Principles for Godly Living

This is a condensed excerpt from Henry Scougal’s book ‘The Life of God in the Soul of Man.’ The writing has been edited and paraphrased for modern readers. Scougal’s book provides a beautiful picture of godly living and the essence of Christian religion; the advice below is helpful for all believers who are pursuing holiness of life.

We must do what we can and depend on God’s help. It is true, religion is the immediate work of God; all our natural effort cannot produce it or merit his help. The Holy Spirit must come on us, and the power of the Highest must overshadow us, before Christ can be formed in us. However, we cannot expect that we are to do nothing.

We Must Shun All Manner of Sin – We must seriously resolve and carefully endeavor to avoid and abandon all immoral and sinful practices. There can be no treaty of peace until we lay down these weapons of rebellion which we use to fight against heaven.

We Must Know What Things are Sinful – Let us acquaint ourselves with the strict and holy laws of our religion, Let us consider the discourses of our blessed Savior (especially that divine Sermon on the Mount) and the writings of his holy apostles. In these writings, any thoughtful person can clearly understand how we must limit our actions. And then let us never look upon any sin as light and inconsiderable but be fully persuaded that the smallest sin is infinitely heinous in the sight of God and harmful to the souls of men.

We Must Resist the Temptations to Sin, by Considering the Evils They Will Draw on Us – There will be some sins which, to rid ourselves of them, will be like cutting off the right hand or pulling out the right eye to forsake them. But must we therefore sit down and wait till all difficulties are over and every temptation be gone? If we are not sufficiently motivated by the heinous nature of sin, let us at least be terrified by the dreadful consequences that come with sin!

We Must Keep a Constant Watch Over Ourselves – If we would have our resolutions take effect, we must take heed unto our ways, and set a watch before the door of our lips. We must examine with care the thoughts that arise in our hearts.

We Must Often Examine Our Actions – And more than this, we must also seriously consider our actions, both so that we can repent of our sins, but also so that we can learn better how to resist temptations, by considering how we have previously been led astray.

It is Fit to Restrain Ourselves in Many Lawful Things – We must do with ourselves as prudent parents with their children, who deny their children’s desires in many little unimportant things, in order to make them manageable and submissive in more important matters.

We Must Strive to Put Ourselves Out of Love with the World – Our next step must be to wean our affections from created things, and from all delights and entertainments of the lower life which sink and depress the souls of men and slow their motions towards God and heaven. And this we must do by coming to strongly believe in the vanity and emptiness of worldly enjoyments.

We Must Do Those Outward Actions That Are Commanded – It is always good to be doing what we can, for then God is likely to pity our weakness and assist our feeble endeavors. When true charity and humility and other graces of the divine Spirit take root in our souls, they will be forceful in us if we have learned to act in accordance with them. Nor should we be afraid of hypocrisy, even if our outward actions are sometimes done without full inward desire. Because, first, we are still acting out of a sense of duty toward God, and second, we are not intending to be hypocritical, but only to learn to be obedience as we should.

We Must Endeavor to Form Internal Acts of Devotion, Charity, etc. – Let us be often lifting up our hearts towards God. And if we cannot always say that we love him above all things, let us at least acknowledge that it is our duty and would be our happiness to do so.

Thoughtfulness is a Great Instrument of Religion – We must therefore work hard to form a serious belief and full certainty of divine truths, so that we would have a sense and feeling for spiritual things. Our thoughts must dwell on spiritual things, until we are convinced of them and deeply affected by them.

To Beget Love for God, We Must Consider the Excellency of His Nature – To inflame our souls with the love of God, let us consider the excellency of His nature and His love and kindness towards us. We know little of His divine perfection, but even that little can suffice to fill our souls with admiration and love. Let us therefore endeavor to raise our minds to the clearest conceptions of God’s nature. Let us consider all that His works declare and His Word reveals about Him to us, and let us especially contemplate that visible representation of Him, Jesus Christ.

We Should Meditate on God’s Goodness and Love – When we consider God’s favor and good-will towards us, we find that nothing is more powerful to make us love Him, than to find that He loves us. We should also frequently consider those particular tokens of his favor and love that God has bestowed on us.

To Beget Charity, We Must Remember that All Men Are Nearly Related to God – The lowliest and most contemptible person that we behold is the offspring of heaven, one of the children of the Most High. However unworthily such a person might behave, yet as long as God has not disowned him in the final judgment, God would have us to acknowledge that person as His offspring and show him genuine care. And further, remember that just as all men are in a way related to God, so they have his image stamped on them, which should cause us to love them.

To Beget Purity, We Should Consider the Dignity of Our Nature – Let us frequently ponder the excellency and dignity of our nature. What a shameful and unworthy thing it is for so noble and divine a creature as the soul of man to be sunk and immersed in brutish and sensual lust, or to be amused with airy and fantastical delights! Should the beast be fed and pampered, and the man and the Christian in us starved?

We Should Meditate Often on the Joys of Heaven – If our heavenly country be much in our thoughts, it will make us, as strangers and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Then we will keep ourselves unspotted from this world so that we may be fit for the enjoyments and happiness of the other.

Humility Arises from the Consideration of Our Failings – It is impossible to be humble if we are not thoughtful. All our wickedness and imperfections, all our follies and our sins, will help to pull down that fond and overblown pride that we often have for ourselves.

Thoughts of God Give Us the Lowest Thoughts of Ourselves – The deepest and most pure humility does not so much come from a consideration of our own faults, as from a calm consideration of God’s purity and goodness. Our own imperfections are never so apparent as when we view them in this light, and we never appear so small in our own eyes as when we look down on ourselves from on high.

Prayer, Another Instrument of Religion – In prayer we come closest to God and lie open to the influences of heaven.