Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: FISHERMAN OR SHEPHERD PRESIDENT CARL GREGG DONEY "Jesus salth unto him, Feed my sheep."—John 21. 17. Two events in the life of Peter throw light upon this text. The one took place as he began his fellowship with Jesus, and the other at its earthly termination; the one was the call to vocation, the other was the consecration of a life. The expected but unrecognized Messiah had appeared. His birth was attended by angelic welcome, by the visit and gifts of the wise men, by the fear and strategy of a wicked king. Three decades passed by before the strange Child, now a baptized man, began his work. There on the seashore he stands in the midst of fishermen. They are laboring men, busy in seeking a hard livelihood, valuing their boats and nets and fish. Peter is one of them, and to him Jesus says, "Come ye after me," and the fisherman leaves his material wealth to become the companion of a wandering Stranger. For three years Peter was the follower of Jesus; now close to his heart, now afar off; a brave man and a coward; a defender and a denier; sweeping the gamut of hope and fear, ofloyalty and desertion, of sacrifice and ambition. He had seen Jesus transfigured and witnesses his humiliation. He had bravely said, "Thou art the Christ," while others denounced him; later he had seen him on the cross and had beheld his resurrection. And after all this Peter is back there on the seashore with his boats and nets and fishing. He had grown tired of waiting; something was lacking: his faith may have weakened or hope may have died out. At any rate, he tarried with upturned, expectant face no longer; and instead he went back to drudgery and the old task. Once more he is on the shore facing the strange Man who now tenderly asks, "Peter, do you love me ?— love me?—love me?" "... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.