" Then He came forward and took the bread and fish, and
gave to them. All were convinced that it was Jesus, but they were dumb
with amazement and awe; they would have liked to ask questions, but
they felt that they need not; their senses were convinced almost in
spite of themselves. "None of the disciples durst ask Him, Who art
Thou? knowing that it was the Lord."

This, says John, was the third time that Jesus had showed Himself; not
literally the third time that He had shown Himself to any one; but the
third time that He had shown Himself to the disciples assembled in any
considerable number. The first time was in the evening of the
resurrection day; the second, when Thomas was there; the third, in the
incident here recorded.

We all need our rest times, our times of learning, our times of
fellowship with Jesus. Happy are we when Jesus says, "Come and dine,"
and leads us off to sup with Him in desert places! It may be in the
loneliness of nature, or of the sick-bed, or of thwarted love; but,
wherever it is, it is well if only He is there to feed us with His own
dear hand.

The time will come when the night of this sunless world shall be over,
and the morning of eternity shall break upon us; it may be that in the
hour of death we shall find that our work has not been so fruitless as
we feared: on the quiet beach we shall see Jesus standing and know that
it is He. Then one last plunge through the chill flood, and we shall
partake of the preparations which His love has made, and He will say,
"Come and dine."

XXXV

Peter's Love and Work

"Thou knowest that I love Thee. . . . Feed my lambs."--JOHN xxi. 15.

That miraculous catch of fish on which we have dwelt was a parable to
the disciples of the kind of work in which they were thenceforward to
be engaged. They were to catch men. But there was one amongst them
who must have wondered much how he would fare, and what part he would
take when that work was recommenced. Might he have a share in it? He
would seem to have forfeited all right. With oaths and curses he had
thrice denied that he belonged to Jesus. He had given grievous
occasion to the enemy to blaspheme. He had failed in a most important
part of an apostle's character.

True, he had repented with bitter tears, and had received a message
from the empty tomb; on that Easter morn he had heard his forgiveness
spoken by the lips of his Lord, and he would not have exchanged that
forgiven