AC 1238 - The Spread of the Ancient Church

AC 1238 [2]

This first Ancient Church, signified by Noah and his sons,

was not confined to a few,

but extended over many kingdoms,

as is evident from the nations mentioned, namely,

Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia,

Lybia, Egypt, Philistia as far as Tyre and Sidon,

and the whole land of Canaan,

on this side and beyond the Jordan.

But afterwards in Syria a kind of external worship began,

which from there spread itself widely around,

over many countries, especially over Canaan,

and which was different

from the worship of the Ancient Church.

And as something of a church thus arose

that was separate from the Ancient Church,

there sprang up from there as it were a new church,

which may therefore be called the Second Ancient Church.

The first institutor of this was Eber,

and therefore this church is called after Eber.

At that time, as has been said before,

all were distinguished into households, families and nations.

Each nation acknowledged one father,

from whom also it was named,

as is seen in various places in the Word.

Thus the nation which acknowledged Eber as its father

was called the Hebrew nation.