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by William Law

ISBN: 0375725636
Author: William Law
Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (August 13, 2002)
Language: English
Pages: 352
ePub: 1595 kb
Fb2: 1195 kb
Rating: 4.8
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Category: Christian Books
Subcategory: Protestantism

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William Law, the 18th-century Anglican priest who heavily influenced the theology of John and Charles Wesley, lambastes pious hypocrisy and the corruption of the church in A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, the latest reissue in Vintage's Spiritual Classics series. Law's prose is fresh and vivid as he illustrates the holy Christian life as one lived wholly for God. His thoughts on prayer, personal holiness and service to the poor will resonate with many contemporary readers.

LibriVox recording of A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law. This is one of the greatest devotional books of the Christian faith, inspiring thousands to a closer walk with their Lord. John Wesley was a close associate of Mr. Law and was influenced by this very book to some of his great work in England, and America too. William Law uses fictional characters to illustrate what true devotion is, and what it is not. This makes for a very interesting reading experience

Index of Scripture References. A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. William Law. Table of Contents.

Chapter I. Concerning the nature and extend of Christian devotion. Chapter II. An inquiry into the reason, why the generality of Christians fall so far short of the holiness and devotion of Christianity. Index of Scripture References. p. 1 Chapter I.

Law's classic book was the transforming resource in the lives of the Wesley brothers as well as abolitionist William .

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life Paperback.

Edward GibbonOriginally published in 1728 at the beginning of the Enlightenment, when rational criticism of religious belief was at its peak, William Law's A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life succeeded in inspiring the most cynical men of the age with its arguments in favor of a spiritual life. Law's challenge of conventional piety and emphasis on Christian perfection directly influenced literary critic Samuel Johnson and historian Edward Gibbon, as well as Cardinal John Henry Newman

William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. He therefore is the devout man, who lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God, who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life, parts of piety, by doing everything in the name of God, and under such rules. as are conformable to his Glory. William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. tags: spiritual-living.

William Law uses fictional characters to illustrate what true devotion is, and what it is not. This makes for a very . This makes for a very interesting reading experience. Every Christian will find themselves challenged to a closer scrutiny of their lives after reading this book, and will, I believe, be inspired to a personal revival of their consecration and dedication to God. (Summary by Robert Hoffman). Genre(s): Non-fiction, Religion, Self-Help.

In A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life Law urges that every day should be viewed as a day of humility by.

In A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life Law urges that every day should be viewed as a day of humility by learning to serve others. Foster, Richard . Celebration Of Discipline, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988, . 31. When at Oxford, I took up Law's Serious Call, expecting to find it a dull book (as such books generally are), and perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an overmatch for me; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion after I became capable of rational inquiry. Samuel Johnson, recounted in James Boswell's, Life of Johnson, ch. 1.

William Law's book dates from 1728, a decade before England's great evangelical revival, during which it exercised a significant influence on the movement's leaders. A Serious Call has been praised by readers as varied as Samuel Johnson, Edward Gibbon, and John Wesley

Originally published at the beginning of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, a time when rationalist criticism of religious belief was perhas at its peak, William Law's A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life succeeded in inspiring the most cynical men of the age with its arguments in favor of a spiritual life. More than simply articulating a set of rules to live by, Law's book examines what it means to lead a Christian life and criticizes the perversion of Christian tenents by the Establishment—whether secular or spiritual—whose real aim is temporal power. With a perface by the Reverend William Sloane Coffin, Jr., whose own direct engagement in social causes still finds inspiration in Law's argument, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life is a book that can still speak to our time.

Comments: (7)

Xtreem

I was aware of this book as a young believer, but not very interested in it because I was not that interested in living a devout and holy life. I wanted to be good and serve the Lord and did seek the Lord fairly diligently, but preferred to avoid radical holiness. After going through some rather severe chastisement from the Father (see Hebrews chap. 12) I became very interested in becoming a partaker of His holiness. I strongly desired the "peaceable fruit of righteousness" promised to them that are "exercised thereby." This book is great for helping the serious reader come into a devout and holy life. I recommend it to all believers -- that they take the Lord's demands for holiness seriously. It could help you avoid some serious problems. The cited chapter in Hebrews says that all God's children are partakers of chastisement, but some is much more severe than other spankings.
And our desire for holiness should not be mainly to avoid chastisement, but to please the Lord. That is one of Mr Law's main points -- Christians are not living holy lives because they have never set their hearts to please the Lord in all things. We need to do that.

Zetadda

For putting us in a fitting frame of mind, for impressing upon us the deeper things of the faith, for shaking folly off, for directing our gaze heavenward, this book is worthy of being called "a classic in the realm of Christian literature".

I first read about "Serious Call" in a biography of Samuel Johnson. That brilliant man, who gave us our first important dictionary of the English language, was deeply convicted by it. If such a clear thinker as he, an unbeliever, found it compelling, it must be good! And indeed, it is. Very good.

My "but" is that having read more of his work, I realize that Law had some strange beliefs. Therefore I cannot fully endorse him as a teacher. These beliefs are, for example, expressed in The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration Or the New Birth. And his error is also revealed, in my view, in the rigid and unrealistic prayer regime that he recommends. (He would deny that it is unrealistic.) Otherwise, however, "Serious Call" is largely free from teachings that would mislead, and Law does show with lucid argument and from the scriptures why "extremeness" is the true Christian way; by this he would mean extreme charity, humility and meekness, trust in God, self-denial, and shunning the ways of the world. Some of his memorable sayings:

"The fuller of pride any one is himself, the more impatient will he be at the smallest instances of it in other people."

"The best way for any one to know how much he ought to aspire after holiness, is to consider, not how much will make his present life easy, but to ask himself, how much he thinks will make him easy at the hour of death."

Again, in some areas it seems Law was undiscerning - too accepting, for example, of some of the mystics. Apparently others have had similar concerns, so some caution is advisable. However this book is valuable for putting us in a right frame of mind for devotion and obedience. It is worthy to be read and re-read.

Unnis

The first paragraph is a disclaimer that as an historic text an- being created using character recognition software-may have typos. What an understatement-it is virtually illegible. Returning and buying a real copy made with human eyes. Maybe this was mentioned in the description and I didn’t notice.

virus

I read this book when I heard Jack Hayford mention it during one of his sermons. Given the title and era in which it was written, I expected it to contain some pretty weighty material about Christian living. I was not disappointed.
In this book, Law challenges the reader to respond to his "serious call" (and he was very serious when he wrote it) to devout living. The author makes a very solid case for this approach to Christian living for two main reasons. First, he is dead right about most topics he covers. His main point is that many Christians (I fall into this category) take for granted what God has done for us. There is no higher call than to love and serve Him. Yet we do not place as much value on spending time in devotion (prayer, reading scripture, praising, worshiping, serving) to God as we should. Instead we lived unbalanced lives in which God has a secondary role, instead being the primary focus of our existence.
Secondly, as another reviewer mentioned, his message is as relevant today, if not more so, than when it was written. We live in a day were modesty and pious living are completely ignored. It was refreshing to read a book which calls Christians to a much higher standard - we should not crave the things of this world. It is something I have struggled with, and continue to struggle with everyday that I live in overly abundant America. This book has helped me regain a more proper perspective on the importance of living for God (and what that means) versus living for the world.
I highly recommend this book to any Christian looking for a well written resource about living a life devoted to God. Law provides a lot of deep thought about the subject, and practical ways to try and live it out. At times, he goes a little bit too much into legalism for my taste, but overall he is on the mark with his approach and logic for his "serious call".

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