HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

JUL 1 1914

CHARLES ELLIOTT PERKINS
MEMORIAL COLLECTION

COPYRIGHT
by

JAMES E. TALMAGE

1909

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 crganization 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. The 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.

November 1, 1909.

JAMES E. TALMAGE.

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Law of Moses fulfilled and superseded.-Apostles chosen and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.

1-17

The Church has not continued in unbroken succession.-Divine
foreknowledge.—The divine purposes not thwarted.—Apos-
tasy 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 proph-
ecy. Predictions by Jesus Christ.-By Paul.-By Peter.-By
Jude. By John the Revelator.—Apostasy on the western
hemisphere predicted.
.18-38

CHAPTER III.

EARLY STAGES OF THE APOSTASY.

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

39-53

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 op-
position. Fulfilment of the same.-Destruction of Jeru-
salem

CHAPTER V.

CAUSES OF THE APOSTASY.-EXTERNAL CAUSES, CONTINUED.

54-63

Pagan persecution.-Roman opposition to Christianity, explan-
ation of.-Number of persecutions by the Romans.-Perse-
cution under Nero.-Under Domitian.-Under Trajan.-Un-
der Marcus Aurelius.-Later persecutions.-Persecution_un-
der Diocletian.-Extent of the Diocletian persecution.-Dio-
cletian boast that Christianity was extinct.-The Church
taken under state protection by Constantine the Great 64-81

CHAPTER VI.

CAUSES OF THE APOSTASY.-INTERNAL CAUSES.

Diverse effect of persecution.—Imprudent zeal of some.-Return
to idolatry by others. "Libels" attesting individual apos-
tasy.-Sad condition of the Church in third century.-Testi-
mony as to conditions of apostasy at this period.-Decline
of the Church antedates the conversion of Constantine.-De-
parture from Christianity.-Specific causes of the growing
apostasy
82-95

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 sys-
tems of the times."-Judaistic perversions.-Admixture of
Gnosticism with Christianity.-Gnosticism unsatisfying.-
Now Platonics.-Doctrine of the Logos.-"The Word."-
Sibellianism.-Arianism.-The Council of Nice and its de-
nunciation of Arianism.-The Nicene Creed.-The Creed of
Athanasius.—Perverted view of life.—Disregard for truth.

96-112