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Using Simple Illustrations

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 19, 1914

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 12.

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Using Simple Illustrations

By Mrs. Andrew Speedie

MRS. ANDREW SPREDIE
In working for the souls of men it is well to use some experience they have had, as an object lesson to bring them to Christ. To illustrate, let me tell my own experience.
My home was one of prayer. Like Hannah, my mother had dedicated me to the Lord. She had often talked to me about giving myself to Christ, but I thought I was good enough as I was. When I was not quite seven years old, my parents moved to Colorado for father's health, and the next year came to Oregon with mule teams. Well do I remember my great fear of getting off the road. I can see as if it were yesterday how the leaders of our party consulted the map and the diagrams they had of the route. Sometimes we did miss the way, and had to travel many weary, needless miles.
When we were at last settled in Oregon, we had very few church privileges. Once a year a traveling minister came to preach in our neighborhood. It was on one of these occasions that I found the Lord, the Saviour of my soul. Father Harper, a Baptist minister, was holding a meeting at the home of a neighbor one cold winter night. His text was: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." I saw myself a sinner, but I knew not how to come to Jesus. I was in great distress of mind, when Father Harper said, "Some of you may have crossed the plains." Yes, I had made the journey; and I listened with interest to learn what that could have to do with one's salvation. Just as if he had been in our company and knew about all the difficulties we encountered, he told the story of a journey, and used that to illustrate the way of salvation. The Bible, he said, is our guide—the map by which we may know the right road. O, how sweet that message was to my soul! I could comprehend it although only a child of eleven years.
Let us meet the needy soul where it is, and speak to it through its own experiences.