What Constitutes True Civilization

[…] Only knew what they [...] The term civilization is evidently derived from the Latin civis, whose meaning is a collection of men in society, or to dwell with others. The true principle of civilization is Christianity, which teaches us love of neighbors and bids us do unto others as we wish it would be done unto us. It is in Christianity that we find that idea of humanity, kindness, chastity, freedom, justice, and honesty, which render our social relations not only possible, but also agreeable. Wherever these are lacking, civilization is nothing but a cultivated barbarism.

The cultivation of arts and sciences, the invention of genius, and the perfection of government are by their nature calculated to promote the esteem of a people, developed by their intercourse among their fellow beings; but in our opinion, they are not civilization, and can not merit that title alone. We know by nations' experience that men of the highest degree of mental culture may be thieves, swindlers, murderers, adulterers, intriguers, and subverters of the public security and peace. Men of learning and genius during the French Revolution rushed upon their fellow citizens like a host of barbarians, and tortured them with a demoniacal pleasure, and after imbruing their hands in the blood of the most civilized portion of France, they turned upon each other with the fury of wild beasts.

The Augustan age has left to posterity master-pieces of literature and art, but the sculptor would leave his chisel and the philosopher and poet their pen, to enjoy the barbarity of the Coliseum. The civilization of the Roman nobility was the quintessence of selfishness, and the poorer classes were degraded slaves. The Lacedemonians carried their barbarity so far as to forbid the support of all those whom deformities of nature rendered useless to society.

The Christian, on the contrary, who may be ignorant of letters and fine arts, but has a thorough knowledge of his religion, is gentle, charitable, polite, respectful, honest, faithful to his word, sincere in his expressions, always ready to assist the needy, always willing to interchange kind offices, and seeks with all the power of his soul the welfare of his neighbor, whether he be rich or poor. He would not be a slave, and does not seek to enslave his fellow beings; he is pained by sufferings, and endeavors to remove them from others; he derives pleasure from the kind and gentle manner of others, and he finds in his heart the rudiments of true refinement, which he develops and perfects by the practice of social virtues.

In our opinion a saint is the ideal of a civilized man, because his life is in conformity with the true form of civilization — eternal truth, and is most beneficial to society. If we seek the true type of civilization we must turn our eyes toward the mountains of Judea, and fix them upon Him who left everywhere the traces of his good deeds; who knew infirmity, sympathized with sorrow, rebuked the oppressor, was kind and gentle to the oppressed, and prayed for his persecutors.

The true Christian, though cast on a wild desert, naked or covered with the rags of poverty; though dwelling in a miserable hovel, and earning his daily bread by the sweat of his brow, or living on the roots which the barren soil offers him, has not lost his civilization, because he retains his gentleness of manners and kindness of heart. On the contrary, the child of nature, such as is found in some regions of Africa, is not civilized because he has been clad in a costly apparel, lodged in a sumptuous palace, or comfortably seated in a Pullman's car. Nor could he put in his claim to civilization if he had the knowledge of a Newton or the skill of a Raphael, unless his manners and feelings were those of a Christian. The nearer a people approach to the principles of Christianity, the more they are civilized, and the farther they recede from them, the nearer they come to barbarism.

Practice produces perfection, and consequent refinement must be the end of social intercourse. Hence it is that the inhabitants of a city (cives) have always been thought to excel in good manners, and considered models of good breeding. Whenever we use the words civility, politeness, urbanity, from civis, polis, we sanction the general belief. But this also proves that civilization consists in charity, which is the foundation of the Christian religion.