The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-06-02
reading The other sixty-four books of fthe

light. We must pause and weep over
our sius. We must pause and absorb
the strength of one promise. I some
times hear people boasting about how
many times they have read the Bible
through, when they seem to know no
more about it than n passenger would
know about the stale of Pennsylvania
who should 90 through it in ST. LOUIS
lightning express train and in a Pullman
sleeper, the two characteristics of the
journey, velocity and somnolence. 1t is
not the number Of times you 90 through
the Bible, but the number of times the
Bible goes through you. Pause; reflect.
Selah.
So also on the scroll OF your life and
mind. We 60 rushing on, in the song
OF oul prosperity, from note of 10Y to
notc OF JOY, and 1T is long drawn out
legato, and we become Indifferent and
unappreclativc, when suddenly we come
upon blank in the music. There is
nothing between those bars. 4 pause.
God will fill il up with slckb ed, or a
commercial disaster, or a grave. But,
thank God, it is not breaking down; it
is only pause. 1t helps us to appre.
ciate the blessings that are gone; 1t gives
us higher appreciation o. the blessings
that are 10 come.
The Selah of Habakkuk aud David is
dividing line between two anthems.
David begins his book with the words,
blessed Is the man." and after seven
tY-:our Selahs, he closes his book with
the words, "Praise ye the Lord" So
there are mercies behind US. 1t is good
for us that God halts us in our fortunes,
and halts us with physical distl ess, and
halt us at the graves OF our dead. More
than once you and have been halted
by such Selah. You wrung your
hands and said: 81 can't see any sense
III this Providence; 1 can't see why
God gave me that child, if he is so soon
going TO take 1t away. Oh, my desolate
home. On, my broken heart!" You
could not understand it. But it was not
Selah ofoverthrow. 1t gave you grea-
ter appreciation of the blessings that
have gone; it will give you greater ap.
preciation Of the blessings that will
come.
When the lIuguenotS were being
very much prosecuted in France, a
father and mother were obliged to fly
from the country, leaving their child
in the possession 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 fren-
Zied at the thought of leaving the child,
and then, even If 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
| a 1nan
| eXigency TO make a 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 peo.
pie, when 10! 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 reunion
So it is now. "Whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth." He cutteth, he mark
eth, 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, il is good that the Lord some
times hats us. David says: "It is good
that | have been afflicted. Before I
was afflicted 1 went astray, hut now
have l kept thy word" Indeed, we
must all soon stop. Scientists have
Improved human longevity, but none
of them have proposed to make terrene
life perpetual. But the Gospel makes
death only Selah between two beati-
| tudes-hetween dying triumph on 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 dy-
ing Mtrabeau; give me more laud-
anum, that | may not think of eternity
and what is to come" And dying
Hobbies said,"I leave my body to the
grave and my soul to the great perhaps"
1t was the discord of an infdels life
breaking down into the jargon of de-
spair; but the Gospel makes the death
Of the Christian a selah between re;
demptlon and enthronement. almost
well" said dying Richard Baxter; "al-
most we'll" play those notes over
again-those notes which have been Sc
great delight and solace to me-" said
the dying Christian Mozart. "None
Dut Christ, none but Christ" exclaimed
dying Lambert.
Rlchard Cameron, the Scotch coven.
anter, went into the battle three times
praying: Lord, spare the green and
take the ripe. This is the day I have
longed for. This is the day Shall ge,
my crown. Come, let us fight it to the
last. forwardw So you see there is
only short pause, Selah of intermis,
sion, between dying consultations on
the one side and overlapping raptures
on the other.
! My flesh shall slumber in the ground
Till the last trumpets joyful sound;
Then burst the chains with sweet surprise
And in my Saviour's image rise.
| next speak of the Selah of empha
sis. Ewald, the German orientalist
and theologian, says that this world
means to ascend; and wherever you
iind 1t, he says, you must look after the
mobilization Of the voice, and you must
put more force into your utterance. II
Is Selah of emphasis. All! my friends
you and need to correct our emphasis
We put too much emphasis on this
world and not enough on God and the
next world. People think these things
around Ns are so important, the things
of the next are not worthy of our con.
SidPration.
Z. -