_8. State of the Church at Close of Apostolic Age:_ "A. the close of the first century, the Church was in a sadly demoralized condition. According to our best authorities, all the Apostles but John were dead, no attempt (for any great length of time, apparently) having been made to maintain the quorum. If so important a body was allowed to become extinct, there is no reasonable doubt that other quorums fell into decay and that the Church organization lost its original identity. With the disorganization of the quorums of Priesthood there was an opportunity for the predicted rise of false teachers, under whom occurred changes in the ordinances of the Gospel. These changes afterward increased materially, until, in connection with the loss of true and the usurpation of false authority, they produced a complete change both in the organization and the ordinances of the Church. Persecution and internal corruption and dissension had also done their work, until at the close of the century, when John wrote his Epistles and the Revelation, but few of the branches of the Church retained enough of their identity and faithfulness to be recognized by him. The deplorable condition of the Church can well be gathered from the warnings and threats given to the saints at Ephesus in the second chapter of Revelation. A full discussion of this subject will be found in Roberts' New Witnesses for God, chapters 2-7. From the evidences there presented, it cannot be doubted that at the close of the first century the high authority of the Church had fallen into decay, and the Apostolic Age was at an end." LESSON XXVIII. (Scripture Reading Exercise.) CONFLICTING THEORIES. ANALYSIS. I. Questions Respecting the Meridian Dispensation and the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times Considered. 1. The Largeness and Glory of the Meridian Dispensation. 2. Identity of the Meridian Dispensation and the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times Considered. (a) Joel's Prophecy of the Dispensation of the Last Days Considered. REFERENCES. The Authorities quoted in the notes are all the References the Editor and Compiler has to offer in this Lesson. NOTES.