William Law 			April 10
Priest, Mystic
William Law was born in 1686 and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was ordained deacon in 1711 and elected a fellow of his college in the same year. When George I came to the throne in 1715, Law refused to take the oath of allegiance and was deposed from his fellowship. He joined the Nonjurors - those who maintained that by the divine right of kings James II and his successors were the rightful kings of England.
Law was ordained priest in 1728, but, as a Nonjuror, could not hold any office in the Church of England. He became tutor to Edward Gibbon (who later became the father of the famous historian of the same name). In 1740 he retired to a semi-monastic household in King’s Cliffe, where he had been born. With the help of some friends he devoted himself to establishing schools and almshouses as an expression of the life of disciplined prayer that governed the household. There were prayers several times a day. They lived a simple, austere life and devoted their income to good works. He died in 1761.
The book Law published in 1728, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, had a profound influence on many people, including Samuel Johnson and John and Charles Wesley. Its title well illustrates the main theme of much of his writing. He stresses the exercise of Christian moral virtues and personal discipline. In so doing, he provided an important stimulus to the development of the characteristic spirituality of the evangelical revival. The work reflects Law’s own sombre character and his meticulous attention to rules for personal conduct. In an age of conventional church-going, Law inculcated personal religion of the highest standards. He reacted strongly against easy-going Christianity and all attempts to compromise with the world. He launched a somewhat bigoted attack on the theatre and regarded the sins of “the world” as more dangerous than those of “the flesh” and “the devil”.
Law’s later works show the influence of the German mystic, Jakob Boehme. In his Spirit of Prayer (1749) and The Spirit of Love (1754), Law explored the inner foundations of religious experience. In an age when reason was widely regarded as the key to life’s mysteries, Law came to distrust reason. Law found feeling and emotion better keys to life. In the spiritual life, the indwelling of Christ in the soul was of paramount importance. This mystical element led to a degree of estrangement between Law and the evangelicals.
For Liturgical Use
William Law was born in 1686 and was ordained priest in 1728. Unable to hold any office in the church because he refused to acknowledge George I as the rightful king, he devoted much of his life to writing. The book for which he is most remembered today was published in 1728: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. He advocated a strictly disciplined life of personal holiness. His later writings show a mystical emphasis on the indwelling of Christ in the heart. He died in 1761.
Sentence
You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.	Leviticus 19:2
Collects
Holy and merciful God,
you filled the heart of William Law
with devotion and zeal in your service;
set us afire with love and obedience,
that, encouraged by his teaching,
we may grow in true holiness of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God,
you call us to hunger and thirst for what is right,
and to follow your servant William
in his serious call
to devout and holy living;
grant that we who preach to others
may never find ourselves rejected.
Psalms	119:113-120	119:137-144
Readings
Tobit 1:16-18	Tobit’s virtuous life
Romans 6:20-23	A devout and holy life
Luke 11:33-36	Jesus’ call to holiness
Post Communion Sentence
The seed in the good soil are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.	Luke 8:15 (adapted)