TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS.
WHAT is a name? you ask. Names show the heart:
In vanity and pride most names have a part,-
Self to exalt and please, man's favorite aim,
When on his offspring he bestows a name;
Tickled by fancy, or mere pleasing sound,
Or other reasons equally profound,
Too many parents gratify their ear
With names that heaven cannot love to hear.
He, by whose sovereign choice, and gracious love,
Was named each family in heaven above
And earth beneath, before the world began,
Reveals in each some beams of light to man.
The chosen father of the promised seed
Who should meet all the ruined sinner's need,
He calls him "Abraham"-"exalted" he,
The father of a multitude should be,
More numerous than the starry hosts on high
When not a cloud obscures the Syrian sky,
More than the sands upon the ocean's shore
Where its proud waves delight to break and roar.-
That halting pilgrim, leaning on his rod,
He calls him "Israel"-mighty prince with God,
In honor of that faith that would not yield,
Or without blessing quit the wrestling field.
Faith gave its pregnant names in days of old;
The giver's heart those early names unfold:
First in the line we love the name of "Eve;”
While o'er their fall and ours their children grieve,
Sin's dreadful entrance in a world so fair
Whose fearful reign, alas! is everywhere;
Yet we delight to hear how mercy's voice
E'en, in the hour of judgment, could rejoice;
Speak of the coming seed, the woman's child,
By whom God's attributes are reconciled,
The serpent's head is bruised, the gloomy tomb
And all death's awful horrors overcome.
He who had named her Isha, when first made
In loveliest bloom of innocence arrayed,
-"Bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh," was she,
The twain but one in closest unity,
Alas! his tempter had through guile become,
Partaker of his guilt, and shame, and doom;-
Now grasps the promise in his hour of woe,
Her seed shall conquer their obdurate foe,
Shall bruise his head, the' bruised his heel should be,
By death should death destroy, and set us free:
He gives her now another brighter name,
“Eve" (life), whose very utterance should proclaim
In every hour of darkness and of woe,
Life in the midst of death, and victory o'er the foe.
Then " Seth + appears, the appointed "substitute,”
Of all our peace and hopes the promised root,
Who as our surety all our guilt endured,
And our eternal happiness secured.
“Enoch" (devoted), he, who walked with God,
And passed, unscathed by death, to heaven's abode;
“Isaac,"-we laugh, our sorrow changed to joy,
At birth of Him whose death did death destroy.
But time would fail, did I in feeble verse
Faith's numerous names endeavor to rehearse;
Let me but mention now the glorious name
God gave His Son, when He in mercy came
Sinners to rescue from their awful fall,
JESUS, the noblest, peerless name of all!
Highest in heaven, sweetest name on earth,
Announced to Mary ere His wondrous birth,
By angels praised when in the manger laid
The holy Babe in swaddling clothes arrayed,
They to the shepherds of the Savior spoke,
Born to deliver from th' oppressor's yoke.
JESUS! Where'er He journeyed here below,
All found in Him the balm for every woe:
What thousands flocked His words of life to hear,
What thousands did His works of mercy cheer!
That name I read nailed o'er Him on the tree,
Jesus, the Savior, crucified for me;
In heaven exalted high o'er every name,
Its matchless worth all tongues with joy proclaim;
On earth how sweet to all our heaven-taught hearts,
What joy and liberty its sound imparts!
The weary hears, and finds therein his rest;
The wretched hears, believes it, and is blest;
It cheers the contrite, cures the venomed smart
That sin inflicts in many an aching heart:
Since the glad hour I learned its power to know,
I've found its solace every hour of woe,-
A sweetness, and a freshness, and a joy,
Time cannot pall, nor life nor death destroy.
JESUS! the name the Father loves to own,
What power it has before th' eternal throne!
Through it our feeblest prayers accepted rise
In its sweet cloud of incense to the skies:
While here we love its sovereign grace to tell,
And others win the Savior's ranks to swell,
E'en through eternity we'll still proclaim
On golden harps our JESUS' glorious name.
Has prayer been heard, and God in answer given
A precious babe to train it up for heaven?
Wilt thou not choose for it a suited name,
Pleasing to Him from whom this blessing came,
Such as the Shepherd would Himself approve,
For the dear lamb, the object of His love?
Look up to Him for guidance in thy choice
Of some such name as will contain a voice
Whene'er you mention it to Him on high,
Or to your bosom call your darling nigh;
Some name that will awake some cord of love,
And your glad heart to thankful praises move.
“God gave my child, from Him this blessing came,
And to His praise I gave my child this name.”