By this time I hope it is clear that religion is rightly called a life, or a vital principle, and that it is very necessary to distinguish between this and that obedience which is forced, and depends on causes outside the soul.
✦ A Vital Principle — Not Forced Obedience
Scougal summarizes what the last three entries have built: true religion is a life, not a performance. The obedience that matters is not the obedience that is forced from outside — by threats, by laws, by the expectations of others. The obedience that matters is the obedience that flows from within — because the divine life is alive in the soul. 🙏
I come next to explain why I call it a Divine Life. It may be called divine not only because of its source and origin — having God for its author, and being brought about in the souls of men by the power of His Holy Spirit — but also because of its nature, religion being a likeness of the divine perfections, the image of the Almighty shining in the soul of man.
Indeed, it is a real participation of His nature; it is a beam of the eternal light, a drop of that infinite ocean of goodness; and those who possess it may be said to have "God dwelling in their souls, and Christ formed within them."
What a great book. That's all I can say. 🙏
Scougal makes the distinction that matters: the divine life is not called divine merely because God started it — the way a carpenter might start a chair and then walk away. It is called divine because it IS God's own nature living in the soul. Not a copy. Not an imitation. A real participation. A beam — not reflected light but a piece of the light itself. A drop — not water that looks like the ocean but water that IS the ocean. The divine life is divine because it is God Himself — dwelling, shining, forming Christ within.
"It is a beam of the eternal light, a drop of that infinite ocean of goodness."
Henry Scougal · The Life of God in the Soul of Man · The soul as dwelling placeBefore I come to a closer consideration of that divine life, it will perhaps be useful to speak briefly of that natural or animal life which prevails in those who are strangers to the other.
By this I mean nothing else but our inclination and tendency toward the things that are pleasing and agreeable to our nature — or self-love, spreading itself out into as many branches as we have appetites and desires.
Basically, we are animals. 🙏
Scougal draws the line between the two lives with surgical precision. The natural life is not evil in the dramatic sense. It is simply the self at the center — self-love branching into every desire, every appetite, every inclination. The difference between the natural life and the divine life is not the difference between bad behavior and good behavior. It is the difference between the self at the center and God at the center. The divine life replaces the gravitational pull. The beam replaces the shadow. And the soul that was an animal — becomes a dwelling place.
But man, being made for higher purposes and meant to be guided by more excellent laws, becomes guilty when he is so carried away by the inclinations of this lower life as to violate his duty, or neglect the higher and nobler designs of his creation.
Our natural desires are not to be entirely rooted out and destroyed, but only to be moderated and governed by a higher and more excellent principle.
In a word, the difference between a religious person and a wicked one is this: in the one, the divine life holds sway; in the other, the natural life prevails.
This is where Scougal parts company with the harsh ascetics. He does NOT say destroy the natural desires. Govern them. The natural desires were given by God — they are part of the creation. But without the divine life governing them, they run wild. Self-love takes the wheel.
The religious person and the wicked person both have the same natural desires. The difference is which life is on the throne. The same desires. Different governor. That is the whole difference.
"In the one, the divine life holds sway; in the other, the natural life prevails."
Henry Scougal · The whole difference — who holds swayA Beam — A Drop
The divine life is not a copy of God's nature. It is a real participation — a beam of the eternal light, a drop of the infinite ocean. God Himself dwelling in the soul.
The Animal Life
Self-love spreading into every appetite and desire. Not evil in the dramatic sense — simply the self at the center. The difference is not behavior. It is who holds sway.
Govern, Not Destroy
Natural desires are not to be rooted out. They are to be governed by a higher principle. The divine life does not annihilate the human. It elevates the human.
Who Holds Sway
The religious and the wicked have the same natural desires. The difference: which life is on the throne. The divine life holds sway — or the natural life prevails.