The Great Apostasy Part 3

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 among 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 A. D.

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 cla.s.ses, 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 pa.s.s that when two hundred and ten years had pa.s.sed 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."--(IV Nephi 1:24-29; 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 cla.s.s distinctions, the rich dominated the poor, and earthly gain became the object of life.--(See IV Nephi 1:2-7 and compare with verses 25, 26.) Secret organizations of evil purpose flourished,--(Verse 42.) the people were divided into two opposing factions, those who still professed a belief in Christ being known as Nephites and their enemies as Lamanites, 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;--(Verse 45.) 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:

25. "Behold, four hundred years have pa.s.sed 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 G.o.d, save it be the disciples of Jesus,--(See III Nephi 28:1-7.) 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."--(Mormon 8:6-10.)

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 II 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 appet.i.tes and pa.s.sions. 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 G.o.d, and the method of salvation pointed out in the word of G.o.d. 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. I, Part II, 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 pa.s.sage:

"_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 mult.i.tude 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 circ.u.mcision 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 A.D., though there is some uncertainty as to the exact time of his death. He was an eye witness of and a partic.i.p.ant 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 Pa.s.sage from Jude_:--The pa.s.sage quoted in the text--"For there are certain men crept in unawares, _who were before of old ordained to this condemnation_, unG.o.dly men." etc. (Jude 4), has given rise to discussion, the question at issue being as to whether the principles of pre-appointment or fore-ordination is here involved. A hasty and casual reading of the pa.s.sage may suggest the inference that the "unG.o.dly men" referred to had been appointed or "ordained" in the providence of G.o.d 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 "unG.o.dly 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 pa.s.sage 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 as 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 pa.s.sage 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, unG.o.dly men, turning the grace of our G.o.d into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

CHAPTER IV.

**Causes of the Apostasy.--External Causes Considered**.

1. We are now to consider some of the princ.i.p.al causes contributing to apostasy from the Primitive Church and leading later to the apostasy of the Church as an earthly inst.i.tution; 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 cla.s.sed 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 cla.s.sed 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 inst.i.tution. 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 schisms, contention, and perversion of doctrine invaded the Church immediately after the pa.s.sing 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 unG.o.dly 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 surpa.s.sed 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 G.o.d. 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 const.i.tuted 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;--(See Matt. 10:5, 6.) 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.--(See Acts, chapters 10 and 11.) 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.

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 synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth G.o.d 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 fulfilment. 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--(Acts 5:18; compare 4:3.) and the priestly leaders sought to take their lives.--(Acts 5:33.) Stephen was stoned to death because of his testimony;--(See Acts 6:8-15; 7:54-60.) and the persecution against the Church became general.--(See Acts 8:1.) James, the son of Zebedee, was slain by order of Herod,--(Acts 12:1, 2.) and Peter was saved from a similar fate only by a miraculous intervention.--(Verses 3:10.) 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.--(See John 21:18, 19.) Paul sets forth the fact that the apostles lived in the very shadow of death--(I Cor. 4:9.) and that persecution was their heritage.--(Verses 11-13; see also II 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 partic.i.p.ated 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 mult.i.tude 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. I, Part I, 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.--(See Note 4, end of chapter.) Our Lord's predictions as to the fate of Jerusalem and His warnings to the people--(See Luke 21:5-9, 20-24.) had been very generally heeded. Eusebius--(Eusebius, "Ecclesiastical History," Book III, ch. 5.) 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.

NOTES

1. _Persecution in Different Dispensations_. It may be argued that, judging from the history of the re-established Church in the present dispensation, 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 pa.s.sing 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 cla.s.s 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 mult.i.tudes; 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d; 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 G.o.d. 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 G.o.d has given man; and it is only so variously modified as not so thwart His general purposes." (B. H. Roberts, "A New Witness for G.o.d," pp. 47, 48.)