The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1890-02-06
WHAT'S In A NAME"
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage at Queenstown.
The Beautiful Name Jesus" and the In
nuence IL Has Exerted for Good
Throughout the world-The
sun that Never Sets.

The following discourse was deli litered
by Rev. Il. Dewitt Talmage at Queens
town, Ireland, en- route homeward from
the Holy Land, from the text:
name that is above every name.-[Phil-
lipians, ii.,9.
On my way from the Holy Land. and
while / wait for the steamer to resume
her voyage to America, l preach to you
from this text, which was one of PauPs
rapturous and enthusiastic descriptions
of the name of Jesus. BY common
proverb we have come to believe that
there is nothing in a name, and 80 par
ents sometimes present their children
for baptism regardless of the title given
them, and not thinking that that par
ticular title will be either hindrance
or a 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 Jenoiakim or Tiglath-
Pileser. Because you yourself may have
an exasperating name is no reason why
you should give it to those who come
after you. But how often we have seen
some name, filled with jargon, rattling
down from generation to generation,
simply because some one long while
ago happened to be afflicted with it.
Institutions and enterprises have some
times without sucffiient deliberation
taken their nomenclature. Mighty des-
tines have been decided by the signih-
cance of name. There are men who
all their lifelong toll and tussle to get
over the influence of some unfortunate
name. While we may, through right
behavior and Christian demeanor, out
live the fact that we were baptized by
the name of despot, or an infidel, or
cheat, how much better it would have
been If we all could have started life
without any incumbrance. When l find
the apostle, in my text and in other
parts of his writing, breaking out in
Inscriptions or admiration in regard to
the name of Jesus, l want TO inquire
what are some of the characteristics of
that appellation. And o that the Saviour
himself. while l speak, might fill me
with His own presence, for we never
can tell to others that which we have
not ourself felt
First, this name of Jesus is an easy
name. Sometimes we are introduced to
people whose name is so long and un-
pronounceable 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 it's hands,
and looks up, and says "Jesus." Can it
be, amid all the families represented
here Sr-day, there is one household
where the little ones speak of father"
and mother" and brother" and isis
ter" and not of "the name which is
above every name?" Sometimes we for
get 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 Saviour's designa-
ton? 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, love Thy charming name,
'Tis music to my ear:
Sain would sound it out so loud
That Heaven and earth might hear
Still further, | remark it is beauti-
full name. You have noticed that 1T is
impossible to dissociate a name from
the person who has the name. So there
are names that are to me repulsive-l
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
who are cross, and sour, and snapPish,
and queer, while the persons you used
to know by those names were pleasant
and attractive. As wo can not dissociate
a name from a person who holds the
name, that consideration makes Christ's
name so unspeakably beautiful. No
sooner is it pronounced in your presence
than you think of Bethlehem, and
Gethsema1e, and Golgotha, and you see
the loving face, and hear the tender
voice, and feel the gentle touch. You
see Jesus, the One who, though ban
quoting with heavenly hierarchs, can
down to breakfast ON the fish that
rough men had just hauled out of Gen
essaret; Jesus, the One who, though
the clouds are the dust of His feet,
walked footsore on to the road to Em-
maus. Just as soon as that name is
pronounced in your presence you think
sf how the shining One gave back the
'enturian's daughter, and how He
helped the blind man to the sunlight,
and how He made the cripple's crHtches
useless, and how He looked down into
the babes laughing eyes, and, as the
little one struggled to go to Him. flung
out His arms around it and impressed
lovely kiss on its brow, and said: ''Of
such is the kingdom of Heaven"
Beautiful name-Jesus! 1t stands for
love, for patience, for kindness for for
bearance, for self-saerifice, for magma
nimity. 1t is aromatic with all odors and
accordant with all harmonies. Some
times see that name, and the letters
seem to be made out of tears, and then
again look like cleaning crowns Some
times they seem to me as though twist
ed out of 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 coming through the two syl-
lables the sigh of Gethsemane and the
groan of Calvary, and again sound
1t. and it is ripple with gladness and
ring with hosanna. Take all the
glcries of book k-bindery and put them
around the page where that name is
printed. On Christmas morning wreathe
IL ON the wall, Let it drip from the