In the years when men’s beards resided like manes upon their necks for fear of their chins, Alexander MaClaren (1826-1910) preached the Gospel in the British Isles. Scottish by birth, Londoner by raising, he was a prolific Non-Conformist minister of the Baptist persuasion. Of his many accomplishments, one worth highlighting is his ability and willingness to connect theological truth to understandable events in history. One particular sermon demonstrates this to the maximum as the illustration virtuoso launches into a tour de force of no less than five stories back to back to make his point. The selected text? The single, enigmatic verse of Matthew 24:28.