Page:The Corner-Stone of the New Jerusalem.djvu/14

be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, the eternal Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice even for ever.” All admit that this prophecy points to the advent of the Lord Jesus Chirst, and to that eternal and ever-increasing kingdom of truth and love which He came to establish. And it is said that His name shall be called God, the Eternal Father, &c. Now if we really believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures—believe that they are what they claim to be—the Word of God—we must believe that all the proper names here mentioned are appropriate to the persons to whom they were given. We can hardly suppose that Infinite Wisdom would give to any one a merely arbitrary name, or a name which did not perfectly express the character of the person to whom it was given, or of the class of persons whom he was intended to represent. For the Lord sees and knows the quality of all; and to give to any one a name which did not express precisely his quality, or that of the class represented by him, would obviously be contrary to divine order. And if the proper names in Scripture be, (as they must be if they were dictated by Infinite Wisdom) all appropriate,—if they denote the