"A Serious Call To A Devout And Holy Life"
Written by the 18th century Puritan William Law, the book "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" has proved to be a staple manual in helping to guide Christians to a much deeper and more real devotional life towards God. This book has been used and promoted by great Christian leaders throughout the past three centuries, such as Charles Wesley and George Whitfield (two leaders of the 18th century Great Awakening Revival), William Wilberforce (who was instrumental in ending slavery in 19th century Britain) and C.S. Lewis (the 20th century philosopher and author of "Mere Christianity" and "The Chronicles of Narnia"). A book that could so greatly influence such men of important social impact must be a book that should be read by all Christians. Having now read the book myself, I can wholeheartedly attest to its deep biblical wisdom and the God-honoring spirit in which Law wrote.
William Law's central thesis in the book is that for a Christian to truly honor God with his life, he must purposefully seek after God's holiness, which entails emulation of that same holiness in the believer's life and to ultimately reflect praise back to God through it. As Law stated, "If you would be a good Christian, there is but one way you must live wholly unto God; and if you would live wholly unto God, you must live according to the wisdom that comes from God: you must act according to right judgments of the nature and value of things; you must live in the exercise of holy and heavenly affections, and use all the gifts of God to His praise and glory." Without such a desire for God's holiness, a person then deceives themselves in thinking they actually want God Himself. For if one does not give themselves over completely to devotion to God's nature, which is holy, then how can one be conformed to that holiness in order to co-exist with God both now and throughout eternity? Law writes it this way, "Christianity supposes, intends, desires, and aims at nothing else but the raising of fallen man to a Divine life, to such habits of holiness, such degrees of devotion, as may fit him to enter among the holy inhabitants of the kingdom of Heaven."
The specific categories of devotion to God that Law goes into detail are; continual acts of prayer and reliance on God; daily and heart-felt repentance for one's sins against God; living with a spirit of humility before a holy God; as well as living a life that continually interceds for the welfare of others, which Law declares to be one of the greatest acts of conformity to the life and character of Jesus Christ, as Law writes, "As it was the sins of the world that made the Son of God become a compassionate, suffering Advocate for all mankind, so no one is of the Spirit of Christ, but he that has the utmost compassion for sinners."
For those Christians who wish to live out a life that is both pleasing and honorable to the God who so graciously and mercifully forgave them of their sins, and yet still remains a perfectly righteous and holy God Himself, the book "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" will both encourage and convict the reader to hunger after a holy life in order to be properly identified with the holy God they serve.
"As sure as Jesus Christ was wisdom and holiness, as sure as He came to make us like Himself, and to be baptized into His Spirit, so sure is it, that none can be said to keep their Christian profession, but they who to the utmost of their power, live a wise and hole and heavenly life. This, and this alone, is Christianity - a universal holiness in every part of life, a heavenly wisdom in all our actions, not conforming to the spirit and temper of the world, but turning wordly enjoyments into means of piety and devotion to God."
- William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Chapter 10, pg 106
- William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Chapter 10, pg 106
