The Three Principles.
THE THREE PRINCIPLES.
Translated From The French Of The Rev. John Fletcher.
By Mr. Martindale
THE regenerated man who is created anew after the image of God, that is. in the image of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, feels in himself three principles of activity. First, a principle of life, which he hath in common with all other animals. Secondly, a principle of intelligence, which he hath in common with devils. And thirdly, a principle of love, which he hath in common with holy angels. These three principles, replaced in their natural order, and purified by grace, constitute what the sacred writers call “the new creature.” The first, the most radical, the most central of the three principles, from whence the other two proceed, is particularly the image of the Father. The second, which flows from the first, is particularly the image of the Son. And the third, which proceeds from the other two, with which it harmonises, though always perfectly distinct, is particularly the image of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, who is the Spirit of love, of peace, of joy, and of perfection, and who, by his holy presence, accomplishes the mystery of piety in the souls of those who are baptized with fire, in the name and power of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
These three principles residing at once in a soul, of which they compose the essence, one of them may operate with vigour, when the other two remain inactive: as in those visionary distractions, which we call dreams; and when a pious person is struck with an apoplexy, his intellect and his will cease to act; or if seized with a burning fever, though his intellects may be deranged, his love appears always active. In his delirium he prays, he preaches, and endeavours the performance of good works. In a person completely renewed in the image of Jesus Christ, these three principles are always in perfect harmony, for “true wisdom,” and “pure love,” ceaselessly flow from what St. Paul calls the “life of God.” Thus in God, the Word and the Holy Spirit are always in the Father, as the Father is always in each of the other two. If this union be considered, it will be in no way surprising, that, in the Holy Scriptures, the Father, the Word, and the Divine Spirit, are equally named God, as only making one and the same Jehovah. The mystery of the incarnation did not annihilate the divinity of the Word; we owe Divine honours to the Son of Mary, because the Word united himself with his soul in a manner the most intimate, and because “it pleased the ever - blessed God, that in Jesus Christ should dwell all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” in order that in the kingdom of grace a plenitude of life, of wisdom, and of love should reside in Christ, Colossians 1:19, and 2:9, as in the kingdom of nature, a plenitude of vivifying energy, of light, and of heat, resides in the sun.
“But I do not see (says a philosophers how the Word, who was from all eternity with the Father, could be at one and the same time in heaven and on earth; in the bosom of the Father, and in the child Jesus.”
There are many other things which you do not understand, which are nevertheless true. You do not comprehend how your Father communicated to you life, and the power of thought and reasoning: you do not understand how the lustre of the sun can be at one and the same time in the whole atmosphere, and in your eyes. For my part, I can not conceive in what manner any soul can make its will, (to speak so,) incarnate with my hand, so as to move it at pleasure; since the same union does not subsist between my will and my ears: if I cannot fathom this little mystery of my being, shall I be surprised if there are depths in the Supreme Being which I cannot fathom?
A savage, who hath no knowledge of pen, ink, and paper, carries the will of his master sealed in a letter. This to him is an impenetrable mystery, which astonishes his reason. We shall cease to be surprised, when we emerge from the deep gulfs of our ignorance. There will come a time, perhaps, when the savages of the moral world shall be so far enlightened by the Gospel, as to comprehend how the Almighty could unite his eternal Word to the spotless soul of Mary’s Son, as we can now understand how men can commit their thoughts to paper, and transmit them to future generations.
“But why did not God explain to us the whole mystery?” Such a question is worthy of the savage, who might demand, Why did not my master unfold to me all the mystery of the sealed paper, which contained his will? Here is an answer to such a question: God will not satisfy our curiosity; first, because he requires of us the “obedience of faith,” and not the impertinence of pride; and secondly, because he wills man to make use of a method for his restoration, opposed to that which lost him his perfection and bliss. Is it not reasonable, that a being who involved himself in ruin, through “believing the father of lies,” should restore himself by “believing the God of truth?” The first man hazarded his felicity upon the declarations of the tempter; and ought we not to hazard our misery upon a hundred declarations of the Redeemer? Do we not daily see sick persons put their lives into the hands of a physician, who is almost, yea, sometimes, altogether unknown to them?
“But I would not trust to the physician of which you speak: the person to whom I trusted should not be a quack.” I answer, that if you do not sufficiently feel your sins and miseries, so as to impel you to run the risk, you cannot believe in Jesus Christ; because he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He comforteth not those who are at ease, but those who are weary and heavy laden. Nevertheless, the time will come, when, if you harden not your heart, you shall feel your danger and disease; when you shall be as much charmed with submission to Jesus Christ as Naaman, the leprous general, was in submitting to the venerable prophet; when you shall feel that in order to find health of soul and a foretaste of eternal life, you must know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, John 17:3. For regeneration, without which none can see the kingdom of heaven, is nothing more than the re - establishing of the soul in that happy state, when impressed with the image of God, she has not only the life of the Father, as her principle of life, but also the light of the Son to illuminate her understanding, and the love of the “Holy Spirit” to regulate her will.
It is very evident that life flows eminently from the Father, light from the Son, and Divine love from the “Holy Spirit,” if we consult the three following quotations: John 6:57; John 1:9; Romans 5:5. To reject the Son and the “Holy Spirit,” when the Gospel is preached, is to rest contented with a life altogether defective, a life not perfected by the living light of grace and the sweetness of love: such is the life of devils, of infidels, and of proud Pharisees.