William Law (1686–1761)

LA VOIE DE LA SCIENCE DIVINE

AVANT - PROPOS
du Traducteur

Ces trois Dialogues furent publiés par W. LAW,
ministre de l'Eglise Anglicane, dans le temps où il se
disposait à donner une nowelle édition de la traduction
anglaise des awres théosophiques de Jacob Bahme,
surnommé le Pbilosophe Teutonique. L'on verra, par
leur debut, qu'ils supposent des développements
antécédents sur les principales bases de la Rédemption
cbrétiennme, dliveloppements qui avaient été donnés en
effet, dans un traité intitulé Appel à tous les incréules,
etc. Aussi aurais-je cru devoir offrir premièrement
ce dernier owrage au public, si ces mêmes points fonda
mentaux ne s'étaient pas trouvés rappelés et complètement
dimontrés, doe nomean, dans les dialogues suivants, de
manière à ne laisser aucun embarras au lecteur de...… (mais)

William Law in this work reminds me of Leo Tolstoy in his late writings. Both of them write with a limpid style, both make moral arguments that are undeniably logical and rational, both make severe and incisive criticisms of Christendom, and not surprisingly, both were excommunicated.

If a Christian reader tries to see things through Law's eyes, he would find himself in a dream world, where people, himself included, live in a way that defies logic and reason, either sleepwalking through the day never knowing where they were going, or habitually engaging in various kinds of activities that are beneficial to none but harmful to all.

The reader is then perhaps confronted with an uncomfortable choice: Either Law is a crackbrained writer, or something is seriously wrong with my way of life. If that is the case, the condescending and sarcastic, though urbanely controlled, tone in the introduction written by the Reverend Charles Bigg, DD is quite understandable.

(To judge for yourself, read an excerpt of "Serious Call"at Nemo's Library. It is representative of Law's writing and ideas.)

… (mais)