The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1890-03-14

r,ssoS TExr-Luke 3: I'll.
no,ptS TExT-Fcar not; for hcnce-
.o,,b thou shalt catch mcn.-Lukc 8: TO-.
c,xruAL TnuTm-Thc blessed duty Of
.ll 70 bring men 70 eternal life.
~TiuE-April, A. y. -. Probably dur
no The week previous TO the last lesson.
pLAcr-On the shore Of the sea OF
Calilcc near Capernaum.
PARALLEL. AccouSTs--In bricfer form,
Matt. 4:ls-22; Mark t:10-20.
cmctrusrAxcEs-Jcsus when driven
,-om Nazareth on the Sabbath He
.reacbed there (sec Less. %, went to-
a.rd capcrnaum, and came TO the Sea
srCa,ilcc. Here Hc taught by the sea-
IA. and called four disciples TO ac-
.omnany Him on His preaching tours.
The next sabbath lie preached in Ca
nernaum, as related In our last lesson.
See the true order Of events in Mark.)
Urtrs OvrRH HAND Places. And sdso
~, ships: fishing boats. Standing BY tho
l,t,. moorcd to the shore, or drawn up
a. Il. The fsherm<n: Simon, Andrew,
lanes and John. (See Mark.) 3. lie
..,.r>d into one, srhich srGs Simon's: Simon
peter. Jesus knew him John 1: 35-40),
and no would be glad to havc Jesus use
his boat. II Is blessed TO have God use
any thing we have as q means Of saving
men. Prayed: asked. Thrust ont a hffle
ram The land: so that the crowds could
see and hear Him better. Tho place
was probably GOV or small bay, and tho
neonlc would thus be in . circle around
The boat. 4. For a draughf: Of fishes. 5.
Wsharc titled al the night: tho best time
for catching some kinds Of fish. Nerer-
fsIl.s: Peter believed in tho wisdom
and power OF Jesus. He had seen some
az His miracles before, probably that at
Cana John q. Q. And their net brake.
was on the point OF breaking. Z. Their
p~crfn<rs: James and John (v. 10y. 8.
D,part from me. for 4 am a anful man:
the greatness and goodness OF Jesus
made Peter feel that no was unworthy
70 be- near Him or 70 receive such favors
from Him. Tho goodness Of God
leadeth US to repentance" 10. Thou
shait cafch men: instead OF fish. Having
been faithful in his lower calling, he
was called 70 . higher and nobler work.
The word catch" in the original means
10 take alive" Men are caught in the
Gospel net for life, not death.
FrsHEns OF MENU Tho fishers are
Jesus and His disciples. This is the
york OF evcvy disciple. (2) The sea is
Ae evil world. () Tho Gospel, with
its attractions and G Of gaining
Ms, is the net. a. Eternal life in the
\, here and hereafter, is the shore.
4 Ercat skill, patient toll, watchful-
and care are necessary. The
~essful use OF the hand-net requires
Ghe fisherman" says DR.. W.. NJ.
~ son. "a keen eye, an active frame,
great skin in throwing. He must,
DO patient, w~atchful, wide-awakc,
yprompt 70 seize the exact moment
knrow." But all these may be &C
: hired BY practice and perseverance,.
~ There u an implied promise. Is we'll
N illustration Of abundant succcss
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. the practical ap-
|ication Of the principles that are
|und In the story. The lrst 70 which
call attention Is The blessedness Of
bedsencc-" Peter seems TO have half
bought that the command Of the Mas
was mol altogether reasonable.
F70cially as coming from ono who Wa
w 2 fisherman by profession. Yet in
pi'n "a some misgivings he obeyed, and
fac result wa that he did . better
s-.Ae " business that day than he had
done In . long time. He must have
thought within himself: What = good
thing 1t was that l did not adhere to my
own opinion and refuse TO do as the
Master commanded me TO dol" Now as
ne disciples grew older they found out
repeatedly that in obedience to His
word they always found q blessing. So ii
xas All through their lives. And so ii is
Null IL he word Of the Lord comes to
Us 70 do any thing. ours is to obey At
once, even II we do not see the exact
way in which the Master is going
y bring things out. Whatever we
md laid down in the Word OF God as our
ouiy, We should carry out. And there is
smother lesson, namely: Losing and
"aning." We read in verse IL that
"hen they came to the land. they for
sook All and followed Him. 1t probably
seemed TO some OF their friends that this
rs q very foolish performance.
ana there were probably many in
.apernaum who laughed 1T them for
'neir conduct But surprising thai on
me Day Of Pcntecost you had stood be-
sac Peter, after no had preached his
great sermon, and had seen three thou
sand souls enter the Kingdom OF God,
ana had said 10 him: Peter, are YOU
sorry that you forsook all and followed
M Master?' what do you suppose would
nave been his answer? Would he not
nave laughed and have said: mo, the
very best thing that ever I did was when
stopped fishing for fish. and began 70 pre-
pare 70 fish for men? / n~cvercaught three
thousand fish in . day. and now / have
landed three thousand men safely in the
gospel net" Yes, the very wiscst thing
mat these men did was when they con-
sented 70 be losers for tho sake OF the
.ospei- Then 1t was that they began to
u real gamers. II they had chung to
sneir nets they would have accomplished
~ little good in this world, and We
snould ncvcr have heard . word further
.som them. They lost and they found,
NY gave and they got. This is the cx-
pcrlcncc OF all true believers. They find
MUII UFIA- A.