George MacDonald and William Law

[eugenelevitzky]

Much of what George MacDonald's Christianity communicates to us about the Christian life and the actual "being" in absolute obedience to God rather than following doctrines (the letter killeth, the Spirit lives) is presented in concise form in William Law's "You Will Receive Power." What William Law says about Christians containing the Holy Spirit within themselves is echoed in George MacDonald's fiction and unspoken sermons. George MacDonald's fiction presents us with the reality of Christianity, the true Christianity, non-doctrinal and purely based on the Holy Spirit. All MacDonald's fiction (excepting maybe some of the fantasy) is "God-breathed," in a sense, because George MacDonald lived the life of the true Christian, the man or woman who walks in the light of Christ, not just talks the talk. For MacDonald there is no Christian life without an absolute surrender and obedience to God. This is so in William Law's "You Will Receive Power" also, a book which I found, personally, to be life-transforming and which I also found to be a final absolute answer to what "being a Christian" really means. To read this book is to transform the mind, heart, and spirit. To read George MacDonald is to continually think and live in the Holy Spirit.