The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-09

IL 4
made him push out q little from the
upon Him. Then He sat down and
taught the multitude. A beautiful pic
,ture thAt--Christ upon the sea. preach
ing to the waiting multitude. After
the sermon Christ urged Simon to
launch out into the deep and let down
his net for a draught: to which he re-
sponded: Master. we have toiled all
the night and have taken nothing"
Notice then that we have here three
pictures of disciple
| The discouraged disciple-'We have
toiled all the night and have taken
nothing"
The obedient disciple--"Neverthe
less. at Thy word, will let down the
net"
The successful disciple--"And when
they had this done they enclosed a
great multitude OF fishes"
The Discouraged Disciple.
We have here a picture of a dis
couraged disciple Master. we have
toiled all the night and taken moth
ing" Christ had come to these men
after the chagrin of a nights failure.
We can feel the force of their words.
1t was demuring, a petulent way of
expressing their opinion as to the use
| lessness of renewed effort.
| These men were by no means nov
! ices They knew their business. They
| had know this sea from their boy
| hood----aII it's moods and tempers, its
dangers and possibilities. The story
Of their bread-winning life had been
told upon its waters, They were ex-
perts Still their boat was empty
They had worked hard and honestly
and wisely, but the sea had beaten
them. In spite of their instincts and
| familiarity they came ashore with
empty nets.
While thew were in no way respon-
sibIe for the failure OF the past night
vet that failure had twisted their rea-
con. They said II was useless to try
agai nbecause they had just failed
On the great sea where you and | do
! our work the same story is ever being
told 1t is difficult story to under
stand. It is beyond us The failure
of the foolish. the incompetent and
the lazy Is a foregone conclusion. But
how often do we see the wise. strong,
earnest souls coming from their tolls
with nothing to show, It is a piece OF
| false reasoning that would account
! for the seeming vanity of efort ny
suggesting that the man who made II
was incompetent. Some of the best
equipped lives the world has known
have seemed to be associated with
failure rather than success,
In case OF the fishermen. there was
A warped Judgment. They measured
the present by the past. They met
Christ with a bit of barren experience
/ I7nfruitful hours had led to mislead'
ing logic. An empty boat was the
harbinger of an empty life. We have
toiled all the night and taken moth
ing" Perhaps the emphasis is on thf
world night. The night was the proper
time for fishing. If they had had nc
success In the shadow Of the nigh
what chance had they in the glare Of
{the SUM-. They had tried when c0ntit
tions were favorable. They had failed
when things were propicious- Fancy
putting to sea in the morning Every
thing was against It.
How failure does make towards q
US all One of the most difficult thing:
In life is 10 go back to the task a
which we have not succeeded. IT L
much easter TO try something new
something uptried Have you eve
known boy to stumble over his les
son. He tripped over 1t the first time
and the second. The page is dog
seared. thumhwern and tearstained
The very sight Of It Is equal 10 Z
lnishtmare So failure makes faint ant
reluctant hearts. The sense Of fs:lur'
I has taken the heart out of him for new
endeavor.
An obedient Disciple.
Nevertheless at thy word 7 VIII lie
down the net" Success and failure ar
; not shallow and outward. but dee
, and inward things, No surface 1udg
ment ever truly appraised them. Tn