*** The
The foundation of the great apostasy was laid in the separation of a class (called clergy) from the church of believers in general... this was not done in a day, but gradually. Those who had been chosen from their own number, by the various congregations, to minister, or serve them in spiritual things, gradually came to consider themselves a superior class.... Next they felt it beneath their dignity to be elected by the congregations they were to serve...Their councils ..came finally to decreeing what should be considered orthodox... this self exalted clergy, becoming more and more vain and boastful, finally concluded that they alone constituted the Church, and that the laity... were not to be classed as joint heirs... to the promises of coming glory and honor and association with Christ...
[Emphasis Added]
But then, in 1935...new light....