HOW much of unsuccessful fishing there is in this world! How men toil and labor and plan and wait, yet catch nothing! The gilded bait is untouched; the seductive spoon is unsought; the net fails to find the "school." It is an ages-old complaint, "We have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing." HOW MANY fishers of souls there are who nominally, at least, toil on from year to year and catch nothing! Every kind of bait which the human can devise, every attraction to gather them to the net is used, but the souls remain uncaught, the ecclesiastical net remains empty. THE story of our miracle has to do with fishing. Several of our Lord's disciples were fishermen. The calling was not the most reputable then, nor is it now. The roughness of the fisher in word and deed is proverbial. And the fishermen of Galilee were in all probability no exception to the rule. Yet there were honest hearts among the fisher folk notwithstanding their unpromising exterior. There are brave strong hearts among those who battle for years the stormy sea. To that class went Jesus and chose, at least Simon and Andrew, James and John, and perhaps Thomas and Nathanael. SIMON had first come to Jesus on the invitation of Andrew (John 1:40-42), with no thought evidently of giving up his occupation of fisherman. Not long after Jesus called him and his brother, and also the sons of Zebedee. "Follow Me," He said to them, "and I will make you fishers of men." Matt. 4:18-22. They left their nets and followed Him, until coming back to their old fishing grounds, the temptation seems to have been too strong, and Peter and James and John returned to their old occupation, doubtless in hope of a steadier life, and greater gain. OUR story has to do with the second call on this wise: In the morning, Jesus followed by a large crowd of people went down to the banks of Galilee. The multitude pressed upon Him to hear the word of God. Two boats stood there rocking in the soft swells of the quiet sea. Jesus enters one of them and asks Simon, the owner, to put out a little from the land, that He might better see and speak to the people; and then the Master sat down and taught the people. His lesson to the people over, Jesus turned to Simon and said: "Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." What could He mean? Simon respected Him as a wise teacher, but surely He knew little about fishing. Yet he answered Him respectfully, and with a willing heart, "Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing; but at Thy word I will let down the nets." Did the poor fisherman expect great results? —Evidently not, from what follows. But he had the first requisite of sublime faith and true discipleship, a willing, submissive mind and heart. In effect he said: "Master, I question the worth of the attempt, but at Thy word, I will put forth the effort." FULLER faith might have more triumphant joy, but it could do no more. "At Thy word" was all sufficient and ever is; for the potency is not in the weak faith of the mortal, but in the living word of God. Faith is the trolley which makes connection with the power. The nets were let down, filled with fish and the fish filled both the boats. The Master's friendliness in choosing his boat had touched Peter's heart; His instruction to the people had doubtless aroused once more in the heart of the rough fisherman a sense of God's holiness, and now the miraculous draught of fishes overwhelms him with a sense of God's power. That the miracle was wrought in his boat for him, touched his heart with a sense of God's love, which led to a humbling and breaking of heart. He falls down before the Master, and pleads what he deserves, but not what he wants: "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." He had departed from his Lord and returned to his fishing; but his efforts had been fruitless. He had first come to Jesus on the invitation of his brother. Jesus now comes to him the second time, uses his unsuccessful boat as a pulpit of God, a chair of state for Heaven's Ambassador; and then to show poor unsuccessful Peter his mistake, works the miracle of the great draught of fishes, right on the very ground where Peter and his companions had toiled all night. Then Jesus presses home the lesson to this disciple and John and James, and to all others after them, "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." And "they left all, and followed Him." The all was not much, a boat or two, a few fishing nets and other paraphernalia, and their hope of the future; but it was all, and a Rockefeller or an Astor could do no more. THE lesson should come home with peculiar force to the minister of God if he would be successful. Whole-hearted consecration is demanded in the work of God. He who carries his nets or his farm with him into his service for God will not, can not, be successful in winning souls. ABSOLUTE faith in God's word is an essential requisite, tho that word be contrary to human calculation. "At Thy word I will launch forth" should be the ever-present purpose of the minister of God. By that word he is to win souls. The hired or worldly singers, the arts of elocution and rhetoric the sensational methods of modern revivalists, the aid of the world or the state, will never win souls. Only by the word of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are souls to be won to Him. Only by that word are they kept. "Preach the Word," is God's mandate to His ministers. Mere essays about the Word, discussions of latest sensations, unholy compromising with some undemonstrated hypothetical science, will never convert men. The power of God's soldier is in his sword, and that sword is the word of God. THERE must be guidance of God in the Gospel ministry; and that there may be guidance there must be a submissive heart, a will yielded to the will of God. "The meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He teach His way." Consecration, a powerful message which elevates Christ, the drawing power, and guidance of God, what more can the fishers of men ask?