| Show THE APOSTOLIC CHURCHES their decline and fall UY Y J M 8 the controversy between the latter day saints and their Dr brethren ethren of the various christian denominations would be very much simplified it it could be shown beyond a doubt that the word ot of god clearly cle teaches I 1 us that the church founded by christ through his first apostles was to tore re main on earth only for a comparatively short period and that the truth troth of this teaching was amply proven by ecclesiastical history the saints claim that ahat the church was taken away from the earth our opponents claim that the church has always been on earth and will be until christ comes it the church has been on earth all the time the saints are wrong if not our oar opponents will have to confess that they are wrong that the churches are nothing but the structures of men and that the saints are right it we can once decide whether the chur church cly has always remained on earth or not the controversy be becomes comei very simple and ever every honest mind must be conven convinced ced odthe of the truth the question is evidently one of no small importance what does the word of god teach and what do we find by perusing the pages of the history e of the first six centuries alithe all abe prophets who speak of the last times predict with remarkable clearness that the appearance of messiah would be followed by a terrible apostasy apo stacy from the truth caused b by persecution and seduction daniel in his visions sees a power arise diverse from the political powers he had just seen chapt 7 and this power shall speak words worda against the most high and a u d shall wear waar out the saints of the K most 0 st HI high h and t they hey were given into his h hands ids for a certain time in another vision chapt 8 etke prophet sees a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences and his power shall ne mighty but not by his bis own power tor for this was an ecclesiastical power deriving her strength from abi abe political governments govern mente i I 1 and he shall destroy destro wonderfully sad and shall prosper any and practice and shall destroy the mality mighty and the holy people here ere it is expressly stated that the saints should be worn out and destroyed and in chap it II we find that thac this destruction w was as to be brought about partly by corruption and partly byl by sword and by flame hy by captivity and by spoil many days I 1 our savior in speaking of the persecutions which his bis people should go through says matthew 24 94 and then shall many be offended and shall betray one another anet ber and shall hate one another and many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many and because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold the apostle paul writes with remarkable clearness about the then approaching churek pro aching in general apostasy apo stacy of tile the church the tue day of the lord he says 2 fliess 2 shall not come except there come a falling failing iway away first ind and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition erdi tion spoken of by daniel nona john the revelator saw in his marvelous visions the church of god driven into the wilderness tor for a period of 1260 days or years during which time the antich antichrist riat rules supreme on earth it is therefore very clear that the word of god teaches the disappearance of the primitive church from the earth the saints should be worn out destroyed falling away hidden in a wilderness and iniquity should abound this disappearance of the church was not to take place thousands of years after the death of the apostles but shortly after the forces of anti carlat were working with fearful success in the days of the apostles john says the spirit of antichrist anti christ is now already in ia the world and paul declares that the mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who bow ow zetteth will let until he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked bg be revealed 2 thes 2 7 78 8 the members of the church knew what it was that stood in the way of that wicked one and prevented him irom from being revealed for the apostle had told them when he was among them he did not deem it wise however to write it down we have therefore only tradition to rely on an and tradition has it that it was the roman government that stood in the way of antichrist anti christ the first christians feared the overthrow of this government and prayed for its preservation although it was a heathen government because they knew that the downfall of rome borne was the signal of the open commencement of the reign of antichrist and they feared 1 this more than the persecuting roman government simply for the reason that during the reign of antichrist the church was to be taken away altogether the history of ef the various churches shows plainly how they gradually declined and fell i the corruption of doctrines and morals go hand in hand As worldliness licentiousness and lawlessness prevail the pure doctrines of the gospel are gradually changed until nothing remains of them they were submitted to the same ingenious process as a certain knife which had bad gone from father to confor son for many generations As soon jas as a blade was worn out a new one was vas put in its stead and when the handle was worn out this was also renewed and this had gone on for generations the owner claiming that the knife was the arwe same all the time something similar to this took place with the doctrines of the gospel As soon as any part of it was deemed antiquated it was thrown out and something new put ing in until the whole was lost la in the church of corinth we find persons who denied the resurrection resurrect ian of the dead in the churches of Ga galatala latla the efficacy of christs work Is being denied and salvation by the works of the law advocated gnostic heresies her esies darken the churches of the lycus colossa and laodicea the churches of asia minor seq show a deplorable condition at the time of the writing of the apocalypse A D 96 the churchon church of ephesus has left her first love the church of Per gamos harbored persons who held the doctrine of balaam who taught balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols idels and to commit fornication the church of ThYl thyatira tirs suffered jezebel to seduce gode servants to commit fornication and to eat thin things sacrificed to idalo the church or of sardis had the naifie name of being living while oad it I 1 t was dead the th had not repeated of their false teachings as paul admonished moni shed them to do but bin they hart hail gradually lost their spiritual life and become lukewarm luke worm objects of gods displeasure wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked the apostle whom jesus loved was in his uptime lifetime rejected by some of the churchey as we can gather eather from the following follo wiuf passage 3 john 9 1 I 1 wrote unto but who loveth to to have the preeminence pre eminence among theal recel veth us wherefore not if I 1 come I 1 will remember his deeds which he does prating against us with malic malicious ioui words and not content contaut therewith neither does he himself receive tile brethren and forbid deth them that would and them out of the church the apostle james gives ti a sad picture of the corruption of tile th i churches ye lust and have not ye kill lye ye tight fight and war lye ye ask ani and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts ye adulterers erp and esses and soon so on and all this flood of corruption inundated the churches while the apos ties of our lord were still living breaking break lne through all the their I 1 r efforts to save their new and tender plantations plantation plant ationo li from destruction the apostles wand cand their immediate followers die martyred marty red for the gospel their places remain vacant the g bftts ts cease no apostles no prophecies ids no more healing no moro more tou tongues gnes no amme diate divine interposition night and darkness are e last fast approaching pro achl aching the wicked one ell haslag succeeded in n extinguishing the listii light that for a short time with its brillis brilliance ce dazzled the nations the world is again wrap wrapped in darkness of falsehood ani error at the tiri mercy eiby 4 apparently ot of the devil toe The gospel of desus jesus christ has to rive give way for the speculations of beati heathen en philosophers as introduced by origen cyprian augustine angustine end others the knowledge ot of god is lost and a beins introduced into the christian heathen theology the most conspicuous 0 a quality of whom Is his h sensibility r compare mhd Athanasi all symbol which embodies this god and is as ridiculous a place piece of document as was ever bev penned abd by man the very idea of th the church of christ af set forth in the gospel is discarded ard another idea vindicated compare cyprians cypriana Cyp rians views of the unity of the church where the way wa la is cleared tor for the priestly despotism afterward exerciser ereiser by the afie po popes es I 1 baptism tor for le the remission of sins has las to give way for a caricature of the holy ordinance sprinkling ot of infants the lords supper Is cog converted averted into a superstitious rite void of all its original significance a commemoration of the death of our lord the offices of the churches are perverted into secular offic offices IC the occupants cup a n to ol 01 0 t w which h ic h a are re called not by god but by men I 1 in short everything every thing was gradually changed until finally carl christ t himself was no longer acknowledged the only hougg ruler of the church hutch but I 1 tit 1 his 9 place was oc occupied cuple by worldly priests called popes s the church the bride 0 gge rl became a I 1 bri bride of the world id a harlot for this is what that word in the revelation of joan signifies let us glance a at thip the church as she sha appeared during the e third century that is at the time when 4 infant sprinkling infant communion and nd other errors errora were anti inti introduced it hefle esle a celebrated arl wrier on e ecclesiastical history has the fo following awing p passage as oal e which 11 I 1 quote from memory I 1 in the first timo time ot f the gospel we find the church filled with spirit and liffa but gradually the spirit left her the life diemand died and the form alone was left when the spirit b has a loft left a man nothing but a dead body remains or when the life giving water has run out only an empty something W similar to this wok place with christianity blit bat the Sho vessel veel did not lose its con contents all at once but slowly gradually la in the fi first rot century the th e invisible presence of t the he savior t the 40 redeemer constituted t the be strength and power of the church I 1 in n the third centary we this power is still elt and also in them die fourth out but now new very weak at this time you yog saw women confessing christianity go to church with powdered and painted faces faces aud and men with dyed balland hair and beard Caristi CArlat iams aas and he athens inter m married frequently members of the church went so the pl odthe of the gladiators and alth pleasure tile the bloody scenes the abi the atres were frequented by the Christ christians lAns the priests jesta loved the world i the fsopi attended their pleasure trips ditties and devoted emse ves to pleasures and money ma world iness anew weakened tile the church when theDe the dacien pien A 1 P titi the le panic Bt ricken aoma some reo fled ned to the persecutors perse cutora MCI their lord sad and savior in ardeno order to escape death I 1 i this is lufte the testimony cal history dark as this picture Is it becomes if pos siNei sWie darker still as the time draws near or antichrist to openly assume hi reign on arab As the roman empire tell fell bro kento pieces 1 by invading hordes ib wone throne of antichrist was established J lippa apo a the ruins the hurch is found now and fulfilled the god of fathers is no longer regarded or via the desire of women see danak 81 but the god ot of forces is worshipped wor wora shipped lIpped jo in ad this has reference to the whipping hipping of saints introduced t KB the knowledge of god was lost ichrist has baa come with the power ot of W B see 2 thess thesa it ii 9 with all E er r and signs and lying wonders y istead d of ge genuine euln e miracles the true etli has been departed from and J d to la given to seducing spirits and it ines concerning couce rains devils or rather anona see ee I 1 tim iv 1 thus the oe ie church chuoc had to flee while the igon was pouring after her the if lile le stream of false doctrines the rw rafa was flooded with them until the pointed 0 anted time when sod x od again true his fits promises opened a new era nas ing the foundations of that kingdom it shall never be overthrown |
