But what words shall we find to express that inward satisfaction, those hidden pleasures, which can never be rightly understood except by the holy souls who feel them? "A stranger does not share in their joys" (Proverbs 14:10).
✦ Hidden Pleasures
Scougal confesses: words cannot reach the happiness of the divine life. A stranger does not share in their joys. It can only be understood by the souls who feel it. 🙏
Holiness is the right condition, the vigorous and healthy constitution of the soul.
Its faculties had formerly been weakened and disordered; the soul had exhausted itself with endless tossing and turning, and was never able to find any rest.
Now that the disease is removed, it feels itself well; there is proper harmony in its faculties, and a lively energy fills every part.
Scougal redefines holiness — not a special achievement but the healthy state of the soul. The unholy soul is not wicked in the dramatic sense — it is sick. Exhausted by tossing and turning. Unable to find rest. Holiness is not the addition of something extraordinary. It is the restoration of something natural. The disease is removed. And the soul — for the first time — feels itself well.
Love is that powerful and ruling passion by which all the faculties of the soul are directed.
The worth and excellence of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.
The one who loves cheap and low things becomes cheap and low himself, but a noble and well-placed affection lifts the spirit into a likeness of the perfections it loves.
The images of these perfections constantly present themselves to the mind, and by a secret force and energy, work their way into the very constitution of the soul, and shape it into their own likeness.
The true way to improve and ennoble our souls is by fixing our love on the divine perfections; and "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
"Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory." 🙏
Scougal and Paul say the same thing: we become like what we look at. The mirror does not just reflect — it transforms. The soul that beholds the glory of the Lord is being shaped by the beholding itself. Not by trying to change. By gazing. The mornings with the Word are the gazing. The evenings with the journal are the recording of what was seen. And the transformation — from glory to glory — is the secret work that happens while the soul looks. We do not become like God by trying. We become like God by looking at Him.
"The worth and excellence of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love."
Henry Scougal · We become what we behold — from glory to gloryLove is the greatest and most excellent thing we possess, and therefore it is folly to give it away cheaply.
It is indeed the only thing we can truly call our own: other things may be taken from us by force, but no one can seize our love.
And by giving our love, we give everything, since we hand over our hearts and wills. It is impossible to refuse anything to the one to whom we have given ourselves by love.
Love is the greatest and most excellent thing we possess. 🙏
Scougal names the one possession that cannot be seized: love. Health, wealth, home, country — all can be taken. The apartment can be sold. The address can change. But no one can seize the love. It belongs entirely to the soul. And when we give it to God — we give everything. Le gave her love at midnight in Lubbock. No one took it. She gave it. And no force — no extortion, no uprooting, no transition — can seize what was given freely to the One who received it.
One writer dares to say "that divine love does, in a way, give God to Himself, by the delight it takes in the happiness and perfection of His nature."
Certainly love is the worthiest gift we can offer to God, and it is greatly debased when we spend it on anything else.
✦ The Worthiest Gift
Scougal dares to say what only love can say: divine love gives God to Himself. The soul that delights in God's perfection gives God the gift of being delighted in. Not because God needs it. Because love that delights in the beloved is itself a gift to the beloved. The 500 denari soul — forgiven much, loving much — her love is not nothing. It is the worthiest gift she possesses. And she gave it freely, at midnight, and has never taken it back. 🙏
"Love is the greatest and most excellent thing we possess, and it is greatly debased when we spend it on anything else."
Henry Scougal · Love — the only thing that cannot be seized, the worthiest gift to GodHoliness Is Health
Not a special achievement but the healthy state of the soul. The disease removed. The harmony restored. The soul feels itself well.
We Become What We Behold
The worth of a soul is measured by the object of its love. Beholding the glory of the Lord — transformed into the same image. Not by trying. By gazing.
Love Cannot Be Seized
Other things may be taken by force. Love is the only thing truly our own. By giving our love we give everything. No one can seize what was given freely.
The Worthiest Gift
Love is the worthiest gift we can offer God. It is greatly debased when spent on anything else. Given at midnight — and never taken back.