The Way to Divine Knowledge was written by William Law (1686–1761) as preparatory to a new edition of the Works of Jacob Behmen and the "Right Use of Them". The first edition of The Way to Divine Knowledge was printed in 1752 by the London printer and novelist Samuel Richardson, who very much admired William Law and had been involved in printing Law's earlier books. It was published in London by the distinguished booksellers William Innys and John Richardson (not related to Samuel Richardson).Gerda J.Joling-van der Sar, The Spiritual Side of Samuel Richardson, Mysticism, Behmenism and Millenarianism in an Eighteenth-Century English Novelist, 2003, pp 118–120. It was preceded by The Spirit of Prayer (part I, 1749, and part II, 1750) and followed by The Spirit of Love (part I, 1752, and part II, 1754).
The Way to Divine Knowledge was partly written by William Law as a defence against accusations of Enthusiasm by his opponents, but it was also written in order to assist Law's contemporary readers to a better understanding of the works of Jakob Boehme (1575–1624), a German philosopher and Christian mystic within the Lutheran tradition. The reading of Boehme's works had deeply moved William Law.Gerda J.Joling-van der Sar, The Spiritual Side of Samuel Richardson, Mysticism, Behmenism and Millenarianism in an Eighteenth-Century English Novelist, 2003, pp 142 ff.Andrew Weeks, Boehme, An Intellectual Biography of the Seventeenth-Century Philosopher and Mystic, New York, 1991.
Background
The German editions of Boehme's works appeared between 1612 and 1624, the year of his death, and the sixth year into the Thirty Years' War, an extremely destructive conflict in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, which had initially been a war between various Catholic and Protestant states, but which was actually rather a war fought for political superiority. It was ended by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
The English translations of Boehme's works by John Sparrow and John Ellistone appeared between 1645 and 1662 during the upheaval of the English Civil War (1642–1651) and the trial and execution of King Charles I. Even though Law appreciated the quality of the seventeenth-century English translations, he had taught himself the German language in order to be able to read Boehme in the original language. Law himself lived in the Age of Enlightenment centering on reason in which there were many controversies between Catholics and Protestants, Deists, Socinians, Arians etc. which caused conflicts that worried Law, who as a pacifist rejected all wars and every form of violence.
Some people very much admired Law's "mystical" writings, such as his contemporaries Samuel Richardson, George Cheyne and John Byrom, and even the Methodist Charles Wesley appreciated his works, whereas some people such as William Warburton and the Methodist John Wesley, the brother of Charles Wesley, deeply disliked Law's "mystical" works. John Byrom, who greatly admired William Law, wrote a poem on the Way to Divine Knowledge, which was called "A Dialogue between Rusticus, Theophilus, and Academicus, on the Nature, Power, and Use of Human Learning in Matters of Religion, from Mr. Law's Way to Divine Knowledge". This poem was published in 1773 in Byrom's collected works Miscellaneous Poems.Miscellaneous Poems, Vol. II, p. 88. All of Law's books were collected by John Byrom as can be found in the catalogue of his library.A Catalogue of the Library of the Late John Byrom. https://archive.org/details/acataloguelibra00roddgoog/page/n139 William Wilberforce (1759–1833), the politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to stop the slave trade, was deeply touched by reading William Law books. Another admirer was John Henry Overton (1835–1903), the English cleric and church historian who published in 1878 The English Church in the Eighteenth Century. In 1881 Overton published William Law, Nonjuror and Mystic. In the twentieth century Stephen Hobhouse (1881–1961), the prominent English peace activist and distinguished religious writer, and Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), the English writer and philosopher, among many others greatly admired Law's writings, especially the mystically inclined works.
Introduction of The Way to Divine Knowledge In The Way to Divine Knowledge William Law dealt with Boehme's writings focussing on the "religion of the heart". It was most probably the absence of "book learning" in Boehme's works which must have been one of the reasons of Law's fascination for Boehme.Stephen Hobhouse, Selected Mystical Writings of William Law, 1949, p. 269. According to some, William Law had been considering to publish a new edition of the works of Jakob Boehme which would help readers to make the "right use of them". However, in The Way to Divine Knowledge it becomes clear that Law had no real intention of doing so.The Way to Divine Knowledge, Works, Vol. 7, pp. 195; 198. Theophilus, see the next paragraph below, says that “the true understanding must come from the inward ground [soul]” and that this is the reason why Academicus must understand how needless it is to ask [Theophilus] or anyone else to help Academicus to understand Boehme. Law also mentioned several possibly bewildering passages in Jakob Boehme's books and Law's advice was to skip these passages as Boehme's works were often obscured by the "physico-chemical, medical, alchemistic, and astrological language.Stephen Hobhouse, Selected Mystical Writings of William Law, 1949, pp. 345; 357. John Sparrow, one of the main English translators of Boehme's works voiced similar reservations: "Words are vehicula rerum ... the bare letter of [Boehme's] writings ... though exactly translated, will not give a man the understanding of them ... unless the spirit of regeneration in Christ [enters into him].Gerda J. Joling-van der Sar, The Spiritual Side of Samuel Richardson, Mysticism, Behmenism and Millenarianism in an Eighteenth-Century English Novelist, footnote 405, p. 134.
The Way to Divine Knowledge consists of three dialogues between Theophilus, Humanus, Academicus and Rusticus. These three dialogues are a continuation of Part II of Law's earlier book The Spirit of Prayer (Part I of 1749 and Part II of 1750). The exchanges between the four men are essential to the understanding of Law's objectives. The Way to Divine Knowledge is filled with beautiful prose, tolerance and charm. It also has some humorous passages as shown in some of the following passages.
Theophilus, Humanus, Academicus and Rusticus The three dialogues between Theophilus, Humanus, Academicus and Rusticus are the means by which Law conveyed his views. Theophilus represents the "Love of God" or "Friend of God" and voices the views of William Law himself.Stephen Hobhouse quoting the words of John Henry Overton in Selected Mystical Writings of William Law, 1949, p. 263. Humanus is the "learned unbeliever" and represents the deists (also referred to as the "infidels")The Way to Divine Knowledge, Works, Vol. 7: “Reason is the vain idol of modern deism and modern Christianity”, p. 168.The Way to Divine Knowledge, Works, Vol. 7: “This is the ... depth of ... deism or infidelity”, p. 178. who had been raised as Christians, but who had doubts as to the Trinity, as well as with orthodox teachings and with the supernatural interpretations of miracles. Academicus represents the intellectuals and their close study of Latin, Greek or even Hebrew literary texts which enabled them to discuss fine points of historical and theological differences. Academicus is hampered by this "letter learning". Rusticus represents the simple, honest man living among shepherds herding livestock. Even though he is unable to read or write, he is much more able to receive "the truth" than Academicus or Humanus.
The Atonement or The Necessity of Regeneration or the New Birth The core subject in The Way to Divine Knowledge is the concept of the "new birth" (regeneration) within the soul. In the Atonement passages in The Way to Divine Knowledge Law again asserted, as he had done in his previous books especially from 1737 and onwards, that the redemption of Christ was an example of "God's mercy to all mankind". It was the only method of overcoming evil achieved by a new birth of a new sinless life in the soul and its reunion with God. This new birth depended on one's own will to choose between "good and evil" which would create either heaven (good, love and light) or hell (anger, wrath and darkness) within one's soul.Boehme wrote in the Forty Questions that “every soul is its own judgment” and Law had written in The Spirit of Prayer, part I (1749), “A Christ not in us is the same thing as a Christ not ours”, Stephen Hobhouse, Selected Mystical Writings of William Law, 1949, p. iv. However, Law realized that this concept of "the nature and necessity of regeneration" would be totally rejected by those who believed in "guilt, righteous anger, retributive punishment, compensatory justice and sacrificial death.See also Stephen Hobhouse, Selected Mystical Writings of William Law, 1949, p. 299. Law compared the rebirth with the two parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price (Matt. 13, 44–6), which was Boehme's "noble pearl of wisdom" or Sophia, see the paragraph below.Stephen Hobhouse, Selected Mystical Writings of William Law, 1949, p. 259.
First Dialogue The first dialogue took place in the morning. Humanus opened the dialogue. It was the first time that he had been allowed to enter into the conversation, because he had given up all "cavilling and disputing" for which Theophilus was indeed very grateful. So Humanus is now a "convert ... [who is] all hunger and thirst after this new light, a glimpse of which has already raised [him] as it were from the dead.The Way to Divine Knowledge, The Works, Vol. VII, p. 148.
The Test of Truth Theophilus explains that the "test of truth" lies in finding out whether it is truly the Spirit of God and the Love of God, the pure, free, universal goodness of God that one longs for.The Way to Divine Knowledge, The Works, Vol. VII, p. 150.The Way to Divine Knowledge, The Works, Vol. VII, p. 156. Theophilus argues that "the fall of man into the life and state of this world is the whole ground of his redemption, and that a real birth of Christ in the soul is the whole nature of it".The Way to Divine Knowledge, The Works, Vol. VII, p. 164. That is the reason why one should look up "in faith and hope to God as our Father and to Heaven as our native country" and why we are only "strangers and pilgrims upon earth".The Way to Divine Knowledge, The Works, Vol. VII, p. 170. Theophilus argues that Humanus, now a convert, should not try to propagate Christianity or make converts himself, for if there is no "sensibility of the evil and burden and vanity of the natural state, we are to leave people to themselves in their natural state, till some good providence awakens them out of it" for Deism (or infidelity) is merely caused by the bad state of Christendom and the "miserable use that heathenish learning and worldly policy have made of the Gospel".The Way to Divine Knowledge, The Works, Vol. VII, pp. 176; 177. Humanus added:
That no one needs to be told that ever since learning has borne rule in the Church, learned Doctors have contradicted and condemned one another in every essential point of the Christian doctrine. Thousands of learned men tell the illiterate they are lost in this or that Church; and thousands of learned men tell them they are lost if they leave it.The Way to Divine Knowledge, The Works, Vol. VII, p. 179.
Disciples of Epicurus Theophilus was very pleased with the progress Humanus had made, especially with his resolution not to enter into debate about the Gospel doctrines with his [old Brethren] till they were ready for it and wanted to be saved and if that time should never come Humanus must consider them as disciples of Epicurus: