y to human limitations. They scarcely see the miracle of the
human, and thus they miss the import of the divine miracle. In the
atmosphere of monophysitism mysticism thrives, but devotion decays. We
may instance the almost total disappearance of the crusading spirit.
The Christ to whom our thoughts usually turn is an omnipresent ideal
with no historical or local associations. His birth-place and His
country evoke only a lukewarm sentiment. The church's year is
neglected. The historical facts of Christ's life are often regarded as
of only minor importance. Piety used to consist in personal loyalty to
the Founder of a universal religion; it is now considered synonymous
with obedience to the "golden rule."

TO ATTRIBUTE OMNISCIENCE TO CHRIST'S HUMAN NATURE IS MONOPHYSITISM

Within recent times the question as to the limitation of Christ's
knowledge was hotly debated. That debate showed how much uncertainty
on Christological questions exists and how strong monophysite opinion
still is. In spite of Christ's own _dicta_, in spite of the dogma of
two natures, denial of the limitation was widespread and persistent.
To many devout minds it seems impious to speak of Christ's ignorance.
This is a case in which the Chalcedonian definition is an invaluable
guide. If one brings to an examination of Christ's nature the
preconceived notion of His omniscience, the doctrine of the limitation
of His knowledge seems an outrage on belief; but if one approaches the
question with the orthodox formula in mind, one is prepared to find
that His cognitive faculties were perfectly human and humanly perfect.
So we find it. His knowledge and His faculties of knowledge on the
lower plane of His experience were essentially the same as ours. He
thought in our categories. He used our organon, perfect of its kind,
but still a human organon. As man, inevitably, He had thoughts
uncognised; and such a mental state we call "ignorance." His mind
passed through stages of development as ours does. Education widened
His horizon, strengthened His faculties, and increased His knowledge.
Advance in knowledge implies a prior state of relative ignorance. The
word "ignorance" as applied to Christ sounds very terrible; but
investigation of its meaning robs it of its terrors. We use the word
in two senses. On the one hand it may mean the absence of a thought,
its absolute non-presence in consciousness. On the other it may mean
thought unrelated