Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-05-23
A TREMENDOUS WORD
POWER AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
SINGLE WORD "sELAH.D


turaI Accident. as Unthinking People
Supposedly rough IT Roll the Thund Ter.
ing Chariots of the Omnipotent God.
BROOKLYN, May 22.-Rev. DR.. Talmage
today took for the subject Of his sermon q
single word of frequent occurrence in the
Bible and whose meaning is but little UNI
derstood. From it he drew profoundly
impressive description Of the varied and
majestic purposes of certain parts of Scrip
ture and practical lesson for Christians
generally The text WAS Psalms Xxi, 4,
"Selah."
The majority Of Bible readers look upon
this word of my text rs of no Importance.
They consider it a superauity, a mere fill
ing In, meaningless interjection, a use
less refrain, an underlined echo. Selahl
But have to tell you that it is no Scrip
tural accident. 1t occurs seventy -four
times in the book of Psalms and three
times In the book of Habakkuk You
must not charge this perfect book with
seventy-seven trivialities Selah II is an
enthroned word. II, according to an old
writer, some words are battles, then this
word is Marathon, a Thermopyle, q
Sedan, a Waterloo. 1t is a word decisive;
sometimes for poetic beauty, sometimes
for solemnity, sometimes for grandeur and
sometimes for eternal import. Through 1t
roll the laundering chariots of the Omnip-
otent God.
take this word for my text because
am so often asked what is it's meaning, or
whether it has any meaning at ALL 1t has
an ocean OF meaning from which / shall
this morning dip up only four or five
bucketfuls. | will speak to you, SO far as
] have time, of the Selah of poetic sig
nificance, the Selah of intermission, the
Selah of emphasis and the Selah Of per.
petuity.
Are you surprised that speak of the
Selah of poetic signifcanceP Surely the
God who sapphired the heavens and made
the earth rosebud Of beauty, with oceans
hanging to IL like drops of morning dew,
would not make Bible without rhythm,
without redolence, without blank verse.
God knew that eventually the Bible would
be read by great majority of young peo-
pie, for in this world of malaria and cas-
ualty mn octogenarian is exceptional, and
as thirty years is more than the average of
human life, II the Bible is to be success
full book 1t must be adapted to the young
Hence the prosody Of the BiEle-the drama
Of Job, the pastoral of Ruth, the epic Of
Judges, the dthyrambic of Habakkuk,
the threnody Of jeremiah, the lyric of
Solomon's song the oratorio Of the Apoc-
alypse, the idyl the strophe, and anti
strophe and the Selah of the Psalms
ITS sUGGEsTIvENEss.
Wherever you find this word Selah it
means that you are to rouse up to great
stanza, that you are to open your soul to
great analogics, that you are to spread the
wing Of your imagination for great flight.
II answered thee in the secret place of
thunder. proved thee ut the waters of
Meribah. Selah." "The earth and all the
inhabitants thereof are dissolved bear
up the pillars of it. Selah." "Who is this
king Of gloryp The Lord of hosts, he is
the king of glopy Selah." "Thou shalt
compass me about with songs of deliver
ance. Selah." Though the waters thereof
roar and be troubled, though the noun
tains shake with the swelling thereof.
Selah." "The Lord of hosts is with us,
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."
"Thou hast given banner to them that
fear thee, that it may be displayed because
of the truth. Selah" ~ will hide under
the covert of thy wings Selah." 10,
God, when thou wentest forth before thy
people, when thou didst march through
the Wilderness Selah."
Wherever You find this word It is sig
nal of warning hung out to tell you to
stand off the track while the rushing train
goes by with It's imperial passengers. Poetic
word, charged with sunrise and sunset, and
tempest and earthquake, and resurrections
and millenniums.
Next come to speak Of the Selah of in
Permission. Gesenius, Thouck, Hengsten-
berg and other writers agree in saying that
this word Selah means rest in music; what
the Greeks call diapsalmn, a pause, halt
in the solemn march Of cantilation.
THE sELAH or lNTERMIssIoN.
Every musician knows the Importance of
it. II you ever saw Julien, the great mu-
steal leader stand before five thousand
singers and players upon Instruments, and
with one stroke of his baton smte the null
titudinous hallelujah into silence and then,
soon after that, with another stroke of his
baton rouse up the full orchestra to great
outburst of harmony, then you know she
mighty effect of a musical pause. 1t gives
more power TO what went before; it gives
more power to what Is to come after. So
into our lives, compelling us to stop and
think, stop and consider, stop and admire,
stop and pray, stop and repent, stop and be
sick, stop and die. 1t is not the great mum
Der of times that we read the Bible through
that makes us intelligent in the Scriptures
We must pause. What though 1t take an
hour for one wordP What though 1t takea
week for one verseP What though it take
a year for one chapterP We must pause
and measure the height, the depth, the
length, the breadth, the universe, the eter
nifty of meaning In one verse
| should like to see some one sail around
ono little adverb in the Bible, little nd
verb of two letters, during one lifetime
the word So in the New Testament pas
sage, God SO loved the world" Angus
tine made n long pause after the verse
put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and 1t
converted him. Matthew Henry made a
long pause after the Verse; Open thou my
lips. and my mouth shall show forth thy
praise" and it converted him. William
Cowper made long pause after the verse,
being freely justified by his grace" and
IL converted him. When God tells us sew
enty times meditatiyely to pause in
reading two of the books Of the Bible, he
leaves TO our common sense TO decide how
often we should pause in reading the other
sixty-four books of the Bible.
IT GIVES Us PAUSE.
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 people
boasting about how many Zines they have
read the Bible through, when they seem TO
know no more about it than passenger
would know about the state Of Pennsylva-
mia who should go through It In st. Louis
Hrhtninp exnress train and in Pullman