with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea;" or the
one in Isaiah xi. 9: "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of
the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." But that these passages can have
no reference to the present dispensation, but to the one which will
commence with the return of the Lord,--that in the present dispensation
things will not become spiritually better, but rather worse,--and that
in the present dispensation it is not the whole world that will be
converted, but only a people gathered out from among the Gentiles for
the Lord,--is clear from many passages of the divine testimony, of which
I only refer to the following: Matt. xiii. 24-30, and verses 36-43, 2
Tim. iii. 1-13, Acts xv. 14.

A hearty desire for the conversion of sinners, and earnest prayer for it
to the Lord, is quite _scriptural_; but it is _unscriptural_ to expect
the conversion of the whole world. _Such an end_ we could not propose to
ourselves in the service of the Lord.

2. But that which is worse, is, the connection of those religious
societies with the world, which is completely contrary to the word of
God (2 Cor. vi. 14-18). In temporal things the children of God need,
whilst they remain here on earth, to make use of the world; but when the
work to be done requires that those who attend to it should be possessed
of spiritual life (of which unbelievers are utterly destitute), the
children of God are bound, by their loyalty to their Lord, entirely to
refrain from association with the unregenerate. But, alas! the
connection with the world is but too marked in these religious
societies; for every one who pays a guinea, or, in some societies,
half-a-guinea, is considered as a member. Although such an individual
may live in sin; although he may manifest to every one that he does not
know the Lord Jesus; if only the guinea or the half-guinea be paid, he
is considered a member, and has a right as such to vote. Moreover,
whoever pays a larger sum, for instance, ten pounds or twenty pounds,
can be, in many societies, a member for life, however openly sinful his
life should be for the time, or should become afterwards. Surely such
things ought not to be.

3. The means which are made use of in these religious societies to
obtain money for the work of the Lord are also in other respects
unscriptural; for it is a most common case _to ask_ the _unconverted_
for money, which even Abraham would not have done (Genes