The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-30
First Quarter. Lesson V. Luke v,
 Ill. January 31, 1904.


 might despair. -Tennyson. First Quarter. Lesson V. Luke v,
 Ill. January 31, 1904.
 Jesus Calls Four Deciples.
 There was no need to ring a bell to secure Jesus an audience. People flew to him like filings to a magnet. In this instance 1t is said the people pressed on him to hear. The little company who first discovered him on his early morning walk by the lake, quickly grew to great concourse. The Masters fertility in eX- pedicnts had another illustration. It only took him a moment to convert boat into a pulpit The scene makes a theme for an artist The lake beneath, the sky above, the nine considerable cities on the hiI-slopes, looking down like distant observers; the mixed multitude crowding to the edge of the shore, their faces mir rored in the water at their feet, and in the fisherman's boat, screened by the loosened sail, the prince of all preachers speaking from the bosom of the placid lake, itself an emblem of the peace he could give.
 But the sermon was only an incident. His real errand that morning was to call his apostles. He had already given the what might be called preliminary or pro- bationary calls. From these the disciples were afterward dismissed to attend to their worldly affairs and while doing so, in their old and familiar environments, and free from excitement of novel situa- tions to, think on what they had heard and seen. The calls were also progress sive. But this one was final. Jesus had had an open rupture with the ecclesiasu- cal establishment. He must needs now organize his followers. He knew where his pledged men were, and came to enlist them for active service.
 He prefaced the call by a thrilling pie torial miracle. Nothing could have more significantly taught them what they were to be and do. The command, Launch forth into the deep. and let down your nets for a darught" was a surprise. Keble voices the fisherman's plant:
 ''Toiled all night. nothing taken;
 Full many a dreary, anxious hour,
 We watch our nets alone,
 And hear the night birds moan.' But hesitation, if there was any. was momentary. Peter quickly laid all his fisherman's lore at Jesuss feet as 60 sacri- fee to his faith.
 That last catch after the old order was a symbol of the future occupation. The size of the take was a pledge of future success III the new CalllnB. mat miracle took Peter and his comrades vironment and everyday employment. It was all the more significant to them, the better understood and appreciated
 The conslderateness of Jesus in thus en- couraging his disciples is characteristic and worthy of note. He was asking these men to joia their fortunes with his, an accommodated man, to sunder ties of tribes and family. to abandon the only means of livelihood they were familiar with. Again. they were called, not merely to be learners like the followers of the average rabbis, not to be recipients, but doers. They were to launch out and let down their net into the sea of human ifc. They were (to translate it literally to take men alive; to persuade and make converts And that, too, under the very shadow of d great and hostile ecclesiasti- cal establishment.
 If ever men needed to be heartened, it Was the four men Jesus called that day. If eyer men had immediate and divine en- couragement, 1t was in this instance. That miracle put gimp in their backs. The moment they could get their ships ashore, they forsook all, and followed him.
 The Teachers Lantern.
 It is helpful to recall Jesuss previous dealings With these men.
 
 During Jesus's forty days in the Wilder ness, his Messianic character and work fully dawned upon him. There he evolv- ed his plans and the principles of pro- cedure, to which he adhered to the very close of his career.
 He came back to the vast concourse still attending the ministry of John the Baptist at the lords of the Jordan as to a human quarry from which he could select living stones as the foundation of that spiritual edifice be designed to rear. Nor was he disappointed. He found five out of the twelve.
 When John saw him. he gave him q Joyous welcome. No shade of Jealousy crossed his noble heart. He unequivocal- " cast tho full weight of his phenomenal influence upon the side of the new teacher, crying, "Bchold. the Lamb of ' oh Inc morrow. as Jesus reappearcd, tom repeated his significant exclamation l MIth even increased emphasis. It was as nc had said. Whoever wishes to leave