The Book that Sparked the Great Awakening
Commentary
Behind every great man is a great book.
If you asked most American today who the most famous household name in 18th Century North America was; a name whose initials were G.W. (with the first name being "George") and whose voice was heard by over half the colonists, the most obvious answer would be George Washington …
but they would be incorrect.
The correct answer is George Whitefield, the English minister whose preaching sparked the First Great Awakening in Great Britain and the American colonies.
Yet, more compellingly, if you went on to ask what the Lord used to draw Whitefield to salvation, most would not know that it was by reading a book (originally written as a letter to a friend) from an obscure man who died at the age of 28: Henry Scougal’s The Life of God in the Soul of Man.
In Whitefield’s own words: “Though I had fasted, watched, and prayed, and received the sacraments so long, yet I never knew what true religion was, till God sent me this treatise.” In the forward to this Crossway Short Classics edition, Joel Beeke compares Scougal to a flash of lightning that was the “means to ignite in other men a flaming love for God that has continued after he passed from this world.” JI Packer describes this book as “the seed with which the English revival spread.”
Scougal’s thesis is simple yet profound: “True religion is a union of the soul with God.” Period.
This statement shines as a steady beacon amidst a church that often sees religion as no more than a battle for the mind, behaviors, or emotions. Here Scougal shows the magnificence of the new birth, one which results in a real relationship with the living God. He writes that this inward transformation turns religion, which once was a tedious burden, into the soul’s delight: “They never think themselves so happy as when, having retired from the world and freed themselves from the noise and hurry of their affairs and silenced all their inner clamorous passions, they have placed themselves in the presence of God and have fellowship and communion with Him.”
Scougal reminds us that communion with Him was the answer for the “noise and hurry” of the 18th Century and continues to be the answer for the ruinous “noise and hurry” of our 21st Century.
As an aside, there are four implications from the background of this book that are worth mentioning here:
Read dead guys (the good ones of course)
Whitefield and The Life of God in the Soul of Man is a classic example of why Read the Puritans exists. Watson refers to good books as “cisterns that hold the waters of life in them to refresh you.” It is intellectual snobbery to assume that there is nothing to be learned by those who have come before and that our own experiences alone can sustain us.
Give your friends good books
The guy who gave Whitefield this book was a man by the name of Charles Wesley. Every heard of him? The best gift you can give a friend (or enemy) is a good book. I consider it one of the most loving things I can do for others. Remember that the next time you get a book from me, even if you’re not a big reader. If the Holy Spirit could use one Puritan book to launch the English awakening, imagine what a hundred translated Puritan books in Korean might have on the Peninsula (click here if you’d like to find out more or help support our first translation project with our partner church in Korea – even a few dollars goes a long way).
Do not despise the small beginnings (Zech 4:10)
This book was published by an anonymous author a year before Scougal died. Originally it was simply a letter written by Scougal to encourage a friend. This one-on-one shepherding yielded immense fruit well outside the scope of Scougal’s intent and never realized until a century later. You never know if your single email or meeting over coffee will yield “Scougal-like effects” in God’s providential design. Also, what an encouragement for those home bound or unable to serve in their preferred capacity.
Delight in God
Christian hedonism wasn’t founded by John Piper but is the very goodness that makes the Gospel “good news”. Scougal, like his Puritans contemporaries, echoes this theme when he says things like this: “Purity is accompanied by a great deal of pleasure … how happy are those who have placed their love on Him who can never be absent from them … the most solid and substantial delights that human nature is capable of experiencing, are those that originate in the warm satisfactions or well-placed affections.”
Like Whitefield, may this book spark a great awakening in your own heart so that you may enjoy the life of God in the soul of man.
Structure of the Book
The book is divided into 5 sections:
Foreword by Joel R. Beeke
Series Preface
Biography of Henry Scougal
The Life of God in the Soul of Man
Scripture Index
Five Key Quotes
“The difference between a religious and a wicked man is that in the one, the divine life holds sway, and in the other, the animal life prevails … What a poor thing the life of a man would be if he were not capable of higher enjoyments than those afforded by this world!"
“But alas, what words can be found to express the inward satisfactions or the hidden pleasures that are experienced by souls wholly devoted to God! Holiness is that for which the soul was intended, for in holiness alone is the soul's constitution vigorous and healthy."
“The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love. A person who loves mean and sordid things thereby becomes base and vile. But a noble and well-placed affection enhances the soul's desire to be conformed to the perfection of the things that it loves."
“A soul will never know what solid joy and lasting pleasure mean until, weary of itself, it renounces all its possessions and gives itself up to the author of its being."
“Whatever we find lovely in a friend or in a saint ought not to preoccupy us but rather elevate our affection. We should convince ourselves that there is so much sweetness in a drop that there must be infinitely more in the fountain."
Recommended Complementary Reading
A Sure Guide to Heaven by Joseph Alleine
The Christian’s Great Interest by William Guthrie
The Godly Man’s Picture by Thomas Watson
Where to Buy the Book
If you purchase the book through the following link, RTP gets a small percentage back which we will use to fund our operations. It’s costs nothing extra to you and you’ll be helping us connect the Puritans with Christ’s church worldwide.
