p. 102 | PRINCIPLE AND FEELING by Jos. Clarke

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 16, 1860

PRINCIPLE AND FEELING.

By Jos. Clarke

A PRINCIPLE is a rule and when applied to morals, means a rule of action. A person who lives without any fixed rules of life, as the libertine, the gambler, the drunkard &c., we call unprincipled persons because their passions (feelings) sway them. Such persons have no fixed rules. Their desires and natural feelings of heart impel them on to crime. Not so with the man of principle. He with fixed rules of action keeps the warm impulses (feelings) of his nature in subjection. He tries his feelings by the ten perfect rules of life, and when they do not agree with these rules, he hushes these servants into silence.

Fire is said to be a good servant but a hard master; so it is with feeling; when kept in subjection it is to the well disciplined mind what fire is to the steam engine; a stimulant, a powerful agent for good. But when feelings rule they are like the flames which envelope the handiwork of man, and consume his treasures, leaving distress and desolation in their train.

A man of principle may not always have as much feeling as is requisite to a well balanced character; yet if he perseveres in the cultivation of all the rules of life laid down in the Old and New Testaments, his feelings will eventually come up to the point required; for the faith of Jesus is an infallible guide to perfection; and perfection has its foundation in principle; and pure principles do when thoroughly carried out as surely beget right feelings, as does the sun cause the day.

Feelings are indispensable to practical godliness;

but this distinction must be kept in mind, that feeling be in subjection to principle, not principle swayed by feeling.

In the church of Christ are individuals who have various degrees of these qualities. To illustrate: A. is a person of warm feelings, but his principles need to be strengthened in order that he may be prepared to resist the temptations which are sure to overtake him; while on the other hand B. is a person of well established principles, but rather cold in his feelings. Now if A. and B. could but see their true positions, they would see that they are to be a mutual help to each other in the path of life. A.'s warmth of feeling should invigorate the cold nature of B. while at the same time A. should be strengthened by the vigorous manly piety and sound principles of his brother B.

Such being the true state of the case how very painful it is to see A. and B. wrangling, just because their characters are not equally balanced. A. accuses B. of want of feeling, while B. accuses A. of want of principle; thus the true object of the brotherhood is prostrated and Satan rejoices in having his own way.

Why brethren, we are differently constituted. There is a great variety of character among us, and God does not require that B. should be of the same height and weight of A., but be of the same mind in Christ; build up each the other. Peculiarities of character are not to be leveled by cutting B. down to the level of A., but by bringing these peculiar traits under the great law of love, and thus uniting the different members into one body.

Jos. Clarke.