The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-05-25

times hear people boasting OF how many
times they have read the Bible through,
when they seem to know no more about
1t than passenger would know about
the state of Pennsylvania who should
go through it in a st. Louis lightning
express train and in a Pullman
Sleeper" the two characteristics OF
the journey, velocity and somnolence.
II 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 1t is long drawn-out
legato, and we become indifferent and
unappreciative, when suddenly we
come upon blank in the music. There
is nothing between those bars. A
pause. God will fill it up with a sick
bed, or commercial disaster, or a
grave. But, thank God, 1t Is not a
breaking down; II is only pause. 1t
helps Us to appreciate the blessings that
are gone; 1t gives us higher apprecia-
tion Of the blessings that are to come.
The Selah of Habakhuk and David is
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
are mercies behind us, and there are
going to be mercies before us. 1t Is
good for us that God halts us in our
fortunes, and halts us with physical
distress, and halts us at the graves Of
our dead. More than once you and |
have been halted by such selah. You
wrung your hands and said, II can't
see any sense in this providence; can't
see why God gave me that child If he is
soon going to take it away. o, my des-
olate homel o, my broken heart!" You
could not understand it. But 1t was
not selah of overthrow. 1t gave you
greater appreciation of the blessings
that have gone; it will yet give you
greater appreciation of the blessings
that will come.
When the Huguenots were being very
much persccuted 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, II they would be
able to recognize their child, for by that
time she might be grown. The mother
was almost frenzied by the thought Of
leaving the child, and then, even II
coming 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. II
must have been great exigency to make
n father do that. Years OF absence passed
on, and after awhile the parents re-
turned, and their first anxiety was "a
find their lost child They looked up
and down the land, examining the
wrists Of the young people, when lo
after while the father found a
maiden with n scar upon her wrist
She knew him not, but he knew her
And o, the joy of the reunionl So II Il
now. Whom the Lord loveth II,
chasteneth." He cutteth, He marxeth
and when He comes TO claim His owl
the Lord will know them that are His
know them by the scar Of their trouble
know them by the stroke Of their desc
lation.
O, 1t is good that the Lord sometimes
halts us David says: 'It is good tha
have been afflicted. Before l was af
! flicted / went astray, but now have
kept thy word" Indeed, we must al
soon stop. Scientists have improved hu
man longevity, but none Of them hav'
4 proposed to make terrene life perpetual
But the gospel makes death only Selal
between two eatitudes-between dying
triumph on one side Of the grave and ce
lestial escort on the other side Of tn,
grave. Going ont Of this life, to the un
prepared, Is a great horror. "Give m,
more laudanum, said dying Mirabeau
that | may not think Of eternity anC
what Is TO come And dying Hobbies said
81 leave my body to the grave, and m!
soul to the great perhaps" II was tn,
discord of an infdel's life breaking
down into the jargon Of despair; bu
the gospel makes the death of tn
Christian Selah between redemption
and enthronement almost we'll,
said dying Richard Baxter; "almos
we'll" 'Play those notes over again
those notes which have been SO great
delight and solace to me-" said tn
dying Christian Mozart "None bu
Christ, none but Christ" exclaime,
l.dying Lambert
Richard Cameron, the Scotch coven
anter, went into the battle three time
praying, Lord, spare the green ant
take the ripe. This is the day hav,
longed for. This is the day shall &c
my crown. Come, let us fight 1t to th'
last. Forwardl'' So you see there
only short pause, Selah of intermis
sion, between dying consolation on tn
one side and overtopping raptures ol
the other
My flesh shall slumber in the ground
TIL the last trumpets joyful sound;
Then burst the chains with sweet surprise,
Andin my Saviour's image rise.
Inext speak Of the Selah Of empha
SIS. Ewald, the German orientalist an
theologian, says that this word mean
TO ascend; and wherever you find II
he says, you must look after the modu
lation Of the voice, and you must pu
more force into your utterance. II is
Selah of emphasis Ah my friends
you and need 10 correct our emphasis
We put too much emphasis on thi