The Preacher’s Friend: How to Use an 1828 Catechism Aide to Find Illustrations

John Whitecross, The Shorter Catechism Illustrated: From Church History and Biography. Banner of Truth, 2024. 248 pages.

A lamp isn’t meant to be put under a basket, nor should faithful Bible exposition be concealed by dull delivery. One of the chief ways to make your teaching more persuasive is to use a variety of illustrations to drive home your argument. In the spice cabinet of illustrative options—personal stories, member-life anecdotes, current events—it can be challenging to find reliable historic illustrations that relate to your Bible teaching.

Helpfully, The Shorter Catechism Illustrated, modernized and republished by The Banner of Truth Trust, does much of the heavy lifting for us.

Background

Originally published in 1828, The Shorter Catechism Illustrated was written by John Whitecross as a tool for instructing children in The Shorter Catechism. Whitecross desired that the richness of the catechism would be more accessible to young ones. In the publisher’s words, Whitecross provided “a valuable treasury of illustrative matter for the many in home, school, or church who have the responsibility of making biblical teaching interesting” (v). To do this, Whitecross compiled hundreds of illustrations (not visuals, but anecdotes).

Some stories are inspiring, such as when illustrating, “What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?”

Joseph Addison, after a long and manly but vain struggle with his distemper, dismissed his physicians, and with them all hopes of life. But with his hopes of life, he dismissed not his concern for the living, but sent for his step-son who was highly accomplished. He came, and, after a decent pause, the youth said, “Dear sir, you sent for me, I believe: I hope you have some commands; I shall hold them most sacred.” Forcibly grasping the young man’s hand, he softly said, “See in what peace a Christian can die.” He spoke with difficulty, and soon expired. (79)

Some stories are castigating, such as when illustrating, “Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?”

Dr. John Gill was once preaching on human inability. A gentleman present was much offended, and took him to task for degrading human nature. “Pray, sir,” said the doctor, “what do you think that man can contribute to his conversion?” He enumerated a variety of particulars. “And have you done all this?” said the doctor. “Why, no, I cannot say I have yet; but I hope I shall begin soon.” “If you have these things in your power, and have not done them, you deserve to be doubly damned, and are but ill qualified to be an advocate for free-will, which has done you so little good.” (169)

Some stories are provocative, such as when illustrating, “What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?”

A person who suspected that a minister of his acquaintance was not truly a Calvinist, went to him and said, “Sir, I am told that you are against the perseverance of the saints.” “Not I, indeed,” answered he, “it is the perseverance of sinners that I oppose.” “But that is not a satisfactory answer, sir. Do you think that a child of God cannot fall very low, and yet be restored?” he replied, “I think it will be very dangerous to make the experiment.” (78)

Some stories are humorous, such as when illustrating, “How is the Word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation?”

As a minister named Nicoll of Exeter was once preaching he saw several of the aldermen asleep, and thereupon sat down. Upon his silence, and the noise that presently arose in the church, they awoke, and stood up with the rest, upon which he arose, and said, “The sermon is not yet done, but now you are awake, I hope you will hearken more diligently,” and then went on. (193)

While that final one is surely unrelatable to present readers (I hope!), the variety is impressive. To improve on the original, Banner has edited and modernized Whitecross’s selection in this republished work. As the editors share in their preface, “About three dozen of the original brief illustrative narratives have been excluded as of doubtful merit, and almost five dozen fresh narratives have been added.” These changes are so in line with Whitecross’s style that they would be difficult for any but the most studious to identify.

Naturally, no matter how well-edited and collected a set of stories is, they’re only helpful if we know how to use them.

Why 19th Century Illustrations?

If you’ve ever taught children, you know you need to be creative and engaging to get your lesson across. If you haven’t, ask any children’s ministry teacher and they’ll confirm: children tend to wander, both mentally and physically. While there’s no cure to a four-year-old’s demands to check for the fifth time in ten minutes that there really isn’t anything in that cabinet, adult attention spans aren’t spectacular either—and they’re getting shorter.

Proposed solutions range from the sensational (“bright lights!”) to the resigned (“talk less”), but Whitecross’s book gives us another option: illustrations. There are three primary benefits to using Whitecross’s (now historic) illustrations.

1. The Illustrations Are Likely Unknown

These illustrations pull from places your audience has never been, from people they’ve never heard of, and from times they’ve never studied. For example, among the twelve illustrations that Whitecross shares to answer, “What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?” is this story:

Dr. George Lawson of Selkirk, when preaching on the eighth commandment, insisted strongly on the duty of restitution. Next morning, a family, from whose house a pair of shoes had been stolen some years before found the price of them lying on the window-sill, placed there by an unknown offender. (157)

The novelty of the stories is a consistent theme throughout the collection. That’s a novelty that can be leveraged to draw in your audience.

2. The Illustrations Transport the Audience to a New World

At a minimum, Whitecross’s stories are nearly two centuries old. His pre-industrialization world has just enough in common with today to be sensible, but not enough to feel familiar.

That provides you with the opportunity to paint a picture that can feel like science fiction or fantasy yet be rooted in truth. It does require you to have the ability to tell a story in a compelling way, but the material is there to arrest people with vivid imagery and the peculiar circumstances of our forebears.

3. It’s Unlikely That There’s Baggage with the Illustrations

If you reference a movie someone doesn’t like, an author they think is bad, or a news source they find ideologically wrong, you can be off-putting. In contrast, Whitecross’s collection is helpfully esoteric. There is virtually no chance—outside of talking to a room full of Puritan historians—that these illustrations, main characters, or even locations will be familiar to your audience. That makes these illustrations blank slates that you can use without fear of offending the sensibilities of your audience.

While these advantages are present for nearly all illustrations in this collection, there are exceptions. To that end, I want to offer a few tips for how best to wield Whitecross’s illustrations.

How to Wield Whitecross’s Work

Using Whitecross’s illustrations is a bit like cooking. When you pick the right spice and use an appropriate amount of it, you elevate a dish and make it memorable. When you pick the wrong spice or use too much of the right one—like adding oregano to a chocolate cake or putting a tablespoon of cayenne in your taco meat—you make a dish inedible.

There are two main principles to consider as you try to fold Whitecross’s illustrations into your teaching.

1. Find the Right Illustration

It’s unlikely that you’re teaching through the Shorter Catechism, so to make the process of searching for a helpful illustration less time-consuming, start by reading the book and footnoting which ones might come in handy at some point. Generally, if you want people to be captivated by an illustration, then you should be captivated by it. If you aren’t going to be able to retell a story about a medieval Hungarian king, then skip it.

You can use the catechism section headings as shortcuts when you’re looking for an illustration for a specific teaching. If you’re teaching through Romans, for example, and want to find an illustration related to justification, jump to Questions 32–36 and see if you have any stories highlighted or if any seem to fit.

2. Rework the Illustration for Your Context

These illustrations are not written to be copied and pasted into a sermon, Bible study, or devotional. Some of them assume a knowledge of classical antiquity that was more common in the early 19th century, while others are a full page or two long and have far more background context than is helpful.

You should edit these to fit your circumstance. Just as you would pick an illustration that would appeal to your audience, you must make the illustration comprehensible to that same audience. You should feel no restrictions about paraphrasing, condensing, or skipping parts of illustrations, so long as the truth of what you’re saying continues unblemished.

Lastly, as you use Whitecross’s illustrations to captivate your listeners, make sure to do it wisely. Some of the illustrations are so entertaining that they go beyond the helpful and into the distracting. To end with our food metaphor, Whitecross’s illustrations are like spices and seasonings: a little goes a long way. I fully commend using them, but doing so sparingly, exclusively for the benefit of the people in your church.