/ * OP' A MORNING beside THE LAKE OF GALILEE. • 1. LIFE IN EARNEST. 18mo 40 2. THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 18mo 40 3. THANKFULNESS. 18mo 40 4. THE HARP ON THE WILLOWS. 18mo 40 5. EMBLEMS FROM EDEN 40 6. MORIS ING BY THE LAKE OF GALILEE... . 40 7. THE LAMP AND THE LANTERN 50 8. THE HAPPY HOME 60 9. LADY COLQUHOUN’S LIFE..... 60 10. LIFE OF RICHARD WILLIAMS 75 11. LESSONS FROM THE GREAT BIOGRAPHY 90 12. THE ROYAL PREACHER 1 00 13. THE LIFE OF JAMES WILSON 1 00 14. CHRISTIAN CLASSICS. 4 vols 5 00 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. A MORNING BESIDE THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 33Y JAMES HAMILTON, D.D., F. L. S. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS No. 530 BROADWAY. 1863. / » ikjr PREFACE. The forty days betwixt the resurrection and ascension of Christ ’ were a transition period, during which, by occasional manifestations and habitual withdrawment from their sight, He was training His apostles for a life of communion with an unseen Saviour. Amongst these manifestations there is none more touching, nor better fitted to illus- trate His own assurance, “ Lo, I am with you alway,” than the interview beside the Sea of Tiberias, which forms the supple- mental chapter of St. John. Interposed be- twixt the Gospels and Acts, like a beautiful bridge, it leaves no chasm. Straight along the level, from the labours of the Master it conducts us to the ministry of His Servants ; n PREFACE. and, die cloud winch received Him notwith- standing, it helps us to understand how He still is present with His people. For publishing the following meditations, the author has no better apology than the interest which he felt in the subject, and which was to some extent shared by a friendly audience. Should any one desire to study more fully this most instructive portion of Hew Testament history, he is referred to Cl The Risen Redeemer ” of Dr. Krummacher, translated by Mr. Betts with a vividness and eloquence worthy of the original. Instead of a full Table of Contents, following Mr. Sheppard, Mr. Bagster, and other good examples, the Author has given at the end of his little book an Alphabetical Index. November 27, 1862. CONTENTS The Lake of Galilee. 1 The Night when they Caught Nothing 18 Joy comes in the Morning 85 Lovest thou Me ? 54 Feed My Sheep 77 Simon Peter 94 The Disciple whom Jesus Loved Ill John the Divine 127 Follow Me 145 The Footsteps of the Forerunner 155 Notes 173 Index 31 ♦ * THE 1 AKE OF GALILEE. “ After these things Jesus manifested himself Again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias.’* Fkom Mount Moriah a rugged path leads down to the valley. The night was clear and cool — the first week in April — and every footstep was fragrant ; for the thyme and the rosemary had newly fetched up that incense which each successive spring earth yields to her Maker; and deep down in the hol- low murmured a stream which told that the vernal rains were not long over and gone. From the city there rose into the sky a misty light, as from a festival; but whatever might be the stir and excitement in the streets, with white cliffs and shadowy ravmes, Olivet, lonely and silent, looked down on it all. The Passover was finished, a new ordinance had been instituted, a hymn had been sung, ^ THE LAKE OF GALILEE. and now the little company was descending this path — the temple behind them, Gethse- mane before them — a sad and anxious com- pany ; J esus, sublime in His resolute purpose and far-seeing sorrow, His attendants weak with dim apprehension and that mysterious forecast, which we all know so well, of coming calamity. Kor was it reassuring when such words broke the silence — “All ye shall be offended because of me this night : for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.” You know the sequel. You know how in language the warm expression of his own attachment, although not sufficiently consi- derate of his brother apostles, Peter again and again protested, “Though all shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended ” “ Though I should die with thee, yet wni I nor deny thee.” And you know how he kept his promise. You know how his ardour carried him a little farther than the rest; how, when the others lied, he fol- lowed as far as to the high-pidest’s palace; THE LAKE OF GALILEE. but you know how there his courage gave way; how, at the first challenge, he ex- claimed, ‘ I am not His disciple’ ; and how, at last, with oaths and execrations, he declared, “ I know not the man.” A month has passed on : a month which to the world has given a risen Redeemer, ^vhich to all the apostles has given again their Master, which to Peter has brought forgive- ness and reinstatement in the lovingkindness of the Lord. And now the time of Christ’s ascension is near. It is a calm, sweet morn- ing in May, and they are beside the lake of Galilee. Seven of the eleven apostles have been up all night, toiling, as it turned out, for the last time, at their old vocation of fishermen, with no success, till Jesus joined them, and in a single sweep filled their net so full that they could not draw it. The last meal that they and He had all taken toge- ther, was on that night so much to be re- membered,* and since then “ all things were made new.” Sin had been expiated, God’s * On His fourth appearance (Luke xxiv. 42) He ate not with but “ before ” diem j and Thomas was absent. B 2 4 THE LAKE OF GALILEE. sacrifice on behalf of a sinning world had been offered, and the kingdom had come — the reign of God in the midst of men. And so there — not in the Holy City, nor under the shadow of Moriah, but far off, on the hea- then border, in “Galilee of the (gentiles ” — J esus meets His destined Evangelists ; and in the whole incident there is something signifi- cant, we might almost say symbolic. They are engaged in their lawful calling, when the Master accosts them ; teaching us that Christ is not ashamed of His servants because their employment is homely, or because they wear the coarse garb of the fisherman. But in that calling even experienced hands, habitu- ated to the lake and proficients in their craft, have no success till their Master directs them where to find; teaching us in all our ways to acknowledge a higher wisdom. The race is not always to the swift ; and unless the Lord Himself fill the net, the scholar, the trader, the statesman may toil all night, and catch nothing. Yes; “the morning has now come,” and it is very lovely. Nor is it merely that the lake is glass ; it is not merely that the blossomed THE LAKE OF GALILEE- 5 oleanders, like willowy roses, proclaim the plenitude of summer; it is not the promise of plenty in the ripening barley and leafy orchards round them ; but their world is new. Their future is unknown ; His precise designs and purposes their Master has not yet un- folded ; but it is enough. He Himself ^s here, — in His countenance no sorrow now : on His spirit no sore pressure such as human friend- ship can neither share nor understand. And as with gunwale still wet and slippery, the boats are beached — as on 4he pebbly strand, the embers have gone out, and their repast is finished, although a working day, it feels so Sabbath-like ; for, radiant in resurrection- life, rich in that calm rest into which He has entered, no longer so careful to veil His glory, the Master is in the midst; and al- though little has yet been spoken, it seems as if all the holiest seasons of the last three years had come again, with a nearer heaven intermingled. It is the Lord. He lives; He dieth no more. And it is thu& that He looks : so concerned for His people’s welfare, so glad to provide the meal for the tired and' hungry boatmen, so benignant toward them b 3 6 THE LAKE OF GALILEE. happiness : “ Come and dine.” Yet the move- ments so miraculous : His sudden appearance, the surprising draught of fishes, the repast so strangely provided ; in His graciousness such majesty, His very sweetness so awful, that none could be intrusive, nor “ dursj” anyone break *the silence, and put in words the question rising to his lips, “ Who art thou h ”* But the silence ends, the reserve is so far ^broken. Peter already knows that he is for- given, but with Divine considerateness the Lord Jesus is desirous of setting him right with his brother apostles, and with Divine wisdom the Head of the Church purposes to found something on his very fall. So when Hie meal was ended, and the time was come .for free and friendly converse, the Lord addressed Himself to Peter. The very ques- tion was so shaped as to recal to Peter’s 'mind his rash and arrogant avowal, “ Al- though all men deny thee, yet will not I : ” • u Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these V y — imply: Qg, ‘ Son of Jonas, not long ago you boasted, that if these others denied me, you loved me so much more than * See Note A. THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 7 they, that there was no fear of you. What say you now ? Do you love me more than the rest V And to the question thus put, very beautiful in its meekness is Peter’s answer. He is too humble now, and too modest, to make any comparison, but he must come out with the truth, and„to the Searcher of Hearts he appeals, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee ; ” and, accept- ing the declaration, J esus replies, “ Feed my lambs.” ‘ I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not ; now thou art converted, strengthen weak brethren. Take for thy special charge those who are still weak in the faith ; let love find its outlet in feeding my lambs.’ * Then a second time He said it — not be- cause He doubted the truth of the avowal, but in order to intensify and emphasize the exhortation which that avowal elicited, — “ Feed my sheep.” And not without an obvious allusion to Peter’s threefold denial, Christ’s question was a third time repeated, t and the third time it was charged on the apostle, “ Feed my sheep ; ” and a presenti- * See Note B. + See Note C. 3 THE LAKE OF GALILEE. ment was given him of the martyrdom which he should incur in the service. Then it would appear as if with the words, “ Fol- low me — words which at first, and three years before, had summoned him to disciple- ship, and which now finally called him away from the fishing-boat to more exalted func- tions — it would seem as if with these words the Lord Jesus had made a movement to arise and go thence, and Peter had literally followed. But there was another disciple who made the self-same movement ; and turning round, and seeing John also follow, the old Peter gleamed out for a moment, as he asked, ‘ And what is to be his destiny 'l He volun eers to follow : is there also a cross for him V a question which was rebuked in the reply, ‘ What is that to thee % Should he escape all violent hands, and live on to the close of the dispensation, what is that to thee % Follow thou me P In this touching incident the first thing which strikes us is the grace of the Lord Jesus. Penitent as Peter was, it was needful to set him right with his brother apostles. THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 9 whom he had first of all wronged by his for- wardness, and next scandalized by his fall ; and how admirably is this accomplished by the question, “ Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these ? ” — a question to which Peter replied so humbly, as to show that he claimed no pre-eminence even in affection, — but so earnestly, that fellow- servants could not refuse the avowal which sufficed for the Master. So, in correcting any fault, in pointing it out, in trying to cure it — nay, in forgiving it, and trying to set the offender right with his fellows, there is need for holy skill and tenderness. Whatsoever other causes may have contributed, there can be little doubt that fierce denunciations have often aggra- vated slight doctrinal errors into chronic and deliberate heresies ; just as a harsh, unsym- pathetic treatment has first discouraged the returning backslider, and at last driven him off into a sullen dislike of what he deems a, high-pitched and unfeeling hypocrisy. But if we cannot hope to emulate the discrimina- tion which through Peter’s rashness still re- cognised his love, and when we read the- 10 THE LAKE OF GALILEE. message of the newly-risen Saviour, “ Gc and tell my brethren, and Peter,” as well as the interview before us, if its Divine dexterity, its superhuman delicacy fills us with despair, we may at least copy the tender touch and holy handling which did not break the bruised reed, but so bound up and strengthened Peter’s crushed affection that it was stronger than be- fore — no bruised reed, but a very trump of God, when a fortnight afterwards the Holy Spirit blew through him that Pentecostal blast, and they that were in their graves heard the voice — three thousand dead in tres- passes looked up and saw the Christ of God, and began to live for ever. A second lesson is the Saviour’s wisdom in the selection of His agency. In that same apostolic band there was another to whom we might have expected that the Lord would have said, rather than to Peter, “ Feed my lambs : feed my sheep.” For depth of in- sight, for exalted spirituality, for that swift and sympathetic intuition whkffi is the pre- rogative of love and like-mindedness, for symmetry of character, who can compare to .Zebedee’s younger son ? Hay, THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 11 “ He was like the moon, Because the beams that brightened him passed over Our dark heads, and we knew them not for light Till they came back from his.” * Was he not the most Christ-like in the com- pany? — and are there not many traits of the Master, which we seem to know best by their reflection from this beloved disciple ? Yet although he is the disciple whom the brethren love, and although he was the disciple w'hom Jesus loved, in the work of planting the Church and first preaching the Gospel he was not put forward like that other who made so many false steps, and who had been repeatedly rebuked for his rashness. For this there was a reason, not only in Peter’s experience, but in the very make of Peter’s mind. In all ages you will find, that although deep thinkers may sway the thoughtful spirits round them, yet, in order to be popular, men must be frank, open, fervid, and must abound, not so much in the finer feelings, as in those which are shared by the most of their fellows. Thus, last century it was not the devout and gentle Doddridge, * Adapted from “ Balder.” 12 THE LAKE OF GALILEE. but the impetuous Whitfield, who shook Eng . land from end to end. Thus it has not been Leighton, or Binning, or any such sequestered saint or seraphic thinker, who has made his mark on Scotland, so much as a real flesh-and- blood reformer — a participator in the caustic national humour, scornful of superstition, sardonic toward all mere sentiment, reve- rential only to the Word of God. And thus, in the fatherland, it was not Melancthon, with his fine taste, his correct logic, his clear and careful statements, his beautiful and balanced piety, but it was Luther, with his startling paradox and sublime excess — Luther, with that mighty heart of his, which is still the most living thing in Germany — Luther, with those burning words which, picked up and heated anew by men who, like Goethe, have little heart or faith themselves, still make such excellent thunderbolts — it was Luther, whose noisy impetuosity roused all Europe, and brought dowm in dusty ruin a third part of the mystic Babylon. And so the imm of taste, the lovers of the correct and the beautiful, must often stand aside and allow God’s work to go on through agencies THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 13 which, if they do not altogether like, it is evi- dent that He Himself has chosen, and which are plainly the best adapted to the world as it is. Still, let it not be forgotten that for the other class the great Head of the Chnrch has a place and a function. J ohn did not preach sermons at the close of which thousands were pricked to the heart, and exclaimed, “ Men and brethren, vrhat shall we do V’ but neither did Peter write — even under Divine guidance it would not have been congruous to him to have written — such a Gospel as John's, or such a treatise as John’s First Epistle — an Epistle and Gospel through whose refracting atmosphere the Sun of Righteousness is kept from ever setting on our world — into which we cannot look, but the very Godhead looks at us, Immanuel in His own light thence shining, because first received into the pellucid, waveless mirror of the narrator’s loving mind. If we were more devoted to the Master we should have less dislike to any fit and faithful servant. After all, the thing that tells is truth c 14 THE LAKE OF GALILEE. in love, — God’s own truth spoken by one who loves it and who loves Him, and who loves the souls of men — contagious truth, truth that has taken hold of what is characteristic in our mental constitution, and conformed it to its own likeness. In one of the Polar voyages, they made a lens of ice. They took the clear, crystal cake, and polished convex either side, and then, when held in the sunbeams, without melting itself, it would ignite the taper or set the fagot on fire. But for such frozen mediums there is no place in Christ’s service. Before givinganyone commission to teach or to preach, He asks, ‘ Lovest thou me ? Candidate for the ministry, conductor of the Sabbath class, lovest thou me V It is an awful thing to be only the artist — the mere lens of ice, trans- mitting what you yourself do not feel. In order to be the evangelist you must be the burning and shining light ; and if, according to the gift given, there is love — it may be a taper in the chamber, or a beacon on the mountain top — a smoking furnace, or a pure and perfect flame — but it will be in keeping with the natural character, and it will be by THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 15 Christ enkindled ; zeal as well as knowledge, benevolence as well as truth, a burning and a shining light. When their Master’s need was at the sorest, none of the disciples acted out and out the part of the noblest and most self-devoting friend- ship ; but there were two whose fall is most conspicuous — the one having betrayed Him, the other having with oaths and execrations repudiated all connexion with Him. Both fell, but the one fell to rise no more; the other was not only recovered, but fully re- instated in the confidence of his brethren and in the favour of his Lord. What made the difference ? It all arose from this : — There never was a time when Judas really loved his Master. To the appeal, 1 J udas Iscariot, lovest thou me 'l ’ he never could have answered, “ Lord, thou knowest all things ; thou knowest that I love thee.” Ah, no ! he loved the money, he loved the present world, he loved the praise of men; but he never truly loved his Master. Peter did N Truly and tenderly, and with all the vehemence of his honest and ardent nature, he stood by his c 2 16 THE LAKE OF GALILEE. Lord; and although, in a fatal hour, his faith faltered, and, in the storm of temptation, his love went down and disappeared, it still was there, and soon came up again in an outburst of shame and repentance. And so, the mere professor of religion may fall and never be recovered. The name to live was all he had, and, now that this is lost, there is nothing to raise him up, or bring him back again. But you who are vexed with yourself because of ydur discomfitures and downbreaks — you who say, ‘ I had better give up, for I am not getting on. Every new start is sure to be followed by another stumble. And it is not only new temptations, but the old sins over again. I despair of pardon. I despair of ever growing better ’ — think of Peter. Think of all those who, like Peter, have not only been forgiven seven times, but seventy times seven. And if, to the demand of the heart- searching Immanuel, “ Lovest thou me 'l ” you can answer, “ Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee,” His long-suffering mercy will not only pardon but cure you ; and, called to a fresh career of discipleship, and a new trial THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 17 of faith and affection by that word, “ Follow me/’ your diseases will be healed, your soul will be restored in the paths of righteousness, and you will be upheld by the Lord whom you follow. THE NIGHT WHEN THEY CAUGHT NOTHING. “ That night they caught nothing.” Christ’s attendants were hard-working people Some of them, like the sons of Zebedee, might own a little property; and Matthew, as a farmer of revenue, had once the chance of growing rich. But it does not appear that any of them had ever been men of wealth, or in what we should call independent circum- stances ; and, at the time of this incident, it is likely enough that the dishonesty of their late purse-bearer had swept away their ready money, and reduced them to an unwonted poverty. At all events, when, in obedience to their risen Master’s bidding, they had gone before Him into Galilee, the first time that lie came up with them He found seven of them on the water fishing. It was morning. THE NIGHT WHEN THEY CAUGHT NOTHING. 19 and they had been out all night, but they had been utterly unsuccessful. And what does that mean h You angle for amusement, and after a long day, when your friends meet you returning, and ask, “ What sport ] ” you exhibit your empty basket, and can bear to be bantered for your lucklessness or want of skill. But the poor boatman says, “I go a-fishing,” because there is no food in the house, or because there is an account to pay, and no money to meet it; and when the morning dawns on his empty deck, it is hard to go home weary, and sleepy, and hungry, and know that his own vexation on the deep must be repeated in the disappointment of those who tarry on the land. “We have toiled all night and caught nothing.” There is nothing for Simon’s wife to make ready, — nothing for Simon himself to carry to the market at Capernaum, and convert into pence and shekels ; and, after this wakeful night, it cannot be a working day. We hardly re alize the case, but the Lord Jesus understood it well. For years He had mingled with these men, and was thoroughly acquainted with their privations and their hardships, and had 20 THE NIGHT WHEN shared their narrow lodging and their homely fare; and as He now espied the empty vessel making for the shore, He knew that in yonder light boat were heavy hearts, and He prepared for them a wonderful surprise. “ Children, have ye anything to eat % ” was His inquiry, as He hailed them from the shore. “No,” was the reply — the curt monosyllable of weary and disappointed men ; but “ Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find,” was the answer of One whose kindness is not easily repulsed, and whose precept usually involves a promise: “Cast the net, and this time ye shall find;” and when the sweep was finished, and the seine was drawn to shore, they found that they had made a little fortune. A meal was ready for them on the strand ; a hundred and fifty-three * # The fathers and mediaeval writers find in the number of these fishes various mysteries. For ex- ample, Theophylact suggests that the Gentiles may stand for a hundred, and the Jews for fifty, whilst the doctrine of the Trinity is obviously indicated by the three. Tovg iOvwv ticarop iiiroiq av> aWa icat ol Iff, without waiting till your faith is strong, or your repentance has confirmed into saintly character, go tc the Lord Jesus just as you are, and He will supply all that you need. He will give you a place at that feast which He has prepared for the unprepared, for those whom the invitation surprises in ditches and on dust- heaps, on highways and in hedges, and whom the robe of His own providing, together with His own exalted fellowship and His Spirit’s reviving energy, transforms into the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Alas ! we are slow to understand. Even whilst gazing into the Gospel, how our eyes are holden so as not to see its most marvellous, announcement ! As has been wf 11 remarked, “ The power of God is not the inmost centre of His being, but His holiness and love are. the power above His omnipotence. He re- 70 LOVEST THOU ME? veals Himself not only as a holy Lawgiver and Judge, demanding our services, but as holy , communicative love , proposing it to Him- self as His end in creation — the production of loving beings, made after His own likeness.”* To get hold of this truth is to get hold of the principle which underlies the Gospel, and which comes out in every faithful saying. It is to get as much insight as revelation itself imparts into the deep things of Deity, and it is the firmest foot-hold which faith can hope to gain when wishing to feel assured and con- fiding towards Infinite Excellence, God is love ; and when He made man at the first, He made him after His own image — full of affec- tionate devotion, full of loving-kindness. And although man has destroyed himself — al- though, from the broken cistern of the human heart, this living water has all run out, J esus has brought it back again. Himself the mani- festation of Heaven’s compassion, and the great magazine of God’s mercies to mankind, we drink the living water when we believe * Dorner, in that great repertory of sound and seasonable theology, “The British and Foreign Evan- gelical Review,” vol. xi., p. 630. LOVEST THOU ME ? 71 His own declaration, and surrender to tlie Father’s love. We drink the living water when we taste the sweetness of pardoning mercy, and suffer ourselves to be once more beloved by Gtod* We drink the living water, and, instead of perishing, we possess eternal life j for we believe that great love which God had toward us when He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And thus be- lieving, we become new creatures. We get again some of those lineaments which were lost in the Fall. We begin again to love God whom we have not seen, as also the brother whom we see ; — thus again evincing a re- covered celestial sonship ; for “ God is love, and every one that loveth is born of God.” ** Passing through the desert, you pick up a withered gourd. You are amazed at its light- ness, and much do you marvel how an object so bulky should prove such absolute levity. Yet you can understand how it happened. Lying there in the burning sand, no wonder that every particle of sap is absorbed, and that its moisturo is turned into the drought of summer. But no\tf that vou have come to this foun- 72 LOVEST THOU ME 1 tain, cast it in, and leave it a little. How is it now ? Does it feel full and solid 1 Hay, cast it out on this mighty and horizonless main; and, after it has nodded and tumbled a while on the billows, stretch forth your hand, and take it up once more. Is it not light and empty as ever ] And how is this ] With an ocean on every side, able to fill it millions of times over and over, why does it continue empty and void h Why, but because it is closed all round and round. There is not an open valve, nor the smallest crevice at which a drop can enter. It continues empty and hollow, because water- proof and hermetically sealed. Have you never felt your own heart like that rattling gourd ? — dry, empty, unloving 1 The deepest thing in all your nature — do you not feel that that deepest thing is a dismal void ? Where love to God should be, — the spirit’s strength and blessedness, — does it not feel a great vacuity 1 — a thirsty chasm 1 — a dreary, sounding emptiness ? And why is this 1 Is God unloved, because unlovely h Is He unenjoyed, because unapproachable and in- communicable ? Is it a dry, parched land — a dusty, burning desert, on which your poor LOVEST THOU ME h 73 soul is cast out to pine and shrivel ? — a world from which, like the last shower which fell on Sahara, and which is long since forgotten, God’s kindness is long since departed h Ah, no ! the gourd is afloat. All round is the Gospel. On every side stretches the multitudinous expanse of God’s mercies. It was He who shed down sweet sleep on your eyelids last night, and roused you this morn- ing to blessings wide as your horizon and high as His own heaven. It is He who, every Sabbath in the sermon, and every day in His own Book, keeps whispering, “ Trust me : love me : believe me : return to your spirit’s Father : oh, be reconciled to God ! ” And if your spirit is not long since inundated and surcharged with the inflowings of fatherly affection, and the raptures of filial devotion, it is because unbelief has made it love-proof, and, amidst the full flood of God’s mercies, keeps it hermetically sealed. Such is the soul of the worldling. Such is the heart of the unbeliever. It is a little self- contained desert afloat on an ocean of bless- ing ; and it is only by breaking the heart — by making an opening in the love-excluding H 74 LOVEST THOU ME 1 unbelief, crushing in its arrogance and self- sufficiency — that the same stroke of God’3 Spirit which reveals its own emptiness, lets in something of the encompassing Gospel, and fills it with peace and joy in believing. It is this holy love, — it is this opening of the heart to God’s good will, — which draws back to Himself that heart in grateful devo- tion and tender affiance. The love of God you cannot overrate, nor from its infinite well-spring drink too largely. “God is love;” and to believe that love, of which the sinless creation is the boundless sphere, and of which Calvary is the focus concentered, the bright and burning expression, — to believe that it is not a cold law, a dark fate, a sombre power, in which you live and move and have your being; but to believe that it is God’s great life which now encircles and will eternal 1 / enclasp your little life ; to believe that a Be ng most wise, most holy, most tenderly merciful, hovers round your daily path, guards your bed of slumber, and listens to your every prayer; to believe that that God whom J esus loved so ardently, in communion with whom He spent the nights so pleasantly, and into whose hands LOVEST THOU ME ] 75 He commended Kis t it so serenely ; to be- lieve that this God and Father of the Lord Jesus is for Jesus’ sake a fatherly, loving God to you; — to get grace to believe this is to learn the lesson which the Incarnate Word was constantly teaching, and the faith of which gave to John and his brethren their fulness of joy. If you, too, would be happy, learn to love. Yiew God as He reveals Himself. Believe Him to be what Jesus said; believe Him to be what Jesus was. When any mercy or any happy moment comes, remember the pleasant truth — God Himself is near. A nd just as in your chamber there is a brightness, and though you cannot see the firmament, you know the unclouded sun is shining : so in your home there is health, there is comfort, there is a glow of affection, and you feel, How sacred is this happiness ! It is a smile from God. And just as your little child wakes up and finds a present on his pillow, and shouts forth his wonder and his thanks : so when, through no labour of your hands, through no procurement or desert of yours, there comes to you some good and perfect gift, you cry, h 2 76 LOVEST THOU ME 1 “ Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ ! My Heavenly Father has been here ; for it is thus He giveth to His beloved in their sleep.” FEED MY SHEEP, “ Bo(tk€ ra apvia pov. Tlolpaive ra Trpoftara pov. Bocr/cf ra npo^ara pov Exposed to many dangers, in themselyes re- sourceless and feeble, at once dependent and gregarious, tbe sheep of the pasture supply a most obvious emblem for many of our human communities or associations. But although the king, the prophet, the father, are in the Bible all spoken of as “ shepherds,” it almost looks as if the occupation had been instituted on very purpose to image forth the work of the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls- — of Him who, having laid down His life for the sheep, is, in a sense pre-eminent and exclu- sive, “the Good Shepherd” — of Him who gathers the lambs with His arm and carries them in His bosom — and of whom every believer may sing with the Psalmist, “ He restoreth my soul ; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” On the other hand, it was the grace and wisdom of the Saviour, before going out of sight, that something of His own pastoral work He assigned to His servants. “He gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the building up the body of Christ.” To Peter, and to all in any equivalent position, He said, “ Lovest thou me h Feed my sheep.” The first thing we notice is the connexion of the two things. “ Lovest thou me ] Feed my lambs.” “ Lovest thou me 1 Feed my sheep.” ‘ After this, there is little that you can do directly for myself. There will be no need to draw the sword, and smite any one in defending me, for my life will never again be in danger. There will be no need to extend to me the hospitalities of your FEED MY SHEEP. 79 home, as on that day when your mother-in- law rose from the fever to minister to us — no need for you to go into the city to buy bread, whilst your weary Master waits by the well; for henceforth I hunger no more, neither thirst any more. But as you will still love me, and still wish to show it, here is the opportunity — here are the objects of my affection. If thou lovest me, feed my sheep — my sheep, for the Father hath given them to me, and none shall pluck them from the Father’s hand — my sheep, for I have laid down my life, and bought them with my blood. But I hand them over to thee.* Simon, son of J onas, and all you apostles, for * c< To Peter it was said, not c Feed thy sheep,* bni ‘ Feed Mine? Therefore Peter is a pastor, not inde- pendently and of himself, hut as identified with the Chief Shepherd (in corpore past oris). If he were to feed his own sheep, those whom he fed would soon become goats .” — Augustini Sermones , celxxxv. 5. In the same spirit, and with characteristic terseness, is the Note of Grotius : “ Pasce ; id est, ipsis, non tibi, consule ; suade, non coge : oves non tuas sed rneas.” “ Feed, that is, take care, not of yourself, but of them; use kindness, not compulsion j they are not your sheep, but mine.** 80 FEED MY SHEEP. my sake take care of them, and treat them kindly/ A charge which will recal to many minds the verses of Mr. M‘Cheyne, written beside this very Sea of Tiberias : —