oil and where they might find inhospitable rock, but
assured that after a time whoso followed in their track should see the
fruit of their words. Not less significant is the figure of the net;
they let down the net of their good tidings, not seeing what persons
were really enclosed in it, but trusting that He who had said, "Cast
your net on the right side of the ship," knew what souls it would fall
over. By this miracle He gave the Apostles to understand that not only
when with them in the flesh could He give them success. Even now after
His resurrection and when they did not recognise Him on the shore He
blessed their labour, that they might even when they did not see Him
believe in His nearness and in His power most effectually to give them
success.

This is the miracle which has again and again restored the drooping
faith and discouraged spirit of all Christ's followers who endeavour to
bring men under His influence, or in any way to spread out this
influence over a wider surface. Again and again their hope is
disappointed and their labour vain; the persons they wish to influence
glide out from below the net, and it is drawn empty; new opportunities
are watched for, and new opportunities arrive and are used, but with the
same result; the patient doggedness of the fisherman long used to turns
of ill-success is reproduced in the persevering efforts of parental love
or friendly anxiety for the good of others, but often the utmost
patience is at last worn out, the nets are piled away, and the gloom of
disappointment settles on the mind. Yet this apparently is the very hour
which the Lord often chooses to give the long-sought-for success; in the
dawn, when already the fish might be supposed to see the net and more
vigilantly to elude it, our last and almost careless effort is made, and
we achieve a substantial, countable success--a success not doubtful, but
which we could accurately detail to others, which makes a mark in the
memory like the hundred and fifty and three of these fishers, and which
were we to relate to others they must acknowledge that the whole weary
night of toil is amply repaid. And it is then a man recognises who it is
that has directed his labour--it is then he for the moment forgets even
the success in the more gladdening knowledge that such a success could
only have been given by One, and that it is the Lord who has been
watching his disappointments, and at last turning them into triumph.

The Evang