p. 350 | Thorn in the Flesh

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Nov 20, 1879

Thorn in the Flesh.

ARCHBISHOP WHATELY, in the early part of his life, was painfully oppressed by the sense of shyness. When at Oxford his white, rough coat, and white hat obtained for him the sobriquet of "The White Bear," and his manners, according to his own account of himself, corresponded with the appellation. He was directed, by way of remedy, to copy the example of the best-mannered men in society, but the attempt to do this only increased his shyness.

Finding that he was making no progress, Whately was driven to utter despair, and said to himself: "Why should I endure this torture all my life to no purpose? I would bear it if there was any success to be hoped for, but since there is not, I will die quietly without taking any more doses. I have tried my utmost and find that I must be as awkward as a bear all my life. I will endeavor to think as little about it as a bear, and make up my mind to endure what can't be cured."

In adopting this course, he says: "I succeeded beyond my expectations, for I not only got rid of the personal sufferings of shyness, but also most of those faults of manner which consciousness produces; and acquired at once an easy and natural manner—rough and awkward, for smoothness and grace are quite out of my way—but unconscious, and therefore giving expression to that good will towards men which I really feel; and these, I believe, are the main points."—Character.

GENTLENESS which belongs to virtue is to be carefully distinguished from the mean spirit of cowardice and the fawning assent of sycophants.