William Law was contemporary with Lindsay. He was born in 1686, at Kingscliffe, in Northamptonshire. So that when the schism originated, he was only an infant. His father was a grocer in that village: but whether he had adopted the principles of the Nonjurors, I am unable to determine. William was sent to Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.A.in 1708, and that of M.A. in 1712. At this time, therefore, he could not have been a Nonjuror: but after the accession of George I. when the Abjuration Oath was rigorously enforced, he refused to submit, and consequently lost his fellowship. Still, as a man of peace, he remained in the communion of the Church, attending divine service in his own parish. His writings are rather voluminous: and some of his practical works, especially his Serious Call, and his Christian Perfection, are still most extensively circulated. He took a prominent part in the Bangorian Controversy, defending the Church and the Priesthood against Hoadley, with much ability and force of argument. He died in the year 1761.[1]
Lindsay and Law were among the last generation of the Nonjurors: and Carte may be reckoned in the same class. During his life the labours of Carte were not duly appreciated, though they are now ranked among the most valuable of our historical writings. The author graduated at Oxford, taking his B.A. in 1702, and M.A. at Cambridge in 1706. On these occasions he must have taken the Oath of Allegiance: but on the accession of George I. he refused to take the Oath of Abjuration. At this time Collier was accustomed to preach to a Nonjuring congregation in an upper room of a house in Broad
- ↑ Gents. Mag. vol. lxx, pp. 720, 1038—40.
