Over the rugged mountains; through the tangles and the briars; through the deep waters of the rushing stream, on he passed; and as he went, perhaps these words seemed to dwell in his very heart: "Until I find it!" On he went, weary and worn, till at last he heard a faint cry. Then the shepherd called, and stood listening for the answer. And again came that faint cry, and the shepherd knew that somewhere near him, his lost sheep was lying—lonely, helpless, and hopeless. Then the shepherd saw beneath him, just at the edge of an awful precipice, the poor sheep caught in a tangled briar. So the shepherd leaned over the abyss and stretched out his hands, and, regardless of the tearing thorns, he grasped his sheep, he disentangled the briars, and lifted it into safety. But the sheep was so weary and faint, that it could not walk; so the tender shepherd put it on to his shoulders, and brought it home rejoicing! And then the shepherd called his friends together, saying: "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!" This is a word-picture of what our Lord Jesus is. "The Good Shepherd, Who giveth His life for the sheep!" If we feel that we have wandered away, we can go and tell Jesus, and He will forgive us. Or if we are in any trouble or danger, He is ever near us, to help us and guide us, and do us good. And when the little lamb comes to Jesus, and says, "I am sorry," or the big sheep comes back and asks forgiveness, then Jesus rejoices, and says to us all: "I say unto you, That likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth." [Illustration] VII. THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES [LUKE 5.4] [Illustration: THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES] WHEN our Lord Jesus was on earth, He did so many kind and loving things, and made so many people well who were sick, that the multitude followed Him about everywhere, so that sometimes Jesus and His disciples had not even time to eat. One day when He was by the Lake of Gennesaret (which is sometimes called the Sea of Galilee) the people pressed so close to Him that seeing two small ships drawn up on the shore, Jesus entered one of these, and asked the owner to put his ship a little way from the land, so that He might speak to the people where they all could hear. The ships were empty, for the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets in the lake. The fishing-boat that Jesus entered, belonged to Simon Peter, whose wife's mother had been healed by Jesus, a very short time before. Peter loved Jesus very much, and he had already been chosen to be His disciple. So when the Lord had done talking to the people, He told Simon Peter to launch the ship out into deep water, and to let down their nets to catch some fish. But Simon told Him that they had been up, working hard all the night, but it had been all for nothing, as they had not caught a single fish—!