itting upon his throne, and all the hosts of Heaven standing by him on
his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, who shall persuade
Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? and one said on this
manner, and another said on that manner. And there stood forth a spirit,
and stood before the Lord, and said: I will persuade him. And the
Lord said unto him wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will
be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said,
thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also. Go forth and do so. Now,
therefore, behold the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all
thy prophets.' 1 kings xxii. 22. There were 400 of 'em; they were 'the
goodly-fellowship of the prophets for you; all of them inspired by the
spirit from on high, and all of them lying as fast as they could lie.'
So much for getting on the safe side by believing. Had Ahab been an
Infidel, he would have saved his soul alive. As it was, we may address
him in the words of St. Paul to just such another fool, 'King Ahab,
believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest: but no better
than I know, that for that very belief, fell slaughter on thy soul: and
where thou soughtest to be saved by believing, it was by believing
thou wert damned.' So when Elijah had succeeded in converting the 450
worshippers of Baal, who had been safe enough while they were Infidels,
and they began crying, 'the Lord He is God, the Lord He is God:' the
moment they got into the right faith, they found themselves in the
wrong box; and the prophet, by the command of God, put a stop to their
Lord-Godding, by cutting their throats for 'em, 'Elijah brought them
down to the brook of Kishon, and slew them there.' 1 Kings xviii. 40.
Oh! what a blessed thing, you see, to be converted to the true faith!
Thus all the sins and crimes that have been committed in the world, and
all God's judgments upon sin and sinners have been the consequence of
religion, and faith, and believing. What was the first sin committed
in the world? It was believing. Had our great mother Eve not been a
believing credulous fool, she would not have been in the transgression.
Who was the first reverend divine that began preaching about God and
immortality? It was the Devil. What was the first lie that was ever
told, the very damning and damnable lie? It was the lie told to make
folks believe that they would not be dead when they were dead, that they
should not surely die