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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 to
  idolatry by others.--"Libels" attesting individual apostasy.--Sad
  condition of the Church in third century.--Testimony as to
  conditions of apostasy at this period.--Decline of the Church
  antedates the conversion of Constantine.--Departure from
  Christianity.--Specific causes of the growing apostasy.

CHAPTER VII.

  _Internal Causes.--Continued_.

  First specific cause: "The corrupting of the simple principles of
  the gospel by the admixture of the so-called philosophic systems of
  the times."--Judaistic perversions.--Admixture of Gnosticism with
  Christianity.--Gnosticism unsatisfying.--New platonics.--Doctrine of
  the Logos.--"The World."--Sibellianism.--Arianism.--The Council of
  Nice and its denunciation of Arianism.--The Nicene Creed.--The Creed
  of Athanasius.--Perverted view of life.--Disregard for truth.

CHAPTER VIII.

  _Internal Causes.--Continued_.

  Second specific cause: "Unauthorized additions to the ceremonies of
  the Church, and the introduction of vital changes in essential
  ordinances."--Simplicity of early form of worship ridiculed.--
  Formalism and superstition increase.--Adoration of images, etc.--
  Changes in baptismal ordinance.--Time of its administration
  restricted.--Ministrations of the exorcist introduced.--Immersion
  substituted by sprinkling.--Infant baptism introduced.--Changes in
  the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.--Fallacy of
  transubstantiation.--Adoration of the "host."--Proof of apostate
  condition of the Church.

CHAPTER IX.

  _Internal Causes.--Continued_.

  Third specific cause: "Unauthorized changes in church organization
  and government."--Early form of church government.--Equality of the
  bishops.--Origin of synods or church councils.--Bishops of Rome
  claimed supremacy.--Title of Pope assumed.--Secular authority
  asserted by the Pope.--Indulgences or pardons.--Infamous doctrine of
  supererogation.--The traffic in indulgences.--Tetzel the papal
  agent.--Copy of an indulgence.--The sin of blasphemy.--
  Scripture-reading forbidden to the people.--Draper's arraignment of
  the papacy.

CHAPTER X.

  _Results of the Apostasy.--Its Sequel_.

  Revolts against the Church of Rome.--John Wickliffe in England.--
  John Huss and Jerome of Prague.--The Reformation inaugurated.--
  Martin Luther, his revolt; his excommunication; his defense at
  Worms.--The Protestants.--Zwingle and Calvin.--The Inquisition.--
  Zeal of the reformers.--Rise of the Church of England.--Divine
  over-ruling in the events of the Reformation.--The "Mother Church"
  apostate.--Fallacy of assuming human origin of divine authority.--
  Priestly orders of Church of England declared invalid by "Mother
  Church."--The apostasy admitted and affirmed.--Wesley's
  testimony.--Declaration by Church of England.--Divine declaration of
  the apostasy.--The sequel.--The Revelator's vision of the
  Restoration.--The Church re-established in the nineteenth century.

COPYRIGHT
by
JAMES E. TALMAGE.
1909.




The Great Apostasy.


CHAPTER I.

**Introduction: The Establishment of the Church of Christ**.


1. A belief common to all sects and churches professing Christianity
is that Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the human race,
established His Church upon the earth by personal ministration in the
meridian of time. Ecclesiastical history, as distinguished from
secular history, deals with the experiences of the Church from the
time of its establishment. The conditions under which the Church was
founded first claim our attention.

2. At the beginning of the Christian era, the Jews, in common with
most other nations, were subjects of the Roman empire.--(See Note 1,
end of chapter.) They were allowed a considerable degree of liberty in
maintaining their religious observances and national customs
generally, but their status was far from that of a free and
independent people.

3. The period was one of comparative peace,--a time marked by fewer
wars and less dissension than the empire had known for many years.
These conditions were favorable for the mission of the Christ, and for
the founding of His Church on earth.

4. The religious systems extant at the time of Christ's earthly
ministry may be classified in a general way as Jewish and Pagan, with
a minor system--the Samaritan--which was essentially a mixture of the
other two. The children of Israel alone proclaimed the existence of
the true and living God; they alone looked forward to the advent of
the Messiah, whom mistakenly they awaited as a prospective conqueror
coming to crush the enemies of their nation. All other nations,
tongues, and peoples bowed to pagan deities, and their worship
comprised naught but the sensual rites of heathen idolatry.
Paganism--(See Note 2, end of chapter.) was a religion of form and
ceremony, based on polytheism--a belief in the existence of a
multitude of gods, which deities were subject to all the vices and
passions of humanity, while distinguished by immunity