One of the largest free collections of sermon illustrations, organized by topic, scripture, and theological tradition.

Stay updated

New illustrations, features & occasional discounts

Website

Browse

By Topic
By Scripture
By Tradition
By Emotion
By Source Type
Sermon Slides

Resources

Sample Illustrations
About
Premium
Contact Us
SermonWise AI
PewSearch
ChurchWiseAI

Support

Contact Us
+1 (888) 603-0316
support@churchwiseai.com
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
Refund Policy

Home›Traditions›Traditional

Traditional Illustrations

The orthodox, historical consensus of biblical interpretation.

Key question: “What is the most widely accepted and historically grounded understanding of this text?”

25,889 sermon illustrations through the Traditional lens

Poetry

Insects

These tiny loiterers on the barley's beard, And happy units of a numerous herd Of playfellows, the laughing Summer brings, Mocking the sunshine in their glittering wings, How merrily they creep, and run, and fly!

Universal

John Clare

159 words

PreviousPage 1011 of 1079Next

Poetry

Sonnet 118: Like as, to make our appetite more keen

Like as, to make our appetite more keen, With eager compounds we our palate urge; As, to prevent our maladies unseen, We sicken to shun sickness when we purge; Even so, being full of your ne'er-cloying sweetness, To bitter sauces...

Universal

William Shakespeare

103 words

Poetry

Part of the Ninth Ode of the Fourth Book.

Lest you should think that verse shall die, Which sounds the silver Thames along, Taught, on the wings of truth to fly Above the reach of vulgar song; Though daring Milton sits sublime, In Spenser, native Muses play; Nor yet...

Foreign Children

Little Indian, Sioux, or Crow, Little frosty Eskimo, Little Turk or Japanee, Oh! don't you wish that you were me? You have seen the scarlet trees And the lions over seas; You have eaten ostrich eggs, And turned the turtle off their legs.

Universal

Robert Louis Stevenson

Short95 words

Poetry

On Finding a Fan

In one who felt as once he felt, This might, perhaps, have fann'd the flame; But now his heart no more will melt, Because that heart is not the same.

Universal

George Gordon, Lord Byron

124 words

Poetry

Sonnet 63: Against my love shall be as I am now

Against my love shall be as I am now, With Time's injurious hand crush'd and o'erworn; When hours have drain'd his blood and fill'd his brow With lines and wrinkles; when his youthful morn Hath travell'd on to age's steepy...

On Another's Sorrow

Can I see another's woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, And not seek for kind relief? Can I see a falling tear, And not feel my sorrow's share? Can a father see his child...

Epitaph. on Edmund Duke of Buckingham, Who Died in the Nineteenth Year of

HIS AGE, 1735. If modest youth, with cool reflection crown'd, And every opening virtue blooming round, Could save a parent's justest pride from fate, Or add one patriot to a sinking state; This weeping marble had not ask'd thy tear,...

Sonnet 120: That you were once unkind befriends me now

That you were once unkind befriends me now, And for that sorrow, which I then did feel, Needs must I under my transgression bow, Unless my nerves were brass or hammer'd steel.

Sonnet 131: Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art

Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art, As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel; For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.

Despair

Ask not the pallid stranger's woe, With beating heart and throbbing breast, Whose step is faltering, weak, and slow, As though the body needed rest.-- Whose 'wildered eye no object meets, Nor cares to ken a friendly glance, With silent...

The Magnetic Lady to Her Patient

'Sleep, sleep on!

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind

Blow, blow, thou winter wind Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although...

Sonnet 59: If there be nothing new, but that which is

If there be nothing new, but that which is Hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd, Which labouring for invention bear amiss The second burthen of a former child!

Thou Art Not False, but Thou Art Fickle

Thou art not false, but thou art fickle, To those thyself so fondly sought; The tears that thou hast forced to trickle Are doubly bitter...

Universal

George Gordon, Lord Byron

160 words

Poetry

No, Thank You John

I never said I loved you, John: Why will you tease me day by day, And wax a weariness to think upon With always "do" and "pray"?

Out of the Rolling Ocean, the Crowd.

1 OUT of the rolling ocean, the crowd, came a drop gently to me, Whispering, I love you, before long I die, I have travel’d a long way, merely to look on you, to touch you, For I could not...

To Mary, on Receiving Her Picture

This faint resemblance of thy charms, (Though strong as mortal art could give,) My constant heart of fear disarms, Revives my hopes, and bids me live.

Universal

George Gordon, Lord Byron

182 words

Poetry

A Part of an Ode

to the Immortal Memory and Friendship of that noble pair, Sir Lucius Cary and Sir H.

Sonnet 57: Being your slave what should I do but tend

Being your slave what should I do but tend, Upon the hours, and times of your desire? I have no precious time at all to spend; Nor services to do, till you require.

An Exhortation

Chameleons feed on light and air: Poets' food is love and fame: If in this wide world of care Poets could but find the same With as little toil as they, Would they ever change their hue As the light...

Night

The sun descending in the west, The evening star does shine; The birds are silent in their nest, And I must seek for mine. The moon, like a flower In heaven's high bower, With silent delight, Sits and smiles on the night.

Sonnet 16 - And yet, because thou overcomest so

And yet, because thou overcomest so, Because thou art more noble and like a king, Thou canst prevail against my fears and fling Thy purple round me, till my heart shall grow Too close against thine heart henceforth to know How it shook when alone.

Universal

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Short97 words

Poetry

A Thing of Beauty (Endymion)

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its lovliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Universal

John Keats

156 words