The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-07-07

1t is smooth and long drawn out tegdt0,
and we become Indifferent and unappre'
CistiVe, when 10, we find a blank in the
music; no notes between these two bars.
A pausel The spaces will be filled up
with sick bed or a commercial disaster
or a grave. You and have been halted
by more than one Selah. But, thank
God, it is not a ruinous breakdown to
make the past merCies the more valuable
and will make the future the more ten
der. The Selah of David and Haobakuk
wa only a dividing line between an
thems. The psalmist began his book
with BLESSED is the man." and after
seventy.four Selahs, ended with Praise
We the Lord" We have mercies behind
us, we are going to have mercies before
US. 1t is for our good that God makes
us halt in our fortunes, halt with our
physical ailment, and halt at the grave
of our dead. We rebel and say: u can
not see the use of this; if that child was
to be taken away 80 soon, why was she
given at all? Oh, my desolate hom' Oh,
nv broken heart" But Selah does not
mean overthrow, it means only a pause.
We are going on again. There are tri-
umphs ahead, consultations ahesd, reun'
ion ahead, coronation ahead, heaven
ahead. When the lluguenots we're SUI.
fering greatly in France, a father and
mother were compelled to leave their In
fant daughter in the hands Of Compar'
atiye stranger and leave the country. 1t
might be years again before they retur-
ned, and they feared they would not
know the child if they ever got back.
The mother was frenzied at the thought
that they might not, years after, reCog'
nize the little one. AS they were about
to leave, the father drew his sword and
marked with cut the wrist of the child
Nothing but great exigenCy could make
q father DO that. Years of absence pass
ed on, and the parents returned, and
their first anx ETY. was to find their lost
child, They hunted up and down the
land, examining the wrists of all the
Young, when lol one day the father found
the scar upon maiden. who knew him
not, but he knew her, and OBJ! the wild
gladness of clasping again his lost child!
| So now whom the Lord loveth he chast'
eneth, he cutteth, ne marketh, and when
he comes to claim his own he will know
they are his by the scar Of our earthly
troubles, the scar of the stroke, the pang
the struggle the bereavement. Whether
we understand now or not, it is best for
us to pause. 1t is good to be afflicted.
The Selah is not misplaced or wasted.
Indeed, We shall soon all have to stop.
Men of science are improving longevity,
but no one has proposed to make ter
lene life perpetual. Yet the Gospel
makes death Selah between two beau-
titudes, dying triumph standing on one
side of the grave, celestial escort standing
on the other. Going out of life unpre-
pared is horror. "Give me more aud
anum," said dying Mirabeau, "Give me
more lsudanum, that l may not think OF
eternity, and of what is to come" Hob.
bes, dying, said ~ leave my body to the
grave, and my soul to the great Perhaps"
This is the discord of an infdel's life
breaking down into jargon of sternal de-
spair. But to the righteous, death is a
Selah between redemption and enthrone
ment. almost we'll" cried Richard
Baxter; "almost we'll" "Let me hear
once more those notes 30 long my solaCe
and delight" said expiring Mozart. None
but Chrislp shouted the dying Lambert.
Richard Cameron the Scotch Covenanter,
went into battle three times for the faith
praying: Lord, spare the green and take
the ripe; this is the day have longed
for; this is the day shall get the crown
come, let us fight it out to the last" In
deed, dePth is only short pause, a Sc
lab of intermission between the dying
consultations on one side and tile over
topping raptures on the other.
Next, l speak of the Selah of empha.
sis. Ewald, the German theologian,
thinks this word is from the Hebrew
word, ito ascend" that it means, you
are to lift up your voice and make dis
tinCt utterance." All, how much we all
need to correct our emphasis. We put
too much emphasis on the things of this
world and too little on things of the
next. Behold wretChedness on throne!
Napoleon while yet Emperor, sat defect
ed with his face buried in his hands, and
a little page presented him a tray of food,
saying, Eat, sir; it will do you good,
The Emperor looked up and said to him,
"You are from the country" Eyes" "
"Wnere your parents have Cottsge and
some acres of land2" "Yes." "There ia
happiness" cried Napoleon. Then be-
hold happiness under worst worldly dis.
advantage. 81 never saw till was
blind" cried Christian blind man one
day. II never knew Contentment when
l had my eyesight as do now that ]
have ost it. can truly affirm, though
few know now to credit me, that | wo'd
on no account change me present situa'
ton and circumstances with any I ever
enjoyed before / was blind" 0, my
hearers, change your emphasisl Put less
weight on this world and more on God
as Joy and an unfsiling portion. David
had learned the nothingness of this
world and the all.sufiCiency of God
Notice how he interjects the Selahs
"Trust in him at all times ye people
pour out your heart before him; God is q
refuge for us. Selah!" blessed be the
Lord, who daily loadeth US with benefits
even the God of our salvation. s. lahP
"The Lord shall count when he writeth
up the people, that this man was born
there. Selahl" Let the world have its
riches, and its honors, and its pomp
Give me the Lord for my light, my com
fort my peace, my pardon, my hope, my
heaven.
Next speak of the Selah of perpetu
ity. The Targum renders this word for
ever Many writers agree in it's mean
ing forever. In the very verse from
which my text was taken, Selah means
not only poetic significance, and inter
mission and emphasis, but eternal rever.
bera ion. Foreverl Gods goodness for.
ever, Coos government forever
gadness 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 not great while. A tower OF
five hundred feet is great height. A
journey of four Thousand miles is very
long. But eternity! If an aroh.angel
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