The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Apostasy, by James E. Talmage

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Title: The Great Apostasy Considered in the Light of Scriptural and Secular History

Author: James E. Talmage

Release Date: March 7, 2011 [EBook #35514]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT APOSTASY ***

Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Benjamin Bytheway, Jean-Michel Carter, Byron Clark, Ben Crowder, Meridith Crowder, Tom DeForest, Eric Heaps.

THE GREAT APOSTASY

CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF SCRIPTURAL AND SECULAR HISTORY

By JAMES E. TALMAGE
D. Sc. D., Ph. D., F. R. S. E.

Press of Zion's Printing and Publishing Company
Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.

Published by the Missions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints in America

BUREAU OF INFORMATION—Temple Block, Salt Lake City, Utah.
CALIFORNIA MISSION—153 W. Adams St., Los Angeles, Calif.
CANADIAN MISSION—36 Ferndale Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
CENTRAL STATES MISSION—302 S. Pleasant St., Independence, Mo.
EASTERN STATES MISSION—273 Gates Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
HAWAIIAN MISSION—P. O. Box 3228, Honolulu, Hawaii.
MEXICAN MISSION—3531 Fort Blvd., El Paso, Texas, U. S. A.
NORTHERN STATES MISSION—2555 N. Sawyer Ave., Chicago, Ill.
NORTHCENTRAL STATES MISSION—2725 3d Ave.S., Minneapolis, Minn.
NORTHWESTERN STATES MISSION—264 East 25th St., Portland, Ore.
SOUTHERN STATES MISSION—371 E. North Ave., Atlanta. Ga.
WESTERN STATES MISSION—538 East 7th Ave., Denver, Colo.

PREFACE.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims the restoration of the Gospel and the re-establishment of the Church as of old, in this, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. Such restoration and re-establishment, with the modern bestowal of the Holy Priesthood, would be unnecessary and indeed impossible had the Church of Christ continued among men with unbroken succession of Priesthood and power, since the "meridian of time."

The restored Church affirms that a general apostasy developed during and after the apostolic period, and that the primitive Church lost its power, authority, and graces as a divine institution, and degenerated into an earthly organization only. The significance and importance of the great apostasy, as a condition precedent to the re-establishment of the Church in modern times, is obvious. If the alleged apostasy of the primitive Church was not a reality, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not the divine institution its name proclaims.

The evidence of the decline and final extinction of the primitive Church among men is found in scriptural record and in secular history. In the following pages the author has undertaken to present a summary of the most important of these evidences. In so doing he has drawn liberally from many sources of information, with due acknowledgment of all citations. This little work has been written in the hope that it may prove of service to our missionary elders in the field, to classes and quorum organizations engaged in the study of theological subjects at home, and to earnest investigators of the teachings and claims of the restored Church of Jesus Christ.

Salt Lake City, Utah, JAMES E. TALMAGE.
    November 1, 1909.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The first edition of "The Great Apostasy" was issued by the Deseret News, Salt Lake City, in November, 1909, and comprised ten thousand copies. The author has learned, with a pleasure that is perhaps pardonable, of the favorable reception accorded the little work by the missionary elders of the Church, and by the people among whom these devoted servants are called to labor. The present issue of twenty thousand copies constitutes the second edition, and is published primarily for use in the missionary field. The text of the second edition is practically identical with that of the first.

Salt Lake City, Utah, JAMES E. TALMAGE.
    February, 1910.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction: The Establishment of the Church of Christ.

  Conditions at beginning of Christian era.—Religious systems,
  Jewish, Pagan, and Samaritan.—Jewish sects and parties.—Law of
  Moses fulfilled and superseded.—Apostles chosen and ordained.—
  Apostolic administration.—The Church established on the western
  hemisphere.—The "meridian of time."

CHAPTER II.

The Apostasy Predicted.

The Church has not continued in unbroken succession.—Divine fore-knowledge.—The divine purposes not thwarted.—Apostasy from the Church compared with the apostasy of the Church.—Specific predictions concerning the apostasy.—The Law of Moses a temporary measure.—Isaiah's fateful prophecy.—Predictions by Jesus Christ.—By Paul.—By Peter.—By Jude.—By John the Revelator.— Apostasy on the western hemisphere predicted.

CHAPTER III.

Early Stages of the Apostasy.

The apostasy recognized in apostolic age.—Testimony of Paul.—"Mystery of iniquity."—Summary of Paul's utterances concerning early apostasy.—Testimony of Jude.—Of John the Revelator.—Messages to the churches of Asia.—Nicolaitanes denounced.—Testimonies of Hegesippus.—Early schisms in the Church.—Declension of the Church before close of first century.—Apostasy on the western hemisphere.—Destruction of Nephite nation by the Lamanites.

CHAPTER IV.

Causes of the Apostasy.—External Causes Considered.

Causes of the apostasy, external and internal.—Persecution as an external cause.—Judaism and Paganism arrayed against the Church.—Judaistic persecution.—Predictions of Judaistic opposition.—Fulfillment of the same.—Destruction of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER V.

Causes of the Apostasy.—External Causes, Continued.

Pagan persecution.—Roman opposition to Christianity, explanation of.—Number of persecutions by the Romans.—Persecution under Nero.—Under Domitian.—Under Trajan.—Under Marcus Aurelius.—Later persecutions.—Persecutions under Diocletian.—Extent of the Diocletian persecution.—Diocletian boast that Christianity was extinct.—The Church taken under state protection by Constantine the Great.

CHAPTER VI.

Causes of the Apostasy.—Internal Causes.

Diverse effect of persecution.—Imprudent zeal of some.—Return