On Experience -- its Use, its Neglect, and its Abuse
H. W. Beecher. Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen… I. Under the first head, that of its use, it may be said, in general, THAT THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE SO USEFUL AS THAT WHICH IS GAINED BY EXPERIENCE. 1. Events are better remembered than precepts, and indeed it seems but just that that acquisition should turn out to be valuable which is so often dearly paid for with tears. He who heeds not the warnings of his elders, or his books, to abstain from excess, may be taught by sickness a lesson of moderation which he will not forget. Severe losses may now induce him to be prudent and provident who never till now could be brought to believe that prodigality begat want, or that riches had wings. 2. Besides the great personal benefits which flow from experience, it is also the source of more extended usefulness. For the guidance of life and conduct, there is no kind of wisdom which we can so confidently and beneficially communicate as the lessons of experience. And it is the high gratification of the virtuous old man that the trials which he has borne, the successes which he has enjoyed, place at his disposal the best means both of ensuring his own security, uprightness, and of relieving the perplexities and guiding the steps of the young and inexperienced. He who has gathered wisdom from many years can impart to others the legacies which each year has left him, and live while they are enjoyed, nor grow any poorer by making others richer. II. It is a melancholy truth, THAT WISDOM WHICH MAY BE SO EASILY, I MIGHT SAY NATURALLY, ACQUIRED IS OFTEN NEGLECTED; wisdom, too, which, as we have seen, is so useful in the direction of our conduct, and in our intercourse with others. There is hardly a more pitiable object than a man who cannot, or will not, learn wisdom from experience; one who, to use the expressions of our text, forgets the things which his eyes have seen, and they depart from his heart all the days of his life. To brood over our cares, and too fondly to indulge our sorrows, and thus unfit ourselves for the active duties of life, is indeed unchristian and irrational; but both religion and reason require us to contemplate and force instruction from every wayward event for our future security and quiet; like Jacob, to hold every heaven-sent grief with which we have wrestled, and not to let it go till it has blessed us. We are wrong in being always so very anxious to drive away unpleasant thoughts; we must let them remain till they have cured us; we might as well drive away the surgeon from our doors who came to perform a painful though necessary operation. We must learn to look upon the occurrences of life not as insulated facts, but as borrowing illustration from the past, and reflecting it upon the future. III. OF THE NEGLECT OF EXPERIENCE WE SHOULD SPEAK WITH CONCERN, WITH PITY, OR WITH REPROBATIONS — OF ITS ABUSE WE CAN SPEAK ONLY WITH THE MOST UNQUALIFIED ABHORRENCE. By the abuse of experience I mean experience in the arts of the world employed not to warn, but to ensnare the simple and unsuspecting, and experience of its vices employed not to admonish but to correct innocence. (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; WEB: Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children's children;