Apostasy in the Early Church
Apostasy in the Early Church.
NATURALLY apostasy would follow a decline of the spirit of true Sabbath observance. There could be no apostasy while the Sabbath (the sign between the true God and His people) was faithfully remembered. From the history of ancient Israel we learn that wherever a spirit of backsliding was manifest there was ever a neglect of the worship of God, of which Sabbath services were a prominent feature. This neglect was always accompanied by a reversion to heathen rites and ceremonies, which at certain times was carried even into the house of God. There is in man a natural disposition to exalt and reverence some deity, and when he turns to any degree from the worship of the true God, the adversary always has some substitute ready. Just so with any of the institutions and ordinances of the Lord's planting; the enemy of truth has ever ready suggestions of something more convenient or more attractive to the carnal mind. When we come down to the Christian Church we find human nature unchanged, its natural tendency just the same as in former ages. The earliest period of the church, the period in which the apostles ministered, is called in the Revelation "the church of Ephesus," which indicates the "desirable" character or condition of the church in its earliest stage. At that time it is commended for its faithfulness; yet even at that early age disciples began to leave their first love. Rev. 2: 1-4. This testimony is corroborative of Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, wherein he says, "The mystery of iniquity doth already work." Ch. 2: 7. Paul also warned the elders of the church at the city of Ephesus against men of their own ranks who would arise, "speaking perverse things," to "draw away disciples after them." Acts 20: 30. Now any man who would "draw away disciples" after himself certainly would draw them away from God. And it is just as certain that any dogma to which they would be drawn would be some imitation of truth, yet heathen in principle. In behalf of all the false doctrines and perversions of truth that have been brought into the church, the adherents, in the absence of Scriptural support, have claimed traditional authority. In support of acknowledged traditional institutions there is always the alleged merit of extra service or good work—the good intention of doing more than is required. These are sometimes called works of supererogation. The Jews, after the Babylonian captivity, while they did not indulge in open idolatry as before, were wrecked on the rocks and shoals of tradition and formalism. These were works ostensibly added to the commandments of God, but in reality were substituted for the divine commands. And, as with the Jews, so in the Christian Church, whatever was done as a work of extra merit not commanded, was done at the expense of that which was commanded. As the Jews had made the law of God of no effect by their traditions, so the second century of the Christian Church reveals an alarming tendency to imbibe the same spirit.