Quotes by William Law

“This, and this alone, is Christianity, a universal holiness in every part of life, a heavenly wisdom in all our actions, not conforming to the spirit and temper of the world but turning all worldly enjoyments into means of piety and devotion to God.”

“Religion is not ours till we live by it, till it is the Religion of our thoughts, words, and actions, till it goes with us into every place, sits uppermost on every occasion, and forms and governs our hopes and fears, our cares and pleasures.”

“All people desire what they believe will make them happy. If a person is not full of desire for God, we can only conclude that he is engaged with another happiness.”

“He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and happy life.”

“Self is the root, the tree, and the branches of all the evils of our fallen state.”

“If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead.”

Everything in ...nature, is descended out that which is eternal, and stands as a. ..visible outbirth of it, so when we know how to separate out the grossness, death, and darkness. ..from it, we find. ..it in its eternal state.

The Spirit of Love, wherever it is, is its own blessing and happiness, because it is the truth and reality of God in the soul; and therefore is in the same joy of life, and is the same good to itself everywhere and on every occasion. Would you know the blessing of all blessings? It is this God of Love dwelling in your soul, and killing every root of bitterness, which is the pain and torment of every earthly, selfish love. For all wants are satisfied, all disorders of nature are removed, no life is any longer a burden, every day is a day of peace, everything you meet becomes a help to you, because everything you see or do is all done in the sweet, gentle element of Love.

I cannot tell you how much I love you. But that which of all things I have most at heart, with regard to you, is the real progress of your soul in the divine life. Heaven seems to be awakened in you. It is a tender plant. It requires stillness, meekness, and the unity of the heart, totally given up to the unknown workings of the Spirit of God, which will do all its work in the calm soul, that has no hunger or desire but to escape out of the mire of its earthly life into its lost union and life in God. I mention this, out of a fear of your giving in to an eagerness about many things, which, though seemingly innocent, yet divide and weaken the workings of the divine life within you.

The merit of persons is to be no rule of our charity, but we are to do acts of kindness to those that least deserve it.

What can you conceive more silly and extravagant than to suppose a man racking his brains and studying night and day how to fly?

The greatest saint in the world is not he who prays most or fasts most it is not he who gives alms or is most eminent for temperance chastity or justice. It is he who is most thankful to God.

Nothing hath separated us from God but our own will or rather our own will is our separation from God.

Be intent upon the perfection of the present day.

He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and a happy life.

There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him.

Death is not more certainly a separation of our souls from our bodies than the Christian life is a separation of our souls from worldly tempers, vain indulgences, and unnecessary cares.

Nothing hath separated us from God but our own will, or rather our own will is our separation from God.

Faith is not a notion, but a real strong essential hunger, an attracting or magnetic desire of Christ, which as it proceeds from a seed of the divine nature in us, so it attracts and unites with its like.