Man Not an Oyster

A gem from Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887):

"When God wanted sponges and oysters, he made them, and put one on a rock,
and the other in the mud. When he made man, he did not make him to be a sponge
or an oyster; he made him with feet, and hands, and a head, and a heart, and
vital blood, and a place to use them, and said to him, 'Go work.'"