St. Landry democrat., 1886-10-09
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse on "The Disadvan.
tages of Some People,"
The Dead Weight of Unfortunate Names
The Strength of fWeakness-Sugges-
tfons for Morally and PHYSICAL
ly Handicapped Men.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in a recent
sermon at the Brooklyn Taberna acle, chose
for his subject: "The Disadvantages of
Some People," taking for his text:
All these things are against me-TGenesis
xiii, &c. 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 well. In all your life you
never made greater mistake than when
you said:
All these things are against me-
Grea7 nm, :tude of people are under
seeming disadvantages. and | will to- day,
in the swarthicst Anglo-Saxon that [ can
manage, treat their cases; not as a nurse
counts out ei2ht or ten drops Of pre-
scription, and s Is them in half glass of
water, but as when q man has by mistake
taken large amount of strychnine, or
paris green, O: 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 l come out by the order of the
Divine Physician to rouse you out of that
iethargy.
1. Many pc pie are under the disadvan-
4 tage Of an un or:unate 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, I have held the other hand in
amazement that parents should have
weighted the babe with such dissonant
and repulsive nomenclature. I have not
so much wondered that some children
should cry out at the christening font as
that others with such smiling face should
take a title that will be the urden of their
lifetime. 1t is outrageous to affiict chill
with an undesirable name because it hap
pened to be possessed by parent Or 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
a child Jehoiakim, or Tiglath- Pilesser. At
this very altar baptised one by the name
Bethsheba. Why, under the crcumam-
blent Heaven, any parent should want to
give to child the name of that loose and
infamous creature of Scripture times can
not imagine. l have often felt at the bap-
tismal altar, when names were announced
to me, like saying, as did Rev. DR.. Rich
ards, of Morristown, n. j., when a child
was handed him fer sprinkling, and the
name given:
s'Hadn't you better call it something
else?"
Impose not upon that babe name sug-
gestive OF fippancy Or rmeanness. There
j is 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, !
meaning ''the gracious gift of God;" or |
Henry, meaning "the chief of house,
bold" or Alfred, meaning ''good coun-
ssellor;" OF Joshua, meaning "God, our |
salvation;" or Nicholas, meaning "victory |
of the people;" or Ambrose, meaning |
"immortal;n or Andrew, meaning |
s'manly;" or Esther, meaning "a STAR"
or Abigail, meaning "my fathers joys"
or Anna, meaning "grace;" or Victoria,
meaning victory" or Rosalie. meaning |
"beautiful as rose;" or Margaret, mean
ing ga pearl;" or Ida, meaning "god-
Hke;" or Clara, meaning "illustrious;" or
Amelia, meaning "busy;" or Bertha,
meaning "beautiful;" and hundreds of
other names just as good, that are help
rather than binderance.
But sometimes the great hinderance in
life is not in the given name, but in the
family name. While Legislatures are
willing to lift such incubus, there are FAM
lilies that keep a name which mortgages
all the generations with . great dis
advantage. You say:
81 wonder if he is any rela tion to so and
SOP" mentioning some family celebra ted
for crime or deception. It is awonder to me
that In all such families some spirited
young man does not rise, saying to his
brothers and sisters:
"If you want to keep this nuisance or
standardization Of a name, will keep it no
longer than until by quickest course oflaw
4 can slough off this gangrene."
It is no bemeaning to change a name.
Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle.
Hahassah, "the MYRTLE" became Esther,
tsthe star" We have in America, and
suppose it is so in all countries, names
which ought to be abolished, and can be
and will be abolished for the reason that
they are libel and slander. But if for
, any reason you are submerged either by q
given name or by a family name
chat you must bear, God will
help you to overcome the outrage by life
consecrated to the good and useful. You
may erase the curse from the name. You
may somewhat change the significance.
If once it stood for meanness, you can
make it stand for generosity. If once it
stood for pride, you can make it stand for
humility. II it once stood for fraud, you
can make it stand for honesty. If once it
stood for wickedness, you can make it