William Law

William Law was an influential 18th century author of devotional works and controversial essays. Ordained and elected fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1711, he forfeited his fellowship, and all prospects of advancement in the Church, because of his refusal to take oaths of allegiance to the English king.

Denied the opportunity to preach, Law did his preaching through his writings, becoming one of the most eminent English writers on practical divinity in the eighteenth century. He was a genuine mystic in a worldly and rationalistic age, and is best known for the book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.