The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1890-03-13
the pRAUoHr or FISHES.
international Sunday SCHOOL Lesson for
March 10, 1850.
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March 10, 1850.
Especially arranged from s. 8. ousrterly.l
LESSON TExr--Luke 5:1-11.
GOLDEN TExT-Fear not; for hence
forth thou shalt catch men.-Luke 8: 10.
CENTRAL TRuTH-The blessed duty of
all to bring men to eternal life.
TIME--April, A. ID. 2S. Probably dur
ing the week previous to the last lesson.
PLAcE-On the shore Of the sea of
Galilee near Capernaum.
PARALLEL AccouNTs-In briefer form,
Matt. 4:1s-22; Mark 1:l8-20.
CIRcuMsTxNcEs-Jesu when driven
from Nazareth on tho Sabbath He
preached there (see Less. o., went to-
ward Capernaum, and came to the Sea
Of Galilee. Here He taught by the sea-
side, and called four disciples to ac-
company Him on His preaching tours.
The next Sabbath He preached in ca
pernaum, as related in our last lesson.
(See the true order of events in Mark.)
HELPS OVER HARD PLAcEs-2. And sa,o
tro ships: fishing boats. Standing BY tho
lake: moored to the shore, or drawn up
on it. The fshsrmen: Simon, Andrew,
James and John. (See Mark.) 8. He
entered into one, sohSeh ras Simon's: Simon
Peter. Jesus knew him John 1: 35-40),
and he would be glad to have Jesus use
his boat. 1t is blessed to have God use
any thing we have as means Of saving
men. Prayed: asked. Thrust out little
from the land: 80 that the crowds could
see and hear Him better. The place
was probably cove OF small bay, and the
people would thus be in circle around
the boat. 4. For a dra1gAt: Of fishes. g..
Welfare toiled all tho night: tho best time
for catching some kinds Of fish. Ncrer-
theless: Peter believed in the wisdom
and power Of Jesus. He had seen some
Of His miracles before, probably that at
Cana John %. Q. And their net brake;
was on the point Of breaking. Z. Their
partners: James and John ". 10Y. 8.
Depart from me, for I am a stnful man:
the greatness and goodness Of Jesus
made Peter feel that he was unworthy
to be near Him or to receive such favors
from Him. 1.-The goodness Of God
leadeth us to repentance" 10. Thou
shalt catch men: instead OF fish. Having
been faithful in his lower calling, he
was called to higher and nobler work.
The word ''catch" in the original means
ito take alive" Men are caught in the
Gospel net for life, not death.
FISHERS OF MrN-C) The fishers are
Jesus and His disciples. This is the
work Of every disciple. (2) The sea is
the evil world. (s) The Gospel, with
all its attractions and means Of gaining
souls, is the net. (D Eternal life in the
soul, here, and hereafter, is the shore.
(5) Great skill, patient toll, watchful-
ness and care are necessary. "The
successful use Of the hand-net requires
in the fisherman" says DR.. w. M.
Thomson, "a keen eye, an active frame,
and great skill in throwing. He must,
too, be patient, watchful, wide-awake,
and prompt to seize the exact moment
to throw" But all these may be 90.
quired by practice and perseverance.
10y There is an implied promise, as we'll
as an illustration of abundant success.
APPLIcATIoNs-Note the practical sp.
plication Of the principles that are
found in the story. The frst to which
we call attention is "The blessedness of
obedience" Peter seems to have hall
thought that the command Of the Mas.
ter was not altogether reasonable,
especially as coming from one who was
not fisherman by profession. Yet in
spite of some misgivings he obeyed, and
the result was that he did better
stroke of business that day than he had
done in . long time. He must have
thought within himself: "What q good
thing it was that did not adhere to my
own opinion and refuse to do as the
Master commanded me to dop' Now o.
the disciples grew older they found out
repeatedly that in obedience to His
word they always found . blessing. So II
was all through their lives. And 20 it is
still. If the word Of the Lord comes to
US to do any thing, ours is to obey at
once, even II we do not see the exact
way in which the Master 10 goins
to bring things out. Whatever we
find laid down in the Word Of God % our
duty, we should carry out. And there ID
another lesson, namely: Losing and
Gaining" We read in verse II that
when they came to the land, they for
sook all and followed Him. 1t probably
seemed to some Of their friends that this
was very foolish performance,
and there were probably many in
Capernaum who laughed at them for
their conduct. But supposing that on
the Day OF Penteoost you had stood be.
side Peter, after he had preached his
great sermon, and had seen three thou.
sand souls enter the Kingdom of God,
and had said to him: "Peter, are you
sorry that you forsook all and followed
the Master7" what do you suppose would
have been his answer? Would he not
have laughed and have said: mo, the
very best thing that ever did was when
stopped fishing for fish, and began to pre-
pare to fish for mon? never osught tn rec
thoua nd flah In n Hov ana roxy ~