The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-05-27

= ieventy-seven times meditatively t
pause in reading two of the books of tn
Bible. he leaves to our common sense t.
decide how often we should pause il
reading the other sixty-four books of tn
Bible
GOD CALLS A HALT.
We must pause and ask for more light
We must pause and weep over our sins
We must pause and absorb the strength
of one promise. | sometimes hear PEG
pie boasting about how many times theJ
have read the Bible through, when they
seem to know no more about it than &
passenger would know about the state
of Pennsylvania who should go through
it in St. Louis lightning express train
and in Pullman sleeper" the two
characteristics of the journey, velocity
and somnolence. 1t is not the number
of times you go through the Bible, but
the number of times the Bible goes
through you. Pause, reflect Selahl
So also on the scroll of your life and
mind. We go rushing on in the song of
our prosperity from note of joy to note
of joy, and it is long drawn out legato,
and we become Indifferent and unappre-
ciatiYe when suddenly we come upon a
blank in the music There is nothing
between those bars. 4 pause. God
will fiji it up with a sickbed, or COM
mercial disaster, or grave, But, thank
God, it is not a breaking down It is
only pause. 1t helps us to appreciate
the blessings that are gone, 1t gives us
higher appreciation of the blessings that
are to come.
The Selab of Habakkuk and David is
a dividing line between two anthems.
David begins his book with the words,
BLESSED is the man." and after seventy
four Selahs he closes his book with the
words, Praise ye the Lord" So there
going to be mercies before us. 1t is good
for us that God halts us in our for
tunes, and halts us with physical dis
tress, and halts us at the graves of our
dead. More than once you and | have
been halted by such a Selah. You
wrung your hands and said, 81 can't
see any sense in this Providence; can't
bc0 WHY SOu gave LlC Clllll, IL no ID
so soon going to take it away. Oh, my
desolate home Oh, my broken heart"
You could not understand it. But it
was not Selah of overthrow. 1t gave
you greater appreciation of the bless
ings that have gone; it will yet give you
greater appreciation of the blessings
that will come
HISTORICAL CITATIONS.
When the Huguenots were being very
much prosecuted in France father and
mother were obliged to fly from the
country, leaving their child in the pos
session of a comparative stranger. They
did not know whether they would ever
return, or returning, if they would be
able to recognize their child, for by that
time she might be grown. The mother
was almost frenzied at the thought of
leaving the child, and then, even if COM
ing back again, not being able to know
her. Before they left the father drew
his sword and he marked the wrist of
that child with deep cut. 1t must
have been a great exigency to make
father do that.
Years of absence passed on and after
awhile the parents returned, and their
first anxiety was to find their lost child. |
They looked up and down the land, ex-
amining the wrists of the young people, |
when lo after awhile the father found |
a maiden with a scar upon her wrist. |
She knew him not but he knew her. |
And oh, the JOY of the reunionl So it is
now. Whom the Lord loveth he chas-
teneth." He cutteth, he marketh and |
when he comes to claim his own the
Lord will know them that are his know
them by the scar of their trouble, know
them by the stroke of their desolation.
Oh, it is good that the Lord sometimes
halts us. David says, at is good that
| have been afflicted. Before | was
afflicted | went astray, but now have ]
kept thy word" Indeed, we must all
soon stop. Scientists have improved
human longevity, but none of them
have proposed to make terrene life per-
petual But the Gospel makes death |
only Selah between two beatitudes-
between dying triumph on the one side
of the grave, and celestial escort on the |
other side of the grave Going out of |
this life, to the unprepared, is a great
horror.
Give me more laudanum, said dying
Mirabeau; give me more laudanum.
that | may not think of eternity and
what is to come" And dying Hobbies
said, 81 leave my body to the grave and
my soul to the great perhaps" 1t was
the discord of an infdel's life breaking
down into the jargon of despair; but the
Gospel makes the death of the Christian
a Selah between redemption and en-
Almost we'll, said dying
Richard Baxter. almost we'll" play
those notes over again-those notes
which have been so great delight and
solace to me, said the dying Christian
Mozart None but Christ. none but
Christ exclaimed dying Lambert.
Richard Cameron. the Scotch cove
nanter, went into the battle three times
praying Lord, spare the green and
take the ripe. This is the day | have
Ionged for This is the day shall get
my crown Come, let us fight it to the
asst Forward So you see there is
,nly short pause, Selah of intermis-
ZION. between diving consultations on the