Scriptural Sanctification - Media Sabda Org

SCRIPTURAL SANCTIFICATION:
An
Attempted Solution of the Holiness Problem
By The
Rev. John R. Brooks, D.D.
Chapter 12
THE EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF EXPERIENCE
There has of late been manifested a marked disposition to undervalue, if not to discard, the
testimony of Christian experience. For this reason we think it well to devote a chapter to a discussion
of the scriptural warrant for resorting to such testimony, as well as to its great value in settling such
questions as the one under discussion. We would do this before introducing any witnesses.
It will hardly be denied that of all attainable knowledge, that which we derive from experience
is the most satisfactory. Also that of all evidence to the truth of any theory, that which results from
an experiment is the most conclusive and convincing. Hence all sober philosophers, instead of
perpetually speculating as to the truth of a given theory, wherever it is, practicable, resort to
experimental tests of its truth. Indeed, it is regarded as unphilosophical and unwise to rely entirely
on abstract reasoning in any department of thought, where experiment is practicable. Hence all
physical science is occupied with experiments. If any scientist wishes to ascertain the truth of any
theory submitted to him by another or suggested by the phenomena of nature, he at once applies his
experimental tests. For example, if a chemist comes into possession of a substance of the qualities
of which he is ignorant, he throws it into his crucible and subjects it to certain testing processes by
which he satisfactorily determines its nature.
There are also tests somewhat similar to these in mental science. A man who is skilled in logic
can by analysis test the soundness of any argument that has been reduced to words. By throwing it
into the crucible of a syllogism, he can as certainly detect fallacy in the reasoning as the chemist can
discover dross in the metal he is testing.
This is true, too, of questions of social science, where the emotions are more directly involved.
Take, for example, the simple question of love for offspring. Should a mother doubt her love for the
babe she folds to her bosom, such doubt is quickly removed when God, by laying his afflicting hand
on the babe, throws this question into the crucible of parental consciousness. Solomon, in the case
of the two claimants of the same child, promoted the ends of justice by his resort to such an
experiment.
Why, then, may not experiment be practicable and its resulting experience valuable in matters of
religion? For, as one has truly said, if there be any such thing as a religion that is adapted to our
wants, it must fall into the department of matter or mind. Its theories, doctrines, and facts must,
hence, report themselves to our intellectual or spiritual consciousness, and may, consequently, be
a matter of continual experiment and constant experience.