Lectures to My Students, Volume 2 — The Art of Illustration · Lecture 5 — Charles H. Spurgeon
IN my last lecture, I promised to give you a list of cyclopaedias of anecdotes and illustrations, so far as they are at present known to me; and I hope, on another occasion, to tell you about books that contain fables, emblems, and parables. For this afternoon, we must confine our attention to collections of anecdotes and illustrations which have been compiled specially for the use of ministers and Christian workers in general. I do not know what book of illustrations the apostle Paul used. He had some books, for he wrote to Timothy, “The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.” The books may have been various Latin and Greek works that Paul needed for reference, and the parchments were, possibly, the original manuscripts of his epistles; but, whatever they were, he did not like to lose them, so he asked his son Timothy to bring them to him. The parchments may have been his notes of illustrations that he had jotted down in his journeyings, or his commonplace-book, such as I have advised you all to make. At all events, whatever the earliest preachers had, we know that books of illustrations, metaphors, and similes, have been issued for centuries. Those of you who can read Latin easily, may find a great store of such works. While I was arranging the material for this lecture, I received a catalogue of nearly three hundred books of emblems, and similar publications, printed in Latin, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, and German; but any man who wished to make a collection of such works would need more money than usually falls to the lot of Baptist pastors. For us poor English people, the first cyclopaedia that I should recommend isSPENCER’ S Things New and Old. This is a book, you know, which was scarcely purchasable till Mr. Dickinson reprinted it (after revision by Revelation J. O. Pilkington, M.A.), bound up withCAWDRAY’ S Similes, in a very bulky volume of 1,112 pages. The original title-page explains the character of the work, so I will read the description in full, though it is rather long: — Things New and Old; or, a Storehouse of Similes, Sentences, Allegories, Apophthegms, Apologues, Adages, Divine, Moral, Political, etc., — with their several applications. Collected and Observed from the writings and Sayings of the Learned in All Ages to the Present. By John Spencer, a Lover of Learning and Learned Men. With Preface by Thomas Fuller. This book, published in 1658, was compiled by a man who was librarian at Sion College more than two centuries ago. I find that Spencer was elected librarian, September 2, 1634, and with certain interruptions, during which he was suspended or discharged, and then reappointed, he occupied the post till his death in 1680. Being for such a long period in charge of that very remarkable collection of valuable books, he made extracts from them, and thus prepared this volume. It was a very happy circumstance for me that John Spencer should have happened to be the librarian of that institution, and that he should have compiled so good a book; for I have always been able to make good use of it.
Years ago, I recommended this volume to the students, and several of them have since told me that they thought I made a mistake in doing so. They bought the book on my recommendation, but they did not care for it, and they have sold it. I ought to be impressed by their very valuable opinions; but I am not, for I like Spencer still. Some of his illustrations are very queer, cramped, and antique; and if a man does not take the trouble to trim and shape them into more modern form, he cannot use them. They require labor to make them of service; but, when I praised the book, I thought that, if a sensible man could get hold of even the tail of an illustration or anecdote, it would be enough for him to make something out of it for himself; and therefore I recommended Spencer. On looking over the volume again, I must admit that there are many things in it that are not now usable; but I am also quite certain that, to me, it has been a great thoughtbreeding book. It has often started me with an illustration that I should never else have thought of; therefore I have good reason to speak well of it. I opened my volume again this morning, just to see whether I was mistaken or not, because I have great faith in the judgment of all the students who go out of this College; and, on further examination and consideration, I have come to the conclusion that I was fight in my first estimate of the work. Let me read to you No. 11., on page 4: — AFFLICTION FROM GOD IS FOR HIS CHILDREN’ S GOOD. “A tender-hearted father, walking with his little son, I suppose in the City, when he perceives him gaze up and down, and wander from him, withdraws himself behind some pillar, or hides himself in some corner of the street, not that he means to lose him, but to make him cry and seek after him, and keep closer to him afterwards; so doth our heavenly Father with us. He correcteth every son whom he loveth; he hides himself, and, as it were, pulls in the beams of his gracious favor for a time, when we are rambling about in our thoughts, and roving in our imaginations; but it is to make us cry after him the louder, and keep closer to him for the time to come, and walk more circumspectly than ever we did before.” I think that is a very pretty illustration. You have often seen a parent or a nurse thus act with the children. In like manner, God sometimes hides himself from us for a while that we may be made to cling the more closely to him afterwards. Here is another of Spencer’s illustrations, No. XVII., on the next page to the one I just gave you: — THE DIFFERENCE BETWIXT SPIRITUAL AND CARNAL PRAYERS, IN RESPECT OF ANSWER. “Children shoot arrows on purpose to lose them, and never so much as look where they light; but men, when they shoot, aim at the mark, and go after the arrow, to see how near it falls. So, wicked, carnal men, when they have said, not made, their prayers to Almighty God, it is but opus operatum; they have no more regard of them. But God’s children, when they, upon the bended knees of their souls, dart out their prayers, when they pour out their requests unto him, they look after their prayers, eye them up into heaven, observe how God entertains them, and wait for a happy return at his good will and pleasure.” Therein you have a true idea of prayer, as the psalmist puts it in Psalm 5:3: “In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” That would be a good text for you to preach from on Sunday. The idea is that the suppliant is like a man with a bow and arrow, taking aim, directing his prayer unto God, and then looking up to see where it goes, and watching also to see