The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-06-08

who should go through it in St Louis
express train and in Pull
man 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. Selah!
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-ont
legato, and we become Indifferent and
unappreciativc, when suddenly we come
upon a blank in the music. There is
nothing between these bars. A pause.
God will fill up with a sick-bed, or a
commercial disaster, or grave. But,
thank God, it is not a breaking down; it
is only pause. 1t helps us to appre-
ciate the blessings that are gone; tt
gives us higher appreciation of the
blessings that are to come. The Se,ah
of Habakkuk and David is a dividing
line between two anthems. David
begins his book with the words,
blessed is the man." and, after seven
ty-four Selahs, he closes his book with
the words, Praise we 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: 81 can't
see any sense in this Providence; Ican't
see why God gave me that child, if ne is
so soon going to take it away o my
dcsolate homc o 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.
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 comparative stranger. They
did not know whether 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
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. 1t
must have been great exigency to
make a father do that. Years of alb
sence passed on, and after n while the
parents returned, and their first anxiety
was to find their lost child.
They looked up and down the land,
examining 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 chastcneth." lie 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
thcir desolation.
Oh, it is good that the Lord sope-
times halts us. David says: at is gdod
that | have been afflicted. Before was
afflicted l 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 teirene life per-
pctual. But the Gospel makes death
Gnly Sclah between two beauties
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 unpre.
pared, is great horror Give me
more laudanum," said dying Mirabcau;
give me more laudanum, that may
not think of eternity and what is &c
come" And dying Hobbies said: 81
leave my body to the grave, and my soul
to the great perhaps" 1t was the dis
cord of an infdcl's life breaking down
into the jargon of despair; but the Cos
pei makes the death of the Christian q
selah between redemption and en-
thronement. almost WELL" said dy
ing Richard Baxter; almost well.
play those notes over again those
notes which have been so great a de-
light and solace to me-" said the dying
Christian Mozart. "None but Christ
none but Christ" exclaimed dying Lam
bert.
Richard Cameron, the Scotch cove
nanter, went into the battle three time:
praying, Lord spare the green ant
take the ripe. This is the day have
longed FOR. This is the day shall ge
my crown. Come, let us fight it to the
last. Forward" So you see there il
only a short pause, Selah of intermis
sion, between dying consultations on tn,
one side and overlapping raptures OF
the other.
Ny flesh shall slumher in the ground
Till the last trumpets joyful sound;
Then burst the chisirs with sweet surprise
And in my Sayiour's Image rise.
next speak of the Selah of emphasis
Ewald, the German Orientalist and the
ologian, says that this word means t,
ascend, and wherever you find it, h,
says, you must look after the modula
ton of the voice, and you must pu
more force into your utterance. 1t is
Selah of emphasis. All! my friends
you and need to correct our emphasis
We put too much emphasis on thi
world, and not enough on God and tn
nextworld. People think these thing
around us are SO important, the thing
of the next are not worthy our consid
Grafton.
| The fret need for some of rs iS 4