The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human NatureJames, William
ReligionComparative
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
James, William
Conversion; Experience (Religion); Philosophy and religion; Psychology, Religious; Religion
“One Sabbath, I went to hear the Methodist at the Academy. He
spoke of the ushering in of the day of general judgment; and he
set it forth in such a solemn and terrible manner as I never heard
before. The scene of that day appeared to be taking place, and so
awakened were all the powers of my mind that, like Felix, I
trembled involuntarily on the bench where I was sitting, though I
felt nothing at heart. The next day evening I went to hear him
again. He took his text from Revelation: ‘And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God.’ And he represented the terrors
of that day in such a manner that it appeared as if it would melt
the heart of stone. When he finished his discourse, an old
gentleman turned to me and said, ‘This is what I call preaching.’
I thought the same; but my feelings were still unmoved by what he
said, and I did not enjoy religion, but I believe he did.
“I will now relate my experience of the power of the Holy Spirit
which took place on the same night. Had any person told me
previous to this that I could have experienced the power of the
Holy Spirit in the manner which I did, I could not have believed
it, and should have thought the person deluded that told me so. I
went directly home after the meeting, and when I got home I
wondered what made me feel so stupid. I retired to rest soon after
I got home, and felt indifferent to the things of religion until I
began to be exercised by the Holy Spirit, which began in about
five minutes after, in the following manner:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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