Life and Conduct | Page 9

most spiritually-minded of Scotchmen, Erskine of Linlathen, that "his looks were better than a thousand homilies." There was something in the very expression of his countenance that spoke to men of an inner life and of a spiritual dwelling in God.
(b) Think of the influence of a smile: the smile of welcome when we call at a friend's house; the smile of recognition when we meet him in the street; the smile of pleasure which the speaker sees in his audience; the smile of satisfaction in one to whom we have done an act of kindness. By the very expression of the countenance we can influence others, make their life more pleasant or more painful. There are those who by the sweetness of their demeanor are in a household like fragrant flowers. They are like the sweet ointment of spikenard which the woman poured upon Christ--the sweet perfume of it "filled the whole house."
(c) Think of the influence of sympathy. There are some natures that are gifted with a blessed power to bring consolation to men. It is not that they are glib of tongue or facile of speech, but somehow the very pressure of their hand is grateful to the saddened heart. The simple and kindly action, of which we think nothing, may tell powerfully on others, and unclose fountains of feeling deep down in the heart.
(d) Think of the influence of example: the simple doing of what is right, though we say nothing about it; the upright life of a father or mother in a household; the steady conduct of a soldier in his company; the stainless character of a workman among his comrades, or a boy in his school. It is bound to tell. "Example," says Dr. Smiles, "is one of the most potent instructors, though it teaches without a tongue. It is the practical school of mankind working by action, which is always more forcible than words. Precept may point to us the way, but it is a silent continuous example conveyed to us by habits, and living with us in fact, that carries us along. Good advice has its weight, but without the accompaniment of a good example it is of comparatively small influence, and it will be found that the common saying of 'Do as I say, not as I do' is usually reversed in the actual experience of life." Goodness makes good. As a man who trims his garden in a straight row and makes it beautiful will induce in time all his neighbors to follow him, or at least to be ashamed of their ragged and ill-kept plots in contrast with his own, so is it that the upright, good life of a sincere Christian man will silently tell upon others.
These are some illustrations of the power of influence unconsciously exercised, and the whole subject teaches us (1) Our responsibility. If we are ready to ask, "Am I my brother's keeper?" the answer is, you cannot help being so. It is as easy to evade the law of gravitation as the law of responsibility. A man was lately prosecuted for having waited on his customers in clothes he had worn when attending his children during an infectious complaint. It was proved that he had sown broadcast germs of the disease. It would have been no justification for him to say, What has anyone to do with the clothes I wear? It is my own business. He was a member of the community. His action was silently but surely dealing out death to others. He was punished, and justly punished. We cannot live without influencing others. We say perhaps that "we mean well," or at least we mean to do no one any harm, but is our influence harmless? It is going from us in forms as subtle as the germs of an infectious disease.
Say not, "It matters not to me, My brother's weal is his behoof," For in this wondrous human web, If your life's warp, his life is woof.
Woven together are the threads, And you and he are in one loom, For good or ill, for glad or sad, Your lives must share one common doom.
Then let the daily shuttle glide, Wound full of threads of kindly care, That life's increasing length may be Not only strongly wrought, but fair.
So from the stuff of each new day The loving hand of Time shall make Garments of joy and peace for all, And human hearts shall cease to ache. M. J. SAVAGE.
(2) The power all have to do good. There are some who think they can only serve God and man in a direct and premeditated way, by taking up some branch of Christian work and devoting themselves to it; and if they have no gift in any special direction, they think