The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-12-05

| .ssg ~ diles. Half in dis
gust one Of the
M younger members
~ Of the party seiz-
ed baby croco-
dlle by the tail and dashed 1t against
q stone, bursting II open. To his aston
ishment opt rolled bundles Of manu-
scripts Of every description; legal doc
uments, court records, bills Of ex'
change, receipts for taxes and house
rents, private letters Of all sorts, and
even q schoolboy's examination pa
pers! The other crocodiles were also
made to yield up the treasures with
which they were stuffed. Imagine the
excitement when they discovered that
many of these "papyri" were written
in the age Of the Caesars and In the
Identical Greek of the New Testament.
Great floods Of light have been
thrown by these manuscripts on the
meaning of New Testament words,
many of them standing forth with n
picturesque vividness never before
seen. From the ''papyri" we now know
that the word In common use In the
apostolic age for "title deed" is the
word In our text above given translat-
ed substance" "Faith Is the title
deed of things hoped for" What a
find!
An old saying has 1t, "Seeing is be-
lleving." Should 1t not read, "Believ.
ing is seeing?" Here lies before me a
crumpled, dirty five-dollar bill. 1t was
issued a dozen years ago and has been
handled by innumerable fingers, but
the stamp of the United States govern.
ment on 1t is still plainly visible.
! Which one of its possible holders ever
saw the five silver dollars 1t claims to
represent? No one cares to see them
the promise of the government is
enough. Here, believing is seeing"
My five-dollar bill is only promise
and yet my faith in 1t Is my title deed
for things I hope for: potatoes, flour
butter and what not.
But faith, to be valid, must rest upon
the trustworthiness Of the word Of an
other. The support Of faith is always
outside of one. A five-peso note issued
by the state of Chihuahua, Mex, may
be worth five pesos, and again 1t may
not. That is where the bandit, villa
lives, and the scene of his most spec
tacular depredations. Is the state Of
chihuahua solvent? And II so, will i
continue to be so In case want to re
deem this promissory note? My faitl
in promissory note is the measure o.
my confidence in the promissor.
The very essence of faith is strik
ingly Illustrated In our word "amen.
We use this ancient word every tint
we pray, but do we understand 1T
meaningP 1t is really Greek way o.
pronouncing an old Hebrew word. Je
sus used 1t each time our version
reads "verily, verify say unto you.
The old Hebrew word dates back t
Abraham's time, and earlier, only h,
called 1t "aman." Anything Is "aman
that is solid, firm, secure and abso
lutely dependable. Abraham and hi
wife Sarah were old and stricken II
years, but childless. God promise,
them a son in their old age In spite o
the fact that, humanity speaking, sue
a thing was impossible. Romans AIS
81 describes how this startling promis
affected Abraham: "Being not weak Il
faith, he considered not his own bod
now dead when he was about an hur
dred years old, neither yet the dead
ness of Sarahs womb; he staggere
not at the promise Of God through III
belief, but was strong In faith, givin
glory to God; and being fully persuat
ed that what he had promised he wa
able also to perform" That is to say
Abraham recognized the fulfillment o
this promise as entirely miracle
Gods power. What ne said to Go,
was, "Thou art 'aman.'" In othel
words, "Thou canst be depended upon
Thy word is firm, secure, absolutely re
liable" Abraham's rest of faith was Il
the almightiness of God and the faitf
) fulness of his word. just as my conf
t dence in five-dollar note rests in tn
firmness and the security Of the Unite
: States government.
God in his Word has offered to u
eternal life In Christ Jesus. He tell
me this is gift bestowed miraculousl
from above by the Holy Spirit. HOY
my heart eagerly reaches out for thi
alluring prize. He offers this to "wht
soever WILL" That includes me. / b'
lieve and 1t is mine. Faith is tn
"title deed' to things hoped for. NJ
n faith makes God real and his wonder
! full salvation blessed fact here an
. now; and 'being fully persuaded tina
!, what he has promised he is able ais
' to perform" II rejoice In hope Of tn
glory of God"