The value of an apt
illustration can hardly be over-estimated. It is oftentimes the entering wedge
or the clinching conclusion for the more serious argument. At times it is both.
Mr. D. L. Moody used to say that a sermon without illustrations was like a
house without windows. To one of his ablest associates, one second to none as a
Bible expositor, he would frequently say, “You don’t put enough windows in your
sermons. No one can do it better, but you get so interested in your subject you
go on and on with argument and proof texts until the audience is weary. You
want to wake them up: let them see out and in through a window—use pointed
illustrations.”
One does not need
to say the preacher referred to was not
Dr. Torrey, for his use of apt stories largely drawn from his own wide and
varied experience, add largely to the effective ministry of his powerful
addresses.
The collection of
stories and illustrations here gathered has had Dr. Torrey’s careful revision,
but for the form of publication and especially for the addition of
illustrations and portraits, the publisher alone is responsible.
