^^gOvS^^S 
 
 -w - 
 
 
 ^ I 
 
 IBRtRY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CUIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY OF TH 
 
 IBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOR 
 
 i OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORN 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/beautiesselectedOOpalerich 
 
BEAUTIES 
 
 SILECTED FROM THE WRITINGS 
 
 OS THE LATE 
 
 WILLIAM PALEY, D.D. 
 
 atcftceaccn of Carlisle: 
 
 ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED. 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE, 
 
 IITICAL riEMARKS UPON SOME OF HIS 
 PECULIAR OPINIONS. 
 
 BY W. HAMILTON REID. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, NEELY AND TONES, 
 No. ao, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1810, 
 
C. Stower.Printer, 
 S«. Patemo»ter Ko\r, 
 
5^ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is presumed that those who are ac-. 
 quaintedwith the voluminous, writinga of 
 Dr. Paley, will approve of an, endeavour to 
 compress and arrange their most luminous 
 and prominent points. From such a di- 
 versity as has been produced by his pen, 
 the facihty at least must be admitted of 
 conveying a more expeditious conception, 
 and nv:>re agreeably ideas of the Author's 
 views and manner, than might otherwise 
 have been obtained Iropi a laborious pe- 
 rusal of the v/hole, or from any of the 
 parts disunited. 
 
11 PREFACE. 
 
 The works of Dr. Paley have long been 
 allowed to contain an uncommon portion 
 of shrewdness and information, natural, 
 political, moral, and religious ; therefore a 
 selection from such materials can scarcely 
 fail affording a compendium of know- 
 ledge, equal in value to its utility, the 
 worth of which must be enhanced by the 
 known integrity and independent charac- 
 ter of the author, forming a complete 
 portraiture, at once engaging, amusing, 
 interesting and instructive. 
 
 For the biography in general, the com- 
 piler is indebted to Mr. Meadley's Me- 
 moirs of Dr. Paley ; other sources how- 
 ever have not been neglected, and while 
 some passages in his works before un- 
 noticed, are recommended, particularly 
 his thoughts on the millenium, proper at- 
 tention has been paid to some judicious 
 objections against other sentiments of his 
 supposed to stand in need of correction or 
 censure; Upon the whole, the samples 
 here produced sufficiently prove the rich- 
 
PREFACE. Ill 
 
 uess and value of the ore at large, aTid 
 evince, that regardless either of pompous 
 or polished periods. Dr. Paley continu- 
 ally administers matter for thinking : con- 
 sequently it is not too much to expect 
 that the estimation of Paley among di- 
 vines should bear some proportion to that 
 of the celebrated John Locke among the 
 philospphers of his day. 
 
 The political sentiments of Dr. Paley, 
 are generally expressed with a boldness 
 and perspicuity which give them the usual 
 force of reason and argument without its 
 formality: and he occasionally exhibits 
 more correct and comprehensive ideas of 
 the British constitution than are to be 
 found in many works written professedly 
 on the subject, not excepting De Lolme. 
 Lastly, as the Archdeacon^s politics are 
 founded upon the unchangeable principles 
 of right and wrong ; and of course upon 
 the bases of religion, morality and utility^ 
 we have not thought it necessary to sepa- 
 rate them from the others. The Index, 
 
 / j^' 
 
however, will assist the reader in finding 
 out such passages and particulars as were 
 not convenient to enumerate in the heads 
 of the articles, which are, notwithstand- 
 ing, alphabetically arranged. 
 
 tjpon the whole, a complete epitome 
 of the works of Paley is not to be expect- 
 ed in this compilation ; for exclusive of a 
 large portion of religion an^ excellent 
 morality contained in these extracts, the 
 writings of the archdeacon at lai'ge, will 
 ■nevertheless continue to merit 'a distin- 
 guished place in the libraries of the learned 
 and the opulent. In fact, Paley^s Natu- 
 ral Theology, and his Moral and Political 
 Philosophy, alone, are to the philosopher 
 and the civilian, a library of themselves. 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM PALEY, D.D. 
 
 Since It is beyond a doubt that the late Arch- 
 deacon Paley was one of the brightest ornaments 
 of the Church of England, there are very few 
 events which in the end contributed to the 
 formation of so great a mind, that will not be 
 found worthy the attention of posterity. 
 
 It has been said, with some degree of confi- 
 dence, that Dr. Paley was a Socinian or Unita- 
 rian ; but this appears to have been an assertion 
 hasty or unfounded — however, that he was no 
 bigot ;that he did not approve of fire or faggot ; 
 that he did not evea treat those with contempt 
 
« THE LIFE OF 
 
 who conscientiously differed from him in opi- 
 nion, is undeniable. His conduct, and his sta- 
 bility in the church, ought also to convince 
 those persons who have endeavoured to represent 
 him as one of their party, that, (as most dis- 
 cerning men will do in the end,) Dr. Paley con- 
 sidered the Establishment of the Church of 
 England, the best calculated for the advancement 
 of learning and piely of any, even upon its pre- 
 sent footing. 
 
 And though the Archdeacon did not pretend 
 to conceal its defects among those to which all 
 human institutions are subject, he seemed tQ 
 have perceived pretty early that a fierce conten- 
 tion for certain opinions arose from a disposition 
 destructive of real Christianity ; hence he en-^ 
 deavoured to enforce ^^ the disposition \\hich 
 Christianity labours above all things to incul- 
 cate ;** with this he was convinced, " differences 
 of opinion would do little harm." ^' If that 
 disposition be wanting,*' he observed, ^' other 
 causes_, even were these absent, would continu- 
 ally rise up to call forth the malevolent passions 
 into action." 
 
 But to show that by this disposition he did 
 not mean any thing like that blind confidence, 
 which has been recommended by the advocatct 
 
WILLIAM FALET. 5 
 
 for implicit faith of all denominations, he further 
 observes, 
 
 ^^Differences of opinion when accompanied 
 by mutual charity, which Christianity forbids 
 them to violate, are for the most part innocent, 
 and for some purposes useful. They promote 
 inquiry, discussion, and knowledge. They help 
 to keep up an attention to religious subjects, and 
 a concern about them which might be apt to 
 die away in the cahn and silence of universal 
 agreement." Now though the latter of these as- 
 sertions, in particular, may be subject to consi- 
 derable modification, here is sufficient to shew- 
 that the conciliating spirit of Archdeacon Paley 
 has never, in the least degree, betrayed or com- 
 promised the true interests of the Church of 
 England. Having presumed thus much, we 
 may proceed to describe the habits and pursuits 
 of that intellect which ultimately produced a 
 character so truly worthy of the Christian 
 clergyman and the friend to his country. 
 
 William Paley, D.D. as it appears from the 
 register of the cathedral of Peterboroughj was 
 born in that city in July, and baptized on the 
 30th of August, n43. His family, originally 
 of Craven in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was 
 ancient and respectable. There his great-grand- 
 B3 
 
* THE LIFE OP 
 
 father, John, and his grandfather, Thomas 
 Paley were successively the occupants of a small 
 patrimonial estate at LangclifFe in the parish of 
 Gicrgleswick. This estate is still in possession, 
 of the family of the Palcys. The iather of the 
 Archdeacon was head-master of the free gram- 
 mar school at Gigglesvvick, but being instituted 
 to the vicarage of Helpstone in Northampton- 
 shire, in 1735, worth no more than thirty-five 
 pounds a year, he afterwards fixed his residence 
 at Peterborough, on being appointed a minor 
 canon of the Cathedral. Mr. Paley is said to 
 have been a very good classical scholar, and a 
 mild and sensible man ; and during the infancy 
 of his son, being appointed head-master of Gig- 
 gleswick School, he resigned his minor-canonry, 
 and removed to that place. He had not long 
 before married Elizabeth Clapham of that parish, 
 a woman of strong intellects, and of an active 
 disposition. 
 
 Respecting young Paley, it can scarcely be 
 supposed a common -place compliment to say 
 <^ that he soon surpassed his early class fellows 
 at school ; that his disposition was more studious 
 than that of boys in general at his age ; and that 
 by successive promotions from one class to 
 another, he at length obtained pre-eminence 
 
I 
 
 WILLIAM PAtEY. 
 
 over all." As his acquisitions were not of a 
 flowery kind, his compositions as school exerci- 
 ses, had nothing remarkable. From the first, 
 he was more attentive to things than to words, 
 and warm in the pursuit of knowledge of every 
 kind, particularly that of mechanism. Hence he 
 was fond of conversing with workmen, and 
 others capable of adminstering to his curiosity ; 
 but though in his 7nind h'^ was uncommonly 
 active, in his lodi/ he v/as quite the reverse. 
 He was a bad horseman, and having a seeming 
 aversion to any exercise which required exertion 
 in his hands and feet, he engaged in no sport but 
 angling. Still he was at all times a pleasant and 
 lively companion, and as such esteemed by his 
 school -fellows. 
 
 When about fifteen, he accompanied his fa- 
 ther to Cambridge, and was admitted a sizar of 
 Christ's College, Nov. 16, 1758, Soon after 
 his return to Craven, the classics only being 
 taught at Giggleswick Schoolj Mr. William 
 Howarth at Dishforth, near TopclirFe, about 
 three miles frem Rippon, became his teacher in 
 the mathematics. Here the foundation of his 
 knowledge in algebra and geometry was laid. 
 
 In October, 1759> he became resident mem- 
 ber of Christ's College 5 soon after his departure 
 
JO THE LIFE Of 
 
 for which, his father observed to a pupil, then 
 his only boarder, ^^My son is now gone to Col- 
 lege ; he'll turn out a great man — very great 
 indeed — I'm certain of it ; for he has by far 
 the clearest head I ever met with in my life.'* 
 He was little more than sixteen when he com- 
 menced his residence in the University, an age, 
 which he frequently mentioned afterwards, as 
 too early to encounter the dangers of a college 
 life; but then he always had an old look, which, 
 with the superior strength and vigour of his un- 
 derstanding., exhibited the appearance of a much 
 maturer age. 
 
 On the 6th of December, he was appointed 
 to one of the scholarships founded by Mr. Carr, 
 and appropriated to students from Giggleswick 
 School. On the following day he was elected a 
 scholar on the foundation of his college, and 
 appointed to the exhibition founded by Sir Wal- 
 ter Mlldmay ; and on the 26th of May, 1761, 
 he was elected to the scholarship founded by Mr. 
 Buntry, one of the college tenants. Mr. Shep- 
 herd, who then gave lectures in algebra, geo- 
 metry, and the various branches of natural phi- 
 losophy, being soon convinced of Mr. Paley's 
 superior attainments, excused him from attend- 
 ing his college lectures with students of hi« 
 
I 
 
 WILLIAM PALEY. 7 
 
 own year, but required this only at those public 
 lectures which he gave as Plnmian Professor, 
 and occasionally proposed mathematical ques- 
 tions for his solution. Mr. Paley also during 
 this period, regularly attended Mr. Backhouse's 
 lectures on logic and metaphysics. 
 
 It has been remarked with respect to the 
 power of abstraction which he possessed in his 
 own mind, that ^' though his room used to be 
 the common rendezvous far the idle young men 
 of his colleo-e, he mi":ht often be seen in one 
 corner as composed and attentive to what he was 
 reading, as if alone ; he also at one pei iod in- 
 dulged himself in bed till a late hour, and would 
 be much in company after dinner, at tea, and at 
 a coffee-house after nine in the evenino- :" of 
 course it was inferred, *' that he was considera- I 
 bly more indebted to observation and reflection, j 
 than to books for the general improvement of his \ 
 mind." In reference to this period of Mr. Pa- ^ 
 ley's life, Mr. Hall, one of his college friejids, 
 and afterv\ards vicar of Grantham, observed, *^ It 
 was difficult to say what studies Paley most ex- 
 celled in after he became a graduate. His 
 knowledge was general ; nothing escaped his 
 notice; and he seemed conversant in every 
 branch of scienqe, and in every sort of informa- 
 
8 THE LIFE OP 
 
 tionj so clear was his head, so retentive his 
 irjemory." 
 
 Generally careless about his dress, and some- 
 times remarkably inattentive, particularly when, 
 he appeared in the public schools to keep his 
 first act, he attracted more than common notice. 
 His hair was full dressed, and he had a deep 
 ruffled shirt and new silk stockings, which, to- 
 gether with his gestures, his action, and his 
 whole manner, when earnestly engaged in the 
 debate, excited no small mirth in the spectators ; 
 however he acquitted himself with such ability, 
 that afterwards the schools were always crowded 
 when he was expected to dispute. Referring to 
 this period, the Rev. Mr. Frend, his fellow col- 
 legian and pupil, once observed in respect to a 
 former sketch of Paley's life and manners, ^' You 
 should have seen him. Sir, as we did, when he 
 stepped out of his little study into the lecture-? 
 room, rolled from the door to his arm-chair, 
 turned his old scratch over his left ear, and his 
 left leg over his right, buttoned up his waist- 
 coat, pulled up a stocking, and fixed a dirty- 
 covered, torn, ragged Locke upon his left knee, 
 moistened his thumb with his lip, and then 
 turned over the ragged leaves of his books, dog- 
 eared and scrawled all over, with the utmost 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. 9 
 
 rapidity. All this was done in much less time 
 than you have read the description of it. 
 
 " We were so accustomed to this preparation, 
 that it ceased to make any impression upon us ; 
 and sat each in expectation of the first question 
 falling to his lot. Paley shone as lecturer at a 
 place where the art of lecturing is better under- 
 stood than in any other part of the world. lai 
 most places, and particularly in dissenting acad- 
 emies, the lecturer delivers a kind of preachment, 
 and thinks he has done much, if from his notes 
 he has uttered an harangue, suitable to the sub- 
 ject, however unsuitable it may be to his hearers. 
 Not so the lecturers in Cambridge, and particu- 
 larly Paley. Afer he had composed himself in 
 the manner above described, he fa-stened his eyes 
 upon one of his pupils, and, without any further 
 prelude, questioned him on some point of the 
 preceding kcture. Woe be to the unfortunate 
 wight, who made a' wrong answer; he was ham<- 
 pered more and more by successive questions ; 
 while the lecturer was enjoying his triumph, the 
 pupil, as we called it, became dumb-founded^, 
 and the lecture-room m a laugh not to be sup- 
 pressed." 
 
 Mr. Paley's lectures were not less productive 
 of amusement than improvement. Someihing it 
 
•JO THE LIFE OF 
 
 has been said ^' was then sure to come out, which 
 amply repaid his hearers for the supposed trouble 
 in many cases of going to lectures. Nor was 
 there any danger of Paley's conduct leading 
 other lecturers astray. He was one among those 
 few men of superior talents, who knew when to 
 tighten, and when to slacken the reins. The mo- 
 ment the least symptom of unbecoming levity 
 appeared, the culprit was called to order. * None 
 of your jokes, gibes, jeers, jests, wit, pleasantry, 
 
 and all that, Mr. ' was sounded out 
 
 against him in an instant ; and he had too strong 
 a sense of his danger to persist one step farther, 
 knowing full well the occasion he had for all his 
 faculties to reply to the questions that were com- 
 ing down upon him. 
 
 '^ Paley, it was then observ^ed, seamed to have 
 taken throughout for his model, Locke on th^ 
 ; Reasonableness of Christianity, and his Com- 
 I ments on the Epistles. These two last books he 
 recommended continually, and his recommend- 
 ation deserves the attention of all lecturers.*' 
 The same writer further observed, ^^ Indeed, if 
 Paley's mode of lecturing was pursued in our 
 pulpits and lecture rooms, particularly in the 
 lecture rooms of the dissenters, more scriptural 
 knowledge would be diffused through this Island 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. H 
 
 in three years, than there has been by the usual 
 methods for the last three hundred, or v\ill by 
 the present methods for the next three hundred 
 years. 
 
 '^ After the questions in the formerlecture were 
 over, Paley*s position in his seat was changed; 
 the scratch, the leg, the bonk, took exactly the 
 opposite directions : the thumb was moistened 
 as before, the leaves turned over, but nine times 
 in ten not stopped at the place which fvad any 
 reference to what he was going to say, when in 
 the most familiar manner he discussed Rome sub- 
 ject in Locke or Clarke, or in moral philosophy, 
 pointing out the passages to be read for the next 
 lecture day, and explaining every thing in such 
 a manner, that the driest subjects were made in- 
 terestingv ^^^ ^bis time the students were mostly 
 employed in taking notes, and the manuscripts 
 thus taken of his lectures, were eagerly sought 
 after in other colleges." 
 
 Another circumstance highly to his credit, and 
 on which he laid great stress, was bis evening 
 lecture on the Sunday, al ays in the Greek Tes^ 
 tament, and on two other evenings one alsc^ in 
 the Greek Testament. Each student in liis turn 
 read and translated into English as many verses 
 as the lecturer thought fit, who gave tiie general 
 
12 THB LIFE OF 
 
 sense of the whole, pointed out those passages 
 which deserved particular attention, explained 
 scripture by scripture, and accompanied the 
 whole with suitable moral exhortations. These 
 exhortations, it may be added, he confirmed and 
 strengthened by his own example ; for since his 
 disease, when his friend, the present vicar of 
 Grantham, was applied to for his assistance in 
 supplying the public with information for his 
 memoirs, his answer bore this testimony, viz.. 
 *^ that he never knew Mr. Paley guilty of a vici-» 
 ous act, nor inattentive to propriety of moral 
 conduct." 
 
 In his college lectures, it should have been 
 observed, he treated the thirty-nine articles of 
 religion as mere articles of peace, the whole of 
 which it was impossible the fraraers could expect 
 any one person to believe; as, upon dissection, 
 they would be found to contain about two hun- 
 dred and forty distinct and independent propo- 
 sitions, many of them inconsistent with each 
 other. They must, therefore, he said, be con- 
 sidered as propositions, which, for the sake of 
 keeping peace amongst the different sects of re- 
 formers, who originally united in composing thQ 
 church of England, it was agreed should not be 
 impugned or preached against. ^* The chief 
 
WILLIA^M PALEY. 13' 
 
 points insisted upon by Mr. Paley to his pupils, 
 were, that they should listen to God, and not to 
 man; that they should exert their faculties in un-^ 
 derstanding the language of holy men of old y 
 that they should free themselves as much as pos- 
 sible, from all prejudices of birth, education, and 
 country; and that they should not call any one. 
 their master in rehgion, but Jesus Christ/* 
 
 A circumstance occurred in October, 1762^ 
 which gave rise to much animadversion at Cam- 
 bridge. Mr. Jebb, fellow of Peterhouse, and 
 Mr. Vyatson, afterwards bishop of Landaff, be- 
 ing invested with the office of moderators for the 
 iirst time, soon after which the latter sent Mr. 
 Paley an act. He was prepared with a mathe- 
 matical question, but referring to Johnson's 
 ^uesiiones Philosopic^y a book then common in 
 the university, containing the subjects usually- 
 written upon in the schools, names of the authors, 
 &c. he fixed upon two others, which, as far as 
 he knew, had not been proposed before : the 
 one against capital punishments^ the other 
 against the eternity of hell torments. But. ihe 
 heads of the university had no sooner heard that 
 Mr. Paley had proposed such a question, than, 
 jealous of his abilities so exerted, they ordered 
 the master of the college. Dr. Thomas, to sum- 
 
14 THE LIFE OF 
 
 mon him to the lodge, where he warmly ob- 
 jected to both questions, especially the last, 
 which he insisted he should absolutely relinquish. 
 This step being communicated by him to Mr. 
 Watson, he was indignant that ** the heads of 
 colleges should interfere in a matter which be- 
 longed solely," as he said, to him ; for he was 
 the judge of the propriety or impropriety of the 
 questions sent to him. ** Are you, sir," con- 
 tinued he, ^^ independent of your college ? if 
 you are, these shall be the questions for your 
 act, Mr. Paley answered, ^^ he should be un- 
 willing to offend the college, and therefore wished 
 to change the last question.** '^ Very well,** 
 replied the moderator, " the best way then for 
 you to satisfy the scruples of these gentlemen, 
 will be for you to defend the eternity of hell 
 torments," which he actually did by changing 
 his thesis to the affirmative. 
 
 In 1163, when Mr. Paley took his degree of 
 bachelor of arts, he was also senior wrangler of 
 the year. In the senate house, as in the schools, 
 Mr. Frere was his most formidable competitor, 
 and gained the second honours. 
 
 Soon after obtaining his bachelor's degree^ 
 through the recommendation of Mr. Shepherd, 
 he engaged as second assistant in a great acade- 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. 15 
 
 my at Greenwich, kept by Mr. Bracken. Here, 
 it has been intimated, Mr. Paley improved bis 
 classical talents while teaching the Latin lan- 
 guage to others. After this period, it appears 
 that Mr. Paley paid a great deal of attention to 
 public speaking, in an occasional attendance to 
 the bar and the stage. His attendance upon law 
 trials, it seems, commenced while he was in the 
 country : what he observed during the trial of 
 Eugene Aram, for murder at Lancaster, had 
 been frequently the subject of his remarks ; and 
 while he was with Mr. Bracken at Greenwich, 
 it further appears, the liberty of paying occasi- 
 onal visits to, and rambling about London, were 
 such gratifications, that to enjoy them to a 
 greater extent, or with more security, he used 
 frequently to say, that the highest object of his 
 ambition would be obtained, could he only be- 
 come the first assistant in that academy, in the 
 room of the second. 
 
 In 1763, Mr. Paley wrote a prize essay, on a, 
 ** Comparison between the Stoic and the Epicn- 
 rean Fhtlosophy, with respect to the Influence 
 of each on the Morals of a People.'" In this 
 essay, Mr. Paley used his pen against the Stoics, 
 and most strenuously vindicated Epicurus from 
 those calumnies with which he has been loaded 
 
16 THE LIFE OF 
 
 \ 
 
 by persons who had misrepresented his system j: 
 and he maintained that the doctrines of Epicurus 
 were favourable to rational pleasures only, and 
 the true happiness of mankind. On the other 
 hand, he brought many instances of Stoics, who 
 affecting more than ordinary virtue, had de- 
 scended to the most execrable crimes* Mr. Paley 
 was successful in obtaining this prize, though he 
 had nearly Lost it inconsequence of appending to 
 it, long notes In English, Dr. Powell, Master 
 of St. John's college, hcwever^^ spoke warmly in 
 its favour, insisting that it contained mare matter 
 than was to be found in a|l the others. The • 
 notes, he said, '^ shewed the author to be.: a. 
 young man of the most promising abilities and 
 extensive reading;" and this opinion it appears . 
 was decisiye in turning the balance in Mr. Paley's 
 favour. 
 
 Having been ordained a deacon as soon as his 
 age would admit, he engaged as curate to Drv 
 HinclilifFe of Greenwich, afterwards bishop of 
 Peterborough* Soon after this, Mr. Paley l^ft 
 Mr. Bracken's school, on account of some dif* 
 ferenee; but still continued to officiate in the 
 parish church. On the 24th of June, 1766, he. 
 wasi elected a fellow on the foundation of Christ's 
 college, then worth * about one hundred a year. 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. Af 
 
 He then returned to a residence in the university, 
 took his degree of master of arts, and engaged 
 in the business of private tuition ; and at the 
 general ordination holden at St. James's Chapel, 
 in London, in December, 1767, he was or- 
 dained a priest by bishop Terrick. 
 
 In 1708, Mr. Backhouse resigning his tutor- 
 ship of Christ's college. Dr. Shepherd held the tu- 
 ition alone, till he soon thought proper to transfer 
 the active duties of his station to Mr. Paley and 
 Mr.* Law, his assistant. In 1770, Mr. Paley 
 served the office of taxor in the university ; and 
 in the register of the Royal Chapel at Whitehall, 
 for Aprif 21, 177 1> his name appeared for the 
 first time, as one of the persons appointed to 
 preach before his majesty. 
 
 Here Mr. Paley preached for the last time, on 
 the 21st of April, 1776; and commenced his 
 labours in the university in the May following^ 
 On the 6th of June, he was married to Miss 
 Hewitt, at St. Mary's Carlisle, where his friend 
 Mr. Law performed the ceremony. At Mus- 
 grove, his next residence on the banks of the 
 Eden, he has owned that he passed some of the 
 happiest hours of his life : here he indulged an 
 early disposition for angling ; here in a small farm 
 he found he was not calculated for a farmer. 
 
l8 THE LIFE OF 
 
 However, in December in the same year, he got 
 the vicarage of Dalston in Cumberland, worth 
 about ninety pounds a year. In the September 
 following, he was inducted to the more valuable 
 vicarage of Appleby, worth about two hundred 
 pounds a year; after this he divided his time be- 
 tween Dalston and Appleby, residing by turns 
 six months at each place. 
 
 In June, 1780, he was installed a prebendary 
 of the fourth stall in the cathedral of Carlisle, 
 worth about four hundred pounds per annum ; 
 and in 1782, he became archdeacon of Carlisle, 
 to which the rectory of Great Salkeld is always 
 annexed, worth about one hundred and twenty 
 pounds a year. 
 
 For a considerable time while Mr. Paley was 
 at the university, he was extremely intimate with 
 Mr. Edward Law, now Lord Ellenborough, third 
 son of the bishop of Carhsle. . During the long 
 vacation, they used to make excursions to dif- 
 ferent parts of the kingdom, usually travelling 
 in a one horse chaise; and there is little doubt, 
 that the latter was considerably indebted to Mr. 
 Paley for the improvement of those talents that 
 afterwards raised him to one of the first judicial 
 situations in the kingdom. 
 
 Mr. Paley was much esteemed by Dr. Plump- 
 
WILLIAM PALIY. ' 1^ 
 
 intimate with Dr. Waring, fellow of Magdalen 
 College, and Lucasian, professor of mathema- 
 tics. Mr. Paley also shared largely in the esteem 
 and confidence of Mr. Jebb, notwithstanding 
 some difference in their opinions, as has since ap- 
 peared from their writings. On essential points, 
 however, it is said they cordially agreed, especi- 
 ally with respect to subscription and annual ex- 
 aminations. 
 
 The connection between Mr. Paley, Mr. Law, 
 and Dr. Shepherd in the tuition, has been men- 
 tioned before. But as these gentlemen shared 
 but one half of the emoluments, they at length 
 insisted upon a trisection. They very properly 
 contended for a greater portion ', the doctor re- 
 sisted ; he thought himself extremely ill used; 
 it was out of the power of logic to convince him 
 that their demand was reasonable. The spirit of 
 Paley however rose, and they brought him to this 
 ultimatum : either we divide the profit equally, 
 or we set iip for ourselves, and leave vou to do 
 what you please with your pupils. Resistance 
 being any longer in vain, the doctor gave up the 
 point. 
 
 Among other casual acquaintance about this 
 time, 1772, Ml. Paley used to mention the 
 
20 THE LIFE OP 
 
 American General Lee, who visited England with 
 • the Polish prince^ Pongatowsky, of whom report 
 has stated, since the late defeat of the Archduke 
 Charles at Wagram, that he has become a fa- 
 vourite of the French emperor. In every party 
 where this prince, General Lee, and some other 
 Polish noblemen met, Mr. Paley used to say, the 
 ..General gave this toast, ^'^ the King of Poland, 
 Ihe ParUament of Paris, and the people of Ame- 
 rica.'' 
 
 When the great controversy on the propriety 
 of requiring a subscription to articles of faith, as 
 practised by the Church of England, ran high at 
 Cambridge, Mr. Paley, it is said, ^* though per- 
 sonally attached to many of the reforming party, 
 and from the known liberality of his sentiments, 
 considered favourable to their claims, did not 
 sign the clerical petition for relief,, which was 
 presented to the House of Commons, alleging, 
 jocularly, to Mr. Jebb, as an apology for his 
 refusal^ that he could not afford to keep a con- 
 science, 'J^ On this occasion, Mr. G. W. Meadley 
 remarks, " it may be fairly presumed, that re- 
 flecting on the power and in-fluence of the adverse 
 party, and the wonted indifference of the great 
 jiiijjss of the community in all questions of prin- 
 <jiple, and enlightened reasoning,, (he might have 
 
WHiLIAM PALEY. ^ 
 
 said abstract reasoning,) he despaired of suc- 
 cess, and thence prudently declined entering 
 into a measure, which, without procuring any 
 relief to the petitioners, might have narrowed his 
 awn sphere of present usefulness, as well as 
 thwarted all his prospects in life. 
 
 But that such relief at some future time was 
 not looked upon as impracticable or improper, 
 has been inferred from the part which Mr. Pa- 
 ley afterwards took in the controversy. In Janu- 
 ary, 1774, an able and moderate pamphlet ap- 
 peared from the press at Cambridge, entitled, 
 *^ Considerations on the Propriety of requiring 
 a Subscription to Articles of Faith,'' which was 
 reprinted in London with additions, on the April 
 following. This, though anonymous, was soon 
 discovered to have been written by the bishop of 
 Carlisle. Soon after an Answer to the Conside^^^ 
 ations appeared from the Clarendon press at Ox- 
 ford, without a name, which was soon known 
 to have been written by Dr. Thomas Randolph,' 
 president of Corpus Christi. This was followed^ 
 by a Defence of the Considerations, published 
 at London in June following ; a spirited and 
 acute tract, uniformly ascribed to Mr. Paley. It: 
 was the first essay in argument, which he had' 
 given to the world. In the work, Mr, Paley 
 
tHE LIFE <MF ' 
 
 observes, in reply to a paragraph of considerable 
 length in Dr. Randolph's work, that the sum 
 and substance of it is this : " that if subscription 
 to articles of faith were removed, confusion 
 would ensue ; the people would be distracted with 
 the disputes of their teachers, and the pulpits 
 filled with controversy and contradiction. Upon 
 this fact, we join issue, and the more readily, as 
 this-is a sort of reasoning we all understand. 
 The extent of a legislator's right may be an ab- 
 struse inquiry ; but whether a law does more 
 good or harm, is a plain question, which every 
 man can ask. Now, that distressing many of 
 the clergy, and corrupting others ; that keeping 
 out of churches good Christians and faithful citi- 
 zens; that making parties in the state, by giving 
 occasion to sects and separations in religion ; 
 that these are inconveniences, no man in his 
 senses will deny. The questioiiy therefore, h, 
 what advantage do you find in the opposite scale 
 to balance these inconveniences ? The simple ad- 
 vantage pretended is, that you hereby prevent 
 wrangling and contention in the pulpit. Now, . 
 in the first place, I observe, that, allowing this . 
 evil to be as grievous and as certain as you please, 
 the most that can be necessary for the prevention 
 of it is, to enjoin your preachers as to such 
 
WILLIAM PALET. i$ 
 
 points, silence and neutrality. In the next 
 place, I am convinced that the danger is greatly 
 magnified We hear little o^ thesi- points at pre- 
 sent in our churches and public leaching, and it 
 is not prob'ible, that leaving them at large would 
 elevate them into more importance, or make it 
 more worth men's while to quarrel about them. 
 They would sleep in the sanu- grave witii many 
 other questions of equal impoitance with them- 
 selves ; or sink back into their proper place, into 
 topics of speculation, or matters of debate from 
 the press. None but men of some reflection 
 would be forward to engage in such subjects, and 
 the least reflection w^ould teach a man, that 
 preaching is not the proper vehicle of contro- 
 versy. Even at present, says our author, we 
 speak and xvrite what we please with impunity ; 
 and where is the mischief? and what worse 
 could ensue if subscriptions were removed ? Nor 
 can I discover any thing in the disposition of the 
 petitioning clergy that need alarm our apprehen- 
 sions. If they are impatient under the yoke, it 
 is not from a desire to hold forth their opinions 
 to their congregations, but that they may be at 
 liberty to entertain them themselves, without of- _ 
 fence to their consciences, or ruin to their 
 fortunes." 
 
24 -^HE LIFE Oi- 
 
 Dr. Paley was further of opinion, *^ that sub- 
 scription to the thirty-nine articles, might be 
 altered or withdrawn upon general principles of 
 justice and expediency, without reviving one re- 
 ligious controversy, or calling into a dispute a 
 single proposition they contain. Who, said he, 
 should excite dis arbances ? those who are re- 
 lieved will not, unless subscription wey-e like a 
 tax, which being taken from one, must be laid 
 with additional weight upon another. Is it pro- 
 bable, that any will complain that they are op- 
 pressed, because their brethren are relieved? or 
 that those who are so strong in the faith, will 
 refuse to hear with the infirmities of the weakP* 
 He also thought, '^ that even the governors of • 
 the church themselves, would find their ease and' 
 account in consenting to an alteration.'* 
 
 It was in consequence of the expression of 
 these and similar sentiments, that an interesting 
 correspondence took place in the summer of 
 1789, between him and Dr. Percival of Man- 
 chester, on the case of subscription to articles, 
 Mr. Percival of St. John's College, the eldest 
 son of this eminent physician, was brought up 
 a dissenter in the Arian scheme ; but though ori- 
 ginally designed for the medical profession, at 
 length conceived a very strong desire of taking 
 

 WILLIAM PALEY. ^5 
 
 ders in the established church. He, though 
 much pleased with Mr. Palcy's reasoning on re^ 
 llgious estahlishments, had still some scruples, 
 and therefore made use of his father to solicit a 
 personal interview with Mr. Paley, who probably 
 thinking conversation unnecessary, returned an 
 answer in writing, in which fj^ enlarged a little 
 further upon what he had advanced in the chap- 
 ter on subscription in his Moral and Political 
 Philosophy, Book III. Part I. Chap. 22. but 
 concluded with saying, " if your son were here, 
 I know not that I ought to say more. In such 
 cases, it is the office of an adviser to suggest ge- 
 neral principles. The application of these to each 
 inan's case, must be made by the person himself, 
 who alone knows the state of his own thoughts,'' 
 Mr. Percival however was satisfied ; he took or- 
 ders the year following, became a respectable 
 member of his profession, and died lamented in 
 the prime of life. 
 
 A little essay was written by Mr. Paley about 
 this time, viz. Arguments against the uvjust 
 Pretensions of Slave Dealers and Holders, to le 
 indemnijied by pecuniary Alloxvances at the Pub- 
 lie Expence, in case the Slave Trade should be 
 abolished. The substance of this was detailed 
 c 
 
S6 THE LIFE or ' 
 
 ill the papers of the day ; but the original, though 
 sought for, could never be recovered. 
 
 When Dr. Beadon was promoted to the see of 
 Gloucester, the bishop of Ely, Dr. Yorke, of- 
 fered Mr. Paley the mastership of Jesus College, 
 Cambridge. As there had been no previmis^ con- 
 nection between the parties, it is justly to be in- 
 ferred, that the bishop could have no wish biit 
 to promote the interest of the university, in re- 
 warding the merit of one of her ablest sons. Like 
 some other masterships, the place was m.ore ho- 
 nourable than lucrative ; but though tenable 
 with any other preferment, Mr. Paley declined 
 the offer, notwithstanding he was urged to ac- 
 cept it by Sir John Wilson and other friends. 
 The motives for his refusal, it is thought, were 
 never made known, even to his most intimate 
 acquaintance. 
 
 In 1798, Mr. Paley published his ^^ Horce Pan- 
 lince; or, the Truth of the Scripture History of 
 St. Paul evinced, by a Comparison of the Epis- 
 tles which bear his Name, with the Acts of the 
 ^ Apostles, and with one another." Mr. G. W. 
 Meadley seems to think this excellent treatise 
 *^ contains a larger portion of interest, and more 
 profound invention, than any other of the arch- 
 deacon's works." 
 
I 
 
 WILLIAM PALEr. *1 
 
 At his annual visitation the same year, he de- 
 livered a Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of 
 Carlisle, Among other excellent hints in this 
 Charge, he warmly advised the clergy, in order 
 to render their sermons useful and interesting, 
 to adapt them, after the example of Christ, to 
 local circumstances, and the state of mind pre- 
 vailing amongst their hearers, as well as to times 
 and seasons, and the occasional dispensations of 
 providence. But all personal allusions, and th^ 
 remotest reference to party transactions, or /;<?- 
 litical disputes, he most strenuously ctfndemns 
 as improper ; observing that ^' the Christian 
 preacher has no other province than that of 
 religion and morality/' In May 1791, he lost 
 Mrs. Paley, after a long illness; she left him 
 four sons and four daughters. In the following 
 year Mr. Paley signalized himself as an advocate 
 for the abolition of the slave trade. On the 7th 
 of May 1792, he was inducted to the vicarage of 
 Addingham, near Great Salkeld. This living, 
 in the presentation of the Dean and Chapter of 
 Carlisle, was worth about one hundred and for"* 
 ty pounds a year. In 1790, Dr. Vernon com- 
 ing to the see of Carlisle, Mr, Paley vacated 
 Dalston on being collated by his new diocesan to 
 the vicarage of Stanwix ; being some time after 
 
28 THE LIFE OP 
 
 asked why he exchanged Stanwix for Dalston, 
 he answered, with his usual frankness, that it 
 saved him from double housekeeping, Stanwix 
 being within twenty minutes walk of his house 
 at Carlisle; secondly it was fifty pounds a year 
 more in value ; and lastly, he said, he began to 
 find his stock of sermons coming over again too 
 fast." 
 
 Mr. Paley's View of the Evidences of Chris- 
 tianity, appeared early in 1794, in three volumes 
 12mo. and was soon after republished in two 
 volumes 8vo. In this work the voluminous evi- 
 dence, collected by the indefatigable Lardner, 
 is selected and methodized, and the whole of 
 the argument brought forward in a more per- 
 spicuous point of view ; particularly the collate- 
 ral proofs collected by Lardner, to which Mr. 
 Paley has added various auxiliaries : he has like- 
 wise availed himself of Bishop Douglas's CVi- 
 terioUf by extracting from it all its pith and ar- 
 gument. It was once thought that Mr. Pitt had 
 an intention of promoting Mr. Paley to the 
 Deanery of Carlisle, vacant in 1792, and that 
 probably the claims of Dr. Milner, as Master 
 of Queen's College had such weight upon the 
 Minister, as the High Steward and Representative 
 of that University, as to prevent it^ It has also 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. 29 
 
 I 
 
 Hpeen suggested more than once, that *^ Mr, 
 Paley's writings stood in the way of his prefer- 
 ment : for instance, his story of the pigeons ; 
 his liberal construction of the oath of allegiance j 
 his assertion, that government may he too se- 
 cure ; his limitation of the duly of civil obedi- 
 ence ; his argument, that the obligation of sub- 
 jects and sovereigns is reciprocal ; his remark,' 
 that the divine right of kings is like the divine 
 right of constables; and still more, by his en- 
 lightened views of religious establishments and 
 toleration." 
 
 In fact his principles have been thought to 
 lead to more extensive conclusions than he him- 
 self was willing to pursue; however, the ser- 
 vices of Mr. Paley were at length crowned with 
 such a liberal reward as many who have had 
 equal claims were not so fortunate as to obtain. 
 
 In August 1794, Dr ,Porteus, the late Bishop 
 ©f London, instituted Mr. Paley to the prebend 
 of Pancras, in the Cathedral of St, PauPs ; this 
 was tenable with any other preferment, and did 
 not subject Mr. Paley to a residence in London. 
 This promotion was soon followed by that of the 
 Deanery of Lincohi, worth about seven hundred 
 pounds a year, bestowed on him by Dr. Prety- 
 man* After his instalment in that Cathedral in. 
 
^0 THE LTFE OF 
 
 1795, he proceeded to Cambridge to take his de- 
 gree as Doctor in Divinity ; and having been 
 Master of Arts more than twelve years, and a 
 non-gremialj the intermediate degree of Bache- 
 lor in Divinity was dispensed with, and no other 
 exercises required of him but a Coiicio ad Cleriim^ 
 s.ud an English Sermon ; but before he left Cam- 
 bridge he received a letter from Dr. Barrington> 
 with whom he had no previous acquaintance, 
 with the offer of the rectory of Bishop Wear- 
 mouth, worth about twelve hundred pounds per 
 annum. It has been justly observed, that ^'the 
 unsolicited patronage of this eminent moralist, 
 was indeed, in every respect, worthy of the son 
 of Viscount Barrington, the disciple of Locke, 
 and one of the most strenuous advocates for 
 religious liberty in his own or any other age.'* 
 
 At the same time, the Bishop, and the Dean 
 of Carlisle were also Mr. Paley's patrons, and 
 Mr. Paley was allowed to transfer all the prefer- 
 ments he held in the Diocese of Carlisle ; the 
 Kectory house at Bishop Wearmouth, to which 
 he next removed, is noticed as being one of the 
 best parsonage houses in the kingdom. Mr. 
 Paley had been appointed Chancellor of the 
 Diocese of Carlisle on the death of Dr. Burn^ ia 
 
WILLIAIM PALEY. Zt 
 
 When he again visited Cambridge to complete 
 his Doctor's degree, he preached before the 
 University, On the Dangers incidental to the 
 Clerical Character-, this was afterwards- publish- 
 ed with a Dedication to the Vice Chancellor and 
 Heads of Colleges ; and a good abridgment of 
 it has lately been published in Dr. PercivaVfr 
 works, with remarks. 
 
 Returning to Bishop Wearmouth, he preached 
 the Assize sermon in the Cathedral of Durham, 
 before the Lord Bishop and the Judges on the 
 northern circuit. In this discourse he did not 
 fail to inculcate the duties of persons in the 
 most elevated stations of life ; he reprobated the 
 pernicious maxim, that '^ such persons are placed 
 above work,*' and he concluded with a forcible 
 description of the functions and character of a 
 jury in a free country. 
 
 ^v Before he had been long at Bishop Wear- 
 mouth, he agreed to a proposal from some of the 
 principal land owners for an annual compensation 
 for tythes, and granted them a lease for his life ; 
 thus readily sacrificing any eventual interest of 
 his own, in the in provements which might fol- 
 low, and thus: leaving tiie farmer to enjoy the 
 full value of his own exertions. It is allowed 
 that he also secured himself from the disappoint- 
 
32 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ments of bad crops and unfavourable seasons. 
 And when he heard of ihe former, he would 
 sometimes exclaim in his own way, *^ Aye, aye, 
 now I am well ofFj my tythes are safe, and I 
 have nothing to do with them, or to think about 
 them." But he did not stop here; he also 
 granted long leases of his glebe lands, and, par- 
 ticularly of a lime-stone-quarry to the old tmant 
 iipon very moderate terms. From the later rise 
 in landed property, his tenants found they had 
 very good bargains; and to this circumstance-* 
 probably occasioned by the reniarks of his ava- 
 ricious or more worldly-minded neighbours, he 
 would sometimes allude in conversation, but 
 without any symptoms of uneasiness upon the 
 subject. 
 
 In December 1795, Dr. Paley married Miss 
 Dobinson of Carlisle, and soon after set out for 
 Lincoln, where as Sub-dean, he was obliged to 
 reside three months in the year. At this city 
 and at Bishop Wearmouth, he visited a good 
 deal among his neighbours, and entertained 
 company in return, in a handsome, but by no 
 means ostentatious stile ; and though he fre- 
 quently mixed in card-parties, he would valways 
 readily give them up for conversation with an 
 intelligent companion ; to a lady who observed 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. 33 
 
 that the only excuse for their playing was, that 
 it served to kill time, he answered ; " the best 
 defence possible, Madam, though time will in 
 the end kill us.'* Becoming soon after a magis- 
 trate, it was in vain that he attempted to move 
 his brethren of the bench, to suppress the un- 
 necessary accumulation of taverns, public- 
 houses, and dram shops ; his own example in 
 endeavouring to use the utmost discrimination; 
 in granting licenses was not followed.. 
 
 The doctor's mother died in 179^^ and his 
 father in September 1799,. after having been 
 master of the school at Giggleswick more than 
 fifty years, and having been vicar of Helpestone 
 sixty-four years. Added to this long life, he 
 had the satisfaction of seeing his fondest predic- 
 tions respecting the fate of his son amply grati- 
 fied. The inscription in Giggleswick church, 
 upon a brass plate, makes the age of his father 
 88 years, and his mother's 83. 
 
 In 1800, the doctor himself sustained a vio- 
 lent nephralgic complaint at Bishop Wear- 
 mouth, accompanied with a. species of mel^na, 
 which laid him up for a time ; a second attack 
 while he was at Lincoln, in the spring of 1801, 
 was not so violent, but a relapse, however, 
 prevented him from going to Lincoln in 1802«, 
 C 3. 
 
54 THE LIFE OF 
 
 During some Intervals of excruciating pain, his 
 mind it was observed was still calm and vigor- 
 ous, and his vivacity unimpaired 
 . Ill the ensuing spring, as soon as Dr. Paley 
 was able to travel in a coach, his physician. Dr. 
 Clark of Newcastle, advised him to try the Bux- 
 ton waters ; and the doctor often expressed his 
 admiration at the fortitude with which he sus- 
 tained the most painful attacks, and at his readi- 
 ness and alacrity in availing himself of every 
 interval from pain to resume his literary labours. 
 It is here particularly w^orthy of remark, that he. 
 was then writing the twenty-sixth chapter of his 
 Natural Theology^ and that what he then said 
 ,of the alleviation of pain was not the thoughts 
 of a philosopher in the full enjoyment of health, 
 who may talk at his ease of an evil which he does 
 not feel; on the contrary, when Dr. Paley 
 speaks of the power which pain possesses '^ Of 
 shedding a satisfaction over intervals of ease which 
 few enjoyments exceed;'''' and assures us.*' that 
 a man resting from severe pain, is, for the 
 time, in possession of feelings which undisturbed 
 health cannot impart ;" these sentiments were, 
 undoubtedly, the genuine result of his own ex- 
 perience. He was himself, the very subject 
 which he then described. Here is the result of 
 
I 
 
 WILLIAM PALEY. 35 
 
 well-regulated religious and moral feelings, so 
 far superior to the boast and pride of a Stoical 
 apathy^ or that mockery of assertion, that pain 
 is not an eviL 
 
 An absence of two months at Buxton enabled 
 Dr. Paley to return to Bishop Wearmbuth early 
 in 1804 ; soon after which he published his Na- 
 iural Theology ; or Evidences of the Existence 
 and Attributes of the Deity ; collected from the 
 Appearances of Nature, In the same year, he 
 resigned the archdeaconry of Carlisle, and 
 the rectory of Qreat Salkeld ; but in Deeem^ 
 her 1S04, as Mr. G. W. Meadley observes* 
 ^though the Doctor had again ^^ entered into the 
 pleasures of society with his wonted zest ; and 
 his conversation was as animated and impressive 
 as ever/' when Mr. Meadly saw him for the last 
 time, his valuable life was drawing fast towards 
 a close ; and the powers of nature, gradually ex- 
 hausted by repeated sufferings, were becoming 
 daily less able to resist the force of his inveterate 
 disease. Yet he kept his annual residence at 
 Lincoln in 1805, and returned to Bishop Wear- 
 mouth about the beginning of May. Soon after 
 his arrival there, he experienced a most violent 
 attack, in which the usual remedies were found 
 ineil'ectual. HiUBaa skill was therefore vain : 
 
8^ THE LIFE or 
 
 his jyjpetite failing him, he was no longer able to 
 take the requisite support, but soon sunk under 
 the accumulated influence of debility and dis- 
 ease. His sight is supposed to have failed a few 
 days before his death, whilst his other faculties 
 ^mained unimpaired. The evening of his life 
 \y^s clouded with no displeasing recollections; 
 no vain anxieties ; no fond regrets : he had en- 
 joyed the blessings of this world with satisfac- 
 tion, and he relied for future happiness on the 
 promises of that divine revelation, the truth of 
 y>fhich he had so strenuously laboured to evince. 
 Jf^YGonsequenfly met the approach of death with 
 fineness, comforted his afflicted family with the 
 consolations of religion, and late on the evening 
 of Saturday, May 25, 1803, he tranquilly 
 breathed his last. 
 
 On Tuesday, June 4, his remains were con- 
 veyed to Carlisle, attended by his two sons, 
 and deposited in one of the aisles of the Cathe- 
 dral, by. the side of his first wife. In person 
 Dr. Paley was above the common size, and in 
 his latter years rather inclined to corpulence: he 
 is said to have left a very competent fortune 
 among his family 5 '^ for though he never levied 
 the utmost value of his preferments, and had 
 always lived in a style suitable to his station, Jae 
 
I 
 
 WILLIAM t»ALEY, Sf 
 
 had been through life^ to use his own phrase^ 
 ^ an economist upon a plan.'' *' 
 
 His eldest son, Mr. William Paley, has lately 
 been called to the bar by the honourable society 
 of Lincoln's Inn, and attends the northern cir- 
 cuit. The younger, Mr. Edmund Paley, a gra- 
 duate of Queen's College, Oxford, is intended 
 for the clerical profession. 
 
 Of Dr. Paley*s character as a divine it is dif- 
 ficult to speak, when we consider the prejudices 
 of parties in church and state. The candid and 
 disinterested reader, in judging of the workman 
 by the works he has left to posterity, will no 
 doubt agree with one of his memorialists, that 
 *^ his views of Christianity were at once cheerful 
 and enlightened; in strict unison with the bene- 
 volent spirit of its founder, which appears to 
 have been too much forgotten amidst the animo- 
 sities of contending sects. The establishment 
 of substantial Christianity, therefore. Dr. Paley 
 deemed a matter of far greater moment than the 
 defence of any peculiar system of religious faith.'* 
 He suffered '* no subordinate differences of opi- 
 nion, when there was^a coincidence in the main 
 intention and object, to produce any diminution 
 of favour, or alienation of his esteem/' and 
 ** seemed anxious at all times, both from his writ-* 
 
38 THE LIFE OP 
 
 ings and his example, to soften the antipathies 
 which arise from sectarian disputes.'* 
 
 Dr. Paley's ideas of religious liberty were not 
 confined to the protestants only : his tract on 
 Subscript^n shews that as early as 1774 he was 
 convinced that the Roman Catholics still groaned 
 under very hard restraints. In fact, Dr. Paley 
 was the consistent advocate for a complete tole- 
 ration of all dissenters, perceiving, as he said, 
 *^ no reason why men of different religious per- 
 suasions might not sit upon the same bench, de- ' 
 liberate in the same council, or fight in the same 
 ranks, as well as men of various or opposite opi- 
 nions upon any controverted topic of natura* 
 philosophy^ history, or ethics.^' 
 
 The charge of unitarianism in Dr. Paley^s 
 creed, it may be said, has been made more from 
 suspicion than proof; the protege of Bishop 
 Law and tlie friend of Dr. Jebb, it was supposed^ 
 could not be otherwise than attainted with their 
 opinions; but in his Natural Theology, p. 487, 
 it is remarked, " he has expressly limited his ar- 
 gument for the divine unity to a unity of coun- 
 sel,'' and he elsewhere seems to have adopted the 
 common notions about the pre- existence, the 
 propitiation, the present agency, and the inter- 
 cession of Christ. In the sermons published 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. SQ 
 
 after his death, it appears that he had rather dif- 
 ferent sentiments from those of his early years 
 relative to the doctrines of conversion^ and the 
 ivjiuence of the spirit. 
 
 As a preacher. Dr. Paley was never reckonea 
 .among the most graceful ; he could never divest 
 himself of the north-country accent; his voice 
 also was rough, and defective in its modulation: 
 however, among those " who prefer sense to 
 sound,'' it has been justly observed he was at all 
 times a welcome preacher. His manner partook \ 
 of his own openness and sincerity, which con- i 
 cealed other defects : he always spoke to the ca- ■ 
 pacity of the least informed of his hearers, and 
 at Appleby he is said to have frequently preached 
 from short notes. 
 
 After the publication of his Natural Theology> 
 it was Dr. Paley's intention to print a volume of 
 ftcrmons, not for sale to his parishioners, but for 
 a gratuitous distribution among them. As this 
 eould not be effected during his life time, he 
 provided for it by a codicil to his will, which 
 has since been carried into execution by his survi- 
 vors : they are thirty-five in number, containing 
 some which he had previously delivered, and 
 others which he had probably composed for the 
 purpose 3 they were accordingly 'printed at Siui- 
 
40 THE LIFE OP 
 
 derland, and distributed at Bishop Wearmouth, 
 as the last proof of his affection to his parish- 
 ioners. However the people of Wearmouth re- 
 gretted those discourses which were not re- 
 printed; viz. " On a Death-bed Repentance;" 
 — " On Lying;"— *^ On Training a Child;"— 
 *' On the Duty of celebrating the Lord's Supper;'* 
 and the sermon " On Honesty," the last but one 
 which he ever preached among them; in which 
 he pointed out the duties of menin all their mu- 
 tual dealings with each other in a masterly man- 
 ner, and insisted that the strictest integrity in- 
 every transaction, and not a mere compliance 
 with the forms of law, was necessary to consti- 
 tute the character of a truly honest man. 
 
 Though Dr. Paley frequently expressed him- 
 self as being perfectly satisfied with the patron- 
 age and promotion which he enjoyed, " as more 
 than adequate to every object of reasonable am- 
 bition;" it was nevertheless reported '^ that a 
 late prime minister did actually recommend him 
 to a vacant mitre, but that a very high dignitary 
 of the Church being consulted, the hints he gave 
 relative to some passages in Dr. Paley's writings 
 prevented his promotion;" and it is well known 
 that the doctor was not a man calculated to make 
 his way by any thing like an abject solicitation 
 of the great. 
 
WILLIAM PAIFT. 41 
 
 iA fellow collegian, who is supposed to have 
 en well acquainted with Paky's sentiments, 
 has observed, that " Paley was the farthest in 
 the world from a prefemient-hunter; he would 
 not give himself the trouble to root after it. The 
 indoknce of his character preserved him in some 
 measure from that disgraceful mode of gaining 
 preferment: and besides, he was above it from 
 a sensation of its unworthiness. He was indeed 
 the author of the term rooting, an expression 
 after his time much used in the university of 
 Cambridge, denoting that baseness and servility 
 of character, which, like swine rooting in a 
 dunghill, will perform the basest acts for a rich 
 patron to gain his protection and a good bene- 
 fice/' 
 
 As to orthodoxy, as it seems an easy thing to 
 prescribe for the consciences of others, some 
 persons disposed to censure the archdeacon, 
 seem to entertain a degree of astonishment ^^ that 
 a member of the Church should associate with 
 those of different principles, without avowing a 
 change of his own/' Dr. Paley's intimacy with 
 Bishop Law, Bishop Watson, Dr. Jebb, and 
 several illustrious members of the university of 
 Cambridge, might probably have been accounted 
 for without bringing religioa at all into the q[ues- 
 
42 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tioiij besides, as Dr. Paley with respect to stib« 
 scription to articles, seems to have preferred the 
 general utility to any other consideration, his 
 attachment to that principle might be equally as 
 conscientious as the deviation of those who value 
 themselves upon their disapprobation of any sub- 
 scription to articles. 
 
 Though the writings which he has left behind 
 him are striking indications of the mind whicli 
 dictated them, several opportunities also occurred 
 during the life of Dr. Paley, in which he ex"- 
 pressed his sentiments on men and manners with 
 that point and precision which could not be mis- 
 understood. That he was an unequivocal friend 
 to civil and religious liberty, might have been in- 
 ferred from the part he took for the abolition of 
 the slave trade, and his Essay on the Britisk 
 Constitution. It is true that he republished this^ 
 Essay soon after the commeneement of the French 
 Revolution; but as a proof that no considerations 
 of a party kind entered into this business, the 
 Essay in question made its appearance ^' in the 
 very year when a motion was made in the House 
 of Commons upon the very same grounds by 
 Mr. Pitt himself; several leading members of 
 successive administrations, namely, the Duke of 
 Richmond, the Marquis of Lansdown, Earl 
 
I 
 
 WILILAM PALEY. ^ 4$ 
 
 Camden and Mr. Fox, having also been avow- 
 edly of the same senliments/" 
 
 As a friend to good order, he republished a 
 short tract, entitled, Reasons for Contentment^ 
 addressed to the labour ing classes. 
 
 That his principles uniformly entered into his 
 practice, and that he was a lover of strict and 
 impartial justice, was manifested on several oc- 
 casions : a striking instance of this is recorded^ 
 when in. consequence of the discussions which 
 took place about Cold-Bath Fields prison, Dr. 
 Paley explicitly declared, " that the magistrates 
 of Hicks's Hall were by no means proper per- 
 sons to be entrusted with the exclusive power of 
 examining into, and controlling the conduct of 
 Governor Aris, since they were salaried officers 
 like himself: that the inquiry moved for was, in 
 his opinion, no party question, but one which 
 deserved to be very seriously considered ; and that 
 for his part, he had always thought Sir Francis 
 Burdett right in persevering to agitate the subject, 
 for by such continued exertions he must ulti- 
 mately succeed in correcting the abuse." The case 
 of the late Governor Wall also being coupled 
 in a conversation with the capital punishment of 
 some unfortunate seamen, for mutiny in the 
 chaniiel fleet, the archdeacon observed ; ^* Since 
 
44 THE LIFE OP 
 
 the discipline of the navy and army require thai 
 the men shall be hanged or shot for mutiny or 
 desertion, it is very fit that the officers be pu- 
 nished with equal severity for those cruelties 
 by which miitinij and desertion are too often 
 caused." 
 
 It would be an act of unpardonable partiality 
 in a biographer to represent the writings of the 
 archdeacon to have been as unobjectionable as his 
 life ; upon the former many able remarks have 
 been made with a view to their improvement, 
 particularly by the Rev. Edward Pearson, Rector 
 of Rempstonc, Nottinghamshire, who has cri- 
 tically examined the theoretical parts of Dr. Pa- 
 ley's Principles of Moral and Political PhilosO' 
 phj/f in the Remarks of the former, "' On the 
 Theory of Morals/' and in his '^ Annotations 
 on the Practical part of Dr. Paley's Principles of 
 Moral and Political Philosophy/^ both of which 
 were published during the doetor's life time. 
 
 It is certainly to the credit of Dr. Palcy, that 
 the work just mentioned is used in the university 
 ©f Cambridge, for the purpose of a lecture and 
 examination hook", of course this is the work in 
 whichihe public examination in moral subjects 
 for a bachelor's degree is conducted. The errors 
 ©f such a work, Mr, Pearson observed, (if it 
 
I 
 
 WILLIAM PALEY. AS 
 
 has any) may easily, if suffered to remain unno- 
 ticed, obtain an incalculable influence over the 
 public mind: nothing of this kind, he also re- 
 marked, could materially detract from that 
 which is Dr. Paley's great and appropriate praise. 
 It was said of Socrates^ that " he brought down 
 philosophy from the sacred abodes of the Gods, 
 to dwell on earth with men/' In like manner, 
 it may truly be said of Dr. Paley, '^ that he has :' 
 brought philosophy from the retreats of the ' 
 learned, into the walks of common life, and al- 
 most into the cradles of the young." 
 
 ^' The author of the Pursuits of Literature 
 objected to Dr. Paley' s Principles of Moral and 
 Political Philosophy, as a lecture book, on the 
 ground, that in academical education the great 
 end should be to recommend the study of origl- 
 ^al works ; and he thinks that Locke, Grotius, 
 PufFendorf, Cumberland, and Woolaston, should 
 be preferred to the writers who have arisen since 
 their day." To this it has been answered, that 
 Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding is 
 not, properly speaking, a treatise on Morality, 
 though morality is incidentally introduced ; but 
 «jii Metaphysics, and therefore could not be su- 
 ^lergeded by Dr. Paley's work before mentioned. 
 
 he study of Xoc^^, in fact, is not neglected in 
 *» 4 
 
4^ THB LIFE OP 
 
 the university, but only less attended to than be- 
 fore in public exercises and examinations 'y but 
 a proficiency in Locke, Paley, and other writers 
 on Metaphysics ^and Morahty, seemed to the 
 "writer of the Annotations, not to be so much 
 attended to and encouraged as it ought to be. 
 
 With respect to promises^ Dr. Paley, it has 
 been remarked, thinks ** it is the performance 
 being unlawful, and not any unlawfulness in the 
 subject or motive of a promise which destroys 
 its validity ;" and therefore, that '* the reward 
 of any crime, after the crime is committed^ 
 ought, if promised, to be paid.'» But this 
 maxim, which seems to suit better, with what 
 the world .goraetimes calls (miscalls) honour, has 
 besides been deemed inconsistent with Dr. Paley's 
 own rule of general utility ; a rule which he in- 
 troduces into religion as well as morals; for 
 though in the particular case in which the reward 
 is paid, the " sin and mischief," as he ob- 
 serves," are over, and will be neither more nor 
 less for the performance of the promise 3'* yet 
 the belief of an obligation to perform such pro- 
 mises would not fail, " upon the whole, at the 
 long run,*' to encourage what it cannot be 
 the will of God to encourage, similar instances 
 of sin and mischi^. It would surely be more 
 
I 
 
 WILLIAM PALEY, 47 
 
 conducive to the interest of society, as well as 
 more consonant to sound morality, to lay it 
 down as a maxim, that from an action which is 
 founded on injustice no claims of justice on the 
 part of those who are concerned in it, knowing it 
 to be so founded, can possibly arise. Agreeably 
 to this, Hutcheson says, ^^ Humani generis in- 
 teresty ui nulla, sint ex pactls scelermn invita- 
 menta\ nullaque in istius modi paciis Jides,** 
 Philos. Moral. Inst. 1. 2. c. 9- 
 
 On this principle, the case which Dr. Palcy 
 states to have been referred to Bp. Sanderson, 
 ought not to have been decided as Dr. Paley 
 has done. Dr. Paley is further supposed not to 
 have rightly stated the case of conscience re- 
 solved by Bp. Sanderson. If it be the second 
 of the nine cases of conscience to which the 
 Doctor referred, it is there stated that a gentle- 
 man and a lady both of whom were married, 
 made a promise to each other, that in case 
 either of them, by the death of his or her pre- 
 sent partner, should ever be at liberty to marry 
 again, he or she would remain unmarried, till 
 the other should be at liberty to marry also, 
 though it were to the end of life; and that the 
 lady, who was set at liberty first was desirous of 
 marrying, provided the obligation of her promise 
 
48 THE LIFE OP 
 
 was adjudged not to stand in the way. Bp. San- 
 derson adjudges the promise to be void, and the 
 iady at liberty to marry. Dr. Paley said ex- 
 pressly on the case of this gentleman and lady, 
 *^ that if both the parties were actually free from 
 the marriage bond, they not only lawfully 
 might, but would in conscience be bound, un- 
 less some other lawful impediment should hin- 
 der, to join themselves together in matrimony." 
 Now the Bishop's reasoning goes no farther 
 than to prove that the parties in that case might 
 marry, and not that in consequence of their pro- 
 mise tliey would be obliged to do so. The cases 
 that he mentions in order to show that the pro- 
 mise was not null and void at the first, are dif- 
 ferent in their nature from the case of a matrix 
 monial connection, and therefore do not come 
 iip to the point. For though a woman, during 
 the life of her husband has the right of making 
 a promise of one kind, of which the perform- 
 ance is not to take place till after her husband's 
 death, it does not follow that she has the right 
 of making a promise of any kind. Now the 
 promise of marriage in the case we are consider- 
 ing, is one which neither of the parties has 4i 
 right to make. It includes the promise of an 
 affection, which either exists at the time, or not. 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. 4$ 
 
 If it docs not then exists the promise of its taking 
 place at any future period impUes an absurdity. 
 Such a promise, indeed, would hardly be made ; 
 or if made and the condition of it declared, 
 would hardly be accepted. If th2 condition does 
 then exist, it is of an immoral nature, as being 
 inconsistent with a present duty, and whatever 
 proceedings are founded upon it must partake of 
 the same immorality. It is in short, a promise 
 of that which the promiser has no right to give, 
 and which therefore no one who knows of that 
 ciTcumstance has a right to receive. For though 
 in some cases, according to the majcim *' (jii^e 
 fieri nondehebanty facta sape vcilait," an obli^ 
 gation to do a thing may be built on an uiikw- 
 ful design, it is only when the obligation refers 
 to something different from the unlawful design 
 itself. Bp. Sanderson refers to what he judges to 
 be an instance of the Latin maxim just quoted, 
 and what indeed is such, though not according 
 to his mode of application, in the well-known 
 case of the Gibeonitcs; here the thing promised 
 was what the princes of Israel had a right to 
 give, and the Gibeonites a right to receive. The 
 command which was given to the Israelites to 
 destroy the nations of Canaan, and which may 
 have been urged as a reason why they should 
 o 
 
50 THE LIFE OF 
 
 not fuliil this contract with the Gibeonites, ex- 
 tended only to those nations which came against 
 Israel in battle, see Deut. xx. 10, compared with 
 Josh. xi. 19, 20. And Grotius de Jur. Bell, ac 
 Pacis. The inference from the whole is this, 
 that as Bp. Sanderson's conclusion is right, and 
 might have been deduced from his premises, so 
 Dr. Paley's is wrong, and cannot be deduced 
 from his It is also justly observed that many 
 mischievous consequences would arise from the 
 belief that unlawfulness in the subject of pro- 
 mises (to say nothing of the motive of them) 
 does not affect their validity ; for the belief of 
 an obligation to observe a promise, which was it- 
 self a violation of duty, but which comprehended 
 a desired event, would naturally lead to such fur- 
 ther violations, as seemed to promote that event, 
 and farther instigate the parties concerned, to 
 hasten as much as they could the period of 
 their fulfilment which in many cases would be a 
 fruitful source of immoralities. 
 
 Still Dr. Paley's sentiments with respect to the 
 general inadvertency in this country to the obli- 
 gation of oaths, and which is to be lamented 
 both in a religious and a political point of view, 
 have been very highly spoken of by persons 
 no means disposed to flatter this eminent writel 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. 51 
 
 The remedy suggested by Dr. Paley also does 
 him great credit, as it shews how much he 
 had the veneration of the great Creator a heart. 
 It would certainly be highly laudable to make d, 
 distinction in the manner of administering oaths 
 of a commercial nature, and those which relate 
 to the more solemn occasions of life and death. 
 In the first cases the Doctor recommended a 
 form of affirmatioTiy in which no reference is 
 made to the sacred name of God, and to leave 
 the legal penalties of perjury to attach to the 
 breach of that affirmation. With respect to 
 Quakers this is already the case. The form of 
 their affirmation is this: '• I do solemnly, sin- 
 cerely and truly declare and affirm;" and they 
 incur the temporal punishment of perjury by a 
 false affirmation^ just as they would have done 
 by a false oath. Thus would the solemnity of 
 an oath be reserved for more serious and impor- 
 tant occasions, and its conscientious observance^ 
 perhaps more effectually secured. 
 
 Conscious of his own virtue and the integ- 
 rity of his views. Dr. Paley appears in many 
 cases as a writer uncommonly bold. What he 
 has said relative to the oath of allegiance, as to 
 what it permits and what it does not require, has 
 subjected him to very close animadversion., In 
 D 2 
 
B2 THE UFE OP 
 
 the first place it has been observed, that resist- 
 ance to the king is permitted, when his ill- 
 . behaviour or imbecility is such as to make re- 
 sistance beneficial to the community; and that 
 this assertion though speculatively true, is so 
 indeterminately expressed that it may easily lead 
 into dangerous error. Who, it has been asked, 
 is to be the judge whether the ill- behaviour or 
 imbecility of the king is such as to render resist- 
 ance beneficial to the community ? Though the 
 convention parliament, which introduced the 
 oath of allegiance in the reign of William III. 
 <iid not mean to exclude all resistance, they 
 never meant that resistance should be founded 
 on any vague and uncertain notions of public 
 interest, or of ill-behaviour and imbecility incon- 
 sistent with it. They resisted James 11. not 
 because of his general ill-behaviour and imbe- 
 cility, but because of his infringement of the 
 laws; because he executed not the laws, but his 
 own will ; and not merely his own will, but his 
 own will in opposition to the laws. — The 
 Rev. Mr. Pearson in his Annotations upon the 
 Practical Part of Dr. Paley's Principles of Moral 
 and Political Philosophy, concludes thus upon 
 the subject of allegiance : " While the supreme 
 magistrate and his ministers govern according to 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. " 53 
 
 the la\vs_, resistance to them is the same as resist- 
 ance to the legislature. When they do iiot^ 
 obedience is a duty on no other ground than 
 that of immediate utility. If, indeed tlie en- 
 croachments be such as involve no consequences 
 of importance to the general welfare, individuals 
 ought to bear much, rather than hazard an in- 
 terruption of the public peace, or the lessening- 
 of that reverence in others which is so necessary 
 to their ready obedience. But if they be such as 
 materially affect the interests of the community, 
 and are so extensively felt and acknowledged as 
 to afford the probability of a decided superiority, 
 resistance is then as much a duty, as obedience 
 is in general. Of this, in the proceedings of 
 our happy revolution an instance was exhibited 
 deserving the admiration of ages. The supreme 
 magistrate had, by the most indubitable signs 
 evinced a determination to govern not by the 
 laws, but by his own will; and though he 
 might possibly have in view only the good of 
 his subjects; yet as he was not the appointed 
 judge of that good,^ and the majority of the peo- 
 ple were unwilling that he should be so, his en- 
 croachments on the legislative authority were 
 legally, and very justly opposed. 
 
 la Dr. Paley's illusti ation of the aatare of 
 
54 THE LIFE OF 
 
 revenge y and how far it is permitted to Chris- 
 tians, it seems he has not been so explicit as he 
 might have been. He repeats Matthew, chap. 
 vi. J4. <* For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 
 your heavenly Father will also forgive you.''* 
 The doctrine of Christian forgiveness is much 
 clearer in Luke xvii. 4. " If thy brother tres- 
 pass against thee rebuke him 5 and if he repent 
 forgive him. — And if he trespass against thee 
 seven, times in a day, and seven times in a day 
 turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt 
 forgive him.'* This passage is preferred to that 
 iia St. Matthew quoted by Dr. Paley. bcca^so 
 here the condition on which we are commanded 
 to forgive, namely, thie repentance of the offender 
 is expressly mentioned, whereas, in the other it 
 is only implied. ^^ If ye forgive men their tres- 
 passes," saith our Saviour, ^' your heavenly fa- 
 ther will also forgive you.** But then, as it is 
 supposed, that we repent us of our trespasses 
 before God will forgive us; so it is supposed, 
 that men repent of their trespasses against us, 
 before it is our duty to forgive them. This is 
 mentioned lest the duty of forgiving injuries, 
 like many others, should be strained to so high 
 a pitch as to discourage men from attempting ta 
 observe it. lu all cases great harm is done by 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. 55 
 
 aiming at too much. For those who find they 
 cannot attain to what is pointed out to them as^ 
 right, are very apt to give over their efforts to 
 attain it. An endeavour at exactness is also re- 
 commended in preference to the maxim that 
 principles in this respect had better be too la.v 
 than too strict; and that maxim o( forgiving 
 but not forgetting is admitted as a *' distinction 
 which is founded in truth, and is in itself alto- 
 gether just/' ^ 
 Dr. Paley, it has been supposed, has not been: 
 justifiable in introducing a new sense of the term 
 charity in his Moral Philosophy, Book iii. Part 
 IL Chap. I. for which there was certainly no 
 occasion^ namely, *^ the promoting the happiness 
 of our inferior sJ''^ The three principal methods 
 of performing this duty, viz. 1. By the treat- 
 ment of our domestics and dependents. 2. By 
 professional assistance. 3 . By pecuniary bounty ; 
 — it is justly thought should have been consi- 
 dered as three distinct duties rather than as one 
 under the term of charity. However in the de- 
 velopement of his position Dr. Paley evidently 
 makes it appear, that what is too commonly^ 
 called charity to the poor, is no more than^z^^- 
 iice. And the acute writer of a critique upon 
 Dr. Paley's definition of charity, admits thai 
 
50 THE LIFE OP 
 
 almsgiving is sometimes^ though not very pro- 
 perly, called charity. 
 
 Respecting relative duties, and Dr. Paley's 
 division of rights into perfect or hnperfect, it 
 has been proposed to change tlTese terms into 
 deter mineit& and indeterminate; because accord- 
 ing to his division, relative duties must be classed 
 under two great heads justice and ciiakity. 
 ** Justice comprehends the determinate duties, 
 and teaches us to do no harm- to others. Cha- 
 rity comprehends the indeterminate duties and 
 teaches us to do them good* But, if generally 
 speaking, human laws enforce the performance 
 of the duties of justice, while those of char it t/ 
 are left to the operation of moral laws, however 
 useful this divisi6n may be for some purposes, 
 in a moral view, "justice is comprehended under 
 charity, and therefore not to be considered as 
 distinct from it. The apostle referring to the 
 law by which the duties of justice are enforced, 
 says, " Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; 
 therefore love is the fulfilling of the law/' The 
 performance of the duties of Jtistice, therefore 
 appear to be equally as incumbent upon men as 
 those of charitT/, as being in their nature one 
 and the same. 
 
 These demonstrations of an est uhi peccat 
 
WILLIAM PA LET. 57 
 
 |Blor's Moral and Philosophical writings, and the 
 Remarks on them by Thomas Gisborne, M. A. 
 &c. &c. to which it may be added, that ^' Stu- 
 dents of anatomy have questioned the accuracy 
 of some parts of his delineation of the human 
 body, arising from his having consulted the 
 earlier, rather than tbe later authorities, in a 
 science so much extended by the skill and in- 
 genuity of its modern professors; all these,, 
 however, are no more derogatory to the great 
 merits of Dr. Paley, than the supposed spots in 
 the grand luminary of our horizon. They cer* 
 tainly convince us that *' to err is human,'* but; 
 they may at the same time teach us that there 
 is as great a distinction betu^een some errors^, 
 compared with others, as that general diiFerence 
 between error and truth. It has been already 
 asserted, and remains undoubted, that " the cha- 
 racter of Dr. Paley can never be justly estimated 
 from his public exertions alone; for he appear* 
 ed at all times with still greater advantage in th>e 
 intercourse of private life. He v^as a good hus- 
 band, an affectionate father, an indulgent master, 
 and a faithful friend.. He was ready on • all oc- 
 casions to accommodate his more immediate 
 neighbours with any civilities or kind offices in 
 P3 
 
58 THE LIFE or 
 
 his power. His little defects, it is possible, might 
 strike the coromon observer more forcibly ; but 
 they were not only such as might well be borne 
 with, but such as afforded his friends continual 
 opportunities of discovering under them the 
 goodness of his heart/' 
 
 The character of Dr. Paley must be esteemed 
 so much the more, when it is considered that in 
 the great outline of his political opinions he 
 never lost sight of the good of the people, nor 
 of respect for the sovereign. And so far from 
 flattering men in power, he always spoke of 
 them as accountable for their conduct, and ob- 
 noxious to punishment. To say nothing of 
 greater enormities of more recent date, it 
 seems he even thought, previous to the abo- 
 lition of the slave trade, that the conduct of 
 the British Legislature in so long lending its as- 
 sistance would* produce some future ^^ season for 
 reflecting, whether this legislature was Jit to he 
 trusted with an empire, the most extensive that 
 ever obtained in any age or quarter of the world.'* 
 In his decisions upon the insiifficieiit causes ovy 
 unjustifiable causes of war, it is also remarkable, 
 that he has designated those of the extension of 
 trade, and the 7nisf or tunes, or accidcjital weak* 
 ness of a 7ielghhouring or rival nation^ 
 
.' WILLIAM PALEY. 5-9 
 
 I 
 
 The application of this implied censure, is not 
 difficult. 
 
 With respect to the conclusion of all wars 
 among the nations of Christendom, doubtless 
 Dr. Paley was a rational Millenarian. He was 
 not, as the expectants of a filth monarchy have 
 been, and generally are, actuated by a fanciful 
 idea of the personal coming of Christ, just before 
 the end of the world, not to renetv and re- 
 establish, but rather to destroy all things: but 
 with the late Bishop Hurd, and some other com- 
 mentators, instead of the personal con>ing of 
 Christ, he seems to have adopted the idea of 
 some peculiar manifestation of the power and 
 providence of God or Christ, unfolding itself by 
 just degrees, and coming, viz. made known by a. 
 divine interposition, and in the signal acts of. 
 his administration, to be perfected in the last 
 ages: so Archdeacon Paley scenes corffident of a 
 future period in this life, when the kingdom or 
 power of the Christian age, or dispensation, 
 would most certainly be more perfectly known,, 
 more universally felt and acknowledged than 
 ever. Hence, instead of following the ideas of 
 common Millenarians in referring these hopeful 
 times to a period as uncertain as that of the 
 world's existence, he thought the Christian re^ 
 
60 THE LIFE OP 
 
 hgion, and even the ivorld itself, might be still 
 in their wfancy* 
 
 Applying the great mental powers he was en- 
 dowed with to the prosecution of these sublime 
 views, though it would seem that he differed 
 widely from some other commentators, it is 
 only in his application of some passages which 
 by them are referred to another life, he applies 
 10 ihsii future period m this state of exi^tence^ 
 which by the spread of the Christian religion, 
 will constitute the establishment of the Kingdom 
 of God upon earth. 
 
 7^he general run of commentators upon the 
 prophecies have seen nothing in the state but 
 the church, and have thereby rendered their 
 observations uninteresting or ridiculous ; but 
 Dr. Paley, following Bishop Butler and Bishop 
 Hurd in their more liberal ideas of an approach- 
 ing Millenium, seems to expect such a change 
 as shall be equivalent to the bringing about a 
 total and radical renovation of all the kingdoms 
 and states in Christendom; and not simply a 
 reform in religion, or the substitution of the pro- 
 tcstant rcligionibr that of the. Catholic. 
 
 Scarcely any? impartial person can read Dr. 
 Paley's sentiments on the Millenium in his 22d 
 Sermon upon Meb. xiii. 8, and continue to re- 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. ^ 
 
 main under any mistake as to what he calls a 
 •^ still future order of things, and a more per- 
 fect display of the power of Christ, and his reli- 
 gion; which may be still in reserve.*' In fact, 
 this future ^^ order of things," which he also 
 calls an economy (or government) destined foi' 
 the human creation (and not for disembodied 
 spirits) is reserved for the period of the second 
 coming of Christ, *^ when they shall live in a 
 state of local society one with another." This 
 he illustrates from John xiv. 2, 3. xvii. 20; pas- 
 sages which by commentators in general are 
 referred to the state of bliss in a future life^ and 
 by no means to the Millenium^ the improve- 
 ment or perfection of the present statc^ as it re- 
 *:pects Christianity in general, or the moral and 
 political regeneration of Christendom. But to 
 this dispensation Dr. Paley certainly does refer, 
 even in his application of scriptural phrases to 
 this great event, which have been hitherto ge- 
 nerally confined to the resurrection* These 
 texts of scripture he applies to the new state; 
 but these he says '^ are not likely to^ he rendered 
 quite intelligible by our experience before the 
 circumstances take place to which they refer." 
 Differing from the common acceptation of seve- 
 ral other texts, he also observes . that the words 
 
6^ THH LIFE or 
 
 *^ he shall change our vile body that it may be 
 like his glorious body/' *^ the dead in Christ 
 rising first/' '^ meeting the Lord in the air, 8z:c/* 
 '* describe a change (or rather improvement) of 
 •which we^ that is. Christians in general, are to 
 be the object/' The same remarks. Dr. Pa- 
 ley says, may be repeated concerning the first 
 and second death, expressly spoken of in the 
 Revelations chap. xx. 6. 14. And in none of 
 the latter-mentioned te^xts does he seem to ap- 
 prehend any reference to the final judgment, or 
 the destruction of the world; but rather the end. 
 and destruction of the grand apostacy, and that 
 antichristian system which has hitherto, stood in. 
 the way of its happiness and perfection. But as 
 the bare mention of the Millenium may proba- 
 bly raise a smile upon the face of the modern 
 unbeliever, or the half-thinking Christian, it may 
 be necessary to shield the memory of Dr. Paley 
 from the imputation of any absurdity, by remind- 
 ing them that the truly illustrious Sir Isaac New- 
 ton, expected such a period as has been alluded 
 to; and that the disbelief of the same is an argu- 
 ment that unbelievers in this particular, are as far 
 from being acquainted with the common course 
 of nature, and with moral distinctions, as they 
 -i^re with divine revelation, The power of virtue 
 
 I 
 
WILLIAM PA LEY, fo 
 
 over vice, is a quality in the former naturally in- 
 herent. Bp. Butler in his Analogy, therefore 
 supposes the existence of a kingdom, the gene- 
 wi influence of which, would render it superior 
 to all others, and that the world must gradually 
 come under its empire, not by lawless violence,, 
 but partly by what must be allowed to be just con- 
 quest, and partly by other kingdoms submitting 
 themselves voluntarily to it, and claiming its pro- 
 tection in successive exigencies. The head of it 
 would be an universal Monarch in another sense 
 than any mortal has yet been, and the eastern 
 style would be literally applicable to him, '^That 
 all people, nations, and languages should serve 
 Jhim." Upon these principles where is the im- 
 propriety, or the absurdity, of supposing the 
 erection of a kingdom or several kingdoms, ac- 
 tuated by genuine Christian principles, and at 
 least for a very considerable period, disseminating 
 peace and all its attendant blessings throughout 
 the world, or the whole sphere of its influence? 
 This approaching period is the Christian Mil- 
 lenium. 
 
64 THE LIFE OP 
 
 POSTCRIPT, 
 
 The Monthly Review far September 1 809^ hav* 
 ing appeared some time after the preface to this 
 Volume, and the foregoing account of Dr. Paley, 
 were sent to press, the remarkable coincidence of 
 sentiments respecting his character as a divine, 
 was thought a sufficient apology for the follow- 
 ing, extract, as a Supplement. 
 
 ^^ Complaints are often made of the inefficacy 
 of preaching, without adverting to the chief 
 cause of this failure.. Man, as a moral and reli- 
 gious being, frequently acts a very strange and 
 inconsistent part ; and it is extremely difficult to 
 teach and manage him by exhortation. He as- 
 sents without being touched, hears the serious 
 preacher with declared satisfaction, but without 
 correspondent feelings, and owns the import?- 
 ance of religious principle without being reli- 
 gious. With such a creature, something more 
 than the exhibition of general views must be 
 attempted. The ordinary operations of the mind 
 as they affect the religious principle, must be 
 minutely analyzed; and those sentiments and^ 
 affections which lurk about the heart, and disin- 
 cline us to the spiritual life, must be so detected 
 
WILLIAM PALEY. 65 
 
 \d exposed to the inward monitor as to baffle 
 the arts of self-deception, and make us ashamed 
 of the farce which we are playing with our own 
 souls. The discourses of Dr. Paley have this 
 great aim : they are neither pretty nor fine com- 
 positions ; but they are plain and searching ; 
 calculated to tear off the mask with which we 
 
 ■ten veil ourselves to ourselves ; and to set every 
 man on that close examination of his own mind, 
 which is necessary to excite in the soul any acti- 
 vity in repelling sin, or in cultivating inward 
 purity. With a perfect knowledge of the human 
 heart, he developes those hidden springs of ac- 
 tion, which, though they set in motioa the 
 whole moral machine (if we may use the expres- 
 sion) pass unobserved by the generality of man- 
 kind. Were we to ask men if they do not pre- 
 fer the favour of God to his displeasure, and a 
 state of happiness to a state of rejection in a 
 future life 3 whether virtue be not preferable to 
 vice, and whether '^ he who walketh uprightly" 
 does not walk more surely than the sinner ; the 
 answer would be uniformly in the affirmative; 
 but how little does that answer accord with the 
 overwhelming immorality of the world ? Decla- 
 mations against infidelity and irreligion have no 
 effect on the hearers af sermons.; because, ad- 
 
(56 THE LIFE OF / 
 
 dresses of this kind they cannot applf to them- 
 selves^ nor are they more sensibly moved by 
 calls to ttie unconverted. The probe must be 
 particularly applied. The unbelief of the 
 imbelieving, the irreligion of the irreligious, 
 and the immorality of the immoral must be 
 •scrutinized. Even by the majority of Church 
 goers, Christianity is made to consist of a sort of 
 accommodation, by which they mean to keep 
 on favourable terms both with God and Mam- 
 inon — to be good enough to cherish the hope of 
 heaven, and yet not so good as to preclude all 
 worldly conformity. 
 
 •jlf any sermons can reach such puzzling cases, 
 those of Dr^ Paiey may (be expected to succeea^. 
 They appear not to have been intended by him 
 ■for general circulation, and in one respect they 
 are better for this circumstance, since they ar^ 
 lunostentatiously practical, consisting for tlie 
 most part of that plain and serious argumentation 
 and expostulation, which a sensible believer 
 •would employ in the parlour towards friends for 
 whose spiritual welfare he felt the deepest con- 
 cern. Though he appears to us not to be cor- 
 rect in the explanation of all his texts, and na 
 to be most happy in the elucidation of some dif- 
 ficult theological pointSjwyet as a Christian mo- 
 
WILLIAM PALEV, €^ 
 
 I philosopher, he perfectly knows his ground, 
 id he has taken the most effectual means of 
 inging the religious principle into full acti- 
 ty." 
 
 Though it cannot be expected with respect to 
 le life of Dr. Paley, that the whole minutiae of 
 tail could be conveyed through these select 
 utlines, ample justice, it is presumed, is done 
 his character and abilities ; his works at large, 
 hich perhaps are the best calculated to perpe- 
 late the memory of his indefatigable industry, 
 re as follow : 
 
 1. A Defence of the Considerations on the Pro- 
 riety of requiring a Subscription to Articles of 
 aith, in reply to a late Answer from the Cla- 
 endon Press. 8vo. London. 1774. 
 
 2. Observations upon the Character and Ex* 
 mple of Christ, and an Appendix on the Mo- 
 ility of the Gospel, annexed to Bishop Law*3 
 Reflections on the Life and Character of Christ* 
 vo. Cambridge. 1776. 
 
 3. Caution recommended in the Use and Ap- 
 lication of Scripture Language. A Sermon 
 reached July 15, 1777, in the Cathedral 
 ihurch of Carlisle, at the Visitation of the Rt, 
 iCV. Edmund Lord Bishop of Carlisle. 4to. 
 -ondon, 1777. reprinted in 8vo. 1782. 
 
^* THE LIFE OF 
 
 4. The Clergyman's Companion In visltiii, 
 the Sick. Small 8vo. 10th edition. 1 78-. 
 
 5* Adviee addressed to the Young Clergy ol 
 the Diocese of Carlisle^ in- a Sermon preached a 
 a General Ordination, hoklen at Rose €astle,,oi 
 Sunday, July 29y 178 J. 4to. rep. in Sv-o.. 1783| 
 
 6. A Distinetion of Orders in the Church de* 
 fended upon the Principles of Public Utility, ii 
 a Sermon preached iu the Castle- Chapel, Dub- 
 lin, at the Consecration of John Law, D. Di 
 Lord Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, Sep 
 21, 1782. 4to. rep. in Svo. 1783. 
 
 7. Principles of Moral and Political Philoso 
 phy. 4 to. rep. 2 vols. 8vo. 15th edition. 1785 
 
 8. The Young Christian instructed in Reading 
 and in the Principles of Religion ; compiled foi 
 the use of the Sunday-Schools in Carlisle. 1 6mo 
 Carlisle. 2d edit. 17 8-. 
 
 9* Hone Paulina ; or, The Truth of the 
 Scripture History of St. Paul evinced, by a 
 Comparison of the Epistles which bear his name 
 with the Acts of the Apostles, and with Qnej 
 another. Svo. 4th edition. 1790. 
 
 10. The Use and Propriety of local and occa- 
 sional Preaching : a Charge delivered to the 
 Clergy of the Diocese of Carlisle, in the year 
 1790, 4to. 
 
WILLIAM PALEV. <>9 
 
 11. An Essay upon the British Constitution, 
 2ing the 7th Chapter of the 6th Book of the 
 rinciples of Moral and Pohtical Philosophy. 
 ^'o. 1792. 
 
 12. Reasons for Contentment, addressed to 
 le labouring part of the British Public. Carlisle. 
 2mo. 1792. rep. 8vo. 1193. 
 
 13. A short Memoir of the Life of Edmund 
 .aw, D.D. Bishop of Carlisle, inserted in 
 iiuchinson's History of Cumberland, and in 
 
 Encyclopedia Britanica, 1794, and rep. 
 >iUi Notes, 1800. 
 
 14. A View of the Evidences of Christianity. 
 3 vols. 12nio. 17945 rep. 2 vols. 8vo. ninth 
 edition. 
 
 15. Dangers incidental to the Clerical Cha- 
 racter stated, in a Sermon preached before the 
 University of Cambridge, at Great St. Mary's 
 Church, on Sunday, July 5, 1795, being Com- 
 mencement Sunday, 4to. 
 
 16. A Sermon preached at the Assizes at 
 Durham, July 29, 1795, and published at the 
 request of the Lord Bishop, the Honourable the 
 Judges of the A-ssize_, and the Grand Jury. 4to. 
 1795. 
 
 ; n. Natural Theology; or. Evidences of the 
 Existence and Attributes of the Deity, collected 
 
70 THE LIFE OF WILLIAM PALEY. 
 
 from the Appearances of Nature. 8vo. 18( 
 8th edition. 
 
 18. Sermons on several Subjects. Distribute 
 gratis amongst the Inhabitants of Bishop Wei\ 
 mouth, in compliance with a codicil to the A 
 thor*s willy 1806; they have been since pu 
 
 lished. 
 
 19. Sermons and tracts. 1808, 
 
THE 
 
 BEAUTIES 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM PALEY, D. D. 
 
 Actions, 
 
 Actions are to be estimated by their tendency. 
 Whatever is expedient is right. It is the utility 
 of any moral rule alone which constitutes the ob- 
 ligation of it. 
 
 The general consequence of any action may 
 be estimated, by asking what would be the con- 
 sequence if the same sort of actions were gene- 
 rally permitted. But suppose they were, and a 
 thousand such actions perpetrated under this per- 
 mission, is it just to charge a single action with 
 
72 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 the collected guilt and mischief of the whole 
 thousand ? I answer, that the reason for prohi- 
 biting and punishing an action (and this reason 
 may be called the guilt of the action, if you 
 please) will always be in proportion to the whole 
 mischief that would arise from the general im- 
 punity and toleration of actions of the same sort. 
 
 ^^ Whatever is expedient is right.*' But then 
 it must be expedient upon the whole, at the long 
 run, in all its effects collateral and remote, as 
 well as in those which 3.xi immkliateVnd direct; 
 as it is obvious, that in computing consequences, 
 it makes no difference in what way or at what 
 distance they ensue. 
 
 Right and obligation are reciprocal; that is, 
 wherever there is a right, ip one person, there is 
 a corresponding obligation upon others. If one 
 man has a " right*' to an estate, others are 
 *' obliged*' to abstain from it : if parents have 
 a ** right*' to reverence from their children, 
 children are ** obliged** to reverence their pa- 
 Tents ; and so in all other instances. 
 
 Now, because moral obligation depends, as 
 ■we have seen, upon the will of God, rig lit , 
 Avhich is correlative to it, must depend upon the 
 same. Right, therefore, signifies consistency^ 
 jwith the will of God, 
 
 4 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 73 
 
 By virtue of the two principles, that God willa 
 the happiness of his creatures, and that the will 
 of God is the measure of right and wrong, we 
 arrive at certain conclusions, which conclusions 
 become rules, and we soon learn to pronounce 
 actions right and wrong, according as they agree 
 or disagree with our rules, without looking any 
 farther : and when the habit is once established 
 of stopping at the rules, we can go back and 
 compare with these rules even the divine conduct 
 itself, and yet it may be true (only not observed 
 by us at the time) that the rules themselves are 
 deduced from the divine will. 
 
 Actwiiy of Mind the best preservative from 
 Discontent, 
 
 Human life has been said to resemble the si- 
 tuation of spectators in a theatre, where, whilst 
 each person is engaged by the scene which 
 passes before him, no one thinks about the place 
 in which he is seated. 
 
 It is only when the business is interrupted,~or 
 when the spectator's attention to it grows idle and 
 remiss, that he begins to consider at all who is 
 before him or who is behind him; whether 
 others are better accommodated^ than himself; or 
 
 E 
 
 ^^ 
 
7-1 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 whether many be not much worse. It is thus 
 with th? various ranks and stations of society; 
 so long as a man is intent upon the duties and 
 concerns of his own condition, he never thinks 
 of comparing it with any other; he is never 
 troubled with reflections upon the different orders 
 and classes of mankind; the advantages and dis- 
 advantages of each ; the necessity or non-neces- 
 sity of civil distinctions ; much less does he feel 
 within himself a disposition to covet or envy any 
 of them. He is too much taken up with the 
 oecupations of his calling, its pursuits, cares, 
 and business, to bestow unprofitable meditations 
 upon the circumstances in which he sees others 
 placed, and by this means a man of a sound and 
 active mind has, in his very constitution, a re- 
 medy against the disturbance of envy and dis- 
 content. These passions gain no admittance 
 into his breast, because there is no leisure or 
 vacancy for the traits of thought which generate 
 them. He enjoys therefore ease in this respect, 
 and ease resulting from the best cause, the 
 power of keeping his imagination at home; of 
 confining it to what belongs to himself, instead 
 of sending it forth to wander amongst specula- 
 tions which have neither limits nor use; amidst 
 views of unattainable grandeur, fancied happi- 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 7^ 
 
 ness of extolled, because imexperienced, privi- 
 leges and delights. 
 
 Advantages enjoyed ly Subjects of Free States, 
 
 The satisfaction which the people in free 
 governments derive from the knowledge and agi- 
 tation of political subjects ; such as the proceed- 
 ings and debates of the senate ; the conduct and 
 character of ministers; the revolutions and in- 
 trigues and contention of parties ; and in general^ 
 from the discussion of public measures, ques- 
 tions, and occurrences. Subjects of this sort 
 excite just enough of interest and emotion to af- 
 ford a moderate engagement to the thoughts, 
 without rising to any painful degree of anxiety^ 
 or ever leaving a fixed oppression upon the spi- 
 rits — and what is this, but the end and aim of 
 all those amusements which compose so much, 
 of the business of life, and of the value of riches. 
 For my part, and I believe it to be the case 
 with most men who have arrived at the middle 
 age, and occupy the middle classes of life; had 
 I all the money which I pay in taxes to govern- 
 ment at liberty to lay out upon amusement and 
 diversion, I knov/ not whether I could make 
 choice of any, in which I should find greater 
 e2 
 
76 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 pleasure, than what I receive from eiJ^pecting 
 and hearing of public news ; reading parliamen- 
 tary debates and proceedings ; canvassing the 
 political arguments, projects, predictions and 
 intelligence, which are conveyed by various 
 channels to every corner of the kingdom. These 
 topics, exciting universal curiosity, and being 
 such as almost every man is ready to form, and 
 prepared to deliver his opinion about, greatly 
 promote, and I think, improve conversation. 
 They render it more rational and more innocent. 
 They supply a substitute for drinking, gaming, 
 scandal and obscenity. Now the secrecy, the 
 jealousy, the solitude and precipitation of des- 
 potic governments exclude all this. But the 
 loss, you say, is trifling. I know that it is pos- 
 sible to render even the mention of it ridiculous, 
 by representing it as the idle employment of the 
 most insignificant part of the nation ; the folly of 
 village statesmen and coffee-house politicians. 
 But I allow nothing to be a trifle which minis- 
 ters to the harmless gratification of multitudes ; 
 nor any order of men to be insignificant, whose 
 number bears a respectable proportion to the sum 
 of the whole community. 
 

 fiEAUTIES OF PALEY. 77 
 
 dvantages and Duties of the Inferior Clergy. 
 
 The stations which you are likely, for some 
 time at least, to occupy in the church, although 
 not capable of all the means of rendering service 
 and challenging respect, which fall within the 
 power of your superiors, are free from many pre- 
 judices that attend upon higher preferments. 
 Interfering interests and disputed rights 5 or 
 where there is no place for dispute ; the very 
 claim and reception of legal dues, so long as 
 what is received by the minister is ^taken from 
 the parishioner, form sometimes an almost insu- 
 perable obstruction to the best endeavours that 
 can be used to conciliate the good will of a 
 neighbourhood. These difficulties perplex not 
 you. In whatever contests with his parishioners 
 the principal may be engaged, the curate has 
 neither dispute nor demand to stand between 
 him and the affections of his congregation. 
 
 Another, and a still more favourable circum- 
 stance in your situation is this ; being upon a 
 level with the greatest part of your parishioners, 
 you gain an access to their conversation and con- 
 fidence, which is rarely granted 10 the superior 
 clergy, without extraordinary address, and the 
 most insinuating advances on their parts. And 
 
78 BEAUTIES OF FALEY. 
 
 this is a valuable privilege ; for it enables you to 
 inform yourselves of the moral and religious state 
 of your flocks ; of their wants and weaknesses, 
 their habits and opinions, of the vices which 
 prevail, and the principles from which they pro- 
 ceed: in a word, it enables you to study the 
 distemper before you apply the remedy ; and not 
 only so, but to apply the remedy in the most 
 commodious form, and with the best eficct ; by 
 private persuasion and reproof, by gentle and 
 unsuspected conveyances, in the intimacy of 
 friendship and opportunities of conversation. To 
 this must be added the many occasions, which 
 the living in habits of society with your parish- 
 ioners affords you of reconciling dissensions, 
 healing animosities, administering advice to the 
 young and inexperienced, and consolation to 
 age and misery. I put you in mind of this ad- 
 vantage, because the right use of it constitutes 
 one of the most respectable employments, not 
 only of our order, but of human nature 5 and 
 leaves you, believe me, little to envy in the con- 
 dition of your superiors, or to regret in your 
 own. It is true that this description supposes 
 you to reside so constantly, and to continue so 
 long in the same parish as to have formed some 
 acquaintance with the persons and characters of 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 79 
 
 our parishioners ; and what scheme of doing 
 good in your profession, or even of doing yout 
 duty, does not suppose this ? 
 
 But whilst I recommend a just concern for 
 our reputation, aad a proper desire of public es- 
 teem, I would by no means flatter that passion 
 for praise and popularity, which seizes often- 
 times the minds of young clergymen, especially 
 when their first appearance in their profession 
 has been received with more than common ap- 
 probation. Unfortunate success! if it incite them 
 to seek fame by affectation and hypocrisy, or 
 kad, as vanity sometimes does, to enthusiasm 
 and extravagance. This is not the taste or cha- 
 racter I am holding out to your imitation. The 
 popular preacher courts fame for its own sake>. 
 or for what he can make of it ; the sincerely 
 pious minister of Christ modestly invites esteem, 
 only, or principally, that it may lend efficacy to 
 his instruction, and weight to his reproofs ; the 
 one seeks to be known and proclaimed abroad, 
 the other is content with the silent respect of his 
 neighbourhood, sensible that that is the theatre 
 upon which alone his good name can assist him 
 \\\ the discharge of his duty. 
 
 It may be necessary likewise to caution you 
 against some awkward endeavours to lift them- 
 
«0 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 selves into importance, which young clergymen 
 not unfrequently fall upon ; such as a conceited 
 way of speaking, new airs and gestures, affect- 
 ed manners, a mimicry of the fashions, lan- 
 guage, and diversions, or even of the frolics and 
 vices of higher life ; a hunting after the acquaint- 
 ance of the great, a cold and distant behaviour 
 towards their former equals, and a contemptuous 
 neglect of their society. Nothing was ever 
 gained by these arts, if they deserve the name of 
 arts, but derision and dislike. Possibly they 
 may not offend against any rule of moral probity, 
 but if they disgust those with whom you are to 
 live, and upon whom the good you do must be 
 done, they defeat not only their end, but in a 
 great measure, the very design and use of your 
 vocation. I would warn you, and that with all 
 the solemnity that can belong to any admonition 
 of mine, against rendering your discourses so local* 
 as to be pointed and levelled at particular persons 
 in your congregation. This species of address 
 may produce in the party for whom it is intend- 
 ed, confusion perhaps, and shame, but not with 
 their proper fruits of penitence and humility. In- 
 stead of which, these sensations will be accom^ 
 panied with bitter resentment against the 
 preacher, and a kind of obstinate and determined 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PAIeY. 81 
 
 opposition to his reproof. He will impute your 
 officiousness to personal emnity, to party spirit, 
 to the pleasure of triumphing over an adversary 
 without interruption or reply, to insult, assum- 
 ing the form of advice, or to any motive rather 
 than a conscientious solicitude for the amend- 
 ment and salvation of your flock. And as the 
 person himself seldom profits by admonitions 
 conveyed in this way, so are they equally useless, 
 or perhaps noxious, to the rest of the assembly; 
 for the moment the congregation discover to 
 whom the chastisement is directed, from that 
 moment they cease to apply any part of it to 
 themselves. They are not edified, they are not 
 aflected ; on the contrary they are diverted, by 
 descriptions, of which they see the design, and 
 by invectives, of which the think they compre- 
 hend the aim. Some who would feel strongly 
 the impropriety of gross and evident personalities, 
 may yet hope to hit their mark by covert and 
 •oblique allusions. Now of this scheme, even 
 when conducted with the greatest skill, it may 
 be observed, that the allusions m.ust either be 
 perceived or not. If they be not perceived, they 
 fail of the effect intended by them ; if they be, 
 they are open to the objections which lie against 
 inore explicit and undissembled attacks. Wheri^ 
 
82 BEAUTIES OF PALEY, 
 
 ever we are conscious, in the composition of our 
 discourses, of a view to particular characters in 
 our congregation or parish, we ought to take for 
 granted that our view will be understood. Those 
 applications therefore, which, if they were di- 
 rect, would produce more bad emotions than 
 good ones, it is better to discard entirely from 
 our sermons, that is to say, it is better to lay 
 aside the design altogether, than to attempt to 
 disguise it by a management which is generally 
 detected, ^nd which, if not seen through, de- 
 feats its purpose by its obscurity. The crimes 
 then of individuals let us reserve for opportuni- 
 ties of private and seasonable expostidation. 
 Happy is the clergyman who has the faculty of 
 communicating advice and remonstrance with 
 persuasion and effect,, and the virtue to seize and 
 Xmprove every proper occasion of doing it ; but 
 in the pulpit, kt private character be no other- 
 wise adverted to, than as they fall in with the 
 delineations of sins and duties which our dis- 
 courses must necessarily contain, and whichy 
 whilst they avoid personalities, caa never be too 
 close or circumstantial. 
 
 ^ge; the true way of making it comfortable^ 
 That is, by making it the means of religiou* 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 83 
 
 mprovement. Let a man be beset by ever so 
 many bodily complaints, bowed down by ever, 
 so many infirmities; if he find his soul grown, 
 and growing better ; his seriousness increased ; 
 his obedience more regukr and more exact; his 
 inward principles and dispositions improved from 
 what they were formerly, and contimiing to im- 
 prove ; that man hath a fountain of comfort and 
 consolation springing up within him. . Infirmi- 
 ties which have this effect, are infhiitely betterv 
 than strength and health themselves ;. though 
 these, considered independently of their conse- 
 quences,, be justly esteemed the greatest - of all ^ 
 blessings and of all gifts. The old age of a virtuous 
 man admits of a different, and of a most conso- 
 ling description. 
 
 *^ To the intelligent and virtuous, old age'pre^ 
 sents a scene of tranquil enjoyments ; of obedi- 
 ent appetites; of well-regulated affections ; of 
 maturity in knowledge ; and of calm preparation 
 for immortality. In this serene and dignified 
 state, . placed ; as it were on the confines of two 
 worlds,, the mind of a good man reviews what is 
 past with the complacency.ofan.approving con- 
 science, and looks forward with humble confi- 
 dence in the mercy of God, and with devout, 
 aspirations towards his eternal and ever. iacreas 
 ing favour.*.* 
 
84 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Agriculture, 
 
 There exists in this country conditions of 
 tenure which condemn the land itself to perpetual 
 sterility. Of this kind is the right of common, 
 which precludes each proprietor from the im- 
 provement, or even the convenient occupation 
 of his estate, without (what seldom can be ob- 
 tained » the consent of many others. This tenure 
 is also usually embarassed by the interference of 
 manorial claims, under which it often happens 
 that the surface belongs to one owner, and the 
 soil to another ; so that neither owner can stir a 
 clod without the concurrence of his partner in 
 the property. In many manors, the tenant is 
 restrained from granting leases beyond a short 
 term of years ; which renders every plan of solid 
 improvement impracticable. In these cases, the 
 owner wants what the first rule of rational policy 
 requires, " sufficient power over the soil for its 
 perfect cultivation.'* This power ought to be 
 extended to him by some easy and general law 
 of enfranchisement, partition, and enclosure ; 
 which, though compulsory upon the lord, or 
 the rest of the tenants, whilst it has in view the 
 melioration of the soil, and tenders an equitable 
 tompensation for every right that it takes away^ 
 
BEAtJTIES OF PALEY. 36 
 
 is neither more arbitrary, nor more dangerous 
 to the stabihty of property than that vv'hich is 
 done in the construction of roads, bridges, em- 
 bankments, navigable canals, and indeed in al- 
 most every pubUc work in which private owners 
 of land are obliged to accept that price for their 
 property which an indifferent jury may award. 
 And although the inclosure of wastes and pas- 
 tures be generally beneficial to population, yet 
 the inclosure of lands in tillage, in order to con- 
 vert them into pastures, is as generally hurtful. 
 
 Jmbitien, its Pleasures, 
 
 Those which are supposed to be peculiar to 
 high stations, are in reality common to all con- 
 ditions. The farrier who shoes a horse better, 
 .and who is in far greater request for his skill than 
 any man within ten miles of him, possesses ihe 
 delight of distinction^ and of excelling as truly 
 and substantially as the statesman, the soldier, 
 and the scholar, w.ho have filled Europe with th« 
 repetition of their wisdom, their valour or their 
 knowledge. 
 
 No superiority appears to be of any account, 
 but a superiority over a rival. This, it is mani- 
 fest, may exist where rivals.hips do 5 and rivals- 
 
86 BEAUTIES OF PALEY, 
 
 ships fall out amongst men of all ranks and de- 
 grees. The object of emulation, the dignity or 
 magnitude of this object makes no difference; as 
 it is not what either possesses that constitutes 
 the pleasure, but what one possesses more than-: 
 the other. 
 
 '^ . Anger, 
 
 All reasoning upon the subject supposes the 
 passion of anger to be within our power ; andl 
 this power consists not so much in any faculty 
 we possess of appeasing our wrath at the time,. 
 for we are passive under the smart which, an in- 
 jury or affront occasions^ and all then we can do 
 is to prevent its breaking out into - action ; as in 
 so mollifying our minds by habits^of just reflec- 
 tion as to be less^ irritated by impressions of in- 
 jury, and to be sooner pacified.. 
 
 Reflections proper for this purpose, and which, 
 may be called the. sedatives of anger, . are the fol- 
 lowing : the possibility of mistaking the motives 
 from which the conduct that offends us proceeds ; 
 how often our offences have been the effect of 
 inadvertency, when they were construed into in- 
 dications of malice ; the inducement which 
 prompted our adversary to act as he did, and how 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. S^ 
 
 powerfully the same inducement has, at one 
 time or other, operated upon ourselves ; that he 
 is suffering perhaps, under a contrition, which 
 he is ashamed, or wants opportunity to confess; 
 and how ungenerous it is to triumph hy coldaess 
 or insult over a spirit already humbled in secret ; 
 that the returns of kindness are sweet, and that 
 there is neither honour, nor virtue, nor use, in 
 resisting them. Add to this, the indecency of 
 €xtravag2mt anger ; how it renders us, whilst it 
 lasts, the scorn and sport of all about us, of 
 which it leaves us, when it ceases, sensible and 
 ashamed ; the inconveniences and irretrievable 
 misconduct into which our irascibility has some- 
 times betrayed us ? the friendships it has lost us ^ 
 the distresses and embarrassments in which we 
 have been involved by it ; and the sore repent- 
 ance which on one account or other it always 
 costs us.. 
 
 But the reflection calculated above alV others - 
 to allay that haughtiness of temper which is ever 
 finding out provocations, and which renders an- 
 ger so impetuous, is that which the gospel pro- 
 poses ; namely, that we ourselves are, or shortly 
 shall be suppliants for mercy and pardon at the 
 judgment- s€at of God. Imagine our secret sins 
 disclosed and brought to light j imagine us thus 
 
8« »iEAUTIES OF PA LEY. 
 
 humbled and exposed, trembling under the hand 
 of God, casting ourselves on his compassion, 
 crying out for mercy — imagine such a creature 
 ,to talk of satisfaction and revenge ; refusing to 
 be entreated ; disdaining to forgive ; extreme to 
 mark and resent vvhat is done amiss ; imagine, I 
 say, this, and you can hardly feign to yourself 
 an instance of more impious and unnatural ar- 
 rogance. 
 
 The Assistance of the Holy Spirit, 
 
 The language of scripture is, that God gives 
 his holy spirit to them that ask it ; and more- 
 over, that to them who use and improve it as 
 they ought, it is given in more and more abun- 
 dance. "He that hath not, from him shall be taken 
 away even that which he hath :" Matt. xiii. 12. 
 Now, this being the general nature and economy 
 of God's assisting grace, there is no reason why 
 it should not extend to our faith, as well as to 
 .our practice ; our perceiving the truth, as well 
 .as obeying the truth, may be helped and- suc- 
 coured by it. God's Spirit can have access to 
 our understandings as well as our affections. He 
 ,can render the mind. sensible to the impressions 
 :pf evidence and the powef of truth. If creatures 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 89 
 
 I 
 
 ^fke us, might take upon themselves to judge 
 what is a proper object of divine help, it should 
 seem to be a serious, devout, humble, and ap- 
 prehensive mind, anxiously desiring to learn and 
 know the truth ; and in order to know it, keep- 
 ing the heart and understanding pure and prepared 
 for that purpose ; that is to sa}^, carefully ab- 
 staining from the indulgence of passions, and 
 from practices which harden and indispose the 
 •mind against religion. I say, a mind so guard- 
 ing and qualifying itself, and imploring with 
 devout earnestness and solicitude the aid of 
 God*s holy Spirit in its meditations and inquiries, 
 seems, so far as we can presume to judge, as 
 meet an object of divine help and favour as any 
 of which we can form an idea ; and it is not for 
 us to narrow the promises of God concerning 
 his assisting grace, so as, without authority, to 
 exclude such an object from it. 
 
 Beneficence and Optimism, 
 
 Throughout that order of nature, of which God 
 is the author, what we find is a system of henc'- 
 jicence^ we are seldom or never able to make out 
 a system or optimism. The rain which descends 
 from heaven is confessedly amongst the contri^ 
 
fO BEAUTIES OF PA LEY. 
 
 vances of the creator, for the siistentation of 
 the animals and vegetables upon the face of the 
 earth. Yet how partially and irregularly it is 
 supplied ! How much of it falls upon the sea, 
 where it can be of no use ! How often is it 
 wanted where it would be of the greatest ! This 
 observation may be repeated concerning most of 
 the phenomena of nature, and the true conclu- 
 sion to which it leads is this : that to inquire 
 what the Deity might have done, could havc[done, 
 or even as we sometimes speak, ought to have 
 done, and to build any propositions upon such 
 inquiries against evidence of facts is wholly un- 
 warrantable. It is a mode of reasoning which 
 will not do in natural history, which will not do 
 in natural religion, and which cannot therefore 
 be applied wilh safety to revelation. It may have 
 iome foundation in certain speculative a priori 
 ideas of the divine attributes; but it has none in 
 experience or in analogy. The general character 
 of the works of nature, is on the one hand 
 goodness both in design and effect; and on the 
 other, a liability to difficulty and to objections, 
 if such objections be allowed, by reason of seem- 
 ing incompleteness or uncertainly in obtaining 
 their end. Christianity participates of this cha- 
 racter* The true similitude between nature and 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 9l 
 
 t gelation consists in this: that they bear strong 
 arks of their original ; that they each also bear 
 appearances of irregularity and defect, yl sys- 
 tern of strict optimism may nevertheless be the 
 real system in loth cases. But what I contend 
 is, that the proof is hidden from us; that we 
 ought not to expect to receive that in revelation, 
 which we hardly perceive in any thing; that le?ie^ 
 Jicence of which we can judge, ought to satisfy 
 us that optimisniy of which we can?iot judge, 
 ought not to be sought after. We can judge of 
 beneficence, because it depends upon effects 
 which we experience, and upon the relation be- 
 tween the means which we see acting, and the 
 ends which we see produced. We cannot judge 
 of optimism, because it necessarily implies a 
 comparison of that which is tried with that 
 which is not tried : of consequences which we 
 see, with others which we imagine, and concern- 
 ing many of which, it is more than probable we 
 know nothing: concerning some, that we have 
 no notion. 
 
 British Constitutioii, 
 
 It resembles one of those old mansions, which 
 instead of being built all at once after a regidar 
 plan, has been reared in different ages, altered 
 
92 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 from time to time, and has been continually re- 
 ceiving additions and repairs, suited to the taste, 
 fortune, or conveniency of its successive pro- 
 prietors. In England the system of public juris- 
 prudence is made up of acts of parliament, de- 
 cisions of courts of law, and of immemorial 
 usages ; consequently these are the principles of 
 which the English constitution itself consists, 
 the sources from u'hich all our knowledge of its 
 nature and limitations is to be deduced, and the 
 authorities to which all appeal ought to be made, 
 and by which every constitutional doubt and 
 .question can alone be decided. 
 
 In the British, and possibly in all other con- 
 stitutions, there exists a wide difference between 
 the actual state of the government and the theory. 
 "When we contemplate the theory of the British 
 government, we see the king invested with the 
 most absolute personal impunity; with the 
 power of rejecting laws resolved upon by both 
 houses of parliament : with the power of con- 
 ferring by his charter, upon any set or succes- 
 sion of men, the privilege of sending represent- 
 atives into one house of parliament, as by his 
 immediate appointment he can place whom he 
 will in the other. What is this, a foreigner 
 might ask, but a mere circuitous despotism ? 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY. ^$ 
 
 Yetj when we turn our attention from the legal 
 extent to the actual exercise of royal authority in 
 England, we see these formidable prerogatives 
 dwindled into mere ceremonies, and, in their 
 stead, a sure commanding influence, of which 
 the constitution, it seems, is totally ignorant, 
 growing out of that enormous patronage which 
 the increased territory and opulence of the em- 
 pire have placed in the disposal of the exc^cutive 
 magistrate. Our ancestors knew not what the 
 experience and reflection of modern ages has* 
 discovered; that patronage universally is power. 
 We proceed to inquire in what mannt-r the 
 constitution has provided for its own preserva- 
 tion, or in what manner each part of the legisla-, 
 ture is secured in tlie exercise of the powers as- 
 siixned to it, from the encroachments of the 
 Other parts. But though the pow^r of the twa- 
 houses of parliament is checked by the king^sj 
 negative; on the other hand, the arbitrary ap- 
 plication of this negative is checked by the pri- 
 vilege which parliament possesses of refusing 
 supplies of money to the king's administration. 
 The constitutional maxjm " that the king can 
 do no wrong," is balanced by another maxim 
 not less constitutional; *' that the illegal com- 
 mands of the king do not justify those who as- 
 
^ BEAUTIES OF FALEY. 
 
 sist, or concur in carrying them into execution, 
 and that the acts of the crown acquire not a le- 
 gal force, luitil authenticated by some of its 
 great officers." The wisdom of this contrivance 
 is worthy of observation. As the king could 
 not be punished without a civil war, the consti- 
 tution exempts his person from trial or account ; 
 but lest this impunity should encourage a licen* 
 tious exercise of dominion, various obstacles are 
 opposed to the private will of the sovereign, when 
 directed to illegal objects. The pleasure of the. 
 crown must be announced by certain solemnities, 
 and in some cases, the royal order must be sig- 
 nified by a secretary of state; in others, it must 
 pass under the privy seal, and in many, under 
 the great seal. And when the king's command 
 is regularly published, no mischief can be 
 achieved by it, without the ministry and com- 
 pliance of those to whom it is directed ; all of 
 whom who concur in an illegal order, or in any 
 manner assist in carrying it into execution, sub- 
 ject themselves to prosecution and punishment 
 for the part they have taken, and are not per- 
 mitted to plead or produce the command of the 
 king, in justification of their obedience. 
 
 The practice of addressing the king, to know 
 by whose advice he resolved upon a particular 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEV. 9^ 
 
 measure, I forbear to mention amongst the 
 checks which parliament holds over the admi- 
 nistration of public affairs, for this reason — that 
 it does not so much subject the king to the con- 
 troul of parliament, as it supposes him to be al- 
 ready in subjection. For if the king were so far 
 out of the reach of the resentment of the house 
 of commons, as to be able with safety to refuse 
 the information requested, or to take upon him- 
 self the responsibility inquired after, there must 
 be an end of all proceedings founded in this 
 mode of application. 
 
 But further: the power of the crown to di- 
 rect the military force of the kingdom, is balanc- 
 ed by the annual necessity of resorting to parlia- 
 ment for the maintenance and government of 
 that force. The king's choice of his ministers 
 is controulled by the obligation he is under of ap- 
 pointing those men to offices in the state who 
 are capable of managing his affairs in the govern- 
 ment with the two houses of parliament. Which 
 consideration imposes such a necessity upon the 
 crown, as hath in a great measure subdued the 
 influence of favouritism ; insomuch that it is be- 
 come no uncommon spectacle in this country to 
 see men promoted by the king to the highest of- 
 fices in his power to bestow^ who have been 
 
96* BJBAUTIES OF PAIBY. 
 
 distinguished by their opposition to his personal 
 incHnations. 
 
 Again, if the king should endeavour to extend 
 his authority by contracting the power and pri- 
 vileges of the commons, the house of lords 
 would see their own dignity endangered by every 
 advance which the crown made to independency 
 upon the resolutions of parliament. And whereas 
 arbitrary or clandestine confinement is most to be 
 dreaded from the strong hand of the executive 
 government, the constitution has provided a- 
 gainst this danger with double solicitude. The 
 Habeas Corpus act of Charles the Second, and 
 the determmations of our courts founded upon 
 these laws afford a complete remedy for every 
 conceivable case of illegal punishment. For, 
 iipon complaint in writing, by, or on behalf of 
 any person in confinement to any of the four 
 Courts of Westminster Hall in term time, or to 
 the Lord Chancellor, or one of the Judges in 
 the vacation ; and upon a probable reason,being 
 suggested to question the legality of the deten- 
 tion, a writ is issued to the person in whose 
 custody the complainant is alleged to be, com- 
 mending him within a certain limited and short 
 time to produce the body of the prisoner, and 
 the authority under which he is detained. Upon 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 97 
 
 the return of the writ, if no lawful cause of im- 
 prisonment appear, the Court or Judge before 
 whom the prisoner is brought, is authorized and 
 bound to discharge him, even though he may- 
 have been committed by a secretary, by the 
 privy council, or by the king in person : so that 
 no subject of this realm can be held in confine- 
 onent by any power whatever, if he can find 
 means to convey his complaint to one of the 
 four Courts of Westminster Hall. He may 
 make application to ail the judges in succession ; 
 and if one out of the number thinks the prisoner 
 entitled to his liberty, that one possesses autho- 
 rity to restore it to him. 
 
 Again : treason being that charge, under co- 
 lour of which, the destruction of an obnoxious 
 individual is often sought; and government^ 
 being at all times more immediately a party in 
 the prosecution, the law, sensible of the unequal 
 contest in which the subject fs engaged, has as- 
 sisted his defence with extraordinary indulgen- 
 cies. Every person, by two statutes enacted 
 since the revolution, may have a copy of his 
 indictment, a list of the witnesses to be pro- 
 duced, and of the jury impanneUed, delivered 
 to him ten days before his trial ; he is also per- 
 mitted to make his defence by counsel 3 privi • 
 
98 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 leges which are not allowed to the prisoner in a 
 trial for any other crime ; and what is of more 
 importance, to the party than all the rest, the 
 testimony of two witnesses, at the leasts is re- 
 quired to convict a person of treason ; whereas 
 one positive witness is sufficient in almost every 
 other species of accusation. 
 
 Lastly, with respect to Juries, the wisdom of 
 man hath not devised a happier institution than 
 that of juries, or one founded on a juster know- 
 ledge of human life, or of the human capacity. In 
 jurisprudence, as in every other science, the points 
 ultimately rest upon" common sense. But to re- 
 duce a question to these points, and propose 
 them accurately, requires not only an under- 
 standing superior to that which is necessary to 
 decide upon them when proposed, but often- 
 times also a technical and peculiar erudition. 
 Agreeably to this distinction, which runs per- 
 haps through all sciences, what is preliminary 
 and preparatory, is left to the legal profession j 
 what is final, to the plain understanding of plain 
 men. But since it is necessary that the judg- 
 ment of such men should be informed ; and 
 since it is of the utmost importance that that 
 advice which falls with so much weight, should 
 be drawn from the purest sources, judges are 
 
 i 
 
BIAUTIES OFPALEY. ^ 
 
 sent down to us> who have sptint their lives in 
 the study and administration of the laws of their 
 country, and who come amongst us, strangers 
 to our contentions, if we have any, our parties 
 and our prejudces ; strangers to every thing, 
 except the evidence which they hear. The ef- 
 fect corresponds with the wisdom of the de ' 
 sign, juries may err,'* and frequently do so ; hut 
 there is no system of error incorporated with 
 their constitution. Corruption, terror, influ- 
 ence, are exckided by it : and prejudice in a 
 great degree, though not entirely. This danger, 
 which consists in juries viewing one class of 
 men, or one class of rights, in a more or less 
 favourable light than another, is the only one 
 to be guarded against. It is a disposition, which, 
 whenever it rises up in the minds of jurors, 
 ought to be repressed by their probity, their 
 consciences, the sense of their duty, the re- 
 membrance of their oaths. 
 
 And this institution is not more salutary, than 
 it is grateful and honourable to those popular 
 feelings of which all good governments are ten- 
 der. Hear the language of the law. In the 
 most momentous interests, in the last peril 
 indeed of human life, the accused appeals to 
 God and his country, " which country you are.-'* 
 F2 
 
100 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 What pomp of titles, what display of honours, 
 can equal the real dignity which these few words 
 confer upon those to whom they are addressed ? 
 They show, by terms the most solemn and sig- 
 nificant, how highly the law deems of the func- 
 tions and character of a jury : they show also, 
 with what care of the safety of the subject it is, 
 that the same law has provided for every orte a 
 recourse to the fair and indifferent arbitration of 
 his neighbours. This is substantial equality, 
 real freedom, equality of protection, freedom 
 from injustice. May it never be invaded, never 
 abused 1 May it be perpetual ! And it will be so, 
 if the affection of the country continue to be 
 preserved to it by the integrity of those who are 
 charged with its office. 
 
 Canaanites : the Cause of their Destruction 
 Justified. 
 
 When God for the wickedness of a people 
 sends an earthquake, or a fire, or a plague 
 amongst tliem, there is no complaint of injus- 
 tice, especially when the calamity is known, or 
 expressly declared before-hand to be inflicted for 
 the wickediiess of such people. It is rather re- 
 garded as an act of exemplary penal justice, and 
 
 1 
 
I 
 
 :beauties of paley. lOi 
 
 as such, consistent with the character of the 
 moral governor of the universe. The objection, 
 therefore, is not to the Canaanitish nations' 
 being destroyed, but the objection is solely to 
 the manner of destroying them : their wicked- 
 ness accounts for the thing itself. If the thing 
 itself be just, the manner is of little signification, 
 of little signification even to the sufferers. For 
 where is the great difference, even to them, 
 whether they are destroyed by aq earthquake, a 
 pestilence, a famine, or by the handsi of an 
 enemy ? Where is the difference, even to our 
 imperfect apprehensions of divine justice, pro- 
 vided it be, and is known to be for their wicked- 
 ness that they were destroyed. But this des- 
 truction you say, confounded the innocent with 
 the guilty. The sword of Joshua and of the 
 Jews spared neither women nor children. Is it 
 not the same with all other national visitations ? 
 Would not an earthquake, or a fire, or a plague, 
 or a famine amongst them have done the same ? 
 Even in an ordinary and natural death the same 
 thing happens. God takes away the life he 
 lends, without regard that we can perceive, to 
 age, or sex, or character. 
 
 But after all promiscuous massacres, the 
 burning of cities, the laying waste of countries 
 
102 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 ai:q things dreadful to reflect upon. Who doubts 
 it ? So are all the judgments of Almighty God 
 The eliect in whatever way it shows itself must 
 necessarily be tremendous, when the Lord, as 
 the Psalmist expresses it, " moveth out of his 
 place to punish the wicked." But it ought to 
 >satisfy us ; at least, this is the point upon which 
 we ought to fix and rest our attention ; that it 
 was for excessive, wilful and fore-warned 
 wickedness that all this befel them, and that this 
 is all aJong so declared in the history which re- 
 cites it. 
 
 Charity : the different kinds of it. 
 
 There are three kinds which prefer a claim to 
 attention. The first, and in my judgment, one 
 of the best, is to give stated and considerable 
 sums by way of pension or annuity to individuals 
 or families, with whose behaviour and distress 
 we ourselves are acquainted. When I speak o^ 
 considerable sums, I mean only that five pound?, 
 or any other sum, given at once, or divided 
 amongst live or fewer families will do more good 
 than the same sum distributed amongst a great 
 number in shillings or half-crowns ; and that 
 because it is more likely to be properly applied 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 103 
 
 by the persons who receive it. A poor fellow^ 
 who can find no better use for a shilling than to 
 drink his benefactor's health, and purchase half 
 an hour's recreation for himself, would hardly 
 break into a guinea for any such purpose, or be 
 so improvident as not to lay it by for an occasion 
 of importance; for example, for his rent, his 
 clothing, fuel, or stock of winter's provision.. 
 It is still a greater recommendation of this kind 
 of charity, that pensions and annuities which 
 are paid regularly, and can be expected at the 
 time, are the only way by which we can prevent 
 one part of a poor man's sufferings — the dread of 
 want. A second method of doing good, which- 
 is in every one's power who has the money ta 
 spare, is by subscription to public charities^ 
 which admit of this argument in their favour,- 
 that your money goes further towards attaining 
 the end for which it is given, than it can do by 
 any private and separate beneficence. A guinea 
 contributed to an infirmary, becomes the means 
 of providing one patient at least with a physician, 
 surgeon, apothecary, with medicine, diet, lodg- 
 ing, and suitable attendance ; which is not the 
 tenth part of what the same assistance, if it could 
 be procured at all, would cost to a sick persoji 
 or. family in any other situation. 
 
104 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 The last and lowest exertion of benevolencf, 
 is in the relief of beggars. Nevertheless, I by 
 no means approve the indiscriminate rejection of 
 all who implore our alms in this way. Some 
 may perish by such a conduct. Men are some- 
 times overtaken by distress, for which all other 
 relief would come too late. Besides which, re- 
 solutions of this kind compel us to offer such 
 violence to our humanity, as may go near in a 
 little while to suffocate the principle itself; 
 which is a very serious consideration. A good 
 man, if he do not surrender himself to his feel- 
 ings without reserve, will at least lend an ear to 
 importunities, which come accomi anied with 
 outward attestations of distress ; and after a pa- 
 tient audience of the complaint, will direct him- 
 self, not so much by any previous resolution 
 which he may have formed upon the subject, as 
 by the circumstances, and the credibility of the 
 account that he receives. 
 
 There are other species of charity well con- 
 trived to make the money expended go far : 
 such as keeping down the price of fuel or provi- 
 sion, in case of monopoly or temporary scarcity, 
 by purchasing the articles at the best market, 
 and retailing them at prime cost, or at a small 
 loss 5 or the adding a bounty to particular species 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 105 
 
 of labour, when the price is accidentally de- 
 pressed. 
 
 The proprietors of large estates have it in their 
 power to facilitate the maintenance, and thereby 
 to encourage the establishment of families, 
 (which is one of the noblest purposes to which 
 the rich and great can convert their endeavours,) 
 by building cottages, split ting far m^, erecting 
 manufactures, cultivating wastes, embanking the 
 sea, draining marshes, and other expedients 
 .which the situation of each estate points out. 
 If the profits of these undertakings do not pay 
 the expence, let the authors of them place the 
 •difference to the account of charity. It is true 
 of almost all such projects, that the public is a 
 gainer by them, whatever the owner be. And 
 where the loss can be spared, this consideration 
 ia sufficient. 
 
 Christianity vindicated against the Charges of 
 Persecution^ IFars, Massacres, S(c. 
 
 Christianity is charged with many consequen- 
 ces for which it is not responsible. T believe 
 that religious motives had no more to do in the 
 formation of nine-tenths of the intolerant and 
 persecuting laws which in different countries 
 F 3 
 
106 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 have been established upon the subject of reli- 
 gion, than they have had to do in England with 
 the making of the game laws. These measures, 
 although they have the Christian religion for 
 their subject, are resolvable into a principle 
 which Christianity certainly did not plant 5 that 
 is to say, " that they who are in possession of 
 power do what they can to keep it." Chris- 
 tianity is answerable for no part of the mischief 
 brought upon the world by persecution, except 
 that which has arisen from conscientious perse- 
 cutors. Now these perhaps have never been 
 either numerous or powerful. Moris to Chris- 
 tianity that even their mistake can fairly be im- 
 puted. They have been misled by an error not 
 properly Christian or religious, but by an error 
 in their moral poilosophy. They pursued the 
 particular, without adverting to the general con- 
 sequence, believing certain articles of faith, or 
 a certain mode of worship to be highly condu- 
 cive, or perhaps essential to salvation, they 
 thought themselves bound to bring all they 
 could, by every means into them. And this 
 they thought, without considering what would 
 be the effect of such a conclusion when adopted 
 amongst mankind as a general rule of conduct. 
 Had there been in the New Testament wh 
 
 1 
 
I 
 
 HEAUTIES or IPALEY. lOf 
 
 tliere are in the Koran, precepts authorizing co- 
 ercion in the propagation of the religion, and 
 the use of violence towards unbelievers, the case 
 would have been different. This distinction 
 
 Kild not have been taken, nor this defence 
 de. 
 apologize for no species nor degree of perse- 
 cution, but I think that even the fact has been 
 exaggerated. The slave trade destroys more in a 
 year than the Inquisition does in a hundred. If 
 it be objected that Christianity is chargeable with, 
 every mischief of which it has been the occasion^. 
 though not the motive, I answer, that if the 
 malevolent passions be there, the world will 
 never want occasions^ The noxious element 
 will always find a conductor. Any point will' 
 produce an explosion. Did the applauded inter- 
 community of the Pagan theology preserve the 
 peace of the Roman world ? Did it prevent op- 
 pressions, proscriptions, njrassacres, devasta- 
 tions? Was it bigotry that carried Alexander 
 into the East, or brought Caesar into Gaul?' 
 Are the nations of the world, into which Chris- 
 tianity hath found its way, or from which it hath : 
 been banished, free from contentions?- Is it 
 owing to Christianity, or to the want of it, that 
 the finest regions af the East> the countries^ 
 
lOS BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 inter quatuor maria, the peainsula of Greece, 
 together with a great part of the Mediterranean 
 Coast, are at this day, a desert ? Or, that the 
 banks of the Nile, whose constantly renewed 
 fertility is not to be impaired by neglect, or 
 destroyed by the ravages of war, serve only for 
 a scene of ferocious anarchy, or the supply of 
 unceasing hostilities ? Europe itself has known 
 no religious wars for some centuries, yet has 
 hardly ever been without war. Are the calami- 
 ties which this day afflict it to be imputed to 
 Christianity ? Hath Poland fallen by a Christian 
 Crusade ? Hath the overthrow in France of civil 
 order and security been effected by the votaries 
 of our religion or by the foes? Amongst the 
 awful lessons which the crimes and the miseries 
 of that country afford to mankind, this is one> 
 that in order to be a persecutor it is not necessary 
 to be a bigot. That in rage and cruelty, in 
 mischief and destruction, fanaticism itself can 
 be out-done by infidelity. 
 
 But Christianity in every country in which it is 
 professed, hath obtained a sensible, although 
 not a complete influence upon the public judg- 
 ment of morals. And this is very important -, 
 for without the occasional correction which pub- 
 lic opinion receives, by referring to some iixed 
 
I^nl 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. lOQ 
 
 andard of morality^ no man can foretel into 
 hat extravagancies it might wander : assassi- 
 ation might become as honourable as duelling ; 
 natural crimes be accounted as venial, as for- 
 ication is wont to be accounted. In this way, 
 is possible many may be kept in order by 
 hristianity, who are not themselves Christians, 
 hey may be guided by the rectitude which it 
 communicates to public opinion. Their con- 
 iences may suggest their duty truly, and they 
 ay ascribe these suggestions to a moral sense, 
 or to the native capacity of the human intellect, 
 hen, in fact, they are nothing more than the 
 public opinion, reflected from their own minds, 
 in a considerable degree, modified by the lessons 
 of Christianity. Certain it is, and this is a 
 great deal to say, that the generality, even of the 
 meanest and most vulgar and ignorant people, 
 have truer and worthier notions of God, more 
 just and right apprehensions concerning his at- 
 tributes and perfections, a deeper sense of the 
 dilTerence of good and evil, a greater regard to 
 moral obligations, and to the plain and most 
 necessary duties of life, and a more firm and 
 universal expectation of a future state of rev/ards 
 and punishments, than in any heathen country, 
 any considerable number of men were found to 
 
110 BEAUTIES OP PALEr, 
 
 have had. After all, the value of Christianity is 
 not to be appreciated by its temporal effects* 
 The effects upon human salvation ; those of the 
 mission, of the death of Christ, may be univer- 
 sal, though the religion be not universally;, 
 known. 
 
 Christian Worship,, and its tendency to promote 
 Civil Liberty^ . 
 
 Assemblies for the purpose of divine worship ». 
 placing men under impressions by whioh they 
 are tanght to consider their relation to the deity,, 
 and to contemplate those around them with a 
 view to that relation, force upon their thoughts 
 the natural equality of the human species, and 
 thereby promote humility and condescension in' 
 the highest orders of the community, and inspire 
 the lowest with a sense af their rights. The 
 distinctions of civil life are almost always insist— 
 ed upon too much, and urged too far. What- 
 ever therefore conduces to restore the level by 
 qualifying the dispositions which grow out of 
 great elevation or depression of rank, improves 
 the character on both sides. Now thinsrs are 
 made to appear little by being placed beside what 
 is great. In which manner, superiorities, that 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. Ill 
 
 occupy the whole field of their imagination will 
 vanish, or shrink to their proper diminutiveness, 
 when compared with the distance by which even 
 the highest of men are removed from the Su- 
 preme Being ; and this comparison is naturally 
 introduced by all acts of joint worship. If ever 
 the poor man holds up his head, it is at Churchy 
 if ever the rich man views him with respect, it 
 is there ; and both will be the better, and the 
 public profited the oftener they meet in a situa- 
 tion, in which the consciousness of dignity in 
 the one is tempered and mitigated, and the 
 spirit of the other erected and confirmed. We 
 recommend nothing adverse to subordinations 
 which are established and necessary : but then 
 it should be remembered that subordination it- 
 self is an evil, being an evil to the subordinate, 
 who are the majority, and therefore ought not to 
 be carried a tittle beyond what the greater good, 
 the peaceable government of the community re- 
 quires. 
 
 Civil Government, its Origin and Oledieyiee 
 to it. 
 
 Government, at first, was either patriarchal 
 or military, that of a parent over his- family, or 
 of a commander over his fellow warriors. 
 
112 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Paternal authority, and the order of domestic 
 life, supplied the foundsiiion o( civil governme7it. 
 Did mankind spring out of the earth mature and 
 independent, it .would be found perhaps Impos- 
 sible to introduce subjection and subordination 
 among them ; but the condition of human in- 
 fancy prepares^ men for society by combining in- 
 dividuals into small communities, and by plac- 
 ing them from the beginning under direction 
 and controuL A family contains the rudiments 
 of an empire. The authority of one over many, 
 and the disposition to govern and to be governed 
 are in this way incidental to the very nature, and 
 coeval no doubt with the existence of the human 
 species. 
 
 With respect to the manner in which subjec- 
 tion to civil government is maintained, could 
 we view our own species from a distance, or re- 
 gard mankind with the same sort of observation 
 with which we read the natural history, or re- 
 mark the manners of any other animal, there is 
 nothing in the human character which would 
 more surprize us than the almost universal sul- 
 jugation of strength to weakness', than to see 
 many millions of robust men in the complete use 
 and exercise of their personal faculties, and 
 without any c'efect of courage, waiting upon the 
 
EEAUTIES OF PALEY. 113 
 
 tl of a child, a woman, a driveller or a lunatic, 
 d although, when we suppose a vast empire 
 absolute subjection to one person, and that 
 one depressed beneath the level of his species by 
 infirmities or vice, we suppose, perhaps, an ex- 
 treme case ; yet in all cases, even in the most 
 popular forms of civil government, the physical 
 strength resides in the governed. 
 
 Now, though we should look in vain for any 
 single reason which will account for the general 
 submission of mankind, yet it may not be difli- 
 cult to assign for every class and character in the 
 community, considerations powerful enough to 
 dissuade each from any attempts to resist estab- 
 lished authority. Some obey from prejudice, 
 others from reason, a third class from self-inte" 
 rest ; others again, principally ^rom fear, fore- 
 seeing that by resistance they would bring them- 
 selves into a worse situation than their present, 
 inasmuch as the strength of government, each 
 discontented subject reflects, is greater than his 
 own, and he knows not that others would join 
 him. This last consideration has often been 
 called opinion of power. 
 
 Let civil governors learn hence to respect their 
 subjects ; let them be admonished that the phy- 
 sical strength resides in the governed ; that this 
 
1 14 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Strength wants only to be felt and roused to lay 
 prostrate the most ancient and confirmed do- 
 minion ; that civil authority is founded in opi- 
 nion ; that general opinion therefore ought al- 
 ways to be treated with deference, and managed 
 with delicacy and circumspection. 
 
 As to civil obedience, ifl met with a person who 
 appeared to entertain doubts whether civil obedi- 
 ence were a moral duty which'ought to be volun- 
 tarily discharged, or whether it were not a mere 
 submission to force, like that which we yield to 
 a robber who holds a pistol to our breast, I 
 should represent to him the use and offices of 
 civil government^ the end and the necessity of 
 civil subjection; I should explain to him the 
 social compact, urge him 'with the obligation 
 and equity of his implied promise and tacit con- 
 sent to be governed by the laws of the state from 
 which he received protection ; or I should argue, 
 perhaps, that nature herself dictated the law of 
 subordination when she planted withiii. us an in- 
 clination to associate with our species, and 
 framed us with capacities so various and unequal. 
 From whatever principle I set out, I should la- 
 bour to infer from it this conclusion, " That 
 obedience to the state is to be numbered a- 
 mongst the relative duties of human life, for the 
 
■ 
 
 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 115 
 
 'transgression of which, we shall be accountable 
 at the tribunal of Divine Justice, whether the 
 magistrate be able to punish us for it or not. 
 
 If in a short time afterwards, I should be ac- 
 costed by the same person with complaints of 
 public grievances, of exorbitant taxes, of acts 
 of cruelty and oppression, of tyrannical en- 
 croachments upon the ancient or stipulated rights 
 i of the people, and should be consulted whether 
 ! it were lawful to revolt, or justifiable to join in 
 an attempt to shake off the yoke by open resist- 
 ance, I should certainly consider myself as 
 i having a case and question before me very diffe- 
 i rent from the former. 
 
 I should now define and discriminate. I 
 i should reply, that if public expediency be the 
 I foundation, it is also the measure of civil obe- 
 I ence; that the obligation of sovereigns and sub* 
 I Jects is reciprocal ; that the duty of allegiance is 
 neither unlimited nor unconditional; that peace 
 may be purchased too dearly; that patience be- 
 comes culpable pusillanimity, when it serves 
 only to encourage our rulers to increase the 
 weight of our burthen, or to bind it the faster; 
 that the submission which surrenders the liberty 
 of a nation, and entails slavery upon future ge- 
 nerations, is enjoined by no law of rational mo- 
 rality. . 
 
116 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 St. Paul has said, " Whosoever resisteth the 
 power, resisteth the ordinance of God/' This 
 phrase, '^ the ordinance of God/* is by many 
 so interpreted, as to authorise the most exahed 
 and superstitious ideas of the regal character. 
 But surely such interpreters have sacrificed truth 
 to adulation ; for in the first place, the expres- 
 sion as used by St. Paul, is just as applicable to 
 one kind of government, and to one kind of Suc- 
 cession as another: — to the elective masiistrates 
 of a pure republic, as to an absolute hereditary 
 monarch. In the next place, it is not affirmed 
 of the supreme magistrate exclusively, that he 
 is the ordinance of God; the title, whatever it 
 imports, belongs to every inferior officer of the 
 state, as much as to the highest. The divine 
 right of kings is like the divine right of other 
 magistrates, the law of the land, or even actual 
 and quiet possession of their office ; a right, ra- 
 tified, we humbly presume, by the divine ap- 
 probation, so long as obedience to their autho- 
 rity appears to be necessary or conducive to the 
 common welfare. Princes are ordained of God, 
 by virtue only of that general decree by which he 
 assents, and adds the sanction of his will to every 
 kw of society which promotes his own purpose, 
 the communication of human happiness} ac- 
 
" BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 117 
 
 cording to which idea of their origin and con- 
 stitution, and. without any repugnancy to the, 
 words of St. Paul, they are by St. Peter deno- 
 minated the ordinance of yuan. 
 
 But rejecting the intervention of compact^ as 
 unfounded in its principle, and dangerous in the 
 application, we assign for the only ground of the 
 subjects' obhgation, the will of God as collected 
 from expediency , 
 
 The steps by which the argument proceeds, 
 are few and direct. — '^ It is the will of God that 
 the happiness of human life be promoted." — this 
 is the first step, and the foundation not only of 
 this, but of every moral conclusion. — '' Civil 
 society conduces to that end;" — this is'the second 
 proposition. — '^ Civil societies cannot be up- 
 holdcn, unless in each the interest of the whole 
 society be binding upon every part and member 
 of it: this is the third step, and conducts us 
 to the conclusion : namely, that so long as the 
 interest of the whole society requires it, that is, 
 so long as the established government cannot be 
 resisted or changed without public inconveniency, 
 it is the wiH of God (which will universally de- 
 termine our duty) that the established govern- 
 ment be obeyed^" — and no longer. 
 
US BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Contentment y method of acguiring it. 
 
 The wisest advice that can be given is, never 
 to allow our attention to dwell upon comparisons 
 between our own condition and that of others, 
 but to keep it fixed upon the duties and concerns 
 of the condition itself. But since every man has 
 not this power; since the minds of some men 
 will be busy in contemplating the advantages 
 they see others possess; and since persons in la- 
 borious stations of life are wont to view the 
 higher ranks of society, with sentiments which 
 not only tend to make themselves unhappy, but 
 which are very different from the truth, it may 
 be an useful office to point out to them some of 
 these considerations, which if they will turn 
 their thoughts to the subject, they should en- 
 deavour to take fairly into the account. 
 
 And, first ; we are most of us apt to murmur 
 when we see exorbitant fortunes placed in the 
 hands of single persons; larger, we are sure, 
 than they can want, or, as we think, than they 
 can use. This is so common a reflection, that 
 I will not say it is not natural. 
 
 But whenever the complaint comes into our 
 minds, we ought to recollect, that the thing 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 119 
 
 happens in consequence of those very rules and 
 laws which secure to ourselves our property, be it 
 ever so smalt. The laws which accidentally cast 
 enormous estates into one great man's possession, 
 are, after all, the self-same laws which protect 
 and guard the poor man. Fixed rules of pro- 
 perty are established for one as well as another, 
 without knowing before-hand whom they may 
 affect. If these rules sometimes throw an exces- 
 sive or disproportionate share to one man's lot, 
 who can help it ? It is much batter that it should 
 be so, than that the rules themselves should be 
 broken up 5 and you can only have one side of 
 the alternative or other. To abolish riches 
 Vvould not be to abolish poverty ; but, on the 
 contrary, to leave it without protection or re- 
 source. It is not for the poor man to repine at 
 the effects of laws and rules, by which he him- 
 self is benefited every hour of his existence ; 
 which secure to him his earnings, his habitation, 
 his bread, his life ; without which he, no more 
 than the rich man, could either eat his meal, or 
 go to bed in safety. Of the two, it is rather 
 more the concern of the poor to stand up for the 
 laws, than of the rich ; for it is the law which 
 defends the weak against the strong, the humble 
 against the powerful, the little against the great j 
 4 
 
120 BEAUTIES OF PAL£Y. 
 
 and weak and strong, humble and powerful,' 
 little and great, there would be, even were there 
 no laws whatever. Besides, what, after all, is 
 the mischief? The owner of a great estate does 
 not eat or drink more than the owner of a small 
 one. His fields do not produce worse crops, 
 nor does the produce maintain fewer mouths. 
 If estates were more equally divided, would 
 greater numbers be fed, or clothed, or employ- 
 ed ? Either, therefore, great estates are not a 
 public evil, or, if they be in any degree an evil, 
 it is to be borne with, for the sake of those fixed 
 and general rules concerning property, in the 
 preservation and steadiness of v^hich all are in- 
 terested. 
 
 Fortunes, however, of any kind, from the 
 nature of the thing can only fall to the lot of a 
 few. I say, " from the nature of the thing.^^ 
 The very utmost that can be done by laws and 
 government, is to enable every man, who hath 
 health, to procure a healthy subsistence for him- 
 self and a;family. Where this is the case, things 
 are at their perfection. They have reached their 
 limit. Were the princes and nobility, the legis- 
 lators and counseHors of the land, all of them 
 the best and wisest men that ever lived, their 
 united virtue and wisdom could do n^ more than 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 121 
 
 this. They, if any such there be, who would 
 teach you- to expect more, give you no instance 
 that more has ever been attained. 
 
 Conversion, 
 
 Now of the persons to whom we not only 
 may, but must preach the doctrine of conver- 
 sion plainly and directly, are those, who, with 
 the name indeed of Christians, have hitherto 
 passed their lives without any internal religion 
 whatever; who have not at all thought upon 
 the subject; who, a few easy and customary 
 forms excepted, (and which with them are mere 
 forms,) cannot truly say of themselves that they 
 have done one action, which they would not 
 have done equally if there had been no such thing 
 as a God in the world ; or that they have ever sa- 
 crificed any passion, any present enjoyment, or 
 even any inclination of their minds, to the re- 
 straints and prohibitions of religion; with whom 
 indeed religious motives have not weighed a fea- 
 ther in the scale against interest or pleasure 
 To these it is utterly necessary that we preach 
 conversion. At this day we have not Jews and 
 Gentiles to preach to; but these persons are 
 really in as unconverted a state as any Jew or 
 
 G 
 
123 BRAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Gentile could be in our Saviour^s time. They 
 are no more Christians as to any actual benefit 
 of Christianity to their souls, than the most 
 hardened Jew or the most profligate Gentile was 
 in the age of the gospel. As to any difference 
 in the two cases, the difference is all against 
 them. These must be converted before they can 
 be saved ; the course of their thoughts must be 
 changed J the very principles upon which they 
 act must be changed; considerations which ne- 
 ver, or which hardly ever entered into their 
 minds, must deeply and perpetually engage 
 them ; views and moiivetj which did not influence 
 them at all, either as checks from doing evil, or 
 as inducements to do good, must become the 
 views and motives which they regularly consult, 
 and by which they are guided ; that is to say, 
 there must be a revolution of principle ; the vi- 
 sible conduct will follow the change, but there 
 must be a revolution within, A chane^e so en- 
 tire, so deep, so important as this, I do allow 
 to be a conversion, and no one who is in the si- 
 tuation above described, can be saved without 
 undergoing it ; and he must necessarily both be 
 sensible of it at the time, and remember it all his 
 life afterwards. It is too momentous an event 
 ever to be forgotten. A man might as easily for- 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEV. t23 
 
 get his escape from a shipwreck. Whether it 
 was sudden, or whether it was gradual, if it was 
 effected, (and the fruits will prove that,) it was 
 a true conversion, and every such person may 
 justly both believe and say of himself, that he 
 was converted at a particular assignable time» 
 It may not be necessary to speak of his conver- 
 sion, but he will always think of it with iin* 
 bounded thankfulness to the giver of all grace 
 the author of all mercies, spiritual as well as 
 temporal. \ 
 
 Are there then some sins in which we live 
 j continually ? some duties which we continually 
 ! neglect ? we are not children of God ; we are 
 not sincere disciples of Christ. The allowed 
 prevalence of any one known sin, is sufficient 
 to exclude us from the character of God's chi!- 
 dren^ and we must be converted from that sin in 
 order to become such. Here then we must 
 preach conversion. The habitual drunkard, the 
 habitual fornicator, the habitual cheat must be 
 converted. The breaking off a habit, especially 
 when we had placed much of our gratification in 
 it, is alone so great a thing, and such a step in 
 pur Christian life, as to merit the name of con- 
 ersion. Then as to the time of our conversion, 
 th,ere can be little question about that. The 
 as 
 
IS^ BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 drunkard was converted when he left off drink- 
 ing ; the fornicator, when he gave up his cri- 
 minal indulgences, haunts, and connections ; 
 the cheat, when he quitted dishonest practices, 
 however gainful and successful, pro\ided that, 
 in these cases, religious views and motives in- 
 fluenced the determination, and a religious cha- 
 racter accompanied and followed these deter- 
 minations. 
 
 Crimes and Funishments, their proportion. 
 
 The proper end of human punishments is, not 
 the satisfaction of justice, but the preveyilion oi 
 crimes. By the satisfaction of justice, 1 mear 
 the retribution of so much pain for so mucl"^ 
 guilt ; which is the dispensation we expect a 
 the hand of God, and which we are accustomec 
 to consider ^s^the order of things, that perfec 
 justice dictates and requires. In what sense, o 
 whether with truth in any sense, justice may b , 
 aid to demand the punishment of offenders, 
 do. not now enquire ! but I assert that this de 
 mand is not the motive or occasion of huma 
 punishment. What would it be to the magij 
 trate that offences went altogether unpunishe( 
 if the impunity of the oiicnders were follow* 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 125 
 
 by no danger or prejudice to the commonwealth ? 
 The fear lest the escape of the criminal should 
 encourage him, or others by his example, to re- 
 peat the same crune, or to commit different 
 crimes, is the sole consideration which autho- 
 rizes the infliction of punishment by human laws. 
 Now that, whatever it be, which is the cause 
 .and end of the punishment, ought undoubtedlv 
 to regulate the measure of its severity. But this 
 cause appears to be founded, not in the guilt of 
 the offender, but in the necessity of preventijig 
 the repetition of the offence : and from hence 
 results the reason, that crimes are not by any 
 government punished in proportion to their guilt, 
 nor in cases ought to be so, but in proportion 
 to the difficulty and the necessity of preventing 
 them. 
 
 The certainty of punishment is of more 
 consequence than the severity. Criminals do 
 not so much flatter themselves with the lenity 
 of the sentence, as with the hope of escaping. 
 They are not so apt to compare what they gain 
 by the crime with what they may suffer from 
 the punishment, as to encourage themselves 
 with the chance of concealment or flight. For 
 which reason a vigilant magistracy, an accurate 
 police, a proper distribution of force and intelli- 
 
1S6 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 gence, together vvitrh due rewards for the disco* 
 very and apprehension of malefactors, and an 
 undeviating impartiality in carrying the laws into 
 execution, contribute more td the restraint and 
 suppression of crimes, than any violent exacer- 
 bations of punishment. 
 
 Crimes of Violence, 
 
 Injuries efiected by terror and violence, are 
 those which it is the first and chief concern of 
 legal government to repress j because their exr 
 tent is unlimited J because, no private precaution 
 can protect the subject against themj because 
 they endanger life and safety^as well as property j 
 and, lastly, because they render the condition of 
 society wretched, by a sense of personal insecu- 
 rity. These reasons do not apply to fraud«|J 
 vi4iich circumspection may prevent; which, 
 must wait for opportunity; which can proceed 
 only to certain limits; and, by the apprehension 
 of which, although the business of life be incom- 
 moded, life itself is not made miserable. The 
 appearance of this distinction has led some hu- 
 mane writers to ex[)ress a wish, that capital 
 punishments might be confined to crimes cl 
 violence. 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 127 
 
 ^' In estimating the comparative malignancy of 
 crimes of violence, regard is to be had, not only 
 to the proper and intended mischief of the crime, 
 but to the fright occasioned by the attack, to the 
 general alarm excited by it in others, and to the 
 consequences which may attend future attempts 
 of the same kind. Thus in affixing the punish- 
 ment of burglary, or of breaking into dwelling- 
 houses by night, we are to consider not only 
 the peril to which the most valuable property is 
 exposed by this crime, and which may be called 
 the direct mischief of it, but the danger also of 
 murder in case of resistance, or for the sake of 
 preventing discovery, and the universal dread 
 with which the silent and defenceless hours of 
 rest and sleep must be disturbed, were attempts 
 of this sort to become frequent ; and which dread 
 alone, even without the mischief which is the 
 object of it, is not only a public evil, but almost 
 of all evils the most insupportable. These cir- 
 cumstances place a difference between the break- 
 ing into a dwelling-house by day and by night; 
 which difference obtains in the punishment of 
 the offence by the law of Moses, and is probably 
 to be found in the judicial codes of most coun- 
 tries from the earliest times to the present. 
 
128 BEAUTIES OF PALEV 
 
 Death, Sudden^ its lenefits. 
 
 It seems to be expedient ^jat the period of 
 human life should be uncerig.in. Did mortality 
 follow any fixed rule it would produce a security 
 in those that were at a distance from it, which 
 would lead to the greatest disorders ] and a horror 
 in those who approached it, similar to that which 
 a condemned prisoner feels on the night before 
 his execution. But that death be uncertain, the 
 young must sometimes die as well as the old. 
 Also were deaths never sudden, they who are in 
 health, would be too confident of life. The 
 strong and the active, who want most to be 
 warned and checked, would live without appre- 
 hension or restraint. On the other hand, were 
 sudden deaths very frequent, the sense of jeo» 
 pardy would interfere too much with the degree 
 of ease and enjoyment intended for us ; and hu- 
 man life be too precarious for the busmess and 
 interests which belong to it. There could not 
 be dependence either upon our own lives, or the 
 lives of those with whom we were connected, suf- 
 ficient to carry on the regular offices of human 
 society. The manner, therefore, in which death 
 is made to occur, conduces to the purposes of 
 
BEAUTIES OP PAIEY. 129 
 
 admonition v;itbout overthrowing the necessary 
 stability of human affairs. 
 
 Disease being the forerunner of death, there is 
 the same reason for its attacks coming upon us 
 under the appearance of chance, as there is for 
 uncertainty in the time of death itself. 
 
 Debts, 
 
 Whoever borrows money is bound in con- 
 science to pay it. This every man sees; but 
 every man cannot see, or does not reflect, that 
 he is in consequence also bound to use the 
 means necessary to enable himself to repay it, 
 " If he pay the money when he has it, or has it 
 to spare, he does all that an honest man can do," 
 and all he imagines that is required of him; 
 whilst the previous measures which are necessary 
 to furnish him with the money, he makes no 
 part of his care, nor observes to be as much his 
 duty as the other; such as selling a family seat, 
 or a family estate, contracting his plan of ex- 
 pence, laying down his equipage, reducing the 
 number of his servants, or any of those humi- 
 liating sacrifices which justice requires of a man 
 in debt, the moment he perceives that he has 
 I no reasonable prospect of paying his debts svith* 
 
 O 3 
 
130 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 out them. An expectation which depends upon 
 the continuance of his own Hfe, will not satisfy 
 an honest man^ if a better provision be in his 
 power; for it is a breach of faith to subject a 
 creditor, when we can help it, to the risk of our 
 Tife, be the event what it will ; that, not being 
 the security to which credit was given. 
 
 Deity i Existefice of; Utility of Investigation to 
 prove it. 
 
 Of the greater part of those who either in this 
 book, or in any other, read arguments to prove 
 the existence of a God, it will be said that they 
 leave off only where they began j that they were 
 7iever ignorant of this great truth, never doul't- 
 ed of it; that it therefore does not appear, what 
 is gained by researches from which no new opi- 
 nion is learnt, and of which, no proofs were 
 wanted. Now I answer that, by investigation, 
 the following points are always gained in favour 
 of doctrines, even the most generally acknow- 
 ledged, (supposing them to be true) viz. stahilify 
 mid impression. Occasions will arise to try the 
 firmness of our most habitual opinions. And 
 upon these occasions, it is a matter of incalcu 
 ijible use to feel our foundation; to find a sup 
 
 
BEAUTIES • OF PALEY. 131 
 
 port in argument for what we had taken up upon 
 authority. In the present case, the arguments 
 upon which the conclusion rests, are exactly 
 such as a truth of universal concern ought to 
 yest upon. They are sufficiently open to the 
 views and capacities of the unlearned, at the 
 same time that they acquire new strength and 
 lustre from the discoveries of the learned. If 
 they had been altogether abstruse and recondite, 
 they would not have found their way to the un- 
 derstandings of the mass of mankind ; if they 
 had been merely popular, they might have want- 
 ed solidity. What is gained by research, is also 
 gained from impression. Physicians tell us there 
 is a great deal of ditierence between taking a me- 
 dicine, and the medicine getting into the consti- 
 tution. A difference not imlike which, obtains 
 with respect to those great moral propositions 
 which ought to form the directing principles of 
 human conduct. It is one thing to assent to a 
 proposition of this sort : another, and a very 
 ditlerent thing, to have properly imbibed its in- 
 fluence. I take the case to be this: perhaps 
 almost every man living has a particular tram of 
 thought, into which his mind ghdcs and falls 
 when at leisure from the im})ressi()ns and ideas 
 that occasionally excite it \ perhaps also, the 
 
132 BEAUTIES OF PALEY"/ 
 
 train of thought here spoken of, more than any 
 other thing, determines the character. It is of 
 the utmost consequence, therefore, that this pro- 
 perty of our constitution be well regulated. Now 
 it is by frequent or continued meditation upon a 
 subject, by placing a subject in different points 
 of view, by induction of particulars, by variety 
 of examples, by applying principles to the solu- 
 tion of phosnomena, by dwelling upon proofs 
 and consequences, that mental exercise is drawn 
 into any particular channel. It is by these means, 
 at least, that we have any power over it. And if 
 one train of thinking be more desirable than an- 
 other, il is that which regards the phceiioviena 
 of nature with a constant reference to a supreme 
 intelligent Author, To have made this the 
 ruling, the habitual sentiment of our minds, is 
 to have laid the foundation of every thing which 
 is religious. The world thenceforth becomes a 
 temple, and life itself one continued act of adora- 
 tion. The change is no less than this, that 
 whereas formerly, God was seldom in our 
 thoughts, we can now scarcely look upon any 
 thing without perceiving its relation to him. 
 Every organized natural body, in the provisions 
 which it contains for its sustentation and propa- 
 gation, testifies a care on the part of the Crea- 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEV. 133 
 
 >r expressly directed to these purposes. We are 
 on all sides surrounded by such bodies ; exa- 
 mined in their parts wonderfully curious: com- 
 pared with one another, no less wonderfully di- 
 versified. So that the mind as well as the eye, 
 may either expatiate in variety and multitude, or 
 fix itself down to the investigation of particular 
 divisions of the science. And in either case, it 
 will rise up from its occupation possessed by the 
 subject, in a very different manner, and with a 
 very different degree of influence from what a 
 mere assent to any verbal proposition which can 
 be formed concerning the existence of the De- 
 ity, will or can produce upon the thoughts. 
 More especially may this difference be perceived 
 in the degree of admiration or awe with which 
 the Divinity is regarded, when represented to the 
 understanding by its own remarks, its own r<?- 
 JiectionSy and its own reasonings, compared with 
 what is excited by any language which can be 
 used by others. The existence and character of 
 the Deity, is in every view, the most interesting 
 of all human speculations. In none, however, 
 is it more so, than as it facilitates the belief of 
 the fundamental articles of Revelation, It is a 
 step. to know, that amongst the invisible things 
 of nature^ there must be an intelligent mind^ con- 
 
134 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 cerned in its production, order, and support; 
 These points being assured to us by Natural 
 Theologj/, we may well leave to Revelation the 
 disclosure of many particulars which our re- 
 searches cannot reach, respecting the nature of 
 this Being, as the original cause of all things, or 
 his character and designs as a moral governor. 
 The true Theist will be the first to listen to any 
 credible communication of Divine knowledge. 
 Nothing which he has learned from Natural 
 Theology will diminish his desire of further 
 instruction, or his disposition to receive it with 
 humility and thankfulness. He wishes for light; 
 he rejoices in light. His inward veneration of 
 this great Being, will incline him to attend with 
 the utmost seriousness to all that is taught by 4 
 revelation, which gives reasonable proof of hav- 
 ing proceeded from him. 
 
 Devotion, 
 
 That devotion to God is a duty, stands upon 
 the same proof as that God exists. But devotion 
 is an act of the mind strictly. — In a certain 
 sense, duty to a fellow creature may be discharged 
 if the outward act be performed, because the be- 
 nefit to him depends upon the act, Not so with 
 
IBEAUTIES OF PALEY. tS^ 
 
 IX^tion. It is altogether the operation of the 
 ind. God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped 
 m spirit, that Is, in mind and thought. The de- 
 
 tlon of the mind may be, will be, ought to be 
 testified and accompanied by outward perform- 
 ances and expressions; but, without the mind 
 going along with if, no form, no solemnity can 
 avail as a service to God. It is not so much a 
 question under what mode men worship their 
 Maker; but this is the question, whether their 
 mind, and thoughts, and affections accompany 
 the mode which they adopt or not. I do not say 
 that modes of worship are indifferent things; for 
 certainly one mode may be more rational, more 
 edifying, more pure than another ; but they are 
 indifferent, in comparison with the question, 
 whether the heart attend the worship or be 
 estranged from it. 
 
 So many pathetic reflections are awakened by 
 every exercise of social devotion, that iiiost men, 
 I believe, carry away from public worship, a bet- 
 ter temper towards the rest of mankind than they 
 brought with them. Sprung from the same ex- 
 traction, preparing together for the period of air 
 worldly distinctions, reminded of their mutual 
 infirmities, and common dependency, imploring 
 aiid receiving support and supplies from the 
 
136 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 same great source of power and bounty ; having 
 all one interest to secure, one Lord to serve, one 
 judgment, the supreme object of all their hopes 
 and fears to look towards; it is hardly possible 
 in this position, to behold mankind as strangers, 
 competitors, or enemies; or not regard them as 
 children of the same family, assembled before 
 their common parent, and with some portion of 
 the tenderness which belongs to the most en- 
 dearing of our domestic relations. It Is not to 
 be expected that any single effect of this kind, 
 should be considerable or lasting; but the fre- 
 quent return of such sentinients as the presence 
 of a devout congregation naturally suggests, will 
 gradually melt down the ruggedness of many un- 
 kind passions, and may generate in time a per* 
 manent.and productive benevolence. 
 
 The Divine Benevolence, 
 
 When God created the human species, either 
 he wished their happiness, or he wished their 
 misery, or he was indifferent and unconcerned 
 about both. If he had wished our misery, he 
 might have made sure of his purpose, by form- 
 ing our senses to be so many sores and pains, to 
 us, as they are now instruments of gratification 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 137 
 
 und enjoyment ; or by placing us amidst objects 
 so ill suited to our perceptions, as to have con- 
 tinually offended us, instead of ministering to our 
 refreshment and delight. If he had been indif- 
 ferent about our happiness or misery, we must 
 have imputed to our good fortune, both the ca- 
 pacity of our senses to receive pleasure, and the 
 supply of external objects fitted to produce it. 
 But either of these being too much to be attri- 
 buted to accident, nothing remains but the first 
 supposition, that God, when he created the hu- 
 man species, wished their happiness; and made 
 for them the provision which he has made, with 
 that view, and for that purpose evil, no doubt, 
 exists; but is never, that we can perceive, the ob- 
 ject of contrivance. Teeth are contrived to eat, 
 not to ache; their aching now and then is inci- 
 dental to the contrivance, perhaps inseparable^ 
 from it, or even, a defect in the contrivance, 
 but it is not the object of it. This is a distinc- 
 tion which well deserves to be attended to. In 
 describing implements of husbandry, you would 
 hardly say of the sickle, that it is made to cut the 
 reapers' fingers, though from the construction of 
 the instrument, and the manner of using it, this 
 mischief often happens. But if you had occa- 
 ixorx to describe instruments of torture or execu* 
 
138 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 tion, this engine^ you would say, is to extend the 
 sinews; this to dislocate the joints; this to break 
 the bones ; this to scorch the soles of the feet. 
 Here pain and misery are the very objects of the 
 contrivance. Now, nothing of this sort is to 
 be found in the works of nature. We never 
 discover a train of contrivance to bring about an 
 evil purpose. No anatomist ever discovered a 
 system of organization calculated to produce 
 pain and disease ; or in explaining the parts of 
 the human body^ ever said, this is to irritate ; 
 this to inflame; this duct is to coi\vey the gravel 
 to the kidneys : this gland to secrete the humour 
 that forms the gout. Since God then has called 
 forth his consummate wisdom to contrive and 
 provide for our happiness, and the world appears 
 to have been constituted with this design at first, 
 so long as this constitutionals upholdcn by him, 
 we must in reason suppose the same design to 
 continue. 
 
 The contemplation of universal nature, rather 
 bewilders the mind than affects it. There is al- 
 ways a bright spot in the prospect upon which 
 the eye rests ; a single example, perhaps, by 
 which each man finds himself more convinced 
 than by all others put together; and the example 
 which strikes every man most strongly is the ex- 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALET. l5J> 
 
 iimple for him : and hardly two minds hit upon 
 the same, which shews the abundance of such 
 examples about us. We conclude therefore, that 
 God wills and wishes the happiness of his crea- 
 tures. 
 
 I 
 
 Drunkenness* 
 
 The consequences of a vice, like the symptoms' 
 of a disease, though they be all enumerated in 
 the description, seldom meet in the same subject. 
 The age and temperature of one drunkard may 
 have little to fear from inflammation of lust or 
 anger ; the fortune of a second may not be in- 
 jured by the expence; a third may have no fa- 
 mily to be disquieted by his irregularities ; a 
 fourth may possess a constitution fortified against 
 the poison of strong liquors. But if, as we al- 
 ways ought to do, we comprehend within the 
 consequences of our conduct the mischief and 
 tendency ofthee.rawp/f, the above circumstances, 
 however fortunate for the individual, will be 
 found to vary the gtiilt of his intemperance less, 
 probably, than he supposes. The moralist may 
 expostulate with him thus: ^* although the waste 
 of time and money be of small Importance to 
 :you, it may be of the utmost to some one or 
 
140 BEAVTIES OF PALEY* 
 
 Other, whom your society corrupts. Repeated or 
 long-continued excesses which do not hurt your 
 heahh, may be fatal to your companion. Al- 
 though you have neither wife, nor child, nor 
 parent, to lament your absence from home, or 
 expect your return to it with terror; other fami- 
 lies in which fathers and husbands have been in- 
 vited to share in your inebriety, or encouraged to 
 imitate it, may justly lay their misery or ruin at 
 your door. 
 
 Domestics f Treatment of* 
 
 A party of friends setting out together upon a 
 journey, soon find it to be the best, for all sides, 
 that while they are upon the road, one of the com- 
 pany should wait upon the rest ; another ride 
 forward to seek out lodging and entertainment; 
 a third carry the portmanteau; a fourth take 
 charge of the horses; a fifth bear the purse, con- 
 duct and direct the route; not forgetting, how- J 
 ever, that as they were equal and independent 
 when they set out, so they are all to return to a 
 level again at iheir journey's end. The same re- 
 gard and respect; the same forbearance, lenity, 
 and reserve in using their service ; the same 
 mildness in delivering commands ; the same study 
 
BEAUTIES OF PA LEY. 141 
 
 to make their journey comfortable and pleasant, 
 which he, whose lot it was to direct the rest, 
 would in common decency think himself bound 
 to observe towards them, ought we to shew to 
 those, who in the casting of the parts of huraaa 
 society, happen to be placed within our power, 
 or to depend upon us. 
 
 Whatever uneasiness we occasion to our do- 
 mestics, which neither promotes our service, nor 
 answers the just ends of punishment, is mani- 
 festly wrong, were it only upon the general 
 principle of diminishing the sum of human hap- 
 piness. By which rule we are forbidden, 1. To 
 enjoin unnecessary labour, or confinement, from 
 the mere love and wantonness of , domination. 
 2. To insult our servants, by harsh, scornful, or 
 opprobrious language. 3. To refuse them any 
 harmless pkasures. 
 
 Education not complete without Religion, 
 
 It is not only fair and right, but it is absolutely 
 necessary to give to religion all the advantage we 
 can give it by dint of education ; for all that can 
 be done is too little to set religion upon an equa- 
 lity with its rival; which rival is the 'U'orld. A 
 creature which is to pass a small portion of its 
 
us BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 existence in one state, and that state to be prepa- 
 ratory to another, ought no doubt, to have its 
 attention constantly fixed upon its ulterior and 
 permanent destination. And this would be so, 
 if the question between them came fairly before 
 the mind. We should listen to the Scriptures, 
 we should embrace religion, we should enter into 
 every thing which had relation to the subject, 
 with a concern and impresssion, even far more 
 than the pursuits of this world, eager and ar- 
 dent as they are, excite. 
 
 But the question between religion and the 
 world does not come fairly before us. What 
 surrounds us is this world ; what addresses our 
 senses and our passions is this world: what is at 
 hand, what is in contact with us, what acts upon 
 us, what we act upon, is this world. 
 
 Reason, faith, and hope, are the only princi- 
 ples to which religion applies, or possibly can 
 apply : and it is reason, faith, and hope, striving 
 with sense, striving with temptation, striving 
 for things absent against things which are pre- 
 sent. That religion, therefore, may not bQ 
 quite excluded and overborne, may not quite 
 sink under these powerful causes, every support 
 ought to be given to it, which can be given by 
 education^ by instruction, an.^ above all, by tho 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 143 
 
 example of those, to whom young persons look 
 up, acting with a view to a future life them- 
 selves. 
 
 Evidences of Christianity/, 
 
 The truth of Christianity depends upon its? 
 leading facts, and upon them alone. Now of 
 these we have evidence which ought to satisfy us. 
 We have some uncontested and incontestable 
 points to which the history of the human species 
 hath nothing similar to offer. A Jewish peasant 
 changed the religion of the world, and that with- 
 out force, without power, without support : 
 without one natural source or circumstance of 
 attraction, influence, or success. The compa- 
 nions of this person, after he himself had been 
 put to death for his attempt, asserted his siiper- 
 natuial character, founded upon his supernatural 
 operations, and in testimony of these assertions, 
 they suffered persecution and death. A very 
 few days after this person had been publicly exe- 
 cuted, and in the very city in which he was 
 buried, these his companions declare, with one 
 voice, that his body was restored to life; in this 
 fact they persisted, in the face of those who had 
 killed him, and who were armed with the whole 
 power of the country. As to these facts, the 
 
H4 BEAUTIES OP PALKY. 
 
 Christian story hath never varied; nor has any 
 other ever been set up in its room. All sects in 
 all ages have concurred in representing these 
 fact in this manner. 
 
 These propositions prove the existence of the 
 transaction. The particulars we have from the 
 persons themselves, and their companions, in 
 four books, the authenticity of which is esta- 
 blished by stronger proofs, than belong to almost 
 any other ancient book. They also bear strong 
 internal evidence of their truth, inasmuch as 
 the writers understood the history, and usages of 
 the times to which they refer. In comparing 
 them with one another, we find them varying, so 
 as to repel suspicion of confederacy ; and so 
 agreeing ^under this variety, as to shew they had 
 one real transaction for their common founda* 
 tion. 
 
 The four narratives are confined to the history 
 of the founder, and end with his ministry. The 
 story is carried on by a person connected with 
 the business, and the substance is confirmed by 
 a number of m'lginal letters^ written by a person 
 who is the principal subject of the history. The 
 event, as might be expected, was noticed in the 
 prophetic writings of the Jews; had the conse- 
 quences been more distinctly revealed, it would 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 145- 
 
 have cooled their ardour for an institution, which 
 was eventually to give place to one more perfect. 
 The great importance of revelation is to be 
 estimated the doctrine of a resurrection from the 
 dead; the other articles of the Christian faith 
 aire but adjuncts to this; its morality is wise and 
 pure, neither adapted to vulgar prejudices, nor 
 flattering popular notions, nor excusing estab- 
 lished practices, but calculated to promote hu- 
 man happiness. The Deity to^.r the institution, 
 vouchsafed a miraculous attestation ; he then 
 committed its future progress to the natural 
 means of human communication. In this, 
 Christianity is analogous to most other provi- 
 sions for human happiness. The provision is 
 made, and'left to act according to the laws of a 
 more general system. 
 
 Let the constant recurrence to our observation 
 of contrivance, design, and wisdom in the works 
 of nature, fix upon our minds the belief of a 
 God, and all is easy. A future state rectifies 
 every thing : since, however, a future state, and 
 the revelation of a future state, are not only 
 perfectly consistent with the attributes of God, 
 but also remove many difficulties, since there is 
 such a strong body of historical evidence that 
 such a revelation has been communicated, wc 
 
 H 
 
146 BEAUTIES OP PALET. ' 
 
 may set our minds at rest with the assurance, 
 tliat in the resources of creative wisdom, expe- 
 dients cannot be wanted to carry into effect what 
 the Deity hath proposed. This hypothesis solves 
 ah that objection to the divine care and goodness 
 which the promiscuous distribution of good and 
 evil is apt to create. I do not mean in the 
 doubtful advantages of riches and grandeur, but 
 in the unquestionably important distinctions of 
 health and sickness^ strength and infirmity, 
 bodily ease and pain, mental alacrity and de- 
 pression. This one truth changes the nature of 
 things, gives order to confusion, and makes the 
 moral world of a piece with the natural. 
 
 Fitness of llilngs. 
 
 The fitness of things, means their fitness to 
 produce happiness : the nature of things, means 
 that actual constitution of the world, by which 
 somethings, as such and such actions fo. ex- 
 ample, produce happiness, and others misery : 
 reason is the principle by which we discover or 
 judge of this constitution; truth is this judgment 
 expressed or drawn out into propositions. So 
 that it necessarily comes to pass, that what pro- 
 motes the public happiness, or happiness upon 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 147 
 
 the whole, is agreeable to the fitness of things, 
 to nature, to reason, and to truth ; and such is 
 the divine character, that what promotes the 
 general happiness is required by the will of God j 
 and what has all the above properties,, must 
 needs be right ; for right means no more than 
 conformity to the rule we go by, whatever that 
 rule be. Because moral obligation depends 
 upon the will of God, right which is correlative 
 to it, must depend upon the same. Right 
 therefore signifies consistency mth the will of 
 God. By virtue of the two principles that God 
 wills the happiness of his creatures, and that the 
 will of God is tiie measnre of right and wrong, 
 we arrive at certain conclusions ; which conclu- 
 sions become rules \ and we soon learn to pro- 
 nounce actions right and wrong, according as 
 they agree or disagree with our rules, without 
 looking any farther ; and when the habit is once 
 established of stopping at the rules, we can go 
 back and compare with these rules, even the di- 
 vine conduct itself, and yet it may be true (only 
 not observed by us at the time) that the rules 
 themselves are deduced from the divine will. 
 
 Frauds and Injuries, 
 
 Of those which are effected without force^ the 
 K2 
 
148 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 most noxious kinds are forgeries, counterfeiting 
 or diminishing of the coin, and the stealing of 
 letters in the course of their conveyance ; inas- 
 much as these practices tend to deprive the pub- 
 lic of accomodations, which not only improve 
 the conveniences of social life, but are essential 
 to the prosperity, and even the existence, of 
 commerce. Of these crimes it may be said, 
 that although they seem to affect property alone, 
 the mischief of their operations does not termi- 
 nate there. For let it be supposed, that the re- 
 missness or lenity of the laws, should, in any 
 country, suffer offences of this sort to grow 
 into such a frequency, as to render the use of 
 money, the circulation of bills, or the public 
 conveyance of letters no longer safe or practi- 
 cable ; what would follow, but that every species 
 of trade and of activity must decline under these 
 discouragements ; the sources of subsistence fail, 
 by which the inhabitants of the country are sup- 
 ported ; the country itself where the intercourse 
 of civil life was so endangered and defective, |be 
 deserted: and that, beside the distress and po- 
 verty which the loss of employment would pro- 
 duce to the industrious and valuable part of the 
 existing community, a rapid depopulation must 
 take place, each generation becoming less nu- 
 
BEAUTIES OF PA LEY, 149 
 
 iTierous than the last.; till solitude and barren- 
 ness overspread the'land ; until a desolation si- 
 milar to what obtains in many countries of Asia, 
 which were once the most civilized and fre- 
 quented parts of the world, succeed in the place 
 of crowded cities, of cultivated fields, of happy 
 and well peopled regions ? When we carry for- 
 wards therefore our views to the more distant, 
 but not less certain consequences of these crimes, 
 we perceive, that though no living creature be 
 destroyed by them, yet human life is diminish- 
 ed ; that an offence, the particular consequence 
 of which deprives only an individual of a small 
 portion of his property, and which even in its 
 general tendency seems to do nothing more than 
 obstruct the enjoyment of certain public conve- 
 niencies, may nevertheless, by its ultimate ef- 
 fects, conclude in the laying waste of human 
 existence. This observation will enable those 
 who regard the divine rule " of life for life, and 
 blood for blood,'* as the only authorized and 
 justifiable measure of capital punishment, to 
 perceive with respect to the effects and quality 
 of the actions, a greater resemblance than they 
 suppose to exist between certain atrocious frauds, 
 and those crimes which attack personal safety. 
 
15© BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 G't/ts and Graces ; upon thdr unsearchallc 
 Nature, 
 
 Unsearchable, does not mean arbitrary. Onr 
 necessary ignorance of the motives which rest 
 and dwell in the divine mmd in the bestowing of 
 his grace, is no proof that it is not bestowed by 
 the just^st reason. And with regard to the 
 gifts and graces of the Spirit, the charge against 
 it of its being an arbitrary system, or, in other 
 words, independent of our own endeavours, is 
 not founded in any doctrine or declaration of 
 scripture. It is not arbitrary in its origin, in its 
 degree, or in its final success. 
 
 First it is not arbitrary in its origin : for you 
 read that is given to prayer. " If ye, being 
 evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
 children, mnch more shall your heavenly Father 
 give the Holy Spirit to them that ask it." But 
 whether we will ask it or not, depends upon our* 
 selves. It is proposed, you find, as a subject 
 for our prayers j for prayer, not formal, cold, 
 heartless, transitory, but prayer from the soul ; 
 prayer, earnest and persevering; for this last 
 alone is what the scripture means by prayer. In 
 this, 'therefore, it cannot be said to be arbitrary, 
 or independent of our endeavours. On the con- 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALET. 154 
 
 trary, the scripture exhorts us to a striving in 
 prayer for this best of all gifts. 
 
 But it will be asked, is not the very first touch 
 of true religion upon the soul, sometimes at 
 least, itself the action of the Holy Spirit ? This 
 therefore, must be prior to our praying for it. 
 And so it may be^ and yet not arbitrarily given. 
 The religious state of the human soul is exceed -r 
 ingly various. Amongst others, there is a state 
 in which there may be good latent dispositions, 
 suitable faculties for religion, and yet no religion. 
 In such a state the spark alone is wanting. To 
 such a state, the elementary principle of religion 
 may be communicated, though not prayed for. 
 Nor can this be said to be arbitrary. The Spirit 
 of God is gi^^en where it is wanted ; where, when 
 given, it would produce its effect ; but that state 
 of heart and mind upon which the effect was to 
 be produced, might still be the result of moral 
 qualification, improvement, and voluntary en- 
 deavour. It is not, I thinkj difficult to conceive 
 such a case as this. 
 
 It is not true that the doctrine of an influence 
 jng spirit is an arbitrary system, setting aside 
 our own endeavours. Nor, on the other hand^ 
 is it true, that the connecting it with our own 
 endeavours, as obtained through them^ as as- 
 
152 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 sisting them, as co-operaling with them, renders 
 the doctrine unimportant, or all one as putting 
 the whole upon our endeavours without any- 
 such doctrine. If it be true, In fact, that the 
 feebleness of our nature requires the succouring 
 influence of God's Spirit in carrying on the grand 
 business of salvation ; and in every state and stage 
 of its progress, in conversion, in regeneration, 
 inconstancy, in perseverance, in sanctification; 
 it is of the utmost importance that this truth be 
 declared, and understood, and confessed, and 
 felt; because the perception and sincere acknow- 
 ledgment of it will be accompanied by a train of 
 sentiments, by a turn of thought, by a degree 
 and species of devotion, by humility, by pray- 
 er, by piety, by a recourse to God in our religi- 
 ous warfare, different from what will, or perhaps 
 can, be found in a raind unacquainted with this 
 doctrine, or in a mind rejecting it, or in a mind 
 unconcerned about these things one way or the 
 other. 
 
 Again ; a person who knows or believes him- 
 self to be beholden to another for the progress and 
 success of an undertaking, though still carried on 
 by his o\\ n endeavours, acknowledges his friend 
 and benefactor; feels his dependency and obli- 
 gation ; turns to him for help and aid in his dif- 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OP PALEY, 153 
 
 ficultles; is humble under the want and need 
 which he finds he has of assistance ; and above 
 all things, is solicitous not to lose the benefit of 
 that assistance. This is a different turn of mind, 
 and difTerent way of thinking from his who is 
 sensible of no such want, who relies entirely 
 upon his own strength ; who of course can 
 hardly avoid being proud of his success, or feel- 
 ing the confidence, the presumption, the self- 
 commendation, and the pretension, which, how- 
 ever they might suit with a being who achieves 
 his work by his own powers, by no means, and 
 in no wise, suit with a frail constitution, which 
 must ask and obtain the friendly aid and help of 
 a kind and gracious benefactor, before be can 
 proceed in the business set out for him, and 
 which it is of unspeakable consequence to him. 
 to execute some how or other. 
 
 Goodness of the Creator. 
 
 One great cause of our insensibility to the 
 goodness of the Creator, is the very e.vtensiveness 
 of his bounty. We priz.e but little, what wc share 
 only in common with the rest,'- or with the ge- 
 nerality of the species. When we hear of bles- 
 sings, we think forthwith of successes, of pros.-^ 
 
 H3 
 
154 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 perous fortunes^ of honours, riches, preferments, 
 i. e. of those advantages and supetiorities over 
 others, which we happen either to jx)ssess, or 
 to be in pursuit of, or to covet. The common 
 benefits of our nature entirely escape us. Yet 
 these are the great things. These constitute 
 what most properly ought to be accounted bles- 
 sings of Providence ; what alone, if we might so 
 speak, are worthy of its care. Nightly rest and 
 daily bread, the ordinary use of our limbs and 
 senses and understandings, are gifts which ad- 
 mit of fto comparison with any other. Yet be- 
 cause almost every man we meet possesses these, 
 we leave them out of the enumeration. They 
 raise no sentiment, they move no gratitude. 
 Now herein is our judgment perverted by our sel- 
 fishness. A blessing ought in truth to be the 
 more satisfactory, the bounty at least of the do- 
 nor is rendered more conspicuous by its very 
 diffusion, its commonness, its cheapness 3 by 
 its falling to the lot, and forming the happiness 
 of the great bulk and body of our species, as 
 well as ourselves. Nay, even where we do not 
 possess it, it ougbt to be matter of thankfulness 
 that others do. But we have a different way of 
 thinking. We court distinction. That is not the 
 worst : we see nothing but what has distinction 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. lB5 
 
 to recommend it. This necessarily con- 
 tracts our views of the Creator's beneficence 
 within a narrow compass ; and most unjustly _^ 
 It is in those things which are so common as to 
 be of no distinction, that the amplitude of the 
 Divine benignity is perceived. 
 
 u. Gospels ; Differences in their Accounts. 
 
 A story should not be rejected by reason of 
 some diversity of circumstances with which it 
 is related ; for the character of human testimony 
 is substantial truth under circumstantial variety; 
 but a close agreement induces suspicion of confe- 
 deracy and fraud. Important variations, and 
 even contradictions, are not always deemed suf- 
 ficient to shake the credibility of the fact The 
 embassy of the Jews to Claudian, Phiso places in^ 
 harvest, Josephus \i\ seed-time. Lord Clarendon' 
 states, that the Marc^uis of Argyle was con- 
 ^demned to be hanged, which was performed on- 
 the same day. Four other historians say, that 
 he was beheaded upon the Monday, having been 
 condemned on the Saturday.. This contradic- 
 tion never led a person to doubt whether the 
 Marquis was executed or not. Dr. Middleton 
 thought the different hours of the day assigned. 
 
156 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 to the crucifixion by John, and the other evan- 
 gelists, did not admit of reconcilement. But 
 this does not injure the history of the principal 
 fact. 
 
 A great deal of the discrepancy arises from 
 omission, which is always an uncertain ground 
 of objection. Suetonius^ Tacitus and DioCassius, 
 have all written of the reign of Tiberius, and 
 each has omitted many things mentioned by the 
 rest. These discrepancies will be more nume- 
 rous when men do not write histories, but me- 
 moirs^ which, perhaps, is the true name of the 
 gospels; (i.e.) when they do not undertake to 
 deliver, in the order of time, a regular account 
 of tf/Z things of importance, which the subject 
 of the history did and said, but only such pas- 
 sages as were suggested by their particular de- 
 sign, at the time of writing. 
 
 Government \ its Forms, Advantages, and 
 Defects, 
 
 Political writers enumerate three principal 
 forms of government, which, however, are to 
 be regarded rather as the simple forms, by some 
 combination and intermixture of which all ac- 
 tual governments are composed, than as any 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 157 
 
 where existing in a pure and elementary state. 
 These forms are, 
 
 1. Despotism, or absolute monarchy, where 
 the legislature is in a single person. 
 
 2. An aristocracy, where the legislature is in^ 
 a select assembly, the members of which either 
 fill up by election the vacancies in their own 
 body, or succeed to their places in it by inherit- 
 ance, property, tenure of certain lands, or in 
 respect of personal right, or qualification. 
 
 3. A republic, or democracy, where the peo- 
 ple at large, either collectively or by representa- 
 tion, constitute the legislature. 
 
 The separate advantages of 7nonarchy are 
 unity of counsel, activity, decision, secrecy, 
 dispatch; the mischiefs, or rather the dangers 
 of monarchi/, are tyranny, expence, exaction, 
 military domination. 
 
 The separate advantage of an aristocracy con- 
 sists in the wisdom which may be expected from 
 experience and education — a permanent council 
 naturally possessing experience. 
 
 The mischiefs of an aristocraci/ are, dissen- 
 sions in the ruling orders of the state, which, 
 from the want of a common superior, are liable 
 to proceed to the most desperate extremities ; 
 oppression of the lower orders by the privileges 
 
158 J5E AU T I E8 G F : P ALEY. 
 
 of the higher, and by laws partial to the sepKtiitt 
 interests of the law-makers. 
 
 The advantages oi a, republic are, liberty, or 
 exemption from needless restrictions ; eqnai 
 laws ; reghlations adapted to the wants^ and cir- 
 cumstances of the people ; public spirit, fruga- 
 lity, averseness to war ; the opportunitics'whi'ch 
 democratic assemblies afford to men of every 
 description, of producing their abilities and 
 councils to public observation, and the exciting 
 thereby, and calling forth to the service of the 
 commonwealth the faculties of its best citizens. 
 
 The evils of a republic are, dissension, tu- 
 mults, faction. 
 
 A mixed government is composed by the 
 combination of two or more of the simple forms 
 of government above described — and, in what- 
 ever proportion each form enters into the con- 
 stitution of a government, in the same propor- 
 tion may both the advantages and evils, which 
 we have attributed to that form be expected. 
 
 Habit, 
 
 Habit produces more actions than reflection. 
 It i^ only on few and great occasions that men 
 deliberate at all 3 on fewer still that they instir 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 150 
 
 tute any thing like a regular inquiry into the 
 moral rectitude or depravity of what they are 
 about to do, or wait for the result of it. We 
 are for the most part determined at once ; and 
 by an impulse which is the effect and energy of 
 pre-established habits. And this constitution 
 seems well adapted to the exigencies of human 
 life, and to the imbecility of our moral princi- 
 ple. In the current occasions and rapid oppor- 
 tunities of life, there is sometimes little leisure 
 for reflection ; and were there more, a man who 
 has to reason about his duty when the tempta- 
 tion to transgress it is upon him^ is almost sure 
 to reason himself into an error. 
 
 Happiness ; Political. 
 
 The fmal view of all rational politics is to pro- 
 duce the greatest quantity of happiness in a given 
 tract of country. The riches, strength and 
 glory of nations ; the topics which history cele- 
 brates, and which alone almost engage the 
 praises, and possess the admiration of mankind, 
 have no value farther than ,as they contribute to 
 this end. When they interfere with it, they 
 are evils, and not the less real for the splendour 
 that surrounds them. 
 
l60 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 Secondly, although we speak of communities 
 9$ of sentient beings : although we ascribe to 
 them happiness and misery, desires, interests, 
 and passions, nothing really exists or feels but 
 individuals. The happiness of a people is made 
 up of the happiness of single persons ; and the 
 quantity of happiness can only be augmented by 
 increasing the number of the precipients, or the 
 pleasure of their perceptions. 
 
 Thirdly, notwithstanding that diversity of 
 condition, especially different degrees of plenty, 
 freedom, and security, greatly vary the quantity 
 of happiness enjoyed by the same number of in- 
 dividuals ; and notwithstanding that extreme 
 cases may be found, of human beings so galled 
 by the rigours of slavery, that the increase of 
 numbers is only the amplification of misery ; yet, 
 within certain limits, and within those limits to 
 which civil life is diversified under the temperate 
 governments that obtain in Europe, it may be 
 affirmed, I think, with certainty, that the 
 quantity of happiness produced in any given 
 district, so/ar depends upon the number of in- 
 habitants, that, in comparing adjoining periods 
 in the same country, the collective happiness 
 will be nearly in the exact proportion of the 
 numbers, that is, twice the number of inhabit- 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. J^^l 
 
 its will produce double the quantity of happi- 
 ess; in distant periods, and different countries, 
 under great changes or great dissimilitude of 
 civil condition, although the proportion of en- 
 joyment may fall much short of that of the num- 
 bers, yet still any considerable excess of numbers 
 will usually carry with it a preponderation of 
 happiness ; that, at least, it may, and ought to 
 be assumed in all political deliberations, that a 
 larger portion of happiness is enjoyed amongst 
 ten persons, possessing the means of healthy 
 subsistence, than can be produced by Jive per- 
 sons, under every advantage of power, affluence, 
 apd luxury. 
 
 From these principles it follows, that the 
 quantity of happiness in a given district, al- 
 though it is possible it may be increased, the 
 number of inhabitants remaining the sarne, is 
 chiefly and most naturally affected by alteratiori 
 of the numbers : that, consequently, the decay 
 of population is the greatest evil that a state can 
 suffer ', and the improvement of it the object 
 which ought, in all countries, to be aimed at, 
 in preference to every other political purpose 
 whatsoever* 
 
it& »KAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Ilealtlu 
 
 Health is the one thing needful. Therefore 
 lie' pains, expence, self-denial, or restraint, to 
 which wc subject ourselves for the sake of health 
 is too much. Whether it requires us to relin- 
 quish lucrative situations, to abstain from fa- 
 vourite indulgencies, to controul intemperate 
 passions, or undergo tedious regimens ; what- 
 ever difficulties it lays us under, a man who 
 pursues his happiness rationally, and resolutely 
 will be content to submit to. When we are in 
 perfect health and spirits we feel in ourselves a 
 happiness independent of any particular out- 
 ward gratification whatever, and of which we 
 can give no account. This is an enjoyment 
 which the Deity has annexed to life, and proba- 
 bly constitutes, in a great measure, the happi- 
 ness of infants and brutes, especially of the lower 
 and sedentary orders of animals; ' 
 
 Honour ; the Law of, and the Law of the Land 
 ijiadeqtiate without Religmi. 
 
 Never ought we to yield the authority of reli- 
 gion to the law of honour, a law, (if it deserve 
 that name,) which beside its continual mutabi 
 
 I 
 
Jeauties of paley, 163 
 
 Hty, Is at best but a system of manners suited to 
 ihc intercourse and accomodation of higher life 5 
 and which consequently neglects every duty^ and 
 permits every vice, that has no relation to these 
 purposes. Amongst the rules which contend 
 with religion for the government of life, the law 
 of the land also, has not a few, who think it 
 very sufficient to act up to its direction, and to 
 keep within the limits which it prescribes : and 
 this sort of character is common. We must 
 therefore apprize those who make the statutes of 
 ;the realm the standard of their duty, that they 
 propose to themselves a measure of conduct to- 
 tally inadequate to the purpose. The boundaries 
 which nature has assigned to human authority 
 and controul, the partial ends to which every 
 legislator is obliged to confine his views, prevent 
 liuman laws, even were they, w-hat they never 
 ^re, as perfect as they might be made, from be- 
 coming competent rules of life to any one wh^ 
 advances his hopes to the attainment of God Al- 
 mighty's favour. In contradiction, then, to 
 these several systems which divide a great por- 
 tion of mankind amongst them, we preach 
 " faith which worketh by love," that principle 
 of action and restraint which is found in a 
 Christiaa alone. It possesses qualities to which 
 
164 ^BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 none of them can make pretensions. It operates 
 where they fall : is present upon all occasions, 
 firm upon the greatest ; pure as under the in- 
 spection of a vigilant omniscience; innocent 
 where guilt could not be discovered j just, exact, 
 and upright, without a witness to its proceed- 
 ings J uniform amidst the caprices of fashion, 
 unchanged by the vicissitudes of popular opi- 
 Jtiion; often applauded, not seldom misunder- 
 stood, it holds on its straight and equal course, 
 through "good report and evil report,'' through 
 encouragement and neglect, approbation and 
 disgrace. If the philosopher or the politician 
 can point out to us any influence, but that of 
 Christianity, which has these properties, I had 
 ^ilmost said, which does not want them all, we 
 will listen with reverence to his instruction. But 
 until this be done, we may be permitted to re- 
 sist every plan which would place virtue upon 
 juny other foundation, or seek final happiness 
 through any other medium, than faith in Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Human Happiness, 
 
 The art in which the secret of human happi- 
 ,fiess in a great measure consists, is to set the 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 habits in such a manner, that every change may 
 be a change for the better. The habits them- 
 selves are much the same ; for whatever is made 
 habitual becomes smooth and easy, and nearly 
 indifferent. The return to an old habit is like- 
 wise easy, whatever the habit mav be. There- 
 fore the advantage is with those habits which al- 
 low of indulgence in the deviation from them. 
 The luxurious receive no»greater pleasure from 
 their dainties than the peasant does from his 
 bread and cheese ; but the peasant whenever he 
 goes abroad, finds a feast, whereas the epicuje 
 must be well entertained to escape disgust. 
 Those who spend every day at cards, and those 
 who go every day to plough, pass their titne 
 much alike ; intent upon what they are about, 
 wanting nothing, regretting nothing, they are 
 both for the time in a state of ease ;' but then 
 whatever suspends the occupation of the card-^ 
 player, distresses him ; whereas, to the labourer, 
 every interruption is a t-efreshment ; and this 
 appears iu the different effect that Sunday pro- 
 duces upon the two ; which proves a day of re- 
 creation to the one ; but a lamentable burden to 
 the other. Again, the man who has learned to 
 live alone, feels his spirits enlivened whenever 
 he enters into company, and takes his leave' 
 
 1 
 
l$0 BEAUTIES OF PALEY, 
 
 without regret ; another, who has long been ac- 
 customed to a crowd, or continual succession of 
 company, experiences in company no elevation 
 of spirits, nor any greater satisfaction than what 
 the man of a retired life finds in his chimney 
 corner. So far their conditions are equal : but 
 let a change of place, fortune, or situation, se- 
 parate the companion from his circle, his visitors, 
 his club, common-room or coffee-house, and 
 the difference and advantage in the choice and 
 constitution of the two habits will shew itself; 
 solitude comes to the one, clothed with melan- 
 choly ; to the other it brings liberty and quiet. 
 You will see the one fretful and restless, at a loss 
 how to dispose of his time, till the hour come 
 round that he can forget himself in bed : the 
 other, easy and satisfied, taking up his book or 
 his pipe as soon as he finds himself alone ; ready 
 to admit any little amusement that casts up, or 
 to turn his hands and attention to the first busi- 
 ness that presented itself. 
 
 Without entering into a detail of Scripture 
 tnoralily, the following general positions may be 
 advanced, I think, with safety : 
 
 I, That a state of happiness is not to be ex- 
 pected by those that are conscious of no moral 
 or religious rule — I mean those who cannot with 
 
Beauties of paley. i6f 
 
 t truth say, that they have been prompted to one 
 Sjction or withheld from one gratification by any 
 regard to vh'tue or religion, either immediate 
 ar habitual. 
 
 II.' That a state of happiness is not to be ex- 
 pected by those who reserve to themselves the 
 iiabitual practice of any one sin, or neglect of 
 \me known duty. 
 
 Humility. 
 
 The next duty, or rather disposition, which 
 :]o\vs from the doctrine of spiritual influence, is 
 humility. There never was a truer saying, than 
 •^ that pride is the adversary of religion, lowli- 
 aess and humiUty the tempers for it/' Now re- 
 ligious humility consists in the habit of referring 
 sycry thing to God. From one end of the New 
 r^tament to the other, God is set forth and mag- 
 nified in his agency and operations. In the greatest 
 sjall business, the business of salvation, he is ope- 
 rating, and we co-operating with him, '^ Work 
 3ut your own salvation with fear and trembling ;" 
 md why ? " for it is God that worketh in us to 
 will and to do according to his good pleasure." 
 le is not superseding our endeavours (the very 
 Xttxtrary is implied by commending us to exert 
 
165 BfiAutiES or PALUr. 
 
 theiii) ; but still, nothing is done without him. 
 If we have moral strength, we are strong in the 
 inward might of the Holy Ghost; consequently, 
 all boasting, all vanity, all self-sufficiency, all 
 despising of others on the score of moral and 
 religious inferiority are excluded. Without the 
 grace of God we might have been as the worst 
 of them. There is in the nature of things, one 
 train of sentiment belonging to him who has 
 achieved a work by his own might, and power, 
 and prowess ; and another to him who had been 
 fain to beg for succour and assistance, and by 
 that assistance alone has been carried through 
 difficulties which were too great for his owii 
 strength and faculties. This last is the true sen- 
 timent for us. It is not for a man, whose life 
 has been saved in a shipwreck by the compas* 
 sionate help of others, it is not for a man sO 
 saved to boast of his own alertness and vigouf> 
 though it be true that, unless he had exerted 
 what power and strength he was po$Kess?d of^ he 
 would not have been saved at all. 
 
 Humble stations ; iheir advantages. 
 
 It is an inestimable blessing of such situj 
 tions, that they supply a constant train of ei 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY, 16^ 
 
 ployment, both to body and mind. A husband- 
 man, or a manufacturer, or a tradesman, never 
 goes to bed at night without havhig his business 
 to rise up to in a morning. He would under- 
 stand the vahie of this advantage, did he know 
 that the want of it composes one of the greatest 
 plagues of the human soul ; a plague by which 
 (he rich, especially those who inherit riches, are 
 exceedingly oppressed. Indeed it is to get rid of 
 it, that is to say, it is to have something to do, 
 that they are driven upon those strange and un- 
 accountable ways of passing their time, in which 
 we sometimes see them, to our surprize, en- 
 gaged, A poor man's condition supplies him 
 with that which no man can do without, and 
 which a rich man, with all his opportunities and 
 all his contrivances, can hardly supply himself, 
 regular engagements, business to look forward 
 to, something to be done for every day, some 
 employment prepared for every morning. A few 
 of better judgment can seek out for themselves 
 constant and useful occupation ; there is not one 
 of you takes the pains in his calling, which 
 some of the most independent men in the na- 
 tion have taken, and are taking to promote what 
 they deem to be a point of great concern to the 
 i interests of humanity, by which neither they 
 
 I 
 [ 
 
^7<> BBAUTI1& OF PALEY. 
 
 nor their's can ever gain a filling, and in which^p 
 should they succeed, those who are to be bene- 
 fited by their service will neither know nor thank 
 them for it. I only mention this to shew, in 
 conjunction with what has been observed abovo, 
 that, of those who are at liberty to act as they 
 please, the wise prove, and the foolish con- 
 fess, by their conduct, that a life of employment 
 is the only life worth leading ; and that the chief 
 difference between their manner of passing their 
 time and your's is, that they choose the objects of 
 their activity, which you cannot. This privilege 
 may be an advantage to some, but, for nine out of 
 teil it is fortunate that occupation is provided to 
 their hands, that they have it not to seek, that 
 it is imposed upon them by their necessities and 
 occasions ; for the consequence of liberty in thif 
 respect would be, that lost in the perplexity Oi 
 choosing, they would sink into irrecoverable in- 
 dolence, inaction, and unconcern ; into tha; 
 vacancy and tiresomeness of time and tnoughi 
 which are inseparable from such a situation. — 
 A man's thoughts must be going : whilst he is 
 awake, the workings of his mind is as constant 
 as the beating of his pulse. He can jio morej 
 stop the one than the other. Hence if our] 
 thoughts have nothing to act upon they^ 
 
B5AUTIBS OF FALEY- 171 
 
 liGt \ipon ourselves. They acquire a corro- 
 sive quality. They become in the last degree 
 irksome and tormenting. Wherefore that sort 
 of equitable engagement, which takes up the 
 thoughts sufficiently, yet so as to leave them in- 
 capable of turning to any thing more important, 
 as occasions offer or require, is a most invaluable 
 blessing. And, if the industrious be not sen- 
 sible of the blessing, it is for no other reason 
 than because they have never experienced, or ra- 
 ther suffered the want of it. 
 
 Again, some of the necessities which poverty 
 (if the condition of the working part of man- 
 kind, must be so called) imposes, are not hard« 
 ships but pleasures. Frugality itself is a plea- 
 sure. It is an exercise of attention and contri- 
 vance, which, whenever it is successful, pro- 
 duces satisfaction. The very care and forecast 
 that are necessary to keep expenses and earnings 
 upon a level, form, when not embarrassed by 
 too great difficulties, an agreeable engagement of 
 the thoughts. This is lost amidst abundance. 
 There is no pleasure in taking out of a large un-. 
 measured fund. They who do that, and only 
 that, are the mere conveyers of money from one 
 hand to another. A yet more serious advantage 
 which persons in inferior stations possess, is the 
 12 
 
Its BEAUTIES OP PALET. 
 
 ease wlih which they provide for their children. 
 All the provision a poor man's child requires, is 
 contained in two words, '* industry and inno- 
 cence,'* With these qualities, though without 
 a shilling to set him forwards, he goes into the 
 world prepared to become an useful, virtuous, 
 and happy man. Nor will he fail to meet with 
 a maintenance adequate to the habits in which he 
 ha« been brought up, and to the expectations 
 which he has formed ; a degree of success suffi- 
 cient for a person of any condition whatever. 
 These qualities of industry and innocence, 
 which, I lepeat again, are all that are absolutely 
 necessary, every parent can give to his children 
 without expense, because he can give them by 
 his own authority and example ; and they are to 
 be communicated, T believe, and preserved in 
 no other way. I call this a serious advantage of 
 humble stations, because, in what we reckon 
 superior ranks of life, there is a real difficulty in 
 placing children in situations which may in any 
 degree support them in the class and in the ha- 
 bits in which they have been brought up with 
 their parents : from which great and oftentimes 
 dist essing perplexity the poor are free. With 
 health of body, innocency of mind, and ha- 
 bits of industry, a poor man's child has nolhin 
 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALET. iT^ 
 
 to be afraid of; nor his father or mother any 
 thing to be afraid of for him. 
 
 What then (for this is the fair way of calcula- 
 ting) is there in higher stations to place against 
 these advantages? What does the poor man 
 see in the life or condition of the rich that 
 fehould render him dissatisfied with his own. 
 
 Imitation / its power in producing Moral Sen- 
 iiments. 
 
 Amongst the causes assigned for the continu- 
 ance and diffusion of the same moral sentiments 
 amongst mankind, we may mention imitation. 
 The efficacy of this principle is most observable 
 in children ; indeed, if there be any thing in 
 them, which deserves the name of an instinct, it 
 is their propensity to imitation. Now4here is 
 nothing which children imitate or apply more 
 readily than expressions of affection and aversion, 
 of approbation, hatred, rescLtment, and the like 5 
 and when these passions and expressions are once 
 connected, which they soon will be by the same 
 association which unites words with their ideas, 
 the passion will follow the expression, and at- 
 tach upon the object to which the child has beea 
 accustomed to apply the epithet.. In a word,. 
 
174 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 when almost every thing else is learned by imiiat- 
 tion, can we wonder to find the same cause con- 
 cerned in the generation of our moral sentiments. 
 
 Indiscriminate Praise, 
 
 Indiscriminate praise is the opposite of slan- 
 der^ but it is the opposite extreme ; and, howe- 
 ver it may affect to be thought excess of can- 
 dour, is commonly the effusion of a frivolous 
 understanding, or proceeds from a settled con- 
 tempt of all moral distinctions. 
 
 Indifference in Religion ; its danger. 
 
 Decency, order, regularity, industry, appli- 
 cation to our calling, are all good things 5 but 
 then they are accompanied with this great dan- 
 ger, viz. that they may subsist without any re- 
 ligious influence whatever : and that, when they 
 do so, their tendency is to settle and confirm 
 men in religious insensibility. For finding things 
 go on very smoothly, finding themselves received 
 and respected without any religious principle, 
 they are kept asleep as to their spiritual concerns, 
 by the very quietness and prosperity of things 
 Tound them. ** There is a way that seemeth 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. ItS 
 
 rght unto a man^ but the end thereof are the 
 ways of death." It is possible to slumber in a 
 fancied security, or rather in an unconsciousness 
 of danger, a blindness to our true situation, a 
 thoughtlessness or stupefaction concerning it, 
 even at the very time when we are in the utmost 
 peril of salvation ; when we are descending fast 
 towards a state of perdition. It is not the judg- 
 ment of an erroneous conscience : that is not the 
 case I mean. It is rather a want of conscience, 
 or a conscience which is never exerted ; in a 
 word, it is an indifference and insensibility to- 
 v/ards religion, even in the midst of seeming and 
 external decency of behaviour, and soothed and 
 lulled by this very circumstance. Now it is not 
 only within the compass of possibility, but it 
 frequently, nay, I hope very frequently comeg 
 to pass, that open, confessed, acknowledged 
 sins, sting the sinner's conscience: that the up- 
 braidings of mankind, the cry, the clamour, 
 the indignation which his wickedness has excited, 
 may at length come home to his own soul 5 may 
 compel him to reflect, may bring him, though 
 by force and violence, to a sense of his guilt, 
 and a knowledge of his situation. Now, I say, 
 that this sense of sin, by whatever cause it bt 
 produced, is better than religious insensibility. 
 
176 3«AUTIEg^OP PA LEY, 
 
 The siivners penitence is more to be trusted to, 
 than the seemingly righteous man's security.— 
 The one is roused ; is roused from the deep for- 
 getfulness of religion in which he had hitherto 
 lived. Good fruit, even fruit unto Hfe everlast- 
 ing, may spring from the motion which is stirred 
 in his heart. The other remains, as to religion, 
 in a state of torpor. The thing wanted is the 
 quickening principle, as the seed and germ of 
 religion in the heart, is compunction, convince- 
 ment of sin, of danger, of the necessity of fly- 
 ing to the Redeemer, and to his religion in good 
 earnest. 
 
 But how, it will be said, is this ? Is it not 
 to encourage sin ? I answer, it is to encou- 
 rage the sinner who repents ; and if the 
 sinner repent, why should he not be encouraged ? 
 But some, you say, will take occasion from thig 
 encouragement to plunge into sin. I answer, 
 that then they wilfully misapply it : for if they* 
 enter upon sin, intending to repent afterwards^, 
 I take upon me to tell them, that no true re- 
 pentance can come of such intention. The 
 very intention is a fraud : instead of being th« 
 parent of true repentance, is itself to be repented 
 of bitterly. The moment a plan is formed of 
 sinning, with an intention afterwards to repent. 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 17T 
 
 at that moment the whole doctrine of grace, of 
 repentance, and, of course, this part of it 
 among the rest, is wilfully misconstrued. The 
 grace of God is turned into lasciviousness. At 
 the time this design is formed, the person form- 
 ing it is in the bond of iniquity, as St. Peter 
 told Simon he was ; in a state of imminent per^ 
 dition. We say, that repentance is sometimes 
 more likely to be brought about in a confessed, 
 nay, in a notorious and convicted sinner, than 
 in a seemingly regular life: but it is of true re- 
 pentance that we speak, and no true repentance 
 can proceed from a previous intention to repent^ 
 I mean an intention previous to the sin. There- 
 fore no advantage can be taken of this doctrine 
 to the encouragement of sin,- without wilfully 
 misconstruing it. 
 
 The Influence of Religion,. 
 
 The influence of religion is not to be sought 
 for in the councils of princes, in the debates or 
 resolutions of popular assemblies, in the con- 
 duct of governments towards their subjects, or 
 of states and sovereigns towards one another, or 
 of conquerors at the head of their armies, or of 
 parties intriguing for power athome (topics whicU 
 I 3 
 
178 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 alone almost occupy the attention and fill the 
 pages of history) ; but must be perceived, if per- 
 ceived at all, in the silent course of private and 
 domestic life. Nay more, ev^n there its influ- 
 ence may not be very obvious to observation. If 
 it check, in some degree, personal dissoluteness, 
 if it beget a general probity in the transaction 
 of business, if it produce soft and humane man- 
 ners in the mass of the community, and occa- 
 sional exertions of laborious or expensive bene- 
 volence in a few individuals, it is all the effect 
 which can offer itself to external notice. The 
 kingdom of heaven is within us. That which is 
 the substance of religion, its hopes and con- 
 solations, its intermixture with the thoughts by 
 day and by night, the devotion of the heart, the 
 controul of appetite, the steady direction of the 
 will to the commands of God, are necessarily 
 invisible. Yet upon these depend the virtue and 
 the happiness of millions. This cause renders 
 the representations of history, with respect to 
 religion, defective and fallacious, in a greater 
 degree than they are upon any other subject. — 
 Religion operates most upon those of whom his- 
 tory know the least ; upon fathers and mother 
 of families, upon men-servants and maid-ser- 
 rants, upon the orderly tradesman, the qui< 
 
BEAUTIES OF PA LEV. l7^ 
 
 Tillager, the manufacturer at his loom, the hus- 
 bandman in his fields. Amongst such, its in- 
 fluence collectively may be of inestimable value, 
 yet its effects, in the mean time, little upon those 
 who figure upon the stage of the world. They 
 may know nothing of it ; they may believe no- 
 thing of it ;. they may be actuated by motives 
 more impetuous than those which religion is able 
 to excite.. It cannnot, therefore, bethought 
 strange, that this influence should elude the grasp 
 and touch of public history : for, what is public 
 history, but a register of the successes and dis- 
 appointments, the vices, the follies, snd the 
 quarrels of those who engage in contentions for 
 power ? 
 
 I will add, that much of this influence may 
 be felt in times of public distress, and little of it 
 in times of public wealth and security. This 
 also increases the uncertainty of any opinions 
 that we draw from historical representation. 
 The influence of Christianity is commensurate 
 with no eftects which history states. We do not 
 pretend that it has any such necessary and irre- 
 sistible power over the affairs of nations, as to 
 surmount the force of other causes. 
 
 The Christian religion also acts upon public 
 usages and institutions, by an operation which 
 
180 BEAUTIES OP PALEY, 
 
 isonly secondary and indirect. Christianity isnot 
 a code of civil law. It can only reach private 
 actions, public institutions repugnant to its princi- 
 ples, may remain. Toget rid of these, the reigning 
 part of the community must act, and act together. 
 But it may be long before the persons who com- 
 pose this body, be sufficiently touched with the 
 Christian character, to join in the suppi-ession 
 of practices, to which they and the public have 
 been reconciled by causes which will reconcile 
 the human mind to any thing, by habit and in- 
 terest. Nevertheless, the effects of Christianity, 
 even in this view, have been important. It has 
 mitigated the conduct of war, and the treatment 
 of captives; it has softened the administration 
 of despotic or of nominally despotic govern- 
 ments ; it has abolished polygamy ; it has re- 
 strained the licentiousness of divorces 5 it has put 
 an end to the exposure of children, and the im- 
 molation of slaves 5 it has suppressed the com- 
 bats of gladiators, and the impurity of religious 
 rites; it has banished, if not unnatural vices, 
 at least the toleration of them ; it has greatly 
 meliorated the condition of the laborious part, 
 that is to say, of the mass of every community, 
 by procuring for them a day of weekly rest. In 
 
 1 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALET. 181 
 
 «n countries, in which it is professed, it has pro- 
 duced numerous establishments for the relief of 
 sickness and poverty ; and, in some, a regular 
 and general provision by law. 
 
 But the argument to which I recur, is, that 
 the benefit of religion being felt chiefly in the 
 obscuTity of private stations, necessarily escapes 
 the observation of history. From the first ge- 
 neral notification of Christianity to the present 
 day, there have been in every age many millions, 
 whose names were never heard of, made better 
 by it, not only in their conduct but in their dis- 
 position ; and happier, not so much in their ex- 
 ternal circumstances, as in that which is inter 
 prcBCordia, in that which alone deserves the name 
 of happiness, the tranquillity and consolation of 
 their thoughts. It has been, since its commence- 
 ment, the author of happiness and virtue to mil- 
 lions and millions of the human race. Who is 
 there that would not wish his son to be a Chris- 
 tian I 
 
 Innocence ; worili of. 
 
 I observe, concerning licentious practices, 
 that it is most practicable to be entirely inno- 
 cent 5 that it is a more easy thing to withstand 
 
183 .BEAUTIES OF PALEY; 
 
 them altogether, than it is to set bounds to their 
 indulgence. This is a point not sufficiently un- 
 derstood ; though true, it is not believed. Men 
 know not what ihey are doin^ when they enter 
 upon vicious courses; what a struggle^ what a 
 contest, what misery, what torment are they 
 preparing for themselves. I trust that there is 
 hardly a man or woman living who enters into a 
 course of sin with the design of remaining in 
 it to the end ; who can brave the punishment of 
 hell ; who intends to die in that state of pure 
 perdition, to which a course of unrepented 
 «in must bring on her. No, that is not the 
 plan even of the worst, much less of the gene- 
 rality of mankind. Their plan is to allow them- 
 selves to a certain length, and there stop ; for a 
 certain time, and then reform ; in such and such 
 opportunities and temptations, but in no more. 
 Now, to such persons, and to such plans, I say 
 this, that it would not have cost them one-tenth 
 of the mortification, pain, and self-denial, .to 
 have kept themselves at a distance from sin, that 
 it must and will cost them to break it off : adding 
 the further consideration, that, so long as men 
 preserve their innocence, the consciousness of 
 doing what is right is both the strongest possible 
 support of their resolution, and the most constant 
 
I 
 
 HEAUTIES OF PALEY; 18^ 
 
 source of satisfaction to their thoughts : but 
 that when men once begin to give way to vicious 
 indulgencies^, another state of things takes place 
 in their breasts. Disturbance at the heart, strug- 
 gles and defeats, resolutions and relapses, self- 
 reproach and self-condemnation, drive ont all 
 quietness and tranquillity of conscience. Peace 
 within us is at an end. All is unsettled. Did 
 the young and inexperienced know the truth of 
 this matter ; how much easier it is to keep in- 
 nocency than to return to it; how great and 
 terrible is the danger they do not return to it at 
 all ; surely they would see, and see in a light 
 strons: enough to influence their determination, 
 that to adl:iere inviolably to the rules of tempe- 
 rance, soberness, and chastity, was their safety, 
 their wisdom, their happiness. How many bit- 
 ter thoughts does the innocent man avoid ? Se- 
 renity and cheerfulness are his portion. Hope 
 is continually pouring its balm into his soul. — 
 His heart is at rest, whilst others are goaded and 
 tortured by the stings of a wounded conscience, 
 the remonstrances and risings up of principles 
 which they cannot forget ; perpetually teased by 
 returning temptations, perpetually lamenting de- 
 feated resolutions. ^* There is no peace unto 
 the wicked, saith my God." There is no com '^ 
 
IB4 BEAUTIES OP PALEY^ 
 
 fort in such a life as ihky let a man's outward 
 circumstances be what they will. Genuine satis- 
 faction of mind is not attainable under the re- 
 curring consciousness of being immersed in a 
 course^ of sin, and the still remaining prevalence 
 of religious principles. 
 
 Justice, Penal; its Administration, 
 
 There are two methods of administering penal 
 justice. The first method assigns capital punish- 
 ment to few offences^ and inflicts it invariably. 
 The second method assigns capital punishment 
 to many kinds of offences, but inflicts it only 
 upon a few examples of each kind. 
 
 The latter of which two methods has been long 
 adopted in this country, where, of those who 
 receive sentence of death, scarcely one in ten is 
 executed. And the preference of this to the 
 former method seems to be founded in the con- 
 sideration, that the selection of the proper ob- 
 jects for capital punishment principally depends 
 upon circumstances, which, however easy to 
 perceive in each particular case after the crime is 
 committed, it is impossible to enumerate or de- 
 fine before-hand ; or to ascertain however with 
 that exactness, which is requisite in legal dc- 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY, 185 
 
 
 
 Ex by precise ^rujes of law the boundary on one 
 side, that is, the limit to which the punishment 
 may be extended ; and also that nothing less than 
 the autlixirity of the whole legislature be suffered 
 to determine that boundary, and assign the&e 
 rules ; yetMlie mitigation of punishment, the 
 exercise of lenity, may without danger be in- 
 trusted to the executive magistrate, whose dis- 
 cretion will operate upon those numerous unfore- 
 seen, mutable, and indefmite circumstances, 
 both of the crime and the criminal, which con- 
 stitute or qualify the malignity of each offence. 
 Without the power of relaxation lodged in a liv- 
 ing authority, either some offenders would escape 
 capital punishment, whom the public safety re- 
 quired to suffer; or so rae would undergo thi» 
 punishment, where it was neither deserved nor 
 necessary. For if judgment of death were re- 
 served for one or two species of crimes only, 
 which would probably be the case if that judg- 
 ment was intended to be executed without excep- 
 tion, crimes might occur of the most dangerous 
 example, and accompanied with circumstancei 
 of heinous aggravation, which did not fall within 
 any description of offences that the laws had 
 made capital^ and which eonseq^uently could not 
 
18(5 BEAUTIES or PALIY. 
 
 receive the punishment their ownmalignity and 
 the public safety required. What is worise, it 
 would be known^ beforehand, that such crimei 
 might be committed without danger to the of- 
 fender's life. On the other hand, if, to reach 
 these possible cases, the whole class of offences 
 to which they belong be subjected to pains of 
 death, and no power of remitting this severity 
 remain any where, the execution of the lawi 
 will become more sanguinary than the public 
 compassion would endure, or than is necessary 
 to the general security. 
 
 V The law of England is constructed upon a dif- 
 ferent and a better policy. By the number of 
 statutes creating capital offences, it sweeps into 
 the net every crime, which under any possible 
 circumstances may merit the punishment of death ; 
 but, when the execution of this sentencexomes 
 to be deliberated upon, a small proportion of 
 each class are singled out, the general character, 
 or the peculiar aggravations of whose crimes ren- 
 der them fit examples of public justice. By 
 this expedient few actually suffer death, whilst 
 the dread and danger of it hang over the crimes 
 of many. The tenderness of the law cannot be 
 taken advantage of. The life of the subject is 
 jipared, as far as the necessity of restraint and 
 
^^B BEAUTIES or PALEY. 187 
 
 ^■itimidation permits ; yet no one will adventure 
 |Hpon the commission of any enormous crime^ 
 ^rom a knowledge that the laws have not pro- 
 vided for its punishment. The wisdom and hu- 
 manity of this design furnish a just excuse for 
 the multipHcity of capital offences, which the 
 laws of England are accused of creating beyond 
 those of other countries. The charge of 
 cruelty is answered by observing, that these 
 laws were never meant to be carried into indis- 
 criminate execution ; that the legislature, when 
 it establishes its last and highest sanctions, trusts 
 to the benignity of the crown to relax their se*- 
 verity, as often as circumstances appear to palli- 
 ate the offence, or even as often as those circum- 
 stances of aggravation are wanting, which ren- 
 dered this rigorous interposition necessary. Upon 
 this plan it is enough to vindicate the lenity of 
 the laws, that some instances are to be found in 
 -each class of capital crimes, which require the 
 restraint of capital punishment; and that this 
 restraint could not be applied, without subjecting 
 the whole class to the same condemnation. 
 
 Ldlerty in a State of Nature. 
 
 The boasted liberty of a state of nature exists 
 "only in a state of solitude. In every kind and 
 
188 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 degree of union and intercourse with his species, 
 it is possible that the hberty of the individual 
 may be augmented by the very laws that restrain 
 it ; because he may gain more from the limita- 
 tion of other men's freedom, than he suffers 
 by the diminution of his own. Natural liberty 
 is the right of a common upon a waste, civil li- 
 berty is the safe, exclusive, unmolested enjoy- 
 ment of a cultivated enclosure. Actual liberty 
 always bearing a reversed proportion to the 
 number and severity of the restrictions, which 
 are either useless or do not outweigh the evil 
 of the restraint, it follows, that every nation 
 possesses some, no nation perfect liberty 5 
 that this liberty may be enjoyed under every 
 form of government, that, consequently, those 
 popular phrases which speak of a free people ; of 
 a nation of slaves 5 which call one revolution 
 the era of liberty, or another the loss of it; with 
 many expressions of a like absolute form^ are 
 mtelligible only in a comparative sense, 
 
 A lie is a breach of promise ; for whoever se- 
 riously addresses his discourse to another, tacitly 
 promises to speak the truth,, because he knows 
 the truth i& expected. Or the obligation of ve* 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OP PA LIE Y. ISQ 
 
 I'acity may be made out from the direct ill con- 
 sequences of lying to social happiness. Which 
 consequences consist either in some specific in- 
 jury to particular individuals^ or in the destruc- 
 tion of that confidence which is essential to the 
 intercourse of human life ; for which latter rea- 
 son, a lie may be pernicious in its general ten- 
 dency, and therefore criminal, though it pro- 
 duce no particular, or visible mischief to any 
 one. ' 
 
 There are falsehoods which are not lies ; that 
 is, v^'hich are not criminal ; as 1 . Where no one 
 is deceived ; which is the case in parables, fa- 
 bles, novels, jests, tales to create mirth, ludi- 
 crous embellishments of a story, where the de- 
 clared design of the speaker is not to inform, but 
 to divert 5 compliments in the subscription of a 
 letter ; a servant's denying his master, a prison- 
 er's pleading not guilty, an advocate asserting 
 the justice, or his belief of the justice of his 
 client's cause. In such instances no confidence 
 is destroyed, because none was reposed ; no 
 promise to speak the truth is violated, because 
 none was given, or understood to be given — 2. 
 When the person to whom you speak has no 
 right to know the truth, or, more properly 
 where little or no inconveniency results from th» 
 4 
 
IPO- BEAUT Ifi§ OF PALEY* ' 
 
 want of confidence in such cases ; as wher« you 
 tell a falsehood to a madman for his own advan- 
 tage ; to a robber to conceal your property ; to 
 m assassin to defeat or divert him from his pur- 
 pose. The particular consequence is by the 
 supposition beneficial ; and, as to the general 
 consequence, the v^^orst that can happen is, that 
 the madman, the robber, the assassin will not 
 trust you again, which is sufficiently compensa- 
 ted by the immediate benefit which you propose 
 by the falsehood. 
 
 It is upon this principle that by the laws of 
 ■war, it is allowed to deceive an enemy by feints, 
 false colours, spies,, false intelligence and the 
 like ? but by no means in treaties, truces, sig- 
 nals of capitulation or surrender : and the diffe- 
 rence is, that the former supposes hostilities to 
 continue ; but the latter are calculated to tanii- 
 nate or suspend them. In the conduct of war 
 there is no place for confidence between the con- 
 tending parties ; but in whatever relates to the 
 ierminatio7i of war, the most religious fidelity is 
 expected, because without it wars could not 
 cease, nor the victors be secure but by the entire 
 destruction of the vanquished. 
 
 Many people indulge, in serious discourse, a 
 babit of fiction and exaggeration, in the accounts 
 
 3 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY; IQf 
 
 they give of themselves, of their acquaintance^ 
 or of the extraordinary things things which they 
 have seen or heard ; and so long as the facts 
 they relate are indifferent, and their narratives, 
 though false, are inoffensive, it may seem a 
 superstitious regard for truth to censure them 
 merely for truth's sake. 
 
 But this liberty in conversation defeats its 
 own end. Much of the pleasure, and all the 
 benefit of conversation, depends upon our own 
 opinion of the speaker's veracity, for which this 
 rule leaves no foundation. The faith indeed of 
 a hearer must be extremely perplexed, who con- 
 siders the speaker, or believes that the speaker 
 considers himself, as under no obligation to ad- 
 here to truth, but according to the particular 
 importance of what he relates. 
 
 But beside, and above both these reasons, 
 white lies always introduce others of a darker 
 complexion. I have seldom known any one 
 v/ho deserted truth in trifles, that could be 
 trusted in matters of importance. Nice distinc- 
 tions are out of the question, upon occasions* 
 which, like those of speech, return every hour. 
 
 The habit therefore of lying, when once 
 formed, is easily extended to serve the designs^ 
 of malice or interest; like all habits it i;pread« 
 
%99 BEAUTIES or PALEr. 
 
 indeed of itself. As there may be falsehoods 
 which are not lies, so there may be lies without 
 literal or direct falsehood ; as when the literal 
 and grammatical signification of a sentence is 
 different from the popular and customary mean- 
 ing. It is the wilful deceit that makes the lie ; 
 and we wilfully deceive when our expressions 
 are not true in the sense in which we beheve the 
 hearer to apprehend them : besides that, it is ab- 
 surd to contend for any sense of words in oppo- 
 sition to usage 'f for all senses of words are 
 founded upon usage, and upon nothing else. Or 
 a man may act a lie, as by pointing his finger in 
 a wrong direction when a traveller inquires of 
 him his road ; or when a tradesman shuts up his 
 windows to induce his creditors to believe that he 
 is abroad : for, to all moral purposes, and 
 therefore as to veracity, speech and action are 
 the same ; speech being only a mode of action* 
 Or, lastly, there may be lies of 07nismn» A 
 writer of English history, who, in his account 
 of the reign of Charles the First, should wilfully 
 suppress any evidence of that prince's despotic 
 measures and designs might be said to be ; for 
 for by entitling his book a History of England, 
 he engages to relate the whole truth of the his* 
 tory, or at least alf that he knows of it. 
 
I 
 
 BBAUriES OF PALKV. 1^%^ 
 
 Love of God ; its Operation, 
 
 The purest motive of liiittiati actioii is the love' 
 of God. There may be motives stronger and 
 more general, but none so pure. The religion^ 
 the virtue, which dv^es its birth in the soul to 
 this motive, is always genuine religion, always 
 true virtue. Indeed, speaking of religion, I 
 should call the love of God, not so much the' 
 ground-work of religion, as religion itself. So 
 far as religion is disposition, it is religion itself. 
 But though of religion it be more thari the 
 ground work, yet being a disposition of mitid^ 
 like other dispositions, it is the ground-w^ork of 
 action. Well might our blessed Saviour preach 
 up as he did, the love of God. It is the source 
 of every thing which is good in man. I do not 
 mean that it is the only source, or that goodness 
 can proceed from no other, but, that of all prin- 
 ciples of conduct^ it is the safest, the truest^ the 
 best, the highest. 
 
 This love is to be engendered in the soul, no 
 BO much by hearing the words of others, or by 
 instruction from others, as by a secret and habi- 
 tual contemplation of God Almighty's bounty,' 
 and by a constant referring of our enjoyments 
 and our hopes to his goodness. This is in a, 
 
 K 
 
l^ ItEAUTIES OF PALE.V. 
 
 great degree a matter of habit; and like all good 
 habits, particularly mental habits, is what every 
 person must form in himself, and for himself by 
 endeavour and perseverance. In this great arti- 
 cle, as well as in others which are less, every 
 man must be the author to himself, of his train 
 of thinking, be it good or bad. I shall only 
 observe, that when this habit, or as some would 
 call it, turn and course of thought is once hap- 
 pily generated, occasions will continually arise 
 to munster to its exercise and augmentation. A 
 night's rest, or a comfortable meal will immedi . 
 ately direct our gratitude to God. The use of 
 our limbs, the possession of our senses ; every 
 degree of health, every hour of ease, every sort 
 of satisfaction which we enjoy, will carry our 
 thoughts to the same object. 
 
 If it be asked, how does the love of God 
 operate in the production of virtuous conduct, I 
 shall answer, that it operates in exactly the same 
 manner as affection towards a parent, or grati- 
 tude towards a human benefactor operates, by 
 stirring up a strong rebuke in the mind upon the 
 thought of offending him. This lays a constant 
 check upon our conduct. And this sensation is 
 the necessary accompaniment of love ; it cannot, 
 I think, be separated from it. But it is not the 
 
 I 
 
BBAUTIES OF PALSY. 19^ 
 
 whole of its influence. Love and gratitude to- 
 wards a benefactor, not only fill us with re- 
 morse, and with internal shame whenever, by 
 our wilful misbehaviour, we have given cause to 
 that benefactor to be displeased with us; but al- 
 so prompts us with a desire upon all occasions 
 of doing what we believe he wills to b^ done, 
 which, with respect to God, is in other cases, a 
 desire to serve him. Now this is not only a re- 
 straint from vice, but an incitement to action. 
 Instructed, as in Christian countries men gene- 
 rally are, in the main articles of human duty, this 
 motive will seldom mislead them. 
 
 Luxury, its Effects. 
 
 Luxury, as it supplies employment and pro- 
 motes industry, assists population ; but then, 
 there is another consequence attending it, which 
 counteracts, and often overbalances these advan- 
 tages. When, by introducing more superflui- 
 ties into general reception, luxury has rendered 
 the usual accommodations of life more expensive, 
 artificial, and elaborate, the difficulty of main- 
 taining a family, conformably with the estab- 
 lished mode of living, becomes greater, and 
 what each man has to spare from his personal 
 J. 2 "I 
 
1^6 B^AVTIE^'OF PAL^EY, 
 
 consumption, proportionably less : the effect, of 
 which is, that marriages grow less frequent, and 
 which must be remembered as the foundation of 
 all. our reasoning upon the subject, that men 
 will not marry to sink their place or condition 
 in society, or to forego those indulgencies, 
 which their own habits, or what they observe 
 iimongst their equals, have rendered necessary 
 tq their satisfaction. This principle is apphcable 
 to every article of diet and dress, to houses, 
 furniture, attendance ; and this effect will be felt 
 in every class of the commimity. For instance, 
 the cu&tom of wearina; broad-cloth and fine linen 
 repays the shepherd and flax-grower, feeds the 
 manufacturer, enriches the merchant, gives not 
 only support but existence to multitudes of fa- 
 milies : hitherto, therefore, the effects are be- 
 neficial ; and were these the only effects, such 
 elegancies, or if you please to call them so, such 
 luxuries, could not be too universal. But here 
 follows the mischief; when once fashion hath 
 annexed the use of these articles of dress to any 
 certain class, to the middling ranks, for exam- 
 ple, of the community, each individual of that 
 ank finds them to be necessaries of life ; that is, 
 finds himself obliged to comply with the example 
 of his equals, and to maintain that appearance 
 4 
 
 
BEAITTTES OT TALET. t<)7 
 
 lich the custom of society requires. This ob- 
 ition creates such a demand upon his income, 
 id withal adds so mueh'to the cost and burthen 
 a family, as to put it out of his power to 
 larry, with the prospect of continuing his ha- 
 ts, or of maintaining his place and situation 
 in the world. We see, in this' description, the 
 cause which induces men to waste their lives in 
 a barren celibacy ; and -this cause, which impairs 
 the very source of population, is justly placed 
 to the account of luxury. It appears, then, that 
 luxury, considered with a view to population, 
 acts by two opposite effects ; and it seems pro- 
 bable that there exists a point in the scale, to 
 Vv'hich luxury may ascend^ or to which the wants 
 of mankind may be multiplied, with advantage 
 to the community, and beyond which the 
 prejudicial consequences begin to preponderate. 
 Of different kinds of luxury, those are the 
 most innocent, which afford employment to the 
 greatest number of artists and n.anufacturers ; or 
 those, in other words, in which the price of the 
 work bears the greatest proportion to that of the 
 raw material. Thus, luxury in dress or furni- 
 ture i« universally preferable to luxury in eating, 
 because the articles which constitute the one, 
 are more the production of human art and indus* 
 try than those which supply the other. 
 
198 BEAUTIES OF PALKY. 
 
 Mahomet, 
 
 Mahometanism resembles Christianity in 
 the rapidity of its progress, the recency of its 
 history, and the prophetic character assumed by 
 its author. But there are points of difference, 
 which separate the two cases entirely. 
 
 1. MahoDiet did not found his pretensions 
 upon miracles capalle of he'ing known, and at ^ 
 tested ly others ; he expressly disclaims the 
 power. Hence no credit is due to the miraculous 
 stories related of Mahomet by Abulieda, who 
 wrote the account 600 years after his death ; or 
 which are found in the legend of Al Janabi, 
 who came 200 years later. Admitting the whole 
 of Mahomet's authentic history as far as was 
 witnessed%y others, to be true, he might still 
 be an impostor, or enthusiast, or an union of 
 both: but admit almost any part of Christ's 
 public history to be true, and he must have come 
 from God. Objection: If one religion couLd 
 make its way without miracles, why might not 
 another? 
 
 Answer : This is not the question. The 
 proper question is, whether a religion, founding 
 itself, on miracles could succeed without any 
 reality to rest on ? As Mahomet did not take this 
 
 
io, 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 10$ 
 
 •urse, it may be presumed very difficult, if not 
 impossible. He knew the importance of mira- 
 
 jH^es by incessantly referring to those of prece- 
 
 '^^ing prophets. 
 
 2. The establishment of Mahomet's religion 
 was effected by causes, which in no degree ap- 
 pertained to the origin of Christianity. 
 
 During the first ten years, when Mahomet 
 used only persuasion, and confined his exertions 
 to Mecca, it appears, that he could reckon upon 
 no more converts than 83 men and 1 8 women ; 
 yet this progress was aided by the following im- 
 portant advantages : 1 . He was the grandson of 
 the most honourable and powerful family in 
 Mecca. 2. He conducted his design with great 
 art and prudence. 3. The Arabs probably ac- 
 knowledged one supreme deity, which, at first, 
 was the leading doctrine of Mahomet. 4. Ma- 
 homet seems to have had these two purposes in 
 view ; to make converts, and those converts sol- 
 diers, as the following particulars will shew. 
 (1). He assures the Jews, Christians, and 
 Arabs, that his religion had been originally their 
 own. (2.) He never ceased from describing the 
 future anguish of unbelievers. (3.) His volup- 
 tuous paradise. (4.) The highest heavens for 
 those who fought his battles, or expended their 
 
iffQO BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 fortune in:bis cause. (3.) He applied the doc- 
 trine of predestination to fortify the courage of 
 ,his adherents. (6.) He allowed a plurality of 
 wives in compliance with the climate of the 
 rpountry. 
 
 When Mahomet was received into the city of 
 Medina, he changed his conduct, pretending 
 that he had received acomm,ission to destroy in- 
 Jldelsy and to set up the true faith by the ^7Vord. 
 An early victory over a very superior force.estab- 
 lished his renown ; we have, therefore, from 
 ,,.this time nothing left to account for, but that 
 he should be able to collect an army, and that 
 his army should conquer. 
 
 The success of Mahometanism during this 
 and every future period, cannot be stated in pre- 
 judice of the Christian argument ; nor does it 
 stand in the way of this important conclusion, 
 that the propagation of Christianity, in the 
 manner, and under the circumstances in which 
 it was propagated,i^isan Mwiyw£? in the history of 
 the species — A Jewish peasant overthrew the re- 
 ligion of the world. 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 201* 
 
 Mtrlts ; our own considered as a source of 
 Comfort, 
 
 It is an exceedingly good observation, that we 
 may safely leave our virtues and good qualities- 
 to themselves. And besides the use we have 
 made of it in shewing the superfluity, as well as 
 the danger of giving into the contemplation of 
 our virtues, it is also a quieting and consoling 
 reflection for a diflferent, and in some degree, an 
 opposite description of character, that is to say, 
 for tender and timorous consciences. Such are 
 sometimes troubled with doubts and scruples- 
 about even their good actions. Virtue was too- 
 easy for them, or too difficult; too easy and. 
 pleasant to have any merit in it: or difficult by. 
 reason of fleshly, selfish, or depraved propen^ 
 sities, still existifig unsubdued, still struggling in 
 their unrcgeneraied hearts. These are natural,, 
 and as I have sometimes known them, very dis- 
 tressing scruples. But it will be said, are we not; 
 to taste the comforts of religion? Are we not 
 to ;be permitted, or rather, ought we not to be 
 encouraged to relish, to indulge, to enjoy these 
 comforts ? And can this be done without medi^- 
 tating upon q\m good actions ? 
 
 J answer, that this can be done without m^'^ 
 K3 
 
202 BEAUTIES OP PALEY, 
 
 ditating upon our good actions. We need not 
 seek the comforts of religion in this way. Much 
 we need not seek them at all ; they will visit us 
 of their own accord,, if we be serious and hearty 
 in our religion. A well-spent life will impart 
 iis support to the spirits without any endea- 
 vour on our part to call up our merits to our 
 view, or even allowing the idea of merit to take 
 possession of our minds. There will in this 
 respect, always be as much difference as there 
 ought to be between the righteous man and the 
 sinner (or, to speak more properly, between sin- 
 ners of different degrees) without taking pains to 
 draw forth in our recollection, instances of our 
 virtue, or to institute a comparison between 
 ourselves and others, or certain others of our 
 acquaintance. These are habits which I hold to 
 be unchristian and wrong ; and that the true 
 way of finding and feeling the consolations of 
 religion, is by progressively conquering our 
 ^ins. Think of these ; contend with these j and 
 if you contend whh sincerity and effect, which 
 is the proof indeed of sincerity, I will answer 
 for the comforts of religion being your portion. 
 What is it that embitters or repairs our religious 
 comfort, damps and checks our religious hopesj, 
 binders us from relishing and entertaining thes< 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 903 
 
 ideas, from turning to them as a supply of con- 
 solation under all circumstances ? What is it but 
 our sins ? Depend upon it, that it is sin, and 
 nothing else, which spoils our religious com- 
 fort. Cleanse your heart from sin, and religion 
 will enter in with all her train of hopes and con- 
 solations. For proof of this, we may, as be- 
 fore, refer to the examples of Scripture Chris- 
 tians. No persons enjoyed these comforts in 
 so great perfection, as the Christians wc read of 
 in Scripture, yet no persons thought so little of 
 their own virtues. 
 
 Think then less of your virtues ; more of your 
 sins. Do I hear any one answer, I have no 
 sins to think upon; I have no crimes which lie 
 upon my conscience ? I reply, that this may be 
 true with respect to some, nay, with respect to 
 many persons, according to the idea we com- 
 monly annex to the words sins and crimes ; 
 meaning thereby acts of gross and external wick- 
 edness. But think further ; enlarge your views. 
 Is your obedience to the law of God what it 
 ought to be, or what it might be ? Upon the 
 whole, when I hear a person say he has no sins 
 to think upon, 1 conclude that he has not 
 thought seriously concerning religion at all. 
 Liistly, unprofitableness itself is a sin. We 
 
•504 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 need not do mischief in order to commit sin ; 
 •uselessness, when we might be useful, is enough 
 to make us sinners before God. The fig-tree 
 in the gospel was cut down, not because it bore 
 sour fruit, but because it bore none. The para- 
 ble of the talents is pointed expressly against the 
 simple neglect of faculties and opportunities of 
 doing good, as contra-distinguished from the 
 perpetration of positive crimes. Let our omis- 
 sions, deficiencies, failures, our irregularities 
 of heart and affection, our vices of temper and 
 disposition, our course and habit of giving into 
 smaller offences, all those things which our con- 
 sciences cannot really approve ; our slips, and 
 inadvertences and surprises, much too frequent 
 for a man in earnest about salvation ; let these 
 things occupy our attention, let this be the bent 
 and direction of our thoughts ; for they are the 
 thoughts which will bring us evangelically to 
 God. 
 
 For there may not be, strictly speaking, an 
 act or deed scandalously bad : yet, the current 
 of our imaginations, the bent of our tempers, the 
 stream of our affections, may all, or any of them 
 be wrong ; may be requiring at the peril of our 
 salvation, stronger controul, a better direction. 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY* «0^ 
 
 The Millenium ; true Doctrine of. 
 
 That our LorcKs dominion will not only re- 
 main unto the end of the world, but that its ef- 
 fects in the world will be greatly enlarged and 
 increased, is signified very expressly in the se- 
 cond chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 The Apostle in this passage applies to our Lord 
 a quotation from the Psalms : ^^ Thou hast put 
 all things in subjection under his feet :*' — and 
 then draws from it a strict inference : '^ for in 
 that he put all things in subjection under him, 
 he left nothing that he did not put under him.'* 
 And then he remarks as a fact, ^' but now we 
 see not yet all things put under him :" that 
 complete entire subjection which is here pro- 
 mised, hath not yet taken place. The promise 
 must, therefore, refer to a still future\ order of 
 things. This doctrine of a progressive increase 
 and final completeness of our Lord's kingdom 
 is also virtually laid own in the passage from the 
 Corinthians already cited. *^ He must reign till 
 he hath put all things under his feet/' For that 
 this subjugation of his several enemies will be 
 successive, one after another, is strongly inti- 
 mated by the expression, *^ the last enemy that 
 shall be destroyed, is death/' 
 
S06 . BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Now to apprehend the probability of these 
 things coming to pass, or rather to rejnove any 
 opinion of their improbability, we ought con- 
 stantly to bear in our mind, this momentous 
 truth, that in the hands of the Deity time is no- 
 thing ; that he has eternity to act in. The 
 Christian dispensation^ nay, the world itself, 
 may be in its infancy, A more perfect display 
 of the power of Christ and hilj religion may be 
 in reserve, and the ages which it may endure, 
 after the obstacles and impediments to its recep- 
 . tion are remov^ed, may be, beyond comparison, 
 longer than those which we have seen, in which 
 it has been struggling wiih great difficulties, 
 most especially with ignorance and prejudice. 
 We ought not to be moved any more than the 
 Apostles were moved with the reflection which 
 was cast upon their mission, ** that since the 
 fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they 
 were." We ought to return the answer which 
 one of them returned : that what we call tardi- 
 ness in the Deity is not so ; that with him *^ a 
 thousand years are as one day :" words which 
 confound and astonish human understanding, 
 yet strictly and metaphysically true, 
 i . Now the economy which appears to be des- 
 \ tined for the human creation^ I mean for that 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 207 
 
 part of it which shall be reserved to future hap- 
 piness, is, that they shall live in a state of local 
 society with one another, and under Jesus 
 Christ as their head ; experiencing a sensible 
 connexion amongst themselves, as well as the 
 operation of his authority, as their Lord and 
 governor. I think it likely that our Saviour had 
 this state of things in view, when, in his final 
 discourse with his Apostles, he tells them, ^^ I 
 go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and 
 prepare a place for you, I will come again and 
 receive you unto myself: that where I am, there 
 ye mav be also." — John xiv. 2, 3. And again, in 
 the same discourse, and referring to the same 
 economy — " Father," says he, " I will that they 
 also whom thou hast given me, be with me 
 where I am, that they may behold my glory 
 which thou hast given :" for that this was 
 spoken, not merely of the twelve who were then 
 sitting with Jesus, and to whom his discourse 
 was addressed, hut of his disciples in fumre 
 ages of the world, is fairly collected from his 
 words (xvii. 20.) — *^ Neither pray I for these 
 alone, but for them also which shall believe on 
 me through their word. 
 
 Now concerning \h\^ future dispensation^ sup- 
 posing it to consist as here represented, of ac- 
 
soft BEAUTIES OF PA'LEY; 
 
 cepted spirits, participating of happiness in a 
 state of sensible society with each other, one 
 train of reflection naturally arises 3 namely, first, 
 that there should be many expressions of scrip- 
 ture which have relation to it : secondly, that 
 such expressions must, by their nature, appear 
 to us at present under a considerable degree of 
 obscurity, which we may be apt to calla defect ; 
 thirdly, that the credit due to such expressions 
 must depend upon their authority as portions of 
 the written word of God, and not upon the pro- 
 bability, much less upon the clearness of what 
 they contain ; so that our comprehension of 
 what they mean must stop at very general no- 
 tions; and our belief in them rest in the deference 
 to which they are entitled as scripture declara- 
 tions. Of this kind are many,, if not all of 
 those expressions, which speak so strongly of 
 the value, and benefit, and eflScacy of the death 
 of Christ; of its sacrificial, expiatory, and 
 atoning nature. We may be assured that these 
 expressions mean something real ;'refer to some- 
 thing real ; though it be something which is to 
 take place in that future dispensation of which 
 we have been speaking. 
 
 There is another class of expressions, which 
 since they professedly refer to circumstances that 
 are to take place in this new state, and noibeT 
 
BEAUTIES OF PA LEY. 20^ 
 
 fore, will, it is likely, be rendered quite intel- 
 ligible by our experience in that state. Of this 
 kind are many of the passages of scripture, al- 
 ready noticed, as referring to the changes which 
 will then be wrought in our mortal nature ; and 
 the agency of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the 
 inierventiofi of his power in producing those 
 •changes ; and the nearer similitude which our 
 changed natures, and the bodies with which we 
 shall then be cloathed, will bear to his. We 
 read *^ that he shall change our vile body, that 
 it may be like his glorious body.'* A momen- 
 tous assurance, no doubt ; yet in its particular 
 signification, waiting to be cleared up by our ex- 
 perience of the event. So likewise are some other 
 particular expressions relating to the same event, 
 auch as being *' unclothed" — " clothed upon" — 
 " the dead in Christ rising first" — ''meeting the 
 Lord in the air" — '' they that are alive not pre- 
 venting those that are asleep," and the like. 
 These are all most interesting intimations, yet 
 lo a certain degree, obscure. They answer the 
 purpose of ministering to our hopes, and com- 
 fort, and admonition, which they do without 
 conveying any clear ideas : and this, and not 
 the satisfaction of our curiosity, may be the 
 grand purpose, for the sake of which intimations- 
 
210 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 of these things were given at all. But then, in 
 so far as they describe a change in the order of 
 nature, of which change we are to be the ob- 
 jects, it seems to follow that we shall be fur- 
 nished with experience, which will discover to 
 us the full sense of this language. 
 
 The same remark may be repeated concerning 
 Xhtjirst and second death, which are expressly 
 spoken of in the Revelations, xx. 6. — and, as I 
 think, alluded to, and supposed in other passa- 
 ges of scripture in which they are not named. 
 
 Miracles. 
 
 A revelation cannot be made, but by miracles; 
 consequently in whatever degree it is probable, 
 that a revelation should be made, in the same de- 
 gree it is probable miracles should be wrought. 
 The attributes of the Deity, or the existence of 
 a future state, are not assumed in order to prwe 
 the reality of miracles. That reality must be 
 proved by evidence. We assert only, that in 
 miracles adduced to the support of revelation, 
 there is not any such antecedent improbability 
 as no testimony can surmount. In maintaining 
 which, we contend, that the incredibility of mi- 
 Tacles is not greater than — l . That a future state 
 
BEAUTIES or rALEv 21 l 
 
 of existence should be destined, by God, for the 
 human race: and, 2. That, being so destined, 
 he should acquaint them with it. The proof of 
 these propositions is not necessary 5 it is suffi- 
 cient that they are not so violently improbable, 
 so contradictory to the divine power and charac- 
 ter, that either the propositions themselves, or 
 the facts connected with them, ought to be re- 
 jected at first sight. To this length does a mo- 
 dern objection to miracles go, viz. — '^ That no 
 human testimony can in any case lender them 
 credible, because it is contrary to experience 
 that a miracle should he true ; hut not contrary 
 to experience that testimony should he falsey — 
 Strictly speaking, the narrative of a fact is then 
 only contrary to experience, when the fact is re- 
 lated to have existed at a time and place, at which 
 time and place, we, being present, did not per- 
 ceive it to exist. The improbability arising from 
 the want of experience is only equal to the pro- 
 bability, that, if the thing were true, such things 
 would be generally experienced. Admitting that 
 miracles were wrought upon the first promulga- 
 tion of Christianity, it is not certain, or a pro- 
 bability approaching to certainty, that such mi- 
 racles would become objects of general expe- 
 rience. The force of experience supposes the 
 
£12 BEAUTIES OV PALEY* 
 
 course of nature mvanaZ'/e ; or its variations ge- 
 Tieral: but the course of nature may be called 
 Hhe agency of an intelligent being : and then it 
 is not unreasonable to expect that such a being 
 may, upon occasion of peculiar importance, in- 
 terrupt the order which he had appointed, yet 
 that such occasions should seldom return, and 
 consequently be confined to the experience of a 
 iew. 
 
 It has been said, that miracles are eifects with- 
 out causes ; as if the cure of the palsy were as- 
 cribed to the touch', or of blindness to the clay. 
 These are merely sig72S to connect the miracle 
 with its end. The effect we ascribe simply to 
 the volition of the Deity, of whose existence 
 and power we have previous and independent 
 iproof. According to Mr. Hume, the question 
 is, whether it he more improbable that the mi- 
 racle should he true, or the testimonj/ false ? 
 .Upon this state of the controversy, suppose 
 twelve men, whose probity and good sense I had' 
 long known, should seriously and circumstan- 
 tially relate an account of a miracle, wrought 
 Jjefore their eyes, and in which it was impossible 
 for them to be deceived ; that rather than ac- 
 .knovvledge that there existed any imposture in 
 the case, they should suffer themselves, whea 
 
BEAUTIES OF FA LEY* 213 
 
 examined separately, to be racked, burned, or 
 strangled, and that I myself was witness to the 
 story and sufferings, by Mr. Hunne's rule I am 
 not to believe tbem. Now, I undertake to say, 
 no man would disbelieve them* 
 
 The miracles were not secret^ nor momentary ^ 
 nor tentative, nor ambigwms, nor performed 
 under the sanction of aut/toriti^, with the spec- 
 tators on their side, nor in affirmance of tenets 
 already established. The evidence of these mi- 
 racles was the contemporary^ published on the 
 spot ; involved questions of the greatest magni- 
 tude; contradicted false prejudices ; and it re- 
 quired from those who accepted it, principles 
 and conduct exposed to outrage and persecu- 
 tion. 
 
 The Morality of the Gospel, 
 
 In stating the morality of the Gospel as an ar- 
 gument of its truth, I am willing to admit two 
 points; first, that the teaching of morality was 
 not the primary design of the mission ; sct- 
 condly, that morality, neither in the gospel, nor 
 in any other book, can be a subject, properly 
 speaking of discovery. If I were to describe in 
 a very few words, the scope of Christianity as a- 
 
2i4t BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 revelation, I should say, that it was to influenc* 
 the conduct of human life, by establishing the 
 proof .of a future state of reward and punish- 
 ment, '^ to bring life and immortality to light.'* 
 The direct object, therefore, of the design is, 
 to supply motives, and not rules ; sanctions, and 
 not precepts. And these were what mankind 
 stood most in need of. The members of civi- 
 lized society can, in all ordinary cases, judge to- 
 lerably well how they ought to act : but without 
 a future state, or, which is the same thing, with- 
 out credited evidence of that state, they want a 
 motive to their duty ; they want at least strength 
 of motive sufficient to bear up against the force 
 of passion, and the temptation of present ad- 
 vantage. Their rules want authority. The most 
 important service that can be rendered to human 
 life, is to convey to the world, authorized assu- 
 rances of the reality of a future existence. Mo- 
 rality, neither in the Gospel nor in any other 
 book, can be a subject of discovery, properly so 
 called : in morality, there cannot be any thing 
 similar to what are called discoveries in the aHs 
 of life, and in some sciences ; as the system of 
 the universe, the circulation of the blood, the 
 polarity of the magnet, the laws of gravitation, 
 alphabetical writing, decimal arithmetic, an( 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OP PALEY, ^15 
 
 some Other things of the same sort ; facts or 
 proofs, or contrivances before totally unknown 
 or unthought of. Who, therefore, expects in 
 reading the New Testament to be struck with dis- 
 coveries in morals, in the manner in which his 
 mind was affected when he first came to the 
 knowledge of the discoveries above-mentioned, 
 expects what the nature of the subjects render it 
 impossible that he should meet with. 
 
 When once it is settled, no matter upon what 
 principle, that to do good is virtue, the rest is 
 calculation. But since the calculation cannot 
 be instituted concerning each particular action^ 
 we efltablish intermediate rules ; by which pro- 
 ceeding the business of morality is much facili- 
 tated, for then it is concerning our rules alone 
 that we need inquire, whether in their tendency 
 they be beneficial. Concerning our actions, we 
 have only to ask, whether they be agreeable to 
 the rules. We refer actions to rules, and rules 
 to public happiness. Now in the formatiorl of 
 these rules, there is no place for discovery, pro- 
 perly so called, but there is ample room for the 
 exercise of wisdom, jjadgment, and prudence. 
 
51 Q BEAUriEa OF PALEy. 
 
 Morality ; Religions and Philosophic, 
 
 Upon the first reformation from popery, a 
 method was very prevalent of resolving the whole 
 of religion into foil h ', good works, as they were 
 called, or the practice of virtue holding not only 
 a secondary but even distant place in value and 
 esteem, being represented, indeed, as possessing 
 no share or efficacy in the attainment of human 
 salvation^ This doctrine we have seen revived 
 in our own times and carried to still greater 
 lengths. And it is a theory, or rather perhaps 
 a language, which required, while it lasted, very 
 serious animadversion, not only because it dis- 
 posed men to rest in an unproductive faith, with- 
 out endeavours to render themselves useful by 
 exertion and activity; not only because it was 
 naturally capable of being converted to the en- 
 couragement of licentiousness; but because it 
 misreprogented Christianity, as a moral institu- 
 tion, by making it place little stress upon the 
 distinction of virtue and viee> and by making it 
 require the practice of external duties, if it re- 
 quired them at all, only as casual, neglected, 
 and almost unthought- of consequences, of that 
 faith which it extolled, instead of directing men'*' 
 
i 
 
 BAAutlESJ OF VALtri 217 
 
 atttention to them, as to those things which atone 
 compose an unquestionable and effective obe- 
 dience to the divine will. So long as this turn 
 of mind prevailed we could not be too indus- 
 trious it! bringing together arid exhibiting to our 
 hearers those many and positive declarations of 
 scripture which enforce, and insist upon, prac- 
 tical religion ; which divide mankind into those 
 ^ho do good and those who do evil ; which hold 
 out to the one favour and happiness, to the other 
 repulse and condemnation. 
 
 The danger, however, from this quarter is 
 nearly overpast. We are, on the contrary, set- 
 ting up a kind of philosophical morality, de- 
 tached from religion and independent of its in- 
 fluence, which may be cultivated, it is said, as 
 well without Christianity as with it ; and which, 
 if cultivated, renders religion and religious insti- 
 tutions superfluous. A mode of thought so 
 contrary to truth, and so derogatory from the va- 
 lue of revelation, cannot escape. the vigilance of 
 a Christian ministry. We are entitled to ask 
 upon what foundation this morality rests. If it 
 refer to the divine v/ill, (and without that where 
 will it find its sanctions, or how support its au- 
 thority?) there cannot be a conduct of the un- 
 derstanding more irrational, than to appeal to 
 I- 
 
aia BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 those intimations of the Deity's character which 
 the light and order of nature afford, as to the 
 rule and measure of our duty, yet to disregard, 
 and affect to overlook, the declarations of his 
 pleasure which Christianity communicates. It 
 is impossible to distinguish between the autho- 
 rity of natural and revealed religion. We are 
 bound to receive the precepts of revelation for 
 the same reason that we comply with the dictates 
 of nature. He who despises a command which 
 proceeds from his Maker, no matter by what 
 means, or through what medium, instead of 
 ad^^ancing, as he pretends to do, the authority 
 of natural religion, disobeys the first injunctions 
 of both. Although it be true what the apostle 
 affirms, that "when the Gentiles, which have 
 npt the law, do by nature the things contained 
 in the law, they are a law unto themselves ;" 
 that is, they will be accepted together with those 
 who are instructed in the law and obey it ; yet is 
 this truth not applicable to such as having a law, 
 contemn it, and with the means of access to the 
 word of God, keep themselves at a voluntary 
 distance from it. This temper, whilst it conti- 
 nues, makes it necessary for us to assert the su- 
 periority of a religious principle above every 
 Other by which human conduct can be regulated : 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 219 
 
 more especially above that fashionable system, 
 which recommends virtue only as a true and 
 refined policy, which policy in effect is, and in 
 the end commonly proves itself to b^ nothing 
 else than a mere exquisite cunning, which, by a 
 specious behaviour in the easy and visible con- 
 cerns of life, collects a fund of reputation, in 
 order either to cherish more securely concealed 
 vices, or to reserve itself for some great stroke 
 of selfishness, perfidy, and desertion, in a press- 
 ing conjuncture of fortunes. 
 
 New Birth; or Operations of the Holj/ Spirit, 
 
 And as in this there is a close analogy with 
 the course of nature, as carried on under the di- 
 vine government, we have every reason which 
 scripture can give us, for believing that God fre- 
 quently interposes to turn and guide the order 
 of events in the world so as to make them exe- 
 cute his purpose : yet we do not so perceive 
 these interpositions, as either always or generally 
 to distinguish them from the natural progress of. 
 things. I do hot apprehend that the doctrine of 
 spiritual influence carries the agency of the 
 Deity much farther than the doctrine of Provi- 
 dence carries it ; or, however, than the doctrine 
 
 L S 
 
220 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 of prayer carries it. For all prayer supposes the 
 Deity to be intimate with our minds. 
 
 But if we do not know the influence of the 
 spirit by a distinguishing perception at the time, 
 by what means do we know any thing of it at all ? 
 I answer, by its tfftcts^ and by those alone. 
 And this I conceive to be that which our Saviour 
 said to Nicodemus — ^* The wind bloweth where 
 it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, 
 but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither 
 It goeth, so is every one who is born of the spi- 
 rit /' that is, thou perceivest an efTect, but the 
 cause which produces that effect operates' in its 
 own way, without thy knowing its rule or man- 
 ner of operation. With regard to the cause, 
 " thou canst not tell whence it cometh nor whi- 
 ther it goeth," a change or improvement in thy 
 religious state is necessary. The agency and 
 help of the spirit in working that change, or pro- 
 moting that improvement^ are liktwise neces- 
 sary. " Except a man be born of the sj.irit he 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of God.'* But 
 according to what particular maimer, or accord- 
 ing to what rule the spirit acts, is as unknown 
 to us as the causes which regulate the blowing of 
 the wind, the most incakuluhle ahd unk?iown 
 thing in the world, — Its origin is unknown ; its 
 
 _L„, 
 
BEAUTIES QF PALEY. 821 
 
 lode is unknown ; but still it is known in its 
 effects : and so it is with the spirit. If the change 
 have taken place ; if the improvement be pro- 
 duced, and be proceeding ; if our religious af- 
 fairs go on well, then have we ground for trust 
 that the enabling assisting spirit of God is with 
 us, though we have no other knowledge or per- 
 ception of the matter than what this affords. 
 
 Occasions of doing good. 
 
 The habit and disposition of casting about for 
 opportunities of doing good, readily seizing 
 those which accidentally present themselves, and 
 faithfully using those which naturally and regu- 
 larly belong to our situations, appear to be some- 
 times checked by a notion, very natural to ac- 
 tive spirits, *wd to flattered talents. They will 
 not be content to do little things. The}- will 
 either attempt mighty matters or do nothing. 
 The small effects which the private endeavours of 
 an individual can produce upon the mass of so- 
 cial good, is so lost and so unperceived in the 
 comparison, that it neither deserves they think, 
 nor rewards, the attention which it requires. The 
 answer is, that the comparison, w^hich thus dis- 
 courages them, ought never to be made. Th? 
 
222 BEAUTIES OF ITALEY. 
 
 good which their efforts can produce, may be 
 too minute to bear any sensible proportion to the 
 sum of public happiness, yet may be their share ; 
 may be enough for them. The proper question 
 is not whether the good we aim at be great or lit- 
 tie ; still less, whether it be great or little in 
 comparison with the whole ; but whether it be 
 the most wh)ch it is in our power to perform. 
 A single action may be, as it were, nothing to 
 the aggregate of moral good : so also may be 
 the agent. It may htdl, therefore, be the pro- 
 portion which is required of him. In all things 
 nature works by numbers. Her greatest effects 
 are achieved by the joint operation of multitudes 
 of, separately considered, insignificant indivi- 
 duals. It is enough for each that it executes it* 
 office. It is not its concern* because it does not 
 depend upon its will, what place that office holds 
 in, or what proportion it bear to the general re- 
 sult. Let our only comparison therefore be, be- 
 tween our opportunities and the use which wc 
 make of them. When we would extend our 
 views, or stretch out our hand, to distant and 
 general good, we are commonly lost and sunk 
 in the magnitude of the subject. Particular 
 good, and the particular good which lies within 
 our reach, is all we are concerned to attempt, or 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 223 
 
 to inquire about. Not the smallest effort will 
 be forgotten ; not a particle of our virtue will 
 fall to the ground. Whether successful or notj 
 our endeavours will be recorded ; will be esti- 
 mated, not according to the proportion which 
 they bear to the universal interest, but according 
 to the relation which they hold to our means and 
 opportunities ; according to the disinterestedness, 
 the sincerity, with which we undertook ; the 
 pains and perseverance with which we carried 
 them on. It may be true, and I think it is the 
 doctrine of scripture, that the right use of great 
 faculties or great opportunities, will be more 
 highly rewarded, than the use of inferior facul- 
 ties and less opportunities. He that with ten 
 talents had made ten talents more, was placed 
 over ten cities : the neglected talent was also 
 given to him. He who, with five talents, had 
 made five talents more, though pronounced to 
 be a good and faithful servant, was placed only 
 over five cities. This distinction might, with- 
 out any great harshness to our moral feelings, be 
 resolved into the will of the supreme behefactor : 
 but we can see, perhaps, enough of the subject 
 to perceive that it was just. The merit may 
 reasonably be supposed to have been more in 
 one case than the other. The danger, the acti* 
 
f24 BEAUTIES OF PAI.EY. 
 
 vity, the care, the solicitude, were greater. Still, 
 both received rewards, abundant beyond measure, 
 when compared with the services, equitable 
 and proportioned when compared ' with one 
 ^mother. 
 
 Opinion, its Differences. 
 
 ' If w« ppssessed the disp,9sitipTi which Christie- 
 anity labours, , above all other qualities, to incul- 
 cate, these differences would do little harm. If 
 that disposition be wanting, ether. ca^ises, even 
 were these absent, would continually rise up to 
 call forth the malevolent passions into action. 
 Differences of opinion, wiien accompanied with 
 mutual charity, which Christianity forbids 
 them to violate, are for the most part iijinocent, 
 and for some purposes useful. They promote 
 inquiry, discussion, and knowledge.., 'rhey help 
 to keep up an attention to religious subjects, and 
 a concern about them, which might be apt to 
 die away in the calm and siJence ©f univeretl 
 agreement. I do not know that it is in any 
 degree true, that the influence of religion 
 is the greatest, where there are the fewest 
 dissenters. 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 225 
 
 Parables, 
 
 The parables of the New Testament are, many 
 pF them, such as would have done honour 
 to any book in the world. I do not mean in style 
 and diction, but in the choice of" the subjects, 
 in the structure of the narratives, in the aptness, 
 propriety, and force of the circumstances woven 
 into them, and in some, as that of the Good 
 Satnarilan, the Prodigal Son, the Pharisee and 
 the Publican, in an union of pathos and sim- 
 plicity, which in the best productions of human 
 genius, is the fruit only of a much-exercised, 
 and well-cultivated mind. 
 
 SL Paul, his Charcrcter. - 
 
 Here then we have a man of liberal- attain- 
 Bienis, and in other points of sound judgment, 
 who had addicted his life to the service of the 
 gospel. We see him in the prosecution of his 
 purpose, travelling from country to country, 
 enduring every species of hardship, encounter- 
 ing every extremity of danger, assaulted by the 
 populace, punished by the magistrates, scourged, 
 beat, stoned, left for dead; expecting wherever 
 be came, a renewal of the same treatment, an.d; 
 L 3. 
 
*2(l BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 the same dangers, yet, when driven from one 
 city, preaching in the next : spending his whole 
 time in the employment, sacrificing to it his plea- 
 sures, his ease his safety: persisting in this 
 course to old age, unaltered by the experience 
 of perverseness, ingratitude, prejudice, deser- 
 tion ; unsubdued by anxiety, want, labour, per- 
 secutions ; unwearied by long confinement, un- 
 dismayed by the prospect of death. Such was 
 St. Paul. We have his letters in oilr hands ; we 
 have also a history purporting to be written by 
 one of his fellow travellers, and appearing 
 by a comparison with these letters, certainly to 
 have been written by some person w ell acquaint- 
 ed with the transactions of his life. From the 
 letters, as well as from the history, we gather 
 not only the account which we have stated of 
 himy but that he was one out of many, who 
 acted and suffered in the same manner; and that 
 of those who did so, several had been the com- 
 panion of Christ's ministry, the ocular witnes- 
 ses, or pretending to be such, of his miracles 
 and of his resurrection. We moreover find the 
 same person referring in his letters to Kh super- 
 natural conversion, the particulars and accom- 
 panying circumstances of which, are related ii 
 the history, and which accompanying circum-l 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 227 
 
 inces, if all or any of them be true, render it 
 impossible to have been a delusion. We also 
 find him positively, and in appropriated terms, 
 asserting^ that he himself worked miracles, 
 strictly and properly so called, in support of the 
 mission which he executed ; the history, mean- 
 while, recording various passages of his minis- 
 try, which come up to the extent of this asser- 
 tion. The question is, whether falsehood was 
 ever attested by evidence like this ? Falsehoods, 
 we know, have found their way into reports, 
 into tradition, into books — but, is an example to 
 be met with, of a man voluntarily undertaking a 
 life of want and pain, of incessant fatigue, of 
 continual peril ; submitting to the loss of his 
 home and country, to stripes and stoning, to 
 tedious imprisonment, and the constant expec- 
 tation of a violent death, for the sake of carrying 
 about a story of what was false, and of what, if 
 false, he must have known to be so ? 
 
 Pain, 
 
 m 
 e £:e- 
 
 Pain also itself is not without its alleviaii*- 
 
 It may be violent and frequent : but it is se 
 
 , , . , ,, . , ,. res.^ions 
 
 both violent and long contniued: and Its pa : 
 
 , • . ' 1 -'tis m the 
 
 jntermissions become positive pleasures 
 
230 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 church, army, navy, revenue^ public officesj 
 &c. or wherein the profits are made in large 
 sums, by a few great concerns or fortunate ad- 
 ventures, in which the occupation is neither so 
 constant, nor the activity so kept alive by im- 
 mediate encouragement. For security, manual 
 arts exceed merchandize, and such as supply the 
 wants of mankind, are better than those which 
 minister to their pleasures. 
 
 But a child's vices may be of that sort, and 
 his vicious habits so incorrigible, as to afford 
 much the same reason for believing that he will 
 waste or misemploy the fortune put into his 
 power as if he were mad or foolish, in which 
 case a parent may treat him as a madman or 
 idiot; that is, may deem it sufficient to provide 
 for his support by an annuity equal to his wants 
 and innocent enjoyments, and which he may be 
 restrained from alienating:. 
 
 Let not a father hope to excuse an inofficious 
 disposition of his fortune, by alleging that 
 ** every man may do what he will with his Jj 
 own/' All the truth which this expression ^ 
 contains is, that his discretion is under no con- 
 troul of law; and that his will, however capri- 
 cious, will be valid. This by no means absolves 
 his conscience from the obligations of a parent. 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEV. 251 
 
 or imports that he may neglect, without injus- 
 tice, the several wants and expectations of his 
 family, to gratify a whim or pique, or indulge a 
 
 Inference founded in no reasonable distinction 
 w merit or situation. 
 I A father of a family is bound to adjust his 
 ponomy with a view to these demands upon his 
 brtune. He is also justified in declining ex- 
 pensive liberality, and the desire of lairing up 
 should abate proportionably. The truth is, our 
 ^^■iiildren gain not so much as we miagine in the 
 ^^hance of this world's happmess, or even of its 
 external prosperity, by setting out in it with 
 large capitals. Of those who have died rich, a 
 great part began with little. And in respect of 
 enjoyment, there is no comparison between a 
 fortune, which a man acquires by a well-applied 
 industry, or by a series of successf-S in his bu- 
 siness, and one found in his possession, or re- 
 ceived from another. A principal part of a pa- 
 rent's duty is still behind. Parents, to do them 
 justice, are seldom sparing of lessons of virtue 
 and religion ; in admonitions which cost little^ 
 and profit less ; whilst their example exhibits a 
 continual contradiction of what they teach. A 
 father,^br instance, will with much solemnity 
 and apparent earnestness, warn his son againat 
 
232 BEAUTIES OF PALEY, 
 
 idleness, excess in drinking, debauchery, an 
 extravagance, who hiiiiselt loiters aboul all day 
 without eniplovment, comes borne every night 
 drunk, is made inia^niDUS in his neighbourhood 
 by some r)rofligate connexion, and wastes the 
 fortune whicli should support, or rema.n a pro- 
 vision for his fauuHv in not, luxury, or osten- 
 tation. Or he will discourse gravely before his 
 children (>i the obligation and importance of re- 
 vealed religion, whilst they see the most frivo- 
 lous, and oftentinies feigned excuses detain him 
 from its reasonable and solemn ordinances. Or 
 he will set before them, perliaps, the supreme 
 and tremendous authority of Almighty God y 
 and the next h.)ur, if an occasion arise to excite 
 bis anger, his mirth, or his' surprize, they will 
 hear him treat iht uame of the Deity with the 
 most irreverent profanation, and sport with the 
 terms and denunciations of the phristian reli- 
 gion, as if they were the language of some ridi- 
 culous and long-exploded superstition. Now 
 even a child is not to be imposed upon by such 
 mockery. He sees through the grimace of this 
 counterfeited concern for virtue. And when 
 once this opinion has taken possession of the 
 child*s mind, it has a fatal effect upon the pa- 
 rent's influence in all subjects 3 even those, in 
 3 
 
 
BKAUTIES OF PALEY. 239 
 
 which he himself may be sincere and convinced. 
 Whereas a silent, but observable regard to the 
 duties of religion in the parent's own behaviour 
 will take a sure and gradual hold of the child's 
 ^ disposition, much beyond formal reproofs and 
 chidingSj which being generally prompted by 
 some present provocation, discover more of an- 
 ger than of principle. Virtue itself offends when 
 coupled with forbidding maimers. And some 
 virtues may be urged to such excess, or brought 
 forwjjrd so unseasonably as to discourage and 
 repel those who observe, and are acted upon by 
 them, instead of exciting an inclination to imi- 
 tate them and ado pi them. For instance, it a 
 father's economy degenerate into a minute and 
 teazing parsimony, it is odds but the son who 
 has suffered under it, set out a sworn enemy to all 
 rules of order and frugality. If a father's piety 
 be morose, rigorous, and tinged with melan- 
 choly, perpetually ^breaking in upon the recrea- 
 tion of his family, and surfeiting them with the 
 language, of religion on all occasions,, there ig 
 danger lest the son carry from home with him 
 a settled prejudice against seriousness and reli- 
 gion, as inconsistent with every plan of a plea- 
 surable life, and turn out when be mixes with 
 the world, a character of levity or dissolutenesSo 
 
«34 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Peculiarities of the Discourses and Doctrines oj 
 Christ. 
 
 . There is still another view, in which our 
 I ord's discourses deserve to be considered ; and 
 that is, in their negative character — not in what 
 they did, but in what they did not contain. 
 First. They exhibit no particular description of 
 the invisible world. The future happiness of 
 the good, and the misery of the bad, which is 
 all we want to be assured of, is directly and po- 
 sitively affirmed, and is represented by meta- 
 phors and comparisons, which were plainly in- 
 tended as metaphors and comparisons, and 
 nothing more. As to the rest, a solemn reserve 
 is maintained. The question concerning the 
 woman who had been married to seven brothers, 
 ^* Whose shall she be in the resurrection" was 
 of a nature calculated to have drawn from Christ 
 a mofe circumstantial account of the state ot the 
 human species in their future existence. He 
 cut short, however, the inquiry by an answer, 
 which at once rebuked intruding curiosity, and 
 was agreeable to the best apprehensions we are 
 able to form upon the subject; viz. " That 
 they w^ho are accounted worthy of that resurrec- 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 235 
 
 shall be as the angels of God in heaven/' 
 I lay a stress upon this reserve, because it repels 
 the suspicion of enthusiasm ; for enthusiasm is 
 wont to expatiate upon the condition of the de- 
 parted above all other subjects ; and with a wild 
 particularity. It is moreover, a topic which is 
 always listened to with greediness. The teacher 
 therefore whose principal purpose is to draw 
 upon himself attention is sure to be full of it. 
 The Koran of Mahomet is half made up of it. 
 :/ 2. Our Lord enjoined no austerities 5 he re- 
 commended none as carrying men to a higher 
 degree of Divine favour. In this respect, com- 
 pare Christianity as it carae from Christ, wuh 
 the same religion after it fell into other hands ; 
 with the extravagant merit very soon ascribed to 
 celibacy, solitude, voluntary poverty ; with the 
 rigours of an ascetic, and the vows of a monas- 
 tic life ; the hair shirt, the watchings, the mid- 
 night prayers, the obmutescence, the gloom 
 and mortification of religious orders, and of 
 those who aspired to religious perfection, 
 
 3. Our Saviour uttered no impassioned devo- 
 tion. There was no heat in his piety, or in the 
 language in which he expressed it; no vehement 
 or rapturous ejaculations, no violent urgency 
 
236 BEAUTIES OF PALEY 
 
 in his prayers. The Lord's prayer is a model of 
 calm devotion. His words in the garden are un^ 
 affected expressions, of a deep indeed but sober 
 piety. He never appears to have been worked 
 up into any thing like that elation or that emotion 
 of spirits, which is occasionally observed in most 
 of those to whom the name of enthusiast can in 
 any degree be applied. I feel a respect for 
 ipethodists, because I believ? that there is to be 
 foujid amongst them much sincere piety and 
 avaihng, though not always well-informed 
 Christianity : yet I never attended a meeting of 
 their's, but 1 came away with the reflection how 
 cnScrent wnat i neard vt'as from what I read ; 
 I do not mean in doctrine but in manner ; — how 
 different from the cahrmess, the sobriety, the good 
 sense, and I may add the strength and authority 
 of our Lord's discourses. 
 
 Pecuniary Bounty, 
 
 They -who rank pity amongst the original im- 
 pulses of our nature, rightly contend, that when 
 this principle prompts us to the relief of human 
 misery, it indicates the Divine intention and our 
 duty. Besides this, the poor have a claim 
 
^Bul 
 
 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 237 
 
 nded in the law of nature, which may be thus 
 explained. No one being able to produce a 
 charter from heaven had any better title to a par- 
 ticular possession than his next neighbour. There 
 were reasons for mankind's agreeing upon a sepa- 
 ration of this common fund ; and God for these 
 reasons is presumed to have ratified. But this 
 separation was made and consented to upon the 
 expectation and condition that every one should 
 have left a sufficiency for his subsistence, or the 
 means of procuring it : and as no fixed lav/s for 
 the regulation of property can be so c( itrived as 
 to provide for the relief of every case nd distress 
 which may arise, these cases and distresses, when 
 their right and share in the common >t:ock were 
 given up or taken from them, were supposed to 
 be left to the voluntary bounty of those who 
 might be acquainted with ike exigencies of their 
 situation, and in the way of affording assistance. 
 And, therefore when the partition of property is 
 rigidly maintained, against the claims of indigence, 
 it is to be maintained in opposition to the inteiliion 
 of those who made it, and to his, who is the 
 Supreme Proprietor of every thir-e, and who has 
 filled the world with plcntuousness, for the 
 sustenation and comfort of all whom he sends 
 into it. 
 

 238 BEAUTIES OF PALEY* 
 
 Perjurv. 
 
 Perjury is a sin of great deliberation. The 
 juror (swearer) has the thought of God and of 
 religion upon his mind at the same time: at least 
 there are very few that can shake them off en- 
 tirely. He offends therefore, if he do offend, 
 with a high hand in the face, that is, in defiance 
 of the sanctions of religion. His offence im- 
 plies a disbelief, or contempt of God's knowledge, 
 power, and justice; which cannot be said of 
 a lie, where there is nothing to carry the mind 
 to any reflection upon the Deity, or the divincj 
 attributes at all. 
 
 2. Perjury violates a superior confidence; 
 Mankind must trust to one another ; and they 
 have nothing better to trust to, than one another's 
 oath. Hence legal adjudications, which govern 
 and affect every right and interest on this side 
 the grave, of necessity proceed, and depend upon 
 oaths. Perjury, therefore, in its general conse- 
 quence, strikes at the security of reputation, 
 property, and even of life itself. A lie cannot do 
 the same mischief, because the same credit is 
 not given to it. And, when we consider what 
 reliance is necessarily placed upon oaths, that all 
 judical decisions proceed upon testimony ; that 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 239 
 
 consequently there is not a right that a man pos- 
 sesses, of which false witnesses may not deprive 
 him ; that reputation, property, and life itself, 
 lie open to the attempts of peijury ; that it may 
 often be committed without a possibility of con- 
 tradiction or discovery; that the success and 
 prevalence of this vice tend to introduce the most 
 grievous and fatal injustice into the administra- 
 tion of human affairs, or such a distrust of tes- 
 timony, as must create universal embarrasment 
 and confusion, we shall be brought probably to 
 agree that perjury in its punishment, especially 
 that which is attempted in solemn evidence, and 
 In the face of a court of justice, should be placed 
 upon a level with the most flagitious frauds. 
 
 Pious Frauds, 
 
 As they are improperly called, pretended in- 
 spirations, forged books, and counterfeit miracles, 
 are impositions of the most serious nature. It is 
 possible that they may sometimes, though seldom, 
 have been set up and encouraged with a design 
 to do good : — but the good they aim at, requires 
 that the belief of them should be perpetual, which 
 is hardly possible ; and the detection of the fraud 
 is sure to disparage the credit of all pretensions 
 
240 BEAUTIES OF PA LEY. 
 
 of the same nature. Christianity has suffered 
 more injury from this cause, than from all other 
 causes put together. 
 
 Traytr, 
 
 Let it well be observed, that whensoever the 
 scripture speaks of prayer, whensoever it uses 
 that term, or other terms equivalent to it, it means 
 prayer, sincere and earnest, in the full and proper 
 sense of these words, prayer proceeding from jthe 
 heart and »oul. It does not mean any particular 
 form of words whatever : it does not me^ anj^ 
 service of the lips, any utterance or proi»mci- 
 aiionof prayer, inerely as such'; but suppli- 
 cation actually and truly proceeding from the 
 heart. Prayer may be solemn without being 
 sincere. Every decency, every propriety, everv 
 visible mark and token of prayer may be present, 
 yet the heart not engaged. This , is the requisite 
 which must make prayer availing \ this is the re- 
 quisite indeed which must make it that which 
 the SCI ipture means wheneter it speaks of prayer. 
 Every ourwar 1 act of worship, without this par- 
 ticipation of the heart, fails ; not because men do 
 n« t pray sincerely, but because in scripture senscj 
 they do not pray at all. I fear that many under- 
 
K BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 24f 
 
 %tand and reflect little upon what they are about, 
 upon the cxceedhigly great consequence of what 
 they are asking when they pray to God, as we 
 do in our liturgy '^ to cleanse the thoughts of our 
 hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit,'' " to 
 make clean our hearts within us," " not to take 
 his Holy Spirit from us,'"* «^ to give us increase of 
 grace,'' " to grant that his Holy Spirit may in 
 all things direct and rule our hearts." 
 
 These are momentous petitions, little as we 
 inay perceive, or think, or account of them at 
 the time. It has been truly said, that we are 
 hardly ever certain of praying aright, except 
 when we pray for the Spirit of God. When we 
 pray for temporal blessings, we do not know, 
 though God does, whether we ask what is really 
 for our good : when we ask for the assistance and 
 sanctification of God's spirit in the work and 
 warfare of religion, we ask for that which in its 
 nature is very good, and which without our great 
 fault will be good. 
 
 The Lord's prayer, for a succession of solemn 
 thoughts, for fixing the attention upon a few 
 great points, for suitableness to every condition, 
 for sufficiency, for conciseness without obscurity, 
 for the weight and real importance of its petitions? 
 is without an equal or rival. 
 
«42 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Prayer, Repetitions in, \ 
 
 The spirit of devotion reconciles us to repe- 
 titions. In other subjects, repetition soon be- 
 comes tiresome and offensive. In devotion it is 
 different.; Deep, earnest, heart-felt devotion, 
 naturally vents itself in repetition. Observe a 
 person racked by excruciating bodily pain ; 
 or a person suddenly struck with the news of some 
 dreadful calamity ; or a person labouring under 
 some cutting anguish of soul; and you will always 
 find him breaking out into^aculations, implor- 
 ing from God, support, mercy, and relief, over 
 and over again, uttering the same prayer in the 
 same v(rords. Nothing he finds suits so well the 
 extremity of his sufferings, the urgency of his 
 wants, as a continual recurrence to the same 
 cries, and the same call for a divine aid. Our 
 Lord himself, in his last agony, affords a high 
 example of what we are saying: thrice ,he be- 
 sought his heavenly father; and thrice he used 
 the same words. Repetition therefore, is not 
 only tolerable in devotion, but it is natural : it is 
 even dictated by a sense of suffering and an 
 acuteness of feeling. It is coldness of affection 
 which requires to be enticed and gratified by con- 
 tinual novelty of idea or expression or action 
 
BfeAUtIEk Olf PAlEt. ^43 
 
 The repetition of pharisaical prayefS which our 
 Lord censures, are to be understood of those 
 prayers which run out into iiiere formahty and 
 into great length; no sentiment or affection of 
 the heart accompanying, but uttered as a task 
 from an opinion, of which our Lord justly 
 notices the absurdity) that they should really 
 be heard for their much speaking. Actuated 
 by the spirit of devotion, we can never offend in 
 this way, we can never be the object of this 
 censure^ 
 
 Prayer, Forms of. 
 
 Liturgies, or preconcerted forms of public de- 
 votion, being neither enjoined in Scripture, 
 nor forbidden, there can be no good reason for 
 either receiving or rejecting them, but that of 
 expediency : which expediency is to be gathered 
 from a comparison of the advantages and disad- 
 vantage? attending upon this mode of worship, 
 with those which usually accompany extemporary 
 prayer. The advantages of a liturgy are these ; 
 First, That it prevents absurd, extravagant, or 
 impious addresses to God, which in an order of 
 men so numerous as the sacerdotal, the folly and 
 enthusiasm of many, must always be in danger of 
 M 2 
 
244 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 producing, where the conduct of the pubhc wor- 
 ship is entrusted without restraint or assistance, 
 to the discretion and abilities of the officiating 
 minister. Secondly, It prevents the confusion 
 of extemporary prayer, in which the congregation 
 being ignorant of each petition before they hear it, 
 and having little or no time to join in it, after they 
 have heard it, are confounded between their atten- 
 tion to the minister, and to their own devotion ..The 
 devotion of the hearer is necessarily suspended 
 until a petition be concluded ; and before he can 
 assent to- it, or properl wdopt it, his attention 
 is called off Jo keep pace with what succeeds. 
 Add to this, that the mind of the hearer is held 
 in continual expectation, and detained from its 
 proper business by the very novelty with which 
 it is gratified. A congregation may be pleased 
 and affected with the prayers and devotion of 
 their minister, withour joining in them ; in like 
 manner as an audience oftentimes are with the 
 representation of devotion upon the stage, who 
 nevertheless, come away, without .being con- 
 scious of having exercised any act of devotion 
 themselves. But theadvantages of a liturgy are con- 
 nected with two principal inconveniences : First, 
 That forms of prayer composed in one agebecpme 
 unfit for another, by the unavoidable chanoe of 
 language, circumstances and opinions : secondly, 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 245 
 
 at the perpetual repetition of the same form of 
 words produces weariness and inattentiveness in 
 thfe congregation. However, both these incon- 
 veniences are in their nature invincible. Occa- 
 sional revisions of a liturgy may obviate the first, 
 and devotion will supply a remedy of the second : 
 or they may both subsist in a considerable degree, 
 and yet be outweighed by the objections which 
 are inseparable from extemporary prayer. It 
 would be no difficult task to contract the litur- 
 gies of most churches into half their present 
 compass, and yet retain every distinct petition, 
 as well as the substance of every sentiment 
 which can be found in them. But, brevity may 
 be studied too much. The composer of a liturgy 
 must not sit down with the hope, that the devo- 
 tion of the congregation will be uniformly sus- 
 tained throughout ; or that every part will be 
 attended to by every hearer. If this could be 
 depended upon, a very short service would be 
 sufficient for every purpose that can be answered 
 OT designed by social worship: but seeing the 
 attention of most men is apt to wander and re- 
 turn at intervals,' and by starts, he will admit a 
 certain degree of an?plification and repetition ; 
 of diversity of expression upon the same subject, 
 and variety of phrase and form, with little 
 
245 . BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 addition to the sense, that the attention which 
 has been slunibering or absent during one part 
 of the service, may be excited and recalled by 
 another ; and the assembly kept tugether until 
 it mav reasonably be presumed, that the most 
 heedless and inadvertent have performed some 
 act of devotion, and the most desultory attention 
 caught by some part or other of the public ser- 
 vice. On the other hand, the too great length 
 of church services is more unfavourable to piety^ 
 than almost any fault of composition may be. It 
 beg'^ts in many? an eaHy and unconquerable dis- 
 like to the public worship of their country or 
 communion. They come to church seldom; 
 and enter the doors under the apprehension of ^ 
 tedious attendance, which they prepare for at 
 first, or soon after relieve by composing them- 
 selves to a drowsy forgetfulness of the place and 
 duty, or by sending abroad their thoughts in 
 search of more amusing occupation. 
 
 The length and repeiitions complained of in 
 our liturgy, are not so much the fault of thp 
 compilers, as the uniting iiito one service what 
 was originally distributed into three. 
 
 Of forms of prayer which offend not egregi- 
 ously against truth ^nd decency, that has th^ 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 247 
 
 most merit, which is best calculated to keep alive 
 the devotion of the assembly. It were to be 
 wished therefore, that every part of a liturgy 
 were personally applicable to every individual iii 
 the congregation ; and that nothing were intro- 
 duced to interrupt the passion or damp the flatne 
 which it is not easy to rekindle. Upon this prin- 
 ciple the state prayers in our liturgy, should be 
 fewer and shorter. Whatever may be pretended, 
 the people do not feel that concern in the sub- 
 ject of these prayers, which must be felt, or ever 
 prayer be made to God with earnestness. The 
 state style likewise seems unseasonably introduced 
 into these prayers, as ill according with that an- 
 nihilation of human greatness, of which every 
 act that carries the mind to God, presents the 
 idea. If sects and scliisms be an evil, they are as 
 much to be avoided by one side as the other, if 
 sectaries are blamed for taking unnecessary of- 
 fence, estahlhhed churches are no less culpable 
 for unnecessarily giving it : they are bound at 
 least to produce a corpmand/or a reason of equi- 
 valent utility from shutting out any from their 
 communion, by mixing ^^ith divme worship 
 doctrines which, whether true or false, are un- 
 connected in their nature with devotion. 
 
248 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 Promises, 
 
 ' Where the terms of a promise admit of more 
 senses than one, the promise is to be per- 
 formed ^* in that sense in which the promiser 
 apprehended at the time that the promisee re- 
 ceived it/' 
 
 It is not the sense in which the promiser ac- 
 tually intended it, that always governs the inter- 
 pretation of an equivocal promise ; because at 
 ihat rate, you might excite expectations 
 which you never meant, nor would, be obliged 
 to satisfy. Much less is it the sense in which the 
 promisee actually received the promise ; for, 
 according to that rule, you might be drawn 
 into engagements which ybu never designed to 
 undertake. It must therefore be the sense (for « 
 there is no other remaining) in which the pro- 'I 
 miser believed the promisee accepted his pro- 
 mise. 
 
 Again, promises are not binding, 1st, where 
 the performance is impossible. 
 
 S. Where tht performance is unlawful. 
 
 3. AVherethey contradict a former promise. 
 
 4. Promises are not binding before accept- 
 ance; that IS, before notice given to the promi- 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 249 
 
 see ; for, where the promise is beneficial, if no- 
 tice be given, acceptance may be presumed. 
 Until the promise be communicated to the 
 promisee, it is the same only as a resolution in 
 the mind of the promiser, which may be altered 
 at pleasure. For no expectation has been excited, 
 therefore none can be disappointed. 
 
 But suppose I declare my intention to a third 
 person, who, without any authority from me, 
 conveys my declaration to the promisee; is that 
 such a notice as will be binding upon mc ? It 
 certainly is not : for I have not done that which 
 constitutes the essence of a promise — I have not 
 voluntarili/ excited expectation. 
 
 5. Promises are not binding which are released 
 by the promisee. 
 
 Prohttion, 
 
 \ A state totally incapable of misery^ could not 
 be a state of probation. It would not be a state 
 in which virtue or vice could beev^en exercised at 
 all : I mean that large class of virtues and vices 
 which we comprehend under the name of social 
 qualities. The existence of these depends upon 
 the existence of misery, as well as of happiness 
 
 M 3 
 
250 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 in this world, and of different degrees of both : 
 because their very nature and difierence, consists 
 in promoting or preventing, in augmenting or 
 diminishing, in causing, aggravating or reheving, 
 the wants, sufferings, and distresses of our fellow 
 creatures. Compassion, charity, humanity, be- 
 nevolence, nor even justice, could have any place 
 in the world, if there were not human conditions 
 to excite them ; objects and sufferings upon 
 which they might operate; misery as well 
 as happiness which might be affected by 
 them. 
 
 Few things are easier than to perceive, to feel, 
 to acknowledge, to extol the goodness of God, 
 the bounty of providence, and the beauties of 
 nature, when all things go well ; when our 
 health, our spirits, our circumstances conspire 
 to fill our hearts with gladness, and our tongues 
 with praise. This is easy, this is delightful. 
 None but they who are sunk in sensuality, sot- 
 tishness, and stupefaction, or whose understand- 
 ings are dissipated by frivolous pursuits : none 
 but the most giddy and insensible, can be desti- 
 tute of these sentiments. But this is n*bt the 
 trial or the proof. It is in the chanjbers of 
 sickness, under the stroke of affliction; amidst 
 he pi nchings of want, the groans of pain, the 
 
to 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALEYa 251 
 
 pressures of infirmity ; in grief, in misfortune, 
 through gloom and horror, that it will be seen 
 whether we hold fast our hope, our tonfidence, 
 our trust in God ; wheiher this hope and confi- 
 dence be able to produce in us resignation, ac- 
 quiescence and submission. It seems there- 
 fore, to be argutd with great probability, 
 from the general economy of things around 
 us, that our present state was meant for 
 a state of probation ; because, positively it con- 
 tains that admixture of good and evil which 
 ought to be found in such a state to make it 
 answer its purpose, viz, the production, exercise, 
 and improvement of virtue. And because, nega- 
 tively, It could not be intended either for a state 
 of absolute happiness, or a state of absolute 
 misery, neither of which it is. Of all views 
 under which human life has been considered, the 
 most reasonable then is, that which regards it as 
 a state of probation. If the course of the world 
 was separated from the contrivances of nature, 
 I do not know that it would be necessary to look 
 for any other account of it than what is con- 
 tained in the answer, that events rise up by 
 chance. But since the contrivances of nature 
 decidedly evince intention ; and since -the 
 course of the world, and the contrivances o( 
 
252 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 nature, have the same author ; we are, by the 
 force of this connection led to believe that the 
 appearance under which events take place, is re- 
 concileable v^ ith the supposition of design on the 
 part of the deity ; and if it can be shown that 
 the appearance of disorder is consistent with the 
 uses of life, as a pre para lory state, or, that it 
 promotes these uses, then so far as this hypothe- 
 sis may be accepted, the ground of the difficulty 
 is cone away. 
 
 Of Property, 
 
 If you should see a flock of pigeons in a field 
 of corn : and if (instead of each picking where 
 and what it liked, taking just as much as it 
 wanted, and no more) you should see* ninety- 
 nine of them gathering all they got into a heap; 
 reserving nothing for themselves but the chaff 
 and the refuse 5 keeping this heap for one, and 
 that the weakest, perhaps the worst pigeon of 
 the flock ; sitting round, and looking on all the 
 winter, whilst this one was devouring, throwing 
 about and wasting it: and if a pigeon more 
 hardy or hungry than the rest, touched a grain 
 of the hoard, all the others flying upon it and 
 tearing it to pieces ; if you should gee this, you 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 253 
 
 would see nothing more than what is every' day 
 practised and established among men. Among 
 men, you see the ninety and nine toiling and 
 scraping together a heap of superfluities for one 
 (and this one too oftentimes the feeblest and 
 worst of the whole set, a child, a woman, a 
 madman, or a fool), getting nothing for them- 
 selves all the while but a little of the coarsest of 
 the provision, which their own industry produ- 
 ces ; looking quietly on while they see the fruits 
 oi all their labour spent or spoiled ; and if one 
 of the number take or touch a particle of the 
 hoaKl, the others joining-against him and hang- 
 ing him for the theft. 
 
 But of the use of the institution of property, 
 we may judge ; for what would be the effects of 
 a community of right to the productions of the 
 earth ? 7 his will appear from the trifling speci- 
 mens which we see of it at present. A cherry- 
 tree in a hedge-row, nuts in a wood, the grass 
 of an unstinted pasture, are seldom of any ad- 
 vantage to any body, because people do not 
 wait for the proper season of reaping them. 
 Corn, if any were sown, would never ripen ; 
 lambs and calves, would never grow up to sheep 
 and cows ; because the first person that met 
 them would reflect that he had better take them 
 
254 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 as they are than leave them for another. Proper- 
 ty prevents contests. War and waste, tiimuhs 
 and confusion must be unavoiuable and eter- 
 nal where there is not enough for all, and where 
 there are no rules to adjust the division. It also 
 improves the conveniency of living; it enables 
 mankind to divide themselves into distinct pro- 
 fessions. Much of the advantage of civilized 
 over savage life, depends upon this. When a 
 man is from necessity his own tailor, tent-maker, 
 carpenter, cook, huntsman and fisherman, it is 
 not probable that he will be expert at any of his 
 callings. Hence the rude habitations, furniture, 
 clothing and implements of savages ; and the 
 tedious length of time which all their operations 
 require. Upon these several accounts, we may 
 venture, with a few exceptions, to pronounce, 
 that even the poorest and worst provided in coun- 
 tries where property, and the consequences of 
 property prevail, are in a better situation with 
 respect to food, raiment, and the necessaries of 
 life, than any are in places where most things re- 
 main in common. I do not know whether our at- 
 tachment top ;Y)p?r/y be not something more than 
 the mere dictate of reason, or even than the mere 
 effect of association. Property communicates a 
 charm to whatever is the object of it. It is the 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. S$5 
 
 I 
 
 closest and the longest. It endearsi to the child 
 its plaything, to the peasant his cottage, to the 
 landholder his estate. It supplies the place of 
 prospect and scenery. Instead of coveting the 
 beauty of distant situations, it teaches every man 
 to find it in his own. It gives boldness and 
 grandeur to plains and fens, tinge and colouring 
 to clays and fallows. Money is the sweetener of 
 human toil ; the substitute for coercion ; the re- 
 conciler of labour with liberty. It is, moreover, 
 the stimulant of enterprise in all projects and 
 undertakings, as well of diligence in the most 
 beneficial arts and employments. Now did af- 
 fluence, when possessed, contribute nothing to 
 happiness, or nothing beyond the mere supply 
 of necessaries ; and the secret should come to 
 be discovered ; we might be in dauger of losing 
 great part of the uses, which are at present de- 
 rived to us through this important medium. — 
 Noi only would the tranquillity of social life be 
 put in peril by the want of a motive tojUtach 
 men to their private concerns, but the satisfac- 
 tion which all men receive from success in their 
 respective occupations, which ccllectivtly con- 
 stitutes the great mass of human comfort would 
 be done away in its very principle. It is of the 
 
234 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 nature of property not only to be irregularly dis- 
 tributed, but to run into large masses. Public 
 laws should be so constructed as to favour its 
 diffusion as much as they can. 
 
 Inequality of property in the degree in which 
 it exists in most countries of Europe, ftbstract- 
 edly considered, is an evil ; but it is an evil which 
 flows from those rules concerning the acquisition 
 and disposal of property, by which men are in- 
 vited to industry, and by which the object of 
 their industry is rendered secure and valuable. — 
 If there be any great inequality unconnected 
 with this origin, it ought to be corrected. 
 
 F roper lyy Exclusive, 
 
 It is the general intention of God Almighty, 
 that the produce of the earth be applied to the 
 use of man. This appears from the constitu- 
 tion of nature, or, if you will, from his ex- 
 press declaration. Under this general donation, 
 one man has the same right as another. You 
 pluck an apple from a tree, or take a lamb from 
 a flock, for your immediate use and nourishment, 
 and I do the same: and we both plead for what 
 we do, the general intention of the supreme pro- 
 prietor. So far all is right : but you cannot 
 claim the whole tree, or the whole flock, and 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 257 
 
 IxclucTe me from any share in them, and plead 
 he general intention for what you do. This 
 lea will not serve you ; you must shew some- 
 hing more. You must shew, by probable argu- 
 aents at least, that it is God's intention that 
 these things should be parcelled out to indivi- 
 duals ; and that the established distribution un- 
 der which you claim, should be upholden ; shew 
 me this and I am satisfied. But until this be 
 shewn, the general intention, which is all that 
 does appear, must prevail ; and under that my 
 title is as good as your's. Now there is but one 
 argument that the thing cannot be enjoyed at 
 all, or enjoyed with nearly the same advantage 
 while it continues in common, as when appro- 
 priated. This is true, where there is not enough 
 for all, or where the article in question requires 
 care or labour in the production or preservation : 
 but where no such reason obtains, and the thing 
 is in its nature capable of being enjoyed by as 
 many as viill, it seem an arbitrary usurpation 
 upon the rights of mankind, to confine the use 
 of ii to any. If a medicinal spring were disco- 
 vered in a piece of ground, private property, co- 
 pious enough for f'very purpose to which it could 
 be applied, I would award a compensation to the 
 owner of the field, and a liberal profit to the au^- 
 
lJ5a BEAUTIES OF PALBY. 
 
 thor of the discovery, especially if he had be- 
 stowed pains or expense upon the search : but I 
 question whether any human laws would justify 
 the owner, in prohibiting mankind from the use 
 of the water, or setting such a price upon it as 
 would almosi amount to a prohibition. If there 
 be fisheries, which are inexhaustible, as the cod- 
 fishery upon the banks of Newfoundland, and 
 the herring-fishery in the British seas, are said to 
 be, then all those conventions by which one or 
 two nations claim to themselves the exclusive en- 
 joyment of these fisheries, are so many encroach- 
 ments upon the general rights of mankind. 
 
 Upon the sanje principle may be determined 
 a question, which makes a great figure m the 
 books of natural law, utrum mare sit Iherum f 
 that is, as 1 understand it, whether the exclu- 
 sive right of navigating particular seas, or a con- 
 troul over the navigation of those seas, can be 
 claimed, consistently with the law of nature, by 
 any nation ? What is necessary for each na- 
 tion's safety, we allow ; as tb.eirown bays, creeks 
 and harbours, the sea contiguous to, that is, 
 within cannon-shot, or three leagues of their 
 coast. And upon this principle of safety (if 
 upon any principle) must be defended the claim 
 of the Venetian State to the Adriatic; of Dea- 
 
BBAUTIES or PALEY. 259 
 
 mark to the Baltic sea 5 and of Great Britain to 
 the seas which invest the island. But when 
 Spain asserts a right to the Pacific Ocean, or 
 Portugal to the Indian Seas ; or when any na- 
 tion extends its pretensions much beyond the li- 
 inits of its own territories^ they erect a claim 
 which interferes with the bentvoletit designs of 
 Providence, and which no human authority can 
 justify. 
 
 Another right, which may be called a general 
 right, as it is incidental to every man who is in 
 a situation to claim it, is the right of e\treme 
 necessity, by which is meant, a right to use or 
 destroy another's property, when it is necessary 
 for our own preservation to do so ; as a right to 
 take, with or without the owner's leave, the 
 first food, clothes, or shelter we meet with, when, 
 we are in danger of perishing through want of 
 them 5 a right to throw goods over-board to save 
 tb^ ^ip J or to pull down a house in order to 
 stop the progress of a fire 5 and a tew other in- 
 stances of the same kind. Of which right the 
 foundation seems to be this, hat when property 
 was first instituted, the instt ution was not in- 
 tended to operate to the destruction or any; 
 therefore, when such consequences would fol- 
 low, all regard to it is superseded. Restitution 
 
260 -BilAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 however is due when in our power; because the 
 laws of property are to be adhered to so far as 
 consists with safety; and because restitution, 
 which- is one '6f those laws, supposes the danger 
 to be over. But what is to be restored ? Not 
 the full vahie of the property destroyed ; but 
 what it was worth at the time of destroying it, 
 which, considering the danger it was in of pe- 
 rishing, inis:ht be very httle. 
 
 From reason then, or revelation, or from both 
 together, it appears to be God Almighty's in- 
 tention that the productions of the earth should 
 be applied to the sustentation of human life. — 
 Goinsequently all waste and misapplication of 
 these productions is contrary to the -divine inten- 
 tion and will, and therefore wrong, for the same 
 reason that any other crime is so.' Such as what 
 is related of William the Conqueror, the con- 
 verting of twenty manors into a forest for hunt- 
 ing; or another act, which is not much Better, 
 letting of large tracts of land lie barren, because 
 the owner cUnnot cultivate them, nor will part 
 with them to those wtio can ; or destroying, or 
 suffering to perish, great part of an article of hu- 
 man provision, in order to enhance the price of 
 the remainder, which is said to have been till 
 lately the case with fish caught upon the English 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 26l 
 
 >ast. To this head also may be referred^ the 
 expending of human food on superfluous dogs or 
 horses, and lastly, the reducing the quantity, in 
 order to alter the qualify, and to alter it geui^rally 
 for the worse ; as the distillation of bread corn, 
 the boiling down of solid meat for, sauces, es- 
 sences, &c. But it, has not as yet entered into 
 the minds of mankind to refieQt that it is a duly 
 to add what we can to tt^e coiTjmon slock of pro- 
 vision, by extracting out jof our estates the most 
 they will yield; or that it is any sin to neglect 
 this. 
 
 Prudence compared with Duty, 
 
 There is always understood to be _ a difference 
 between an acioi prudence and an act of du/y. 
 Thus if I distrusted a man who owed me a sum 
 of money, 1 should reckon it an apt of prudence 
 to get another person bound with him ; but I 
 should hardly call it an act of duty. On the 
 other hand it would be thought a very unusujjiJL 
 and loose kind of language,, to, sa^, that^.a^i 
 had made such a promise, it was prudent to per- 
 form it ; or, that as my friend, wh^n, he went 
 abroadj placed-a box of jewelS;ip..ii[iy,,,hand, it 
 would h^ ' priident /m me to pTeserve.il for 
 
iiS^ iftEAUTIES OF PALET. 
 
 him till he returned. Now in what, you will 
 ask, does the difference consist, inasmuch as^ 
 according to our account of the matter, both in 
 the one case and the other, in acts of duty as 
 well as in acts of prudence, we consider solely 
 what we ourselves shall gain or lose by the act. 
 The difference, and the only difference is this ; 
 that in one case we consider what we shall gain 
 or lose in the present world ; in the other case, 
 we consider also what we shall gain or lose in the 
 world to come. 
 
 Political Reform. 
 
 Upon questions of reform, the habit of re- 
 flection to be encouraged, is a sober comparison 
 of the constitution under which we live, not with 
 models of speculative perfection, but with the 
 actual chance of obtaining a better. This turn 
 of thought will generate a political disposition, 
 equally removed from that puerile admiration of 
 present establishments which sees no fault, and 
 can endure no change, and that distempered sen- 
 sibility which is alive only to perceptions of in- 
 conveniency, and is too impatient to be c^*:'li- 
 vered from the uneasiness which it feels, to com- 
 pute either the peril or expense of the remedy. 
 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALfcY. 263 
 
 Reformation ; its perpetual prdcticabiUty , 
 
 The danger is very great of a man, who is en- 
 gaged in a course of sin, never reforming from his 
 sin at all. Oh, let this danger be known ! let it 
 stand like a flaming sword to turn us aside from 
 the road to vice. Let it offer itself in its full mag- 
 nitude. Let it strike, as it oilght, the souls of 
 those who are upon the brink, perhaps, of their 
 whole future i^te ; who are tempted ; and who are 
 deliberating about entering upon some coarse of 
 sin. Let also the perception and cohvincement 
 of this danger sink deep into the hearts of all 
 who are in such a situation, as that they must 
 either reform or perish. We aj)prize them that 
 their best hope is in a sudden and complete 
 change, sincerely begim, faithfully persisted in ; 
 broken, it is possible, by human frailty, but 
 never changed into a different plan; never de- 
 clining to enter into a compromised, partial, gra- 
 dual reform; on the contrary, resumed with the 
 with the same sincerity as that with which it set 
 out, and with a force of resolution, and an ear- 
 nestness of prayer, increased in proportion to 
 the clearer view they have acquired of their dari'^ 
 ger and of their want. 
 
264 BEAUTIES OF PALEr* 
 
 Jieligious Seriausness, 
 
 A cause which has a strong tendency to des- 
 troy religious seriousness, and which almost in- 
 fallibly prevents its formation and growth in 
 young minds, is levity in conversation upon re- 
 ligious subjects, or upon subjects concerned 
 \vith religion. Whether we regard the practice 
 with respect to those who use it, or to those 
 who hear it, it is highly to be blamed, and is 
 productive of great mischief. In those who use 
 it, it amounts almost to a proof that they are 
 (destitute of religious seriousness. The principle 
 itself is destroyed in them, or was never formed 
 in them. Upon those who hear, its effect is 
 this : it they have concern about religion, and 
 and the disposition towards religion which they 
 ought to have, and which we signify by this 
 word seriousness^ they will be inwardly shocked 
 and oftended by -the levity with which they hear 
 it treated. They will, as it were, resent such 
 treatment of a subject, which by them has al- 
 ways been thought upon with awe, and dread, 
 and veneration. But the pain with which they 
 were at first affected, goes off by hearing fre- 
 quently the same sort of language; and then 
 they will lie almost sure, if they examine the 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 266 
 
 itate of their minds as to religion, to feel a 
 change in themselves for the worse. This is the 
 danger to which those are exposed, who had be- 
 fore imbibed serious impressions. Those who 
 had not, will be prevented by such conversation 
 from ever imbibing them at all ; so that its in- 
 fluence is in all cases pernicious. 
 
 The turn which this kvity usually takes, is in 
 jests, and raillery upon the opinions, or the pe- 
 culiarities, or the persons of men of particular 
 sects, or who bear particular names ; especially 
 if they happen to be more serious than ourselves. 
 And of late this loose, and I can hardly help cal- 
 ling it profane humour, has been directed chiefly 
 against the followers of Methodism. But a- 
 gainst whomsoever it happens to be pointed, it 
 has all the bad effects both upon the speaker and 
 hearer which we have noticed j and, as in other 
 instances, so in this, give me leave to say, that 
 it is very much misplaced. In the first place^ 
 were the doctrines and sentiments of those who 
 bear this name ever so foolish and extravagant 
 (I do not say that they ^e either) this proposi- 
 tion I shall always maintain to be true, viz. that 
 the wildest opinion that ever was entertained in 
 matters of religion, is more rational than un- 
 concera about these matters. Upon this subject 
 w 
 
t&O Xl^AUTlES OF PA LEY. 
 
 tiotliing Is so absurd ns indifference ; no folly so 
 contemptible as thoughtlessness and levity. In 
 the next place, do inethodists deserve this treat- 
 ment ? Be their particular doctrines what they 
 may^ the professors of these doctrines appear to 
 be in earnest about them ; and a man who is in 
 earnest in religion cannot be a bad man^ still 
 less a fit subject for derision. I am no melhodist 
 nivself. In their doctrines I differ from them. 
 But I contend, that sincere men are not for 
 these, or indeed any doctrines to be made laugh- 
 ing stocks to others. I do not bring in the case 
 of methodists for the purpose of vindicating 
 their tenets, but for the purpose of observing 
 (and I wish that the observation may .weigh with 
 all my readers) that the custom of treating their 
 characters and persons, their preaching or iheir 
 preachers, their meetings or worship with scorn, 
 has the pernicious consequence of destroying 
 our own seriousness, together with the serious- 
 ness of those who hear or join in such sort of 
 conversation ; especially if they be young per- 
 sons ; and I am ; persuaded that much mischief 
 is actually done this way. 
 
 There exists another prejudice against religi- 
 ous seriousness, arising from a notion very 
 commonly entertained, viz. that religion leads 
 
lEAUTlES OF ?ALEr. S67 
 
 to gloom and 7nela?icholt/. This notion^ lam 
 t:onvinced, is a mistake. Some persons arc 
 continually subject to melancholy, which is as 
 much a disease in them, as the ague is a dis- 
 ease ; and it may happen that such man's rae- 
 Jancholy shall fall upon religious ideas, as it 
 may on any other subject which iieiz^s their 
 distempered imagination. But this is not reli- 
 . gion leading to melancholy. Or it sometimes is- 
 the case that men are brought to a sense of reli- 
 gion by calamity and affliction, which produce 
 at the same time depression of spirits. But nei- 
 ther here is religion the cause of this distress or 
 dejection, or to be blamed for it. These cases 
 being excepted, the very reverse of what is al- 
 leged against religion is the truth. No man's 
 spirits were ever hurt by doing his duty. Ofi 
 the contrary, one good action, one temptation 
 resisted and overcome, one sacrifice of desire or 
 interes^t, purely for conscience sake, will prove 
 a cordial for weak and low spirits, beyond whaV 
 cither indulgence or diversion, or company can 
 do for them* And a succession or course of such 
 actions and self denials, springing from a relffgi- 
 ous principle and manfully maintained, is the 
 best possible course that can be followed as a 
 remedy for sinkings and oppressions of this 
 
 N 2 
 
268 BBAUTIES OF TALEr^ 
 
 kind. Can it then be true that religion leads to 
 melancholy? Occasions arise to every man liv- 
 ing, to many very severe as well as repeated oc- 
 casions, in which the hopes of religion are the 
 only stay that is left him. Godly men have that 
 within them which cheers and comforts them 
 in their saddest moments ; ungodly men have 
 that which strikes their heart like a dagger in its 
 gayest moments. Godly men discover, what is 
 very true, but what by most men is found out 
 too late, namely, that a good conscience, and 
 the hope of our Creator's final acceptance are 
 the only solid happiness to be attained in this 
 world. Experience corresponds with the reason 
 of the thing. I take upon me to say, that reli-^ 
 ous men are generally cheerful. If this be nof 
 ebserved, as might be expected, supposing it tc 
 be true, it is because the cheerfulness which re 
 ]igion inspires does not show itself in noise, o 
 in fits and starts of merriment, but is calm anc 
 constant. Of this, the only true and valuaL]< 
 kind of cheerfulness, for all other kinds are hoi 
 low and unsatisfying, religious men possess no 
 less, but a greater share than others. 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF PALE?, 269 
 
 Religious Estallishment^* 
 
 " A religious establishment is no part of 
 Christianity, it is only the means of inculcating 
 it/* Amongst the Jews, the rights and ofRccs, 
 the order, family and succession of the priest- 
 hood were marked out by the authority which 
 declared the law itself. These therefore, were 
 parts of the Jewish religion, as well as the 
 means of transmitting it. Not so with the new- 
 institution. It cannot be proved that any fornix 
 of Church government was laid down in the 
 Christian, as it had been in the Jewish Scrip- 
 tures, with a view of fixing a constitution for 
 succeeding ages ; and which constitution, con- 
 sequently, the disciples of Christianity would. 
 every where, and at all times, by the very law 
 of their religion be obliged to adopt. Certainly 
 no command for this purpose was delivered by 
 Christ himself; and if it be shewn that the apos- 
 tles ordained bishops and presbyters among their 
 first converts, it must be remembered ihat dea- 
 cons also and deaconesses were appointed by. 
 them with functions very dissimilar to any which 
 obtain in the church at present. The truth 
 seems to have been that such offices were at first 
 erected in the Christian Church, as the good 
 order, the instruction, and the cxig^encies of the 
 
2/0 BEAUTIES OP PALfiT. 
 
 society at that time required, without any inten- 
 tion, at least without any declared design of re- 
 gulating the appointment, authority, or the dis. 
 tinctions of Christian ministers under future 
 circumstances. This reserve, if we may so call 
 it, in the Christian Legislator is sufficiently ac- 
 counted for by two considerations : 1st, that no 
 precise constitution could be framed which 
 would suit with the condition of Christianity in 
 its primitive state, and with that it was to assume 
 when it should be advanced into a national reli- 
 gion. 2dly, that a particular designation of 
 office or authority, amongst the ministers of the 
 new religion, might have so interfered with the 
 arrangements of civil policy, as to have formed 
 m some countries a considerable obstacle to the 
 progress and reception of the religion itself. 
 The authority, therefore, of a Church Establish- 
 ment is founded in its utility ; and whenever, 
 upon this principle, we deliberate concerning 
 the form, propriety, or comparative excellency 
 of different establishments, the single view, un- 
 der which we ought to consider any of them, is 
 that of a " scheme of instruction ;" the single 
 end we ought to propose by them is, " the pre- 
 servation and communication of religious know- 
 ledge." Every other idea, and every other end 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALKr. 211, 
 
 |8t have been mixed with this, as the making, 
 the church an engine or even an ally of the 
 state, converting it into the means of strength- 
 ening, or of diflusing influence ; or regarding it 
 as a support of regal, in opposition to popular 
 forms of government, have served only to debase 
 the institution, and to introduce into it nume- 
 rous corruptions and abuses^ 
 
 The Resurrection illustrated hy Naturtd 
 Objects. 
 
 But above every other article of revealed reli- 
 gion, does the anterior belief of a Deity bear 
 with the strongest force upon that grand point,, 
 which gives, indeed, interest and importance to 
 .all the rest — the resurrection of the human dead^ 
 The thing might appear hopeless, did we not sce^ 
 a power at work adequate to the effect, a power 
 luider the guidance of an intelligent will, and a. 
 power penetrating the inmost recesses of all sub- 
 stance. They who have taken up the opinion 
 that the acts of the human mind depend upon. 
 organizatmiy are supposed to find a greater dif- 
 ficulty than others do^ in admitting a transition, 
 by death to a new state of sentient existence, be- 
 ijause the old organization is apparently dis^ 
 
i 
 
 f7^ BEAUTIES OF PAtl^y. 
 
 solved. But I do not sec that the change, ev*en 
 Upon their hypothesis^ is far removed from the 
 analogy of some other operations^ which we 
 know with certainty, that the Deity is carrying 
 on. In the ordinary derivation of plants 
 and animals from one another, a particle in 
 many cases, minuter than all assignable, all 
 conceivable dimension — an aui^a, an effluvium, 
 an infinitesimal, determines the organization of 
 a future body ^ does no less than fix, whether 
 that which is about to be produced, shall be a 
 vegetable, a merely sentient, or a rational being ; 
 an oak, a frog, or a philosopher; makes all 
 these differences 5 gives to the future body its 
 qualities, and nature, and species. And this 
 particle> from which springs, and by which is 
 determined a whole future nature, itself proceeds! 
 from, and owes its constitution to a prior body ; 
 nevertheless, which is seen in plants most deci- 
 {sively, the incepted organization, though formed 
 within, and through, and by a preceding orga- 
 nization, is not corrupted by its corruption, or 
 destroyed by its dissolution ; but on the con^ 
 trary, is sometimes extricated and developed by 
 those very causes ; survives and comes into ac- 
 tion when the purpose for which it was prepared 
 rec^uires its use. Now an economy which na* 
 
I 
 
 FEAUTIES OF PALEY. f 7S 
 
 ttire has adopted, when the purpose was to 
 transfer an organization from one individual to« 
 another, may have something analogous to it, 
 when the purpose is to transmit an organization 
 from one state of being to another state : and 
 they who found tHought in organization, may 
 see something in this analogy applieable to their 
 difficulties; for, whatever can transmit a simi- 
 larity of organization, will answer their pur- 
 pose, because, according even to their owU; 
 theory, it may be the vehicle of consciousness, 
 and because consciousness carries identity and 
 individuality along with it through all changes 
 of form, or of visible qualities. In the most 
 general case of the derivation of plants and ani- 
 mals one from another, the latent organization, 
 is either itself similar to the old organization, or 
 has the power of communicating to new matter,^ 
 the old organic form. But it is not restricted to. 
 this rule ; there are other cases, especially in the- 
 progress of insect life, in which the dormant 
 organization does not much resemble [that, 
 which encloses it, and still less suits with the si- 
 tuation in which the enclosing body is placed,^ 
 but suits with a diflfcrent situation to which it is, 
 destined. In the larva of the libellula, which; 
 lives constantly, and has still long to liye nndpr, 
 
2/4 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 water, are descried the wings of a fly, with 
 which two years afterwards, it is to mount into 
 the air. Is there nothing in this analogy ? It 
 serves at least to show, that even in the observ- 
 able course of nature, organizations are formed 
 one beneath another ; and amongst a thousand 
 other instances, it shows completely, that the 
 Deity can mould and fashion the parts of mate- 
 rial nature so as to fulfil any purpose whatever 
 which he is pleased to appoint. 
 
 Again, if there be those who think that thft 
 contractedness and debility of the human facul- 
 ties in our present state, seem ill to accord with 
 the high destinies which the expectations of re- 
 ligion point out to us, I would only ask them 
 whether any one who saw a child two hours af- 
 ter its birth, could suppose that it vi^uld ever 
 come to under&t3Lnd jfl2Lrw7is ; or, who shall then 
 say what farther amplification of intellectual 
 powers, what accession of knowledge, what ad- 
 vance and improvement the rational faculty, be 
 its constitution what it will, may not admit of, 
 when placed amidst new objects, and endowed 
 with a sensoriura adapted to the perception of 
 those substances, and of those properties of 
 things, with which our concern may lie. Upon 
 the whole, in every thing which respects lhi« 
 
 1 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEV.. 27 S^' 
 
 awful, but we trust, glorious change, we have 3t. 
 wise and powerful Being, upon whom to rely 
 for the choice and appointment of means ade- 
 quate to the execution of any plan, which his 
 goodness or his justice may have formed for the 
 moral and accountable part of his terrestrial 
 creation. That great office rests with hhn : be 
 it ours to hope and to prepare, under a firm and 
 settled persuasion, that, living and dying we are 
 his ; that life is past in his constant presence^ 
 that death resigns us to his merciful disposal. 
 
 The Resurrection of Life ; Suljects of if. 
 
 You ask who shall come to the resurrection? 
 of life ? The text, John v. 28, 29, replies, they 
 that have done good. Observe well, and never 
 forget this answer. It is not the wise, the 
 learned, the great, the honoured, the professor 
 of this or that doctrine, the member of this 
 church, or the maintainer of that article of faith, 
 but he that doeth good; he of whatever quality 
 or condition, who strives honestly to make his 
 life of service to those about him \ to be useful 
 in his calling, and to his generation; to his fa~ 
 milry, to his neighbourhood, and according to 
 his ability, to his couatry and to mankind 5 ^^ lie 
 
27^ BEAUTIES Of PALfir* 
 
 that doeth good." All the rest without this, 
 goes for nothing, though he understand the 
 things of religion ever so well, or believe ever so 
 rightly : though he cry, Lord, Lord ; be he 
 ever so constant and devout in his prayers, or 
 talk ever so much, or ever so well, or so ear- 
 nestly for religion 5 unless he do good; unless 
 his actions and dealings and behaviour come up 
 to his knowledge, and his discourse correspond 
 with his outward profession and belief, it will 
 avail him nothing j^he is not the man to whom 
 Jesus Christ hath promised in the text, that he 
 shall come to the resurrection of life. The issue 
 of life and death is put upon our conduct and be- 
 haviour 3 that is, made the test we are to be 
 tried by. Here let the timorous conscience take 
 courage. It is not any man's errors, or ig- 
 norance ; his want of understanding, or educa- 
 tion, or ability, that will belaid to his charge at 
 the day of judgment, or that will bring him into 
 danger of the damnation which the gospel 
 threatens ; it is having done evil ; having wil- 
 fully, gone about to disobey what he knew to be 
 the will and command of his Creator, by com- 
 mitting mischief, and doing wrong and injury 
 to his fellow creatures. 
 
JIEAUtlES Of PALfi-f 2lf 
 
 Sallatical histitutions, their use. 
 
 As an assembly cannot be collected unless the 
 time of assembling be fixed and known beforehand, 
 and if the design of the assembly require that it 
 be holden frequently, it is easiest that it should 
 return at stated intervals. This produces a ne- 
 cessity of appropriating set seasons to the social 
 offices of religion. It is also highly convenient 
 that the same seasons be observed throughout the 
 country, that all may be employed, or all at lei- 
 sure together ; for if the recess from worldly oc- 
 cupation be not general, one man's business will 
 perpetually interfere with another man's devotion : 
 the buyer will be calling at the shop when the 
 seller is gone to church. This part, therefere, 
 of the religious distinction of seasons ; namely, 
 a general intermission of labour and business 
 during times previously set apart for the exercise 
 of public worship, is founded in the reasons 
 "Which make public worship itself a duty. Who- 
 ever considers how much sabbatical institutions 
 conduce to the happiness and civilization of the 
 labouring classes of mankind, and reflects how 
 great a majority of the human species these classes 
 compose, will acknowledge the utiUiyy what- 
 
£7^ BEAUTIES OF PALEV^ 
 
 ever he may believe of the origin of this distinc- 
 tion^ and will consequently perceive it to be 
 every man's duty to uphold the observation of 
 Sunday, when once established^ let the establish- 
 ment have proceeded from what authority it will. 
 Nor is there any thing lost to the community by 
 the intermission of public industry one day in the 
 week. For in countries tolerably advanced in 
 population, and in the arts of civil life, there i» 
 always enough of human labour, and to spare. 
 The addition of the seventh day's labour to that 
 of the other six, would have no other effect than 
 to reduce the price. The labourer himself, who 
 deserved and suffered most by the change, would 
 gain nothing. Sunday, by suspending many public 
 diversions, and the ordinary rotation of employ- 
 ment, leaves to men, of all ranks and professions, 
 sufficient leisure, and not more than what is 
 sufficient, for the external offices of Christianity, 
 and the retired, but equally necessary duties of 
 religious meditation and inquiry. Lastly, 
 they whose humanity embraces the whole 
 sensitive creation, will esteem it no inconsider- 
 able recommendation of a weekly return of pub- 
 lic rest, that it affords a respite to the toil of 
 brutes. Nor can we omit to account this among 
 the uses which the Divine founder of the Jewish 
 sabbath; expressly appointed alaw of the institutiojQ> 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALET. 275 
 
 And since the obligation upon Christians to com \ 
 ply with the religious observance of Sunday arises 
 from the public uses of the institution, and the 
 authority of the apostolic practice, the manner 
 of observing it ought to be that which best ful- 
 fils these uses and conforms the nearest to this 
 practice. 
 
 Scripture, Difficulties in Undersiandingr 
 
 It must not be dissembled that thei'e are many 
 real difficulties in the Christian scriptures j 
 whilst at the same time, more I believe, and 
 greater, may justly be imputed to certain max. 
 ims of interpretation, which have obtained au- 
 thority without reason, and are received without 
 inquiry. One of these, as I apprehend, is the 
 expecting to find, in the present circumstances 
 of Christianity, a meaning for, or something 
 answering to every appellation and. expression 
 which occurs in scripture^ or in other words, the 
 applying to the personal condition of Christians 
 at this day, those titles, phrases, propositiontj 
 and arguments which belong solely to the situa- 
 tion of Christianity at its first institution. 
 I am aware of an objection which weighs much 
 ith many serious tempers^ namely, that to sup- 
 
260 BEAUTIES OF PALEY, 
 
 pose a part of scripture to be inappllcableto us, 
 is to suppose a part of scripture to be useless y 
 which seems to detract from the perfection we at- 
 tribute to these oracles of our salvation. To this 
 I can only answer, that it would have been one 
 of the strangest things in the world, if the wri- 
 tings of the New Testament had not, like all 
 other books been composed for the apprehension, 
 and consequently adapted to the circumstances,, 
 of the persons they were addressed to , and that 
 it would have been equally strange, if the great,, 
 and in many respects inevitable alterations which 
 have taken place in those circumstances, did not 
 vary the application of scripture language. 
 
 At the time the scriptures were written, none 
 were baptized but converts, and none were con- 
 verted but from conviction, and conviction pro- 
 duced for the most part, a corresponding refor- 
 Hiatioft of life and manners. Hence baptism 
 was only another name for conversion, and con- 
 version was supposed to be sincere : in this sense 
 was our Saviour's promise, *^ he that believeth 
 and is baptized shall be saved,*' and other similar 
 passages. Now when we come to speak of the 
 baptism xvhich obtains in most Christian 
 churches at present, where no conversion is 
 supposed or possible^ it is manifest, that if th^se 
 
r 
 
 ITEAUTIES OF PALSY, fSl 
 
 expressions be applied at all, they must be ap- 
 plied with extreme qualification and reserve. 
 
 The community of Christians were at first 
 a handful of men connected amongst themselven 
 by the strictest union, and divided from the rest 
 of the world by a real difference of principle and 
 persuasion, and what was more observable, by 
 many outward peculiarities of worship and be- 
 haviour. This society considered collectively^ 
 and as a body, were set apart from the rest of 
 mankind for a more gracious dispensation, as 
 well as actually distinguished by a superior pu- 
 rity of life and conversation. In this view, and 
 in opposition to the unbelieving world, they were^ 
 denominated in scripture by titles of great seem- 
 ing dignity and import, they were *^ elect,'^ 
 '^ called,'* " saints '/' they were ^« in Christ,'* 
 they were '' a chosen generation, a holy nation, 3 
 peculiar people." That is those terms were em- 
 ployed to distinguish the professors of Christi- 
 anity from the rest of mankind in general. 
 
 The conversion of a person from Heathenisni 
 to Christianity, which is the case of conversion, 
 Commonly intended in the Epistles, was a change 
 of which we have now no just conception, it was 
 a new name, a new language, a new society, a new 
 faith, a new hope 5 a new object of worship, ^ 
 
$82 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 new rule of life ; a history was disclosed full of 
 discovery and surprize ; a prospect of futurity 
 was unfolded, beyond imagination awful and 
 august ; the same description applies in a great 
 part though not entirely, to the conversion of a 
 Jew. This accompanied as it was with the par- 
 don of every former sin, (Romans iii. 25.) was. 
 such an aera in a man's life, so remarkable a 
 period in his recollection, such a revolution of 
 every thing that was most important to him, ag. 
 might well admit of those strong figures and sig' 
 nificant allusions by which it is described in. 
 scripture : it was a ** regeneration," or a new 
 birth ; it was to be ^' born again of God, and ot 
 the spirit;'* it was to be "dead to sin,'" and! 
 *^ alive from the dead;" it was to be '' buried 
 with Christ in baptism and raised together with, 
 him," it was '^ a new creature,'^ and *' a new 
 creation;" it was a translation fiom the condition 
 of slaves '^ to that of sons;" from *^ strangers 
 and foreigners to be fellow citizens with the 
 saints, and of the household of God." It is mani-* 
 fest'that no change equal or similar to the con- 
 version of a heathen can be experienced by us^ 
 or by any one educated in a Christian country, 
 and to whom the facts, precepts, and hopes, of 
 Christianity, have been from his infancy fa-^ 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALKY. 583 
 
 miliar : yet we still retain the same language ; 
 and what has been the consequence. One sort 
 of men observing nothing in the lives of Chris- 
 tians corresponding to the magnificence, if 1 may 
 so say, of these expressions, have been tempted to 
 conclude, that the expressions themselves had no 
 foundation in truth and nature, or in any thing 
 but the enthusiasm of their authors. Others 
 again understand these phrases to signify nothing 
 more than that gradual amendment of life, and 
 conversation, which reason and religion some- 
 times produce in particular Christians : of which 
 interpretation it is ttuly said, that it degrades too 
 much the proper force of language to apply ex- 
 pressions of such energy and import to an event 
 «o ordinary in its own nature, and which is com- 
 mon to Christianity, with every other moral in- 
 stitution. Lastly; a third sort, in order to satisfy 
 these expressions to their full extent have ima- 
 gined to themselves certain perceptible impulses 
 of the Holy Ghost, by which, in an instant, 
 and in a manner no doubt sufficiently extraor- 
 dinary, they are ^' regenerate and born of the 
 spirit," they become'^ new creatures 3" they are 
 made the *^ sons of God," who were before the 
 ^^ children of wrath 3'* they are ** freed from sin/'. 
 
SM BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 and ^^ fro{n death," they are chosen, that is^ and 
 sealed, without a possibility of fall, into final 
 salvation. Whilst the patrons of a more sober 
 exposition have been often challenged, and some- 
 times confounded with the question — If such 
 e'xpfessions of scripture do not mean this, what 
 do they mean ? To which we answer, nothing : 
 nothing that is to us, nothing to be found, or 
 sought for, in the present circumstances of 
 Christianity. 
 
 SeducUm. . 
 
 This IS seldom accomplished without fraud, 
 and the fraud is by so much the more criminal 
 than other frauds, as the injury effected by it is 
 greater, continues longer, and less admits of re- 
 paration. The injury is threefold, to the woman, 
 to her family, and to the public. The loss 
 which a woman sustains by the ruin of her re- 
 putation almost exceeds computation. Every 
 person's happiness depends in part upon the re- 
 spect and reception which they meet with in the 
 world ; and it is no inconsiderable mortifica- 
 tion, even to the firmest tempers, to be rejected 
 frdm the society of their equals, or received there 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEX". 285 
 
 with neglect and disdain. But this is not all, nor 
 the worst. By a rule of life, which it is not easy 
 to blame, and which is impossible to alter, a wo- 
 man loses with her chastit}^, the chance of 
 marrying at all, or in any manner equal to the 
 hopes she had been accustomed to entertain. 
 Now marriage, whatever it be to a man, is that 
 from which every woman expects her chief hap- 
 piness. And this is still more true in low life, of 
 which condition the women are, who are most 
 exposed to solicitations of this sort. Add to this, 
 that where a woman's maintenance depends upon 
 her character, as it does in a great measure with 
 those who are to support themselves by service, 
 little sometimes is left to the forsaken sufferer, 
 but to starve for want of employment, or to 
 have recourse to prostitution for food and rai- 
 ment. 
 
 Upon the whole, if we pursue the effects of 
 seduction through the complicated misery which 
 it occasions ; and if it be right to estimate crimes 
 by the mischief they knowingly produce, it will 
 appear something more than mere invective to 
 assert that not one half of the crimes for which 
 men suffer death by the laws of England are so 
 flagitious as this. 
 
f 85 BEAUTIES OP PALKY. 
 
 Sickness Considered as the Trial of Virtue, 
 
 But my present subject leads me to consider 
 sickness, not so much as a preparation for death, 
 as the trial of our virtue ; of virtues, the most 
 severe, the most arduous, perhaps the best pleasing 
 to Almighty God ; namely, trust and confidence 
 in him under circumstances of discouragement 
 and perplexity. To lift up the feeble hands, and the 
 languid eye : to draw and turn with holy hope 
 to our creator, when every comfort forsakes us, 
 and every help fails : to feel and find in him, in 
 his mercies, his promises, in the works of his 
 providences, and still more in his word, and in 
 the revelation of his designs by Jesus Christ, 
 such rest and consolation to the soul;, as to stifle 
 our complaints, and pacify our murmurs : to be- 
 get in our hearts, tranquillity and confidence, in 
 the place of terror and consternation, and this 
 with simplicity and sincerity, without havings or 
 wishing to have one human witness to observe or 
 know itf is such a test and trial of faith and 
 hope, of patience and devotion, as cannot fail of 
 being in a very high degree well -pleasing to the 
 author of our nature, the guardian, the inspec- 
 tor, and the rcwarder of our virtues. It is true 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALBY. 257 
 
 in this instance, as it is true in all, that whatever 
 tries our virtue strengthens and improves it j virtue 
 comes out of the fire purer and brighter than it 
 went into it. Many virtues are not only proved, 
 but produced by trials ; they have properly no 
 existence without them, <^ We glory," saith St. 
 Paul '^ in tribulation also, knowing that tribula- 
 tion worketh patience, and patience experience, 
 and experience hope/* 
 
 Slander, 
 
 Speaking is acting, both in philosophical 
 strictness, and as to all moral purposes -, for, if 
 the mischief and motive of our conduct be the 
 same, the means which we use make no dif- 
 ference. 
 
 Malicious slander, is the relating of either 
 tnith or falsehood for the purpose of creatino* 
 misery. I acknowledge that the truth or false- 
 hood of what is related varies the degree of guilt 
 considerably ', and that slander, in the ordinary 
 acceptation of the term signifies the circulation 
 of mischievous falsehoods ; but truth may be 
 made instrumental to the success of malicious 
 designs, as well as falsehood ; and if the end be 
 badj the means cannot be innocent. 
 
fBB BEAUTIES OF PALEr. 
 
 Sometimes the pain is intended for the person 
 to whom we are speaking ; at other times aa 
 enmity is to be gratified by the prejudice or dis- 
 quiet of a third person. To infuse suspicions, 
 to kindle, or to continue disputes, to avert the 
 favour and esteem of benefactors from their de- 
 pendents, to render some one obnoxious in the 
 pubhc opinion, are all offices of slander; of 
 which the guilt must be measured by the inten- 
 sity and extent of the misery produced. 
 
 Splendid Situations in the Churchy their 
 
 Necessity/, 
 
 These have been justly regarded as prizes held 
 out to invite persons of good hopes and ingenu- 
 ous attainments to enter into its service. The 
 value of the prospect may be the same, but the 
 allurement is much greater, where opulent shares 
 are reserved to reward the success of a few, than 
 where, by a more equal partition of the fund, 
 all indeed are competently provided for, but no 
 one can raise even his hopes beyond a penurious 
 mediocrity of subsistence and situation. It is 
 certainly of consequence that young men of 
 promising abilities be encouraged to engage in 
 he.ministry of the church 3 otherwise our pro- 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OP t»ALfiY. f 8f 
 
 fession will be composed of the refuse of every 
 other. None will be found content to stake the 
 fortune of their lives in this calling ; but they 
 whom slow parts, personal defects, or a depress- 
 ed condition of birth and education preclude 
 from advancement in any other. The vocation 
 in time comes to be thought mean and uncredi- 
 table — study languishes — sacred erudition de- 
 clines — not only the order is disgraced, but re- 
 ligion itself disparaged under such hands. Some 
 of the most judicious and moderate of the pres- 
 byterian clergy have been known to lament 
 this defect in their constitution. They see and 
 deplore the backwardness in youth of active and 
 well- cultivated faculties to enter into the Church, 
 and their frequent resolutions to quit it. Again, 
 if a gradation of orders be necessary to invite 
 candidates into the profession, it is still more so 
 to excite diligence and emulation, to promote 
 an attention to character and public opinion 
 whed they are in it ; especially to guard against 
 that sloth did negligence into which men are 
 apt to fall, who are arrived too soon at the li- 
 mits of their expectations. We will not say 
 that the race is always to the swift, or the prize 
 to the deserving, but we have uever known that 
 
i§6 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 age of the church in which the advantage wa« 
 not on the side of learning and decsncy. 
 
 Suicide^ 
 
 In every question of conduct where one side 
 is doubtful, and the other side safe, we are 
 bound to take the safe side. This is best ex- 
 plained by an instance j and I know of none 
 Xnore to our purpose than that of suicide. 
 
 Suppose, for example's sake, that it appear 
 doubtful to a reasoner upon the subject whether 
 he may lawfully destroy himself. He can have 
 no doubt but that it is lawful for him to let it a- 
 lone. Here therefore is a case, in which one 
 side is doubtful, and the other side safe. By 
 yirtue therefore of our rule, he is bound to pur- 
 sue the safe side, that is, to forbear from offering 
 violence to himself, whilst a doubt remains 
 v^pon his mind concerning the lawfulness of sui- 
 cide. 
 
 Secret Sins, 
 
 Serious minds arc shocked with observing 
 with what complete unconcern and indifferenc^ 
 inany forbidden things are practiced. The peri 
 
BRAUTrKS OF PALEY. 291 
 
 sons who are guilty of them do not by any mark. ( 
 or symptom whatever, appear to fed the small- 
 est rebuke of conscience, or to have the least 
 sense of either guilt, or danger, or shame, in 
 what they do ; and it not only appears to be so, 
 but it is so. They are in fact without any no- 
 tice, consciousness, or compunction upon the 
 subject. These sins therefore, if they be such^ 
 are secret sins to them. But are they not there* 
 fore sins ? That becomes the next great ques- 
 tion. We must allow, because fact proves it, 
 that habit and custom can destroy the sense and 
 perception of sin. Does the act then in that 
 person cease to be any longer a sin ? This must 
 be asserted by those who argue, that nothing 
 can be a sin but what is known and understood, 
 and also felt and perceived to be so by the sinner 
 himself at the time ; and who, consequently,^ 
 deny that there are any seci'et sins, in our sense 
 of that expression. Now mark the consequen- 
 V 03 which would follow from such an opinion. It 
 s then the timorous beginner in wicked courses 
 ^vho alone can be brought to account. Can 
 ?uch a doctrine be maintained ? Unless there- 
 fore, we will choose to say, that a man has only 
 to harden himself in his sins (which thing per- 
 severance will always do for him) and that with 
 o2 
 
Q<J2 BEAUTIES OF TALEY 
 
 the setisc he takes away the guilt of them ; and, 
 that theonly sinner is the conscious, trembling, 
 affrighted, reluctant sinner ^ that the confirmed 
 sinner is no sinner at -all ; irnless we will advance 
 this which affronts all principles of justice and 
 sense, we must confess that secret sins are bolh 
 frequent and possible things j that with the ha- 
 bitual sinner, and with every man in so far as he 
 is, and in that article in which he is an habitual 
 sinner, this is almost sure to be the case. 
 
 How well does the scripture express the state 
 of the habitual sinner when it calls him ^^ dead 
 in trespasses and sins !" His conscience is 
 dead : that which ought to be the living, actua- 
 ting, governing principle of the whole man, is 
 dead within him : is extinguished by the power 
 of sin reigning in his heart. He is incapable of 
 perceiving his sins, while he commits them with 
 greediness. It is evident that a vast alteration 
 must take place in such a man before he be. 
 brought into the way of salvation. ' 
 
 Standing Amuj, 
 
 A standing army can only oppose a standing 
 army. The discipline of a standing army will 
 always overpower newly-levied troops; and 
 4 
 
BE.4rUTlES OF PALEIf. 29»^ 
 
 though a militia with a great excess of numbers 
 may sustain a fi^'ing war against regular troops, 
 and though service may. transform it in effect 
 into a standing army, yet it would be necessary 
 for almost a whole nation to go out to war to 
 repel an invader. If the state depends upon the 
 militia, arms must be put into the hands of the 
 people at large ; and it seems doubtful whether 
 any government can be long secure amidst this 
 general diffusion of the military character j for 
 every faction will find itself at the head of an 
 army. Nothing, perhaps^, can govern a nation 
 of armed citizens, but that which governs an 
 army — Despotism. The standing army should 
 be <lirected by the prince, for success depends 
 wpon secrecy, dispatch, and unanimity, which- 
 are almost incompatible with a popular council : 
 but, if ingovernments like ours, this department 
 were in the hands of the democratic part of the 
 constitution, the real prerogative would be over- 
 balanced completely. 7 he danger of a standing 
 army is, that the separation o^ the soldiery from, 
 the rest of the community, and their dependence 
 upon the will of the prince, give them an aspect 
 by no means favourable to liberty. To diminish 
 'this danger, officers should be taken from the 
 j^riacipal families of the country, be eacouragec^ 
 
^94 BBAUTIES or PALIV. 
 
 to establish in it families of their own, be ad- 
 mitted to seats in the senate, and to all the civil 
 honours and privileges that are compatible with 
 with their profession. Thus they would have 
 such a share in the general rights of the people, 
 that no personal views could induce them to as- 
 sist in measures^ which otherwise might enslave 
 their posterity, kindred, and country. 
 
 Suhscription to Articles of Religion, 
 
 Subscription to articles of religion though no 
 more than a declaration of the subscriber's as* 
 sent, may properly enough be considered in con- 
 nexion with oaths, because it is governed by the 
 same rule of interpretation ; which rule *is the 
 animus imponentis. The inquiry therefore con- 
 cerning subscription will be, guis imposuit, et 
 quo animo ? The Bishop who receives the sub^ 
 scription is not the im poser, any more than the 
 cryer of a court who administers the oath to the 
 jury and witnesses, is the person that imposes it ; 
 nor consequently, is the private opinion or the 
 interpretation of the bishop of any signification 
 to the subscriber, one way or the other. The 
 compilers of the Thirty-nine Articles, are not 
 to be considered as the imposers of subscription. 
 
BfiAUTIES OF PALJEt^. 29i 
 
 any more than the framer or drawer up of a law 
 k the person that enacts it. 
 
 The legislature of the 13th Eliz. is the impo- 
 ser, whose intention the subscriber is bound to 
 satisfy. They who contend, that nothing less 
 can justify subscription to the Thirty-nine Ar<- 
 tides, than the actual belief of each and every 
 separate 'proposition contained in them, must 
 suppose, that the legislature expected the con- 
 sent of ten thousand men, and that in perpetual 
 succession — not to one controverted proposition, 
 but to many hundreds. It is difficult to conceive 
 how this could be expected by any who observed 
 the incurable diversity of human opinion upon 
 all subjects short of demonstration. j 
 
 If the authors of the law did not intend this, 
 what did they intend ? They intended to exclude 
 from offices in the church, all abettors of po- 
 pery; anabaptists, who were at that time, a 
 powerful party on the continent ; the puritansy 
 who were hostile to an episcopal constitution ; 
 and in general, the leading members of such 
 sects, or foreign establishments, as threatened to 
 overthrow our own. 
 
 Whoever finds himself comprehended within 
 these subscriptions, ought not to subscribe. Nor 
 cm a subscriber to the Articles take advantage 
 
tg6 BEAUTIES OF PALE^tf. 
 
 of any latitude which our rule may seem to al- 
 low, who is not first convinced that he is truly 
 and substantially satisfying the intention of the 
 legislator. 
 
 During the present state of ecclesiastical pa- 
 tronage, in which private individuals are permit- 
 ted to impose teachers upon parishes, with 
 which they are often little, or not all connected, 
 «ome limitation of the patron's choice may be 
 necessary to prevent unedifying contentions be- 
 tween neighbouring teachers, or, between the 
 teachers and their respective congregations. 
 But this danger, if it exist, may be provided a- 
 gainst with equal effect, by converting the arti- 
 cles of faith into articles of peace. 
 
 Taxes, 
 
 The sum to be raised being settled, a wise 
 statesman will contrive his taxes principally with 
 a view to their effect upon population ; that is, 
 he will so adjust them as to give the least possi- 
 ble obstruction to those means of subsistence by 
 which the mass of the community is maintained. 
 We are accustomed to an opinion that a tax, to 
 be just, ought to be accurately proportioned to 
 Xh^^f^ircumstanccs of the persons who pay it.. 
 
B15AUTIES OP PALE Y. 297 
 
 Biit upon what, it might be asked, is this opi- 
 nion founded; unless it could be shewn that 
 such a proportion interferes the least with lh« 
 general conveniency of subsistence ? Whereas I 
 s-hould rather believe that a tax. constructed with 
 a view to that conveniency, ought to rise upon 
 the different classes of the community, in a 
 much higher ratio than the simple proportion of 
 their incomes. The point to be regarded, is- not 
 what men have, but what they can 5/?are; and 
 it is evident that a man who possesses a ihou^ 
 sand pounds a year, can more easily give up a 
 hundred, than a man with a hundred pounds a 
 year can part with ten : that is,- those habits of 
 life, which are reasonable and innocent, and 
 upon the ability to continue which, the forma- 
 tion of families depends, will be mucti less af^ 
 fected by the one deduction than the otherv It 
 is still more evident that a man of a hundred 
 pounds a year would not be so much distressed, 
 in his subsistence by a demand from him of ten 
 pounds, as a man of ten pounds a year would be 
 by the loss of one; to which we must add that 
 the population of every country being replenished. 
 by the marriages of the lower ranks,- their ao- 
 commodation and relief become of more import- 
 ance to the state than the conveniency of any;. 
 0.3 
 
^98 BEAUTIES OF FALEr> 
 
 higher but less numerous order of its citizens. 
 But whatever be the proportion which pubhc 
 expediency directs, it can never be attained by 
 any single tax. It is only by a system and va- 
 riety of taxes, mutually balancing and equaliz- 
 ing each other that a due proportion can be pre- 
 served. Distinctions may be framed in some 
 taxes, which shall allow abatements or exemp- 
 tions to married persons ; to the parents of a 
 certain number of legitimate children j to parti- 
 xiular modes of cultivation ; to tillage in prefer- 
 ence to pasturage ; and, in general, to that in- 
 dustry which is immediately productive^ in pre- 
 ference to that which is only instrumental ; but 
 above all, which may leave the heaviest part of 
 the burthen upon the methods, whatever they be, 
 pf acquiring wealth without industry, or even 
 •f subsisting in idleness. 
 
 The Terrors of the Lord, 
 
 As to the punishment of hell^ I do admit, 
 that it is very difficult to handle this dreadful 
 subject properly. And one cause is, that it is 
 not for one poor sinner to denounce such apall- 
 ing terrors, such tremendous consequences a- 
 gaiinst another. Damnation is sr word which lies 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY. S99 
 
 not in the mouth of man, who is a worm, to- 
 wards any of his fellow creatures whatsoever ; 
 yet it is absolutely necessary that the threaten- 
 ings of Almighty God be known and published. 
 Therefore we begin by observing that the ac- 
 counts which the Scriptures contain of the pu- 
 nishment of hell, are, for the most part, deli- 
 vered in figurative or metaphorical terms, that is 
 to say, in terms which represent things of which 
 we have no notion, by a comparison with things 
 of which we have of a notion. Therefore take 
 notice what those figures and metaphors are. 
 They are of the most dreadful kind which words 
 can express; and be they understood how they 
 may, ever so figuratively, it is plain that they 
 convey, and were intended to convey, ideas of 
 horrible torment. They are such as these, 
 ^' being cast into hell where the worm dieth not, 
 and where the fire is not quenched." It is 
 *^ burning the chaff with unquenchable fire." It 
 is ^* going into fire everlasting, which is prepared 
 for the devil and his angels." These are heart 
 apalling expressions ; and were undoubtedly in- 
 tended to describe terrible endurings, positive, 
 actual pains of the most horrible kinds. I have 
 said, that the punishment of hell is thus repre- 
 sented in figurative speech, f now ?aT, that from 
 
300 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 the nature of things, it could hardly have beeft 
 represented to us in any other. It is of the very 
 nature of pain, that it cannot be known without 
 being felt. It is impossible to give to any one an 
 exact conception of it without his actually tast- 
 ing it. Experience alone teaches its acuteness 
 and intensity. For which reaison, when it was 
 necessary that the punishment of hell should be 
 set forth in Scripture for our warning, and set 
 forth to terrify us from our sins, it could only 
 be done, as it has been done, by comparing it 
 with sufferings, of which we can form a con- 
 ception, and making use of terms drawn from 
 these suff*erings. When words less figurative, 
 and more direct, but at the same time more ge- 
 neral are adopted, they are not less strong, 
 otherwise than as they are more general. " In- 
 dignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish 
 upon every soul of man that doeth evil.'* These 
 are Saint Paul's words. It is a short sentence, 
 but enough to make the stoutest heart tremble : 
 for, though it unfold no particulars, it clearly 
 designates positive torment. The day of judg- 
 ment itself, so far as it respects the wicked, is 
 expressly called *' a day of wrath," ** The Lord 
 Jesus," as to them, " shall be revealed in flam- 
 ing fire/' IIow terrible a fate it must be to 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 301 
 
 find ourselves at that day of God's wrath, the 
 objects upon whom his threats and judgments 
 against sin are now to be executed. 
 
 Now if any one feel his heart struck with the 
 terrors of the Lord, with the consideration of 
 this dreadful subject, and with the declarations 
 of Scripture relating thereto, which will all have 
 their accomplishment ; let him be entreated, let 
 him be admonished to hold the idea, tremendous 
 as it is, fully in his view, till it has wrought its 
 effect, that is, till it has prevailed with him to 
 part with his sins ; and then we assure him, 
 that to alarm, fright, and horror, will succeed 
 peace, and hope, and comfort, and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost. There is another way of treating 
 the matter, and that is, to shake off the idea if 
 we can j to drown it in intemperance : to over- 
 power it with worldly business ; to fly from it 
 in all directions, but mostly in that which car- 
 ries us to hurrying tumultuous diversions, to 
 criminal indulgences, or into gross sensuality. 
 But this is a way of getting rid of the matter 
 with which even we ourselves are not satisfied. 
 We are sensible that it is a false, treacherous, 
 hollow way of acting towards our own souls-. 
 We have no trust in v^^hat we are doing. It 
 leaves no peace, no hope, no comfort, no joy,. 
 
302 BEAUTIES OF PALET* 
 
 Tithes, 
 
 Agriculture is discouraged by every constitu- 
 tion of landed property which lets in those who 
 have no concern in the improvement to a parti- 
 cipation of the profit. This objection is applica- 
 Cable to all such customs of manors as subject 
 the proprietor, upon the death of the lord or 
 tenant, or the alienation of the estate, to a fine 
 apportioned to the improved value of the land. 
 But of all institutions which are in this way ad- 
 verse to cultivation and improvement, none is 
 so noxious as that of tithes, A claimant here 
 enters into the produce who contributed no as- 
 sistance whatever to the production. When 
 years perhaps of care and toil have matured an 
 improvement ; when the husbandman sees new 
 crops ripening to his skill and industry; the 
 moment he is ready to put his 'sickle to the 
 grain, he finds himself compelled to divide his 
 harvest with a stranger. Tithes are a tax, not 
 only upon industry which feeds mankind ; upon 
 that species of exertion which it is the aim of all 
 wise laws to cherish and promote ; and to up- 
 'bold and excite which, composes, as v.e have 
 seen, the main benefit that the community re- 
 ceives from the whole system of trade, and the 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY* 303 
 
 success of commerce. And together with the 
 more general inconveniency that attends the ex- 
 action of tythes, there is this additional evil in 
 the mode at least in which they are collected at 
 present, that they operate as a bounty upon pas- 
 turage. The burthen of the tax falls witk its 
 chief, if not with its whole weight upon tillage ; 
 that is to say, upon that mode of cultivation 
 which it is the business of the state to relieve 
 and remunerate, in preference to every other. 
 No measure of such extensive concern appears to 
 me so practicable, nor any single alteration so 
 beneficial as the conversion of tythes into corn 
 rents. This commutation, I am convinced, 
 might be so adjusted as to secure to the tithe- 
 holder a complete and perpetual equivalent for 
 his interest, and to leave to industry its full ope- 
 ration and entire reward. 
 
 Toleration. 
 
 Under the idea of religious toleration, I in- 
 clude the toleration of all books of serious argu- 
 mentation ; but I deem it no infringement of. 
 religious liberty to restrain the circulation of ri- 
 dicule, invective, and mockery upon religious 
 subjects ; because this species of writing applies 
 
304 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 solely to the passions, weakens the judgment,, 
 and contaminates the imagination of its readers 5. 
 has no tendency whatever so assist either the in- 
 vestigation or the impression of truth : on the 
 contrary, whilst it stays not to distinguish be- 
 tween the authority of different religions, it de^^ 
 troys alike the influence of all. Concerning the 
 admission of dissenters from the established relir 
 gion to offices and employments in the public 
 service (which is necessary to render toleration 
 complete) doubts have been entertained with 
 some appearance of reason. It is possible that 
 such religious opinions may be holden, as are 
 utterly incompatible with the necessary functions 
 of civil government ; and which opinions coa- 
 sequently disqualify those who maintain them 
 from exercising any share in its administration. 
 There have been enthusiasts who held that Chris.- 
 tianity has abolished all distinctions of property, 
 and that she enjoins upon her followers a com- 
 munity of goods. With what tolerable propriety 
 could one of this sect be appointed a judge or 
 magistrate, whose ofiice it is to decide upon 
 questions of private right, and to protect men in 
 the exclusive enjoyment of their property ? k 
 would be equally absurd to entrust a military 
 command to a Quaker^ who belieyes it to be 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 305 
 
 contrary to the gospel to take up arms. This is 
 possible ; therefore it cannot be laid down as an 
 universal truth, thai religion is not in its nature, 
 a cause which will justify exclusion from public 
 employments. When we examine however, the 
 sects of Christianity which actually prevail in the 
 world, we must confess that with the single ex- 
 ception of refusing to bear arms, we find no 
 tenet in any of them which incapacitates merv 
 for the service of the state. It has indeed been 
 asserted that discordancy of religions, even sup- 
 posing each religion to be free from any errors 
 that affect the safety or the conduct of govern- 
 ment, is enough to render men unfit to act to- 
 gether in public stations. But upon what ar- 
 gument, or what experience, is this assertion 
 founded. 
 
 The result of our examination of those gene- 
 ral tendencies, by which every interference of 
 civil government in matters of religion ought to 
 be tried, is this : '* That a comprehensive na- 
 tional religion, guarded by a few articles of peace 
 and conformity, together with a legal provision 
 for the clergy of that religion, and with a com- 
 plete toleration of all dissenters from the estab- 
 lished church, without any other limitation oc 
 exception than what arises from the conjuaction 
 
30C BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 of dangerous political dispositions with certairi 
 religious tenets, appears to be not only the most 
 just and liberal, but the wisest and safest system 
 which a state can adopt, inasmuch as it unites 
 the several perfections which a religious consti- 
 tution ought to aim at — liberty of conscience 
 with means of instruction ; the progress of truth 
 with the peace of society ; the right of private 
 judgment with the care of the public safety. 
 
 Universality ; oljections to the want of it in ihi 
 Knowledge and Reception of Christianity, 
 answered^ 
 
 • OliJECTioN. — If revelation came from God, 
 no part of the human species would remain ig- 
 norant of it ; no understanding could fail of be 
 ing convinced by it. 
 
 Answer. — The advocates of Christianity do 
 not pretend that their religion possesses these 
 qualities, nor do they deny it to have been with- 
 in the compass of divine power to have com- 
 municated to the world, a stronger and more 
 extensive influence. The not having more evi- 
 dence, is not, however, a sufficient reason for 
 rejecting that which we have. If this dispensa- 
 foon labour under no defects, but what are com 
 
 
BEAUTIES OF FALEY. 307 
 
 nion to others, we are not justified in rejecting 
 it. Throughout nature, which is a system of 
 beneficence, we are seldom able to make out a 
 system of optimism. To inquire what the 
 Deity might have done, is a mode of reasoning 
 which will 720/ do in natural history^ nor in na- 
 tural religion^ and, therefore, cannot, with 
 safety, be applied to revelation. The general 
 character of the works of nature, is on the one 
 hand, goodness and design in effect, and on the 
 other, a liability to difficulty and objections.— 
 Christianity participates in the same character 5 
 nevertheless the real system in both cases, may 
 be a system of strict optimism, although the 
 proof be hidden from us. If Christianity be 
 compared with the state and progress of natural 
 religion, the objector will gain nothing by the 
 comparison. Natural religion is not universal : 
 the existence of the Deity is not known to all, 
 but it cannot be argued, that therefore he docs 
 not exist. If Christianity be regarded as an in- 
 sitrument for the melioration of mankind, its 
 progress resembles that of other causes, by which, 
 human life is improved ; it has put things into 
 a train ; it may become universal ; and the 
 world may continue in that state so long, as that 
 its duration may bear a vast proportion to the 
 time of its partial influence. Besides — 
 
308 BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 
 
 1. Irresistible evidence would restrain the vo- 
 luntary pawer too much to answer the purpose^ 
 of trial or probation. 
 
 2. It would leave no place for the admission 
 of the eternal evidence, which applies itself to 
 the knowledge, love, and practice of virtue, and 
 which operates in proportion to the degree of 
 those qualities which it finds in the person whom 
 it addresses. 
 
 3. It may be questioned, whether thje perfect 
 display of a future state would not make a de- 
 gree of impression upon the inlnd^ itKompaiible 
 with the duties of life. 
 
 Vows, 
 
 Vows are promises to God; The obligation- 
 cannot be made out upon the same principle as 
 that of other promises. The violation of them, 
 nevertheless, implies a want of reverence to the 
 Supreme Being ; which is enough to make it 
 sinful. There appears no command or encou- 
 ragement in the Christian Scriptures to make 
 vows ; much less any authority to break through 
 them when they are made. The few instances 
 of vows which we read of in the New Testa- 
 ment, were religiously obserred. The rules we 
 have laid down concerning promises, are appii- 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 30^ 
 
 -cable to vows. Thus Jeptha^s vow, taken in the 
 sense in which that transaction is commonly un- 
 derstood, was not binding, because the perfor- 
 mance in that contingency became unlawful. 
 
 Virtues. 
 
 The custom of viewing our virtues has a strong 
 tendency to fill us with fallacious notions of our 
 own state and condition. One almost constant 
 deception is this, viz. that in whatever quality 
 we have pretensions to excel, thatquality wx place 
 at the head of all other virtues. If we be charita- 
 ble, then " charity covereth a multitude of sins." 
 If we be strictly honest, then strict honesty is no 
 less than the bond which keeps society together. 
 If we be temperate and chaste, then self-govern- 
 ment being the hardest of all duties, is the surest 
 test of obedience. Now every one of these pro- 
 positions is true ; but the misfortune is, that 
 only one of them is thought of at the time, that 
 which favours our own particular cost and cha- 
 racter. Again ; a man who is continually com- 
 puting his riches, almost in spite of himself 
 grows proud of his wealth. A man who accus- 
 toms himself to read and inquire, and think a 
 great deal about his family, becomes vain of his 
 extraction ; he can hardly help becoming so. 
 
^^10 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 ,A npian who has his titles sounding hi his ears, 
 or his state much before his eyes, is lifted up by 
 his rank. These are effects which spring from 
 the habit of meditating upon our virtues. Now 
 humble-mindedness is a Christian duty, if there 
 be one. It is more than a duty ; it is a principle 
 of our religion, and its influence is exceedingly 
 great, not only upon our religious but our social 
 character. They who are truly humble-minded 
 have no quarrels, give no offence, contend with 
 no one in wrath and bitterness ; still more im- 
 possible is it for them to insult any man, under 
 any circumstances. 
 
 Passive virtues, of all others the severest and 
 tnost sublime ; of all others, perhaps, the most 
 acceptable to the Deity, would, it is evident, be 
 excluded from a constitution in which happiness 
 and misery regularly followed virtue and vice. — 
 Patience and composure under distress, affliction 
 and pain ; a steadfast keeping up of our confi- 
 dence in God, and of our reliance upon his final 
 goodness, at the time when every thing present 
 is adverse and discouraging ; and, what is no less 
 difficult to retain, a cordial desire for the happi- 
 ness of others, even when we are deprived of 
 our own : these dispositions, which constitute, 
 perhaps, the perfection of our moral nature, 
 
BEAUTIES or PAtUY, S^ll 
 
 would not have found their proper office and ob- 
 ject in a state of avowed retribution ; and in 
 which, consequently, endurance of evil would 
 be only submission to punishment. 
 
 Again ; one man's sufferings may be another 
 man*s trial. The family of a sick parent is a 
 school of filial piety. The charities of domestic 
 life, and not only these, but all the social vir- 
 tues, are called out by distress. But then, mise- 
 ry, to be the proper object of mitigation, or of 
 that benevolence which endeavours to relieve, 
 must be realli/ or apparently casual. It is upon 
 such, sufferings alone that benevolence can ope- 
 rate. Thus, in a religious view, privation, dis- 
 appointment, and satiety, are not without the 
 most salutary tendencies. 
 
 War. 
 
 The justifying causes of war are, deliberate 
 invasions of right, and the necessity of main- 
 taining such a balance of power amongst neigh- 
 bouring nations as that no single state or confe- 
 deracy be strong enough to overwhelm the rest. 
 The objects of just war are precaution, defence^ 
 or reparation : every just war supposes an injury 
 perpetrated^ attempted, or feared. The insuffi- 
 
3l« BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 cient causes, or unjustifiable motives of war^ 
 are the family alliances, the personal friendships^ 
 or personal quarrels of princes : the internal dis- 
 putes which are carried on in other nations ; the 
 justice of other wars, the extension of territory 
 or of trade; the misfortunes or accidental weak- 
 ness of a neighbouring, or a rival nation. There 
 arc two lessons of rational and sober policy, 
 which, if it were possible tu inculcate them into 
 the councils of princes, would exclude many of 
 the motives of war, and allay that restless am- 
 bition which is constantly stirring up one part of 
 mankind against another. The first of these les- 
 sons admonishes princes *^ to place their glory 
 and their emulation, not in extent of territor^^, but 
 in raising the greatest quantity of happiness out 
 of a given territory." The enlargement of ter- 
 ritory by conquest, is not only not a just object 
 in war, but in a greater part of the instances in 
 which it is attempted, not even desirable. It is 
 certainly not desirable where it adds nothing to 
 the numbers, the enjoyments, or the security 
 of the conquerors. What commonly is gained 
 to a nation by the annexing of new depen- 
 dencies, or the subjugation of other countp'-is 
 to its dominions, but a ivider frontier to de- 
 fend; more interfering claims to vindicate; more 
 (|uarrels, more enemies, more rebellions to en- 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY* 31^ 
 
 counter ; a greater force to keep up by sea and 
 land ; more services to provide for, and more^ 
 establishments to pay. And to make up for the 
 charge of keeping them, a revenue is to be ex- 
 torted, or a monopoly to be enforced and watched 
 at an expense which costs half their produce*- 
 Thus the provinces are oppressed^ in order to 
 pay for being ill-governed ; and the original state 
 is exhausted in maintaining a feeble authority 
 over discontented subjects. No assignable por- 
 tion of country is benefited by the change ; and it* 
 the sovereign appear to himself to be enriched or 
 strengthened, when every part of his dominion 
 is made poorer and weaker than it was, it is pro- 
 bable that he is deceived by appearances. Or 
 were it true that the grandeur of the prince is 
 magnified by those exploits; the glory which 
 is purchased, and the ambition which is gratified 
 by the distress of one country without adding to 
 the happiness of another, which at the same 
 time enslaves the new and the ancient part of the 
 empire, by whatever names it may be known or 
 flattered, ought to be an object of universal exe- 
 cration : and oftentimes, not more so to the 
 vanquished, than to the very people whose 
 armies or whose treasures have achieved the 
 victory. 
 
 r 
 
314 BEAUTIES OF PALEV. 
 
 The rule of prudence, which ought to be re- 
 commended to those who conduct the affairs ot 
 nations, is " never to pursue national honour as 
 distinct from national interest,^' This rule ac- 
 knowledges that it is often necessary to assert the 
 honour of a nation for the sake of its interest. 
 Out rule only directs that, v\ heii points of ho- 
 nour become subjects of contention, they be es- 
 timated with a reference to zf^zVi/y. ^' The dig- 
 nity of his crown" — '^ The honour of his flag** 
 — " The glory of his arms'* — in the mouth of a 
 prince, are stately and imposing terms, but the 
 ideas they inspire are insatiable. The pursuit of 
 honour, when set loose from the admonitions of 
 prudence, becomes in kings a wild and roman- 
 tic passion ; for, eager to engage, and gathering 
 fury in its progress, it is checked by no dilEcul- 
 ties, r^elldd by no dangers; it forgets or de- 
 spises those considerations of safety, ease, 
 wealth, and plenty, which in the eye of true 
 public wisdom, compose .the objects, to which 
 the renown of arms and the fame of victory are 
 only instrumental and subordinate. The pursuit 
 nf wterest, on the other hand, is a sober prin- 
 ciple; computes costs and consequences; is 
 cautious of entering into war; stops in time 
 when regulated by those universal maxims of re 
 
 
aEAUTIES OF PALEY, Sl5 
 
 Utive justice, which belong to the affairs oi 
 communities as well as of private persons, it is 
 the right principle for nations to proceed by— i 
 even when it trespasses- upon these regulations. 
 It is much less dangerous, because much more 
 temperate than the other. 
 
 TheT^garddueto kindred in the disposil 6i^m 
 fortutie, exceptHhe Cdse6f lineal kindred (which 
 is diffefeht,) • arises either from the- respect wo 
 owe to the presumed intention of the ancestor 
 from whom' we received our forturies> ' oi- from 
 the expectations which we have encouraged. The 
 intention of the ancestor is presumed with greater 
 certainty, as well as entitled to more respect, 
 the fewer degrees he is renioved from us. Who- 
 ever, therefore- without 'cause, gives away his 
 patrimony from his brother's or sister's family, 
 is guilty not so much of an injury to them, as 
 of ingratitude to his parent. 'There is always a 
 reason for providing for our poor relations, in 
 preference to others who may be equally neces- 
 sitous, which is,^that if we do not, no one else 
 will -.mankind by an established' consent, leaving 
 the reduced branches of good families to the 
 bounty of their wealthy alliance?. 
 
316 JIEAUTIES OF T'ALEXi 
 
 The not making a will is a very culpable Qmis- 
 sioiij^ where it i^s attended with the following ef- 
 fects : — where it leaves daughters, or younger 
 children, at the mercy of the oldest son ; where 
 it distributes a personal fortune equally amongst 
 the chilren, although there be no equality in their 
 exigencies or situations ; where it leaves an 
 opening for litigation; or lastly SLnd prmcipally 
 where it, defrauds creditors: for by a, def<PiCic in 
 our laws, long and strangely overlooked, real 
 estates are not subject to the payment of debts 
 by simple contract, unless made so by will, air 
 thoug;h credit is, in fact, generally given to the 
 pqssession of such estates ; he, therefore, who 
 neglects to.make the necessary appointment foij 
 the payment, of; his debts, as fa^ 3^ his effect^ 
 extends, sins in his grave : and if he omits ,tbi^ 
 on purpose to defeat the demands of his credi- 
 tors, he dies with a deliberate fraud in his. heart. 
 Anciently, when any one died withput a will, 
 the bishop of the diocese took possession of his 
 personal fortune, to dispose of it for the benefit 
 of his soul, that is, to pious and charitable uses. 
 It became necessary, therefore, that the bishop 
 should be satisfied of the authenticity of the will, 
 before he resigned the right which he had to take 
 possession of the dead man's fortune in case of 
 intestary. In this way wills and controversies 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 317 
 
 relating to wills, came within the cognizance of 
 ecclesiastical courts ; under the jurisdiction of 
 which, wills of personals (the only wills that 
 were made formerly) still continue^ though in 
 truth, no more now a-days connected with reli- 
 gion than any other instruments of conveyance. 
 This is a peculiarity in the English law. 
 
 Witnesses ; their dutij. 
 
 The witness swears to ^^ speak the truth, the 
 whole truth, and nothing but the truth, touch- 
 ing the matter irl qu'estion.'* 
 
 Upon which ittnay be observed, that the de- 
 si2;ned concealment of any truth which relates 
 to the matter in agitation, is as much a violation 
 of the oath, as to testify a positive falsehood | 
 and this whether the witness be interrogated t(> 
 that particular point or not. For when the per- 
 son to be examined is sworn upon a voir dire^ 
 that is, in order to enquire whether he ought to 
 be admitted to give evidence'in the cause at all, 
 the form runs thus : *' You shall true answer 
 make to all such questions as shall be asked 
 you ;*' but, v/hen he comes to be sworn in chief, 
 he swears ^' to speak the whole truth," without 
 restraining it, as before, to the questions that 
 
318 BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 
 
 «hall be asked : which differencje shevvs^ that the 
 la\v- intends, ip ihi^ latter case, to require of the 
 witness, that hegiv^e a complete and unreserved 
 account of what he. knows of the subject of the 
 trial^ whether the questions proposed to hiia 
 reach the extend of his kiiowledge or not. So, 
 that if it be enquired of the w^itntss afterwards, 
 why he did not inform the court so and so, it i5 
 not a sufficient, though a very common answer 
 to say, " becMigc it was never aik^d me." 
 
 The Watch ; mi Argument for a Superintend* 
 ing Providence^ 
 
 In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my fooU 
 against a stone, and were asked how the stond 
 cai;ne to be there ; I might possibly answer that 
 Yor anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain 
 there for ever. But suppose I had found a 
 \vatch upon the ground, I should hardly think 
 of the answer which I hkd before given. Yet 
 Why should riot this answer serve for the watch 
 as well as' the stone ? Why is it not as admissible 
 in the secoiid case as in the first ? For this na- 
 'S0Ti\' and for no other, viz. that, when we come 
 "to inspect the watch, we perceive (what we could 
 
J3EAUTIES OP PALBY. 31^ 
 
 not discover In the stone) that its several parts 
 are framed and put together for a purpose, e. g. 
 that they are so formed and adjusted as to pro- 
 duce motion, and that motion so regLiflat<;c! as to 
 point out the hour of the day : that if the differ- 
 ent parts had been differently shaped from wha*. 
 they are, of a different size from what they are, 
 or placed after any other manner, or in 
 any other order than that in which they are 
 placed, either no motion at all would have been 
 carried on in the machine, or none which would 
 have answered the use that is now served by it. 
 
 Nor would it I apprehend weaken the con- 
 clusion, that we had never seen a watch made ; 
 that we had never known an arti&t capable of 
 making ouv. ; that we were altogether in- 
 capable of executing such a piece of workman- 
 ship ourselves, or of understanding in what man- 
 ner it was performed ; all this being no more 
 than what is true of some exquisite remains of 
 ancient art, of some lost arts, and, to the gene- 
 rality of mankind, of the more curious produc- 
 tions of modern manufacture. 
 
 Neither would it invalidate our conclusion,, 
 .that the watch sometimes went u rong, or that 
 it seldom went exactly right. The purpose of. 
 the machinery, the design, and the designer. 
 
SeO BEAUTIES OF T»ALEY, 
 
 might be evident, and in the case supposed would 
 be evident, in whatever way we accounted for the 
 irregularity of the movement, or whether we 
 could account for it or not. 
 
 Nor would it bring any imcertainty into the 
 argument, if there were a few parts in the watch, 
 concerning which we could not discover, or had 
 not yet discovered, in what manner they con- 
 duced tp the general effect ; or even some 
 parts, concerning which we could not ascertaiti 
 whether they conduced to that effect in any man* 
 •ner whatever. For, if by theloss/or disorder, ordct 
 cay of the parts in question, the movement of 
 the watch were found in fact to be stopped, dis- 
 'turbed, or retarded, no doubt would remain ia 
 •our minds as to the utility or intention of these 
 parts. Then, as to the second thing supposed, 
 namely, that there were parts which might be 
 spared without prejudice to the movement of the 
 watch,'— these superfluous parts, even if we were 
 completely assured that they were such, would 
 not vacate the reasoning which w^ had insti- 
 tuted concerning other parts. 
 
 Nor would any man in his senses think the 
 existence of the watch with its various machinery 
 accounted for by being told that it was one out 
 of possible combinations of material forms j that 
 
BEAUTIES OP PALEY. 821 
 
 ■whatever he had found in the place where he 
 had found the vvateh, must have contained some 
 internal configuration of other; and that this con- 
 figuration might be the structure now exhibited, 
 viz. of the works of a watch, as well as a differ- 
 ent structure. 
 
 Nor would it yield his inquiry more satisfaction 
 to be answered, that there existed in things a 
 principle of order, which had disposed the parts 
 of the watch into their present form and situation. 
 He never knew a watch made by the principle of 
 order; nor can he even form to himself an idea 
 of what is meant by a principle of order, distinct 
 from the intelligence of the watch-maker. 
 
 Again, he would be surprized to hear that tlie 
 mechanism of the watch was no proof of con- 
 trivance, only a motive to induce the mind to 
 think so. 
 
 And not less surprised to be informed that the 
 watch in his hand was nothing more than the re- 
 sult of the laws of metalic nature. It is a per- 
 version of language to assign any law, as the 
 efficient, operative cause of any thing. A law 
 presupposes an agent \ for it is only the mode,, 
 according to. which an agent proceeds : it implies 
 a power, for it is the order according to which 
 that power acts. Without this agent, without 
 
 p 3. 
 
332 BEAUTIES OF PALET. 
 
 this power, which are both distinct from itself^ 
 the law does nothings is nothing. The expres- 
 sion, ^^ the law of metallc nature/' may sound 
 strange and harsh, but it seems quite as justifi- 
 able as ^^ the law of vegetable nature/'-*' the law 
 of animal nature," or indeed as " th<i law of 
 nature" in general, when assigned as the cause 
 <of phoenomena, in exclusion of agency ami 
 'power ; or when it is substituted into the place 
 of these. 
 
 - -Neither, wotuM our observer be driven out of 
 •Ills conclusion, or from his confidence in its truths 
 %y being told that he knew nothing at all about 
 the mdttef.' He knowsenough forhis argament : 
 he knows the utility of the end : he knows the 
 subserviency and adaptation of the means to the 
 end. These points bein^ known, his ignorance 
 of other points, his doubts concerniiig other 
 "pdintb, affect not the certainty of his reasoning. 
 The consciousness of knowing little, need. not 
 beget a distrust of that which he does know. 
 
 Youth and jige. 
 
 But it is not for youth alone^b at the grea-t- 
 ^|>{tf^t^f creiation hath provided;' Happiness is 
 ^dni' with the purring cat, no less than, with the 
 
 J 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEV. S^ 
 
 playful kitten ; in the arm-chair of dozing agCy 
 as well as in the sprightliness of the dance, or 
 the animation of the chase. To novelty, to 
 acuteness of sensation, to hope, to ardour of 
 pursuit, succeeds, what is in no inconsiderable 
 degree, an equivalent for them all, " perception 
 of ease." Herein is the exact difference between 
 the young and the old. The young are not hap- 
 py but when enjoying pleasure ; the old are hap- 
 py when free from pain. And this constitution 
 suits with the degrees of animal power which 
 they respectively possess. The vigour of youth 
 was to be stimulated to action by impatience of 
 rest; whilst to the imbecility of age, quietness 
 and repose become positive gratifications. In 
 one important respect the advantage is with the 
 old, A state of ease is, generally speaking, 
 more attainable than a state of pleasure. A 
 constitution therefore, which can enjoy ease, is 
 preferable to that which can taste only pleasure. 
 This same perception of ease, oftentimes renders 
 old age a condition of great comfort ; especially 
 when riding at its anchor after a busy or tem- 
 pestuous life. It is well described by Rousseau 
 to be the interval of repose and enjoyment be- 
 tween the hurry and the end of life. ^* To the 
 inieiligent and yirtuous, old age presents a setne 
 
324 BEAUTIES OF PALEY* 
 
 of tranquil enjoyments, of obedient appetites, of 
 well-regulated affections, of maturity in know- 
 ledge, and of calm preparation for immortality. 
 In this serene and dignified state, placed, as it 
 were, on the confines of two worlds, the mind 
 of a good man reviews what is past with the 
 complacency of an approving conscience, and 
 looks forward with humble confidence in the 
 mercy of God, and with devout aspirations to- 
 wards his eternal and ever-increasing favour." 
 
 ZeaL • 
 
 The Christian religion either owes the princi- 
 ple of its establishment to the activity of the per- 
 son who was the founder of the institution, and 
 of those who were joined wih him in the under- 
 taking, or we are driven upon the strange sup- 
 position, that although they might lie by, others 
 would take it up, and that other persons busied 
 themselves in the propagation of their story. 
 This is perfectly incredible. To me it appears 
 little less than certain, that if the first announc- 
 ing of the religion of the founder had ^ot been 
 followed up by the zeal and industry of his im- 
 mediate disciples, the attempt must have expired 
 in its birth. Then as to the kind and degree of 
 
BEAUTIES OF PALEY. 325 
 
 exertion which was employed, and the mode of 
 hTe to which these persons submitted, we rea- 
 sonably suppose it to be like that which we ob- 
 serve in all others who voluntarily become mis- 
 sionaries of a new faith. Frequent, earnest and 
 laborious preaching, constantly conversing with 
 religious persons upon religion ; a sequestration 
 from the common pleasures, engagements, and 
 varieties of life ; and an addiction to one serious 
 object, compose the habits of such men. I do 
 not say this mode of life is without enjoyment, 
 but i say that the enjoyment springs from since- 
 rity. With a consciousness at the bottom of 
 hollo wness and falsehood, the fatigue and res- 
 traint would become insupportable. I am apt 
 to believe that very few hypocrites engage in 
 these undertakings. Ordinarily speaking, no- 
 thing can overcome the indolence of mankind, 
 the love which is natural to most tempers of 
 cheerful society and cheerful scenes, or the de- 
 sire which is common to all, of personal ease 
 and freedom, but conviction. 
 
 THE END 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Actions . . . • . 71 
 
 Activity of Mind . • . .73 
 
 Advantages enjoyed by subjects of free states . 75 
 
 Advantages and Duties of the- Inferior Clergy . 77 
 
 Age, tiie true way of maldhg it comfortable . 82 
 
 Agriculture . , , • 84» 
 
 How discouraged . - • . 303 
 
 Ambition, its Pleasures . . .85 
 
 Anger . • . ,86 
 
 Articles of Religion, Subscription to . . 294 
 
 Assistance of the Holy Spirit . . .88 
 
 Allegiance, Civil . . , ,52 
 
 B, 
 
 Beneficence and Optimism ► , • 8.^ 
 
 Benevolence, the Divine , , .136' 
 
 British Constitution . . . 91 
 Business, an 'Antidote to one of the greatest 
 
 plagues of the soul . . . 1^9 
 
 C. 
 
 Canaanites, the Caase of their Destruction justi- 
 fied . - . , . . IGO 
 Charity, the different Kinds of it . 55, 102 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Christianity vindicated against the Charges of 
 Persecution, Ware, &c. , . 105 
 
 Compared with Natural Religion . 307 
 
 Christian Worship, its Tendency to promote civil 
 
 Liberty . . . .110 
 
 Civil Government, its Origin , .111 
 
 Allegiance, what . . . .52 
 
 Comforts of Religion . . 201,202 
 
 Contentment, Method of obtaining . . 118 
 
 Conversion . . . .121 
 
 .its different Epithets . ,122 
 
 Crimes and Punishments . .124 
 
 Crimes of Violence . . .126 
 
 Conscience, the Want of it, or its non-exertion . 175 
 Christ's Kingdom on earth, its increase progres- 
 sive . . . , 205 
 Chribtian Dispensation, and the World itself, in 
 their Inlancy . . . * 206 
 D. 
 
 Death sudden, its Benefits . .128 
 
 Debts . ' . . .129 
 
 Deity, Existence of . , .130 
 Devotion Social, its numerous Benefits, Civil land 
 
 Religious . . . .134 
 
 Domestics, Treatment of, . . .140 
 
 DruiikenneSs, its Effects from Example . . 139 
 
 Economy of Parents, due . » 231 
 
 Education, not complete without Religion . 141 
 
 Evidences of Christianity . . , 143 
 
 Employment and Labour, singular Benefits- . 169 
 
 Existence of the Deity, Utility of Investigation . 130 
 
 Establishments, Religious . . 269 
 
 F. 
 
 Faith, operative of a Christian , . l63 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Fitness of things . , ' , l4G 
 
 Frauds and Injiirie3 • , . 147 
 
 Free Grace, true Nature of . .152 
 
 Fuiure State . . . 145 
 
 Gifts and Graces . . 150, 168, 220 
 Goodness of the Creator, why not perceived . 153 
 Gospels, DiiFerences in their Accounts . 155 
 Government, its Forms, Advantages^ and De- 
 fects . . , , . 155 
 
 H. 
 
 Habit . . . ♦ .158 
 Happiness, Political . • .159 
 Health . « . • . l6i 
 Honour, the Law of, inadequate without Reli- 
 gion . , . .162 
 Human Happiness . • • .164 
 Humble Stations . . . .158 
 
 I. 
 
 Indifference in Religion, its Danger . ; 174? 
 
 Intention to sin, its Danger . .176^ 
 
 Influence of Religion, where to be found . 177 
 
 Innocence, its Value . . .181 
 
 J. 
 
 Juries, Excellence of their Institution . . 98 
 
 Justice, Penal, its Administration . .184 
 
 Law of England, penal, its humane Policy 186, 187 
 Liberty, in a State of Nature, what . . 187 
 
 in Conversation defeats its own Object . 191 
 
 Lies . . . . .188 
 
 Liturgies, Necessity of shortening them , , 245 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Lo\e of God, its Operation . .195 
 
 Luxury, its Effects . . .19^ 
 
 M. 
 
 Mansions, many, John xiv, 2. 3. referred to a 
 
 future Economy and Dispenbalion on Earth . 20f 
 Mahomet, Compari'ion of his Doctrines with 
 
 Christianity . , . . 1S8 
 
 Meditation frequent, its Bi2nefits . .132 
 
 Metaphors, what . . . 299 
 
 Merits, our own considered as a soucce of con^* 
 
 fort . . . .201 
 
 Millenium, true Doctrine of . . 205 
 
 Miracles ... . . .210 
 
 Moral Strength, and the Assistance of the Spirit . 1 68 
 
 Sentiments produced by Imitation . 173 
 
 Morality of the Gospel . . . .213 
 
 Morality, Religious and Philosophic . . 2i6 
 Methodists, Impropriety entreating them with 
 
 Levity .... .. , . 26^ 
 
 Millenarian, a Rational . .69 
 
 N. 
 
 Nature, Universal, its Contemplation . , . 138 
 
 Necessities,; not hardships, but Pleasures ; 171 
 
 New Birth . . . . 219 
 
 New State on Earth, its Nature . . 209 
 
 O. 
 
 Oaths . - , . 50, 23S 
 
 Occasions of dokig good • .221 
 
 Opinion^ its Differences . . 224 
 
 P. 
 
 Parables . . . . 225 
 
 Tarent's Duties . . . 229 
 
 Paul St. his^ Character . . . 225» 
 
INDEX. 
 
 l^eculiarities of the Discourses of Christ . 234 
 
 Pecuniary Bounty . . . 236' 
 
 Perjury . . . . ^3S 
 
 Pigeons, the Similitude of . . . 252 
 
 Pious Frauds . . .239 
 
 Political Reform . . . 262. 
 
 Prayer, its True Nature • . . 150 
 
 Prayer, Repetitions in , , .241 
 
 — Forms of . ' . . .243 
 
 Praise indiscriminate . . . 174 
 
 Promises ..... 248 
 
 Presumption, its Dangers . . ,182 
 
 Property, Eq,ual Distributipn of , . 252 
 
 . Exclusive . . . 256 
 
 Probation ' . • . .249 
 
 Prudence compared with Duty . .261 
 
 Paley, the late Archdeacon, not a Socinian or 
 Unitarian .... 1 
 
 his Ideas of the Establishmeat . , 2. 
 
 ^-- — 'his Birth ' . . - , . ... 3 
 
 f-r — IS admitted a Scizar of Christ's College . 5 
 
 his Power of Abstr(iction . . . 7 
 
 T— fiis Dress and Manners . . S 
 
 •^—- his Made of Lecturing. », . ^ 5L 
 
 ■ treats the Thirty- nine Articles of Religion 
 
 as Articles of Peace , . .12 
 . his Thesis on the Eternity of Hell Tor- 
 ments . . , .14 
 
 Engages as a Second Assistant in,- a great ; 
 
 Academy at Greenwich . . ■ ...15 
 
 ' Writes a Prize Essay , . / .. ibid* 
 
 Engages as a Curate to jgr. Hlachiiffc,rat 
 
 Greenwich . . *.' , l6 
 is appointed one of the Preacher at White- 
 hall . ' \ . • . . 17 
 ■■ Removes to Musgrote ' . .. •-* ibid^ 
 
INDEX. 
 
 • is Appointed to the Vicarage of Dalston . 1 S 
 
 Installed a Prebendary ot Carlisle . ]& 
 
 his Acquaintance with Mr; Law, Dr. 
 
 Shepherd, the American General Lee, 
 Prince pDnyatowsky . . QO 
 
 ^ Engages rn the Controversy on a Sub- • 
 
 scription to Articles of Faith . . 21 
 
 his Correspondence with Dr. Perceval of 
 
 Manchester - . . . . 24 
 
 • Writes against Slave Dealers, &c . . 9.5 
 
 • refuses the Mastership of Jesus College , ^(J 
 
 — — . Publish-es his Moras Paulinie . . ibid. 
 
 — -^ is inducted to the Vicarage of Addingham 27 
 
 -^ Exchange Stanwix for Dalston . . 2S 
 
 is Instituted to the Prebend of Pancras . 2g 
 
 Grants an Annual compensation for Tithes 3 1 
 
 Sustainsa Violent Nefralgic Complaint . 33 
 
 Dies at Bishop's Wearmouth . . 3Q 
 
 on his Character . . .37 
 
 ^ his Thoughts on the Cold-bath Fields 
 
 * Prison, Governor Wall, &c. . . 43 
 Dn his Writings by the Rev. Edward Pear- 
 son • . 
 •— — ' on his Sentiments with respect to 
 
 Promises , . .4^ 
 
 •— — on Oaths . , ^ ,50 
 
 -' on Civil allegiance . . , 52 
 
 ■" on Charity . , , .55 
 
 ' his Opinion of Men in Power « . 58 
 
 " • .- a Rational Millenarian . . 59 
 
 *-**^— 'his Sermons, Sentiments of the Montlily^ 
 
 Reviewers upon . . , 64 
 
 R. 
 
 Bcasoningand Remarks j aurpwn, the essential 
 
 m 
 
INDEX; 
 
 Difference between, and thdse adopted from 
 others '■ . . ' . . I3S 
 
 Reformation, its Perpetual Practibility . . 26* 
 lleligion ; its principle Etfccts, 6cc. where 
 
 to be sought , - . . 178,179 
 Uesurrection, Illustrated by Natural Objects .271 
 ■ — of Life, its Subjects • . 275 
 
 S. 
 
 Sabbatical Institutions, their use . . 27 
 
 SeCj-CLt Sins. . ., . • 23o 
 
 Seas,, the, whether Free . . . 258 
 
 Seduction , . . , . . 284 
 
 Scripture, Difficulties in . . , 279 
 
 Solitude, it« advantages • « , i65 
 
 Sickness as the trial of Virtue , , 2S6 
 
 Slander ..... 287 
 
 Splendid Situations in the Church . , . 288 
 Standing Army . . ^ . . ,292 
 
 Suicide . . . • , 3S0 
 
 Subscription to Articles • , , 294« 
 
 T. 
 
 Treason, Indigencies for , , » 97 
 
 Terrors of the Lord, what . . . 299 
 
 Taxes, how they ought to be raised . . 297 
 
 ■ upon Income censured , . , 298 
 
 Toleration, ought to be complete . . 304 
 
 U. 
 
 Unprofitableness, what . . . 203 
 Universality, Objections to want of itin Re- 
 ligion Answered . . . 300 
 
 Virtues . 4 ... S09 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Advantages of thc< Passive . .810 
 
 V^oj^vs . . ' . , . . §0i{ 
 
 *)^'. W. , ..:,;;/:■/: 
 "VVar, Justifying causes oif . * . 3f'i 
 1—i-^'the Wildness cf its Pursuits . . .314 
 AVills . . : . . . . 315 
 'how thoy fiirst became subject to Ecclesi- 
 astical Courts ^ , , , .317 
 Witnesses, their Duty . . . ibid. 
 M'atch, the, an Argument for a Superintending ; ' .-" 
 f Providence , .. . , , . 3lS 
 Youth and Age . . . . , . 322 
 Zcai . . ^ . . 324 
 
 €. Stower, Prinier, Paler ivostei how, Loudon, 
 
[^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 14 DAY USE 
 
 - V RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 
 — T -^ » a 
 
 = u- 
 
 ~'"R' !3RArV 10A> 
 
 OCT 1 £ 1981 
 
 iJMiV. OF GALIF., BERK. 
 
 A. 
 
 —■ LD 21A-60m-7,'66 
 
 Zi (G4427sl0)476B 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
 ^ "^^^mimm^^j/ iixii ^ismms^'^// 
 

 >N>Wl|^^ 
 
 NIVEBSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 ^?^>v ff^N rlT) 
 
 ^< ^<M44^ I %m^^ (^^ 
 
 M 
 
 NiVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY