10. It also hence appears that those, on the other hand, who truly embrace the life of Christ, and follow him in faith, are by him graciously enlightened, according to his promise: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me (in faith and love, hope and patience, meekness and humility, fear of God, and in prayer, etc.) shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. Therefore, the true followers of Christ, and these only, freely enjoy the light of life, and are alone endued with true illumination and sound knowledge of Christ. And it is on account of this Christian faith and life, that true believers are called by the Apostle, _a light in the Lord_. “Ye were,” saith he, “sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord” (Eph. 5:8): here he means the principle of faith, and those Christian virtues that attend it. And again, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness,”—“putting on the breast-plate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.” 1 Thess. 5:5, 8. Christ denies that the world (that is, carnal and unregenerate minds), can ever “receive the Spirit of Truth.” John 14:17. 11. That there might be a perfect and absolute example given to men, and a complete idea of virtue and goodness, the Son of God became also Man, and by his unspotted and holy life was made the public Light of the world, that so all men might follow him, believe in him, and receive light from him. Since, however, false Christians own with their lips that Christ is the safe and great exemplar of virtue, and yet do not follow him in their life and actions, it is manifest, that the heathens who esteemed virtue, put the Christians to shame. The most eminent of them, such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, have highly recommended the study of virtue, and freely confessed, that “if virtue could be seen with bodily eyes, it would appear fairer, and with a more glorious lustre than even the morning star.” But, truly, none have had a fuller view of the beauty of virtue, than those who by faith have seen JESUS CHRIST, that unerring pattern of righteousness. These are those that have “handled the Word of life” (1 John 1:1), as St. John tells us. And, surely, if heathens have been so much absorbed by the love of virtue, how much more should a Christian love the transcendent beauty of Jesus Christ, who is virtue itself, and composed of nothing but pure love, and unspotted meekness; nay, who is GOD himself?