Ameliorator

One who ameliorates. A'men', adv. and n. [Heb., firm, true, truth.] A word used in strong a everation, fixing as it were the stamp of truth upon the a ertion which it accompanies, and making it binding as an oath. Examples of its use are numerous in the Bible. When the priest has declared to the woman suspected of adultery the effect of the water of jealousy, "the woman shall answer, Amen, amen." (Numb. v. 22.) When curses are pronounced against the wicked, ( Deut. xxvii. 15,) all the people are ordered to repeat, amen. The word amen concludes all the gospels, and almost all the epistles; it is repeated at the end of the 41st, the 72d, the 89th, and the 106th Psalms. In many churches, the word A. is pronounced aloud by the people: this was the ancient practice of the Christian world, and St. Jerome relates, that when the congregated people at Rome pronounced amen, the sound was like that of a clap of thunder. They po ibly attributed great efficacy to the loudne of their voices, after the example of the Jews, who imagined that this, shouted forth with great force, had power to open the gates of heaven.- A . is often used by our Saviour at the beginning of a discourse, as an impre ive particle, which in our version is rendered "verily." In the Gospel of St. John, the word is always repeated. In one instance this word is used as an adjective, meaning certain, fixed. "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen ." (2 Cor . i. 20.) In one other instance the word denotes our Saviour. "These things saith the Amen . " ( Rev. iii. 14.) Amenability, Ame'nablene , n . The state of being amenable; liability to answer for; answerablene .