Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1899-12-23
SATURDAY, DEC 4, 1899
THE CASTE SPIRIT.
Chrtstinnity the AntidOte - The Use
OF Opportunity the Test
of Standing.

1t is impossible to be blind to the fact
OF human differences All men are not
created equal. except before the civil
law Differences of u hundred sorts are
ingrained and vital in our lives. Chris
tianity does not attempt to disregard
them. 10 do so would be to prove its
uuitness for its work. But there is a
..,,iDction, which is largely artificial
M more commonly mischievous, which
set up which Christianity refuses
10 aSmit-the distinction of caste. Not
that we can overlook the fact that hui
man society includes different grades
of condition, character and merit.
They are fundamaptal facts. But what
Christianity declares and what society
ought to ASSERT is that no man is better
than any other man, or is to be treated
with any more consideration, because
he occupies a more favorable social po-
sition. He who belongs to what some
times is known as the upper class, be-
cause its opportunities of effort, culture
and travel are the largest, possibly may
be a better man than he who belongs
to lower social class, because the OPP
portunities which the former has en-
joyed may have been so used as to en-
rich his nature, broaden his sympathies,
elevate his ideal of life and duty, and
make him at once a better man and a
better Christian than he would have
been otherwise. But the fact that he
was born into the possession of this OPP
portunity is nothing to his credit. He
Is not a better man on that account.
If he be the better, it is for having made
good use of his opportunity, and the
man beneath him may not rightly be
looked down upon as inferior, if he be
making an equally conscientious and
energetic use of such opportunities as
he has been granted.
There Is nothing on earth meaneI
than the caste spirit as it ordinarily
displays itself. Where it exults in rich
es, fnery, display and is contemptuous
toward those of less obvious posses
sions, 1t is not only shameful but pit
liable. Christianity distinguishes be
tween the right and the wrong applica
ton of this spirit of social distinction
and says that all men before God arr
equal. Before God he who makes tn,
best use Of his opportunities stands
highest. He who starts lowest in tn,
social scale may receive at last the re
ward of the very best, having riser
4 higher than he who started under bet
ter . us2ices, even though the forme
neyer reach the level at which the lat
teri began. Christianity SAYS TO on
and all: The caste spirit, so far as i
is exclusive, narrowing, supercilious
is an emanation from the Internal re
gions; so far as il is an incentive I,
geniality, generosity, helpfulness, Low
ing kindness and cordial appreciation
OF what is good in all, it is foretaste o
heaven.
We are not TO expect social distinC
tons to disappear, but Christian peopl
should so conduct themselves that sue
distinctions may have only the signif
canoe of invisible, even if inevitabl,
lines over which congenial spirits pas
back and forth in happy intercourse III
restrained. Like seeks like, and alway
viii. And like always should be abb
to seek like unhindered when the like
ness is due TO common and nobl
moral purpose, 10 intellectual syn
patty, or to that true brotherlines
which is the characteristic of every hoI
est heart. So fast and so far as Chris
tianity prevails among men the cast
spirit in its lower, meaner sense mu.
disappear and in its higher, noble
sense of helpfulness and opportunit
1t must and it ought to prevail.-Bo
ton Congregationalist.