Transcriber's Notes: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal signs=. Blank pages have been eliminated. Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original. A few typographical errors have been corrected. THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION BY C. H. SPURGEON NEW-YORK WILBUR B. KETCHAM 2 COOPER UNION Copyright, 1894, By WILBUR B. KETCHAM. PUBLISHER'S NOTE. The lectures in this volume were originally delivered to the students of the Pastors' College, Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, England. It is the first of his unfinished books to be published, and one to which he had himself given the title, "The Art of Illustration." Of the five lectures included in this volume, the first two were revised during Mr. Spurgeon's lifetime. Two were partially revised by him before being redelivered to a later company of students than those who had heard them for the first time. The remaining lecture was printed substantially as it was taken by the reporter; only such verbal corrections having been made as were absolutely necessary to insure accuracy of statement. Mr. Spurgeon has said of his lectures to his students: "I am as much at home with my young brethren as in the bosom of my family, and therefore speak without restraint. I do not offer that which has cost me nothing, for I have done my best, and taken abundant pains. Therefore, with clear conscience, I place my work at the service of my brethren, especially hoping to have a careful reading from young preachers, whose profiting has been my principal aim." W. B. K. CONTENTS. LECTURE I. PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN PREACHING 7 LECTURE II. ANECDOTES FROM THE PULPIT 32 LECTURE III. THE USES OF ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 57 LECTURE IV. WHERE CAN WE FIND ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS? 103 LECTURE V. THE SCIENCES AS SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATION--ASTRONOMY 137 LECTURE I. ILLUSTRATIONS IN PREACHING. The topic now before us is the use of illustrations in our sermons. Perhaps we shall best subserve our purpose by working out an illustration in the present address; for there is no better way of teaching the art of pottery than by making a pot. Quaint Thomas Fuller says, "Reasons are the pillars of the fabric of a sermon; but similitudes are the windows which give the best lights." The comparison is happy and suggestive, and we will build up our discourse under its direction.