Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-01-30
EVER BLESSED NAME.
QUAINT BUT EFFECTIvE PARALLELS
BY DIR. TALMAGE.

The Very Name Of Jesus Has I'm 1t Mel
ody which Affects the soul-It Il Wrong
to Bestow Harsh Names on ChiIdreD-
There Is Much In q Name.
While the steamer AuTania, from Liv-
erpool, was lying in Queenstown harbor
few hours on the 26ih ult., waiting for
the mails, many of the passengers went
ashore. The Rev. T. he Witt Talmage,
d. D., was among the number, and took
advantage of the opportunity to preach.
His subject was, What Is in Name?"
and his text, Philippians IL, 8: "A name
which is above every name.' The emf
nent preacher said:
On my way from the Holy Land, and
while / wait for the steamer to resume
her voyage to America, preach to you
from this text, which was one of Pauls
rapturous and enthusiastic descriptions
Of the name of Jesus. By common prov
erb we have come to believe that there
is nothing in name, and so parents
sometimes present their children for bap-
tism regardless of the title given them,
and not thinking that that particular title
will be either a hindrance or help.
Strange mistake. You have no right to
give to your child name that is lacking
either in euphony or in moral meaning.
1t is q sin for you to call your child Je-
hoiakim or Tiglath- Pileser. Because
you yourself may have an exasperating
name is no reason why you should give it
to those who come after. But how often
we have seen some name, filled with jar
gon, rattling down from generation to
generation, simply because some one a
long while ago happened to be afflicted
with it. Institutions and enterprises
have sometimes without sufficient delib-
Grafton taken their nomenclature.
Mighty destinies have been decided by
the significance of a name. There are
men who all their life long toll and tussle
to get over the influence of some unfor-
tunate name. While we may, through
right behavior and Christian demeanor,
outlive the fact that we were baptized by
the name of despot. or an infidel, or q
cheat, how much better it would have
been if we all could have started life
without any such incumbrance. When I
find the apostle, in my text and in other
parts of his writing, breaking out in
descriptions of admiration in regard to
the name of Jesus, want to inquire what
are some of the characteristics of that
appellation. And o, that the Saviour
himself, while ] speak, might fill me
with his own presence, for We never can
tell to others that which we have not
ourselves felt.
First, this name of Jesus is an easy
name. Sometimes we are introduced to
people whose name is so long and unpro-
nounceable that we have sharply to listen,
and to hear the name given to us two or
three times, before we venture to speak
it. But within the first two years the
little child clasps its hands, and looks
up, and says, Jesus" Can it be, amid
all the families represented here to day,
there is one household where the little
ones speak of father" and mother" and
brother" and sister," and not of @the
name which is above every name?" Some
times we forget the titles of our very best
friends, and we have to pause and think
before we can recall the name. But can
you imagine any freak of intellect in
which you could forget the Savior's desig-
nation? That word Jesus" seems to fit
the tongue in every dialect. When the
voice in old age gets feeble, and tremu-
lous, and indistinct, still this regal word
has potent utterance.
jesus, 1 love tQy charming name,
'Tis music to my ear;
Fain would sound it out SO loud
That heaven and earth might hear.
Still further: remark it is beautiful
name. You have noticed that it is i'm
possible to dissociate q name from the
person who has the name. So there are
names that are to me repulsive-I do not
want to hear them at all-while those
very names are attractive to you. Why
the difference? 1t is because l happen
to know persons by those names that are
cross, and sour, and snappish and queer,
while the persons you used to know by
those names were pleasant and attractive.
As we cannot dissociate a name from the
person who holds the name, that consid-
GRAFTON makes Christ's name SO un-
speakably beautiful. No sooner is it
pronounced in your presence than
you think of Bethlehem and Gethsem-
ane and COL otha, and you see the loving
face, and hear the tender voice, and feel
the gentle touch. You see Jesus, the one
who, though banqueting with heavenly
hierarchs, CAME down to breakfast on the
fish that rough men had Just hauled out
of Genessaret; Jesus, the one who,
though the clouds are the dust of his feet,
walked footsore on the road to Emmaus.
Just as soon as that name is pronounced
in your presence, you think of how the
shining one gave back the centurion g
daughter, and how he helped the blind
man to the sunlight, and how he made
the cripple's crutches useless, and how he
looked down into the babes laughing
eyes, and, as the little one strug-
gled to 60 to him, flung out his
arms around it and impressed q
loving kiss on its brow, and said: "Ot
such is the kingdom Of heaven" Beau
tiful name-Jesus! 1t stands for love,
for patience, for kindness, for forbear-
ance, for self-sacrifce, for magnanimity.
1t is aromatic with all odors and accord
ant with all harmonies. Sometimes !
see that name, and the letters seem to be
made out of tears, and then aglin they
look like cleaning crowns. Sometimes
they seem to me as though twisted out oi
the straw on which he lay, and then as
though built out of the thrones on which
his people shall reign. Sometimes
sound that word Jesus, and hear com.
ing through the two syllables the sigh Of
Gethsemane and the groan of Calvary
and again sound it, and it is all a-ripplt
with gladness and airing with hosanna
Take all the glories Of book bindery and
put them around the page where that
name is printed. On Christmas mornine
wreathe It on the wall.
Let it drip from harp's string ani
thunder out in organs diapason. Sound
it often, sound it we'll, until every stal
shall seem to shine it, and every howe
shall seem to breathe it, and mount air
,and sea, and day and night, and earth ant
heaven acclaim in full chant: Blessed b,
His glorious name forever. The nam,
that is above every name.'