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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.
Press of Zion's Printing and Publishing Company
Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.
Published by the Missions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints in America
BUREAU OF INFORMATION--Temple Block, Salt Lake City, Utah.
CALIFORNIA MISSION--153 W. Adams St., Los Angeles, Calif.
CANADIAN MISSION--36 Ferndale Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
CENTRAL STATES MISSION--302 S. Pleasant St., Independence, Mo.
EASTERN STATES MISSION--273 Gates Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
HAWAIIAN MISSION--P. O. Box 3228, Honolulu, Hawaii.
MEXICAN MISSION--3531 Fort Blvd., El Paso, Texas, U. S. A.
NORTHERN STATES MISSION--2555 N. Sawyer Ave., Chicago, Ill.
NORTHCENTRAL STATES MISSION--2725 3d Ave.S., Minneapolis, Minn.
NORTHWESTERN STATES MISSION--264 East 25th St., Portland, Ore.
SOUTHERN STATES MISSION--371 E. North Ave., Atlanta. Ga.
WESTERN STATES MISSION--538 East 7th Ave., Denver, Colo.
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. This little work has been written in the hope that it
may prove of service to our missionary elders in the field, to classes
and quorum organizations engaged in the study of theological subjects
at home, and to earnest investigators of the teachings and claims of
the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
Salt Lake City, Utah, JAMES E. TALMAGE.
November 1, 1909.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The first edition of "The Great Apostasy" was issued by the Deseret
News, Salt Lake City, in November, 1909, and comprised ten thousand
copies. The author has learned, with a pleasure that is perhaps
pardonable, of the favorable reception accorded the little work by the
missionary elders of the Church, and by the people among whom these
devoted servants are called to labor. The present issue of twenty
thousand copies constitutes the second edition, and is published
primarily for use in the missionary field. The text of the second
edition is practically identical with that of the first.
Salt Lake City, Utah, JAMES E. TALMAGE.
February, 1910.
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."