Suffering

Jesus tells His disciples that whatever they may have to suffer , they can be no worse off than He had been before them. "If the world hate you , ye know that it hated me before you ." Poor comfort , one is disposed to say ; yet it is not so poor when you consider the relative position of the parties . He who has already been hated is the Lord ; they who are to be hated are but the servants . Of this Jesus reminds His disciples , repeating and recalling to remembrance a word He had already spoken the same evening [John 15:20.]. The consideration ought  at least to repress murmuring ; and duly laid to heart , it might even become a source of heroic inspiration . The servant should be ashamed to complain of a lot from which his Master is not , and does not wish to be exempted ; he should be proud to be a companion in tribulations with One who is so much his superior , and regard his experience of the cross not as a fate , but as a privilege .

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