I truthfully have never heard of Henry Scougal. I believe I ended up putting “The Life of God in the Soul of Man” in my amazon wish list due to a sermon by Leonard Ravenhill as he is always referencing different books to read. But boy am I glad I did.
Overview
Scougal begins by defining the word: religion. Now you have to understand that this book was written in the mid 1600’s where ‘Religion’ had a different meaning. Today the word denotes a set of rigid rules that you must follow in order to be deemed: “religious”. But Scougal takes those definitions, throws them away, and presents the reader with the true definition of religion:
“True religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation of the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul, or, in the apostle’s phrase, ‘It is Christ formed within us.’”
Henry Scougal
To this definition he gives a phrase: “The Divine Life”. He then goes on to define ‘life’ and then, of course, ‘divine’. It’s called ‘Life’ “because of its permanency and stability.” And it’s called ‘Divine’ because it partakes of the “image of the Almighty shining in the soul of man…”
He finishes up his overview by comparing the Divine Life with the Natural Life (or what he will call our “animal life”). The Natural Life being the life which our flesh, in all it’s corruption, in naturally inclined towards. After summing this up he goes on to define the Divine Life in action.
The Divine Life Actions
Simply put, Scougal says: “The root of the divine life is faith; the chief branches are love to God, charity to man, purity, and humility:” The rest of the discourse of this small book is on those 4 branches. He does so by first looking intently at the life of our Lord Jesus Christ and how His life was the perfect example of the divine life and these 4 branches.
After this he goes into a discourse of the greatness of all 4 branches and how powerfully they affect the life of man.
Living the Divine Life
Once this is finished it is as if Scougal has just described Mount Everest to his readers in all it’s glory and now it is our task to climb it. Understandably we may have some fears, doubts, reserves, etc. So Scougal seeks to do away with those fears. He exhorts us to depend upon Divine Assistance saying: “The Holy Ghost must come upon us, and the power of the Highest must overthrow us, before that holy thing can be begotten, and Christ be formed in us. But yet we must not expect that this whole work should be done without any concurring endeavors of our own.”
Things then get practical with headings of his writings such as:
“We must know what things are sinful”
“We must keep a constant watch over ourselves”
“We must often examine our actions”
“We must strive to put ourselves out of love with the world”
“We should meditate on God’s goodness and love” and many others.
Finally he ends with a slight curve at the end with a final exhortation. That is, use of the Holy Sacrament, the bread and the cup. I don’t know about you but there wasn’t a huge emphasis on the bread and the cup in my local church. We would certainly do it and while doing it there was always a serious solemn aroma but it was never done super often. Scougal thinks this a great tragedy. Saying: “Certainly the neglect or careless performance of this duty, is one of the chief causes that bedwarfs our religion, and makes us continue of so low a size.”
Conclusion
I’ve never highlighted a book as much as this one. And it’s only 49 pages. It is always the simple ones that hit the hardest. It gave me conviction, encouragement, and hope to press on into Jesus and continue to be formed in His image. I would highly recommend getting this book for your own walk with Him.
One warning: It is easy to read these sort of books and get puffed up intellectually. You may “understand” the divine life but that certainly does not equate with having it. It also is important to note that no matter the practical devices he gives you in this book to better assist you in the Divine Life it is all for naught if you neglect the only book that has the power for: “reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” the Holy Word of God. Reading Scougal 100,000 times is not worthy to be compared to one sentence in that Blessed Book. Give yourself to the study of it and you will find the Divine Life so long as you place your life under it.