The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-12-06
WORLD CRUEL TO
BRIGHTEST MINDS
The Rev. DR.. Short Cites Ex-
ampIeS of GeniuSeS Who
Were Abused.
PLEADS FOR GENTLENESS
CRITICISM SHOULD BE TEN
PERED WITH KINDNESS.

/ tteness of God" His text was II Sam
/ uel xxii-36: Thy gentleness hath made
me great" In the course Of his SER
/ mon he said:
! I'VE must keep in mind the text. 1t
/ sounds rather unusual We are not ac-
customed to hearing such statement,
/ and at first observation it may seem un-
/ true. And yet here it is, and l present
! it o you in neither a twisted nor dis
/ connected manner.
1.-THE misconceptiOn of the old Greek
/ philosophers have been proved even
/ upon the people of this country in this,
/ that God views with stOical lndlHer-
ence and unsympathetic concern the
sorrows and struggles Of men. Men
have thought about God and nave
/ placed him upon q cold marble throne
| somewhere in the vast universe, ana
/ have thought that from that throne ne
! directs the movements of men ana
/ things without feeling, without con-
. Germ, without compassion and without
/ love. But my God is not so. My God
/ is my Father. He not only sits upon
throne. he smiles sympathetically upon
/ me at his fOOtstOOl and points the way
for me to enjoy a seat at his right hand.
/ He is not only the high and holy one,
he is also the gentle one-his heart
/ burns and beats with parental concern
for his every struggling child and needy
/ creature.
THE Genteness Of God! The Prophet
I Isaiah had felt its touch. and in por-
| traying the character Of the Christ, the
Son of God, said: "A bruised reed shall
he not break, and smoking fax shaH
he not Quench; he shall bring forth
I judgment unto truth The gentleness
of God! Christ revealed ii, and de-
clared he that hath seen me hath seen
] 14a F-#
! was because the gentleness Of God is
and the gentleuess of Jesus was the
only perfect example of which history
/ speaks.
Won and Held People.
Behold how he attracted, held and
| won the people unto him. Some came
| because of his miracles, some because
| of his wisdom. Children climbed into
his bosom, the sinner struggled to view
| MIN and the brOken-hearted cried unto
him because they discovered his gentle
/ ness. He hugged the children to his
/ heart: he spoke words OF pardon to the
| sinner; he looked with compassion upon
/ the multitude, and poured the balm Of
! consolation upon the sOrrowng.
How unlike this old world is this
I gentleness of God! How almost heart
| lessly it has ever treated its benefaC-
tors! Some one said the world viii not
! believe in its real heroes until it has
crucified Them Much truth here. With
| what reconsideration and harshness it
passes upon the acts Of men! How
il swings the lash Of criticism and de-
! nunciatiOn upon the motives of men!
I What havoc and destruction have been
/ wrought by the heaTtless haFShneSs OF
men upon their fellows!
columbus makes known his dream
of a shorter route to India, and the peo-
pie call him crazy. Calico says the
/ earth reVOlves, and he IS imprisoned.
| Burbank speaks Of seedless fruit and
the community says send him to the
madhouse. PasteUr and HehRemann
advance their theories and some of
their own profession would expel them.
Henry Drummond directs the thought
of the world into q new channel, and
old school theolOgians brand him rs
| skeptic. Some one seeks to discover the
north pole or to sail in the air, and We
wise ones say, Impossible And none
but heroes, big-hearted men, could have
stemmed the tide Of opposition, while
many Of the more gentle-hearted have
falien-crushed by the harshness Of the
times in which they lived.
Dante's Cruel Fate.
DO. YOU recall what Italy gave Dante
for his immortal poem? Exile. Did not
England give the author of Pilgrim
PROGRESS imprisonment Were not the
j BrOwpings ridiculed for years? What
befel the Hberator of four millions OF
slaves? Somebody shot him, and some
, Dodv is always ready to denOunce and
1 mound and murder men Of geniUs-thOse
that live ahead of their time. Joseph
William Turner, ranking now as
among the best painters of modern
, times, who founded almshOuSes for un-
fortunate artists, and who gave to Eng
land almost one hundred Of his best
paintings, which now compose the
Turner room in the National Gallery
LOndOn-this man was for years the OBJ
10 ject of ridicule, his paintings being
% called mere color blOtches,' until, With
, a wounded spirit he passed away. His
. critics are largely forgotten, but thS
I name of Turner in the corner Of a land
. scape or upon The Wreck or Crossing
{ the Brook, is worth thousands Of dol
lars, because they reveal the soul Of
D genius and gentleness.
j Look vet again at the son of the liv-
cry man. He died while his star was yet
rising, and he died because OF pOOl
70 health and the heaTtless criticism.
e visited upon him. John Keats is thi
D only pure Greek in all English litera
% ture, From him we learn that "a thing
of beauty is a JOY forever He bring.
o. US in his ode TO a Nightingale tina
, | charming picture, Those Hght-wingeJ
< Dryads Of the trees A few days be
. fore his death he said he felt the daisies
{ / growing over him. and for his owl
epithaph wrote, Here lies one who's,
! name was writ in water What hast
: ened the end Of such a genius? The hos
tile criticisms bitter scorn- and unre
| lenting jeers which were poured upoI
him by two periodicals Of his day.
What awful havoc, bitter grief and
untimely deaths this torrent Of harsh
ness hath wrought! How it obscUrei
the otherwise brilliant career of Car
| lyle. and how it has prevented tn,
| larger and better influence Of both ma
lions and men. The truth should b.
r0ld. but let it be told in a spirit Of
ldndlness. The achievements Of mel
should be criticised but let it be don,
with an absence Of personal animOsity
let it be done because of a feeling OF
kindness and service, and il viii b,
without hurt because gentleness vii
take out Of il the poison.
"This. then. is the message for yOJ
and for me this morning more gentle
ness for this generation. for gentlenes'
Is an imperative element for greatness.
Advance Holiday Sale.