A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

William Law

• Publisher: Aneko Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781622455089
• eBook ISBN: 9781622455096
• Topic: Teologia e religione

Updated and adapted for today's society.The style of the Serious Call is admirably adapted to its subject. It is serious, clear, and strong, but not graceful. There is never the slightest doubt about William Law's meaning. He conveys to the reader the exact idea that is in his own mind. The book is addressed to Christians, and it is, as its title implies, a Serious Call to be what they profess. The point is inevitable; it is driven home with extraordinary force, and Law's whole life gives weight to every word. It is not necessary to agree with Law in all the details. But the questions that he urges upon the reader are vital, "Are you living the Christian life as it ought to be lived? Do you believe the Bible? Are you a true follower of Jesus or not?"

Chapter 1

Concerning the nature and extent of Christian devotion.

Devotion to God is not just prayer and church attendance. Many people do these things who are not devoted to God. Rather, prayer, whether private or public, is one particular part of devotion. Devotion signifies an entire life given, or devoted, to God. Are you devoted to God?

He, therefore, is devout, who no longer lives according to his own will or according to the way and spirit of the world, but only according to the will of God. He is devout who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who devotes every part of his life to piety,1 by doing everything in the name of God and under such ways as are done for His glory.

We readily acknowledge that God alone is to be the reason for and recipient of our prayers. In our prayers, we are to look wholly unto Him and act entirely for Him, and we are only to pray in such a way and for such things and purposes as are suitable to His will and glory.

Prayer is more than repeating words. It is more than saying the same prayer all the time or just reading prayer requests to God. If we understand the reason why we are to be strictly pious in our prayers, we will find it to be the same strong reason why we should be strictly pious in all the other parts of our lives. We know for certain that we should honor and trust God in our prayers and that we should look wholly to Him and pray according to His will; and we should do the same in all the other actions of our life.

Any manner of life and any use of our talents, whether of ourselves or of our possessions, time, or money that is not strictly according to the will of God and that is not for purposes that are appropriate for His glory, is as absurd and flawed as prayers that are not according to the will of God.

Is in foolish to try to pray in a holy manner if it is not our intent to live in a holy manner. There is no other reason why our prayers should be according to the will of God and why they should contain nothing except what is wise, holy, and heavenly, other than so our lives may be of the same nature and be full of the same wisdom, holiness, and heavenly character as our prayers. We ought to live unto God in the same spirit and with the same sincerity that we pray to Him. Our most heavenly prayers – those that we think bring us nearest to the throne of God – would be foolish and a waste of time if they are only words, if it were not for our obligation and desire to devote all the actions of our lives to God. If it were not absolutely necessary to walk before Him in wisdom and holiness and all heavenly manner of life, doing everything in His Name and for His glory, there would be no excellency or wisdom in the most heavenly prayers. Such prayers would be absurdities. It would be like praying for wings when it was not part of our duty to fly.

As certain, therefore, as there is any wisdom in praying for the Spirit of God, so it is certain that we are to make that Spirit the guide of all our actions. As certain as it is our duty to look wholly unto God in our prayers, so certain it is that it is our duty to live wholly unto God in our lives. However, it cannot rightly be said that we live unto God unless we live unto Him in all the ordinary actions of our life. We are not living fully for God if we do not do so at all times and in all things. Unless He is the standard and measure of all our ways, we are living for ourselves.

It cannot rightly be said that we pray unto God unless our prayers look wholly to Him. Unreasonable and absurd ways of life, whether in work or hobbies or entertainment, whether they consume our time or our money, are like unreasonable and absurd prayers, and are as truly an offense unto God. Many, though, say fine prayers, but do not have the intent or desire to live fully for God. They pray to God on Sunday morning and then live for themselves on Sunday afternoon. They say a quick prayer on Monday morning, and then barely give God another thought until the next morning’s quick prayer.

It is because we do not know or consider that we must devote every aspect of our lives wholly unto God that we see so many people ridicule many who profess to be Christian. You see them regularly attend church, but when the church service is over, they are just like those who seldom or never attend church. In their way of life, their manner of spending their time and money, in their cares and fears, in their pleasures and indulgences, in their work and recreation, they are just like the rest of the world.

This causes the depraved part of the world to generally make a joke of Christians, because they see that their devotion goes no farther than their prayers, and that when the prayers and religious service are over, they live no more unto God until the next church service. Instead, they live by the same thoughts and inclinations, and in as full an enjoyment of all the indiscretion of life as other people. They sing to God on Sunday morning, and then listen to the music of the world the rest of the week. Their hearts do not belong wholly unto God. This is the reason why they are the jest and scorn of indifferent and worldly people – not because they are really devoted to God, but because they appear to have no other devotion but that of routine prayers and typical church attendance.

Dave is very fearful of missing church. All the church community thinks that Dave must be sick if he is not at church. But Dave spends the rest of his time living for fun. He is a companion of the most foolish people in their most misguided pleasures. He is ready for every ill-mannered entertainment and diversion, and there is no amusement too trivial to please him. Much of his time is devoted to sports and parties. He gives himself up to idle words and gossip. He is good friends with foolish people who live for this world and for themselves. He allows himself to foolishly hate and resent certain people without considering that he is to love everybody as himself. If you ask him why he never puts his conversation, his time, and his fortune under Christian principles, Dave has no more to say for himself than the most disorderly person. The whole tenor of Scripture lies as directly against such a life as against depravity and drunkenness. He who lives such a life of idleness and foolishness lives no more according to the religion of Jesus Christ than he who lives in gluttony and drunkenness.

But if someone were to tell Dave that he could neglect church without any harm to his soul, Dave would think that person was not a Christian and would avoid his company. But if someone tells him that he may live as most of the world does, that he may enjoy himself as others do, that he may spend his time and money as people of the world do, that he may conform to the foolishness and faults of the general public and gratify his emotions and passions as most people do, Dave never suspects that person to lack a Christian spirit or think that he is doing the devil’s work; but if Dave were to read the entire New Testament from beginning to end, he would find his course of life condemned in every page of it.

Indeed, there cannot be anything more absurd imagined than wise and majestic and heavenly prayers added to a life of emptiness and indiscretion, where neither labor, pleasure, time, nor money are under the direction of the wisdom and heavenly character of our prayers. It would be absurd to think of someone praying in fine, eloquent words, yet who lives his life for himself and without regard for the glory of God and holiness.

On the other hand, if we were to see someone pretending to act wholly with regard to God in everything that he did, who would neither spend time nor money, nor take part in any work or recreation unless he could act according to strict principles of conscience and piety, but at the same time he would neglect all prayer and Bible reading, would we not be amazed at such a person and wonder how he could have so much foolishness along with so much religion? Don’t many do this, though? They go to church and think of themselves as fine Christians. They tell others how much they like church. When in public, they pray before eating to show others how religious they are and how much they love God. They do or do not do certain things because they say that they want to please God. They help teach at church and are often doing things to help others – yet they rarely read the Bible or sincerely fervently pray.

Yet this is as reasonable as for anyone to be faithful in church attendance and in saying prayers, and yet letting the rest of his life – his time and labor, his talents and money – be disposed of without any regard to taking piety and devotion to God seriously. It is as great an absurdity to think that someone can have holy prayers and divine petitions without a holy life, as to think that someone can have a holy and divine life without prayers and the Holy Scripture and a life devoted to God.

Let anyone therefore think how easily he could discredit someone who pretended to be a sincere Christian but never prayed, and the same arguments will as plainly discredit another, who pretends to pray much but does not live a holy life. To be weak and foolish in spending our time and money is no greater a mistake than to be weak and foolish in our prayers. To participate in anything in life that we would not offer to God is the same kind of irreligion as to neglect to pray or to pray irreverently or merely ritualistically and not from the heart, making our prayers unworthy of God.

The conclusion of the matter is that either wisdom and Christianity prescribe rules and motives for all that we say and do in life, or they do not. If they do, then it is as necessary to govern all our actions by those rules as it is necessary to worship God. If the Bible teaches us anything about eating and drinking, how to use our time and money, how to live in and yet be separate from the world, what approach we are to have in everyday life, how we are to act toward all people, how we are to treat the sick, the poor, the elderly, and the destitute, who to love and respect, how to treat our enemies, and how to be self-disciplined and deny ourselves, then he must be very weak who thinks that these parts of Christianity are not to be observed with as much exactness and care as any doctrines that relates to prayer.

It is very noticeable that there is not one command in all the Gospels for public worship, and perhaps it is a duty that is least insisted upon in the rest of Scripture. The Scriptures place much emphasis on how we ought to live in our private and personal lives, how we ought to live as families and even as Christian brothers and sisters, but the Bible does not measure Christian maturity on how often we attend church. While it is good for us to meet together, it is foolish to think that we are fulfilling the object of following Jesus simply because we go to church.

Our blessed Savior and His apostles are entirely concerned with doctrines relating to ordinary life. They call us to renounce the world and to be different in every aspect and way of life from the spirit and the way of the world. We are to renounce all its goods, to fear none of its evils, and to reject its pleasures. Our happiness should be different than what makes those of the world happy. We are to be as newborn babies who are born into a new state of things, to live as pilgrims just passing through, in holy fear, and with our hearts set on things above. We are to take up our cross every day, deny ourselves, profess the blessedness of mourning, expect persecution, and seek the blessedness of poverty of spirit. We must forsake the pride and vanity of riches, not worry about tomorrow, live in the deepest state of humility, rejoice in worldly sufferings, reject the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, accept injuries, forgive and bless our enemies, and love mankind as God loves them. We are to give up our whole hearts and affections to God, and to strive to enter through the narrow gate into a life of eternal glory.

This is the type of devotion that our blessed Savior taught, and it should be common in all Christians. Is it not therefore incredibly strange that people should place so much piety in attending church, which Jesus never mentioned, and yet neglect these common duties of our ordinary life, which are commanded on every page of the Gospels? I call these duties the devotion of our common life, because if they are to be practiced, they must be made part of our common life; they can have no place anywhere else.

If contempt of the world and heavenly affection are necessary characteristics of Christians, it is necessary that this attitude of mind appears in the whole course of their lives and in the way that they live in the world, because it can have no place anywhere else. If self-denial is a condition of following Jesus, all who would truly follow Him must make it a part of their normal lives. If humility is a Christian duty, then the normal life of a Christian must demonstrate humility in every part of life. If poverty of spirit is necessary, it must be the spirit and demeanor of every day of our lives. If we are to relieve the naked, the sick, and the prisoner, it must be the common kindness of our lives, as far as we are able to do it. If we are to love our enemies, we must make our everyday life a visible exercise and demonstration of that love. If contentment and thankfulness and patiently bearing evil are duties to God, then they are the duties of every day and should be in every circumstance of our lives. If we are to be wise and holy as the newborn children of God, we cannot be so except by renouncing everything that is foolish and vain in every part of our lives. If we are to be new creatures in Christ, we must show that we are so by having new ways of living in the world. If we are to follow Christ, it must be our usual way of spending every day. If we blend in with our unsaved co-workers, friends, and neighbors, then we are not following Jesus.

It is the same with all the virtues and holy qualities of Christianity; they are not ours unless they are the virtues and qualities of our ordinary lives. Christianity does not allow us to live in the typical worldly ways of life, conforming to the folly and sin of what everyone...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18
• Chapter 19
• Chapter 20
• Chapter 21
• Chapter 22
• Chapter 23
• Chapter 24
• Rules for Living A Holy Life
• William Law – A Brief Biography
• Other Similar Titles