To a large degree, Protestantism believes that Constantine the Great (c. 325 AD) merged paganism with Christianity, seeking to bring unity and stability under his rule, and to advance acceptance of and the power of the church by all sectors of the empire. However, this had a corrupting effect on the beliefs of the church and through decades of succession by poor, often politically motivated leadership, abuses of scriptural application became prevalent. Nevertheless, it does not suggest that these abuses led to a complete state of anarchy and apostate renderings of Scripture within the Early Church. From the Protestant perspective, abuses within the church led to a poor application of doctrine and Biblical truths. Protestantism generally asserts that although Scripture itself remained pristine, the leaders and teachers became fouled. To that end, most of traditional Christianity agrees that the Biblical message itself was ultimately never lost to mankind.