their portion to be, so long as they lived. They would have to bear testimony to facts which many would not believe, and to truths which the natural heart would dis- like. They would often have to stand alone, a few against many, a little flock against a great multitude. None of these things must move them. They must count it no strange thing to be persecuted, hated, op- posed, and discredited. They must not mind it. To witness was their grand duty, whether men believed them or not. So witnessing, their record would be on high, in God's book of remembrance ; and so witnessing, sooner or later, the Judge of all would give them a urown of glory that fadeth not away.
Let us never forget, as we leave this passage, that the position of the Apostles is that which, in a certain sense, every true Christian must fill, as long as the world stands. We must all be witnesses for Christ. We must not be ashamed to stand up for Christ's cause, to speak out for Christ, and to persist in maintaining the truth of Christ's Gospel. Wherever we live, in town or in country, in public or in private, abroad or at home. we must boldly confess our Master on every opportunity. So doing, we shall walk in the steps of the Apostles, though at a long interval. So doing, we shall please our Master, and may hope at last that we shall receive the Apostles' reward.
Notes. John xv. 32—27.
22. — {^If I had not come, etc.] In tliis and tlie three following verses our Lord shows the peculiar guilt and wickedness of the Jews in not believing Him. — " If I had not come among them and spoken such words as no one ever spake before, and taught such truths as no one ever taught before, they would not have been so guilty as they are. But now they have no excuse for their unbelief. They cannot say that they were not taught in the plainest way who I am and who sent Me."
Does not our Lord in this verse point to the famous prophecy