Inspirational Quotes by William Law
“God wants all people to be happy; therefore you ought to want and desire the same. They cannot be truly happy, though, outside of Jesus Christ. Let them know. Show them by your own life. In thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psalm 16:11). Above all, my son, remember this: never do anything through strife, envy, jealousy, or pride. Never do anything in order to excel other people, but in order to please God, and because it is His will that you should do everything in the best manner that you can. For once it becomes a pleasure to you to excel other people, it will by degrees be a pleasure to you to see other people not do as well as yourself. Banish therefore every thought of self-pride and self-distinction, and accustom yourself to rejoice in all the excellencies”
“You have seen, that the Properties of Nature are, and can be, nothing else in their own Life, but a restless Hunger, Disquiet, and blind Strife for they know not what, till the Property of Light and Love has got Possession of them.”
“and perfections of your fellow creatures, being as glad to see any of their good actions as your own. God is as well pleased with their well-doings as with yours. You ought to desire that everything that is wise and holy and good may be performed in as high a manner by other people as by yourself. Let this therefore be your only motive and incentive to all good actions, honest industry, and business – to do everything in as perfect and excellent a manner as you can, for this reason: because it is pleasing to God, who loves you and desires your perfection. When I am dead, my son, you will be master of all my estate, which will be a great deal more than the necessities of one family require. Therefore, as you are to be charitable to the souls of men and wish them the same”
“happiness with you in heaven, so be charitable to their bodies, and endeavor to make them as happy as you can upon earth. As God has created all things for the common good of all people, so use what you have as God would want it used – for the good of others. Do good, my son, first of all to those who most deserve it; but remember to do good to all. The greatest sinners receive daily instances of God’s goodness toward them. He nourishes and preserves them, that they may repent and return to Him. Therefore, imitate God, and do not think that anyone is too bad to receive your relief and kindness, when you see that he needs it. Learn to love to read, not so you can be a scholar and boast of your wisdom, but so you can read from the wisdom of the men”
“Now when you see this, you see the true State of every natural Man, whether he be Caesar or Cato, whether he gloriously murders others or only stabs himself; blind Nature does all the Work, and must be the Doer of it, till the Christ of God is born in him. For the Life of Man can be nothing else but a Hunger of Covetousness, a Rising up of Pride, Envy, and Wrath, a medley of contrary Passions, doing and undoing it knows not what because these Workings are essential to the Properties of Nature; they must be always hungering, and working one against another, striving to be above one another, and all this in Blindness, till the Light of God has helped them to one common Good, in which they all willingly unite, rest, and rejoice.”
“and women of the past and learn how they depended upon God and lived for Him and were used by Him. Read the autobiographies and biographies of men and women throughout history who were used by God. Read the writings of those who walked closely with God and who spent much time with Him. Often the latest Christian fad is merely a religious novelty that does not lead you into the ways of God. Learn from the holy men and women of the past. Thus hath the LORD said, Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where the good way is and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls (Jeremiah 6:16). Let truth and plainness therefore be the only ornament of your language, choose everything that is best, live according to reason”
“This is a noble magnificence of thought, a true religious greatness of mind, to be thus affected with God's general providence, admiring and magnifying His wisdom in all things; never murmuring at the course of the world, or the state of things, but looking upon all around, at heaven and earth, as a pleased spectator, and adoring that invisible hand, which gives laws to all motions, and overrules all events to ends suitable to the highest wisdom and goodness.”
“The Deist, therefore, who looks for Life and Salvation through the Use of his Reason, acts contrary to the whole Nature of every Thing that he sees and knows of himself and of the Nature and State of this World.”
“For Love is the one only Blessing and Goodness, and God of Nature; and you have no true Religion, are no Worshiper of the one true God, but in and by that Spirit of Love, which is God himself living and working in you.”
“World raised out of the Materials of the fallen Angels' Kingdom, and was not the Wrath, and Fire, and Darkness of their Fall, still in some Degree remaining in every Part of this World, they could have no more Power in it, than they have in Heaven; they must be as entirely incapable of seeing or entering into it, as they are of seeing or entering into the Kingdom of Heaven: For they have nothing but Evil in their Nature; they can touch nothing, move nothing, see nothing, feel nothing, taste nothing, act in nothing, but that very Evil, Darkness, Fire, and Wrath, and Disorder, which they first awakened and kindled both in themselves, and their Kingdom. And therefore it is a Truth of the utmost Certainty, that they can be nowhere, but where there is something of that Evil still subsisting which they brought forth. And this may pass for Demonstration (if there be any such thing) that the Scriptures themselves demonstrate the Place of this World, to be the very Place and Region in which the Angels fell.”
“My Heart embraces you both with the greatest Affection, and I am much pleased at the Occasion of your Coming which calls me to the most delightful Subject in the World, to help both you and myself to rejoice in that adorable Deity whose infinite Being is an Infinity of mere Love, an unbeginning, never-ceasing, and forever overflowing Ocean of Meekness, Sweetness, Delight, Blessing, Goodness, Patience, and Mercy, and all this as so many blessed Streams breaking out of the Abyss of universal Love, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, a Triune Infinity of Love and Goodness, for ever and ever giving forth nothing but the same Gifts of Light and Love, of Blessing and Joy, whether before or after the Fall, either of Angels or Men.”
“Look at all Nature, through all its Height and Depth, in all its Variety of working Powers; it is what it is for this only End, that the hidden Riches, the invisible Powers, Blessings, Glory, and Love of the unsearchable God, may become visible, sensible, and manifest in and by it.”
“Look at all the Variety of Creatures; they are what they are for this only End, that in their infinite Variety, Degrees, and Capacities, they may be as so many speaking Figures, living Forms of the manifold Riches and Powers of Nature, as so many Sounds and Voices, Preachers, and Trumpets, giving Glory and Praise and Thanksgiving to that Deity of Love which gives Life to all Nature and Creature.”
“Wonder not therefore, Academicus, that all the Work of our Salvation and Regeneration is, by the Scripture, wholly confined to the Operation of the Light and Spirit of God, living and working in us.”
“and have not Charity (that is, have not the Spirit of Christ) it profiteth me nothing.”
“For by Charity here, the Apostle means neither more nor less, but strictly that same Thing, which, in other Places, he calls the new Creature, Christ formed in us, and our being led by the Spirit of Christ. According to the Apostle, nothing availeth but the new Creature, nothing availeth but the Spirit of Charity here described; therefore this Charity, and the new Creature, are only two different Expressions of one and the same Thing, viz., the Birth, and Formation of Christ in us.”
“Never, therefore, allow yourselves to despise those who do not follow your rules of life: but force your hearts to love them, and pray to God for them; and let humility be always whispering it into your ears, that you yourselves would fall from those rules to-morrow, if God should leave you to your own strength and wisdom.”
“There can be no Goodness and Happiness for any intelligent Creature, but in and by this two-fold Life; and therefore the Union of the Divine and human Life, or the Son of God incarnate in Man, to make Man again a Partaker of the Divine Nature, is the one only possible Salvation for all the Sons of fallen Adam, that is, of Adam dead to, or fallen from his first Union with the Divine Life.”
“Deism, therefore, or a Religion of Nature, pretending to make Man good and happy without Christ, or the Son of God entering into Union with the human Nature, is the greatest of all Absurdities.”
“For Nature and Creature, without the Christ of God or the Divine Life in Union with it, is and can be nothing else but this mere Emptiness, Hunger, and Want of all that which can alone make it good and happy.”
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William Law was an English cleric and theological writer. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was elected a fellow in 1711, the year of his ordination. He declined to take the oath of loyalty to King George I, in 1714, and was deprived of his fellowship. He became the tutor of Edward Gibbon, father of the famous historian. Later he returned to his birthplace of King's Cliffe where he lived the rest of his life, though he was known throughout England for his speaking and writing.
His writing of 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.
William Law, born inKing's Cliffe, England, in 1686, became a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1711, but in 1714, at the death of Queen Anne, he became a non-Juror: that is to say, he found himself unable to take the required oath of allegiance to the Hanoverian dynasty (who had replaced the Stuart dynasty) as the lawful rulers of the United Kingdom, and was accordingly ineligible to serve as a university teacher or parish minister.
He became for ten years a private tutor in the family of the historian, Edward Gibbon (who, despite his generally cynical attitude toward all things Christian, invariably wrote of Law with respect and admiration), and then retired to his native King's Cliffe. Forbidden the use of the pulpit and the lecture-hall, he preached through his books. These include - Christian Perfection, the Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration, Spirit of Prayer, the Way to Divine Knowledge, Spirit of Love, and, best-known of all, A Serious Call To a Devout and Holy Life, published in 1728.
Law's most influential work is A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, written in 1728. In this book, he extols the virtue of living a life totally devoted to the glory of God. Although he is considered a high-churchman, his writing influenced many evangelicals, including George Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley, Henry Venn, Thomas Scott, Henry Martyn, and others such as Samuel Johnson. In addition to his writing, Law spent the final years of his life founding schools and almshouses, and in other practical ministries.
William Law died in 1761 just a few days after his last book, An Affectionate Address to the Clergy, went to the printers.