Free Republic

Chapter 2Apostasy and Restoration "Mormonism has no claim to be a viable religion in the present unless it has been a viable religion in the past."- Truman Madsen1The simple fact is that had there been no "apostasy," or "falling away," from Christ's original Church, there would have been no need for God to restore the Church through Joseph Smith. In this chapter we will establish the fact that there was, indeed, such an apostasy and describe its history and some of its effects.2 Finally, we will present evidence that a restoration of the gospel was also predicted in the early...

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 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....

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."...