more of human nature than other men in so far as that goes therefore he is more n than i am myself we fed that superiority in all our intercourse with great men � whether philosophers poets or saints in kind we are the same different m degree in nature we find individuals not orders and but for our own convenience in understanding and we do a little violence to nature and put die individuals into classes in this way we understand better both the whole and each of its parts human nature us with individual great men for convenience we put them into several classes corresponding to their several modes or forms of greatness it is well to look at these classes before we examine any one great man this will render it easier to see where he belongs and what be is worth actual service is the test of actual greatness he who renders of himself the greatest actual service to mankind is actually the greatest man there may be other for the greatness of men or the essential this is the christian rule for the actual greatness let us arrange these men in the natural order of work first of all there are great men who discover general truths great ideas universal laws or invent methods of thought and action in this class the of a man s genius may be measured and his relative rank ascertained by the of his ideas by the of us truth by its practical value and the difficulty of it in us time and under his peculiar circumstances in literature it is such who thoughts and put them into forms john adam � they are the great men of letters in we meet with such � and thej are the great men of science thus discovered the philosophical method of minute analysis which distinguished his school and led to the rapid advance of knowledge in the various and even which held this method in common but iq plied it in various ways weu or ill and to various of human inquiry thus discovered the law of universal in nature and by the discovery did immense service to mankind in politics we find or men who discover yet other laws of ood which bear the same relation to men in society that bears to the in heaven or to the dust and stones in the street men that discover the first truths of politics and teach the true method of human society such are the great men in politics we find corresponding men in on men who discover an idea so central that of parties or of nations seems little in its light who discover and teach the universal law which e binding man to man and man to ood who the true method of on conducting to natural worship without to free goodness free piety free thought to our such are the greatest of great men when measured by the of their doctrine and the service they render to all by the influence of idea letters philosophy and politics become nobler and more beautiful both in their forms and their substance such is the class of � men who get truth at first hand � truth either especially to literature or at the same time to each and all of them the next class consists of such as these ideas methods truths and laws they the abstract the general they apply to practical purposes the discoveries of science into a a mill a and by work an idea becomes fact they love into families justice into a state piety into a church wealth is power knowledge is power power they all these powers � wealth knowledge religion � into common life making divinity humanity and that society this genius is a very great one and in various forms one man us t out on the soil john adam the land with bread corn another applies his mind to the rivers of new d making spin and for the human race this man will a t into a machine with his idea joining together fire and water iron and wood them into a new creature ready to do man s bidding that with audacious hand ike lightning of heaven us thought within thai fire and sends it of hia errands to fetch and carry tidings between the ends of the earth another form of this mode of greatness is seen in politics in men the man his thought out on mankind puts men into true relations with one another and god he strength wisdom justice love piety the conflicting forces of a nation so that each man has his natural liberty as complete as if the only man yet living in society advantages from all the rest the highest degree of this power is the genius for le which can justice and eternal right into and the divine thought into human laws making absolute on common life and daily custom and the power of the mass with the il power of the into a well state as god has balanced these two forces into the above our heads it need not be disguised that politics are the hi est business for men of this class nor that a great or le is the greatest example of skill it requires some ability to manage the brute forces of nature or to combine nine and thirty clerks in a shop how much more to arrange twenty millions of intelligent free men not for a special purpose but for all the ends of universal life such is the second class of great men � the men of heads who form the institutions of the world the and the great the next class of men who administer the tions after they are founded to do this effectually and even it requires no genius for al organization of truths fr discovered none for the discovery of truths 