LITMIR.BIZ

      Published by Good Press, 2021

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Table of Contents

       PREFACE.

       CHAPTER II.

       CHAPTER III.

       CHAPTER IV.

       CHAPTER V.

       CHAPTER VI.

       CHAPTER VII.

       CHAPTER VIII.

       CHAPTER IX.

       CHAPTER X.

PREFACE.

       Table of Contents

      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.

      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

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