Sing unto the Lord

I bought this book at koorong (christian bookstore) because it was such a bargain and I had five bucks to spare. I had never heard of Henry Scougal before and so I was semi-curious to discover a new author. As I read it I found out a little about dear Henry (There's a whole in my bucket). He died in 1657 at the ripe old age of 28 but even in his short life he managed to become Professor of Divinity at Aberdeen University in Scotland. As far as I can work out this is his only major published work and it wasn't even originally intended for publication, it is a letter to a friend outlining what true religion is.

Henry tells us that true religion is not; an affiliation with a denomination of some sort; an external duty driven by fear and performance; nor is it a wholly based in the affections (desire, ecstasy, passion).

Rather, Henry reckons true religion is living a 'Divine Life'. 'Life' in the sense that it grows and is fluid and 'Divine' in the sense that all power for true religion comes from God and points to God. I'm only about halfway through the book but so far it's been great. Something I liked was this quote talking about Love for God and what it would look like: 'The Love of God is 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 any thing for his sake or at his pleasure'.

In summary, it's only a short book and well worth the read! Charles Wesley apparantly lent it to George Whitfield when Whitfield was not yet converted. It was a great help to him.. maybe it would be a good help to you in thinking about how to live your life wholly for God.