Toward A Perfect Love

Surprisingly warm and practical, this 600-year-old insight into daily work and devotion is from a man described as "one of those hidden figures, those quiet and secret friends of God who have never failed the church." A contemporary of John Wycliffe in the 1300s, Walter Hilton was a common and ordinary man in north-country England whose down-to-earth writings gained popularity among both layfolk and churchmen. Editor David L. Jeffrey calls him "one of the great psychologists of Christian spiritual condition," and describes Hilton's teaching as "firm, biblically grounded and uncompromised in its concern to conquer sin. But the tone is wise and kindly, gentle as a shepherd's voice. Hilton sees into ordinary human nature with an almost uncanny perceptiveness, showing us how futile are the disguises we erect to mask our weakness, immaturity, self-pity, self-deception and outright self-centeredness." Hilton tells us of the sanctification in ordinary living, with all our worldly efforts drenched in our love for Christ. Edited into their most readable form for contemporary readers, the Classics of Faith and Devotion series recaptures in today's language the power of Christianity's most influential writings.