Mammon or Covetousness the Sin of the Christian Chruch. By Rev. John Harris; Anti-Mammon, or an Exposure of the Unscriptural Statements of Mammon [pp. 222-239]

Mammon, and.nti-Mammon.
of God authorises Christians to expect, in this work and labour of love.
"I am aware, that there are those, who look for the universal establishment of the gospel in the earth, the promised
enlargement and triumph of the church, in the latter day, as
the result of efforts, such as this and other societies are making for the diffusion of the light of life. By these they
trust that the present twilight of Christian principle will,
gradually, and imperceptibly, increase into the brightness of
that day of glory, and universal blessedness, of which all
prophecy is full. My brethren, I should be extremely
sorry, on this interesting occasion, unnecessarily to do violence to the prejudices of any; but it is due to truth to confess, that I have no such expectations. I am deeply
convinced, that they are grounded on entirely mistaken
views of the character of the present Gentile dispensation.
The times of the Gentiles (Luke 21: 24.) which are now
fast running out, are times (as I conceive) in which God
(according to that remarkable, but little heeded testimony of
St. James) is visiting the Gentiles, to take out of them a
people unto his name, (Acts 15: 14.) They are times,
therefore, of an election, and of an election only, so long as
they last: and the most rapid and superficial glance at the
history of the church, and especially of Christian Missions,
is sufficient to show, that, hitherto, at least, such has been the
character of the dispensation, throughout the 1800 years
during which it has continued. No where has Christianity
been permanent, in any thing like its original purity. The
light is gone out, which once shone so bright, in the seven
churches of Asia. The same has been the case with Carthage, and its neighbourhood-Christian Egypt-Christian
Persia-where are they? These countries are Christian no
longer. Christianity has visited place after place, not retaining its conquests; but remaining, perhaps, for a few centuries, at most, it has "taken out a people," and been content.
No where has there been an instance of a truly righteous
nation; of Christianity sanctifying the great masses of a population; of apeople generally, and truly righteous; acknowledging Christ as King, and ordering themselves by his laws.
Such has been our experience hitherto, and such we believe
it will be "till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Then,
and not before, the present dispensation will be succeeded
by a dispensation of glory, introduced by the King himself
from heaven, whose name is Jehovah our Righteousness.
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