Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1588
Delivered on Thursday Evening, March 3, 1881
“A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.” Ecclesiastes 7:1.
IN this part of the world, we can hardly understand how much the Easterns thought of perfumes. When Solomon speaks of “precious ointment,” he speaks of a luxury highly appreciated by those who heard him. Orientals delighted to anoint themselves with fragrant oil and to pour upon their heads salves full of perfume. We do not—at any rate, not to the same lavish extent. But among the luxuries of eastern life was that of delighting the nostrils with sweet smells. The figure is easy to understand as it is here used to set forth the excellence of a good name. A man who is perfumed and who has put upon his head precious ointment is sweet and pleasant to himself. It gives him joy and so does a good name afford pleasure to its possessor. Besides that, the perfumed person was agreeable to other people—those who were round about him were refreshed by the fragrance—and so a noble character is agreeable to all who come near it.
In some cases the use of a sacred ointment, or anointing oil, signified that the man was himself pleasant even to God—the priests went not into the Holy Place except they had been anointed with a certain appointed compound of sweet-smelling perfumes—and so precious ointment became the type of the anointing of the Spirit of God and of that acceptableness which comes to men through Jesus Christ who is a sweet savor unto the Lord God. And so you see that precious ointment, or sweet perfumed oil, was very precious to the Jew, first, because of the pleasure it gave to him and the healthy influence which he believed it exerted upon himself. Next, because it made him pleasurable to others and, next, because in its highest sacred sense it prepared him to come before God. You can see why, “precious ointment,” was so much held in esteem.
But Solomon says that a good name is better than that. I do not think he merely meant a good reputation—and yet it would be true if he referred only to an honorable character among his neighbors, for it is a good thing for a man to stand high in the esteem of his fellow men and he ought never to lose their respect except for one cause, namely, for the sake of standing in higher esteem before God. The faithful follower of Jesus must be content to part with name and fame if, through obedience to Christ, he is spoken of evilly—yes, in such a case he may rejoice and be exceedingly glad when they say all manner of evil against him falsely for Christ’s’ name’s sake! Yet even then it is a sharp sorrow to have lost one’s good name among men, though for Christ’s sake it should be borne right cheerfully.
Every good man would be glad if it were possible to have the good word of all his fellow men, for this is the groundwork of social peace and would be, in itself, good and pleasant were it not that sin destroys it and turns it into a “woe” when all men speak well of us. I believe that the text has a deeper meaning than this, for a man truly has a good name if he deserves to be held in high esteem, though he may, for Christ’s sake, be in disrepute. His name is good, whatever men may say about it. His name is, indeed, all the better in the sight of God because he has been slandered and reproached for the sake of the Truth of God. His name shall shine out like the stars of Heaven when Christ comes—even the name of the man of whom the world was not worthy. It is, after all, a small matter to be judged of man’s judgment—our record is on high. A good character may be understood here and, assuredly, that is better than the rarest luxury of kings.
Consider it spiritually and, dear Brothers and Sisters, what is a good name? A good name is a name that is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and that is better than the sweetest of all ointments! Oh, that I may find my name recorded in some corner of the page among the sinners saved by Grace! The very thought of that has a savor in it which no earthly delicacy can rival! Oh, how blessed to be among the chosen of God, the redeemed of Christ Jesus, beloved of the Father from before the foundation of the world! “A good name.” Why, that must be a name written upon the breastplate of the great High Priest! If you could have gone up to the high priest of old you would have read there, “Reuben,” “Simeon,”
“Levi,” “Judah,” “Dan,” “Gad,” “Naphtali” and the like—and they were all good names when once they were engraved there.
But what a blessed place to have your name inscribed—not upon a jewel that shall hang on the breast of a man, but upon the very heart of Jesus Christ your Lord! If you could see your name written on the palms of His hands, you would say, “It is a good name that is written there. Blessed be the Lord that ever I had that name, insignificant as it is. Though it is a name that has been ridiculed. Though it is a name that has been bandied about and kicked like a football through the world, yet it is a blessed name, for it is written on the palms of Jesus’ hands.” It is so if we are the Lord’s own people and are walking the walk of faith. Jesus says, “I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands.” That is a good name which is recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life and engraved upon the breastplate of the Savior. Do you not think so?