We frequently read that, in His dealings with His people of old, God took special care for the honour of His Name, and for that reason often forbore to take vengeance on them in the sight of the heathen; as we read three several times in one chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy: "But I wrought for My Name's sake that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth" (xx. 9, 14, 22); and again, "I had pity for My Holy Name, Which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen whither they went. I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for Mine Holy Name's sake, Which ye have profaned among the heathen whither ye went and I will sanctify My great Name" (xxxvi. 21-23). So Ps. cvi. 8; Is. xlviii. 9. In like manner we find Joshua, when the people were discomfited before Ai, pleading with God that for His Name's sake He will help them: “O Lord God, what shall I say when Israel turneth his back upon his enemies? For the Canaanite and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth; and what wilt Thou do unto Thy great Name?" (Josh. vii. 9.) So the Psalmist continually makes this his plea for mercy and deliverance : "For Thy Name's sake be merciful unto my sin" (Ps. xxv. 1). O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy Name; us, and be merciful unto our sins for Thy Name's sake. Wherefore do the heathen say, Where is now their God?” (Ps. lxxix. 9, 10.) And the prophets in like manner: "O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do Thou it for Thy Name's sake" (Jer. xiv. 7). "O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do: defer not for Thine Own sake, 0 my God; for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy Name" (Dan. x. 19).

66

Help us, O deliver

And we know that this plea is mighty with God; for so jealous is He for the honour of His Name, that though observance of all His commandments is required at our hands, yet

He threatens to hold them specially guilty who break the third, by "taking His Name in vain" (Ex. xx. 7). And when David had broken the sixth and seventh by adultery and murder, God nevertheless spared him that he should not die ; "howbeit, because he had made the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme" (2 Sam. xii. 14) he was "not held guiltless,” but the son which was born to him died, and the sword never departed from his house, as a punishment for his sin. And so, in this sermon on the mount, the first petition which our Lord prescribes for our use in His pattern prayer is, "Hallowed be Thy Name," teaching us, that as we are God's children, "the desire of our hearts" should be "unto His Name" (Is. xxvi. 8).

We are told much in Scripture about God's Name: that it is "glorious and fearful" (Deut. xxviii. 58), "excellent in all the earth" (Ps. viii. 1), "great and terrible" (xcix. 3), "holy and reverend" (cxi. 9), "exalted" (Is. xii. 4), "from everlasting" (lxiii. 16), “dreadful among the heathen” (Mal. i. 4), and to His people "like ointment poured forth" (Cant. i. 3).

But what are we to understand by His Name? In His Nature and Essence He is so great, that no name can adequately express His sublime and glorious perfections.1 May it not be said to us as it was to Jacob, "Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My Name?" (Gen. xxxii. 29)2 and to Manoah, "Why

1 "Ex quo effectum est, ut nec Nomen Dei proprium possit edici, quoniam non possit nec concipi. Id enim nomine continetur, quidquid etiam ex naturæ suæ conditione comprehenditur. Nomen enim significantia est ejus rei quæ comprehendi potest ex nomine. At quando id de quo agitur tale est ut condignè nec ipsis intellectibus colligatur, quomodo appellationis digne vocabulo pronunciabitur? Quod dum extra intellectum est, etiam supra appellationis significantiam sit necesse est. Ut meritò quando Nomen Suum Deus ex quibusdam rationibus et occasionibus aut adjicit aut præfert, non tam legitimam proprietatem appellationis sciamus esse depromptam, quam significantiam quandam constitutam, ad quam homines decurrunt, misericordiam per ipsam impetrare posse videantur (Tertull. de Trinitate lib.).

2 "Nec nomen Deo quæras, Deus Nomen est Illi. Illic vocabulis opus est, ubi propriis appellationum insignibus multitudo dirimenda est. Deo,

askest thou after My Name? for it is secret (marg., Wonderful)," (Jud. xiii. 10). The words of Agur the son of Jakeh seem to ask an unanswerable question, "What is His Name? and what is His Son's Name, if thou canst tell?" (Prov. xxx. 4.) We cannot search out the Name of God any more than His Nature and Essence. There are two scriptures which teach us how unsearchable He is the one telling us that "God dwelleth in the Light which no man can approach unto" (1 Tim. vi. 16); the other, that He "dwelleth in the thick darkness" (1 Kings viii. 12). These two passages are reconciled by those words of David, "Thou coverest Thyself with Light as with a garment" (Ps. civ. 2). And well has one said, "O great God, how miraculous is Thy Nature, Who art hidden with light, obscured with glory, seen in invisibleness, and understood only by passing understanding!" But nevertheless God has been pleased to take to Himself a name, that thus He may declare Himself to us,2 and that by our reverence for that Name we may testify our honour of Him.

3

1

Now we are sure that the Name of God will be, as far as it can, a revelation to us of His Being. Even among men names have often been prophetic of the destinies of the persons called by them. So Abraham had God's covenant of multiplying his seed sealed in his name (Gen. xvii. 5), and Jesus is a Name which contains in itself the Salvation which He came to bestow (S. Matt. i. 21). So, as S. Augustine observes, the crown of Stephen was parabled in his name. And among the heathen, names were often held to prophesy the future fate of those who

Qui solus est, Dei vocabulum totum (? solum) est" (S. Cypr. de idol. vanit. c. 5).

1 Sir R. Baker.

2 "In a word, that of S. Paul expresseth the Name of God fully and fitly, Tò YvorTdv Toi Beo, Rom. i. 19” (Archbishop Leighton).

3" Deus non Nomen est Dei, sed indicium, quo superius aliquid indicari humanâ linguâ non possit" (Arnobius, in Ps. xlix.).

4 "Jam coronæ nomen habebat; et ideo palmam martyrii suo nomine præferebat" (Serm. 2 de Steph.).

bore them. Thus, as Dr. King remarks, "Hippolytus had his death written in his name, 'torn with horses'; and Priamus (of πpíapai) foreshadowed that his stars had sold him to captivity, which he must buy out by ransom." But as frequently as not, a name has given a false prophecy. The mother of our race was called Eve, as being "the mother of all living" (Gen. iii. 20), and yet she brought death into the world.1 Solomon called his son Rehoboam, "enlarger of the people;" but instead of enlarging them, he reduced them from twelve tribes to two. Judas bore a name which signifies "Praise," and yet he became the scandal and reproach of the apostolic band.

But the Name of God, however inadequate to fully declare His perfections, is, we may be sure, as far as it can be, a true representation of what He is.2

It would obviously be impossible to do more here than refer to some of the names by which God is called in Holy Scripture. An interesting passage in this connection is that in Exod. vi. 2, 3, wherein we read, "God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD (or Jehovah), and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the Name of God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by my Name JEHOVAH was I not known unto them." To Moses at the bush He revealed Himself as, "I AM THAT I AM" (Exod. iii. 14), the one self-existent, independent, eternal and unchangeable Being; as in the last book of the New Testament He says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, Which is, and Which was, and Which is to come, the Almighty" (Rev. i. 8).

It is interesting to note in what reverence the Jews have

1 "Hausit virus peritura, et perituros paritura" (S. Bernard. de humil, grad. 4).

2 “Deus, plenæ ac perfectæ divinitatis est nomen" (S. Hil, de Trinit. lib. xi.).

always held the Sacred Name of Jehovah. Its "true pronunciation has been entirely lost, the Jews themselves scrupulously avoiding every mention of It, and substituting in Its stead one or other of the words with whose proper vowel-points it may happen to be written. According to Jewish tradi

tion, the Name was pronounced but once a year by the HighPriest on the Day of Atonement when he entered into the Holy of Holies. But on this point there is some doubt, Maimonides (Mor. Heb. i. 61) asserting that the use of the word was confined to the blessings of the priests, and restricted to the sanctuary, without limiting it still further to the High-Priest alone." In later times, in writing this sacred Name, so high was their esteem of it, that when they came to it, they were careful to wipe their pens, and refill them; and when their MSS. of the Sacred Books became old and injured, they reverently buried them, lest any dishonour should even accidentally befall that awful Name. "Now, their rabbins will not

1

so much as write that Name, but still express It in four letters : so that they dare not, not only sound It, nor say It, but not even see It." 2

It is difficult to stigmatize with the reproachful term of superstition a practice which, at all events, originated in, and by many, doubtless, continued to be impregnated with, a true and deep reverence and devotion. Yet we do not find in the older and healthier times of the Jewish people any such extreme scrupulosity about the use of the Name. "Men canscious of deep and real reverence are not fearful of the appearance of irreverence. The word became a common word, as it always may, so long as it is felt, and awe is real. A mighty cedar was called a "cedar of Jehovah" (Ps. lxxx. 10); a lofty mountain, a "mountain of Jehovah" (Ps. xxxvi. 6). Human beauty even was praised by such an epithet. Moses

1 Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," vol. i., p. 95.

2 Dr. Donne.