The Washington times., 1901-07-08

Begets Experience, and This En-
Eenders neutrality-suspicious. Arms
Us Against Repeating Past Errors.
"A Sound Thrashing" was the title of
the sermon delivered by the Rev. Thomas
Chalmers Easton, D. D., pastor of the
Eastern Church, Sixth Street and Mary
land Avenue northeast. at yesterday
morning : service. The sermon was found
ed on the text, Romans VIA: Knowing
that tribulation worketh patience" The
Rev. DR.. Easton said in part:
Every man owes il to himself as
most imperative duty to take retrospec-
tive view of his life. 1t is all well enough
to say, let bygOnes be bygones. and let
our future be better than our past The
fact remains that unless we count up
our past successes and failures and draw
up a trial balance to see how we stand,
our future is not likely to be any more
brilliant than our past.
ITO be profitable students we must
view the results of our past from the
standpoint of introspection that is of
standing without and looking within.
What are the results in character? What
has it brought to or taken from the in
ner life" Has it left US richer or poorer
in truth. in honor, in justice. in charity?
Has it brought more of winter than sum
mer to our souls? Are we nearer to hu-
manity and nearer to God? Haye our
trials, struggles. and conflicts with outer
forces wrought in us patience, experience,
and hope? This seems to be Pauls rea-
soning that life's last and best results
must appear in character or in what is
wrought upon our inner life.
In the text have chosen for our morn
ing meditation something of the method
and the several steps in the progress of
this work upon character are indicated
but in so broad a subject. of every factor
in life, religious, moral, and educational,
and all other influences, certainly no one
sermon can be exhaustive. The best We
can do briefly is to discuss a few of the
forces that come into play and have to
do with our everyday life and are of vast
Importance.
The first and main factor looking TO
final result in character is tribulation
The Latin here is very strong. The word
tribulatio from which we get our word
tribulation means to thrash, to beat to
pound with a fail. called in ancient times
the tribulum. Before the invention of
machinery. such as we now have, when
whole stacks of grain are thrashed out
by steam or horse power in a few hours,
beating and pounding with a fail The
sheaves Of grain were placed on the barn
floor and beaten out The sheaves were
passive under this process and the grain,
that the stalks had tenderly carried all
season and had wrapped about with a
husk. were torn and shaken out from their
nest and the chan thrown away
This thrashing or pounding is very
striking figure Of life Itself. Life begins
with pounding and ends with pounding,
and We are pounded all the way through.
The whole world is one vast thrashing
floor, and mankind are the sheaves and
universal nature is the tireless thrasher.
We must all come down upon the floor
and suffer beneath the fail
4 used TO note L the grain wasi ripe
how easily il came out OF the husk, but
IL not fully ripe how it needed more
pounding and often the sheaves had to
be turned over and over to be thrashed
out So it is with men. Some that are
green, raw, immature need more of fail
beating than Others and have to be turn
ed over and over on lfe's thrashing
fioor-the children Of tTibulation. Now
little attention To the constitution of
things will reveal how this is so ana pos
sibly why it is so. The latter reason may
be found perhaps in the fact that il could
not be in any other way.
The whole system OF things about us
seems to be built upon the principle of
antag0nism- or antagOnistic forces, one
thing coming against or opposing an
other. Thus IL is in life and death, one
is opposed to the other. The whole world
is but a vast thrashing floor. where poor
humanity is placed for pounding, 10 get
the chaf from the wheat
This leads me to notice that there
must be a divine purpose in this process
OF tribuiation. Paul notes il by saying
that tribulation worketh patience, and
patience experience, and experience hope.
Gods purpose must be sought in hu-
man character. Its first and main pur-
pose in this is simply a preparation or
soil making, In which seeds are to be
cast. Prof. AgassiZ said once-and |
suppose none would question such an
authority in science-'The whole region
of country where now are our inland
lakes, prairies. and the site on which Chi
cagO, queen city Of the lakes. now stands,
was once. in the glacial period, covered
over with vast, slOW-moying bodies Of
ice four hundred feet thick. That was
natures way OF leveling these great
prairies, and grinding and pulyerizing the
rocky elements that go 10 make the soil
where are now raised the vastest har-
vests Of the world.
And so in the moral realm all this
universal pounding and fiail-beating of
humanity is one Of God 5 ways of making
soil in which are to be soWn one day
great grain fields, gardens Of lovely fGw-
ers. and orchards laden with garden fruit
This soil is called patience The severe
ordeal Of pounding and thrashing works
that state Of mind and heart that is re-
ceptiEe. willing, ready. enduring. being
like our Western prairies ready for the
plow and sOwer The wildness and i'm
petuosity Of youth have TO be broken in
by tribulation before the man can rise TO
the higher purpose Of life"