A Serious Call to a Devout & Holy Life - Law

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law proclaims that God does not merely forgive our disobedience, He calls us to obedience and to a life completely centered in Him. Law exposes pious hypocrisy and the corruption of the Church.

His writing is fresh and sharp, as he vividly illustrates the holy Christian life as one lived totally for God. "Devotion signifies a life given, or devoted, to God. He, therefore, is the devout man, who lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God . . . by doing everything in the name of God, and under such rules as are conformable to His glory."

William Law (1686-1761) was one of the great clerics and educators of the Church of England. He was educated at Cambridge, eventually taking a teaching position there in addition to being ordained in the Church of England. He lost his position at Cambridge for being a non-Juror, which came about when he found himself unable to take the required oath of allegiance to the Hanoverian dynasty that had replaced the Stuart Dynasty as the lawful rulers of the Great Britain. Accordingly, he was ineligible to serve as a university teacher or parish minister. Although forbidden the use of the pulpit and the lecture hall, he preached through his books. The best known and most popular was A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, which he wrote in 1728.