Brief Introduction | Preface | Table of Contents
Norman Grubb says of the Appeal, "...I had no idea what I was getting into! As soon as I started, I found Law difficult to follow. His magnificent English was in the longer and more involved sentences of his generation; but that was a triviality compared to the tremendous inward insights I began to have. Here at last was a writer who took me to the ultimate foundations and a totality of understanding which I had long been seeking. I drank and have been drinking ever since." Because it was written in the style and verbiage of the old English, often making it hard to understand, we have gone through this book and tried to make it more readable by breaking up the long, compound sentences where possible and where necessary, deleting some minor redundancy for clarity. Some of the scriptures that Law intimated were added by us as they apply. Comments in the text by us are enclosed by the use of brackets "[ ... ]." The writing by Law did not have sub-headings in the text and these have been added by us.
As to how William Law uses the word "religion," not all religion is good. As an example of this, he contrasts the difference between "good religion" and bad and their natures in the following statements:
This supernatural "something" in the scripture called the Word, the Spirit, or Inspiration of God is the only source of any good thought about God that man can have. This something is the only source of the power to have more heavenly desires in man's spirit than he has in his flesh.
A religion that is not wholly built on this supernatural ground but solely stands upon the power of reasoning and conclusions of the natural uninspired man has not so much as the shadow of true religion in it. It is nothing in the same sense as an idol is said to be nothing, because the idol has nothing in it that is pretended by it. The work of religion has no divine good in it, except that it brings forth and keeps up essential union of the spirit of man with the Spirit of God. This essential union can only be made through love on both sides that works by the same essential nature of God.
Brief Introduction | Preface | Table of Contents
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