News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-05-05
AT THE TABERNACLE.
DR.. TALMAGE ON THE POTENCY OF
THE NAME OF CHRIST.

The Name Itself Has Certain Beauty
of sound, but No Familiar Name Can
BE Dissociated from the Character of
the Person Who Bears 1t.
BROOKLYN, May 1.-While DR.. Tai
mage is able to hold vast audiences spell
bound by his eloquence, whatever sub
ject he has in hand, he is never so elo-
quent, or so evidently great orator, as
when he breaches Christ as the one hope
for the regeneration of the world. The
fact was proved this morning when he
discoursed from the text, Philippians ii,
8. The name which is above every
name"
Paul is here making rapturous and
enthusiastic description of the name of
Christ There are merely worldly names
that sometimes thrill you through and
through. Such was the name of Henry
Clay to Kentuckian, the name of VIII
liam Writ to Virginian, the name of
Daniel Webster to New Highlander.
By common proverb we have come to
believe that there is nothing in a
Nance and so parents sometimes at the
baptismal altar give titles to their chill
dren, reckless of the fact that that title,
that name, will be lifetime hindrance
or a lifetime help. You have no right
to give your child a name lacking
either in euphony or moral meaning.
: It is sin to call a child -Iehoiakim or
INxrsa T1xvf hot
disagreeable. Because you have had an
exasperating name yourself is no reason
why you should intlict it upon your
progeny, and yet how often it is that we
see name full of jargon rafting down
from generation to generation simply
because long while ago some one hap
pened to be afflicted with it. Institu-
tions and great enterprises sometimes
without sufficient dehberation take no
menclature. Mighty destinies have been
decided by a name. While we may by
a long course of Christian behavior get
over the misfortune of having been bap-
tized with the name of a despot or a
cheat. how much better it would have
been if we could have all started life
without any such incumbrance!
SWEET TO THE MEMORY.
When Paul, in my text and in other
passages of Scripture, burst forth in as
pirations of admiration for the name of
Christ, want to inquire what are the
characteristics of that appellation, 1.-The
name which is above every name" In
the first place, speaking to you in regard
to the name of Christ, l want to tell you
it is an easy name. You are sometimes
introduced to people with long and I'M
pronounceable names, and you have to
listen cautiously to get the names, and
you have to hear them pronounced two
or three times before you risk trying to
utter them; but within the first two
years the little child folds its hands and
looks upward and says Jesus"
Can it be that in all this church this
morning there are representatives of any
household where the children are fa-
Iniliar with the names of the father and
mother and brother and sister, yet know
nothing about ''that name which is above
every name?" Sometimes you forget the
name of quite familiar friend, and you
have to think and think before you getit;
but can you imagine any freak of intel
lect by which you should forget the
name of Jesus? That word seems to fit
the tongue in every dialect. Down to
old age, when the voice is tremulous and
uncertain and indistinct, even then this
regal word finds potent utterance.
When an aged father was dying, one
of the children came and said, Father.
do you know me?' and in the delirium
, of the last sickness he said, mo, don't
know YOU" Another child came and
said, Father, do you know me?" mo"
he said. Il don't know you" Then the
village pastor came in and said. DO you
know me?" He said, mo; don't Think
L ever saw you" Then said the minis
ter, ''Do you know Jesus?" ''Oh, yes.'
said the dying man, Il know Jesus;
chief among ten thousand is he, and the
one altogether lovely" Yes, for all
ages and for all languages, and for all
conditions is an easy name.
Jesus, love thy chaming name,
IT'S music to my ear;
Fain would sound it out so loud
That heaven and earth might hear.
LOVELY NAMES IN SCRIPTURE.
But remark further in regard to this
name of Christ, that it is a beautiful
name. Now you have noticed that you
cannot diSassociate name from the
character of the person who has it.
There arc some names, for instance, that
are repulsive to my ear. Those names
are attractive to your ear. What is the
differencef Why, happened to know
some persons of that name who were
cross or sour or queer or unsympa-
h.
pened to know of that name were kind
and genial. Since, then, we cannot dis
associate name from the character of
the person who has the name, that con-
sideration makes the name of Jesus un-
speakably beautiful.
| cannot pronounce that name in your
presence, but you think of Bethlehem,
Gethsemane and Golgotha, and you see
his loving face, and you hear his tender
voice. and you feel his gentle touch. AS
soon as l pronounce his name in your
presence you think of him who banquet
ed with heavenly hierarchs, yet came
down and breakfasted on the fish which
the rough men hauled out of Genesaret;
you think of him who, though the clouds
are the dust of his feet, walked footsore
on the road to Emmaus.
cannot speak his name in your hear
ing this morning, but you think right
away of the shining one who restored
the centurion's daughter, and who
helped the blind man to sunlight, and
who made the cripple's crutch useless,
and who looked down into the laughing
eyes of the babe until it struggled to go
I, "a
and impressing q kiss upon its beautiful
brow, said, ''Of such is the kingdom of
heaven"
Oh, beautiful name, the name of Jesus,
which stands for love, for patience, fof
self sacrifice, for magnanimity, for
everything that is good and glorious aud
lender and sympathetic and kind! 1t is
aromatic with all odors. 1t is accordant
with all harmonies. Sometimes, when
look at that name of Jesus Christ, it
seems as if the letters were made Of
tears, and then they seem to be gleam-
ing crowns. Sometimes that name
seems to be twisted out of the straw on
which he lay, and then it seems to be
built out of the thrones on which his
people are to reign. Sometimes | sound
THAI Noih Jesus, anu near III IL IHe SOD
of Gethsemane and the groan of Calvary,
and then speak his name and it is all
a-ripple with gladness and airing with
hosanna. Glorious namel
Take all the glories of bookbindery
and put them around the page on which
that name is printed. On Christmas
morning wreathe it on the wall. Let it
drip from harp's string and let it thun-
der out in organs diapason. Sound ii