LECTURE I. THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL AN EVIDENCE LUKE V. 4—6. He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes. THE holy Apostles, while engaged in their humble calling as fishermen on the lake of Gennesaret, were twice visited by their divine Lord and Master; and on each occasion they received a proof of his almighty power. First, at the commencement of his ministry, and again after his resurrection, he appeared to them at break of day, at the moment when they were desisting from the fruitless labours of the night. At his command they once more cast forth their net; and now they were scarcely able to draw it, for the multitude of fishes which it had inclosed. We learn indeed, that when he first performed the miracle, they were terribly afraid; but he invited them to follow him, H. H. L. 1 bidding them be of good courage, inasmuch as from that time they should be "fishers of men." This invitation, strange as it must have appeared, and requiring as it did the sudden abandonment of all that had ever been dear to them, they joyfully and at once accepted. On the second occasion, when he came to them after his resurrection, he not only led them away again from their worldly calling, but to one of their number he solemnly and emphatically renewed that pastoral commission, that Apostolic office which he had previously given to them all. "Feed my lambs," he said to Simon Peter; and again he said, “Feed my sheep:" and a third time, "Feed my sheep." Thus did he raise up the holy Apostle, and reinstate him in that high office, from which, in consequence of his recent backsliding, he might otherwise have felt himself degraded. When therefore we recollect that in both cases the working of the miracle was presently followed by a declaration of the Apostolic office, we can scarcely doubt that the miracle itself had some reference to that office; and that the two were intended to be associated together in the minds of those who received them. Indeed, our Lord himself suggested such a conviction when he said to them, as he took them away from their ships and their fishing implements, "Fear not; from henceforth ye shall catch men." They might marvel for a moment at the saying, that they should catch men; but though they did not understand it, they readily believed it, not doubting that he who had such power over the fish of the sea was Lord also of the human race. Surely the miracle was intended to be a pledge to those disciples of the success which awaited them in their new and heavenly calling. It was a token, that by them and their colleagues and successors the world should be converted, and that though the labour might be long, and for a while without reward, yet at last mankind should come, as it were in shoals, to the receptacle of Christ's Church. In this light the miracle was regarded by the great divines of ancient times; and their interpretation has been adopted by many expositors, who cannot be accused of looking for mystical or fanciful senses in holy Scripture. There is good reason, therefore, for saying that in the miraculous draught of fishes, twice repeated, our Lord prefigured to his Apostles the success which they were to have in preaching his Gospel. But whether we accept or reject this figurative interpretation, one thing is certain, that the conversion of the world to |