Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE FORMATION OK CHRISTENDOMChurch, it is lull time to consider the respecti?epower to form society exercised by the one and bythe other.IFirst of all, in order to see this society in its truelight, let us trace back to its source not merely theGni'co-Roman civilisation, but this great stream ofnations of which it formed the most cultivated part.We may leap over the intervening period since itsorigin stands out to us in clear light. Its starting-point is definitely fixed for all Christian believers, andthe direction given which it was intended to take.God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth from theark, thou, and thy wife, thy sons, and thy sons' wiveswith thee. Walk abroad upon the earth, increaseand multiply upon it. Noah therefore went forth,and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives withhi m. ut Noah built an altar to the Lord, and tookof all clean cattle and birds, and offered holocaustsupon the altar. . . . And the Lord blessed Noah andhis sons, and said to them, Increase and multiply, andreplenish the earth. . . . Whosoever hath shed man'sblood, his blood shall be shed; for man is made afterthe ima^e O of God. . . . Thus also said God to Noahand to his sons with him, Behold I will establish Mycovenant with you, and with your seed after you.. . . And the sons of Noah who came out of the arkwere Shem, Cham, and Japhet. These three are thesons of Noah, and from these was all mankind spreadover the whole earth."Thus human society was planted 011 the soil of theearth wet with the Flood, and belief, conduct, andworship had one root at the cradle of the race. For