CHAPTER IV.

CAUSES OF THE APOSTASY.-EXTERNAL CAUSES CONSIDERED.

1. We are now to consider some of the principal causes contributing to apostasy from the Primitive Church and leading later to the apostasy of the Church as an earthly institution; and we are to study the manner in which those causes have operated.

2. In the scriptures before cited as proof of the early beginning of the apostasy, many of the contributing causes are indicated, such as the rise of false teachers, the spread of heretical doctrines, and the growth of the power of Satan in general. These may be classed as internal causes, originating within the Church itself. In contrast with these there were other conditions operating upon the Church from 'without; and such may be classed as external causes. For convenience in study we shall consider the subject in the following order of treatment: (1) External causes; (2) Internal causes.

EXTERNAL CAUSES OF THE GREAT APOSTASY.

3. External conditions operating against the Church, tending to restrict its development and contributing to its decline may be designated by the general term, persecution. It is a matter of history, undisputed and indisputable, that from the time of its inception to that of its actual cessation, the Church established by Jesus Christ was the object of bitter persecution, and the victim of violence. The ques

tion as to whether persecution is to be regarded as an element tending to produce apostasy is worthy of present consideration. Opposition is not always destructive; on the contrary it may contribute to growth. Persecution may impel to greater zeal, and thus prove itself a potent factor of advancement. A proverb still in favor declares that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." But proverbs and adages, aphorisms and parables, while true as generalities, are not always applicable to special conditions.

4. Undoubtedly the persistent persecution to which the early Church was subjected caused many of its adherents to renounce the faith they had professed and to return to their former allegiances, whether Judaistic or pagan. Church membership was thus diminished; but such instances of apostasy from the Church may be regarded as individual desertions and of comparatively little importance in its effect upon the Church as a body. The dangers that affrighted some would arouse the determination of others; the ranks deserted by disaffected weaklings would be replenished by zealous converts. Let it be repeated that apostasy from the Church is insignificant as compared with the apostasy of the Church as an institution. Persecution as a cause of apostasy has operated indirectly but none the less effectively upon the Church of Christ."

5. We have considered briefly the testimony of early church historians showing that schism, contention, and perversion of doctrine invaded the Church immediately after the passing of the apostles; we have seen how wolves had awaited the departure of the shepherds that they might the more effectively worry the flock. It cannot be denied that

a See Notes 1 and 2, end of chapter.

the early persecutions were directed most particularly against the leaders of the people; the sharpest shafts were aimed against the officers of the Church. In the fierce battle between Christianity and its allied foes-Judaism and heathendom-the strong men who stood for Christ were the first to fall. And with their fall, the traitors within the Church, the ungodly and the rebellious, those who had crept in unawares, and whose sinister purpose it was to pervert the gospel of Christ, were relieved of restraint, and found themselves free to propagate their heresies and to undermine the foundations of the Church. Persecution, operating from without, and therefore essentially an external cause, served to set in motion the enginery of disruption within the Church, and therefore must be treated as an effective element contributing to the great apostasy.

6. A further purpose in introducing here a brief summary of the persecutions of which the early Church was the victim, is that of affording a basis of ready comparison between such and the persecutions waged by the apostate church itself in later centuries. We shall find that the sufferings of the Church in the days of its integrity, are surpassed by the cruel inflictions perpetrated in the name of Christ. Moreover, a study of the early persecutions will enable us to contrast the conditions of opposition and poverty with those of ease and affluence as affecting the integrity of the Church and the devotion of its adherents.

7. The persecution to which the Primitive Church was subjected was two-fold; viz. Judaistic and pagan. It must be remembered that the Jews were distinguished from all other nations of antiquity by their belief in the existence of a living God. The rest of the world before and at the time of Christ was idolatrous and pagan, professedly believ

ing in a host of deities, yet with no recognition of a Supreme Being as a living personage. The Jews were bitter in their opposition to Christianity, which they regarded as a rival religion to their own; and moreover, they recognized the fact that if Christianity ever came to be generally accepted as the truth, their nation would stand convicted of having put to death the Messiah.

JUDAISTIC PERSECUTION."

8. Opposition to Christianity on the part of those who belonged to the House of Israel was rather Judaistic than Jewish. The conflict was between systems, not between peoples or nations. Christ was a Jew: His apostles were Jews, and the disciples who constituted the body of the Church at its establishment and throughout the early years of its existence were largely Jews. Our Lord's instructions to the chosen twelve on their first missionary tour restricted their ministry to the House of Israel; and when the time was propitious for extending the privileges of the gospel to the Gentiles, a miraculous manifestation was necessary to convince the apostles that such extension was proper.d The Church was at first exclusively and for a long time preeminently Jewish in membership. Judaism, the religious system founded on the law of Moses, was the great enemy of Christianity. When therefore we read of the Jews opposing the Church, we understand that Judaistic Jews are meant defenders of Judaism as a system, upholders of the law and enemies of the gospel. With this explanation of

b See Note 3, end of chapter.

c See Matt. 10: 5, 6.

d See Acts chapters 10 and 11.

the distinction between the Jews as a people and Judaism as a system, we may employ the terms "Jews" and "Jewish" according to common usage, keeping in mind, however, the true signification of the terms.

9. Judaistic opposition to the Church was predicted. While Jesus ministered in the flesh He specifically and repeatedly warned the apostles of the persecution they would have to meet. In answering certain inquiries Christ said to Peter and others: "But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten; and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake for a testimony against them."

10. Shortly before His betrayal the Lord repeated the warning with solemn impressiveness, citing the persecutions to which He had been subject, and declaring that His disciples could not escape: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me they will also persecute you."f

11. The extreme of depravity to which the bigoted persecutors would sink is set forth in these further words of the Savior: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father, nor me."g 12. These predictions had speedy and literal fulfilment.

e Mark 13: 9; compare Matt. 10: 16-18; 24: 9-13; Luke 21: 12. f John 15: 18-20.

& John 16: 2, 3; compare 9: 22, and 12: 42.