. Influence : or, The little silk-winder . man-ner, we even begin to imitate them in this also;although it may be only out of love for them !Oh, how thankful we ought to be if God, atany time, is pleased to make use of us as in-struments and magnets to draw the hearts ofour dearest friends towards himself. What aprivilege to be allowed to help one another for-ward, if it be but one step, nearer to glory!But we should be ever ready to exclaim, in allhumility, It was not I; and to give God thehonour. Many beloved and valued friends may passaway before another year shall have gone by; or we ourse
. Influence : or, The little silk-winder . man-ner, we even begin to imitate them in this also;although it may be only out of love for them !Oh, how thankful we ought to be if God, atany time, is pleased to make use of us as in-struments and magnets to draw the hearts ofour dearest friends towards himself. What aprivilege to be allowed to help one another for-ward, if it be but one step, nearer to glory!But we should be ever ready to exclaim, in allhumility, It was not I; and to give God thehonour. Many beloved and valued friends may passaway before another year shall have gone by; or we ourselves may be called home. What 5 52 THE LITTLE SILK-WINDER. has been our influence over others ? What effectsshall we leave behind ? Have we used thepower given to us for good or for evil ? Areour friends the better or the worse for loving,and trusting, and, it may be, looking up to us ?Are they any nearer heaven ? If they diefirst, will they say of us, Your friendship hasbeen a blessing to me; or, Would to Godthat I had never known you ?. THE LITTLE SILK-WINDER. 53 CHAPTER VII. THE INFLUENCE OF BOOKS. Trees yielding all fruit, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. CICERO calls a library the soul of a house: v a solemn thought, and one that should make usvery careful. We heard of a gentleman, not longsince, refusing a richly-bound copy of a popularbut dangerous theological work, which had beenoffered him for his library. It is not, saidhe, that I fear its effects on my own mind,but only lest it should hurt and unsettle othersof the household, who are less fixed and decidedin their views. Seneca terms books his friends; and hintssomewhere, that we should be alike careful inour choice of them as in choosing our most in-timate companions: while Plutarch tells us,with much quaintness, that we ought to re-gard books as we do sweetmeats ; not wholly toaim at the pleasantest, but chiefly to respectthe wholesomest: not forbidding either, butapproving the latter most. Milton h
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