The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-31
SALVATION OF THE SOUL.
CONTRARY WINDS REV. TALMAGE's
SUBJECT.

Education and other Drawbacks
Enumerated.
Washington, May 30-Dr. Taimage' $
sermon this week is cue Of good cheer. 1t
will give encouragement to many strug-
Cling souls. The subject IS: Contrary
Winds" and the text Matt. d4:24: The
wind was contrary.
As I We'll know by experience on Lake
Gahlee, one hour all may be calm and the
next hour the winds and waves will be
so boisterous that you are in doubt as to
whether you Will land on the shore or on
the bottom Of the deep. The disciples in
the text were caught in such a stress Of
weather and the sails bent and the ship
plunged for "the wind was contrary"
There is in one of the European straits
place, where, whichever way you sail,
the winds are opposing. There are peo-
pie who all their life seem sailing in the
teeth of the wind. An things seem
against them. It may be said Of their
condition as of that OF the disciples in my
text; the wind was contrary"
A great multitude OF people are under
seeming disadvantage, and l will to-day,
in the swarthiest of Anglo-SaXon that
can manage treat their cases; not as
nurse counts out eight or ten drops OF
prescription, and stirs them in a half
glass of water, but as when a man has
by a mistake taken a large amount of
strychnine, or Paris green, or beladonna,
and the patient is walked rapidly round
the room, and shaken up until he gets
wide awake Many of you have taken
large draught of the poison of discourage
rnent. and l come out by the order of the
Divine Physician to rouse you out of that
lethargy.
First many people are under the disad-
vantage of an unfortunate name given
them by parents who thought they were
doing a good thing. Sometimes at the
baptism of children. while l have held up
one hand in prayer, ! have held up the
other hand in Amusement that parents
should have weighted the babe with such
q dissonant and repusive 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 a title that will be the bur
den Of their lifetime. Il is outrageous to
efffict children with an undesirable name
because il happened 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.
II is no excuse because they are scripture
slames, to call a child JehOiakim, or Iig-
lath-Pileser baptized one by the name
Bathsheba, Why, under all the circum-
ambient heaven, any parent should want
to give TO a child the name of that loose
creature of scripture times | cannot mag
inc ! have often felt at the bapusmal
altar. when names were announced to me,
like saying. a. did the Rev DR.. Richards,
handed him for baptism and the name
given: Hadn't you better call it some
thing else?"
Impose not upon that babe a name sug-
gestiVe OF flippancy or meannesS. There
is no excuse for such assault and battery
on the cradle when our language is opu-
liant with names musical and suggestive
in meaning. such as John, meaning 'the
gracious gift of Cod" or Henry, meaning
1.-THE chief of a households" or Alfred,
meaning good counsellor" or Joshua,
meaning God. our salvauon;" or Am
brose, meaning immortal" or Andrew,
meaning manly" or Esther, meaning
star" or Abigail, meaning my fathers
joy" or Anna, meaning grace" or Vic
toria, meaning victory" or Rosalie.
meaning beautiful as a rose" or Mar
garet, meaning "a pearl or Ida, meaning
'godlike;" or Clara, meaning "iNusrri-
GUS" or Amelia, meaning busy" or Ber-
tina, meaning beautiful" and hundreds
of other names just as good, that are
q help rather than a hindrance.
But sometimes the great hindrance in
life is not in the given name, but In the
family name. While legislatures are will
ing to lift such incubus, there are families
that keep name which mortgages all the
generations with a great disadvantage.
You say: Il wonder if he Is any relation
20 So-and-So." mentioning some family
cd Grim ar IL is
wonder 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 scan
dalization of name, | will keep
1t no longer than until by quick
est course of law can slough
off this gangrene." The city direc-
tory has hundreds of names the mere pro-
nunciation Of which has been a lifelong
obstacle. II you have started life under
a name which either through ridiculous
photography or vicious suggestion has
been an circumference. resolve that the
next generation shall not be so weighted
IL is not bemeaning TO change a name
Saul of Tarsus became Pau, the Apostle
Hadassah. "the myrtle" became Esther
THE star We have In America, and ]
suppose Il is so in all countries, names
which ought 90 be abolished, and can be-
and will be abolished for the reason that
"a
any reason you are submerged either by a
given name or by a family name that you
must bear God will help you TO overcome
the outrage by a life consecrated 10 the
good and useful. You may erase the curse
from the name II il once stood for mean
ness, you can make it stand for generos-
ity. II once IL stood for pride you can
make Ct stand for humility. IL Il once
stood for fraud you can make IL stand for
honesty. II once IL stood for wickedness.
you can make 1t stand for purity. There
have been multtudes Of instances whore
men and women have maguihcent,y CON
quered the disasters of the name inflicted
upon them.
Again. many people labor under the
misfortune OF incomplete physical equip
ment. We are by our Creator SO econom-
ically built that we cannot afford the OBJ
Iteration OF any physical faculty. We
want our two eyes, our two ears our two
hands our two feet our eight fingers
and two thumbs. Yet what mulutudes Of
people have but one eye, or but one foot,
The ordinary casualties OF lifo have been
quadrupied, quintupled, sextuplod aye.
oentupled. In our time hy the ciWl war.
and az the north and south a great multi
fgHf ara Nuhf.uu tho huftIa az fff.. frtff.