There are two passages of the New Testament which are to me of infinite significance. We read them often, perhaps, without comprehending their value. The first is with regard to leaven, when the Saviour said, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven”;[181] and then Saint Paul, taking up the image, on two different occasions, repeats, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”[182] In this homely illustration we see what is accomplished by a small influence. A little changes all. Here again are the acts of Man typified. All that we do is leaven; all that our country does is leaven. Everybody in his sphere contributes leaven, and helps his country to contribute that mighty leaven which will leaven the whole mighty lump. The other passage--difficult to childhood, though afterwards recognized as a faithful record of human experience--is where we are told, “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.”[183] Here to me is a new incentive to duty. Because the world inclines to those who have, therefore must we study to serve those who have not, that we may counteract the worldly tendency. Give to the poor and lowly, give to the outcast, give to those degraded by their fellow-men, that they may be elevated in the scale of Humanity,--assured that what we give is not only valuable in itself, but the beginning of other acquisitions,--that the knowledge we convey makes other knowledge easy,--that the right we recognize helps to secure all the Rights of Man. Give to the African only his due, and straightway the promised abundance will follow.
In leaving this question, which I have opened to you so imperfectly, I am impressed anew with its grandeur. The best interests of our country and the best interests of mankind are involved in the answer. Let Caste prevail, and Civilization is thwarted. Let Caste be trampled out, and there will be a triumph which will make this Republic more than ever an example. The good influence will extend in prolonged pulsations, reaching the most distant shores. Not a land which will not feel the spread, just in proportion to its necessities. Above all, Africa will feel it; and the surpassing duty which Civilization owes to this whole continent, where man has so long degraded his fellow-man, will begin to be discharged, while the voice of the Great Shepherd is heard among its people.