William Law (1686–1761)

Author of A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

84+ Works 1,712 Members 12 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

William Law (1686-1761) was educated at Cambridge, took a teaching position there, and was also ordained in the Church of England. He lost his access to university venues and the parish ministry when he became a non-juror a cleric who felt bound by his oat to the ousted James II and would not swear show more allegiance to the newly crowned William of Orange and his wife Mary. Denied the use of pulpit and lecture hall, his focus become personal spiritually, in particular the transformative power of the Christian faith that comes through intentional and consistent application of spiritual practices. His writings include Christian Perfection, The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration. The Spirit of Prayer, and The Spirit of Love. show less

Includes the names: William Law, willima law, William; translator; Introduction by Adam McLean Law

Image credit: Used by permission - Scroll Publishing

Works by William Law

Popular Recent

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728) 858 copies

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life / The Spirit of Love (1656) 235 copies

The Power of the Spirit (1977) 120 copies

Wholly for God: Selections from the Writings of William Law (Dimension Books) (1894) 46 copies

Selections on the interior life (1962) 40 copies

Freedom from a Self Centered Life (Classics of devotion) (1977) 37 copies

William Law: Selections from A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (HarperCollins Spiritual Classics) (2005) 34 copies

Selected Mystical Writings of William Law (1938) 22 copies

The Spirit of Prayer (1969) 20 copies

You Will Receive Power (1997) 17 copies

The Spirit of Love (2001) 17 copies

The Spirit of Prayer and the Spirit of Love (1969) 16 copies

A Serious Call to Holy Living (Living Classics) (1985) 15 copies

A practical treatise upon Christian perfection (2001) 14 copies

Christian Perfection (1975) 14 copies

Of Justification by Faith and Works (2010) 10 copies

The Way to Divine Knowledge (2005) 10 copies

The Complete Works of WILLIAM LAW (17-in-1) (2013) 10 copies

AN APPEAL—To all that Doubt William Law (2012) 10 copies

A Humble, Earnest and Affectionate Address to the Clergy (1761) 10 copies

Gods Power in You (1998) 9 copies

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Living Selections from the Great Devotional Classics) (1952) 8 copies

A Collection of Letters (1990) 7 copies

Selected Writings (1990) 7 copies

Characters and characteristics of William Law, nonjuror and mystic (1893) 6 copies

The absolute unlawfulness of the stage-entertainment fully demonstrated (1973) 6 copies

Extracts from the Writings of William Law (1992) 6 copies

Remarks on the fable of the bees / by William Law, M.A ; with an introduction by the Rev. F.D. Maurice, M.A (2001) 5 copies

Christ in All (2005) 5 copies

A demonstration of the gross and fundamental errors of a late book called 'A plain account of the nature and end… 5 copies

The pocket William Law (1950) 5 copies

An Earnest and Serious Answer to Dr. Trapp's Discourse; An Appeal to All Who Doubt the Truths of the Gospel (Works… (2001) 5 copies

The Life Of Christian Devotion: Devotional Selections From The Works Of William Law (2012) 4 copies

A serious call to a devout and holy life. Edited and abridged for the modern reader by John W. Meister and others. With 4 copies

A Demonstration of the Errors of a Late Book (2001) 4 copies

Fire from a Flint: Daily Readings (1986) 4 copies

A Humble, Earnest, and Affectionate Address to the Clergy; A Collection of Letters; Letters to a Lady Inclined to Enter… (2001) 3 copies

The works of the Reverend William Law in nine volumes (2001) 3 copies

The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration (2010) 3 copies

OS/2 C class library : power GUI programming with C set (1995) 3 copies

The Works of the Rev. William Law, Vol VIII (2015) 3 copies

Abridgment of A serious call to a devout and holy life adapted to the state and condition of all orders of Christians (1955) 2 copies

Our Hansard or The True Mirror of Parliament 2 copies

The Works of the Reverend William Law, Vol. 9 of 9 (Classic Reprint) (2017) 2 copies

Dying To Self. (the Spirit Of Love. Pt.2. 3rd Dialogue). With Notes By A. Murray... (2009) 2 copies

The Works Of The Reverend William Law: Three Letters To The Bishop Of Bangor V1 (2007) 2 copies

A Defense of the Lord's Supper - Law 2 copies

The Works of the Reverend William Law, A. M, Vol. 5 of 9: Containing, I. A Demonstration of the Gross and Fundamental… (2016) 2 copies

An extract from Mr. Law's Serious call to a holy life (2003) 2 copies

The Works of the Reverend William Law, Vol. 7 of 9 (Classic Reprint) (2017) 2 copies

The works (1974) 1 copy

A reply to the Bishop of Bangor's Answer to the representation of the Committee of Convocation. : Humbly… 1 copy

The Bishop of Bangor's late sermon, and his letter to Dr. Snape in defence of it, answer'd. And the dangerous… 1 copy

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life & An Appeal To all that Doubt, or Disbelieve The Truths of the Gospel (Two… (2011) 1 copy

The Spirit of Prayer or, the Soul Rising Out of the Vanity of Time into the Riches of Eternity 1 copy

A second letter to the Bishop of Bangor wherein His Lordship's notions of benediction, absolution, and… 1 copy

An Appeal to All Those that Doubt the Truths of the Gospel 1 copy

The Key of Jacob Boehme (Studies in Historical Theology) by Jakob Bohme (2000-11-01) 1 copy

A Call to Christians: showing the necessity of A Devout and Holy Life 1 copy

The Spirit of Love and Prayer (2018) 1 copy

An Appeal to all that doubt or disbelieve the Truths of the Gospel 1 copy

A call to professors of every denomination 1 copy

Sublime Studies on Subjects and Character Sketches (selected By A. Whyte ) (1900) 1 copy

The Second Part of the Spirit of Prayer, or The Soul Rising out of the Vanity of Time into the Riches of Eternity 1 copy

The Sources Of William Law's Mystical Theology (2005) 1 copy

An Introduction To Theosophy, Or The Science Of The "mystery Of Christ", That Is, Of Deity, Nature, And Creature:… (2017) 1 copy

The Works of the Reverend William Law, Volume III 1 copy

Readings from Law's "Serious call" 1 copy

Defence of church principles; three letters to the Bishop of Bangor, 1717-1719 1 copy

A Collection of devotional tracts, viz. An extract of the spirit of prayer. By W. Law, A.M. A discourse on mistakes… 1 copy

An extract from a treatise by William Law, M.A. called The spirit of prayer, or, The soul rising out of the vanity of… 1 copy

The Necessity of Forming a Firm Intention to Please God [book excerpt] 1 copy

The Works of the Reverend William Law, Volume II 1 copy

The Works of the Reverend William Law, Volume I 1 copy

The Works of the Reverend William Law, Volume IV 1 copy

The Divine Indwelling: Selections From The Letters Of William Law (2017) 1 copy

The Works of the Reverend William Law, Volume VI 1 copy

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life & The Way to Divine Knowledge (Two Books With Active Table of Contents) (2011) 1 copy

A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A Methodist and a Churchman (1737) 1 copy

Successful Speculation in Common Stocks (1934) 1 copy

The Works of William Law: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration,… 1 copy

A serious call to a devout and holy life (Selections) 1 copy

La Voie de la science divine ["the Way to divine knowledge"], ou Développement des principes et des bases… 1 copy

Liberal and Mystical Writing of William Law 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Way to Christ (1621) — Translator, some editions — 277 copies

God Makes the Rivers to Flow: Selections from the Sacred Literature of the World Chosen for Daily Meditation (1982) — Contributor — 214 copies

Eighteenth-Century English Literature (1969) — Author — 187 copies

After the Thin Man [1936 film] (1936) — Actor — 77 copies

Shakespeare's Henry V (1914) — Editor, some editions — 1 copy

Tagged

18th century (25) Anglican (28) Anglicanism (11) anthology (32) Christian (27) Christian living (118) Christian Mysticism (9) Christianity (63) Church History (9) classic (10) classics (12) Classics of Western Spirituality (15) comedy (9) devotion (10) Devotional (38) Discipleship (13) DVD (15) English (9) English literature (11) fiction (10) Holiness (26) Holy Spirit (16) Kindle (16) literature (20) Logos (15) meditation (16) mysticism (48) non-fiction (21) poetry (25) prayer (23) religion (87) Sanctification (15) spiritual disciplines (9) Spiritual Formation (13) Spiritual Growth (12) spiritual life (17) spirituality (113) Theology (48) to-read (66) William Law (20)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate: 1686
Date of death: 1761-04-09
Gender: male
Nationality: UK

Members

Reviews

William Law: Selections on the Interior Life with… by William Law

Selections from William Law, an 18th century mystical writer who has influenced many Friends.

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PendleHillLibrary | 3 other reviews | Apr 14, 2022 |

Selections on the interior life by William Law

For a time William Law (18th c. Church of England priest) was a very popular author among Friends, especially "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life."

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FriendshipFLibrary | 3 other reviews | Nov 4, 2015 |

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law

William Law in this work reminds me of Leo Tolstoy in his late writings. Both of them write with a limpid style, both make moral arguments that are undeniably logical and rational, both make severe and incisive criticisms of Christendom, and not surprisingly, both were excommunicated.

If a Christian reader tries to see things through Law's eyes, he would find himself in a dream world, where people, himself included, live in a way that defies logic and reason, either sleepwalking through the day never knowing where they were going, or habitually engaging in various kinds of activities that are beneficial to none but harmful to all.

The reader is then perhaps confronted with an uncomfortable choice: Either Law is a crackbrained writer, or something is seriously wrong with my way of life. If that is the case, the condescending and sarcastic, though urbanely controlled, tone in the introduction written by the Reverend Charles Bigg, DD is quite understandable.

(To judge for yourself, read an excerpt of "Serious Call"at Nemo's Library. It is representative of Law's writing and ideas.)

… (more)

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booksontrial | 2 other reviews | Oct 24, 2015 |

William Law: Selections on the Interior Life.… by William Law

This is a wonderful introduction to William Law, an English mystic of the 18th century, These selections show what a good guide he is: deep, sensible, perceptive, wise, loving. Morrison's commentary is helpful.

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QuakerReviews | 3 other reviews | Apr 5, 2015 |

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