What was the reason of this strange outburst? The miraculous draught of fishes was not of itself sufficient to account for it; it was the occasion but not the cause of Peter's action. A better way of explaining it would be to try to form a sympathetic estimate of the working of this rude fisherman's mind under the influence of his short acquaintance with Jesus of Nazareth. Like others of his class, Simon had very likely been, until the day when Andrew introduced him to Jesus, ill-disciplined and coarse. He may have thought very little about high and holy things, and yet, as often happens in a rude but generous nature, he felt an instinctive respect for goodness whenever he saw it embodied in another. He was attracted to Jesus by Andrew's assertion that He was the Messiah. In the increasing intimacy of subsequent intercourse he must have come to feel that Jesus was the best man he had ever met. Jesus came as a benediction to Simon's home. His very presence must have stirred the better feelings latent in the boisterous fisherman's heart. Simon came to love Jesus, and listened no doubt with a simple, awe-struck interest to the words He was accustomed to address to the crowds from the vantage-ground of Simon's boat. Jesus discovered him to himself: he saw how poor and mean and unsatisfactory his own life and ideals were when compared with the character of this august stranger. To these considerations Jesus added another. Out of pure thoughtfulness and kindness for Simon He had asked him to put out to sea and let down his nets, and poor Simon, totally unprepared for the result, now saw that in his friend and guest were combined at once marvellous goodness and marvellous power. Simon's first feeling was that he wanted to get away from Him, that he was totally unfit to be in the presence of such a Being, and, like the centurion afterwards, was not worthy that He should come under his roof. The cry, "Depart from me!" meant, doubtless, "Leave my home. Do not stay with me any more. I am unfit for such a privilege, unworthy of such companionship. Select another and a better associate, for I am a sinful man!" We are beholden to Luke for this circumstantial account of an important event in the life of an interesting man. Some persons think that Luke has mixed up this story with the similar one recorded in John xxi. There is no need to think so, the scene ends very naturally. Matthew and Mark omit to say how it was that Jesus came to extend the call to Simon and Andrew, James and John. According to their brief statement Jesus saw them casting a net into the sea; according to Luke it was He who told them to cast that net. Simon's confession and request supplied Him with a further opportunity: "Fear not, He said, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their boats to land they left all and followed Him."