SELF-RIGHTEOUS SHIBBOLETHS. 219 ɔf his public ministry; obeying every jot and tittle of the Divine law; suffering persecution unto death, and rising from the dead to the Mediatorial throne in Heaven, to prepare for the day of final judgment. And, grace consummated, by the power of God the Holy Ghost, by alarming, convicting, and changing the hearts of all who are finally saved; by keeping, sanctifying, and fitting them for the pure, holy, and eternal blessedness of heaven. All this work of DIVINE GRACE is essential to the salvation of all who are finally saved. And preachers who will not endure the Bible doctrines of Gospel grace, by which alone any of the fallen race of Adam are saved; but oppose, explain away, ridicule, and preach against the only Bible method of man's salvation, give incontestable evidence that they have never been made acquainted with their own sinful hearts, nor with the pardoning mercy of God through faith in Christ Jesus; but that they are still under the dominion of sin and Satan, and combined with Antichrist in preparation for war with Heaven on the great predicted battle-day of the Lord. And also the legions of proselytes to any sectarian denomination, whose shibboleth is, opposition to the sound Bible doctrines of salvation from sin and the curse of endless death, by the grace of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; and who glory in their own. boasted works of self-righteousness and happy feelings; while the love of God the Father, the atonement of Christ the Son, the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit by regenerating grace, the divine implantation of love, repentance, and saving faith in the heart, and the divine method of preservation from final apostasy to all who persevere unto salvation, are made the butt of their opposition, ridicule, and abhorrent endurance, give incontestable evidence that they END OF ANTI-CHRISTIAN BROADWAY. 220 have built their house upon the sand; that they are virgins without oil in their vessels with their lamps; and that they have identified themselves with the pow ers of Antichrist in preparation for the great battleday of the Lord. And although they are full of fiery zeal, full of ecstatic joys, and hope high as heaven, and grasp wide as the universe in quest of future happiness, yet their zeal will be like the Mahometan soldiers fighting for earthly spoils and dominion, to purchase by merit a safe passage across the bridge" Al Sirat," over hell into the Mahometan Paradise of sensuality, in regions of fable and fiction! Yea, worse than this. Their profession of a counterfeit religion inspires them with the hope of future happiness, while every day they live they are laboring to promote the cause of Antichrist against God, and are preparing to dwell with Antichrist in regions of the blackness of darkness forever. All preachers of whatever denomination, who, by their creed, abolish the penalty of God's law, which is endless punishment, and which is divinely denounced against all impenitent rebels of mankind, who, to their original depravity, add the accumulated guilt of obstinately rejecting or heedlessly neglecting the overtures of mercy proffered in the Gospel messages of salvation from sin, and endless punishment, by faith in the atoning blood, and merits only of the crucified, risen, and interceding Mediator, evince conclusively that by preaching against the punishment of endless death which God has positively threatened, they are not only preparing to fall into eternal perdition themselves, by aiding and abetting the cause of Antichrist; but the proselytes which they make and multiply as recruits for war with Heaven, are all of them in "danger of" (what Christ calls) "eternal damnation." [See Mark iii. 29.] IMMORALITY IN THE ALLIANCE. 221 In a word, every new sect established on principles of counterfeit religion, viz., the new-fangled anti-Bible doctrine that is invented and promulgated, either by addition, diminution, or perversion of God's truth recorded in the Bible, is arrayed on the side of Antichrist. All self-wise, bigoted proselytes, made to such new doctrine, denomination, or party, even to the thousand and ninty-ninth subdivision of a colony first organized on anti-Christian principles to furnish recruits for the combined army of Antichrist; are all, collectively and individually, auxiliaries of the powers at war with God and holiness, in fulfilment of what has been foreseen and foretold in divine prophecy. They are SIGNS of predicted anti-Christian preparation for a universal contest with the ALMIGHTY for dominion. They are existing positive proof from ocular demonstration, that the predicted great battle-day of the Lord is approaching, and will come to pass as has been foretold, when the CAPITAL PUNISHMENT of endless torment for all unrepented sin of anti-Christian hosts in the prison of hell, will be divinely executed, without hope of commutation or pardon by any created power during eternal ages!!! II. Every species of Immorality now existing on earth, becomes an auxiliary to aid forward the powers of Antichrist by swelling the number of their hosts in preparation for the predicted battle-day of the Lord. All moral evil is a voluntary transgression of God's law, perpetrated by man in the spirit of Antichrist. Hence, on the settled principle that "The carnal mind. is enmity against God," every impenitent sinner voluntarily enlists under the Banner of Antichrist in opposition to God, to his truth and religion. To do what God has forbidden to be done, or to 222 GENERAL BANNER OF ANTICHRIST. neglect to do what he has expressly or impliedly required mankind to perform, constitutes the amount of the inscription of the General Banner of Antichrist, under which all impenitent sinners of the human race are enlisted. Thus God forbids all mankind to worship idol gods; or to make graven images in the likeness of any created object, and bow down before them in the humble attitude of adoration. God forbids all mankind to profane his holy name. God forbids murder on penalty of death, blood for blood, which only can cleanse the land from the defilement of blood-guiltiness. Adultery, stealing, false swearing, and covetousness also God forbids. And He requires all mankind to love, adore, praise and serve him as the one only living and true God, and to submit to his will, and walk in his ways, in conformity with his law as the rule of life, and his Gospel as the way of salvation. Now, the general banner of Antichrist would read summarily, thus, viz., "Whatsoever the God of the Bible forbids mankind to do, as a restraint upon the natural inclinations and propensities of the human race, that be sure to Do. And what he requires mankind to do, which is contrary to their self-interest and inclination, that leave Undone. But there are anti-Christian banners of various colors and descriptions of Immoralities, which are designated by their peculiar inscriptions, and all impenitent sinners are free to choose the banner which is most agreeable to the propensities of their natures respectively. And thus the inscription of the banner uniformly designates the general character of those who are enlisted under it. A few of the numerous anti-Christian banners will be noticed. Thus the man whose god is Mammon the Great, will enlist under the anti-Christian banner, which SPECIFIC BANNER NO. I. 223 when unfurled, exhibits in flaming capitals the following inscription. BANNER OF ANTICHRIST, No. I. Hear ye! Hear ye! All who enlist under this Banner. Get Money. Get it honestly when practicable. But, honesty or no honesty, get money by any means in your power; gambling, burglary, arson, robbery, theft, murder, and piracy not excepted. And I will bear you out in it, by suborning false witnesses to clear you if you are indicted, by proving your positive insanity; or, by securing the commutation of your sentence if you are condemned to be hung; and then I will engage to find an excellency to pardon, and set you at liberty, who has pledged himself to do it, to secure his election to office. LOVE MONEY SUPREMELY. Get money any how, by robbing churches or grave-yards, or by rifling the pockets of the dead carcasses of a shipwreck, Doctors of Divinity, or laymen, no matter who, I will secure you. Never fear while you see my hand and seal to this Banner of Antichrist. Thus it is written for, and in behalf of DIABOLOS THE GREAT PRINCE, under the Seal of Purgatory. i. e. being interpreted, an Unclean Spirit Like a Frog, out of the Mouth of the Dragon, alias, ILLUMINATED ATHEISTICAL INFIDELITY. |