Arizona republican., 1909-06-28
FAITH IN THE LORD
COMES OF EXPERIENCE
The Sermon of Rev. Henry Martyr
Campbell Yesterday Morning.

Rev Henry NJ. Campbell, pastor OF
the First Presbyterian church, yester-
day morning preached on the theme,
Argument from Experience" using as
text part of the twenty-fifth
verse of the ninth chapter of the
Gospel of John. zone thing | know,
that. whereas | was blind, now
see" Following is an outline of the
sermon.
This story of the blind man is
familiar to us; how, to the question
Of his disciples as to whether this
man or his parents had sinned that he
was born blind, Christ answered that
il was To the end that the works of
God might be made manifest in him
that he was thus afflicted. Then
Jesus made clay, anointed his eyes,
and sent him to wash and his sight
was restored. The Jews tried To prove
to the once blind man that Jesus was
a sinner, because he had done this on
the Sabbath day The mans answer
was, whether he be a sinner or no, |
know not; one thing / know, that,
whereas | was blind, now ] see /
have chosen these words for the spe-
cial purpose of strengthening our
faith in the word of God. In this age
of the world there are many indiVid-
uals and organizations of individuals
who are unwilling to receive Gods
truth; they seem not to be able to
endure sound doctrine. Here is the
dilemma. that We have to face, Is the
Old Book true If it is of God, it will
stand. If it is not Gods book, we do
not want il to stand. Sometimes we
are constrained to cry out, If the
foundations be removed, what can the
righteous do?' But, the foundations
have not been removed.
Let us take as our theme, The ar
gument from experience let US con-
slider what it is; and let us apply ii
in various relations.
What is the argument from expert
ence? II is not hard to understand.
II depends for its strength upon evi-
dence that comes to us through our
senses. We taste, feel, smell see, or
hear, We know That is the argument
Of experience IL is the strongest ar
gument from which we can learn
anything. Last year when the air
ship had sailed around over Phoenix
and gone back 10 its place on the
fair grounds you did not hear any
fancy. Seeing was believing Were |
to tell you that mercury could be
frozen in red-hOt crucible. you
might doubt it; but when you saw it
actually done you would not hesitate
to believe 1.-THE argument Of eX-
perlence You are sick, you cannot
prove il by the rule of three but you
know 1.-THE argument of experience
Never doubt, so long as you live that
the argument from experience is as
as anything that we know
about.
Let us apply the thought. There
are a great many men who boast If
their intellectual power, but say that
50 far as they can see, there is no
reality in the religion of the Lord
Jesus Christ. There is one thing that
is constantly bothering them, how
ever, that is the fact that there are
of men throughout the
world who are just as big-brained
Just as learned just as powerful. who
say that the religion Of the Lord Jesus
Christ is all real and they know it is
true. The unbelievers have failed to
consider the argument of experience.
Let us look at the Word of God as
regards its prophesies. its promises,
and its preservation. You will be con-
WINGED that the test Of experience
holds for it and holds grandly. What
is prophecy? The telling Of what is
going to come to pass before it does
come to pass. God says in His Word,
1 will show you things to come.
Read the fifty third chapter of Isaiah,
noting the details in regard to the
life, death and burial of the Lord
Jesus Christ; then turn over to the
Gospels written many, many years
You will say that with
out a single doubt the prophecy was
fulfilled. Voltaire said that the pro-