Nombre de Dios

“ The audacity of the project is unparalleled. Eighteen boys led by a man not yet in his thirtieth year accompanied by Indians were to invade a tangled thicket of hostile country, cut off from retreat, the forts of the enemy—the cruelest enemy in Christendom—on each side, no provisions but what each carried in his haversack!
Led by the Indian Pedro, the freebooters struck across country, picked up the trail behind Nombre de Dios, marched by night, hid by day, Indian scouts sending back word when a Spaniard was seen, the English scudding to ambush in the tangled woods. ”

“ In order to recompense himself for the loss suffered in this disaster, he equipped the expedition against the Spanish treasure-house at Nombre de Dios in 1572, the fortunes of which are described in the first of the two following narratives. It was on this voyage that he was led by native guides to "that goodly and great high tree" on the isthmus of Darien, from which, first of Englishmen, he looked on the Pacific, and "besought Almighty God of His goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in an English ship in that sea." ”

“ But from Venta Cruz to Nombre de Dios as oft as they travel by land with their treasure, they travel always by day and not by night, because all that way is full of woods, and therefore very fresh and cool; unless the Cimaroons happily encounter them, and made them sweat with fear, as sometimes they have done: whereupon they are glad to guard their Recoes [i.e., Recuas, the Spanish word for a drove of beasts of burden; meaning here, a mule train] with soldiers as they pass that way. ”

“ If you will look at the map here you will see Porto Bello situated about twenty-five miles east of Colón with Nombre de Dios just beyond. Nombre de Dios, however, was abandoned after its capture by Sir Francis Drake, and the terminus of the road became Porto Bello. To-day the place is of no importance—a small village of native huts—but the ruins of the old castles and forts are still standing in a good state of preservation, and the place is historically very interesting. Moreover, just off the port Sir Francis Drake’s body was buried at sea. ”

“ The safety of it consisted, not only in that which is common all along that coast from Tolou to Nombre de Dios, being above sixty leagues, that it is a most goodly and plentiful country, and yet inhabited not with one Spaniard, or any for the Spaniards: but especially in that it lieth among a great many of goodly islands full of trees. Where, though there be channels, yet there are such rocks and shoals, that no man can enter by night without great danger; nor by day without discovery, whereas our ships might be hidden within the trees. ”

“ Within three days after, we arrived at the place which our Captain chose, at first, to leave his ship in, which was called by our Captain, Port Plenty; by reason we brought to thither continually all manner store of good victuals, which we took, going that way by sea, for the victualling of Cartagena and Nombre de Dios as also the Fleets going and coming out of Spain. So that if we had been two thousand, yea three thousand persons, we might with our pinnaces easily have provided them sufficient victuals of wine, meal, rusk ”

“ In this town we saw they lived very civilly and cleanly. For as soon as we came thither, they washed themselves in the river; and changed their apparel, as also their women do wear, which was very fine and fitly made somewhat after the Spanish fashion, though nothing so costly. This town is distant thirty-five leagues from Nombre de Dios and forty-five from Panama. It is plentifully stored with many sorts of beasts and fowl, with plenty of maize and sundry fruits.
Touching their affection in religion, they have no kind of priests, only they held the Cross in great reputation. ”

“ Domingo, gives, as you see, a far greater ransom, being in very deed of far more importance, by reason of the excellency of the harbour, and the situation thereof to serve the trade of Nombre de Dios and other places, and is inhabited with far more richer merchants. The other is chiefly inhabited with lawyers and brave gentlemen, being the chief or highest appeal of their suits in law of all the islands about it and of the mainland coast next unto it. And it is of no such account as Carthagena, for these and some like reasons which I could give you, over long to be now written. ”

“ Thence we sent a chosen Cimaroon, one that had served a master in Panama before time, in such apparel as the Negroes of Panama do use to wear, to be our espial, to go into the town, to learn the certain night, and time of the night, when the carriers laded the Treasure from the King's Treasure House to Nombre de Dios. For they are wont to take their journey from Panama to Venta Cruz, which is six leagues, ever by night; because the country is all champion, and consequently by day very hot. ”

“ There were, at this time, belonging to Cartagena, Nombre de Dios, Rio Grande, Santa Marta, Rio de la Hacha, Venta Cruz, Veragua, Nicaragua, the Honduras, Jamaica etc., above 200 frigates; some of a 120 tons, others but of 10 or 12 tons, but the most of 30 or 40 tons, which all had intercourse between Cartagena and Nombre de Dios. The most of which, during our abode in those parts, we took; and one of them, twice or thrice each: yet never burnt nor sunk any, unless they were made out Men-of-war against us, or laid as stales to entrap us. ”

“ Neuerthelesse they left vs one good ship behind for our share, wel manned, which tolde me that the Drake dyed in Nombre de Dios, and that they haue made for Generall of the English fleete, the Colonell Quebraran, and also by meanes of the small time being streightly followed by vs they [14] had no opportunitie to take either water, woode or flesh, and they are also in such bad case, that I know not how they will bee able to arriue in England, the number of men we haue taken are about 140. ”

“ But it was a pointe of great simplicitie, & scarcely beseeming a Generall, to tie the credite of his reporte locally to any place vppon the report of a silly Indian slaue. For it had beene sufficient to haue said, that Fraunces Drake was certainly dead, without publishing the lye in Print, by naming Nombre de Dios: for it is most certaine Sir Fraunces Drake dyed twixt the Island of Scouda, and Porte-bella: But the Generall being rauished with the The Generall seemeth to wante friendes in Courte, sending such great newes to a priuate Doctor. ”

“ I will praise thee, O Lord, my God! with my whole heart, and I will glorify thy holy name for ever.
Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good: sing ye to his name, for it is sweet. My Jesus ! let thy holy name be the seal of my heart.
In the name of Jesus, let every knee bend, of those that are in heaven, on earth and under the earth.
My sweet Jesus! grant that the most ardent love of thee may imprint on our hearts thy sacred name; that it; may be always in our minds and frequently on our lips. ”

“ We venerate Thy sacred name, in union with the profound respect of the angel who first announced it to the earth, and unite our affections to the sentimients of tender devotion which the adorable name of Jesus has in all ages enkindled in the hearts of Thy saints. Animated with a firm faith in Thy unerring word, and penetrated with confidence in Thy mercy, we now most humbly remind Thee of the promise Thou hast made, that where two or three should assemble in Thy name. ”

“ And the first prayer we offer is:
“Hallowed be thy name.”
What is the name of God? That is very well worth our consideration. The name of God in the Bible means that whereby He discloses or reveals Himself. You may indeed almost say that the name of God means God Himself as He is manifested. God has shown Himself to man; He has spelt out His great name, letter by letter, syllable by syllable, before the eyes of men or into their hearts, in nature, in conscience, by the voice of His prophets and in Jesus Christ His Son. ”

“ We shall place God's name above every other name in heaven and on earth and hold it holy, sacred, only when we rightly know God as He is, and what He has done and will do for us His children. God has revealed Himself and His great name only in His Word. ”

“ God's Name is holy, but no holier than yours. To call upon His Name is but to call upon your own. A father gives his son his name, and thus identifies the son with him. His brothers share his name, and thus are they united in a bond to which they turn for their identity. Your Father's Name reminds you who you are, even within a world that does not know ”

“ The name Angel of the Lord is one of the Old Testament names for the Son of God, and there can be only one satisfactory interpretation of who the rider upon the red horse is, and that is, He must be the Son of God. ”

“ That the name Jesus is in like manner holy, is known from the declaration of the Apostles, that at that name every knee should bow in heaven and earth, and that it cannot be uttered by any one in hell. ”

“ How excellent is thy name in all the earth! - How illustrious is the name of Jesus throughout the world! His incarnation, birth, humble and obscure life, preaching, miracles, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, are celebrated through the whole world. His religion, the gifts and graces of his Spirit, his people - Christians - his Gospel and the preachers of it are everywhere spoken of. No name is so universal, no power and influence so generally felt, as those of the Savior of mankind. ”

“ Father, our Name is Yours. In It we are united with all living things, and You Who are their one Creator. What we made and call by many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across Your Own reality. And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. All our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved from all effects our errors seemed to have. And we accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. Your Name is our salvation and escape from what we made. Your Name unites us in the oneness which is our inheritance and peace. ”

“ In the course of time as the original name of the deity began to be thought of entirely as a proper name without any meaning, rather than as a common noun explaining the nature of the god to which it was attached, it became necessary to add to the original name some adjective which would adequately describe the god and do the work which the name by itself had originally done. And as the nature of the various deities grew more complicated along with the increasing complications of daily life, new adjectives were added, each one expressing some particular phase of the god's activity. ”

“ The name of Christ, then, is the representation or embodiment of that which Christ is declared to be for us men, and it is that Name, the totality of what He is manifested to be, in which lies all power for healing and for strengthening. The Name, that is, the whole Christ, in His nature, His offices, His work, His Incarnation, His Life, His Death, Resurrection, Session at the right hand of God—it is this Christ whose Name made that man strong, and will make us strong. ”

“ On His heart we see our name, because He only lives to think of us, and pray for us. On His forehead we see God’s name, ‘Holy to the Lord,’ because in His Holiness the sins of our holy things are covered. ”

“ I believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. ”

“ Hast thou ever heard of any name given under heaven, or among men, which supplies these natural and necessary conditions for our conscious justification and reconciliation with God, and with our own hearts also, except the name of Jesus Christ? ”

“ Since, then, you have nothing new concerning that power you speak of, not only as regards understanding, but even in respect of naming him, how do you introduce a new God, for whom you cannot even find a new name? ”

“ The name which is above every name is said to be given to Christ, because His Divine majesty, before hid, was now manifested and the human nature so highly honoured that that person who is man is true God, and is to be acknowledged as such. ”

“ The best name by which we can think of God is Father. It is a loving, deep, sweet, heart-touching name, for the name of father is in its nature full of inborn sweetness and comfort. Therefore, also, we must confess ourselves children of God, for by this name we deeply touch our God, since there is not a sweeter sound to the father than the voice of the child.—Martin Luther. ”

“ The various names of God are all full of significance, and each is always used designedly in the Bible: failing to recognize this, learned, but spiritually-ignorant men have imagined the Old Testament writings to have been mere compilations from the works of different authors, and have failed to see the beautiful appropriateness of the various names of God as they are used in different connections. ”

“ And we can not conceive that it can be any more sinful to take the name of God in vain than that of a human being, or of any other object. It is not rational to suppose God, while superintending the movements of eighty-five millions of worlds, pays any attention to the manner in which the inhabitants of this little planet use his name, or that he cares any thing about it. ”

“ Some make this certain saint to be a superior angel who understood more than the rest, to whom therefore they came with their enquiries. Others make it to be the eternal Word, the Son of God. He is the unknown One. ”