The Great Apostasy (1909)

From the Introduction: "The restored Church affirms that a general apostasy developed during and after the apostolic period, and that the primitive Church lost its power, authority, and graces as a divine institution and degenerated into an earthly organization only. The significance and importance of the great apostasy as a condition precedent to the reestablishment of the Church in modern times is obvious. If the alleged apostasy of the primitive Church was not a reality, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not the divine institution its name proclaims. "The evidence of the decline and final extinction of the primitive Church among men is found in scriptural record and in secular history. In the following pages, the author has undertaken to present a summary of the most important of these evidences. In so doing, he has drawn liberally from many sources of information with due acknowledgement of all citations. This little work has been written in the hope that it may prove of service to our missionary elders in the field, to classes and quorum organizations engaged in the study of theological subjects at home, and to earnest investigators of the teachings and claims of the restored Church of Jesus Christ." 176 pages