The Washington times., 1901-09-23
THE INSPIRING MOUNTAINS.
DR.. Thonpson Sees in Them the
symbols of Religions Truths.

The Rev. Dr. w. T. Thompson, formerly
| of Charleston, S. c., but for some time
| pastor of the Presbyterian congregation
| At lexington has returned from his vaca-
! ton spent in the mountains of North
! Carolina He preached yesterday for the
| first time since his return and was greet
| ed by large congregation. He took his
| text from Psalms xxxvi:6: Thy
| righteousness is like the great noun
| tains," and, referring TO his trip. said:
Scripture references to scenes OF phys
ical sublmity. or it's use of the more i'm
posing objects in nature in imparting spir-
itual instruction. arrested my attention
with more than ordinary interest during
my vacation and conveyed meanings and
left Impressions altogether new.
Again and again in the survey of those
immense and rugged peaks did l find my
self repeating The strength of the hills
is his also:' AS the mountains are round
about Jerusalem so the Lord is round
about his people from henceforth. even
forever and Thy righteousness is like
the great mountains.
Il am truly grateful that inspiration
did not suppress the intellectual peculiari-
ties of the sacred writer's. Hence David
in his songs displays his poetic taste and
into them gracefully weaves the incidents
of his life and the more striking features
of his surroundings.
There is in them the surge of seas,
and the crash of storms, and the roar of
thunder, and the flash Of lightning, and
the golden simmer of summer harvests,
and the snowy sterility of frigid winter,
and floral fragrance and beauty. and the
tramp of armies, and the glory of rising
and setting suns, and the mysterious
pomp of nocturnal skies, and the gloom of
caverns, and the frown of sombre noun
tains.
There is no more striking proof of the
divine origin of the Bible than its pre-
sentation of the character of God. All
other books setting forth an object of
worship mar it by assigning 1t some
thing of human imperfection. Not so this
volume Ii ascribes TO him throughout a
faultless righteousness. Is he Father?
He is a righteous Father. Is he king and
SO ruler? He is righteous ruler. Is he
judge? He is a righteous judge. Wher-
ever he exercises wrath Ii is righteous
wrath; or love. it is a righteous affection.
Every declaration of his will and every
exhibition of his power Is righteous. and
addressing himself to this characteristic
of the Deity David declares that 1t Is
like the great mountains.
MANY are the simiiitudes that might
i
The mountains are beautiful Whenever
viewed there is grace and majesty and
loveiiness. In their form, in their undu-
latory or serrated SKY line-in the tints
and shadows that play upon them the
whole day through-in their snowy
crests-in their precipitous and polished
rocks-in their dense forests-in their be-
wildering vernal fiora-in their flashing
streams, in their imperial autumnal veS-
ture. In their solemn perpetual repose.
there is beauty.
And who viii deny the commanding
beauty of righteousness. Indeed the true
and only beauty of intellectual and moral
natures is this-and when Scripture would
speak of the Divine beauty, it Is the
beauty OF holiness
Then, too, the mountains are immut-
able-that is to us they are the symbol of
permanence. The Alps are what they
were when Hannibal led his Carthagenian
soldiery through them to the gates OF
Rome Hermon is what 1t was when am
bilious man attempted tower that
should pierce to heaven. The seasons
tread upon them through successive years
and leave no trace. Storms hurl their
fury against their dizzy heights only to
be broken. In impassive grandeur they
have witnessed the birth and death OF
hundreds of generations. the palmy glory
and the melancholy extinction OF many
empires
ain I.--,,an spaanb and thnnaht the
are unchanging. II is so with
the righteousness OF God. There Is no
can buy him-no power that can awe or
cope with him. Could there be raised
formidable doubt as to his unchanging
Righteousness Ii would disqualify man.
instability. But in this respect he Is
the same yesterday and today and tomor-
row.. He Is without variaoleness or
shadow of turning.
'Once more the mountains are con-
spicuous How boldly they stand out
against the far horizon. How they chal-
lenge our regard by their very vastness,
How they seem to sentinel the world
while they hold communion with the
starsl Ii is so with Gods Righteousness.
1t so pervades all Scripture that no reader
can deny its presence.
THE great mountains Of the earth.
which are they? Those that may be
measured with a line or weighed in bal
ances? Those that are so many feet
Rather those that teach most of God:
those that have been most intimately
identified with human history, and that
have the widest bearing upon human
possessed of their own distinctive and
pre-eminent moral and spiritual beauty;
immutable in their moral and spiritual
lessons. and sublime supplementary rela-
tion. They are conspicuous from Genesis
to Revelation. and have to do with every
man here and hereafter.
"The righteousness of God Is like Sinai.
that great mountain OF the divine law
whose ueClarduO1 SlHOht anu llIt
and cloud and earthquake, is that the
soul that sinneth shall die If the answer
rested here then there would settle upon
all the torpor Of hopelessness. But the
of God is like Calvary. that
great mountain of redeeming love. where
the righteousness required at Sinai ap-
pears in the person of Gods obedient suf-
fering Son. and becomes available for
sinners. The mountains are complement
tary. They are the gigantic terms in the
glorious equation OF grace.
I'm considering the divine treatment OF
apostate man, Sinai stands for the cate
gorical imperative. do Calvary stands
for the past participle. done The lam
guage of the one is. BY the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified The
language of the other is. We are tusti-
fed freely by his grace 'Whosoever be-
lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life
To him that worketh not but belieyeth
on him that tustifieth the ungodly. his
Faith is counted for righteousness
1T behooVes us now to ask what sig
1if1cance has this assertion for the world
today. Much every way. as the world is
iivided into the two great classes, believ-
FRS and unbelievers. To the latter the
reaty, many voiced tremendous call to |
repentance through faith in Jesus Christ.
II GODS righteousness Is like the great
Mountains and you are ignorant of CAL |
iary you must deal with him alone at |
he base of Sin3i, and that means death |
To the former 1t is the .solace of all sor- |
'oW, Tor righteousness permits or ap- |
loints. and righteousness attends every |
fllinS out life's varied his |
ory. 1t is the brightness of all hope, the |
ourage of all condolences: 1t is the octave |
# all music; 1t is the promise of ever |
asting victory"
A crpMAN DoErDu Co,rrr,