“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Rev. 13:15. I wish especially to consider the death penalty with which this verse closes. The chronology of this text brings us into stormy times. As the Gospel closes its mission, the angel of peace flies away. The two-horned beast is the power under consideration, and his acts are recorded in our text. The nation here symbolized is drunk with the knowledge of its own power and greatness. Its flag, instead of being a symbol of protection guaranteeing the safety of its citizens, has been so prostituted and changed, that the death penalty follows the exercise of God-given, religious liberty. “As many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” At this time, too, the seven last plagues are impending, and the world is soon to feel the judgments of God. Public sentiment has become terribly cruel and bitter, else a law of this nature would never be enacted. The whole power of the judiciary and of the masses is, at that time, exerted in favor of idolatry. It is easy to understand that at this time, the angel receives his commission, “Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.” Rev. 14:18. Those that are loyal to God are under the death sentence; yet, amid all this awful idolatry, God still reigns. Ps. 2:1, 2: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed.” “Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex [margin, “trouble”] them in His sore displeasure.” Verse 5. In this it seems direct reference is made to the plagues that are to follow. Thank God, the death penalty is never to be carried out. It will disgrace the statute book, and exist in the wills of the persecutor, but God comes in before its execution. “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Dan. 12:1. Incidents are not lacking where God has thwarted the vengeance of man. Read Exodus 15. This is at the crossing of the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his host determined to destroy where they could not rule; to kill where they could not enslave. “The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them” (verse 9), but not one perished, and they sung the song of Moses on the further shore. In the notes of rejoicing, I hear: “In the greatness of Thine excellency Thou hast overthrown them that rose up against Thee; Thou sentest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.” Verse 7. To-day, saint and sinner are closely commingled, in the same home, in social and business relations, and in a thousand other ways. If the plagues were poured out now, could it be said to the righteous, “No plague shall come nigh thy dwelling”? Ps. 91:10. But imagine the effect when this law passes pronouncing the death penalty upon God’s loyal ones. Suppose the statute book contains the death penalty with this addition: “And be it enacted that this law shall become operative and go into effect Jan. 1, 1905.” There would be a sudden separation between those who had made the law and those who would suffer from it. How quickly would those who were under the ban leave the cities, where mob violence was the most bitter. As a measure of safety, they would go to quiet places where there was less probability of the law being enforced; and, consequently, when the plagues desolated the great centers, the righteous would all have fled. Among the plagues that are coming on the ungodly, when men shall seek death and shall not find it, is that remorseless destroyer, famine. But of him who is sheltered by the Almighty it is declared: “He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; his bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure.” Isa. 33:16. I do not know how God will feed them. In Israel, a type of those “upon whom the ends of the world are come,” men were fed “angels’ food” (Ps. 78:25), manna. It may be that God will feed His people in the same way in the antitype. One thing is certain, if He does, none of them will go out on the Sabbath to gather it, as did ancient Israel. The reason that they enjoy His protection is because they are “keeping the commandments of God;” and one of them says: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.” And so, on the seventh day God will not rain any down, because He is the “Lord of the Sabbath,” and they will not look for any in the field, for the law of God is in their hearts. Then, is it a hardship, or a mercy, that separates them from those who shall suffer from the judgments of God? When Christ foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, He said, “Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house, neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.” Matt. 24:16-19. They were to consider their personal safety before property or anything else. They obeyed the Saviour’s words; and during the horrors of famine they were secure. When Jerusalem ran with blood and eleven hundred thousand perished, not one of the disciples suffered. Was not God’s way the best? So in the end of the world, when He shall “gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity” (Matt. 13:41), the saints that were driven out by a cruel law will be safe from the destruction that comes upon the world. The need of protection in that trying time is plainly shown in the following: “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of4the wicked.” Psalm 91. Read the promise in verses 10 and 11: “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Do not deceive yourselves by saying that public sentiment is too liberal to use extreme measures. The present trend of public education is to drive the weak to the wall. See the spirit that actuates the masses during a strike. See the feeling toward “strikebreakers.” Look in the faces of a mob, and then imagine what it will be when turned against a “scab” religion, for the man who has no religion will fight for it far quicker than the man who has conscience and principle. The great lesson for us to learn from this, is, that we can only be sure of deliverance by having our names written in the Lamb’s book of life. We can only be sure of God’s protection by giving up all for Him. God help us each to make this consecration.