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

Depending on your calendar, the Church commemorates the life and witness of William Law either on April 9 (with Dietrich Bonhoeffer) or on April 10.

Law, William 1686-1761, English clergyman, noted for his controversial, devotional, and mystical writings. One of the nonjurors , Law was deprived of his fellowship in Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and lost all chances for advancement in the church. Unexcelled among the controversialists of his day, he was also a leading devotional writer. In the former role he wrote Three Letters to the Bishop of Bangor (1717-19) in the Bangorian Controversy , and The Case of Reason (1731), in reply to Matthew Tindal, the deist. In the field of devotional writings, few books have been given so high a place as his Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728). Its influence was acknowledged by John Wesley. In The Spirit of Prayer (1750) and The Spirit of Love (1754) is discernible the influence of Law's study of Jakob Boehme, the mystic. Law's collected works (9 vol., 1753-76) were edited by G. B. Morgan in 1892-93.

If you wish to know more about William Law, visit

The Lessons Appointed for Use on the Feast of William Law Priest, 1761

William Law: Writer, Priest, and Non-Juror

Biographical Sketches of Memorable Christians of the Past: William Law

And again, depending on your calendar (either on April 10 or 12), Lutherans and Anglicans also remember Mikael Agricola, born in Uusimaa, Finland, about 1510. He went to school in Viipuri (Viborg) and then in the cathedral town of Turku (Abo). The bishop of Turku, a Dominican monk, sent him to study at Wittenberg, where he met Luther and Melanchthon, and upon returning home, became rector of the cathedral school and eventually assistant to the bishop. On the death of the bishop in 1554, he was consecrated as the new Bishop of Turku without papal approval, and carried out a relatively conservative program of reform along Lutheran lines, retaining traditional doctrines and practices wherever he did not see scriptural grounds for rejecting them.


Mikael saw the importance of worship and teaching in the Finnish language. He accordingly established rules of orthography which are the basis of modern Finnish spelling, and wrote an Aapinen (primer), a prayer book (with other information), a translation of the New Testament, and a translation of the Liturgy. He translated many hymns into Finnish, and collected hymns that had been written or translated by others. He also took pains to learn what he could about the ancient pre-Christian myths and folklore of the Finnish people. He is accounted the father of written Finnish.


His accomplishments as a bishop are the more impressive when we remember that they took place in a short time. Three years after he became bishop, he was sent to negotiate a treaty with the Russians, and on his return fell ill and died suddenly, in his forties.

Almighty God, we praise thy holy Name for the men and women whom thou hast sent to call the Church to its tasks and renew its life, and especially at this time for thy servants Mikael Agricola, whom thou didst call to preach to the people of Finland. Raise up, we beseech thee, in this our day, teachers and prophets inspired by thy Spirit, that their voices may give strength to thy Church and proclaim the reality of thy kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.