William Law (1686–1761) was an English Anglican priest and spiritual writer. A fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he lost his post as a nonjuror, refusing to swear allegiance to George I, and spent his later years in devout retirement at King's Cliffe. His A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1729) deeply influenced John Wesley and Samuel Johnson; our library also holds The Spirit of Prayer and his treatise on Christian perfection.
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William Law's treatise on Christian perfection, published in 1726, two years before his famous Serious Call. Law argues that Christianity is not a set of opinions but a life wholly devoted to God, and he examines the tempers — humility, patience, and resignation — that mark such a life. Austere and searching, it leaves little room for a comfortable, half-hearted religion.