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.

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, Deseret Book Publishing Company, 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 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.  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.

James E. Talmage
Salt Lake City, Utah
November 1, 1909

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.

CHAPTER 1

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.*  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. 

*See Note 1, end of chapter. 

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 nought but the sensual rites of heathen idolatry.  
Paganism* 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 from 
death.  Morality and virtue were unknown as elements of heathen service; and 
the dominant idea in pagan worship was that of propitiating the gods, in the 
hope of averting their anger and purchasing their favor.

*See Note 2, end of chapter. 

5. The Israelites, or Jews as they were collectively known, thus stood apart 
among the nations as proud possessors of superior knowledge, with a lineage 
and a literature, with a priestly organization and a system of laws, that 
separated and distinguished them as a people at once peculiar and exclusive.  
While the Jews regarded their idolatrous neighbors with abhorrence and 
contempt, they in turn were treated with derision as fanatics and inferiors. 

6. But the Jews, while thus distinguished as a people from the rest of the 
world, were by no means a united people; on the contrary they were divided 
among themselves on matters of religious profession and practice. In the 
first place, there was a deadly enmity between the Jews proper and the 
Samaritans.  These latter were a mixed people inhabiting a distinct province 
mostly between Judea and Galilee, largely made up of Assyrian colonists who 
had intermarried with the Jews.  While affirming their belief in the Jehovah 
of the Old Testament, they practiced many rites belonging to the paganism 
they claimed to have forsaken, and were regarded by the Jews proper as 
unorthodox and reprobate.

7. Then the Jews themselves were divided into many contending sects and 
parties, among which the principal were the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and 
beside these we read of Essenes, Galileans, Herodians, etc.

8. The Jews were living under the Law of Moses, the outward observance of 
which was enforced by priestly rule, while the spirit of the law was very 
generally ignored by priest and people alike.  That the Mosaic law was given 
as a preparation for something greater was afterward affirmed by Paul, in his 
epistle to the saints at Galatia:  "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to 
bring us unto Christ."*  And the fact that a higher law was to supersede the 
lower is abundantly shown in the Savior's own teachings:  "Ye have heard that 
it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall 
kill shall be in danger of the judgment.  But I say unto you that whosoever 
is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment:  
... Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit 
adultery:  But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after 
her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. ... Again, ye have 
heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear 
thyself but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, 
Swear not at all. ... Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye 
and a tooth for a tooth:  But I say unto you that ye resist not evil. ... Ye 
have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate 
thine enemy.  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use 
you and persecute you."**

*Galatians 3:24.
**Matthew 5:21-44; read the entire chapter.

9. These teachings, based on love, so different from the spirit of 
retaliation to which they had been accustomed under the law, caused great 
surprise among the people; yet in affirmation of the fact that the law was 
not to be ignored, and could only be superseded by its fulfillment, the 
Master said:  "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:  
I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.  For verily I say unto you, Till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the 
law till all be fulfilled."*

*Matt. 5:17, 18.

10. It is very evident that the Master had come with a greater doctrine than 
was then known, and that the teachings of the day were insufficient:  "For I 
say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of 
the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of 
heaven."*

*Verse 20.

11. Jesus Himself was strict in complying with all rightful requirements 
under the law; but He refused to recognize an observance of the letter alone, 
however rigidly required, as a substitute for compliance with the spirit of 
the Mosaic injunction.

12. The excellent teachings and precepts of true morality inculcated by the 
Christ prepared the minds of those who believed His words for the 
introduction of the gospel in its purity, and for the establishment of the 
Church of Christ as an earthly organization.

13. From among the disciples who followed Him, some of whom had been honored 
by preliminary calls, He chose twelve men, whom He ordained to the 
apostleship:  -- "And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him and 
that he might send them forth to preach."*  Again:  "And when it was day, he 
called unto him his disciples:  and of them he chose twelve whom also he 
named apostles."**  The twelve special witnesses of Him and His work were 
sent out to preach in the several cities of the Jews.  On this, their first 
mission, they were instructed to confine their ministrations to the house of 
Israel, and the burden of their message was "The kingdom of heaven is at 
hand."***  They were told to use the power with which they had been invested 
by ordination, in preaching, in healing the sick, in raising the dead even, 
and in subduing evil spirits; the Master's admonition was, "Freely ye have 
received, freely give."  They were to travel without money or provisions, 
relying upon a higher power to supply their needs through the agency of those 
to whom they would offer the message truth; and they were warned of the 
possible hardships awaiting them and of the persecution which sooner or later 
would surely befall them.

*Mark 3:14.
**Luke 6:13; compare Matt. 10:1, 2.
***Matt. 10:7; study the entire chapter.

14. At a later date Christ called others to the work of the ministry, and 
sent them out in pairs to precede Him and prepare the people for His coming.  
Thus we read of "the seventy" who were instructed in terms almost identical 
with those of the apostolic commission.*  That their Investiture was one of 
authority and power and no mere form is shown by the success attending their 
administrations; for when they returned they reported triumphantly, "Lord, 
even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."**

* Luke 10; compare with Matt. 10.
**Luke 10:17

15. The specific commission given unto the apostles at the time of their 
ordination was afterward emphasized.  They were the subjects of the 
particularly solemn ordinance spoken of as the washing of feet, so necessary 
that in reply to Peter's objection the Lord said:  "If I wash thee not thou 
hast no part with me."*  And unto the eleven who had remained faithful, the 
Risen Lord delivered His parting instructions, immediately before the 
ascension:  "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature."  After our Lord's departure the apostles entered upon the ministry 
with vigor:  "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working 
with them, and confirming the word with signs following."**

John 13:4-9
*Mark 16:14-20; compare Matt. 28:19, 20

16. These scriptures indicate the authority of the apostles to administer the 
affairs of the Church after the ascension of the Resurrected Messiah.  That 
Peter, the senior member of the apostolic council, was given a position of 
presidency, appears from the Savior's special admonition and charge on the 
shores of the Tiberian sea.*

*John 21:15-17.

17. That the apostles realized that though the Master had gone He had left 
with them authority and command to build up the Church as an established 
organization, is abundantly proved by scripture.  They first proceeded to 
fill the vacancy in the presiding council or "quorum" of twelve, a vacancy 
occasioned by the apostasy and death of Judas Iscariot; and the mode of 
procedure in this official act is instructive.  The installation of a new 
apostle was not determined by the eleven alone; we read that the disciples 
(or members of the Church) were gathered together -- about a hundred and 
twenty in number.  To them Peter presented the matter requiring action, and 
emphasized the fact that the man to be chosen must be one who had personal 
knowledge and testimony of the Lord's ministry, and who was therefore 
qualified to speak as a special witness of the Christ, which qualification is 
the distinguishing feature of the apostleship.  "Wherefore," said Peter, "of 
these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went 
in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day 
that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of 
his resurrection."*  We are further informed that two men were nominated, and 
that the divine power was invoked to show whether either, and if so, which, 
was the Lord's choice.  Then the votes were cast "and the lot fell upon 
Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles."

*Acts 1:21, 22; read verses 15-26 inclusive.

18. It is evident that the apostles considered their council or quorum as 
definitely organized with a membership limit of twelve; and that the work of 
the Church required that the organization be made complete.  Nevertheless, we 
read of none others subsequently chosen to fill vacancies in the council of 
twelve.  Paul, who previous to his conversion was known as Saul of Tarsus, 
received a special manifestation, in which he heard the voice of the Risen 
Lord declaring "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest,"* and thereby he became a 
special witness of the Lord Jesus, and as such was in truth an apostle, 
though we have no definite scriptural record that he was ever made a member 
of the council of twelve.  As showing the importance of ordination to office 
under the hands of duly constituted authorities, we have the instance of 
Paul's ordination.  Though he had conversed with the Resurrected Jesus, 
though he had been the subject of a special manifestation of divine power in 
the restoration of his sight, he had nevertheless to be baptized; and later 
he was commissioned for the work of the ministry by the authoritative 
imposition of hands.**

*Acts 9:5; read verses 1-22.
**Acts 13:1-3.

19. Another instance of official action in choosing and setting apart men to 
special office in the Church arose soon after the ordination of Matthias.  It 
appears that one feature of the Church organization in early apostolic days 
was a common ownership of material things, distribution being made according 
to need.  As the members increased, it was found impracticable for the 
apostles to devote the necessary attention and time to these temporal 
matters, so they called upon the members to select seven men of honest 
report, whom the apostles would appoint to take special charge of these 
affairs.  These men were set apart by prayer and by the laying on of hands.*  
The instance is instructive as showing that the apostles realized their 
possession of authority to direct in the affairs of the Church, and that they 
observed with strict fidelity the principle of common consent in the 
administration of their high office.  They exercised their priestly powers in 
the spirit of love, and with due regard to the rights of the people over whom 
they were placed to preside.

*Acts 6:1-7.

20. Under the administration of the apostles, and others who labored by their 
direction in positions of lesser authority, the Church grew in numbers and 
influence.*  For ten or twelve years after the ascension of Christ, Jerusalem 
remained the headquarters of the Church, but branches or, as designated in 
the scriptural record, separate "churches," were established in the outlying 
provinces.  As such branches were organized, bishops, deacons, and other 
officers were chosen, and doubtless ordained by authority, to minister in 
local affairs.**

*See Note 3, end of chapter.
**See Philip. 1:1; compare 1 Tim. 3:1, 2, 8, 10.

21. That the commission of the Lord Jesus to the apostles, instructing them 
to preach the gospel widely, was executed with promptness and zeal, is 
evident from the rapid growth of the Church in the early apostolic times.*  
Paul, writing about AD 64 approximately thirty years after the ascension -- 
declares that the gospel had already been carried to every nation -- 
"preached to every creature under heaven,"** by which expression the apostle 
doubtless means that the gospel message had been so generally proclaimed, 
that all who would might learn of it.

*Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20.
**Col. 1:23; compare verse 6.

22. Details as to the organization of the Church in apostolic days are not 
given with great fulness.  As already shown, the presiding authority was 
vested in the twelve apostles; and furthermore, the special calling of the 
seventies has received attention; but beside these there were evangelists, 
pastors, and teachers,* and in addition, high priests,** elders,*** 
bishops,**** etc.  The purpose of these several offices is explained by Paul 
to be:  -- "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, 
for the edifying of the body of Christ."*****  The Church with its graded 
offices and its spiritual gifts has been aptly compared to a perfect body 
with its separate organs and its individual members, each necessary to the 
welfare of the whole, yet none independent of the rest.  As in the human 
organism so in the Church of Christ, no one with propriety can say to 
another, "I have no need of thee."******

*Eph. 4:11.
**Heb. 5:1-5.
***Acts 14:23; 15:6; 1 Peter 5:1.
****1 Tim. 3:1; Titus 1:7.
*****Eph. 4:12; read also verses 13:16.
******See 1 Cor. 12.  See Note 4, end of chapter.

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

23. We have seen, on the evidence of the Jewish scriptures, how the Church 
was established and made strong in Asia and Europe in and immediately 
following the meridian of time.  The scriptures cited are such as appeal to 
all earnest Christians; the authority is that of the New Testament. We have 
now to consider the establishment of the Church amongst those who constituted 
another division of the house of Israel -- a people inhabiting what is now 
known as the American continent.

24. For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the Nephite scriptures, 
published to the world as the Book of Mormon, a brief historical summary is 
here presented.*  In the year 600 BC, in the reign of King Zedekiah, a small 
colony was led from Jerusalem by an inspired prophet named Lehi.  These 
people were brought by divine assistance to the shores of the Arabian Sea, 
where they constructed a vessel in which they crossed the great waters to the 
western coast of South America.  They landed 590 BC.  The people were soon 
divided into two parties, led respectively by Nephi and Laman, sons of Lehi; 
and these factions grew into the opposing nations known in history as 
Nephites and Lamanites.  The former developed while the latter retrograded in 
the arts of civilization.  Nephite prophets predicted the earthly advent of 
the Messiah, and foretold His ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection.

*See Note 5, end of chapter.

25. The record states that the Messiah appeared in person among the Nephites 
on the western continent.  This was subsequent to His ascension from the 
Mount of Olives.  A foreshadowing of this great event was given by Christ in 
a declaration made while yet He lived on earth.  Comparing Himself to the 
good shepherd who giveth his life for the sheep, He said:  "And other sheep I 
have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear 
my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.*

*John 10:16; read verses 1-18 inclusive.  Compare 3 Nephi 15:21.

26. According to the Nephite record, certain predicted signs of the Savior's 
death had come to pass.  Destructive earthquakes and other dread convulsions 
of nature had taken place in the west, while the supreme tragedy was being 
enacted on Calvary.  The people of the land Bountiful, comprising the 
northern portion of South America, were still marveling over the great 
convulsions that had so terrified them a few weeks earlier, and, on a certain 
occasion, were gathered together discussing the matter, when they heard a 
voice as from the heavens saying:  "Behold my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased, in whom I have glorified my name; hear ye him."*  Looking up they 
beheld a man descending.  He was clothed in a white robe, and as he reached 
the earth he said:  "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified 
shall come into the world. ... Arise and come forth unto me that ye may 
thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the 
nails in my hands and in my feet; that ye may know that I am the God of 
Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of 
the world."**

*3 Nephi 11:7; read the entire chapter.
**Verses 10, 14.

27. Having thus declared Himself, Christ proceeded to instruct the people in 
the plan of the gospel as He had preached it, and in the constitution of the 
Church as He had established it in the east.  He visited the Nephite people 
on subsequent occasions, taught them many of the precepts previously given to 
the Jews; emphasized the doctrine of baptism and other ordinances essential 
to salvation; instituted the sacrament in commemoration of His atoning death; 
chose and commissioned twelve apostles, on whom He conferred authority in the 
Church; explained the importance of designating the organization by its 
proper name -- the Church of Christ; and announced the fulfillment of the law 
of Moses and the fact that it was thenceforth superseded by the gospel 
embodied within the Church as established by Himself.  In plan of 
organization, in doctrine and precept, and in prescribed ordinances, the 
Church of Christ in the west was the counter-part of the Church in Palestine.

28. Thus in the meridian of time the Church of God was founded on both sides 
of the earth.  In its pristine simplicity and beauty it exhibited the majesty 
of a divine institution.  It is now our saddening duty to consider the 
decline of spiritual power within the Church, and the eventual apostasy of 
the Church itself.

NOTES

1. CONDITIONS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA.  "At the birth of Christ 
this amazing federation of the world into one great monarchy had been finally 
achieved.  Augustus, at Rome, was the sole power to which all nations looked. 
... No prince, no king, no potentate of any name could break the calm which 
such a universal dominion secured. ... It was in such a unique era that Jesus 
Christ was born.  The whole earth lay hushed in profound peace.  All lands 
lay freely open to the message of mercy and love which He came to announce.  
Nor was the social and moral condition of the world at large, at the birth of 
Christ, less fitting for His advent than the political.  The prize of 
universal power struggled for through sixty years of plots and desolating 
civil wars, had been won at last by Augustus.  Sulla and Marius, Pompey and 
Caesar, had led their legions against each other, alike in Italy and the 
provinces, and had drenched the earth with blood.  Augustus himself had 
reached the throne only after thirteen years of war, which involved regions 
wide apart.  The world was exhausted by the prolonged agony of such a strife; 
it sighed for repose. (Cunningham Geikie, "The Life and Works of Christ;" New 
York, 1894; vol. 1, p.25.)

"The Roman empire, at the birth of Christ, was less agitated by wars and 
turmoils than it had been for many years before.  For though I cannot assent 
to the opinion of those who, following the account of Orosius, maintain that 
the temple of Janus was then shut, and that wars and discords absolutely 
ceased throughout the world, yet it is certain that the period in which our 
Savior descended upon earth may be justly styled the `pacific age,' if we 
compare it with the preceding times.  And indeed the tranquility that then 
reigned was necessary to enable the ministers of Christ to execute with 
success their sublime commission to the human race. (Moshiem, "Ecclesiastical 
History," Cent. 1, Part 1; ch. 1: 4.)

2. PAGANISM AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA.  "Every nation then had 
its respective gods, over which presided one more excellent than the rest; 
yet in such a manner that this supreme deity was himself controlled by the 
rigid empire of the fates, or what the philosophers called `external 
necessity.'  The gods of the east were different from those of the Gauls, the 
Germans, and the other northern nations.  The Grecian divinities differed 
widely from those of the Egyptians, who deified plants, animals, and a great 
variety of the productions both of nature and art.  Each people also had 
their own particular manner of worshiping and appeasing their respective 
deities, entirely different from the sacred rites of other countries. ... One 
thing, indeed, which at first sight appears very remarkable, is, that this 
variety of religions and of gods neither produced wars nor disssensions among 
the different nations, the Egyptians excepted.  Nor is it perhaps necessary 
to except even them, since their wars undertaken for their gods cannot be 
looked upon with propriety as wholly of a religious nature.  Each nation 
suffered its neighbors to follow their own method of worship, to adore their 
own gods, to enjoy their own rites and ceremonies, and discovered no sort of 
displeasure at their diversity of sentiments in religious matters.  There is, 
however, little wonderful in this spirit of mutual toleration, when we 
consider that they all looked upon the world as one great empire, divided 
into various provinces, over every one of which a certain order of divinities 
presided; and that therefore none could behold with contempt the gods of 
other nations, or force strangers to pay homage to theirs.  The Romans 
exercised this toleration in the amplest manner.  For, though they would not 
allow any changes to be made in the religions that were publicly professed in 
the empire, nor any new form of worship to be openly introduced, yet they 
granted to their citizens a full liberty of observing in private the sacred 
rites of other nations, and of honoring foreign deities (whose worship 
contained nothing inconsistent with the interests and laws of the republic) 
with feasts, temples, consecrated groves and such like testimonies of homage 
and respect." (Mosheim, "Eccl. Hist.," Cent. 1, Part 1: ch. 1:7-8.)

3. RAPID GROWTH OF THE CHURCH.  Eusebius, who wrote in the early part of the 
fourth century, speaking of the first decade after the Savior's ascension, 
says:

"Thus, then, under a celestial influence and cooperation, the doctrine of the 
Savior, like the rays of the sun, quickly irradiated the whole world.  
Presently, in accordance with divine prophecy, the sound of His inspired 
evangelists and apostles had gone throughout all the earth, and their words 
to the ends of the world.  Throughout every city and village, like a 
replenished barn floor, churches were rapidly abounding and filled with 
members from every people.  Those who, in consequence of the delusions that 
had descended to them from their ancestors, had been fettered by the ancient 
disease of idolatrous superstition, were now liberated by the power of 
Christ, through the teachings and miracles of His messengers." (Eusebius, 
"Ecclesiastical History," Book 1, ch. 3.)

4. DIVINE INSTRUMENTALITY IN THE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY.  "When we consider the 
rapid progress of Christianity among the Gentile nations, and the poor and 
feeble instruments by which this great and amazing event was immediately 
effected, we naturally have recourse to an omnipotent and invisible hand, as 
its true and proper cause.  For, unless we suppose here a divine 
interposition, how was it possible that men, destitute of all human aid, 
without credit or riches, learning, or eloquence, could, in so short a time, 
persuade a considerable part of mankind to abandon the religion of their 
ancestors?  How was it possible that an handful of apostles, who, as 
fishermen and publicans, must have been contemned by their own nation, and as 
Jews must have been odious to all others, could engage the learned and 
mighty, as well as the simple and those of low degree, to forsake their 
favorite prejudices, and to embrace a new religion which was an enemy to 
their corrupt passions?  And, indeed, there were undoubtedly marks of a 
celestial power perpetually attending their ministry.  There was in their 
very language, an incredible energy, an amazing power of sending light into 
the understanding, and conviction into the heart." (Mosheim, "Ecclesiastical 
History," Cent. 1, Part 1, ch. 4: 8.)

5. NEPHITES AND LAMANITES.  The progenitors of the Nephite nation "were led 
from Jerusalem, 600 BC, by Lehi, a Jewish prophet of the tribe of Manasseh.  
His immediate family, at the time of their departure from Jerusalem, 
comprised his wife Sariah, and their sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi; at 
a later stage of the history, daughters are mentioned, but whether any of 
these were born before the family exodus we are not told.  Beside his own 
family, the colony of Lehi included Zoram, and Ishmael, the latter an 
Israelite of the tribe of Ephraim. Ishmael, with his family, joined Lehi in 
the wilderness; and his descendants were numbered with the nation of whom we 
are speaking.  The company journeyed somewhat east of south, keeping near the 
borders of the Red Sea; then, changing their course to the eastward, crossed 
the peninsula of Arabia; and there, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, built 
and provisioned a vessel in which they committed themselves to Divine care 
upon the waters.  Their voyage carried them eastward across the Indian Ocean, 
then over the south Pacific Ocean to the western coast of South America, 
whereon they landed (590 BC) ... The people established themselves on what to 
them was the land of promise; Many children were born, and in the course of a 
few generations a numerous posterity held possession of the land.  After the 
death of Lehi, a division occurred, some of the people accepting as their 
leader, Nephi, who had been duly appointed to the prophetic office; while the 
rest proclaimed Laman, the eldest of Lehi's sons, as their chief.  Henceforth 
the divided people were known as Nephites and Lamanites respectively.  At 
times they observed toward each other fairly friendly relations; but 
generally they were opposed, the Lamanites manifesting implacable hatred and 
hostility toward their Nephite kindred.  The Nephites advanced in the arts of 
civilization, built large cities and established prosperous commonwealths; 
yet they often fell into transgression; and the Lord chastened them by making 
their foes victorious.  They spread northward, occupying the northern part of 
South America; then, crossing the Isthmus, they extended their domain over 
the southern, central and eastern portions of what is now the United States 
of America.  The Lamanites, while increasing in numbers, fell under the curse 
of darkness; they became dark in skin and benighted in spirit, forgot the God 
of their fathers, lived a wild nomadic life, and degenerated into the fallen 
state in which the American Indians -- their lineal descendants -- were found 
by those who re-discovered the western continent in later times." (The 
Author, "Articles of Faith," Lect. 14: 7, 8.)

CHAPTER 2

THE APOSTASY PREDICTED.

1. In proceeding with our present inquiry we accept as demonstrated facts the 
establishment of the Church of Christ under the Savior's personal 
administration and the rapid growth of the Church in the early period of the 
apostolic ministry.

2. A question of the utmost importance is:  Has the Church of Christ, thus 
authoritatively established, maintained an organized existence upon the earth 
from the apostolic age to the present?  Other questions are suggested by the 
first.  If the Church has continued as an earthly organization, where lies 
the proof or evidence of legitimate succession in priestly authority, and 
which among the multitude of contending sects or churches of the present day 
is the actual possessor of the holy priesthood originally committed to the 
Church by the Christ, its founder?

3. Again, have the spiritual gifts and graces by which the early Church was 
characterized and distinguished been manifest on earth through the centuries 
that have passed since the meridian of time; and if so, in which of the 
numerous churches of these modern times do we find such signs following the 
professed believers?*

*See Mark 16:17.

4. We affirm that with the passing of the so-called apostolic age the Church 
gradually drifted into a condition of apostasy, whereby succession in the 
priesthood was broken; and that the Church, as an earthly organization 
operating under divine direction and having authority to officiate in 
spiritual ordinances, ceased to exist.

5. If therefore the Church of Christ is to be found upon the earth today it 
must have been re-established by divine authority; and the holy priesthood 
must have been restored to the world from which it was lost by the apostasy 
of the Primitive Church.*

*See Note 1, end of chapter.

6. We affirm that the great apostasy was foretold by the Savior Himself while 
He lived as a Man among men, and by His inspired prophets both before and 
after the period of His earthly probation.  And further, we affirm that a 
rational interpretation of history demonstrates the fact of this great and 
general apostasy.

7. Before we take up in detail the specific predictions referred to, and the 
evidence of their dread fulfillment, we may profitably devote brief attention 
to certain general considerations.

8. Respecting the foreknowledge of God, let it not be said that divine 
omniscience is of itself a determining cause whereby events are inevitably 
brought to pass.  A mortal father who knows the weaknesses and frailties of 
his son may by reason of that knowledge sorrowfully predict the calamities 
and sufferings awaiting his wayward boy.  He may foresee in that son's future 
a forfeiture of blessings that could have been won, loss of position, self-
respect, reputation and honor; even the dark shadows of a felon's cell and 
the night of a drunkard's grave may appear in the saddening visions of that 
fond father's soul; yet, convinced by experience of the impossibility of 
bringing about that son's reform, he foresees the dread developments of the 
future, and he finds but sorrow and anguish in his knowledge.  Can it be said 
that the father's foreknowledge is a cause of the son's sinful life?  The 
son, perchance, has reached his maturity; he is the master of his own 
destiny; a free agent unto himself.  The father is powerless to control by 
force or to direct by arbitrary command; and, while he would gladly make any 
effort or sacrifice to save his son from the fate impending, he fears for 
what seems to be an awful certainty.  But surely that thoughtful, prayerful, 
loving parent does not contribute to the son's waywardness because of his 
knowledge.  To reason otherwise would be to say that a neglectful father, who 
takes not the trouble to study the nature and character of his son, who shuts 
his eyes to sinful tendencies, and rests in careless indifference as to the 
probable future, will by his very heartlessness be benefiting his child, 
because his lack of forethought cannot operate as a contributory cause to 
dereliction.

9. Our Heavenly Father has a full knowledge of the nature and dispositions of 
each of His children, a knowledge gained by long observation and experience 
in the past eternity of our primeval childhood; a knowledge compared with 
which that gained by earthly parents through mortal experience with their 
children is infinitesimally small.  By reason of that surpassing knowledge, 
God reads the future of child and children, of men individually and of men 
collectively as communities and nations; He knows what each will do under 
given conditions, and sees the end from the beginning.  His foreknowledge is 
based on intelligence and reason; He foresees the future as a state which 
naturally and surely will be; not as one which must be because He has 
arbitrarily willed that it shall be.

10. But, it may be argued that in the illustrative instance given above -- 
that of the earthly parent and the wayward son, -- the father had not the 
power to change the sad course of sin whereby his son is hastening to 
ignominy and destruction; while the omnipotent Father can save If He will.  
In reply this is to be said:  The Father of souls has endowed His children 
with the divine birth-right of free agency; He does not and will not control 
them by arbitrary force; He impels no man toward sin; He compels none to 
righteousness.  Unto man has been given freedom to act for himself; and, 
associated with this independence, is the fact of strict responsibility and 
the assurance of individual accountability.  In the judgment with which we 
shall be judged, all the conditions and circumstances of our lives shall be 
considered.  The inborn tendencies due to heredity, the effect of environment 
whether conducive to good or evil, the wholesome teachings of youth, or the 
absence of good instruction -- these and all other contributory elements must 
be taken into account in the rendering of a just verdict as to the soul's 
guilt or innocence.  Nevertheless, the divine wisdom makes plain what will be 
the result with given conditions operating on known natures and dispositions 
of men while every individual is free to choose good or evil within the 
limits of the many conditions existing and operative.*

*See Note 2, end of chapter.

11. Another matter worthy of thought in the present connection is this:  Is 
the fact of the great apostasy, -- the virtual overthrow and destruction of 
the Church established by Jesus Christ, -- to be regarded as an instance of 
failure in the Lord's plans?  Is it a case of defeat in which Satan was 
victor over Christ?  Consider the following.  What mortal has yet measured 
the standard by which Omniscience gages success or failure?  Who dares affirm 
that what man hails as triumph or deplores as defeat will be so accounted 
when tested by the principles of eternal reckoning?

12. The history of the world abounds with instances of the temporary triumph 
of evil, of justice seemingly miscarried, of divine plans for the time being 
frustrated, of God's purposes opposed and their consummation delayed.

13. We read of the Lord's covenant with Israel.  Unto Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob He declared that their descendants should be a people chosen for His 
special service among the nations.  Through that lineage the Savior of 
mankind was to be born; in the posterity of Abraham all nations of the earth 
were to be blessed.  Blessings beyond the heart of man to conceive, beyond 
the mind of man to comprehend, were promised on condition of loyal allegiance 
to Him who proclaimed Himself their God and their King.  Moreover the Lord 
predicted calamity and suffering, individual affliction and national 
disgrace, if Israel departed from the service of Jehovah and yielded to the 
enticements of their heathen neighbors who knew not God.  Think you that the 
Lord was ignorant of the course His people would choose?  Did He fail to 
foresee that Israel would follow the evil way, forfeiting the blessings and 
reaping the harvest of sorrow?  Jehovah's plans failed not, though the 
realization of the blessings so abundantly promised has been long delayed.  
Equally forceful with the prediction of calamity in case of sin, was the 
promise of eventual restoration to favor.  The dispersion of Israel already 
accomplished, was to be followed by the gathering of Israel now in progress.*

*See the author's "Article of Faith," lectures 17 and 18.

14. What would have been the world's verdict as to the success or failure of 
the mission of the Christ, had a vote been taken at the time of the 
crucifixion?  Seemingly His enemies had triumphed; He who proclaimed Himself 
the Messiah, the Son of God, the resurrection and the life, over whom death 
could not prevail, had suffered the fate of malefactors, and His body was in 
the tomb.  But the verdict of the centuries, which is the verdict of the 
eternities to come, acclaims that "failure" as the greatest triumph of the 
ages, the victory of victories.

15. Even so with the Church.  For a season the powers of evil triumphed, and 
the spirit of apostasy ruled.  But beyond the darkness of the spiritual night 
the glorious dawn of the restoration was seen in prophetic vision, and both 
the night with its horrors, and the awakening day with its splendor, were 
foreseen and foretold.

16. In our study of the predictions of the apostasy as embodied in scripture 
and of their realization as attested by later history, we shall recognize two 
distinct phases or stages of the progressive falling away as follows:

(1) Apostasy from the Church; and
(2) The apostasy of the Church.

17. In the first stage we have to deal with the forsaking of the truth and 
severance from the Church by individuals, at times few, at other times many.  
Such conditions can scarcely be considered otherwise than as natural and 
inevitable.  History fails to present any example of great undertakings upon 
which multitudes enter with enthusiasm, and from which many do not desert.  
Unless such cases of individual abandonment are so numerous as to show the 
operation of some vital cause of disaffection, we would not need the 
authority of divine prediction and inspired prophecy to explain the 
occurrence.  We find, however, that apostasy from the Primitive Church was 
widespread and general, and that the causes leading to such a condition were 
of vital significance.

18. In the second of the two stages already specified, we are confronted with 
conditions of far greater import than those attending individual secession 
from the Church; for here we find the Church sinking to the degraded level of 
a human institution, with plan of organization and mode of operation foreign 
to the constitution of the original, without priesthood or authority to 
officiate in spiritual ordinances, and devoid of the gifts and graces with 
which the Savior endowed His Church at the time of its establishment.  In 
short, we find the Church itself apostate, boasting of temporal power, making 
its own laws, teaching its own dogmas, preserving only a form of godliness, 
while denying the power thereof.*

*See 2 Timothy 3:1-6.

SPECIFIC PREDICTIONS OF THE APOSTASY.

19. The Lord foresaw the great and general departure from the principles of 
righteousness, and from the beginning knew that men would set up their own 
forms of worship, wrongfully claiming divine authority for the same.  Through 
the mouths of His chosen prophets He has repeatedly predicted the inevitable 
event.*

*See Note 3, end of chapter.

20. Among the prophecies antedating the birth of Christ the following may be 
noted.  Isaiah beheld in vision the condition of the earth in the era of 
spiritual darkness, a period in which all classes would be involved in a 
general condition of unrighteousness, a time when the world of mankind would 
be in a helpless and practically hopeless condition.  He pictures the earth 
as mourning and languishing in desolation and assigns the reason for the sad 
condition as follows:  "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants 
thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, 
broken the everlasting covenant.*

*Isaiah 24:5; read verses 1 to 6 inclusive.

21. It may be thought that this prophecy has reference to a violation of the 
law of Moses under which ancient Israel lived.  Let it be remembered, 
however, that the Mosaic law is nowhere called an everlasting covenant.  `The 
covenant between the Lord and Abraham antedated the giving of the law by four 
hundred and thirty years, and as pointed out by Paul* in his epistle to the 
Galatians, whom he designates as foolish because of their confusing the law 
of Moses and the gospel of Christ, the law could not nullify the earlier 
covenant the fulfillment of which could come only through Christ.  The "law," 
by which the inspired apostle plainly means the Mosaic statutes, was but a 
preparation for the "faith," by which latter expression the gospel as 
revealed by Christ is clearly intended.  "But before faith came," says Paul, 
"we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards 
be revealed.  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, 
that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no 
longer under a schoolmaster.  For ye are all the children of God by faith in 
Jesus Christ.  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put 
on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, 
there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Jesus Christ.  And if 
ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the 
promise.**

*Galatians 3:17; read the entire chapter.
**Verses 23-29.

22. It is evident from the tenor of the entire chapter, that while the gospel 
was preached unto Abraham, and covenant made with him relating to the coming 
of the Messiah through his posterity, the gospel did not abide with Israel, 
and this because of transgression;* but in lieu thereof the Mosaic law was 
instituted as a disciplinary measure, temporary in character, destined to be 
superseded by the gospel of Christ, and assuredly not an everlasting 
covenant.  On the other hand, the blood of Christ, through the shedding of 
which the atoning sacrifice was wrought, is distinctively called "the blood 
of the everlasting covenant."**

*Verse 19.
**Hebrews 13:20.

23. It is evident then that Isaiah's fateful prophecy relating to the 
breaking of the everlasting covenant, could have no reference to a departure 
from the Mosaic requirements, but must refer to a then future condition of 
apostasy following the establishment of the everlasting covenant.  Moreover, 
part of the great prediction, referring to the burnings and wide spread 
calamities,* yet awaits its complete fulfillment.

*See Isaiah 24:6.

24. Another prediction applicable to the period when there should be no 
Church of Christ to be found, and when, in consequence there should be 
lamentation and suffering, is that of Amos:  "Behold, the days come, saith 
the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, 
nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; And they shall 
wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run 
to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."*

*Amos 8:11, 12.

25. Christ instructed His followers in terms at once direct and conclusive, 
as to the apostasy then impending.  In reply to certain inquiries concerning 
the signs by which His second advent would be heralded, He said:  "Take heed 
that no man deceive you.  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am 
Christ, and shall deceive many."*  Then He told of approaching wars and 
political disturbances, and added "And then shall many be offended and shall 
betray one another, and shall hate one another.  And many false prophets 
shall rise and shall deceive many.  And because iniquity shall abound, the 
love of many shall wax cold.  But he that shall endure unto the end the same 
shall be saved."**

*Matt. 24:4, 5.
**Verses 10-13.  See Note 4, end of chapter.

26. Further specifying the conditions incident to the growing apostasy, 
Christ declared to His disciples:  "Then shall they deliver you up to be 
afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated by all nations for my 
name's sake."*  And again:  "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo here is 
Christ, or there, believe it not.  For there shall arise false Christs and 
false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that if it 
were possible they shall deceive the very elect.  Behold I have told you 
before.  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; 
go not forth:  behold he is in the secret chambers; believe it not."**

*Verse 9.
**Verses 23-26.

27. After the departure of Christ from earth His apostles continued to warn 
the people of the darkness to come.  In that memorable address to the elders 
at Ephesus, when, as he told them, they were looking upon his face for the 
last time, Paul reminded his hearers of the instructions he had previously 
given them, and then charged them with this solemn warning:  "For I know 
this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not 
sparing the flock.  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking 
perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."*

*Acts 20:29, 30; read verses 17 to 31 inclusive.

28. Not only would outsiders ingratiate themselves with the saints for 
purposes of selfish gain -- wolves entering in, and not sparing the flock, -- 
but schisms and divisions were imminent; and these dissensions were to come 
through some then present -- men who would aspire to leadership, and who 
would set up their own doctrines, thus drawing disciples away from the Church 
and unto themselves.

29. The same apostle warns Timothy of the approaching apostasy, and refers to 
some of the erroneous teachings that would be impressed upon misguided 
people, teachings which he calls "doctrines of devils." He admonishes Timothy 
to put the brethren in remembrance of these things, as is becoming in a good 
minister of Christ, "nourished up in the words of faith and of good 
doctrine." Note the inspired prediction:  "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, 
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to 
seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having 
their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding 
to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with 
thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."*

*1 Tim. 4:1-3.  See Note 5, end of chapter.

30. In a Second epistle to his beloved Timothy, while laboring under the 
premonition that his martyrdom was near at hand, Paul urges zeal and energy 
in the preaching of the gospel; for the shadows of the apostasy were 
gathering about the Church.  His admonition is pathetic in its earnestness:  
"I charge thee, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the 
quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be 
instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-
suffering and doctrine; for the time will come when they will not endure 
sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves 
teachers having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the 
truth, and shall be turned unto fables."*

*2 Tim. 4:1-4.

31. In addressing the Thessalonian saints, Paul warns them against the error 
strongly advocated by some that the day of Christ's second advent was then 
near at hand.  It appears that deception was being practiced, and that even 
forgery was suspected, for the apostle instructs the people that they be not 
deceived "by word nor by letter as from us." The admonition is forceful:  
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by 
our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be 
troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that 
the day of Christ is at hand.  Let no man deceive you by any means; for that 
day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of 
sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself 
above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth 
in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God."* We shall see how 
painfully literal has been the fulfillment of this prophecy in the 
blasphemous assumptions of the apostate church, centuries later.

*2 Thess. 2:3, 4.

32. The Apostle Peter prophesied in language so plain that none may fail to 
comprehend, concerning the heresies that would be preached as doctrine in the 
period of the apostasy; and he reminds the people that there were false 
teachers in olden times, even as there would be in times then future:  "But 
there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false 
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even 
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift 
destruction.  And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom 
the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.  And through covetousness shall 
they with feigned words make merchandise of you; whose judgment now of a long 
time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."*

*2 Peter 2:1-3.  Read the entire chapter, noting the description of 
conditions existing in the world today.

33. Jude, the brother of James, in his general epistle to the saints, reminds 
them of earlier warnings:  "But beloved, remember ye the words which were 
spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.  How that they told 
you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own 
ungodly lusts."*

*Jude 17, 18.

34. John, who is called the Revelator, saw in vision the state of the world 
in the days then future.  Describing the spirit of unrighteousness as a 
hideous beast, and its author, Satan, as the dragon, he says:  "And they 
worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast:  and they worshiped the 
beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast?  who is able to make war with him? 
... And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, 
and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.  And it was given unto him 
to make war with the saints, and to overcome them:  and power was given him 
over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.  And all that dwell upon the 
earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of 
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  If any man have an ear, let 
him hear."*

*Rev. 13:4, 6-9.

35. Note another prophecy based on the vision of John the Revelator.  Again 
referring to latter-day conditions he declares:  "And I saw another angel fly 
in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them 
that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and 
people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the 
hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven and earth, and 
the sea, and the fountains of water."*

*Rev. 14:6, 7.

36. While it is true that the scripture last quoted does not specifically 
predict the apostasy, the breaking up of the Church is treated as an event 
actually accomplished.  The Revelator looked beyond the period of disruption 
and saw the brighter day of the restoration of the gospel -- a re-
establishment of the Church through the ministry of an angel.  It is 
illogical to assume that the gospel was to be brought to earth by a heavenly 
messenger if that gospel was still extant upon the earth.  Equally 
unreasonable is it to say that a restoration or re-establishment of the 
Church of Christ would be necessary or possible had the Church continued with 
rightful succession of priesthood and power.  If the gospel had to be brought 
again from the heavens, the gospel must have been taken from the earth.  Thus 
the prophecy of a restoration is proof of an apostasy general and complete.

APOSTASY ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE PREDICTED.

37. In the preceding chapter it was shown that the Church of Christ was 
established by the Risen Lord among the Nephites of the western world.  It 
was foreseen that the powers of evil would be permitted to prevail in the 
west as in the east.  Consider the fateful words of the prophet Alma--
addressed to his son Helaman:  "Behold, I perceive that this very people, the 
Nephites, according to the spirit of revelation which is in me, in four 
hundred years from the time that Jesus Christ shall manifest Himself unto 
them, shall dwindle in unbelief:  Yea, and then shall they see wars and 
pestilences, yea, famines and bloodshed, even until the people of Nephi shall 
become extinct; Yea, and this because they shall dwindle in unbelief, and 
fall into the works of darkness, and lasciviousness, and all manner of 
iniquities; yea, I say unto you that because they shall sin against so great 
light and knowledge; yea, I say unto you that from that day, even the fourth 
generation shall not pass away before this great iniquity shall come."*

*Alma 45:10-12.

38. An earlier prophecy relating to the degradation of the surviving remnant 
of Lehi's descendants, was uttered by Nephi, as a result of a revelation 
communicated to him through angelic visitation.  He thus describes his vision 
of the future:  "I beheld and saw that the seed of my brethren did contend 
against my seed, according to the word of the angel; and because of the pride 
of my seed, and the temptations of the devil, I behold that the seed of my 
brethren did overpower the people of my seed.  And it came to pass that I 
beheld and saw the people of the seed of my brethren, that they had overcome 
my seed; and they went forth in multitudes upon the face of the land.  And I 
saw them, gathered together in multitudes; and I saw wars and rumors of wars 
among them; and in wars and rumors of wars, I saw many generations pass away.  
And the angel said unto me:  Behold, these shall dwindle in unbelief.  And it 
came to pass that I beheld after they had dwindled in unbelief, they became a 
dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of 
abominations."*  The degraded state of the North American Indians, -- 
descendants of a prophet-father -- is a striking realization of this 
prophetic declaration.

*1 Nephi 12:19-23.  For other Book of Mormon predictions o spiritual decline 
on the western continent, se 2 Nephi 27:1; read also 2 Nephi 26:19-22, and 
chapter 29.

39. The scriptures cited are sufficient to show that widespread apostasy from 
the Church was foreseen; that the corruption of the Church itself was 
likewise foreknown; and that on both hemispheres a general apostasy was 
foretold.

NOTES

1.  THE CHURCH, PRIMITIVE AND RESTORED.  The Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints declares by its name a distinction from the Primitive 
Church as established by Christ and His early apostles.  The essential 
designation of the restored Church is the Church of Jesus Christ; its 
authorized name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the final 
phrase being added to distinguish the Church as established in the present 
dispensation from the Church as organized by the Savior during the period of 
His earthly ministry.  This distinction is shown in one of our Articles of 
Faith:  "We (the Church of today) believe in the same organization as existed 
in the Primitive Church."  1 Nephi 12:19-23.  For other Book of Mormon 
predictions of spiritual decline on the western continent, see 2 Nephi 27:1; 
read also 2 Nephi 26:19-22, and chapter 29.

2.  MAN'S FREE AGENCY.  The teachings of the restored Church respecting 
individual freedom of action are thus summarized:  "The Church holds and 
teaches as a strictly scriptural doctrine, that man has inherited among the 
inalienable rights conferred upon him by his divine Father, absolute freedom 
to choose the good or the evil in life as he may elect.  This right cannot be 
guarded with more jealous care than is bestowed upon it by God Himself:  for 
in all His dealings with man, He has left the mortal creature free to choose 
and to act, with no semblance of compulsion or restraint, beyond the 
influences of paternal counsel and loving direction.  True, He has given 
commandments, and has established statutes, with promises of blessings for 
compliance and dire penalties for infraction; but in the choice of these, 
God's children are untrammeled.  In this respect, man is no less free than 
are the angels and the Gods, except as he has fettered himself with the bonds 
of sin, and forfeited his power of will and force of soul.  The individual 
has a full measure of liberty to violate the laws of health, the requirements 
of nature, and the commandments of God in matters both temporal and 
spiritual, as he has to obey all such; in the one case he brings upon himself 
the sure penalties that belong to the broken law; as in the other he inherits 
the specific blessings and the added freedom that attend a law-abiding life.  
Obedience to the law is the habit of the free man; `tis the transgressor who 
fears the law, for he brings upon himself deprivation and restraint, not 
because of the law, which would have protected him in his freedom, but 
because of his rejection of law.  The predominant attribute of justice, 
recognized as part of the Divine nature, forbids the thought that man should 
receive promises of reward for righteousness, and threats of punishment for 
evil deeds, if he possessed no power of independent action.  It is no more a 
part of God's plan to compel men to work righteousness, than it is His 
purpose to permit evil powers to force His children into sin.  In the days of 
Eden, the first man had placed before him commandment and law, with an 
explanation of the penalty which would follow a violation of that law.  No 
law could have been given him in righteousness, had he not been free to act 
for himself.  `Nevertheless thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given 
unto thee, but remember that I forbid it,' said the Lord God to Adam.  
Concerning His dealings with the first patriarch of the race, God has 
declared in this day, `Behold I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto 
himself.'" (The Author, "Articles of Faith," Lecture 3:1, 2.)

3.  THE TESTIMONY OF PROPHECY TO THE APOSTASY.  "What is prophecy but history 
reversed?  Nothing.  Prophecy is a record of things before they transpire.  
History is a record of them after they have occurred; and of the two prophecy 
is more to be trusted for its accuracy than history:  for the reason that it 
has for its source the unerring inspiration of Almighty God; while history 
except in the case of inspired historians-is colored by the favor or 
prejudice of the writer, depends for its exactness upon the point of view 
from which he looks upon the events; and is likely to be marred in a thousand 
ways by the influences surrounding him-party considerations, national 
interest or prejudice; supposed influence upon present conditions and future 
prospects-all these things may interfere with history; but prophecy is free 
from such influences.  Historians are self-constituted, or appointed by men; 
but prophets are chosen of God.  Selected by divine wisdom, and illuminated 
by that spirit which shows things that are to come, prophets have revealed to 
them so much of the future as God would have men to know, and the inspired 
writers record it for the enlightenment or warning of mankind, without the 
coloring or distortion so liable to mar the work of the historian.  Thus 
Moses recorded what the history of Israel would be on condition of their 
obedience to God:  and what it would be if they were disobedient.  Israel was 
disobedient, and historians have exhausted their art in attempts to tell of 
their disobedience and suffering; but neither in vividness nor accuracy do 
the histories compare with the prophecy.  So with the prophecy of Daniel in 
respect to the rise and succession of the great political powers that should 
dominate the earth, and the final triumph of the Kingdom of God.  So with 
well-nigh all of the prophecies." (B. H. Roberts, "A New Witness for God," 
pp. 113, 114.)

4.  CHRIST'S PREDICTION OF THE APOSTASY.  The forceful prophecy, couched in 
terms of vivid description, uttered by our Lord in response to inquiries by 
His disciples, has been the subject of diverse opinion and varied comment, 
particularly as regards the time to which the prediction refers.  As recorded 
in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, a significant sign of the progress 
of events to precede the second coming of Christ was stated as follows:  "And 
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness 
unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (verse 14).  It is claimed by 
many that the "end" referred to in the passage quoted is not necessarily the 
close of the final dispensation, not what is commonly spoken of as the end of 
the world, but the closing up of the gospel dispensation then current; and in 
support of this interpretation it is urged that following the utterance 
quoted Christ proceeded to predict the calamities then awaiting Jerusalem.  
That during the period covered by the earthly ministry of the apostles, the 
gospel was preached in all the civilized nations of the eastern hemisphere, 
is evident alike from scripture and from the uncanonical writings of repute 
relating to that period.  Paul speaks of the gospel as having been carried in 
his day to all the world, and as having been preached to every creature under 
heaven (see Colos. 1:6, 23; compare Romans 10:18; see also Note 3, following 
chapter 1 of this work, page 15.)

In Joseph Smith's version of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew the 
paragraph relating to the preaching of the gospel in all the world as one of 
the signs specified by Jesus Christ, is transposed so as to apply more 
directly to the modern or last dispensation.  (See Pearl of Great Price, 
Writings of Joseph Smith, 1.) The scripture under consideration has direct 
application to the conditions characteristic of present times-the period now 
current and immediately precedent to the second advent of the Christ.  This 
fact, however, does not necessarily nullify its application to the earlier 
period as well.  History repeats itself in many instances in this, "the 
dispensation of the fulness of times; "indeed, the very name is expressive of 
a summarizing or gathering together of things past, and this involves 
recurrence of earlier conditions and re-enactment of laws.  The prediction of 
world-wide evangelization is not the only instance of a general prophecy 
having more than a single limited horizon of fulfillment.  In the apostolic 
period the gospel was carried to all nations known to the Lord's ministers; a 
similar work is in progress today, on a scale greatly exceeding that of the 
past, for the world, as measured by human occupancy, is vastly greater than 
of old.

5.  SCRIPTURES RELATING TO THE APOSTASY.  That the application of the 
scriptures cited in the text in proof of the predicted apostasy is not 
peculiar to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is shown by the 
fact that these predictions are similarly interpreted by theologians of other 
churches.  Thus, in his "Bible Commentary," Dr. Adam Clarke annotates Paul's 
admonition to Timothy as below.  First note the passage:  "Now the spirit 
speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, 
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in 
hypocrisy," etc.  Dr. Clarke says:  

"In the latter times:  This does not necessarily imply the last ages of the 
world; but any times consequent [subsequent] to those in which the church 
then lived."

"Depart from the faith:  They will apostatize from the faith, i.e., from 
Christianity, renouncing the whole system in effect by bringing in doctrines 
which render its essential truths null and void; or denying and denouncing 
such doctrines as are essential to Christianity as a system of salvation.  A 
man may hold all the truths of Christianity, and yet render them of none 
effect, by holding other doctrines, which counteract their influence; or he 
may apostatize by denying some essential doctrine, though he bring in nothing 
heterodox."

"Speaking lies it, hypocrisy:  Persons pretending not only to divine 
inspiration, but also to extraordinary degrees of holiness, self-denial, 
mortification, etc., in order to credit the lies and false doctrines which 
they taught.  Multitudes of lies were framed concerning miracles wrought by 
the relics of departed saints as they were termed."

CHAPTER 3

EARLY STAGES OF THE APOSTASY

1. As shown in the preceding chapter a general apostasy from the Primitive 
Church was both foreseen and foretold.  Prophets who lived centuries before 
the time of Christ predicted the great event, as did also the Savior Himself 
and the apostles who continued the work of the ministry after His 
resurrection and ascension.  We are now to inquire as to the fulfillment of 
these predictions.

2. Evidence that the apostasy occurred as had been predicted is found in the 
sacred scriptures and in the records of history other than scriptural.  From 
certain utterances of the early-day apostles it is made plain to us that the 
great "falling away" had begun even while those apostles were living.  The 
preaching of false doctrines and the rise of unauthorized teachers were 
referred to as conditions then actually existing in the Church, and not as 
remote developments of the distant future.*

*See note 1, end of chapter.

3. Scarcely had the gospel seed been committed to the soil before the enemy 
came, and by night sowed tares amongst the wheat; and so intimate was the 
growth of the two that any attempt to forcibly uproot the weeds would have 
threatened the life of the grain.*

*Study the parable of wheat and tares, Mat. 13:24-30.  See Note 2, end of 
chapter.

4. Paul recognized the fact that the people amongst whom he labored were 
losing the faith they had professed, and were becoming victims of the 
deception practiced by false teachers.  In his letter to the churches of 
Galatia he wrote:  "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called 
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:  Which is not another; but 
there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."  And 
then, to emphasize the sin of those who thus sought to "pervert the gospel of 
Christ," he continued:  "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any 
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be 
accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other 
gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."*

*Galatians 1:6-9; read the entire chapter.  See Note 3, end of chapter.

5. The context of the passages just quoted shows the nature of the error into 
which "the churches of Galatia" were in danger of falling.  They were 
embroiled in a discussion as to whether they were bound by certain 
requirements of the law of Moses, notably that respecting circumcision.  The 
apostle instructs them to the effect that the gospel of Christ was superior 
to the law; and that moreover, they were inconsistent in contending for one 
item of the law and neglecting the rest.  We have here indication of the 
effort so persisted in even by those who had joined the Church, to modify and 
change the simple requirements of the gospel by introducing the elements of 
Judaism.  It must be remembered that even among the apostles some difference 
of opinion had existed as to the necessity of circumcision; but this had been 
settled by their prayerful effort to learn the Lord's will in the matter; and 
those who sought to foment dissension on this or any other matter of 
authoritative doctrine were declared to be enemies to the Church, seeking to 
"pervert the gospel of Christ."

6. In his second epistle to the "church of the Thessalonians" Paul declares 
that the spirit of iniquity was then already operative.  After predicting the 
rise of the apostate church, with its blasphemous assumptions of power, as a 
condition antecedent to the second coming of Christ, the apostle continued as 
follows:  "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:  only he who now 
letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.  And then shall that 
Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, 
and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming."*

*2 Thess. 2:7, 8.

7. The seemingly obscure expression, "he who now letteth will let," may be 
more readily understood by remembering that in the older style of English 
"let" had the meaning of "restrain" or "hinder."*  The passage therefore may 
be understood as a declaration that the spirit of iniquity was already active 
though restrained or hindered for a time; and that later even this restraint 
would be removed and the evil one would be in power.  In the Revised Version 
of the New Testament this passage is rendered thus:  " --lawlessness doth 
already work:  only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out 
of the way."

*An example of this old time use of the verb "let" is found in Shakespeare.  
Hamlet is made to say, "Unhand me, gentlemen.  By heaven I'll make a ghost of 
him who lets me," i.e., of him who restrains or hinders me.

8. Just who or what is referred to as exercising a restraint on the powers of 
iniquity at that time has given rise to discussion.  Some writers hold that 
the presence of the apostles operated in this way, while others believe that 
the restraining power of the Roman government is referred to.  It is known 
that the Roman policy was to discountenance religious contention, and to 
allow a large measure of liberty in forms of worship as long as the gods of 
Rome were not maligned nor their shrines dishonored.  As Roman supremacy 
declined "the mystery of iniquity" embodied in the apostate church operated 
practically without restraint.

9. The expression "mystery of iniquity" as used by Paul is significant.*  
Prominent among the early perverters of the Christian faith were those who 
assailed its simplicity and lack of exclusiveness.  This simplicity was so 
different from the mysteries of Judaism and the mysterious rites of heathen 
idolatry as to be disappointing to many; and the earliest changes in the 
Christian form of worship were marked by the introduction of mystic 
ceremonies.

*See Note 1, end of chapter.

10. Paul's zeal as a missionary and a proselyter is abundantly shown in 
scripture; he was equally zealous in seeking to maintain the faith of those 
who had accepted the truth.  The Pauline epistles abound in admonitions and 
pleadings against the increasing influence of false doctrines, and in 
expressions of sorrow over the growth of apostasy in the Church.  His words 
addressed to Timothy are both emphatic and pathetic:  "Hold fast the form of 
sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in 
Christ Jesus.  That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy 
Ghost, which dwelleth in us.  This thou knowest, that all they which are in 
Asia be turned away from me."*

*2 Timothy 1:13-15; Italics introduced; compare 4:10, 16.

11. An excellent summary of important utterances by the Apostle Paul relating 
to the beginning of the apostasy as a fact in the early apostolic age, has 
been made by one of the latter-day apostles, Orson Pratt.  He writes as 
follows:  "The great apostasy of the Christian Church commenced in the first 
century; while there were yet inspired apostles and prophets in their midst; 
hence Paul, just previous to his martyrdom, enumerates a great number who had 
`made shipwreck of their faith,' and `turned aside unto vain jangling;' 
teaching `that the resurrection was already past,' giving `heed to fables and 
endless genealogies,' `doubting about questions and strifes of words whereof 
came envyings, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of 
corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness.' 
This apostasy had become so general that Paul declares to Timothy, `that all 
they which are in Asia be turned away from me;' and again he says, `at my 
first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me;' he further says 
that `there are many unruly, and vain talkers, deceivers, teaching things 
which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.' These apostates, no doubt, 
pretended to be very righteous; for, says the apostle, `they profess that 
they know God:  but in words they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient 
and unto every good work reprobate.'"

12. Jude admonished the saints to be on their guard against men who were in 
the service of Satan seeking to corrupt the Church.  Addressing himself "to 
them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ," he 
said:  "It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye 
should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the 
saints.  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old 
ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into 
lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."*  
It is plain that Jude considered "the faith which was once delivered unto the 
saints" as in danger; and he urges the faithful to contend for it and openly 
defend it.  He reminds the saints that they had been told "there should be 
mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts;" and 
adds "These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the 
Spirit."**  Clearly he is referring to the apostates of the time, who, 
because of sensual appetites and lustful desires, had separated themselves 
from the Church.

*Jude 3, 4.  See Note 5, end of chapter.
**Verses 18, 19.

13. During the banishment of John the Revelator on the isle of Patmos, when 
nearly all the apostles had been taken from the earth, many of them having 
suffered martyrdom, the apostasy was so wide-spread that only seven 
"churches," i.e., branches of the Church, remained in such condition as to be 
considered deserving of the special communication John was instructed to 
give.  In a marvelous vision he beheld the seven churches typified by seven 
golden candlesticks, with seven stars representing the presiding officers of 
the several churches; and in the midst of the golden candlesticks, with the 
stars in his hand, stood "one like unto the Son of Man."

14. The church at Ephesus was approved for its good works, specifically for 
its rejection of the Nicolaitean heresies; nevertheless reproof was 
administered for disaffection and neglect, thus:  -- "thou hast left thy 
first love.  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and 
do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove 
thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."*

*Revelation 2:4, 5.

15. To the church at Pergamos John was commanded to write, denouncing the 
false doctrines of certain sects and teachers, "which thing I hate" said the 
Lord.*  The church of the Laodiceans was denounced as "lukewarm," "neither 
hot nor cold," and as priding itself as rich and not in need, whereas it was 
in reality "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."**

*See verses 12-16.
**Rev. 3; see verses 14-21.

16. The foregoing scriptures are ample as proof that even before the ancient 
apostles had finished their earthly ministry, apostasy was growing apace.  
The testimony of the early "Christian fathers" who wrote in the period 
immediately following the passing of the apostles, is to the same effect.  
According to the generally accepted chronology, the prophetic message of John 
the Revelator to the churches of Asia was given in the last years of the 
first century.*

*Probably about AD 96; see Oxford Bible, margin.

17. Among the historians of that period whose writings are not regarded as 
canonical or scriptural, but which are nevertheless accepted as genuine and 
reliable, was Hegesippus, who, "flourished nearest the days of the apostles."  
Writing of the conditions marking the close of the first century and the 
beginning of the second, Eusebius cites the testimony of the earlier writer 
as follows: -- "The same author, [Hegesippus] relating the events of the 
times, also says, that the Church continued until then as a pure and 
uncorrupt virgin; whilst if there were any at all that attempted to pervert 
the sound doctrine of the saving gospel, they were yet skulking in dark 
retreats; but when the sacred choir of apostles became extinct, and the 
generation of those that had been privileged to hear their inspired wisdom 
had passed away, then also the combinations of impious error arose by the 
fraud and delusions of false teachers.  These also, as there were none of the 
apostles left, henceforth attempted, without shame to preach their false 
doctrine against the gospel of truth.  Such is the statement of Hegesippus."*

*Eusebius, "Ecclesiastical History," Book 3, chapter 32.

18. There call be little doubt that the false teachers referred to in the 
testimony last cited, were professed adherents of the Church, and not outside 
opponents, inasmuch as they were restrained by the influence and authority of 
the apostles, and waited the passing of the authorized leaders as an 
opportunity to corrupt the Church by evil teachings.

19. A later writer commenting on the schisms and dissensions by which the 
Church was rent in the latter part of the first century-the period 
immediately following that of the apostolic ministry, says:  "It will easily 
be imagined that unity and peace could not reign long in the Church, since it 
was composed of Jews and Gentiles, who regarded each other with the bitterest 
aversion.  Besides, as the converts to Christianity could not extirpate 
radically the prejudices which had been formed in their minds by education, 
and confirmed by time, they brought with them into the bosom of the church 
more or less of the errors of their former religions.  Thus the seeds of 
discord and controversy were easily sown, and could not fail to spring up 
soon into animosities and dissensions, which accordingly broke out and 
divided the Church."*

*Mosheim, "Eccl. History," Cent. 1, Part 2; chapter 3:11.  See Note 4, end of 
chapter.

20. Another recognized authority on ecclesiastical history, and one whose 
avowed purpose was to present the truth respecting the Church in its most 
favorable light, is Joseph Milner, author of a comprehensive "History of the 
Church of Christ."  He comments on the state of the Church at the close of 
the first century in this wise:  "Let us keep in view what that [the spirit 
of the gospel] really is.  The simple faith of Christ as the only Savior of 
lost sinners, and the effectual influences of the Holy Ghost in recovering 
souls altogether depraved by sin -- these are the leading ideas.  When the 
effusion of the Holy Ghost first took place, these things were taught with 
power; and no sentiments which militated against them could be supported for 
a moment.  As, through the prevalence of human corruption and the crafts of 
Satan, the love of truth was lessened, heresies and various abuses of the 
gospel appeared; and in estimating them we may form some idea of the 
declension of true religion toward the end of the [first] century."  The same 
writer continues:  "Yet a gloomy cloud hung over the conclusion of the first 
century.  The first impressions made by the effusion of the Spirit are 
generally the strongest and the most decisively distinct from the spirit of 
the world.  But human depravity, over-born for a time, arises afresh, 
particularly in the next generation.  Hence the disorders of schism and 
heresy.  Their tendency is to destroy the pure work of God."*

*Milner, "Church History," Cent. 1, ch. 15.

21. The purpose of this chapter has been that of demonstrating the early 
beginning of the apostasy, so soon to become general, and later, universal.  
The specific causes directly contributing to the degradation of the Church 
are reserved for future consideration.

THE GROWTH OF APOSTASY ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

22. Now let us see what was the condition of the Church established by the 
Resurrected Lord aniong the descendants of Lehi on the American continent.  
In this undertaking we shall not restrict ourselves to the beginning of the 
disruption alone.  Inasmuch as the course of apostasy among the Nephites was 
so rapid, and the period intervening between the establishment of the Church 
and the destruction of the nation was so brief, we shall consider the history 
of the Church to its close, and thus obviate the necessity of recurring to 
the subject in later chapters.  We read that the Church had prospered until 
about 200 AD.  Then apostasy became general, as evidence of which note the 
following:

23. "And now in this two hundred and first year, there began to be among them 
those who were lifted up in pride ... And they began to be divided into 
classes, and they began to build up churches unto themselves, to get gain, 
and began to deny the true Church of Christ.  And it came to pass that when 
two hundred and ten years had passed away there were many churches in the 
land:  yea, there were many churches which professed to know the Christ, and 
yet they did deny the more parts of his gospel, insomuch that they did 
receive all manner of wickedness, and did administer that which was sacred 
unto him to whom it had been forbidden because of unworthiness.  And this 
church did multiply exceedingly, because of iniquity, and because of the 
power of Satan who did get hold upon their hearts.  And again, there was 
another church which denied the Christ, and they did persecute the true 
Church of Christ because of their humility and their belief in Christ; and 
they did despise them because of the many miracles which were wrought among 
them."*

*4 Nephi 24-29; read the entire chapter.

24. The Book of Mormon record is definite in its specifications of the 
immediate reasons for, or causes of the great apostasy on the western 
hemisphere.  While the members of the Church remained faithful to their 
covenants and obligations, they as individuals and the Church as an 
organization prospered; and their enemies were unable to prevail against 
them.  With prosperity, however, came pride and class distinctions, the rich 
dominated the poor, and earthly gain became the object of life.*  Secret 
organizations of evil purpose flourished;** the people were divided into two 
opposing factions, those who still professed a belief in Christ being known 
as Nephites and their enemies as Lamanite without regard to actual descent or 
family relationship.  With the growth of pride and its attendant sins, the 
Nephites became as wicked as the non-professing Lamanites;*** and in their 
wickedness these people sought each other's destruction.  Consider the pathos 
and dire tragedy expressed in the words of Moroni, the solitary survivor of a 
once blessed and mighty nation:

*See 4 Nephi 2-7 and compare with verses 25, 26.
**Verse 42.
***Verse 45.

25. "Behold, four hundred years have passed away since the coming of our Lord 
and Savior.  And behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, 
down from city to city, and from place to place, even until they are no more, 
and great has been their fall:  yea, great and marvelous is the destruction 
of my people, the Nephites.  And behold, it is the hand of the Lord which 
hath done it.  And behold also, the Lamanites are at war one with another; 
and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and 
bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war.  And now behold, I say no 
more concerning them, for there are none save it be the Lamanites and robbers 
that do exist upon the face of the land; and there are none that do know the 
true God save it be the disciples of Jesus, who did tarry in the land until 
the wickedness of the people was so great that the Lord would not suffer them 
to remain with the people; and whether they be upon the face of the land no 
man knoweth."

NOTES

1. THE EARLY APOSTASY RECOGNIZED.  The fact of the early beginning of the 
apostasy is generally recognized by theologians and authorities on biblical 
interpretation.  Clarke's commentary on the declaration of Paul as to the 
"mystery of iniquity" then at work (See 2 Thess. 2:7) is as follows:

"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:  There is a system of corrupt 
doctrine which will lead to the general apostasy, already in existence; but 
it is a mystery; it is as yet hidden; it dare not show itself because of that 
which hindereth or withholdeth.  But when that which now restraineth is taken 
out of the way, then shall that wicked one be revealed; it will then be 
manifest who he is and what he is."

2. EARLY DISSENSIONS IN THE CHURCH.  As instances of the disagreements and 
differences that troubled and disturbed the Church even in apostolic days 
Mosheim says: "The first of these controversies, which was set on foot in the 
church of Antioch, regarded the necessity of observing the law of Moses, and 
its issue is mentioned by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles (chap. 15).  
This controversy was followed by many others, either with the Jews who were 
violently attached to the worship of their ancestors, or with the votaries of 
a wild and fanatical sort of philosophy, or with such as, mistaking the true 
genius of the Christian religion, abused it monstrously to the encouragement 
of their vices, and their indulgence of the appetites and passions.  St. Paul 
and the other apostles have, in several places of their writings, mentioned 
these controversies, but with such brevity that it is difficult at this 
distance of time to come at the true state of the question in these various 
disputes. The most weighty and important of all these controversies was that 
which certain Jewish doctors raised at Rome, and in other Christian churches 
concerning the means of justification and acceptance with God, and the method 
of salvation pointed out in the word of God.  The apostles, wherever they 
exercised their ministry, had constantly declared all hopes of acceptance and 
salvation delusive, except such as were founded on Jesus the Redeemer, and 
his all-sufficient merits; while the Jewish doctors maintained the works of 
the law to be the true efficient cause of the soul's eternal salvation and 
felicity.  This latter sentiment not only led to many other errors extremely 
prejudicial to Christianity, but was also injurious to the glory of the 
divine Savior." (Mosheim, "Ecclesiastical History," Cent. 1, Part 2, 11:12.)

3. UNAUTHORIZED WRITINGS IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE.  Paul's reference to "another 
gospel" in his epistle to the Galatians (1:6) suggested to Dr. Adam Clarke 
the following commentary on the passage:

"Another gospel:  It is certain that in the very earliest ages of the 
Christian Church, there were several spurious gospels in circulation; and it 
was the multitude of these false or inaccurate relations that induced St. 
Luke to write his own (see Luke 1:1).  We have the names of more than seventy 
of these spurious narratives still on record, and in ancient writers many 
fragments of them remain; these have been collected and published by 
Fabricius in his account of the apocryphal books of the New Testament (3 
vols, 8 vo.)  In some of these gospels the necessity of circumcision and 
subjection to the Mosaic law, in unity with the gospel, were strongly 
inculcated." (Clarke, "Bible Commentary.")

4. SOME AUTHORITIES ON ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.  Among the authorities cited 
in the text are those named below. A brief note as to each may be of 
interest.

Eusebius:  Eusebius Pamphilus, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. He lived from 
about 260 to about 339 AD, though there is some uncertainty as to the exact 
time of his death.  He was an eyewitness of and a participant in some of the 
sufferings incident to heathen persecution of the Christians, and has been 
called the "Father of Church History."  He was the author of several works, 
among them one of the earliest on "Ecclesiastical History."  The quotations 
from this work by Eusebius, as given in the text, are from the version 
translated from the Greek by C. F. Cruse.

Mosheim:  Dr. J. L. von Mosheim, chancellor of the University of Gottingen; a 
German writer, noted for his contributions to church history.  He is the 
author of an exhaustive work on "Ecclesiastical History" (6 vols), dated 
1755.  The excerpts from Mosheim's "Ecclesiastical History" given in the text 
are taken from the version translated into English by Dr. Archibald Maclaine, 
dated 1764.

Milner:  Rev. Joseph Milner. An English authority on church history, and 
author of a comprehensive "History of the Church of Christ" (5 vols.), from 
which the excerpts in the text are taken.

5. COMMENTARY ON THE PASSAGE FROM JUDE.  -- The passage quoted in the text -- 
"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained 
to this condemnation, ungodly men," etc. (Jude: 4), has given rise to 
discussion, the question at issue being as to whether the principle of pre-
appointment or fore-ordination is here involved.  A hasty and casual reading 
of the passage may suggest the inference that the "ungodly men" referred to 
had been appointed or "ordained" in the providence of God to sow the seeds of 
discord and dissension in the Church.  A careful study of this scripture 
shows that no such inference is warranted.  The "ungodly men" "Who were 
before of old ordained to this condemnation" were men who had already, i.e., 
previously, been denounced, proscribed and condemned for the very heresies 
which now they were endeavoring to perpetuate in the Church, they having 
crept in unawares, or in other words, they having become members of the 
Church by false pretenses and profession, and being able because of their 
membership, to spread their false teachings more effectively.  Dr. Adam 
Clarke, in his Bible Commentary, thus treats the passage under consideration:

"For there are certain men crept in unawares."  They have got into the church 
under specious pretenses, and when in; began to sow their bad seed.

"Before of old ordained:  Such as were long ago proscribed and condemned in 
the most public manner; this is the import of the [original] word in this 
place, and there are many examples of this use of it in the Greek writers.

"To this condemnation:  To a similar punishment to that about to be 
mentioned.

"In the sacred writings all such persons, false doctrines and impure 
practices have been most openly proscribed and condemned, and the apostle 
immediately produces several examples, viz., the disobedient Israelites, the 
unfaithful angels, and the impure inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.  This is 
most obviously the apostle's meaning, and it is ridiculous as it is absurd, 
to look into such words for a decree of reprobation, etc., such a doctrine 
being as far from the apostle's mind as from that of Him in whose name he 
wrote."  (Clarke, "Bible Commentary, Jude, 4.)

In the Revised Version of the New Testament the passage is rendered thus:  "I 
was constrained to write unto you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the 
faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.  For there are 
certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old set forth unto this 
condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, 
and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 4

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 question 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.*

*See Notes 1 and 2, end of chapter.

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 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 believing 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*

*See Note 3, end of chapter.

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.**  The Church was at first exclusively and for a long 
time pre-eminently 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 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.

*See Matt. 10:5, 6.
**See Acts chapters 10 and 11.

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."*

*Mark 13:9; compare Matt. 10:16-18; 24:9-13; Luke 21:12.

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."*

*John 15:18-20.

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 syllagogues:  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."*

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

12. These predictions had speedy and literal fulfillment.  From the time of 
the crucifixion, Jewish malignity and hatred were directed against all who 
professed a belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ.  In the early stages of 
their ministry several of the apostles were imprisoned* and the priestly 
leaders sought to take their lives.**  Stephen was stoned to death because of 
his testimony;*** and the persecution against the Church became general.****  
James.  the son of Zebedee, was slain by order of Herod,***** and Peter was 
saved from a similar fate only by a miraculous intervention.******  The 
scriptural record informs us as to the ultimate fate of but few of the 
apostles; and secular history is likewise incomplete.  That Peter would be 
numbered with the martyrs was made known by the resurrected Lord.*******  
Paul sets forth the fact that the apostles lived in the very shadow of death 
and that persecution was their heritage.********

*Acts 5:18; compare 4:3.
**Acts 5:33.
***See Acts 6:8-15; 7:54-60.
****See Acts 8:1.
*****Acts 12:1, 2.
******Verses 3-10.
*******See John 21:18, 19.
********1 Cor. 4:9.
*********Verses 11-13; see also 2 Cor. 4:8, 9; 6:4, 5.

13. Not only did the Jews wage relentless persecution against those of their 
number who professed Christ, but they sought to stir up opposition on the 
part of the Romans and to accomplish this end charged that the Christians 
were plotting treason against the Roman government.  Even during the personal 
ministry of the early apostles, persecution of the saints had spread from 
Jerusalem, throughout Palestine and into the adjacent provinces.  In this 
evil work the Jews sought to incite their own people living in the outlying 
parts, and also to arouse the opposition of the officers and rulers of the 
Roman dominions.  As evidence of this phase of the persecution, partly Jewish 
and partly pagan, instigated by Jews and participated in by others, the 
following quotation from Mosheim may suffice:

14. "The Jews who lived out of Palestine, in the Roman provinces, did not 
yield to those of Jerusalem in point of cruelty to the innocent disciples of 
Christ.  We learn from the history of the Acts of the Apostles, and other 
records of unquestionable authority, that they spared no labor, but zealously 
seized every occasion of animating the magistrates against the Christians, 
and setting on the multitude to demand their destruction.  The high priest of 
the nation and the Jews who dwelt in Palestine were instrumental in inciting 
the rage of these foreign Jews against the infant Church, by sending 
messengers to exhort them, not only to avoid all intercourse with the 
Christians, but also to persecute them in the most vehement manner.  For this 
inhuman order they endeavored to find out the most plausible pretexts; and 
therefore, they gave out, that the Christians were enemies to the Roman 
emperor, since they acknowledged the authority of a certain person whose name 
was Jesus, whom Pilate had punished capitally as a malefactor by a most 
righteous sentence, and on whom, nevertheless, they conferred the royal 
dignity."*

*Mosheim, "Ecclesiastical History," Cent. 1, Part 1, 5:2.

15. In the latter half of the first century, the scene of Judaistic 
persecution of the Church had shifted from Jerusalem to the outlying 
provinces; and the cause of this was the general exodus of Christians from 
the city whose destruction had been decreed.*  Our Lord's predictions as to 
the fate of Jerusalem and His warnings to the people had been very generally 
heeded.  Eusebius** informs us that the body of the Church had moved from 
Jerusalem into the provinces beyond the Jordan, and thus largely escaped the 
calamities of the Jews who remained.

*See Note 4, end of chapter.
**See Luke 21:5-9, 20-24.

1. PERSECUTION IN DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS.  It may be argued that, judging 
from the history of the re-established Church in the present dispensation, 
persecution may tend to strengthen rather than to weaken the Church, and that 
therefore violent opposition in earlier times cannot be considered a true 
cause leading to final disruption.  In reply it may be said that the present 
is the dispensation of the fulness of times, -- a period in which the Church 
shall triumph, and during which the powers of evil are limited and restrained 
in their opposition; whereas the period of the apostasy was one of temporary 
victory for Satan.  Our belief in the eventual triumph of good over evil must 
not blind us to the fact that evil is frequently allowed a short-lived 
success, and a seeming victory.  The permanency of the Latter-day Church has 
been not less surely predicted than was the temporary duration of the 
Primitive Church.  Satan was given power to overcome the saints in former 
days, and the persecutions he waged against them and the officers of the 
Church contributed to his passing success. It has been decreed that he shall 
not have power to destroy the Church in the last dispensation, and his 
persecution of the saints today will be futile as a means of bringing about a 
general apostasy in these latter times.

2. PERSECUTION AS A POSSIBLE CAUSE OF APOSTASY.  "Let it not be a matter of 
surprise that I class those persecutions as among the means through which the 
church was destroyed.  The force of heathen rage was aimed at the leaders and 
strong men of the body religious; and being long-continued and relentlessly 
cruel, those most steadfast in their adherence to the Church invariably 
became its victims.  These being stricken down, it left none but weaklings to 
contend for the faith, and made possible those subsequent innovations in the 
religion of Jesus which a pagan public sentiment demanded, and which so 
completely changed both the spirit and form of the Christian religion as to 
subvert it utterly.  Let me further ask that no one be surprised that 
violence is permitted to operate in such a case.  The idea that the right is 
always victorious in this world, that truth is always triumphant and 
innocence always divinely protected, are old, fond fables with which well- 
meaning men have amused credulous multitudes; but the stern facts of history 
and actual experience in life correct the pleasing delusion.  Do not 
misunderstand me.  I believe in the ultimate victory of the right, the 
ultimate triumph of truth, the final immunity of innocence from violence.  
These -- innocence, truth and the right -- will be at the last more than 
conquerors; they will be successful in the war, but that does not prevent 
them from losing some battles. It should be remembered always that God has 
given to man his agency; and that fact implies that one man is as free to act 
wickedly as another is to do righteousness.  Cain was as free to murder his 
brother as that brother was to worship God; and so the pagans and Jews were 
as free to persecute and murder the Christians as the Christians were to live 
virtuously and worship Christ as God.  The agency of man would not be worth 
the name if it did not grant liberty to the wicked to fill the cup of their 
iniquity, as well as liberty to the virtuous to round out the measure of 
their righteousness.  Such perfect liberty or agency God has given man; and 
it is only so variously modified as not to thwart his general purposes." (B. 
H. Roberts, "A New Witness for God," pp. 47,48.)

3. EARLY PERSECUTIONS BY THE JEWS.  "The innocence and virtue that 
distinguished so eminently the lives of Christ's servants, and the apostles' 
purity of the doctrine they taught, were not sufficient to defend them 
against the virulence and malignity of the Jews.  The priests and rulers of 
that abandoned people not only loaded with injuries and reproach the apostles 
of Jesus and their disciples, but condemned as many of them as they could to 
death, and executed in the most irregular and barbarous manner their decrees.  
The murder of Stephen, of James the son of Zebedee, and of James surnamed the 
Just, bishop of Jerusalem, furnished dreadful examples of the truth of what 
we here advance.  This odious malignity of the Jewish doctors against the 
heralds of the gospel, was undoubtedly owing to a secret apprehension that 
the progress of Christianity would destroy the credit of Judaism, and bring 
on the ruin of their pompous ceremonies."  In a footnote to the foregoing, 
references appear as follows:  "The martyrdom of Stephen is recorded in the 
Acts of the Apostles 7: 55; and that of James the son of Zebedee, Acts 
12:1,2, and that of James the Just, bishop of Jerusalem, is mentioned by 
Josephus in his Jewish Antiquities, book 20, chap. 8; and by Eusebius in his 
Ecclesiastical History, book 2, chap. 23." (Mosheim, "Ecclesiastical 
History," Cent. 1, Part 1, 5:1.)

4. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY THE ROMANS.  "A rebellious disturbance among 
the Jews gave a semblance of excuse for a terrible chastisement to be visited 
upon them by their Roman masters, which culminated in the destruction of 
Jerusalem (AD 71).  The city fell after a six months' siege before the Roman 
arms led by Titus, son of the Emperor Vespasian. Josephus, the famous 
historian, to whom we owe most of our knowledge as to the details of the 
struggle, was himself a resident of Galilee and was carried to Rome among the 
captives.  From his record we learn that nearly a million Jews lost their 
lives through the famine incident to the siege; many more were sold into 
slavery, and uncounted numbers were forced into exile.  The city was utterly 
destroyed, and the site upon which the temple had stood was plowed up by the 
Romans in their search for treasure.  Thus literally were the words of Christ 
fulfilled, `There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall 
not be thrown down.'  (Matt. 24; 1,2; see also Luke 19:44.)"  (The Author, 
"The Articles of Faith," Lecture 17:18.)

CHAPTER 5

CAUSES OF THE APOSTASY.  EXTERNAL CAUSES, CONTINUED.

1. As already pointed out, it is convenient to study the causes leading to 
the great apostasy as belonging to two classes, external and internal, or (1) 
causes due to conditions operating against the Church from without; and (2) 
causes arising from dissension and heresy within the Church itself.  We have 
summarized external causes under the general term persecution; and we have 
drawn a distinction between Judaistic and pagan persecution waged against the 
Church.  Having dealt with the opposition suffered by the early Christians at 
the hands of the Jews or through Jewish instigation, we have now to consider 
the persecution brought upon the believers in Christ by pagan nations.

PAGAN PERSECUTION

2. To persons or peoples who did not believe in the existence of the living 
God, and whose worship was essentially idolatrous.  The motives impelling 
non-believing Jews to oppose the establishment and spread of Christianity may 
readily be understood, in view of the fact that the religion taught by Christ 
appeared as a rival to Judaism, and that the growth and spread of the one 
meant the decline if not the extinction of the other.  The immediate motive 
leading to bitter and widespread persecution of the Christians by heathen 
peoples is not so easy to perceive, since there was no uniform system of 
idolatrous worship in any single nation, but a vast diversity of deities and 
cults of idolatry, to no one of which was Christianity opposed more than to 
all.  Yet we find the worshipers of idols forgetting their own differences 
and uniting in opposition to the gospel of peace-in persecution waged with 
incredible ferocity and indescribable cruelty.*

*See Note 1, end of chapter.

3. Unfortunately, historians differ widely in their records of persecution of 
Christians, according to the point of view from which each writer wrote.  
Thus, in a general way, Christian authors have given extreme accounts of the 
sufferings to which the Church and its adherents individually were subjected; 
while non-Christian historians have sought to lessen and minimize the extent 
and severity of the cruelties practiced against the Christians.  There are 
facts, however, which neither party denies, and to which both give place in 
their separate records.  To make a fair interpretation of these facts, 
drawing just and true inferences therefrom, should be our purpose.

4. Among pagan persecutors of the Church, the Roman empire is the principal 
aggressor.  This may appear strange in view of the general tolerance 
exercised by Rome toward her tributary peoples; indeed, the real cause of 
Roman opposition to Christianity has given rise to many conjectures.  It is 
probable that intolerant zeal on the part of the Christians themselves had 
much to do with their unpopularity among heathen nations.  This subject is 
conservatively summed up by Mosheim as follows:

5. "A very natural curiosity calls us to inquire, how it happened that the 
Romans, who were troublesome to no nation on account of their religion, and 
who suffered even the Jews to live under their own laws, and follow their own 
methods of worship, treated the Christians alone with such severity.  This 
important question seems still more difficult to be solved, when we consider, 
that the excellent nature of the Christian religion, and its admirable 
tendency to promote both the public welfare of the state, and the private 
felicity of the individual, entitled it, in a singular manner, to the favor 
and protection of the reigning powers.  One of the principal reasons of the 
severity with which the Romans persecuted the Christians, notwithstanding 
these considerations, seems to have been the abhorrence and contempt with 
which the latter regarded the religion of the empire, which was so intimately 
connected with the form, and indeed, with the very essence of its political 
constitution.  For, though the Romans gave an unlimited toleration to all 
religions which had nothing in their tenets dangerous to the commonwealth, 
yet they would not permit that of their ancestors, which was established by 
the laws of the state, to be turned into derision, nor the people to be drawn 
away from their attachment to it.  These, however, were the two things which 
the Christians were charged with, and that justly, though to their honor.  
They dared to ridicule the absurdties of the pagan superstition, and they 
were ardent and assiduous in gaining proselytes to the truth.  Nor did they 
only attack the religion of Rome, but also all the different shapes and forms 
under which superstition appeared in the various countries where they 
exercised their ministry.  From this the Romans concluded, that the Christian 
sect was not only insupportably daring and arrogant, but, moreover, an enemy 
to the public tranquility, and every way proper to excite civil wars and 
commotions in the empire.  It is, probably on this account that Tacitus 
reproaches them with the odious character of haters of mankind, and styles 
the religion of Jesus as destructive superstition; and that Suetonious speaks 
of the Christians, and their doctrine in terms of the same kind.

6. Another circumstance that irritated the Romans against the Christians, was 
the simplicity of their worship, which resembled in nothing the sacred rites 
of any other people.  The Christians had neither sacrifices, nor temples, nor 
images, nor oracles, nor sacerdotal orders; and this was sufficient to bring 
upon them the reproaches of an ignorant multitude, who imagined that there 
could be no religion without these."*

*Mosheim, "Eccl. Hist."  Cent. 1, Part 1, ch. 5:6, 7.

7. Persecution of the Church by Roman authority may be said to have begun in 
the reign of Nero (AD 64) and to have continued to the close of Diocletian's 
reign (AD 305).  Within this range of time there were many periods of 
diminished severity, if not of comparative tranquillity; nevertheless, the 
Church was the object of heathen oppression for about two and a half 
centuries.  Attempts have been made by Christian writers to segregate the 
persecutions into ten distinct and separate onslaughts; and some profess to 
find a mystic relation between the ten persecutions thus classified, and the 
ten plagues of Egypt, as also an analogy with the ten horns mentioned by John 
the Revelator.*  As a matter of fact attested by history, the number of 
persecutions of unusual severity was less than ten; while the total of all, 
including local and restricted assaults, would be much greater.**

*See Rev. 17:14.
**See Note 2, end of chapter.

8. Persecution under Nero.  The first extended and notable persecution of 
Christians under the official edict of a Roman emperor was that instigated by 
Nero, AD 64.  As students of history know, this monarch is remembered mostly 
for his crimes.  During the latter part of his infamous reign, a large 
section of the city of Rome was destroyed by fire.  He was suspected by some 
of being responsible for the disaster; and, fearing the resentment of the 
infuriated people, he sought to implicate the unpopular and much-maligned 
Christians as the incendiaries, and by torture tried to force a confession 
from them.  As to what followed the foul accusation, let us consider the 
words of a non-Christian writer, Tacitus, whose integrity as a historian is 
held in esteem.

9. "With this view, he [Nero] inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those 
men who, under the vulgar appellation of Christians, were already branded 
with deserved infamy.  They derived their name and origin from Christ, who, 
in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the sentence of the procurator 
Pontius Pilate.  For a while this dire superstition was checked; but it again 
burst forth; and not only spread itself over Judea, the first seat of this 
mischievous sect, but was even introduced into Rome, the common asylum which 
receives and protects whatever is impure, whatever is atrocious.  The 
confessions of those that were seized discovered a great multitude of their 
accomplices, and they were all convicted, not so much for the crime of 
setting fire to the city, as for their hatred of human kind.  They died in 
torments, and their torments were embittered by insults and derision.  Some 
were nailed on crosses; others sewn up in the skins of wild beasts and 
exposed to the fury of dogs; others, again, smeared over with combustible 
materials, were used as torches to illuminate the darkness of the night.  The 
gardens of Nero were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was 
accompanied with a horse- race, and honored with the presence of the emperor, 
who mingled with the populace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer.  The 
guilt of the Christians deserved indeed the most exemplary punishments, but 
the public abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that 
those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much to the public welfare as 
to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant.*

*Tacitus, Annals, Book 15, ch. 44

10. There is some disagreement among historians as to whether the Neronian 
persecution is to be regarded as a local infliction, practically confined to 
the city of Rome, or as general throughout the provinces.*  The consensus of 
opinion, favors the belief that the provinces followed the example of the 
metropolis, and that the persecution was common throughout the Church.

*See Note 3, end of chapter.

11. This, the first persecution by Roman edict, practically ended with the 
death of the tyrant Nero AD 68.  According to tradition handed down from the 
early Christian writers, the Apostles Paul and Peter suffered martyrdom at 
Rome, the former by beheading, the latter by crucifixion during this 
persecution; and it is further stated that Peter's wife was put to death 
shortly before her husband; but the tradition is neither confirmed nor 
disproved by authentic record.

12. Persecution under Domitian.  The second officially appointed persecution 
under Roman authority began 93 or 94 AD in the reign of Domitian.  Both 
Christians and Jews came under this prince's displeasure, because they 
refused to reverence the statues he had erected as objects of adoration.  A 
further cause for his special animosity against the Christians, as affirmed 
by early writers, is as follows.  The emperor was persuaded that he was in 
danger of losing his throne, in view of a reputed prediction that from the 
family to which Jesus belonged there would arise one who would weaken if not 
overthrow the power of Rome.  With this as his ostensible excuse, this wicked 
ruler waged terrible destruction on an innocent people.  Happily, the 
persecution thus started was of but few years duration.  Mosheim and others 
aver that the end of the persecution was caused by the emperor's untimely 
death; though Eusebius, who wrote in the fourth century, quotes an earlier 
writer as declaring that Domitian had the living descendants of the Savior's 
family brought before him, and that after questioning them he became 
convinced that he was in no danger from them; and thereupon dismissed them 
with contempt and ordered the persecution to cease.  It is believed that 
while the edict of Domitian was in force the Apostle John suffered banishment 
to the isle of Patmos.

13. Persecution under Trajan.  What is known in ecclesiastical history as the 
third persecution of the Christian Church took place in the reign of Trajan, 
who occupied the imperial throne from 98 to 117 AD.  He was and is regarded 
as one of the best of the Roman emperors, yet he sanctioned violent 
persecution of the Christians owing to their "inflexible obstinacy" in 
refusing to sacrifice to Roman gods.  History has preserved to us a very 
important letter asking instructions from the emperor, by the younger Pliny, 
who was governor of Pontus, and the emperor's reply thereto.  This 
correspondence is instructive as showing the extent to which Christianity had 
spread at that time, and the way in which believers were treated by the 
officers of the state.

14. Pliny inquired of the emperor as to the policy to be pursued in dealing 
with the Christians within his jurisdiction.  Were young and old, tender and 
robust, to be treated alike, or should punishment be graded? Should 
opportunity be given the accused to recant, or was the fact that they had 
once professed Christianity to be considered an unpardonable offense? Were 
those convicted as Christians to be punished for their religion alone, or 
only for specific offenses resulting from their membership in the Christian 
Church? After propounding such queries the governor proceeded to report to 
the emperor what he had done in the absence of definite instructions.  In 
reply the emperor directed that the Christians were not to be hunted nor 
sought after vindictively, but if accused and brought before the judgment 
seat, and if then they refused to renounce their faith, they were to be put 
to death.*

*See Note 4, end of chapter.

15. Persecution under Marcus Aurelius.  Marcus Aurelius reigned from 161 to 
180 AD.  He was noted as one who sought the greatest good of his people; yet 
under his government the Christians suffered added cruelties.  Persecution 
was most severe in Gaul (now France.) Among those who met the martyr's fate 
at that time, were Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and Justin Martyr, known in 
history as the philosopher.  With reference to the seeming anomaly that even 
the best of rulers permitted and even prosecuted vigorous opposition to 
Christian devotees, as exemplified by the acts of this emperor, a modern 
writer has said:  "It should be noted that the persecution of the Christians 
under the pagan emperors sprung from political rather than religious motives, 
and that is why we find the names of the best emperors, as well as those of 
the worst, in the list of persecutors.  It was believed that the welfare of 
the state was bound up with the careful performance of the rites of the 
national worship; and hence, while the Roman rulers were usually very 
tolerant, allowing all forms of worship among their subjects, still they 
required that men of every faith should at least recognize the Roman gods, 
and burn incense before their statues.  This the Christians steadily refused 
to do.  Their neglect of the service of the temple, it was believed, angered 
the gods, and endangered the safety of the state, bringing upon it drought, 
pestilence, and every disaster.  This was the main reason of their 
persecution by the pagan emperors."*

*General History by P. V. N. Myers, edition of 1889, p. 322.

16. Later persecutions.  With occasional periods of partial cessation, the 
Christian believers continued to suffer at the hands of heathen opponents 
throughout the second and third centuries.  A violent persecution marked the 
reign of Severus (193-211 AD) in the first decade of the third century; 
another characterized the reign of Maximin (235-238 AD).  A period of unusual 
severity in persecution and suffering befell the Christians during the short 
reign of Decius known also as Decius Trajan (249-251 AD).  The persecution 
under Decius is designated in ecclesiastical history as the seventh 
persecution of the Christian Church.  Others followed in rapid succession.  
Some of these periods of specific oppression we pass over and come to the 
consideration of the 

17. Diocletian persecution, which is spoken of as the tenth, and happily the 
last.  Diocletian reigned from 284 to 305 AD.  At first he was very tolerant 
toward Christian belief and practice; indeed it is of record that his wife 
and daughter were Christians, though "in some sense, secretly."  Later, 
however, he turned against the Church and undertook to bring about a total 
suppression of the Christian religion.  To this end he ordered a general 
destruction of Christian books, and decreed the penalty of death against all 
who kept such works in their possession.