The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1906-11-23
Subject: Personal Experience.

took as his text Jno. 4:42: Now We
believe, not because OF thy saying;
for We have heard Him ourselves, and
know that this is indeed the Christ.
the Saviour OF the world" He said:
The final proof of the value OF the
Gospel 10 the individual lies in per-
sonal experience. The one test which,
above all others, warrants a man 10
hail Jesus or 10 deny Him, is that of
real knowledge directly acquired. No
man is fit 10 flaunt Christianity as
a farce who has not first observed
the rules incidental 10 the living Of
the Christ life. He is the best advo-
cate of the beauties OF the Christian
economy who has been loyal TO his
Lords commands.
The consensus OF Christians is the
result of common experience. We,
as citizens of the kingdom of God,
hold fast and together certain for
mulas of faith because We have, each
for himself, as individuals, found
valuable for us those working prin-
Ciples that We maintain. The church
universal represents, in its funda-
mental dogmas, the opinions of myr-
lad men who have, through the pro-
cess of individual experience, reached
a common ground of belief. The
church catholic is divided upon Sec
ondary tenets according TO the yari-
eties of secondary Christian religious
experience among men who assert al
legiance TO the central truths. In the
broad sense, all of us who believe in
and serve Christ, are Christians be-
cause We each recognize as per-
sonal experience the truths which
Christianity asserts TO be fundamen-
tai. | am a Presbyterian and you
are q Methodist, not because our
views are different at the vitals, but
because our secondary experiences
are unlike. The Christian Church
is an aggregation of men who see
Jesus with the same eye and who find
in Him and in His power in their
lives bonds which link them fast.
And any sect or denomination Of
Christians is but the congregation of
some of the followers of Christ
around a secondary tenet that is alive
with their own peculiar doctrine, the
result of an individual experience.
At the bottom of it all the moving
principle is personal experience. No
man is a good Christian who has not
had contact with Christ. No man
terianism save he who has had the
experience common TO all who hold
that creed. 1t is a wise thing for
man who honestly differs from his
fellow men; it is a sensible thing for
a Christian who earnestly and reason
ably disagrees with his fellow fol-
lowers of Christ; to examine his con-
clusion-that is TO say, his creed, his
IL iG u Wi a ND
determine whether or no they mirror
correctly his personal experiences.
But merely because man finds him
self at variance with the world of
men about him is no sign that he has
misinterpreted his experiences or is
wrong. The prophets were perse-
cuted not because they were wrong
but because they framed from the
facts at hand conclusions that the
Hebrews did not care TO admit as ten
able. Calico got into trouble be-
cause Ptolemaists thought him crazy.
The world was called fiat until a
dauntless soul declared it round.
Luther would never have nailed the
ninety-five theses to the door Of the
church at Wittenberg had he not
been true to the truth as he saw 1t.
And these men were, as are many
men to-day, dead wrong in their be-
liefs as measured by the standards OF
the past.
The results attained in all depart
ments of knowledge are the outcome
uf the personal experience of indi-
viduals. A scientific law may be the
declaration by a single man OF truth
proven out of the records Of his per-
verified by the experience OF any
other man-not infrequently at first
It is But this much is sure: that
any law that has the assent OF any
society is based entirely upon the
experiences Of individual men who
have perceived and been influenced
by similar phenomena in their sep
arate lives.
All the knowledge that we have
and all the laws that we accept at
second hand are. at bottom, founded
upon the research and personal inves-
tigation and experience Of some sim
gle man or some set OF men To say
that we accept mlny truths at second
hand in no way Injuries our argument.
All that we receive upon the asser-
tions OF other men is so taken be-
cause we have faith in the validity
OF their conclusions as being the di-
rect result OF their personal expert
ences. Repetition is never so In
spring or convincing as is the dictum
OF the first source And the only
value that re-statement has Is gained
from the personal knowledge out OF
which IL springs. BY virtue OF the
multiplicity of the demands on our
time we have 70 rest much OF re-
ceiyed truth upon the decisions Of
other meL; but. in the providence of
God. we may prove accepted truth II
we will I'm the investigation and the
delineation OF our own personal ex-
periences.
40 man. however, IS entitled to ar
firm or 90 deny the value Of a de-
cIar.d truth unless he has either met
10 the full the requirements OF each
condition or accepted the opinion OF
some original investigator who has
fulfilled all Incidental demands How
silly IL would be for man. Untutore1
and IMMERSED in tho sciences 10 set