which is within them, the light of which John speaks when he says, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Jesus tells us to lift up the son of man, who is the son of God, for a light to all men. When we have lifted up the son of man, we shall then know that we can do nothing without his guidance (John viii. 28). Asked, “Who is this son of man?” Jesus answers:—
“Yet a little while is the light in you.[1] Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.” (John xii. 35.)
The son of man is the light in every man that ought to illuminate his life. “Take heed therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness,” is Jesus’ warning to the multitude (Luke xi. 35).
In all the different ages of humanity we find the same thought, that man is the receptacle of the divine light descended from heaven, and that this light is reason, which alone should be the object of our worship, since it alone can show the way to true well-being. This has been said by the Brahmins, by the Hebrew prophets, by Confucius, by Socrates, by Marcus Aurelius, by Epictetus, and by all the true sages,—not by compilers of philosophical theories, but by men who sought goodness for themselves and for others.[2] And yet we declare, in
