LAW, EDMUND, D.D., Bishop of Carlisle, was born in 1703. He was the son of a clergyman in the northern part of Lancashire, and passed from the grammar-schools of that part of the kingdom to St John's College, Cambridge. As soon as he had taken a degree he was elected Fellow of Christ's College, and in 1737 he was presented by the university to the rectory of Graysteck in Cumberland. To this, in 1743, was added the archdeaconry of Carlisle, which brought with it tho living of Salkeld, on the pleasant banks of the Eden. In 1756 be resigned his archdeaconry and returned to Cambridge, having been elected master of St. Peter's College.
In this, the first period of Dr. Law's life, he had published those writings which show at once the peculiar turn of his own mind, and have given him a place among the best and wisest instructors of their species. His first work was his translation of Archbishop King's 'Essay on the Origin of Evil,' with copious notes, in which many of the difficult questions in metaphysical science are considered. This was soon followed by his' Enquiry into tho Ideas of Space and Time,' lac. Both these works were produced before he left Cambridge; but it was in his retirement at Salkeld that ho prepared his 'Considerations on the Theory of Religion,' with 'Reflections on the Life and Character of Christ,' a work of singular beauty, not to be read by any person without edification and improvement.
To his Cambridge appointment of Master of Peter House was soon added those of University Librarian and Professor of Casuistry. lie was made archdeacon of Stafford, had a prebend given him in the church of Lincoln, and in 1767 one of the rich prebends in the church of Durham. The next year he was appointed to the bishopric of
Carlisle.
In 1777 he published his edition of the works of Locke, with a life of the author. The peculiar character of Dr. Law's mind appears to have been acquired in a great measure by a devoted study of the writings of that philosopher. From him he seems to have derived that valne which he set on freedom of inquiry, in relation to theolo gical as well as to every other subject, which led him to take part in the great controversy respecting subscription, and which he freely exercised himself The moat striking proof of this is afforded in the edition of his 'Considerations,' printed in the latter part of his life at a press at Carlisle, in which are many important alterations. From Locke also he seems to have derived his notions of the proper mode of studying the Sacred Scriptures in order to come at their true sense. He was in short an eminent master in that school of rational and liberal divines which flourished in England in the last century, and is adorned by the names of Jortin, Blackburne, Powell, Tyrwhitt, Watson, Paley, and many others. Bishop Law died in 1787. He left a large family, of whom two of the sons became bishops, and another was tho late Lord Ellenborough, the subject of the following notice. This account of Dr, Law is derived for the most part from a notice of his life by Archdeacon Paley, inserted in Hutchinson 's 'History of the County of Cumberland.'