William Law’s “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life”

Earlier this year while browsing in a Christian bookstore I encountered a copy of the little known work by William Law entitled A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. The sale price on the volume made the purchase an easy one – it was to be the only easy thing about this little volume! William Law was acknowledged by his peers as a brilliant scholar with a bright future in both ecclesiastical and academic circles. However, all of this changed in 1714 when at the age of 28 he lost his teaching fellowship at Emmanuel College for refusing to swear fealty to the new monarch of England. Nor was he alone in his beliefs or unaware of their consequence. He summarized his position by observing, “No defense could be given for people swearing contrary to what they believe.” Many who objected equally strongly decided to conform for the sake of expedience, but Law was made of sterner stuff (p. 6). This little known preacher devoted his life to challenge indifferent believers in his unbelieving age to make a serious effort to live up to what they professed to believe. His challenge was taken up more recently by a pastor and group of lay business men in a local assembly in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This small group met weekly to read and meditate together over the contents of Law’s unabridged work. So transformed were they by this exercise that they determined to undertake the task of editing and abridging the work so that other churches could be likewise profited. The project resulted in a very readable abridged version of Law’s original work put out by Westminster Press.

Law begins his challenge to the indifferent Christian by observing that spiritual devotion starts with an intentional commitment to live and espouse holiness in all arenas of private and public life. The importance of the depth and extent of this commitment are set forth in Law’s statement, “For if the doctrines of Christianity were practiced, they would make a man as different from other people as a civilized man is different from a savage” (p. 20). He goes on to observe that often Christians who are casual in their approach to the Christian life are this way not due to lack of ability, knowledge, or power but simply because they have never considered the importance of intentionally committing to this way of life. Throughout the book the reader is introduced to different fictitious Christians who model those who either succeeded or failed at living an intentional Christian life extending beyond the Lord’s day. One such account is the story of a very prosperous business man named Penitens who, dying of an incurable illness at 35 years of age, in his extended farewell address to his friends lamented that he while he had given intentional diligence to the affairs of his business and prospered he had neglected the prospering of his soul. The ending of his statement has profound impact.

“What poor thing it is to have lived only free from murder, theft, and adultery – which is all that I can say of myself. It is true that I have lived in the communion of the church and generally frequented its worship and service on Sundays when I was neither too idle nor otherwise occupied with my business and pleasures. But my conformity to the public worship has been more a matter of course than any real intention of doing that which the Church requires . . . But the thing that now surprises me most is this: that I have never intended to live up to the Gospel . . . I could have called in as many helps, have practiced as many rules, and have been taught as many methods of holy living as of thriving in my shop – had I but so intended and desired It . . . If I now had a thousand worlds I would give them all for one year more that I might present unto God on year of such devotion and good works as I never before so much as intended” (p. 29).

Law proceeds to unfold in a practical fashion exactly how to go about avoiding the very thing Penitens lamented at the end of his young life. He argues that intentionally living for God involves a commitment to the diligent personal care of our souls; a commitment to live wholly unto God and to expend our lives and energies in service to the same; and a theological perspective that understands spiritual devotion as extending to the use of everyday things such as time, talents, and treasure. He has a very helpful section on understanding Biblical humility as a being more than just declarations against pride but rather a virtue that is to be expressed tangibly in our everyday life as we interact with others around us. It is this virtue coupled with prayer that will enable us to act upon our intent to live a devout and holy life in a deceptively hostile world.

Perhaps the last section of Law’s book is the most helpful in that he details a daily prayer plan designed to structure throughout each day a repeated reminder to devout and holy living. At morning prayers (6:00 a.m.) one is to give thanksgiving to God for life and make consecration of self to Him for the day ahead. At 9:00 strong prayer is to be made that the grace of humility to be found pervading all of life’s activities. At noon, the discipline of love for all others should be the labor of this session. At 3:00 p.m. one is to earnestly seek conformity and contentedness to the will of God and the circumstances He has chosen for that day and all others. Evening prayer at 6:00 p.m. is dedicated to self examination and accounting for how one lived during the day – thanksgiving for the victories and divine aid, and repentance for the failings of the day. The final prayer session of the day is made at bedtime. Law’s words are worth repeating here and merit our individual attention as a sure motivation to an intentional approach to a holy life.

“Represent to your imagination that your bed is your grave; that all things are ready for your interment; that you are to have no more to do with this world; and that it will be owing to God’s great mercy if you ever see the light of the sun again . . . Then commit yourself to sleep as one that is to have no more opportunities of doing good, but is to awake among spirits that are separate from the body and waiting for the judgment of the last great day. Such a solemn resignation of yourself into the hands of God every evening, and parting with the world as if you were never to see it any more is a practice that will soon have excellent effects on your spirit” (p. 151).

Those who take the time to give serious attention to William Law will find his little work contains great help in working out our salvation with fear and trembling in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.