The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-05-25
A TREMENDOUS WORD
POWER AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
SINGLE WORD "sELAH."

turaI Accident. rs Unthinking People
suPpose-ThrOugh 1t Roll the Thunder
ing Chariots of the omnipotent God.
BROOKLYN. May 22-Rev Dr. Talmage
today took for the subject Of his sermon a
single word of frequent occurrence in the
Bible and whose meaning is bat little I'M
derstOod. From it be 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 as OF no Importance.
They consider 1t superiority, mere fill
ing in. a meaningless interjection. 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. Selahi 1t is an
enthroned word II. according TO an old
writer, some words are battles, then this
word is a Marathon, a ThermOpyla, a
Sedan. Waterloo. It is word decisive;
sometimes for poetic beauty, sometimes
for sOlemnity, sometimes for grandeur and
sometimes for eternal import. Thought
roll the laundering chariots of the Omnip-
otent God.
take this word for my text because
am 80 often asked what is its 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
nifcance, the Selah of intermission, the
Selah of emphasis and the Selah of per-
petuity.
Are you surprised that speak Of the
Selah OF poetic significance? Surely the
God who sapphired the heavens and made
the earth a rosebud Of beauty, with oceans
hanging to it 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 pe0-
pie for in this world OF malaria and cas-
ualty an octOgenarian is exceptional. and
as thirty years is more than the average of
human life, II the Bible is to be a success
full book il must be adapted to the young.
Hence the prosody Of the Bible-ths drama
of Job. the pastoral of Ruth. the epic of
Judges, the dithyrambic of Habakkuk,
the threnody Of jeremiah the lyric OF
Solomon's sorg, the oratorio Of the Apoc-
alypse. the idyl, the strophe, and anti
strophe and the Selah of the Psalms.
ITS sUGGEsTrvENEss.
Wherever you find this word Selah it
means that you are to rouse up TO great
stanZa. that you are 10 open your soul to
great analogies, that you are to spread the
wing of your imagination for great flight
Il answered thee in the secret place of
thunder 1 proved thee at 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 glory? The Lord of hosts, he is
the king Of glory. 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
IF the truth Selah." II will hide under
ihe covert of thy wings. Selah." 30,
Sod, when thou wentest forth before thy
people, when thou didst march through
The wilderness. Selah."
Wherever you find this word it is a 81 =
nal Of warning hung out TO tell you to
Ttand of the track while the rushing train
goes by with its 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, Tholuck, Hengsten-
berg and other writers agree in saying that
this word Selah means a rest in music; what
the Greeks call a diapsalma, a.pause, a halt
Ia the solemn march Of cantillatiOn.
THE SELAH or INTERAnSsION.
Every musician knows the Importance Of
il. If 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 smite the null
titudinous halleluiah into silence. and then,
soon after that. with another stroke of his
baton rouse up the full orchestra to a great
outbursJ Of harmony, then You know the
mighty effect Of musical pause. 1t gives
more power 70 what went before; it gives
more power TO what is TO come after. So
God thrusts the Selah into his Bible and
into our lives compelling us to stop and
think stop and consider, stop and admire,
stop and pray, stop and repent, stop and be
nick, stop and die. IL is not the great num-
Der of times that we read the Bible through
that makes Us intelligent In the Scriptures.
We must pause. What though il take an
hour for one wordf What though it take
week for one versei What though it take
year for one chapterg 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
one little adverb in the Bible, little ad-
verb Of two letters. daring one lifetime
the word 80" in the New Testament pas
sage, God 50 loved the world" Angus
tine made long pause after the verse
Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" and it
converted hin Matthew Henry made
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
it converted him. When God tells us sew
enty seven times meditativeIy 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
boosting about 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 Pennsylva-
-ia who should 20 through IL in ST. Louis
zhtninQ express train and in Pullman