Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-10-12

l. And it came to pass that, as the peo-
pie pressed upon him to hear the word of
God, He stood by the lake of Gennesareth."
After He was expelled from Nazareth, as
Ec saw in last weeks lesson, He for
time made Capernaum His center (Math.
iv, 13) that prophecy might be fulfilled.
About that time Andrew and Peter, James
and John received n call to follow Him
nnd did so (Math. iv, 1929. Among tho
many sick and suffering whom He healed
In Capernaum were the man in the syna-
gOguc with an unclCan spirit and the
mother of Simun's wife. Throughout all
Galilec He healed all manner of disease
and preached the gospel of the kingdom,
50 that His fame spread everywhere (Math.
iv, 23-2j) In the midst of this popularity
today's lesson finds Him preaching to the
people hungcring for the word on the
shore of Galilcc's sea- From my present
experience i'm 10 Bible classes held in as
many different cities and towns, in which
| meet from .. 600 to 3, 600 people weekly in
all kinds of weather, | most earnestly ties
tify to all preachers and teachers that poo
pie still hunger for the word of God. Why
should there be famineY amos viii, II,
~
2. And saw two ships standing by the
lake but the fisherman were gone out of
them and were washing their nets" This
is clearly different incident from that in
Math. iv, Is -. for there the men were in
the ships, two of them casting net and
two mcnding their nets. How interesting
it is that all we do is seen and noted, and
the Spirit thinks it worth while to record
whether these men were washing or mend
ing or casting their nctsl If we would
live always as under the eye of the Lord,
what a difference it might malSel
3. And He entered into one of the
ships, which was Simons, and prayed
him that he would thrust out little from
the land. And He sat down and taught
the people out of the ship" To appreciate
this fully one must remember that fish
ing boat is not always the sweetest nor
cleancst kind of vessel, and some Chris
tian people would consider well before
/ stepping into fishing boat, even to do
! people good. Let us consider Jesus and
have more Of His spirit What He would
teach the people we may imagine from
/ His discourse with Nicodcmus and the
woman of Samaria, etc. 1t would surely
| be concerning the kingdom and how to
reach it and walk worthy of it,
I. Now, when He had left speaking,
He said unto Simon, Launch out into the
deep and let down your nets for draft. -
He had been in n figure, casting the net
for souls, and His word would surely &C
complish His pleasure and bear fruit to
the glory of God. But lie has been using
Simon's boat and taking Simon's time,
and He will let no service go unreward-
ed. He is not unmindful of the needs of
the body and will surely make good Math.
vi, 33.
>. And Simon, answering, said unto
Him, Master, we have toilcd all the night
and have taken nothing-neverthcless at
Thy word / will let down the net" We
cannot help thinking of that other night
long after when they toilcd all night and
caught nothing (John xxi, b. Is there
any connection? 1t is well for Christians
to remember that no labor is ever in vain
in the Lord Il Cor XIV, So.
6. And when they had this done they
incloscd n great multitude of fishes ant
their net braile." At His word sometime
is always accomplished. When it is Got
who worketh there will Always be results
perhaps nor what we would like or wish
but always what He pleascs. He controls
even fishes, and fishes more easily thai
men, for they do not resist Him. In thu
: post resurrection incident the net did no
break (John xxi, ID. Consider why
Z. And they beckoncd unto their part
ners which were in the other ship tha
they should come and help them. AnC
they came and filled both the ships so tina
they began to sink" What givcr til,
Lord is! How abundantly He rewards
these partners for the use Of ono of thci
boatsl Why do we know SO little of th
Lord S fullncss, Of His exceeding abuE
dance? Is it not because we do not yicl,
fully TO Him? We are so lOath to prcsen
our bodies a living sacrifice, SO afraid IL
will require too much of us or in SOM
way allict or grieve us when all the Will
He desires to ill us with all His fullucs
(Eph. iii, 19l Hear Him as He says tina
If His people would only hearken unit
Him He would feed them with the fines
of the wheat and satisfy them with hone.
from the rock ops. lXXXi, ID, 1G).
S. when Simon Peter saw it, he fcl
down at Jesus knees saying, Depart from
me, for l am sinful man, O Lord
Nothing gives such deep conviction O
sin as IA sight Of the Lord and His good
ness. 1t is the goodness of God that lead
us to repentance (Rom. ii, ~. Conside
what abhoTent views of self were wrough
In job, Isaiah Daniel and Paul whcl
they saw tie glory and goodness of tn
Lord dob Mil, ., 6; lsa. vi, .; Dan. X, s
Phil. ill., z, s.. If we have good opinion
of ourselves, we need only to see Jesus il
order to have al our comeliness turned I
corruption and be enabled truthfully {
say, Il know that in mc-that is, in IN
flesh-dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. vii
49,.
Q. For he was astonishcd and all tina
were with him at tho draft of the fishe
which they had taken" All their night
toll had accomplished nothing, but now
with one cast of the net, both boats az
filled almost to sinking. What an illus
tration of Prov, Y, %, II. v, The bless
ing of the Lord it makcth rich, and tot
addeth nothing thereton If we woul
only abide always and wholly under Hi
control, how much He might accomplis
through usl His name is wonderful, an
there is nothing too wonderful for Him.
10. And 50 was also James and John
the sons Of Zebcdee, which were partner
with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon
Fear not. From hcnceforth thou shall
catch men," Earthly partnerships an
helpful if in The Lord, as these four were
but we must avoid all partnerships wit
the ungodly I'll Cor. vi, 14-1S). Esteem
above all things the partnership with thi
very same jesus, who in our lesson S