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
“These discoveries continued until I went into the house and sat
down. After I sat down, being all in confusion, like a drowning
man that was just giving up to sink, and almost in an agony, I
turned very suddenly round in my chair, and seeing part of an old
Bible lying in one of the chairs, I caught hold of it in great
haste; and opening it without any premeditation, cast my eyes on
the 38th Psalm, which was the first time I ever saw the word of
God: it took hold of me with such power that it seemed to go
through my whole soul, so that it seemed as if God was praying in,
with, and for me. About this time my father called the family to
attend prayers; I attended, but paid no regard to what he said in
his prayer, but continued praying in those words of the Psalm. Oh,
help me, help me! cried I, thou Redeemer of souls, and save me, or
I am gone forever; thou canst this night, if thou pleasest, with
one drop of thy blood atone for my sins, and appease the wrath of
an angry God. At that instant of time when I gave all up to him to
do with me as he pleased, and was willing that God should rule
over me at his pleasure, redeeming love broke into my soul with
repeated scriptures, with such power that my whole soul seemed to
be melted down with love; the burden of guilt and condemnation was
gone, darkness was expelled, my heart humbled and filled with
gratitude, and my whole soul, that was a few minutes ago groaning
under mountains of death, and crying to an unknown God for help,
was now filled with immortal love, soaring on the wings of faith,
freed from the chains of death and darkness, and crying out, My
Lord and my God; thou art my rock and my fortress, my shield and
my high tower, my life, my joy, my present and my everlasting
portion. Looking up, I thought I saw that same light [he had on
more than one previous occasion seen subjectively a bright blaze
of light], though it appeared different; and as soon as I saw it,
the design was opened to me, according to his promise, and I was
obliged to cry out: Enough, enough, O blessed God! The work of
conversion, the change, and the manifestations of it are no more
disputable than that light which I see, or anything that ever I
saw.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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