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Pharisees believed on Christ: but he reckoned it an advantage; for the souls of these people were as precious as the souls of the great ones; and it was his aim to bring not so much the mighty, as the many sons to God; and it was foretold concerning him, that to him should the gathering of the people be.

Our Lord, perceiving two ships standing by the lake, as we may conclude, for the purpose of addressing the people more conveniently, entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and he sat, and taught " the people out of the ship."

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Christ entered into that ship that belonged to Simon, and from thence he taught the people, whilst his "doctrine dropped as the rain, and his speech distilled as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." (Deut. xxxii. 2.)

When Christ had done preaching, he desired Peter to apply himself to his business again; he said to him, "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." With what cheerfulness may we go about the duties of our calling, after we have been holding communion with God, and from thence fetch a double blessing into our worldly employments, and thus have them sanctified to us by the word and prayer! It is our wisdom and duty to manage our religious exercises as that they may befriend our worldly business, and so to manage our worldly business as that it may serve to further our religious exexercises. Peter having attended upon Christ in his preaching, Christ will accompany him in his calling: he staid with Christ at the shore, and now Christ will have him to follow his lawful business. Those that will be constant followers of Christ, shall have him as a constant Guide to them.

Peter answered our Lord, saying, "Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing, nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net." Some callings are

much more toilsome than others are, and more perilous; yet God has so ordered it for the common good, that there is no useful calling so discouraging, but some or other have a taste for it. Those that follow their business, and get abundance by it with a great deal of ease, should think with compassion on those who cannot follow theirs but with great fatigue, and hardly get a bare livelihood by it. When we have rested all night, let us not forget those that have toiled all night. Be the calling never so laborious, it is good to see people diligent in it, and make the best of it. These fishermen that were thus industrious, Christ singled out for his favoured disciples. They were fit to be preferred as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, that had thus learned to endure hardship. Even those that are most diligent in their business, often meet with disappointments: they that toiled all night, caught nothing; for the race is not always to the swift.

And yet, notwithstanding their disappointment, these fishermen were willing to renew their toil. God will have us to be diligent, purely in duty to his command, and dependence upon his goodness, rather than with an assurance of worldly success. We must do our duty,

and leave the event to God. When we are tired with our worldly business, and crossed in our worldly affairs, we are welcome to come to Christ, and spread our cause before him, who will take notice of it. How many do we see casting their nets into the great lake of the world, yet have caught nothing. Oy Oye sons of men, how long will ye love vanity, and follow after lies? have thus vainly mispent the time of our darkness, let us, at the command of our Lord, cast out our nets; then our humble penitent, Christian, faithful obedience shall come home laden with blessings.

Yet if we

How ready and decided was their obedience to the command of Christ. Peter, as we may presume, answering for his partners, says, "Nevertheless at thy word

I will let down the net." Though they had toiled all the night, yet, at the command of Christ, and trusting in him, they will renew their toil and labour: and they that wait on Him shall renew their strength, as work is renewed upon their hands; for every fresh service, they shall have a fresh supply of sufficient grace. What a difference there is between our own mere acts, and those done in faith, upon the command of God. The former are fruitless, the latter always successful. Never did a man obey the command of Christ in faith, and find his work fruitless. Who should not obey the Lord, who rewards small services with unlimited bounties? Though they had taken nothing, yet as Christ bid them let down for a draught, they will hope to take something. We are likely to speed well, when we follow the rule of Christ's word.

The draught of fish which they now caught, was so much beyond what was ever known, that it amounted to a miracle. They " enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net brake;" and yet (which is strange) they did not lose their draught—it was so great a draught, that they had not hands enough to draw it up, but they were fain to beckon to their partners, who were at a distance, to come and help them: " and they came and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink."

It is well in cases of blessing, as well as in cases of affliction, to have partners, companions, fellow-workers, to assist us in our profitable labours. Simon Peter himself found it so, when he afterwards became a fisher of men. He found faithful fellow-labourers, willing to assist in drawing souls into the ark of the church. Wherefore has God given companions to us in our pilgrimage, but that we should beckon to them for their aid upon all necessary occasions?

Abundance is sometimes no less troublesome than want. The net might have held all, if our Lord had not

meant to overcharge Peter with blessings and with admirations. How happily was the net broken, the breaking of which drew the fisher still more to Christ!

Have we not the poor to care for in relief of their temporal wants? Have we not these to care for in relief of their spiritual wants? Our blessed Lord, in both cases, cared even for the poorest, and so as he cared, so should we care, if we would be followers of Him, who died, leaving us an example to follow his steps.

Now, by this vast draught of fishes, Christ might intend to show his dominion in the seas, as well as on land-over its wealth as over its waves; thus he would shew that he was that Son of man, under whose feet all things were put: the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea: and by this open miracle he confirmed the faith of those who heard him preach. And our Lord, probably, by this, intended to give a specimen to those who were to be his ambassadors to the world, of the success of their embassy; that though they might, for a time, and in one particular place, toil, and catch nothing, yet that they would be instrumental to bring in many to the knowledge of their Saviour. And Peter himself, when he became a fisher of men, at the first draught enclosed three thousand souls. How powerful is the gospel, which can draw sinful men from out of the depths of natural corruption! O happy souls, that from out of the blind and dark cells of their wicked nature, are drawn forth to the glorious liberty of the sons of God!

The fishermen were astonished at the draught of fishes which they had taken. When Christ's miraculous works are to us works of grace, then especially they demand that we should have faith in his doctrines. Peter, above all the rest, was astonished to such a degree, that he "fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." He thought himself to be un

worthy of the favour of his Lord, shewed in this miracle to him, and to those with him, and worthy that it should be rather a matter of terror to him than of comfort. Here was true conviction of sin; here was the genuine operation of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, convincing him of his own baseness. If we know not our utter

vileness as sinners, we know not Jesus Christ as the Saviour of sinners. We do not presume to come before thee, O Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table, but thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy!

We are not to consider the words of Peter as words of dislike, but of astonishment or of fear, lest some fatal consequence should happen to him from Christ's presence with so great a sinner-not words of discontentedness, but of humility. The sick man does not say to his physician, "Depart from me because I am sick;" so Simon, who knew the disease of his own soul, because he knew his vileness, did not here mean to shut himself out from the favour and blessings of Christ, who heals the diseases of the soul. It was because he was a sinful man that he had need of his Saviour to come and abide with him : and it was because he was humble in the acknowledgment of his sinfulness, that Christ delighted to abide with him. No man ever fared the worse for humbling himself before God. Our Lord never disregarded, and will never disregard the humble, penitent, and self-abasing voice of any sinner. His acknowledgment was very just, and what becomes each of us to make, "I am a sinful man, O Lord." Simon Peter was no doubt a skilful fisher, and now perceiving more than art or nature could accomplish in this draught of fishes, he did not, like mere worldly man, having caught, fall covetously to work just to secure this unexpected and profitable treasure, but he turns his

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