Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1924-01-05

Woe unto you, seribes and Pharisees.
hypocrites! for We are ike unto
whited sepulchrea, which indeed ap'
pear beautiful outward, but are with
in full of dead mems bones. and of al;
And again:
Therefore all things whatsoever We
would that men should do to you do ye
even so to them: for this Is the law
and the prophets.
Enter We in at tive strait gate; for
wide is THE gate and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction. and mans
there be which go in there at.
Because strait is the gate and mar
row Is the way, which leadeth unto
.ife, and few there be that find It.
Beware Of fa.se prophets, which
come to you in sleeps clothing. but
inwardly, they are ravening wolves.
This is graphic description of the
Es stern World aud its civilization dur
ing Christ's time and it is vivid des-
cription Of conditions existing there tc
Cay. A duplication of mans sordid mo.
lives and actions is found on this Con-
linent. 1t is a practical demonstration
of the axiom:
Let him take who has the power;
let him keep who can.
Jesus Christ in a few words. in strik
ing contrast to the lengthy comment OF
our distinguished descendent Of Ham
lays, forcibly. BIZ: simply:
Even so we also outwardly appeal
righteous unto men, but within We are
full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mr.. Poston say, further:
We are at a -oss to find the end II
the white mans civilization the pur-
pose, if there is any. If the white mans
aim is to better the world, we cannot
harmonic the aim with the practice. If
his object is to destroy the world, he is
equally at fault on principle, for it
rakes just man ev9n to destroy. If it
is right that the japanese should live
in California and that the Negro should
vote in Mississippi, any effort on tn.
Fart of anybody to block it would bu:
hasten the realization Of the thing. 1t
would appear that ais history would
teach him that. But here again we have
a strange fact 10 deal with. when we
consider the White man. His history
and his philosophy havt little TO do
with directing his conduct. While it is
true that he will ravenously devour
Emerson it must be remembered thai
Brann's "Iconoclast" is to him just as
dear. If he takes into his system o
good and humanizing thought he is al
most sure to expell it presently with
one most cruel and diabolical.
Mr.. Poston's declaration that he has
refused to be civilized brings forward
the question as to what constitutes
civilization. We take it that he must
either be civilized citizen or bar.
barlan. He is not a savage and right
here, we propose 10 give the definitl; Il.
Of both and lead our readers to judge
as to the brilliant writer's status, Web
ster defines civilization as follows.
A state of social culture character:z
ed by relative progress in the arts
science. and state-craft; variou ly: the
culture characteristic of modern Eur
ope; as. contact with civilization often
rroves fatal to savages; a distinctive
national culture; as French civiliza.
ton; relative advancement of print
live or ancient people. Civilization Is
ordinarily distinguished from barbar-
ism as manifesting greater enlighten-
ment ard humanity. Both are disting
cished from savagery. the culture OF
the least advanced peoples.
Barbarian foreigner, especially
in speech and manners. A man in q
Ilde uncivilized state. A person de.
void Of culture. Foreign as non-HelIen
ic. non-Roman. non Christian. non
Chinese. -. ~
We take 1t then that Mr.. Poston may
be barbarian, but not savage that he
may have a accepted and profited- By
bnt he refuses to accept
The civilization Of the white man
From the definitions given, he may
elect to accept the Asiatic civilization.
the Aztec civilization. the Esquimau
civilization or the Christian civiliza-
ton Of the genuine sort. Certain there
are in this country good white people.
who have not accepted the kind of civi.
l'zation that Mr.. Poston so merciless-
ly condemns. He has given food for
much thought, which when digested In
the light of the divine word only tends
to emphasize the heavenly origin OIL
the Scriptures.