Sermon XV. On the Names of God, and the Name of Jesus

"Thy name is as oil poured out."

"The Spirit of wisdom is benevolent." He is not accustomed to make Himself difficult of access to those who invoke Him. Often even before we call upon Him, He says, "Behold, I am here." Listen, then, to the inspirations which, at your prayer and for your sakes, He has been pleased to favour me with, concerning those questions postponed from yesterday until the present; and reap the seasonable fruits of your own intercession. Behold, I am going to tell you the name which is rightly compared to oil, and to explain for what reason. We find many names of the Bridegroom scattered through the inspired pages. I will reduce them all to two. You will discover none, as I think, which does not signify either the riches of His mercy, or the power of His majesty. So speaks the Holy Ghost through one of His most familiar organs, that is, through David, "These two things have I heard, that power belongeth to God and mercy to Thee, O Lord." We find it written with regard to His majesty, "Holy and terrible is His name," and with respect to His mercy, "There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved." Further testimonies will confirm what I say. "And this," says Jeremias, "is the name that they shall call Him, the Lord, our Just One" — which is a name of power or majesty. According to Isaias, "His name shall be called Emmanuel" — a name of mercy. Again Christ says of Himself, "You call me Master and Lord." The former is a name of mercy, the latter of majesty. I say Master is a name of mercy, for it is as much an exercise of mercy to impart knowledge to the mind as to supply food to the body. Again Isaias tells us, "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace." Of these titles the first, third, and fourth are expressive of majesty, the others of mercy. Which then, is the name "as oil poured out"? Evidently, the name of majesty and power is transfused in a manner into that of mercy and grace, and the result, which is, so to speak, an amalgam of all, abundantly poured out in Jesus Christ Our Saviour. Is not the name "God," for instance, merged and transfused into that of "God-with-us," that is, into "Emmanuel"? So is "Admirable" into "Counsellor." So is "God the Mighty" into the titles "Father of the world to come," and "Prince of Peace." So is "The Lord our Just One" into "Compassionate and merciful Lord." In this I am speaking of nothing new. In olden times [the names Abram and Sarai were similarly merged and transfused into Abraham and Sara, respectively; and so we recognise that even then the mystery of this salutary effusion was celebrated and foreshadowed.

Where now is that awful "I am the Lord! I am the Lord!" which, spoken with a voice of thunder, used to resound with equal terror and frequency in the ears of the ancients? I have a prayer, dictated to me by Christ, the beginning of which, sweetened with the name of Father, guarantees a favourable hearing for the petitions which follow. Servants are called friends. And it is not to disciples, but to His "brethren" the Saviour's Resurrection is announced. No wonder that, "when the fulness of time was come," a pouring out of the holy name took place, God fulfilling what He promised by the mouth of Joel, and pouring out of His Spirit upon all flesh. No wonder, I say, since I read of something similar having occurred even amongst the Hebrews of old. I suppose your thoughts anticipate my words, and that you already guess what I am about to say. What, I ask, was the meaning of the name "I am Who am," and "He Who is hath sent me to you," first given in answer to the question of Moses? It is doubtful if even Moses himself could have understood that name had it not been poured out. But it was fused and poured and so comprehended. And not only poured, but even poured out, for already it had been poured in or infused¹; already it was possessed by the inhabitants of heaven; already it had become familiar to the angels. But now it was dispersed abroad. It had been communicated by infusion to the celestial spirits in such a manner that they held it as an intimate possession. It was now poured out even upon men, so that, if the hateful wilfulness of an ungrateful people did not hinder it, the thankful cry, "Thy name is as oil poured out," would have gone up to God from the universal earth. For he says Himself, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Run, ye nations! Salvation is at hand. That name has been poured out, which whosoever shall invoke shall be saved. The God of angels calls Himself the God of men, also! He hath poured oil upon Jacob, and caused it to fall upon Israel. Say to your brothers, "Give us of your oil." Should they refuse, then pray the Lord of the oil Himself to pour it out upon you. Say to Him, "O Lord, ' Take away our reproach.' Do not, we implore Thee, permit the malevolent one, viz., Satan, to insult Thy beloved one, whom Thou hast been pleased to call to Thee from the ends of the earth, by a condescension proportionate to her unworthiness. Is it fitting, I ask, that a wicked servant should exclude those whom the gracious Father of the family hath invited? ' I am,' Thou sayest, ' the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' But is it of these only? Pour out, oh, pour out Thy name still wider! Still more generously ' open Thy hand and fill every animal with blessing.' Let them ' come from the east and the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.' 'Let them come, let them come, the tribes, the tribes of the Lord; the testimony of Israel to praise the name of the Lord.' Let them come, and sit down, and feast, and be filled with gladness. Let but this one song re-echo everywhere, ' Thy name is as oil poured out,' ' with the voice of joy and praise, the noise of one feasting.'" One thing, my brethren, I feel sure of, namely, that, if Philip and Andrew be the porters, we shall never meet with a repulse when we go begging for oil, when we want to see Jesus. As of old, Philip will immediately speak to Andrew, and both Philip and Andrew will speak to Jesus. But what will Jesus answer? Doubtless the same which He spoke once before, "Unless the grain of wheat, falling into the ground, dieth, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Therefore, let the Divine Grain die that the crop of the gentiles may spring up. For "thus it behoveth Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His name," not alone in Judaea, but throughout all nations; so that from the one name of Christ, countless millions of believers should be called Christians, and should exclaim in chorus, "Thy name is as oil poured out."

In this, that is, in the name of Christ, I recognise the name which we read of in the Prophet Isaias, "He shall call His servants by another name, in which he, that is blest upon the earth, shall be blessed in God, amen." O name of benediction! O oil everywhere poured out! Do you ask how widely it has been poured out? From heaven it overflowed to Judaea, and from Judaea through the world at large, so that from the whole earth the Church sends up the wondering cry, "Thy name is as oil poured out." "Poured out "in truth, since not only has it overrun heaven and earth but even the dwellers beneath the earth have been sprinkled therewith, "that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confess "and should say, "Thy name is as oil poured out." Behold the name of Christ! Behold the name of Jesus! Both were infused into the angels. Both were effused upon men, upon those men, who like beasts, "had rotted in their filth," and they, these holy names, "saved men and beasts, as God hath multiplied His mercy." How precious this name, this oil! Yet how cheap, too. How cheap, and yet how salutary! Were it not cheap, it would not be poured out for one like me. Were it not salutary, it could not have saved me. I participate in the name; I participate also in the inheritance. I am a Christian; I am, therefore, the brother of Christ. If I am really what I am called, I am "the heir of God and a co-heir with Christ." And what wonder is it that the name of the Bridegroom is thus poured out, since He has poured out even Himself? For, "He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." And the Psalmist says, speaking in His name, "I am poured out as water." The fulness of the Divinity, whilst dwelling corporally on earth, was poured out, so that all of us, who live in the flesh, might receive of that fulness, and, recreated with its life-giving odour, might exclaim, "Thy name is as oil poured out." You now understand what name has been poured out, and how, and to what extent.

But wherefore is it compared to oil? This I have not yet explained. I was beginning to do so in the preceding discourse, when something suddenly occurred to me which I thought necessary to premise. The digression has been more lengthy than I anticipated, for no other reason, as I think, than because Wisdom, "the valiant woman, hath put out her hand" to the distaff, "and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle." Well she knew how to draw out into a long thread my scanty stock of wool or flax, and to stretch it to the breadth of the loom, so that "all her domestics might be clothed with double garments." There is, doubtless, a striking analogy between oil and the name of the Beloved, nor is the comparison made by the Holy Spirit quite an arbitrary one. Unless you can suggest something better, I will say that the name of Jesus bears resemblance to oil in the threefold use to which the latter lends itself, namely, for lighting, for food, and for healing. It feeds the flame, it nourishes the flesh, it soothes pain. It is light, and food, and medicine. Consider now how the same properties belong to the Bridegroom's name. When preached, it gives light; when meditated, it nourishes; when invoked, it soothes and softens. But let us examine each point in detail.

Whence, think you, that great light of faith, and as sudden as great, throughout the whole world, except from the preaching of the name of Jesus? Was it not by the refulgence of this name that God called us "into His marvellous light," to whom thus illuminated, and contemplating the Light by this light, St. Paul truly says, "You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord "? This is the name which the same Apostle was charged to "carry before the gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." He bore this name about as a lamp. With it he illuminated his native land, crying out everywhere, "The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day." And he directed the gaze of all to the Candle² on the Candlestick, by everywhere preaching "Jesus and Him crucified." Oh, with what splendour this light shone forth and dazzled the eyes of all beholders, when, flashing like the lightning flame from Peter's mouth, it strengthened the corporeal "feet and soles" of one person physically lame, and enlightened the eyes of many others, who were spiritually blind! Surely it glittered with fiery scintillations when the same Peter pronounced the words, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk."

But the name of Jesus is not merely light. It is food as well. Do you not, my brethren, experience an increase of strength as often as you recall it? What can so enrich the soul that reflects upon it? What can so reinvigorate the weary mind, fortify the virtues, engender good and honourable dispositions, foster holy affections? Dry is every kind of spiritual food, which this oil does not moisten. Insipid, whatever this salt does not season. If thou writest, thy composition has no charms for me, unless I read there the name of Jesus. If thou disputest or conversest, I find no pleasure in thy words, unless I hear there the name of Jesus. Jesus is honey in the mouth, melody in the ear, jubilation in the heart.³

Yet not alone is that name light and food. It is also medicine. Is any amongst you sad? Let the name of Jesus enter his heart; let it leap thence to his mouth; and lo! the light that radiates from that name shall scatter every cloud and restore tranquillity. Has some one perpetrated a crime, and, moreover, abandoning hope, is rushing in desperation towards "the snare of death"? Let him but invoke this vivifying name, and straightway he shall experience a renewal of courage, and a revival of confidence. What hardness of heart, common as it is with some, what torpidity of sloth, what rancour of spirit, what weariness of disgust has ever been able to resist the potent influence of this all-saving name? What exhausted fountain of devotional tears has not, at the invocation of the name of Jesus, sent forth a fuller and a sweeter flood? Who ever, when trembling with terror in the presence of danger, has not immediately felt his spirits revive and his fears departing as soon as he called upon this name of power? Who ever, agitated and buffeted by the billows of doubt, has not perceived his mind to be suddenly illuminated with the clear light of certitude, the moment he invoked this illustrious name? Who ever, overwhelmed by misfortune, and already on the point of succumbing, has not been strengthened in mind by an infusion of fortitude when he pronounced this helpful name? For this name is the sovereign remedy for all those various maladies and languors of the soul. By using it thus we may test the truth of the promise, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me." There is nothing so efficacious as the name of Jesus for restraining the violence of anger, depressing the swellings of pride, healing the smarting wound of envy, curbing the passions of the flesh, extinguishing the fire of concupiscence, tempering the thirst of avarice, and banishing every unlawful desire. For when I name the name Jesus, I call to mind a Man Who is "meek and humble of Heart" Who is kind, sober, chaste, and merciful, and perfect in all goodness and sanctity, and Who is, at the same time, the great Almighty God, Who restores me to health by His example, and strengthens me by His help. All this sounds in my ear whenever I hear the name of Jesus. I find models for my imitation in His Humanity, and assistance to copy them in His Omnipotence. The examples of His mortal life I use as medicinal herbs which I prepare with the assistance of His divine power, and so make for myself an efficacious restorative such as no human physician can compound.

Such an electuary, O my soul, thou canst find stored up in the little vessel of the name Jesus. So salutary is it, that it shall never prove ineffectual against any spiritual ailment whatsoever. Keep it always in thy bosom, keep it ever in thy hand, so that every thought and act of thine may be directed to Jesus. He Himself invites thee to this in the words, "Put Me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm.,, But of this later. Now I merely indicate where thou canst discover a medicine for thy arm and a medicine for thy heart.

L K Thou hast, I say, in the name of Jesus, the means of correcting thy evil actions and of making perfect such as are deficient in goodness. Therein, also, shalt thou find the means of preserving thy affections incorrupt, or of purifying them from defilement already contracted.

Amongst the children of Judaea there have been several others called Jesus, and she glories in the empty name. For, as belonging to these, that name is empty, since it yields neither light, nor food, nor medicine. Therefore does the Synagogue abide in darkness, even till now, oppressed with hunger and infirmity. And so must she remain without healing or satiety, until she shall acknowledge that it is this my Jesus "Who ruleth Jacob and all the ends of the earth," and until her sons "shall return at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs, and shall go round about the city." Those other Jews who bore the name of Jesus were sent on before, as of old the staff preceded the Prophet Eliseus to the corpse of the child of the Sunamitess. Hence, in their case, the name was nothing more than a shadow, for it was not interpreted by their lives. The staff was laid on the body, but produced neither life nor feeling, because it was only a staff. Then He came down Who had sent the staff, and immediately saved His people from their sins, thus deserving that it should be said of Him, "Who is this that also forgiveth sins?" For He is the Same Who said, "I am the salvation of the people." Now there is life, now there is feeling. So it is manifest that this Jesus of ours does not bear an empty name as did His types. There is a feeling of health infused, and the favour is not concealed in silence. Within is the awakening of life, without the voice of acknowledgment. I feel contrition, I confess my sins, and confession is evidence of life in me, since "Confession⁴ perish eth from the dead as nothing." Behold life and feeling! I am completely resuscitated, my resurrection is perfect. What is the death of the body but the privation of life and feeling? Sin, which is the death of the soul, had left me neither the feeling of compunction nor the voice of confession, and hence I was dead. Then came He Who forgives sins, restoring both life and feeling, and saying to my soul, "I am thy salvation." What wonder that death should yield place where Life enters? Now "with the heart we believe unto justice, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Already the "child gapes," and he "gapes seven times," and he says, "Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee," O Lord. Mark well this number seven, for it is a sacred number, and here is not without its significance. But it is better to postpone this to another day when, not fastidious, but with keen appetites, we shall take our places at a good table, at the invitation of the Bridegroom of the Church, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is over all things, God, blessed for ever. Amen.

Footnotes

1. "Sed fusum est et captum, nee modo fusum sed et effusum quia jam infusum." The play upon words here is absolutely untranslatable. The holy Preacher appears to consider the great name of God as a solid substance, that requires to be fused or melted down before it can be contained in the small and frail vessel of created intelligence. After fusion, viz., in a manner suited to a finite capacity, it was poured in or infused into the angelic mind, whence later, at the Burning Bush, it was poured out to Moses, and through him to the human race. — (Translator.) ↩

2. "Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick that it may shine to all that are in the house" (Matt. v. 15). St. Bernard appears to be the only writer who has applied these words to the Crucified, "the Light of the World." Yet surely the application is as obvious as it is beautiful. It is in the same sense that St. Augustine speaks of the Cross as the Master's chair, "Cathedra Christi." But the metaphor of the candle and candlestick seems to be much more felicitous. — (Translator.) ↩

3. "Jesus mel in ore, in aure melos, in corde jubilus." Compare with stanza 22 of the beautiful hymn, "Jubilus Rythmicus de Nomine Jesu," used by the Church for the Feast of the Holy Name: — "Jesu decus angelicum, / In aure dulce canticum, / In ore mel mirificum, / In corde nectar coelicum." Even apart from the testimony of a constant tradition, the close resemblance in language and sentiment between parts of this sermon and the "Jubilus" leaves us very little room for doubting that the two have come from the same author. From the same sermon are taken the lessons for the second nocturn of the Feast of the Holy Name. — (Translator.) ↩

4. "A mortuo tamquam qui non est periit confessio."It is clear from the context that"confessio"in this place, as often elsewhere in Scripture, means, not confession of sin, but acknowledgment of favour, hence praise. The Saint is, therefore, not so much interpreting, as adapting the verse to his purpose. — (Translator.) ↩