The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-10-06
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
A Discourse on "The Disadvan.
tages of Some People,"
The Dead Weight of Unfortunate Names
The Strength OF Weakness-Sugges.
lions for Morally and Physical.
ly Handicapped Men.

sAOhS W. HhohoiAy "hu ny btCoi.
ly Handicapped Men.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in a recent
sermon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, chose
for his subject: "The Disadvantages of |
Some People," taking for his text:
All these things are against me.-TGenesis
Kill, SO, and preached the following sermon:
Father Jacob, You are wrong! You
think your son Joseph is dead, but he is
Prime Minister of Egypt, and has the keys
Of the great corn crib. You think that
circumstances are all adverse, but they
will turn out we'll. In all your life you
never made greater mistake than when
you said:
All these things are against me.
A great multitude of people are under
seeming disadvantages, and will to-day,
In the swarthiest Anglo-Saxon that can
manage, treat their cases; not as nurse
counts out eight or ten drops OF pre-.
scription, and stirs them in half glass Of
water, but as when man has by mistake
taken large amount of strychnine, or
paris green, or belladonna, and the pa.
tient Is walked rapidly round the room,
and shaken up. and pounded until he gets
wide awake. Many of you have taken
large draught of the poison of discourage
ment, and I come out by the order of the
Divine Physician to rouse you out Of that
lethargy. -tf-
I. Many people are under the disadvan-
tage Of an un. ortunate name, given them
by parents who thought they were doing
good thing. Sometimes at the baptism
Of children, while have held up one hand
In prayer, have held the other hand in
amazement that parents should have
weighted the babe with such dssonant
and repulsive nomenclature. have not
SO much wondered that some children
should cry out at the christening font as
that others with such smiling face should
take q title that will be the Lurden of their
lifetime. 1t is outrageous to afiict chill.
with an undesirable name because 1t hap
pened to be possessed by parent or a rich
uncle from whom favors are expected, or
some prominent man Of the day who may
end his life in disgrace. 1t is no excuse,
because they are Scripture names, to call
child Jehoiakim, or Nglath- Pilesser. At
this very altar baptised one by the name
Bethsheba. Why, under the circumam.
bient Heaven, any parent should want to
give to a child the name Of that loose and
Infamous creature Of Scripture times can
not imagine. Ihave often felt at the hap.
lismal altar, when names were announced
to me, like saying, as did Rev. DR.. Rich.
ards, Of Morristown, N. j., when q child
was handed him for sprinkling, and the
name given:
"Hadn't you better call 1t something
else?" tyjfC .ela.t IuG Cd
Impose not upon that babe name sug.
gestive Of hippancy or meanness. There
IL no excuse for such assault and battery
on the cradle when our language is op'
ulent with names musical in sound and
suggestive In meaning, such as John
stsning "the gracious gift Of Gods" OF
Henry, meaning "the chief of a house
hold;" or Alfred, meaning "good coun'
sellor;" or Joshua, meaning "God, oul
salvation !" or Nicholas, meaning "victor,
Of the peoples" or Ambrose, meanine 6
"immortal;" or Andrew, meanini
"manly;" or Esther. meaning "a stars
or Abigail, meaning "my fathers joy;'
or Anna, meaning "grace;" or Victoria
meaning "victory;" or Rosalie. meaning
beautiful as rose;" or Margaret, mean
ing "a pearl;" or Ida, meaning "god
likes" or Clara, meaning "illustrious;" o
Amelia, meaning "busy;" or Bertha
meaning "beautiiul;" and hundreds o
other names just as good, that are hell
rather than hinderance.
But sometimes the great intolerance IL
life Is not in the given name, but in tn
family name. While Legislatures ar
willing to lift such incubus, there are fam
lilies that keep q name which mortgage
I all the generations with a great dis
advantage. You say: et.h-sq
VI wonder II he Is any relation to so ant
sol" mentioning some family celebra to,
for crime or deception. 1t is awonder to m
that In all such families some spirite,
.. young man does not rise, saying to hi
brothers and sisters:
"If you want to keep this nuisance o
standardization of name, will keep 1t n
longer than until by quickest course ofla
/ can slough of this gangrene.
When the General Assembly Of the Pres
byterian Church of the United States me
In this building in 1876 two estimab BILE me-
of the sweetest disposition stopped at tn
same house, and one had the misnomer Q
: being Mr.. Sour and the other the mis-
homer of being Mr.. Pickle. And your cit
. directory has hundreds of names the mer
: pronunciation of which has been life
long obstacle. II you have started life un
. der name which, either through ridicul
: Gus photography or vicious suggestion
has been an incumbrance, resolve that tn
3 next generation shall not be so weighted
tits no bemeaning to change a name
4 Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostl,
Q Hahassah, "the MYRTLE" became Esther
8 ''the star" We have in America, and
r suppose it is so in all countries, name
. which ought to be abolished, and can b
= and will be abolished for the reason tina
thew are libel and SANDER. But if fo
8 any reason you are submerged either by
t given name or by family nam
that you must bear, God wi
{ help you to overcome the outrage by a Iii
9 consecrated to the good and useful. Yo
may erase the curse from the name. Yo
: may somewhat change the significanc
$ If once il stood for meanness, you ca
$ make it stand for generosity. If once
/; stood for pride, you can make it stand f.
|. humility. If it once stood for fraud, W
can make It stand for honesty. II once
stood for wickedness, you can make
stand for purity. There have been multi
q tudes of instances where men and womt
hara Intentionally conauared the disa,