The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-06-08
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
fHE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Selah."


hey consider it superfuity, a mere filling
meaningless interjection, useless re-
rain, an underlined echo. Selah! But
AVE to tell you that it is no Scriptural ac-
ident. 1t occurs seventy-four times in the
fook of Psalms and three times in the Book
Habakkuk. You must not charge this
erfect book with seventy-seyen trivialltias.
elahi 1t is an enthroned word. II, accord.
hg to an old writer, some words are battles,
hen this word is a Marathon, a Thermopy-
be, Sedan, Waterloo. 1t is a word de-
fsive, sometimes for poetic beauty, some
lines for grandeur, and sometimes for
ternal import. Through it roll the thun-
ering chariots of the Omnipotent God.
take this word for my text because am
b often asked what is its meaning, or
Fhether it has any meaning at all. 1t has
n ocean of meaning, from which l shall
his morning dip up only four or five buck
tfuls. I will speak to you, so,far as have
ime. of the Selah Of poetic significance. the
elah Of intermissiou, the Selah Of emphasis
nd the Selah of perpetuity.
Are YOU surprised that speak OF the
6elah of poetic significance? Surely the God
tho sapphired the heavens and made the
arth a rosebud of beauty. with oceans
hanging to it like drops of morning dew,
would not make Bible without rhylhm,
5od knew that eventually the Bible would
e read by great majority Of young peo.
le, for in this world Of malaria and casualty
n octogenarian is exceptional, and as thirty
Fears is more than the average OF human
life. if the Bible is to be a successful book it
must be adapted to the young. Hence the
brosody of the Bible-the drama of Job, the
pastoral of Ruth, the epic of Judges the
eithyrambic of Habakkuk, the threnody OF
Jeremiah, the lyric Of Solomon's Song, the
$ratorio Of the Apocalypse, the idyl, the
ftrophe and antistrophe, and the Selan OF
The Psalms.
Wherever you find this word Sslah it
means that you are to rouse up to great
ttanza, that you a.'e to open your sotl to
kreat analogies, that you are to spread the
ving Of Tour Imagination for great flight.
i answered thee in the secret place OF tnun-
Her; proved thee at the waters Of Meribah.
Selah." 1.-The earth and all the inhabitants
Ehereof are dissolved; bear up the pillars
bf it. Selah." "Who is the King Of Glory?
The Lord of Hosts, He is the King Of Glory.
Selah." Thou shalt compass me- about wltn
longs Of deliverance. Selah." Though
Ehe waters thereof roar and be troubled,
Enough the mountains shake with the SWELL
ing thereof. Selah." "The Lord Of Hosts is
with US, the God of Jacob is our refuge.
6elah" Thou hast given banner to them
that fear Thee, that it may be displayed
because Of the truth. Selah." II will hide
under the covert Of Thy wings. Selah."
'.'Oh, God. when Thou wentest forth before
Thy people, when Thou didst march through
the wilderness. Selah."
Whoever you find this word it is signal
.of warning hung out to tell you to stand on
the track while the rushing train goes bY
with its imperial passengers, Poetic word,
rrrol NJ 6amn6SG
and earthquake, and resurrections and
kmillenniums.
) Next come to speak of the Selah OF in
ftermission Gesenius Tholuck, Hengsten-
Iberg and other writers agree in saying that
this word Selah means rest In music; what
{the Greeks call q diapsalma, pause, halt
lin the solemn march Of cantillation.
| Every musician knows the importance OF
lit. If YOU ever saw Julien, the great
musical leader, stand before five thousand
singers and players upon Instruments, and
with one stroke Of his baton smite the multi
|tudinous hallelujah into silencs, and then,
3soon after that, with another stroke OF his
kbaton rose up the full orchestra to great
outburst OF harmony, then you know the
| mighty effect Of musical pause. 1t gives
more power to what went before; it gives
more power to what is to come after.
So God thrusts the Selah into His Bible
land into our lives. compelling us to stop and
think, stop and consider, stop and admire,
fstop and pray, stop and repent stop and be
4sick, ssop aud die, 1t is not the great num-
Eber of times that we read the Bible through
that makes US intelligent in the Scriptures.
We must pause. What though it take an
hour for one word? What though it take
week for one verse? What though it take q
year for one chapters We must pause and
measure the height, the depth. the length,
the breadth, the universe, the eternity or
meaning in one verse.
] should like to see some one sail around
one little adverb in the Bible, a.little adverb
bf two letters, during one lifetime word
}stso" in the New Testament passage, "God
80 loved the world" Augustine made long
(pause after the verse, Put ye on the Lord
FJesus Christ" and it converted him. Mat
thew Henry made a long pause after the
'verse, 'Upen Thou my lips, and my mouth
shall show forth Thy praise, andit convert
I'd him. William Cowper made long
pause after the verse, being freely justified
by His grace" and it converted him. When
IGod tells US seventy-seven times medltatlvely
Ito pause in reading two books OF the Bible,
lie leaves to our common sense to decide
bow often we should pause in reading the
bther sixty-four books Of the Bible.
We must pause and ask for more light.
I'VE must pause and weep over our sins We
3must pause and absorb the strength OF one
Spromise. sometimes hear people boasting
about how many times they have read the
Bible through, when they seem to know nc
more about 1t than passenger would know
about the State Of Pennsylvania who should
igo through it in st. Louis lightning ex'
press train and in Pullman sleeper" the
two characteristics of the journey, velocity
and somnolence. 1t is not the number ol
: of times you 20 through the Bible, but the
Number Of times the Bible goes through you
Rause, reflect. Selah! .
j )So also on the scroll Of your life ana mind
1--WE 90 rushing on in the song OF our pros
rserAty from note Of Joy to note OF joy, aud II
lis hong drawn out legato, and we become
indifferent and unappreciative when sud
denly I'VE come upon blank in the music.
There us nothing between those bars. q
Dause. (God will fill it up with sick bed,
or commercial disaster, or grave. But
thank God, it is not breaking down. 1t Il
only pause. 1t helps us to appreciate the
bIass;ngs that are gone. 1t gives us higher
appreciation of the blessings that are te
come.
The Selah Of Habskkuk and David Is
dividing line between two anthems. Davit
,hao;ns his book with the words, BLESSED L
ths man" and after seventy-four Selahs M
closes his book with the words, "Pralss "
the Lord :" So there ara mercies behind US
and there are going to be msrcies before US
r. ls GOOD for US that God halts us in our 10
tunes and halts Us with physical distress
and halts us at the graves OF our dead. Nor
than once you and have been halted b.
such Selah. You. wrung your hands an!
said: Il can't sea any sense in this Provl
dence: can't see why God gave me tina
child, il He is so soon going to take IL away.
heart ", You could not understand it. Bu
J - was not a Selah OF overthrow. 1t gave
vou greater appreciation OF the blessing
that have gone; it will yet give you greater