SERMON XX. THE NAME OF JESUS. (FEAST OF THE CIRCUMCISION.) ST. LUKE II. 21. His Name was called Jesus, Which was so named of the angel before He was conceived in the womb. IN N this passage St. Luke draws attention to the high sanction of the Most Holy Name which was given to our Lord at His Circumcision. "He was so named of the angel before He was conceived in the womb." When the Archangel Gabriel announced His Birth to His Virgin-Mother, the message from heaven ran thus: "Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son, and shalt call His Name JESUS." a And when, at a later date, Mary was espoused to Joseph, and, as St. Matthew tells us, "was found with child of the Holy Ghost," so that her husband "was minded to put her away privily," to him too the angel of the Lord appeared, saying, "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for That Which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall a St. Luke i. 30, 31. bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins." a I. The question will perhaps be asked why this importance should be ascribed to a name, even although it be the Name of our Lord. Modern habits of thought, especially English habits, lead us to think lightly of names. We contrast names with realities; words with things. And as to human names, we look in ordinary life not to what a man is called, but to what he does, or rather to what he is. A name, we think, may be but a shadow of the past, or a fruitless effort to influence the future. It is, we may hold, only the social label by which one man is distinguished from another, and it cannot be credited with a mystical significance without some taint of fancifulness, if not of absurdity. That throughout the Bible a great deal of importance is attributed to names, and especially to the names of persons, is obvious to even the least careful readers. The names of the patriarchs, for instance, and others, are given them, each for a definite reason; and this reason lies in the natural meaning of the word itself, which is frequently explained in the context. Moreover, names are sometimes varied, or entirely new names are assumed; as in the cases of Abraham and Sarab. Unspeakably greater is the importance attached to the Name of God in the Bible. Holy Scripture bids us give the honour due unto His Name." It says that His Name is great in Israel; © that it is excellent; that it is holy and reverent. Scripture speaks of men loving God's Name; f of their fearing a St. Matt. i. 18-21 b Ps. xxix. 2. e lb. cxi. 9. c Ib. lxxvi. I. f Ib. lxix. 36. a b e с it; of their praising it; of their seeking it; of their knowing it;a of their declaring it; of the temple being built for it, and of its being put or set therein." These and similar expressions occur not once or twice, but constantly. The Name of God is treated in Scripture as if it were a living thing; as if it were identical with His Nature, Which it declares. And in the New Testament the Name of Jesus is said to be the power through which devils are cast out; and at which all beings in earth and heaven shall bow the knee in adoration. Thus too we profess to our Lord every day in the Te Deum, “We worship Thy Name ever world without end." h Are we to account for the importance thus attached to the names of men, and especially to the Name of God, by saying that it belongs to the genius of an Eastern people, and that we people of the Western world can only recognize such peculiarities, but cannot hope to understand them? This is a shallow method of dealing with Biblical topics. For the real question is shelved; it is not answered. It is impossible not to inquire why the Orientals should have exhibited a given peculiarity; why, in the case before us, such importance should have been attributed to names. Is this question answered by saying that, knowing only a single language, the Hebrews ascribed to language an absolute power and efficacy as inherent in it; a sort of equivalence to that for which it stands; in short, a value which would be deemed absurd at the present day? But is it clear that the Hebrews were wrong, while we are right? May not Babel have been a misfortune, not merely in that it interfered with intercourse between human beings, but also because it lowered our sense of what language is? Is it altogether impossible that the knowledge of many languages, or of more languages than one, may impoverish our sense of the true force of language in relation to thought and fact? The most accomplished linguist of modern times, when replying to a compliment which some one paid him, observed that it was better to have ten ideas to express in one language, than one idea to express in ten. And we may paraphrase his words by saying that it is better to feel one language, as the Hebrews felt theirs, than to use the words of two or three as mere counters. That splendid appendage of reason, which no artificial or historical origin can be discovered, and which among the visible creatures we men alone possess in the gift of speech, was, at least in one respect, better understood when names were used seriously as in the Hebrew Scriptures; and it may be that if ever a universal language could be again established among men, a deeper philosophy would learn to attribute to the daily use of its separate words a real operative value which we too readily deem it wisdom to ignore. for But let us turn from speculation to the common sense of mankind. What is a name? I answer, It is a power. Not seldom has a name been a political force, governing the imaginations and swaying the destinies of millions of men. Why else did a long line of Roman emperors call themselves Cæsar and Augustus, until these proud titles lost their virtue by becoming entirely official? Or why was it possible for the late Emperor of the French to succeed to his uncle's throne, but because he bore a name which, until last August, had a charmed power for the ear of France? Frequently a name is, whether for good or evil, a Cardinal Mezzofanti. The earlier German victories in the campaign of 1870 were won in the month of August. The emperor had lost France before the capitulation of Sedan. a moral power too. In every country, in every town, in every village, in every family circle, there are names around which associations have clustered so closely and persistently as to be inevitably accompaniments of them; names which invigorate and illuminate; names which darken and depress; names of dishonour and names of glory; the strong or subtle influence of which even the most prosaic do not wholly escape, while their practical power must be obvious to the least imaginative observer. Think of this, ye parents who hear me, and who, among many and grave responsibilities, have from time to time to name your children. The choice of a child's Christian name is not a matter to be left to chance, or to be treated as though caprice or amusement might decide it. In the humblest walks of life every boy already possesses in his surname a moral and social inheritance; it robes him, that name, ere he has himself gone forth to meet the battle of life, with the genius and courage and industry, or with the sloth and incapacity, of his forefathers. The boy's surname is decided for him by the Providence Who assigns to him his parentage; he is named thus or thus in heaven before he is conceived in the womb. But what of his Christian name; the name by which during the years of his pilgrimage he will be most familiarly addressed day by day, hour by hour; the name which will help to shape his thoughts about himself and the thoughts of others? That name it is for you to fix upon him indelibly; to fix it wisely or foolishly, for good or for something akin to evil. Long after you shall have passed to your account, this portion of your work will survive you, as one of the happier memories of your life here below, or to add something to that sense of misused responsibility which will haunt you to your endless confusion hereafter. |