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By Joseph S. Exell · 1887 · 1,353 illustrations
The Biblical Illustrator is a 56-volume reference work compiled by Joseph S. Exell in the late 19th century. Each passage of Scripture is illuminated with historical anecdotes, biographical sketches, analogies from nature, and homiletical observations drawn from ancient and contemporary sources. These illustrations have been carefully restored from the original public-domain text and rewritten for clarity and accessibility — preserving the historical depth while removing Victorian OCR artifacts.
"The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick." In this world, ruined by sin, the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint.
First, the gospel illuminates what was previously hidden.
By virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, Christians obtain the grace of a new life.
Our Lord moves far in advance of His followers, His fixed purpose stamped upon His face, a strange haste in His stride that casts astonishment and awe over the silent, uncomprehending disciples.
The Nature of Rest in Christ differs fundamentally from earthly comfort.
Exell's Victorian homily isolates four charges against this congregation, each applicable to contemporary faith communities.
The same Almighty One who fed Elijah in the terrible days of dearth, and who delivered Daniel from the power of the lions, still watches over and provides for His people.
His words carry three essential truths for the believer.
Canon Liddon identified three marks of our Lord's words: the divine authority that speaks through them, their elevation above earthly discourse, and their awful depth that pierces the soul.
Proverbs 4:25 commands us to keep our eyes "right on" and our eyelids "straight before thee." The wise man, whom commentators identify as Solomon, exhorts careful stewardship of every faculty—each member of our nature requires vigilant guardianship lest any become...
It is the shepherd's mark distinguishing the flock of the Lord Jesus from the rest of the world.
His enemies declared, "There is no help for him in God," when Absalom's rebellion consumed his house—the very judgment God had threatened after David's own transgression.
First, *metanoia* (repentance)—literally "to perceive afterwards"—demanded an entire reversal of opinion respecting Jesus Christ.
Lyth, D.D., structures this comparison across three critical dimensions.
The Victorian preacher recognized winter as uniquely perilous—not merely because of physical suffering, but because lengthy evenings create moral vulnerability.
He invoked the risen Jesus directly: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." This prayer reveals a cardinal truth that transcends doctrinal assertion—it emerges from the believer's lived experience.
Matthew 10:7 presents five critical dimensions of apostolic proclamation, restored from Joseph S. Exell's Victorian exposition: First, *Who* preaches? The disciples Christ commissioned. Second, *What* do they announce? "The kingdom of heaven"—speak of the King in His threefold majesty: King...
Luther hesitated to expound such texts before congregations, fearing appearance of avarice, yet acknowledged the duty remains: believers must understand what honor and support they owe their teachers.
The *tablinum*—the grand reception chamber with marble or alabaster benches—held the Sanhedrin's formal proceeding against Jesus.
Our confidence in missionary labor rests entirely upon the prophecies of God's Word declaring it His will.
The Galatian church had experienced genuine spiritual joy in their earliest faith—that *first love* which marks every conversion.
Ancient voices—from pagan philosophy to church fathers like Chrysostom—branded her a "necessary evil" and "domestic peril." Italian, German, and English proverbs competed in contempt, suggesting women were the source of all calamity.
The prophets have sung of a golden age, the saints have prayed for one, and the Bible distinctly teaches that one will come.
This passage is prophetic of Christ, to whom "the path of life" was first opened.