Milford chronicle., 1892-05-27
A TREMENDOUS WOKR
POWER AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
SINGLE WORD "sELAH."

! tural Accident, as Unthinking People
8 supPose-Through It Roll the Thunder
\ ing Charlots Of the OmnipOtent God.
! BROoKLYE, May 2.-Rev. DR.. Talmag,
I today took for the subject of his sermon a
single word of frequent occurrence in the
! Bible and whose meaning is but little IN
Z derstood. From it be drew profoundly
. impressive description of the varied and
/ majestic purposes Of certain parts of Scrip
tune and practical lesson for Christians
generally. The text was Psalms Xxi. 4
,, "Selah"
I The majority of Bible readers look upon
, this word of my text rs Of no Importance
? They consider it q superfuity, a mere fill
ing In. a meaningless interieotion, use
less refrain, an uHdefined echo. Selahl
But have to tell you that it Is no Scrip
tural accident It 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-seyen tFiYialities Selahl It is an
enthroned word II. according 30 an old
writer, some words are battles, then this
word Is a Marathon, a Ahermopyle, a
Sedan, Waterloo. It is a word decisive;
sometimes for poetic beauty, sometimes
for solemnity, sometimes for grandeur and
sometimes for eternal import Through il
roll the laundering chariots Of the Omnip
otent God,
take this word for my text because ]
am so often asked what is its meaning, OF
/ whether it has any meaning at all. It 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
niipance, the Selah of intermission, the |
Selah OF emphasis and the Selah Of per
petuity,
Are you surprised that / speak Of the /
Selah of poetic signifcancei 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 a Bible without rhythm,
without redolence Yithout blank verse.
God knew that eventually the Bible would
be read by great majority Of young peo
Pile for IN this world of malaria and cas-
ualty an OctOgenarian is exceptional, and
rs thirty years is more than the average of
human life, if the Bible is to be a success
full book it must be adapted to the young.
Hence the prosody Of the Bible-the drama
of job, the pastoral of Ruth the epic Of
Judges the dithyrambic Of Habakkuk,
the thFenody 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 INCONSISTENCIES.
Wherever you find this word Selah 1t
means that you are to rouse up to great E
stanza, that you are to open your soul to /
great analOgies. that you are to spread the
wing Of your imagination for great flight. 4
Il answered thee in the secret place of {
thunder | proved thee at the waters Of !
Meribah Selah." THE earth and ell the =
thereof. are dissolved. | bear X
lp the pillars Of it, Selah." ''Who is this =
king Of gloryi The Lord of hosts, he is
the king Of glory Selah" "Thou shalt
compass me about with songs Of deliver
lnce. Selah' Though the waters thereof
'OaT and be troubled, though che noun
aims shake with the swelling thereof
5elah." THE Lord of hosts is with us, z
he God Of Jacob Is our refuge Selah." !
Thou hast given banner to them that - =,
ear thee. that it may be displayed because =
# the truth. Selah." - win hide under ;,
he covert Of thy wings. Selah." 20, ~
Tod, when thou wentest forth before thy 7.
,eople, when thou didst march through =,
he wilderness. Selah."
Wherever you find this word It is a sig ~ ~
al of warning hung out TO tell you to ~
tand off the track while the rushing train ~
oes by with its imperial passengers Poetic -,
FORD. charged with sunrise and sunset, and ~
ampest and earthquake and resurrections -,
nd millenniums ~
Next l come to speak Of the Selah of in z,
emission. Gesenius, ThOluck, Hengsten -
erg and other writers agree in saying that -,
ais word Selah means a rest in music; what NJ
he Greeks call u diapsalma, pause. halt g.
J the solemn march Of cantillatiOn. ~
THE sELAB OF INTERMIssIoN
Every musician knows the Importance Of ~
If you ever saw Julien, the great mu ~
cal leader, stand before five thousand ~,
myers and players upon Instruments, and H.
it'll one stroke Of his baton smite the null -
tudinous hallelujah into silence, and then, IN,
ION after that, with another stroke Of his 81,
ltOn rouse up the full orchestra to great - =.
ltburst of harmony. then you know the ~ v,,,
lightly effect Of a musical pause. 1t gives ~,
ore power to what went before; it gives ~,
ore power to what is to come after So ..-1
ID thrusts the Selah into his Bible and ~.
to our lives, compelling us to stop and a;r,
ink. stop and consider stop and admire. m,
ID and pray. stop and repent, stop and be -
k, stop and die. It Is not the great mum ~.
r Of times that we read the Bible through 80 80
at makes us intelligent in the Scriptures n
g must pause. What though it take an ~.
ur for one word2 What though il takea ~,
eek for one verse2 What though it take en- m
rear for one chapter? We must pause e,'
! measure .le neiknt, vne ueptn' .ne ref
y Of meaning in one verse. Eol
should like to see some one sail around No.
3 little adverb in the Bible, little ad ,h i,s
b OF two letters, during one lifetime -
word so in the New Testament pas ~,
re- "God so loved the world" Angus / ~
nlane 'VnE p"use a i'tr,. sns seISe my
Iverted him. Matthew Henry made
z pause after the verse, open thou my
}, and my mouth shall show forth thy
ise," and It converted him. William
VIPER made long pause after the verse,
cling freely justified By his grace" and
onverted him. When God tells us sev
y-seven times meditatively to pause in
ding two Of the books Of the Bible, he
yes to our common sense to decide how
N we should pause in reading the other
5y-four books OF the Bible
IT GIVES us PAUSE. Bu
1e must pause and ask for more light phas
must pause and weep over our sins. dram
must pause and absorb the strength Of the
promise. | sometimes hear people and
sting about how many times they have instr
I the Bible through, when they seem to eieei
W no more about it than passenger giou
lid know about the state of Pennsylva
who should 20 through it in St, Louis "
timing express train and in Pullman have
per, the two characteristics Of the Jour your
velocity and sonnolence. 1t is not the seem
lber Of times you go through the Bible, by j
the number Of times the Bible goes right
ugh you. Pause; reflect Selahl and
also on the scroll of your life and all 0
d. We go rushing on, in the song Of ehur
from note Of joy to note o. and
and It Is q long drawn out legato. and FIJI
become Indifferent and qnappreciatlys. poor
n suddenly we come upon a blank d Of &C
music. There is nothing between those perry
A pause. God will fill it up with phia
bed, or q commercial disaster. or a in ~