The late Peter Taylor Forsythe...
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The late Peter Taylor Forsythe was called the Karl Barth of English Congregationalism. These words of his were suggested to me by this passage from Hebrews. "But we sacrifice everything to a large and comprehensive church. We lengthen the cords to rope people in. Too often we rouge the gospel for its public appearances rather than letting its natural complexion tell on people, to win them, sift them, reject, loose, and bind them. We may preach about Christ without preaching him, or let him speak for himself. We do not wield moral power over the world because we do the easy thing -- we appeal to its heart, or its intellect, and not its conscience; to fresh vistas and vivid news and not to the new person. We would be more fascinating than commanding .... The great appeal of Christianity from which all else flows is to the conscience, and in the actual situation, to the sinful conscience .... Does the public really respect, does it really mind in its conduct, those who preach to its fancy or its sentiment without touching its conscience either with Godly fear or with humble faith? Does it really honor the voice that is more full of the lily work than of the pillars?" (Forsythe, Peter Taylor. Congregationalism and Reunion, Independent Press, London, pp. 15-16.) -- Kolsti
