Chapter II: Preface: To the Second Edition

The first edition of "The Great Apostasy" was issued by the Deseret News, Salt Lake City, in November, 1909, and comprised ten thousand copies. The author has learned, with a pleasure that is perhaps pardonable, of the favorable reception accorded the little work by the missionary elders of the Church, and by the people among whom these devoted servants are called to labor. The present issue of twenty thousand copies constitutes the second edition, and is published primarily for use in the missionary field. The text of the second edition is practically identical with that of the first.

Salt Lake City, Utah, JAMES E. TALMAGE.
February, 1910.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

_Introduction: The Establishment of the Church of Christ_.

Conditions at beginning of Christian era.--Religious systems,
Jewish, Pagan, and Samaritan.--Jewish sects and parties.--Law of
Moses fulfilled and superseded.--Apostles chosen and ordained.--
Apostolic administration.--The Church established on the western
hemisphere.--The "meridian of time."

CHAPTER II.

_The Apostasy Predicted_.

The Church has not continued in unbroken succession.--Divine
fore-knowledge.--The divine purposes not thwarted.--Apostasy from
the Church compared with the apostasy of the Church.--Specific
predictions concerning the apostasy.--The Law of Moses a temporary
measure.--Isaiah's fateful prophecy.--Predictions by Jesus
Christ.--By Paul.--By Peter.--By Jude.--By John the Revelator.--
Apostasy on the western hemisphere predicted.

CHAPTER III.

_Early Stages of the Apostasy_.

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

CHAPTER IV.

_Causes of the Apostasy.--External Causes Considered_.

Causes of the apostasy, external and internal.--Persecution as an
external cause.--Judaism and Paganism arrayed against the
Church.--Judaistic persecution.--Predictions of Judaistic
opposition.--Fulfillment of the same.--Destruction of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER V.

_Causes of the Apostasy.--External Causes, Continued_.

Pagan persecution.--Roman opposition to Christianity, explanation
of.--Number of persecutions by the Romans.--Persecution under
Nero.--Under Domitian.--Under Trajan.--Under Marcus Aurelius.--Later
persecutions.--Persecutions under Diocletian.--Extent of the
Diocletian persecution.--Diocletian boast that Christianity was
extinct.--The Church taken under state protection by Constantine the
Great.

CHAPTER VI.

_Causes of the Apostasy.--Internal Causes_.

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

CHAPTER VII.

_Internal Causes.--Continued_.

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

CHAPTER VIII.

_Internal Causes.--Continued_.

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

CHAPTER IX.

_Internal Causes.--Continued_.

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

CHAPTER X.

_Results of the Apostasy.--Its Sequel_.

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

COPYRIGHT by JAMES E. TALMAGE. 1909.

The Great Apostasy.