But this is not all. Those who repudiate all
Church authority cannot in the long run maintain
that of Christ. It is futile to declare that by our
own unaided reflection on life or by a sort of intuition
— this is apparently the means — we can arrive at the
wonder of the Incarnation or at the tenderness of
the Atonement. We cannot. But we can, if we
will, eviscerate the miracle of its wonder; we can
attenuate the Atonement into some merely natural
process if we apply our ingenuity to such an end;
though the ideas have to be " given " before we can
reduce even the value of the gift. More than this ;
contemptuous of all Church authority — i.e. of the
accumulated wisdom of the saints and sages of God
— we are certain to be critical of Christ; we shall



NEED OF AUTHORITY IN THE CHURCH 143

agree with Him when we like, and disagree when He
is difficult. We shall degrade Him from our Master
into a servant; we shall sit in judgment on His
teaching, sift His acts and words, and ignore His
claims — for they are claims — to rule.
There is no way out of the dilemma. You cannot
accept Christ as Master and be as though you had
not accepted Him. You must think differently, will
differently, act (or at least try to act) differently —
because He is your Lord. How often we use these
words as though they meant a title and not a claim.
In brief, you surrender to the principle of authority
the moment you say " Jesus is Lord," and nothing
can make you your own master after that.
