men” C A N Y O U S A Y “ A -M E N ” T O G O D ’S D EA L IN G S IN PRO V ID EN C E IN TH E Y E A R 1918 ? A D D R E S S G IV EN A T N IA G RA -O N -TH E -LAK E , 1917 B ? Rev. H E N R Y W . FRO S T China Inland Mission
“ Amen” is a word that God in heaven will very much value if we say it from our heart of hearts. It is so easy to spell, qnd so easy to pronounce. And it is, I think, beautiful to look at, whether you write in the Roman let tering “ A” (then it looks like two lines pointing to heaveh, with a step like a ladder to help you up) or in the script, with the round shape that seems to take in the whole round world. It is a suggestive word. Originally in the Hebrew it means something built .on a sure foundation, so strong and sure and safe. When you say “ Amen” you mean that what has been said is so strong and sure that you can stand on it and build on it, and say “ So be it.” In the Greek it means something firm and trustworthy,-Bworthy of all trust. “ So be it,”— it is so! It is a unifying word in the Christian Church. The first time I went to China I landed first in Japan, and went into a little church that Sunday. I didn’t understand a word of what they were saying except at the end of the prayers they said “ Amen,”— and I joined in that! Then I went on to China and went to the church of the Swedish mis sionaries, where the service was in Swedish and Chinese, and the only word I knew was “ Amen.” There is only one other word that is known all round the world, and that other word is “ JESUS.” i “ Jesus,” “ Amen.” And that is enough! “ Jesus, Amen.” There is a story of two Chinese Christians who met in the south of China; one was a Cantonese, and the
other spoke Mandarin, and ' couldn’t understand each other, till one said: “ Hallelujah!” And the other one answered “ Amen!” Whatever language may be spoken, it is unified in this word of heaven, “ Amen.” It is a wonderful experience to hear a vast congregation say “ Amen.” It is beautiful wherever one hears it, and perhaps most beautiful to hear the whole family join in “ Amen” at the end of grace at the table. To be quite sure of my ground I looked up all special ascriptions of praise in the New Testament, and all 17 end in “ Amen.” Let us praise Him much, and seal it well with a good earnest “ Amen.” Then the 18 instances of benediction in the New Testament end with “ Amen” as if God would say:— “When I bless you, and open your heart to the blessing, your part is to cry “ Amen.” : Many of the promises are followed immediately by “ Amen.” And we read in II Corinthians 1:20 that “ all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him, Amen, to the Glory of God by us.” Amen and Amen. “ Amen” is the endorsement of Jesus Christ Himself. “ Amen” is also a searching word. Nearly every Book in the New Testa ment ends in “ Amen,” and the Bible at the end of it has “ Amen.” Over and over again the words and commands of our Lord are followed by this indorsement. “ My little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” Idols
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