To help in this work it is not necessary to be emperor or king. Everybody can do something, for to everybody is given something to do; and it is by this accumulation of activities, by this succession of atoms, that the result is accomplished. I use trivial illustrations, when I remind you that the coral-reef on which navies are wrecked is the work of the multitudinous insect,--that the unyielding stone is worn away by drops; but this is the law of Nature, under which no influence is lost. Water and air both testify to the slightest movement. Not a ripple stirred by the passing breeze or by the freighted ship cleaving the sea, which is not prolonged to a thousand shores, leaving behind an endless progeny, so long as ocean endures. Not a wave of air set in motion by the human voice, which is not prolonged likewise into unknown space. But these watery and aërial pulses typify the acts of Man. Not a thing done, not a word said, which does not help or hinder the grand, the beautiful, the holy consummation. And the influence is in proportion to the individual or nation from whom it proceeds. God forbid that our nation should send through all time that defiance of human nature which is found in Caste! 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. * * * * *