The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1902-03-03
UNYIBLDING DEMAND OF
THE SOUL IS GOD
No Man Can Shut Out Crea-
tor, Says DR.. Easton.
True Christian Age at Once Genial and
Godly-Divine Will That Man
Should Enjoy Himself.

"a true Christian age Is at once genial
and Cody"
This thought was expressed by DR..
Thomas Chalmers Easton in his sermon
preached yesterday morning ct the East
ern Presbyterian Church. Six Street and
Maryland Avenue northeast. The attend
ance was fair in spite of the drizzling rain
which fell all morning.
Christ's Words at the Feast.
DR.. Eastons text was from St. John
vii:37: III any man thirst. let him come
unto me and drink" the words of Christ
spoken to the Jews at their great feast
Of tabernacles.
Jews, DR.. Easton said:
Humanity loves festivals. Everyone
wishes to have a good time at some time
in their lives. And that is just what the
Lord wants them TO do-with the empha-
sis on the word good
THE tabernacle feast of the Jews COM
bined pleasure and piety. Everyone not
incapacitated was compelled by the law
of Moses to camp in the vicinity of Jerusa-
lem. 1t was a season of relaxation,
democratic mingling. and, in It's ideal
sense, an g nual revival of religion.
A JOYOUS Feast.
Thousands and tens of thousands OF
Jews came every year. 1t was the most
joyous and imposing of all feasts, and
the dominant tone was one of worship
and praise"
DR.. Easton told how the topic of con-
versation at this particular gathering had
been the remarkable young Nazerene, who
finally, in the words of the text, pro-
claimed himself the Messiah the Jews
had been seeking. The excited multitude
would have accepted him as such, but he
was rejected by the elders.
Pursuing the thought of the text. DR..
Easton said that God never made hui
man soul that did not thirst for him. He
said:
This thirst ranges in degree from the
half-conscious wish to the piteous wall of
the soul. Thirst is the token OF hope. Its
intensity is the measure OF the life with
in. When it Is utterly lacking the soul is
stupefied."
Patterned After the Divine.
DR.. Easton said that the soul of man
is patterned after the divine; that man
possesses exactly the same qualities
God as he is revealed to US. The living
soul. he said. is the possession of every
man, not merely of the leaders of men,
but Of each of all the people. One dis
feature of the soul is its
thirst-its desire for growth
1T is the last dread calamity" he said,
when the desire for growth dies from the
soul"
Our sinful inclinations, Dr. Easton said.
hamper us throughout life. He drew an
picture of the way God meant US
to live, and the way We should live had
we never sinned. Our inclination to sin
is strengthened when We try to live in
dependently of God. But the thirst of the
soul is not altogether killed by sin, al
though it is perverted. 1t is then that the
parched spirit drinks of tainted and poll
luted pools.
Thirst for Healing Waters.
But there is no satisfaction in those
DR.. Easton said. The thirst
for healing waters is always there. al
though 1t may not be a conscious one
We long for we know not what"
He drew picture of the man who had
drunk of the wells of pleasure and sin
and self-indulgence without quenching his
yearning for the divine, until he had be-
come a cynic.
The cynic says the whole OF life is
nothing but a splendid lie
DR.. EastOn said that the despairing eff
fort to drink from brooks and cisterns
that are dry reveals the unquenchable
thirst of the human soul He said:
do what you will you cannot shut God