What a promise for civilization was that of Christ:  “Give and it shall be given unto you!” Let the husbandman give his seed to the furrows; soon the furrows will give back big bundles into the sower’s arms.  Let the vintner give the sweat of his brow to the vines; soon the vines will give back the rich purple floods.  Give thy thought, O husbandman! to the wild rice; soon nature will give back the rice plump wheat.  Give thyself, O inventor! to the raw ores, and nature will give thee the forceful tools.  Give thyself, O reformer! to the desert world; soon the world-desert will be given back a world-garden.  Give sparingly to nature, and sparingly shalt thou receive again.  Give bountifully, and bounty shall be given back.  Give scant thought and drag but one plank to the stream, and thou shalt receive only a narrow bridge across the brook.  Give abundant thought to wires and cables and buttresses, and nature will give the bridge across the Firth of Forth.  Give God thy one talent and, investing it, he returns ten.  Give the cup of cold water and thou shalt have rivers of water of life.  Share thy crust and thy cloak, and thou shall have banquet and robe and house of many mansions.  This is the pledge of nature and God:  “Give, and good measure pressed down and shaken together, shalt thou receive of celestial reapers.”  The history of progress is the history of Christ’s challenge and man’s response.

Christianity deals in universal.  Its principles are not local nor racial nor temporary.  They are meridian lines taking in all forces, men and movements.  Nature, too, saith:  “Give and it shall be given unto you.”  The sun gives heat to the forests, and afterward the burning coal and tree give heat back to the heavens; the arctics give icebergs and frigid streams for cooling the fierce tropics, and the tropics give back the warm Gulf Stream.  The soil in the spring gives its treasures to the growing tree, and in the autumn the tree gives its leaves to make the soil richer and deeper.  Personal also is this principle.  Give thy body food and thy body will give thee mental strength.  Give thy blow to the ax, and the ax will return the fallen tree, with strong tools for thy arm.  Give thy brain sleep and rest and thy brain will give thy thought nimbleness.  Give thy mind to rocks, and the rock pages will give thee wealth of wisdom.  Give thy thought to the fire and water, and they will give thee an engine stronger than tamed lions.  Give thy scrutiny to the thunderbolt leaping from the east to the west, and the lightnings shall give themselves back to thee as noiseless and gentle and obedient as the sunlight.  Give thy mind to books and libraries, and the literature and lore of the ages will give thee the wisdom of sage and seer.  Let some hero give his love and self-sacrificing service to the poor in prisons, and society will give him in return, monuments and grateful memory.  Give thy obedience to conscience, and God, whom conscience serves, will give Himself to thee.