hrist: "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 lea