i8 77 ] THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH 333 



deductions as to the value of theology as a preparation 

 for office in the Church. 



When we say that every living Church must have a 

 living theology we do not, in accordance with our argu 

 ment, imply that every Church member must be familiar 

 with the theology of the communion to which he belongs. 

 On the contrary, our argument has been that a Church 

 becomes capable of attracting and edifying every true 

 Christian, whatever his stage of knowledge and growth 

 may be, just in proportion as every act of public worship 

 and every ecclesiastical function rests on full and normal 

 theological attainments. Public worship is not a theo 

 logical exercise in which men meet on the basis of common 

 scientific knowledge ; it is an exercise of common faith, 

 in which the gospel message is personally set forth and 

 received with personal affection and obedience. Thus 

 no theology is required in order that a man may with 

 edification join in the worship of the Church. Theology 

 is the affair of him who conducts that worship, the 

 system of knowledge by which he is enabled to lead the 

 service, not as a man calling on the like-minded to 

 sympathise with his own personal experience, but as one 

 who, out of the riches of an all-sided grasp of the fulness 

 of the gospel, can bring forth words of promise and 

 admonition, words of thanksgiving and prayer, suited to 

 every Christian need, and yet free from all individualism. 

 And what is true of the central function of public worship, 

 is true of every Church act. There is, indeed, no act of 

 government or discipline in which Church rulers can deal 

 with imperial authority, indifferent to the necessity of 

 carrying with them the mind of the whole Church. But 

 it is not necessary that each Church member should have 

 the knowledge requisite to judge for himself from the 

 first on all questions of administration. It is Church 

 rulers that must use their special knowledge to solve 

 each practical question ; but the question is not solved 

 till the decision upon it is put into a form which, 



