Instead of
giving their children those good old religious names which their fathers
bore, and which are endeared to us by many hallowed associations, they now
repudiate them with a sneer as too vulgar and tasteless. They are out of
fashion, too common, don't lead us into a labyrinth of love-scrapes and
scenes of refined iniquity, and are now only fit for a servant.
Hence instead of resorting to the bible for a name, these sentimental
parents will pore over filthy novels, or catch at some foreign accent, to
get a name which may have a fashionable sound, and a claim upon the
prevailing taste of the times, and which may remind one of the battles of
some ambitious general, or of the adventures of some love-sick swain, or of
the tragic deeds of some fashionable libertine!
And when such a name is found to suit the ear of fashion and of folly, it
is applied to the child, and reiterated by the minister before the
baptismal font; and as often as it is afterwards repeated it reminds one
perhaps of deeds which put modesty to blush, and startle the ear of justice
and humanity. What a burning shame is this to the Christian home! The
child who is cursed with such a name has ever before him the memorandum of
his parent's folly, and as a recognized example, the character of him after
whom he has been named. As often as he is hailed by it, he blushes to think
that he has been called by pious parents after one who, perhaps, has turned
many a home into desolation, and disgraced and blighted forever the fond
hopes and joys of the young and old.
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