Pilgrim, I don't disagree with most of what you say and give it a hearty amen! There is danger on the right and on the left with regard to every teaching in the scripture, and nothing is perhaps more difficult to discern accurately than our own religious experiences, hence the emphasis the wise have always given to judging our state and condition primarily by our trust in God and His Christ and ongoing progress in holiness. But still I find the puritans and others like MLJ and Spurgeon spoke quite a bit about intimate experience with the Triune God. And they encouraged their people to seek God, expecting Him to manifest Himself experimentally from time to time to them. As an example, they pretty much all used the Song of Solomon to describe the normal Christian life experience. Funny we don't hear much about that these days, though 150 years ago it was standard teaching. Spurgeons sermon library alone has around 100 sermons on the SOS. So while of course there is alway a real danger of false experiences, if we seek God aright and only hope for experiential knowledge of Him as an additional confirmation of our interest in Him, I think He will lead us into a true experience of Himself. And there are many good tests the older writers gave to help us know if we are on the right track in this regard.
Blessings! Dan