This week, I am highlighting one of my favorite Anglican writers, William Law (1686-1761). Law was a priest, tutor, and writer. After he refused to swear allegiance to King George I, he never served a parish. His most influential work was A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. Published in 1729, A Serious Call has never been out of print, something I find absolutely amazing. It has influenced such greats as Dr. Johnson, John Wesley, John Keble, and C.S. Lewis.

As Richard Schmidt notes, as 18th century England became powerful and prosperous, the religious passions of the past were largely set aside in favor of a sometimes bland, lethargic, and complacent tolerance. Sound familiar? A Serious Call challenged all this. It builds upon an earlier book Law published, titled Christian Perfection. Schmidt describes A Serious Call as follows:

Both books are addressed to avowed Christians. Law assumes at least a perfunctory commitment to the church on the part of his reader; no attempt is made to explain Christian faith to doubters or unbelievers. The main thrust of both books is the same: Christian devotion concerns not merely religious exercises and good works, but the whole of life–our use of time and money, every relationship, every thought and deed. It is a life totally given to God and thereby transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. When Law looked out at the world around him, he saw little of such devotion. The reason, he said, was not that professing Christians didn’t understand the will of God or were too weak to obey God, but that they never intended to. Law cuts straight through to the place where sin originates–the human will. He strips the soul bare of its self-justifying pretenses. The problem is not inadvertent oversights or slips of behavior, but a paralysis of intention (Schmidt, Five Centuries of Anglican Spirituality, p. 95)

On a personal note, I have read A Serious Call and I have found it to be every bit as challenging as Schmidt describes. If you are one who is trying to take your faith seriously, A Serious Call (no pun intended) is a must read.

The following is an excerpt from A Serious Call. I pray it challenges and disturbs you in ways that will help God help you grow in our faith.

Thus, one who makes it a rule to be content in every part and accident of life because it comes from God praises God in a much higher manner than one who has some set time for the singing of psalms.

The person who dares not say an ill-natured word or do an unreasonable thing because he or she considers God as everywhere present performs a better devotion than the person who dares not miss the church. To live in the world as a stranger and a pilgrim, using all its enjoyments as if we used them not, making all our actions as so many steps toward a better life, is offering a better sacrifice to God than many forms of holy and heavenly prayers.

To be humble in our actions, to avoid every appearance of pride and vanity, to be meek and lowly in our words, actions, dress, behavior, and designs–all in imitation of our blessed Savior–is worshiping God in a higher manner than do they who have only stated times to fall low on their knees in devotions. Those who content themselves with necessities that they may give the remainder to those who need it; who dare not spend any money foolishly because they consider it as a talent from God which must be used according to his will, praise God with something that is more glorious than songs of praise.