As to Simon Peter, we not only see him restored to the work to which he was called at the first, but to something even higher. "Feed My lambs--shepherd My sheep"--is the new commission given to the man who had denied his Lord with an oath. Is not this something beyond "catching men?" "When thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren." Can anything in the way of service be more elevated than shepherding sheep, feeding lambs, and strengthening brethren? There is nothing in all this world nearer or dearer to the heart of Christ than His sheep, His lambs, His brethren: and hence He could not have given Simon Peter a more affecting proof of His confidence than by committing to his care the dearest objects of His deep and tender love. And then mark the closing words, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast _young_, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be _old_, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, FOLLOW ME." What weighty words are these! Who can tell their depth, power, and significance? What a contrast between Simon, "_young_," restless, forward, blundering, boastful, self-confident; and Peter, "_old_," subdued, mellowed, passive, crucified! What a difference between a man walking whither he would, and a man following a rejected Lord along the dark and narrow pathway of the cross, home to glory! CONCLUSION. We could not close this series of papers without glancing, however cursorily, at the way in which our apostle discharged his various commissions. We see him "catching men;" opening the kingdom of heaven to the Jew and to the Gentile; and, finally, feeding and shepherding the lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ. Elevated services these, for any poor mortal to be called to, and more especially for one who had fallen so deeply as Simon Peter. But the remarkable power with which he was enabled to fulfil his blessed service proved beyond all question the reality and completeness of his restoration. If, at the close of the Gospels, we see Peter restored in heart and conscience, in the Acts and in his epistles we see him restored to his work. We cannot attempt to go into details; but a point or two must be briefly noticed. There is something uncommonly fine in Peter's address in the third chapter of Acts. We can only quote a sentence or two: "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and _denied Him_ in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But _ye denied the Holy One and the Just_."