The Life of God in the Soul of Man Quotes

“The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love. He who loveth mean and sordid things doth thereby become base and vile, but a noble and well-placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit into a conformity with the perfections which it loves.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“The god of love had shot all his arrows, but could never pierce his heart, till at length he put himself into the bow.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“[Love, basically, is love of God]: a delightful and affectionate sense of the divine perfections, which makes the soul resign and sacrifice itself wholly unto him, desiring above all things to please him, and delighting in nothing so much as in fellowship and communion with him, and being ready to do or suffer anything for his sake, or at his pleasure ... A soul thus possessed with divine love must needs be enlarged towards all mankind ... this is ... charity ... under which all parts of justice, all the duties we owe to our neighbour, are eminently comprehended; for he who doth truly love all the world ... so far from wrongdoing or injuring any person ... will resent any evil that befalls others, as if it happened to himself.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“Christians know by experience that true religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation in 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, Life of God in the Soul of Man

“let us resign and yield ourselves up unto him a thousand times, to be governed by his laws, and disposed of at his pleasure; and though our stubborn hearts should start back and refuse, yet let us tell him we are convinced that his will is always just and good; and, therefore, desire him to do with us whatsoever he pleaseth, whether we will or not. And so, for begetting in us a universal charity towards men, we must be frequently putting up wishes for their happiness, and blessing every person that we see; and when we have done any thing for the relief of the miserable, we may second it with earnest desires, that God would take care of them, and deliver them out of all their distresses.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“The true way to improve and ennoble our souls is, by fixing our love on the divine perfections, that we may have them always before us, and derive an impression of them on ourselves; and, "beholding with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we may be changed into the same image, from glory to glory.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“first produce, and doth still establish and uphold the same. When we reflect upon ourselves, let us consider that we are not a mere piece of organized matter, a curious and well-contrived engine; that there is more in us than flesh, and blood, and bones, even a divine spark, capable to know, and love, and enjoy our Maker; and though it be now exceedingly clogged with its dull and lumpish companion, yet ere long it shall be delivered, and can subsist without the body, as well as that can do without the clothes which we throw off at our pleasure. Let us often withdraw our thoughts from this earth, this scene of misery, and folly, and sin, and raise them towards that more vast and glorious world, whose innocent and blessed inhabitants solace themselves eternally in the divine presence, and know no other passions, but an unmixed joy and an unbounded love. And then consider how the blessed Son of God came down to this lower world to live among us, and die for us, that he might bring us to a portion of the same felicity; and think how he hath overcome the sharpness of death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, and is now set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, and yet is not the less mindful of us, but receiveth our prayers, and presenteth them unto his Father, and is daily visiting his church with the influences of his Spirit, as the sun reacheth us with his beams.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“Again, Love is accompanied with trouble, when it misseth a suitable return of affection. Love is the most valuable thing we can bestow, and by giving it, we do, in effect, give all that we have; and therefore it must needs be afflicting to find so great a gift despised, that the present which one hath made of his whole heart, cannot prevail to obtain any return. Perfect love is a kind of self-dereliction, a wandering out of ourselves; it is a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to himself, and all his own interests, nor thinking of them, nor caring for them any more, and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves. Thus he is quite undone, unless he meets with reciprocal affection; he neglects himself, and the other hath no regard to him: but if he be beloved, he is revived, as it were, and liveth in the soul and care of the person whom he loves; and now he begins to mind his own concernments, not so much because they are his, as because the beloved is pleased to own an interest in them: he becomes dear unto himself, because he is so unto the other.

But why should I enlarge in so known a matter? Nothing can be more clear than that the happiness of love depends on the return it meets with: and herein the divine lover hath unspeakably the advantage, having placed his affection on him whose nature is love, whose goodness is as infinite as his being, whose mercy prevented us when we were his enemies, therefore cannot choose but embrace us when we are become his friends. It is utterly impossible that God should deny his love to a soul wholly devoted to him, and which desires nothing so much as to serve and please him; he cannot disdain his own image, nor the heart in which it is engraven. Love is all the tribute which we can pay him, and it is the sacrifice which he will not despise.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“The Life of God in the Soul of Man By Henry Scougal”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“«Prefiero ver las marcas reales de una naturaleza divina en mi propia alma que tener una visión del Cielo o un ángel enviado para decirme que mi nombre fue inscrito en el Libro de la Vida».”
― Henry Scougal, La Vida de Dios en el Alma del Hombre: Traducción Completa por Legado Bautista Confesional

“The success of his conference with her, and the accession that was made to the kingdom of God, filled his mind with such delight, as seemed to have redounded to his very body, refreshing his spirits, and making him forget the thirst whereof he complained before, and refuse the meat which he had sent his disciples to buy.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“Love is that powerful and prevalent passion by which all the faculties and inclinations of the soul are determined, and on which both its perfection and happiness depend. The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love: he who loveth mean and sordid things doth thereby become base and vile; but a noble and well-placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit unto a conformity with the perfections which it loves.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, or the Nature and Excellency of the Christian Religion

“[Humility means] a deep sense of our own meanness, with a hearty [sincere (Johnson)] and affectionate [strongly moved; warm; zealous (Johnson)] acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the divine bounty [generosity; liberality; munificence (Johnson)]; which is always accompanied with a profound submission to the will of God, and great deadness to the glory of the world, and the applause of men.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“[Purity is] a due abstractedness from the body and mastery over the inferior appetites ... such a temper and disposition of mind as makes a man despise and abstain from all pleasures and delights of sense or fancy which are sinful in themselves, or tend to ... lessen our relish of more divine and intellectual [he means, God-centred and rational] pleasures, which doth also infer a resoluteness to undergo all those hardships he may meet with in the performance of his duty: so that not only chastity and temperance, but also Christian courage and magnanimity may come under this head.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“¡Qué placer infinito debe ser perderse en Él, y, al ser, por así decirlo, tragado en la imponente sensación de su bondad, ofrecernos como sacrificio vivo, siempre ascendiendo hacia Él en llamas de amor!”
― Henry Scougal, La vida de Dios en el alma del Hombre: Una traducción fiel y moderna Revisión 2019

“El amor perfecto es una especie de autodestrucción, un ausentarse de uno mismo; es una especie de muerte voluntaria en la que el amante muere para sí mismo, y para todos sus intereses, y ni siquiera piensa ni se preocupa más por ellos, y no tiene más interés que agradar y complacer al objeto de su amor.”
― Henry Scougal, La vida de Dios en el alma del Hombre: Una traducción fiel y moderna Revisión 2019

“other, in conjunction wherewith it thinks to be happy; and were it once rent from the world, and all the bewitching enjoyments under the sun, it would quickly search after some higher and more excellent object, to satisfy its”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“A soul thus possessed with divine love, must needs be enlarged, toward all mankind, in a sincere and unbounded affection, because of the relation they have to God, being his creatures, and having something of his image stamped upon them; and this is that charity I named as the second branch of religion, and under which all the parts of justice, all the duties we owe to our neighbour, are eminently comprehended: for he who doth truly love all the world, will be nearly concerned in the interest of every one; and so far from wronging or injuring any person, that he will resent any evil that befals others, as if it happened to himself.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“petulancy”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“As for the hardships they may meet with, they rejoice in them, as opportunities to exercise and testify their affection; and since they are able to do so little for God, they are glad of the honor to suffer for him.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“Had I my choice of all things that might tend to my present felicity, I would pitch upon this, to have my heart possessed with the greatest kindness and affection towards all men in the world. I”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man

“had rather see the real impressions of a God-like nature upon my own soul, than have a vision from heaven, or an angel sent to tell me that my name was enrolled in the book of life.”
― Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man