God permits the wicked to prosper, and to reveal their enmity against Him, that when they shall have filled up the measure of their iniquity, all may see His justice and mercy in their utter destruction. The day of His vengeance hastens, when all who have transgressed His law and oppressed His people will meet the just recompense of their deeds; when every act of cruelty or injustice toward God’s faithful ones will be punished as though done to Christ Himself. There is another and more important question that should engage the attention of the churches of to-day. The apostle Paul declares that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”(68) Why is it, then, that persecution seems in a great degree to slumber? The only reason is, that the church has conformed to the world’s standard, and therefore awakens no opposition. The religion which is current in our day is not of the pure and holy character that marked the Christian faith in the days of Christ and His apostles. It is only because of the spirit of compromise with sin, because the great truths of the word of God are so indifferently regarded, because there is so little vital godliness in the church, that Christianity is apparently so popular with the world. Let there be a revival of the faith and power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution will be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled. [Illustration: St. Peter’s And The Vatican] St. Peter’s And The Vatican 3. THE APOSTASY. [Illustration: Chapter header.] The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of the papal power. He declared that the day of Christ should not come, “except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”(69) And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that “the mystery of iniquity doth already work.”(70) Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy.