Seloure, a mediajval term for a canopy ; the inner roof of a room which is sealed or closed with planking..
Selvedge (i^^i^j katsah', an end, as often rendered), the edge of a piece of cloth (Exod. xxvi, 4). See Tab- ernacle.
Selyns, Henry, a (Dutch) Reformed minister, was born in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1636. He was regular- ly educated in one of the universities of that country for the ministry, and licensed by the Classis of Amster- dam as a proponent, or candidate, in 1659. In 1660 he accepted a call made by the Dutch West India Com- pany, through the Classis of Amsterdam, to become the minister of the Dutch Church of Breukkelin (now Brooklyn) for four j-ears. He was ordained in 1660 in Holland, and came to this country with Rev. Harmanus Blom, who was on his way to the Church of Kingston, N. Y. During his ministry at Brooklyn, IMr. Selyns, by special request of Gov. Stuyvesant, came over to New York and preached regularly on Sabbath evenings to the negroes and other poor people, on his farm, or Bouw- erij, and on the present location of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, corner of Ninth Street and Second Avenue. His ministry at these places was very popular and use- ful. He returned to Holland at the close of his fourth year, in 1664, and took charge of a congregation of poor folks who earned their bread by gathering turf. He was happy in serving them, and declined a pressing in- vitation in 1670 to come to New York as colleague of the aged pastor of the Collegiate Church, .Johannes ISIegapolensis. The call was renewed and accepted by him in 1682. The period was critical for the Dutch Church, in consequence of the English ascendency in the province and the establishment of the State Church. ••The Dutch were only tolerated, according to capitu- lation, as dissenters. The governors attempted to ex- ercise arbitrary powers, but the [le.ople resisted. Dom- inie Selyns was fully alive to the importance of the subject, and was rejoiced at the arrival of Gov. Dongan in 1683, who allowed full liberty of conscience." An assembly of the people was soon called, which, among
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other matters, established the legal position of the de- nominatiuiis, allowing the churches to choose their own ministers. When Leisler usurped the governor's chair, Mr. Selyns was one of his most formidable opponents, and preached a jubilant sermon over his fall. This conduct divided his congregation, and his salary was partly withheld for years ; but he held his ground te- naciously and triumphantly, until by the charter of May 11," 11)96, he felt that the liberties of his Church were entirely secured. Not till then did he seek relief and a colleague in his large congregation. The Kev. Gualterus (Walter) Du Bois was called in 1699, and for lifty-tive years "ministered before the Lord" in that one church. Mr. Selyns died July, 1701. He was the most eminent of the ministers who had yet come from Holland— prudent, sagacious, bold, earnest, of positive convictions, fearless of danger, a defender of the faith, and a peace-maker. He was a successful minister of the Gospel, and had probably more to do in determining the position of the Reformed Dutch Church in America than almost any other man. In spirit to- wards other churches he was liberal, kindly, and catholic. He held friendly relations with the chief men of the state, and maintained correspondence with eminent lit- erary men of the colonies, such as the Mathers and oth- er notables. He was also a poet, versifying with equal ease in Latin and Dutch. Cotton Mather (in his Mcir/na- lia Chrhti A mericana, iii, 41) says of him that " he had so nimble a faculty of putting his devout thoughts into verse that he signalized himself by the greatest fre- quency which perhaps ever man used of sending poems to all persons, in all places, on all occasions; and upon this, as well as upon greater accounts, was a David unto the flocks of our Lord in the wilderness." Murphy, Anthology of New Netherland, contains much of his life and poetry." See also De Witt, Hist. Discourse ; Sprague, Amutis of the Amer. Pulpit, vol. ix ; Corwin, Manual of the Reformed Church, p. 213-217. (W. J. R. T.)
Sem (S»';^), the Gm;cized form (Luke iii, 36") of the name of Shem (q. v.), the son of the patriarch Noah.
Semachi'ah (Heb. in the prolonged form Senia- Icya'hii, W2'Cp, sustained of Jehovah ; Sept, 'S.a^iaxiaQ V. r. 2o/3ax'«)' the sixth and last-named son of Shema- iah, the son of Obed-edom (1 Chron. xxvi, 7). B.C. cir. 1013.
Semag, or Semak. See Moses de Coucy.
Semamith. See Spider.
Semantra i(rS]f.iavTpa, signals), wooden boards, or iron plates full of holes, which the modern Greeks use instead of bells to summon the people to church. These instruments they hold in their hands, and knock them with a hammer or mallet. The same term is sometimes applied to a bell, or a metal drum used for the same purpose.
Semargia, in Slavic mythology, was a goddess per- sonifving winter — the cold season of the year — and highly revered among the grand Pantheon at Kief by the Russians.
Semaxii, a name mentioned by Tertullian as some- times applied to Christian martyrs by their persecutors, from the fact that those who were burned alive were usu- ally tied to a board or slake of about six feet in length, which the Romans called sewttxw.— Bingham, Christ. A nliq. bk. i, ch. ii, § 10.