Ministry of the word - Taylor - XII - Lecture 12

Required reading
Ministry of the word by William Taylor (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Lecture XII (The relation of the pulpit to present questions).

My summary
Today we finish the book with a chapter on the relation of the pulpit to present questions.

Firstly Taylor encourages the minister to be involved in social issues as the gospel is the only remedy that can meet the manifold evils of society.

Secondly Taylor speaks of the minister's responsibility to encourage his congregation to be involved in the political state.

Thirdly we are given some counsel on how to relate the field of science.  We are not to always be attacking science but nevertheless must assess scientific claims with caution.  All the while remembering that Religion and Science are elder and younger sister in the same family.

Then Taylor makes some concluding remarks now that his volume is completed.

What grabbed me
I liked the reminder that only the gospel can address the evils of our society: 'For the Gospel which we preach is the only remedy that can meet the manifold evils of society. All these are only so many different symptoms of the one disease of sin, and nothing can permanently remove them save that which eradicates it. Hence the various agencies which men have proposed and experimented with for the purpose of improving the condition of the masses, valuable as they have been in some respects, have failed to get at the source of the evil. They have " skinned and filmed the ulcerous sore," but left the constitutional malady, of which it was the symptom, to break out in some other direction. They have dammed up the stream for a little, and sent its waters over into places which were before uncovered; but they have not dried up the fountainhead. The only thing which can regenerate society, is that which can regenerate the individual heart, to wit, the power of the Holy Ghost working in and through the belief of the truth as it is in Jesus.'

The best thing we can do for society is continue sharing the gospel.






One sentence final verdict
A readable book with much practical advice for the minister.



Next week's reading
Commence Hints and helps in pastoral theology by William S Plumer (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 1 (Sources of information in pastoral theology) and 2 (The importance of the ministry).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.