The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1892-07-01
"SEIiAHv'
g Gives Rhythm TO Most POr-
foCt Book.
=, 4. charged with sunrise, Tempest anC
acknowledgements by Rev. L.
Dewitt TaimaGc, ID. ID. a.

The majority OF the bible readers
LII, mon this word of my text aS of no
;,nrortnnce, They consider il super
a,i,v. mere filing in, n meaningless
sn,eriectton, useless refrain, an un-
aaercd echo. Sclahl But | have to
,cll Won that il is NO scriptural accident
7, occurs scvepty-four times in the
hook of psalms and three times in the
hook of Habalikuk. You must not
charge this perfect book with seventy
tour trivialtics SeIah! II Is an en-
throned work. II. according to an old
Srriter. some words are battles. then
this word is Il Marathon,a Thcrmopylm,
n Sedan, a Waterloo. 1t is word de-
cisiye, sometimes for poetic beauty,
. sometimes for solcmnity, sometimes
for grandeur and mctimes for eternal
import Through it roll the laundering
chariots Of the Omuipotcnt God.
take this word for my text because
am so often asked what is its meaning,
or whether il has any meaning at all.
II has an ocean of meaning, from which
Ishall this morning dip up only four or
far as ! have time, Of the Sclah Of
poetic significance, the Sclah of inter
mission, the Sclah of emphasis, and the
Selah of perpctuity.
Are Won surprised that speak of the
Selah of poetic significance? Surely the
God who sapphircd the heavens and
made the earth rosebud OF beauty,
H., -
of morning dew, would not make
n Bible without rhythm. without
rcdolcnce, without blank verse.
God knew that eventually the Bible
would be read bya great majority Of
Young people. FOR in this world of
malaria and casualty an octurcnarian
is exceptional, and rs thirty years is
exceptional, and as thirty years is more
than the average of human life, If the
Bible is To- be a successful book it must
be adapted To the young Hence the
prosody of the Biblc-thc drama of job,
thcpastoral of Ruth, the epic OF Judges,
the dithrvambic of lIabakkuk, the
threnody of jeremiah, the lyric Of Solo
mons Song, the oratorio of the Apoca-
lypsc. the idyl, the strophe and anti
strophc and the Sclah of the Psalms.
Wherever you find this word Sclah, it
means that YOU are T. rouse up 10 great
Stanza, that YOU are Ia open your soul
to great aualogics, that you are 10
spread the wing Of imagination for
great flight. IL answered thee IN the
secret place OF thunder; ! proved thee
at the waters of Mcrihah, Sclah. The
earth and the inhabitants thereof are
Dissolved: | bear mp the pillars of IT,
Selah." "Who is this king of glory?
The Lord of hosts. lie is the king of
glory. Sclah." Thou shalt compass
me about with songs of dclivCrancc.
Selah." Though the waters thereof
roar and be troubled, though the mount
aims shake with the swelling thereof,
Selah," "Thc Lord Of Hosts with MS,
the God Of Jacob is our refuge, Selah. "
"Thou hast given banner TO them that
fear thee, that it may he displayed be-
cause of the truth, Sclah. IL Will
hide under the covert of thy wings,
Selah." 20 God. when Thou wcntcSt
forth before thy people when thou did
list march through the wilderness,
Selah."
Whenever YOU find this word II is
signal of warning hung out 10 tell You
TO stand off the track while the rushing
train goes by with his imperial paSScn-
gers. Poetic word, charged with sun
rise and scnsct, and tempest and earth
quake, and resurrcctions and millen'
NUNS.
Next | come to speak Of the Sclah of
intermission, GescniuS, Tholuck, ileng-
Senbcrg and other writers agree in say
Ing that this word Sclah means u rest
In music; what the Greeks call cantil-
lation. Every musician knows the inn
portancc of it, II You ever saw Julien,
the great musical leader, stand before
1000 singers and players upon in-
struments, and with one stroke of his
baton smitc the multitudinous hallelu-
Jan 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
the mighty effect of musical pause.
IL gives more power Ia what went be-
lore; 1t gives more power TO what IL To
Sonle after.
SoGod thrusts the Selah into His Bible
and into our lives, compelling us to stop
ana think, stop and consider, stop and
admire, stop and pray, stop and repent
stop and be sick, stop and die. II is not
the great number of times that we read
The Bible through that makes MS intel
hgent in the scriptures. We must pause.
what though II take an hour for one
word? What though il take a weck for
one verse? What though il take IA year
Tor one chapter? We must pause and