older and wiser4 ,perhaps this may1 in a measure1 be ascribed to the decay of their imagination2 but it also occurs at the same time as the ripening of their understanding4 ,some may have to use fewer figures of necessity1 because they do not come to them as aforetime2 but this is not always the case4 ,i know that men who still possess great facility in imagery find it less needful to employ that faculty now than in their earlier days1 for they have the ear of the people1 and they are solemnly resolved to fill that ear with instruction as condensed as they can make it4 ,when you begin with a people who have not heard the gospel1 and whose attention you have to win1 you can hardly go too far in the use of figure and metaphor4 ,our ,lord ,jesus ,christ used very much of it2 indeed1 without a parable spake he not unto them2 because they were not educated up to the point at which they could profitably hear pure didactic truth4 ,it is noticeable that after the ,holy ,ghost had been given1 fewer parables were used1 and the saints were more plainly taught of ,god4 ,when ,paul spoke or wrote to the churches in his epistles he employed few parables1 because he addressed those who were advanced in grace and willing to learn4 ,as ,christian minds made progress the style of their teachers became less figurative1 and more plainly doctrinal4 ,we seldom see engravings in the classics of the college2 these are reserved for the spelling-books of the dame-school4 ,this should teach us wisdom1 and suggest that we are to be bound by no hard and fast rules1 but should use more or less of any mode of teaching according to our own condition and that of our people4 ,illustrations should really cast light upon the subject in hand1 otherwise they are sham windows1 and all shams are an abomination4 ,when the window-tax was still in force many people in country houses closed half their lights by plastering them up1 and then they had the plaster painted to look like panes2 so that there was still the appearance of a window1 though no sunlight could enter4 ,well do ,i remember the dark rooms in my grandfather's parsonage1 and my wonder that men should have to pay for the light of the sun4 ,blind windows are fit emblems of illustrations which illustrate nothing1 and need themselves to be explained4 ,grandiloquence is never more characteristic than in its figures2 there it disports itself in a very carnival of bombast4 ,we could quote several fine specimens of sublime spread-eagleism and magnificent nonsense4 ,a piece of high-flown oratory sheds light upon nothing1 and does not in the faintest degree enable us to understand the reasons4 ,the object of language of this kind is not to instruct the hearer1 but to dazzle him1 and1 if possible1 to impress him with the idea that his minister is a wonderful orator4 ,he who condescends to use clap-trap of any kind deserves to be debarred the pulpit for the term of his natural life4 ,let your figures of speech really represent and explain your meaning1 or else they are dumb idols1 which ought not to be set up in the house of the ,lord4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it may be well to note that illustrations should not be too prominent1 or1 to pursue our figure1 they should not be painted windows1 attracting attention to themselves rather than letting in the clear light of day4 ,i am not pronouncing any judgment upon windows adorned with glass of various colors which shine like meadows decked in the flowers of spring2 ,i am looking only to my illustration4 ,our figures are meant not so much to be seen as to be seen through4 ,if you take the hearer's mind away from the subject by exciting his admiration of your own skill in imagery1 you are doing evil rather than good4 ,i saw in one of our exhibitions a portrait of a king2 but the artist had surrounded his majesty with a bower of flowers so exquisitely painted that every one's eye was taken away from the royal figure4 ,all the resources of the painter's art had been lavished upon the accessories1 and the result was that the portrait1 which should have been all in all1 had fallen into a secondary place4 ,this was surely an error in portrait-painting1 even though it might be a success in art4 ,we have to set forth ,christ before the people1 evidently crucified among them1 and the loveliest emblem or the most charming image which calls the mind away from our divine subject is to be conscientiously forsworn4 ,jesus must be all in all3 his gospel must be the beginning and end of all our discoursing2 parable and poesy must be under his feet1 and eloquence must wait upon him as his servant4 ,never by any possibility must the minister's speech become a rival to his subject2 that were to dishonor ,christ1 and not to glorify him4 ,hence the caution that the illustrations be not too conspicuous4 ,out of this last observation comes the further remark that illustrations are best when they are natural and grow out of the subject4 ,they should be like those well-arranged windows which are evidently part of the plan of a structure1 and not inserted as an afterthought1 or for mere adornment4 ,the cathedral of ,milan inspires my mind with extreme admiration2 it always appears to me as if it must have grown out of the earth like a colossal tree1 or rather like a forest of marble4 ,from its base to its loftiest pinnacle every detail is a natural outgrowth1 a portion of a well-developed whole1 essential to the main idea2 indeed1 part and parcel of it4 ,such should a sermon be2 its exordium1 divisions1 arguments1 appeals1 and metaphors should all spring out of itself2 nothing should be out of living relation to the rest2 it should seem as if nothing could be added without being an excrescence1 and nothing taken away without inflicting damage4 ,there should be flowers in a sermon1 but the bulk of them should be the flowers of the soil2 not dainty exotics1 evidently imported with much care from a distant land1 but the natural upspringing of a life natural to the holy ground on which the preacher stands4 ,figures of speech should be congruous with the matter of the discourse2 a rose upon an oak would be out of place1 and a lily springing from a poplar would be unnatural3 everything should be of a piece and have a manifest relationship to the rest4 ,occasionally a little barbaric splendor may be allowed1 after the manner of ,thomas ,adams and ,jeremy ,taylor and other masters in ,israel1 who adorn truth with rare gems and gold of ,ophir1 fetched from far4 ,yet ,i would have you note what ,dr4 ,hamilton says of ,taylor1 for it is a warning to those who aim at winning the ear of the multitude3 ,thoughts1 epithets1 incidents1 images came trooping round with irrepressible profusion1 and they were all so apt and beautiful that it was hard to send any of them away4 ,and so he tried to find a place and use for all--for 'flowers and wings of butterflies1' as well as 'wheat'2 and if he could not fabricate links of his logical chain out of 'the little rings of the vine' and 'the locks of a new-weaned boy1' he could at least decorate his subject with exquisite adornments4 ,the passages from his loved ,austin and ,chrysostom1 and not less beloved ,seneca and ,plutarch1 the scholar knows how to pardon4 ,the squirrel is not more tempted to carry nuts to his hoard than the bookish author is tempted to transfer to his own pages fine passages from his favorite authors4 ,alas6 he little knows how flat and meaningless they are to those who have not traversed the same walks1 and shared the delight with which he found great spoil4 ,to him each polished shell recalls its autumnal tale of woods1 and groves1 and sunshine showering through the yellow leaves2 but to the quaint collection 'the general public' very much prefer a pint of filberts from a huckster's barrow4 ,no illustrations are half so telling as those which are taken from familiar objects4 ,many fair flowers grow in foreign lands1 but those are dearest to the heart which bloom at our own cottage door4 ,elaboration into minute points is not commendable when we are using figures4 ,the best light comes in through the clearest glass3 too much paint keeps out the sun4 ,god's altar of old was to be made of earth1 or of unhewn stone1 for1 said the ,word1 if thou lift up thy tool upon it1 thou hast polluted it 7,ex4 xx4 #be74 ,a labored1 artificial style1 upon which the graver's tool has left abundant marks1 is more consistent with human pleadings in courts of law1 or in the forum1 or in the senate1 than with prophetic utterances delivered in the name of ,god and for the promotion of his glory4 ,our ,lord's parables were as simple as tales for children1 and as naturally beautiful as the lilies which sprang up in the valleys where he taught the people4 ,he borrowed no legend from the ,talmud1 nor fairy tale from ,persia1 neither fetched he his emblems from beyond the sea2 but he dwelt among his own people1 and talked of common things in homely style1 as never man spake before1 and yet as any observant man should speak4 ,his parables were like himself and his surroundings1 and were never strained1 fantastic1 pedantic1 or artificial4 ,let us imitate him1 for we shall never find a model more complete1 or more suitable for the present age4 ,opening our eyes1 we shall discover abundant imagery all around4 ,as it is written1 ,the word is nigh thee1 so also is the analogy of that word near at hand3 ,all things around me1 whate'er they be1 ,that ,i meet as the chance may come4 ,have a voice and a speech in them all-- ,birds that hover and bees that hum2 ,the beast of the field or the stall2 ,the trees1 leaves1 rushes1 and grasses2 ,the rivulet running away2 ,the bird of the air as it passes1 ,or the mountains that motionless stay2 ,and yet those immovable masses ,keep changing1 as dreams do1 all day4 #a #a ,slightly altered from ,fables in ,song1 by ,robert ,lord ,lytton4 ,there will be little need to borrow from the recondite mysteries of human art1 nor to go deep into the theories of science2 for in nature golden illustrations lie upon the surface1 and the purest is that which is uppermost and most readily discerned4 ,of natural history in all its branches we may well say1 ,the gold of that land is good3 the illustrations furnished by every-day phenomena seen by the plowman and the wagoner are the very best which earth can yield4 ,an illustration is not like a prophet1 for it has most honor in its own country2 and those who have oftenest seen the object are those who are most gratified by the figure drawn from it4 ,i trust that it is scarcely necessary to add that illustrations must never be low or mean4 ,they may not be high-flown1 but they should always be in good taste4 ,they may be homely1 and yet chastely beautiful2 but rough and coarse they should never be4 ,a house is dishonored by having dirty windows1 cobwebbed and begrimed1 patched with brown paper1 or stuffed up with rags3 such windows are the insignia of a hovel rather than a house4 ,about our illustrations there must never be even the slightest trace of anything that would shock the most delicate modesty4 ,we like not that window out of which ,jezebel is looking4 ,like the bells upon the horses1 our lightest expressions must be holiness unto the ,lord4 ,of that which suggests the groveling and the base we may say with the ,apostle1 ,let it not be once named among you1 as becometh saints4 ,all our windows should open toward ,jerusalem1 and none toward ,sodom4 ,we will gather our flowers always and only from ,emmanuel's land1 and ,jesus himself shall be their savor and sweetness1 so that when he lingers at the lattice to hear us speak of himself he may say1 ,thy lips1 ,o my spouse1 drop as the honeycomb3 honey and milk are under thy tongue4 ,that which grows beyond the border of purity and good repute must never be bound up in our garlands1 nor placed among the decorations of our discourses4 ,that which would be exceedingly clever and telling in a stump orator's speech1 or in a cheap-jack's harangue1 would be disgusting from a minister of the gospel4 ,time was when we could have found far too many specimens of censurable coarseness1 but it would be ungenerous to mention them now that such things are on all hands condemned4 ,gentlemen1 take care that your windows are not broken1 or even cracked3 in other words1 guard against confused metaphors and limping illustrations4 ,sir ,boyle ,roche is generally credited with some of the finest specimens of metaphorical conglomerate4 ,we should imagine that the passage is mythical in which he is represented as saying1 ,i smell a rat2 ,i see it floating in the air2 ,i'll nip it in the bud4 ,minor blunderings are frequent enough in the speech of our own countrymen4 ,an excellent temperance advocate exclaimed1 ,comrades1 let us be up and doing6 ,let us take our axes on our shoulders1 and plow the waste places till the good ship ,temperance sails gaily over the land4 ,we well remember1 years ago1 hearing a fervent ,irish clergyman exclaim1 ,garibaldi1 sir1 he is far too great a man to play second fiddle to such a wretched luminary as ,victor ,emmanuel4 ,it was at a public meeting1 and therefore we were bound to be proper2 but it would have been a great relief to our soul if we might have indulged in a hearty laugh at the spectacle of ,garibaldi with a fiddle1 playing to a luminary2 for a certain nursery rhyme jingled in our ears1 and sorely tried our gravity4 ,a poetic friend thus encouragingly addresses us3 ,march on1 however rough the road1 ,though foes obstruct thy way1 ,deaf to the barking curs that would ,ensnare thy feet astray4 ,the other evening a brother expressed his desire that we might all be winners of souls1 and bring the ,lord's blood-bought jewels to cast their crowns at his feet4 ,the words had such a pious ring about them that the audience did not observe the fractured state of the expression4 ,one of your own number hoped that every student might be enabled to sound the gospel trumpet with such a clear and certain sound that the blind might see4 ,perhaps he meant that they should open their eyes with astonishment at the terrific blast2 but the figure would have been more congruous if he had said that the deaf should hear4 ,a ,scotch writer1 in referring to a proposal to use an organ in divine service1 says3 ,nothing will stem this avalanche of will-worship and gross sin but the falling back on the ,word of ,god4 ,the ,daily ,news1 in reviewing a book written by an eminent minister1 complained that his metaphors were apt to be a little unmanageable1 as when he spoke of something which had remained a secret until a strangely potent key was inserted among the hidden wards of the parental heart1 and a rude wrench flung wide the floodgates and set free the imprisoned stream4 ,however1 there is no wonder that ordinary mortals commit blunders in figurative speech1 when even his late ,infallible ,holiness ,pius ,,ix4 said of ,mr4 ,gladstone that he had suddenly come forward like a viper assailing the bark of ,st4 ,peter4 ,a viper assailing a bark is rather too much for the most accommodating imagination1 although some minds are ready for any marvels4 ,one of those reviews which reckon themselves to be the cream of the cream took pains to inform us that the ,dean of ,chichester1 being the select preacher at ,st4 ,mary's1 ,oxford1 seized the opportunity to smite the ,ritualists hip and thigh1 with great volubility and vivacity4 ,samson smote his foes with a great slaughter2 but language is flexible4 ,these blunders are to be quoted by the page3 ,i have given enough to let you see how readily the pitchers of metaphor may be cracked1 and rendered unfit to carry our meaning4 ,the ablest speaker may occasionally err in this direction2 it is not a very serious matter1 and yet1 like a dead fly1 it may spoil sweet ointment4 ,a few brethren of my acquaintance are always off the lines2 they muddle up every figure they touch1 and as soon as they approach a metaphor we look for an accident4 ,it might be wisdom on their part to shun all figures of speech till they know how to use them2 for it is a great pity when illustrations are so confused as both to darken the sense and create diversion4 ,muddled metaphors are muddles indeed2 let us give the people good illustrations or none at all4 ,,lecture ,,ii4 ,,anecdotes ,,from ,,the ,,pulpit4 ,it is pretty generally admitted that sermons may wisely be adorned with a fair share of illustrations2 but anecdotes used to that end are still regarded by the prudes of the pulpit with a measure of suspicion4 ,they will come down low enough to quote an emblem1 they will deign to use poetic imagery2 but they cannot stoop to tell a simple1 homely story4 ,they would probably say in confidence to their younger brethren1 ,beware how you lower yourselves and your sacred office by repeating anecdotes1 which are best appreciated by the vulgar and uneducated4 ,we would not retort by exhorting all men to abound in stories1 for there ought to be discrimination4 ,it is freely admitted that there are useful and admirable styles of oratory which would be disfigured by a rustic tale2 and there are honored brethren whose genius would never allow them to relate a story1 for it would not appear suitable to their mode of thought4 ,upon these we would not even by implication hint at a censure2 but when we are dealing with others who seem to be somewhat1 and are not what they seem1 we feel no tenderness2 nay1 we are even moved to assail their stilted greatness4 ,if they sneer at anecdotes1 we smile at them and their sneers1 and wish them more sense and less starch4 ,affectation of intellectual superiority and love of rhetorical splendor have prevented many from setting forth gospel truth in the easiest imaginable manner1 namely1 by analogies drawn from common events4 ,because they could not condescend to men of low estate1 they have refrained from repeating incidents which would have accurately explained their meaning4 ,fearing to be thought vulgar1 they have lost golden opportunities4 ,as well might ,david have refused to sling one of the smooth stones at ,goliath's brow because he found it in a common brook4 ,from individuals so lofty in their ideas nothing is likely to flow down to the masses of the people but a glacial eloquence--a river of ice4 ,dignity is a most poor and despicable consideration unless it be the dignity of turning many to righteousness2 and yet divines who have had scarcely enough of real dignity to save themselves from contempt have swollen huge as high ,olympus through the affectation of it4 ,a young gentleman1 after delivering an elaborate discourse1 was told that not more than five or six in the congregation had been able to understand him4 ,this he accepted as a tribute to his genius2 but ,i take leave to place him in the same class with another person who was accustomed to shake his head in the most profound manner1 that he might make his prelections the more impressive2 and this had some effect with the groundlings1 until a shrewd ,christian woman made the remark that he did shake his head certainly1 but that there was nothing in it4 ,those who are too refined to be simple need to be refined again4 ,luther has well put it in his ,table ,talk3 ,cursed are all preachers that in the church aim at high and hard things2 and neglecting the saving health of the poor unlearned people1 seek their own honor and praise1 and therefore try to please one or two great persons4 ,when ,i preach ,i sink myself deep down4 ,it may be superfluous to remind you of the oft-quoted passage from ,george ,herbert's ,country ,parson1 and yet ,i cannot omit it1 because it is so much to my mind3 ,the ,parson also serves himself of the judgments of ,god1 as of those of ancient times1 so especially of the late ones2 and those most which are nearest to his parish2 for people are very attentive at such discourses1 and think it behooves them to be so when ,god is so near them1 and even over their heads4 ,sometimes he tells them stories and sayings of others1 according as his text invites him2 for them also men heed1 and remember better than exhortations2 which1 though earnest1 yet often die with the sermon1 especially with country people1 which are thick and heavy1 and hard to raise to a point of zeal and fervency1 and need a mountain of fire to kindle them1 but stories and sayings they will well remember4 ,it ought never to be forgotten that the great ,god himself1 when he would instruct men1 employs histories and biographies4 ,our ,bible contains doctrines1 promises1 and precepts2 but these are not left alone--the whole book is vivified and illustrated by marvelous records of things said and done by ,god and by men4 ,he who is taught of ,god values the sacred histories1 and knows that in them there is a special fulness and forcibleness of instruction4 ,teachers of ,scripture cannot do better than instruct their fellows after the manner of the ,scriptures4 ,our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 the great teacher of teachers1 did not disdain the use of anecdotes4 ,to my mind it seems clear that certain of his parables were facts and1 consequently1 anecdotes4 ,may not the story of the ,prodigal ,son have been a literal truth8 ,were there not actual instances of an enemy sowing tares among the wheat8 ,may not the rich fool who said1 ,take thine ease1 have been a photograph taken from life8 ,did not ,dives and ,lazarus actually figure on the stage of history8 ,certainly the story of those who were crushed by the fall of the tower of ,siloam1 and the sad tragedy of the ,galileans1 whose blood ,pilate had mingled with their sacrifices1 were matters of current ,jewish gossip1 and our ,lord turned both of them to good account4 ,what ,,he did we need not be ashamed to do4 ,that we may do it with all wisdom and prudence let us seek the guidance of the ,divine ,spirit which rested upon him so continually4 ,i shall make up this present address by quoting the examples of great preachers1 beginning with the era of the ,reformation1 and following on without any very rigid chronological order down to our own day4 ,examples are more powerful than precepts2 hence ,i quote them4 ,first1 let me mention that grand old preacher1 ,hugh ,latimer1 the most ,english of all our divines1 and one whose influence over our land was undoubtedly most powerful4 ,southey says1 ,latimer more than any other man promoted the ,reformation by his preaching2 and in this he echoes the more important utterance of ,ridley1 who wrote from his prison1 ,i do think that the ,lord hath placed old father ,latimer to be his standard-bearer in our age and country against his mortal foe1 ,antichrist4 ,if you have read any of his sermons1 you must have been struck with the number of his quaint stories1 seasoned with a homely humor which smacks of that ,leicestershire farmhouse wherein he was brought up by a father who did yeoman's service1 and a mother who milked thirty kine4 ,no doubt we may attribute to these stories the breaking down of pews by the overwhelming rush of the people to hear him1 and the general interest which his sermons excited4 ,more of such1 preaching1 and we should have less fear of the return of popery4 ,the common people heard him gladly1 and his lively anecdotes accounted for much of their eager attention4 ,a few of these narratives one could hardly repeat1 for the taste of our age has happily improved in delicacy2 but others are most admirable and instructive4 ,here are two of them3 ,,the ,,friar',s ,,man ,,and ,,the ,,ten ,,commandments4--,i will tell you now a pretty story of a friar1 to refresh you withal4 ,a limiter of the ,gray ,friars in the time of his limitation preached many times1 and had but one sermon at all times2 which sermon was of the ,ten ,commandments4 ,and because this friar had preached this sermon so often1 one that heard it before told the friar's servant that his master was called ,friar ,john ,ten ,commandments2 wherefore the servant showed the friar his master thereof1 and advised him to preach of some other matters2 for it grieved the servant to hear his master derided4 ,now1 the friar made answer saying1 ,belike1 then1 thou canst say the ,ten ,commandments well1 seeing thou hast heard them so many a time4 ,yea1 said the servant1 ,i warrant you4 ,let me hear them1 saith the master4 ,then he began3 ,pride1 covetousness1 lechery1 and so numbered the deadly sins for the ,ten ,commandments4 ,and so there be many at this time which be weary of the old gospel4 ,they would fain hear some new things1 they think themselves so perfect in the old1 when they be no more skilful than this servant was in his ,ten ,commandments4 ,,saint ,,anthony ,,and ,,the ,,cobbler4--,we read a pretty story of ,saint ,anthony1 which1 being in the wilderness1 led there a very hard and straight life1 insomuch as none at that time did the like1 to whom came a voice from heaven saying1 ,anthony1 thou art not so perfect as is a cobbler that dwelleth at ,alexandria4 ,anthony hearing this rose up forthwith and took his staff and went till he came to ,alexandria1 where he found the cobbler4 ,the cobbler was astonished to see so reverend a father to come into his house4 ,then ,anthony said unto him1 ,come and tell me thy whole conversation and how thou spendest thy time4 ,sir1 said the cobbler1 as for me1 good works ,i have none1 for my life is but simple and slender4 ,i am but a poor cobbler4 ,in the morning when ,i arise ,i pray for the whole city wherein ,i dwell1 especially for all such neighbors and poor friends as ,i have4 ,after1 ,i set me at my labor1 where ,i spend the whole day in getting of my living1 and keep me from all falsehood1 for ,i hate nothing so much as ,i do deceitfulness4 ,wherefore1 when ,i make to any man a promise ,i keep it and do it truly1 and so spend my time poorly with my wife and children1 whom ,i teach and instruct1 as far as my wit will serve me1 to fear and dread ,god4 ,this is the sum of my simple life4 ,in this story you see how ,god loveth those that follow their vocation and live uprightly without any falsehood in their dealing4 ,this ,anthony was a great and holy man1 yet this cobbler was as much esteemed before ,god as he4 ,let us take a long leap of about a century1 and we come to ,jeremy ,taylor1 another bishop1 whom ,i mention immediately after ,latimer because he is apparently such a contrast to that homely divine1 while yet in very truth he has a measure of likeness to him as to the point now in hand4 ,they both rejoiced in figure and metaphor1 and equally delighted in incident and narrative4 ,true1 the one would talk of ,john and ,william1 and the other of ,anexagoras and ,scipio2 but actual scenes were the delight of each4 ,in this respect ,jeremy ,taylor may be said to be ,latimer turned into ,latin4 ,jeremy ,taylor is as full of classical allusions as a king's palace is full of rare treasures1 and his language is of the lofty order which more becomes a patrician audience than a popular assembly2 but when you come to the essence of things1 you see that if ,latimer is homely1 so also ,taylor narrates incidents which are homely to him2 but his home is among philosophers of ,greece and senators of ,rome4 ,this being understood1 we venture to say that no one used more anecdotes than this splendid poet-preacher4 ,his biographer truly says3 ,it would be hard to point out a branch of learning or of scientific pursuit to which he does not occasionally allude2 or any author of eminence1 either ancient or modern1 with whom he does not evince himself acquainted4 ,he more than once refers to obscure stories in ancient writers1 as if they were of necessity as familiar to all his readers as to himself2 as1 for instance1 he talks of 'poor ,attillius ,aviola1' and again of 'the ,libyan lion that brake loose into his wilderness and killed two ,roman boys4' ,in all this he is eminently select and classical1 and therefore ,i the more freely introduce him here2 for there can be no reason why our anecdotes should all be rustic2 we1 too1 may rifle the treasures of antiquity1 and make the heathen contribute to the gospel1 even as ,hiram of ,tyre served under ,solomon's direction for the building of the temple of the ,lord4 ,i am no admirer of ,taylor's style in other respects1 and his teaching seems to be at times semi-popish2 but in this place ,i have only to deal with him upon one particular1 and of that matter he is an admirable example4 ,he lavishes classic stories even as an ,asiatic queen bedecks herself with countless pearls4 ,out of a sermon ,i extract the following1 which may suffice for our purpose3 ,,students ,,progressing ,,backward4--,menedemus was wont to say that the young boys that went to ,athens the first year were wise men1 the second year philosophers1 the third orators1 and the fourth were but plebeians1 and understood nothing but their own ignorance4 ,and just so it happens to some in the progresses of religion4 ,at first they are violent and active1 and then they satiate all the appetites of religion2 and that which is left is that they were soon weary and sat down in displeasure1 and return to the world and dwell in the business of pride or money2 and by this time they understand that their religion is declined1 and passed from the heats and follies of youth to the coldness and infirmities of old age4 ,,diogenes ,,and ,,the ,,young ,,man4--,diogenes once spied a young man coming out of a tavern or place of entertainment1 who1 perceiving himself observed by the philosopher1 with some confusion stepped back again1 that he might1 if possible1 preserve his fame with that severe person4 ,but ,diogenes told him1 ,quanto magis intraveris1 tanto magis eris in caupona 7,the more you go back the longer you are in the place where you are ashamed to be seen74 ,he that conceals his sin still retains that which he counts his shame and burden4 ,no examples will have greater weight with you than those taken from among the ,puritans1 in whose steps it is our desire to walk1 though1 alas6 we follow with feeble feet4 ,certain of them abounded in anecdotes and stories4 ,thomas ,brooks is a signal instance of the wise and wealthy use of holy fancy4 ,i put him first1 because ,i reckon him to be the first in the special art which is now under consideration4 ,he hath dust of gold2 for even in the margins of his books there are sentences of exceeding preciousness1 and hints at classic stories4 ,his style is clear and full2 he never so exceeds in illustration as to lose sight of his doctrine4 ,his floods of metaphor never drown his meaning1 but float it upon their surface4 ,if you have never read his works ,i almost envy you the joy of entering for the first time upon his ,unsearchable ,riches1 trying his ,precious ,remedies1 tasting his ,apples of ,gold1 communing with his ,mute ,christian1 and enjoying his other masterly writings4 ,let me give you a taste of his quality in the way of anecdotes4 ,here are two brief ones2 but he so abounds with them that you may readily cull scores of better ones for yourselves4 ,,mr4 ,,welch ,,weeping4--,a soul under special manifestations of love weeps that it can love ,christ no more4 ,mr4 ,welch1 a ,suffolk minister1 weeping at table1 and being asked the reason of it1 answered it was because he could love ,christ no more4 ,the true lovers of ,christ can never rise high enough in their love to ,christ4 ,they count a little love to be no love1 great love to be but little1 strong love to be but weak1 and the highest love to be infinitely below the worth of ,christ1 the beauty and glory of ,christ1 the fulness1 sweetness1 and goodness of ,christ4 ,the top of their misery in this life is that they love so little though they are so much beloved4 ,,submissive ,,silence4--,such was the silence of ,philip the ,second1 ,king of ,spain1 that when his ,invincible ,armada1 that had been three years a-fitting1 was lost1 he gave command that all over ,spain they should give thanks to ,god and the saints that it was no more grievous4 ,thomas ,adams1 the ,conforming ,puritan1 whose sermons are full of rugged force and profound meaning1 never hesitated to insert a story when he felt that it would enforce his teaching4 ,his starting-point is ever some ,biblical sentence1 or scriptural history2 and this he works out with much elaboration1 bringing to it all the treasures of his mind4 ,as ,stowell says1 ,fables1 anecdotes1 classical poetry1 gems from the fathers and other old writers1 are scattered over almost every page4 ,his anecdotes are usually rough-and-ready ones1 and might be compared to those of ,latimer1 only they are not so genial2 their humor is generally grim and caustic4 ,the following may serve as fair specimens3 ,,the ,,husband ,,and ,,his ,,witty ,,wife4--,the husband told his wife that he had one ill quality--he was given to be angry without cause4 ,she wittily replied that she would keep him from that fault1 for she would give him cause enough4 ,it is the folly of some that they will be offended without cause1 to whom the world promises that they shall have causes enough--,in the world ye shall have tribulation4 ,,the ,,servant ,,at ,,the ,,sermon4--,it is ordinary with many to commend the lecture to others' ears1 but few commend it to their own hearts4 ,it is morally true what the ,christian ,tell-,truth relates3 ,a servant coming from church praiseth the sermon to his master4 ,he asks him what was the text4 ,nay1 quoth the servant1 it was begun before ,i came in4 ,what1 then1 was his conclusion8 ,he answered1 ,i came out before it was done4 ,but what said he in the midst8 ,indeed ,i was asleep in the midst4 ,many crowd to get into the church1 but make no room for the sermon to get into them4 ,william ,gurnall1 the author of ,the ,christian in ,complete ,armor1 must surely have been a relater of pertinent stories in his sermons1 since even in his set and solid writings they occur4 ,perhaps ,i need not have made the distinction between his writings and his preaching1 for it appears from the preface that his ,christian in ,complete ,armor was preached before it was printed4 ,in vivid imagery every page of his famous book abounds1 and whenever this is the case we are sure to light upon short narratives and striking incidents4 ,he is as profuse in illustration as either ,brooks1 ,watson1 or ,swinnock4 ,happy ,lavenham1 to have been served by such a pastor6 ,by the way1 this ,complete ,armor is beyond all others a preacher's book3 ,i should think that more discourses have been suggested by it than by any other uninspired volume4 ,i have often resorted to it when my own fire has been burning low1 and ,i have seldom failed to find a glowing coal upon ,gurnall's hearth4 ,john ,newton said that if he might read only one book beside the ,bible1 he would choose ,the ,christian in ,complete ,armor1 and ,cecil was of much the same opinion4 ,j4 ,c4 ,ryle has said of it1 ,you will often find in a line and a half some great truth1 put so concisely1 and yet so fully1 that you really marvel how so much thought could be got into so few words4 ,one or two stories from the early part of his great work must suffice for our purpose4 ,,bird ,,safe ,,in ,a ,,man',s ,,bosom4--,a heathen could say when a bird 7feared by a hawk7 flew into his bosom1 ,i will not betray thee unto thine enemy1 seeing thou comest for sanctuary unto me4 ,how much less will ,god yield up a soul unto its enemy when it takes sanctuary in his name1 saying1 ,lord1 ,i am hunted with such a temptation1 dogged with such a lust2 either thou must pardon it1 or ,i am damned2 mortify it1 or ,i shall be a slave to it2 take me into the bosom of thy love for ,christ's sake2 castle me in the arms of thy everlasting strength4 ,it is in thy power to save me from or give me up into the hands of my enemy4 ,i have no confidence in myself or any other4 ,into thy hands ,i commit my cause1 my life1 and rely on thee4 ,this dependence of a soul undoubtedly will awaken the almighty power of ,god for such a one's defense4 ,he hath sworn the greatest oath that can come out of his blessed lips1 even by himself1 that such as flee for refuge to hope in him shall have strong consolation 7,heb4 vi4 #ag1 #ah74 ,,the ,,prince ,,with ,,his ,,family ,,in ,,danger4--,suppose a king's son should get out of a besieged city where he hath left his wife and children1 whom he loves as his own soul1 and these all ready to die by sword or famine1 if supply come not the sooner4 ,could this prince1 when arrived at his father's house1 please himself with the delights of the court and forget the distress of his family8 or rather would he not come post to his father1 having their cries and groans always in his ears1 and before he ate or drank do his errand to his father1 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 perish8 ,surely1 sirs1 though ,christ be in the top of his preferment and out of the storm in regard of his own person1 yet his children1 left behind in the midst of sin's1 ,satan's1 and the world's batteries1 are in his heart1 and shall not be forgotten a moment by him4 ,the care he takes in our business appeared in the speedy despatch he made of his spirit to his apostles' supply1 which1 as soon almost as he was warm in his seat at his ,father's right hand1 he sent1 to the incomparable comfort of his apostles and us that to this day--yea1 to the end of the world--do or shall believe on him4 ,john ,flavel was greatest in metaphor and allegory2 but in the matter of anecdote his preaching is a fine example4 ,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 heart4 ,he had a fund of striking incidents1 and a faculty of happy illustration1 and as he was a man in whose manner cheerfulness was blended with solemnity1 he was popular in the highest degree both at home and abroad4 ,he sought out words which might suit the sailors of ,dartmouth and farmers of ,devon1 and therefore he has left behind him his ,navigation ,spiritualized1 and his ,husbandry ,spiritualized1 a legacy for each of the two orders of men who plow the sea and the land4 ,he was a man worth making a pilgrimage to hear4 ,what a crime it was to silence his heaven-touched lips by the abominable ,act of ,uniformity6 ,instead of quoting several passages from his sermons1 each one containing an anecdote1 ,i have thought it as well to give a mass of stories as we find them in his prelections upon ,,providence ,,in ,,conversion4--,a scrap of paper accidentally coming to view hath been used as an occasion of conversion4 ,this was the case of a minister of ,wales who had two livings but took little care of either4 ,he1 being at a fair1 bought something at a peddler's standing1 and rent off a leaf of ,mr4 ,perkins' catechism to wrap it in1 and reading a line or two of it1 ,god sent it home so as it did the work4 ,the marriage of a godly man into a carnal family hath been ordered by ,providence for the conversion and salvation of many therein4 ,thus we read in the life of that renowned ,english worthy1 ,mr4 ,john ,bruen1 that in his second match it was agreed that he should have one year's diet in his mother-in-law's house4 ,during his abode there that year1 saith ,mr4 ,clark1 the ,lord was pleased by his means graciously to work upon her soul1 as also upon his wife's sister and half-sister1 their brothers1 ,mr4 ,william and ,mr4 ,thomas ,fox1 with one or two of the servants in that family4 ,not only the reading of a book or hearing of a minister1 but--which is most remarkable--the very mistake or forgetfulness of a minister hath been improved by ,providence for this end and purpose4 ,augustine1 once preaching to his congregation1 forgot the argument which he first proposed1 and fell upon the errors of the ,manichees beside his first intention1 by which discourse he converted one ,firmus1 his auditor1 who fell down at his feet weeping and confessing he had lived a ,manichee many years4 ,another ,i knew who1 going to preach1 took up another ,bible than that he had designed1 in which1 not only missing his notes but the chapter also in which his text lay1 was put to some loss thereby4 ,but after a short pause he resolved to speak about any other ,scripture that might be presented to him1 and accordingly read the text1 ,the ,lord is not slack concerning his promise 7#b ,pet4 iii4 #i72 and though he had nothing prepared1 yet the ,lord helped him to speak both methodically and pertinently from it1 by which discourse a gracious change was wrought upon one in the congregation1 who hath since given good evidence of a sound conversion1 and acknowledged this sermon to be the first and only means thereof4 ,george ,swinnock1 for some years chaplain to ,hampden1 had the gift of illustration largely developed1 as his works prove4 ,some of his similes are far-fetched1 and the growth of knowledge has rendered certain of them obsolete2 but they served his purpose1 and made his teaching attractive4 ,after deducting all his fancies1 which in the present age would be judged to be strained1 there remains a rare amount of sanctified wit and wisdom2 and sparkling here and there we spy out a few telling stories1 mostly of classic origin4 ,,the ,,prayer ,,of ,,paulinus4--,it was the speech of ,paulinus when his city was taken by the barbarians1 ,domine1 ne excrucier ob aurum et argentum 7,lord1 let me not be troubled for my silver and gold which ,i have lost1 for thou art all things74 ,as ,noah1 when the whole world was overwhelmed with water1 had a fair epitome of it in the ark1 having all sorts of beasts and fowls there1 so he that in a deluge hath ,god to be his ,god hath the original of all mercies4 ,he who enjoyeth the ocean may rejoice1 though some drops are taken from him4 ,,queen ,,elizabeth ,,and ,,the ,,milkmaid4--,queen ,elizabeth envied the milkmaid when she was in prison1 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 person4 ,christians are too prone to envy the husks which wandering sinners fill themselves with here below2 but would they set before them their glorious hopes of a heaven1 how they must reign with ,christ forever and ever1 they would see little reason for their repining4 ,,the ,,believing ,,child4--,i have read a story of a little child about eight or nine years old1 that1 being extremely pinched with hunger1 looked one day pitifully necessitous on her mother1 and said1 ,mother1 do you think that ,god will starve us8 ,the mother answered1 ,no1 child2 he will not4 ,the child replied1 ,but if he do1 yet we must love him and serve him4 ,here was language that spake a well-grown ,christian4 ,for1 indeed1 ,god brings us to want and misery to try us whether we love him for his own sake or for our own sakes1 for those excellencies that are in him or for those mercies we have from him1 to see whether we will say with the cynic to ,antisthenes1 ,nullus tam durus erit baculus1 etc4 7,there should be no cudgel so crabbed as to beat me from thee74 ,thomas ,watson was one of the many ,puritan preachers who won the popular ear by their frequent illustrations4 ,in the clear flowing stream of his teaching we find pearls of anecdote very frequently4 ,no one ever grew weary under such pleasant yet weighty discourse as that which we find in his ,beatitudes4 ,let two quotations serve to show his skill3 ,,the ,,vestal ,,and ,,the ,,bracelets4--,most men think because ,god hath blessed them with an estate therefore they are blessed4 ,alas6 ,god often gives these things in anger4 ,he loads his enemies with gold and silver3 as ,plutarch reports of ,tarpeia1 a ,vestal nun1 who bargained with the enemy to betray the ,capitol of ,rome to them in case she might have the golden bracelets on their left hands1 which they promised2 and being entered into the ,capitol1 they threw not only their bracelets but their bucklers1 too1 upon her1 through the weight whereof she was pressed to death4 ,god often lets men have the golden bracelets of worldly substance1 the weight whereof sinks them into hell4 ,oh1 let us1 superna anhelare1 get our eyes fixed and our hearts united to ,god the supreme good4 ,this is to pursue blessedness as in a chase4 ,,hedgehog ,,and ,,conies4--,the ,fabulist tells a story of the hedgehog that came to the cony-burrows in stormy weather and desired harbor1 promising that he would be a quiet guest2 but when once he had gotten entertainment he did set up his prickles1 and did never leave till he had thrust the poor conies out of their burrows4 ,so covetousness1 though it hath many fair pleas to insinuate and wind itself into the heart1 yet as soon as you have let it in1 this thorn will never cease pricking till it hath choked all good beginnings and thrust all religion out of your hearts4 ,i think this must suffice to represent the men of the ,puritanic period1 who added to their profound theology and varied learning a zeal to be understood1 and a skill in setting forth truth by the help of every-day occurrences4 ,the age which followed them was barren of spiritual life1 and was afflicted by a race of rhetorical divines1 whose words had little connection with the ,word of life4 ,the scanty thought of the ,queen ,anne dignitaries needed no aid of metaphor or parable3 there was nothing to explain to the people2 the utmost endeavor of these divines was to hide the nakedness of their discourses with the fig-leaves of ,latinized verbiage4 ,living preaching was gone1 spiritual life was gone1 and consequently a pulpit was set up which had no voice for the common people2 no voice1 indeed1 for anybody except the mere formalist1 who is content if decorum be observed and respectability maintained4 ,of course1 our notion of making truth clear by stories did not suit the dignified death of the period1 and it was only when the dry bones began to be stirred that the popular method was again brought to the front4 ,the illustrious ,george ,whitefield stands1 with ,wesley1 at the head of that noble army who led the ,revival of the last century4 ,it is not at this present any part of my plan to speak of his matchless eloquence1 unquenchable earnestness1 and incessant labor2 but it is quite according to the run of my lecture to remind you of his own saying1 ,i use market language4 ,he employed pure1 good1 flowing ,english2 but he was as simple as if he spoke to children4 ,although by no means abounding in illustration1 yet he always employed it when needed1 and he narrated incidents with great power of action and emphasis4 ,his stories were so told that they thrilled the people3 they saw as well as heard1 for each word had its proper gesture4 ,one reason why he could be understood at so great a distance was the fact that the eye helped the ear4 ,as specimens of his anecdotes ,i have selected two1 which follow3 ,,the ,,two ,,chaplains4--,you cannot do without the grace of ,god when you come to die4 ,there was a nobleman that kept a deistical chaplain and his lady a ,christian one4 ,when he was dying he says to his chaplain1 ,i liked you very well when ,i was in health1 but it is my lady's chaplain ,i must have when ,i am sick4 ,,never ,,satisfied4--,my dear hearers1 there is not a single soul of you all that is satisfied in your station4 ,is not the language of your hearts when apprentices4 ,we think we shall do very well when journeymen2 when journeymen1 that we shall do very well when masters2 when single1 that we shall do well when married8 ,and1 to be sure1 you think you shall do well when you keep a carriage4 ,i have heard of one who began low4 ,he first wanted a house2 then1 says he1 ,i want two1 then four1 then six4 ,and when he had them he said1 ,i think ,i want nothing else4 ,yes1 says his friend1 you will soon want another thing2 that is a hearse-and-six to carry you to your grave4 ,and that made him tremble4 ,fearing that the quotation of any more examples might prove tedious1 ,i would only remind you that such men as ,berridge1 ,rowland ,hill1 ,matthew ,wilks1 ,christmas ,evans1 ,william ,jay1 and others who have but lately departed from us1 owed much of their attractiveness to the way in which they aroused their audiences1 and flashed truth into their faces by well-chosen anecdotes4 ,time calls upon me to have done1 and how can ,i come to a better close than by mentioning one living man1 who1 above all others1 has in two continents stirred the masses of the people8 ,i refer to ,d4 ,l4 ,moody4 ,this admirable brother has a great aversion to the printing of his sermons2 and well he may have1 for he is incessantly preaching1 and has no time allowed him for the preparation of fresh discourses2 and therefore it would be great unwisdom on his part to print at once those addresses with which he is working through a campaign4 ,we hope1 however1 that when he has done with a sermon he will never suffer it to die out1 but give it to the church and to the world through the press4 ,our esteemed brother has a lively1 telling style1 and he thinks it wise frequently to fasten a nail with the hammer of anecdote4 ,here are three extracts from the little book entitled ,arrows and ,anecdotes by ,d4 ,l4 ,moody4 ,,the ,,idiot',s ,,mother4--,i know a mother who has an idiot child4 ,for it she gave up all society--almost everything--and devoted her whole life to it4 ,and now1 said she1 for fourteen years ,i have tended it and loved it1 and it does not even know me4 ,oh1 it is breaking my heart6 ,oh1 how the ,lord must say this of hundreds here6 ,jesus comes here1 and goes from seat to seat asking if there is a place for him4 ,oh1 will not some of you take him into your hearts8 ,,surgeon ,,and ,,patient4--,when ,i was in ,belfast ,i knew a doctor who had a friend1 a leading surgeon there1 and he told me that the surgeon's custom was1 before performing any operation1 to say to the patient1 ,take a good look at the wound and then fix your eyes on me1 and don't take them off till ,i get through the operation4 ,i thought at the time that was a good illustration4 ,sinner1 take a good look at the wound to-night1 and then fix your eyes on ,christ and don't take them off4 ,it is better to look at the remedy than at the wound4 ,,the ,,roll-,,call4--,a soldier lay on his dying couch during our last war1 and they heard him say1 ,here6 ,they asked him what he wanted1 and he put up his hand and said1 ,hush6 ,they are calling the roll of heaven1 and ,i am answering to my name4 ,and presently he whispered1 ,here6 and he was gone4 ,i will weary you no longer4 ,you may safely do what the most useful of men have done before you4 ,copy them not only in their use of illustration1 but in their wisely keeping it in subservience to their design4 ,they were not story-tellers1 but preachers of the gospel2 they did not aim at the entertainment of the people1 but at their conversion4 ,never did they go out of their way to drag in a telling bit which they had been saving up for display1 and never could any one say of their illustrations that they were ,windows that exclude the light1 ,and passages that lead to nothing4 ,keep you the due proportion of things lest ,i do worse than lose my labor1 by becoming the cause of your presenting to the people strings of anecdotes instead of sound doctrines1 for that would be as evil a thing as if you offered to hungry men flowers instead of bread1 and gave to the naked gauze of gossamer instead of woolen cloth4 ,,lecture ,,iii4 ,,the ,,uses ,,of ,,anecdotes ,,and ,,illustrations4 ,the uses of anecdotes and illustrations are manifold2 but we may reduce them to seven1 so far as our present purposes are concerned1 not for a moment imagining that this will be a complete list4 ,we use them1 first1 to interest the mind and secure the attention of our hearers4 ,we cannot endure a sleepy audience4 ,to us1 a slumbering man is no man4 ,sydney ,smith observed that1 although ,eve was taken out of the side of ,adam while he was asleep1 it was not possible to remove sin from men's hearts in that manner4 ,we do not agree with ,hodge1 the hedger and ditcher1 who remarked to a ,christian man with whom he was talking1 ,i loikes ,sunday1 ,i does2 ,i loikes ,sunday4 ,and what makes you like ,sunday8 ,cause1 you see1 it's a day of rest3 ,i goes down to the old church1 ,i gets into a pew1 and puts my legs up1 and ,i thinks o' nothin'4 ,it is to be feared that in town as well as in country this thinking of nothing is a very usual thing4 ,but your regard for the sacred day1 and the ministry to which you are called1 and the worshiping assembly1 will not allow you to give your people the chance of thinking of nothing4 ,you want to arouse every faculty in them to receive the ,word of ,god1 that it may be a blessing to them4 ,we want to win attention at the commencement of the service1 and to hold it till the close4 ,with this aim1 many methods may be tried2 but possibly none will succeed better than the introduction of an interesting story4 ,this sets ,hodge listening1 and although he will miss the fresh air of the fields1 and begin to feel drowsy in your stuffy chapel1 another tale will stir him to renewed attention4 ,if he hears some narrative in connection with his village or county1 you will have him all there1 and you may then hope to do him good4 ,the anecdote in the sermon answers the purpose of an engraving in a book4 ,everybody knows that people are attracted by volumes with pictures in them2 and that1 when a child gets a book1 although it may pass over the letterpress without observation1 it is quite sure to pause over the woodcuts4 ,let us not be too great to use a method which many have found successful4 ,we must have attention4 ,in some audiences we cannot get it if we begin with solid instruction2 they are not desirous of being taught1 and consequently they are not in a condition to receive the truth if we set it before them nakedly4 ,now for a bunch of flowers to attract these people to our table1 for afterward we can feed them with the food they so much need4 ,just as the ,salvation ,army goes trumpeting and drumming through the streets to draw the people into the barracks1 so may an earnest man spend the first few minutes with an unprepared congregation in waking the folks up1 and enticing them to enter the inner chamber of the truth4 ,even this awakening prelude must have in it that which is worthy of the occasion2 but if it is not up to your usual average in weight of doctrine1 it may not only be excused1 but commended1 if it prepares the audience to receive that which is to follow4 ,ground-bait may catch no fish2 but it answers its purpose if it brings them near the bait and the hook4 ,a congregation which has been well instructed1 and is mainly made up of established believers1 will not need to be addressed in the same style as an audience gathered fresh from the world1 or a meeting of dull1 formal church-goers4 ,your common sense will teach you to suit your manner to your audience4 ,it is possible to maintain profound and long-continued attention without the use of an illustration2 ,i have frequently done so in the ,tabernacle when it has been mainly filled with church-members2 but when my own people are away1 and strangers fill their places1 ,i bring out all my store of stories1 similes1 and parables4 ,i have sometimes told anecdotes in the pulpit1 and very delicate and particular people have expressed their regret and horror that ,i should say such things2 but when ,i have found that ,god has blessed some of the illustrations ,i have used1 ,i have often thought of the story of the man with a halberd1 who was attacked by a nobleman's dog1 and1 of course1 in defending himself1 he killed the animal4 ,the nobleman was very angry1 and asked the man how he dared to kill the dog2 and the man replied that if he had not killed it the dog would have bitten him and torn him in pieces4 ,well1 said the nobleman1 but you should not have struck it on the head with the halberd2 why did you not hit it with the handle8 ,my lord1 answered the man1 so ,i would if it had tried to bite me with its tail4 ,so1 when ,i have to deal with sin1 some people say1 ,why don't you address it delicately8 ,why don't you speak to it in courtly language8 ,and ,i answer1 ,so ,i would if it would bite me with its tail2 but as long as ever ,i find that it deals roughly with me1 ,i will deal roughly with it2 and any kind of weapon that will help to slay the monster1 ,i shall not find unfitted to my hand4 ,we cannot afford in these days to lose any opportunity of getting hold of the public ear4 ,we must use every occasion that comes in our way1 and every tool that is likely to help us in our work2 and we must rouse up all our faculties1 and put forth all our energies1 if that by any means we may get the people to heed that which they are so slow to regard1 the great story of righteousness1 temperance1 and judgment to come4 ,we shall need to read much1 and to study hard1 or else we shall not be able to influence our day and generation for good4 ,i believe that the greatest industry is necessary to make a thoroughly efficient preacher1 and the best natural ability1 too2 and it is my firm conviction that1 when you have the best natural ability1 you must supplement it with the greatest imaginable industry1 if you are really to do much service for ,god among this crooked and perverse generation4 ,the fool in ,scotland who got into the pulpit before the preacher arrived was requested by the minister to come down4 ,nay1 nay1 answered the man1 you come up1 too1 for it will take both of us to move this stiff-necked generation4 ,it will certainly take all the wisdom that we can obtain to move the people among whom our lot is cast2 and if we do not use every lawful means of interesting the minds of our hearers1 we shall find that they will be like a certain other congregation1 in which the people were all asleep except one poor idiot4 ,the minister woke them up1 and tried to reprove them by saying1 ,there1 you were all asleep except poor ,jock the idiot2 but his rebuke was cut short by ,jock1 who exclaimed1 ,and if ,i had not been an idiot1 ,i should have been asleep too4 ,i will leave the moral of that well-known story to speak for itself1 and will pass on to my second point1 which is1 that the use of anecdotes and illustrations renders our preaching lifelike and vivid4 ,this is a most important matter4 ,of all things that we have to avoid1 one of the most essential is that of giving our people the idea1 when we are preaching1 that we are acting a part4 ,everything theatrical in the pulpit1 either in tone1 manner1 or anything else1 ,i loathe from my very soul4 ,just go into the pulpit and talk to the people as you would in the kitchen1 or the drawing-room1 and say what you have to tell them in your ordinary tone of voice4 ,let me conjure you1 by everything that is good1 to throw away all stilted styles of speech1 and anything approaching affectation4 ,nothing can succeed with the masses except naturalness and simplicity4 ,why1 some ministers cannot even give out a hymn in a natural manner6 ,let us sing to the praise and glory of ,god 7spoken in the tone that is sometimes heard in churches or chapels7--who would ever think of speaking like that at the tea-table8 ,i shall be greatly obliged if you will kindly give me another cup of tea 7spoken in the same unnatural way7--you would never think of giving any tea to a man who talked like that2 and if we preach in that stupid style1 the people will not believe what we say2 they will think it is our business1 our occupation1 and that we are doing the whole thing in a professional manner4 ,we must shake off professionalism of every kind1 as ,paul shook off the viper into the fire2 and we must speak as ,god has ordained that we should speak1 and not by any strange1 out-of-the-way1 new-fangled method of pulpit oratory4 ,our ,lord's teaching was amazingly lifelike and vivid2 it was the setting out of truth before the eye1 not as a flat picture1 but as in a stereoscope1 making it stand up1 with all its lines and angles of beauty in lifelike reality4 ,that was a fine living sermon when he took a little child1 and set him in the midst of the disciples2 and that was another powerful discourse when he preached about abstaining from carking cares1 and stooped down and plucked a lily 7as ,i suppose he did7 and said1 ,consider the lilies of the field1 how they grow2 they toil not1 neither do they spin4 ,i can readily suppose that some ravens were flying just over his head1 and that he pointed to them1 and said1 ,consider the ravens2 for they neither sow nor reap2 which neither have storehouse nor barn2 and ,god feedeth them4 ,there was a lifelikeness2 you see1 a vividness1 about the whole thing4 ,we cannot always literally imitate our ,lord1 as we have mostly to preach in places of worship4 ,it is a blessing that we have so many houses of prayer1 and ,i thank ,god that there are so many of them springing up all around us2 yet ,i should praise the ,lord still more if half the ministers who preach in our various buildings were made to turn out of them1 and to speak for their ,master in the highways and byways1 and anywhere that the people would go to listen to them4 ,we are to go out into all the world1 and preach the gospel to every creature--not to stop in our chapels waiting for every creature to come in to hear what we have to say4 ,a sportsman who should sit at his parlor window1 with his gun loaded all ready for shooting partridges1 would probably not make up a very heavy bag of game4 ,no2 he must put on his buskins1 and tramp off over the fields1 and then he will get a shot at the birds he is seeking4 ,so must we do1 brethren2 we must always have our buskins ready for field work1 and be ever on the watch for opportunities of going out among the souls of men1 that we may bring them back as trophies of the power of the gospel we have to proclaim4 ,it might not be wise for us to try to make our sermons lifelike and vivid in the style in which quaint old ,matthew ,wilks sometimes did2 as when1 one ,sabbath morning1 he took into the pulpit a little box1 and after a while1 opened it1 and displayed to the congregation a small pair of scales1 and then1 turning over the leaves of the ,bible with great deliberation1 held up the balances1 and announced as his text1 ,thou art weighed in the balances1 and art found wanting4 ,i think1 however1 that was puerile rather than powerful4 ,i like ,matthew ,wilks better when1 on another occasion1 his text being1 ,see that ye walk circumspectly1 he commenced by saying1 ,did you ever see a tom-cat walking on the top of a high wall that was covered with bits of broken glass bottles8 ,if so1 you had just then an accurate illustration of what is meant by the injunction1 ',see that ye walk circumspectly4' ,there is the case1 too1 of good ,father ,taylor1 who1 preaching in the streets in one of the towns of ,california1 stood on the top of a whisky-barrel4 ,by way of illustration1 he stamped his foot on the cask and said1 ,this barrel is like man's heart1 full of evil stuff2 and there are some people who say that if sin is within you1 it may just as well come out4 ,no1 said the speaker1 it is not so2 now here is this whisky that is in the barrel under my foot3 it is a bad thing2 it is a damnable thing2 it is a devilish thing2 but as long as it is kept tightly bunged up in the barrel1 it certainly will not do the hurt that it will if it is taken over to the liquor-bar1 and sold out to the drunkards of the neighborhood1 sending them home to beat their wives or kill their children4 ,so1 if you keep your sins in your own heart1 they will be evil and devilish1 and ,god will damn you for them2 but they will not do so much hurt to other people1 at any rate1 as if they are seen in public4 ,stamping his foot again on the barrel1 the preacher said1 ,suppose you try to pass this cask over the boundaries of the country1 and the custom-house officer comes and demands the duty upon its contents4 ,you say that you will not let any of the whisky get out2 but the officer tells you that he cannot allow it to pass4 ,so1 if it were possible for us to abstain from outward sin1 yet1 since the heart is full of all manner of evil1 it would be impossible for us to pass the frontiers of heaven1 and to be found in that holy and happy place4 ,that ,i thought to be somewhat of a lifelike illustration1 and a capital way of teaching truth1 although ,i should not like always to have a whisky-barrel for a pulpit1 for fear the head might fall in1 and ,i might fall in1 too4 ,i should not recommend any of you to be so lifelike in your ministry as that notable ,french priest1 who1 addressing his congregation1 said1 ,as to the ,magdalenes and those who commit the sins of the flesh1 such persons are very common2 they abound even in this church2 and ,i am going to throw this mass-book at a woman who is a ,magdalene1 whereupon all the women in the place bent down their heads4 ,so the priest said1 ,no1 surely you are not all ,magdalenes2 ,i hardly thought that was the case2 but you see how your sin finds you out6 ,nor should ,i even recommend you to follow the example of the clergyman1 who1 when a collection was to be made for lighting and warming the church1 after he had preached some time1 blew out the candles on both sides of the pulpit1 saying that the collection was for the lights and the fires1 and he did not require any light1 for he did not read his sermon1 but1 he added1 when ,roger gives out the psalm presently1 you will want a light to see your books2 so the candles are for yourselves4 ,and as for the stove1 ,i do not need its heat1 for my exercise in preaching is sufficient to keep me warm2 therefore you see that the collection is wholly for yourselves on this occasion4 ,nobody can say that the clergy are collecting for themselves this time1 for on this ,sunday it is wholly for your own selves4 ,i thought the man was a fool for making such remarks1 though ,i find that his conduct has been referred to as being a very excellent instance of boldness in preaching4 ,there is a story told about myself1 which1 like very many of the tales told about me1 is a story in two senses4 ,it is said that in order to show the way in which men backslide1 ,i once slid down the banisters of the pulpit4 ,i only mention this1 in passing1 because it is a remarkable fact that1 at the time the story was told1 my pulpit was fixed in the wall1 and there was no banister1 so that the reverend fool 7which he would have been if he had done what people said7 could not have performed the antic if he had been inclined to attempt it4 ,but the anecdote1 although it is not true1 serves all the purposes of the lifelikeness ,i have tried to describe4 ,you probably recollect the instance of ,whitefield depicting the blind man1 with his dog1 walking on the brink of a precipice1 and his foot almost slipping over the edge4 ,the preacher's description was so graphic1 and the illustration so vivid and lifelike1 that ,lord ,chesterfield sprang up and exclaimed1 ,good ,god1 he's gone6 but ,whitefield answered1 ,no1 my lord1 he is not quite gone2 let us hope that he may yet be saved4 ,then he went on to speak of the blind man as being led by his reason1 which is only like a dog1 showing that a man led only by reason is ready to fall into hell4 ,how vividly one would see the love of money set forth in the story told by our venerable friend1 ,mr4 ,rogers1 of a man who1 when he lay a-dying1 would put his money in his mouth because he loved it so and wanted to take some of it with him6 ,how strikingly is the non-utility of worldly wealth1 as a comfort to us in our last days1 brought before us by the narrative in which good ,jeremiah ,burroughes speaks of a miser who had his money-bags laid near his hand on his dying-bed6 ,he kept taking them up1 and saying1 ,must ,i leave you8 ,must ,i leave you8 ,have ,i lived all these years for you1 and now must ,i leave you8 ,and so he died4 ,there is a tale told of another1 who had many pains in his death1 and especially the great pain of a disturbed conscience4 ,he also had his money-bags brought1 one by one1 with his mortgages1 and bonds1 and deeds1 and putting them near his heart1 he sighed1 and said1 ,these won't do2 these won't do2 these won't do2 take them away6 ,what poor things they all are when ,i most need comfort in my dying moments6 ,how distinctly love to ,christ is brought out in the story of ,john ,lambert1 fastened to the stake1 and burning to death1 yet clapping his hands as he was burning1 and crying out1 ,none but ,christ6 ,none but ,christ6 until his nether extremities were burned1 and he fell from the chains into the fire1 still exclaiming in the midst of the flames1 ,none but ,christ6 ,none but ,christ6 ,how clearly the truth stands out before you when you hear such stories as these6 ,you can realize it almost as well as if the incident happened before your eyes4 ,how well you can see the folly of misunderstanding between ,christians in ,mr4 ,jay's story of two men who were walking from opposite directions on a foggy night6 ,each saw what he thought was a terrible monster moving toward him1 and making his heart beat with terror2 as they came nearer to each other1 they found that the dreadful monsters were brothers4 ,so1 men of different denominations are often afraid of one another2 but when they get close to each other1 and know each other's hearts1 they find out that they are brethren after all4 ,the story of the negro and his master well illustrates the need of beginning at the beginning in heavenly things1 and not meddling with the deeper points of our holy religion till we have learned its elements thoroughly4 ,a poor negro was laboring hard to bring his master to a knowledge of the truth1 and was urging him to exercise faith in ,christ1 when he excused himself because he could not understand the doctrine of election4 ,ah6 ,massa1 said the negro1 don't you know what comes before de ,epistle to de ,romans8 ,you must read de ,book de right way2 de doctrine ob election is in ,romans1 and dere is ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john1 first4 ,you are only in ,matthew yet2 dat is about repentance2 and when you get to ,john1 you will read where de ,lord ,jesus ,christ said dat ,god so loved de world1 dat he gave his only begotten ,son1 dat whosoever believeth in him should not perish1 but hab everlasting life4 ,so1 brethren1 you can say to your hearers1 ,you will do better by reading the four ,gospels first than by beginning to read in ,romans2 first study ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john1 and then you can go on to the ,epistles4 ,but ,i must not keep on giving you illustrations1 because so many will suggest themselves4 ,i have given you sufficient to show that they do make our preaching vivid and lifelike2 therefore1 the more you have of them1 the better4 ,at the same time1 gentlemen1 ,i must warn you against the danger of having too many anecdotes in any one sermon4 ,you ought1 perhaps1 to have a dish of salad on the table2 but if you ask your friends to dinner1 and give them nothing but salad1 they will not fare very well1 and will not care to come to your house again4 99 99 99 99 99 ,thirdly1 anecdotes and illustrations may be used to explain either doctrines or duties to dull understandings4 ,they may1 in fact1 be the very best form of exposition4 ,a preacher should instance1 and illustrate1 and exemplify his subject1 so that his hearers may have real acquaintance with the matter he is bringing before them4 ,if a man attempted to give me a description of a piece of machinery1 he would possibly fail to make me comprehend what it was like2 but if he will have the goodness to let me see a drawing of the various sections1 and then of the whole machine1 ,i will1 somehow or other1 by hook or by crook1 make out how it works4 ,the pictorial representation of a thing is always a much more powerful means of instruction than any mere verbal description ever could be4 ,it is just in this way that anecdotes and illustrations are so helpful to our hearers4 ,for instance1 take this anecdote as illustrating the text1 ,thou1 when thou prayest1 enter into thy closet1 and when thou hast shut thy door1 pray to thy ,father which is in secret4 ,a little boy used to go up into a hay-loft to pray2 but he found that1 sometimes1 persons came up and disturbed him2 therefore1 the next time he climbed into the loft1 he pulled the ladder up after him4 ,telling this story1 you might explain how the boy thus entered into his closet and shut the door4 ,the meaning is not so much the literal entrance into a closet1 or the shutting of the door1 as the getting away from earthly sources of distraction1 pulling up the ladder after us1 and keeping out anything that might come in to hinder our secret devotions4 ,i wish we could always pull the ladder up after us when we retire for private prayer2 but many things try to climb that ladder4 ,the devil himself will come up to disturb us if he can2 and he can get into the hay-loft without any ladder4 ,what a capital exposition of the fifth commandment was that which was given by ,corporal ,trim1 when he was asked1 ,what dost thou mean by honoring thy father and thy mother8 and he answered1 ,please1 your honor1 it is allowing them a shilling a week out of my pay when they grow old4 ,that was an admirable explanation of the meaning of the text4 ,then1 if you are trying to show how we are to be doers of the ,word1 and not hearers only1 there is a story of a woman who1 when asked by the minister what he had said on ,sunday1 replied that she did not remember the sermon2 but it had touched her conscience1 for when she got home she burned her bushel1 which was short measure4 ,there is another story which also goes to show that the gospel may be useful even to hearers who forget what they have heard4 ,a woman is called upon by her minister on the ,monday1 and he finds her washing wool in a sieve1 holding it under the pump4 ,he asks her1 ,how did you enjoy last ,sabbath's discourses8 and she says that they did her much good4 ,well1 what was the text8 ,she does not recollect4 ,what was the subject8 ,ah1 sir1 it is quite gone from me6 says the poor woman4 ,does she remember any of the remarks that were made8 ,no1 they are all gone4 ,well1 then1 ,mary1 says the minister1 it could not have done you much good4 ,oh6 but it had done her a great deal of good2 and she explained it to him by saying1 ,i will tell you1 sir1 how it is2 ,i put this wool in the sieve under the pump1 ,i pump on it1 and all the water runs through the sieve1 but then it washes the wool4 ,so it is with your sermon2 it comes into my heart1 and then it runs right through my poor memory1 which is like a sieve1 but it washes em clean1 sir4 ,you might talk for a long while about the cleansing and sanctifying power of the ,word1 and it would not make such an impression upon your hearers as that simple story would4 ,what finer exposition of the text1 ,weep with them that weep1 can you have than this pretty anecdote8 ,mother1 said little ,annie1 ,i cannot make out why poor ,widow ,brown likes me to go in to see her2 she says ,i do comfort her so2 but1 mother1 ,i cannot say anything to comfort her1 and as soon as she begins crying1 ,i put my arms round her neck1 and ,i cry too1 and she says that that comforts her4 ,and so it does2 that is the very essence of the comfort1 the sympathy1 the fellow-feeling that moved the little girl to weep with the weeping widow4 ,mr4 ,hervey thus illustrates the great truth of the different appearance of sin to the eye of ,god and the eye of man4 ,he says that you may take a small insect1 and with the tiniest needle make a puncture in it so minute that you can scarcely see it with the naked eye2 but when you look at it through a microscope1 you see an enormous rent1 out of which there flows a purple stream1 making the creature seem to you as though it had been smitten with the ax that killeth an ox4 ,it is but a defect of our vision that we cannot see things correctly2 but the microscope reveals them as they really are4 ,thus you may explain to your hearers how ,god's microscopic eye sees sin in its true aspects4 ,suppose that you wanted to set forth the character of ,caleb1 who followed the ,lord fully2 it would greatly help many of your people if you said that the name ,caleb signifies a dog1 and then showed how a dog follows his master4 ,there is his owner on horseback1 riding along the miry roads2 but the dog keeps as close to him as he can1 no matter how much mud and dirt are splashed upon him1 and not heeding the kicks he might get from the horse's heels4 ,even so should we follow the ,lord4 ,if you wish to exemplify the shortness of time1 you might bring in the poor seamstress1 with her little piece of candle1 stitching away to get her work done before the light went out4 ,many preachers find the greatest difficulty in getting suitable metaphors to set forth simple faith in the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,there is a capital anecdote of an idiot who was asked by the minister1 who was trying to instruct him1 whether he had a soul4 ,to the utter consternation of his kind teacher1 he replied1 ,no1 ,i have no soul4 ,the preacher said he was greatly surprised1 after he had been taught for years1 that he did not know better than that2 but the poor fellow thus explained himself1 ,i had a soul once1 but ,i lost it2 and ,jesus ,christ came and found it1 and now ,i let him keep it1 for it is his1 it does not belong to me any longer4 ,that is a fine picture of the way of salvation by simple faith in the substitution of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ2 and the smallest child in the congregation might be able to understand it through the story of the poor idiot4 99 99 99 99 99 ,fourthly1 there is a kind of reasoning in anecdotes and illustrations1 which is very clear to illogical minds2 and many of our hearers1 unfortunately1 have such minds1 yet they can understand illustrative instances and stubborn facts4 ,truthful anecdotes are facts1 and facts are stubborn things4 ,instances1 when sufficiently multiplied1 as we know by the inductive philosophy1 prove a point4 ,two instances may not prove it2 but twenty may prove it to a demonstration4 ,take the very important matter of answers to prayer4 ,you can prove that ,god answers prayer by quoting anecdote after anecdote1 that you know to be authentic1 of instances in which ,god has really heard and answered prayer4 ,take that capital little book by ,mr4 ,prime on the ,power of ,prayer2 there ,i believe you have the truth upon this subject demonstrated as clearly as you could have it in any proposition in ,euclid4 ,i think that1 if such a number of facts could be instanced in connection with any question relating to geology or astronomy1 the point would be regarded as settled4 ,the writer brings such abundant proofs of ,god's having heard prayer1 that even men who reject inspiration ought1 at least1 to acknowledge that this is a marvelous phenomenon for which they cannot account by any other explanation than the one which proclaims that there is a ,god who sitteth in heaven1 and who hath respect unto the cry of his people upon the earth4 ,i have heard of some persons who have had objections to labor for the conversion of their children1 on the ground that ,god would save his own without any effort on our part4 ,i remember making one man wince who held this view1 by telling him of a father who would never teach his child to pray1 or have him instructed even as to the meaning of prayer4 ,he thought it was wrong1 and that such work ought to be left to ,god's ,holy ,spirit4 ,the boy fell down and broke his leg1 and had to have it taken off2 and all the while the surgeon was amputating it the boy was cursing and swearing in the most frightful manner4 ,the good surgeon said to the father1 ,you see1 you would not teach your boy to pray1 but the devil evidently had no objection to teach him to swear4 ,that is the mischief of it2 if we do not try our best to bring our children to ,christ1 there is another who will do his worst to drag them down to hell4 ,a mother once said to her sick son1 who was about to die1 and was in a dreadful state of mind1 ,my boy1 ,i am sorry you are in such trouble2 ,i am sure ,i never taught you any hurt4 ,no1 mother1 he answered1 but you never taught me any good2 and therefore there was room for all sorts of evil to get into me4 ,all these stories will be to many people the very best kind of argument that you could possibly use with them4 ,you bring to them facts1 and these facts reach their conscience1 even though it is embedded in several inches of callousness4 ,i do not know of any reasoning that would explain the need of submission to the will of ,god better than the telling of the story1 which ,mr4 ,gilpin gives us in his ,life1 of his being called in to pray with a woman whose boy was very ill4 ,the good man asked that ,god would1 if it were his will1 restore the dear child to life and health1 when the mother interrupted him1 and said1 ,no1 ,i cannot agree to such a prayer as that2 ,i cannot put it in that shape2 it must be ,god's will to restore him4 ,i cannot bear that my child should die2 pray that he may live whether it is ,god's will or not4 ,he answered1 ,woman1 ,i cannot pray that prayer1 but it is answered2 your child will recover1 but you will live to rue the day that you made such a request4 ,twenty years after1 there was a woman carried away in a fainting fit from under a drop at ,tyburn1 for her son had lived long enough to bring himself to the gallows by his crimes4 ,the mother's wicked prayer had been heard1 and ,god had answered it4 ,so1 if you want to prove the power of the gospel1 do not go on expending words to no purpose1 but tell the stories of cases you have met with that illustrate the truth you are enforcing1 for such anecdotes will convince your hearers as no other kind of reasoning can4 ,i think that is clear enough to every one of you4 ,anecdotes are useful1 also1 because they often appeal very forcibly to human nature4 ,in order to rebuke those who profane the ,sabbath1 tell the story of the gentleman who had seven sovereigns1 and who met with a poor fellow1 to whom he gave six out of the seven1 and then the wicked wretch turned round and robbed him of the seventh4 ,how clearly that sets forth the ingratitude of our sinful race in depriving ,god of that one day out of the seven which he has set apart for his own service6 ,this story appeals to nature1 too4 ,two or three boys come round one of their companions1 and they say to him1 ,let us go and get some cherries out of your father's garden4 ,no1 he replies1 ,i cannot steal1 and my father does not wish those cherries to be picked4 ,oh1 but then your father is so kind1 and he never beats you6 ,ah1 ,i know that is true6 answers the boy1 and that is the very reason why ,i would not steal his cherries4 ,this would show that the grace and goodness of ,god do not lead his children to licentiousness2 but1 on the contrary1 they restrain them from sin4 ,this story1 also1 appeals to human nature1 and shows that the fathers of the church are not always to be depended upon as fountains of authority4 ,a nobleman had heard of a certain very old man1 who lived in a village1 and he sought out and found him1 and ascertained that he was seventy years of age4 ,he was talking with him1 supposing him to be the oldest inhabitant1 when the man said1 ,oh1 no1 sir1 ,i am not the oldest2 ,i am not the father of the village2 there is an older one--my father--who is still alive4 ,so1 ,i have heard of some who have said that they turned away from the fathers of the church to the very old fathers1 that is1 away from what are commonly called the patristic fathers1 back to the apostles1 who are the true fathers and grandfathers of the ,christian ,church4 ,sometimes anecdotes have force in them on account of their appealing to the sense of the ludicrous4 ,of course1 ,i must be very careful here1 for it is a sort of tradition of the fathers that it is wrong to laugh on ,sundays4 ,the eleventh commandment is1 that we are to love one another1 and then1 according to some people1 the twelfth is1 ,thou shalt pull a long face on ,sunday4 ,i must confess that ,i would rather hear people laugh than ,i would see them asleep in the house of ,god2 and ,i would rather get the truth into them through the medium of ridicule than ,i would have the truth neglected1 or leave the people to perish through lack of reception of the truth4 ,i do believe in my heart that there may be as much holiness in a laugh as in a cry2 and that1 sometimes1 to laugh is the better thing of the two1 for ,i may weep1 and be murmuring1 and repining1 and thinking all sorts of bitter thoughts against ,god2 while1 at another time1 ,i may laugh the laugh of sarcasm against sin1 and so evince a holy earnestness in the defense of the truth4 ,i do not know why ridicule is to be given up to ,satan as a weapon to be used against us1 and not to be employed by us as a weapon against him4 ,i will venture to affirm that the ,reformation owed almost as much to the sense of the ridiculous in human nature as to anything else1 and that those humorous squibs and caricatures that were issued by the friends of ,luther1 did more to open the eyes of ,germany to the abominations of the priesthood than the more solid and ponderous arguments against ,romanism4 ,i know no reason why we should not1 on suitable occasions1 try the same style of reasoning4 ,it is a dangerous weapon1 it will be said1 and many men will cut their fingers with it4 ,well1 that is their own lookout2 but ,i do not know why we should be so particular about their cutting their fingers1 if they can1 at the same time1 cut the throat of sin1 and do serious damage to the great adversary of souls4 ,here is a story that ,i should not mind telling on a ,sunday for the benefit of certain people who are good at hearing sermons and attending prayer-meetings1 but who are very bad hands at business4 ,they never work on ,sundays because they never work on any day of the week2 they forget that part of the commandment which says1 ,six days shalt thou labor1 which is just as binding as the other part1 ,the seventh day is the sabbath of the ,lord thy ,god3 in it thou shalt not do any work4 ,to these people who never labor because they are so heavenly-minded1 ,i would tell the story of a certain monk1 who entered a monastery1 but who would not work in the fields1 or the garden1 or at making clothes1 or anything else1 because1 as he told the superior1 he was a spiritually-minded monk4 ,he wondered1 when the dinner-hour approached1 that there came to him no summons from the refectory4 ,so he went down to the prior1 and said1 ,don't the brethren eat here8 ,are you not going to have any dinner8 ,the prior said1 ,we do1 because we are carnal2 but you are so spiritual that you do not work1 and therefore you do not require to eat2 that is why we did not call you4 ,the law of this monastery is1 that if any man will not work1 neither shall he eat4 ,that is a good story of the boy in ,italy who had his ,testament seized1 and who said to the gendarme1 ,why do you seize this book8 ,is it a bad book8 ,yes1 was the answer4 ,are you sure the book is bad8 he inquired2 and again the reply was1 ,yes4 ,then why do you not seize the ,author of it if it is a bad book8 ,that was a fine piece of sarcasm at those who had a hatred of the ,scriptures1 and yet professed to have love to ,christ4 ,that is another good story of our friend the ,irishman1 who1 when he was asked by the priest what warrant an ignorant man such as he was had for reading the ,bible1 said1 ,truth1 but ,i have a search-warrant2 for it says1 ',search the ,scriptures2 for in them ye think ye have eternal life3 and they are they which testify of me4' ,this story would not be amiss1 ,i think1 as a sort of ridiculous argument showing what power the gospel ought to have over the human mind4 ,dr4 ,moffat tells us of a certain ,kaffir1 who came to him one day1 saying that the ,new ,testament1 which the missionary had given him a week before1 had spoiled his dog4 ,the man said that his dog had been a very good hunting-dog1 but that he had torn the ,testament to pieces1 and eaten it up1 and now he was quite spoiled4 ,never mind1 said ,dr4 ,moffat1 ,i will give you another ,testament4 ,oh6 said the man1 it is not that that troubles me1 ,i do not mind the dog spoiling the book1 for ,i could buy another2 but the book has spoiled the dog4 ,how is that8 inquired the missionary2 and the ,kaffir replied1 ,the dog will be of no use to me now1 because he has eaten the ,word of ,god1 and that will make him love his enemies1 so that he will be of no good for hunting4 ,the man supposed that not even a dog could receive the ,new ,testament without being sweetened in temper thereby2 that is1 in truth1 what ought to be the case with all who feed upon the gospel of ,christ4 ,i should not hesitate to tell that story after ,dr4 ,moffat1 and ,i should1 of course1 use it to show that1 when a man has received the truth as it is in ,jesus1 there ought to be a great change in him1 and he ought never to be of any use to his old master again4 ,when the priests were trying to pervert the natives of ,tahiti to ,romanism1 they had a fine picture which they hoped would convince the people of the excellence of the ,church of ,rome4 ,there were certain dead logs of wood3 whom were they to represent8 ,they were the heretics1 who were to go into the fire4 ,and who were these small branches of the tree8 ,they were the faithful4 ,who were the larger ones8 ,they were the priests4 ,and who were the next8 ,they were the cardinals4 ,and who was the trunk of the tree8 ,oh1 that was the pope6 ,and the root1 whom did that set forth8 ,oh1 the root was ,jesus ,christ6 ,so the poor natives said1 ,well1 we do not know anything about the trunk or the branches2 but we have got the root1 and we mean to stick to that1 and not give it up4 ,if we have the root1 if we have ,christ1 we may laugh to scorn all the pretensions and delusions of men4 ,these stories may make us laugh1 but they may also smite error right through the heart1 and lay it dead2 and they may1 therefore1 lawfully be used as weapons with which we may go forth to fight the ,lord's battles4 99 99 99 99 99 ,fifthly1 another use of anecdotes and illustrations lies in the fact that they help the memory to grasp the truth4 ,there is a story told--though ,i will not vouch for the truth of it--of a certain countryman1 who had been persuaded by some one that all ,londoners were thieves2 and1 therefore1 on coming to ,london for the first time1 he tried to secure his watch by putting it into his waistcoat pocket1 and then covering it all over with fish-hooks4 ,now1 he thought1 if any gentleman tries to get my watch1 he will remember it4 ,the story says that1 as he was walking along1 he desired to know the time himself1 and put his own hand into his pocket1 forgetting all about the fish-hooks4 ,the effect produced upon him can better be imagined than described4 ,now1 it seems to me that a sermon should always be like that countryman's pocket1 full of fish-hooks1 so that1 if anybody comes in to listen to it1 he will get some forget-me-not1 some remembrancer1 fastened in his ear1 and1 it may be1 in his heart and conscience4 ,let him drop in just at the end of the discourse1 there should be something at the close that will strike and stick4 ,as when we walk in our farmer friends' fields there are certain burrs that are sure to cling to our clothes2 and1 rush as we may1 some of the relics of the fields remain upon our garments2 so there ought to be some burr in every sermon that will stick to those who hear it4 ,what do you remember best in the discourses you heard years ago8 ,i will venture to say that it is some anecdote that the preacher related4 ,it may possibly be some pithy sentence2 but it is more probable that it is some striking story which was told in the course of the sermon4 ,rowland ,hill1 a little while before he died1 was visiting an old friend1 who said to him1 ,mr4 ,hill1 it is now sixty-five years since ,i first heard you preach2 but ,i remember your text1 and a part of your sermon4 ,well1 asked the preacher1 what part of the sermon do you recollect8 ,his friend answered1 ,you said that some people1 when they went to hear a sermon1 were very squeamish about the delivery of the preacher4 ,then you said1 ',supposing you went to hear the will of one of your relatives read1 and you were expecting a legacy from him2 you would hardly think of criticizing the manner in which the lawyer read the will2 but you would be all attention to hear whether anything was left to you1 and if so1 how much2 and that is the way to hear the gospel4' ,now1 the man would not have recollected that for sixty-five years if ,mr4 ,hill had not put the matter in that illustrative form4 ,if he had said1 ,dear friends1 you must listen to the gospel for its own sake1 and not merely for the charms of the preacher's oratory1 or those delightful soaring periods which gratify your ears1 if he had put it in the very pretty manner in which some people can do the thing1 ,i will be bound to say that the man would have remembered it as long as a duck recollects the last time it went into the water1 and no longer2 for it would have been so common to have spoken in that way2 but putting the truth in the striking manner that he did1 it was remembered for sixty-five years4 ,a gentleman related the following anecdote1 which just answers the purpose ,i have in view1 so ,i will pass it on to you4 ,he said3 ,when ,i was a boy1 ,i used to hear the story of a tailor who lived to a great age1 and became very wealthy1 so that he was an object of envy to all who knew him4 ,his life1 as all lives will1 drew to a close2 but before he passed away1 feeling some desire to benefit the members of his craft1 he gave out word that1 on a certain day1 he would be happy to communicate to all the tailors of the neighborhood the secret by which they might become wealthy4 ,a great number of knights of the thimble came1 and while they waited in anxious silence to hear the important revelation1 he was raised up in his bed1 and with his expiring breath uttered this short sentence1 ',always put a knot in your thread4' ,that is why ,i recommend you1 brethren1 to use anecdotes and illustrations1 because they put knots in the thread of your discourse4 ,what is the use of pulling the end of your thread through the material on which you are working8 ,yet1 has it not been the case with very many of the sermons to which we have listened1 or the discourses we have ourselves delivered8 ,the bulk of what we have heard has just gone through our minds without leaving any lasting impression1 and all we recollect is some anecdote that was told by the preacher4 ,there is an authenticated case of a man being converted by a sermon eighty-five years after he had heard it preached4 ,mr4 ,flavel1 at the close of a discourse1 instead of pronouncing the usual benediction1 stood up1 and said1 ,how can ,i dismiss you with a blessing1 for many of you are ',anathema ,maranatha1' because you love not the ,lord ,jesus ,christ8 ,a lad of fifteen heard that remarkable utterance2 and eighty-five years afterward1 sitting under a hedge1 the whole scene came vividly before him as if it had been but the day before2 and it pleased ,god to bless ,mr4 ,flavel's words to his conversion1 and he lived three years longer to bear good testimony that he had felt the power of the truth in his heart4 99 99 99 99 99 ,sixthly1 anecdotes and illustrations are useful because they frequently arouse the feelings4 ,they will not do this1 however1 if you tell the same stories over and over again ever so many times4 ,i recollect1 when ,i first heard that wonderful story about ,there is another man1 ,i cried a good deal over it4 ,poor soul1 just rescued1 half-dead1 with only a few rags on him1 and yet he said1 ,there is another man1 needing to be saved4 ,the second time ,i heard the story1 ,i liked it1 but ,i did not think it was quite so new as at first2 and the third time ,i heard it1 ,i thought that ,i never wanted to hear it again4 ,i do not know how many times ,i have heard it since2 but ,i can always tell when it is coming out4 ,the brother draws himself up1 and looks wonderfully solemn1 and in a sepulchral tone says1 ,there is another man1 and ,i think to myself1 ,yes1 and ,i wish there had not been1 for ,i have heard that story till ,i am sick and tired of it4 ,even a good anecdote may get so hackneyed that there is no force in it1 and no use in retailing it any longer4 ,still1 a live illustration is better for appealing to the feelings of an audience than any amount of description could possibly be4 ,what we want in these times is not to listen to long prelections upon some dry subject1 but to hear something practical1 something matter-of-fact1 that comes home to our every-day reasoning2 and when we get this then our hearts are soon stirred4 ,i have no doubt that the sight of a death-bed would move men much more than that admirable work called ,drelincourt on ,death1 a book which1 ,i should think1 nobody has ever been able to read through4 ,there may have been instances of persons who have attempted it2 but ,i believe that1 long before they have reached the latter end1 they have been in a state of asphyxia or coma1 and have been obliged to be rubbed with hot flannels2 and the book has had to be removed to a distance before they could recover4 ,if you have not read ,drelincourt on ,death1 ,i believe ,i know what you have read--that is1 the ghost story that is stitched in at the end of the book4 ,the work would not sell1 the whole impression was upon the shelves of the bookseller1 when ,defoe wrote the fiction entitled1 ,a ,true ,relation of the ,apparition of ,mrs4 ,veal1 after her ,death1 to ,mrs4 ,bargrave1 in which ,drelincourt on ,death is recommended by the apparition as the best book on the subject4 ,this story had not a vestige or shadow of truth in it1 it was all a piece of imagination2 but it was put in at the end of the book1 and then the whole edition was speedily cleared out1 and more were wanted4 ,it may be something like that very often with your sermons2 only you must tell the people of what has actually occurred1 and so you will retain their attention and reach their hearts4 ,many have been moved to self-sacrifice by the story of the ,moravians in ,south ,africa who saw a large inclosed space of ground1 in which there were persons rotting away with leprosy1 some without arms and some without legs2 and these ,moravians could not preach to the poor lepers without going in there themselves for life to rot with them1 and they did so4 ,two more of the same noble band of brethren sold themselves into slavery in the ,west ,indies1 in order that they might be allowed to preach to the slaves4 ,when you can give such instances as these of missionary disinterestedness and devotedness1 it will do more to arouse a spirit of enthusiasm for foreign missions than all your closely reasoned arguments could possibly do4 ,who has not heard and felt the force of the story of the two miners1 when the fuse was burning1 and only one could escape1 and the ,christian man cried out to his unconverted companion1 ,escape for your life1 because1 if you die1 you are lost2 but if ,i die1 it is all right with me2 so you go4 ,the fool's plan1 too1 ,i have sometimes used as a striking illustration4 ,there was a little boat which got wrecked1 and the man in it was trying to swim to shore1 but the current was too strong for him4 ,after he had been drowned an hour1 a man said1 ,i could have saved him2 and when they asked him how he could have saved him1 he described a plan that seemed to be most excellent and feasible1 by which the man might1 no doubt1 have been saved2 but then1 unfortunately1 by that time he was drowned6 ,so1 there are some who are always wise just too late1 some who may have to say to themselves1 when such and such a one is gone the way of all living1 ,what might ,i not have done for him if ,i had but taken him in time8 ,brethren1 let that anecdote be a reminder to us all that we should seek to be wise in winning souls before it is too late to rescue them from everlasting destruction4 99 99 99 99 99 ,seventhly1 and lastly1 anecdotes and illustrations are exceedingly useful because they catch the ear of the utterly careless4 ,something is wanted in every sermon for this class of people2 and an anecdote is well calculated to catch the ear of the thoughtless and the ungodly4 ,we really desire their salvation1 and we would bait our trap in any way possible by which we might catch them for ,christ4 ,we cannot expect our young people to come and listen to learned doctrinal disquisitions that are not at all embellished with anything that interests their immature minds4 ,nay1 even grown-up people1 after the toils of the week1 some of them busy till early on the ,sunday morning1 cannot be expected to attend to long prosaic discourses which are not broken by a single anecdote4 ,oh1 dear1 dear1 dear6 ,how ,i do pity those unpractical brethren who do not seem to know to whom they are preaching6 ,ah1 said a brother once1 whenever ,i preach1 ,i do not know where to look1 and so ,i look up at the ventilator6 ,now1 there is not anybody up in the ventilator2 there cannot be supposed to be anybody there1 unless the angels of heaven are listening there to hear the words of truth4 ,a minister should not preach before the people1 but he should preach right at them2 let him look straight at them2 if he can1 let him search them through and through1 and take stock of them1 as it were1 and see what they are like1 and then suit his message to them4 ,i have often seen some poor fellow standing in the aisle at the ,tabernacle4 ,why1 he looks just like a sparrow that has got into a church and cannot get out again6 ,he cannot make out what sort of service it is2 he begins to count how many people sit in the front row in the gallery1 and all kinds of ideas pass through his mind4 ,now ,i want to attract his attention2 how shall ,i do it8 ,if ,i quote a text of ,scripture1 he may not know what it means1 and may not be interested in it4 ,shall ,i put a bit of ,latin into the sermon1 or quote the original ,hebrew or ,greek of my text8 ,that will not do for such a man4 ,what shall ,i do8 ,ah1 ,i know a story that will1 ,i believe1 just fit him6 ,out it comes1 and the man does not look up at the gallery any more2 but he is wondering whatever the preacher is at4 ,something is said that so exactly suits his case that he begins to ask himself who has been telling the minister about him1 and he thinks1 ,why1 ,i know2 my wife comes to hear this man sometimes1 so she has been telling him all about me6 ,then he feels curious to hear more1 and while he is looking up at the preacher1 and listening to the truth that is being proclaimed1 the first gleam of light on divine things dawns upon him2 but if we had kept on with our regular discourse1 and had not gone out of our way1 what might have become of that man ,i cannot tell4 ,they say ,i ramble1 said ,rowland ,hill1 in a sermon ,i have been reading this afternoon2 they say ,i ramble1 but it is because you ramble1 and ,i am obliged to ramble after you4 ,they say ,i do not stick to my subject2 but1 thank ,god1 ,i always stick to my object1 which is1 the winning of your souls1 and bringing you to the cross of ,jesus ,christ6 ,mr4 ,bertram aptly illustrates the way in which men are engrossed in worldly cares by telling the story of the captain of a whaling ship1 whom he tried to interest in the things of ,god1 and who said1 ,it is no use1 sir2 your conversation will not have any effect upon me4 ,i cannot hear what you are saying1 or understand the subject you are talking about4 ,i left my home to try to catch whales2 ,i have been a year and nine months looking for whales1 sir1 and ,i have not caught a whale yet4 ,i have been plowing the deep in search of whales2 when ,i go to bed ,i dream of whales2 and when ,i get up in the morning1 ,i wonder if there will be any whales caught that day2 there is a whale in my heart1 sir1 a whale in my brain1 and it is of no use for you to talk to me about anything else but whales4 ,so1 your people have their business in their heads and in their hearts2 they want to make a fortune and retire2 or else they have a family of children to bring up1 and ,susan must be married1 and ,john must be got into a situation1 and it is no use for you to talk to them about the things of ,god unless you can drive away the whales that keep floundering and splashing about4 ,there is a merchant1 perhaps1 who has just thought of some bad bill2 or another has looked across the building and noticed a piece of ribbon of a particular color1 and he thinks1 ,yes1 ,i ought to have had a larger stock of that kind of thing1 ,i see that it is getting fashionable6 or it may be that one of the hearers has caught sight of his neighbor1 and he thinks he must pay him a visit on the morrow2 and so people's thoughts are occupied with all sorts of subjects besides that of which the preacher is speaking4 ,you ask me how ,i know that this is the case4 ,well1 ,i know because ,i have been guilty of the same offense myself2 ,i find this occur when ,i am listening to another brother preaching4 ,i do not think1 when ,i am preaching1 that ,i get on very well2 but sometimes1 when ,i go into the country1 and take the morning and evening services1 and then hear some one else in the afternoon1 ,i think1 ,well1 really1 when ,i was up there1 ,i thought ,i was a stick3 but now6 ,i only wish ,i had my turn again6 ,now1 this is very wrong1 to let such thoughts come into our minds2 but1 as we are all very apt to wander1 the preacher should carry anecdotes and illustrations into the pulpit1 and use them as nails to fasten the people's attention to the subject of his sermon4 ,mr4 ,paxton ,hood once said in a lecture that ,i heard him deliver1 ,some preachers expect too much of their hearers2 they take a number of truths into the pulpit as a man might carry up a box of nails2 and then1 supposing the congregation to be posts1 they take out a nail1 and expect it to get into the post by itself4 ,now1 that is not the way to do it4 ,you must take your nail1 hold it up against the post1 hammer it in1 and then clinch it on the other side2 and then it is that you may expect the great ,master of assemblies to fasten the nails so that they will not fall out4 ,we must try thus to get the truth into the people1 for it will never get in of itself2 and we must remember that the hearts of our hearers are not open1 like a church door1 so that the truth may go in1 and take its place1 and sit upon its throne to be worshiped there4 ,no1 we have often to break open the doors with great effort1 and to thrust the truth into places where it will not at first be a welcome guest1 but where1 afterward1 the better it is known1 the more it will be loved4 ,illustrations and anecdotes will greatly help to make a way for the truth to enter2 and they will do it by catching the ear of the careless and the inattentive4 ,we must try to be like ,mr4 ,whitefield1 of whom a shipbuilder said1 ,when ,i have been to hear anybody else preach1 ,i have always been able to lay down a ship from stem to stern2 but when ,i listen to ,mr4 ,whitefield1 ,i cannot even lay the keel4 ,and another1 a weaver1 said1 ,i have often1 when ,i have been in church1 calculated how many looms the place would hold2 but when ,i listen to that man1 ,i forget my weaving altogether4 ,you must endeavor1 brethren1 to make your people forget matters relating to this world by interweaving the whole of divine truth with the passing things of every day1 and this you will do by a judicious use of anecdotes and illustrations4 99 99 99 99 99 ,now1 gentlemen1 these seven reasons--that they interest the mind and secure the attention of our hearers1 that they render the teaching vivid and lifelike1 that they explain some difficult passages to dull understandings1 that they help the reasoning faculties of certain minds1 that they aid the memory1 that they arouse the feelings1 and that they catch the ear of the careless--have reconciled me for many a day to the use of anecdotes and illustrations1 and ,i think it is very likely that they will reconcile you to the use of them1 too4 ,at the same time1 ,i must repeat what ,i before said3 we must take care that we do not let our anecdotes and illustrations be like empty casks that carry nothing4 ,we must not have it truthfully said of our sermons1 as was said by a certain lady who1 after having heard a clergyman preach1 was asked what she thought of the sermon1 and whether there was not much spirit in it4 ,oh1 yes6 she replied1 it was all spirit2 there was no body to it at all4 ,there must be some body in every discourse1 some really sound doctrine1 some suitable instruction for our hearers to carry home2 not merely stories to amuse them1 but solid truth to be received in the heart1 and wrought out in the life4 ,if this be so with your sermons1 my dear brethren1 ,i shall not have spoken to you in vain upon the uses of anecdotes and illustrations4 ,,lecture ,,iv4 ,,where ,,can ,,we ,,find ,,anecdotes ,,and ,,illustrations8 ,dear brethren3 ,after my last lecture to you1 upon the uses of anecdotes and illustrations1 you are probably quite ready to employ them in your discourses2 but some of you may ask1 ,where can we get them8 ,at the very beginning of this afternoon's talk1 let me say that nobody need make anecdotes in order to interest a congregation4 ,i have heard of one who called to see a minister on a ,friday1 and he was told by the servant that her master could not be seen1 for he was up in his study making anecdotes4 ,that kind of work will not do for a ,christian minister4 ,i would also bid you beware of the many common anecdotes1 which are often repeated1 but which ,i half suspect could not be proved to be matters of fact4 ,whenever ,i have the slightest suspicion about the truth of a story1 ,i drop it at once2 and ,i think that every one else should do the same4 ,so long as the anecdotes are current1 and are generally believed1 and provided they can be used for a profitable purpose1 ,i believe they may be told1 without any affirmation as to their truthfulness being made in a court of justice2 but the moment any doubt comes across the mind of the preacher as to whether the tale is at least founded on fact1 ,i think he had better look for something else1 for he has the whole world to go to as a storehouse of illustration4 99 99 99 99 99 ,if you want to interest your congregation1 and keep up their attention1 you can find anecdotes and illustrations in many channels1 like golden grains glistening among the mountain streams4 ,for instance1 there is current history4 ,you may take up the daily newspaper1 and find illustrations there4 ,in my little book1 ,the ,bible and the ,newspaper1 ,i have given specimens of how this may be done2 and when ,i was preparing the present lecture1 ,i took up a newspaper to see if ,i could find an illustration in it1 and ,i soon found one4 ,there was an account of a man at ,wandsworth1 who was discovered1 with a gun and a dog1 trespassing on some gentleman's preserves1 and he said that he was only looking for mushrooms6 ,can you imagine what the gun and the dog had to do with mushrooms8 ,however1 the keeper felt in the man's pocket1 and laying hold of something soft1 asked1 ,what is this6 ,oh1 said the poacher1 it is only a rabbit6 ,when it was suggested to him that the creature's ears were too long for a rabbit1 he said that it was only a leveret1 whereas it proved to be a very fine and plump hare4 ,the man then said that he had found the hare lying near some mushrooms1 but his intention was to get the mushrooms only6 ,now1 that is a capital illustration4 ,as soon as ever you lay hold of a man1 and begin to accuse him of sin1 he says1 ,sin1 sir6 ,oh1 dear1 no6 ,i was only doing a very proper thing1 just what ,i have a perfect right to do2 ,i was looking for mushrooms2 ,i was not poaching6 ,you press him a little more closely1 and try to bring him to conviction of sin2 and then he says1 ,well1 perhaps it was hardly the thing1 it may have been a little amiss2 but it was only a rabbit6 ,when the man cannot any longer deny that he is guilty of sin1 he says that it was only a very little one2 and it is long before you can get him to admit that sin is exceeding sinful2 indeed1 no human power can ever produce genuine conviction in the heart of a single sinner2 it must be the work of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,i also read in the same newspaper of a calamitous shipwreck caused through the lack of lights4 ,you could easily turn that incident to account by using it to illustrate the destruction of souls through the want of a knowledge of ,christ4 ,i have no doubt1 if you were to take up any of this morning's daily papers1 you would very readily find an abundance of illustrations4 ,mr4 ,newman ,hall1 in addressing us once1 said that every ,christian minister ought to read regularly his ,bible and ,the ,times newspaper4 ,i should imagine from the usual mode of his address that he does so himself4 ,whether you read that particular paper or any other1 you should somehow keep yourselves well stored with illustrations taken from the ordinary transactions going on round about you4 ,i pity even a ,sunday-school teacher1 much more a minister of the gospel1 who could not make use of such incidents as the terrible burning of the church at ,santiago1 the great fire at ,london ,bridge1 the entrance into ,london of the ,princess ,alexandra1 the taking of the census2 and1 indeed1 anything that attracts public attention4 ,there is in all these events an illustration1 a simile1 an allegory1 which may point a moral and adorn a tale4 99 99 99 99 99 ,you may sometimes adapt local history to the illustration of your subject4 ,when a minister is preaching in any particular district he will often find it best to catch the ears of the people1 and engross their attention1 by relating some anecdote that relates to the place where they live4 ,whenever ,i can1 ,i get the histories of various counties2 for1 having to go into all sorts of country towns and villages to preach1 ,i find that there is a great deal of useful material to be dug out of even dull1 dry1 topographical books4 ,they begin1 perhaps1 with the name of ,john ,smith1 laborer1 the man who keeps the parish register1 and winds up the parish clock1 and makes mouse-traps1 and catches rats1 and does fifty other useful things2 but if you have the patience to read on1 you will find much information that you could get nowhere else1 and you will probably meet with many incidents and anecdotes that you can use as illustrations of the truth you are seeking to set forth4 ,preaching at ,winslow1 in ,buckinghamshire1 it would not be at all amiss to introduce the incident of good ,benjamin ,keach1 the pastor of the ,baptist church in that town1 standing in the pillory in the market-place in the year #affd1 for writing1 printing1 and publishing a schismatical book entitled1 ',the ,child's ,instructor2 or1 a ,new and ,easy ,primmer4' ,i do not think1 however1 that if ,i were preaching at ,wapping ,i should call the people ,wapping sinners1 as ,rowland ,hill is said to have done1 when he told them that ,christ could save old sinners1 great sinners1 yea1 even ,wapping sinners6 ,at ,craven ,chapel it would be most appropriate to tell the story of ,lord ,craven1 who was packing up his goods to go into the country at the time of the ,great ,plague of ,london1 when his servant said to him1 ,my lord1 does your ,god live only in the country8 ,no1 replied ,lord ,craven1 he is here as well as there4 ,well1 then1 said the servant1 if ,i were your lordship1 ,i think ,i would stop here2 you will be as safe in the city as in the country2 and ,lord ,craven did stop there1 relying upon the good providence of ,god4 99 99 99 99 99 ,besides this1 brethren1 you have the marvelous storehouse of ancient and modern history--,roman1 ,greek1 and ,english--with which1 of course1 you are seeking to become well acquainted4 ,who can possibly read the old classic tales without feeling his soul on fire8 ,as you rise from their perusal1 you will not merely be familiar with the events which happened in the brave days of old1 but you will have learned many lessons that may be of service in your preaching to-day4 ,for instance1 there is the story of ,phidias and the statue of the god which he had carved4 ,after he had finished it1 he had chiseled in the corner1 in small letters1 the word ,phidias1 and it was objected that the statue could not be worshiped as a god1 nor considered sacred1 while it bore the sculptor's name4 ,it was even seriously questioned whether ,phidias should not be stoned to death because he had so desecrated the statue4 ,how could he dare1 they asked1 to put his own name on the image of a god8 ,so1 some of us are very apt to want to put our little names down at the bottom of any work which we have done for ,god1 that we may be remembered1 whereas we ought rather to upbraid ourselves for wishing to have any of the credit of that which ,god the ,holy ,ghost enables us to do4 ,then there is that other story of an ancient sculptor1 who was about to put the image of a god into a heathen temple1 although he had not finished that portion of the statue which was to be embedded in the wall4 ,the priest demurred1 and declared that the statue was not completed4 ,the sculptor said1 ,that part of the god will never be seen1 for it will be built into the wall4 ,the gods can see in the wall1 answered the priest4 ,in like manner1 the most private parts of our life--those secret matters that can never reach the human eye--are still under the ken of the ,almighty1 and ought to be attended to with the greatest care4 ,it is not sufficient for us to maintain our public reputation among our fellow-creatures1 for our ,god can see in the wall2 he notices our coldness in the closet of communion1 and he perceives our faults and failures in the family4 ,trying once to set forth how the ,lord ,jesus ,christ delights in his people because they are his own handiwork1 ,i found a classic story of ,cyrus extremely useful4 ,when showing a foreign ambassador round his garden1 ,cyrus said to him1 ,you cannot possibly take such an interest in these flowers and trees as ,i do1 for ,i laid out the whole garden myself1 and every plant here ,i planted with my own hand4 ,i have watered them1 and ,i have seen them grow1 ,i have been a husbandman to them1 and therefore ,i love them far better than you can4 ,so1 the ,lord ,jesus ,christ loves the fair garden of his church1 because he laid it all out1 and planted it with his own gracious hand1 and he has watched over every plant1 and nourished and cherished it4 ,the days of the ,crusaders are a peculiarly rich period for noble stories that will make good illustrations4 ,we read that the soldiers of ,godfrey de ,bouillon1 when they came within sight of the city of ,jerusalem1 were so charmed with the view that they fell on their faces1 and then rose to their feet1 and clapped their hands1 and made the mountains ring with their shouts of joy4 ,thus1 when we get within sight of the ,new ,jerusalem1 our happy home on high1 whose name is ever dear to us1 we will make our dying-chamber ring with hallelujahs1 and even the angels shall hear our songs of praise and thanksgiving4 ,it is also recorded1 concerning this same ,godfrey1 that1 when he had entered ,jerusalem at the head of his victorious army1 he refused to wear the crown with which his soldiers wanted to deck his brow4 ,for1 said he1 why should ,i wear a crown of gold in the city where my ,lord wore a crown of thorns6 ,this is a good lesson for us to learn for ourselves1 and to teach to our people4 ,in the world where ,christ was despised and rejected of men1 it would be unseemly for a ,christian to be seeking to win earthly honors1 or ambitiously hunting after fame4 ,the disciple must not think of being above his ,master1 nor the servant above his ,lord4 ,then you might easily make an illustration out of that romantic story1 which may or may not be true1 of ,queen ,eleanor sucking the poison out of her husband's wounded arm4 ,many of us1 ,i trust1 would be willing1 as it were1 to suck out all the slander and venom from the arm of ,christ's church1 and to bear any amount of suffering ourselves1 so long as the church itself might escape and live4 ,would not any one of you1 my brethren1 gladly put his lips to the envenomed wounds of the church to-day1 and suffer even unto death1 sooner than let the doctrines of ,christ be impugned1 and the cause of ,god be dishonored8 99 99 99 99 99 ,what a fine field of illustration lies open to you in religious history6 ,it is difficult to tell where to begin digging in this mine of precious treasure4 ,the story of ,luther and the ,jew might be used to set forth the evil of sin1 and how to avoid it4 ,a ,jew was seeking an opportunity of stabbing the ,reformer2 but ,luther received a portrait of the would-be murderer1 so that1 wherever he went1 he was on his guard against the assassin4 ,using this fact himself as an illustration1 ,luther said3 ,god knows that there are sins that would destroy us1 and he has therefore given us portraits of them in his ,word1 so that1 wherever we see them1 we may say1 ',that is a sin that would stab me2 ,i must beware of that evil thing1 and keep out of its way4' ,stout ,hugh ,latimer1 in that famous story of an incident in his trial before several bishops1 brings out very clearly the omnipresence and omniscience of ,god1 and the care that we ought to exercise in the presence of ,one who can read our most secret thoughts and imaginations4 ,he says3 ,i was once in examination before five or six bishops1 where ,i had much trouble2 thrice every week ,i came to examinations1 and many traps and snares were laid to get something4444 ,at last ,i was brought forth to be examined in a chamber hung with arras1 where ,i was wont to be examined2 but now at this time the chamber was somewhat altered4 ,for whereas1 before1 there was wont always to be a fire in the chimney1 now the fire was taken away1 and arras hung over the chimney1 and the table stood near the fireplace4 ,there was1 among the bishops who examined me1 one with whom ,i had been very familiar1 and took him for my great friend1 an aged man1 and he sat next to the table's end4 ,then1 among all other questions1 he put forth a very subtle and crafty one1 and such a one1 indeed1 as ,i could not think so great danger in4 ,and when ,i should make answer1 ',i pray you1 ,mr4 ,latimer1' said one1 'speak out2 ,i am very thick of hearing1 and there may be many that sit far off4' ,i marveled at this1 that ,i was bid to speak out1 and began to suspect1 and give an ear to the chimney2 and there ,i heard a pen writing in the chimney behind the cloth4 ,they had appointed one there to write all mine answers1 for they made sure that ,i should not start from them2 and there was no starting from them4 ,god was my good ,lord1 and gave me answer1 else ,i could never have escaped4 ,preaching1 some years afterward1 ,latimer himself told the story1 and applied the illustration4 ,my hearer1 said he1 there is a recording pen always at work behind the arras1 taking down all thou sayest1 and noting all thou doest3 therefore be thou careful that thy words and acts are worthy of record in ,god's ,book of ,remembrance4 ,you might aptly illustrate the doctrine of ,god's special providential care of his servants by relating the story of ,john ,knox1 who1 one evening1 refused to sit in his usual seat1 though he did not know any particular reason for so acting4 ,no one was allowed to occupy that chair1 and during the evening a shot came in through the window1 and struck a candlestick that stood immediately opposite where ,john ,knox would have been sitting if he had taken his accustomed place4 ,there is also the case of the godly minister1 who1 in escaping from his persecutors1 went into a hay-loft1 and hid himself in the hay4 ,the soldiers went into the place1 pricking and thrusting with their swords and bayonets1 and the good man even felt the cold steel touch the sole of his foot1 and the scratch which was made remained for years3 yet his enemies did not discover him4 ,afterward a hen came and laid an egg every day hard by the place where he was hidden1 and so he was sustained as well as preserved until it was safe for him to leave his hiding-place4 ,it was either the same minister1 or one of his persecuted brethren1 who was providentially protected by such a humble agent as a spider4 ,this is the story as ,i have read it3 ,receiving friendly warning of an intended attempt to apprehend him1 and finding men were on his track1 he took refuge in a malt-house1 and crept into the empty kiln1 where he lay down4 ,immediately after1 he saw a spider lower itself across the narrow entrance by which he had got in1 thus fixing the first line of what was soon wrought into a large and beautiful web4 ,the weaver and the web1 placed directly between him and the light1 were very conspicuous4 ,he was so much struck with the skill and diligence of the spider1 and so much absorbed in watching her work1 that he forgot his own danger4 ,by the time the network was completed1 crossing and re-crossing the mouth of the kiln in every direction1 his pursuers came into the malt-house to search for him4 ,he noted their steps1 and listened to their cruel words while they looked about4 ,then they came close to the kiln1 and he overheard one say to another1 ',it's no use to look in there2 the old villain can never be there3 look at that spider's web2 he could never have got in there without breaking it4' ,without further search they went to seek elsewhere1 and he escaped safely out of their hands4 ,there is another story ,i have somewhere met with1 of a prisoner1 during the ,american war1 who was put into a cell in which there was a little slit1 through which a soldier's eye always watched him day and night4 ,whatever the prisoner did1 whether he ate1 or drank1 or slept1 the sentinel's eye was perpetually gazing at him2 and the thought of it1 he said1 was perfectly dreadful to him1 it almost drove him mad2 he could not bear the idea of having that man's eye always scrutinizing him4 ,he could scarcely sleep2 his very breathing became a misery1 because1 turn which way he would1 he could never escape from the gaze of that soldier's eye4 ,that story might be used as an illustration of the fact that ,god's omniscient eye is always looking at every one of us4 ,i remember making two or three of my congregation speak out pretty loudly by telling them this story1 which ,i read in a tract4 ,i suppose it may be true2 ,i receive it as reliable1 and ,i wish ,i could tell it as it is printed4 ,a ,christian minister1 residing near the backwoods1 took a walk one evening for silent meditation4 ,he went much farther than he intended1 and1 missing the track1 wandered away into the woods4 ,he kept on1 endeavoring to find the road to his home2 but failed to do so4 ,he was afraid that he would have to spend the night in some tree2 but suddenly1 as he was going forward1 he saw the glimmer of lights in the distance1 and therefore pressed on1 hoping to find shelter in a friendly cottage4 ,a strange sight met his gaze2 a meeting was being held in a clearing in the middle of the woods1 the place being lit up with blazing pine-torches4 ,he thought1 ,well1 here are some ,christian people met to worship ,god2 ,i am glad that what ,i thought was an awkward mistake in losing my way has brought me here2 ,i may1 perhaps1 both do good and get good4 ,to his horror1 however1 he found that it was an atheistical gathering1 and that the speakers were venting their blasphemous thoughts against ,god with very great boldness and determination4 ,the minister sat down full of grief4 ,a young man declared that he did not believe in the existence of ,god1 and dared ,jehovah to destroy him then and there if there was such a ,god4 ,the good man's heart was meditating how he ought to reply1 but his tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of his mouth2 and the infidel orator sat down amid loud acclamations of admiration and approval4 ,our friend did not wish to be a craven1 or to hold back in the day of battle1 and therefore he was almost inclined to rise and speak1 when a hale1 burly man1 who had passed the meridian of life1 but who was still exceedingly vigorous1 and seemed a strong1 muscular clearer of the backwoods1 rose and said1 ,i should like to speak if you will give me a hearing4 ,i am not going to say anything about the topic which has been discussed by the orator who has just sat down2 ,i am only going to tell you a fact3 will you hear me8 ,yes1 yes1 they shouted2 it was a free discussion1 so they would hear him1 especially as he was not going to controvert4 ,a week ago1 he began1 ,i was working up yonder1 on the river's bank1 felling trees4 ,you know the rapids down below4 ,well1 while ,i was at my employment1 at some little distance from them1 ,i heard cries and shrieks1 mingled with prayers to ,god for help4 ,i ran down to the water's edge1 for ,i guessed what was the matter4 ,there ,i saw a young man1 who could not manage his boat2 the current was getting the mastery of him1 and he was drifting down the stream1 and ere long1 unless some one had interposed1 he would most certainly have been swept over the falls1 and carried down to a dreadful death4 ,i saw that young man kneel down in the boat1 and pray to the ,most ,high ,god1 by the love of ,christ1 and by his precious blood1 to save him4 ,he confessed that he had been an infidel2 but said that1 if he might but be delivered this once1 he would declare his belief in ,god4 ,i at once sprang into the river4 ,my arms are not very weak1 ,i think1 though they are not so strong as they used to be4 ,i managed to get into the boat1 turned her round1 brought her to the shore1 and so ,i saved that young man's life2 and that young man is the one who has just sat down1 and who has been denying the existence of ,god1 and daring the ,most ,high to destroy him6 ,of course ,i used that story to show that it was an easy thing to brag and boast about holding infidel sentiments in a place of safety2 but that1 when men come into peril of their lives1 then they talk in a very different fashion4 ,there is a capital story1 which exemplifies the need of going up to the house of ,god1 not merely to listen to the preacher1 but to seek the ,lord4 ,a certain lady had gone to the communion in a ,scotch church1 and had greatly enjoyed the service4 ,when she reached her home1 she inquired who the preacher was1 and she was informed that it was ,mr4 ,ebenezer ,erskine4 ,the lady said that she would go again1 the next ,sabbath1 to hear him4 ,she went1 but she was not profited in the least2 the sermon did not seem to have any unction or power about it4 ,she went to ,mr4 ,erskine1 and told him of her experience at the two services4 ,ah1 madam1 said he1 the first ,sabbath you came to meet the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and you had a blessing2 but the second ,sabbath you came to hear ,ebenezer ,erskine1 and you had no blessing1 and you had no right to expect any4 ,you see1 brethren1 a preacher might talk to the people1 in general terms1 about coming to worship ,god1 and not merely to hear the minister1 yet no effect might be produced by his words1 for there might not be anything sufficiently striking to remain in the memory2 but after such an anecdote as this one about ,mr4 ,erskine and the lady1 who could forget the lesson that was intended to be taught8 99 99 99 99 99 ,well1 now1 supposing that you have exhausted all the illustrations to be found in current history1 in local history1 in ancient and modern history1 and in religious history--which ,i do not think you will do unless you are yourselves exhausted--you may then turn to natural history1 where you will find illustrations and anecdotes in great abundance2 and you need never feel any qualms of conscience about using the facts of nature to illustrate the truths of ,scripture1 because there is a sound philosophy to support the use of such illustrations4 ,it is a fact that can easily be accounted for1 that people will more readily receive the truth of revelation if you link it with some kindred truth in natural history1 or anything that is visible to the eye1 than if you give them a bare statement of the doctrine itself4 ,besides1 there is this important fact that must not be forgotten3 the ,god who is the ,author of revelation is also the ,author of creation1 and providence1 and history1 and everything else from which you ought to draw your illustrations4 ,when you use natural history to illustrate the ,scriptures1 you are only explaining one of ,god's books by another volume that he has written4 ,it is just as if you had before you two works by one author1 who had1 in the first place1 written a book for children2 and then1 in the second place1 had prepared a volume of more profound instruction for persons of riper years and higher culture4 ,at times1 when you found obscure and difficult passages in the work meant for the more advanced scholars1 you would refer to the little book which was intended for the younger folk1 and you would say1 ,we know that this means so-and-so1 because that is how the matter is explained in the book for beginners4 ,so creation1 providence1 and history are all books which ,god has written for those to read who have eyes1 written for those who have ears to hear his voice in them1 written even for carnal men to read1 that they may see something of ,god therein4 ,but the other glorious ,book is written for you who are taught of ,god1 and made spiritual and holy4 ,oftentimes1 by turning to the primer1 you will get something out of that simple narrative which will elucidate and illustrate the more difficult classic1 for that is what the ,word of ,god is to you4 ,there is a certain type of thought which ,god has followed in all things4 ,what he made with his ,word has a similarity to the ,word itself by which he made it2 and the visible is the symbol of the invisible1 because the same thought of ,god runs through it all4 ,there is a touch of the divine finger in all that ,god has made2 so that the things which are apparent to our senses have certain resemblances to the things which do not appear4 ,that which can be seen1 and tasted1 and touched1 and handled is meant to be to us the outward and visible sign of a something which we find in the ,word of ,god1 and in our spiritual experience1 which is the inward and the spiritual grace2 so that there is nothing forced and unnatural in bringing nature to illustrate grace2 it was ordained of ,god for that very purpose4 ,range over the whole of creation for your similes2 do not confine yourself to any particular branch of natural history4 ,the congregation of one very learned doctor complained that he gave them spiders continuously by way of illustration4 ,it would be better to give the people a spider or two occasionally1 and then to vary the instruction by stories1 and anecdotes1 and similes1 and metaphors drawn from geology1 astronomy1 botany1 or any of the other sciences which will help to shed a side-light upon the ,scriptures4 ,if you keep your eyes open1 you will not see even a dog following his master1 nor a mouse peeping up from his hole1 nor will you hear even a gentle scratching behind the wainscot without getting something to weave into your sermons if your faculties are all on the alert4 ,when you go home to-night1 and sit by your fireside1 you ought not to be able to take up your domestic cat without finding that which will furnish you with an illustration4 ,how soft are pussy's pads1 and yet1 in a moment1 if she is angered1 how sharp will be her claws6 ,how like to temptation1 soft and gentle when first it cometh to us1 but how deadly1 how damnable the wounds it causeth ere long6 ,i recollect using1 with very considerable effect in a sermon1 an incident that occurred in my own garden4 ,there was a dog which was in the habit of coming through the fence and scratching in my flower beds1 to the manifest spoiling of the gardener's toil and temper4 ,walking in the garden one ,saturday afternoon1 and preparing my sermon for the following day1 ,i saw the four-footed creature--rather a scurvy specimen1 by the by--and having a walking-stick in my hand1 ,i threw it at him with all my might1 at the same time giving him some good advice about going home4 ,now1 what should my canine friend do but turn round1 pick up the stick in his mouth1 and bring it1 and lay it down at my feet1 wagging his tail all the while in expectation of my thanks and kind words8 ,of course1 you do not suppose that ,i kicked him1 or threw the stick at him any more4 ,i felt quite ashamed of myself1 and ,i told him that he was welcome to stay as long as he liked1 and to come as often as he pleased4 ,there was an instance of the power of non-resistance1 submission1 patience1 and trust1 in overcoming even righteous anger4 ,i used that illustration in preaching the next day1 and ,i did not feel that ,i had at all degraded myself by telling the story4 ,most of us have read ,alphonse ,karr's book1 ,a ,tour ,round my ,garden4 ,why does not somebody write ,a ,tour ,round my ,dining-,table1 or1 ,a ,tour ,round my ,kitchen8 ,i believe a most interesting volume of the kind might be written by any man who had his eyes open to see the analogies of nature4 ,i remember that1 one day1 when ,i lived in ,cambridge1 ,i wanted a sermon very badly2 and ,i could not fix upon a subject1 when1 all at once1 ,i noticed a number of birds on the slates of the opposite house4 ,as ,i looked closely at them1 ,i saw that there was a canary1 which had escaped from somebody's house1 and a lot of sparrows had surrounded it1 and kept pecking at it4 ,there was my text at once3 ,mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird1 the birds round about are against her4 99 99 99 99 99 ,once more1 brethren1 if you cannot find illustrations in natural history1 or any of the other histories ,i have mentioned1 find them anywhere4 ,anything that occurs around you1 if you have but brains in your head1 will be of service to you2 but if you are really to interest and profit your congregations1 you will need to keep your eyes open1 and to use all the powers with which the ,lord has endowed you4 ,if you do so1 you will find that1 in simply walking through the streets1 something or other will suggest a passage of ,scripture1 or will help you1 when you have chosen your text1 to open it up to the people so as really to arrest their attention1 and convey the truth to their minds and hearts4 ,for instance1 the snow to-day covered all the ground1 and the black soil looked fair and white4 ,it is thus with some men under transient reformations2 they look as holy1 and as heavenly1 and as pure as though they were saints2 but when the sun of trial arises1 and a little heat of temptation cometh upon them1 how soon do they reveal their true blackness1 and all their surface goodliness melteth away6 ,the whole world is hung round by ,god with pictures2 and the preacher has only to take them down1 one by one1 and hold them up before his congregation1 and he will be sure to enlist their interest in the subject he is seeking to illustrate4 ,but he must have his own eyes open1 or he will not see these pictures4 ,solomon said1 ,the wise man's eyes are in his head1 and addressing such a man1 he wrote1 ,let thine eyes look right on1 and let thine eyelids look straight before thee4 ,why does he speak of seeing with the eyelids8 ,i think he means that the eyelids are to shut in what the eyes have perceived4 ,you know that there is all the difference in the world between a man with eyes and one with no eyes4 ,one sits down by a stream1 and sees much to interest and instruct him2 but another1 at the same place1 is like the gentleman of whom ,wordsworth wrote3 ,a primrose by a river's brim ,a yellow primrose was to him1 ,and it was nothing more4 ,if you find any difficulty in illustrating your subject1 ,i should strongly recommend you to try to teach children whenever you can get an opportunity of doing so4 ,i do not know a better way of schooling your own mind to the use of illustrations than frequently to take a class in the ,sunday-school1 or to give addresses to the scholars as often as you can2 because1 if you do not illustrate there1 you will have your lesson or your address illustrated for you very strikingly4 ,you will find that the children will do it by their general worry and inattention1 or by their talk and play4 ,i used to have a class of boys when ,i was a ,sunday-school teacher1 and if ,i was ever a little dull1 they began to make wheels of themselves1 twisting round on the forms on which they sat4 ,that was a very plain intimation to me that ,i must give them an illustration or an anecdote2 and ,i learned to tell stories partly by being obliged to tell them4 ,one boy whom ,i had in the class used to say to me1 ,this is very dull1 teacher2 can't you pitch us a yarn8 ,of course he was a naughty boy1 and you may suppose that he went to the bad when he grew up1 though ,i am not at all sure that he did2 but ,i used to try and pitch him the yarn that he wanted in order to get his attention again4 ,and ,i dare say that some of our hearers1 if they were allowed to speak out during the sermon1 would ask us to pitch them a yarn--that is1 to give them something to interest them4 ,i believe that one of the best things you can do to teach either the old or the young is to give them plenty of anecdotes and illustrations4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i think it would be very useful to some of you who are not yet adepts at the art of illustration if you were to read hooks in which there is an abundance of metaphor1 simile1 and emblem4 ,i am not going fully into that subject on this occasion1 because this lecture is only preliminary to the next two that ,i hope to deliver1 in which ,i will try to give you a list of cyclopedias of anecdotes and illustrations1 and books of fables1 emblems1 and parables2 but ,i advise you to study such works as ,gurnall's ,christian in ,complete ,armor1 or ,matthew ,henry's ,commentary1 with the distinct view of noticing all the illustrations1 emblems1 metaphors1 and similes that you can find4 ,i should even select non-comparisons2 ,i like ,keach's ,metaphors1 where he points out the disparity between the type and the ,antitype4 ,sometimes1 the contrasts between different persons or objects will be as instructive as their resemblances4 ,when you have read the book once1 and tried to mark all the figures1 go through it again1 and note all the illustrations you missed in your first reading4 ,you will probably have missed many2 and you will be surprised to find that there are illustrations even in the words themselves4 ,how frequently a word is itself a picture6 ,some of the most expressive words that are found in human language are like rich gems1 which have passed before your eye very often1 but you have not had time to handle or to value them4 ,in your second examination of the book1 you will notice1 perhaps1 what eluded you the first time1 and you will find many illustrations which are merely hinted at1 instead of being given at length4 ,do as ,i have recommended with a great many books4 ,get copies that you can afford to mark with a colored pencil1 so that you will be sure to see the illustrations readily2 or put them down in one of your note-books4 ,i am sure that those brethren who begin early to keep a record of such things act wisely4 ,the commonplace-books of the old ,puritans were invaluable to them4 ,they would never have been able to have compiled such marvelous works as they did if they had not been careful in collecting and arranging their matter under different heads2 and thus1 all that they had ever read upon any subject was embalmed and preserved1 and they could readily refer to any point that they might require1 and refresh their memories and verify their quotations4 ,some of us1 who are very busy1 may be excused from that task2 we must do the best we can2 but some of you1 who go to smaller charges1 in the country especially1 ought to keep a commonplace-book1 or else ,i am afraid you will get to be very commonplace yourselves4 ,your selection of similes1 metaphors1 parables1 and emblems will not be complete unless you also search the ,scriptures to find the illustrations that are recorded there4 ,biblical allusions are the most effective methods of illustrating and enforcing the truths of the gospel2 and the preacher who is familiar with his ,bible will never be at a loss for an instance of that which is profitable for doctrine1 for reproof1 for correction1 for instruction in righteousness4 ,the ,lord must have meant us thus to use his ,word1 otherwise he would not have given us1 in the ,old ,testament1 such a number of types and symbols of truths1 to be afterward more fully revealed under the gospel dispensation4 ,such a collection of illustrations as ,i have suggested will come very handy to you in future days1 and you will be reminded1 by the comparisons and figures used by others1 to make comparisons and figures for yourself4 ,familiarity with anything makes us au fait at it2 we can learn to do almost anything by practice4 ,i suppose that ,i could1 by degrees1 learn to make a tub if ,i spent my time with a man engaged in that business4 ,i should know how to put the staves and the hoops if ,i stayed long enough in the cooper's yard2 and ,i have no doubt that any of you could learn anything you desired provided you had sufficient time and opportunity4 ,so1 if you search for illustrations1 you will learn to make them for yourselves4 99 99 99 99 99 ,that brings me to my last point4 ,i began this lecture by warning you against the practice of making anecdotes2 ,i close it by advising you often to set yourself the task of making illustrations4 ,try to make comparisons from the things round about you4 ,i think it would be well1 sometimes1 to shut the door of your study1 and say to yourself1 ,i will not go out of this room until ,i have made at least half a dozen good illustrations4 ,the ,chinese say that the intellect lies in the stomach1 and that the affections are there too4 ,i think they are right on the latter point1 because1 you know1 if you are ever very fond of anybody--your wife1 for instance--you say that you could eat her2 and you also say that such and such a person is very sweet4 ,so1 too1 the intellect may lie in the stomach2 and consequently1 when you have been shut in for two or three hours1 and begin to want your dinner or tea1 you may be quickened into the making of the six illustrations ,i have mentioned as a minimum4 ,your study would be a veritable prison if you could not make as many useful comparisons as that from the different objects in the room4 ,i should say that a prison itself would furnish suggestions for making many metaphors4 ,i do not wish you to go to prison for that purpose2 but if you ever do get there1 you ought to be able to learn how to preach in an interesting manner upon such a passage as this--,bring my soul out of prison2 or this1 ,he was there in the prison4 ,but the ,lord was with ,joseph4 ,if you cannot get your brains to work in the house1 you might take a walk1 and say to yourself1 ,i will wander over the fields1 or ,i will get into the garden1 or ,i will stroll in the wood1 and see if ,i cannot find some illustration or other4 ,you might even go and look in at a shop-window1 and see if there are not some illustrations to be discovered there4 ,or you might stand still a little while1 and hear what people say as they go by2 or stop where there is a little knot of idlers1 and try to hear what they are talking about1 and see what symbol you can make out of it4 ,you should also spend as much time as you can visiting the sick2 that will be a most profitable thing to do1 for in that sacred service you will have many opportunities of getting illustrations from the tried children of ,god as you hear their varied experiences4 ,it is wonderful what pages of a new cyclopedia of illustrative teaching you might find written out with indelible ink if you went visiting the sick1 or even in talking with children4 ,many of them will say things that you will be able to quote with good effect in your sermons4 ,at any rate1 do make up your mind that you will attract and interest the people by the way in which you set the gospel before them4 ,half the battle lies in making the attempt1 in coming to this determined resolution1 ,god helping me1 ,i will teach the people by parables1 by similes1 by illustrations1 by anything that will be helpful to them2 and ,i will seek to be a thoroughly interesting preacher of the ,word4 ,i earnestly hope you will practise the art of making illustrations4 ,i will try to prepare a little set of exercises for you to do week by week4 ,i shall give you some subject and some object1 between which there is a likeness2 and ,i shall get you to try to see the resemblance1 and to find out what comparisons can be instituted between them4 ,i shall also1 if ,i can1 give you some subject without an object1 and then say to you1 ,illustrate that2 tell us1 for instance1 what virtue is like4 ,or1 sometimes1 ,i may give you the object without the subject1 thus--,a diamond2 how will you use that as an illustration8 ,then1 sometimes1 ,i may give you neither the subject nor the object1 but just say1 ,bring me an illustration4 ,i think we might1 in this way1 make a set of exercises which would be very useful to you all4 ,the way to get a mind worth having is to get one well stored with things worth keeping4 ,of course1 the man who has the most illustrations in his head will be the one who will use the most illustrations in his discourses4 ,there are some preachers who have the bump of illustration fully developed2 they are sure to illustrate their subject1 they cannot help it4 ,there are some men who always see likes2 they catch a comparison long before others see it4 ,if any of you say that you are not good at illustrating1 ,i reply1 ,my brother1 you must try to grow horns if you have not any on your head4 ,you may never be able to develop any vast amount of imagination or fancy if you do not possess it at the first--just as it is hard to make a cheese out of a millstone--but by diligent attention to this matter you may improve upon what you now are4 ,i do believe that some fellows have a depression in their craniums where there ought to be a bump4 ,i knew a young man1 who tried hard to get into this college2 but he never saw how to join things together unless he tied them by their tails4 ,he brought out a book2 and when ,i read it1 ,i found at once that it was full of my stories and illustrations2 that is to say1 every illustration or story in the book was one that ,i had used1 but there was not one of them that was related as it ought to have been4 ,this man had so told the story that it was not there at all2 the very point which ,i had brought out he had carefully omitted1 and every bit of it was told correctly except the one thing that was the essence of the whole4 ,of course1 ,i was glad that ,i did not have that brother in the college2 he might have been an ornament to us by his deficiencies1 but we can do without such ornaments1 indeed1 we have had enough of them already4 ,finally1 dear brethren1 do try with all your might to get the power to see a parable1 a simile1 an illustration1 wherever it is to be seen2 for to a great extent this is one of the most important qualifications of the man who is to be a public speaker1 and especially of the man who is to be an efficient preacher of the gospel of ,christ4 ,if the ,lord ,jesus made such frequent use of parables1 it must be right for us to do the same4 ,,lecture ,v4 ,,the ,,sciences ,,as ,,sources ,,of ,,illustration4 ,astronomy4 ,i propose1 brethren1 if ,i am able to do it--and ,i am somewhat dubious upon that point--to give you a set of lectures at intervals upon ,,the ,,various ,,sciences ,,as ,,sources ,,of ,,illustration4 ,it seems to me that every student for the ,christian ministry ought to know at least something of every science2 he should intermeddle with every form of knowledge that may be useful in his life's work4 ,god has made all things that are in the world to be our teachers1 and there is something to be learned from every one of them2 and as he would never be a thorough student who did not attend all classes at which he was expected to be present1 so he who does not learn from all things that ,god has made will never gather all the food that his soul needs1 nor will he be likely to attain to that perfection of mental manhood which will enable him to be a fully equipped teacher of others4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i shall commence with the science of ,,astronomy2 and you will1 at the beginning1 understand that ,i am not going to deliver an astronomical lecture1 nor to mention all the grand facts and details of that fascinating science2 but ,i intend simply to use astronomy as one of the many fields of illustration that the ,lord has provided for us4 ,let me say1 however1 that the science itself is one which ought to receive much attention from all of us4 ,it relates to many of the greatest wonders in nature1 and its effect upon the mind is truly marvelous4 ,the themes on which astronomy discourses are so grand1 the wonders disclosed by the telescope are so sublime1 that1 very often1 minds that have been unable to receive knowledge through other channels have become remarkably receptive while they have been studying this science4 ,there is an instance of a brother who was one of the students in this college1 and who seemed to be a dreadful dolt2 we really thought he never would learn anything1 and that we should have to give him up in despair4 ,but ,i introduced to him a little book called ,the ,young ,astronomer2 and he afterward said that1 as he read it1 he felt just as if something had cracked inside his head1 or as if some string had been snapped4 ,he had laid hold of such enlarged thoughts that ,i believe his cranium did actually experience an expansion which it ought to have undergone in his childhood1 and which it did undergo by the marvelous force of the thoughts suggested by the study of even the elements of astronomical science4 ,this science ought to be the special delight of ministers of the gospel1 for surely it brings us into closer connection with ,god than almost any other science does4 ,it has been said that an undevout astronomer is mad4 ,i should say that an undevout man of any sort is mad--with the worst form of madness2 but1 certainly1 he who has become acquainted with the stars in the heavens1 and who yet has not found out the great ,father of lights1 the ,lord who made them all1 must be stricken with a dire madness4 ,notwithstanding all his learning1 he must be afflicted with a mental incapacity which places him almost below the level of the beasts that perish4 ,kepler1 the great mathematical astronomer1 who has so well explained many of the laws which govern the universe1 closes one of his books--his ,harmonics--with this reverent and devout expression of his feelings3 ,i give thee thanks1 ,lord and ,creator1 that thou hast given me joy through thy creation2 for ,i have been ravished with the work of thy hands4 ,i have revealed unto mankind the glory of thy works1 as far as my limited spirit could conceive their infinitude4 ,should ,i have brought forward anything that is unworthy of thee1 or should ,i have sought my own fame1 be graciously pleased to forgive me4 ,and you know how the mighty ,newton1 a very prince among the sons of men1 was continually driven to his knees as he looked upward to the skies1 and discovered fresh wonders in the starry heavens4 ,therefore1 the science which tends to bring men to bow in humility before the ,lord should always be a favorite study with us whose business it is to inculcate reverence for ,god in all who come under our influence4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the science of astronomy would never have become available to us in many of its remarkable details if it had not been for the discovery or invention of the telescope4 ,truth is great1 but it does not savingly affect us till we become personally acquainted with it4 ,the knowledge of the gospel1 as it is revealed to us in the ,word of ,god1 makes it true to us2 and oftentimes the ,bible is to us what the telescope is to the astronomer4 ,the ,scriptures do not make the truth2 but they reveal it in a way in which our poor1 feeble intellect1 when enlightened by the ,holy ,spirit1 is able to behold and comprehend it4 ,from a book#b to which ,i am indebted for many quotations in this lecture1 ,i learn that the telescope was discovered in this singular manner3 ,a maker of spectacles at ,middleburg stumbled upon the discovery owing to his children directing his attention to the enlarged appearance of the weathercock of a church1 as accidentally seen through two spectacle-glasses1 held between the fingers some distance apart4 ,this was one of childhood's inadvertent acts2 and seldom has there been a parallel example of mighty results springing out of such a trivial circumstance4 ,it is strange to reflect upon the playful pranks of boyhood being connected in their issue1 and at no distant date1 with enlarging the known bounds of the planetary system1 resolving the nebula of ,orion1 and revealing the richness of the firmament4 ,in a similar way1 a simple incident has often been the means of revealing to men the wonders of divine grace4 ,what a certain individual only meant to be trifling with divine things1 ,god has overruled for his soul's salvation4 ,he stepped in to hear a sermon as he might have gone to the theater to see a play2 but ,god's ,spirit carried the truth to his heart1 and revealed to him the deep things of the kingdom1 and his own personal interest in them4 #b ,the ,heavens and the ,earth1 by ,thomas ,milner1 ,m4 ,a41 ,f4 ,r4 ,g4 ,s4 ,i think that incident of the discovery of the telescope might be usefully employed as an illustration of the connection between little causes and great results1 showing how the providence of ,god is continually making small things to be the means of bringing about wonderful and important revolutions4 ,it may often happen that what seems to us to be a matter of pure accident1 with nothing at all notable about it1 may really have the effect of changing the entire current of our life1 and it may be influential also in turning the lives of many others in quite a new direction4 ,when once the telescope had been discovered1 then the numbers and position and movements of the stars became increasingly visible1 until at the present time we are able to study the wonders of the stellar sky1 and continually to learn more and more of the marvels that are there displayed by the hand of ,god4 ,the telescope has revealed to us much more of the sun1 and the moon1 and the stars than we could ever have discovered without its aid4 ,dr4 ,livingstone1 on account of his frequently using the sextant when he was traveling in ,africa1 was spoken of by the natives as the white man who could bring down the sun1 and carry it under his arm4 ,that is what the telescope has done for us1 and that is what faith in the gospel has done for us in the spiritual heavens2 it has brought down to us the ,father1 the ,son1 and the ,holy ,spirit1 and given us the high eternal things to be our present possession and our perpetual joy4 ,thus1 you see1 the telescope itself may be made to furnish us with many valuable illustrations4 ,we may also turn to good account the lessons to be learned by the study of the stars for the purpose of navigation4 ,the mariner1 crossing the trackless sea1 by taking astronomical observations1 can steer himself with accuracy to his desired haven4 ,captain ,basil ,hall tells us1 in the book ,i have previously mentioned1 that he once sailed from ,san ,blas1 on the ,west ,coast of ,mexico2 and1 after a voyage of eight thousand miles1 occupying eighty-nine days1 he arrived off ,rio de ,janeiro1 having in this interval passed through the ,pacific ,ocean1 rounded ,cape ,horn1 and crossed the ,south ,atlantic1 without making land1 or seeing a single sail except an ,american whaler4 ,when within a week's sail of ,rio1 he set seriously about determining1 by lunar observations1 the position of his ship1 and then steered his course by those common principles of navigation which may be safely employed for short distances between one known station and another4 ,having arrived within what he considered1 from his computations1 fifteen or twenty miles of the coast1 he hove to1 at four o'clock in the morning1 to await the break of day1 and then bore up1 proceeding cautiously on account of a thick fog4 ,as this cleared away1 the crew had the satisfaction of seeing the great ,sugar-,loaf ,rock1 which stands on one side of the harbor's mouth1 so nearly right ahead that they had not to alter their course above a point in order to hit the entrance of the port4 ,this was the first land they had seen for nearly three months1 after crossing so many seas1 and being set backward and forward by innumerable currents and foul winds4 ,the effect upon all on board was electric2 and1 giving way to their admiration1 the sailors greeted the commander with a hearty cheer4 ,in a similar manner1 we also sail by guidance from the heavenly bodies1 and we have for a long season no sight of land1 and sometimes do not even see a passing sail2 and yet1 if we take our observations correctly1 and follow the track which they point out1 we shall have the great blessing1 when we are about to finish our voyage1 of seeing1 not the great ,sugar-,loaf ,rock1 but the ,fair ,haven of ,glory right straight before us4 ,we shall not have to alter our course even a single point2 and1 as we sail into the heavenly harbor1 what songs of joy will we raise1 not in glorification of our own skill1 but in praise of the wondrous ,captain and ,pilot who has guided us over life's stormy sea1 and enabled us to sail in safety even where we could not see our way6 ,kepler makes a wise remark1 when speaking about the mathematical system by which the course of a star could be predicted4 ,after describing the result of his observations1 and declaring his firm belief that the will of the ,lord is the supreme power in the laws of nature1 he says3 ,but if there be any man who is too dull to receive this science1 ,i advise that1 leaving the school of astronomy1 he follow his own path1 and desist from this wandering through the universe2 and1 lifting up his natural eyes1 with which he alone can see1 pour himself out in his own heart1 in praise of ,god the ,creator2 being certain that he gives no less worship to ,god than the astronomer1 to whom ,god has given to see more clearly with his inward eye1 and who1 for what he has himself discovered1 both can and will glorify ,god4 ,that is1 ,i think1 a very beautiful illustration of what you may say to any poor illiterate man in your congregation3 ,well1 my friend1 if you cannot comprehend this system of theology which ,i have explained to you1 if these doctrines seem to you to be utterly incomprehensible1 if you cannot follow me in my criticism upon the ,greek text1 if you cannot quite catch the poetical idea that ,i tried to give you just now1 which is so charming to my own mind1 nevertheless1 if you know no more than that your ,bible is true1 that you yourself are a sinner1 and that ,jesus ,christ is your ,saviour1 go on your way1 and worship and adore1 and think of ,god as you are able to do4 ,never mind about the astronomers1 and the telescopes1 and the stars1 and the sun1 and the moon2 worship the ,lord in your own fashion4 ,altogether apart from my theological knowledge1 and my explanation of the doctrines revealed in the ,scriptures1 the ,bible itself1 and the precious truth you have received into your own soul1 through the teaching of the ,holy ,spirit1 will be quite enough to make you an acceptable worshiper of the ,most ,high ,god4 ,i suppose you are all aware that among the old systems of astronomy was one which placed the earth in the center1 and made the sun1 and the moon1 and the stars revolve around it4 ,its three fundamental principles were the immobility of the earth1 its central position1 and the daily revolution of all the heavenly bodies around it in circular orbits4 ,now1 in a similar fashion1 there is a way of making a system of theology of which man is the center1 by which it is implied that ,christ and his atoning sacrifice are only made for man's sake1 and that the ,holy ,spirit is merely a great ,worker on man's behalf1 and that even the great and glorious ,father is to be viewed simply as existing for the sake of making man happy4 ,well1 that may be the system of theology adopted by some2 but1 brethren1 we must not fall into that error1 for1 just as the earth is not the center of the universe1 so man is not the grandest of all beings4 ,god has been pleased highly to exalt man2 but we must remember how the psalmist speaks of him3 ,when ,i consider thy heavens1 the work of thy fingers1 the moon and the stars1 which thou has ordained2 what is man1 that thou art mindful of him2 and the son of man1 that thou visitest him8 ,in another place1 ,david says1 ,lord1 what is man1 that thou takest knowledge of him6 or the son of man1 that thou makest account of him6 ,man is like to vanity3 his days are as a shadow that passeth away4 ,man cannot be the center of the theological universe2 he is altogether too insignificant a being to occupy such a position1 and the scheme of redemption must exist for some other end than that of merely making man happy1 or even of making him holy4 ,the salvation of man must surely be first of all for the glory of ,god2 and you have discovered the right form of ,christian doctrine when you have found the system that has ,god in the center1 ruling and controlling according to the good pleasure of his will4 ,do not dwarf man so as to make it appear that ,god has no care for him2 for if you do that1 you slander ,god4 ,give to man the position that ,god has assigned to him2 by doing so1 you will have a system of theology in which all the truths of revelation and experience will move in glorious order and harmony around the great central orb1 the ,divine ,sovereign ,ruler of the universe1 ,god over all1 blessed forever4 ,you may1 however1 any one of you1 make another mistake by imagining yourself to be the center of a system4 ,that foolish notion is a good illustration1 ,i think4 ,there are some men whose fundamental principles are1 first of all1 their own immobility3 what they are1 they always are to be1 and they are right1 and no one can stir them2 secondly1 their position is central1 for them suns rise and set1 and moons do wax and wane4 ,for them their wives exist2 for them their children are born2 for them everything is placed where it appears in ,god's universe2 and they judge all things according to this one rule1 ,how will it benefit me8 ,that is the beginning and the end of their grand system1 and they expect the daily revolution1 if not of all the heavenly bodies1 certainly of all the earthly bodies around them4 ,the sun1 the moon1 and the eleven stars are to make obeisance to them4 ,well1 brethren1 that is an exploded theory so far as the earth is concerned1 and there is no truth in such a notion with reference to ourselves4 ,we may cherish the erroneous idea2 but the general public will not1 and the sooner the grace of ,god expels it from us1 the better1 so that we may take our proper position in a far higher system than any of which we can ever be the center4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,sun1 then1 not the earth1 is the center of the solar system2 which system1 mark you1 is probably only one little insignificant corner of the universe1 although it includes such a vast space that if ,i could give you the actual figures you would not be able to form the slightest idea of what they really represented4 ,yet that tremendous system1 compared with the whole of ,god's universe1 may be only like a single grain of dust on the sea-shore1 and there may be myriads upon myriads of systems1 some of which are made up of innumerable systems as large as ours1 and the great sun himself may only be a planet revolving round a greater sun1 and this world only a little satellite to the sun1 never yet observed by the astronomers who1 it may be1 live in that remoter sun still farther off4 ,it is a marvelous universe that ,god has made2 and however much of it we may have seen1 we must never imagine that we have discovered more than a very small portion of the worlds upon worlds that ,god has created4 ,the earth1 and all the planets1 and all the solid matter of the universe1 are controlled1 as you know1 by the force of attraction4 ,we are kept in our place in the world1 in going round the sun1 by two forces1 the one called centripetal1 which draws us toward the sun1 and the other called centrifugal1 which is generally illustrated by the tendency of drops of water on a trundled mop to fly off at a tangent from the circle they are describing4 ,now1 ,i believe that1 in like manner1 there are two forces which are ever at work upon all of us1 the one which draws us toward ,god1 and the other which drives us away from him1 and we are thus kept in the circle of life2 but1 for my part1 ,i shall be very glad when ,i can pass out of that circle1 and get away from the influence of the centrifugal force4 ,i believe that1 the moment ,i do so--as soon as ever the attraction which draws me away from ,god is gone--,i shall be with him in heaven2 that ,i do not doubt4 ,directly one or other of the two forces which influence human life shall be exhausted1 we shall have either to drift away into the far-off space1 through the centrifugal force--which ,god forbid6--or else we shall fly at once into the central orb1 by the centripetal force1 and the sooner that glorious end of life comes1 the better will it be for us4 ,with ,augustine1 ,i would say1 ,all things are drawn to their own center4 ,be thou the ,center of my heart1 ,o ,god1 my ,light1 my only ,love6 ,the sun himself is an enormous body2 he has been measured1 but ,i think ,i will not burden you with the figures1 since they will convey to you no adequate idea of his actual size4 ,suffice it to say that1 if the earth and the moon were put inside the sun1 there would be abundance of room for them to go on revolving in their orbits just as they are now doing2 and there would be no fear of their knocking against that external crust of the sun which would represent to them the heavens4 ,it takes about eight minutes for light to reach us from the sun4 ,we may judge of the pace at which that light comes when we reflect that a cannon-ball1 rushing with the swiftest possible velocity1 would take seven years to get there1 and that a train1 traveling at the rate of thirty miles an hour1 and never stopping for refreshments1 would require more than three hundred and fifty years before it would reach the terminus4 ,you may thus form some slight idea of the distance that we are from the sun2 and this1 ,i think1 furnishes us with a good illustration of faith4 ,there is no man who can know1 except by faith1 that the sun exists4 ,that he did exist eight minutes ago1 ,i know1 for here is a ray of light that has just come from him1 and told me that2 but ,i cannot be sure that he is existing at this moment4 ,there are some of the fixed stars1 that are at such a vast distance from the earth1 that a ray of light from them takes hundreds of years to reach us2 and1 for aught we know1 they may have been extinct long ago4 ,yet we still put them down in our chart of the heavens1 and we can only keep them there by faith1 for as1 through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the ,word of ,god1 so it is only by faith that we can know that any of them now exist4 ,when we come to examine the matter closely1 we find that our eyesight1 and all our faculties and senses1 are not sufficient to give us positive conviction with regard to these heavenly bodies2 and therefore we still have to exercise faith2 so is it to a high degree in spiritual affairs1 we walk by faith1 not by sight4 ,that the sun has spots upon his face1 is a fact which everybody notices4 ,just so2 and if you are suns1 and are never so bright1 yet if you have any spots upon you1 you will find that people will be very quick to notice them1 and to call attention to them4 ,there is often much more talk about the sun's spots than there is about his luminous surface2 and1 after the same fashion1 more will be said about any spots and imperfections that men may discover in our character than about any excellences that they may see in us4 ,it was for some time asserted that there were no spots or specks whatever on the sun4 ,many astronomers1 with the aid of the telescope1 as well as without it1 discovered these blemishes and patches on the face of the sun2 but they were assured by men who ought to have known--namely1 by the reverend fathers of the church1 that it was impossible that there could be anything of the kind4 ,the book ,i have previously quoted says3 ,upon ,scheiner1 a ,german ,jesuit1 reporting the evidence of his senses to his provincial superior1 the latter positively refused to believe him4 ',i have read1' said he1 ',aristotle's writings from end to end many times1 and ,i can assure you that ,i have nowhere found in them anything similar to what you mention4 ,go1 my son1 and tranquilize yourself3 be assured that what you take for spots in the sun are the faults of your glasses1 or of your eyes4' ,so1 brethren1 we know the force of bigotry1 and how men will not see what is perfectly plain to us1 and how1 even when facts are brought before them1 they cannot be made to believe in them1 but will attribute them to anything but that which is the real truth4 ,i am afraid that the ,word of ,god itself has often been treated just in that way4 ,truths that are positively and plainly revealed there are stoutly denied1 because they do not happen to fit in with the preconceived theories of unbelievers4 ,there have been a great many attempts to explain what the spots upon the sun really are4 ,one theory is1 that the solar orb is surrounded by a luminous atmosphere1 and that the spots are open spaces in that atmosphere through which we see the solid surface of the sun4 ,i cannot see any reason why that theory should not be the truth2 and1 if it be so1 it seems to me to explain the first chapter of ,genesis1 where we are told that ,god created the light on the first day1 though he did not make the sun until the fourth day4 ,did he not make the light first1 and then take the sun1 which otherwise might have been a dark world1 and put the light on it as a luminous atmosphere8 ,the two things certainly might very well fit in with each other2 and if these spots are really openings in the luminous atmosphere through which we see the dark surface of the sun1 they are admirable illustrations of the spots that men see in us4 ,we are clothed with holiness as with a garment of light2 but every now and then there is a rift through which observers can see down into the dark body of natural depravity that still is in the very best of us4 ,it is a dangerous thing to look at the sun with unprotected eyes4 ,some have ventured to look at it with glasses that have no coloring in them1 and they have been struck blind4 ,there have been several instances of persons who have inadvertently neglected to use a proper kind of glass before turning the telescope to the sun1 and so have been blinded4 ,this is an illustration of our need of a ,mediator1 and of how necessary it is to see ,god through the medium of ,christ ,jesus our ,lord2 else might the excessive glory of the ,deity utterly destroy the faculty of seeing ,god at all4 ,the effect of the sun upon the earth1 ,i shall not dwell upon now1 as that may rather concern another branch of science than astronomy4 ,it will suffice to say that living plants will sometimes grow without the sun1 as you may have seen them in a dark cellar2 but how blanched they are when existing under such circumstances6 ,what must have been the pleasure with which ,humboldt entered into the great subterranean cave called the ,cueva del ,guacharo1 in the district of ,caraccas6 ,it is a cavern inhabited by nocturnal1 fruit-eating birds1 and this was what the great naturalist saw3 ,seeds1 carried in by the birds to their young1 and dropped1 had sprung up1 producing tall1 blanched1 spectral stalks1 covered with half-formed leaves2 but it was impossible to recognize the species from the change in form1 color1 and aspect1 which the absence of light had occasioned4 ,the native ,indians gazed upon these traces of imperfect organization with mingled curiosity and fear1 as if they were pale and disfigured phantoms banished from the face of the earth4 ,so1 brethren1 think what you and ,i would be without the light of ,god's countenance4 ,picture a church growing1 as some churches do grow1 without any light from heaven1 a cavern full of strange birds and blanched vegetation4 ,what a terrible place for any one to visit6 ,there is a cave of that sort at ,rome1 and there are others in various parts of the earth2 but woe unto those who go to live in such dismal dens6 ,what a wonderful effect the light of ,god's countenance has upon men who have the divine life in them1 but who have been living in the dark6 ,travelers tell us that1 in the vast forests of the ,amazon and the ,orinoco1 you may sometimes see1 on a grand scale1 the influence of light in the coloring of the plants when the leaf-buds are developing4 ,one says3 ,clouds and rain sometimes obscure the atmosphere for several days together1 and during this time the buds expand themselves into leaves4 ,but these leaves have a pallid hue till the sun appears1 when1 in a few hours of clear sky and splendid sunshine1 their color is changed to a vivid green4 ,it has been related that1 during twenty days of dark dull weather1 the sun not once making his appearance1 the leaves were expanded to their full size1 but were almost white4 ,one forenoon the sun began to shine in full brightness1 when the color of the forest changed so rapidly that its progress might be marked4 ,by the middle of the afternoon1 the whole1 for many miles1 presented the usual summer dress4 ,that is a beautiful illustration1 it seems to me1 that does not want any opening up2 you can all make the application of it to the ,lord ,jesus for yourselves4 ,as ,dr4 ,watts sings-- ,in the darkest shades if he appear1 ,my dawning is begun2 ,he is my soul's sweet morning star1 ,and he my rising sun4 ,then we begin to put on all sorts of beauty1 as the leaves are painted by the rays of the sun4 ,we owe every atom of color that there is in any of our virtues1 and every trace of flavor that there is in any of our fruits1 to those bright sunbeams that come streaming down to us from the ,sun of ,righteousness1 who carries many other blessings besides healing beneath his wings4 ,the effect of the sun upon vegetation can be observed among the flowers in your own garden4 ,notice how they turn to him whenever they can2 the sunflower1 for instance1 follows the sun's course as if he were himself the sun's son1 and lovingly looked up to his father's face4 ,he is very much like a sun in appearance1 and ,i think that is because he is so fond of turning to the sun4 ,the innumerable leaves of a clover field bend toward the sun2 and all plants1 more or less1 pay deference to the sunlight to which they are so deeply indebted4 ,even the plants in the hothouse1 you can observe1 do not grow in that direction you would expect them to do if they wanted warmth1 that is1 toward the stovepipe1 whence the heat comes1 nor even to the spot where most air is admitted2 but they will always1 if they possibly can1 send out their branches and their flowers toward the sun4 ,that is how we ought to grow toward the ,sun of ,righteousness2 it is for our soul's health that we should turn our faces toward the ,sun1 as ,daniel prayed with his windows open toward ,jerusalem4 ,where ,jesus is1 there is our ,sun2 toward him let us constantly incline our whole being4 ,not very long ago ,i met with the following remarkable instance of the power of rays of light transmitted from the sun3 some divers were working at ,plymouth ,breakwater2 they were down in the diving-bell1 thirty feet below the surface of the water2 but a convex glass1 in the upper part of the bell1 concentrated the sun's rays full upon them1 and burned their caps4 ,as ,i read this story1 ,i thought it was a capital illustration of the power there is in the gospel of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,some of our hearers are fully thirty feet under the waters of sin1 if they are not even deeper down than that2 but1 by the grace of ,god1 we will yet make them feel the blessed burning power of the truths we preach1 even if we do not succeed in setting them all on fire with this powerful glass4 ,perhaps1 when you were a boy1 you had a burning-glass1 and when you were out with a friend who did not know what you had in your pocket1 while he was sitting very quietly by your side1 you took out your glass1 and held it for a few seconds over the back of his hand until he felt something rather hot just there4 ,i like the man who1 in preaching1 concentrates the rays of the gospel on a sinner till he burns him4 ,do not scatter the beams of light2 you can turn the glass so as to diffuse the rays instead of concentrating them2 but the best way of preaching is to focus ,jesus ,christ1 the ,sun of ,righteousness1 right on a sinner's heart4 ,it is the best way in the world to get at him2 and if he is thirty feet under the water1 this burning-glass will enable you to reach him2 only mind that you do not use your own candle instead of the ,sun1 for that will not answer the same purpose4 ,sometimes the sun suffers eclipse1 as you know4 ,the moon intrudes between us and the sun1 and then we cannot see the great orb of day4 ,i suppose we have all seen one total eclipse1 and we may see another4 ,it is a very interesting sight2 but it appears to me that people take a great deal more notice of the sun when he is eclipsed than they do when he is shining clearly4 ,they do not stand looking at him1 day after day1 when he is pouring forth his bright beams in unclouded glory2 but as soon as ever he is eclipsed1 then they are out in their thousands1 with their glasses1 and every little boy in the street has a fragment of smoked glass through which he watches the eclipse of the sun4 ,thus1 brethren1 ,i do not believe that our ,lord ,jesus ,christ ever receives so much attention from men as when he is set forth as the suffering ,saviour1 evidently crucified among them4 ,when the great eclipse passed over the ,sun of ,righteousness1 then all eyes were fixed upon him1 and well they might be4 ,do not fail to tell your hearers continually about that awful eclipse on ,calvary2 but mind that you also tell them all the effects of that eclipse1 and that there will be no repetition of that stupendous event4 ,lo6 the sun's eclipse is o'er2 ,lo6 he sets in blood no more4 ,speaking of eclipses reminds me that there is1 in the book ,i have mentioned1 a striking description of one given by a correspondent who wrote to the astronomer ,halley4 ,he took his stand at ,haradow ,hill1 close to the east end of the avenue of ,stonehenge1 a very capital place for observation1 and there he watched the eclipse4 ,he says of it3 ,we were now enveloped in a total and palpable darkness1 if ,i may be allowed the expression4 ,it came on rapidly1 but ,i watched so attentively that ,i could perceive its progress4 ,it came upon us like a great black cloak thrown over us1 or like a curtain drawn from that side4 ,the horses we held by the bridle seemed deeply struck by it1 and pressed closely to us with marks of extreme surprise4 ,as well as ,i could perceive1 the countenances of my friends wore a horrible aspect4 ,it was not without an involuntary exclamation of wonder that ,i looked around me at this moment4 ,it was the most awful sight ,i had ever beheld in my life4 ,so1 ,i suppose1 it must be in the spiritual realm4 ,when the ,sun of this great world suffered eclipse1 then were all men in darkness2 and when any dishonor comes upon the cross of ,christ1 or upon ,christ himself1 then is each ,christian himself in darkness of a horrible kind4 ,he cannot be in the light if his ,lord and ,master is in the shade4 ,one observer describes what he saw in ,austria1 where1 it appears1 all the people made the eclipse a time for keeping holiday1 and turned out together on the plain with various modes of observing the wonderful sight4 ,this writer says3 ,the phenomenon1 in its magnificence1 had triumphed over the petulance of youth1 over the levity which some persons assume as a sign of superiority1 over the noisy indifference of which soldiers usually make profession4 ,a profound stillness also reigned in the air2 the birds had ceased to sing4 ,the more curious thing is that1 in ,london1 after an eclipse1 when the cocks found that the sun shone out again1 they all began crowing as though they joyfully thought that the daylight had broken through the gloom of night4 ,yet this wonderful phenomenon does not appear to have always attracted the attention of all persons who might have witnessed it4 ,history says that1 at one time1 there was a battle being fought1 ,i think1 in ,greece1 and1 during its progress1 there came on a total eclipse of the sun2 but the warriors went on fighting all the same1 indeed1 they never noticed the extraordinary occurrence4 ,that shows us how strong passions may make us forget surrounding circumstances1 and it also teaches us how a man's engagements on earth may make him oblivious of all that is transpiring in the heavens4 ,we read1 just now1 of how those horses1 that were standing idly on ,salisbury ,plain1 trembled during the eclipse2 but another writer tells us that the horses in ,italy1 that were busily occupied in drawing the carriages1 do not appear to have taken the slightest notice of the phenomenon1 but to have gone on their way the same as usual4 ,thus1 the engagements of a worldly man are often so engrossing in their character that they prevent him from feeling those emotions which are felt by other men whose minds are more at liberty to meditate upon them4 ,i met with a very pretty story concerning an eclipse1 which you will probably like to hear4 ,a poor little girl1 belonging to the commune of ,siyes1 in the ,lower ,alps1 was tending her flock on the mountain-side at six o'clock on a bright summer morning4 ,the sun had risen1 and was dissipating the vapors of the night1 and every one thought that there would be a glorious1 unclouded day2 but gradually the light darkened until the sun had wholly disappeared1 and a black orb took the place of the glowing disk1 while the air became chill1 and a mysterious gloom pervaded the whole region4 ,the little child was so terrified by the circumstance1 which was certainly unusual1 that she began to weep1 and cried out loudly for help4 ,her parents1 and other friends1 who came at her call1 did not know anything about an eclipse1 so they were also astounded and alarmed2 but they tried to comfort her as best they could4 ,after a short time1 the darkness passed away from the face of the sun1 and it shone out as before1 and then the little girl cried aloud1 in the patois of the district1 ,o beautiful sun6 and well she might4 ,when ,i read the story1 ,i thought that1 when my heart had suffered eclipse1 and the presence of ,christ had gone for a while1 and then had come back again1 how beautiful the ,sun seemed to me1 even more bright and fair than before the temporary darkness4 ,jesus seemed to shine on me with a brighter light than ever before1 and my soul cried out in an ecstasy of delight1 ,o beautiful ,sun of ,righteousness6 ,that story must1 ,i think1 close our illustrations derived from the sun2 for we want also to learn all we can from his planets1 and if we intend to pay a visit to them all1 we shall have to travel far1 and to travel fast1 too4 ,the nearest planet that revolves around the sun is ,,mercury1 which is about #cg1jjj1jjj miles from the great luminary4 ,mercury1 therefore1 receives a far greater allowance of light and heat from the sun than comes to us upon the earth4 ,it is believed that1 even at the poles of ,mercury1 water would always boil2 that is to say1 if the planet is constituted at all as this world is4 ,none of us could possibly live there2 but that is no reason why other people should not1 for ,god could make some of his creatures to live in the fire just as well as he could make others to live out of it4 ,i have no doubt that1 if there are inhabitants there1 they enjoy the heat4 ,in a spiritual sense1 at any rate1 we know that men who live near to ,jesus dwell in the divine flame of love4 ,mercury is a comparatively small planet2 its diameter is about #bifj miles1 while that of the earth is #gige4 ,mercury rushes round the sun in eighty-eight days1 traveling at the rate of nearly #aaj1jjj miles in an hour1 while the earth traverses only #fe1jjj miles in the same time4 ,fancy crossing the ,atlantic in about two or three minutes6 ,it is an instance of the wisdom of ,god that ,mercury appears to be the densest of the planets4 ,you see1 that part of a machine in which there is the most rapid whirl1 and the greatest wear and tear1 ought to be made of the strongest material2 and ,mercury is made very strong in order to bear the enormous strain of its swift motion1 and the great heat to which it is subjected4 ,this is an illustration of how ,god fits every man for his place2 if he means me to be ,mercury--the messenger of the gods1 as the ancients called him--and to travel swiftly1 he will give me a strength proportioned to my day4 ,in the formation of every planet1 adapting it to its peculiar position1 there is a wonderful proof of the power and forethought of ,god2 and in a similar manner does he fit human beings for the sphere they are each called to occupy4 ,i like to see in ,mercury a picture of the child of ,god who is full of grace4 ,mercury is always near the sun2 indeed1 so near that it is itself very seldom seen4 ,i think ,copernicus said that he never did see it1 although he had long watched for it with great care1 and he deeply regretted that he had to die without having ever seen this planet4 ,others have observed it1 and it has been quite a treat for them to be able to watch its revolutions4 ,mercury is usually lost in the rays of the sun2 and that is where you and ,i ought to be1 so close to ,christ1 the ,sun of ,righteousness1 in our life and in our preaching1 that the people who are trying to observe our movements can scarcely see us at all4 ,paul's motto must be ours--,not ,i1 but ,christ4 ,mercury1 also1 in consequence of being so near the sun1 is apparently the least understood of any of the planets4 ,it has1 perhaps1 given more trouble to the astronomers than any other member of the heavenly family2 they have paid great attention to it1 and tried to find out all about it2 but they have had a very difficult task1 for it is generally lost in the solar glory1 and never seen in a dark portion of the heavens4 ,so1 ,i believe1 brethren1 that the nearer we live to ,christ1 the greater mystery shall we be to all mankind4 ,the more we are lost in his brightness1 the less will they be able to understand us4 ,if we were always what we should be1 men would see in us an illustration of the text1 ,ye are dead1 and your life is hid with ,christ in ,god4 ,like ,mercury1 we ought also to be so active in our appointed orbit that we should not give observers time to watch us in any one position2 and next1 we should be so absorbed in the glory of ,christ's presence1 that they would not be able to perceive us4 ,when ,mercury is seen from the earth1 it is never visible in its brightness1 for its face is always turned toward the sun4 ,i am afraid that1 whenever any of us are seen very much1 we usually appear only as black spots2 when the preacher is very prominent in a sermon1 there is always a darkness4 ,i like gospel preaching to be all ,christ1 the ,sun of ,righteousness1 and no black spot at all2 nothing of ourselves1 but all of the ,lord ,jesus4 ,if there are any inhabitants of ,mercury1 the sun must appear to them four or five times as large as he does to us2 the brightness would be insufferable to our eyes4 ,it would be a very splendid sight if one could gaze upon it2 and thus1 the nearer you get to ,christ1 the more you see of him1 and the more he grows in your esteem4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the next planet to ,mercury is ,,venus2 it is about #ff1jjj1jjj miles from the sun1 and is a little smaller than the earth1 its diameter being #geaj miles1 compared with our #gige4 ,venus goes round the sun in #bbe days1 traveling at the rate of #hj1jjj miles an hour4 ,when the ,copernican system of astronomy was fairly launched upon the world1 one of the objections to it was stated thus3 ,it is clear that ,venus does not go round the sun1 because1 if it does1 it must present the same aspect as the moon--namely1 it must sometimes be a crescent1 at other times a half-moon1 or it must assume the form known as gibbous1 and sometimes it must appear as a complete circle4 ,but1 said the objector1 pointing to ,venus1 she is always the same size2 look at her1 she is not at all like the moon4 ,this was a difficulty that some of the earlier astronomers could not explain2 but when ,galileo was able to turn his newly made telescope to the planet1 what did he discover8 ,why1 that ,venus does pass through similar phases to those of the moon6 ,we cannot always see the whole of it enlightened1 yet ,i suppose it is true that the light of ,venus always appears about the same to us4 ,you will perceive in a moment why that is2 when the planet's face is turned toward us1 it is at the greatest distance from the earth2 consequently1 the light that reaches us is no more than when it is closer1 but has its face at least partly turned away from us4 ,to my mind1 the two facts are perfectly reconcilable2 and so is it1 ,i believe1 with some of the doctrines of grace that perplex certain people4 ,they say1 ,how do you make these two things agree8 ,i reply1 ,i do not know that ,i am bound to prove how they agree4 ,if ,god had told me ,i would tell you2 but as he has not done so1 ,i must leave the matter where the ,bible leaves it4 ,i may not have discovered the explanation of any apparent difference between the two truths1 and yet1 for all that1 the two things may be perfectly consistent with each other4 ,venus is both the morning star and the star of the evening1 beautiful star4 ,it has been called ,lucifer1 and ,phosphorus1 the light-bringer1 and also ,hesperus1 the vesper star4 ,you perhaps remember how ,milton1 in ,paradise ,lost1 refers to this double character and office of ,venus3 ,fairest of stars6 last in the train of night1 ,if better thou belong not to the dawn2 ,sure pledge of day1 that crown'st the smiling morn ,with thy bright circlet3 praise him in thy sphere1 ,while day arises1 that sweet hour of prime4 ,our ,lord ,jesus ,christ calls himself the bright and morning star4 ,whenever he comes into the soul1 he is the sure harbinger of that everlasting light which shall go no more down forever4 ,now that ,jesus1 the ,sun of ,righteousness1 has gone from the gaze of man1 you and ,i must be like evening stars1 keeping as close as we can to the great central ,sun1 and letting the world know what ,jesus was like by our resemblance to him4 ,did he not say to his disciples1 ,ye are the light of the world8 99 99 99 99 99 ,the next little planet that goes round the sun is ,,the ,,earth4 ,its distance from the sun varies from about ninety-two to ninety-five millions of miles4 ,do not be discouraged1 gentlemen1 in your hopes of reaching the sun1 because you are nothing like so far away as the inhabitants of ,saturn2 if there are any residents there1 they are about ten times as far from the sun as we are4 ,still1 ,i do not suppose you will ever take a seat in ,sol's fiery chariot2 at least not in your present embodied state2 it is far too warm a place for you to be at home there4 ,the earth is somewhat larger than ,venus1 and it takes much longer to go round the sun2 it is twelve months on its journey1 or1 speaking exactly1 #cfe days1 #f hours1 #i minutes1 and #aj seconds4 ,this world is a slow-going concern2 and ,i am afraid it is less to the glory of ,god than any other world that he has made4 ,i have not seen it from a distance2 but ,i should suspect that it never shines anything like so brightly as ,venus2 for1 through sin1 a cloud of darkness has enveloped it4 ,i suppose that1 in the millennial days1 the curtain will be drawn back1 and a light will be thrown upon the earth1 and that it will then shine to the glory of ,god like its sister stars that have never lost their pristine brightness4 ,i think there have been some curtains drawn up already2 every sermon1 full of ,christ1 that we preach1 rolls away some of the mists and fogs from the surface of the planet2 at any rate1 morally and spiritually1 if not naturally4 ,still1 brethren1 though the earth travels slowly1 when compared with ,mercury and ,venus1 yet1 as ,galileo said1 it does move1 and at a pretty good rate1 too4 ,i dare say1 if you were to walk for twenty minutes1 and you knew nothing about the speed at which the earth is traveling1 you would be surprised if ,i assured you that you had in that short space of time gone more than #bj1jjj miles2 but it would be a fact4 ,this book1 which has already given us much useful information1 says3 ,it is a truly astonishing thought that1 'awake1 asleep1 at home1 abroad1' we are constantly carried round with the terrestrial mass1 at the rate of eleven miles a minute1 and are1 at the same time1 traveling with it in space with a velocity of sixty-six thousand miles an hour4 ,thus1 during the twenty minutes consumed in walking a mile from our thresholds1 we are silently conveyed more than twenty thousand miles from one portion of space to another2 and1 during a night of eight hours' rest1 or tossing to and fro1 we are unconsciously translated through an extent equal to twice the distance of the lunar world4 ,we do not take any notice of this movement1 and so it is that little things1 which are near and tangible1 often seem more notable than great things which are more remote4 ,this world impresses many men with far greater force than the world to come has ever done1 because they look only upon the things that are seen and temporal4 ,but1 perhaps you say1 we do not feel ourselves moving4 ,no1 but you are moving1 although you are not conscious of it4 ,so1 ,i think that1 sometimes1 when a believer in ,christ does not feel himself advancing in divine things1 he need not fret on that account2 ,i am not certain that those who imagine themselves to be growing spiritually are really doing so4 ,perhaps they are only growing a cancer somewhere2 and its deadly fibers make them fancy there is a growth within them4 ,alas6 so there is2 but it is a growth unto destruction4 ,when a man thinks that he is a full-grown ,christian1 he reminds me of a poor boy whom ,i used to see4 ,he had such a splendid head for his body that he had often to lay it on a pillow1 for it was too weighty for his shoulders to carry1 and his mother told me that1 when he tried to stand up1 he often tumbled down1 over-balanced by his heavy head4 ,there are some people who appear to grow very fast1 but they have water on the brain1 and are out of due proportion2 but he who truly grows in grace does not say1 ,dear me6 ,i can feel that ,i am growing2 bless the ,lord6 ,let's sing a hymn1 ',i'm a-growing6 ,i'm a-growing6' ,i have sometimes felt that ,i was growing smaller1 brethren2 ,i think that is very possible1 and a good thing1 too4 ,if we are very great in our own estimation1 it is because we have a number of cancers1 or foul gatherings1 that need to be lanced1 so as to let out the bad matter that causes us to boast of our bigness4 ,it is a good thing that we do not feel ourselves moving1 for1 as ,i before reminded you1 we walk by faith1 not by sight4 ,yet ,i know that we are moving1 and ,i am persuaded that ,i shall return1 as nearly as the earth's revolution permits1 to this exact spot this day twelve-month4 ,if they are looking down at me from ,saturn1 they will spy me out somewhere near this same place1 unless the ,lord should come in the meantime1 or he should call me up to be with him4 ,if we did feel the world move1 it would probably be because there was some obstruction in the heavenly road2 but we go on so softly1 and gently1 and quietly that we do not perceive it4 ,i believe that growth in grace is very much after the same fashion4 ,a babe grows1 and yet does not know that he grows2 the seed unconsciously grows in the earth1 and so we are developing in the divine life until we come to the fulness of the stature of men in ,christ ,jesus4 99 99 99 99 99 ,waiting upon the earth is ,,the ,,moon4 ,in addition to her duty as one of the planets revolving round the sun1 she has the task of attending upon the earth1 doing much useful service for it1 and at night lighting it with her great reflector-lamp1 according to the allowance of oil she has available for shedding her beams upon us4 ,the moon also operates upon the earth by her powers of attraction2 and as the water is the more mobile part of our planet1 the moon draws it toward herself1 so making the tides2 and those tides help to keep the whole world in healthful motion2 they are a sort of life-blood to it4 ,the moon undergoes eclipse1 sometimes very frequently1 and a great deal more often than the sun2 and this phenomenon has occasioned much terror4 ,among some tribes1 an eclipse of the moon is an occasion for the greatest possible grief4 ,sir ,r4 ,schomberg thus describes a total lunar eclipse in ,san ,domingo3 ,i stood alone upon the flat roof of the house which ,i inhabited1 watching the progress of the eclipse4 ,i pictured in imagination the lively and extraordinary scene which ,i once witnessed in the interior of ,guiana1 among the untutored and superstitious ,indians1 how they rushed out of their huts when the first news of the eclipse came1 gibbered in their tongue1 and1 with violent gesticulations1 threw up their clenched fists toward the moon4 ,when1 as on this occasion1 the disk was perfectly eclipsed1 they broke out in moanings1 and sullenly squatted upon the ground1 hiding their faces between their hands4 ,the females remained1 during this strange scene1 within their huts4 ,when1 shining like a sparkling diamond1 the first portion of the moon1 that had disencumbered itself from the shadow1 became visible1 all eyes were turned toward it4 ,they spoke to each other with subdued voices2 but their observations became louder and louder1 and they quitted their stooping position as the light increased4 ,when the bright disk announced that the monster which wanted to stifle the ,queen of ,night had been overcome1 the great joy of the ,indians was expressed in that peculiar whoop which1 in the stillness of the night1 may be heard for a great distance4 ,want of faith causes the most extraordinary fear1 and produces the most ridiculous action4 ,a man who believes that the moon1 though temporarily hidden1 will shine forth again1 looks upon an eclipse as a curious phenomenon worthy of his attention1 and full of interest2 but the man who really fears that ,god is blowing out the light of the moon1 and that he shall never see its bright rays any more1 feels in a state of terrible distress4 ,perhaps he will act as the ,hindus and some of the ,africans do during an eclipse3 they beat old drums1 and blow bullocks' horns1 and make all manner of frightful noises1 to cause the dragon who is supposed to have swallowed the moon to vomit it up again4 ,that is their theory of an eclipse1 and they act accordingly2 but once know the truth1 and know especially the glorious truth that all things work together for good to them that love ,god1 to them that are the called according to his purpose1 and we shall not be afraid of any dragon swallowing the moon1 nor of anything else that the fears of men have made them imagine4 ,if we are ignorant of the truth1 every event that occurs1 which may be readily enough accounted for from ,god's point of view1 may cause the utmost terror1 and drive us1 perhaps1 into the wildest follies4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the next planet to the earth is ,,mars2 fiery ,mars1 generally shining with a ruddy light4 ,it used to be thought that the color of ,mars's blood-red shield was caused by the absorption of the solar rays2 but this idea has been refuted1 and it is now believed to be due to the color of its soil4 ,according to the former idea1 an angry man1 who is like ,mars1 the god of war1 must be one who has absorbed all other colors for his own use1 and only shows the red rays to others2 while the more modern notion1 that the soil of the planet gives it its distinctive color1 teaches us that1 where there is a fiery nature1 there will be a warlike exhibition of it unless it is restrained by grace4 ,mars is about #adj1jjj1jjj miles from the sun2 it is much smaller than our earth1 its equatorial diameter being #dcfc miles4 ,traveling at the rate of #ec1fjj miles an hour1 it takes #fhg days to complete its revolution round the sun4 99 99 99 99 99 ,between the orbits of ,mars and ,jupiter there is a wide zone1 in which1 for many centuries1 no planets were visible2 but the astronomers said within themselves1 ,there must surely be something or other between ,mars and ,jupiter4 ,they could not find any great planets2 but as telescopes became larger and more powerful1 they observed that there was a great number of ,,asteroids or ,,planetoids1 as some term them4 ,i do not know how many there are1 for they are like some of our brethren's families1 they are daily increasing4 ,some hundreds of them have already been discovered2 and by the aid of telescopic photography1 we may expect to hear of the finding of many more4 ,the first asteroid was identified on the first day of the present century1 and was named ,ceres4 ,many of them have been called by female mythological names1 ,i suppose because they are the smaller planets1 and it is considered gallant to give them ladies' names4 ,they appear to vary from about #bj to #bjj miles in diameter2 and many have thought that they are the fragments of some planet that once revolved between ,mars and ,jupiter1 but that has been blown up1 and gone to pieces in a general wreck4 ,those meteoric stones1 which sometimes fall to the earth1 but which much more frequently1 at certain seasons of the year1 are seen shooting across the midnight sky1 may also be fragments of the aforesaid world which has perished4 ,at all events1 since the fathers fell asleep1 all things have not continued as they were2 there have been changes in the starry world to let men know that other changes will yet come4 ,these blocks of meteoric matter are flying through space1 and when they get within the range of our atmosphere1 there is an opposing medium1 they have to drive through it at an enormous rapidity1 and so they become burning hot1 and thus they become visible4 ,and1 in like manner1 ,i believe that there are plenty of good men in the world who are invisible till they get to be opposed1 and being opposed1 and having the love of ,god driving them on with tremendous momentum1 they become red-hot with holy fervor1 they overcome all opposition1 and then they become visible to the eye of mankind4 ,for my part1 ,i rather like to pass through an opposing medium4 ,i think that we all want to travel in that kind of atmosphere just to give us the sacred friction that will fully develop the powers with which we have been intrusted4 ,if ,god has given us force1 it is not at all a bad thing for us to be put where there is opposition1 because we shall not be stopped by it1 but shall by that very process be made to shine all the brighter as lights in the world4 99 99 99 99 99 ,beyond the space which is occupied by the asteroids is the magnificent planet1 ,,jupiter1 the brightest star which we see1 except ,venus2 and yet he is very1 very far away4 ,his mean distance from the sun is about #dge1jjj1jjj miles2 that is1 more than five times as far off as we are4 ,even here1 we are so far away that we do not often see the sun2 but ,jupiter is five times as far from the sun1 and it takes him #dccc days1 or nearly twelve of our years1 to go round the great luminary1 traveling at a speed of #bg1ahj miles an hour4 ,the reason why ,jupiter is so bright is1 partly1 because of his great size1 for he is nearly #ij1jjj miles in diameter1 while the earth is less than #h1jjj1 and it may be partly because he is better constituted for reflecting1 or else1 at that distance1 his magnitude would not avail him4 ,and brethren1 if you and ,i are put in difficult positions1 where we seem to be unable to shine to the glory of ,god1 we must ask the ,lord specially to constitute us so that we can better reflect his brightness1 and so produce as good an effect as our brethren who are placed in more favorable positions4 ,jupiter is attended by four moons4#c ,these satellites were discovered soon after the invention of the telescope2 yet there were several persons who would not believe in their existence1 and one of our excellent friends1 the ,jesuits1 of course1 was strongest in his determination that he never would1 by any process1 be convinced of that which others knew to be a fact4 ,he was asked to look through a telescope in order to see that it was really so2 but he declined because he said that1 perhaps1 if he did so1 he would be obliged to believe it2 and as he had no desire to do so1 he refused to look4 ,are there not some who act thus toward the truths of revelation8 ,some time after1 the ,jesuit fell under the anger of good ,kepler1 and being convinced that he was in the wrong1 he went to the astronomer and begged his pardon4 ,kepler told him that he would forgive him1 but he would have to inflict a penance upon him4 ,what will it be8 he inquired4 ,why1 said ,kepler1 you must look through that telescope4 ,that was the direst punishment the ,jesuit could possibly receive2 for1 when he looked through the instrument1 he was obliged to say that he did see what he had formerly denied1 and he was obliged to express his conviction of the truth of the astronomer's teaching4 ,so1 sometimes1 to make a man see the truth is a very severe penalty to him4 ,if he does not want to see it1 it is a good thing to compel him to look at it4 ,there are a great many brethren1 who are not ,jesuits1 and who yet are not anxious to know the whole truth2 but ,i hope that you and ,i1 brethren1 will always desire to learn all that the ,lord has revealed in his ,word4 #c ,in #ahib a fifth satellite was discovered through the great telescope at the ,lick ,observatory in ,california4 ,this was the argument of ,sizzi1 an astronomer of some note1 who tried to prove that ,jupiter's moons could not exist4 ,i wonder whether you can see the flaw in it3 ,there are seven windows given to animals in the domicile of the head1 through which the air is admitted to the tabernacle of the body1 to enlighten1 to warm1 and to nourish it2 which windows are the principal parts of the microcosm1 or little world1 two nostrils1 two eyes1 two ears1 and one mouth4 ,so1 in the heavens1 as in a microcosm1 or great world1 there are two favorable stars1 ,jupiter and ,venus2 two unpropitious1 ,mars and ,saturn2 two luminaries1 the sun and the moon2 and ,mercury alone undecided and indifferent1 from which1 and from many other phenomena of nature1 such as the seven metals1 etc41 which it were tedious to enumerate1 we gather that the number of planets is necessarily seven4 ,moreover1 the satellites are invisible to the naked eye1 and therefore can exercise no influence over the earth1 and therefore would be useless1 and therefore do not exist4 ,besides1 as well the ,jews and other ancient nations1 as modern ,europeans1 have adopted the division of the week into seven days1 and have named them from the seven planets4 ,now1 if we increase the number of the planets1 this whole system falls to the ground4 ,i think1 brethren1 that ,i have heard the same kind of argument advanced many times with reference to spiritual matters2 that is1 an argument from theory against fact2 but facts will always overturn theories all the world over1 only that1 sometimes1 it takes a good while before the facts can be absolutely proved4 ,it is a singular thing1 and another instance of the power and wisdom of ,god1 that though the satellites of ,jupiter are constantly being eclipsed1 as is natural enough from their rapid revolutions around him1 yet they are never all eclipsed at one time4 ,one moon may be eclipsed1 and perhaps another1 or even three out of the four2 but there is always one left shining2 and1 in like manner1 ,god never takes away all the comfort of his people at once1 there is always some ray of light to cheer them4 ,there is a great deal more to be learned from ,jupiter2 but having introduced you to him1 ,i will leave you to examine him for yourselves1 and to get all you can out of him4 99 99 99 99 99 ,far1 far beyond ,jupiter is ,,saturn4 ,that respectable planet has been very much slandered1 but ,i am happy to inform you that he does not deserve such treatment4 ,he is nearly #ijj1jjj1jjj miles from the sun4 ,i wonder whether any brother here1 with a large mind1 has any idea of what a million is2 ,i do not suppose that he has1 and ,i am sure that ,i have not4 ,it takes a vast deal of thinking to comprehend what a million means2 but to realize what is meant by a million miles is altogether beyond one's mental grasp4 ,a million pins would be something enormous2 but a million miles6 ,and here we are talking of nine hundred millions of miles2 well1 ,i give up all thought of understanding what that is so long as ,i am in this finite state4 ,why1 when you speak of nine hundred millions1 you might as well say nine hundred billions at once2 for the one term is almost as incomprehensible as the other2 and yet1 please to recollect that this vast space is to our great ,god only a mere hand's-breadth compared with the immeasurable universe that he has created4 ,i said that ,saturn had been greatly slandered1 and so he has4 ,you know that we have1 in our ,english language1 the word saturnine1 as a very uncomplimentary description of certain individuals4 ,when a man is praised for being very hearty and genial1 he is said to be jovial1 in allusion to ,jove1 or ,jupiter1 the brightly shining planet2 but a person of an opposite temperament is called saturnine1 because it is supposed that ,saturn is a dull planet1 dreadfully dreary1 and that his influences are malignant and baneful4 ,if you have read some of the astrological books which ,i have had the pleasure of studying1 you have there been told that1 if you had been born under the influence of ,saturn1 you might almost as well have been born under the influence of ,satan1 for it will come to about the same thing in the end4 ,he is supposed to be a very slow sort of individual1 his symbol is the hieroglyphic of lead2 but he is really a very light and buoyant personage4 ,his diameter is about nine times as great as that of the earth1 and while in volume he is equal to #gdf worlds as large as ours1 his weight is equal to only #ib such globes4 ,the densities of the planets appear to diminish according to their distance from the sun1 not in regular proportion1 but still very largely so2 and there seems to be no reason why those which are most remote1 and travel slowly1 should be made so dense as those which are nearer the central orb1 and revolve more quickly around him4 ,this useful volume1 from which ,i have already given you several extracts1 says3 ,instead1 therefore1 of sinking like lead in the mighty waters1 he would float upon the liquid1 if an ocean could be found sufficiently capacious to receive him4 ,john ,goad1 the well-known astro-meteorologist1 declared the planet not to be such a 'plumbeous1 blue-nosed fellow' as all antiquity had believed and the world still supposed4 ,but it was the work of others to prove it4 ,for six thousand years or so ,saturn concealed his personal features1 interesting family1 and strange appurtenances--the magnificent out-buildings of his house--from the knowledge of mankind4 ,but he was caught at last by a little tube1 pointed at him from a slope of the ,apennines1 the holder of which1 in invading his privacy1 cared not to ask leave1 and deemed it no intrusion4 ,when that little tube was turned upon him he was found to be a most beautiful planet1 one of the most varied and most marvelous of all the planetary worlds4 ,take that as an illustration of the falseness of slander1 and of how some persons are very much bemired and bespattered because people do not know them4 ,this planet1 which was so despised1 turned out to be a very beautiful object indeed2 and1 instead of being very dull1 and what the word saturnine usually means1 he is bright and glorious4 ,saturn also has no less than eight satellites to attend him2 and1 in addition1 he has three magnificent rings1 of which ,tennyson has sung3 ,still as1 while ,saturn whirls1 his steadfast shade ,sleeps on his luminous rings4 ,saturn has only about a hundredth part of the light from the sun as compared with what we receive2 and yet1 ,i suppose1 the atmosphere might be so arranged that he might have as much solar light as we have2 but even if the atmosphere is of the same kind as ours1 ,saturn would still have as much light as we have in an ordinary ,london fog4 ,i am speaking1 of course1 of the light from the sun2 but then we cannot tell what illuminating power the ,lord may have put in the planet himself2 and beside that1 he has his eight moons1 and his three shining rings1 which have a brilliance that we cannot either imagine or describe4 ,what must it be to see a marvelous arch of light rising to a height of #cg1egj miles above the planet1 and having the enormous span of #agj1jjj miles6 ,if you were at the equator of ,saturn1 you would only see the rings as a narrow band of light2 but if you could journey toward the poles1 you would see above you a tremendous arch1 blazing with light1 like some of the vast reflectors that you see hung up in large buildings where they cannot get sufficient sunlight4 ,the reflector helps to gather up the rays of light1 and throw them where they are needed2 and ,i have no doubt that these rings act like reflectors to ,saturn4 ,it must be a wonderful world to live in if there are inhabitants there2 they get compensations which fully make up for their disadvantages in being so far away from the sun4 ,so is it in the spiritual world1 what the ,lord withholds in one direction he makes up in another2 and those who are far removed from the means of grace and ,christian privileges have an inward light and joy1 which others1 with greater apparent advantages1 might almost envy4 99 99 99 99 99 ,journeying again in the heavens1 far1 far beyond ,saturn1 we come to ,,uranus1 or ,,herschel1 as it is sometimes called1 after the astronomer who discovered it in #agha4 ,the mean distance of ,uranus from the sun is believed to be about #a1ged1jjj1jjj miles2 ,i give you the figures1 but neither you nor ,i can have the slightest conception of the distance they represent4 ,to an observer standing on ,uranus1 the sun would probably appear only as a faraway speck of light2 yet the planet revolves around the sun at about #ae1jjj miles an hour1 and occupies about eighty-four of our years in completing one journey4 ,uranus is said to be equal in volume to seventy-three or seventy-four earths1 and to be attended by four moons4 ,i do not know much about ,uranus1 therefore ,i do not intend to say much about him4 ,that may serve as an illustration of the lesson that a man had better say as little as possible concerning anything of which he knows only a little2 and that is a lesson which many people need to learn4 ,for instance1 there are probably more works on the ,book of ,revelation than upon any other part of the ,scriptures1 and1 with the exception of just a few1 they are not worth the paper on which they are printed4 ,then1 next to the ,book of ,revelation1 in this respect1 is the ,book of ,daniel2 and because it is so difficult to explain1 many men have written upon it1 but as a rule the result of their writing has been that they have only confuted and contradicted one another4 ,let us1 brethren1 preach what we know1 and say nothing of that of which we are ignorant4 99 99 99 99 99 ,we have gone a long way1 in imagination1 in traveling to the planet ,uranus2 but we have not yet completed our afternoon's journey4 ,it was observed by certain astronomers that the orbit of ,uranus sometimes deviated from the course they had marked in their chart of the heavens2 and this convinced them that there was another planetary body1 not then discovered1 which was exerting an unseen but powerful influence upon ,uranus4 ,this fact1 that these huge worlds1 with so many millions of miles of space between them1 do retard or accelerate one another's movements1 is to me a beautiful illustration of the influence that you and ,i have upon our fellowmen4 ,whether consciously or unconsciously1 we either impede a man's progress in the path that leads to ,god1 or else we quicken his march along the heavenward way4 ,none of us liveth to himself4 ,the astronomers came to the conclusion that there must be another planet1 previously unknown to them1 that was disturbing the motion of ,uranus4 ,unknown to each other1 an ,englishman1 ,mr4 ,adams1 of ,cambridge1 and a ,frenchman1 ,m4 ,leverrier1 set to work to find out the position in which they expected the heavenly body to be discovered1 and their calculations brought them to almost identical results4 ,when the telescopes were pointed to that part of the heavens where the mathematical astronomers believed the planet would be found1 it was at once discovered1 shining with a pale and yellow light1 and we now know it by the name of ,,neptune4 ,the volume before me thus speaks of the two methods of finding a planet1 the one worker using the most powerful telescope1 and the other making mathematical calculations3 ,to detect a planet by the eye1 or to track it to its place by the mind1 are acts as incommensurable as those of muscular and intellectual power4 ,recumbent on his easy-chair1 the practical astronomer has but to look through the cleft in his revolving cupola in order to trace the pilgrim star in its course2 or1 by the application of magnifying power1 to expand its tiny disk1 and thus transfer it from among its sidereal companions to the planetary domains4 ,the physical astronomer1 on the contrary1 has no such auxiliaries3 he calculates at noon1 when the stars disappear under a meridian sun2 he computes at midnight1 when clouds and darkness shroud the heavens2 and from within that cerebral dome which has no opening heavenward1 and no instrument but the eye of reason1 he sees in the disturbing agencies of an unseen planet1 upon a planet by him equally unseen1 the existence of the disturbing agent1 and from the nature and amount of its action he computes its magnitude and indicates its place4 ,what a grand thing is reason6 ,far above the mere senses1 and then faith is high above reason2 only1 in the case of the mathematical astronomer of whom we are thinking1 reason was a kind of faith4 ,he argued3 ,god's laws are so-and-so and so-and-so4 ,this planet ,uranus is being disturbed1 some other planet must have disturbed it1 so ,i will search and find out where he is2 and when his intricate calculations were completed1 he put his finger on ,neptune as readily as a detective lays his hand on a burglar1 and a great deal sooner2 indeed1 it seems to me that it is often easier to find a star than to catch a thief4 ,neptune had long been shining before he was discovered and named2 and you and ,i1 brethren1 may remain unknown for years1 and possibly the world may never discover us2 but ,i trust that our influence1 like that of ,neptune1 will be felt and recognized1 whether we are seen of men or only shine in solitary splendor to the glory of ,god4 99 99 99 99 99 ,well1 we have traveled in thought as far as ,neptune1 which is about #b1gdh1jjj1jjj miles from the sun2 and1 standing there1 we look over into space1 and there are myriads1 and myriads1 and myriads of miles in which there appear to be no more planets belonging to the solar system4 ,there may be others that have not been discovered yet2 but1 as far as we know1 beyond ,neptune there is a great gulf fixed4 ,there are1 however1 what ,i may call leapers in the system1 which1 without the use of a pole1 are able to cross this gulf2 they are ,,the ,,comets4 ,these comets are1 as a rule1 so thin--a mere filmy mass of vapor--that when they come flashing into our system1 and rushing out again1 as they do1 they never disturb the motion of a planet4 ,and there are some terrestrial comets about1 that ,i know1 that go to various towns1 and blaze away for a time2 but they have no power to disturb the planets revolving there in their regular course4 ,the power of a man does not consist in rushing to and fro1 like a comet1 but in steadily shining year after year1 like a fixed star4 ,the astronomer ,halley says3 ,if you were to condense a comet down to the thickness of the ordinary atmosphere1 it would not fill a square inch of space4 ,so thin is a comet that you might look through five thousand miles of it1 and see just as easily as if it were not there4 ,it is well to be transparent1 brethren2 but ,i hope you will be more substantial than most of the comets of which we have heard4 ,comets come with great regularity1 though they seem to be very irregular4 ,halley prophesied that the comet of #afhb1 of which little had been previously known1 would return at regular intervals of about seventy-five years4 ,he knew that he would not live to see its reappearance2 but he expressed the hope that when it did return his prophecy might be remembered4 ,various astronomers were looking out for it1 and they hoped it might arrive at the time foretold1 because1 otherwise1 ignorant people would not believe in astronomy4 ,but the comet came back all right2 so their minds were set at rest1 and ,halley's prediction was verified4 ,among the stories concerning comet-watching1 there is one that contains an illustration and a lesson also4 ,messier1 who had acquired the name of 'the comet-hunter1' from the number he discovered1 was particularly anxious upon the occasion4 ,of great simplicity of character1 his zeal after comets was often displayed in the oddest manner4 ,while attending the death-bed of his wife1 and necessarily absent from his observatory1 the discovery of one was snatched from him by ,montaigne de ,limoges4 ,this was a grievous blow4 ,a visitor began to offer him consolation on account of his recent bereavement1 when ,messier1 thinking only of the comet1 answered1 ',i had discovered twelve2 alas1 to be robbed of the thirteenth by that ,montaigne6' ,but instantly recollecting himself1 he exclaimed1 ',ah6 cette pauvre femme6' and went on deploring wife and comet together4 ,he evidently lived so much in the heavens that he forgot his wife2 and if science can sometimes carry a man away from all the trials of this mortal life1 surely our heavenly life ought to lift us up above all the distractions and cares that afflict us4 ,the return of a comet is frequently announced with great certainty4 ,this paragraph appeared in a newspaper3 ,on the whole1 it may be considered as tolerably certain that the comet will become visible in every part of ,europe about the latter end of ,august1 or the beginning of ,september next4 ,it will most probably be distinguishable by the naked eye1 like a star of the first magnitude1 but with a duller light than that of a planet1 and surrounded with a pale nebulosity1 which will slightly impair its splendor4 ,on the night of the #gth of ,october the comet will approach the well-known constellation of the ,great ,bear2 and between that and the #aath it will pass directly through the seven conspicuous stars of that constellation4 ,toward the close of ,november the comet will plunge among the rays of the sun and disappear1 and not issue from them1 on the other side1 until the end of ,december4 ,this prospectus of the movements of a body1 invisible at the time1 millions of miles away1 is nearly as definite as the early advertisements of coaching between ,london and ,edinburgh4 ,let us now place the observations of the eye alongside the anticipations of science1 and we shall find that science has proved almost absolutely correct4 ,just think of the calculations1 gentlemen1 that were necessary2 for1 though a comet does not interfere with the course of a planet1 a planet interferes very considerably with the course of a comet2 so that1 in their calculations1 the astronomers had to recollect the track in which the comet would have to travel4 ,thinking of him as a way-worn traveler1 we remember that he will have to go by ,neptune's bright abode1 and ,neptune will be sure to give him a cup of tea2 then he will journey on as far as ,uranus1 and put up for the night there2 in the morning he will pay an early visit to ,saturn1 and he will stay there for breakfast2 he will dine with ,jupiter2 by and by he will reach ,mars1 and there will be sure to be a row there2 and he will be glad when he gets to ,venus1 and1 of course1 he will be detained by her charms4 ,you will1 therefore1 very readily see1 gentlemen1 that the calculations as to the return of a comet are extremely difficult1 and yet the astronomers do estimate the time to a nicety4 ,this science is a very marvelous one1 not only for what it reveals1 but for the talent which it brings out1 and the lessons it continually teaches us about the wonderful works of our great ,father4 ,we have done with the solar system1 and even with those interlopers which come to us every now and then from far remote systems1 for a comet1 ,i suppose1 is only seen for a month1 or a week1 and then sometimes does not reappear for hundreds of years4 ,where have they gone all that while8 ,well1 they have gone somewhere1 and they are serving the purpose of the ,god who made them1 ,i dare say2 but1 for my own part1 ,i would not like to be a comet in ,god's system4 ,i would like to have my fixed place1 and keep on shining for the ,lord there4 ,i have lived in ,london for a good many years1 and ,i have seen many comets come and go during that time4 ,oh1 the great lights ,i have seen rush by6 ,they have gone off into some unknown sphere1 as comets usually do4 ,i have generally noticed that1 when men are going to do so much more than everybody else1 and they are so amazingly pompous over it1 their history is usually pretty accurately described by that simple simile of going up like a rocket and coming down like a stick4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i do not know whether you can1 in imagination1 lean over the battlements of this little solar system1 and see what there is beyond it4 ,do not narrow your minds1 gentlemen1 to a few hundred millions of miles6 ,if you look out for a long way indeed1 you will begin to see a star4 ,i should only be uttering meaningless words if ,i told you its distance from us2 yet there are others1 of those that we are able to see1 that are almost immeasurably farther away4 ,they have taken a deal of trouble to send us a ray of light such a vast distance1 to inform us that they are getting on very well1 and that1 though they are at such a distance from us1 they still enjoy themselves as best they can in our absence4 ,these stars1 as the common people look at them1 seem to be scattered about in the heavens1 as we say1 anyhow4 ,i always admire that charming variety2 and ,i am thankful to ,god that he has not set the stars in straight lines1 like rows of street-lamps4 ,only think1 brethren1 how it would be if we looked up at night1 and saw the stars all arranged in rows1 like pins on a paper6 ,bless the ,lord1 it is not so6 ,he just took a handful of bright worlds1 and scattered them about the sky1 and they dropped into most beautiful positions1 so that people say1 ,there is the ,great ,bear2 and1 ,that is ,charles's ,wain1 and every countryman knows the ,reaping-hook4 ,have you not seen it1 brethren8 ,others say1 ,that is the ,virgin1 and that is the ,ram1 and that is the ,bull1 and so on4 ,i think that naming of the various constellations is very like a good deal of mystical preaching that there is nowadays4 ,the preachers say1 ,that is so-and-so1 and that is so-and-so4 ,well1 perhaps it is so2 but ,i do not see it4 ,you may imagine anything you like in the constellations of the heavens4 ,i have pictured a fortress in the fire1 and watched it being built up1 and seen little soldiers come and pull it all down4 ,you can see anything in the fire1 and in the sky1 and in the ,bible1 if you like to look for it in that way2 you do not see it in reality1 it is only a freak of your imagination4 ,there are no bulls and bears in the heavens4 ,there may be a virgin1 but she is not to be worshiped as the ,romanists teach4 ,i hope you all know the pole-star2 you ought also to know the pointers2 they point to the pole-star1 and that is just what we ought to do1 to direct the poor slaves of sin and ,satan to the true ,star of liberty1 our ,lord and ,saviour1 ,jesus ,christ4 ,then there are the ,pleiades2 almost anybody can tell you where they are4 ,they are a cluster of apparently little stars1 but they are intensely bright4 ,they teach me that1 if ,i am a very little man1 ,i must try to be very bright2 if ,i cannot be like ,aldebaran1 or some of the brightest gems of the sky1 ,i must be as bright as ,i can in my own particular sphere1 and be as useful there as if ,i were a star of the first magnitude4 ,then1 on the other side of the globe1 they look up to the ,southern ,cross4 ,i dare say one of our brethren from ,australia will give you a private lecture upon that constellation4 ,it is very beautiful to think of the ,cross being the guide of the mariner2 it is the best guide any one can have1 either this side of the tropics or the other4 99 99 99 99 99 ,besides the stars1 there are vast luminous bodies which are called ,,nebul4 ,in some parts of the heavens there are enormous masses of light-matter2 they were supposed by some to be the material out of which worlds were made4 ,these were the lumps of mortar1 out of which1 according to the old atheistic theory1 worlds grew by some singular process of evolution2 but when ,herschel turned his telescope upon them1 he very soon put the nose of that theory out of joint1 for he discovered that these nebul were simply enormous masses of stars1 such myriads upon myriads of miles away that1 to our sight1 they looked just like a little dust of light4 99 99 99 99 99 ,there are many wonderful things to be learned about the stars1 to which ,i hope you will give your earnest attention as you have the opportunity4 ,among the rest is this fact1 that some stars have ceased to be visible to us4 ,tycho ,brah said that on one occasion he found a number of villagers looking up at the sky2 and on asking them why they were gazing at the heavens1 they told him that a new star had suddenly appeared4 ,it shone brightly for a few months1 and then vanished4 ,many times a starry world has seemed to turn red1 as if it were on fire2 it has apparently burned1 and blazed away1 and then disappeared4 ,kepler1 writing concerning such a phenomenon1 says3 ,what it may portend is hard to determine2 and thus much only is certain1 that it comes to tell mankind either nothing at all1 or high and weighty news1 quite beyond human sense and understanding4 ,in allusion to the opinions of some1 who explained the novel object by the ,epicurean doctrine of a fortuitous combination of atoms1 he remarks1 with characteristic oddity1 yet good sense1 ,i will tell these disputants--my opponents--not my opinion1 but my wife's4 ,yesterday1 when weary with writing1 and my mind quite dusty with considering these atoms1 ,i was called to supper1 and a salad that ,i had asked for was set before me4 ',it seems1 then1' said ,i aloud1 'that if pewter dishes1 leaves of lettuce1 grains of salt1 drops of water1 vinegar1 and oil1 and slices of egg1 had been flying about in the air from all eternity1 it might at last happen1 by chance1 that there would come a salad4' ',yes1' says my wife1 'but not one so nice or well dressed as this which ,i have made for you4' ,so ,i should think2 and if the fortuitous combination of atoms could not make a salad1 it is not very likely that they could make a world4 ,i once asked a man who said that the world was a fortuitous concourse of atoms1 ,have you ever chanced to have no money1 and to be away where you knew nobody who would give you a dinner8 ,he replied1 ,yes1 ,i have4 ,well1 then1 said ,i1 did it ever happen to you that a fortuitous concourse of atoms made a leg of mutton for you1 with some nice boiled turnips1 and caper sauce1 for your dinner8 ,no1 he said1 it has not4 ,well1 ,i answered1 a leg of mutton1 at any rate1 even with turnips and caper sauce included1 is an easier thing to make than one of these worlds1 like ,jupiter or ,venus4 ,we are told1 in the ,word of ,god1 that one star differeth from another star in glory2 yet one that is small may give more light to us than a larger star which is farther away4 ,some stars are what is called variable1 they appear larger at one time than another4 ,algol1 in the head of ,medusa1 is of this kind4 ,we are told that the star1 at the brightest1 appears of the second magnitude1 and remains so for about two days1 fourteen hours4 ,its light then diminishes1 and so rapidly that in three and a half hours it is reduced to the fourth magnitude4 ,it wears this aspect rather more than fifteen minutes1 then increases1 and in three and a half hours more resumes its former appearance4 ,i am afraid that many of us are variable stars2 if we do sometimes wax dim1 it will be well if we regain our brightness as quickly as ,algol does4 ,then there are thousands of double stars4 ,i hope that you will each get a wife who will always shine with you1 and never eclipse you1 for a double star may be very bright at one time1 and sometimes be eclipsed altogether4 ,there are also triple stars1 or systems1 and quadruple systems1 and there are1 in some cases1 hundreds or thousands all spinning round one another1 and around their central luminaries4 ,wonderful combinations of glory and beauty may be seen in the stellar sky2 and some of these stars are red1 some blue1 some yellow2 all the colors of the rainbow are represented in them4 ,it would be very wonderful to live in one of them1 and to look across the sky1 and see all the glories of the heavens that ,god has made4 ,on the whole1 however1 for the present1 ,i am quite content to abide upon this little planet1 especially as ,i am not able to change it for another home1 until ,god so wills it4 ,,sunday-,,school ,,as ,,an ,,institution1 ,what ,shall ,we ,do ,with ,the4--,by ,george ,lansing ,taylor1 ,d4 ,d4 ,fourth edition4 ,square #afmo1 cloth1 #cj cents4 ,paper1 #bj cents4 ,,the ,,central ,,methodist says3 ,this is the clearest and most vigorous protestation of the whole ,sunday-,school question in a nutshell we have seen4 ,it is a work that ought to be in the hands of all preachers1 since its practical treatment of the difficulties of our present system1 and the proper remedy to be applied make it valuable to them4 ,,preacher',s ,,magazine1 ,,the4--,edited by ,revs4 ,mark ,guy ,pearse and ,arthur ,e4 ,gregory4 ,published ,monthly1 #a4ej per year4 ,single copy1 #ae cents4 ,no free samples4 ,bound volumes1 net #b4ej4 ,cloth covers1 for binding net1 #ce cents4 ,,rev4 ,c4 ,h4 ,,spurgeon says3 ,this unpretentious magazine is as good as the very best of its homiletical compeers4 ,it goes straight to the point1 making no big pretences of learning and eloquence1 it goes in for practical suggestions1 which will be really useful to men who are laboring to win souls4 ,although we are by this time able to run alone1 and make sermons without the aid of homiletics1 yet we like such magazines as these1 and feel helped by looking them through4 ,each number is a capital return for the money4 ,,great ,,thoughts ,,of ,,the ,,bible4--,by ,rev4 ,john ,reid4 #abmo4 cloth1 #cah pp4 #a4ej4 ,the author has just gone far enough in the subject not to be tiresome1 believing that compact thought is the want of the hour4 ,,the ,,new ,,york ,,christian ,,advocate says3 ,it is a book that has come to stay because there are elements of power in it4 ,,the ,,christian ,,at ,,work says3 ,it is a book which will not only add to the intelligence of the ,christian1 but invigorate and strengthen him in the performance of all ,christian duties4 ,,nature ,,and ,,the ,,bible2 ,a ,course of ,lectures on the ,morse ,foundation of the ,union ,theological ,seminary4--,by ,j4 ,w4 ,dawson1 ,,ll4 ,d4 #abmo4 cloth1 #beh pp4 ,illustrated4 #a4ge4 ,,the ,,interior says3 ,professor ,dawson discusses his topic from the various standpoints of a student of nature1 not from the single standpoint which has mostly been occupied by theologians4 ,the book is not a partisan publication4 ,it will be found by those opposed to be perfectly candid and fair1 admitting difficulties in their full force1 and not seeking to evade1 misinterpret1 or exaggerate any fact or argument4 ,,concessions ,,of ,,liberalists ,,to ,,orthodoxy4--,by ,daniel ,dorchester1 ,d4 ,d4 #abmo4 cloth1 #cdd pp4 #a4ej4 ,the book is worthy all commendation for the extensive research shown by the author and the presentation of the three cardinal topics3 ,the ,deity of ,christ1 the ,atonement1 and ,endless ,punishment4 ,,the ,,western ,,christian ,,advocate says3 ,a book that should be in every minister's library4 ,the doctor's style is singularly pure and candid1 and the diction and dignity1 scholarship and research is manifest in every page4 ,,gospel ,,of ,,common ,,sense1 ,,the1 ,as contained ,in the ,canonical ,epistle of ,james--,by ,charles ,f4 ,deems1 ,d4 ,d41 ,,ll4 ,d4 #abmo4 cloth1 #cbj pp4 #a4ej4 ,,joseph ,,cook says3 ,dr4 ,deems eminent common sense never appeared more profitable than in his fresh1 incisive and most timely discussion of ,st4 ,james' ,epistle as the ,gospel of ,common ,sense4 ,the book is at once popular and scholarly1 broad and deep1 radical and conservative4 ,,theodore ,l4 ,,cuyler1 ,d4 ,d4 says3 ,the style of the book is racy and most readable4 ,it ought to be read at every fireside in the land4 ,may the ,holy ,spirit attend and bless the circulation of this capital volume4