Biography
William Law was an English Anglican priest and devotional writer, born at King's Cliffe in Northamptonshire and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow. After the accession of George I, he refused to take the oath of allegiance, as a nonjuror, and lost his fellowship. He then served as tutor in the household of Edward Gibbon, father of the historian, at Putney. His A Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection appeared in 1726, and A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life followed in 1729. The Serious Call became one of the most widely read devotional books in English, and its influence on John Wesley and on Samuel Johnson is well attested. Law later returned to King's Cliffe, where he lived in retirement, given to prayer, study, and charity to his neighbors. He died there in 1761.