A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [Paperback]

William Law (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2009

In "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life," William Law attacks pious hypocrisy and the corruption of the church. The prose in Law's work is fresh and vivid, as he illustrates the holy Christian life as one lived wholly for God. Law's thoughts on prayer, personal holiness and service to the poor will resonate with many contemporary readers. John and Charles Wesley were not the only to have benefited from Law's work. Many have credited this book as the one that revolutionized their spiritual life. Law exhorts Christians to offer all aspects of one's life and work as holy to God - work, finances, relationships, worship, prayer, etc. He reminds us of the Christian virtues of love, humility, peace, simplicity and conforming ourselves to God's will. A work that should not be forgotten or neglected by modern Christians, "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" is a well written resource about living a life devoted to God. This book, which was on John Wesley's bookshelf, is a true classic in the realm of Christian literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"If Mr. Law finds a spark of piety in a reader's mind, he will soon kindle it into a flame." —Edward Gibbon --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (August 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1448699576
• ISBN-13: 978-1448699575
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,869,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Law makes a solid case for pious living, February 14, 2004

By 

D. Keating (Bristow, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Paperback)

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".

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An awesome spiritual classic as timely today as in 1728., June 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Treasures Form the Spiritual Classics Series) (Paperback)

I read this book because Hannah Hurnard, author of Hind's Feet on High Places and other allegorical and devotional works, credits it with revolutionizing her spiritual life. Law exhorts Christians to offer all aspects of one's life and work as holy to God - work, finances, relationships, worship, prayer, etc. He reminds us of the Christian virtues of love, humility, peace, simplicity and conforming ourselves to God's will. This is a work which should not be forgotten or neglected by modern Christians.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is not the book William Law wrote, August 9, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Fall River, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Devout And Holy Life (Paperback)

This "edited" version is a great disappointment. William Law's elegant prose has been dumbed down for "reading comprehension," and is dull as a junior high civics textbook. In Chapter VII, which talks about Miranda and Flavia, Flavia has been omitted. Presumably to keep everything "positive." The very spirit of truth so eloquently championed by Law in HIS book has been made a mockery of, because there are no warning labels to tell us that some anonymous hack has tampered with his text. O tempora, o mores! This book doesn't even deserve one star.