Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-10-13
REV. DR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Disc urse.

r:,e Disciples on the Lake of GaIiIee-A
Draft of Discouragement-TheD Disad-
vantage Of an Unfortunate Name-soma
Mistakes That Cloud the Early Life.
TEXT: ''The wind was contrary" Mathew
xiv, "a.
As well know by experience on Lake
Galilee, 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 on
the bottom OF the deep. The disciples in
the text we're 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 wav you sail, the
winds are opposing. There are people who
all their life seem sailing in the teeth OF
the wind. All things seem against them.
1t slay be said of their condition as of that
OF the disciples In my text, ''the wind was
contrary"
great multitude of people are under
seeming disadvantage, and 1 will to-day,
in the swarthiest Anglo-Saxon that 1 can
manage, treat their cases not as a nurse
counts out eight or ten drops OF a prescrip-
tion 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
rapidly round the room and shaken up un-
til he gets wide awake. Many Of you have
taken large draught OF the poison OF dis
couragement and 1 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 have held up
one hand in prayer 1 have held up the
other hand in amazement that parents
should have weighted the babe with such
a dissonant and repulsive nomenclature.
L have not so much wondered that soue
children should cry out at the christening
font that others with such smiling face
should take title that will be the burden
of their lifetime. 1t is outrageous to afflici
children with an undesirable name because
II happened to be possessed by parent oI
a rich uncle from whom favors are
pected or some prominent man of the day
who may end his life In disgrace. 1t is nc
excuse. because they are Scripture names
to call child Jehoiakim or Tiglath-Pil-
eser. / baptized one by the name Bath
sheba. Why, under all the circumambient
heaven, any parent should want to give to
a child the name Of that loose creature OF
Scripture times I cannot imagine. 1 have
often felt at the baptismal altar, when
names were announced to me. like saying,
as did the Rev. DR.. Richards of Norris
town. \. J.. when a child was handed him
for baptism and the name given, Hadn't
you better call it something 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 opulent
with names musical and suggestive in
meaning. such as John meaning ''the gra-
eious gift of Cod or Henry, meaning ''the
chief of n household" or Alfred, meaning
ssDnnl ~ 1nshna meaning
''God, our salvation, or Ambrose, meaning
Immortal or Andrew, meaning manly"
or Esther, meaning "star," or Abigail,
meaning my fathers joy or Anna, mean
ing grace" or Victoria, meaning vic
tory" or Rosalie meaning beautiful a
| rose" or Margaret, meaning "a pearl" or
Ida, meaning 'godlike," or Clara, meaning
"illustrious," or Amelia. meaning busy"
or Bertha, meaning beautiful" and hun.
! dreds of other names just as good that are
| 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 willing to
| lift such incubus, there are families that
keep a name which mortgages all the gen
| erations with great disadvantage. You
say, Il wonder il he is any relation to so.
! and-so," mentioning some family celebra.
ted for crime or deception. 1t is a 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 standardization Of a name
l will keep it no longer than until by
| quickest course of law l can slough off thi.
| gangrene." The city directory has hun
| dreds of names the mere pronunciation o
which has been a lifelong obstacle. 1fyor
| have started life under a name which eithel
| through ridiculous photography or viciou:
| suggestion has been an incumbrance, re
solve that the next generation shall moi
be so weighted. 1t is not demeaning t
change a name. Saul Of Tarsus became
Paul the Apostle. Hadassah, ''the myrtle,
became Esther. "the star" We have IL
America and suppose 1t Is SO In all coun
tries, names which ought to be abolished
and can be and will be abolished for thu
reason that they are a libel and a slander
But II for any person you are submerged
either by a given name or by family nam
that you must bear, God will help you t.
overcome the outrage by life consecrate,
to the good and useful. You may eras
the curse from the name. II 1t once stoo'
for meanness, you can make 1t stand 10
generosity. II once 1t stood for pride, yol
can make it stand for humanity. IL 1t one
stood for fraud, you can make 1t stand 10
honesty. II once 1t stood for wickedness
you can make it stand for purity. Their
have been multitudes OF instances wher
men and women have magnincently cor
quered the disasters Of the name infiicte
upon them.
Again, many people labor under the mis-
: fortune Of incompetent physical equipment
2 We are by our Creator SO economical
built that we cannot afford the obliteratio
. OF any physical faculty. We want our tw
eyes, our two ears, our two hands, our tw
e feet, our eight fingers and two thumb.
4 Yet what multitudes Of people have bu
one eve or but one footl The ordinar
casualties of life have been quadruplet
o guintuplcd, seNtupled, aye, centupled,
0 our ti:ie by the Civil War, and at the Mort
q and South a great multitude are fightin
. the battle of life with half, or less than hal
j the needed physical armaments. 1 do nc
p wonder at the pathos OF soldier durin
9 the war, who, when told that he must hay
his hand amputated, said, ID octor, can
you save it?" and when told that it was in
Q possible said, "Well, then, goodby, oil
l. hand. 1 hate to part with you. You hay
n done me a good service for many years, b'
. 1t seems you must go. Goodby.
4 Put to full use all the faculties that r.
q main and charge on all opposing circum
d stances with the determination OF John
:. Bohemia, who was totally blind and yet ,
a battle cried out, 81 pray and beseec
, you to lead me so far into the fight that
NAV strike one good blow with this swol
of mineI'' Do not think so much Of VIII
faculties you have lost as of what faculti'
remain You have enough left to NAL
Yourself felt in three worlds, while yo
ID help the earth and balk hell and W
d heaven. Arise from your discouragemen'
n. o men and women OF depleted or cripple
:. physical faculties, and see what, by Il
special help of God, you can accomplish
u Another form of disadvantage und
- which many labor is lack Of early educ
tion. There will be no excuse for ign'
ance in the next generation. Free scho
and illimitable opportunity of educati
will make ignorance a crime. l believe
compulsory education, and those pare
= who neglect to put their children un'
! educational advantages have but one rit
left, and that is the penitentlary.
there are muititudes of men and womer
midlife who have had no opportunity. f
schools had not yet been established, 6
vast multitudes had little or no schoo
all. They feel it when, "a Christian II
they come to speak or pray in religi
assemblies or, public occasions, patri'