Written by 17th century Puritan Henry Scougal, the book "The Life of God in the Soul of Man" has been used by many men and women throughout the past 300 years as a encouraging, exhorting, and convicting treatise on the necessity of mankind to have God permeate every area of life. Henry Scougal wrote, "True religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation of the Divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul." The best instance of Scougal's book having an impact on those who lived after him, was a century later when the great 18th century hymn-writer Charles Wesley gave a copy of Scougal's book to his friend George Whitefield. One year before he died Whitefield stated the importance of that book in his life as follows, "I must bear witness to my old friend Charles Wesley; he put a book into my hands, called 'The Life of God in the Soul of Man', whereby God showed me I must be born-again, or be damned." The relevance of Whitefield in Christianity is that he became one of the most important individuals whom God used to bring about the "Great Awakening" revival, and he would also develop into one of the greatest preachers in church history.
In the forward of "The Life of God in the Soul of Man", modern-day theologian J.I. Packer wrote the following words concerning the importance of Scougal's book both in Whitefield's life as well as how it would greatly benefit Christians to read today, "God used Scougal to awaken the man who himself came later to be known as the Awakener. And all that remains to be said is that some today, who would call themselves Christian if asked, clearly stand in need of a similar awakening: which Scougal, under God, may bring them, if only they will read his smooth late-seventeenth century rhetoric thoughtfully and let it speak to them. Real Christians will gain from Scougal a healthy reminder that heart-change and character-change thence resutling is what their faith is all about."
I personally recommend Henry Scougal's "The Life of God in the Soul of Man" as a very firm but very warm-hearted dissertation on allowing God to intrude all aspects of your nature and existence. It is firm, because it is very uncompromising when sustaining biblical truths, but it is also very warm-hearted because the book was originally written as a letter Scougal sent to a personal friend of his for spiritual encouragement. May it again produce encouragement and God-centeredness for those of us who read it in our time.
"Behold on what sure foundation his happiness is built whose soul is possessed with divine love, whose will is transformed into the will of God, and whose greatest desire is that his Maker should be pleased! Oh, the peace, the rest, the satisfaction that attendeth such a temper of mind!"
- Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, Chapter 2, pg 78
