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era.--Religious systems, Jewish, Pagan, and Samaritan.--Jewish sects and parties.--Law of Moses fulfilled and superseded.--Apostles chosen and ordained.-- Apostolic administration.--The Church established on the western hemisphere.--The "meridian of time."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