174 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 



resurrection, joy which was ten-fold increased by are 

 interview with the risen Lord, and confirmed by his 

 direction, sending them into Galilee to await Him there. 

 And thus it seems incredible that Peter and John — 

 John, the beloved — could have been in any such gloom 

 and despondency as to think of resuming their old em- 

 ployment at this time, when they were actually waiting 

 for His coming, who had promised to meet them. 



Probably they were on this particular evening weary 

 with earnest expectancy, yet not satisfied ; tired of 

 waiting and longing, and looking up the hillside on the 

 Jerusalem road for His appearance ; and I have no 

 doubt that, when this weariness became exhausting, 

 Peter sought on the water something of the old excite- 

 ment that he had known from boyhood, and that to all 

 the group it seemed a fitting way in which to pass the 

 long night before them, otherwise to be weary as well 

 as sleepless. 



If one could have the story of that night of fishing, 



of the surrounding scenes, the conversation in the 



boat, the unspoken thoughts of the fishermen, it would 



make the grandest story of fishing that the world has 



ever known. Its end was grand when in the morning 



the voice of the Master came over the sea, asking them 



the familiar question, in substance the same which they, 



like all fishermen, had heard a thousand times, " Have 



you any fish ?" 



****** 



The memory of this scene is not unfitting to the 



