Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-06-27
greatly suffering in France, a father and

marked with a cut the wrist OF the child.
Nothing but a great exlgency clnid
make a father do that. Years of ao'
sence passed on, and the parents
returned, and their first anxiety
was to find their lost child;
They hunted up and down the land
examining the wrists OF all the young,
when 10, one day the father found the
scar upon maiden who knew him not
but he knew her and oh, the wild glad
ness of claspisg again his lost child. SO
now whom. the Lord loyeth, He chasten..
eth! He cutteth, He marketh, and
when He comes to claim His own. He
will know that they are HIS by the scar
OF our earthly troubles, the scar oil the
stroke, the struggle, the pang, the be.
reayement. Whether we understand
now or not it is best for us to pause.
It is Good to be Afflicted.
The Selah is not misplaced or wasted.
Indeed we shall all soon have to stop.
Men of science are improving human
longevity, but no one has proposed to
TO make terrene life perpetual. letthe
Gospel makes death Selah between two
beatitudes, dying gratitude standing on
one side the grave, celestial
escorts standing on the other.
Going ont OF life unprepared is horror.
"Iiiye me more laudanum," said dying
Mirabeau, "give me more laudanum,
that may not think OF eternity and OF
what is to COME" Hobbies. dying, said:
81 leave my body to the grave and my
soul to the great Perhaps" That Is the
di cord of an infidei's life breaking down
into the iargOn Of eternal despair. But
to the righteous death is se.ah between
redemption and enthronement AL
most we'll" cried diving Richard Baxter,
"almcs s; well. '"Let me hear once more
those notes so long my solace and de-
light" said expiring Mozart.
None but Christ. N one but Chr ST."
shouted the dying Lambert. Richard
Cameron, the Scotch Covenanter, went
into battle for the faith three timespray-
ing: Lord spare the green and take the
ripe; this is the day have lOnged for;
this is the day shalt get the crown;
come, let Us fight it out to the last.
Indeed death is only short pause, q
selah of fintermission between the dying
on the one side and the
overlapping raptures on the other.
what sinners value. / resign
Lorl, It's enough that thou art mine;
shall behold they bliSsful face,
Aud stand complete in Righteousness"
Next speak OF the Selah OF perpetuity.
The Targum renders this word "for-
ever" Many writers agree in its mean
ing forever. In the very verse from
which my text is taken Selah means not
only poetic significance and intermisslon
and emphasis but eternal reverberation.
Forever! Gods goodness forever, Gods
government forever, gladness OF the
righteous forever. OF course We have
no surveyors chain with links enough
to measure that domain Of meaning. We
must build everything on a small scale
in this world. A hundred years are
great while. A tower OF 500 feet is a
great height. A journey OF 1900 miles
is very long. But eternity. II an arch
angel has not strength OF wing to fly
across it but futters and drops like
wounded sea gull, there is no use in our
trying in small shallop ef human thought
to voyage it. Its surges come trembling
i'm upon us in tornadoes of omnipotent
energy. A scpptic wishing to show his
defiance Of the passing years had his
own sepulchre made OF the finest and
hardest marble and put on it the in-
scription,
For Time and Eternity"
But the seed of tree somehow got in
an unseen crevice OF the marble and
grew till it split the marEle to pieces.
There can be no eterniZation OF the
earthly. But forever Are you and to
live as long as that? We were thinking
OF the grave as q terminus and the hearse
as our last vehicle, OF 20 or so or 80 years
of pilgrimage and then a cessation. No,
the marble slab OF the grave is only a
milestone marking the first mile and the
journey is beyond. In this world We
have only time to get on our sandals and
pick up our staff and tighten our girdle
We take only one step from cradle to
grave and then we open the door and
start-great Godl Whittier, This Selah
OF perpetuity makes all earthly Unequal.
tiles insignificant, the difference between
sceptre and needle, between Alhambr a
and hut, between chariot and cart, be-
tween throne and curbstOne, between
minister and bare floor, between satin
and sackcloth, trivial. This is the Selah
that makes
Gssting Ready 30 Important.
For such q prolongation of travel are We
provided with gpide-books, and passes,
and escort. Are We putting out into
wilderness sirocco-swept and ghOul
haunted or into regions OF sLn lighted
and spray -sprinkled garden1 Is it 10 be
Elysium or Gehenna2 As We start We
must keep on. That current is 50 swift
that once in il no oar can resist 1t, no
helm steer ont OF it, no herculean or IL
tanic arm battle it. Hear the long re-
sounding echo-Forever! But there
are two iorevers. The one is as swift as
the other, as long as the Other, as mighty
as the other, bat the one empties into
an ocean OF gladness opaline above and
corsline beneath. The other goes down
over a plunge OF awful sbysm OF despair.
On the one sail argosies OF light, on the
other the charred bulks Of tlery cy-
clone. Wake up to the value OF your
deathless spiritl Strike out Tor heaven
Arouse yet, the men and women for
whom Christ died! Selsh! Selah! To-
day | close
Another Year Of Church Work.
1t has been in some respects the most
prospered year of my ministry. Greater
pressure OF audiences, larger financial
income as a church, more harmony and
a perpetual revival. How the golden
sheaves came in till We had no more
strength left to garner them. Across
the year swept a great domestic grief
but sustained by the comforting hand OF
God and your tender sympathy for
which 1 have not yet had self-control
enough to thank You have continued
until this hour. Now know better
.han before how to comfort you. Now
know all about the desolation OF be-
reavement and living in house where
every room, every picture, every book,
every chair, every incident seems
Charged With Memories Overwhelming,
And now conformity with you l can