INDIVIDUALITY is rightly deemed precious. Even though faintly perceived through the mists of human sense it is not willingly surrendered. Correct nomenclature may be regarded as essential to acquaintance with individuality, while namelessness suggests its absence. A French author writing of a voyage on the Mediterranean says that the captain pointed out the islands, giving their names; and then he observes, "Nothing more tiresome than an anonymous voyage." The joy of walking through fields of varicolored wild flowers, gorgeous to the eye, is augmented by hearing their names spoken by one who has made friends with them. Tidy-tips, creamcups, blue-eyed grass! How their individuality comes forward as their anonymity gives place to exact as well as pictorial nomenclature!
In the record of creation, as it is set forth in the first chapter of Genesis, it was God's naming the light "Day," the firmament "Heaven," the dry land "Earth" and the gathering together of the waters "Seas," which may be said to have given character to that which was previously "without form, and void." Since God, the creator, had the power to bestow "names" on His creation, He can Himself be named, and that name protected, set apart from all other designations or titles. This fact is so important that it forms the subject of the third commandment and of the second phrase of the Lord's Prayer: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" and "Hallowed be thy name." These are fundamentals, the first in Mosaic, and both in Christian teachings.
In pursuance of these commands there are to be found throughout the sacred writings constant exhortations to bless, praise, call upon, exalt, revere, magnify, and love the name of God. The fact that name, as used in the Bible, may be taken to mean character or nature gives force and added meaning to these repeated references to God's name. With Oriental munificence the psalmists, prophets, and apostles of God named Him not only as Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, but as Father, Shepherd, I AM THAT I AM, King of kings, Alpha and Omega, and gave Him other beautiful appellatives. In a Psalm attributed to him, David apostrophizes God as rock, fortress, deliverer, strength, buckler, horn of salvation, and high tower. Isaiah presented his vision of God's nature in the metaphorical phrases, "a crown of glory, . . . a diadem of beauty," "a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat." Mary sang: "My soul doth magnify the Lord. . . . For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name." This affluence of designation flowed from the lips of holy men and women who loved, honored, and obeyed God up to their highest understanding.
