Some will hate thee, some will love thee, Some will flatter, some will slight: Cease from man, and look above thee,-- Trust in God, and do the right. NORMAN M'LEOD.
We are all of us in close relations to one another. We are bound together in numberless ways. As members of the same family, as members of the same community, as members of the same Church--we are bound so closely together that what any one of us does is certain to tell upon others. It is out of this close connection with others that influence comes. Just as one man in a crowd sends by his movements a certain impulse throughout the whole, just as the stone thrown into a pond causes waves that move far away from where the stone fell and that reach in faint ripples to the distant shore, so our very existence exercises influence beyond our knowledge and beyond our calculation.
_Influence is of two kinds, Direct and Indirect_--Conscious and Unconscious,--The first is influence we deliberately put forth, as when we meet a man and argue with him, as when the orator addresses the multitude, or the politician seeks to gain their suffrages. The second is the influence which radiates from us, whether we will it or not, as fire burning warms a room, or icebergs floating down from the frozen north change the temperature where they come. There is a passage in Scripture where both kinds of influence are illustrated. "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." The first part of the proverb refers to direct influence: as "iron sharpeneth iron," so one man applying to another his powers of persuasion, his motives in the shape of money or some other inducement, moulds, fashions, sharpens him to his liking. "As in water face answereth to face:" this is the silent influence which we have on others. There is no conscious exercise of power, there is no deliberate putting forth of strength, there is no noise as of iron against iron; but as our shadow is silently reflected in the still water, so our life and character silently reflect themselves in others, and other hearts answer to the feelings that sway our own.
I. Direct or conscious influence.--In regard to this everyone must choose his own line of action. Everyone has his own special gift, and everyone has his own special opportunities. There are, however, certain lines of direct influence that may be indicated, and which lie open to all.