William Law

The English devotional writer, controversialist, and mystic William Law (1686-1761) wrote works on practical piety that are considered among the classics of English theology.

William Law was born in King's Cliffe, North-amptonshire, the son of a grocer and one of 11 children. In 1705 he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1708, was ordained in 1711, and became a fellow of Emmanuel in 1712. In 1713 Law was suspended from his fellowship for delivering a speech in which it appeared he supported the Stuart pretender to the throne rather than the future George I of Hanover. In 1714 at the accession of George I, he refused to take the oath of allegiance, becoming, in the nomenclature of the day, a nonjuror. As a result, for the rest of his life he occupied no benefice in the Church of England and appears to have officiated at no religious services.

In 1727 Law became tutor at Putney to the father of the eminent historian Edward Gibbon and was considered a respected member of the family circle. In 1740 Law returned to King's Cliffe, soon to be joined by Hester Gibbon, the aunt of the historian, and another lady of quality, Mrs. Hutchenson. Through their assistance Law was able to devote himself to study and charitable activities until his death. He set up schools, provided food for the poor, and became a spiritual adviser renowned as a man of singular compassion and simplicity.

Law's chief fame, however, rests on his writings. In an age when much theological thought was deeply affected by the rationalism of John Locke and Isaac Newton, Law became a vocal spokesman for the need to return to a religion of piety and feeling. As a result, Law entered into a number of controversies with leading thinkers of his day. In 1717 he attacked Bishop Hoadly's contention that the visible church and priesthood had no claim to divine authority. In 1723 a critique of Bernard Mandeville's Fable of the Bees appeared, in which Law defended morality against Mandeville's argument that man was motivated completely by self-interest. In 1731 Law published a forceful rejoinder to the deist Mathew Tindal, in which Law denied the total efficacy of reason.

It is, however, Law's A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728) which is regarded as his most enduring work. Emphasizing the need to be a Christian in spirit and deed as well as in name, the tract is an uncompromising demand for continual and heartfelt Christian dedication. Beautifully written, this work had a tremendous impact in its day, carrying its message to such diverse 18th-century figures as Dr. Samuel Johnson, John Wesley, and Edward Gibbon.

Through his concern for the religion of the heart and through the reading of mystical literature, Law in his later years developed a unique and personal mysticism. Dwelling on the "inner spirit" of Christ within man, his thought became less orthodox and his conception of religion less formal, though he never left the Church of England.

Further Reading

Law receives comprehensive treatment in J. H. Overton, William Law, Non Juror and Mystic (1881). There is a skeptical but sympathetic account of him in Leslie Stephen, History of English Thought in the 18th Century (2 vols., 1876). See also W. R. Inge, Studies of English Mystics (1906); Stephen Hobhouse, William Law and Eighteenth Century Quakerism (1927); and J. B. Green, John Wesley and William Law (1945).

Additional Sources

Rudolph, Erwin Paul, William Law, Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980.

Law, William (1686-1761). Law, one of the most influential religious writers of his age, came from a modest family at King's Cliffe, near Stamford, and was elected to a fellowship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. But in 1714 he refused to take the oaths of loyalty to George I and was deprived of his fellowship. His most famous work, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728), preached a quiet and meditative Christianity, restrained, humble, and charitable. Johnson spoke of the great effect it had upon him as a student and Wesley and Whitefield were also much influenced. In 1732 he published The Case of Reason, arguing faith against deistical scepticism. From 1740 he established at King's Cliffe a devout household, including the widow of Archibald Hutcheson, MP, and Gibbon's aunt Hester.

English mystic and theologian. William Law was born in 1686, at King's Cliffe, Northamptonshire, England. His father, a grocer, managed to send William to Cambridge University in 1705. Entering Emmanuel College, he became a fellow in 1712, but on the accession of George I in 1714, felt himself unable to subscribe to the oath of allegiance. As a result, Law forfeited his fellowship.

In 1727 he went to Putney to tutor the father of Edward Gibbon, the historian of the Roman Empire. He held this post for 10 years, winning universal esteem for his piety and theological erudition.

When his employer died in 1737, Law retired to his native village of King's Cliffe and was chiefly supported by some of his devotees, notably Hester Gibbon, sister of his guardian pupil, and the widow Mrs. Hutcheson. The two women had a united income of fully 3,000 pounds a year, so Law must have been comfortable, and wealth and luxury did not corrupt him. It is recorded that he rose every morning at five and spent several hours before breakfast in prayer and meditations.

Early in his career, Law began publishing theses on mysticism and on religion in general. After he retired, he acquired fresh inspiration from reading the works of Jakob Boehme, of which he was an enthusiastic admirer, and produced year after year a considerable mass of writing until his death April 9, 1761.

Law's works comprise some 20 volumes. In 1717 he published an examination of the recent tenets of the bishop of Bangor, which were followed soon after by a number of analogous writings. In 1726 his attack on the theater was published as The Absolute Unlawfulness of the Stage Entertainment Fully Demonstrated. In the same year he issued A Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection, followed shortly thereafter by A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Adapted to the State and Condition of All Orders of Christians (1728), considered his best-known work.

Other well-regarded works include: The Grounds and Reason of Christian Regeneration (1739), The Spirit of Prayer (1749), The Way to Divine Knowledge (1752), The Spirit of Love (1752), and Of Justification by Faith and Works (1760).

Most of Law's books, especially A Serious Call, have been reprinted again and again, and a collected edition of Law's works appeared in 1762, a year after his death. In 1893 an anthology was brought out by Dr. Alexander Whyte. In his preface Whyte spoke of Law's "golden books," declaring that "in sheer intellectual strength Law is fully abreast of the very foremost of his illustrious contemporaries, while in that fertilising touch which is the true test of genius, Law stands simply alone."

Sources:

Law, William. The Absolute Unlawfulness of the Stage Entertainment Fully Demonstrated. Reprint, New York: Garland Publishing, 1973.

——. The Grounds and Reason of Christian Regeneration. Philadelphia: Andrew Bradford, 1741.

——. A Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection. Newcastle upon Tyne: J. Gooding, 1743.

——. A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Adapted to the State and Condition of All Orders of Christians. London: W. Innys, 1732.

——. The Spirit of Love. London: W. Innys and J. Richardson, 1752.

——. The Spirit of Prayer. London: W. Innys, 1750.

——. The Works. Brockenhurst: G. Moreton, 1892-93. Rudolph, Erwin Paul. William Law. Boston: Twayne, 1980.

Quotes:

"Nothing hath separated us from God but our own will, or rather our own will is our separation from God."

"If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead."

"Love and pity and wish well to every soul in the world; dwell in love, and then you dwell in God."

"Love has no errors, for all errors are the want for love."

"All that is sweet, delightful, and amiable in this world, in the serenity of the air, the fineness of seasons, the joy of light, the melody of sounds, the beauty of colors, the fragrancy of smells, the splendor our precious stones, is nothing else but Heaven breaking through the veil of this world, manifesting itself in such a degree and darting forth in such variety so much of its own nature."

"Be intent on the perfection of the present day."

See more famous quotes by William Law

This article is about the British theological writer. For the member of the Latter Day Saints First Presidency, see William Law (Latter Day Saints).

William Law (1686 – 9 April 1761), English cleric and theological writer, was born at Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Bangorian controversy 3 Writings on practical divinity 4 Mysticism 5 List of works 6 References 7 Notes

Early life

In 1705 he entered as a sizar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge; in 1711 he was elected fellow of his college and was ordained. He resided at Cambridge, teaching and taking occasional duty until the accession of George I, when his conscience forbade him to take the oaths of allegiance to the new government and of abjuration of the Stuarts. His Jacobitism had already been betrayed in a tripos speech which brought him into trouble; and he was now deprived of his fellowship and became a non-juror.

For the next few years he is said to have been a curate in London. By 1727 he was domiciled with Edward Gibbon (1666-1736) at Putney as tutor to his son Edward, father of the historian, who says that Law became the much-honoured friend and spiritual director of the whole family. In the same year he accompanied his pupil to Cambridge, and resided with him as governor, in term time, for the next four years. His pupil then went abroad, but Law was left at Putney, where he remained in Gibbon's house for more than ten years, acting as a religious guide not only to the family but to a number of earnest-minded folk who came to consult him. The most eminent of these were the two brothers John and Charles Wesley, John Byrom the poet, George Cheyne the physician and Archibald Hutcheson, MP for Hastings.

The household was dispersed in 1737. Law was parted from his friends, and in 1740 retired to Kings Cliffe, where he had inherited from his father a house and a small property. There he was presently joined by two ladies: Mrs Hutcheson, the rich widow of his old friend, who recommended her on his death-bed to place herself under Law's spiritual guidance, and Miss Hester Gibbon, sister to his late pupil. This curious trio lived for twenty-one years a life wholly given to devotion, study and charity, until the death of Law on the 9th of April 1761.

Bangorian controversy

In this field he had no contemporary peer save perhaps Richard Bentley. The first of his controversial works was Three Letters to the Bishop of Bangor (1717), which were considered by friend and foe alike as one of the most powerful contributions to the Bangorian controversy on the high church side. Thomas Sherlock declared that Mr Law was a writer so considerable that he knew but one good reason why his lordship did not answer him. Law's next controversial work was Remarks on Mandeville's Fable of the Bees (1723), in which he vindicates morality on the highest grounds; for pure style, caustic wit and lucid argument this work is remarkable; it was enthusiastically praised by John Sterling, and republished by F. D. Maurice. Law's Case of Reason (1732), in answer to Tindal's Christianity as old as the Creation is to a great extent an anticipation of Bishop Butler's famous argument in the Analogy. In this work Law shows himself at least the equal of the ablest champion of Deism. His Letters to a Lady inclined to enter the Church of Rome are excellent specimens of the attitude of a high Anglican towards Romanism. His controversial writings have not received due recognition, partly because they were opposed to the drift of his times, partly because of his success in other fields.

Writings on practical divinity

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728), together with its predecessor, A Practical Treatise Upon Christian Perfection (1726), deeply influenced the chief actors in the great Evangelical revival. John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, Henry Venn, Thomas Scott, and Thomas Adam all express their deep obligation to the author. The Serious Call also affected others deeply. Samuel Johnson^[1] , Gibbon, Lord Lyttelton and Bishop Home all spoke enthusiastically of its merits; and it is still the only work by which its author is popularly known. It has high merits of style, being lucid and pointed to a degree. In a tract entitled The Absolute Unlawfulness of Stage Entertainments (1726) Law was tempted by the corruptions of the stage of the period to use unreasonable language, and incurred some effective criticism from John Dennis in The Stage Defended.

Mysticism

Though the least popular^{[citation needed]}, by far the most interesting, original and suggestive^{[citation needed]} of all Law's works are those which he wrote in his later years, after he had become an enthusiastic admirer (not a disciple)^{[citation needed]} of Jacob Boehme, the Teutonic theosopher. From his earliest years, he had been deeply impressed with the piety, beauty and thoughtfulness of the writings of the Christian mystics. However, it was not till after his accidental meeting with the works of Boehme, about 1734, that pronounced mysticism appeared in his works. Law's mystic tendencies separated him from the practical-minded Wesley.

List of works

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: William Law

• A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1729)
• A Demonstration of the Gross and Fundamental Errors of a late Book called a Plain Account, etc., of the Lord's Supper (1737)
• The Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Regeneration (1731)
• Appeal to all that Doubt and Disbelieve the Truths of Revelation (1740)
• An Earnest and Serious Answer to Dr Trapp's Sermon on being Righteous Overmuch (1740)
• The Spirit of Prayer (1749, 1752)
• The Way to Divine Knowledge (1752)
• The Spirit of Love (1752, 1754)
• A Short but Sufficient Confutation of Dr Warburton's Projected Defence (as he calls it) of Christianity in his Divine Legation of Moses (1757)
• A Series of Letters (1760)
• A Dialogue between a Methodist and a Churchman (1760)
• An Humble, Earnest and Affectionate Address to the Clergy (1761)
• You Will Receive Power
• The Power Of The Spirit

References

• Richard Tighe (1813) A Short Account of the Life and Writings of the Late Rev. William Law
• Christopher Walton (1848) Notes and Materials for a Complete Biography of W Law
• Leslie Stephen, English Thought in the 18th century, and in the Dict. Nat. Biog. (xxxii. 236)
• WEH Lecky (1878-90) History of England in the 18th Century
• Charles J. Abbey (1887) The English Church in the 18th Century
• John Henry Overton (1881) William Law, Nonjuror and Mystic
•  "Law, William". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

Notes

1. ^ "I became a sort of lax talker against religion, for I did not think much against it; and this lasted until I went to Oxford, where it would not be suffered. When at Oxford, I took up Law's Serious Call, expecting to find it a dull book (as such books generally are), and perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an overmatch for me; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion after I became capable of rational inquiry.", Samuel Johnson, recounted in James Boswell's, Life of Johnson, ch. 1.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)