ollow the
substance. And whether it does or not, your duty is to be resigned and
cheerful. A man that has really been converted from infidelity to
Christianity, will be so happy, and will feel so thankful for the
blessed change, if he appreciates it as he ought, that he will hardly
care whether he has the favor and confidence of his brethren or not.
There is no intimation that the returned Prodigal looked black at his
father, and threatened to go back again into the far country, because
his elder brother refused to join in his welcome home. The probability
is, that he felt so ashamed of his sin and folly, so overpowered with
the tenderness of his father, and so happy to find himself at home
again, that he never inquired whether other people were satisfied or
not. The father noticed the unhappiness of his elder son, and sought to
soothe and comfort him; but the younger son was occupied with other
thoughts; and having suffered long the grievous pangs of hunger, he
would, for a time at least, be busy at the table, speculating in
raptures, it may be, on the difference between the flesh of "the fatted
calf," and "the husks that the swine did eat."

It is, in one respect, an advantage to the converted unbeliever to be
treated by the Church with shyness. It affords him an opportunity of
proving his attachment to Christ and Christianity, in a way in which he
could not prove it, if every one welcomed him with demonstrations of
affection, and signs of joy. None are so slow to believe in the
sincerity of a converted infidel as infidels themselves; and to be able
to give to his old associates a proof so decisive of the genuineness of
his change, and of the value he puts on Christianity, will be regarded
by the convert as a privilege of no light value. And it is fit and
proper, as well as better for the convert, that he should be reminded of
his former weakness, and incited to watchfulness and humility, by the
pain of some kind of life-long disadvantage.

9. Let no one expect to get through the world without trouble. The thing
is not possible. Nor is it desirable. We _need_ a little trouble now and
then to keep us awake; and God will take care that we have it. We had
better therefore look for it, and when it comes, bear it patiently. It
is no use fretting or fuming; it only makes things worse. When we are
restless under little troubles, God sends us greater ones; and if our
impatience continues, he sends us greater still. And there