The Biblical Illustrator was originally published in 1887, in London, by Joseph Exell (One of the editors for The Pulpit Commentary). The Biblical Illustrator is a collection of Anecdotes, Similes, Emblems, Illustrations, Expositions, Science, Geography, History, and Homiletics gathered from a wide range of home and foreign literature on the verses of the Bible. There are 34,752 pages of information covering the entire Bible. As far as we can tell The Biblical Illustrator is currently out of print, but it has listed for as high as $1150. It is a perfect complement to the The Pulpit Commentary and would be a wonderful addition to any Christian student's library.

The Biblical Illustrator will help increase the student's thought – All Scripture is profitable for instruction, for each Christian in their many walks of life. It should be the never-ending goal of every Christian to understand and discover the vast treasures of our Holy Bible. Today's Christian is blessed by the immense accumulation of inspired writings, authored by history's most gifted writers. This library furthers the original effort of the editor of The Biblical Illustrator: "To preserve and present the treasure of the ages, so that the ordinary reader may be able to make himself the happy possesor of it.".

The Biblical Illustrator will also help the student's money and time expenses – It is not feasible for today's Christian reader to own a library which consists of thousands of costly and hard-to-find volumes. Also, it is unfeasible to expect today's Christian to be able to read these volumes in today's busy world. The Biblical Illustrator was designed to address these limitations by allowing the Christian reader of today to have the "cream" of centuries of study and writing at their fingertips. Compiled in a "Best of" fashion, The Biblical Illustrator allows the student to build on the foundation laid by our predecessors, rather than making the student "redevelop" work that has been available for centuries.

The student's knowledge of the history of Christian Literature will be increased by The Biblical Illustrator. At the end of every article, the author's name is given to allow the student to pursue further information if desired. Many of these articles were taken from works that are either so lengthy, costly or scarce that today's student would otherwise not be aware of their existence, and not be able to facilitate them in study.

Now the student will be able to dress the "dry bones" of sermon outlines with thousands of illustrations and anecdotes about our sacred text. Many times we are asked as pastors, Christians, or conveyors of the word to drive home the Divine message in our Holy Bible. The Biblical Illustrator helps us to learn and teach by bringing a new light and form to a bare statement of abstract doctrine. The original editor hoped that "The gospel archer, may find in its pages many a pointed arrow for his quiver and bow."