Is it not thus, through the arts and implements which
are the most familiar, that the Lord is seeking to lift men
up from secular to spiritual lives } As the Eastern astrol-
ogers were pointed to the Redeemer's cradle by a star ; as
the woman of Samaria, in the very act of drawing water out
of Jacob's well, was led to dip and drink of the sweeter
waters of life ; as Peter, the fisherman, by a surprising
draught of fishes, was made lowly enough to catch men, '- —
so through the humblest art or calling of the daily life the
Lord is reaching down hands to train and mould us for a
purer spiritual life and service.
The counting-room is no longer narrow, when thus its
higher use as school-room of the soul is recognized. Dol-



266 ^-^^^ DRAUGHT OF FISHES.
lars and cents no longer degrade men when they learn to
read on their face, not the name of Caesar only, but the
holier seal and superscription of God. The irritating cares
of home cease to fret the housekeeper's spirit when she
begins to treat them as part of that ministry by which the
Lord is seeking to make her a more profitable servant.
