It is remarkable to observe how differently this natural principle will carry those who are wholly guided by it, depending on the various circumstances that shape them. And failing to consider this often leads to very dangerous mistakes, making people think well of themselves because of the apparent difference between themselves and others — when perhaps their actions all flow from one and the same source.
✦ One and the Same Source
Scougal warns: the natural life does not look the same in every person. Some are frivolous. Some are grave. Some are rough and sour. Some are sweet and kind. And the danger is that the naturally virtuous person mistakes natural temperament for divine life. The actions look different — but the source is the same: self-love, dressed in different clothing. 🙏
Not everyone is born with bitter and unhappy dispositions, for some people have a certain sweetness and kindness rooted in their natures.
And it is a good thing that nature has provided this inborn tenderness, to make up for the lack of true charity in the world, and to incline people to do something for one another's welfare.
I have known many people that have a certain sweetness and kindness rooted in their natures — and they firstly reject the need of God. I don't really understand this, because I always felt the call of God in my life. Why is that so?
Jesus called His disciples with His words. 🙏
Le asks the question Scougal's teaching raises: why do the naturally kind reject God, while she always felt the call? And she answers it herself: Jesus called His disciples with His words. The call is not produced by natural sweetness. The call comes from outside the self — from His voice. The naturally kind person has something beautiful — but it is natural, not divine. And the reason Le always felt the call is not in Le — it is in the One who called. John 15:16 — you did not choose Me, but I chose you.
If this natural principle once gets hold of reason, and enlists intelligence and judgment on its side, it will often disdain the cruder vices, and spring up into attractive imitations of virtue and goodness.
One may follow the rules of moral justice in dealing with others, as the best way to protect his own interests and maintain his standing in the world.
✦ Attractive Imitations
Scougal names the most sophisticated counterfeit: self-love that has hired reason as its consultant. The crude vices are abandoned — not because the soul hates sin but because intelligent self-love recognizes that excess damages health, wealth, and reputation. The behavior improves. The source does not change. The imitation is attractive. And the attraction is the danger. 🙏
This natural principle may incline a person to the careful study of divine truths — for why should these not be as pleasant and interesting to curious and inquiring minds as any other subject of study?
It may make people zealous in defending whatever opinions they have adopted. It may make them delight in hearing and composing fine discourses about matters of religion, for eloquence is pleasing whatever the subject.
Indeed, it may raise some people to no small height of felt devotion. The glorious things that are spoken of heaven may make even a worldly heart fall in love with it; the images of crowns and scepters and rivers of pleasure will easily stir a person's imagination and make him wish to be there, even though he neither understands nor truly desires those spiritual pleasures.
And when such a person comes to believe that Christ has purchased those glorious things for him, he may feel a kind of tenderness toward so great a benefactor, and imagine that he is deeply enamored with Him, and yet all the while remain a stranger to the holy temper and spirit of the blessed Jesus.
The highest rung of the counterfeit ladder: felt devotion without the holy temper of Jesus. Tears in worship. Warmth in prayer. Delight in Scripture. All produced by the natural life assisted by imagination. The test Scougal implies is not: do you feel devoted? The test is: has the holy temper of Jesus been formed in you? Not the feelings about Jesus — the character of Jesus. Not the imagination of heaven — the life of heaven begun on earth.
There is nothing that might make a person's life pleasant, or himself distinguished and admired in the world, that this natural principle, assisted by intelligence and reason, cannot prompt him to do.
And though I do not condemn these things in themselves, yet it deeply concerns us to understand their nature — so that we may never value ourselves on account of such attainments, nor make our religion rest on our natural abilities or performances.
Nor make our religion rest on our natural abilities or performances. 🙏
Le circled Scougal's closing warning because she has lived it. Do not make your religion rest on natural abilities or performances. The natural sweetness is not the divine life. The intellectual grasp of theology is not the divine life. The felt devotion is not the divine life. The divine life is the beam. The drop. Christ formed within. The call that Le heard was not her natural ability. It was His voice. And the religion that rests on that voice — not on performance, not on ability, not on temperament — is the real thing.
"Jesus called His disciples with His words."
Le · Caldas da Rainha · June 23, 2026 · The call was His — not the product of natural sweetnessAttractive Imitations
Self-love assisted by reason can produce beautiful moral behavior. The imitation is attractive. And the attraction is the danger — because the source has not changed.
Even Religion
The natural life can produce theology, zeal, eloquent sermons, and felt devotion. But the soul may remain a stranger to the holy temper of Jesus.
The Call Was His
Why do naturally kind people reject God? Because the call is not temperament. Jesus called His disciples with His words. The reason is in the One who called.
Do Not Rest
Never make religion rest on natural abilities or performances. The natural life can counterfeit everything except the transformation.