HANDBOUND AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
ffr
THE
WORKS
WILLIAM PALEY, D.D.
LONDON :
TRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITL1R1ARS.
W1TLJLIAM PiLEY, D . "D
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THE
WORKS
OF
WILLIAM PALEY, D. D
ADDITIONAL SEKMONS,
ETC. ETC. AND A CORRECTED ACCOUNT OF THE
LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE AUTHOR,
BY THE REV. EDMUND PALEY, A. M.
VICAR OF EASINGWOLD.
A NEW EDITION]*0 '
IN SEVEN VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON :
PRINTED FOR C. AND J. RIVINGTONj J. NUNN; LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND CO.; T. CADELL ; J. RICHARDSON; BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY ; G. B. WHITTAKER ; R. SAUNDERS ; J. COL- LINGWOOD: J. PARKER, OXFORD; AND DEIGHTON AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE.
1825.
AN ACCOUNT
OF
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
W. PALEY, D.D.
VOL. I.
AN ACCOUNT
OF
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
OF
W. PALEY, D.D.
VOL. I.
PREFACE.
It may be deemed, if not the duty, yet often the interest, of an editor or a biogra- pher to keep himself out of sight ; but it is so obvious, that I may seem chargeable with an affectation of delicacy and scrupulosity if I pretend to only a silent concern in this edi- tion, that it can scarcely be expected I should not avail myself of a few words to explain the design with which it is sent out of my hands.
In the space of nearly twenty years, it may be presumed all has been stated, that has any chance of coming before the public from any other source, respecting the Life and Writings of Dr. Paley, and that his
works have undergone all the criticism of
u 2
4 PREFACE.
his contemporaries, as well as change of form and arrangement, that may have been thought requisite. Yet there is (necessarily perhaps from the way in which many of these editions have been compiled) enough of irrelevancy in the matter, and defect in the arrangement of these works, to dissatisfy any one who takes an interest in the name and memory of the author. How far indeed a son may suppose that his father cannot be recognised in what has already been made public in so many shapes, merely because he finds it at variance with his own feelings, will not be left to my decision ; but if it be not a sort of filial presumption to feel a pride, as well as a property in a father's name, I would fain think myself called upon to set his name and memory right with the public, or at least give a correct, and if possible, an improved edition of his works. As they at present stand, they are but poorly trimmed for posterity.
My duty indeed as a biographer and editor
PREFACE.
will be more pleasantly discharged, if I dis- claim any great pretension to either of these titles, and only acknowledge that I am greatly indebted to the advice of those, with- out whose suggestion I might not have at- tempted, and without whose assistance I could scarcely have ventured, to bring for- ward this present edition.
As to the sketch of the life prefixed to this edition, except a few home-touches of cha- racter, it may more properly deserve the name of a critique, or correction of what has already been before the public under many names. The lives which have already ap- peared are, 1. An article in the Public Cha- racters, for 1802. 2. Biographical Dic- tionary, by Aikin, 1808. 3. Meadley, first edition, 1809 ; second edition enlarged, 1810. 4). Biographical Dictionary, by Chalmers, 1814. 5. An edition of Paley's Works, with a Life by Chalmers. 6. A small 18mo edi- tion, with a short sketch of the author's Life. 7. The Works of W. Paley, D.D., with an
PllEFACE.
extract from his correspondence, and a Life of the author, by the Kev. Kobert Lynam, A.M. Assistant Chaplain to the Magdalen Hospital, 1823. This edition, it may be ob- served, is accompanied by the following ad- vertisement : " All possible care has been taken to render this edition superior in every respect to preceding editions." It is only necessary for me to say, that hitherto none of Dr. Paley's family have had any connexion with any of the foregoing Lives or Works ; nor have they, except in one instance, thought it their concern to interfere in any way with those booksellers who have had the right of managing them. Besides these, there have been many occasional notices scattered through different periodical publications, some of which may have originated with his friends. To the Memoirs of Dr. Paley, by G. Wilson Meadley, I am induced to give a decided preference, both on account of their general accuracy, and the diligent research made by that writer in collecting materials
PREFACE. 7
for a " Life" with which he was almost en- tirely unacquainted. I can scarcely indeed claim attention to any thing of my own, ex- cept it be to the correcting of some, and confirming, or at most adding to, other parts of what he has written. To a late edition of Paley's works there is a life pre- fixed by Alexander Chalmers, probably enlarged from one in a Biographical Dic- tionary by the same author in 1814; but both evidently, though not avowedly, gleaned from Meadley's Memoirs. I must, however, acknowledge, that I have gleaned, as from many other quarters, so from this ; but only so far as I could draw myself away from a little acrimony, which, however it may suit his purpose, will interest his readers less, sirice it is particularly directed to that very writer from whom he has borrowed so largely. However, from Meadley's Dedi- cation " to the friends of civil and religious liberty," and also from " that reserve of high rank in one, or breaking down of another,"
PHEFACE
which has been hinted at in the Quarterly Review of Meadley's Memoirs, I would with- draw with the same kind of feeling that would lead me to keep out of a scrape : as I cannot be ignorant of what is meant by such insi- nuations, so I am desirous of considering them groundless and idle. My object will be found to be of a higher kind. What is presented new may not be more free from irrelevancies, for into such the subject is not unlikely to run under my hand. It is derived from family recollections and the domestic life of an affectionate father; and though it may be no other than the private history of any family may afford, it forms, at least to his friends, not only the most gratifying, but the most interesting part of his character. As far as I have been able, from some hints discovered in his own hand writing, I have preferred that he should speak for himself. I feel conscious, however, that little of this sort worthy of distinction is within my reach ; because from the period of life at which most
PRKFACE.
of his family were left at his death, and from his own habits in private, which were formed rather to contemplation than communication, but least of all to any display of himself — none knew less of the general incidents of his public life than his own family. It may, therefore, be worth while to pay a particular attention to his mind, so far, that is, as it may consist with a biographical sketch. At the same time that no man's life less abounded in important incident, or rather in public interest, no man's mind seems better worth following from the rise to the maturity of many of his opinions and principles. This also may account for so much of his private life and habits being brought forward in the following pages ; as exclusive of the consi- deration that every man has his own concern in the public as well as private events of his life, so far as these may make an impression on his character — it seemed almost the bent of his inclination to try his most private and
10 PREFACE.
insignificant actions by the test of his public principles.
As to that part of his works now first edited, it is brought forward rather as a sub- stitute for some matter which was in no sense original, than as making any fresh claim upon public attention, or perhaps materially affecting the credit of the author. As it has been no part of my design, so it may almost be conceived that it is no part of my desire, to indulge either less or more than that de- gree of jealousy which will be easily allowed to such an undertaking. While I avow my- self suspicious of what may have been ad- vanced by others under the name of Paley's Works, it is but fair that I should be fearful of detracting from the merit of the author by the insertion of any new matter unworthy of him.
If any thing more be necessary from the editor to the reader, it may be some little explanation with respect to the Sermons,
PREFACE. 11
both those that have been before published, and those that have been hitherto unpub- lished. As to the first, on the one side, in a codicil to the author's will there is an ex- press injunction, " that the said Sermons shall not be printed for sale/' On the other side, there was an assurance that they cer- tainly would be, and even were, so printed for publication surreptitiously. Dr. Paley's executors had to steer betwixt the difficulty of doing injustice to his memory by sub- mitting to the sale of such a publication, and that of bringing upon themselves a charge of having sacrificed his injunction to pecuniary considerations. What ought to have been done, it is now in vain to speak of. For what was done, the reasons are these. It was obvious, that the injunction might be fairly construed rather as precluding those who might be interested, from any spoliation upon his name, should this volume fall into improper hands, or rather perhaps as en- hancing the gift, than from a fear that any
12 PREFACE.
thing unworthy of his name should appear. This latter supposition, indeed, as it would at once lessen the value of the gift, so it will be more than contradicted by the fact, that many of the Sermons so left for publication were more early and more incomplete, and more unconnected productions of his pen, than many which were still in manuscript, and that he was not in the habit of revising what he had written of this sort with any suspicion of mere verbal inaccuracies, or the construction of his sentences. The money arising from the sale, therefore, by being disposed of in some public charity, was con- sidered as placed out of the reach of any private advantage ; and after making some small deduction towards building one na- tional school house at Bishop Wearmouth, and another at Giggleswick, a place inti- mately connected with the author, the re- mainder was paid into the fund of the general Society for the Sons of the Clergy. So much for the publishing of these " said Sermons,"
PREFACE. 13
which were only a small part of those left for publication, and a still smaller part of the whole collection, to which no such injunction applies. From these last, most of those now first published have been selected ; and if one or two of the former have been added, it has been for the sake of preserving a con- nexion with the former publication, evi- dently intended by the author himself, or of giving some strong and peculiar charac- teristic of his mind and sentiments.
As to the Sermons now brought forward, it may be acknowledged that much will be found in some of them, which will be recog- nized by any reader of only slight informa- tion ; but it may be said also, that it seems worth while to see not only how7 old topics may be made interesting under a new dress, but how this author's manner of reading and reasoning led him to draw out the pith of even the closest writer. It may be well also to observe how he treats of even the most ordinary subject, and how much he dis-
14 PREFACE.
dained on more serious subjects to seek only those, on which he might indulge his natural fondness for originality.
With regard to the general arrangement of the volumes, it is yet incomplete, the second volume having been demanded and printed as the second, before the arrangement of this edition was thought of. As being the order which seems to have been contemplated by the author, and as being the obvious arrange- ment of his subject, the Natural Theology ought to have stood first — the Evidences next, to which, as being connected both in matter and time of publication, the Hone Paulinae and the minor Tracts might have succeeded. The Moral Philosophy and the Sermons obviously come last, as the result of the whole. This, however, concerns more the printer and publisher of the works than myself; and should a future edition be called for, it may be worth attending to.
EDITOR.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
As it is one design of these memoirs to seek occa- sions where the subject of them may speak for him- self, so it may be worth while to begin, where such biographical sketches usually do begin, with some short account of the family from which Dr. Paley used to boast his origin. No man was more ready on all occasions to value real merit of any kind, or in any condition ; and though he never treated the pride of ancestry with contempt, he neither had, nor thought he could have, any pretensions to be jealous of his rank in society. It will be found in the fol- lowing pages a striking part of his character, that he not only was perfectly clear from any uneasiness in this respect, or any consciousness of his own import- ance, that he never therefore was forward to assume importance beyond the most private character ; but that he never refused to allow it to others who de- served it, whatever might be their station, nor ever indulged in any but the most cheerful satisfied view of all conditions. He praised what was good in every thing, he passed over good-hum ouredly what
16 LIFE OF Dll. PALEY.
was weak, he was ever on the watch for the best and most cheering prospects, and equally ready to point out to others the advantages and peculiar felicities of their situation. It was with such views as this that he always expressed himself fully satisfied with his own lot, and showed himself satisfied by the great pleasure he took in reflecting upon his rise in life. It is gratifying to his family and intimate friends, to recollect the amusement he both felt and afforded in giving what are called family anecdotes ; and it is no less useful, as showing Jiow far such a character may be modified, if not moulded, by the accidental circumstances of time, place, and early habits. He used to speak much of one of his great-uncles, who kept a hardware stall, on market days, at Settle, in Craven ; from the vicinity of which place his family sprung, and who on being directed by a witty neigh- bour to make a common sewing needle, in value less than one farthing, not only did so with great dili- gence and simplicity, but gravely charged half-a- £rown for a very bungling piece of workmanship. Another kinsman of his, who kept a little grocer's shop in the same town, and whom he took great de- light in assisting to make, or perhaps to wrap up, tobacco, was held out to his own family as a model of perseverance and industry, because he separated two pounds of black and white pepper which had accidentally been mixed, and went thirty-six times (as he used to calculate) into his shop for a farthing. On his finding it necessary to assume what he
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 17
used to call his dignity in later life, and having oc- casion for his armorial bearings, he used to mention with great glee the circumstance of his arms being found on what might probably have passed for a piece of grandeur in his family in early times, on a tankard belonging to an elder branch, to which the family estate at Lancliffe at present belongs ; but with a mischievous pertinacity in maintaining the low origin of his family, he used to take every op- portunity of insisting that even this tankard was bought at a sale. " Thus," said he, when being subdean of Lincoln, he was in company where fa- mily and family arms were more than sufficiently attended to, " was I sporting away with the arms of the Lord knows who, and famous blazing arms they were." To which he added, " this I take to be the history of many coats of arms we see now-a-days." Being still in want of a crest, which this same family plate denied to him, he humorously proposed, or was highly pleased with the suggestion of a malt- shovel, from its suitableness with what he supposed the only trade of the family, as there still exists upon the premises belonging to the estate a large malt-kiln. This, however, was kept perhaps equally for the con- venience of the neighbourhood, as it was usual on many larger estates to afford the tenants the use of a malt-kiln ; and in justice to his ancestors, this might serve rather to aggrandize their state than make them into maltsters. There are a few local circum- stances connected with the name, which might have vol. i. c
18 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
given him an opportunity of speaking of its anti- quity at least, without having recourse to the He- rald's office, but he was better satisfied to take it as he found it. These recollections, however, afforded amusement for many an hour with his family. With a district so singular in the romantic wildness of its scenery, compared with much of the surrounding country, but more singular, at least in his early days, for the almost characteristic independence and sim- plicity of its inhabitants, his associations seemed en- tirely pleasurable ; but it might be because he had often afterwards an opportunity of renewing his early impressions at a time when other scenes and objects had drawn his attention, and when he might be forcibly struck with the difference, rather than, as has been represented, " from his feeling himself most at home, because the unworn asperities of his nature, as they excited the least surprise, so gave the least offence *." The esteem with which he was always received, and the cordiality of his welcome, made him sensible that the worth and integrity of his friends in Craven were far too valuable to make him attend at all to any reciprocal accommodations of mere manner, or any comfortable feeling of being set loose from the restrictions of polished society. He was little inclined either there or any where else to lay much stress on those little particularities of pri- vate life, which serve to annoy or to please inferior
* Quarterly Review.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 19
minds, but few were more attentive to time, place, and situation.
Inferences drawn from any recollections of early days are not much to be relied on, as indicating any thing of character ; except it be some prevailing tend- ency which unconsciously arises from early habits ; and it is not inaptly observed * that the cast of his character might be derived from his connexion with the place almost of his nativity. As far as it was " locus Graeca comitate et provinciali parsimonia mixtus, et bene compositus," he certainly was much indebted to it. The originality also of his character, as well as his bold independence in thinking and acting, might be partly owing to the manners of the place. But for the line of life marked out for him, for much of his force and aptness of expression, for many of his private habits, which materially influ- enced his public character, for his dislike of any sacri- fice of his time and occupations to the mere etiquette of life, for his economy on a plan, for his clever and often ridiculous calculation upon the wants and neces- sities of a family, for his observation upon the mi- nutiae of life, for his almost parsimonious habits in what regarded himself, and for his liberal, and even profuse, way of dealing with the wants of others, we may find some account in what he used often to re- late of his father and mother ; though as few families are without their peculiar secrets, any approach to-
* Meadley, Appendix A, 2d edition.
c 2
20 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
wards meddling with what may be called the indivi- duality of a family must be rather fearful. On the death of his mother he says, among other things, " she was the most careful and affectionate of parents," and he who never said a word too much in his letters, though it cannot be expected that he should give this as the whole of her character, marked her leading traits as decidedly as it is held out by her acquaint- ance. She was a little, shrewd-looking, keen-eyed woman, of remarkable strength of mind and spirits; one of those positive characters that decide promptly, and execute at once; of a sanguine and irritable temper, which led her to be constantly on the alert in thinking and acting. Her characteristic excellence was in the conduct of her family concerns. It was very much the fashion of her day and of her neigh- bourhood to have, or aim at having, the reputation of good management. She was so thrifty in her house- wifery, that it not only formed the chief object of her attention, but gave rise to the only characteristic trait recorded of her in her family, viz. her turn for practical drollery. If she could surprise her servants in bed at four o'clock in the morning, she seized the opportunity of sparing herself the trouble of a scold, and yet gaining the advantages of it, by carrying up their breakfast, and with a curtsy, presenting it to the ladies. She was .certainly a clever managing woman. She had for her fortune «£400, which in those days, and in that neighbourhood, was almost sufficient to confer the title of an heiress ; at least it
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 21
was a fair sum for one of good family. At the time of her marriage, which was much disapproved of as beneath what she ought to have expected, she rode on horseback behind her husband from Stackhouse, near Settle, in Craven, to Peterborough : she under- took the charge of the limited income which a vicarage of £35 a year, a minor canonry of Peterborough cathedral, and a few pupils afforded. She afterwards, on her husband's being elected master of the grammar school at Giggleswick, travelled back to her native country in the same plight, with her son on her lap, and all their worldly goods in a tea-chest. She kept her family, which increased to four children, re- putably and respectably, on a very limited income : she gave £100 to her husband towards building a house, and another hundred towards an outfit for her son at College, and upon her death left £2,200 to her family, the accumulation of her small portion in the hands of a brother as managing as herself.
Her husband was of a different cast of character ; liberal to profusion for his income, yet not only eco- nomical on a plan, but even scanty in his allowances to his family. It is not very important to know that shillings will become pounds, and hundreds, thou- sands ; but it may be worth notice, as showing what a short distance there is between a low estate and comparative opulence, and how soon a different rank and estimation in society may be gained, that this plan of economy and almost hereditary carefulness raised this younger son of a yeoman of no very opu~
22 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
lent family to comparative wealth and consideration. He was educated at the school of his native place, and after receiving the portion of a younger son, a good education, was entered at Christ's College, Cambridge, as a sizar, was presented to the small vicarage of Helpstone by his college (as a compen- sation for some disappointment in a fellowship), from which he seldom got more than £30 a year, and when he left that neighbourhood was obliged to be satisfied with a few flower seeds for his daughters, transmitted annually by his curate as a balance to the produce of his living. It would not at last maintain a curate. He removed to Peterborough, where he obtained a minor canonry ; was afterwards gratified by being elected schoolmaster of his native place on £80 a year, which afterwards became £200, and by the assistance as well as example of his managing wife, added to a legacy of £1,500, which laid the foundation perhaps of his family and fortune, con- trived to scrape together <^7>000. This same plan of putting forward both exertion and carefulness pro- cured to his son William, the subject of these Me- moirs, as far as was independent of the changes and chances of every man's lot, threefold both of fame and fortune from a very small beginning. And now we have done with worldly matters.
The father of Dr. Paley was a cheerful, jocose man, a great wit, and an enlivening companion ; in his days of activity, fond of field sports, and more fond of company than was relished at home. In his neigh-
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. T3
bourhood he was esteemed a good and even a popular preacher. His Sermons, though not perhaps his own composition, were all short, substantial, and rather in- clined to reason than feeling. They are the writings of a rational Christian divine, fond of the almost exclusive consideration of subjects connected with the peculiar doctrines of Christianity. Sherlock and Clarke seem to have been his favourite models, and were largely drawn upon for furnishing the weekly supply. What is much more to his credit, he was a conscientious clergyman. He was twenty years curate of Giggleswick, and afterwards curate of Horton. He used to think himself one of the oldest incum- bents on one and the same vicarage in his diocese, and perhaps in England, being fifty-six years vicar of Helpstone. But his fame, in the estimation of both himself and others, was built upon his school. He was altogether a schoolmaster, both by long habit and in- clination, and when at the age of eighty-three, or eighty- four, he was obliged to have assistance (which was long before he wanted it in his own opinion), he used to be wheeled in his chair to his school, and even in the delirium of his last sickness, insisted upon giving his daughters a Greek author, over which they would mutter and mumble, to persuade him that he was still hearing his boys' Greek. He was rather coarse, but strong and significant in his language. He fancied himself a poet, and was fond of mouth- ing out shreds and patches of Greek and Latin, and English verse. He corrected his boys chiefly by
24 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
similes taken from the most ordinary subjects of his observation. " To gabble like a mill-hopper ;" " to mutter like a wheel -barrow on a causeway ;" "to mumble like a bee in a fox-glove," are expressions which his scholars recollect to this day. He was from natural temperament, as well as from the habits of his profession, irritable and a disciplinarian, and, carried his authority to his home, perhaps more from not being able to leave it at his school, than from any view of its necessity or use. The natural bent of his mind during his leisure was towards contempla- tion and country employments. He was found in the hay-field among his work-people, or sitting in his elbow-chair in the fields nibbling his stick, or with the tail of his damask gown rolled into his pocket, busy- ing himself in his garden even at the age of eighty ; and if he could not improve it, was not seldom de- tected in making a common destruction of walk, border, and grass-plat.
From these parents, all their children inherited an eminently substantial character ; a ready application of their reasoning powers to the practice of life ; a natural brilliancy of common sense, rather than of wit ; a strong bias towards worldly considerations, regulated by a much stronger inclination to, and feeling of, superior duties, and a most liberal disregard of their own, in comparison with their neighbours' conve- nience. Their son William, though he sometimes used to suppose himself destined for an humble situa- tion, was always designed for a learned profession for
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 25
many reasons. His mother desired that the only son of a man who stood so deservedly high in her estima- tion, as well as in that of her neighbours, should be distinguished ; and his own inclination, joined to the praise of the neighbourhood, as is generally the case, led him to think his father an eminent man, and made him so proud of the profession of a teacher and a cler- gyman, that he adopted it almost insensibly. The first effort of that quickness and shrewdness of reply, which distinguished him so much afterwards, seems to have shown itself on this subject ; for at a very early age, on being scolded by his mother, who finished with " God give thee grace ;" " Ay, mother," he replied, " Grace o' God and Grace o' Canterbury will do for me." Besides, there had been in the family one eminent man, who had been vicar of Hunslet, in Leeds ; a literary character, remarkably studious, and an author of some repute. His inter- ference, and his fondness for his own calling, along with a library well stocked with old divinity, had given Dr. Paley's father a taste and a bias to the clerical profession -> and these inducements might have their influence in determining the destination of the son. It were to be wished that in the following part of these memoirs Dr. Paley might be found drawing in his own way as much of his own life and cha- racter as of his parents. But of his younger days he seldom spoke, except when he was disposed to amuse a leisure hour with his sisters in more advanced life. There seems to be not only a gap in this part of his
26 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
life found by most of his biographers, but a want of incident throughout. Few, perhaps, have written of a life so devoid of incident, and yet so eminently distinguished for talent and integrity ; and fewer still have, perhaps, read what has been written without being forcibly struck with a paucity of fact and inci- dent* to relieve the dry detail of intellectual ad- vancement. It is pretty obvious, as is well observed!, " that the lives of men of letters do not usually abound with incident," because the life of a student, and one devoted to literature, is necessarily so distinct from the ordinary business of the world, that but little can occur to vary the outward circumstances of his time. Yet this observation does not quite satisfy those who were acquainted with Dr. Paley, because though wholly bent upon making the most of the powers and faculties of his mind, he was not a man to be turned from the most trifling outward circumstances. With a decided preference for mind, he was active and eager at all times to engage in the common bustle of
* Meadley, who seems to have rummaged every corner with indefatigable industry, and I believe (for I have had opportuni- ties of knowing it through the kindness of his family) a scrupulous regard to accuracy as far as depended upon himself, is decidedly deficient in incident ; and in his second edition, where every ex- ertion is used to supply this defect, much is yet necessarily taken up with commenting on the writing and public sentiments of Dr. Paley. Of the Life, by Chalmers, little is to be said, except that the main facts are taken or corrected from Meadley, or from less authentic materials.
t Mason's Gray.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 27
life. Perhaps a part of his character, the most striking even to a cursory observer, was that union of religious sentiment, of moral principle, of strong literary taste and ability, with a more than ordinary attention to common-place subjects. Such was the elasticity of his mind, that he could go, or rather be led away, not as a mere matter of relaxation, or a temporary sus- pension of mind, but with all the vigour and applica- tion that he had been giving to his former subject, from writing a page of his Natural Theology, or ex- pressing a deep sentiment in a visitation sermon, to arranging some flower-pots in his garden, or gathering vegetables or fruit for dinner. In one and the same letter he writes upon the principle and expediency of keeping the poor off the parish, and in the next para- graph gives an excellent receipt for cheap broth of Scotch cabbage and grits, and coarse beef. But not to trench farther upon what may be opened out in the following pages, it may be sufficient, in order to ac- count for this want of incident in a character so distin- guished for useful talents, to notice his abhorrence of all the arts by which public fame might have been obtained ; his discreet vigilance in not obtruding him- self into notice without a fit occasion, rather than any coy wish to be drawn out ; his prevailing taste for pri- vate and domestic enjoyment ; and the even tenor of his life which both natural inclination and the pro- fession of a consistent clergyman led him to preserve. He was born at Peterborough, 1743, but in little more than a year removed to Giggleswick, the birth-
28 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
place of his family, and almost of himself. There is authority enough, however, for representing him in his younger days as a tall, awkward boy, remarkable amongst boys for nothing but animation and liveli- ness of spirits, great talkativeness, clumsiness in his attempts at dexterity and boyish sports, the perfect good nature and complacency with which he bore all the taunts and jeers of his companions, and the great inclination which showed itself even at that age, for acute, but good-humoured retorts. From the awk- wardness of his gait, his unwillingness to join in active sports, his fondness for tricks and mimicking, that had something beyond the general habit of boys, or from his being one of those boys to whom such names easily and naturally attach, he was always called Doctor by his school-fellows. When he was very young, he was caught pulling out a little girl's tooth, because he had seen a quack doctor, the celebrated Dr. Katerfelto, amongst some mountebanks in his village, performing the same operation. He was not at all proud of his independence, or bold or forward in personal courage as a boy. He had none of the saucy pertness of a tyrant school -boy, conscious of his own superiority in any thing, but a great share of that amiable sort of prudence and forethought, that marks the cast of mind rather than bodily or mental vigour. On being told of the death of a school-fellow, he said, he did not much wonder, for he was the only boy in the school he ever did or ever could thrash. Strange as it must have seemed to himself, who, of all men living, was
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 39
one of the most feeling guardians of the animal crea- tion (maugre what his biographers Meadley, and with a sympathetic, or perhaps copied humanity, Chalmers, have said of his fishing), the only pastime he then joined in was cock-fighting ; but it is necessary to say, that by a school, or rather school-boy's charter, leave was obtained by the governors or trustees at the annual audit, for not only the boys, but the masters, to attend a cock-fighting, which the whole neighbourhood fre- quented. Consequently the keeping and feeding and fighting of cocks became a matter of state policy.
The years of childhood are the same in thousands, who are not afterwards to make a figure in the world ; but as bespeaking something peculiarly characteristic in after life, it may be well to observe how far this strong disinclination for common sports and taste for original diversions might lead him to pursue with more satisfaction both a line of life and a mode of signalizing himself so different from the pursuits of his companions, or of his neighbourhood, at that time. By his parents, however, he was reckoned a weak and delicate boy, and this might account to them for his aversion to the rough sports of boys, and might lead himself to indulge in a moody sort of ani- mation, which, without being characteristic of finer feeling, or poetical sensibility, led him to droll tricks with his neighbours, and to win by his kindness and attention, and pleasantry, the favour of all the old women in the neighbourhood. To these and to his* sisters he showed an evident preference; such com-
30 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
pany he courted, and at the cottage fire-side he always found a welcome. He was even at that time fond of fishing, partly perhaps from following the taste of the neighbourhood in one of the finest trout rivers in England, and partly from finding in it a certain quiet whiling away of time, to which he seems at that time to have been partial. He certainly neither professed, nor wished to attain excellence in the art. He was much laughed at by his associates for his clumsy fishing tackle, and want of dexterity; but he continued so remarkably attached to it during the remainder of his life without being signally suc- cessful, that his love for it may fairly be imputed rather to his fondness for the quietness and peace, and the workings of the mind that accompany the sport, than any anxiety for the prey. A bite and a nibble were to him a good day's sport at any time of his life, and if by chance he came off with a single rise at his fly, he was fully satisfied. At this age he was remarkable for the keenness and acuteness and shrewdness of his observations. An old woman knit- ting, or a neighbouring joiner at his work, afforded a rare exercise for his inquisitiveness and originality. These were his usual places of resort when very young, and he used not seldom to sit up all night with one of his neighbours to watch the process of soap-boiling. There is one anecdote given of him in his family, which whether from mere coincidence, or some more worthy prognostication, peculiarly marks that artless disposition which characterised him
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 31
through the rest of his life. When a mere boy, pro- bably from the same principle which tempts other boys to imitate their fathers, he was found preaching in the market-cross of his village, and bawling out to a circle of old women and boys, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile." " Ay, for sure," said an old lady who was passing, " every body knows thou art a guileless lad."
As to his abilities or attainments at school, his father seemed more disposed to rate them by his ge- neral character out of the school, than by any strict or brilliant application to his exercises. If any judge- ment of his performances can be drawn from his own account, it may seem that he was more observant of the regular discipline of the school, and of his father, and less satisfied with himself by reason of his own indolence, than has been represented. He was kept close to his books ; he never stood in need of correction, but stood much in awe of his father, if by chance an exercise was unfinished or idly per- formed. So far was this carried, that he once, in company with his cousins and another boy who lodged in his father's house, not only ran away from home, but persevered in it, till, at night-fall, finding their beds on a wide and waste moor or peat-moss not so commodious as they had been used to, and not being designed by nature for little heroes, one of them pre- tended to be a conjuror, and assured them that he had heard something fly past with Wl littington's mes- sage on a similar occasion, and the? next morning
32 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
found them at their post. It ought to be mentioned, that this little freak was the only indication given during his life of his ever being weary of his work, or of his ever feeling a wish to desert the task of labouring with his mind rather than his body.
For the credit, however, both of the school and schoolmaster (since that seems rather misrepresented or dubiously spoken of*), it ought to be told that it was then (at the present time peculiarly so) in as high repute as any other of the old grammar schools in the north ; that its fame was grounded chiefly on being a classical school ; that as to making accom- plished classical scholars, it was rather an object with the master to enable them to proceed by grounding them well; and that his son, though by no means brought forward before others, or obtaining any re- markable pre-eminence over any of his competitors, was indebted to him for whatever he obtained of his classical information, and of his classical taste ; that he was more particularly indebted to his father for much of that accuracy and exactness in training young minds to the same taste; that his fitness for the office of tutor, in which most of his biographers have made him pre-eminent, was probably the result of this regular and systematic teaching of his father; and that the system of discipline which made so im- portant a part of both his public and private instruc- tion in his more mature years was but the fruit of
* See Quarterly Review. — Meadley. — Chalmers.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 33
the same seed. He appears to have retained much more fondness for his classical than his mathematical acquirements ; the very contrary of which is asserted*, without any warrant. He was far from ambitious of reputation in either study, and pursued them rather as necessary means to a future profession than fondled them for their own sake.
At the age of fifteen (1758) his father entered him as sizar at his own college (Christ's) at Cambridge; and wishing to visit his friends and his little vicarage, he accompanied his son on horseback, the only mode of travelling then in use in his neighourhood. Dr. Paley's account of the matter was as follows : "I was sent earlier to college than any young man before or since ; and the reason was this — my mother wished to make a baker of me, and my father had made up his mind that I should be a parson. Having just recovered from a fit of illness when I was at the age of fifteen, he took me to college, and had me entered upon the books." On this occasion, it being observed by the Mayor of Lincoln, that it w7as a fortunate cir- cumstance, as they should not have had the pleasure of having him there ; " That does not follow, Mr. Mayor," he replied; " for though not subdean, I might have been Mayor of Lincoln."
It was to be expected that a lad of fifteen, just emerging from his hills on a pony of his own, and with his pockets full of money, should be more struck
* Chalmers. VOL. I. D
34 JLIFE OF DR. PALEY.
with the novelty of his situation than with any other event at that time ; and so he would, had not his whole mind been engrossed with jockey ship. He used to recollect it with great pleasure ; and being constantly disposed to make his wit and ridicule fall upon himself rather than others, would relate his disastrous journey and his numerous falls, and his father's caution with regard to his money, in the very language and manner already made public. On his return with his father, he was sent, as a prepara- tion for the university, for one year to Dishforth, near TopclifFe, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, to be under a young man who was just leaving his father's school to take upon him the office of village schoolmaster at that place, and who being a remark- ably simple, honest, and worthy character, was much esteemed both by Dr. Paley and his father. Here, when he became subdean of Lincoln, on his annual journey from Bishop Wearmouth to that place, he pointed out to his family, with great seeming satis- faction, the very house he lived in for £8 a year; spoke much of the familiar manner in which he passed his time with the villagers, but never said a word about his acquirements in mathematics, which must have been great, considering that with one year's preparation for the university, and with the assistance of a person but little older than himself, he was able, and conscious enough of his power, not- withstanding his abuse of the intermediate time, to become senior wrangler. This place he seemed
LIFE OF DR. PA.LEY. 35
anxious to mark in his recollection for two things — for his being attracted by the simplicity of his host's family, and for his now first having an orange of his own; in other words, from first feeling his own master. But if this was all that he thought worthy of notice, others in the village and in the school were ready enough to observe so many peculiarities in him, that he readily gained the reputation of being crazed. From his habit of constantly pondering, and musing, and employing his thoughts, he was much alone. The place of his most frequent resort was a pump in the middle of the village, which he used to aim at from the side of the road a dozen times before he could hit it. His master observed, that when they walked together to the neighbouring town of Borough- Bridge, what was eight miles to him, his friend Paley, by his strange turnings, and twistings, and stoppings, managed ingeniously to make sixteen. Here too his vicinity to Knares- borough, where his uncle lived, gave him an oppor- tunity of interesting himself much about Eugene Aram, who, he used to say, was hanged, if ever man was, by his own ingenuity. To this event, and to his associations with it, he used to think was owing his great fondness for matters of judicature, and par- ticularly for criminal courts. It might probably have been the first application of a mind already prepared for close observation ; at any rate it seems to have been the first exercise of a faculty in which he afterwards so much excelled.
d 2
36 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
When he was sixteen years old, he went to reside in college, probably not only from the fashion of sending young men so much earlier, but in order that he might be sooner able to stickle for himself, as his phrase was; but whether he was partly led away by the charm of dissipation, and by the novelty of a college life*, or felt some dissatisfaction at the manner in which he spent the early part of his time there, cannot now be ascertained. It is stated as a probability in the work alluded to, without any mark of his dissent. He certainly disapproved much of the plan of sending mere boys to college, and practised nearly the opposite extreme in his own fa- mily. It is not to be understood that he was inat- tentive to the general pursuits of a university educa- tion ; but perhaps not in a way to satisfy a prediction which his father had made to one of his boarders, " My son will be a great man ; I am certain of
* Public Characters for 1802. This work, desultory as it is in most of its articles, and much as he used to smile at the article belonging to his name, was presented to him in his lifetime, and corrected by him in many of the facts by marginal notes, very much in his manner. " No, no, unjust, forgery, foolish para- graph, questionable date." And this, to which I have alluded already, is the only piece of information which can be considered authentic from his own hand. I have availed myself of it where- ever I can. I have reason to think that the " character of Arch- deacon Paley" was inserted by one whose information on the subject need not have been scanty, and whose general character for eminent abilities was very high. I believe this to have been made known to, or at least strongly suspected by Dr. Paley him- self. Ed.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 37
it, for he has by far the clearest head and the most observation of any body I know." As he was how- ever always indisposed to bodily activity, it may naturally be supposed that great liveliness of spirits, elasticity of mind, desultoriness of study, fondness for company, would be against severe application. Still he was known to have been at that time, as well as whilst he was at school, remarkably attentive to the main object of a student ; nor did his father ever find occasion for dissatisfaction during his vacations. He was certainly not distinguished* for his diligence; nor did any but himself seem to think him distin- guished for idleness. His rooms presented perhaps the best picture of his mind, or rather of his desultory mode of pursuing his studies; for he could never consent to place his books in any order, but had authors of all kinds thrown on the floor around him. His third year of residence in college was remark- able for not only a fresh and continued application to the sort of reading required for a high degree at Cambridge, but, what seems to have given the first spring to his extraordinary powers, that degree of satisfaction and gratification in the pursuit of an ob- ject which never afterwards seems to have left him. To this period of his life may be very well assigned an opinion which is given t to some later passage of it : " his powers, once roused, became spontaneously and abundantly prolific; and the native fertility of
* Biographical Dictionary. Aikin. t Quarterly Review. .
38 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
his mind, instead of being exhausted or impaired by a single push, appeared to be invigorated by severe exertion." His mind seems from this time never to have been satisfied without an object. What it had been before may be partly conjectured from a letter to one of his sons, who being at that age when boys usually, if ever, feel disposed to indulge hypochon- driacal feelings, had described the state of his mind to him, and was answered with " Experto crede, at your age I was like you, and have found since that there is nothing like having something to do ; stick to your business, and depend upon it that your mind will return." He now, however, had the good sense to attend to the advice and judicious interference of his tutor Wilson (afterwards judge Wilson), of whom he ever after retained a grateful remembrance*.
By Mr. Wilson he was recommended to Mr. Thorpe, who was at that time of eminent use to young men in preparing them for the senate-house examination, and peculiarly successful. One young
* There is a story related by Meadley of a bedside scene, which that gentleman gained from some of Paley's friends, but has very properly withdrawn into a note in the second edition of his Memoirs. I do not believe there is any good authority for it, because it does not seem to consist either with his general character before this period, or with the fact that his private tutor, Wilson, did actually stir him up by his advice to try for the highest honours. Another strong presumption against the tale is, that his family, whom he was constantly in the habit of urging to exertiou by every little story and incident that he could find, would probably not have been ignorant of it. Ed.
LIFE OF DR. PALKY. 39
man, of no shining reputation, with the assistance of Mr. Thorpe's tuition, had stood at the head of the wranglers ; and soon after Dr. Paley introduced him- self to Mr. Thorpe, stating that it was a great object with him to obtain academical distinction, and added in his own peculiar manner, " If you could make **** senior wrangler, you may have some chance with me *." He rose early, as he had not done before ; he saw no company during the day, as he had done before, his room being seldom free from loungers ; and allowed himself an hour at night to eat his bread and cheese at Dock- rel's coffee-house, in Trompington-street. Thus he used to say he became senior wrangler in the year 1763. The contest was between Mr. Frere and him- self; but as the little disappointments of one and suc- cesses of another candidate have often, both before and since, been repeated, it is scarcely uncommon enough to dwell upon, except it be to state that he has added in his own hand a doubt to the story of an estate being promised to Mr. Frere in the event of success f. It is pleasant at this day to find his friends so jealous of his fame as to mention all the minute circumstances of his success. For himself, who would have been ready either to allow the fairness, or laugh at the con- jectures of his friends or opponents in any decision
* With Dr. Thorpe, afterwards archdeacon of Northumber- land, Dr. Paley had an opportunity, when at Bishop Wearmouth, of renewing his acquaintance.
f By putting a Q. to the margin of the Public Characters.
40 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
with respect to a tripos, he was content to say neither more nor less than that he had very nearly lost it by the badness of his hand-writing.
In the keeping of his act previous to his senate- house examination, he was the very innocent cause of some little disagreement and squabble between Mr. Watson (afterwards bishop of LlandafF), the mo- derator, and Dr. Thomas, the master of Christ's ; the latter of whom feared for the orthodoxy of his college, if he had allowed an undergraduate of his own to muster his talents against the eternity of hell tor- ments. This interference the moderator blamed ; and perhaps with more want of temper than either pru- dence or love of free discussion, showed that he would have been glad if the young man could have supported that side of the question. Dr. Thomas, however, whether at the suggestion of any other, or from his own opinion of the freedom with which such questions were likely to be treated by the bold genius of a young man, or alarmed by being told that the general atten- tion of the university was roused by such a question, expostulated with him on the impropriety of his en- countering such a subject. Paley readily assured him that there was not the least intention to offend, nor any suspicion that he could draw down the notice, much less the displeasure, of the university ; adding, that it was a question which seemed to invite ori- ginality ; and this he thought of more consequence to himself than to the university. Whether he was con- scious of having carried the taste for paradox into
LIFE OF DK, PALEY. 41
graver subjects, and therefore would have been ready to acknowledge the kindness of Dr. Thomas, and the perfect propriety of his interference, or he was in- clined to regret that Mr. Watson did not willingly give him the liberty he begged, of withdrawing his question altogether, — it is certain that he afterwards held in a peculiar and for him rather impatient degree of dislike the remembrance of that learned man, who as a moderator dealt favourably with him. It rests indeed upon mere conjecture, whether that opinion of the bishop of Llandaffmight be taken up on account of the opposition he at that time showed to the ma- ster's objection, or to any of this prelate's transactions or sentiments in later life. It does not appear that there was any acquaintance between them beyond this period, nor could it be owing to any known or sus- pected want of congeniality, for they never came at all into collision. After all, perhaps the best reply to any insinuation which the very mention of this cir- cumstance by his biographers may seem to imply is, that whatever his sentiments were at the time, or the bias of his opinions, he seems to have kept them to himself; and that such bold attempts at freedom of discussion seem rather to rest upon the discovery of others than his own intentions. It is but fair that allowance should be made for the circumstances under which any young man would choose a question from Johnson's Quaestiones Philosophies ; and this will at once show that it is unnecessary to suppose any pecu- liarity of sentiment or course of cogitation involved
4& LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
in the choice of such a subject. Something has been said of the uncoothness of Paley's manners, the ec- centricity of his finery, and the general slovenliness of his dress. He is said to have attracted general attention in the schools, by appearing with his hair full-dressed, a deep ruffled shirt, and new silk stock- ings, which, aided by his gestures, his actions, and his whole manner, when earnestly engaged in a debate, excited no small mirth among his spectators. These are, it is true, unimportant points, which are, perhaps, unworthy of farther notice, but that they enable the present writer of this sketch to account for them once for all by giving a well-stamped mark of this ex- traordinary person which accompanied him through life, viz. such a decided respect for institutions of all kinds, even the most minute and insignificant ceremo- nies and observances of life, as might lead him, with his then notions of civilized and polite ranks, to overdo in the external appearance of his person. Yet there was such an eagerness for any research which might engage his mental powers, and such a natural, artless love of argumentation, that forgetting all this sacrifice to finery, he would not care to appear quite at home on his subject. Neat and plain in his dress on his appearance in public, but extremely afraid of any sacrifice of his time to his own personal comfort, the same habits seem to have accompanied him throughout his life, which to a mere stranger might easily appear those of a sloven ; but to his friends, who knew his wish to avoid any singularity, or affect any eccentri-
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 43
city either outwardly or inwardly, they seemed only the usual attendants of active and energetic facul- ties*. Add to this, that his manner and action were formed upon no model of elegance or grace. " Na- ture herself might have called him eloquent," but no- body else would, who had seen his unseemly and strange mouthing even in latest life, in endeavouring to convey his impressions, which were eminently •strong, or his feelings, which were much stronger, say on any passage of Virgil, Cicero's Orations, Shake- speare, Campbell's Pleasures of Hope, &c. &c. ; he was wrought up and carried away into more droll gesticulation than his general attention to reason would have allowed his hearers to expect. These circumstances might have been uncommon enough to make him famous in the schools of the university; and with his ardour and acuteness in disputation, caused them to be well attended on his act. One of his most intimate friends used to amuse Dr. Paley and his family with relating his appearance in the schools under the warmth of argument. On being posed by his adversary, he would stand with his head
* I have seen' in some magazine, or periodical publication, an accurate description of his appearance in his lecture-room, with his night-cap, his breeches knees unbuttoned, his stockings awry, one leg upon his knee, lounging on his chair, and picking his beard. This is forcibly and painfully striking, as agreeing exactly with the figure that I should have been tempted to present of our constant, and first and most diligent instructor, when coming from school to breakfast, we took our stand with our grammar lesson in his study. Ed.
44 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
dropping upon one of his shoulders, and both his thumbs in his mouth ; on striking out his answer with the animation of a evpr^a he would stretch his arms, rub his hands, and speak out his exultation in every feature of his face and muscle of his body. He seems to have been quite wrapped up in his subject ; so much so, that his ardour, both at that time and in more grave and weighty discussions afterwards, must have met with hearers unobserving indeed, if they were not struck with it, and indifferent, if they were not interested. It has been said that his promptitude of delivery, and strength of conception, did more for him in the senate-house examination than his mathe- matical acquirements ; and his fluent delivery* has been spoken of as rather signal in his lecture-room ; it may be well therefore to observe, that if any judge- ment can be formed from a later period (when it might be supposed that habit and practice would have added to his manner of expression), his delivery, though not hesitating, was considerably embarrassed. He seemed to labour with the very liveliness of his conceptions, agreeably to Dean Swift's simile, " per- sons rushing out of church block up the doorway." So very rapid was the flow of his ideas, and so wide the range of his conceptions, that between hunting out proper expressions of them, and preserving his short and pithy mode of delivering his sentiments, his language was full of unevennesses, and his enun-
* Meadley.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 45
ciation rather entangled. A periodical publication*, in its review of Meadley's Memoirs, has observed, with somewhat more taste than accuracy, on the sin- gularity of a circumstance which seems very doubt- ful f, that the first production of his pen should have been an ode in the manner of Ossian. But the accom- panying remark, " that he never afterwards showed any one particle of taste for poetry," is an assumption. He was by no means deficient in either his taste or his fondness for poetry. He might indeed inherit from his father an imagination sufficiently discursive, and in his school-boy days he was partial to scribbling little pieces of rhyme ; and afterwards he improved his taste by an acquaintance with, and constant habit of dipping into, most of our English poets. His con- stant ardour, as well as elasticity of mind, gave abun- dant room for his being anxious^ as well as the ele- gance and soundness of his taste did of his being able, to relish them. It is not improbable, that whatever enthusiasm he possessed when young gave way to a stronger and more matured power of reason.
This remark naturally introduces another which is authorised indeed, " nullis in hoc suis sermonibus sed quia par videbatur," as well as by its standing
**Quarterly Review.
t What leads me to doubt of this circumstance is, that he gave me a copy of the Luctus Cantabrigiensis on that occasion, and pointed out some pieces that were thought eminently dull in his day, but said nothing of himself or his own attempts. Ed.
46 LIFE OF DR. PALEV.
uncontradicted in the work above alluded to *, and by the habits of his life afterwards, viz. that he did not follow up either mathematical or metaphysical learning at all, any farther than suited his office of tutor. There are reasons for thinking that he viewed them only in the light of opening and preparing the mind for more useful studies, for studies at least more congenial to the cast of his own mind. He never certainly made either an object or an amusement of them afterwards. If this opinion should be correct, it will serve at least to show the facility with which only a short and unwearied attention attains its ob- ject, even against the stronger bent of inclination ; for he has been heard to say, that he did not know that he ever perfectly worked a simple rule of three question, or did more in arithmetic than add up his bills.
On taking his degree, he was desirous of working his own way, and bent upon sparing his father's money, which he had always obtained when he ap- plied for it ; but such applications were neither fre- quent, nor accompanied by much observation besides, from which any thing can be collected of his under- graduateship. He offered first to take the situation of usher in his father's school, and upon being de- sired to carve out his own way without stopping or preventing his views by any attention to his father, accepted an offer soon made to him by his tutor, Mr.
* Public Characters.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 47
Shepherd, of a similar situation in an academy at Greenwich. He often described this as a woful drudgery, though he now set out first in the world in a way that suited well enough his prevailing taste for observation on men and manners. It may seem indeed surprising, and it has surprised many, who value literary distinction only as it adds to a man's worldly interest, that a youth of nineteen, with the highest honour of the university fresh upon him, should sit down so easily to the drudgery of an aca- demy, or even to the more exalted task of commu- nicating instruction in a college lecture-room ; but let it be considered, that in all situations, he never was known to flinch from labour, or to dislike the mere circumstances of his lot ; in all he was resolved to do his best, and he who found entertainment and interest in every thing, might be easily led by his superior powers to make entertainment of even car- rying on instruction. He seems to have been easily weaned from any desire for home, by the considera- tion of being both useful to himself, and holding himself in readiness for any opening in the university. His near neighbourhood too to London, where he was a constant attendant on the houses of parliament, the theatre, and when a holiday would allow, on the courts of law, where he took an especial interest " in the fate of his friends," the prisoners, as he used to call them, was sufficient with him to compensate for many more unpleasant circumstances than he had to endure. The acting of Garrick would at any time
48 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
make him walk to London without his dinner, in order that he might be there in time. He at that time used to choose his seat in the centre of the pit, a short distance from the stage, because he observed a knot of stage critics generally seated thereabouts. In after life, when he still continued peculiarly fond of even the worst theatrical exhibitions, his first care was to bustle up to what he thought the best place, which was in front of the actors, as near the stage as his situation might allow.
It is observed that he was not a little mortified with this his first occupation as the second usher in a mere academy, not devoted to the sort of literature with which he had been conversant. But his object was employment and emolument, more than any prospect of, or love for, a particular course of study. It is certain that the pursuit of classical or mathe- matical knowledge made no part of his object, neither probably had he occasion to ask himself the reason of his taking this situation, since one who is by prin- ciple, as well as inclination, resolved to throw himself entirely into the service of his station, whatever it may be, seldom troubles his head about the little annoyances belonging alike to every office. It does not appear to have occurred to him as any thing more than an employment from which he obtained a certain stipend. He took much delight in observing upon Mr. Bracken's stipulation, and the importance which was attached to it by its being referred to Dr. Shepherd, who procured for him the situation. It
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 49
was made part of the bargain that he should wear a wig, and sit behind the door. He thought he had little occasion for such a signal decoration to his head in order to give an air of dignity and age to his face, till on going home shortly after on a visit to his friends, he found Mr. Bracken's proposal very judicious, for he was received by some of his coun- trymen as his old aunt's husband.
He did not, however, droop in his situation of as- sistant in a school, nor let go his hold either of his interest in his old studies, or of the pursuit of aca- demical honours. In 1765 he gained the Bachelor's prize by a Latin essay on the subject, " Utrum civi- tati perniciosior sit Epicuri an Zenonis philosophia." He undertook to advocate the Epicureans, and this circumstance, together with its having called forth more notice from some of his biographers than seems to belong to it, makes it necessary to observe (what otherwise would scarcely be of importance amongst many University prizes), that there is no appearance on the face of the Essay of any peculiarity of senti- ment, except perhaps it be a leaning towards ex- posing the hypocrisy of Stoicism. If any thing else is to be noticed upon this first attempt to excite public attention in any way, besides that it is a sub- ject which was congenial enough to his own turn of thought and habit of observation, and one on which he could show an ingenuity and closeness of argu- mentation, it is this — that the prevailing traits of his mind in later life are very conspicuously seen in that
VOL. I. E
50 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
balancing between two opposite opinions, that dis- cernment of the laudanda et culpanda of each, that liberality in construing men's motives, that freedom and independence of discussion, that advocating of an injured party, which are at once the best pro- tection to, as well as accompaniments of, ingenuous- ness and candour. " Latuit forsan Veritas intervallo prope pari utrinque reducta. Non igitur Zenonis praecepta Epicureorum ex libris haurienda, nee tamen ponendus est Epicurus qualis exhibetur a Stoicis — quorum alter multum adversatur reipublicae, multum uterque." The popularity of the Stoics, says the writer in a note, those Pharisees in philosophy, is easily accounted for. The all-sufficiency of virtue to complete our happiness will ever be the theme of popular eloquence, and the language, if not of nature, at least of pride. Zeno was a politician, and in that light, it will appear, has advanced many things imme- diately destructive of the welfare, some things fatal to the existence, of a state. Epicurus was a more speculative philosopher, and therefore if his principles were pernicious, it was only in their more remote consequences. " Candidi vero estimatoris est non quid quisque dicat, sed quid cuique dicendum erat, videre. Philosophi autem constanter sibi, conveni- enterque sentire*." When it is considered that his
* Something ought perhaps to be said for making extracts from this essay, rather than adding the essay itself in an ap- pendix. The former plan is followed merely so far as may be
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 51
genius and love of disputation, with something per- haps of a wish to make, if not the worse, yet the less favoured side appear more favourable, might easily incline him to the less obvious side of the question ; and that his subject was not at his own option, nor appears in any way connected with his services to morality in later life, it must be looked upon as amongst the singularities of coincidence, rather than as any taste or distaste for the principles of these philosophers, that any inference drawn from this essay may be applied to the moral writings of Dr. Paley. It cannot indeed be more than conjectured ; but the age at which he wrote, the subject chosen in the ordinary course of university exercises, the line of study which it embraced being never afterwards fol- lowed by himself, are circumstances which make it doubtful whether any particular passages of this essay may be produced as indicative of the bent of the writer's mind. At any rate, he certainly had little ad- miration for the Epicurean principle, which he seems to have thought irrelevant to his subject; much less will any one of his friends who knew him well suspect that there was any tendency in him towards a wide construction in favour of even doubtful morality. In- deed it is to show but a slight acquaintance with any heathen philosophy, at least a much slighter than a
sufficient to give the general characteristics of his mind at that time. By the latter the reader might be disposed to suspect that something like an attempt was made to place this university prize on an eminence above other prize essays.
E 2
52 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
successful candidate for a prize essay in one of our universities would show, to suspect that he was likely to turn it into a defence of Epicurean principles in the common acceptation of that term. He calls himself an advocate of Epicurus, but it is in such sentences, and with such saving clauses, as these : " Recognos- cite vero, Academici, explicandas esse disciplinas, non defendendas; earum inter se conferendas utilitates, non ipsas collaudandas, esse sectas." " Quidnam vero causae potissimum esse dicam, cur cum in errores perniciosos inciderint ambo, alterius tamen ad coelos efferantur laudes, alterius fama parum meritis re- spondeat ?" " Hoc etenim, Epicure, concedendum tibi posco, non in epulis luxuque regio, sed in victu cultuque tenui; non in effusis omni intemperantia libidinibus, sed in sano corpore animoque tranquillo tuam te vitam posuisse beatam. Impietas quasdam suspecta gravissimas Epicuro notas inussit, quas qui- dem cum del ere aggrediar, absit ut alia mente id praestem quam veritatis gratia; neque enim si fuisset, qualis esse potuit, impius, ego is sum qui patrocinium ipsius mordicus suscipiam." After all, a great deal more of the essay is employed in drawing forward the errors of Stoicism, than in recording the honours or services of Epicurus. All he says in defence of his favourite is contained in the following sentence : " De Epicuro, cujus patrocinium suscepi, pauca jam attexam. Videamus ergo virum doctrinse castimonia vitaeque continentia clarum — videamus erga civitatem pium, erga Deos non impium. — Quern tamen iniquis-
LIFE OF Dlt. PALEY. 53
simis conviciis lacer&runt, laudandus non videatur. — Nollem vero rosetum exscindere, quod spinas non- nullas rosis ferat intextas — meminerimque semper Dei esse nil omnino peccavisse, paululum autem deliquisse pene hominis esse divini. Videamus postremo, Aca- demici, quam vana, quam nihil, omnia philosophorum de virtute erant documenta; de religione autem, cumin earn acrius aguntur hominum animi, ineptissime dis- putatum esse. Tandem vero Sol exortus est aethereus — tandem purior e coelo descendit disciplina. — Illuxit aliquando religio, cujus auctor est Deus, cujus ma- teria Veritas, cujus finis est felicitas. Religio ali- quando illuxit, quae Stoae paradoxon in principiis vere Epicureis fundari voluit. Sufficit ad felicitatem virtus, virtutis tamen finis est felicitas. Stabile denique quiddam est, quo pedem figamus; patetquenil veterem potuisse disciplinam, nil non perfecisse Christianum." And to show that he did not sink his integrity in casuistry or in the sportiveness of argument, he has added in a note at the end, " The intent of this in- quiry is not so much to defend the principles of either sect, as to prove the insufficiency of both. For neither the welfare of the public is promoted, nor the happiness of the individual secured by either. Their apprehensions of the nature of God, and of the ends of virtue, are both erroneous, and their errors are both attended with pernicious consequences. Zeno fell into the most fantastic superstitions, which whilst Epicurus corrected, he well nigh endangered reli- gion. The virtue of the one was visionary and ideal,
54 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
that of the other, sordid and selfish. It was reserved for one greater than Zeno to exalt the dignity of virtue with its utility, and by superinducing a future state, to support the paradox of the Stoic on Epicu- rean principles.' * Still there seem sufficient grounds for remarking an obvious simplicity of thinking as well as writing even at so early an age, and whether the natural turn of his mind towards observation of the common modes of acting led him to entertain this subject, or the application of his mind to this subject influenced him to apply to morality, it is cer- tain that many sentiments may be recognised, as pro- ceeding from the same writer on morals and Chris- tianity. It may at least very fairly be observed, that in this his first attempt at bringing his reasoning powers into action, he succeeded in impressing his friends at the University with a notion of what they were to be. So far was it characteristic of his mind, that its notes contain some deep reasoning, very much in the manner of his more mature productions, and show at once much penetration and a fixed love for an independent way of thinking. " There is not perhaps a more effectual way of injuring the cause of virtue than by straining its duties too high. The bulk of mankind will easily persuade themselves that virtue, this ideal virtue, was never designed for ordi- nary practice, but to be confined to a few more ele- vated natures and sublimer views. Rousseau, that insidious enemy of Christianity, has objected to it, that it has greatly defeated its own end, by refining
LIFE OF Dlt. PALEY. 55
too much on moral duties, though this is unjustly urged against a religion which, whilst it elevates our natures, condescends to our infirmities, and is accom- modated to our weaknesses without flattering our cor- ruption ; yet it might with great propriety have been objected to the Stoics, who, whilst they would raise virtue above the reach of fortune, raised it above the reach of man, above that of all, save a few visionary enthusiasts."
Again. It is not for. the interest of virtue to teach men to expect more from it than it either can in this world, or was ever designed to perform. The disappointments men meet with will endanger their perseverance, and inclination will step in to persuade them, that what has thus deceived their hope is no- thing but the dream of the visionary, or imposition of the artful.
" Ii extiterunt amici qui Atheismum adeo non destrure societatem censuerunt, ut amota Deorum cura et existere civitatem posse, et extitisse dixerint ; quorum sub vexillo militavit militatque adhuc versu- tissimus Gallorum scriptor, cujus sane ingenium lu- benter laudassem, ni optimum Deorum munus, re- ligionem, humano generi invidisset." After this follows a very long note in answer to Voltaire.
" With respect to the general question, as an ex- ample of which Voltaire exhibits the later ages of Rome, when all who had any concern with the state renounced all belief either of the popular religion, or of any other — with respect to the general question,
56 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
the truth of Cicero's observation has been often proved : * pietate adversus Deos sublata, fides etiam et societas humani generis, et una excellentissima virtus, justitia, tollitur.' With respect to the parti- cular assertion of Voltaire, let it be remembered that if Rome was an instance of such a state, it was an example how wretched such a state must be. I say how wretched, if instead of contemplating its con- quests and triumphs, we read the history of its civil calamities and domestic miseries. Again, let it be observed, that when Voltaire concludes that Rome subsisted without the aid of religion, he supposes either that the great bulk of the people were, like their superiors, infidels, or that it was indifferent to the state, whether those who carried on the admini- stration of it had any religion or no. The first sup- position, history contradicts; the second, reason and experience ; for though the great might be induced to serve their country by particular motives ; some by a due sense of the expediency of civil communities, and the utility of supporting them, others by a pas- sion for popular glory, the emulation of families, or pride of ancestry, and lastly many from principle might defeat the ambitious purposes of an aspiring rival ; though the great might be influenced by these principles, and by such as these, yet amongst the vulgar, where no such motives can subsist, it is clear (besides the use of religious impressions in discharging the private duties of life), that the superior physical strength they are possessed of would never be sub*
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. .57
jected to the laws and restraints of society, was there not added to the opinion of power in their superiors, an opinion also of right strengthened at least by re- ligious persuasion."
In speaking of Zeno's prohibition of ceremonial worship, " Vereor ne aut omnem sustulerit religi- onem, aut perpaucis constituent idoneam. Cum enim ita natura simus comparati, ut ea sola, qua? in sensu incurrant, alte atque facile imprimantur in mentem — frigebit necessario religio, si ritu orbetur decoro, et pen& inter mortua flaccescit Pietas."
On the rough immodesty and indecency of the cynical language, he says, " Haec autem verborum licentia, quam factorum quoque minuit verecundiam, qualesque libidini subjecit faces, satis profecto ratione constat — utinam, juventus academica, ne et experi- entia non esset compertum."
On noticing the promiscuous concubinage of Zeno, he adds : " Solivagam scilicet naturam arctiiis interiusque concluserunt connubia; necessitudines affinitatesque secutae sunt \ ita sanguinis conjunctio et benevolentia, deinde civitati devincti homines civi- tatum urbiumque praesidia quaerebant. Et si aliquis sit mulierum delectus, aliquis ubivis amor, gravissima quoque humano generi insaaviret discordia. Quaenam porro infantiae tutela, quaenam juventutis esset edu- catio — ni aetas eorum imbecillitatis praesidium, in cura concilioque parentum habuisset — nullae quippe leges, nulli mores, eousque valere potuerunt, ut in parentibus
58 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
de su& sobole incertis, omnique s-opy? vacuis, idoneam communis sobolis curam excitarent."
In answer to the objection against Epicurus's prin- ciple of utility, " Si utilitate metiantur omnia, ab officio quis facile deflectet, si earn rem sibi quaestuosam fore putavit," he writes, " praeter timorem ne aliquando patefacta fuerint scelera,consuetudinemesse quandam, cui mens subjecta est humana, cujusque ea vis est, ut quam virtutem utilitatis causa aliquandiu sum'us pro- secuti, earn et prosequeremur, quanquam aut cesserit utilitas aut cessisse videatur :" and in a note to this he adds, " I have chosen to give this answer to the objection rather than Epicurus's own, drawn from the fears and apprehensions attending upon guilt ; first, because the mechanical influence of habit upon the human mind, so necessary to account for most of its operations, was a thing little understood by the an- cients, and secondly, because it furnishes an answer to a great part of Cicero's objection against Epicurus. He has collected a variety of instances wherein the devoted heroes of antiquity have sacrificed their in- terests and pleasure to their country's good, and from hence concludes, that they are acted upon by some higher principles than a regard to private utility, which consequently in these instances could not be the end of virtue. But it appears that these wor- thies, if they were led on by principles of virtue at all, and not rather by a passion for glory, might, notwithstanding, be influenced by a rational convic-
LIFE OF DR PALEY. 5i)
tion, or implicit persuasion of its utility, habitually settled in the mind, though the advantage of this particular action was not for the present either seen or considered." This was written when the author was twenty-two years of age. Whether his attention, thus drawn to this peculiar view of moral science, might induce him afterwards to bring it forward in a more enlarged shape, or this little work as well as his Moral Philosophy had gradually contracted the same complexion from any habits of mind or thought in which he had previously indulged, it is not easy to determine ; but it is curious to find in so early a pro- duction an objection answered, which was afterwards dressed out in a more substantial form against his own doctrine of Expediency. It is but fair to say, that he had long been famous for the ingenious manner in which he supported a paradox, and on this essay one of his friends was in the habit of communicating an account which seems at once to clear it of all design, that he knew no one more ready or more able to sup- port a paradox, or say any thing on any side of any subject, than his friend Paley, except his eldest son. The Latinity of this essay, which seems to have been accounted for rather discreditably, and spoken of* rather slightly, it might be unnecessary to notice, as it satisfied the university. It cannot, however, be improper to maintain, on the authority of these quota- tions, that the style is not otherwise than classical, as
* See Chalmers, Meadley, and Quarterly Review.
60 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
far as it speaks for an imitation of, and acquaintance with, the best classics ; that as for " the parade of an- cient learning, " if that is meant to apply to the style, it is not so loaded as the preface to Bellendenus, if to the matter, we should be told how a writing on an- cient philosophy could well disdain ancient authority, even on points less connected with the subject than the general dress of its sentiments. It may be useful to adduce in this place, as a qualification to the opi- nion which has been entertained of his classical taste and attainments, the testimony of one whose cor- respondence is given in Appendix A. Meadley, second edition, — a man in every way capable of forming a solid opinion of classical attainments. On this very subject he says, " I had intended to give you a short sketch of Paley's talents as a classical scholar. It must suffice to assure you, as I very truly can (for in his own department a man may speak with some con- fidence), that wherever in his Horae Paulina? any cri- ticism on the Greek language is employed, his remarks, without ostentation, are eminently acute, vigorous, and just. Indeed all his knowledge seems to have been sound as far as it went, and though all his life he stu- died things more than words, yet he perfectly under- stood at the proper time how to turn an exact know- ledge of words to a very substantial account." Horace, Virgil, and Cicero, were even to the latest of his life his table books, and at a time when he could have no other occasion for them than as books of amusement. He was not, certainly, a deep classical scholar, nor did
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 61
he think himself so. He was heard to say, when giving this essay and his Concio ad Clerum to one of his sons, at a time when he was labouring to infuse into him a nice distinction between the mere writing of Latin, and a classical habit of thinking in Latin, " These were the only two pieces of Latin composi- tion I ever made public, and I got into a sad scrape with my English notes." The surmises of one of the judges at the time, " that he supposed the author had been assisted by his father, some country clergy- man, who having forgotten his Latin had written the notes in English," were perfectly unfounded, for it was all his own. His own apology for English notes stands thus in the beginning of the essay : " The author of this dissertation begs he may be excused the liberty he has taken of subjoining to it a few notes ; for in a composition of this limited nature, though he hopes he has collected into it whatever is material to the argument, yet the observations must needs be very general, and it is well known what little weight general observations have, unless it be at the same time recollected by what authority they are attested, and by what instances supported. Rather, therefore, than prolong the dissertation or perplex the reasoning by a variety of references and quota- tions, he has chosen to annex them to their respective propositions in the form of notes. He has now and then hazarded a collateral observation, and hopes it will be excused, if he has done it in English. The propriety of this is, with respect, submitted to the
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learned reader/' (this, by the by, smacks of a fondness for authorship) "who will consider that no other use is designed to be made of them, than to confirm to the judges of this performance what he has advanced or observed in the body of his work."
The motto annexed to the outside cover of the copy sent in to the vice-chancellor was most happily descriptive of his bustling yet good-humoured am- bition.
" Non jam prima peto, Mnestheu, neque vincere certo, Quanquam O ."
The motto which is prefixed to the essay itself is,
u Insani sapiens nomen ferat, sequus iniqui, Ultra quam satis est virtutem si petat ipsam."
The only observation he made to his friends at home at the time of gaining the prize was, " that he verily believed another prize essay would have ruined 1™.''
As soon as he was of sufficient age, he was ordained to be assistant curate of Greenwich ; left Mr. Bracken about the same time, not, as has been stated, from any ill usage with respect to the distribution of money or presents, but from that gentleman's not mentioning to him a proposal which had been made in his behalf by a lady of Greenwich to place her son under his sole care, provided Mr. Bracken would set him at liberty from any engagement. This proposal was made known to Mr. Paley by some fortunate circum- stance, but not by Mr. Bracken; and as there was no stipulated engagement between them, his usher
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quickly determined to have nothing more to do with him.
He often seemed to recollect this first setting out for himself in the cares of a householder and a cler- gyman, at the age of twenty-three, with great amuse- ment. His first pupil, for whom he ever after ex- pressed great affection, yet not more than was his pupil's regard for him, was of a delicate constitution, and had been nicely brought up. Mr. Paley had no place to receive him into but a house with a stone floor, and being too poor to comply immediately with his mother's request for a carpet, he good-humouredly and thriftily made him stand upon the bellows. The first fee he ever got for the performance of his clerical duties he recollec.ted with equal gratification, as it reminded him of his own simplicity. Being called upon by some great family to give private baptism to one of the children, he was presented with a slip of paper containing some piece of coin, which, to use his own words, he so pressed and fumbled about from an anxiety to know what it contained, that he had scarcely got out of the door when he ventured to peep ; but on so venturing, he turned his head towards the house, and saw the whole family laughing at the windows* He soon, however, took the rat-sickness, as he said, from the load of duty laid upon him as assistant curate ; for he reckoned that it was bad enough to be a simple rat, as was his cant term for curate, but to be the rat of rats, was as many degrees below a curate, as a deputy-sexton is below him. Not
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long after this time he was elected a fellow, and as soon as his favourite pupil, who had resided with him at Greenwich, was ready for college, he accompanied him thither, and commenced a residence in the university. Here he engaged in private tuition, still keeping his first attention fixed upon his companion and pupil. Shortly after his fixing in college, Dr. Shepherd, who had been long tutor, and on Dr. Backhouse's retire- ment, sole tutor for some time, and had lately been much engaged in forwarding Lord Sandwich's in- terest, as well as in other pursuits which called him much out of college, wished to have Mr. Law* for his assistant tutor in mathematics, and some little time after offered Mr. Paley his departments in natural law and in Locke f.
They continued a little more than three years as sub-tutors to Dr. Shepherd, when finding that a con- scientious discharge of their duty, an eager interest in the improvement of their pupils, the confidence of their college in their abilities, and their own conscious- ness of superior talents wholly employed upon the one object of tuition, had the success generally attend- ing such qualifications both upon themselves and the university, they proposed to Dr. Shepherd that he
* Afterwards Bishop of Elphin.
-f- I am not certain that he lectured in Locke at all. In the Public Characters, to which allusion has already been made, it is stated that Law lectured on Locke, to which it is added in the margin, dele Locke. Of his lectures on Locke I never heard, nor were tjiey left among his papers with his other lectures. Ed.
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should admit them to a share in the tuition. After some struggle they obtained what they wanted, and what Law humorously called a trisection. Dr. Shepherd continued long after they both had left their situation in college ; but he is represented by an account #, which probably would have been corrected had it been inaccurate, to have been at that time a sort of sleeping partner. It is well known, however, that Law continued in the mathematical department, and Paley lectured on moral philosophy, each giving a lecture in the evenings — Law in classics, and Paley in the Greek Testament : not in addition, as is stated by Meadley, but as Dr. Backhouse had lectured in the Greek Testament and the classics before, Mr. Paley lectured in, and chose that branch of divinity, in which consists the practical part of a clergyman's duty. But the addition, if any, or as it might then be called, the innovation, was in fixing upon the even- ing for this lecture. It is curious that this choice of departments, which was more accidental than de- signed, or perhaps* more determined by the mutual indifference of both, than by any previous inclination to these studies, should have been the chief source from which the one derived his celebrity, and the other an amusement, even for life. Certain it is, that Paley often declared he would have taken either part. Indeed, his mind was not only capacious, but of that serviceable kind which is not uncommon. He could
* Public Characters. VOL. I. F
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draw upon it for any occasion. He was more parti- cularly attached to that closeness, and precision, and keenness, and deep penetration, which are eminently called forth at the bar. He used to think himself formed for a lawyer, both from his fondness for such sort of pointed investigation as is required on cross-examination of witnesses, and his cleverness in weighing evidence. In the latter part of his life he has been heard to say, that he often amused a sleepless night by making speeches to answer those of Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and other of the leading men in parliament, and he thought he got on very well.
It might seem invidious #, not to say idle, to ground any singular fame upon the manner in which any department is filled in the university, and more especially when it is considered that the same office of tutor has been discharged to this day by many with answerable effects, though they be not much called forth into public notice. It is no less consistent with his own views through life than with his just estimate of the exertion of others, to prefer classing him with a crowd, rather than catch at fame or eminence by speaking of the manner in which he discharged his
* Meadley has employed about sixty pages on Mr. Paley's university career. This rather speaks for a general want of in- cident in other stages of his life, than any want of discrimi- nation in Mr. Meadley j though a farther acquaintance with his subject might have enabled him to discern between what belonged to tbe individual, and what was partly owing to his situation.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. C7
office ; neither did he himself seem inclined to lay any great stress upon his residence in the university as the happiest or most useful time of his life. He used in- deed to revert to his college life very frequently, as is not unusual with others, and was much pleased in marking it as the time of his acquaintance with literary men of his day. There are, nevertheless, one or two circumstances attendant on his situation worth no- ticing, as at this period of life his character seems to have assumed more settled features, and as he now first, at the age of thirty, laid the foundation of his future celebrity as well as fortune. •
The first feeling of a man's way, and the being accounted for something in the dramatis personse of life, is undoubtedly gratifying, both at the first dis- covery and at the recollection of it ; and here probably he found himself, at the age of twenty-eight or twenty- nine, set on his feet more than at any other date. His former habits of life had not been much above a low condition, and his own sentiments were very far removed, then and afterwards, from any overweening views of his own importance. He was now called to comparative independence, and to an association and equality, both in public and private, with many of the first-rate abilities. He appears to have been much esteemed, and even looked up to amongst his literary as well as his private friends in the university. His acquaintance with the men of note about his stand- ing seems to have been large enough, though not remarkable. In a Cambridge calendar with which,
F 2
f)8 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
when it first appeared, he was much pleased, he marked all those with whom he had maintained any acquaintance, and his marks are very numerous. He was a member of the Hyson Club, which had been first formed by the wranglers of Dr. Thorpe's year, about five years before he took his degree ; and which was at that time celebrated in the university as con- taining among its members some of very shining talents, among whom are to be enumerated, Dr. Beadon, the late bishop of Gloucester, Dr. Tom- line, the present bishop of Winchester, Dr. Milner, the late dean of Carlisle, Dr. Waring, professor of mathematics, Mr. Vince, &c. It is well known that this system of clubbing has long prevailed in both of our universities ; and as well used for rubbing off any little asperities, or the stiffness of more severe studies, he made it an object, as will be seen, in almost every place where he afterwards resided, either to promote or join a sociable meeting of the kind. In this Hyson Club, however, he seems to have contributed largely to the general stock of brilliancy and merri- ment which generally attends the relaxation of power- ful minds, without at the same time entering into that sort of childishness which is sometimes affected for the sake of persuading others that the mind is un- bending from graver pursuits. His powers of afford- ing entertainment in general society were, it seems, at that time distinguished ; and he must be eminently possessed of a talent for adapting himself, and of ma- terials fit for being adapted to general use, who can
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preserve the same character with all parties in society during the course of a whole life. What is repre- sented of his detaining the Fellows' table by his wit and drollery till he had eaten his own dinner, and being the life and spirit of a combination-room, de- serves notice, not only as giving a strong mark of his mind at that time, but as continuing through stages of pain and sickness, when mere animal spirits must have failed. He had one excellence in a high degree in after-life, which even then he seems to have been possessed of, that of always being able to impress his company with some apophthegm or witticism that would bear repetition ; some stroke of wit on things of ordi- nary occurrence, which would be recollected as often as the same thing occurred : his family even at this time are seldom long in any company or society in places where he lived, without having occasion to trace him by means of such memoranda. With Dr. Waring, who, in his preface to Miscellanea Analytica, seems to have hit upon what was a great characteristic of his friend's mind " in veritatis investigatione in- genii maxime pollentis," he was more intimate than is generally represented. Of his goodness of heart, simplicity, genius, and learning, he coincides in opi- nion with the anonymous author in the Public Cha- racters ; but his manners and conversation he esti- mates much more highly. Dr. Waring indeed ap- pears, according to the testimony of one very little junior to Paley, to have been as eminently distin- guished by a general knowledge as by a characteristic
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simplicity of manners*. With Mr. (afterwards, on changing his profession from divinity to physic, Dr.) Jebb, he joined freely on subjects of scientific and speculative inquiry, and used often to talk over with an intimate friend in private, thirty years after, his pleasant intercourse with Jebb and Waring. But both these were his seniors. Though he esteemed them much, as possessed of independent and acute habits of thought, and rather looked up to them as pleasant and warm friends, there is but little reason to believe that he ranged himself on their side, or on any side, either in religion or politics. He read, and thought, and acted for himself on every occasion of his life. Of the warm-heartedness, indeed, and disinterestedness of his friendships, scarcely enough can be said, but much more than enough has been insinuated in various quarters, as to his heterodox principles and views, tending to innovation both in church and state, from his connexion with what is termed their " <party? Merely to hazard conjectures against a generally received opinion is but a hopeless undertaking, but in the absence of all facts which point out any more intimate admiration of the prin- ciples of any party, and with the possession of an ex- perience which plainly speaks the contrary, it may be fairly and fearlessly said, that he never in his life
* Gilbert Wakefield. There are many marginal—" No— -No — unjust, foolish paragraph, I do not remember any such anec- dote," added to a story about Mr. Waring, inserted in the Public Characters. — Ed.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 71
was a party man. On all questions, he was the ad- vocate of liberal principles, and the most liberal dis- cussion, but he never went one step beyond the bounds of fair and candid conclusions, or of esta- blished order. What his biographer* says of him on this subject, viz. that he was of a liberal party in the university, is just as true of him at any other period of his life. He was more properly a liberal man of any party. He brought great interest and eagerness to any party, and advocated any set of arguments by which good was to be done, or truth forwarded ; but to say he was a secret advocate for ecclesiastical reform, or a political dabbler, from the circumstance of his having very slightly engaged in a question of the day which made considerable noise, or from having entered on a course of lecturing which involved all duties, moral and political, is to confound party with opinion, and to make every man a partisan who expresses his sentiments for or against any side of a question. It must be remembered that there was at that day, and perhaps is still, a certain aptitude in receiving, as well as readiness in affixing the name of parti/ to men of any public note, according as their cast of mind or their abilities seem favourable to a certain way of treating particular subjects. Yet they are not to be called liberal, either in spirit or in letter, though they are equally eager for the character of liberality. Gilbert Wakefield, who adds a good deal
* Meadle^.
72 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
to the weight of what might be called the liberal party at that time in the university, though by the selfishness and disappointed vanity which runs through his Memoirs, he gives occasion for doubting the purity of his motives on many occasions, says, " No man of any age, of any sect or denomination, has been so much a practical dissenter as myself, but as to party I will be of none, nor fight under any standard but that of truth and liberty." Yet this same was a re- viler of church establishments, at the same time that he was called by Dr. Priestley an enemy to dissenters. He acknowledges himself indeed an enemy to most of the dissenters of that day, but not to the cause ; and says, that ecclesiastical power in the hands of some of them would be a tyranny. One difference between these two, and probably many more of the same party, seems to have been, that Wakefield was not pleased with any party, and could not be ; for his maxim, of which he says he made an excellent use on numerous occasions, was " itavruv fc pakir aixvw cavTov" Mr. Paley was of every party, and friendly with men of all parties, but never exclusively attached to any. Wakefield's general account of this age of the university, and the questions at that time agitated, if they form a sort of right to his correcting " a mis- take of those censorious surmisers who had imagined him to have been brought over to the same party," may serve equally on this occasion. He says, " It is not improbable that the example of such respectable characters, occupied in the pursuit and the profession
LIFE OF Dll. PALEY. 73
of religious truth, might apply a spur to the willing courser, as it certainly excited, with the publications then current, a variety of conversation and debate upon the controverted points in theology among the undergraduates. But the influence over my mind went no farther. I soon found the truth to lie upon the surface ; and was persuaded that a single eye of any acuteness, purged from those films of habitual acquiescence which are superinduced by the operations of timidity, or the suggestions of prudence, would never be a very long time in making the discovery, and then my constitutional frankness and intrepidity would instantly impel me to the practical profession of it." The only transaction of public interest in the university in which Mr. Paley is said to have been concerned with any thing like eagerness or interest, was one on which he published a pamphlet entitled a Defence of Considerations on the Propriety of re- quiring Subscription to the Articles of the Church of England*: his interest in this question seems to have arisen from his having already made it a sub- ject of attention in his lectures. But he appears, according to general opinion, to have engaged in it so far, as to answer an attack made upon Bishop Law, his friend's father. But on this, as a young performance, which was not made the vehicle for grave opinion, and which reflects more on the tone of his opponent than conveys any additional informa-
* I have now by me authority enough to enable me to say de- cidedly that this pamphlet tvas the production of Mr. Paley. — Ed.
74 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
tion or sentiment, it is not necessary to say much more. Indeed, it is probably as signal a proof of his dislike to party, and much more to the purpose to observe, that he has not left behind him any one hint, or any room for conjecture, how far he was concerned in it. It was made a subject of doubt, even during his life, whether it was his or not, and was admitted after his death into a volume almost foisted into public notice ; but he seems to have been still satisfied with his own silence, and might have been much more entertained with the random-shots that have been fired at him since, by its being found out, " that it contains great arrogance and contempt both for his predecessors and his contemporaries, who viewed the matter in a different light, and with much intemperate argument." We are farther told to judge* how far he was consistent with himself, by ap- pealing to his chapter on Subscription to the Articles of Religion ; but it ought not to be forgotten, that he was using the substance of this chapter in his lectures at the very time. On this subject, and the interest it excited, as well as the general character of Mr. Paley in the university, which may very fairly be drawn from him without suspicion of partiality, some- thing may be collected from the very equivocal bash- fulness exhibited so boldly and intemperately by the author here named, who was nearly contemporary. Without noticing any pamphlet of Mr. Paley's in
* Wakefield's Memoirs.
LIFE OF DR. TALEY. 75
Defence of Considerations which incline to his own side of the question, he brings forward a difference of view on another part of the argument, and says, " I blush for him, I blush for the degradation of my species, when I see a man like Mr. Paley stain the pages of his incomparable book with such a shuffling chapter on subscription. He has amply gratified the most sanguine expectations raised in his friends by the extraordinary powers of his penetrating and com- prehensive understanding, and the glory of his aca- demical career ; but has he acted up in this instance to the general simplicity and honesty of his character ?" It will confirm what was said before, of the influence of a man's own views in determining him to or from the concerns of a party, if it be recollected that this dis- senting Wakefield denominates the articles a " blessed farrago of mere impertinence and absurdity," and therefore is not likely to bear patiently with any one who treats them reasonably; though such an one proves himself to be no advocate of ecclesiastical slavery, having wished to abolish them, as appears by the Defence of Considerations. The truth is, they are treated by Wakefield as matters that deserve but one opinion; by Paley, as points to call forth and fairly exercise a difference of opinion, though he is himself unfavourable to them. This certainly is no shuffling, at least not shuffling for honours. As to his not joining the petition*, and excusing it by
* Meadley.
76 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
saying that he was a coward, and that he could not afford to keep a conscience, or that he would come in with the next wave, or that he was inconsistent with himself in such expressions, is to give his mere sallies of wit and humour a more grave rebuke than such occasions seem to call for. These, like any .other expressions uttered with his constitutional vivacity, as is very justly observed, ought not to be too rigidly interpreted #. Those who knew him well can exactly measure the importance of them, and can say, that his character has been entirely misun- derstood, if from his being acquainted with men of great learning, and freedom of mind, and boldness in grappling with the mysteries of science, he has drawn upon himself an opinion of his being either a party man, or a partaker in most of the peculiar sentiments of his associates. For himself he would probably have recommended the old woman's recipe, which is given in the said Defence of Considerations, &c. " to leave off thinking for fear of thinking wrong." In the Biographical Dictionary, by Aikin, it is well ob- served from some periodical work, " that the Bishop of Carlisle's theological opinion fell greatly below the established standard of orthodoxy p. and Dr. Jebb's sentiments were equally obnoxious to the zealous
* With Meadley, in spite of this good-natured salvo, Mr. Chalmers is much affronted, because he has not at once saved him from the imputation of great impropriety. His present biographer does not think that there is any occasion to apprehend the least danger, or feel the least affronted.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 77
friends of the church on the same account, though what were " his unwearied and intrepid exertions for promoting a reform in the university as well as in the church and state, by which he had incurred their odium," may be partly conjectured from what has just now been said. " The intimate friendship which subsisted between these learned men and Mr. Paley was received with a jealous eye by many who were closely attached to the established systems. Because he was a liberal thinker, it was suspected that he must be a latitudinarian ; and they were prepared to dis- cover dangerous tendencies in his moral and political speculations, if they should ever be given to the public/' That his opinion, as well as his general character as an author, met with a good deal of this premeditated, preconcerted plan of opposition, may be best left as a matter of uncertainty ; but it is a point quite beyond the power of any party to deny, that he seems not to have been at all affected by any such insinuations, so as to be induced to swerve, during a great part of his life, from an open and independent declaration of his sentiments; that he never in truth departed from that true balance of reason which is the best test of inde- pendence ; and that he supported all sides from the same, and only from the same motives, as he blamed, and ridiculed, and endeavoured to correct all sides. Neither, on the other hand, ought any farther anxiety to be shown about his adherence to party than may withdraw him from the stir and bustle necessarily at- tendant upon it; because he would not have been
78 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
either afraid to avow, or ashamed to confess, that he admired the same liberality of view, the same bold- ness in pioneering amongst the entanglements of learning, and opening the approach to the true spirit of all institutions. As far as this might be consi- dered the design of the liberal party in the university, he would not be unlikely to engage in it with all his might; but though it might incline him to adopt some views at first, the tendency of which he neither saw nor looked for, it gave no twist to his mind at all sufficient to make him valuable to a party. It might lead him, indeed, not by any means to be " an overturner of churches, and spoiler of temples," but to take the obvious and first impressions of their use and abuse, to compare institutions and establishments as they exist, with the first intention of them, rather than to reason in favour of them, merely because they were existing institutions, or to follow them from their rise through the several steps of improvement. A young and ardent mind, little able, or at best not much inclined, to take hold of the chain on which many of our institutions and established forms de- pend, nor observing the links by which it is con- nected, each more polished than the last, might easily be tempted to join in any wish for reform or re- vision, from detecting some roughnesses and blunders. From his natural taste for rubbing off any artificial guise, together with a certain reluctance in courting discretion, he might have been led hastily, and, with his early impression, to a rashness in finding fault
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 79
with what more matured deliberation would have in- duced him to allow for ; and so he might be more than partially involved in any public charge of he- terodoxy, or at least a suspicion of being bent on in- novation of some kind. But we may easily imagine that he scarcely supposed himself able to hold a decided opinion on matters of grave doctrine or political sentiment, or to stand forth as the advocate, and much less the champion of any party, since neither the complexion of his mind, nor the general temperament of his after-life, was at all worse for it. It was certainly not tinctured with any decided op- position either to church or state, nor does he seem to have been prevented from balancing between the advantages and disadvantages, the probability and im- probability, of many points, which in later periods of his life came to him under a more important character. In the estimation of all parties in the university, he seems to have been singularly honest, and strictly upright ; a strong-minded, substantial, yet discrimi- nating reasoner ; a stanch advocate for discipline ; liberal, modest, and independent ; decisive, but not determined against improvement in his sentiments on subjects of religion and morality; wise enough to discriminate between a passionate and a rational prosecution of his object, yet always holding that object to be a bold and manly discharge of his duty*.
* For these characteristics I am much indebted to the stories so aptly brought forward by Meadley, to the communication of
80 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
He was associated, too, more in sentiment than by any strenuous exertion in discussing, if not improving the system of education then in the university ; but he never took any office but that of taxor, nor did he assume much authority in his college, except on points to which the substantial aims of discipline might be directed. He did not tease with demand- ing any little observances, nor did he easily yield to any requisition for licence and relaxation on substan- tial points. In conjunction with a man of very con- genial views, and with the same grasp of mind, he was able at once to enter upon such a course of steady, and, as it is well termed *, old-fashioned dis- cipline, as to leave on the minds of some of his pupils a lasting personal respect for himself, and in others, though at the time unwilling to submit, a fear and reverence, which never afterwards seemed to dimi- nish, or appear ridiculous to themselves. He opposed, along with his fellow-tutor, Law, the grant of the college-hall to Lord Sandwich, who was strongly fa- voured and supported by Dr. Shepherd. This gen- tleman was probably too much interested in his lordship's behalf to be very scrupulous on that occa-
many of his acquaintance, to my own conclusions, from throwing together many recollections, and to the general estimation which appears to have been attached to his memory. Nor can I give any authority for gainsaying it, except one that I do not choose to follow — Hazlitt, that literary Thersites, who appears little ac- quainted with the character he so unsparingly bespatters. Ed. * Quarterly Review, vol. 9»
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 81
sion, till it was suggested to him by the other tutors, that it would be so much for the interests of good order and ^discipline to oppose the unconditional grant of it, that they were resolved to stand firm against the whole proceeding, unless the offensive part of it was removed. Dr. Shepherd upon this claimed a promise from Lord Sandwich, that nothing but what was consistent with college discipline and strict propriety should take place, and they withdrew all opposition. There was no squabble of party in this, nor was Mr. Paley at all concerned in the con- test between Lords Hardwicke and Sandwich.
The offer to go into Poland to superintend the education of Prince Poniatowski's relative, the young Prince Czartorinski, was communicated to his friends at home; and though he showed no disinclination to the scheme, yet the reluctance which his mother showed was so much stronger than any wish expressed by his father, who thought it a very advantageous offer for his son, that he declined it.
The offer which is said to have been made to him by Lord Camden's friends, of becoming his lordship's private tutor, but to have been declined on account of his engagements, was never actually brought to his option, though it was talked of; so that he missed nothing by that.
Of his lectures, in addition to what has been so well and fully given *, it may be said, that there was
* Meadley. VOL. I. G
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little of the popery of education, as it is called, — little of precomposed forms of lectures. His plan, as far as he was sensible of plan, seems to have been to teach his pupils to think for themselves. He entered upon his subject not with a view of polishing what was known, but of teaching others to find out what was unknown, by observing the steps by which he had discovered it. As he seems to have em- ployed much of that part of life, in which he first began to think and act for himself, in giving in- struction, it may readily be conceived, that the habit of communicating it would continue long after his lectures were past. Accordingly we shall presently find him employing the same mode of instruction in his family which he used at college, and it was cha- racteristic enough of his powers to deserve mention by itself. Of his lectures on the Greek Testament, which some of his biographers have unfortunately praised " for being free from sectarian disputes," and in which he is said to have recommended his pupils " rather to listen to God than to man," there seems no authority whatever for speaking in this language, as his Greek Testament, from which he lectured, which is even yet to be found, is chiefly filled with notes critical and explanatory, in the manner adopted since by Elsley. These explanations are taken prin- cipally from Bowyer's Conjectures on the New Tes- tament, which came out just at that time, and are very consistent with the design he proposed to him- self, as appears by the first page of his Lecture Book :
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 83
" Points to be explained — Heb. phraseology — ways of reasoning — accommodation of prophecies — proverbs —explanation of customs." Of his other lectures, some notice will be taken when we come to that part of his life in which he sent out his works.
Of his private friendships during this period, it might not be necessary to say more than that he seemed naturally disposed to prefer private friendship to public notoriety at all times. So much, however, of his future fortune, as well as the exercise of his abilities, depended upon an intimacy formed at this time, and so strongly does the character of his more intimate friends prove how little he thought of be- longing to any party in religion or politics, that all mention of them cannot well be omitted. Dr. John Law, Bishop of Elphin ; the Rev. Wm. Sheepshanks, Fellow of St. John's ; Lord Ellenborough ; the Rev. Dr. Ord, of Bury, who was at that time his pupil, were four friends with whom he used to spend much, not only of his leisure time, but of his retirement, for more literary and serious conversation. Few evenings during their residence in the university passed without their visiting at one another's rooms. With these he kept up a constant correspondence and intercourse during the remainder of his life. The Rev. Edward Wilson, who was Mr. Pitt's early tutor, whose rise is said to have been limited, by some doubts of his orthodoxy, to a canonry of Windsor and rec- tory of Burfield, seems to have been a much valued friend; the Rev. Wm. Stoddart, of Ashfordin Kent 5
g 2
84 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
Mr. Hall, master of the free-school at Grantham in Lincolnshire ; the Rev. Mr. Wilson, of Moulton in Suffolk ; and Mr. Mapletoft, of Anstye near Bunt- ingford, seem to have been in habits of very friendly intercourse with him, and were often mentioned by him to his family with great pleasure. , His con- nexion too with Mr. Unwin ought to be recorded, as agreeing so well with his strong inclination for piety and religious conversation, for their intimacy was very great, and their conversation the most unre- strained on religious subjects. Though they differed materially on some of their views, yet did not this difference prevent a perfect and friendly interchange of sentiments on this subject, nor indeed does it ap- pear to have assumed any other than the character of a religious friendship. Once afterwards at least he had the gratification of seeing his old friend at Dalston; at which time Mr. Unwin introduced his friend Cowper to him, and seemed anxious that they should be on the same footing as himself; but this intimacy never got forward; nor is there any recol- lection in Dr. Paley's family of his opinion or corre- spondence with either of them, except that on read- ing Hayley's Cowper, he observed, that " he had given Cowper a black cat, and he wondered that he had not mentioned that amongst other important matters/' Of his epistolary correspondence, the want pf which is much regretted #, as well in this as in
* Meadley.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 85
other passages of his life, enough perhaps will appear in the sequel of our sketch to make the omission less unsatisfactory.
His private friends, some of whom still survive him, seem to value his memory, as that of one who was benevolent, candid, affable, lively, and sprightly, ready to assist at all times, and ready to communicate whatever he thought, or whatever he knew, with a perfect unconsciousness of his own superiority, or the least suspicion of his own importance ; and with such peculiar buoyancy of spirit, that they at once saw he was not only interested in what he Was about, but cared not a rush for his own trouble or inconvenience.
In order to carry our account forward to a more mature stage, it will be necessary shortly to revert to his intimacy with Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle. Law and Paley had been acquainted while undergraduates, but their acquaintance did not approach to intimacy till after Paley had taken his degree, and so much did it grow upon both of them by a habit of occa- sional intercourse during their joint tuition, that its closeness was only to be equalled by its duration. There existed between them a singular union of steady and rooted principle, perfect singleness and integrity of heart, congenial powers of mind, and great warmth of feeling ; yet these qualities were as singularly contrasted by a different application of them almost through life, by different pursuits, and even different inclinations and tempers. Yet so true and stedfast was their friendship, that though thrown
S6 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
into different parts of the world, there was both a constant interchange of letters and personal inter- course between them for thirty years, and their move- ments and enjoyments whilst in the university, as well as in later life, seem to have been regulated with reference to each other. They made frequent excursions together during the vacation to Giggles- wick and other places. They usually travelled in a gig, and as if resolved to make a vacation of it, in every sense of the word, they added much to the pleasantry of their friends at home, and in college, by relating the ludicrous scenes in which they con- trived to engage. As all, even the most humorous stories of his had point, it may perhaps serve to show the kind of incidents which then and ever after formed the chief food of his observation and amusement, if it be related that it fell to Mr. Law's share to sup- port the dignity of the party with a servant and a gig, to which Mr. Paley added a horse, kept solely for that purpose. This horse was no very comely beast, and their servant was jealous for the character of the whole party. He therefore stitched a fine flowing tail to the harness, and used to surprise his masters on their arrival at an inn, by bringing with great importance the horse's tail into their room along with their luggage. It was in one of these excursions to Bath, that Mr. Wilkes, who occupied an adjoining room at the York Hotel, politely intro- duced himself one morning, and spent an hour with them. When at Giggleswick, Mr. Paley amused
LIFE OF DR. TALEY. 87
himself with fishing, while his companion scrambled over hills and stone walls, in which that country abounds, in search of amusement. An old man of the village, who accompanied Mr. Paley in fishing, was the only person, he used to say, who gave him a true view of the folly of affected condescension, " arcta decet sanum comitem toga ;" for, on being asked to ride with Mr. Paley in his gig, which was intended to gratify the old man — " Nay," said he, " I'd as well walk beside you, for if you wouldn't shame with me in Settle, I should with you." Some letters which remain among Dr. Paley's papers and manuscript works mark very clearly the depth of affection and interest ; and it is under a conviction that familiarity between friends ought to be sacred, that the present writer restrains himself from giving more extracts in this place. Let one suffice, which speaks not only to the point now meant to be re*- corded, but to the general character and cast of mind of the Bishop of Elphin*. In the Irish rebellion,
* It may serve to show further the great strength of mind and firmness of spirit which this eminent man possessed under the dangers of his country, if we give an extract from a letter written by Dr. Paley about this time to some of his friends. w The Bishop of Elphin has raised a corps of forty, which he commands himself, and does regular duty. The archdeacon is his captain. They were all picked men. One nevertheless has been taken up and hanged. His friends want him to live in England on a few hundreds a year in preference to that. Carlisle is full of Irish emigrants. A gentleman received a letter that all his servants were concerned and sworn j he had no suspicion of any of them
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after describing some of the alarms to which they were constantly exposed — " The next thing you hear may be that I am knocked on the head, when you will lose a friend who never directed an action against your happiness or a word against your reputation during his life." This intimacy led to an intro- duction to Mr. Law's father, who was, according to Mr. Paley's own words, " his first and best patron #." The master of Peter House is unjustly aspersed, as having been promoted to the bishopric of Carlisle, and as having obtained some former pieces of pre- ferment from an improper adherence to the Dukes of Newcastle and Grafton. These aspersions are en- tirely unfounded, as appears both by the Life, pub- lished by Mr. Paley, and what is more to our present purpose, by some manuscript notes left in his hand- writing, clearly proving it impossible from some cir- cumstances attending his promotion. The bishop had selected his son's friend for his chaplain on his occasional visit to his diocese, and was soon enabled to provide for his son in such a way, that after about
till the night he set off 5 his butler entertained three hundred rebels at his house. A young gentleman taken up at the coffee- house here in women's clothes, his father fighting for the king ; his uncle a rebel, and just hanged."
* Dr. Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, observes in his life, that Dr. Law, the master of Peter House, was one of the best meta- physicians of his time. " From my friendship with that excellent man, I derived much knowledge and liberality of sentiment in theology j and I shall ever continue to think of my early intimacy with 'him as a fortunate event in my life."
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five or six years residence in college, he quitted it, to reside in his prebendal house at Carlisle. The fol- lowing year his friend Paley was presented by the bishop to the rectory of Musgrave in Westmoreland, and soon after left his situation at college to under- take the charge of a country parish in a neighbour- hood with which he had no connexion. He had discharged the office of tutor, as he says himself in his preface to the Moral Philosophy, about nine years. It was certainly no small surprise to some of his friends that he should leave engagements, which were at that time very lucrative, for a living of £80 a year : but it may well be supposed, that to a man of his powers of mind and habits of deep reflection, this was much less a consideration than his views of usefulness in the discharge of the more active clerical duties. His conviction, that though he was filling an important and useful station, yet it was not so congenial to his own elastic and energetic mind, as to seem worthy of terminating his prospects — the superior pleasures of an active and diversified life — the feeling of " spatiis obstantia claustra," — the desire of being at liberty to indulge a fondness for contem- plative observation, and for studying man more than books, — all might influence him in choosing the life of a country clergyman. This indeed can only be conjecture, as much of what is here observed must necessarily rest upon conjecture -, but it is at least fair, that what consists with his character in his best days, and with what was allowed to be a distinguish- ing trait in that character, should have more weight
90 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
than any random conjecture that he had the pro- mise of further provision from his patron, or any prospect of it built upon his connexion with Mr. Law. Indeed this is contradicted by himself in a marginal note on the Life already alluded to. He had always declared to his friends in college his design of leaving it as soon as he could, and seemed to his friends particularly fond of expatiating upon the pleasures of the frugal life of a country clergyman. Prospects he must undoubtedly have had, but they were the prospects of a man who was always inclined to believe that diligence, exertion, ability, and a re- gular discharge of an important duty, never were long without an adequate provision.
He brought to his new situation a mind disposed to be happy in its own resources, a good flow of spirits, a natural as well as habitual cheerfulness, great fondness for intercourse with its neighbours, and a strong inclination to make the most of his power of observation and penetration, by applying them to the purposes of religion and morality. These interests, the preservation of which was certainly the prevailing and paramount aim of his life, would not necessarily require mention, but that they were so deeply fixed as to have been a special and distinctive mark of his character, both grave and gay, both in his serious and his trifling moments, during the course of his life.
He never lived at Musgrave, nor had he any thing to do with farming or husbandry while he continued in that neighbourhood ; but having been at Carlisle
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with Mr. Law during the former year on his induc- tion to Musgrave, he was suddenly struck with the beauty of Miss Hewitt, and after holding a short consultation with his friend, and not a much longer one with the lady, he, in the following spring, left college, and returning to Carlisle, married her. It was not a match of interest. She was the daughter of a spirit merchant at Carlisle, and though con- nected with the corporation and some of the first class of society in that city, she added much more afterwards, both to his comfort and his fortune, than he either expected or inquired after at the time. Sensible, but mild and unassuming, of retired habits, of a sweet and negative disposition, but inactive from ill health, and, as she used to call herself, a mere thread-paper wife, she both sufficiently accorded, and was sufficiently contrasted with the ardent temper, active and positive character of her husband, and therefore readily joined in his wish and inclination for the character of a country clergyman.
From this point, therefore, he is to be considered in a new and more perfect state, — in his public capa- city as a preacher and an author, in his private cha- racter as a family man, and an individual possessing great power and influence in his circle, chiefly by his worth and integrity, and singleness, and the con- sistency of his life, his natural turn for benevolence, an active freedom from all sorts of partiality and pre- judice in his rules of acting, and a close observation of the minute points of station in society, and a nice
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distinction between the use and abuse of matters com- paratively indifferent. In these will be found to con- sist most of what characterises him as an individual. Of his private life during this period not much can be given which may be made of public interest, ex- cept by observing, that he seemed now first to adopt the same methodical habits which continued with him during his life. His love of quiet, indeed, if not of retirement, yet of that degree of communication with society, which should leave him leisure enough for study and contemplation, were very strong even in this new state of his life ; and living in the small country town of Appleby, which was at a short distance from the village of Musgrave, where there was an agreeable, and to him valuable society, he passed his time usefully and satisfactorily. He had enough of society, enough of amusement, and enough of study. He soon either joined or promoted one of his Hyson clubs, where, for two hours in an even- ing, a few friends used to meet, spend sixpence, play a* rubber at whist for threepence, and find entertain- ment and communicate information, without either quarrelling or abuse, in talking over the affairs of the neighbourhood ; and here he used to boast of having added greatly to his stock of practical knowledge in the common concerns of life *. He had fishing to his heart's content -, for, situated on the banks of
* Non de villis domibusve alienis,
sed quod niagis ad nos
Pertinet, et nescire malum est, agitamus. Hon.
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the Eden, in one of the most delightful vales of Westmoreland, Appleby is quite the place for a fisher, who enters into the spirit of the sport, and loves the amusement of whipping the stream more than catch- ing the fish. It might be probably from his eager- ness for this amusement whilst at Appleby *, that Mr. Law struck out his intention of having his picture taken in his fishing trim ; but it was not carried into execution till some time after, when Dr. Law was advanced to an Irish bishopric. To say nothing of the preposterous figure of a fisherman in a buzz wig and an archdeacon's hat, which was scarcely worn on state occasions, it is probable that neither Romney who painted it, nor Dr. Law who insisted on having it painted in that guise, knew much of fishing, or recollected how little that very peculiar kind of pike fishing would be recognised on canvas even by fisher- men ; and if it was so designed in order to catch the beaming expression of his countenance, as may be very obviously conjectured from the sort of coun- tenance which belonged almost exclusively to him, it would have been equally consistent with his mind, and more so with good taste, to have made him in- tent on any other subject of contemplation, since there were many at that time as congenial to him. It was thought so good a painting, that when Dr. Law, then Bishop of Clonfert, called on Romney to pay him the stipulated price, the painter took up his
* Meadley has mentioned this incorrectly.
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£50 with great dissatisfaction, at the same time ob- serving, he had been offered twice as much for it.
The society of Appleby was made more agreeable to him by its offering to him an acquaintance with Mr. Yates, who was at that time master of the grammar-school in that place, and quite a Busby of the north. Though before that time it was a school of no mean repute, as having prepared along with St. Bees men of that and the adjoining county for the old foundation of Queen's College, Oxford, yet it was indebted to Mr. Yates for much of its celebrity, which at that time was very great, and since that time has not diminished. By his long and close at- tention to the spirit as well as technical part of his office, and by superior penetration and attainments he brought with him, he was concerned in the in- terest and improvement of most of the first families in the country. Mr. Paley was much junior to Mr. Yates, who at that time was advanced in years, but they soon discovered and valued in each other, as might be expected in a provincial town, where such discoveries are not often made, the same fondness for literary and intellectual pursuits, and quickly entered into habits of unconstrained conversation. Mr. Paley, brought up to think a schoolmaster's the first of all employments, was glad to find so much affability, good humour, and cheerfulness, united to great taste and intellect *. There was besides a great
* Whilst I am upon this subject, I cannot help mentioning that Mr a Yates translated almost the whole of the first volume of
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similarity in their ways of thinking, and in the degree of importance they both attached to the manners and morals of those that depended upon them ; they both paid more particular attention to those little steps by which immorality makes a gradual progress, and were unwilling to overlook trifles. Many a cheerful hour was passed in each other's society. Mr. Yates used to desire Mr. Paley's company in an evening to sit with him, when the messenger was sent back to say he was busy knitting. Another message was sent to desire he would bring his knitting with him, when Mr. Paley would good-humouredly put it in his pocket and exhibit it, to show that he was in truth knitting a stocking for his first child. All these circumstances were recollected, when he called this, as he has often been heard to call it, the happiest time of his life.
It may be necessary to observe, as he is now in a way to be considered in his proper character as a divine, and particularly and distinctively as a writer and preacher of Sermons, that of all other departments of his life, the least stress has been laid upon that ordinary class of duties, the performance of which he considered the most important — that he never before assumed or pretended to the full dis- charge of the duties of a country clergyman — that from this time the composing and delivery of sermons was made a principal business, and was a duty in
the Spectator into Latin, as elegant and classical as the English of Addison j and was famous at eighty for the spirit and tone with which he read the plays of Shakspeare. — Ed.
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which he both liked and was most able to display his great powers of mind — that the sermons which were now composed will appear to be of more importance in the sequel than is generally understood — and that from this period to the end of his life this work never seems to have lost its interest in the least, nor to have assumed a different cast or management. It is said indeed by those who perhaps knew him best, that his early productions in this way were verbose and florid, meaning by his early productions those at Greenwich and during the residence in the university ; and by verbose and florid, of a cast different from his later productions *. The authority for so saying is de- rived from too good a source to be disputed by those who have not a better ; and there are at this day very few remaining in manuscript of that period. Those that do remain indeed are not so free from an affectation of style and common-place sentiments as those of his later life, though by no means unlike the style of the notes to his Essay, which is at once manly and scholar-like. It is not, in short, unfair to presume, that he might in his younger days be car- ried away by the passion for display which attaches
* These observations upon the style and manner of his ser- mons are not indeed so much applied to the period now spoken of -, but they are nevertheless applicable, both because the cha- racter of them i£ marked from this time, and most of those dated at this period continued, with small alterations, to be occasionally preached at other places ; so that what will suit one period of his life, may easily suit another in that respect.— Ed.
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to most young writers, as well as by a notion of adapting them more readily to a congregation used, as his then opinion might be of the people at Green- wich, to a higher style of preaching than mere country congregations. They are many of them full of high- flown apostrophes, and what he would have been in- clined perhaps to call little elegancies of composition, which show the writer of them not to have been with- out taste and feeling, but scarcely bespeak great powers of reasoning. Thus in one of these earlier productions of his, one of those at least which show their age by their torn and tattered condition, and the firm kind of hand-writing ; upon the text, " The days of our age are threescore years and ten," are to be found the following passages, which do not bear the stamp of his mind, though they may of his feelings in an earlier age, when the poetical fervour of such writers as Watts or Hervey, or the eccentric effusions of Sterne, are often substituted for more rational piety. " Do you but look upon yourself as dying daily, and hasting to the grave, — do you in your most serious meditations often represent to yourself your own frail, languishing, consumptive condition, and the swift approaches that death is still making towards you, every day bringing you nearer and nearer to your long home, — and you will find that nothing could have been more effectual to humble your pride than this will be. Stoop down and look into the grave and see how your head must shortly be laid there,
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and you will see little reason to be lifted up with any thing."
Again, " Thirdly, the effectual and constant sense of our frailty will quicken us to provide for death and for another world. He can scarce avoid this, who ever looks upon himself as a dying man. Can any one be so hardy as to think of launching forth into the other world, of entering upon eternity, before he hath made his peace with God by a conquest over his evil habits, obtained an interest in Christ by prac- tising his laws, and some comfortable evidences of the forgiveness of his sins ? The serious apprehensions of death will, if any thing will do it, awaken his con- science, rouse up his drowsy soul, and make him seriously thoughtful and solicitous about his eternal concernments. One great cause of the deep slumber and desperate carnal security of most men, — of this wretched neglect of the salvation which Christ in his Gospel offers, and of putting off from day to day the one great business of making their peace with God, and securing the welfare of their immortal souls — of all this the principal cause is, that they put far from them the evil day, and either think not upon death at all, or think of it at a great distance." A sermon upon the crucifixion, the burden of which is, to set on a broader basis of reason and common sense the doctrine of atonement, has the following begin- ning and conclusion, which if they be original, be- speak a more ranting strain of preaching than he
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usually indulged in : — " Who is this that cometh with dyed garments from Bozrah — who is this that cometh from Edom ? He that beareth our griefs and car- rieth our sorrows — that was wounded for our trans- gressions and bruised for our iniquities ; that ap- peaseth the vengeance of an incensed God and taketh away the sin of a condemned world. Sacrifice and burnt offering thou wouldst no longer have — then said I, lo, I come to preach the glad tidings of sal- vation and seal them with my blood. I come to lay down my life a ransom for many, and offer myself an oblation for the sin of the whole world. It was not enough that the Son of God should take upon him our nature, but that he should share our suffer- ings too. — It was not enough that he should be born to teach, but that he should die to redeem his people — it was not enough that he should die, but that he should give himself to the death of the cross. Well might all nature sympathize with her expiring Lord — well might darkness overspread the land, and the veil of the temple be rent in twain. The sun saw this and fled, the earth quaked for fear. What aileth thee, O thou sun, that thou fleddest, and thou earth, that thou quakest for fear ? The Lord of life en- dureth death — he who could have summoned the host of heaven to his aid yielded up his soul an of- fering for sin, and boweth his sacred head upon the cross. This, my brethren, is the great mystery of godliness — this the amazing spectacle of mercy, which the return of this season invites us to." Towards
h 2
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the conclusion of the same — " 111 fated Jews, well might our Saviour say, thou knewest not what thou didst when thou crownedst with thorns the King of Heaven — thou knewest not when thou inflictedst those stripes by which thou thyself wast healed— thou knewest not when thou laidst the cross upon him, who bore it for thy sake— thou knewest not that it was his death, which was to give light and immor- tality to thee that piercedst his side — when thou shouldst behold again thy Saviour and thy judge."
Be these sermons whose or what they may, the only effusion to be found at all like them is one of a much later date, and written in a fair hand, in which amongst much rather common-place matter, on the Christian's hopes, with a text from Heb. ii. 15, " And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage •" is the following passage, which is given as a specimen of his attempts at pulpit eloquence ; for if this sermon be not his own, it was certainly preached. — " How for example was it with the Apostles, with the primitive converts of the religion, which yet is the same re- ligion, and still offers the same hopes ? When we see the first followers of the faith of Christ relinquish their pleasures and renounce their indulgences, ex- changing a life of sensuality and voluptuousness, for abstinence, mortification, and self-denial, ease and security for pain and danger — when we see this, we see the power of Christianity to lift the human soul above the world in which we live : but when we
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see those disciples of a crucified Lord, following their Master through sufferings and death, when we see them set at defiance the most cruel tortures that bar- barity could exercise or ingenuity contrive ; lingering in the agonies of death, yet saluting their destiny with songs of triumph, and breathing out their souls in thanksgivings to God, who had accounted them worthy to be partakers of the sufferings of Christ ; from this spectacle we learn what faith can do. O faith ! thou guardian of a Christian's virtue, thou source and fountain of all his joys, thou balm that healest the ills of life — thou beam that lightest us through the vales of death — by thee we quench the darts of Satan — by thee we surmount the terrors of the grave — by faith with confidence we have access to God. If then these persecuted champions of the Christian faith not only supported death with for- titude when unavoidable, but submitted to a volun- tary martyrdom ; shall we find the same faith unable to sustain our fortitude in the hour of quiet and natural decease ? They met a violent and untimely fate, inflicted by incensed and barbarous enemies ; we expect our departure, when God in his own good time shall command us to pass through a peaceable change to a better existence. They wrestled with the waves on splinters of the wreck — we sail on to the shore on beams of cedar." He himself says in one of his charges, " that in most men genius is ripe before judgment. It opens with the bloom of youth, and sometimes does not survive it. On the contrary,
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the judgment seldom attains its maturity till much later. Being in a great measure the fruit of expe- rience, it is of slow growth, and is in a state perhaps of constant progress at best, so long as the powers of the understanding remain entire. He therefore who addresses himself to any species of composition in the earlier part of his life, comes to it with the advantage of a fertile and glowing imagination, but often with great imbecility or unsoundness of judgement. Any man who recollects his early compositions will be sensible of this." This florid style, however, is to be received as so far from the usual character of his com- positions, that it rather leads to the conclusion, either that he was not in the habit of preaching much on his first taking orders, or that he copied many of them from his senior curate, which has sometimes been hinted, or that he altered his mode of composing them* In the university he had been considered rather more original than eloquent in the pulpit, but sufficiently attractive to draw the attention of both the old and young members of the university. In the college vacation, on coming among his friends he preached with great effect to crowded congregations in the church of his village ; and notwithstanding the ease with which such popularity is gained in such a neighbourhood by a man already much admired, yet it was said even then, that he was never well or thoroughly known, till he was heard from the pulpit. Butk from the date of his taking upon him the more active duties of a clergyman, to the end of his life, his
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sermons have the same distinguishing character, and the mode of his delivery seems to have remained equally earnest and singular. One great excellence of his preaching and the performance of his church duties, was that he carried all his powers and all his heart into the pulpit. He was there, if any where, in his glory. As this indeed is remarked of him else- where, so it may be added, that he seemed peculiarly, and above all other feelings, impressed with a per- sonal concern in the devotions he led. He seemed anxious to catch the spirit of devotion rather than to be attentive to its forms. This much more than compensated for any want of dignity which he showed ; it was so apparent, that it held out at once to some of his hearers an excuse for his lowering the tone of his devotion to common and ordinary feelings. He certainly here showed himself free from any thing like affectation of solemnity, or the pomp of priest- hood, or the unaccommodating exclusive airs of a devotee. He who was cheerful and animated and bustling in the world, was all solemnity and zeal and earnestness in the pulpit. He avoided indeed the inconsistency of having two characters, by showing it impossible that he could be otherwise. He had not the art, or never used it, of presenting one face to one set of men, and another to another, but was the same man in different situations; and yet so much unlike what he usually appeared in mixed society, that no one would readily recognize him who did not understand what would be the effect upon
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such a mind, of pure unadulterated devotion. Though he adapted his conception and his views of a subject to the class of hearers to whom he preached, yet he was acceptable to all classes in any one congregation, by the plainness and originality of his illustrations, the peculiar strength, yet homeliness and familiarity of his style, the exactness and expressiveness of his language ; and it may bear observation, that he was particularly striking even to children, whose attention is not easily secured. It has often been observed by those of his hearers, who were scarcely able or in- quisitive enough to examine the reason, that the finer and more polished periods of celebrated preachers never impressed them so much, or fixed their at- tention so steadily as his manner of preaching; and some of his younger and habitual hearers have re- marked, when attending other very excellent and popular preachers, that though they found them- selves admiring the beauty of style and manner which was wanting in their own minister, they were far from being so sensible of any impression that was for their good afterwards. It was not easy to hear him with indifference; nor was there any agreeable mo- notony in his sermons to slumber over, for they con- tained nothing but roughnesses, and yet were full of sentences which formed rather general maxims, than mere matter of temporary application. He en- tered at once, not only into the spirit, but into the very middle of his subject, with such facility, and such powers of enlarging upon it, that he made his
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hearers acquainted with more in a short time, than might have been given to them on ordinary occasions by a hundred sermons.
He had, as was remarked before on another occa- sion, a peculiarity of delivery, and awkwardness of attitude, more particularly observable in the pulpit, but the attention of his hearers soon wholly merged in the matter, and was carried from the preacher to the subject. He seemed indeed to be inattentive to all arts and elegancies of elocution, and to prefer what might show him anxious to do his best and do credit to his subject, rather than to be at all desirous of the graces and decorations of delivery. He persuaded his hearers, that, whatever he might be considered, however he might shine, however he might offend against more accurate taste, he reserved his whole powers for his subject. The manner of his preaching was strong and striking, and rather of a reproving cast, than soft or moving. He certainly approached the ludicrous, when he attempted to move by his oratory. In his delivery, that taste and application to the wants and desiderata of his subject, which is conspicuous in his writings, was looked for in vain. His voice is stated to have been rough and inhar- monious, and his accent provincial. This is not suf- ficiently qualified. His voice was not strikingly rough, but on the contrary in private sweet and very distinct ; but though deep, it was by no means strong, nor very capable of exertion. Its roughness, if any, was on occasional exertion. On first entering a church, where
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he was performing service, or a room where he was speaking, it was rather strikingly pleasant, because natural. Neither was his accent peculiarly provincial. It might have been called rather wanting in refine- ment, but by no means disagreeably so.
Of his method of composing sermons, probably the best illustration may be drawn from his own rules on this subject, delivered in his lectures ; yet to see how far he was consistent with himself, and adopted his rules into his own practice, and also how many ad- ditions he found it necessary to make when the prac- tice of them came before him, it may be well to give one or two observations upon it. Indeed from the activity and energy of his mental powers, which led him to think of many points at once, from his being every where a minute and penetrating observer, and applying that observation to some purpose and some object ; from the general turn of his thoughts towards higher contemplation, from the constant recurrence of his duty, from his heart being wholly in this busi- ness, it is more than probable that he would himself be inclined to give great weight to this part of his writings. There is a reason which might probably prevent his appearing in public as a sermon-writer during his life, besides his own ingenuous declara- tion*, " that they are in such constant use, that he was glad to change his living because they came too often over." This is, that he was perhaps indebted
* Meadley.
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to his sermons, or at least the enlargement of his subject in this way, for his works on Moral Philo- sophy, Evidences of Christianity, and Natural Theo- logy, as most of those sermons that remain seem clearly formed upon thoughts connected with his favourite subjects, and some of them contain the same sentiments, and even expressions which are to be found in his latest productions, though from their date evidently composed before he had any views of publication. Some of these sermons are published in this edition for the purpose of confirming this statement. Instead of any disparagement to him as a writer, it is presumed they will show that his works were certainly fondlings of his mind, and seem to have called forth the repeated application of his thoughts, and to have shared under one shape or another even the advanced powers of his intellect. His method of composing sermons then appears to have been this : — He let himself into the midst of his subject, and reduced what he had to say, or what he intended to say, into method and heads, before he encountered it, so as to see both beginning, middle, and end, at one view. He rarely undertook a subject at a venture. He was constantly in the habit of turning it over and over at his leisure, and guarding its progress by repeatedly turning back to where he set out, so that he came more than half prepared to his paper. Thus what is said* of his being a rapid
'* Mcadley. The incident that gave rise to Meadley's inform- ation was the following : in later life, when on a visit at Buckden
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composer, or his seldom transcribing his sermons, might easily be accounted for. " Slow composition," in speaking of the composition of sermons in one of his charges, "does not in general answer; it makes breaks, and interrupts the flow of thought." But he was rather to be called a desultory than rapid composer of a sermon ; at any rate he was by no means a rapid finisher. He seldom was without two or three sermons lying unfinished on his table ; which he took up ac- cording to the channel of his thoughts, and was thus enabled to stuff them so much with acute observation, and pithy sentences. He recommends in the same charge, " frequent transcribing." " One writing," says he, " is worth many readings. It may be said perhaps that so much anxiety about diction destroys one of the best properties of popular writing, ease of style and manner. The very reverse of this is the truth, unless we choose to call slovenliness ease. There are no compositions in the language which have been so admired for the very quality of ease as those of the
previous to his being installed to the subdeanery of Lincoln, he was asked to perform the Sunday duty there, and on being afterwards requested to leave his sermon there for private perusal, he an- swered, " You may have it, madam, freely, but it is what neither you nor any body else can make out, for I had much ado to make it out myself." Having promised, however, to get it copied, he shortly after gave it to his daughter, who, astonished as she well might be, at the laborious charge committed to her, plagued him so much for explanations of what he himself could not make out, that he tried what dictating would do, and in this task he was interrupted by the friend who gave Meadley this information.
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late Mr. Sterne ; yet none I believe ever cost their author more trouble. I remember to have seen a letter of his, in which he speaks of himself as having been incessantly employed for six months upon one small volume." He also recommends " frequent revisals of what was written.,, This was his own case. No man for instance was so particular about punctuation ; in many of his writings the only intelligible marks of his pen at first sight are prodigious commas. He seems to have been careful, and even almost proud, not only of striking out what he conceived from his own experience to be the prevailing desiderata of the subject, but grappling with any obvious difficulties. This indeed is said very happily* to be a distin- guishing character of his works, and it seems to have been partly the cast and bent of his mind. He never seems to refuse any the most knotty point, for fear of not encountering it with sufficient force ; nor to have avoided any perplexing intricacy, for fear of not disentangling it so as to make it intelligible to his hearers. He seldom attempted to make more than one or two impressions, in one sermon, for this reason, that a sermon is better worth the labour which conveys any one impression, than that which is so full of matter, that it either leaves the hearers in doubt what to take hold of, or wholly lost in a mass of con- fusion. For much the same reason, he was a friend to short sermons. " Let one impression," said he
* Chalmers.
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to a friend, " be but made, and send it home with your congregation, and you do more for them than giving them twenty comments. "
One prevailing defect which is sometimes com- plained of, and which has struck many of his congre- gation on hearing him from the pulpit, is a want of close or conclusion, or gradual winding up of his subject. He never spun out his discourse ; whether short or long he finished it as soon as he had no more to say. He was not much in the habit of appealing to the feelings of his congregation, and seems not to have relished the usual way of applying what he had previously been saying by any well wrought or arti- ficial mode of addressing their feelings, Nor does it seem so much from any studied design, much less from any artifice, that these abrupt conclusions so often occur, but rather from an unwillingness to affect what he did not feel, and what he could not have delivered with any degree of self-possession. Though by no means deficient in feeling and pathos, which he had the power of rousing in the best way by natural, unaffected touches, not too much dwelt upon, he was certainly more partial to the way of working conviction by reason, than taking any ad- vantage of feeling, when he did not feel. Though possessed of the warmest feelings of religion, he never indulged in the religion of feeling.
He might indeed have discovered from the manner in which his early sermons were received (supposing the* specimens given do mark his true method of
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writing at that time), that the delivery of such was but ill suited to his inelegant manner. He might think, if he reasoned upon it, that whatever moved the affection was perishable as the affection itself; whatever made an impression upon the understand- ing, or wrought conviction by the force of reason, was at least more likely to be permanent ; but it was more consistent with his natural character to suppress or conceal his feelings. On religious subjects he seldom conversed, and rarely spoke at all upon them with any of his family. Whether in addition to this constitutional bias he felt that the display of even natural feelings was often attendant upon weakness or affectation, and that man's religious feelings were too awful a subject for bunglers to meddle with, it is clear as well from his manner of preaching as from the composition of his later sermons, that there was not an attempt made to guide either himself or his hearers by feeling. So much indeed do most of his later sermons, published and unpublished, partake of this character, that they have been, though rather injudi- ciously, classed amongst moral and religious essays, in utter regardlessness of what he expresses in one of his own charges : " The danger however (i. e, of preaching up the necessity of faith, which was left to be unpro- ductive) is nearly overpast. We are on the contrary setting up a kind of philosophical morality, detached from religion, and independent of its influence, which may be cultivated, it is said, as well without Chris-
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tianity as with it; and which, if cultivated, renders religion, and religious institutions, superfluous. A mode of thought so contrary to truth, and so dero- gatory from the value of revelation, cannot escape the vigilance of the Christian ministry. We are en- titled to ask upon what foundation this morality rests. If it refer to the divine will, (and without that, where will it find its sanctions, or how support its authority?) there cannot be a conduct of the understanding more irrational than to appeal to 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 authority of natural and revealed religion. We are bound to re- ceive 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 advancing, as he pretends to do, the do- minion of reason, and the authority of natural re- ligion, disobeys the first injunction of both*."
Instead of making a sermon to a text, he not un- frequently chose his text after he had completed his sermon; not, according to the old receipt, because his text would suit any sermon, or his sermon any
* This was preached in the year 1790, not long after the pub- lication of his Moral Philosophy.
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text, but because he was in the habit of considering the wants of his congregation, or of turning over some subject, which wanted to be made plain to his hearers, without a particular reference to his text or any single passage of Scripture. There is a story by Meadley of his making eight sermons from one text. Two or three appear amongst his collection with the text specified, " Exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin," Heb. iii. 13 ; but nothing extraordinary is to be said of them, except that they are written in a different hand. His choice of texts seems to have been more from those passages of the Epistles that are the least intel- ligible : if in any thing he did not sufficiently re- press the marks of his being a scholar, it was in this. He copied from none. He was perfectly original, if not in matter, yet in the manner of bringing it forward : yet he seems to have adopted for his model, Sherlock, Clarke, and Hoadley ; the latter of whom he calls " the excellent Hoadley." He resembles them not only in the rationality of their style and sentiment, and their freedom from any improper dis- play of learning or feeling, but also in the choice and treatment of many of their subjects. Indeed the only stolen sermons which are amongst his collection are two from Hoadley : so that his direction in his College Lectures, " As to preaching, if your situation requires a sermon every Sunday, make one and steal five" was not adopted from his own practice ; nor
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is it easy to tell where he could have found sermons at all suited to his habit of thinking or manner of delivery. These, too, were his general books on a Sunday evening, when he had his family round him, and one of them reading aloud : Tillotson more rarely, and sometimes Scougal, and Ostervald's Cor- ruptions of Christians, by Mutel. What he says so well in his Lectures, " When your Greek Testament is stocked with notes, the interpretation of texts is at hand/' is true of his own manner of composing ; for his Greek Testament from which he lectured is a small Wetstein, interleaved with quarto sheets, as full as it can hold from beginning to end of manu- script notes, written almost in a short hand peculiar to himself. — If these observations have taken up more room than memoirs of this kind seem to allow, they as properly belong to this place as any other, for the reasons mentioned before ; and could not well be given in any less critical manner, without reserving the whole for some future page, with which it might be more unconnected.
In his public capacity of clergyman, his attention was also necessarily much drawn to the wants of his parish in particular, and, by his intimacy with the bishop's family and with the archdeacon, to the affairs of the clergy in general belonging to the dio- cese. Much of the management as well as interest, both of the bishop and dean and chapter, fell neces- sarily under his friend the archdeacon, Mr. Law's, charge ; and this made it, by a common sort of sweep-
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ing supposition, generally believed, though entirely without grounds, that he, with the assistance of Mr. Paley, had the management and administration of the whole ecclesiastical affairs within that diocese. Mr. Paley never interfered beyond his station at any time.
About this time, that is, during his residence at Appleby, either as vicar of Dalston, or rector of Musgrave,- he preached his first sermon, and chose for his subject the use and application of Scripture language. He seems to have pitched upon this sub- ject, not so much from any signal misapplication that had been made, or from any party in the church which at that time was struggling for ascendancy in the diocese ; but he had, probably, in his official situ- ation as chaplain observed, that very little attention was paid to such matters ; and it was easy to see what would be the consequence of a general want of distin- guishing between the two uses of certain Scripture terms. It seems to have been his object on that, as on most other occasions of his life, to strike out some- thing deserving of public attention — rather with a view of drawing men's minds from a blind attachment to any ill-grounded position, than with the design of promoting, or making himself known as a favourer of any particular sentiment.
It is not for the sake of instituting a fresh inquiry into the merits of this performance, that it is here noticed; but of declaring at once that it seems scarcely to consist either with the decency or propriety of this
i 2
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undertaking, to graft any private sentiments and writings of the author upon a mere detail of his life and opinions : nor does it seem to savour less of a general want of material, than of misplaced criticism, that such advantage is taken in some of the Lives already published. Could an opportunity be allowed in such a work as the present to indulge in any opi- nion of that kind, certainly it would be readily seized to observe upon the absence of all point and applica- tion to, of fair grappling with, the main arguments which the criticisms made public on this and many other occasions, present. But it will not be improper to take a passing view, as occasion may arise, of some odd inconsistencies, with which no writer can be justly chargeable ; and which are wholly to be referred to the differing sentiments of the reader, and an in- attention to the main design of the writing. Instead, therefore, of entering at all into what might seem to awaken criticisms long since laid asleep, it will be' best to limit observation to the mere style and com- position of the various works.
It is remarkable that this sermon has, above many others, given rise to an opinion that an evident " change" took place afterwards in his sentiments ; because his sentiments on the doctrine of conversion are stated more fully, but not one whit less firmly, in the volume of sermons published after his death. As far as change may be wanted, or might have been desirable, it would be well to take refuge in the Spa- nish* pro verb mentioned by the Spectator, — " A wise
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man changes his mind, a fool never will." But in this case something still more applicable may be ob- served, against any change being either felt or wanted by this writer. It is not certain that the one was not founded upon the other, so far as to be an improve- ment upon and a more detailed view of the particular doctrine. What tends to confirm this opinion is, that one or two sermons, given in this edition, bear evident marks of being much later compositions than that time, and yet contain the same sentiments of Scripture language; whilst there are others which were, by their marks and dates, evidently composed about that time, containing sentiments which might be made to speak a sense as different as any thing which is said to indicate a change. Indeed when a " change5' of views is spoken of, or attributed to any writer, of a great many different subjects at many dif- ferent times, it should be recollected what is the par- ticular aim at each time of writing, or each mention of such subject ; and though it has often been ob- served, since the posthumous volume of sermons came out, that the writer never before appeared in such softened colouring, or in such a kindly genial light, nor was ever known well as a Christian divine before that volume made its appearance, yet to show at once how much of this surprise is owing to the reader who expresses it rather than to the subject on which it is expressed, it is certain that most, if not all the ser- mons in such volume, were composed during the early part of his ministry. It may be admitted, indeed,
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that he is no ordinary writer, so it is not easy for a slovenly or hasty reader to take in at one glance all the meaning and application of particular passages ; so much indeed is this the case, together with a cer- tain air of originality, and as it were novelty in the construction of his sentences, that a difficulty some- times felt in getting forward in the perusal of his works, is the being obliged to go back and revise every now and then some few sentences or periods. Though perspicuity is certainly so leading a trait of his whole works as well as of his particular expressions, that a reader is never in doubt about his aim, yet that very perspicuity is the cause of some perplexity. When others would use periphrasis and wordy explanations, he always seems to convey in the fewest words what he intends ; so that a reader may be well at a loss to recollect the steps by which he has got to his point, and be surprised to find himself there so much sooner than he expected. It is thus also * very possible, that the reader may carry forward impressions which are unauthorised or undesigned, or unthought of in other parts of the same writing. Something too must be allowed on this head, to the train of sentiment which
* Though, in contradiction to this opinion, I have heard it sometimes asserted that a reader is always at home in these works, and never has to look back for a connexion or a meaning, that every where being so familiar and apparent $ yet I am not disposed to change this opinion, conceiving that there is a suf- ficient variance between the scope of the two opinions to warrant both. Ed.
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a writer is carrying on, and which may lead to many expressions apparently inconsistent with the same writer on different subjects. Something must be allowed to the improvement of a young and compa- ratively inexperienced divine ; something to an un- willingness, or a want of opportunity, to explain the exact manner in which one opinion hinges on another, even though a conviction be present that such opi- nion will seem inconsistent ; something to a wish at any future time to explain or to soften the decisive- ness of an opinion delivered, though not with haste, yet without sufficient qualification; something to a bluntness and short sententiousness in the mode of delivering an opinion, — which mode is, of all others, perhaps the most subject to misconstruction, as well as to the charge of inconsistency, from containing parts of a meaning which at other times it may be necessary to contradict ; something too, and a great deal, must be allowed to the consideration of what is the main aim and design of the writer, for by this all other thoughts are generally to be measured. We need not look farther for the want of such allowances, with respect to the present author, than to one or two of the Charges delivered shortly after this time ; in which, as well as in other detached parts of his works, he may be said either to be inconsistent with himself, or to have changed his sentiments. In truth, it is not a mere probability, but a position, that waits only a close examination to be proved, that the incon-
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sistencies with which this writer may be charged, are not less than those with which he has been charged. By one, indeed, he has been held to have unscrip- tural views of many doctrinal points ; and by another to have abandoned his reserve, and expressed himself too freely an advocate for those very doctrines. By Trinitarians he is represented as smacking of a Soci- nian ; by Unitarians, as leaning too much to the con- trary side. By one he is said to hold Anti-Christian views, by another to be a genuine Christian. By some his system of morals is thought to depend too much on religion, by others not enough. By one set he is held to have sapped the very foundation of our church establishment, by another to have been too much confined to forms and habits of veneration for them. By this party he is said to have spoken his mind too freely and bluntly on politics, by that to have been shamefully indecisive. But this is not all. Those who have a happy knack of finding out the bent and course of opinions of any writer from sen- tences culled " Apis Hymetti more modoque," would be able, by such an investigation of his writings, to make him either a latitudinarian or a bigot ; either tolerant or intolerant ; either high church or low church ; either whig or tory ; either violent liberal, or a prejudiced advocate for subjection and obedience to unlimited prerogative. Without admitting that such misconstructions are obvious, but rather advert- ing to the inattention and disregard with which some
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readers apply to any works which seem to contradict their own favourite bias, it may easily be acknow- ledged that this writer is as liable as many others to the charge of inconsistency and wavering sentiments. It is by no means unlikely to arise from that sort of decided and sententious tone, which is often attend- ant upon superior abilities ; but which, unfortunately for them, is so much oftener assumed by mere sciolists, that it is seldom received without some hesitation or qualification. It seems to be one great characteristic of his mind, that he preserved a steady uniformity and consistency of opinion on most of the great points of his religion, and such an even balance withal as led him to allow for different ways and habits of thinking *. At any rate, be it change, be it improve- ment, be it inconsistency, be it variableness or inde- cision, or any other less fixed and decided change which any of his works seem to deserve, the only anxiety which can at present be shown is to repre- sent him as a most honest and independent writer, who never blinked his sentiments from a desire to be considered as leaning to any party nor any set of opinions. He seldom swerved at all from his own habits of thinking and acting, from any consciousness that such misapprehension might arise ; nor ever was
* The Quarterly Review for 1809 says, u He is never so blindly bigoted to what he himself approves, as not to be aware that an opposing bias, or a different cast of thought, may cause others to draw conclusions directly the reverse."
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much troubled with a suspicion that he was liable to any such charges. He seems to have gone straight forward, without attending to what might be said of him.
He will be found called out on one or two public occasions shortly after this period, and publishing sentiments equally new and original ; which, if they speak any thing, bespeak not a mind either wedded to party, or bound up in prejudice of any kind. Thus at an Ordination, holden at Rose Castle, as bishop's chaplain, he preached an admonitory ser- mon to the young clergy, in which he entered into topics almost too familiar, but still uniting, in his strong and characteristic manner, the sanctity of the ministry with the ordinary occupations of life. This sermon is published amongst the tracts of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. Two years after this he delivered a sermon at the conse- cration of the bishop of Clonfert in Ireland, which displeased the liberal party by the partiality he showed for the establishments of his church, and was equally dissatisfactory to the high church party, by implying that the church was only one of the numerous family of Christianity, instead of being its only offspring. This will serve exactly to confirm the opinion here expressed on his change of views, and of his being a writer careful to balance between the extremes ; and therefore, like other independent men, liable to be mis- construed by both parties, and of little use to either. He who is too limited for low church, and too broad
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and liberal for high church, but steadily adheres to his own views, and those views formed without partiality to either party, may be exposed to the neglect of both, and the contempt of both ; but he may think it satisfaction enough to know that truth will certainly prevail at last. Indeed it is quite cu- rious, at this day, to look back upon the contending sentiments that have been entertained of this writer, and the opposite views that have been attributed to him throughout the whole of his literary career.
Here properly enough may be noticed, among other smaller works, the publication of the Compa- nion in Visiting the Sick ; which was not indeed sent out for some few years after this date, when he lived at Carlisle. The history of the little tract, which has by a surprising blunder been printed and pub- lished amongst his works, is shortly this : He had experienced, as is intimated in an advertisement pre- fixed to the edition he sent out, a want of some more assistance than was given by the Liturgy, and a little close application to the many particular cases in which clergymen must necessarily, and are invited by the rubric of the church, to step over the usual bounds of public offices. He had found at Giggleswick, in his father's possession and use, the ninth edition of an excellent compilation, chiefly from bishop Jeremy Taylor's Rules and Exercises for Holy Dying, with a few prayers selected from the Liturgy and some of the older divines. Whether this, which was dated 1754, and dedicated to the archbishop of Canter-
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bury by I. W., or some of a later date, many of which are extant, formed the ground-work of the present edition, is not very well worth determining ; but it is necessary to say, that he neither made the slightest addition to it, nor had the least wish for or thought of claiming any merit from it. His sole design in editing it was for the good of his brethren in the same diocese, who had laboured under similar difficulties with himself.
In a very short time after obtaining the rectory of Musgrave, he is said to have been instituted by his patron, the bishop of Carlisle, to the vicarage of Dal- ston, near his lordship's episcopal residence. Hither, however, he did not remove or reside at all for the present ; for, in a little time, the living of Appleby, at that time £200 a year, becoming vacant, was pre- sented to him by the dean and chapter of Carlisle, — probably with some degree of influence used by his friend the archdeacon. This conjecture seems strengthened by an opinion which stands uncor- rected in the work before alluded to*, that the vicarage of Appleby was given to him as a farther provision in the church, in order to enable him to send out his Moral Philosophy. It is known, in- deed, that it was owing to Mr. Law's and the bishop's interference that it was sent out at all ; for they ex- pressed themselves so decidedly partial to the clear- ness and method, and, as it were, the familiar reason-
* Public Characters for 1801 and 1802.
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ing he had shown in his Lectures, that they were anxious for the publication of them. For this pur- pose it was necessary to digest them rather more into a regular treatise, though little expectation was formed of their being much added to or altered. He had expressed himself to his friend, on many occa- sions before this period, unwilling to involve himself, considering his present situation as a family man, in the risk of publishing what might not indemnify him for the expense of publication. Whether such a con- dition might be expressed or implied in private con- versation between them, is uncertain ; but certainly nothing in any shape bordering on either a promise or a conditional presentation was either suspected at the time, or could have occurred, since it is expressly contradicted in his own hand-writing.
That from this time he began to meditate a work of the kind, and to habituate himself at the age of thirty-four to the name of a writer and an author, is thought by his more intimate friends not improbable, for the following reasons : Many of his sermons written during this period are enlargements of the particular heads of his lectures, and form parts both of his Evidences, the Moral Philosophy, and Natural Theology. This circumstance, though curious in itself, cannot at all detract from the merit of those works, as it shows the direction of his thoughts at this time, and the peculiar way in which he con- nected his study and his duty together. Another fact, which seems to confirm the conjecture here
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made, is, that its publication was understood in his family to be retarded by a circumstance which is reserved for private histories of this kind to record, but which can scarcely at this distance of time be considered as material to any of the parties con- cerned. Mr. Law expressed a wish to have its pub- lication delayed during the bishop of Carlisle's life, because he considered some opinion there expressed at variance with his father's sentiments. In conse- quence of this, Mr. Paley hesitated, till he found Mr. Edward Law, the late Lord Ellenborough, equally urgent for its appearance, as it had been many years in hand. Some of Dr. Paley's family have supposed that the work employed nearly seven years, from its first commencement to its final arrangement and finishing off. He always declared, the produce of its sale, if any, should go towards the fortune of his eldest daughter ; as she was at that time the chief and almost exclusive object of his anxiety, only two of his family being born at Appleby : and as no such exclusive attachment was afterwards shown, it has naturally been supposed that he commenced the work at Appleby. At any rate, what has been conjectured concerning this work, viz. that the plan of it was adopted or at least developed between the years 1776 and 1785, only proves how little is got by guessing ; as the little short essay on the Morality of the Gospel, and the sentence from that little treatise on which much of the conjecture rests, will appear both of them inapplicable to the work in question, and to
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have been written at the very time when he was car- rying on his plan of Expediency in his lectures*. The bishop of Carlisle, before Mr. Paley left Cam- bridge, had occasion to send out for the use of stu- dents in the university, a small and separate edition of part of his Considerations on the Theory of Reli- gion ; to which was attached a short Essay on the Cha- racter of Christ, with an Appendix on the Morality of the Gospel, by Mr. Paley. This, though it made but little show, might add considerably to his name as an original writer on subjects by no means uncom- mon, and raise the expectations of his friends ; but it was only an enlargement on part of his lectures on divinity, from which, as will hereafter appear, was made up his Evidences of Christianity. It is taken from a loose sheet, which, amongst many others, were kept by his side in lecturing, and occasionally referred to in his lecture-book, by " produce the papers."
It is well observed t, that it is of the greatest im- portance in the history of an extraordinary mind, to
* Meadley, who from Paley's position in this little work, that " the Gospel rule of loving our neighbour as ourselves, and doing as we would be done by, are much superior rules of life to the to tfperfov of the Greek, or the konestum of the Latin moralists, and better than the utile or general expediency of the moderns,'* seems to draw a fair conclusion that the System of Expediency was not adopted till after the date of this work, — is carried away by his deference for generally assigned names in adopting Expe- diency as the term which ought to designate Paley's System of Moral Philosophy.
t Bisset's Life of Burke.
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mark as far as possible the progression of its powers, exertions, and attainments, the discipline and di- rection which may have had an effect upon them, " quo progressu, quibus initiis usque eb creverit" and every thing which regards the formation of so popular a work may deserve attention #. To state in a few words what appears to have been the prominent cir- cumstance which brought his talents into play is per- haps impossible, for it was by a very gradual progress, almost from infancy, that such powers of mind be- came uncommon ; but that the application of such powers to works like this of Moral Philosophy, Na- tural Theology, and the Evidences of Christianity, (which may be called his great works) depended partly on the circumstances of his life, and partly on the natural bent of his mind, seems borne out by the fact, that from the age of thirty to the end of his life, he seems to have employed his stock of thought and contemplation on two great subjects, Divinity and Morality ; more especially and characteristically, the religion usually professed in this country, and the conduct suitable to that profession, or springing from it.
But a little longer digression, if it be called so, may be allowed for a few observations on the com- position and formation of the work more immediately concerned at present ; though it was not published till some years after.
* Meadley.
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Sufficient ground seems to be given by the preface to the Moral Philosophy, as well as by the various lecture-books to which his own eventually succeeded in the university, for saying that the plan of the work was drawn from the system which he found already adopted in his college, of lecturing on ethics. The books generally adopted at that time in those colleges of Cambridge where ethics, or what was connected with ethics, were made an object of at- tention, were Rutherforth's Institutes of Natural Law, Hutchinson, Tucker, and Clarke. In his own college Dr. Backhouse, predecessor to Mr. Paley in that department, had given his lectures from Hutchinson. So applicable, however, was this new way of treating the science to the object he had in view at the time of forming his lectures, so much was it a desideratum even in the university, to pro- cure some popular and practical treatment of this subject, that in 1785 and 1786, immediately after its publication, Paley's Moral Philosophy was made a subject of frequent disputation in the schools ; and, not long after, was substituted for other books pretty generally throughout the university. It is said in- deed, that the substance of his lectures was retained in his college by succeeding tutors, long after he quitted Cambridge ; whether this was so or not, as soon as the Moral Philosophy was published, it was adopted at Christ's also. His mode of treating the subject of ethics was that of a mind grasping its sub- ject, and turning it every way, in order to bring it vol. 1. K
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into more ordinary use and application, and that without any pretension to originality of design : with- out examining any doubts, encountering any errors, discussing any obscurities, but what he had himself found actually to exist, he rooted amongst those very doubts, errors, and obscurities, till he was able to bring all his subject together clearly and satisfactorily in a point, at which it might be taken hold of. Hence originated his lectures. Still the same mind which struck out such a mode of reducing old systems to modern use, and connected them with common sense and common practice, carried on its operations, as might be expected, with the same acuteness and penetration ; and having entered upon a certain course of study and thought, improved each lecture from time to time by the addition of various hints, with a view to their publication. This plan of publishing his Moral Philosophy was certainly pressed upon him by his friend Mr. Law, who knew well enough his prevailing taste for rubbing off the stiffness of school learning, and forming a reading-made-easy of an ab- struse science, and for offering it in the most im- posing shape. On his leaving college, he was still observing of his plan in the performance of his clerical duties ; and it has already been observed, that many of his most popular and most striking sermons were 1 but an enlargement of his one train of thought. In the pulpit of his parish he became habituated to the mode of familiarizing subjects of morality. He adapted his thoughts to country congregations, and by such
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means began to feel his way to more ordinary capa- cities ; so that when he was called upon for the pub- lication of his works, he had little else to do than to arrange materials already collected*, and partly de- scanted upon. Such facts as these (for they are not difficult to be ascertained) may seem to some to be the secrets of authors, which are better not divulged ; by others they may be considered as detracting ma- terially from the merit of the author's originality. But he pretends to none in the general subjects of his greater works : and in the particular treatment of these general subjects, the very plan he adopted according to his own words, " of first putting down his own thoughts, purposely in order to keep clear of the train of other writers," was the way to ensure originality in some degree \ and still it rather adds to than diminishes our admiration, to know that such works were the constant subject of thought, some for twenty, others for thirty years, and are the sources from which all his other public writings flowed. In- deed the want of originality, which has been often noticed in this writer, applies more to his choice of subject than the manner of treating it ; and this is likely to be almost the least consideration, or the least of all objections, when we know that it was not so much the design of the author to strike out any thing
* It is related by Wilson, in his History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches, that Lardner's "Credibility" probably owed its rise to three discourses, delivered by that eminent man in a Tuesday evening lecture at the Old Jewry in 1723.
K 2
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for himself to enlarge upon, — which is often no less easy than useless, — but to apply the whole force of his powers to improve the grand subjects in which men's interests are chiefly involved, in a new and striking manner ; and thus, much of the author's design necessarily depends for its execution upon the proportion of thought and consideration which he has been able to bring to his assistance. It may be fur- ther stated, that these objects of his contemplation were almost daily enlarging themselves, as fresh hints were received, or new subjects of observation arose, or additional penetration was used to take hold of men's motives on common occasions. In short, if any quality is prominent in his chief works, it may be the mass of mind which they seem to contain. They were certainly no hasty production, nor can any other writing of the same author's be called im- mature in sentiment and opinion.
Another matter which may, like this last, be con- sidered a sort of literary secret, inasmuch as it may open the very workshop of an author to public in- spection, seems less obnoxious to the charge of im- proper exposure, — because there can be now scarcely any indelicacy in giving it or withholding it. This is no other than a view of his manuscript books, or rough copies ; which may perhaps be curious, even beyond the blots and blurs of other authors, and interesting, as displaying the most intimate view of the rise, progress, and final settlement of his works.
As a matter of curiosity, it may deserve mention,
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that they are contained in eight or nine thick quarto paper books, with a sufficient number of smaller scrap books, and some for pocket use. These books are full of scribbling from one end to the other, in one of the worst and most illegible hands that ever adorned genius, mixed up in a confused and unconnected heap with penmanship of a fair and seemly quality. It is quite impossible to make out any connexion in either the pages of his books, the continuations of his sections, or even the scheme of his work. He seems to have filled up in any manner, or in any part of his books, the different divisions of his subject till the very last. The bookseller's copy was probably the only one perfectly arranged. Of the Moral Phi- losophy indeed, only one or two books remain besides his Lecture-book -y nor are these wholly devoted even to one work, but present a jumble of Moral Philo- sophy and Evidences of Christianity, with many scraps of less importance. To those who write straight for- ward on any given subject, it might be surprising — -to those also who were acquainted with his way of seizing upon any idea that was of use to him, or who have seen him busied and intent on his work, it is more than amusing to survey the strange mixture of ma- terial which is to be found in his other books. They form a complete " olla podrida." For instance, in the midst of his Evidences, there is one page con- taining the authenticity of the historical books of the New Testament, and on the opposite page to it, a memorandum of having added a codicil to his will ;
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then come three or four pages full of family occur- rences of all descriptions, interspersed with a few sentences or a passage to be found in some of his works. Any one reading, if he can read, these pages, will find some interesting argument interrupted in the next page, and for two or three following pages, by the hiring of servants, the letting of fields, sending his boys to school, reproving some members of a hos- pital under his care for bad conduct ; epistolary cor- respondence, both literary and friendly. There are to be found scraps of Latin joined to paragraphs of a sermon, and here a dedication of some of his works mixed up with an exercise of some of his children. So great indeed was the mixture of material, that it is easy for his family to say how much perplexity, as well as amusement, he has been known to reap from this circumstance. He has been heard twenty times to break out into a hearty laugh at his own folly in this respect.
Not the least subject of curiosity which the in- spection of his manuscript offers, is his hand-writing. If this be as some suppose, one of the characteristics of every writer, here, as well as in his manuscript sermons, is good gleaning for his character. We are sometimes told that there are three descriptions of hand-writing, into some of which most men slide who can write at all ; that which every body may read, that which only the writer himself can read, and that which neither the writer nor any body else can read. But his hand-writing includes all these descriptions.
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He had acquired, from a hasty and rapid overflow of ideas, a habit of suddenly snatching up his pen and writing down at any moment what happened to occur to him, however differently he might be employed. So much had this habit grown upon him, that he latterly used a sort of short-hand scarcely to be de- ciphered by himself; so bad and so hurried indeed, that on revising some important sentence, he has been often heard to exclaim almost involuntarily, " What could I have been thinking or speaking about !" But this was only his rough writing ; and it appears by the copy of a letter to one of his sons, which stands in one of these books, that he generally adopted this plan of transcribing even on the most trifling occasion. He says, after giving him some very positive, and for him characteristically minute directions, by which he might take care of his hand- writing, " if you are so liable to mistakes, you will write, as I do, whatever you write, twice over ;" and it so happened, unfortunately for his example, that amongst the usual charges to his family in which we shall afterwards find he excelled, one was, to be very particular in keeping up their hand-writing. So like one undistinguished scribble was his own book, that on finding a page half written, one of his children, much under the writing age, very gravely filled it up with writing no less seemly, but with much less meaning, than the former half. In his earlier life he had written a very legible hand ; and his college lectures, as well as other papers written about that
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period, show that it was from the mere temporary hurry of committing his thoughts to paper, that he became so eccentric both in the manner and loose arrangement of his writing. It cannot indeed be any thing but a matter of wonder how an author, so conspicuous for his clearness and method, could draw any thing like order from such a confused incoherent and blotted mass as his manuscripts every where show ; nor is it possible to devise how he went to the work of connecting what he had written with what was still to write.
He had his books constantly open on his table be- fore him ; and his sons, who were unconsciously and often unwillingly, the almost constant companions of his literary labours in his study, well remember to have observed him attending to two or three of them at one and the same time, — and at any pause, or any demand for the lexicon or grammar, seizing his pen, and inserting a sentence or two into his works ; and if this be not an uncommon or a commendable mode of composition, it speaks for another eminent quality of his mind, constant activity and exertion. It may serve indeed to show how the most active life may allow time, and the most uninteresting life food enough, to turn a man's powers to some use, if we state in what way he was never idle. He was by no means studious, in the sense of close application — of the actual reading and writing, and the sedentary part of a student's life. Though from his childhood to his life's end, he seems to have been more espe-
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cially addicted to mental than bodily activity, he did not possess a due share of literary character amongst his acquaintance, chiefly from his being so much more conversant in active life and the actual business of the world. He was nevertheless most thoroughly in- dustrious, in a more desultory way than most authors. From his first commencing writer, to the last stage of his life, he was scarcely for a moment without an object, and a literary object, to rest upon. When walking, fishing, riding, gardening, sitting still in his arm-chair, it appears from his papers that he was still constantly occupied. Some of the little books full of notes seem evidently to have been his pocket com- panions on his short excursions or his daily walks, and these he used on his return to unburden of their cargo.
These several circumstances put together form strong symptoms, first of his constant gathering of thought ; secondly of his entering, in the book that he first met with (for many were laid open before him at once), the sentiments that occurred to him at any chance time ; and thirdly, that he used every moment, and even when apparently the most at lei- sure, he was still employed in labours of thought and intellect.
His lecture-book on moral philosophy, or what is supposed to be his lecture-book*, contains only
* The reasons upon which this may be sapposed to have been a lecture-book are, that it is generally written throughout in the same clear hand and faded ink with his loose papers on divinity,
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some of the parts into which his Moral Philosophy is divided. It is distributed into short but pithy sen- tences; under particular heads indeed, though without any general classification into books, chapters, or even sections. It does not form one half in words, though more than one half in substance, of his enlarged plan. For instance, the opening of his theory, which forms so conspicuous a part of his present system, stands only as a small part of his section on Promises, b. 3, c. 5. Almost the whole of b. 2 is new, or brought together from fragments scattered here and there. The relative duties, b. S, part % stand first after his introduction and preliminary consideration. Next come contracts, loans, commissions, offices; next, drunkenness stands at the top of the page, then sui-
which certainly formed part of his lectures, and is bound up in the same way as his lecture-book from which his Evidences of Christianity are taken ; and also interlined and mixed up with corrections scribbled in a later hand-writing, which corrections are all adopted in the work as it now stands — clearly indicating their transformation into a regular arrangement. Throughout his manuscripts I scarcely find a stop or point of any kind except hyphens. In revising his sermons for the pulpit, he used to take his pen and make commas with a vengeance. He used to be particularly urgent with his children to mind dots to the i's, strokes to the t's, and commas in writing ; so that in this as in most other parts of instruction, he judged from his own expe- rience of what was most wanting in himself. In the correction of the press this was made a main object. He marked sheets with commas, as he used to say, as long as the printer's nose. He never allowed even the smallest handbill to go out of his hands without correction in this particular. Ed.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 139
cide, self-defence, litigation, resentment; and with- out any more division than is usually made between all these heads, viz. a fresh page, we come at estate, properli/, with this identical, important, and damning sentiment, which appears to have been written as early as 1773 or 4, or whenever his lectures com- menced ; and which is here given verbatim, in order that the reader may compare, if he please, the ex- pression of the sentiment at that early period, when nothing perhaps was farther from his thoughts than being drawn into public and pecked at like his own pigeons. " If you saw a flock of pigeons in a corn- field, instead of each picking where and what it liked, taking so much and no more than what it wanted, — if instead of this you saw ninety-nine of them gathering all they got into a heap, taking nothing for them- selves but a little chaff and refuse, keeping this heap for one, and that the weakest perhaps and worst of the whole flock ; sitting round and looking on all the winter, while this one was eating and throwing it about and wasting it, and if one more hardy or hungry than the rest touched a grain of it, all the others instantly flew upon it and tore it to pieces : if you saw all this, you would see nothing more than what is every day practised and established among men. Among men you see the ninety-and-nine toil- ing and scraping together a heap of superfluities and niceties for one, gather nothing for themselves all the while but a little of the coarsest of it ; and this one too, ofttimes the feeblest and worst of the whole
140 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
set, — a child, a woman, a madman, a fool ; looking quietly on, while they see the fruits of all their labour spent or spoiled, and if one of them take or touch the least of it, the others join all against him and hang him for the theft*." Next to property, which is connected as it now stands by pages following one another marked at the top — advantages of it — the history of it — the real foundation of right — the law of the country— father, parents, their duty towards God, and after a few white leaves, we meet with one marked politics; after which subject, the cutting out of ten or twenty leaves makes the only blank in the book : but there is a great deal of additional matter inserted in his short-hand sort of writing at every vacant space of the following pages ; and the next page presents to us lie, after that comes marriage, then oaths, then promises, then rights ; next trade and commerce, wills and testaments. After that about 200 quarto pages of more modern scribbling, which few but the writer may make out, and which perhaps few but himself were thought to be interested
* In his Lectures from which the Evidences are taken, there is a paragraph which might make just as much the other way. " We all know that a story which falls in with our own sentiments and passions gains an easy admission. The most unlikely and incre- dible things of the king and his ministers would go down with a party or a faction ; with a club of modern patriots for instance, upon the slightest foundation, if it confirmed a notion they had taken up about the ministry, or served to humour their resent- ment against them."
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 141
in making out. This writing is chiefly on promises and contracts. In the former part of the book, in al- ternate pages, is formed in this short-hand his chapter on Moral Sense ; and throughout the book additions are made in the same hand to the different subjects. These, with another quarto book scribbled over partly with what is of use to his Moral Philosophy, and partly with other matter, form the greatest part of Paley's Moral Philosophy.
It may not perhaps be uninteresting if we extract, in addition to this detail, the first four or five pages of his Lecture-book, not because it is peculiar, or different from many protographs of many authors, but in order that some notion may be formed how far his plan was marked out from the first, how he set about enlarging his hints into regular sentences, and what additional matter he found it necessary to introduce for the completion of his subject. The corrections are of one complexion*, and in a hand which speaks them of a later date, and it may be, the first touches towards an enlargement of his plan.
* These corrections are denoted by the smaller type ; and such words as the author had struck out with the pen are here printed in italics.
142 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
1. Definition of Moral Philosophy. % Use. 3. Moral Approbation. 4. Of Human Happiness. 5. Of Human Virtue.
The law of honor is a system of rules constructed by people of fashion men in the superior stations of life and calculated [solely to profit] society and facilitate their intercourse with
their
one another and for no other purpose, consequently no prac- tices are adverted to by the law of honor but what tend to [molest this society] or incommode this intercourse.
Hence this law prescribes duties only betwixt equals or those which belong to the superior as well as those which belong to
f no breach of it to defraud tradesmen, cruelty to servants
the inferior
— uncharitableness to poor — rigour to tenants — neglect of worship — profaneness.
on which account profaneness for example neglect of public worship
* fornication — adultery — duelling — drunkenness — prodi- gality.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 143
INTRODUCTION.
Morality Ethics
Moral Philosophy — [Morality] — Casuistry — Natural Law — [Ethics] — mean all the same thing.
their duty & the reasons
That science which teaches men [what they are obliged to of it do and ivhy] — the use of such a study depends upon this
of life we
[useful study because] without it the rules that men are or-
ourselves are apt
dinarily governed by may oftimes mislead 'em through a defect either in the rule or in the application. — These
Honor Law of the Land and
rules are either — the Law of Reputation — the Civil Law — or the Scriptures —
Law of Honor C. 2. The Law of Reputation ( t Prescribes duties only among or Honor V
favorable to the passions.
144 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
-f* bounty to poor — devotion — forgiveness of injuries — education of children — gratitude to benefactors. * refusing debts because a minor or if years elapsed con- fining debtors — voting partially in elections.
*f" To deliver particular directions in every case must have been more than the statutes at large — which only do so in some
The law never speaks but to command, nor considered but where it can compell consequently those and any other duties which by their nature must be voluntary one of necessity out of the reach of the law as being out of the reach of its au- thority,
2. The law permits that is suffers to go unpunished many
because crimes as incapable of being defined by any provision
expensiveness spending
partiality in voting at elections injustice — concealment of a
a fortune
deposit prodigality
cruelty in procuring cocks for fighting.
This is the alternative the law must either precisely define beforehand and with precision the offences which it punishes or leave it to the decision of the magistrate upon each par- ticular case whether it constitutes an offence which the law undertook to punish which is in effect leaving it to the ma- gistrate to punish or not to punish at his pleasure the indi- vidual that is brought before him which is just so much tyranny.
When therefore as in the instances above mentioned the right or wrong of it is intricate or not easy to be defined by theframer of the law.
[Here is a great deal of illegible and blotted matter.]
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 145
THE CIVIL LAW
-f- omits many duties as not objects of compulsion but must be voluntary —
* permits many vices because it cannot define 'em nor con- sequently punish 'em. The Scriptures
f compendious and therefore general consequently assisted oftimes in the study in the application.
APPROBATION OF VIRTUE
Whether the approbation of virtue natural a trifling question, because the term virtue includes within its mean- ing the idea of approbation.
Whether the approbation of any particular action or quality as gratitude, fidelity be natural a material question. When we read or hear of a son's stabbing his father at the very instant that father is giving him all he has, we cannot help disapproving, condemning, feeling an indignation to the man and aversion.
On the other hand when we hear an instance of gene- rosity, humanity, we cannot forbear approving it liking the man.
Question whether this is by any instinct as the sexes are impelled to one another or acquired, that is whether a savage Peter wild boy would feel these sentiments upon learning the stories — for the moral sense — that we can [hope] have no interest in it to approve as the affair may be transacted in distant ages and countries nor can we give any reason that is universal.
VOL. I,
146 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
the Law of most countries especially of free states than commit the liberty of the subject to the humour of a magistrate leave
in such cases
men to themselves.
C.4. THE SCRIPTURES
Whoever expects to find in the Scriptures particular
looks for more
directions for any particular case that arises will be dis-
than he will meet with
appointed
directions
(and to what a magnitude such a detail of precepts would
have extended the sacred volume may be partly understood from these
The Laws of this country including the acts of the legisla- ture admissions of our supreme courts of justice are not con- tained in fexver than a hundred volumes, and yet it is not
time in
one case out of three that you canfnd in any Law Book the case you look for to say nothing of those many points of
does not
conduct in which the Law prqfess[es] not to prescribe any thing.
Had then the same particularity which obtains in human Laws so far as they go been attempted in the Scriptures throughout the whole extent of morality is manifest they would have been much too bulky.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 147
against the moral sense that it is not universal in some countries they think it right to maintain in others to put to death their aged parents — in some to expose, in others to support their children.
That the general though not universal approbation of particular actions may be explained even in cases where we have no interest without the supposition of a moral sense.
1st. because a great part of those who approve from pre- cept authority and a habit of approving acquired from ex- ample in our infancy.
% because having experienced in some instances such an action to be beneficial to us, or observed that it would be so, a sentiment of approbation rises up, which sentiment afterwards accompanies the idea or mention of the action, though the private advantage which first excited it be no more, the same happens in money.
L 2
148 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
f now he is happy — that would make one happy — the man
situation
is happy who has health and complacency — that is a happy
eating drinking — music — magnificent sights, sports.
f retiring from business — into convents
N. B. The young pursue pleasure too much, the old ease.
f no delight to a shepherd in his superiority over his dog — to the farmer in his over the shepherd — to the squire in his over the farmer — to the prince in his over the squire— - to the second wrangler in his over a senior optime, to a senior optime over a lose groat — to a lose groat over his bed maker.
A delight to the shepherd in his superiority in wrestling over another shepherd — to the farmer in horses over an- other farmer — to the squire in wealth over his neighbour squire — to the prince in his superiority of strength over another prince.
* by a peasant of more strength, a blacksmith of more skill, a soldier of more courage, a tradesman of more wealth, as much as by a prince of more power, a nobleman of more interest and splendour, a general of success. •f" love of children, relations— -bounty to poor, friendship — hence the discontent and peevishness of monks.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 149
HAPPINESS
f a relative term
2 that condition in which the amount of pleasure is greater than that of pain —
does not consist in the abundance of sensual pleasures because
* 1 they only continue for a little [time] at a time 2 because by frequent repetition they lose their relish does not consist in the absence of bodily pain, labour mo- lestation.
f because succeeded by dejection disquietude] thoughts does not consist in greatness
f 1 because the pleasure consists in a superiority only over those whom we compare ourselves with may be pos- sessed by the meanest *
with the comparison soon ceases
2 because the pleasure [consists in a superiority]
and new competitions arise
consists
f in the exercise of the social affections.
150 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
■f*. fortune rarely procures happiness — for the want of it the weariness and misery of rich men— their engaging with so much eagerness in trifling pursuits elections, gaming horse racing.
Morality is taught in Scripture in this wise, general rules
piety
are laid down of justice benevolence as these do as you would
forgive as ye would be forgiven and
be done by — love our neighbour as ourselves the other of St.
that mercy is better than sacrifice
Paul at the close of the Epistles these rules are illustrated in fictitious examples as the parable of the Samaritan as the
the praise of
reproof of the disciples at the Samaritan village or in in-
the poor widow who cast in
stances which actually presented themselves the scribe who
his censure of the Pharisees who chose out the chief rooms
had found out in that country that to love God and his
the honest Scribe who had found of tradition
neighbour were more than whole burnt offerings whereby they awarded the command.
And this is the way in which all the practical sciences are taught in arithmetic, navigation grammar and the like general rules are laid down and examples are subjoined not that these examples are the cases much less all the cases that will actually occur but by way only of better explaining the principle
rule [and the mode] as so many specimens of the mode of applying it*
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 151
f in the hope and pursuit of some object
health of body
first consequence of this account that happiness is pretty
equally distributed among the different conditions of life.
2 that vicious men have not the advantage over the virtuous.
the only difference is that the examples are annexed to the rules in the didactic manner to which we are accustomed but delivered as particular occasions suggested them this
what
produced more than the same or any instance would be- have
cause appeared with in their place a system, again the Scriptures for the most part presuppose in the persons they speak to a knowledge of the principle of natural justice and are employed not so much to teach new rules of morality as to
152 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
* benevolence prompts a man to support an injured indi- vidual—prudence suggests a proper means, fortitude en- ables him to go through the danger of loss disgrace repute temperance overcomes the love of money ease amusement which might divert him from it.
f a sot a knave a miser an humane man a pious man a slanderer.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 153
VIRTUE.
" The doing good to mankind in obedience to the will of God and for the end of everlasting happiness *." * anciently divided into benevolence, prudence, fortitude, and temperance, benevolence proposes good ends, pru- dence suggests the best means of pursuing ends, fortitude enables us to encounter the difficulties and conquer the discouragements that stand in the way, and temperance repells and overcomes the passions that obstruct it. more modern divisions into
Duties towards God — prayer thanksgiving worship rever- ence towards ourselves chastity sobriety temperance care of health caution towards other men justice charity in- dustry loyalty.
Ob: 1
f That men must ought to be governed by habit rather
than reason in most of their actions. -
1 because in many cases there is no time to reason
& because he who reasons under the byass of a temptation
is sure to err.
*I find in a Sermon, dated Appleby, 1779, this sentence: " Now I describe virtue to be the doing good to mankind in obe- dience to the will of God, for the sake of everlasting happiness." The text is, « Add to your faith virtue." Ed.
154 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
f relieving beggars— attending stated seasons of public or private worship — abstaining from lying in different matters.
additional superior
enforce the practice of it by more and higher sanction which
bringing and
seems indeed to be the proper design of a revelation from
what is most wanted
God thus the unjust covenant breakers and extortioners are
where it
condemned in Scripture supposing it to be known or leaving
admits of doubt
it to moralists to determine what injustice [extortion] injus- tice extortion breach qf covenant is
The above considerations are intended to prove that the
use Scriptures do not supersede the study qf the science qf which we profess to treat and to acquit them qf any charge
imperfection
qf insufficiency on that account.
C.5. THE MORAL SENSE.
Now the question is whether if this story were related to Peter the wild boy who was caught in the woods of Hanover
without experience or instruction of all intercourse
or to a savage separated from the rest of his species and
deprived under no possible
consequently free from the influence qf example authority Phil 2 9. 1 Cor. 10. Bom. 1. 31.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 155
Hence arise 2 rules * 1st. that many things are to be done for the sake [of] only of habits
2 That morality chiefly consists in watching habits, re- pressing bad and generating good ones.
Obs. %
That neither reason nor scripture have or could ascer- tain the exact quantity of innocence or virtue necessary to salvation but that we may collect from both that there is no salvation
1st. to those who are conscious of no other rule to go by than convenience or passion —
2d. to those who indulge themselves habitually and with- out reluctance in any one crime —
Obs: 3d.
When one side doubtful the other clear always bound to take the safe side and course
Rom. 14.
156 LIFE OF BR. PALEY.
education wliether I say such man would feel upon the rela-
any degree
tion that sentiment of disapprobation of the conduct which we feel or no —
Then follows what is said in the Moral Philosophy in the chapter on Moral Sense, which is mixed up with Bounty, Charity, &c. But there is no appearance of any story from Valerii^Maximus, nor is it clear what the word is which ought to be inserted before Conduct. It is cer- tainly not Toranius, as it now stands.
Of Politics, the whole appears in his Lectures in the fol- lowing : —
* Abraham. Jacob.
f Greece— Italy— -Gaul— Britain— America— Judea.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 157
POLITICS.
thing
from iroXis science of every [kind] relating to society.
Cap. 1. OF THE ORIGIN OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
Government at first either + domestic or military of a parent over his family or a general over his fellow soldiers.
Parental authority the foundation of civil for when children had been accustomed in their childhood to follow their parents directions and refer their differences to him when they grew up they would continue to do the same for who each would say so fit to direct and decide as [they] he — after his death would remain connected and fall under some successor of his appointment or otherwise elected — after which conquest accidental coalition common distress and other [means] reasons might extend the numbers and possessions of this small community.
Military authority the foundation of civil — in defence or war manifest necessity prompted those on the same side to put themselves under one leader which leader would retain in part his preeminence and authority after they returned to peace
f most countries at first occupied by many small inde- pendent governments.
158 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
f some millions of stout strong men in many states obey the will of a child a woman a fool a madman.
f right of primogeniture to tolls — to titles honour estates J to uphold which princes have sometimes derived their extraction from Gods as Romulus and Saxon Princes or pretended a communication with 'em as Numa or to be the successors of those who had as the Sultan of Mahomet, Pope of St. Peter
hence also the sacred efficacy of anointing the titles of Gods vicegerent
* Persians had a custom upon the death of their king to live 5 days without law or government that finding by ex- perience the miserable effects of anarchy the slaughter rapine and confusion that accompanied such a condition they might be engaged in a firmer allegiance to their future sovereigns.
-f As in a crowd or play house when men are taken up with the exhibition they think not of pushing forwards or, changing their situation.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 159
Cap % * How is submission secured when the strength is in the governed ?
Men do not all obey from the same motive [s] yet each class and character of citizens have sufficient though dif- ferent inducements to obey.
Three classes of subjects.
1. Those who act from prejudice
2, Those who act from reason
3 Those who act from self-interest
Those who act from prejudice determined by an opinion
of right in the governors founded on ancient prescription
f the opinion strengthened by observing that prescription
conveys the right to almost all other things
J or by a notion of sanctity in the person of the Prince
called opinion of right
* Those who act from reason determined by the necessity of some government or other the certain mischief of a civil disturbance and the danger of resettling it better or act ill if once disturbed.
f Those who act from self-interest by want of leisure— by the sense of ease plenty and safety he enjoys — by fear
160 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
f Cromwell advised* to assume the title of king, hence many things retained rather than break the custom.
f Revolution broke the custom of succession and thereby abated the opinion of the right inheritance both in king and people — Elections in order to be free must not devolve for many times together upon persons of the same family or office
* Weavers Sailors Coalheavers Miners — -are connected by their profession
LIFE OF DR. PALEX\ 161
foreseeing he would by any attempt bring himself into a worse situation than his present as the strength of govern- ments is greater than his own and he knows not that others will join him —
called opinion of power
1st Consequence
f As custom begets an opinion of right and that opinion is one support of government every change of custom and constitution diminishes the stability of government. 2 Consequence
f when the opinion of right is too predominant and super- stitious it is abated by breaking the custom
S consequence
As ignorance of Union is a great support of government to take care to keep up this ignorance.
* by dispersing and preventing great collections of men from conferring or combining together 2 by guarding against riots which produce in the riotous confidence engagements and assurances of assistance so that on a future occasion they can depend on one another
VOL. i. M
162 LIFE OF DIt PALEY.
It is unnecessary to say more at large, both be- cause it has often been said before, and because it is inconsistent with the design of this Life to repeat, that much was offered at the time for and against the system of Expediency in general, and on the parti- cular deductions from it. Were it indeed admis- sible to express an opinion of some of the opposition which offered itself on this occasion, yet as he himself has been very frequently heard to say, that he would never answer any thing that appeared against him, for time would do that for him, it ought perhaps to be more the concern of the present writer to imitate such an example, than to be anxious about his defence. Time has already had a fair chance of strengthening or pulling down many such systems.
There are, however, a few circumstances connected with this work which may be worth observation in this place, as well as some obvious and almost personal marks of the author to be found in the style and manner of the writing ; in recollecting and presenting which " quis desiderio sit pudor /"
His motives, indeed, for such silence are, like many other things, left to conjecture. It may be generally said that no man was better able, and few could feel more willing, to take in all the probable advantages as well as disadvantages of any particular conduct, or was more in the habit of weighing his motives before he acted on them. He seemed well persuaded, too, that there was a possibility of being misunderstood or misrepresented on any subject; and
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 1G3
though by no means careless of public opinion, yet on a subject evidently calculated for so much discussion, it is easy to rest assured of the propriety of his silence, because it is easy to see that controversy would have proved useless. But from the general tenor of his conduct there is reason to suppose that there was more than a hopelessness of working conviction by argument, more than a consciousness of the two handles and two appearances of every subject to dif- ferent minds, more than a feeling of risk lest he should lose, by repeated attempts at clearing away obstruction, what would have been won without any such attempts. There was a decided aversion to speak, to write, or act with a sole reference to him- self; not that it was necessarily to be reduced to a personal controversy, but there was a delicacy which was averse to appearing too much interested in his own views, in which his ardent mind, committing itself to the unreserved licence of controversy, could not but have appeared. There was besides a very strong dislike to the disturbance and disquietude of contend- ing about any thing, whatever may have been said either on any other occasion or on this subject, either by himself or by others, of the JIatness of a peaceable life*. He was as unwilling to have any acrimony felt towards himself, as he was to feel it towards
* I believe the anecdote related by Meadley as having taken place at one of the bishop of Durham's public dinners, but do not see much propriety in introducing it. — Ed.
M 2
164 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
others, and was as ready to show by his deportment the " cut bono9' of such eagerness, as by his counte- nance he was ready to express his disapprobation of any thing like animosity. These are reasons sufficient to determine him to have no unnecessary discussion about any of his works. He had no personal ac- quaintance with Mr. Gisborne, his first and appa- rently his most direct antipode, for he has still fol- lowed his course in writing without the least apparent approximation either in matter or manner ; but was much pleased by that gentleman's courtesy in send- ing him from time to time his various works ; and as Mr. Gisborne's name appears in the list of those to whom he presented his future works, it is probable that nothing like ungentleness or soreness appeared on either side ; nothing passed but a few reciprocal animadversions, if " the reciprocity was not all on one side." Mr. Gisborne's objections to the system are shortly, but ably answered in the volume of the Public Characters, to which an appeal has so often been made ; but there is no original observation whatever made upon it in other parts of that work. " It must be obvious," he (Mr. Gisborne) asserts, " that the prin- ciple of general expediency, as applied by Dr. Paley, will lead to innumerable conclusions contradicting the express commands of God, and that it cannot therefore be adopted by any one who allows the au- thority of the Scriptures. Now Dr. Paley, in stating the use of moral philosophy, informs us, that its object is to supply information on those points which
LIFE OF Dlt. PALEY. 165
the Scriptures have left undecided ; — that it is to be silent when the Scriptures speak, and speak when they are silent #. Mr. Gisborne insists very much on Dr. Paley's having proved from his principle, that assassin- ation, robbery, and perjury are unlawful, and totally overlooks or mistakes the nature of his argument. He supposes some one to object to his principles, that it permits these crimes. To destroy these objections, he proves that their unlawfulness may be clearly de- duced from it. If he meant to offer the conclusion to which it conducts us, as superior in authority to the rules of Scripture, he was guilty of an absurdity
* In a Sermon on " The Distinction of Orders in the Church, defended on Principles of Public Utility/' preached at the conse- cration of his friend, Dr. Law, the bishop of Clonfert, in 1 782, is the following sentence, which seems to recognise the same senti- ment which is here given, — not to say that such apologetic senti- ments must have come under Dr. Paley's notice : " Though all things are lawful, all things are not expedient. If we concede to other Christian churches the legality of their institutions so long as Christian worship and instruction are competently provided for, we may be allowed to maintain the advantage of our own, upon principles which all acknowledge considerations of public utility. Here the doctrine of Expediency is clearly supported in the writer's own mind by St. Paul's authority, and by the deduction which he draws from the founder of our religion j which, he before observes, seems negligent of any view but what related to the de- liverance of mankind from spiritual perdition, and advanced no pretensions which, by disturbing the arrangements of human polity, might present an obstacle to the reception of his faith. Christianity may be professed under any form of church govern- ment.
166 LIFE OF Dlt. PALEY.
in reasoning which no one will be willing to impute to him. For on what is the principle established ? On this, that its application will lead us by an excel- lent, but from the imperfection of our faculties, an imperfect way, to the will of God. Could he, there- fore, without glaring contradiction, recommend the deduction from it as obligatory, precedent to the morality of the Scriptures — which he has allowed to be declaratory of the will of God?"
Admitting, with Gisborne and Pearson, and even some who, upon the whole, are favourable to the system, that the difficulty of estimating consequences is an object of the most weight, and that general ex- pediency is an instrument that cannot be wielded by a mortal hand, therefore that it is little worth ex- posing the fallacy of any objection grounded upon that, as this anonymous writer does with sufficient satisfaction, — still it seems impossible not to be struck with the want of application, the looseness and gene- rality of the objections brought against the doctrine of expediency, thus stated, which might seem to serve as much for heathen philosophy as for a Christian writer. Names are easily given, and when given, are easily run away with j and particularly when these names lead us to review with any degree of jealousy our own favourite opinions, we readily imagine ourselves called upon to defend the one without directly attend- ing to the way in which it is attacked, or to question whether it is attacked at all. It seems to have been apprehended by many who know little of the rule of
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 167
consequences, except that such rules may be adopted by those who do not live under a Christian revela- tion, that the doctrine of expediency was too favour- able to the pride of human reason, and that to set up any system on no other foundation was virtually to reject the doctrine, or at least disparage the glory of revelation ; and thus the very title of " general expe- diency" becomes the watch-word of a party and the criterion of opinion. " There are two principles by which men usually regulate their conduct in private or public life," says a most benevolent and practical and useful living author — " the one built upon Poli- tical Expediency, the other upon Morality and Re- ligion : the one looks almost wholly at the conse- quences of things, the other looks singly at duty *." — And supposing this rule to prevail even in politics, or in the acquirement of statistical knowledge, it will go a long way towards introducing a jealousy of any system built upon expediency. Still this only speaks for the danger of being led astray by names and ap- pearances, and not at all for the unsoundness of any particular system. However, not only as an inge- nious and pleasing and useful work, but as a book forming a sort of standard of modern practical mo- rality, it has been pretty generally adopted at this day in one of our universities, and partially in the other. This is the best proof that there is no in- herent danger in the system of expediency to revealed
* Clarkson's Life of Penn.
168 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
religion, and leaves little for the friends of the author to wonder at in the silence and contented sort of satisfaction which he seemed to feel under all the attacks against his work. His opponents seemed to enjoy with perfect complacency their own refutation of what was to continue unconscious of attack, and he anticipated the surprise which they would feel when they should discover that all their labour had only conducted them to a point where they could see more clearly how much they had missed their way.
There is, indeed, one insinuation respecting this work held out in the Life of the Bishop of Elphin *, which, as there is authority for so doing never before made public, it may somewhat concern the memory both of that prelate and of Dr. Paley to repel. It is said that " there is a high degree of probability that the obligations which the latter had to the former of these eminent men were increased by his (the Bishop of Elphin) having contributed some of those admira- ble chapters which shine out amidst the excellence with which they are surrounded, and form the prin- cipal ornaments of the book." To this is added in the margin, by Dr. Paley, " No." " —Thus far is certain, that all who are conversant with its history entertain the persuasion that some parts of it pro- ceeded from the pen of Dr. Law." Here is added " No." " Mr. Howard f, the person whose character
* Public Characters for 1802.
+ It seems scarcely worth notice, that this same Howard, who was certainly employed in copying parts of the Moral Philosophy
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 169
has there been brought forward, used to declare that he copied a manuscript of Dr. Law which appears in the work. — The chapter on reverencing the Deity, in the second volume, has generally been ascribed to him." Here occurs, " Utterly without foundation." After determining that a marked and happy devia- tion from Dr. Paley's general manner is obvious in the following passage (here is inserted a paragraph in the chapter,) the article then goes on to say — " What other chapters of the Moral and Political Philosophy, in addition to that on reverencing the Deity, are to be ascribed to Dr. Law, the writer of this article will not venture to determine ;" and in the margin is inserted in the same hand-writing, " The whole of these observations entirely unfounded." — Few can read his works without being struck with the constant recurrence of mirth and wit, and play- fulness and liveliness, and many other qualities which render the perusal of them at once light and fasci- nating ; but to those who are intimately acquainted with the writer, these qualities become much more interesting from having formed so conspicuous a fea- ture of his mind, and from bringing to paper his very manner of conversation and private intercourse. In- dependent, however, of this association, which may
for the bookseller, was, though of that low rank of life which not unfrequently affords instances of such eccentricity, a most ingenious schoolmaster, but a most profligate character — such, however, as would but badly suffice for authority.
170 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
unconsciously mislead any interested party in judging of the opinion of others, there are some peculiarities which are likely to form almost inimitable charac- teristics of his writing. Perspicuity, ease, familiarity with his subject, a readiness to familiarise his subject to his reader, deep and solid reasoning, which seldom leaves the mind unsatisfied, though often much sur- prised on the first annunciation of his propositions, are all not peculiar to his writings ; but the boldness of his bursts, the closeness of his applications, the clear- ness and order with which he draws them to his point, the suitableness though homeliness of his illus- trations, the strength by which he is enabled to sup- port such homeliness, and prevent it from ever dege- nerating into the ludicrous ; the perfect independence on, or heedlessness of, all other writers, the apparent freedom from suspicion and disguise, the total want of a regular style and way in which some of his sen- tences are decorated and polished, together with the odd construction of others, — seem to be without any equal, or even rival in literature.
His illustrations, like his wit, seem often to come by flashes, and like his wit are but ill-governed by discretion or prudence, but flow from the natural tendency of his mind to an unreserved and unsuspect- ing bluntness and boldness. His ardour of spirit, and his contempt of rooting^ caused him often to be charged with, and to be liable to the charge of im- prudence, in giving so many home-thrusts which
LIFE OF DR. PALKY. 171
might not be relished in the same spirit with which they were given.
His great powers of observation and penetration enabled him to give those bold and hard strokes by which he made his subject his own. They led him not only to discern the point and gist of an argu- ment, and the grand desiderata of the subject, but to observe the course of his own mind in working its way among the minor parts, and bringing out the substance of a work from the mystery which the artifice or confusion of the writer had thrown around it. He adapts his own large grasp of a subject to the more ordinary train of knowledge, and the most general state of men's minds. Instead of giving scope to his own views without taking the reader's mind along with him, he seems continually and at every turn to retrace or recollect the steps by which he himself arrived at such a conclusion ; and as he had found himself best convinced by drawing his doubts and reasonings to a point, so he drives directly at the point and no more, from his setting out to the end of his reasoning upon it.
It is well observed, " that no man ever abused learn- ing less, or was less the dupe of learning #." He was in character perfectly simple, unaffected, and single- minded, and carried these qualities to his writings. For the fudge and mysticism of learning he had a great contempt. Any disguise or affectation of
* Appendix A. to Meadley.
172 LIFE OF Bit. PALEY.
knowledge, in any point whatever, used to meet with his keenest satire. He was even intolerant towards any appearance of pedantry, or towards those who took upon them more than they were able to stand to. To borrow a most applicable sentence, " He never forgot the use of his understanding, nor was solicitous to show what he knew more than what he thought. He never reasoned from memory, or spoke from quotation #." "Wherever settled, or however employed, it was impossible for him not to observe or reflect; with such internal resources he wanted no library f."
He builds surely, because he considers well the foundation, but he builds no more upon it than it will bear. He seems to have known, by a close exa- mination of the workings of his own mind, how much the attention was fatigued by multiplying proof, and how much intricacy is avoided by adhering to one point — how much, in short, simplicity of design adds to perspicuity, and ensures a reader's attention \ he therefore rarely attempts more than will bring his subject down to the level of an ordinary comprehen- sion. When it might seem to require whole tomes of divinity to treat of the Evidences of Christianity — when others would, perhaps, have consulted volume upon volume, to give a connected view of Moral Phi- losophy with any satisfaction to themselves or their readers, or as such a mind might be expected to
* Edinburgh Review, No. 70. t Quarterly Review.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 173
entertain such a subject, he goes to work in a dif- ferent way. Christianity is treated as it would offer itself to the illiterate fishermen, or the ignorant na- tural man. Moral Philosophy is brought to the level of common sense. The writings of St. Paul are no- ticed as speaking to ordinary capacities, with reason- ings and deductions obvious to the generality of minds. Nor is it in his writings only that he seems to have been an advocate for common sense ; in all his actions as well as speculations he made that his great standard, before he allowed himself to adopt any opinion, " retinuitque, quod est difficilimum ex sapientid modum."
In one of his sermons before the university, he says, " In our wishes to convince, we are extremely apt to overdo our arguments." He seldom made too much use of any one proof, but seems rather to reserve a volume of proof for an inferior purpose. There are, indeed, one or two favourite sentiments which are to be found in more places and works than one : these, as the produce of much deliberation, or of some happy hit, he uses as occasion arises ; but he never seems to introduce a reflection or an argument for the sake of dwelling upon it, or drawing more from it than the one conclusion he aimed at. Inferences or corollaries seem not to claim any part of his atten- tion, but he leaves his reader to draw them for him- self, not suffering himself to doubt that he is fully equal to the writer.
His candour and liberality are apparent in what is
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called by his biographers and others his inconsistency, equivocation, casuistry. The allowances that he made to every position, viz. that it might be otherwise, were carried so far that, however incompatible with the general tendency of his mind, that view sometimes seems to approach towards vacillation or paradox, which is only the produce of a different train of rea- soning, or a different way of handling a subject.
His style may be the strongest expression of his mind — strong, nervous, unvarnished, easily rising into dignity or pathos, though seldom put to such uses, it has not a word too much, nor scarcely an ex- pression or term that would be improved by changing ; yet it is so easy, so natural, so original, so charac- teristic of the writer, that though it is unlike most other styles, it serves as no other would do, to convey his peculiar sentiments in a most substantial manner. It is by a comparison, whimsical enough, ^represented in the Quarterly Review to be formed on the model of Johnson. Nothing can surely be farther from the characteristic of the two writers as to general style. It may be observed from the specimens given in this place, as well as afterwards, that the same strong and substantial, and rather opinionated way of expressing himself, seems to have adhered to him from the first commencement of his public duties to the last. His public lectures, as well as his early sermons, are full of the same sort of commanding positive strain, which may bear some resemblance to Johnson, but is not uncommonly assorted with superior talents. The
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 175
homeliness of his style, indeed, might depend upon the circumstances which called him forth as a writer; but much of the familiar and unpolished air which his writings assume was probably contracted from his habit of communicating instruction by conversation to his pupils, and afterwards to his parishioners, — to whose minds he found the readiest access by a still plainer treatment of his subject ; and thus, having been used to commit his thoughts to paper in this way, he thought no longer of ornament or embellishment. So much of it as was acquired (and no doubt a good deal must have been acquired by the very demand for it, and by its running in the same peculiar course through the whole of his writings), seems to have been gained from his unwillingness to hide any of the workings of his mind ; from a frankness in show- ing all the ways by which he caught his thoughts, by a reluctance to keep his readers at a distance in order to gain credit for any great or shining qualities of genius. He seems to have embraced a sentiment and turned it over till he gained such an expression for it as he himself felt would convey his meaning, without giving himself much farther trouble about the arrange- ment of his words. Every sentence is sure to contain some substance which the reader has no difficulty in applying, and some substance which cannot be dis- pensed with, and so cannot be omitted or guessed at. He is rarely led, in the course of expressing one con- ception, to wander into a kindred suggestion, like a dreamer or a driveller. Matter of fact is his aim ; and
176 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
he seems to bind himself in one straight-forward course, by a constant recollection of and recurrence to his subject. He never makes a sacrifice to style, nor ever courts smoothness, or avoids roughness, to obtain a more refined mode of expression. He ap- pears to be careful, in the first place, to form a habit of thinking and reasoning correctly, and then trusts to his natural faculties for conveying his thoughts to others. From his constant habit of noting down occasional and detached sentiments, his language was likely to be full of breaks, and from the hardness, and decision, and pointedness of his ways of thinking, equally subject to knots, roughnesses, and uneven- nesses ; but these are seldom felt by the reader, be- cause the sentiments tell to his entire satisfaction. Not the least conspicuous quality of his mind and heart is, a perfect freedom from any high opinion of his own powers. Few are likely to be disgusted with his works from their assuming a dictatorial tone, or breathing an air of superiority ; though few works are so full of little allusions to the author and his opi- nions, yet the artlessness of such allusions is so imme- diately apparent, that it dwells not on the reader's attention.
This seems a proper place to mention, that from some circumstances which took place about the time of publishing the Moral Philosophy, it is fair to con- clude that he had little notion of estimating his own powers previous to that period. He could not indeed be ignorant of his own abilities, and therefore it would
LtFE OF Dil. PALEY. 177
be only an oblique praise to lower them for him ; but he seems not to have guessed at the reception which his works would meet with, and at best to have been much surprised and gratified at finding they ranked so high. The sudden rise of his powers in his own opinion is, perhaps, to be dated from the appearance of this work, and his first consciousness of public con- sequence to the great eagerness and demand for these volumes. It will be shown, in speaking of some of his future works, what was his opinion at a more ad- vanced stage of literary reputation ; at present it will be a sufficient indication that it was not very high, if we observe that on his own negotiation with a book- seller in London, who was recommended to him at first by being concerned with the writings of the bishop of Carlisle, he would have concluded a bargain for two or three hundred pounds, had not his friend, then bishop, of Clonfert, undertaken the management of it for him, and refused the offer till he should con- sult an eminent bookseller in Dublin. Meantime, Milliken, a bookseller in Carlisle, came forward in the name of this very Dublin bookseller, and offered £1000 for it. This offer was forwarded to the bishop in London, and would have been closed with at once, had not Mr. Paley wished to make the same proposal to the former bookseller in London. Without much scruple, though with considerable surprise at the en- largement of the speculation, he closed with the terms immediately. This let Mr. Paley into the secret of his own worth j for, on mentioning the circumstance
VOL. I. n
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to some of his family afterwards, " Little," says he, " did I ever think of making a thousand pounds by any work of mine !" The demand for it, however, as well as for his future works, gave neither him nor his bookseller any cause for dissatisfaction # ; nor had he to wait for proposals on other occasions, but for his future publications made his own, and they were accepted.
But it is time to return from the work to the author, who, during this digression, is left at Ap- pleby.
The account of his preferments, and the various movements to which he was subject in consequence, uninteresting as they may be to the general reader, are given with sufficient accuracy t. Nor are they in fact necessary to be detailed, except as connected with some interesting points of his character, and as showing that the same mind and principles accompa- nied him through all his situations, though under improved circumstances. Much of what is now to be given rests upon what could scarcely be known out of his own family. The policy of patronage is not often made public, and it is only the distance of time, and the unconcern of all parties, that make the enter- tainment cheap at the price of so little indiscretion.
After holding the living of Appleby for about three years, he gave it up to enable the bishop to provide
* I have now before me the twenty-first edition, dated 1814. Ed.
t Meadley and Chalmers.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 179
for a relation, and went to reside at Dalston j with an understanding, however, that he should soon be pro- vided for by a more dignified station in the Cathe- dral at Carlisle. At the vicarage-house of Dalston it was necessary to make improvements, and altera- tions, and additions, and he therefore began, as he used to say, " adding to the dignity of its appear- ance;"and commenced farmer, by taking about twenty acres of glebe into his own hands. In this concern it was that he soon became a bankrupt, according to his own account, related by Meadley, but to what extent may be conjectured. In less than six months a pre- bendal stall became vacant, which he was informed of by his friend the archdeacon, who happened to be at Rose at the time, in the following short but good- humoured easy way : — * If you mean to have this, come here directly, for my father is old and weak, and there is an eager applicant for it now in the house." It is probable, however, that the archdea- con's injunction was useless ; for, without the shadow of a demur, or any solicitation from Mr. Paley him- self, he became forthwith the fourth prebendary of Carlisle, about the same time at which he vacated Appleby. He soon after divided his residence be- tween this city and his living of Dalston, which was only four miles distant, and three from Rose, where he still' had much concern and more interest than in any other object, in his capacity of chaplain.
About two years after this, in consequence of some important services rendered to the Duke of Portland
N 2
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fifteen or twenty years before by a clergyman in Cumberland (it is said, by his deciphering some old English manuscripts or inscriptions, which had puz- zled many antiquarians, in order to prove the Duke's claim to some disputed property), his grace very ho- nourably wished to return the favour by being of service to him ; yet from that clergyman's station, as well as from some eccentricities, passable enough in a character compounded strangely of much strong and original genius, and a temper irritable to an excess on trifles, he was unsuitable for the bench of bishops, in the filling of which the Duke of Portland, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, had then considerable sway. The bishopric of Clonfert happened to be at this time, 1782, vacant. The son of the bishop of Car- lisle, who was archdeacon, than whom a more proper person both in station, character, and principle could not have been pitched upon, was elevated to the Irish bench of bishops; and, in consequence, the Duke of Portland had an opportunity of making this clergy- man a prebendary of Carlisle. It is stated in the Public Characters, that a promise was required from the bishop of Carlisle, of the greater part of what he held, for a person on whom the Duke of Portland, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, wished to bestow it. But that this was wholly unnecessary may be well understood by any one acquainted with the general etiquette of patronage. That the insinuation is un- founded, and that no stipulation of the kind was either made or required, may be fairly presumed from its
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being contradicted in the margin by a decided " No £ which was not very likely to appear there without a full knowledge of the circumstance. On the other hand, in consequence of this change in the chapter, the archdeaconry was reserved for the bishop himself to give away, who conferred it on Mr. Paley. It is no part of the archdeacon's duty to superintend the affairs of the clergy in the diocese of Carlisle, as is the case in most other places, but that care devolves upon the chancellor altogether ; so that this could not be looked upon in any other light than an addi- tion, and that a small one, to his other preferments. The small living of Salkeld is annexed to it. This was the highest title he ever added to his name, and he even continued to be known by the title of Arch- deacon Paley, long after his claim to it had ceased. Indeed whether from his easiness and liberality in transacting his own money concerns (for though he was most minute and particular in his knowledge about money, in his dealings and transactions with others he was eminently liberal), or from the real and almost proverbial low estate of the Cumberland livings, at that time, it was only during the latter part of his residence in Cumberland that he cleared so much as an income of ^500 from all his preferments.
Three years after this he was advanced to the highest ecclesiastical station with which the bishop of Carlisle had any concern, by being appointed chan- cellor of the diocese. In rank it is generally held to be inferior to the archdeaconry in that see as well as
182 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
in others, and perhaps in value, but in duties it is much more important, and as such it was always con- sidered by him. That he was marked out for it some time before may be collected from the following piece of private history: — Dr. Burn, the late chancellor, had offered to resign the situation in favour of Mr. Paley, on finding that " those powers and assistance which he invariably devoted to the service of his cle- rical brethren* were fast declining, but wished to compromise that he might retain the usual emolu- ment." The bishop's declining health made his son, Dr. Law, very urgent with Mr. Paley, that he should undertake the office during his father's life, but he refused to have any thing to do with it, till it came fairly and freely to his acceptance. When it became vacant, by Dr. Burn's death, the bishop of Carlisle was so ill, that Mr. Paley thought it impossible to get the necessary instruments passed through the Register-office, while his patron's danger was suf- ficiently distant to make his acceptance of it respect- able. By the unexpected exertions, however, of the registrar, who was his wife's relation, and whom from his age and testiness it was considered impracticable to hasten, at twelve o'clock at night the papers were made out. They were signed in due course, and were made still more welcome by the bishop's re- covery. The death of that most respectable and amiable prelate took place about two years after this.
* These are Mr. Paley's own words.
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Of his constant exertions and steady zeal in his favour Mr. Paley professed a most just and impartial sense, knowing as he did, that the very friendship and almost cordiality with which he was treated by him, sprung from the purest motives of public good, and were in- tended, upon that principle only, to promote the in- terest of his diocese. A circumstance which occurred on the bishop's death was frequently noticed by Mr. Paley, with a constant reflection upon the indecent gaping and manoeuvring, as well as the system of espionage, which is thought allowable, or which is not unusually practised in almost all families. Of all others perhaps the lot of the clerical body, which might, one would suppose, be more detached from worldly motives, is least exempt from this piteous condition. It is hard that no one, from an arch- bishop to a curate, or if it be not to carry it too far, to the parish clerk, can pass off the stage of life without a conviction, that however he may rouse the interest, he will scarcely engage the finer feelings of his expectant brethren ! His son, the late Lord Ellenborough, was at that time engaged in the as- sizes at Carlisle, and his father's death being on that morning hourly expected, a horse was kept saddled in the stables at Rose castle, for the immediate de- spatch of a messenger to inform him of the event. When the messenger arrived in Carlisle, he found that not all his haste and preparation had prevented the news getting there before him ; an expecting applicant had already set off from Carlisle to his
18-1 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
patron, to sue for his assistance in procuring him the bishoprick. Those only might regulate such eager- ness, who dispense pieces of preferment ; but, if not conscious of such hastiness themselves, they are pro- bably not unconscious that many others have the same feelings towards them.
On these successive elevations, which took place from the year 1780 to the year 1785, his sphere of action became gradually enlarged. He was looked upon from this time as a resident in Carlisle, and considered himself so far stationary in that city, as to become much interested in its society. Before his family in- creased, he lived out of the precincts of the cathedral ; but afterwards he enlarged his prebendal house by a very considerable addition, during which time he lived in the deanery, and soon removed into the abbey. Carlisle was at that time rather distinguished as a place of resort for those who seek and who lay them- selves out for agreeable intercourse. It was then a quiet place in comparison with its present state of bustle. It was much less crowded with a manufac- turing population, and less opened to commercial speculations. It had been, as it now is, a principal place of interest on the west side of the north of England, as an ancient and border city. The coun- ties of Cumberland and Westmoreland were at that time divided in interest between two eccentric noble- men, who left very little room for a third or inde- pendent party ; but for this reason its races, its elec- tions and assizes, excited perhaps more interest, and
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 185
were made more the tests of political ascendancy than they do at present. In other respects it might be called a place suitable enough for a busy sort of re- tirement, and contained within it a circle of enlight- ened and well informed gentry. The church added much to the general stock of agreeable society ; and though in a less monied way than that establishment now allows of, was no less united and active amongst the rest of the inhabitants. This being the state of the place, it was a residence well suited for a man of Dr. Paley's habits and talents for active life. His first business seems to have been to get himself fairly poised between a private individual, and one holding a responsible situation in life ; but he was so averse from pushing himself into or courting notice, that he was more known in private circles during the whole of his abode at Carlisle, than as a public character. He was too accurate a discerner of the " tanti" of life to overstep his station. As an agreeable com- panion, a well informed scholar, and a useful member of the church, he is remembered with very kindly feelings by those who knew no more of him. His first object was his public concerns, which never for a moment were out of his view. Archdeacon and chancellor, as well as prebendary of the church, he had, as it is natural to suppose, a strong interest in the affairs of the cathedral and the clergy; yet it does not appear that he was so much concerned in the business of the chapter or the regulations of the cathedral, as about the general management of the
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establishment in the diocese. He was careful to keep up and promote, as far as he could, the proprieties of both. He was long the only active member of the chapter constantly resident in Carlisle ; for though the prebendary before alluded to had no other re- sidence, he scarcely could be understood either to mix or agree with the other members of the chapter. Dr. Paley rarely preached in the cathedral more than his turn, because it fell into the office of lecturer to supply any sermons that were wanting. He seemed to prefer his own little country church and well known flock to a more promiscuous and more elegant con- gregation. One character of his sermons which may make his style and manner of preaching more intel- ligible, may be added to what has been already given, because the mention of it belongs to this place, viz. that he would give the very same sermon in the same words to a congregation of uninformed rustics, and to one formed of the highest ranks of a populous city; yet so acceptable were they to both, that by the higher ranks he was said not to be so well suited to the lower from their not being capable of estimating the supe- riority of his matter and treatment ; and by the lower, to be heard with more interest than is usually given by them to sermons, because they always found them- selves in possession of something they wished to un- derstand, and wondered that they never understood it before. His talent for particular and minute ob- servation, and for suiting his advice exactly to the case before him, joined to his general benevolence,
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 187
enabled him to be of great use, in a quiet and silent way, to many of the clergy. In recommending, as he does in one of his charges, a personal conference with their parishioners upon religious subjects, " it is in many instances," says he, " a defect of a studious life, that it indisposes a man from entering with ease and familiarity into the conversation of the mixed ranks of human society.' * His advice was always readily and freely and heartily communicated; and in a way so apparently adapted to the level, as well as to the interest of the party concerned, that most of those who asked his advice found they were con- sulting a friend rather than one in an official situation. He was, however, so decided in tone, and so ready in discerning the consequences as well as motives of different actions and lines of conduct, that his advice had more the air of command and authority than he was aware of. To the lower order of clergy he was particularly attentive. To his curates, throughout his life he was strikingly liberal. Of his ecclesiastical censures he was sparing ; and when he was obliged to exert them at a later period, in one flagrant in- stance of misconduct after repeated admonitions, his books at this day testify, that he discountenanced every kind of anonymous information ; that he sifted common report to the bottom ; that he looked upon all as prejudice that was not proved in so many words ; and that his unwearied exertions to save the character of the man and the clergyman were exceeded only by his patience and impartiality in receiving any in-
188 LIFE OF DR. TALEY.
formation on either side. His charges, only one of which has been hitherto made public, seldom failed to make an impression, as much from the substance of them, as from their shortness and applicability. They are many of them very original, and have been often inquired after by some of those who heard them delivered.
Of the one published, which has been* noticed as containing some allusion to political preaching, which is rather unqualified, the following remarks may give some explanation, more particular than can perhaps generally be known. It certainly is an opinion but badly supported even by the names of the present day, that the clergy have nothing to do with politics, if it be taken to extend to any thing connected with public affairs ; since it seems difficult to separate the interests of an establishment so intimately interwoven with the constitution, and since the concern of our parishioners with the public body is in general but too slightly observed. Even the pious and devout Herbert could tell us, that his parson would make his children first Christians, then commonwealth's men. Dr. Paley's sentiments on the subject which are supposed to be alluded to, may be better collected from a much more considerable comment in the same sermon. " If," says he, "other occurrences have arisen in our neighbourhood, which serve to exemplify the progress and fate of vice, the solid advantage and
* Chalmers.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 189
ultimate success of virtue, the providential discovery of guilt or protection of innocence, the folly of ava- rice, the disappointment of ambition, the vanity of worldly schemes, the fallaciousness of human fore- sight, in a word, any thing which may remind us, 1 what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue,' such occurrences may be made to introduce topics of serious and useful meditation." But as to the hint, for it is but a hint, given as delicately as possible against "party or political transactions and disputes which would tend to dishonourable motives," what was present to the preacher's mind on the occasion may be understood, by observing that Cumberland "was at that time the seat of a more violent ferment than is usually met with in contested elections ; and that the clergy, more particularly some amongst the higher stations of that body, were thought to be materially and improperly concerned. So far indeed was it carried about the period now spoken of, that it was the occasion of perhaps the only unpleasant occurrence that happened publicly during the course of his residence at Carlisle. It is connected indeed distantly with that " formidable opposition, which he is said to have joined *, against the overwhelming in- fluence of a nobleman ; and no doubt gave rise to the account, though imperfectly given, of the attempts made to weaken the elective franchise of the citizens of Carlisle." His interfering or rather joining pub-
* MeadleV'
190 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
licly in a party, was in an affair in which some of the magistrates of Cumberland were concerned, in com- mitting to prison two or three respectable inhabitants of Carlisle, who had pulled up some encroachments of this same nobleman upon the river, which pre- vented its being of service to the community, and which had been already condemned by a jury. This was generally esteemed such an excess of authority, such an insult upon the independence of the city, the respectability of the inhabitants, and the prudence of a magistrate, that it produced a shyness, or rather a neglect, of such magistrates long after. There had never been any great intimacy or intercourse between Dr. Paley and them, so that very little was gained by the accession of his name to the general sense of the inhabitants. As far as it went, he most highly and decidedly disapproved both of the act and the motive from which it seemed to proceed. When afterwards he was solicited by the dean of Carlisle, Dr. Ekins, who did not reside constantly, to come forward in compromising any misunderstanding, he expressed himself unwilling to commence an inter- course on that ground, but said, " he saw no reason why the slight or grudge should be perpetual ;" and it is probable that his sermon on reconciliation of differences, which was preached about this time, was given in allusion to the difference then existing.
It may be a part of this subject, or at least will serve for passing from his church duties to his public life as an inhabitant of Carlisle, to observe, that he
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 191
did not join in electioneering, nor in any thing con- nected with it j but he expressed his opinions pri- vately upon the general services of Mr. Curwen to the city and county, which was indebted to him for a great deal more than its independence. He la- mented the growth of mushrooms in Cumberland, which was the name given to a number of colliers and others who were allowed or rather forced to pur- chase forty shillings' worth of property ; and in a letter written from Carlisle some years after he had ceased to be a resident there, he says, " Lord Lonsdale will be beat two to one, though joined by Lord Carlisle and the bishop. It is too soon for the freemen to forget the mushrooms. " He also suffered his children to go bedizened with blue ribands, which the agents of Mr. Curwen had given them in profusion. These were his electioneering manoeuvres. His politics, in- deed, were as strongly marked as during any other period of his life ; but they were marked only by his being of no party, in fact, no politician at all. He never seemed to know that he deserved the name of politician; and would probably have been equally amused at the grave attempts made to draw him into or withdraw him from any political bias, with which either this or any other writing may be con- cerned. He would always form his opinions upon what he considered substantial grounds, and if he could gain information enough to rest his opinion upon, it was sufficient for him. He could comment indeed upon passing events with an interest and
192 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
eagerness which he seemed to have no power or wish to repress ; but it was the interest of a warm and ardent mind, taking its own improvement and its own hints from whatever was curious or useful, or desirable or serviceable in the conduct of his fel- low-creatures. He was an eager devourer of a news- paper ; but one newspaper in a day which had been already read, was quite sufficient for his politics j and as it is not unusual for us to form an opinion of a man's politics by inquiring what newspaper he reads, or (which indeed may be the truth) as the side and party which some politicians take may often depend upon their newspaper, so it may be well to mention that his was the Sun. It filled up one hour after dinner; and whatever news was expected, or found to be contained in the post-bag, which every politician in the town knew at an early part of the day, he would not have thanked any one for letting him know before that hour. As a political dabbler, a reformer, or a stanch ministerial man, in the sense which that term is generally considered to bear, for the twenty years with which these memoirs are con- cerned, he was far too much involved in other pur- suits, too ignorant of the general statistical history of his country, too desirous of a higher and more laud- able and more benevolent use of his understanding, to savour in the least of a political clergyman. It is true there is a conscious and unconscious partisan. There is a party man whose principle is engaged without any force upon his inclinations or his in-
LIFE OF DIt. PALEY. 103
terest, and who is scarcely known, or knows himself to be a party man, till circumstances call him out ; and there is another whose principle is so little af- fected, that he can deliver himself wholly up to what- ever bias his inclination or his interest may prepare for him ; but Dr. Paley was neither of these. It seemed to be the turn of his mind to seek out and attain a balance in his opinions, on whatever subject his mind was employed. No man could preserve a more just balance between an independent man and an eager politician. He was most truly independent, — not as one who wishes to boast of being inde- pendent, who cares for nothing but himself and his own views, or who is afraid of being considered de- pendent ; but as one who is independent, on the sound principle of looking with more fixed views for a better purpose of existence.
While on this subject, it may not be improper to advert to what is said by his two contending biogra- phers, on his refusal of the offer made to him by the bishop of Ely in 1789. It is suitable enough to the subject now mentioned, and occurred about the time of which we now speak. It is first to be observed, that what is said* and repeated about " some men not being fit to be trusted with the loose talk of their betters," though most decidedly to be
* Quarterly Review and Chalmers apply this not more inde- cently than injudiciously to Meadley, who was far too candid and careful and pains -taking to deserve any such insinuation.
VOL. I. O
194 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
reprobated in the use to which it is applied, is far too applicable to the general purposes of biography to dismiss without a great share of approbation. It is of use in explaining most of the misunderstandings that have arisen as to the public conduct of Dr. Paley, and of special use in this particular instance. There seems to be ground sufficient for Meadley, who knew but little of the parties to whom, or the occasion on which, it was spoken, to conclude that the offer was refused partly from such motives, as " not being able to keep in with Pitt a week ;" but if this was said at all, it was given as a loose expression of what need not to have been repeated. It was one of those sen- timents that were no sooner conceived than uttered, and no sooner uttered than forgotten. In this case as in many others, it is probable that the conversation from which such proof sentiments are drawn might lead to points on which he expressed agreement, but it is much more probable that such sentiments might take their complexion from the hearer rather than the speaker.
He was not at all unlikely, at any time of his life, from the substantial brevity and positiveness of his sentiments, to have many sayings and expressions palmed upon him, which he never thought of; but more than that, he was the most unfit, though perhaps the most liable, to fall into the hands of those dry retailers of other men's loose sayings, who dress up for their own purposes whatever may be dealt out by men of some weight : but who that has any character
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 195
to support is not made sensible of this ! He indeed of all others was a perfect example of consistency on principle, and of discretion on any subject which he thought worthy of consideration, yet the most rash conceiver and utterer of hasty sentiments, of the most grave off-hand speeches, of the most undesigned, un- premeditated blunders in addressing or conversing with strangers for friends, and friends for opponents, that ever entered into common society. So weighty was his very sportiveness, so much in the style of seriousness did he produce his humorous sallies and lighter sentiments, that it not only required a pene- trating discerner to tell what was joke and what was earnest, but a perfect and full acquaintance with his character. Though he was not one who was alarmed for consequences, if he could have foreseen them, yet such speeches were so unsuspected, that it is quite unfair to draw any conclusions from them. The following extract from one of his letters will set this matter at rest.
" June — 89. I send the enclosed letter for my father to see from the bishop of Ely, a man I know no more of than I do of the pope. I was never in a greater quandary.— I have great reason to believe that the situation would be a step to the highest pre- ferments.— On the other hand to leave a situation with which I am much satisfied, and in which I am perfectly at ease in my circumstances, is a serious sort of a change. I think it will end in declining it."
From the perfect conviction of his general freedom
o2
196 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
from all political bias, as well as a lively feeling of his character, his friends were convinced at the time, that he refused it chiefly from an unwillingness to enter upon another spjiere of life and into a different society, fixed as he then was in a certain line of en- gagements. In the quarter whence the offer came there appears to have been no suspicion, much less grounds for supposing, that the refusal proceeded from any other cause. Certainly no one of his more inti- mate friends ever had occasion to think him influ- enced by any such consequences as " quarrelling with Mr. Pitt." He himself seems to have been aware, or at least his family were, by hearing the opinion of his best friend, that he might have missed a mitre by it. > but to an offer so handsomely and disinterestedly made, neither he nor any of his friends ever thought of adding any probable consequences.
Another occasion on which he came forward rather more publicly and prominently than was his custom, was in the year 1792, at a meeting held by the in- habitants of Carlisle, for the purpose of petitioning parliament for the abolition of the slave trade. He had already found occasion to notice this traffic in the course of his Moral Philosophy, though it is not to be found in his Lectures. He had been in cor- respondence for three or four years previously with the committee in London, but never # set himself
* It does not appear to me., that what is called his treatise en- titled, " arguments against the unjust pretensions of slave dealers and holders to be indemnified by pecuniary allowances at the
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 197
fairly to any extraordinary activity, farther than as he in common with other able men might give publicity to their sentiments in that neighbourhood. The slave trade had excited a good deal of agitation in Carlisle and its vicinity, as it did in other places, partly from the talents and abilities that were roused throughout the kingdom in favour of the Africans, and partly from its being a common subject of in- terest in that neighbourhood, probably from the con- nexion between Carlisle, Lancaster, and Liverpool. That silly project of breaking the neck of the trade by lessening the consumption of sugar was rigorously and resolutely tried in many families, and, but for the sweetness of heroism, which made both young and old vie with each other in bearing with tasteless potions, would have spoiled many a cup of tea*. Even nurses were then taught to renew the old artifice of
public expense, in case the slave trade should be abolished," was sent as, or intended to be, a regular treatise. Mr. Clarkson's correspondence on the subject, which by the favour of Mr. Mead- ley's friends had been made known to me, seems only to authorise the mention of some hints, which Mr. Clarkson, in making -up one of his reports or pamphlets, wished to avail himself of, but had mislaid them amongst his other papers. Mr. Paley's name appears on the books of the committee as a correspondent. Ed. * That " entire abstinence from the sugar of the West Indian islands is the only instrument in our power of bringing the patrons of this horrid traffic to a sense of duty," is amongst the dogmas of Wakefield : who however clears the question of much entanglement when he says, "that conviction is the last thing wanted upon the subject, otherwise he would give two unequivocal universal
198 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
burning sugar in the candle, to show their wondering children how drops of blood distilled from the melting mass. To those who loved their own gratification better than more refined feeling, it was a hardship which made an impression, and to some others it may serve as a date for having frugally abolished the custom altogether. So active were the exertions of the people of Cumberland in favour of the abolition* — Mr. Paley, from having a relation at Lancaster who had amassed a considerable fortune in the West Indies as a planter, had an opportunity of making himself well acquainted with the mysteries of cruelty which lurked there ; and neither his feeling of hu- manity, nor his common sense of morality, allowed him to hesitate on the subject.
The third occasion on which he interfered publicly was at a period when every adherent to any form of regular government might well exert himself to stem the torrent of popular commotion and frenzy at the French Revolution. Debating clubs and correspond- ing societies were said to be formed in Cumberland ; but their influence did not extend much farther than to those who were just learned enough to be taken with Tom Paine's Rights of Man. It was on a general search being made by masters of families through
maxims, one Christian and one heathen, applicable to this as well as every other subject. 1st. Evil is not to be committed that good may come, because the evil is certain and the good hypothetical. No political expediency whose basis is evil can terminate in national utility. 2. Fiat justitia — ruat coelum."
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their houses, and on finding that such cheap pub- lications were much in circulation, that Dr. Paley sent out his " Reasons for Contentment," and a single cheap impression of his Chapter on the British Constitution. Though he found one or two copies of Paine's Rights of Man in his own family, and threw them into the fire, he was not led to have any desponding views of the general disaffection of the people, but thought it a great deal exaggerated by circumstances. This, as far as it may form a cha- racteristic of his politics, was generally the com- plexion of his sentiments. His Reasons for Con- tentment are neither more nor less than the copy of a sermon, the original of which is marked as having been preached at Dalston, 1790. In one of these pamphlets, which were found on his bookshelves, was written in his own hand — " the best thing I ever wrote $" and as if to add one more instance to the common fatality in the character of authors, it is ob- served in the Public Characters, that " this pamphlet, notwithstanding the universal interest of the subject, was not very generally read, and by those who read it was not very generally admired. The side he took was unpopular."
Such was he in public ; and so little did he think himself a public character, that it may be doubted, whether during a residence of thirteen or fourteen years at Carlisle he ever stepped out of his private circle into public and national concerns, except on these few occasions ; and it is perhaps as distinctive a
200 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
mark as can be given to him, to say, that with a great natural inclination for bustle and activity, he de- cidedly preferred, from a conviction of its superior importance, the quiet orderly discharge of regular duties to the popular and more assuming line of con- duct, which yet he was never forward to blame.
He interested himself very much in the establish- ment of a dispensary, which was at that time a new thing there j and in the promoting of Sunday schools, it is well known, he encountered the grave charge of plagiarism. Of his spelling book, which it is well to notice amongst his public works, for a reason that will presently be obvious, nothing is to be said but what he himself was called upon to say, viz. that the Sunday schools in Carlisle, at their establishment, were in want of some cheap and easy form of in- struction ; that he and the printer laid their heads together to cull from all such books, without fear of the imputation of plagiarists ; that it was sent out in London by his permission, but with the condition of applying to Mr. Robinson, who, as he had learned since, was the author of the book, from which he had stolen the first part of it, the book itself having been given to his children. In answer to Mr. R.'s angry insinuation that he intended it as a matter of gain and embezzlement, he candidly tells him that he never made a penny by it, but he is at any moment willing to make over to Mr. Robinson all his right and title in the work ; that such a shabby, mean, pub- lication is not likely to compete* in the market with
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 201
Mr. R.'s beautiful type and fine paper; that the reputation for authorship was really no motive for the theft ; and that he had already made known to Mr. R. in a way that seemed to him to become both the subject and parties, that he was sincerely sorry for having unknowingly offended one, with whose literary merits and bad fortune he had, in common with every other scholar, often sympathised. The only observation necessary to be made in addition to this good-humoured and almost benevolent apology for it is, that on a future occasion, when he was asked to allow an impression of it to be printed at Newcastle, he replied, " Ay, you may do what you like with it, only take care ; I got myself into a sad scrape about it." Mr. Robinson's character as a writer of some repute, and as a relation of Bishop Law, which, according to a note in the life prefixed to Chalmers's edition, that gentleman appears to have been, does not seem to have been known to him at the time, but it was perhaps suggested to him after- wards.
For the appearance of this little work his bookseller is answerable. Those interested in the memory and reputation of Dr. Paley find that appearance best ac- counted for by the general disregard paid to the fame of an author, when put in competition with any pri- vate interest or speculation. It may not be for the edification of readers in general, nor much for the interest of those whose pen moves by interest, to open the secrets of book-making. But the facts of
202 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
the case are these, and they speak for themselves. A volume published after his death by his own book- seller consists of something more than 519 pages, 342 of which are taken up with the valuable in- formation for the nursery, of a dog, a hog, a cat, a rat; and the Clergyman's Companion for Visiting the Sick ; neither of which are Dr. Paley's, or can pre- tend to a place amongst Paley's sermons and tracts. This useful compilation of sermons and tracts was to be published just at the same time that another volume of his posthumous sermons was purchased and published by another bookseller, who was re- sorted to only after a comparatively low offer made by this his former bookseller ; and after an injunction obtained from the Court of Chancery to restrain his attempts at sending out an impression already printed, without the consent of those immediately concerned. As far as this same spelling book is indebted for its existence to the mind, and not to the circumstances of the author, though little more than circumstances seem to have suggested the compilation, it may be observed, that it was almost the natural turn of his leisure thoughts to observe the importance of little things of life. He was particularly fond of com- posing little prayers for his children or his own pri- vate use, many of which are to be found in his various commonplace-books, and by their very composition show no aim at publicity. In speaking of this spelling book it ought not to be omitted, that the only part which bears the stamp of originality in the first por-
LIFE OF DR. PALKY. 203
tion is in a list of directions for reading ; and so peculiarly are they constructed, that it may perhaps satisfy rather than displease Mr. Robinson's friends, if they be mistaken for Dr. Paley's* — " Do not stop abruptly, avoid a whining cadence, support your voice firmly, mind your stops, let your tone be natural and with vivacity." At least they were so completely engrafted on Dr. Paley's instructions to his family, that if they were not his own, it shows how much he valued Mr. Robinson's work.
In 1790 he published his Horae Paulina?. This, though perhaps the most original of his works, and containing as much accuracy of investigation, as much shrewdness in eliciting probable motives, is not cal- culated so well for general reading as his other works. It never met with a demand at all equal to the rest. Whether it be that the subject is more confined, that it has too distant a bearing upon general information, that it contains only a part of the evidences of Chris- tianity, that it is a repetition of the same proof, that the mind of the reader is satisfied with proof long before the writer leaves his subject, it has never been much noticed in comparison with other writings of the same author. It is a fair specimen, however, of original criticism, and proves him to have been thoroughly versed in St. Paul's writings. That part, indeed, of his Greek Testament appears to have been his fa-
* The particularity of such directions as these is not unlike what may be found in " Additional Rules and Cautions/' appended to Izaac Walton and Charles Cotton's "Complete Angler;" and who can be offended with the comparison ? Ed.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
vourite reading, as there are in the epistolary part a great many more curious and critical notes than are to be found in the Gospels. The originality of the design may be questioned in this, as well as in the rest of his writings ; and therefore it will be well to show, as far as any thing amongst his own papers will show, how much of the present work is original, that is, planned and executed without any previous ap- plication to lectures or other works.
In the lectures from which his Evidences are taken, is to be found the following paper, which seems to have given rise to this work ; since it con- tains more than he has given in his Chapter of Un- designed Coincidences #, and is only not inserted there as his other papers were, because, as he tells his reader, on trying he found himself unable to abridge what he had stated in this volume, so that he himself partly connects the two writings. Besides, it contains a great many of the passages from St. Paul's Epistles which are noticed in his Horse Paulinae, and which seem to be of the same kind with those that suggested the abridgement.
" St. Paul's Epistles genuine, from the earnestness of affection and passionate zeal which appear in them, and which nothing but reality could inspire : e. g. Rom. viii. 35, 39 \ % Cor. xi. 21. ad Jin.-, 2 Tim. iv. 8. Could any man who was not in earnest write Phil. iii. 5, 14; 1 Cor. xiii.? could any man who did not look for the resurrection of the dead write the
* See Evidences of Christianity, P. 2, C. 7-
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 205
15th chap, of 1 Cor. ; as well as from the very ob- scurity and irregularity of them, which a forger would have to take care to avoid ? Moreover the Epistle to the Colossians directs in the body of it, that it should be read amongst them , consequently could not be forged after Paul's death, as the very Epistle implied that, upon the receipt of it, it had been publicly read, whereas no such Epistle had before been heard of.
" The 1st Epistle to the Corinthians is an answer to a letter they had sent him, and on that account impos- sible to be forged, because it must have come to hand soon after they had sent their letter, and have been written also by a person acquainted with the contents of it, and, consequently, whilst St. Paul was living, and they corresponded with him.
" In the 1st Cor. 16. 21. Gal. 6. 11. 2 Thess. 3. 17. the very hand-writing appealed to — in other cases the transcriber or amanuensis is mentioned. Rom. 16. 22. The Epistle to the Philippians imports that it was sent by Epaphroditus, consequently would not be received unless Epaphroditus brought it.
" But above all, their genuineness appears from the many examples of undesigned coincidences with one another, and with the Acts of the Apostles.
" Observe, 1. The coincidences.
" 2. The undesignedness of them ; for, had they been unreal, either they would not be considered at all, or the coincidences would have been the effect of design. Phil. 4. 15, he says, that the Philippians had relieved him at Thessalonica. 1 Thess. 2. 9.
206 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
2 Thess. 3. 7> 8. he reminds the Thessalonians of the distress he had suffered among them, and how he had received nothing from them.
Phil. 3. 6. compared with Acts 9. 1.
1 Cor. 15. 8. Acts 9. 17-
1 Thess. 3.2,6 Acts 18. 5.
% Cor. 9. 4. Acts 20. 2.
1 Cor. 16. 5, 6 Acts 20. 23.
" Urges Timothy and Mark to come to him at Rome. Accordingly we find that Timothy and Mark were with him at Rome when the Epistles to the Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon were written."
It may seem remarkable that no sketch of this work should have remained beyond this paper, which is placed amongst his other lecture papers, — if we except a few sentences relative to the genuineness of St. Paul's Epistles, to be found there. It seems at least to show, that it had been amongst other employ- ments of his thoughts for some time before. But this very circumstance of its not now appearing drawn up in a more enlarged form proves almost the entire originality of the work ; since of his greater works, which were evidently sketched out before in his lec- tures, it is only the additional patch-work that re- mains, as was observed before, and not even the rough copies of a collected and compacted writing. So that this morsel, by being the only outline of a large volume, suggests obviously that the work was written entirely without any such hints as he used in
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 207
his Moral Philosophy or Evidences ; that if this was not the case, some such enlarged sketch would pro- bably have remained, as of the other works. The matter of it seems to have been the production of the time at which he wrote it. Nothing remains which may lead us to conjecture how long this work was in hand.
Both the Moral Philosophy and the Horae Paulinae have been printed in Germany, as is observed by Meadley. The first a year or two after its appear- ance in England, and the second in 1797- There appears, however, to have been an earlier application for a German edition of this last work from one of the deacons of Zurich ; two of whose letters, remain- ing amongst Dr. Paley's papers, may be worth pro- ducing in this place, if it be only for their latinity. " Reverendissimo et doctissimo
Do— Do. Wilhelmo Paley,
Archidiacono Carleolensi, &c. &c.
S. PI. D.
Joh. Jacobus Hess,
Diaconus ad aedem Abbatissanam
Turicensem.
Cum in Ephemeridibus literariis nuper de insigni
libro quod Horarum Paulinarum titulo inscribitur,
ea legissem, quae me dubitare non sinunt, fore ut si
liber iste in oris patriis omnique Germanic notior
fieret, multis adfirmiorem de Religionis nostrae veri-
tate persuasionem via panderetur ; auctor fui amico
Scaphusiano, Hurtero, utriusque linguae idiomatis
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satis perito, ut ejus in linguam Germanicam ex An- glica vertendi curam susciperet, quod quo minus ipse facerem, muneris publici, caeterorumque laborum cura detinebar, Ea de re ad TE scribendi occasione tribus de causis lubenter usus sum ; primo, quod jus- tum et sequum esse videtur, ut de cujusvis libri ver- tendi consilio ante omnes auctor ipse certior fiat, ut, si typo jam impressis addi quaedam, vel in iis mutari vult, ea omnia versionis auctori possit communicare ; deinde, quia librum ipsum ex Ephemeridibus quidem ita mihi notum, ut de ejus praestantia et utilitate dubitare nefas sit ; inspicere nondum contigit ; cum inter Bibliopolas Londinenses ac nostrates nullum intercidit commercium ; quamobrem typothetae TVO mihi ignoto, vir reverendissime, quaeso, significes, ut, addita pretii nota (quod per negotiatorum quen- dam solvendum curabo) exemplar libri TVI, quam- primum fieri potest, ad me transmittal Tertia, eaque gravissima, ea de re TE interpellandi causa fuit in- gens qua perfundor, laetitia, quoties lego vel audio lectu dignum quid eo fine in lucem editum esse, ut Historiae Biblicse, jam undique ab adversariorum telis et contemptorum fere oppressae dignitas veritasque elucescat. Lardnerus quidem vester multa praestitit, sed et aliis quaedam praestanda reliquit. Est et hoc ipsum, quod libris qualibuscumque meis de Christi, Apostolorum, Patriarcharum, etc. rebus gestis, in lucem editis (an in Angliam usque corum aliqua no- titia peragrarit, nescio) pro virili adstruere et pro- movere adnisus sum ; persuasum habens, vix ulla alia
LIFE OF DR. PALEY,
ratione ; hoc praesertim tempore, rei Christiana? me- lius posse consuli, quam ostendendo, firmis earn certis- simisque Historice fide dignissima fundamentis niti. Et in ejusmodi rerum tractatione ne minutissima, quidem parvi habenda, sed et ipsas illas tfepis-ao-eis a lectoribus plerumque neglectas, multum saepe mo- menti ad firmiorem animi persuasionem adferre, saepissime expertus sum. Quare, cum TV vir rever- endissime nova quadam, eaque valde commendabili ratione in isthoc genere laboraveris, est quod TIBT et cuivis litterarum sacrarum aestimatori librum TVVM legenti vel lecturo ex animo gratuler. Vale, vir doc- tissime, reverendissime ! m£ TIBI, commendatum ha- beas, et de re Christiana bene mereri pergas. Scripsi Turici Helvetiorum. d. 1 Junii 1792."
What answer was made to this application there is now no opportunity of knowing ; nor does any thing occur amongst the papers of Dr. Paley to build a con- jecture upon. That an answer was returned favour- able to the application, as well as courteous enough, may be collected from a second letter : — " Viro plurimum reverendo Wilhelmo Paley, &c. S. P. D. S. Jacobus Hess, Turicens. Diaconus. Elapsis jam aliquot mensibus, necdum ad me per- lato libro TVO, via jam prorsus aberasse vel interci- disse puto (ob turbas forsan in Gallia bellicas) desi- deratissimum illud munus TVVM.\ Oritur hinc ad
vol. i. . p
210 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
Scriptorem libri, quo carere nolim, recurrendi neces- sitas, quam quidem mihi imponi haud aegre fero. Ac- cedit enim confidenti us tecum confabulandi libertas abs te ipso concessa, immo vinculum quoddam amicitiae, quo me tecum jungi sentio laetorque, litteris quippe TVIS amicissimis ad rescribendum invitatus. Fa- teor magna me laetitia adfectum esse isthac tua huma- nitate. Sum enim ita natura comparatus, ut quos veritatis Christianae amicos et defensores magni facio, eos non e libris tantum, sed e suaviori quadam si fieri potest, conversatione, notos mihi reddere fami- liaresque cupiam. Te vero de Christiana religione defendenda optime meritum esse, vel ex iis comper- tum habeo quae in volumine 73mo 78° Monthly Re- view, page 411 — 413, ' e Philosophicis TVIS Prin- cipiis' de incredulorum parum honestis artibus ex- cerpta nuper legi verissima sane et momentosissima. Ne tamen vel loquacitatis vel assentationis suspectum me habeas, plura addere nolo. Vale, vir reverende, et mecum, si placet, conjunctissime. Scripsi Turici Hel- vetiorum d. v. Nov. 1792."
This work cleared off, he quickly turned his atten- tion to making up a more general, though scarcely a more original survey of the Evidences of Christianity. It was probably in furtherance of his early plan of putting his college lectures into a more complete form, that he commenced this undertaking ; for it does not appear that any other inducement was held out, or was necessary for him at this stage of author- ship, than that of being a useful and striking writer.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 511
By this time, indeed, he was almost habitually a writer, and if writing for the press ever with him be- came a business, it was at this period ; for, being at comparative ease in his circumstances, satisfied to the full with his station, happy in his clerical engage- ments, attentive to family duties, and diligent in a certain routine of professional duties, which called for a regular discharge and almost daily attention, he was necessarily much at home, though not occupied in his public capacity to the full stretch of his abili- ties ; and a mind like his could not be satisfied with the mere possession of such resources.
Of the two works which are derived from his col- lege lectures, viz. his Moral Philosophy and Evi- dences, the latter seems to have engaged much more of his research, the former much more of original thinking. There is, however, another difference in the rough model of the two writings, — if, as seems incontestably to be the case, his lectures gave rise to both. As far as respects the Moral Philosophy, the plan adopted in his lectures was adhered to in his work, though much enlarged. For his Evidences there is but a very crude and misshapen substance discoverable in his lectures, from which to draw any thing like a connected performance. In the one it is not difficult to recognise the plan, in the other it is more than difficult. Indeed so little does he seem to have decided with himself to what purpose he should turn these last, that even whilst he was recon-
p 2
212 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
sidering and remodelling them, he appears to have changed his plan. His general mode of composition and the unconnectedness of his rough sketches have been already observed, as suggested by a peep into his manuscript papers and books : and it may be that this very confusion gives rise to conjectures rather fanciful than well warranted ; since what seems to us to stand without connexion, and as if written with a hasty snatch of his pen in any page, may to him who was master of his plan have had a very intelligible connexion and consistency. The books into which the Evidences of Christianity of which he treats were collected are in eight or ten numbers, and of different sizes, crammed with short and detached sentences, some of which are divided into heads, and others in- termingled with a curious variety of heterogeneous stuff. To these books may be added a great many loose sheets of paper, which contain the most sub- stantial part of his work. Most of these detached sentences are marked as if received and placed in order, and appear in the body of the work scattered in different corners. These same marks, and the passages so marked, are to be found very generally in his lecture-book also. Such statements will scarcely be thought too minute, if they enable us to ascer- tain, both the quantum of thought expended upon this work, and the way in which it may be said to have assumed its present form.
His lectures, as far as they present a rough cast of
LIFE OF DR. PAL'EY. 213
his Evidences, seem to proceed upon, and to be a sort of abstract of, the second and third books of Grotius de Veritate, &c.
11 The Evidences of Christianity are an aggregate of many circumstances, not any one of which would alone be sufficient, and yet altogether convey com- plete and entire satisfaction. This I mention for the sake of those who are uneasy because they have not some one single proof to turn to, which, like a de- monstration in Euclid, makes an end of the question at once.
" The evidence of Christianity is either external or internal.
" The internal, that which arises from the contents of the books themselves.
" The external, that which proves the truth of what they contain, be the contents what they will.
" The direct external evidence of Christianity is comprised in these three propositions :
" That the books of the New Testament were written by the authors to whom they are ascribed ;
" That these authors could not be deceived them- selves in what they relate ;
" That they neither would nor could impose upon others.
" The books of the New Testament were written by the authors to whom they are ascribed.
« For this proposition!1- lhe Seneral Evidence >
(.2. The particular Testimony.
" The general evidence may be thus explained. No
214 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
one has any doubt but that the Commentaries were Caesar's, the Orations Cicero's, and the iEneid Virgil's. There is no more reason to doubt but that the Gospels were Matthew's, Mark's, Luke's, and John's ; the Epistles St. Paul's, St. Peter's, St. James's, &c.
" The foundation of our belief being in all these cases the same, i. e. the universal reception of them as such so far as we can trace.
11 And this foundation may be depended upon, for it proves that they were acknowledged to belong to those authors, in the age in which they were pub- lished, and by the contemporaries of the authors ; a thing which might be known almost to a certainty from their bearing the author's name — speaking of him in the first person, his publicly owning them, their being ascribed to him by common reputation, and his acquiescing in it ; and that this opinion was delivered by the contemporaries of the author to the generation which immediately followed, and so trans- mitted through successive generations down to us. I say the universal reception of them proves thus much, this being the only way by which we can ac- count for their being universally received ; so if any one forged a book in the pretended author's life-time, or near it, he must presently be detected, and after considerable time such a forgery would be almost im- possible, as no one would receive a book as the work of another which had never been heard of during his life, or long after his death.
LIFE OF Dlt. PALEY. 215
;' There is no doubt at this time but that the book called Hume's History was written by Hume, nor will there be any doubt one hundred years hence, nor any more one hundred years after that, nor a thou- sand years hence, — if the book all the while con- tinue to be read and in reputation; for we of this age know it to be his from its bearing his name, being universally ascribed to him, and his acquiescing in the reputation. Those of the next age will know it to be his from us, i. e. from finding it so established amongst us as a notorious and undoubted fact, that he was the author, and considering that this is a point in which we could scarce possibly be deceived. Those of the following age will receive it upon the same principle, and with no diminution of evidence from them, and so on to any distance of time.
" Take it backward.
" There is no doubt to us his contemporaries, that the book called Hume's History was written by Hume in this age. There is as little doubt but that Paradise Lost was written by Milton in the last age, we being as well satisfied with receiving this opinion from his contemporaries as if we had been his con- temporaries ourselves.
" Neither can we doubt but that the plays were written by Shakespeare in the age before that, though two generations removed from him ; nor will it pro- bably be more dubious five hundred years hence than it is now.
J1 Nor in like manner ought there to be any doubt
216 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
but that the iEneid was Virgil's, the Orations Ci- cero's, the Gospel Matthew's for instance, the Epistles St. Paul's.
" This evidence, from the reception so far as we can trace it, is never in fact disputed ; but where it is either contradicted by some opposite testimony, as some ancient writer of credit ascribing it to a different author \ by a writer's silence about it, when he might be expected to mention it ; or, secondly, something in the book itself inconsistent with those times, or that author.
" If any one says, I allow the Commentaries to be Caesar's, the Orations to be Cicero's, an<i the ^Eneid Virgil's ; but I do not see the same reason for allow- ing the Gospel to be Matthew's, or the Epistles Paul's, because in religious matters people may be induced to forge books in other persons' names, and the names especially of men of such high authority as the Apostles. Now allowing that such attempts have in some few instances been made, I answer in the first place, that most of them were soon detected, that none of them gained the unanimous reception and authority that the Scriptures had. Adrian forged a book in Cicero's name, De Consolatione ; no man was ever led by that circumstance to suspect the authenticity of his Orations, Tusculan Questions, and other genuine works. Secondly, that this circum- stance is more than balanced by two others, that are in favour of the Scriptures above what can be said for the ^Bneid, the Commentaries, or Orations. The
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 217
first is, that these Scriptures are in the nature of laws, and consequently the people who were then living would take care to be satisfied of their authen- ticity, before they would think themselves bound to obey them and lay down their lives for the religion they contained.
" You might forge, perhaps, a speech, but would find it the hardest thing in the world to palm upon the public an act of parliament.
" No one ever doubted but that the code of Roman law was Justinian's, though there was but one single copy of it found amongst some rubbish.
" Secondly, that from the very earliest times these Scriptures were publicly read in churches, which effectually secured them from alteration or addition.
" So much for the general evidence.
" The particular testimony consists in their being cited as belonging to these authors by other ancient writers.
" Hume, in his history, cites incidentally a passage from Lord Clarendon's History ; this will be a proof to posterity that the book in which this passage was found was written by Lord Clarendon, and a better proof, perhaps, than if Hume had expressly asserted it ; it being less liable to suspicion, as it would be very far-fetched, almost impossible, to suppose that Hume should forge and foist into his own work a spurious quotation for the sake of authenticating a book, when he does not appear ever to have had the
218 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
authenticity of that book in his thoughts or view, or ever made a question of it.
" Of the same nature is the particular testimony I am now going to produce.
" And here arises a cloud of witnesses, which places the authenticity of the Scriptures beyond all contro- versy— beyond the authenticity of any other book in the world.
" They are quoted, and quoted as genuine records, and as the writings of the persons we ascribe them to, by a succession of authors from near to the very time in which they were first published, through every fol- lowing age down to the present.
" Here produce the quotations, first exemplifying what is meant by quoting by name.
" Quoting,
" Repeating.
" We have heard a series of testimonies, and con- ducted it below the year 500 ; we might have brought it down to our own age ; but from this time, and in- deed long before, we are absolutely certain that it was out of the power of even the governors of the church to adulterate, add, or to suppress them. I say, we are certain of it j because by this time many of the popish corruptions were maintained in the church, which these Scriptures either expressly condemned, or afforded no support to. If, for instance, they could have stifled it, they never would have left the passage in St. Paul condemning worship in an un-
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 219
known tongue, the description of the man of sin, the rebuke of Peter by Christ, and opposition by Paul, the reproof of the Virgin Mary ; all of which one would think were providentially preserved to guard against the superstitions they fell into. If they could have altered or added to them, they would have foisted in something to have given a colour at least to Peter's supremacy over the other apostles, under which the pope claims his authority, to monastic life, celibacy of the clergy, invocation of saints, purgatory, prayers for the dead, which at present have not a foot to stand on.
" It was not likely we should have any history or account of Christ, but either from his followers or those who wrote against them, of which last class Celsus, A. D. 150 j Porphyry, 240 ; Julian, 300 ; Hierocles, 300 ; have none of them denied the mira- cles of Christ, but ascribed them to magic. The Jewish Talmud, also composed about 300, allows his miracles, and mentions some instances."
He then takes the remaining propositions in their course, viz. that these authors could not be deceived in what they relate.
" 3. 1st Part. That they would not attempt to im- pose upon others*.
" 3. 2d Part. That they could not impose upon others.
* In the first part of this third proposition, we meet with a slight mention of what forms the principal feature in his work on the Evidences.
220 LIFE OF DR. PALEY,
" 1st. To suppose that they would, is to suppose in the first place that a handful of poor illiterate fisher- men, labourers, tax-gatherers, &c. should conceive a scheme of reforming the world, of altering all its cus- toms and opinions, should entertain hopes of accom- plishing it, should concert among themselves, and
carry it on by themselves.
* * # * # *
" 2d. To suppose that they would, is to suppose in the second place, that they could do all this without any possible end or advantage in it whatever. What had they to get by preaching Christianity, or pub- lishing the history of it ? There was nothing to be got, nor did they attempt to get any thing.
" 3d. To suppose that they would, is to suppose another absurdity greater than all this, viz. that such people should form such a scheme, and face every danger, difficulty, and discouragement in carrying it on, should undergo the greatest fatigues, traverse seas and kingdoms without rest, and without weari- ness, and at last submit to death itself in support of it.
" Here produce the evidence of these sufferings. Now there is not a single instance where a man has died in defence of his opinions, but the world have done him the justice to allow that he was sincere in it, that he believed what he died for ; and what shadow therefore of reason is there contrary to all experience, to our constant way of judging in every other in-
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stance, to suspect the veracity of Christ's witnesses when they laid down their lives in support of it ?
" I take this argument from the sufferings of the first Christians to be decisive.
" If you say that many have died with a lie in their mouths, and that malefactors do it every day at the place of execution, I answer that it is one thing to die in a falsehood, another thing to die for it ; there is not much dependence, for instance, in a man's denying a crime, when he must die whether he denies it or not ; but if he denied it when he might save his life by confessing it, I imagine there is not a man in the world but would suppose him innocent."
In the second part of the third proposition, he puts down three principal circumstances which distinguish a true history from a false one, because they make it difficult or next to impossible to palm a false history upon the public ; and all three concur in the case of the Christian Scripture and first preaching.
" 1. The account being published at or near the time and place in which the thing related is said to have happened # * # # #
"Were a man at this time of day to publish a history of St. George, few I suppose would regard it, what- ever the author's character was — was the same man to publish a history of King George the First or Second, perhaps every one would pay credit to it.
" We learn from Tacitus, that Christianity be-
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gan in Judea ; that it had spread so far as Rome ; that there were Christians there in great numbers within thirty years after Christ's crucifixion ; it must therefore have been set up and on foot presently
after —
* * # # * *
" A man might impose upon us in England accounts of pretended wonders in the South Seas; of a city being swallowed up in Peru ; of men eight feet high at Cape Horn ; but I defy a man to pass off, for any continuance however, a story of a city being swal- lowed up in Yorkshire, or of a race of giants being discovered in Gloucestershire.
" 2. The subject of the narrative being of import- ance to the persons to whom it is related.
" If a thing be of little or no signification whether it be true or false, of no concern to any body, there is an indolence and incredulity in mankind which acquiesces in such stories upon the slenderest testi- monies ; perhaps, too, there is a turn for the marvel- lous which inclines people to receive them. I assent as a matter of course ; it's not worth while to inquire, think, or dispute about it ; but let the intelligence affect a man's circumstances, or his prospects, or his conduct, or his profession, it becomes quite a different case ; you will see him bestir himself about it in good earnest ; be as wary, inquisitive, and suspicious as you will ; search into the bottom of the story, tracing things to the fountain head, and fully satisfying him-
LIFE OF BE. PALEY. 223
self of his grounds before he take any measure, or make up his mind.
" Thus the compiler of a newspaper may insert an article, time after time, of ravages committed by a wild beast in a remote province of France, and the story may pass current, without a syllable of truth in it. A traveller may publish accounts of serpents in Egypt half a mile long, of their stopping the course of rivers, or, like bishop Pontopedon, of sea-eels to- wards the North Pole, that a man of war might sail under the bend of their bodies ; and such accounts may continue long uncontradicted, and in some de- gree credited ; but if an event publicly asserted, which any way affects stock or trade, or public credit, or people's professions, as that America has offered terms of accommodation ; that a war has broken out betwixt Spain and Morocco ; that the provincials have taken Quebec ; or that the king of Prussia is sending an army into Hanover ; such events and such narratives, if they be publicly asserted and believed for any length of time, you may swear to be true.
" What then were the miracles of Christianity? Of infinitely more importance to those who read or heard of them than any thing which affects only a man's property or business can be ; for upon these facts being true or false depended all their hopes of ever- lasting happiness ; and besides, if these accounts be true, I must give up the opinions and principles I have been born and brought up in, must change the religion in which my fathers lived and died, and which
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I have all along believed and practised, must take up a quite different course of life, part with my old plea- sures and gratifications, and begin a new set of rules and system of behaviour ; it is not conceivable I should do this upon every idle report or frivolous ac- count, or indeed without being fully satisfied and con- vinced of the truth and credibility of the relation.
" 8. The third great article which concerns the credit of a history is, whether it coincided with the prevailing opinions and prejudices, or was supported by the authority of the time and place where it was delivered.
" We all know that a story which falls in with our own sentiments and passions gains an easy admission ; the most unlikely and incredible things of the king and his ministers would go down with a party or a faction,— with a club of modern patriots, for instance, upon the slightest foundation, if it confirmed a notion they had taken up about the ministry, or served to humour their resentment against them. Upon the same principle the stories of witchcraft and appari- tions, handed down to us from king James's time, find few people to believe them at this time of day ; be- cause we know that such stories might be and were propagated and credited upon the slenderest testi- mony; they had no more doubt of the reality and exist- ence of witches and ghosts than we have of our own, and therefore received any account of them, not as we should, with surprise and caution, or any curiosity to
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 225
see into the bottom of it, but with open mouths, and swallowed them with more avidity and less distrust than any common transaction or ordinary occurrence whatever. Of a like nature were the stories that were told of Jews eating and crucifying children at a time when the people were enraged at them beforehand, and ready to tear their eyes out ; — such stories fell in with the public hatred, and got people to believe them against all reason and probability. The same holds with regard to the popish miracles, that were pretended to have been wrought, in the dark ages of Christianity ; they proved nothing but what was al- ready allowed, and had the popular cry and persuasion entirely on their side. Public authority also, by stifling inquiry, or silencing contradiction, may frequently hold up the reputation of a story, that has little else to support it ; as was the case in a great measure with those popish miracles, where it was as much as a man's life was worth to question or dispute them.
" On the contrary, therefore, if a story makes its way in opposition to prejudice and passion ; if you can get, for instance, the patriots themselves to confess any good quality of the king's, or good action of the mi- nister's, you may depend upon the truth of it, because nothing but the truth would force them to an acknow- ledgement so sorely against their wills."
9 9- -9 9 ' ■ w 9
He next enters upon " Prophecy," without any fur- ther application either to the sufferings or the mi- racles of Christ and his Apostles.
VOL. I. Q,
226 LIFE OF DR. PALEY/.
" Collateral external proofs of Christianity are, Prophecy and the Propagation of the Religion .
" A prophecy fulfilled is a miracle, and like any other miracle it proves the point it is produced to attest.
" The two principal articles of prophecy are,
" The predictions of Christ in the O. T. and
" His own predictions of the destruction of Jeru- salem.
" Now as to the first, there is an absolute certainty that the passages we produce out of the Old Testa- ment were actually there seven hundred years before Christ's appearance, because these books have been all the while in the custody and keeping of the Jews, and determined enemies of Christianity; and who consequently would not forge themselves, nor suffer others to foist in, any thing that made for a religion they had rejected, and were so much set against.
" These passages are all received and acknow- ledged by the Jews to this day.
" You must compare, therefore, the description with the event ; and in proportion as you think it un- likely such descriptions should have been hit off by mere guess-work and random conjecture, in the same proportion do they prove that the prophets received their intimations from Heaven, and consequently that the religion, which is built upon them, comes from God.
" I divide these prophecies into two classes :
" 1st. Those which seem plainly and directly to belong to Christ.
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" 2d. Those which probably, though more ob- scurely, relate to him.
" Here produce the prophecies.
" 2. Christ's own predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem.
" Here produce the particular circumstances.
" The rapid propagation of Christianity.
" For the fact itself produce the papers.
" Internal proofs of the truth of Christianity.
" The circumstantial concurrence of the Scriptures with other accounts of the same time and country.
" Produce the papers.
" Facts fairly related, which might seemingly make against them, and which, had they carved out the story for themselves, they would have suppressed.
" Produce the papers.
" Seeming contradictions, but real arguments, be- tween the different Evangelists.
" The Morality of the Gospel.
" Produce the papers.
" The originality of Christ's character.
" Produce the papers.
" Suitableness of the four Gospels to the situation of their reputed Authors.
" Produce the papers.
" An adequate occasion for the miracles.
" Produce the papers.
* Genuineness of St. Paul's Epistles.
" Produce the papers.
" Objections to Christianity.
Q2
228 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
" Produce the papers.
" Hume's objection
" That a miracle can never become credible by any human testimony whatever, as it contradicts expe- rience that the miracle should be true — it does not contradict experience that the testimony should be false.
" A simple instance will answer the objection. It absolutely contradicts the experience of the Emperor of China, for instance, that water should become stiff by cold ; yet of twelve men landed in his territories, who all affirmed it to be so in their country, if they were men of innocent and exemplary lives, if there was no possible temptation for them to lie about the matter, if it was not possible for them to make a mis- take about it, if they were insulted and ill-treated for maintaining a seeming absurdity, yet still persisted in it, if the Emperor called them before him, and charged them to have done with such nonsense ; if they still went on and he imprisoned them, beat them, banished them, and they neither varied nor retracted their story ; if he promised them their lives and liberty, if they would confess it to be false ; but instead of confessing it they repeated the same assertion, sub- mitted to be put to death, and died : with all the ex- perience the Emperor of China might have had, and all the confidence that the most experienced men upon earth put in his experience, they must be madmen not to believe them.
" Hume's second objection is, that there are mira-
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 229
cles which we allow to be false, and yet arp supported by as good testimony as those of the Gospel, and consequently no such testimony can be depended upon ; and he produces by way of instance the popish miracles.
" We deny that these miracles are built upon any thing like the evidence that we have for Christ's
" * The controversy of the Church of England with Dissenters * * * *
" Papists
* • # # #• #
" Methodists
######
" Quakers.
" Presbyterians.
" The number of Infidels in the world.
* * #
" Vanity.
# *
" Rashness.
* •
" Company and conversation.
* # # # #
* The reader will observe that here hooks on the part (and it is only a part even of what the lecturer has reserved for this de- partment of his subject), which is given by Meadley in the Ap- pendix, B. 2d edition.
230 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
" The tendency of particular studies.
# # #
N Authority * * ■ *
" The cause which has contributed more than all the rest put together to give rise to objections.
" 1st. The many absurdities which several national Churches have taken into their system, and which have no place nor foundation in the Scriptures ; and the universal propensity in mankind to reject a whole system for the folly or falsehood of particular parts of it. This cause alone accounts for the many unbe- lievers to be found in popish countries. How should you get Voltaire, Rousseau, or people of sense and spirit to believe Christianity, while they regard Tran- substantiation, the Infallibility of the Pope, or the Power of absolving sins, as so many parts of it ?
" 2d. Several lucrative tenet6 in some established systems, which induce the suspicion of craft and de- sign in the whole, — -the efficacy of offerings and dona- tions to the Church.
" 3. The placing Christianity upon every foundation.
" Thus Quakers and Methodists refer you for the proof of Christianity to the motions or witnessing of the Spirit in your own breast ; now a man who hears this, and can feel no such emotions or witnessings, has nothing left for it but to turn infidel."
He then proceeds to give a short sketch of the prevailing errors of each Christian sect that he has mentioned, and takes the errors of each, in addition
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to what he has already given of the controversies maintained by each with the Church of England.
Besides this matter extracted from a book fairly and neatly written, and set in a clear and intel- ligible arrangement, there is what may be con- sidered his rough copy of these lectures, containing many passages from various authors, whom he has consulted, and which are generally confined to what he has called the papers, when he made up his lec- tures, along with much of the same material as has been given. It may be worth noticing that this book commences with directions for studying the Scriptures, written at full length, and much in the same words as Meadley has given in his Appendix B, though not so full. In the next page is written,
" On the evidence of Christianity.
" Directions for studying the Acts of the Apostles.
" Of the Author's dates, occasion, and design of the Epistles, with an Explanation of some of the more remarkable phrases and arguments that occur in them.
" Directions for pursuing our inquiries into sub- jects of doubt or controversy.
" An abstract of Ecclesiastical History, particularly of the first founding of Christianity and of the Re- formation.
" Of the controversies of the Church of England with Papists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Methodists.
" Of the composition of Sermons.
" Of exhorting, expounding, visiting the sick, and other parochial duties."
232 LIFE OF Dlt. PALEY.
Throughout this book there is little alteration in the plan, except transposing two or three heads, and inserting one or two which do not appear elsewhere. Thus, after " the morality of the Gospel" comes " the originality of Christ's character," — and after that " an adequate occasion for the miracles."
The papers referred to are loose sheets, containing some little material on each of the heads here men- tioned, which comes into the Evidences in some shape or other, though so much varied or enlarged, that they are scarcely to be recognised, except as being applicable to the several heads. The most consider- able of them in bulk are " Testimonies to the au- thenticity of the Scriptures," and " Proofs and ac- count of the sufferings of the first Christians," and " Hints on the study of divinity." One of them shall be produced as a specimen of the rest : on a comparison with the chapter in the Evidences, it will be seen how far the resemblance goes.
" The originality of Christ's character, that is the improbability of any one, whether enthusiast or im- postor, fancying or pretending himself to be such a person as Christ professed himself to be.
" The Jews understood their prophecies of a tem- poral prince, and therefore whoever set himself up as the object of these prophecies would most naturally fall upon the sense in which they were generally un- derstood y and this was the fact, for the false Christs or pretended Messiahs, of which there have appeared so many, did assume that character.
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" Had he taken upon him the character merely of a prophet, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, &c. it would not have been unnatural, and he had examples before him.
" Had he trod in the steps of the old philosophers, the rabbies, or teachers of wisdom among the Jews, one would not have wondered.
" But here he produces himself as a being of a different nature with the rest of his species, as im- mediately and peculiarly connected with God him- self, as invested with the government of the world, as the person who is to raise us up at the last day, and the appointed judge of all mankind, — a character which there was no precedent to suggest, no example to imitate, nothing to make him imagine it. Besides, it never would have entered into the head of im- postors either to deny the ceremonial institution of Moses, or be for setting mankind upon a level with themselves, as there was not a man of them who did not stickle for the distinction and superiority of their nation.
" It was about as unlikely as that a Chinese man- darin should imagine himself inspired by the Holy Ghost, or a native of Otaheite, that he was possessed by the devil."
Some of these papers also contain heads and ar- guments, which do not at all come into the com- position of the Evidences. Such are " on the sects and opinions of the Jews ; on the manners and cus- toms of the Jews \ and instances of the disinterested-
234 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
ness of Christ and his Apostles ;" which last is not at all connected with his chapter on the " Candour of the Writers in the New Testament."
It is obvious that most writers, on whatever sub- jects, may be as undecided in their plan, and as un- connected in the pursuit of their object as this author seems to have been on first setting out , nor is it pre- tended that any other work in so imperfect a state would not present the same confusion of material. But this may serve to account for the commence- ment of such an undertaking as the Evidences of Christianity.
Besides the main design of presenting such a view of these lectures, viz. to prove that much labour and thought was expended upon the work, in ad- dition to its being an enlargement of his lectures, there are one or two observations suggested by an inspection into these papers.
His style and manner of illustration seem to have been the same in 1774, when comparatively young, both in age and theological studies. He seems to have been peculiarly fond of taking hold of the pass- ing events of the day, and other familiar matters, as illustrative of the obscurities, or what may be called at least the depths of learning. He seems to have divided the subject of his lectures in his own mind into two parts, on reconsidering it with a view to publication •, into the study of divinity, taking under that name a very partial view of it as a science, and into the common clerical duties, in which lie could
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have had little notion at that time of being farther interested than as a college tutor. One part of this division he seems to have taken for his Evidence, and perhaps on finding a certain portion of it swell out into a more bulky form than he had anticipated, confined himself to write on that particular kind of proof, which consists of some less noticed points of external and internal evidence. Original on common- place subjects, and common-place on original subjects, as well as prepared by the peculiar bent of his mind to sift evidence of every kind ; he seems to have united these two qualities so as to do more justice to his subject than to himself, and to have consulted rather how he might add his share to the many writings on that subject, than how he might form a close or elaborate detail of the general evidences. It is cer- tain that what forms the chief subject of his Evi- dences forms only a very small part of his lectures. It may serve also to confirm what has been before related, of his having employed much of his thought on this subject after he left college, if not of his having gradually developed his plan, that many of his early sermons contain several passages similar to those in his lectures, but considerably added to and enlarged.
In the book wherein he seems to have formed the plan of his Evidences, and which is clearly written in a more hurried manner and with fresher ink than his lectures, there is what may give rise to a curious
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speculation, as to the different form which his work might have assumed, and the reception it might have met with. In the first page stands in many detached sentences,
" An address to a young man on the study of Divinity.
" An address to a young Clergyman entering upon the Evidences of Christianity.
" To distinguish between spurious testimony and various degrees of testimony.
" To begin with Casaubon's letter.
" Some objections merely negative, as temptations, &c. raising the bodies of saints.
" Substantial trait. Duke of Argyle.
" National character no great objection.
" Miracles, why rejected at one time and received at another.
" How far recognized by the Jewish Scriptures.
" Passages likely to be forged."
It is not easy, if it were necessary, to determine for what purpose these several heads were put down, ex- cept as so many first strayings amid the uncertainties and indecision of arrangement, before he caught the spirit of his work. Some of these heads are introduced into the body of the work as it now stands, and after all, such loose conjecture may be wide of the mark.
In order to come at his own opinion of the merit, as well as sterling value of his work, the following
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 287
extracts from letters of his own writing may be pro- duced. In one, written about this time to an author who had presented him with one of his valuable works, he says, " I desire you to accept my thanks for your obliging present, which has been to me full of in- formation. As an instance of your condescension I receive it, with the respect with which a soldier would receive a sword from a veteran general. Your life, like that of the excellent Lardner, has been long and honourably employed in raising the materials of Christian erudition out of the mines in which they were contained, and which few can unclose. To me, and such writers as I am, belongs the far more im- perfect praise, but sufficient for us, of presenting these materials to the public, under forms as popular and persuasive as we can."
In another, which may refer to his Evidences, not only because it is placed amongst the rough copies of his correspondence of that date, but because it suf- ficiently tallies with that work, and not with any other, he says, so far as can be made out, "Ina work by its nature comprehending so many points, it is hardly to be expected that there should not be some in which opinions will differ *****## I have seen some short quotations from Tom Paine's works in newspapers, &c. I should not expect from him much close reasoning upon the subject -> I agree in thinking his talents for writing are respectable, and his impudence unbounded. If there be any thing in my work which should happen to meet his
238 LIFE OF DR. PAI.F.Y.
objections, I shall account it fortunate. I think no good is done by a reply, which would only unavoid- ably disseminate his poison."
To his bookseller he says, " I have good reason to believe the Evidences will become a standard book for persons entering into orders and for the universities.
The bishops of and tell me so ; if so, it is
not unlikely to command a regular sale for some years. I have no wish that it should go into other hands. I will offer. you fair terms, and I may be tempted by offers # *."
To the same, who seems to have demurred, he says in another letter, " I adhere to my proposal of £500 for the Evidences and Horae Paulina?. I be- lieve I do not overvalue the Evidences at that price, whether the 'Horae Paulina? be worth any thing or not."
That his valuation of his works, independent of his opinion on their merit, disappointed neither him- self nor his bookseller, may be well conjectured by the steady and continued sale of them much longer than the latter could avail himself of the exclusive copyright ; but it may serve further to show the rea- sonableness of his prospects when it is known, that either (for at this distance of time there must neces- sarily be room for guessing) a demand no less sin- gular than gratifying was made upon him for a second edition, before he or his friends in the north could procure a single published copy of the first ; or, on his way to the south, having occasion to stop with a
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 239
friend at Leeds, he first saw a copy of the second edition, before he knew certainly that the first was in general circulation*.
It is almost unnecessary to add much in this place to what he has added in the margin of the volume already so often alluded to f , that a mistake is there made in fancying his work a successor to the late Bishop of London's short but excellent Summary of Evidences for the truth of Divine Revelation. That little work is in some sort an abridgement of Paley's Evidences, as the preface to it acknowledges.
After this protracted view of his public life and writings, it may not be unacceptable to look at him in private. There was but little variation in his mode of life for ten or twelve years of his fixed residence in Carlisle, and even in the comparatively unim- portant relations of a private individual, he showed proofs of the same distinguished mind, the same be- nevolent views, and the same strong and steady prin- ciple, which is to be traced throughout his whole course. As a private and domestic character he
* In the university of Cambridge a grace lately passed the senate, to confirm proposals for the institution of a previous ex- amination of the candidates for the degree of B. A., when it was determined that there shall be every year a public examination in the senate-house in the last week of Lent term ; the subject of examination to be one of the four Gospels or the Acts of the Apostles in the original Greek, Paley's Evidences of Christianity, one of the Greek and one of the Latin classics.
t Public Characters.
240 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
scarcely varied at all from his 37th to his 60th year ; and, not like some who reserve an arm-chair for old age, and are in a constant bustle before that time, he seems to have kept up the even tenor of his way with a due mixture of public and private concerns. During this period he became the father of rather a large family.
In the conduct of his domestic life, his aim seems still to have been method and arrangement, but he rather watched and took special care that his family should observe it, than observed it himself. From a habit of sitting up late at night, which he had not left behind him at the university, he was consequently not early in a morning ; but his mornings and even- ings, when the work of his waking hours began, had not a single moment undisposed of. He was never seen inactive either in body or mind, except in a five minutes' nap after dinner on reading his newspaper, when as a humorous apology he used to quote an ob- servation of Dr. Glynn, a well known physician at Cambridge : " Digestion goes on so well !" He was very rarely absent from his stall at the cathedral on the week days, at least when in residence, or even when at Carlisle ; and not to say that these formed his only motives, often from his late rising found himself obliged to prefer his appearance there, and the example of it, to his breakfast. He almost daily took a morning ride to his living of Dalston, at that time a most pleasant rural village, but more on ac- count of his health than the pleasure of the exercise.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 241
It was scarcely less painful to see his attitude on horseback, than it was for him to use it. It was not only exercise to him, but a most laborious exertion. He kept constantly a slow and regular pace, mounted on a very safe-footed and sober old hunter, bought and presented to him by the Bishop of Carlisle. He used to be much amused at relating a freak of this animal ; which on hearing the cry of a pack of hounds, and forgetting whether it might be equally agreeable to its rider, undertook to carry him a hunting, not at all for his pleasure, though he remarked that it was pleasant enough. He was very much entertained with an old story, which he considered very ap- plicable to himself, of a grave dignitary, who on a friend's expressing some surprise that he had not got to the visitation before him, replied, " Consider, sir, I ride and you walk." He returned to an early dinner, spent the afternoon in lighter reading, or some domestic concern ; and the evening, and even the latest hours of midnight, were his times for study. In the summer he generally removed his family to his vicarage at Dalston, in order to snatch a taste of farming, fishing, and gardening. There the same hours had nearly the same employment, and his mind was busy through all. His study was his place of hard work ; but in his amusement or his leisure he never lost sight of improvement, in observation or contemplation. Indeed many of his works, and par- ticularly his Natural Theology, and some chapters also in his Moral Philosophy, — that on Happiness, for vol. i. R
242 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
instance, — show at once the bent of his mind during his most vacant hours. These bespeak a tone of think- ing which could at once derive an object of amuse- ment from study, and of study from amusement. Whatever he did, he did upon a plan. He was very fond of society, and mixed in it very freely, though never to the sacrifice of graver studies or more serious duties, or even the lighter pleasures of his family circle. So fond was he of it, that it is not little to say, that his amusements in this way were but his second consideration #. On his first coming to Carlisle, he gained a very general introduction through his friend, Dr. Law, who was himself as partial to, as he was eagerly sought after in, the society of that place. On his being made bishop, the ascendancy was easily allowed to his friend, from his powers of mind, and that feeling of deference to superior talents, which in the long-run always carries its own weight. But
* It has often been observed that authors describe themselves in their works. It would be easy for any of Dr, P.'s familiar friends to pick out much of his private character from various maxims and sentiments interspersed here and there in his works. So it is obvious how much this natural preference for society was subdued in him by a sense of duty ; for he says in a sermon at a Durham visitation — " retiredness is the very characteristic of our calling. It is impossible to be a good clergyman and to be always upon the streets, or to be continually mixing with the diversions, the follies, or even the business or pursuits of the world. Perhaps no moments are passed with so much com- placency as those which a scholar passes in his study." Cell a perpetuata dulcescit.
LIFE OF DIt. PALEY. 243
so far was it from any obtrusiveness on his part, or any petty assumption which could excite a grudge, that his opinions were rather called for on the passing events of the day, and many of his remarks are much cherished even at this time. Easy, cheerful, rational, accommodating himself to the ordinary views of com- mon sense, and bringing out his own amusing ob- servations on the most striking parts of ordinary life, which every one recognizes, but few think of account- ing for, he was able to entertain and amuse without exciting any worse feeling. His conversation was of that commanding kind, and yet so plain and unaf- fected, that it always seemed to leave more informa- tion than it aimed at. He was not more remarkable for a fund of entertaining anecdote, for the flashes of his wit, than for his easy transitions to grave and ra- tional conversation. He was able always to put his hearers into possession of the very pith and substance of an anecdote in much fewer words than usually go to the formation of a good story ; but it was never his aim to be celebrated as a jocose, or as an emi- nently witty man. By his liberality and candour he was enabled to put a stop to many of the current re- ports of the times, and much of the evils of gossip- ing. He used to ridicule very forcibly that sacrifice to etiquette which many make ; and if ever he was disposed to be severe in mixed company, it was either upon those who pretended to something they had not, or upon those who seemed to labour under the forms and ceremonies and compliments of society.
r %
244 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
He confined himself, however, rather more to a set of friends, than sought eminence by mixing with strangers or with the public. His spirits were buoyant enough to lead him easily into a more promiscuous society, but he appeared there as one gaining in- formation as well as giving it ; so that he was known but little comparatively as a public character at this time. During the latter part of his residence, when he became more known as a writer, and one whose opinions were of considerable weight, he was some- times entrapped into a visit for the sake of drawing him out on particular subjects, or bringing him into collision with other eminent characters for the enter- tainment of the company. This he never relished. He had not much gullibility, and was least of all ac- cessible by flattery of that sort. He was not at all unlikely to enter into any silent compact to disap- point such expectations. It has been complained that on a very public occasion in Cumberland, he and Dr. Milner, the Dean of Carlisle, a man equally famous for his enlivening conversation, and some others of the clerical body by no means inconsider- able, joined in defeating the expectations of the more grave part of the company, and endangering their own dignity, by talking only on the composition of a plum-pudding. This, if there be any truth in it, is not at all unfit to be made an instance of what is here meant to be conveyed.
His intercourse with literary men during this part of his life, though not to be noticed as peculiarly
LIFE OF Dlt. PALEY. 245
large, yet was sufficiently active to keep his mind in full force. With his usual fondness for clubbing, he joined two or three of the most literary men resident in Carlisle, in holding a Sunday evening club, that is, in meeting on the Sunday evening alternately at their several houses, for the easy and friendly discus- sion of subjects of general interest, chiefly applicable to the purposes of religion, if not to points of doc- trinal divinity. But it may be a sort of set-off against such a grave mention of this club, to relate that it consisted from first to last of only three members. As each of these had the privilege of introducing any friends, this triumvirate was generally found to consist of seven or eight, who managed to give each other the impression that they were the pleasantest parties they ever enjoyed. Besides those more inti- mately connected with the chapter of Carlisle, and with the bishop's family, most of whom were occa- sional guests at some of the three houses, many of the resident inhabitants of that city, as well as occa- sional visitors, joined these meetings. One of these was Dr. Milner, the Dean of Carlisle, with whom there was no very long opportunity of forming a nearer acquaintance*, as Dr. Paley left Carlisle in about three years after the dean was installed. So far was he from suspecting, much less being con- scious, that Dr. Milner was preferred before himself, as is insinuated in Meadley's Memoirs, that he came into his house one day much delighted with the news being announced of their new dean, as it opened a prospect of their having so eminent a man amongst
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them. He said, " he could not have been better pleased, except it had been himself." In a letter about that date he writes, — "We have got a new dean, a great friend of Mr. Sheepshanks and Mr. Carlyle, and a man of great reputation, so that the appointment gives us great satisfaction." In a letter of a later date he says, " when the Dean of Carlisle preaches, you may walk upon the heads of the people. All the meetings attend to hear him. He is indeed a powerful preacher."
With Professor Carlyle, who having returned from college to his native place, and at that time a young man, held the other living of St. Cuthbert in Carlisle under the dean and chapter, he was much in the habit of close familiarity. With him he used to con over his manuscript works before they appeared. In their evening walks he generally pulled out of his pocket an old scrap of paper, which he had filled with materials, the fruits of his morning rides to Dalston. Indeed, though this exercise of riding was absolutely necessary to his health, yet he chose it partly with a view of ruminating over his subject, and afterwards transcribing his thoughts upon paper, and partly for the purpose of consulting his books, which he kept there. What was the usual subject of their con- versation during their evening walks it may not be material to note down, though from the elegant re- search of the one, and the ardour and energy of the other, displayed at all times and on all subjects, it may be pretty well conjectured. One circumstance is worth observing, that Dr. Paley's conversation
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 247
was generally mixed with such minute and original observations upon the most trifling of the surround- ing objects, that scarcely a stick or stone escaped his notice ; and from the fact of many of his remarks, which were too notable at the time for their manner as well as acuteness to be easily forgotten, being found in a more finished shape in his Natural Theo- logy, it has been generally supposed by many of his friends, that he even at that time contemplated a work of this kind. One day, for instance, when walking with Mr. Carlyle by the edge of the sea, at Allonby, a delightful bathing place in Cumberland, nearly at the mouth of the Solway Frith, Dr. Paley was observed by his companion to be pondering for some time in silence, as if fixed in admiration of some object, and at length — " Now see," says he to his friend, who expected a burst of some kind, " only look at the goodness of God ! how happy those shrimps are 1"
It will not perhaps be irrelevant to this part of his life, though it be a digression, to bring forward a letter or two, that passed between these two friends at a later date, when Dr. Paley had left Carlisle, and Mr. Carlyle, then chancellor of that diocese, was on the point of accompanying Lord Elgin on his em- bassy to Constantinople. They are, to say the least, sufficiently characteristic of the writers to be interest- ing to many, and if any thing more is wanted to justify the insertion, it may be observed that the first letter is a fair specimen of the writer's ordinary con- versation.
LIFE OF DIt. PALEY.
" A little Ale-house upon our Road, May 22, —99.
" Our women had received by our correspondence with Carlisle, some flying mention of your expedition.
" It is a dead hit at a crown prebend. They can't do less ex debitojustitice, as much more as they like,
but I think it can't fail ; so also thinks , who is
a deep rooter. It will also be followed by some hand- some marks of notice from all or some of the trium- virate of bishops. This consolation awaits you, if you should come home circumcised or should get into the Seven Towers.
" I will do your visitation for you in case of your absence with the greatest pleasure. It is neither a difficulty nor a favour * * *.
" Observanda. — 1. Compare every thing with En- glish and Cumberland scenery ; e. g. rivers with Eden, groves with Corby, mountains with Skiddaw. Your sensations of buildings, streets, persons, &c. &c. ; e. g.
whether the mufti be like Dr. -*, the grand
seignior, Mr. , &c.
" 2. Give us one day at Constantinople minutely from morning to night ; what you do, see, eat, and hear.
" 3. Let us know what the common people have to dinner ; get, if you can, a peasant's actual dinner and bottle ; for instance, if you see a man working in the fields, call to him to bring the dinner he has with Jum, and describe it minutely,
* Persons well known in Cumberland,
LIFE OF DR. PALKY. 249
" 4. Their little-houses — I reckon much upon them, — " drawing/' as Tristram Shandy says, " men's characters from their evacuations ;" and no author has written upon the subject fully enough !
" 5. The diversions of the common people. Whe- ther they seem to enjoy their amusements, and be happy, and sport and laugh. Farm-houses, or any thing answering to them, and of what kind, same of public houses, roads.
" 6. Their shops. How you get your breeches mended, or things done for you, and how, i. e. well or ill done. Whether you see the tailor, converse with him, &c. &c.
" 7. Get into the inside of a cottage, describe fur- niture, utensils, what you find actually doing.
" All the stipulations I make with you for doing your visitation is, that you come over to Wearmouth soon after your return, for you will be very enter- taining— between truth and lying. I have a notion you will find books, but in great confusion as to cata- logues, classing, &c. &c.
" 8. Describe minutely how you pass one day on shipboard. Learn to take and apply lunar or other observations, and how the midshipmen, &c. &c. do it.
" 9. What sort of fish you get, and how dressed.
" I should think your business would be to make yourself master of the middle Greek. My compli- ments to Buonaparte, if you meet with him, which I think is very likely. Pick up little articles of dress, tools, furniture, especially from low life ; as an actual smock, &c. &c.
250 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
"10. What they talk about — company. "11. Describe your impression upon first seeing things, upon catching the first view of Constantinople — the novelties of the first day you pass there.
" In all countries and climates, nations and lan- guages, carry with you the best wishes of, dear Carlyle,
" Your affectionate friend,
" W. PALEY."
The following letters* may be taken either as an- swers to the foregoing, or in whatever way the reader pleases to connect them.
" my dear sir, Pera, Dec. 10, 1799.
" I have now been here almost a month. Our voyage was rendered longer than we had expected, by the number of places at which we stopped. This, however, I need scarce say, made it upon the whole much more interesting. We spent four or five days at Lisbon, as many at Gibraltar, near a week at Palermo, and about the same time at Messina. I should have been most happy to have prolonged my stay in Sicily. I did get a little into the interior of the country, and to the foot of mount Etna, but I
* These two letters, though not properly belonging to this place, may be found to contain so easy and so accurate a de- scription of the scenery, that if they convey not their own apo- logy for appearing here, yet it is my business to claim an interest in giving them. I consider myself indebted to Mr. Carlyle's family for the use of them. Ed.
LIFE OF DR. PAJLEY. 251
was obliged to tear myself away. As all those places are so well known to you, I shall not enter into any thing relating to them. I have, however, put down every minute object I saw, and in the light in which it first struck me, as much as possible, according to the plan you pointed out, — the only one that can ever convey any notion of a country to a person who has not seen it. I was very much surprised to find the clergy in Sicily so wrell informed. They could almost all speak Latin with considerable facility, and they seemed by no means deficient in most of the common topics of literature. We were detained by calms and contrary winds in the Archipelago for three weeks ; this however gave us an opportunity of seeing from the ship most of the Grecian isles, and of landing upon some of them, particularly Cytheros and Tenedos. I own I was cruelly disappointed with the appearance of these far-famed islands. Cytheros was not half so fertile as Dalston common, and in most places quite as barren as Shep Fells. Tenedos seemed something better, and one of its valleys was covered with vines. Indeed we saw these islands at the worst time of the year for exhibiting their good looks, as the corn was off the ground, and every thing like a vegetable turned brown by the sun. But they never can be very fertile or very beautiful ; their soil is scarce a skin to cover their bones, and they have not one tree to enliven the prospect. While we were at the mouth of the Dardanelles, we catched an op- portunity of spending a day upon the plains of Troy, and tracing the courses of the Scamander and the
252 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
Simois. The plain is a most beautiful one, of a cir- cular figure, the diameter of which is about twelve miles. I was surprised to see the Scamander at the latter end of autumn so considerable a river. In winter it must be very large. When we saw it, it very much resembled, both in size and general ap- pearance, the Eden, a little below Castle-steads. The face of the country too is not very different. The Simois is something like the Petterel beside Botcherby Mill ; but more so to the little stream which passes by Acorn Bank, particularly in its banks and accom- paniments. Indeed we all agreed that we had seen nothing upon the Continent so like England as the borders of the Simois. I am sorry to say, we could not find one trace of ruins ; not a stone bigger than one's fist, not a swell in the earth where entrench- ments had ever been erected. Could these so com- pletely have perished, if the " altamoenia Trojae" had ever existed ? I own I begin to be an infidel upon the subject.
" I cannot say the first view of Constantinople struck me so forcibly as I had expected : whether it was that it opened upon us too gradually, or that I had raised my mind too high, I know not, but it certainly did not produce the same effect upon the imagination as either Lisbon or Messina. But in fact the prospect from the sea is by no means the finest point of view. We see the city to ten times more advantage from Pera. The scene from hence is indeed delightful. The sea with all its shipping lies directly before us, and appears like a beautiful lake, bounded cm the
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 253
right by the city of Constantinople, glittering with mosques and minarets. The Seraglio is at the ex- tremity of the city, and almost immediately before us. On the left we have the Bosphorus, fringed with cultivated fields and crowned with the Asiatic moun- tains. Princes' islands are in front, and beyond them a range of mountains very similar to the Scottish coast as seen from Allonby. Dallaway's plate, in his History of Constantinople, is a very good representation of the prospect, though I would not have chosen the spot he has done to make the view from. About a fortnight after our arrival we had an audience with the Grand Signior. As by this means we were ad- mitted into the bosom of the Seraglio, where so few Christians have ever been, you may suppose we looked about us with all our eyes. I fear I can scarce com- press the account of our interview into the remaining part of my letter, but I will try.
" We rose before five o'clock, and set off through Pera by torch-light. The procession opened with 200 janisaries, then the running footmen, interpreters, &c. Then the ambassador and suite, afterwards the marines and sailors of our vessels, and last the gentle- men of the Factory. We arrived by daybreak on the other side of the water, mounted horses provided for us, and proceeded to the gate of the city, at which the ambassador alighted, and entered the house of the governor ; he was here treated with coffee (which is never given with milk or sugar), and after staying about a quarter of an hour, he again mounted, and
254 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
we proceeded to the junction of two streets, the one leading down to the Port (public offices) and the other to the Seraglio. At this place we stopped for the arrival of the grand vizier, who was to precede us to the palace. We did not wait many minutes before his train made their appearance, which con- sisted of a great number of janisaries, ministers of state, &c. Our procession fell into the rear of the grand vizier's, and in this order we entered into the first court of the Seraglio, an irregular square, with trees planted in different parts ; about twice the size of the first court of Trinity College. At the left corner of the court are two marble columns about a yard in height, upon the first of which the heads of the grand viziers, and upon the second those of the other great officers that are cut off by order of the sultan, are exposed for three days, — a pleasant me- morandum to the grand vizier and his train ! Across the court runs a causeway. When we had advanced to the middle of this, we were met by a kind of pro- cession, consisting of bostangies, janisaries, &c. the foremost of whom absolutely pushed Lord Elgin off the causeway. Such is their established custom in the reception of Christian ambassadors. When we arrived at the gate of the second court, we alighted, and entered into a small room most conveniently fur- nished, where coffee was served, and where Lord Elgin waited till word should come that he might be admitted to the divan. This was in about twenty minutes. We then passed through the gate (which
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 955
was surrounded with old shields, and adorned with Arabic verses), and entered the inner court. This is by no means so large as the other, but has more trees planted in it, so as almost to give it the appearance of a garden. Over the gateway, and nearly all round the court, is a kind of covered gallery, or rather horizontal roof, that stretches seven or eight yards from the wall, and puts one in mind of the Chinese buildings. As soon as we came to the middle of the court, at a signal given, the janisaries, who are sta- tioned under the flat roof on the right, began to run with great velocity towards us. At first this appeared somewhat alarming, but we soon found it was only in order to scramble for their breakfast, which consisted of a cake of bread and some pilau. We now passed through a part of the court where it grew contracted, and entered the divan. This building contains two apartments, both about the same size, and divided from each other by an arch with sofas under it. The outer room is the hall of justice and council chamber. The farther seemed occupied by attendants; both these apartments are about ten yards square, and the same in height. A dome rises from about one half of this height, and is supported by arches shaped thus The divan, or rather first room, is wains-/ coted round with pannels of brown marble beauti- fully polished. When we entered, the vizier, at- tended by the two cadilashers of Asia and Europe, one standing on each side of him, continued seemingly immersed in business ; another studied insult, I fancy,
256 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
to poor Christians ! After this was finished, the vizier despatched a messenger to the sultan, to know if the ambassador would be received ; and sat down on the sofa, as did the two cadilashers, in the European manner. He continued in that posture for at least an hour, when the answer arrived. He received it with the utmost reverence, placing it upon his head and breast. He then opened and read it. As the ambassador was now to be admitted, he and his suite were invited to partake of a cold collation. Two tables were spread, one for him and the vizier, and the other for nine of us. A large silver salver was now placed upon the table, and upon this the dishes were laid one by one. Coarse napkins and horn spoons were given to each of us, and the writer of the grand signior's cipher (I do not give the break- tooth Turkish names) presided and carved ; i. e. pulled the meat to pieces with his fingers, which, as every thing was so much done, was not difficult. But the mode of doing this did not seem very de- licate ; the carver seizing the fowl or fish with one hand, and tearing off the limbs, &c. with the other. We had twenty-six dishes, of which I contrived to make the following list : —
" White soup9 very thick with rice ; fowls, roasted as dry as a chip ; green soup, thickened with various herbs, particularly burnia, and sourish ; apples stewed, and carved on the outsides in waves, very pretty 5 calves' -head hash, not very different from ours, though sourer and less peppered ; turkey boiled to rags ; Jish
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 257
stewed with herbs, cold; meat jelly, cold; sponge biscuits; mutton in round pieces, stewed in a strong gravy with herbs ; pigeons stewed ; dried fritters, cold ; pheasant, stewed to rags ; pears stewed, looked and tasted just like ours ; Jish, fried with herbs ; a kind of 'flummery ; partridges stewed with mutton ; an immense puff, big as a table, sweetened with honey ; sugar fritters ; mutton stewed with almonds; beans stewed into a thick mass, the common soup of the country ; open tarts, sweetened with honey ; a red pudding, very sour and bad — I could not guess at its composition ; pilau, i. e. rice boiled till soft, and smeared with butter, having a basin of sour milk in the centre ; sherbet, i. e. fresh-made raisin wine, with pomegranate seeds floating in it. I tasted all the dishes, and thought most of them very tolerable.
" When the entertainment was over, a slave poured some rose water on our hands (a ceremony by no means unnecessary, as we had neither plates nor knives and forks) out of a golden ewer ; we were then scented with incense, and requested to receive our pelisses. During all the time, the sultan was stationed at a grate which looked into the divan. We could easily perceive him move from the glittering of his jewels. After our pelisses were presented (which were of the same kind as those we received from the grand vizier, and said to be worth £40 or £50 a-piece), a shameful scramble took place amongst the Greek servants for the caftans (#; e. the inferior cloaks) ; this tKe Turks did not take the smallest pains
vol. i. s
258 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
to put a stop to. After waiting about half an hour, the vizier and his suite passed by us and entered the palace. In a short time we were informed that we might be introduced. We set off accordingly, i. e. as many as were permitted, which with the officers of the ship amounted to thirteen. As soon as we came to the door of the palace, a couple of guards seized us by the neck, I do not mean rudely, and kept their hands upon our shoulders till we quitted the palace. We turned to the left as soon as we entered, and came into a rich and spacious hall, where were deposited a quantity of European pre- sents. We approached the interior door, which opened into another saloon, through rows of white eunuchs, dressed in a most splendid manner, and glittering with precious stones. We were at length introduced, with the completest silence, into the pre- sence chamber. Here we saw the sultan sitting (for he too sat like a European) in state upon his throne. The apartment was about 30 feet square, covered with gilding both on the top and walls. There were three windows in the room on different sides, none of which opened into the external air. Thus the apartment was a box, within another room. The space between was formed into an aviary. As the windows had only a mediate communication with the air, the room itself possessed all the sublimity of darkness. The throne was exactly like a four-post bed, from the sides of which, as well as from the top, hung golden balls adorned with long fringe. The
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throne was absolutely hidden by pearls, and must be of immense value. On the side of the room opposite the entrance, a kind of fire-place was erected, and this was the only furniture of the chamber ; which in- deed exhibited a most comfortless appearance, always, I believe, the abode of misery, and more frequently, perhaps, than any other place on earth, the scene of guilt and horror. The sultan was dressed in a yellow robe with a very rich pelisse. The fur of it crossed over his breast. His face is handsome, and his coun- tenance pleasirig. The ambassador now delivered his speech, which was interpreted to the sultan. This was answered by the vizier. During the answer the sultan looked twice or thrice at the ambassador, and nodded with a kind of smile. When the speeches were over, we withdrew in the same manner and form as we had come in. We then proceeded through the courts, &c. &c. and mounted our horses. It was not, however, the etiquette for us to set off upon our re- turn, till after the grand vizier had left the seraglio. In about half an hour he and the members of the divan made their appearance. They were preceded by a large number of janisaries (2000 I should think) running as quick as possible. The great men rode one after another, generally very well mounted. The vizier closed the procession. After the train had passed, we set out upon our return, which was con- ducted exactly in the same manner as our approach, only that we had a greater number of spectators
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(particularly women) than we took notice of in the morning.
" Thus I have tried to give you a sketch of our visit. I have only to hope you are not more tired with it than we were. I know not whether I shall be able to get into the library of the seraglio. In the mean time I am very busy with my Oriental studies. I talk Arabic for two hours every morning with a master, and afterwards in the course of the day with some families to whom it is vernacular, that I have been introduced to. I have already met with some in- teresting books in the language ; a book of biography, with poetry interspersed ; a romance in 30 vols., ex- actly like Amadis de Gaul, but certainly more an- cient than the time of Mahommed ; a collection of anecdotes and bon mots of the court of Haroun Alraschid. I think they will not be considered as unam using in England."
Another letter is dated,
"my dear sir, Cyprus, Feb. 16, 1800.
" You will be surprised to find by the date of this letter, that I have got so far from Constantinople. I am now on my road to Syria, where I hope to arrive in a short time.
" As the plague had broke out in Constantinople, and even in the Seraglio itself, I was prevented from pursuing my investigations in that place for some
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time ; I did not like to remain at Pera unemployed, and as General Koehler was going to Syria to join the grand vizier, I gladly embraced the offer he was so good as to make me of accompanying him. It was no small inducement to my undertaking the journey to find that he travelled through the heart of Asia Minor, and particularly through a part of it which has not for ages been explored by any Europeans. The route through it is now only opened o» account of the rebellions which prevail in some of the pro- vinces through which the common road passed. The part I mean is through ancient Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia ; from Iconium to Celenchris, where we took shipping for this island. The quantities of Gre- cian remains are beyond all conception. We literally rode upon sculptures and marble columns for miles. Catacombs and sarcophagi lay scattered in various places, as we passed along, upon the ground. We met with some temples where the pillars were still standing, and with many where they were lying in the place where they had been overturned. We saw some mausolea almost entire, and of the most beau- tiful architecture. In short, the whole of this un- known region " scatet minis." I was very fortunate in having General Koehler in company, as he is an excellent draftsman. He made sketches of most of the objects we judged worthy of it, and has been so good as to promise me a copy of all the drawings he has taken. I was myself employed, along with another gentleman of our party, in taking the in-
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scriptions and making measures of such buildings as we conveniently could. I have written also a very minute journal of all our transactions, so that I trust I shall be able to give you a pretty tolerable idea of our route. As we examined these splendid remains, it was impossible not to be still more strongly struck with the scenes of desolation around us. All these fertile countries are now almost a desert. We tra- velled through one plain near two hundred miles long, and from eighteen to twenty miles over, the plain where Lystra and Derbe, and a number of other cities once stood, a plain, I believe, nearly half as big as Yorkshire, and which produces twenty bushels for every one that is sown ; and I am very sure that all this tract does not contain 27,000 inhabitants, two-thirds of whom live in the towns of Coniah and Caraman ; for there are few villages and no single cottages to be found. The whole country is in a state of anarchy. Every little commandant of a petty district is an independent prince, and every one is at variance with his neighbours. No person, therefore, can think of living in a separate habitation, where he cannot be defended by a sufficient number of friends. It is only, therefore, around these towns that any cultivation is to be found. All the intermediate country is a waste betwixt these small oases. You may easily suppose travelling was not very convenient in such a country. We had seldom a place to sleep in better than the barn or stable of a hedge alehouse ; and sometimes we had nothing but the same khan
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with our horses and camels : often a ruinous build- ing without doors, and almost without roof. We had nothing to eat but cabobs, i. e. slices of meat roasted on a skewer, made of tough mutton or goat's flesh, cut off from the animal the moment it was killed. In most of the places through which we passed, we could find no wine to drink, because the people were rigid Mahomeddans. Such was our lodging and fare. But fatigue made our beds soft, and our meals palatable.
" We met Sir Sydney Smith at this place. He is setting off to-morrow or next day for Alexandria, and has offered to carry me' along with him there, and from thence (after getting a peep at Cairo and the Pyramids, which the present treaty will enable him to do) I propose going to Jaffa and Jerusalem, and remaining there a week or two, as I have every recommendation I could desire, to introduce me into the several convents, &c. and can now speak Arabic with tolerable ease. From thence I shall return by the coast to Constantinople ; and I think I shall have seen as much in a short time as most persons have ever done.
" If I have an opportunity, I will certainly write to you from the Holy City."
We come now to another period of Dr. Paley's life, viz. his removal from Carlisle, which is repre- sented to have taken place in consequence of his pub- lication of the Evidences of Christianity. The man- ner of it may reflect more credit upon his patrons and
264 life of dr. paLey.
himself than has been sometimes allowed. He brought forward opportunely what was likely to add materially to the Christian cause at that time, and the more so, as it was sure to be advanced substantially and with a weight of intelligible and practical reasoning, sufficient to turn the edge of the cunning sophistry of that day % and those of the episcopal bench, who stepped forward to patronise his exertions, seem to have had no other view. In 1794 he received the first communication from the Bishop of London, Dr. Porteus, in which that prelate states that " a prebend has just become vacant in the church of St. Paul's, of which I desire your acceptance as a small mark of the high estimation in which I hold your character, your talents, and your writings ; and more particularly as a public testimony on my part to the merit of your late work on the Evidences of Christianity, which will, I conceive, do essential service to the cause of religion, at a time when it stood much in need of such able defenders. I wish for your sake that the preferment I offer was more valuable, but as it is the first that has become vacant since your last book appeared, I was anxious to seize the earliest opportunity that presented itself of giving you some little proof of regard/' Dr. Paley reckoned this about £150 a year, exclusive of the chance of fines, of which it was not wholly unpro- ductive. In Christmas of the same year the then Bishop of Lincoln (now Bishop of Winchester) pre- sented him with the subdeanery of Lincoln, " solely," as his lordship writes, " from the great respect I have
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always entertained for your character, and which has just been confirmed and raised by the very able man- ner in which you have supported the general evidences of Christianity in your two last publications. As I feel that I could not give this piece of preferment to any other person with so much satisfaction to my own mind, so I am convinced that I could not otherwise dispose of it with so much credit to myself in the opinion of all who have any regard for the interests of religion." In the beginning of the next year he spent a few weeks at Cambridge preparatory to taking his doctor's degree, and on his way to take possession of this unexpected piece of preferment. At that very time came a third letter, from the Bishop of Durham, offering him the rectory of Bishop Wearmouth ; at the same time saying, that " the respect his lordship felt for his distinguished abilities, and the benefit the cause of Christianity had derived from his Horae Pau- lina? and the Evidences of Christianity, did not allow him to hesitate a moment in offering this preferment as a public testimony of his esteem." Thus in the short space of six or eight months flowed in such a tide of substantial and disinterested patronage from different quarters upon the same public grounds, that it cannot but be a matter of surprise to find any in- sinuations thrown out, either that such preferment was inadequate, or that he was dissatisfied with his reward, or unworthily courted it. By one he is pub- licly represented as having been long an object which those in the higher orders in the church had observed
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in dignified silence. By others, this accidental and sudden rise of preferment is made the ground on which a mere attack and defence of political and party zeal is so conspicuous, that his own character is lost in the struggle. It is said by one party, that " any large forbearance was scarcely now possible," when this forbearance never seems to have been thought of under that name. By an opposite par- tisan it is implied, that if it was so, it was in con- sequence of his opinion hitherto maintained ; while a third represents the episcopal bench as being roused from their apparent insensibility to our author's merits. He has even obtained, though not, it is to be hoped, generally, the reputation of having satisfied the scru- ples of the Bishop of London by a long letter of ex- planation, to which has been attached an epithet not very creditable to the clear and direct independence which he is known to have maintained. But though such rumours seem unworthy of serious notice, as they do not go for much, it may yet be fit to state a circumstance which probably may account for such a report, and which, as it stands in a rough state among the copies of his letters, might have given rise to a little speculation on the part of Dr. Paley's friends. The copy of a letter is there to be found addressed, "My lord ;" but unfortunately written so illegibly that it cannot supply a satisfactory contradiction to such as are willing to believe in such relations. It begins thus : — " It is my duty and very much my wish to offer you any explanation in my power. Whether
LIFE OF Dli. VALUY. 267
there be indeed a future state at all, is so much the first question in religion, and lies so at the root of every other, that I confess it has all my life appeared to me to surpass all other considerations besides. Add to this, that it is precisely the question which alone almost dwells in the minds of those who are in- duced to read and reflect upon them * * * properly to deliver that evidence, first let it be di- stinctly stated * it is but to reduce them to order. 1st. Rules of life do not stand, I think, upon the same grounds * # # ' # 2d. I come to the very point your lordship sug- gests. I laid it down as a rule to myself to propose # no doctrine of utility which was con- troverted * If I have erred in this, I have erred deliberately."
There is much more of this, written in his usual scrawling abbreviations, so that it seems a vain at- tempt to make anymore out of the latter part (where hurry naturally enough may be expected to add to scribbling), when only so much has been made out from the beginning by repeated application. Inquiries have been made in various quarters for the original, as being both one of the most important of his letters, and also as being less conspicuous than usual for his characteristic and weighty brevity. His correspond- ence indeed was not at all remarkable for its interest or importance. It was rather made to serve the pur- poses of his most ordinary conversation, than of his more serious writing. But this, however written, or to whomsoever addressed, may serve to prove that
%68 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
there had at least been some previous application to him ; that there had been no backwardness in ex- plaining ; nor, if it was written without any previous communication, does it appear that there was any sort of intention expressed or implied, of shackling either side by any unworthy conditions. But the truth is — even if his own testimony, given in the de- dication of his last work to the Bishop of Durham, may not have its weight in showing how unlikely he was to have courted preferment, viz. " that it was an expression of gratitude for a great, unsolicited and unexpected favour" — that by the various letters here inserted from his patrons, it appears nothing but the most public considerations procured patronage for such a writer, and the writer himself was not called upon for concessions or explanations of any kind, as the grounds on which he might obtain such patron- age. But if it may serve any further purpose, it shall here be stated unequivocally, that he has often been heard to say, during the latter part of his life, without any more boast of his forbearance than acci- dental conversation might be expected to bring out, that he never applied, either directly or indirectly, for any piece of preferment, except for a small prebendal stall in Lincoln minster, which would have been given at any rate, to enable him to take the subdeanery ; nor is it easy to imagine how a man who, if he ridiculed anything, had certainly a most contemptible opinion of rooters, could set about the work. He knew both how to be a patron, and how to receive patronage by show- ing himself grateful for it; but he did not possess any
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arts, nor even qualifications, which were likely to draw it upon himself, besides the most plain and simple qualification of merit. After this serious notice of a tale, after all but frivolous, let it be seen how, in his usual style, he thought and expressed himself on this accession of preferment. " The Bishop of Durham," he writes to the Bishop of Elphin, " has given me a most substantial proof of patronage."
He writes to his sister, to whom every secret of his condition in life was imparted immediately, in a letter from London, dated March 7, 1794, containing exactly the following and no more :
" I really think, Betty, the bishops are bewitched ! Here 's another letter from the Bishop of Durham. The same post brought a letter from Carlisle, de- siring me to come down ; that was in extreme
danger. Both letters I received at Cambridge ; set off in half an hour to Town, and having now seen the bishop, shall make the best of my way to Carlisle. Lord help us in this changeable world ! I don't dislike moderate bustle, but this is immoderate.
" Write to Carlisle ; hope to hear all are well. The bishop says it is one of the best parsonage-houses in the kingdom.
" Yours ever, W. P."
He writes afterwards to Dr. Milner, the dean of Carlisle :
" I saw the Bishop of Durham the day after I saw you. The reception was this : ■ Now don't speech me, but hear my speech. I have the same pleasure
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in giving as you have in receiving. This said, we will speak no more upon the subject ; now to busi- ness.' I told him I could answer for my patron ; that the Bishop of Carlisle had most handsomely given me a general liberty, and as to the Dean and Chapter, I had received your consent at Cambridge, and should receive the rest in the course of post."
The latter part of the letter is here inserted for the sake of observing (what is blown up into something like notice, as if preferment was generally fated to be clogged with conditions), that the Bishops of Durham and Lincoln had requested that they might have the presentation to what he might vacate, and that the Bishop of Carlisle, by whose patronage he always pro- fessed himself most substantially served, had given him the power of taking advantage of any favourable change of preferment, with the observation, " that as he thought it impossible for him to do more, he thought it was the only effectual way of doing him service." But however gratified he was with the burst of patronage thus coming to him entirely upon the score of his public character, he was no less satis- fied with the result of what was to him, or perhaps to any one acquainted with the change of preferment, scarcely more than a private and general occurrence. This condition annexed to the offer of his patron produced rather a singular coincidence. By having the presentation of his Cumberland living transferred to the Bishop of Durham, he had the opportunity of seeing a most worthy and deserving old clergyman
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from the country, for whom he had a great esteem, restored to his only friend at Carlisle, and also the nearest and closest friend he had considerably raised both in wealth and dignity. To this friend, whom he had met at Mr. Law's (afterwards Lord Ellen- borough), in London, he was speaking of his fortunate rise, but lamenting that he had left his young family in such a condition that they might be turned out of house and home, at a moment's notice, before he could get home to protect them ; as he had just put his pre- bendal stall in the way of flying from under him. The first greeting he received was, " Then make your- self easy, they shall not be turned out ; for I am your successor."
His own expressions about this time were just such as might have been expected from him ; for they speak for his expectations being answered, for his being not only unanxious but unprepared for any change, and for his thinking himself well rewarded for his labours in his profession ; in short, for his not seeking any thing that might not seek him ; and for his not considering himself entitled to receive with- out all due return of gratitude. " He had now, he said, fallen on his feet at last, though he was obliged to break into a train of domestic habits and profes- sional pursuits, into which he had drawn his life for the last ten years ; he wanted much, he owned, to get his chickens round him, and wished only that they would let him be quiet." In writing to one of his
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friends, " I must," says he, " give you an account of the munificent present which the Bishop of Durham has made me. The living is not overstated in the bishop's letter. The tithes and glebe are now let to good tenants for 1021/., the tithes for 600/. ; and one of the partners in the bargain being just dead, I have found from his books that they have made for the three last years 750/. by the tithes, by letting them to the farmer ; so that I think it probable I may get 700/. for them. The glebe also is likely to be improved by a bridge which is just finished over the Wear \ and such a house ! I was told at Durham, that it is one of the best parsonages in England ; and that there are not more than three bishops that have better. There is not a shilling to be laid out upon it, and you might have rubbed it from top to bottom with a white handkerchief without soiling it. With the house, which, if it had been half as good, would have con- tented me as well, the garden and grounds are of a piece. There is nearly a mile I think of wall planted with fruit-trees ; i. e. a rich field of ten acres, sur- rounded with a well-gravelled walk, garden and shrub- bery grounds, commanding some pretty views of the banks of the Wear, two or three hot-houses and a green-house : coals five shillings a cart-full. We stand at the end of Sunderland, which is three or four times the size of Carlisle, but made into a separate parish. My house is about a mile from the sea ; fish plentiful ; market rather dearer than Carlisle ; fine country and
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good roads ; a clever old woman in the house. The Bishop of Durham advised me to get back to town as fast as I could. Believe me, See. &c."
Of the subdeanery he says, " I hear nothing of it but good, except that I shall not receive a dividend, which is the chief thing, till Michaelmas twelve- month. It will be received after residence, but not till then. The patronage is considerable ; the chance of lives over and above. The last man got ^2000 for one fine. I have settled for the furniture upon easy terms. I must be a deal of money out of pocket before I can be any in. But I console myself with the thought, that if any thing should happen to me so that I should be a loser by the change, it might be made up in some way to my family. If I live, it will answer, I hope, to them. The chief fault of my house is that it is too large. It is, in fact, two houses joined by a large lofty gaping hall, with a broad stair- case at each end j and to prevent coming down one pair of stairs and going up another, a gallery is made lately along the whole length of the hall. Nothing can equal the beauty of the cathedral, and the fine order in which it is kept. It stands at the top of a very steep hill, surrounded by a spacious close con- sisting of gentlemen's houses. This is the chief of what is called the upper town. What I have seen of the people I like much. They seem to be a well- bred, choice society."
In the Easter of the same year (1795) he removed his residence from Carlisle to Bishop Wearmouth,
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and soon after proceeded to Cambridge, for the pur- pose of taking his doctor's degree. The university offered him a mandate degree, but he chose to take it in the ordinary way.
With his Concio ad Clerum, which he preached on the occasion, he appears to have taken consider- able pains ; but does not seem to have attracted any great degree of attention, nor from the choice of his subject, and manner of treating it, was it likely to be famous. Indeed neither the one nor the other is extraordinary, though the former savours a little of his taste for originality. It is not easy now to discover what train of reading or thinking led him to make choice of his subject. Another particular is also to be found in this sermon, which is of no unusual occurrence with him as a sermon-writer; viz. that the matter of his sermon seems, if not a per- version, yet certainly a curious adaptation of his text. This is taken from Hebrews xii. ; and from verse 18 he deduces the parity of miraculous interference by the Shechinah of the old and new dispensations, scarcely noticing the superiority of the one over the other, which that text is more generally understood to sig- nify. It should nevertheless be remembered, that his usual way of dealing with an argument was not to build half so much upon it as it would bear, in order to make sure at least of the groundwork. It was easy for him afterwards, as he does in the con- clusion, to bring it with other proofs to bear down the Jewish dispensation. " Caeteris itaque multis
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quae quidem hujuscemodi sermonis ratio haudqua- quain discutienda reciperet, consulto praetermissis, ad unum statuendum, exemplisque e libris Sanctis et nostris et Judaeorum desumptis confirmandum me sumo, per duas nempe quas Deus praecipuas generi humano tribuere dignatus est revelationes, quod ignea, ceu flammea vis divinam praesentiam comitata sit, significant, ostenderit. Haud vero dicerem hoc adeo fuisse solemne, ut alia Dei manifestatio prorsus esset nulla ; cum potius propositi sit nostri probare, idem illud et Mosaicae et Christianae legis promulgation! fuisse concessum, pariterque fere usu venisse."
The instances of this " ignea vis," or Shechinah, which he produces from the Old Testament, are, the burning bush presented to the eyes of Moses on his first receiving his commission ; the pillar of fire that gave light to the Israelites on their deliverance from Egypt ; the descent of God's glory in fire on Mount Sinai at the giving of the law, and at the repetition of that miraculous presence ; the cloud or smoke veiling the appearance of splendour as it rested on the tabernacle ; the descent of God's glory at the consecration of Solomon's temple. " Eadem porro referenda esse censeo alia quaedam non dicam minoris momenti (qua enim trutina hoc genus ponderemus?) sed minus aliquanto aut diuturnitate aut splendore insignita," e. g. the splendour of Moses' face, the descent of fire upon sacrifices, both before and after the flood, the miraculous effulgence of the Shechinah, peculiarly so called, on the wings of the cherubim, on
t 2
276 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
which he observes, in his usual fair though un- sparing manner, " nonnulli pro more suo in hac ipsa re hallucinantur ; res ipsa tamen nee pondere caret nee verisimilitudine. Sic enim apud priscos Judae- orum scriptores opinio famaque hujus spectaculi per- crebuerint ut eorum votis precibusque Deus solen- niter audiat, 'Deus qui inter cherubos habitat.' Of the Urim and Thummim, " multa quanquam com- menti sint Rabbini, multaque de luce inde prodeunte nunc micante nunc vero obscurata tradiderunt, non habeo quod in medio proferre ausim. Quidni enim cum apostolo fateamur, in hac re, quemadmodum in caeteris Leviticis plerisque, proprie singulatimve nunc temporis dici non posse?" He then passes to the Christian age. " Videte igitur, sexcentis annis elapsis, specie signoque quam veterum simillimis in terras (ni audacius loquor) Deo redire visum est." He takes with Whitby, Macknight, Mann, and other com- mentators, for instances of the same effusion, the luminous appearance to the shepherds at the Nativity, and the descent of the Holy Spirit at our Lord's bap- tism, but on neither of these does he build much as decided proofs of. a "vis ignea ;" because the efful- gence in one case might be supposed rather to attend the presence of the angels, and the descent of the dove is at least capable of two constructions, though he leans to the actual bodily appearance of that bird : " Nee id prorsus negligendum, quod Evangelium He- braeorum dictum referat, lumen splendidum, ut pri- mum Jesus ex aqua esset egressus flumen Jordanis
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ibi locorum cooperuisse. At vero non est quod in- certis immovemur, cum tria ad minimum in promptu sint exempla, quae in sacris litteris quoniam fusius sint exposita, huic sententia? clarius apertiusque sufr fragentur." These three are, the miraculous appear- ance at the Transfiguration, the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, and the divine interposition on the conversion of St. Paul. Of the first he says, " si nubem requiratis, quaa olim Mare ad Rubrum mon- temque Sinai sancto populo fuerat conspicienda, quse tabernaculo insederat, quae tandem, uti est verisimile, templi primi penetralia perpetuo adimpleret, Lucam adite ;" and he brings the words of St. Peter, 2d ep. i. 17, to prove that that apostle had this in view. " Quocirca Petrus, cujus ex memoria hujusmodi non potuit excidere spectaculum, nomen ipsum, quod ve- teris divina3 praesentiae signi esset proprium, consulto usurpare videtur, voce ad eum delata a magnified' gloria." His conclusion is brief, and as usual only to the point. " Hue denique res recidit. Cum epistola ad Hebraeos ostenderit nee templum, nee aram, nee sanctuarium, nee sacerdotem, nee sacri- ficium, de quibus praesertim gloriarentur veteris dis- ciplinae cultores, novae quidem abfuisse, hue quoque adjiciamus, quod gloria Jehovae, qua Mosis legationem toties illustrarat, Christi etiam munus comitaretur. Hie enim tanto majore quam Mosis gloria afFectus est, quant 0 majorem habet, quam domus, is qui eum condidit."
With the Latinity of this he seems, by the nume-
278 LIFE OF BR. PALEY.
rous corrections in his rough copy, to have been very careful, and for him even critically nice ; and con- sidering that it was written at a time and under cir- cumstances of life, when any thing was more likely to be fresh in his memory than an acquaintance with the Latin idiom, it may be brought forward as no bad specimen of his former familiarity with that lan- guage. By the way in which he appears to have renewed his acquaintance with the idiom, he shows the value he set upon it. There are inserted in his common-place book, about this time, more than twenty pieces of Latin themes on indifferent subjects corrected " ad unguem."
After preaching the commencement sennon at Cambridge in the same year, he fixed himself at Bishop Wearmouth, between which place and Lin- coln he was afterwards to divide his residence ; he only was to remain the greater part of the year at Bishop Wearmouth. In consequence perhaps of this divided residence, as well as of the shortness of the interval between this and his death, he was not much known beyond his official capacity in either of these places. He assumed no habits but those to which he had been used before his removal, nor did he come more forward to court public notoriety, than as his station led him to departments and intercourse rather more elevated. But his home was at Bishop Wearmouth ; and here he tried as soon as possible to fix some sort of domestic plan for himself and his family, which was necessarily much scattered, and just at a time
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when it called for his peculiar attention. His time was necessarily much occupied with the various new duties to which he was called, and some little do- mestic afflictions which happened about this time seem to have harassed him much more than might serve to counterbalance any feeling of pleasure at his new public situation. " I bear up," he writes from Lincoln, " as well as I can, but I assure you I have enough to do with the various people I have been obliged to see, and the things I had to do, with
poor never out of my mind." In short, the
quiet enjoyment of his life was past, and he seems never to have regained an opportunity for the same sort of peaceful and retired amusements, which ap- peared to have formed the chief ingredients in his domestic happiness. This year was wholly given away to bustle and hurry, which by natural disposi- tion he was well enough prepared to enjoy, so long as he was obliged to undergo it ; but it may be sup- posed that he did not feel himself in his proper cha- racter, except in a certain regularity of private life, which allowed him to have his own time for his own thoughts. He was very glad to gather round him as soon as he could a set of regular family habits, from which during the remainder of his life he never turned aside. " Both experience and reflection," he ob- served, " had convinced him that his own happiness and that of his family would be greatly promoted by a union with a sensible and deserving woman." What he proposed to himself on this occasion is best
280 LIFE OF DIt. VALEY.
seen by his own words, and they are very charac- teristic of his usual proceedings in the common con- cerns of life. He says, "he could not do his family so essential a service as to give them the example and society of an accomplished woman, and that there was not an individual in his family that would not be happy to make her so > and that he would have nothing to do with her money/' In the winter of the same year he married Miss Dobinson, of Car- lisle, kept his first residence at Lincoln in the winter and spring, and in the following summer returned home, to take upon him the duties of his living at Bishop Wearmouth. His rectory-house had during this interval been filled with the families of com- manding officers, and his barn had been fitted up as barracks for soldiers, who about that time fortunately returned from that disastrous expedition to Holland. With his parishioners he was always on the best and easiest terms, but not so intimately acquainted with their habits and manners as to feel closely interested, any farther than might concern a conscientious and steady discharge of public duty. His first business was to settle his tithes to the satisfaction of himself and, as he hoped (for they are his own words), of the whole parish. " I have let them altogether to six gentlemen for £ 700 for my time. They will parcel them out to the respective townships, and pay me my money to a day, and in a lump, so that I have ad- vanced them you see £ 100 a year. I believe I have the value of them at present, but I think they will
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improve, nay, they certainly will. However, I judged it best to set the parish and myself at rest ; half of them arise from potatoes. I have also advanced my lime-kilns to 100 guineas, and the tenant, who has laid £300 upon them since the time when the late rector's life was not worth half a year's purchase, thanked me for my moderation. My glebe, which is a fine one, and lets for about £200 a year, I have not yet touched. So that I get on swimmingly." These are particulars which are worth notice only as they have been made into an affair of some note by an unlucky witticism which he was in the habit of throwing out, and which is given by Meadley with perhaps less taste than seriousness. This, however, might have passed very well, had it not been by a sort of captious perverseness magnified into a grave re- buke by his opponent Chalmers, who says, " that it is difficult to suppose Dr. P. capable of saying any thing so unfeeling.' ' It was on the contrary quite according to Dr. P.'s usual manner to make such blunt speeches on all occasions, where he was con- scious that feeling was not at all concerned ; nor was it on any other occasion that such sentiments were heard to fall from him, nor in any other manner were they usually received than as the good-humoured be- nevolent sportiveness of one who could find amuse- ment in any thing. So much satisfaction did this con- tract give to the lessees, and so liberally was the matter conducted, that he had great pleasure in knowing that they not only took no unfair advantage of it in
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their dealings with the tithe-holders, but on one or two occasions actually applied to him to know what he would have them do with the overplus. On Dr. Paley's family leaving the neighbourhood, these gen- tlemen wished to pay a tribute to his memory by pre- senting a piece of plate to his representative.
He still continued to be fond of general society, and visited and was visited by most of the surrounding fa- milies. With the parishioners in general, without any exclusion, he observed a cheerful and ready intercourse at all times, and seemed to feel as much interest in the company and conversation of an old Quaker gentle- man, whom he used often to invite to his house, as of those whom his station in the place obliged him to entertain as sumptuously and ceremoniously as he could. His wit, and talent, and pleasantry, made him a welcome guest any where ; and his apparent desire for information, and the keenness with which he en- tered upon any subject, made him a visiter worth at- tention, whether to a party of commercial men, or to a meeting on the most important public occasions. In a place of such mixed concerns as Sunderland, he had food enough for amusement and instruction, and he did not neglect it. At a certain hour every day, and on certain days in the week, he took his regular walks, rides, and stands, sometimes at his own garden- wall, which overhung the river, in order to observe the progress of the cast-iron bridge, which was at that time building ; and for this purpose he became ac- quainted with the architect, who took a pleasure in
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introducing him at all times into the workshops, where he carefully examined every pin and screw with which it was put together. At the end of the pier, in a stormy day, he would be found conversing with sea-faring men upon their way of life, and acquainting himself with their feelings and sensations in a storm, though they scarcely knew that they had given, or could give, any information. So for ship-carpenters, rope-makers, sail-makers, coal-heavers, fishermen, he had a train of inquiries, and an interest which was easily shown and improved to his own purposes by a little intercourse ; and on this account his conversa- tion was always rather sought after than rejected as not being in character. Though he was thought, by such whimsical amusements, to be odd, yet the dig- nity of his order was never likely to suffer in his hands, not because he never allowed (for that was out of his calculation), but because he never gave an opportunity for the least reflection. It was never likely to be suspected that he lost his self-respect. During his residence there he was not once either in- jured or offended in any way by any class of men, and considered the relation in which he stood with his parishioners as altogether on a larger scale than was likely to produce mutual acrimony or vexation with any party. Such were his duties in their considera- tion, that they were never interfered with ; and such were their employments and occupations in his consi- deration, that he was rather glad to lighten them by telling them how useful they were. So that, though little known in private among the people of his
284 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
parish, he was yet much respected. He became more generally known, and more of a public character about this time than he was before, because he was in the way of a more extended society, and had more opportunity of enlarging his acquaintance with all descriptions of both public and private characters. He was visited, he used to say latterly, as one of the curiosities, and after his strangers had seen the bridge from a point below his garden (where from an open- ing of a deep and confined glen the spectator burst at once upon the expanse of an iron arch hanging as it were in the air above him), the pier, the port, the barracks, the Low-street, a sort of Wapping in Sun- derland, all of which were among his lions, he de- sired them to return and see him. Though he never paid much attention to the little courtesies and cere- monies of politer life, he was by no means deficient in any etiquette belonging to his station, and being neither inclined to affect any singularity, or assume any eccentricity, which might draw forth partial ad- miration, he readily found himself at ease, and wished to set others at ease, in order to come to free con- versation as soon as he could. In a place of so much traffic and trade, there were not many whom he found at leisure for desultory conversation, or much inclined to literature. Mr. Meadley was one of his most con- stant companions, both because he was much disen- gaged from the pursuits of the place, and being a man devoted to literary pursuits, possessed of much in- formation, and of great independence and correctness of character, laid him self out to be useful to the place
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in many ways. He always professed a great regard for Mr. Meadley's company and conversation. No man would have been better able to give a correct detail of Dr. Paley's sentiments and opinions on any great matter of importance which might arise about this time, had they possessed any great interest, or had he laid himself out at all to be the oracle of his neighbour- hood. But nothing was farther from him. No man delivered his opinions with more soundness and sub- stance, on any question of importance which might arise in his conversation with persons of any condition or station, but it was quite as if drawn forth at the moment. Though he was not unprepared by pre- vious deliberation, he was seldom induced by the de- sign of showing his superior penetration to utter such and such sentiments, as if they were to be made pub- lic. This at once speaks for the irrelevancy of bring- ing forward any chance sentiments on politics or re- ligion as tests of his being an adherent to party in either, and shows with still greater force the absurdity of prejudging a man's sentiments from the acci- dental intercourse with any party. One circum- stance which suggests this observation is rather cu- rious, viz. that of his more distinguished visiters at this place, — that is, of those more eminent and public characters who seemed to be attracted towards him rather from his reputation than any previous acquaint- ance,— most of them were well known to range them- selves with the Opposition. Whether this arose from their finding many of his sentiments in unison with
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their own, as no doubt he did many of theirs, or it arose from their fearless admiration of an inde- pendent and animated writer, with many of whose sentiments they did, though with some they did not agree, it would be idle to conjecture. They certainly in vain looked for a mind warped by any party preju- dices, and it might not indeed be disagreeable to them to find their political opponents as much praised as blamed, if they were ready to admire sincerity and consistency of habitual sentiment. But it may be rather supposed that there is a certain boldness, amounting almost to rashness, in many of his bursts of expression, which might suit well with the prin- ciple of some, who would go farther than he ever pre- tended to see > and at the same time such a fearless irocpprjcta and love of bare and unceremonious truths as even those would admire who wish to attack only the abuse of authority, and can without any timidity or reserve admire honesty, uprightness, and integrity, wherever they find them, especially when no arts or language of flattery are used to conceal them. He did not at this time profess an exclusive attachment for any of the sects or parties that divided public at- tention. He was still too fond of his own snugness of life to be interested in any matter of public agitation. His contemplations were larger than might be dis- tracted by the novel objects of a few years. But from the eagerness with which he entered upon any sub- ject, it was not unlikely that he might appear as much interested in any public, political, or religious ques-
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 287
tion, or subject of debate, on an incidental mention of it, as if he had been a warm partisan all his life. It was rather his eagerness and his warmth, and his regardlessness of any thing but the truth, that seemed to convey an impression of zeal for any party which he thought right, than an admiration for, or attention to, either of the two great public characters of that day. As to his being inclined to follow or defend any of the political innovations, or any of the long- established prejudices for fear of innovating, it was quite beyond the object of his life, as he seemed to pursue it. He who can write at the very time of great political agitation *, " I will not say that no case of public provocation can happen which can move (a good man) ; but it must be a case clear and strong. It must be a species of necessity. He will not stir till he see a great and good end to be attained, and not indeed a certain, because nothing in life is so, but a rational and practicable way of attaining it. No- thing extravagant, nothing chimerical, nothing in any degree doubtful, will be deemed a sufficient reason with him for hazarding the loss of tranquillity, in which he earnestly, at least for himself, desires to pass the days of his sojourn on earth." No man who writes thus, and writes as he did honestly from his own convictions, can well be thought an advocate of much weight on either side. " A good subject having been accustomed to fix his eyes and hopes upon another world, a future state of existence, a * Fast Sermon.
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more abiding city, a tabernacle not of this building, his first care concerning the present state of things is to pass quietly, and peaceably, and innocently through it ; for although the name and pretence of religion have at divers times been made the name and pretence for sedition and unjustifiable insurrection against established authority, religion itself never was. Disputes may and have been carried on both with good and evil intentions about forms and con- stitutions of government ; but one thing in the con- troversy appears clear, that no constitution can suit bad men ; men without virtue and without religion ; because let such men live under what government they may, the case with them must ever be this," &c. &c. This seems, indeed, to have been the test with him of all religious and political creeds, viz. their utility to the purpose of morality. He was a very hero of morality, but in no other wise did he seek renown. " It is virtue and virtue alone which can make either nations happy, or governments secure."
He has been indeed throughout this account of his life represented as shining more in his private cha- racter than in any other. If he was eminent in any public capacity, it was accompanied by the best pos- sible feeling, a perfect unconsciousness of it. But he was not in truth so much of a public character as to be worth notice under such a term. The sentiment that seems to have governed his private feelings and his habits of thinking was consistent with his cheer- ful and benevolent views of life. " It is a happy
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world after all." His domestic habits during this pe- riod were much of the same kind as have been before spoken of. It may be mentioned here again, that as the plan of them seemed to embrace most of his com- forts, and in his views gave him the best opportuni- ties of usefulness, by allowing him time for thought and contemplation, so it was carefully fixed and ad- hered to. Yet he seemed rather to strive at render- ing his life as peaceable and serene as he could, than really to have attained any great enjoyment by this change. Very soon after his first coming to Wear- mouth, he began to arrange the employment of his time so, that when he was not necessarily absent from home every hour should have its employment. As on every occasion he attempted to bring himself to a plan, so he acted in this most methodically. Thus the history of every day became the history of the remainder of his life. His favourite maxim was, * Learn to husband your pleasures ;" and so remark- ably regular was he in his recreations, as well as in his study, that his own family, knowing him at all times to be fond of society, often indulging in it, and not unfrequently amusing himself with the more trifling pleasures of an easy life, have often been surprised how and in what manner those works were produced which procured him such attention and respect. At this stage of his life he had disposed his time as carefully as if he had but a month to live : — in his garden he limited himself to one hour at a time, twice a day ; in reading books of amusement, one vol. i. u
290 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
hour at breakfast, and another in the evening ; one for dinner and his newspaper : — and the consequence of this was, that such pleasures remained undiminished to the last. His public duties had their own time, as far as it was possible to accommodate circumstances to such a method j at least they seldom made any altera- tion in his domestic life, as far as was apparent to those about him. His professional pursuits rarely in- terfered with the time devoted to his family, or to society ; neither were these last suffered to interrupt his studies. His health was at no time in his life sufficiently strong to do without management ; and though he was utterly regardless of his own personal convenience, and so far from using any unnecessary caution, was, partly from inclination and partly from pretended conviction, negligent of the common means of guarding against the disorders of his constitution by diet or medicine ; yet he was not less sensible of its craziness, than patient and resigned under the most painful attacks. This constant liability to vio- lent disorder led him to a certain method in his rides and walks, in order that he might also have cer- tain hours in his study. " I seldom," he writes to a friend, two years after his arrival, " go out of the gates but to justice-meetings, and upon public busi- ness, except when we visit. The field and garden is my ride and my walk, my exercise and my amuse- ment. The wind blew my hat to the top of the house the other day, where it stuck in a gutter, or it might have been in Holland by this time," &c. &c.
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 291
His taste for the objects and works of nature, rather than any skill in natural philosophy, led him still to be fond of gardening, though it now rather became a more gentlemanly work of superintendence. For an hour after breakfast and dinner he had his regular walks of musing and recollection, with which he let nothing interfere, nor any one share, except his youngest daughter, who, with a basket under her arm, to pick up any thing that he chose to put into it, fol- lowed him, " haud aequis passibus." At such times he seldom spoke a single word ; but now and then he used to surprise his little companion by bursting out into the most immoderate laughter, or mouthing out scraps of poetry, or sentences of prose, — quite enough to show that these were seasonable exercises both for his mind and body. With the handle of his stick in his mouth, now moving in a short hurried step, now stopping at a butterfly, a flower, a snail, &c. ; at one instant pausing to consider the subject of his next sermon, at the next carrying the whole weight and intent of his mind to the arranging some pots in his greenhouse, or preparing with the greatest gravity to remove some stick or stand that offended his eye, he presented the most prominent feature of his mind very obviously, but made it perhaps happy for his public character that he chose to be alone. In the evening he seldom conversed much with his family, though he would not but have them round him, and left them quite at liberty to employ such times in their own way. He contrived, along with some whimsical
u 2
292 LIFE OF DR. PALE¥.
and capricious habits, to keep up their relish for such domestic scenes with so little appearance of singu- larity, and if not with good-humoured playfulness, yet with such obvious pain if they were not relished, that there was no member of his family who would not have thought it equally unfeeling and undutiful to have suffered either themselves, or any other, to have noticed his singularities.
In his study and his church he was ever intent upon the great object of his life, upon rendering him- self useful in his station. The population of his parish was about nine or ten thousand ; and, as in other large places, the more active discharge of ordinary parochial duties devolved upon a curate, whom he found on the spot. He seemed no less willing to take upon himself the responsibility of management than to pay the utmost deference and respect for any assistance or superintendence of his curate. He was remarkably attentive to and fond of preaching, so long as his health permitted him, which was but for a short time ; but the interest he took in those duties was not by any means confined to a sermon. In estimating the per- formance of public duties of his church, the character and matter of his sermons are to be regarded, rather than any inference drawn that this duty was confined to little more than a weekly sermon. His great aim and interest seemed to be to rouse the indifference, and excite the attention of his congregation to think and feel for themselves. After all he gave the most satisfactory proof of the weight and solidity of his in-
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structions, by never expressing a sentiment that he did not conscientiously endeavour to adopt into his own practice. Out of his church, it is scarcely necessary to observe, that he did what could reasonably be ex- pected of any incumbent in so large a parish ; and not only so, but what any incumbent might be thought to satisfy himself with doing, allowing only for the or- dinary dissatisfaction which is incidental to the most exact discharge of public duties. But his mode of conducting these public duties of his station was in all respects the same as at any other stage of his life. He seemed to prefer, and to think himself called upon to prefer, the observance of an established order, and the silent and even tenor of proceeding, both in great and small matters, to any trifling addition or alteration of his own recommending. He set himself to encourage the charity and Sunday schools of his parish and his neighbourhood, as established institutions ; and, find- ing them rather in a slumbering condition for want of proper support, gave weight and significance to an old and common subject, by taking it upon more ge- neral grounds. " Many," he observed, in a sermon preached on the occasion, " are apt to fall into a dis- position of this kind j — that if they cannot do by their charity some great good, something at least consider- able enough to make the whole country feel the be- nefit of it, they will not attempt, or join in attempt- ing, any thing. Could an opportunity be presented to them of serving the public at large, and that essen- tially and effectually, by their contribution or assist-
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ance, they would assist and contribute ; but those small portions of public good which can be effected by the limited purposes, and upon the few objects, of a private institution, are not enough it seems to merit their attention, or to provoke good works. Now that disposition is always to be lamented, because it always ends in doing nothing at all ; and it is founded upon a mistaken principle, the want of knowing or consi- dering the actual lot and condition of human life. The common happiness is sustained, not by great exertions, which are in the power of a few, and hap- pen rarely even to them, but by great numbers doing every one a little, every one something in his par- ticular province, to his particular neighbourhood. This is the way in which Providence intended society to be carried on, and beneficence to be exercised. Yet, according to this plan, it must happen, that, if we extend our views to the public at large, the separate effects of any single institution, and still more of any single person's assistance, will appear to be very mi- nute ; nevertheless it may be our proper share in the great work of public felicity. It may be, however contracted or small, the circle and province which we are appointed to fill. Charitable and public-spirited endeavours are to be carried on at the same time under a great variety of forms, and by a great number of individuals ; the result of the whole will be the public benefit, and of a great magnitude. We are contributing to the general result, and in the way and proportion we ought to contribute, when we promote
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and support, according to the manner of our faculties, and of what we can spare, any useful and rational establishment which is set up in the neighbourhood to which we belong."
This appears to have been a very favourite subject with him, both here and elsewhere ; and was usually handled in a way that showed him attentive not only to the particular objects proposed by the institution, but to the general interests of morality. He did not call much upon the feelings of his congregation, or endeavour to rouse any enthusiasm which might after- wards be found less satisfactory, though more profit- able at the time.
With dissenters, and particularly the dissenters of his own parish, the majority of whom were either Wesleyan Methodists, or Independents, he did not think himself concerned either to contend or unite in any struggle for or against that liberty of con- science, which, in his construction, constituted tolera- tion. What is said of his decided hostility to any species of persecution, and of his general persuasion of the great benefit, rather than the practicability, of complete toleration, is not only to be confirmed, but is proved from the whole tenor of his writings, and sentiments, and practice. But that this proceeded from any want of vigilance on his charge ; from his having no objection against them as dissenters ; from an ignorance or regardlessness of the proselyting spirit of particular sects ; from a vacillation in his own sen- timents on the points of dissent, as far as that may
29G LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
arise from a peculiar view on some points of doctrine $ from a sort of smoothing liberality which is gendered by a wish to conciliate dissenters rather than by any real conviction of the necessity of a large and compre- hensive plan of toleration ; — that his conduct towards them proceeded from any of these would be quite an unworthy surmise. From various parts of his writings, both published and unpublished, may be brought at least as many arguments against, as in favour of, a departure from established institutions, if his autho- rity be consulted by those of either orthodox or hete- rodox sentiments. Thus, he states in a manuscript note, found in his Greek Testament, on Matt, xiii, 14 : " You insinuate yourselves into people's houses, into the houses of women, and widows especially, as Methodists do, by your apparent sanctity and long prayers, and make a property of them by presents and substance you get out of them." He knew that they were not free from the arts of proselytism, though he would have readily acknowledged that this charge was not confined to them. He has expressed himself, in his Charges and Sermons already published, as un- favourable to their " want of judgment and love of power." He was conscious that there was a great difference in the calmness and solemnity, and good sense and strength, and authority of the discourses of Christ in the Gospel, and the manner in which most of their devotion and preaching were conducted; " that it is one thing to edify (the common people) in Christian knowledge, and another to gratify their
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taste for vehement, impassioned oratory ;" that "he, not only whose success, but whose subsistence de- pends upon collecting and pleasing a crowd, must resort to other arts than the acquirement and com- munication of solid and profitable instruction ;" — that " our sermons are in general more informing and chastised, both in matter and composition, than those of any denomination of dissenting teachers." He was not disposed to " cut off the decent offices which the temperate piety of our church has enjoined as aids of devotion, calls to repentance, or instruments of improvement ; much less to contemn and neglect, under the names of forms and ceremonies, even those rites, which, forasmuch as they were ordained by the divine founder of our religion, or by his inspired mes- sengers, and ordained with a view of their conti- nuing in force through future generations, are entitled to become parts of Christianity itself. " He makes a bad choice of his subject who discourses upon the futility of rites and ordinances ; upon their insigni- ficancy, when taken by themselves, or even insists too frequently, and in terms too strong, upon their in- feriority to moral precepts. We are rather called upon to sustain their authority." He has observed, " that some of the most judicious and moderate of the presbyterian clergy have been known to lament that there is no gradation of order in their constitu- tion." He noticed often, both in his sermons and lectures, those " who believe or imagined to them- selves certain perceptible impulses of the Holy GTiost,
LIFE OF DR. FALEY.
by which in an instant, t and in a manner no doubt sufficiently extraordinary, they are regenerate and born of the Spirit, they become new creatures, they are made the sons of God who were before the children of wrath, they are freed from sin and from death, they are chosen, that is, and sealed without a possibility of fall, into final salvation." He places amongst the corruptions of Christianity, amongst the causes which have contributed to the progress of in- fidelity ; 1st. the absurdities which many national churches have taken into their system ; 2d, the several lucrative tenets which induce the suspicion of craft and design in the whole, such as purgatory, prayers for the dead, the efficacy of offerings and donations to the church ; 3d. the placing of Christianity on wrong foundations. Thus, the Quakers and Mora- vians refer you for the proof of Christianity to the motion and witness of the Spirit in your own breast. Now a man who hears this, and can feel no such motion, has nothing left for it but to turn infidel." Such passages are quoted, and more might be easily produced by a very cursory view of his own writings, to show the tone of his sentiments on this subject ; and with him this was the most fixed rule of his conduct that can be brought forward ; though it may be easy to produce in any writer, and more especially one so full of reasoning and argument, some more trifling acts or random sentiments, which may seem at vari- ance with some of his grave and well weighed ex- pressions as an author. The same writings will also
LIX^E Or DR. PALEY. 299
supply abundant motives for the forbearance and moderation which he showed in practice. His con- duct as a clergyman was certainly formed upon a more true and enlarged principle of toleration than is often found, or at least than is often placed to the credit of the established clergy, in their inter- course with those of opposite sentiments. ■ From his college lectures we may collect what his sentiments were in earlier life, though expressed in the same strong and substantial manner. " If you should have dissenters in your parish, make it yourbusiness by your behaviour, conversation, and preaching, to possess both them and your own congregation with a sense of the unimportance of those points which divide you ; and of the convenience, and consequently the duty, of giving up such points to one another for the sake of one common public worship. Above all things, abstain from ridicule or reflection upon their persons and teachers ; from reproaching them with the conduct of their ancestors or predecessors of the same sect ; from idle reports of their absurdities or immoralities ; from groundless suspicions of their in- sincerity ; and particularly from charging them with opinions which they disown, or consequences they do not deduce." In his defence of the consideration of the propriety of requiring subscription to the ar- ticles, he answers the obvious but harshly-pressed plea of his opponent, Randolph, " that such disturb- ances and divisions were not owing to the governors of the church, but to the perverse disputings of
300 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
heretics and schismatics," by a consideration that is equally obvious, " that there is such a thing as op- pression as well as resentment, abuse of power as well as opposition to it ; and it is too much to take it for granted without a syllable of proof, that those in power have always been in the right, and those who withstood them in the wrong." In after life he showed a delicacy and a courteous deference to any thing like seriousness of principles, or substantial objections, even though frivolous. He was even im- patient at any petulant or unprovoked insinuations against dissenters. He was cautious and grave upon the weakest and most ridiculous display of religious sentiment made by the very meanest of them, if that sentiment had the appearance of honesty and sin- cerity; if it had not, he was content with less ex- posure than he would have made of any of his own weaknesses, and what he would have called his ab- surdities. " None but religious and pious people have these scruples and whimsicalities, and therefore the utmost tenderness and indulgence are due to them, even where there is less foundation for them than there may at first appear to be." On his first arrival at Bishop Wearmouth, the great overflow of dissenters was noticed to him with alarm, and some- thing like preparation for measures against them, and with the expectation that he would at least sympa- thise with the complaining tone in which the appli- cation was made. " I am heartily glad of it," an- swered he ; " for, looking at the population of this
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parish, and the smallness of your congregation at church, which, if it was filled, would not hold one- third of the parish, what must become of them if they were not in some way connected with religious persons and religious concerns ?" The maxims on which hang his reasonings in favour of toleration, and which are used against a vast weight of argument on the opposite side, viz. " that any form of Chris- tianity is better than no religion at all ; that of dif- ferent systems of faith, that is best which is the truest; that if different religions be professed in the same country, and the minds of men remain unfettered and unawed by intimidation of law, that religion which is founded in maxims of reason and credibility will gradually gain over the others to it ; that this is superior to any other quality which a religion can possess ;"— these formed sufficient reasons why he should be expected, and why he was found, to carry his views of men's professions at once to a more im- portant point than would allow of any indulgence of natural feeling, or a mere temporising policy. There is a very obvious resemblance which may here be no- ticed, between such a pervading principle and that which is said to have distinguished his first and re- vered patron, the Bishop of Carlisle. It is recorded on an elegant mural monument in the cathedral of that city, in a well-turned epitaph written by his son, the Bishop of Elphin : " Quo autem studio et effectu Veritatem, eodem et Libertatem Christ ianam coin it ;
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religionem simplicem et incorruptam nisi salva liber- tate, stare non posse arbitratus."
His communication with Dr. Coke, which is men- tioned by his biographer as taking place at Bishop Wearmouth, was purely accidental, nor was it marked by any thing but a civil apology, in answer to a re- quest that he would countenance the cause of mis- sions, for not being able to assist a fellow-labourer with any thing but his good wishes, as his health was then very precarious. In the same note he invited him to his house to spend the evenings, and expressed himself well pleased with his general information, as well as benevolence ; and was rather satisfied than convinced with Dr. Coke's argument for the expe- diency of those ranting exhibitions, in preference to his own opinion in favour of a calm and rational pro- pagation of the Gospel. " It cannot be, sir," — said Dr. Coke, " without ardour and enthusiasm you could not either excite the attention of a set of creatures like savages, nor persevere in the arduous task."
Amongst other notices of public events that called forth any characteristic trait of his mind and feeling, if not partly connected with his general principles of conduct, as well as his liberal treatment to those of a differing creed, may be mentioned his attention to the emigrant clergy of France. A great number of these had been received and maintained by voluntary contributions, before they were or could be provided for by any parliamentary grant. A temporary asylum
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 303
had been formed for some of them, under government, in the barracks at Monk Wearmouth. Dr. Paley was particularly struck with the condition and deportment of many of them, with whom he was in the habit of conversing in his walks and near his garden. He used to lament much the want of his acquaintance with the French language, as he lost much valuable information by it, and what little he did obtain he collected with difficulty from their, and his own, im- perfect knowledge of colloquial Latin. He was glad, however, to offer them the use of his grounds, and his garden supplied many a cart-load of vegetables for their soup. In 1792, on their first emigration, he had advocated their cause with his accustomed brevity and pithiness, when their case was recom- mended in the regular way to the notice of the clergy. He preached a sermon for their benefit in all the churches in which he had any concern, in which he compared their case with that of the stranger in the parable of the good Samaritan. " The case of the French clergy driven into these kingdoms is now by public authority introduced to your notice. I will not take upon me to assert, that since our Saviour's time to the present, there has not been any case of indi- viduals, or of any large body of men, which bore a nearer resemblance to the case here described ; but none certainly has come more truly either within the scope and purport of the parable, or of what our Saviour meant to teach by it, than this does. To trace out the similitude, it is by no means neces-
304 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
sary to enter into any political speculation whatso- ever. It is enough to advance, concerning them, that their sufferings prove their sincerity, and that their condition is most helpless. Whether they are right or wrong in dissenting from the new order of things that had taken place in their country, I again repeat that their sufferings proved their sincerity, and that their condition is most helpless. When they were violently despoiled of what they had been taught to call their own, and to reckon upon for their subsistence and support, they submitted as well as they could to their misfortunes, and remained in the bosom of their country. It was only when oaths were proposed to them, which shocked the principles in which they had been brought up, that they re- fused to comply, and by this refusal, which ought to have been venerated even by enemies, brought upon themselves such outrages as compelled them to fly for their lives. They were driven therefore from their country, entirely stripped, not of wealth, which they had long parted from, not of the slender supply which in the wreck and robbery of their revenues had been reserved to some of them, but of the very necessaries of human subsistence, food and raiment. When accident and nearness of situation, more pos- sibly than plan or intention, (for what plan could be formed amidst such confusion and surprise?) had cast them upon our shores, the public compassion was moved by a new spectacle of human misery — many thousand clergymen without means of subsisting for
LIFE OF DR. PAT.EY. 305
a single week. It was impossible to send them home to be butchered by their enemies. It was equally impossible to see them perish here. Application therefore was speedily made to the bounty of the rich and great of the English clergy, and made with such effect, that £ 26,000 was raised for their relief by about 4000 benefactors. This fund has been husbanded with rigid economy, for no more has been allowed for the weekly support of each clergyman, than what friendly societies allow to their disabled members. The poor objects of this bounty have done every thing in their power to make it go far by ex- treme sparingness, and when any one of them have accidentally obtained succours from their friends or fortune abroad, by conscientiously returning what they had received here. They appear to have de- served by their behaviour the humanity they have experienced, if peaceableness of demeanor, frugality, thankfulness, piety, and contentment can be found deserving. These were all the virtues in their power, and these they appear to have exercised. It was soon, however, found that the unavoidable wants of such a number of men formed a demand which could only be supported by general contribution, by every one contributing a little. And I believe the expe- rience of many ages has proved that there is no other way, by which any large exigency can be supplied. This, therefore, is the ground of the present appli- cation, not made general, till rendered necessary by the occasion, and not made till very large and liberal vol. i. x
306 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
sums subscribed by particular persons had been ex- pended; and it is made in a form, in my opinion, perfectly unexceptionable, for every shilling of it is given without any deduction whatever, or any ex- pense attending the collection.
" Under these circumstances a more Christian charity can hardly be proposed. It is like that of the Samaritan for the wounded stranger; it is for exiles, persecuted and suffering under something more than the ordinary instability of worldly affairs, the ordinary changes and accidents of life, or even the ordinary visitation of human calamity. It is for men who have seen better days, who are fallen by no fault of their own, wanderers in a foreign land, with- out home, without friends, without families to apply to, ignorant of our language, incapable of labour, many of them aged, weak, and infirm, all of them completely destitute and helpless."
Being called into so large and populous a neigh- bourhood, he was constrained to become an acting magistrate ; and as in other duties, so in this, he found it necessary to give some time and attention to prepare for it. This, as has been already ob- served, was more in his way and according to his own taste, than any other use of his natural powers. His conduct as a magistrate, Meadley says, has been reflected upon, and it perhaps might be imprudent to notice it here, as it is only mentioned by that writer very slightly, as a charge from which he may easily be defended. But there is nothing to be ap-
LIFK QF DR. PALEY. 307
prehemled from looking at characters like this too closely. His irascibility and unmanageable decision of view which is hinted at, was not at all unlikely to be attached to him in a place and neighbourhood where science and skill and penetration were confined very much to the trade and commerce of a sea-port, and where shrewdness of mind, and at the same time largeness of intellect, was little exercised on general subjects. Here he undoubtedly felt his superiority, and was allowed to bear a good deal of sway at the weekly session, where his decisions were usually at- tended to, though given with often a harsh quickness, — the result of views which might not be obvious to any one but himself. " Accusations," his biogra- pher Meadley very well observes, " are frequently preferred against men of clear and comprehensive in- tellect, when engaged in the examination of petty causes, which the folly, ignorance, or knavery of the parties or their witnesses alone render difficult or complex. For the warmth which men of genius or principle may sometimes betray in such situations great allowance should be made for superiority in talent and virtue, usually accompanied with an energy of feeling which common characters neither possess nor appreciate *." This warmth, however, if it was displayed in any thing any more than manner, which
* Apud quosdam acerbior in conviciis narrabatur, ut bonis corais, ita adversus malos injucundus. Caeterura ex iracundia nihil supererat. Secretum et silentium ejus non timeres. Ho- nestius putabat offendere, quarn odisse. Tac. Vit. Jgr.
x 2
308 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
is a supposition more obvious to those acquainted with the habits of Dr. Paley, was not known nor suspected to have betrayed him into any decision, which he might have thought erroneous, had he used more self-possession. He had seldom occasion either for obstinacy to maintain his point, for petulance to check, or for the arts of authority which showed him jealous of investigation. He was firm and resolute, but it was a firmness principally concerned in pro- moting rather general good than trifling amend- ments ; so far as that wish might not interfere with any established order of things in itself unobjection- able. In his exertions, noticed by Meadley as directed in a more public way than was usual with him against the indiscriminate and heedless granting of licences to publicans, he went upon grounds much more likely to be known to him than to the rest of the magistrates, who were in the habit of attending the quarter ses- sions. He had observed, that the most of the cases which called for his interference, as an individual magistrate, arose from squabbles which were fomented at the retail gin-shops and low public-houses in the town and neighbourhood of Sunderland, and he did not think the danger and unpopularity of what was termed innovation carried weight enough against the injury to morality in his own parish. He was not likely to admit, that if morality was in any degree endangered by an abuse of what was even in itself not immoral, any consideration was to be had as to the degree of danger or dislike which might be in-
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 30.9
curred by the removal of it ; though such inferences are not unlikely to be drawn by those who look at the doctrine of expediency, as unfavourable to direct morality. He made an appeal to the grand jury of the county of Durham on this point, rather from feeling that such indifference, or, to say more, such designed forbearance, would be attended with farther consequences than seemed to be foreseen by the local magistrates, and therefore that it called for public notoriety and public countenance, before the evil could be removed. It was not so much any obtrusion of himself into notice (for in truth the attempt was not attended by any conspicuous display) which made him thus advocate a cause in which after all he was unsuccessful, as a desire to discharge a public duty, which came under his own immediate concern, and which was almost naturally the subject of his thoughts from the very direction of his character and writings. In common with other parts of England, during the scarcity of 1799, resolutions were entered into by most of the opulent and respectable inhabitants of the county and city of Durham, to relieve the dif- ficulties with which the poor and labouring classes seemed threatened, by stinting themselves in the use of bread corn, and their horses and cattle in the use of other grain. On a meeting being held in July of that year, for the purpose of devising means of lighten- ing the general consumption, as well as providing soup and other substitutes for the poor, Dr. Paley drew up five or six resolutions, the object of which
310 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
was more easily and familiarly stated than is usual in county meetings, " to refrain from the use of puddings, pastry, and any sort of bread, except or- dinary wheaten bread ; to discontinue the giving of oats, beans, or peas to horses ; to procure oatmeal, rye meal, beans, peas, and rice, to sell at a cheap rate ; and to recommend to gentlemen to apply the leavings of their tables to soup shops, to be provided and supported by the townships and parishes." This, like the projected plan of lessening the consumption of sugar in order to check the slave trade, was at- tended with at first indifferent success, though rigidly followed up in his own family and elsewhere. He used to remark the jealousy of the lower classes on any interference, and the perverse eagerness with which they availed themselves of any thing like pro- hibited articles. Though in many instances the pres- sure of hunger was felt in no inconsiderable degree amongst the large population of that parish, and as- suredly relieved in a great majority of cases, both with the most prompt assistance and with the gratitude of the persons so relieved ; yet here, as in other places, the soup was occasionally despised before it was made more savoury by a little better humour, and a more general understanding amongst the lower orders. Oatmeal, an article of food in many parts of England preferred before any other, was offered and refused ; or when it was taken, was sometimes thrown on the ground before his gates ; and he used to observe that during all that time of scarcity, when he was
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 311
weighing out his own brown bread to his family, he had the mortification of seeing the poor people pass- ing to and from the ovens in his parish with fine white cakes, dressed in all the pride of butter and currants.
His residence at Lincoln was marked by no event which called forth any peculiar characteristics of his mind. He entered with his usual ardour and vivacity into the interests of the place, as far as was con- sistent with his situation in the church, took his part in the public embellishments, and entered into a very general society, by no means otherwise than suf- ficiently enlightened, agreeable, and social. As sub- dean of Lincoln he was governor of Trinity hospital, in West Retford, which is endowed with an estate in that neighbourhood of more than five hundred acres of land, for the support of sixteen brethren. When he succeeded to the subdeanery in 1795, he found the bailiff to the estate, who had just then been elected by the brethren themselves without any con- currence or consultation with the governors, occupy- ing one of the hospital farms, and therefore, by a consequence common enough in charitable institu- tions, he foresaw that the charity was liable to abuse. This double capacity of agent and tenant met his decided disapprobation ; he strongly protested against the measure, and refused to sanction their appoint- ment of a bailiff under such circumstances. On find- ing, however, thaf the majority of the brethren had the power of appointing, and that there was no pro-
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vision directed for the disposal of any surplus funds, Dr. Paley laid the case before the court of chancery, which pretty readily decided, that the same man could not be agent and tenant at the same time. To this concern he gave himself up very closely and diligently, during almost the whole time of his retain- ing an interest in the subdeanery, and managed the whole business of his trust not only like a master but in an active business-like manner. Here might be given a specimen of his talents for business, and of his general correspondence, as well on that as on the most indifferent matters, by a selection from some letters which have been returned for this purpose; but beyond local interest, they seem to possess no claim upon public attention. The only observation worth making at the present time is, that he seems to have been heedless altogether about the outward dress of his correspondence, as well as the language in which his sentiments were conveyed. Provided that the right impressions were given, he cared not whe- ther few or more words were committed to the most comely gilt-edged paper or the first bit of torn sheet that came to hand. Thus on a very shabby piece of paper, much like the wrapping paper from a grocer's shop, is to be found the following and no more.
" I send you 's nomination, which you will
please to deliver him.
M Your account of the difference of the admea- surement is very probable ; but you perceive that it
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. l6V6
will depend entirely upon the proposal which may come in whether any question arise upon it or not. I am, dear sir,
Yours very truly,
W. PALEY.
" P. S. I take it for granted that is unmarried ;
if he be married, hold your hand with the nomi- nation, and let me know."
On another fair sheet.
" Dear sir, — -I have just time by the post to say,
that I think it would be advisable to join Mr. ,
and how much I am obliged to you.
Yours faithfully,
W. P. " — Never offered to give up either the farm or bailiffs place.
Yours, Sec."
This was not the only concern he took in their welfare. He was more especially anxious to make these poor men peaceable, good-humoured, and con- tent with one another, and more particularly cau- tioned them in a set charge, and in one or two per- sonal conversations with them, " against wasting the remainder of their days, which were so well and so beneficently provided for, in the indulgence of sloth, quarrelling, drunkenness, idleness, or whatever might pervert the benevolence of the founders."
314 LIFE OF BR. PALEY.
Dr. Paley appears to have been considered, in the general society of Lincoln, eminent for the union of great talents and plain common sense, joined to a most agreeable and cheerful view of every thing and every body about him. " It was impossible" (says his friend and physician, in a letter to the present writer of this), " for any one not to be amused and instructed by his conversation. His anecdotes were rendered the more entertaining from the manner in which they were delivered, by a peculiarly animated counte- nance, and a characteristic curling of the nose. He had nothing of those forbidding and overbearing man- ners which are too frequent attendants upon superior talents and abilities. On the contrary, whilst he never failed to entertain his hearers, he was courte- ously attentive to any observation or remark made in return. He had a knack of eliciting information from men of all descriptions. He himself once said, that he never met with but one man, whose brains he could not suck. This was a French refugee, now no more, whom accident had fixed at Lincoln, as a teacher of the French language. That general philanthropy and liberality of sentiment for which Dr. Paley was par- ticularly distinguished, afforded the Catholic priest a frequent seat at his table ; and it was owing more to Dr. Paley's ingenious defence of him, than to com- miseration, that he remained so quietly at Lincoln ; for he had been accused of tampering with the reli- gious tenets and opinions of its inhabitants ; and one day in particular it was alleged that he had converted
IAYE OF DR. PALEY. 315
one of our divines, upon which Dr. Paley, who had hitherto remained silent upon the subject, seeing the serious turn such an accusation was taking, exclaimed, ' He convert any one ! he never converted any thing in his life; except a neck of mutton into chops !' Never was the old adage, ' Ridiculum acri fortuis,' more clearly demonstrated than upon this occasion, as from that moment a general acquittal was pro- nounced. The time of Dr. Paley's residence as sub- dean of Lincoln commenced at Christmas, when his arrival was always anticipated by his friends with the most lively pleasure. He kept a hospitable table, which his friends never left without being highly entertained and delighted. Dr. Paley became a mem- ber of a literary society, which had been carried on at Lincoln for upwards of half a century, consisting of the residentiaries, and other literary gentlemen. These meetings were held once a fortnight at a prin- cipal inn, where, after taking coffee, choosing books, and a little chit-chat, the evening was closed with a barrel of oysters and a rubber of whist, which Dr. Paley highly enjoyed. I have known him come to those meetings after having experienced one of those paroxysms of pain to which he was very subject, when, with spirits unsubdued, he kept the table in a roar. Indeed it was impossible for any one to bear excessive pain with greater resignation and magnanimity than he did. The society, customs, and habits of the in- habitants of Lincoln were so agreeable to Dr. Paley, that he always looked forward with pleasure to the
316 LIFE OF Dlt. PALEY.
time of his return, and did not quit it without regret. And though the term of his residence expired at Lady-day, he did not leave Lincoln till the beginning of May. It was to him a great delight to see Lin- coln, as he used to say, in all its glory, and to view its numerous gardens and orchards in full bloom and blossom. As a preacher, no one expressed himself more strongly, or in words better adapted to his subject. His language was forcible, his reasoning strong, and his doctrine sound ; and when it was made known that Dr. Paley was to ascend the pulpit, the cathedral was always well filled."
But this part of his public and private character cannot be very much an object of concern in com- parison with what was clearly in his view during the greatest part of this time. His health did not long suffer him to continue his task of preaching from the pulpit, or indeed any of the active duties of a resident clergyman, which might call for great personal ex- ertion. His constitutional ailments increased so much upon him, that about the year 1800 he was obliged to discontinue public speaking or reading altogether, and to avoid, as much as he could be prevailed on to avoid, even any exercise that was likely to produce bodily fatigue. His attention, therefore, was imme- diately drawn towards usefulness of another kind ; and the Bishop of Durham having, as he hints in the Dedication to the Natural Theology, suggested to him, that his study might enable him to satisfy those public duties which his church could no longer ex-
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 317
pect, he did not hesitate at all about the choice of his subject. But it is a fact that could not well be made known by himself, if he was conscious of it, that this, which was his last work, was of all others the most suitable, as well to the prevailing bent of his mind towards contemplation and accurate observation, as to the habits of thought in which he had freely and fully indulged during the whole of his life. It was not only the result of an easy plan of study during his ill health, or the employment of his leisure, when he could ill bear more difficult engagements, but maybe said to be the very propension of his mind left to itself. It has been indeed already hinted that he was more inclined, when at rest, to silent, steady con- templation on the works of nature, than to any other kind of exercise. All his amusements were of this sort. In his walks, his rides, and garden, when his hands were busy, his mind also was at work to some purpose. He had from the natural strength of reason much too strong a conviction of the responsi- bility of rational creatures, as well as of the import- ance of time and opportunity, to allow even his amusements to be useless, if any good could be gained from them to any body but himself. In this view his Natural Theology may be looked upon as at once the most original and most entertaining of his works. In this, the author is at last quite himself. It never was doubted by those of his literary friends who were best acquainted with his mind after he left college, but that it was strongly impressed with a talent for
318 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
observing, and collecting, and storing up illustrations on this subject. During the time he spent at Car- lisle, it was generally conjectured that such a work would appear at some time in some shape, as his more private and confidential conversation generally took that turn, and even the remarks and observations which he was most fond of showed the same line of inquiry. His early friends were at no loss in sup- posing that his Evidences would not be his last pro- duction, and when the Natural Theology appeared, they were much amused in discovering not only his own manner in conversation, but many of his most familiar observations embodied there. He certainly had nothing like lectures to go upon, 'though some- thing of that kind has been partially noticed, from a distant resemblance of his concluding chapter to Clarke, on the Being and Attributes of God. He seems nevertheless to have used something of the same way of collecting from thoughts which he had made use of in his early sermons, what might be of service to him here. Independent of various passages which are scattered about in his other works, and which speak for the tendency of his thoughts, it appears from some of the sermons now published, and composed so early as 1779, that the goodness of the Deity had been so prepared, very much in the way the chapter on that head now stands. Another sermon also with the date in 1785, contains the Statement of his Ar- gument in the Natural Theology. In one of his Chancellor's Charges to the Clergy of the Diocese of
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 319
Carlisle, he recommends natural history as a study- proper for clergymen. " A way and habit of re- marking and contemplating the works and mysteries of nature," he says elsewhere, " is a delightful, and reasonable, and pious exercise of our thoughts, and is often the very first thing that leads to a religious dis- position." In one of his visitation sermons preached at Durham, amongst other employments of study he observes upon natural philosophy, — " nor let it be said that this is foreign to Christianity ; for the presence in the universe of a Supreme mind being once established upon these principles, (geometry and astronomy, &c.) the business of religion is half done. Of such a Being we can never cease to think. We shall receive with readiness the history of his dispensa- tions with deeper submission on any intimation of his will. Of the several branches of natural history the application is more obvious. They all tend to the discovery or confirmation of a just theology. They inspire those sentiments which Christianity wishes to find in her disciples." Allowing, however, for much previous inclination, and it may be added some pre- vious preparation for a work of this kind, he was in- duced by the circumstance of being necessarily de- barred from the active duties of his profession to put into execution what had hitherto perhaps been only half formed ; and he had employment enough, or made enough to satisfy him that he was using his time and talents to the furtherance of useful and ra- tional piety. As soon as he began to fix upon this
320 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
work as an object, nothing escaped his observation which could in any way supply him with a hint or observation. He used to take from his own table to Jiis study the back-bone of a hare, or the pinion of a fowl, or some little bone in the head of a fish ; and on coming home from a walk would pull out of his pocket a stone or a plant to illustrate what he had himself found, or seen advanced by others without sufficient minuteness. He collected facts and ob- servations from almost all the common treatises, large or small, upon his favourite subject. He seems not to have been at all scrupulous about the weight and re- spectability of the authors from whom he took many of his remarks and observations. Provided the au- thority was such as satisfied himself, it was of little consequence to him where he got it. Indeed it was not very necessary for his subject, and least of all for his mode of treating it, either to stuff himself with much learning, or to treat of it in any other way than what might be adapted to the most obvious and every- day observation. There is such a compression of thought, and concentration of view, as might lead to the notion that he entered upon his subject with even more scientific views than he laid claim to ; and it has surprised many who did not allow for the deep penetration and keenness of view which marked his mind, to find him so well acquainted particularly with the anatomy of the human frame, which, though dif- fering in some immaterial points, such as terms and descriptions, from the modern anatomical writings,
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 321
is not, it is said, materially affected in the accuracy of its detail. He, however, had little previous ac- quaintance with what may be called the scientific parts of his subject before the period now spoken of, and his knowledge seems to have been derived from many sources ; if we may judge from what remains of his rough draft. There are three or four large manu- script books filled with observations and short sub- stantial hints taken from various authors, and in the order in which they are here set down : Boyle, Gre- gory, Cheselden, Derham, Ray, Monro, Derham's Astro Theology, Adams, Wilkes's Principles of Na- tural Religion, Search, Sturm, Goldsmith, Lesser, Smellie, Religious Philosopher, Spectator, Seed, Na- ture Displayed, Hervey, Addison, Keill, Watson, St. Pierre, Cappe's Causes of Atheism, Memoirs of Natural History, by the Royal Academy of Paris, 1701, Priestley, Maclaurin ; and these are headed by the following memorandums made for himself: " N. B. In this collection all marked X are in- serted j those marked D have not got a place found for them ; those marked -H- are supposed to be of more value ; so with other books of collection." It is clear, therefore, how far he might be said to make choice of a subject, or to have given his thoughts a determinate direction, when, during two or three years, he was giving his particular attention to a course he had already pursued, and to the systema- tizing of his labours. But if such, almost necessary, preparations for his undertaking led him to take ad- vol. 1. y
LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
vantage of these second-hand sentiments, and, in- deed, if his subject did not require more of research than observation, it is still not easy to detract from his merit as an original writer. The treatment of his subject is entirely his own throughout. He gives to it so much entertainment and interest by striking out a new application of the matter he had collected, by much acute and minute observation, by the clearness and familiarity of his comparisons and illustrations, by clearing his subject from the difficulties of tech- nical terms, by reducing the discoveries of science to a level with ordinary understandings without injury to the credit of the science itself, that more originality might not have served his purpose so well. Thus, if the book be opened promiscuously, we find, in follow- ing him on the circulation of the blood, such bursts as these — " What enters at the mouth, finds its way to the fingers." When giving a description from KeilPs Anatomy, — " Consider what an affair this is ; the aorta of a whale is larger in the bone than the main pipe of the water-works at London-bridge, and how well does it execute its office ! An anatomist, who understood the structure of the heart, might say beforehand that it would play, but he would expect that it would always be liable to derangement, or soon work itself out. Yet shall this wonderful machine go night and day for eighty years together, at the rate of one hundred thousand strokes every twenty- four hours.'' Again, in describing the transfusion of aliment, " here it meets the river, there it dis-
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. t M
eliarges itself into a larger vein, the whole route can be exhibited to the eye, nothing is left to be supplied by the imagination, or conjectured. Simply for a passage, these voluminous bowels, this prolixity of gut seems in no wise necessary." Again, " for the pre- paratory grinding the gizzard lends its mill, and as all mill-work should be strong, its structure is so, beyond that of any other muscle belonging to the animal." Of the larynx, " such," says he, " is its structure, and we may here remark the almost complete success of the expedient, viz. how seldom it fails of its purpose, compared with the number of instances in which it fulfils it. Reflect how frequently we swallow, how constantly we breathe. In a city feast, for example, what deglutition, what anhelations ! yet does this little cartilage, the epiglottis, so effectually interpose its office, so securely guard the entrance of the wind- pipe, that whilst morsel after morsel, draught after draught, are coursing one another over it, an accident of a crum, or a drop slipping into this passage ex- cites in the whole company not only alarm by its danger, but surprise by its novelty. Not two guests are choked in a century."
He seems not to have thought of any addition to his works beyond a few amendments or alterations in future editions. Such as an Index now prefixed to his Natural Theology ; which, if not drawn up for his own use, as a sketch of his plan, was probably pre- pared after the publication of the first edition, at the suggestion of the Bishop of Elphin. And here it may
y 2
LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
be proper, on the introduction of a name so intimately and affectionately connected with the life of Dr. Paley, to notice a fact rather curious in itself, and much to the present purpose, because it is one which he would himself have been much more inclined to avow than to conceal, had it not seemed immaterial to him as an author and a friend, viz. that on this his favourite work, and on this the plaything as it were of his mind, and more calculated to appear as his own proper production than any other of his works, he availed himself of some assistance from the Bishop of Elphin. He acknowledges, indeed, his obligation to Mr. Brinkley, Andrews* professor of astronomy in the university of Dublin, who was intimate with the Bishop of Elphin, and described by him, in one of his letters to Dr. Paley, " as one of the mildest of men, and at the same time an excellent mathematician and astronomer." His communications, indeed, seem to have been more full than were inserted in the body of the work. Neither is it very clear how far Dr. Paley made use of his friend's talents for observation and originality, which appear to have been by no means inconsiderable.
It can probably add little to the fame of this learned and unostentatious, and single-minded prelate to bring forward what was never intended to attract any reputation ; but as the public have had little oppor- tunity of catching the complexion of his talents, the insertion of some of this auxiliary matter may con- tribute to the interest as well as amusement of the
LIFE OF DR. PALEY. 325
reader *. At any rate it may serve as a specimen by which he may judge how far this assistance went, although from the hints here given, it seems to have been scarcely embodied in the work.
The first letter on the subject will rather confirm what has been surmised of the commencement of the work. It is dated 1797, and forms the first part of what follows.
" MY DEAR FRIEND,
" I have bought a book, and began to make col- lections illustrative of the arguments for final causes, viz. the evident contrivance and fitness of things for one another in many points of natural history.
" Here's an instance of my own :
" In the largest feather of the wings of an eagle I have counted above 500 little laminae or rays on each side of the shaft of the feather ; and in each ray, as I have found by means of a good double microscope, there are at least 1000 little hooks or teeth, which must all fall exactly into the interstices made to re- ceive them, or the feather will appear ruffled. If you separate the ray, you will readily perceive by their motion the teeth I mean, and if you smooth the feather with your finger, they will immediately fall into their places. Here then we have 2 X 500 x
* What is here offered collectedly might perhaps have better stood in their original form of letters as an appendix, had it not been more according to the plan proposed in the beginning to give a connected account of the writings of Dr. Paley.
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1000, or a million of intentions actually executed m the construction of one feather. Consider the number of feathers of a bird, and the number of views and intentions will be astonishingly great How they are fastened at the extremity of the teeth, I know not, as my microscope does not sufficiently show.
" On this subject may be added, that it is re- marked by Maclaurin and others, who have speculated on the most advantageous form of the sails of wind- mills, that they should be fixed on the axis at the angle of 54° 44', and that this angle should increase from the axis, and the ribs of the sail should have a twist, so as to lie in different planes. Both the twist and the shortening of the ribs are found in the wings of birds, so that he who contrived them understood maxima and minima. As to mechanism, look at the wings, wing-cases, and the feet and claws of insects. Every earwig has wings, and those most curiously folded up under two short shells or wing-cases. The hinges of the wings and joints of the antennae which are about it are very neat.
" The hand of man is a master-piece of mechanism. One general method of discovering design and con- trivance in the present constitution of things is by making any change in them, ' cccteris manentibuSy and we shall find it will always be for the worse. Make a change in any part of the human body, e.g. take a finger-nail, and instead of having it at the back of the finger, suppose it fixed on the fore-part j how inconvenient for handling, and in many other
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respects would such a change be ! In your chapter on divine contrivance, you must have an article on the solar system, which no one can describe more forcibly or eloquently. It is * opus sapientissimiy and you should have a cut of it, as likewise of many other things which cannot well be made intelligible without plates.
" It is best that water should be the universal fluid, though many would imagine it better that the rivers should run with wine or oil. But if they did, the first consequence would be the destruction of all fish ; the second, the destruction of all vegetables, and of course of all animals. Did rivers run with wine or oil, the rains would be oily or vinous, which would kill all plants. A curious circumstance relative to the waters with which the earth is replenished, is the constant round they are travelling without ceasing. The rivers discharge themselves into the sea ; from the sea are exhaled those vapours which form the clouds. These clouds descend in showers, which penetrating into the crevices of the hills, supply springs, which springs flow in little streams into the valleys, and these uniting and augmenting become rivers, which in return feed the ocean. So there is an incessant circulation of the same water, not one drop probably more or less now than at the creation of the world.
" Again, air is the medium by which vapours are raised from the sea, and there is a circumstance in the process of evaporation which is a striking proof
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of Providence. The circumstance is this — that at the same time that air attracts the aqueous particles, it repels the saline. Hence all rains, even those that fall at sea, are always fresh and sweet. If salt had been as soluble in air as water is, we should have had no such thing as fresh water. The rains would have been salt, and would have destroyed all plants and herbage.
" Near three parts out of four of the earth are covered by the sea, and there is wisdom in this pro- portion perhaps. If the surface of the sea were less, the evaporations which are made from that surface would be less, and the rivers smaller and fewer, and the earth would not be sufficiently moistened and watered. Lessen the sea, and you increase no doubt the land, but that land for want of moisture would be a barren sand and desert, in which neither men nor beasts could live. What would become of com- merce and the communication between different parts of the world, if the sea did not exist in the extent it does at present ?
" There is wisdom in making the heart an invo- luntary muscle. Had the action of the heart been subject to the command of the will, and we could have stopped its motion at pleasure, there would have been no end of suicides, and as there would have been no external marks, they would have been un- discoverable.
" What an immense workman is God ! in miniature as well as in the great. With his right hand, per-
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haps, he is now making a ring of a hundred thousand miles diameter to revolve round a planet like Saturn, and with his left is forming a tooth in the ray of the feather of a humming bird, or a point in the claw of the foot of a microscopic insect. When he works in miniature every thing is gilded, polished, and perfect ; but whatever is made by human art, as a needle, &c. &c. when viewed by a microscope, appears rough and coarse and bungling. The works of nature differ materially from the works of art in superiority of workmanship and wisdom. It requires art and skill to make a statue, but much more to make a man, the joints and nerves, to lubricate the joints, and faci- litate their motions, &c. Our mechanism is confined to the adjustment of the parts of dead matter to one another, but God kneads heat up with his mechanism, mixes chemistry with his composition, and unites spirit with matter. That parents are not properly the makers of their children is evident, because they know neither what they are making nor have made. A woman with child knows not whether the foetus be a boy or a girl, or whether she carries twins or not. God is the greatest of all electricians, chemists, &c. &c. He had employed electricity in the atmosphere, and given it to the torpedo and electrical eel, long before Franklin knew any thing about it. He has given phosphorus to the glow-worm and the fire-fly, and he has not been inattentive to so minute a thing as the comforts of the smallest order of birds, having universally given them a bed of black down next their
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bodies, let the external colour of their feathers be what it will ; so he knew that black was the warmest colour. As the surface of a little bird is much greater in proportion to its bulk than that of a large one, it was necessary that they should be warmer clad than large ones, and in this shocking cold weather they feel the utility of this black down and basis of their feathers. The cold is in proportion to the surface, and if a turkey were divided into a number of wrens, the surface of all the wrens would exceed the surface of the turkey in proportion to the diameter (any homologous line) of the turkey to that of a wren. If a globe be divided into a number of little spherules, and the diameter of the globe be to the diameter of a spherule as n. 1, the sum of the surfaces of the spherules will exceed the surface of the globe in the same ratio of n. 1, and so of any similar bodies. This observation of the black down being constantly next the skins of little birds struck me lately, and I think there must be design in it, as it is not the case with large birds. Vale at quantum valere potest.
" Of all the small birds which winter with us (from the snipe downwards) if you clip off the tip of the feathers which form the colours of the birds, you will find the remainder of the feathers uniformly black. When I first observed this, I took it for granted, that the final cause of it was to keep the bird warm, by keeping in the heat arising from the heart, and cir- culation of the blood. The use of clothes is not to imbibe heat from the sun, but to keep it, and retain
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what is evolved from the circulation of the blood. Black is always said to be the warmest colour, and Dr. Franklin, in some of his philosophical works, as- serts that liquor will heat sooner, and keep hot longer, in a black mug than a white one. Heat is supposed to have an affinity to black, and it has been observed that most, if not all bodies, turn black before they burst forth into a flame. Dr. Priestley, in his Lec- tures on Experimental Philosophy, p. 147, says, that the organs of respiration are larger in birds than other animals, and that they contribute to keep them warm. What he writes there will be well worth read- ing, and will be a good instance to show, that He who invented the lungs (which Hunter did not know any use of) understood their nature perfectly, and was an excellent chemist. Their absorbing vital air and rejecting azote, is a very curious contrivance for heating the frame.
" The wings of many insects (the libellula, or dragon fly, the musca chamelion, the ephemeron, &c. &c.) are prepared in water to be in the air. In their grub state they could no more live in air than a fish ; and in their fly state they would perish in water, though a little while before it supplied them with food and life and motion. The larva of the libellula lives two years underwater before it undergoes its transformation. The larva? of the libellula are very active, and furnished with very strong jaws. Lin- naeus calls them, crudeles insectarum aquatilium cro- codili. In all larva? the wings of the future fly may
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be discovered by a careful dissection. In the com- mon cabbage caterpillar the future butterfly is en- closed in the body of the caterpillar, and in the chry- salis state, you may see the wings under their cover- ing with the naked eye very plainly. The fly is always enclosed in the grub, and the transformation of insects is only the casting off of temporary coats, cases, and coverings, or a kind of masquerade dresses. The oddity is that they should change in many in- stances the element they live in, as water for air. Might not the title of your work be * Natural and Philosophical Theology ?9 With respect to a motto, I submit one of the following to your consideration. In the sixteenth Essay of Bacon, De Atheismo, there is a good motto, I think, for your work, — ' Minus durum est credere portentosissimis fabulis Alcorani Talmudi aut Legendse, quam credere huic universi- tatis rerum fabricae mentem non adesse ;' and he immediately adds, ' Itaque Deus nunquam edidit miraculum ad atheismum convincendum, quoniam opera ejus ordinaria huic rei sufficiant,' or this — 4 Qui Deum in natura non vident, non solum na- tione carent, sed etiam sensu, Avicenna. Natura nihil est aliud quam Deus, Labienus. Caecum esse oportet, qui ex optimis et sapientissimis rerum structuris non statui vident fabricatoris omnipotentis infinitam sapi- entiam et bonitatem ; insanum, qui profited nolit." Or, for aught I see, ■ The fool hath said in his heart there is no God,' might make a proper motto. In- fidelity is always the disease of the heart and not of
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the head, and the grand cause of it is vice, and an unwillingness to submit to the restraints which re- ligion imposes, which the infidel terms shackles. The old heathen was a character totally different from the modern infidel. He had the greatest reverence for an oath, was generous, and had a number of good qualities often in his composition ; whereas the mo- dern infidel is an unprincipled selfish mortal, who pays not the least regard to an oath, and is ready to commit a crime from which he expects either pleasure or profit, when he has a chance of doing so with im- punity. If he comes in your way, treat him with hard arguments and hard knocks. When Bentley and Warburton gave them such flagellation as they deserved, there were very few of that vermin ; but from the time divines fell to flattering and compli- menting them, as too many have done, they have multiplied exceedingly, and swarm in all quarters. You will observe that the infidel, by the by, is the most credulous of all features, for he believes that feathers, and flowers, and worlds can make them- selves ; that at a certain period of time all mankind were infatuated, and valued neither pleasure nor pro- perty, nor even life itself, but threw all away for nothing but a senseless story about a resurrection. He charges us with credulity at the time that he be- lieves all manner of nonsense.
" How goes on your excellent work? I intended to have read Dr. J. Young's Bakerian Lecture, and sent
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you some extracts from it on the mechanism of the eye ; but have been too idle to do any thing. Dr. Derham, whose chapter on the eye is well worth your perusal, observes with respect to the eyelids, that the hairs of them grow but to a certain commodious length, and need no cutting, as many other hairs of the body do : also that their points stand out of the way, and in the upper lid bend upwards, as they do downwards in the lower, whereby they are well adapted to their use. Here we may learn how critical and nice the great Author of Nature hath been even in the least and most trivial convenience. You will have readers whom such observations will suit. Though your forte is recapitulation, and the conclusion of your work excellent, yet I would not have you think of writing your last chapter now ; defer it to the second edition.
" f JSfon regredi est progredi.' Maintain your ground and stick to regular gentle exercise (especially riding round your field) and Nature will set herself to rights, and restore you to your usual health. If you had strength to throw out gout, it would relieve all the wrong sensations in your stomach. You have wrote and done more to improve the age you live in than any of your contemporaries ; and when you have finished your present work, which is infinitely wanting for the confutation of French and English atheism, you should take out a writ of ease, write no more, and study only your health. As to Buffon's ' silly
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hypothesis, there cannot be a better refutation of it than your own. None but Frenchmen (and those very weak ones) ever give the least credit to it."
Most of this was written previous to the publication of the Natural Theology. The same writer says, in a letter dated Oct. 1802,
" I am reperusing your excellent work, and, dectes repelita placebit. I do not perceive a particle of laudanum in it from beginning to end, and there is as much spirit in the conclusion as in any part. It will supersede Ray, Derham, and Nieuwentyt, will give a check to prevailing scepticism and atheism, and is calculated to do an infinite deal of good. It is exactly such a work as the world wanted ; the arguments are prop* Vfioned to every understanding ; many of the observations entirely new, and all treated in a new way, and expressed in your very best man- ner. It will certainly be the most popular of all your works ; and now you have completed your system so well, you should rest from your labour. Your ar- guments for the divine goodness are so strong, that not only our reason is convinced, but as Barrow would say, ' we even touch and feel it with our senses.' The following lines from Cardinal de Polignac's Anti-Lucretius, an excellent poem, and worth your reading, if you have never read it, might possibly serve for a motto to your book.
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' Nam quae non machina claraat
Auctorem ; attentas si quis modo praebeat aures,
Cuncta Deum produnt, atque alta impressa sigilla.
Lib. 5, snb fine.'
The cardinal was a violent Anti-Newtonian ; his at- tacks on Newton are the only weak things in his poem.
" In page 406 you say, * Light passes from the sun to the earth in eleven minutes.' It comes in eight minutes, or 8' 7" more exactly. Now the mean distance of the sun is about ninety-six millions of English miles. Light therefore travels at the rate of twelve millions of miles in a minute, which gives one, I think, a better idea of its tremendous velocity, than the old comparison of the cannon ball. You have robbed the moon of its atmosphere, which is a trifle. — It certainly has one. — §Jj least so later astro- nomers say. I will scribble the margin of my copy any little remarks that may occur in reading, as you desire, and send them to you. In so interesting a volume there should be as few inaccuracies as pos- sible. In p. 545, if you intend Sallust's words, they should be, ' in maxima fortuna minima licentia ;' which is better, I think, than the ' quaque' (which is in addition) and f minimum licere.' Seneca, I be- lieve, has this expression, * Magna fortuna, magna servitus.' Have you seen the advertisement of Dr. Priestley ? His heart, I am told, is set upon the work ; but it does not meet with the encouragement
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he had a right to expect. Considering his domestic misfortunes, how he is to be pitied ! Let me hear how you do. By all means use exercise ; if possible, on horseback, if not, in your carriage. I should have been dead before this time if I had not kept the ma- chine a-going by gentle exercise.
" I am most affectionately yours,
" J. Elphin."
What follows is chiefly made up of corrections sug- gested by this much valued friend, along with many from Mr. Brinkley, on some of his astronomical ob- servations at Chap. 22.
The circumstances under which he finished, and indeed it may very fairly be said, begun this work, add a great interest to it for those who, like this cor- respondent, were anxious for his health. He had been long struggling with those attacks which are the usual symptoms of diseased viscera, and this con- stitutional disorder had gained so much upon him, that his intervals of ease became few and far between. It was quite admirable at such times to observe, not only how lively were his animal spirits, but how his mind, quite unsubdued, seemed to labour to show itself as happy as could be with the very privilege of existence ; but even this was not equal to the calm- ness and patience and composure which he showed under the severest bodily sufferings, even at the very time when he was busily engaged in contemplating and describing the benevolence of the Deity, and
vol. i. z
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the provisions for man's enjoyment. That this in- deed was known in the neighbourhood, appears by an extract given by Meadley from Fenwick's Life of Dr. Clarke *. During the short time which elapsed between this publication and his death, his time was spent much in the way already described. It does not appear that he was sensible of so much decay in his mental or bodily strength as might make a total cessation from study desirable, or lead him to think that by humouring his disorder with ease and in- dulgence, he had any chance of mitigating it. It gave him frequent warnings of its serious inroads on his constitution ; but so gradual were its approaches, that he scarcely seemed to alter any of his plans, either public or private, so long as it was possible for him to enjoy the hopes of communicating or receiving any good.
About this time a report became prevalent, that he was fixed upon to fill the vacant bishopric of Gloucester. Though this may be thought a ground to be trodden only with the greatest caution and de- licacy, at least by any member of his own family, yet
* Dr. Clarke was, in Dr. Paley's opinion, one of the ablest, and at the same time the least ostentatious, physicians of his time. He died shortly after Dr. Paley had first begun to find the benefit of his prescriptions. If after this date he be said to have enjoyed any tolerable renovation of his constitution, it may be attributed to the forcible and prompt means used by this phy- sician in arresting the progress of his disease. So much indeed was he disposed to rely upon his advice that he found a difficulty in relying upon any other.
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so little was heard at the time from himself, so little did his state of health and constitution, if not the tone of his natural character, lead him to feel any thing like disappointment, and so much have the public, who in this case certainly were more sanguine in the anticipation than he was, been called upon for their attention by stories and anecdotes that seem in part certainly, and perhaps altogether, groundless, that it may be mentioned rather as a mark of his usual abhorrence of any self-consideration, than as a prominent part of his life. In this view what is known may be related, because what is related may be substantiated, and may be sufficient to correct much misunderstanding, as well as set his name free from that unseasonable attention which is even at this day drawn to it in very different ways. Indeed, as a matter of political question on which to catch at any praise for his independence, or charge against his superiors for any fancied neglect, none can feel less disposed to notice this point of his life than his own immediate friends, because none had a fairer oppor- tunity of estimating his perfect indifference on the subject, either when it was casually mentioned to him as an elevation not unlikely to take place at some time, or when it was hinted that it had been expected to take place before. Yet as a matter necessarily connected with the politics of his day, it was curious to observe the mixture of truth and ex- aggeration in the publication of the fact itself, and his own entire unconsciousness of having given any
z 2
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cause for public notoriety in any way attributed to him.
What may be collected as the substance of such reports (for it is most to the present purpose so to describe them), is, in plain language, that Mr. Pitt was long led to overlook his services, and to be backward in recommending him to the notice of the court ; that when so recommended, objections were made in a quarter no less powerful from a fancied suspicion of political or religious bias ; and lastly, that the late king was supposed to dislike his principles, as well as his language in the passage concerning pigeons. The very reply of his late majesty to the minister's recommendation is brought forward ; on being told that Dr. Paley had explained or altered many of his opinions, " I had rather have a man who never had occasion to change them ;" and on another occasion, " I can have no notion of the man who, in the direction of his conduct, would look for what is expedient, if he knows what is right." It is not altogether unlikely, that what has been, and is even now, advanced with the most apparent authority, may have taken its rise from facts unimportant in themselves ; but whether such inferences were ever drawn, or have been merely intended to serve the purpose of those who first related them, is of as little consequence to the memory of Dr. Paley, as it was to himself, when these little incidents took place.
So early then as 1785, when the Bishop of Elphin and he were discussing the publication of his first
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work at the house of a friend, " Paley," said the former, " that passage about the pigeons will not go down ; it may prevent your being a bishop." " Well," said Paley, in his usual characteristic manner, " bishop or no bishop, it shall stand." It is probable that this was said without much attention in either of the parties to the consequences, even if that consequence be confined only to the raising a report that this did in any way impede his promotion ; but he who will venture to conjecture that such a random sentiment would not have been uttered, had he even been able to foresee such consequences as are attributed to it, knows little of the character here spoken of. On his removal, indeed, from Carlisle to Bishop Wearmouth, the same kind and anxious friend, the Bishop of Elphin, had expressed, with great appearance of having reasonable ground for the expression, that he was glad his preferment was good at last, for he might depend upon its being his last, and had even per- suaded Dr. Paley to think so, without at all seeking the grounds of that opinion. In the latter part of his life, however, there was an understanding in his own family, though almost too indistinct to be now traced to any authority, that some overtures were made to him by a friend (whether with or without any grounds to support them may be a matter of question), tending to persuade him to an explanation, or softening, or perhaps recantation of some expres- sion which might make against him in a higher quar- ter, and recommending another edition, or a note
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explanatory of the true extent of such expressions. He declared himself perfectly ready to give any ex- planation of the views with which either particular expressions or general sentiments were advanced, but felt no disposition to recant or explain away any thing that had been misconstrued, as this was obviously to subject an author to his reader's views. If he was misunderstood, he could not help that. But that this went no farther, or at least was not at all con- nected with Mr. Pitt, may nearly be taken for granted, for there is now good ground for supposing that Mr. Pitt never did mention his name at all to the king for a bishopric. So far, indeed, was Dr. Paley from considering himself the object of any jealousy or sus- picion by persons in authority, that he always con- sidered his preferment at Lincoln chiefly owing to Mr. Pitt's interference ; and though this is more than the truth, as now appears from the first au- thority, it is true that Mr. Pitt was made acquainted with the views of his patron on that occasion, and readily expressed his concurrence. Neither had he any reason to think that he was peculiarly the object of any dislike either to the king or any of his sub- jects. On the contrary, from the report of the Bishop of Elphin of some conversation addressed to that prelate when at court, and from the wish ex- pressed in consequence that he would allow himself to be introduced there, with which he could never be Jbrought to comply, it was pretty clear that he was regarded rather favourably. The following letter too,
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343
from a friend of his constantly about the court at Windsor, shows that his works at least were much in request with his majesty. The familiar chit-chat style of the letter seems a voucher for the authority of what is related.
" Windsor Castle, Jan. 11, 1797.
" It is a proof of great friendship, my dear sir, that you call my last letter an interesting one, as it was filled wholly with the concerns of me and mine. I have now somewhat to say that respects you, and I will begin that first. On the very Sunday on which I received your letter, this little dialogue took place in the Chapter-room of St. George's.
" ' K. Majendie, do you know who has taken my Paley out of my library ?'
" < M. No, sir ; — I have not.5
" * K. Do you think Fisher has? Cannot you in his absence see that ? It is bound in dark calf, and has blue letters on the back. I value the book highly, and would not be without it on any account. Pray, where does Dr. Paley reside now ?'
" ' M. At Wearmouth, sir, I believe principally ; but Mr. Wilson knows best.'
" * K. Does he never come into this part of the world, Mr. Wilson?'
" * W. I hope, sir, to have the satisfaction of seeing him with me next summer.'
" And there for the present ended the conver- sazione. The Sunday fortnight after, Mr. Wilson told me, the king had not yet found his Paley. * Nei-
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ther Majendie nor Fisher have it. He has now but one chance of finding it again. He thinks he must have left it at Weymouth. He knows he took it with him in his pocket, and it is probable that he has left it behind him. On this supposition, he will send for another set immediately, and he is rather pleased with the circumstance, as he shall have one there to recur to as well as here, for he thinks it a very use- ful, valuable publication.' Now, my dear sir, if you are above royal praise, I have done wrong in taking up your time and mine ; but I confess I felt so proud of it, I could not resist the impulse of telling it you."
The truth then may perhaps be, if any objections were really made to the language or tone in which many of his sentiments are conveyed, that he did not listen to the advice of his cautious friends, from a conviction that such considerations ought not to in- fluence, and would not influence, any of those who undertook a charge of such grave importance as the concerns of a national religion ; and who might be supposed anxious, if from no better principle, at least from respect to their taste, to avoid the display of such ultraism, as could take hold of mere "uncourtly language #." It is true that, in publishing his Moral Philosophy in 1785, he fell in with times when un- courtly language became the fashion in politics ; and when it was almost the only property of a great po-
* Chalmers, from Quarterly Review,
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litical leader that was imitated by bold and designing men, who, under the guise of wholesome truths, laid bare the very scaffolding of all established authorities. It might be, that the anger of the court was roused soon after by the inveterate and persevering spirit with which almost a too curious insight was gained into the real strength of royalty and prerogative ; but this, he might take liberty to conclude, had time to pass off, with the usual changes of political and moral feeling, long before it came to his turn to be thought of for any such advancement. At any rate it was very improbable, that he whose characteristic was such a freedom of thinking and speaking, as might at once show that he preferred integrity to courtesy, and the free use of his reason and common sense — nay the almost too unlimited indulgence of wit and drollery, to the cautious and trim propriety of studied phrase, would either have exchanged these habits, or thought it worth while to exchange them, in hopes of meeting the wishes of any court in Chris- tendom. He was by no means deficient in proper courtesy, nor unwilling to pay all outward and hearty deference to his superiors, nor was even conscious, much less proud, of the feeling of independence. His blunt manner of expressing himself seemed to be no affectation, but an off-set of his character; as may be readily perceived by comparing his whimsical and laconic habit of letter-writing on matters quite un- connected with politics, his mode of striking out illustrations in his works, and the style of his com-
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mon conversation. It certainly is amusing enough to find it remarked or insinuated that, "neither as to the principles of his faith nor the tenor of his politics was Dr. Paley's creed avowed ;"*and the opinions of those who have been usually called Socinians have been suspected in the protege" of Bishop Law, and the friend of Dr. Jebb, though it is well observed by the same author *, that the charge of heterodoxy is supported rather by omission than any assertion to be found in his works. It might indeed seem strange, that any express avowal of religious or political sen- timents should be required from a writer who was called upon by his subject to study the general theory of politics, and one who is so eminently serviceable in the cause of his religion, as well as so singularly devoted to his professional studies ; and much more may it be a matter of wonder, that it should be necessary to require such avowal ; but this wonder ceases, when it is recollected how great is the pro- pensity in the public to class every man of any re- putation under some party. In Dr. Paley, there was that peculiar candour and openness which refused to be nailed to party, and which, therefore, might ap- pear to lean to any way of thinking. That an avowal of his opinions should be unnecessary, or that he was not obliged to think himself of any party, seems to have been the very estimation he most coveted ; since even the charges of vacillation or inconsistency to
* Meadley.
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which he must have subjected himself, because he must have known others of the same spirit of inde- pendence liable to such charge, seem to have had no weight with him in comparison with his own satisfac- tion in admiring what was right, and allowing for what was wrong, on all sides. It is no mean test of a man's principles, that, with a spirit naturally active and bustling, with enlightened powers of mind, and with a strong pervading principle of honesty and in- tegrity, he should fill an important place in society, quietly and conscientiously discharging its duties, and employing his abilities and writings chiefly in ad- vancing the spiritual interest of his fellow-creatures, and that in a way much more important and enlarged than was likely to be diverted by any party preju- dices.
After this time he seems to have employed his in- tervals of Study, which were now necessarily shorter from his having more occasion to attend to his health, in a question much connected with the church, and at that time a good deal brought forward, viz. the residence of the clergy. He has left drawn up into a regular form, in his own hand-writing, probably not without the suggestions of some one more nearly con- cerned than he was with the ecclesiastical arrange- ments, the plan of a bill for imposing a tax upon non- residence, to be applied to the augmentation of small livings, under the form and title of " An Act for the better promoting the Residence of the Parochial Clergy." Whether any or what use was made of
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this, or why it was drawn up, it is not an object worth inquiry at present ; neither can the plan itself be any fair object of criticism, and therefore there seems less objection to presenting at least the outlines of it. The part of the proposed plan which seems to be most in the usual manner of the framer, and is therefore the most worthy of notice to any one interested in taking hold of the sentiments of the writer, and the cha- racter of his writings, is to be found in the mixing up of reasons and motives for the several enactments with the clauses themselves. Whether this be the usual way of drawing up bills, or only a curious mode of drawing his mind on paper for the use of those to whom it is addressed, it is obviously the best and readiest way of coming at the spirit of an act of parliament, and may offer no bad pattern for enact- ments.
" I propose to put the tax, or as I would rather call it the contribution, into the receipt and manage- ment of the governors of queen Anne's bounty, to be paid nearly at the same time, and at the same place as the tenths, and payment, if neglected, to be en- forced by the same process and under the same penal- ties ; and I am persuaded that, with the addition of two clerks, or of a comptroller, or accountant, or treasurer, to the present establishment of that office, the business might be transacted at a moderate ex- pense ; certainly not exceeding one shilling in the pound.
" I begin therefore my bill thus :
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" ' Whereas it is expedient to promote the residence of the parochial clergy, and to provide for the better maintenance of the resident incumbents of such livings, by raising a fund out of benefices having cure of souls, holden by clergymen who do not reside upon the same, to be applied and disposed of towards increasing the incomes of such of the poorer clergy as reside upon small benefices. Be it enacted, that from
there be annually paid by any incumbents
of a benefice with cure of souls, into the receipt of the office of tenths, the sum of five shillings in the pound of the value of their respective benefices, &e/
" After this paragraph the first thing to be done is to ascertain the value of each benefice. This I pro- pose to do by the oath of the incumbent, guarded, however, by a check, which I think will prevent any violent mistatement, viz. that of the affidavit being read during morning service, and afterwards signed by one of the churchwardens, and affixed for the in- spection of the parishioners upon the church door. But in order to force from the incumbent a declara- tion of the value upon oath, it is necessary to cast about for some measure of the value which may be proceeded upon in case no such declaration be delivered ; and in this measure all that is necessary is, that whilst it bear some proportion to the real value of the living, it always exceed it; so that the incumbent may never be a gainer by suppressing or withholding such de- claration. In most livings there are terriers, in which is usually expressed the value of the living, and this
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value, though seldom, I believe, equal to the actual present value, is always more than half of it. I would fix, therefore, upon double the value, or, where such terriers are not to be found, the king's books may be had recourse to. The sum at which livings are esti- mated in the king's books I have heard computed, upon a rude average, to be about a thirteenth part of the modern extended value ; but, to make sure of our purpose, which, it must be remembered, is nothing more than to procure a discovery from the incum- bent, I would take twenty times that sum as the second measure. I proceed, therefore, with a second and third paragraph of the bills, &c.
" I think it reasonable that the curate's salary should be deducted from the value for which the in- cumbent pays, provided the curate resides. And this, though a subordinate, may be another good effect of this act, to increase the number of resident curates, whose residence is the next good thing to the residence of their principals. But it is in this part, of all others, that I am the most afraid of collusion and fraud. It has been my lot to see so much of it in the giving of titles, producing receipts for the salary assigned by the bishop, where not a shilling had been paid, or where half of it had been returned to the incumbent,- ■ or perhaps to his wife, and other contrivances of that kind, that it is necessary to guard studiously against similar attempts in the present case.
" I therefore proceed, &c.
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" The residence I would require, for the purpose of protecting an incumbent from the operation of this act, should be such a residence as would make his living his home. This point being secured, I would not wish to tie him up too tightly, or to refuse him liberty sufficient for the avocations which are inci- dental to the life of a regular man. I would fix upon eight months, or, because months are ambiguous, thirty-two weeks, in the year. No man can reside conveniently eight months in the year in any place without making that place his home, and four, or near five, months in the year will allow space enough for any engagements that can ordinarily take a clergy- man from home. The residence must be ascertained by the oath of the incumbent, guarded as before by publicity. I proceed, therefore, &c.
" Pluralities I leave to the general operation of the act ; that is, if a man have two livings and reside upon neither, he shall pay for both ; if he reside upon one, he shall pay for the other. (Here some cases are considered of partial residence, after which is added:) — Thus is given so much of the plan as relates to the imposing of the tax on penalties or contributions.
" I should wish to be as sparing as possible of ex- ceptions. Like drawbacks in a duty, they always open a door to evasion. In the case of dispensations we see how entirely the privileges granted to chap- lains and degrees have departed from their principle, if in truth they were ever founded on any. The cases, however, which seem to me to require or to be
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best entitled to indulgence, I will now proceed to mention.
" First, whenever a living is by law annexed to another preferment, which preferment has a local duty, and residence required from or belonging to it elsewhere, I think an exception ought to be allowed. There are other cases of annexation, but which have no local duty elsewhere. This, among many other instances, is my own case. I hold a living as the corps of my archdeaconry, and have the cure of souls therein ; but as the living is situated within the arch- deaconry, the archdeacon may exercise his functions whilst resident there, as well as in any other place. The excuse, therefore, does not hold in this case.
" The class which may next in order plead for ex- ceptions is that of the clergy wTho occupy stations of expense and of public importance, and whose main- tenance in part is derived from livings which they hold along with those stations. In favour of cathe- dral livings, I would rather not legislate, because I am rather against the principle of favouring them." Here he gives some reasons for that exception which he allows may be deemed valid enough ; only should this plan of exception be adopted, care should be taken, he observes, to enumerate the several cases almost as it were " nominatim ;" and not to state them by any general description, which might be employed to cover other cases that would endeavour to creep under its shelter.
" I think it probable, also, that the king's chap-
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lains may put in their claim for privilege and exemp- tion. If I conceded any thing to this claim, it would be rather to preserve the respect and distinction which ought, upon all occasions, to be paid to the regal cha- racter, than from any opinion of the merit or justice of the claim. At any rate I would go no further than to allow the time of their actual attendance upon the king's service to be deducted from the required residence. Chaplains of all other descriptions I should be against, because to allow an exemption to them would be to exonerate the prosperous part of the clergy, and leave the burthen upon the neck of the friendless and neglected.
" Commendams perhaps ought to be exempted, for the same reason that they are allowed. But as the distinction would be very invidious, I should be willing to hope it might for that reason be waved."
Here he considers whether the act should attach to the present race of incumbents, or only to livings acquired after the time of its passing into a law ; with the observation — " I revere highly that tenderness of the legislature, which, in most cases, refrains as much as possible from breaking in upon men's actual incomes, to which it may be presumed they have adapted their habits and expenses ; but the principal consideration which distinguishes them from other imposts is, that the payment in most cases is optional to the incumbent, and may be avoided by so easy an expedient as that of doing his duty. Where this option, therefore, remains, I do not see but the pre-
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sent incumbent may fairly be subject. Where it does not, as in masters of colleges, &c. an exemption might be made.
" The only other exception which I should be will- ing to admit is in favour of old age. Old men cannot easily change their habitations ; and as such lives would drop fast, the produce of the tax would be little diminished by this relaxation. " ■ Be it therefore provided/ &c. &c. "I had forgot to provide for the year on which a change of incumbency takes place. If caused by death, I would allow for that year entirely. I would give up one portion to the family of the last incum- bent, as a bonus often much wanted ; and by reason of the expenses of induction, &c. the new incumbent will want the rest.
" Having now raised the fund, we proceed to its distribution. And what I should now wish is, that the distribution should be left to the discretion of the bishops in their respective dioceses — subject, however, to some regulations. I can, however, very well ima- gine, that a plan which proposed to add power to the governors of the church may be received with great jealousy. If for that reason, or because the bishops themselves should think the office too troublesome and invidious (for both it would no doubt be), a fixed rule of distribution should be preferred, I would offer the following — shares," &c. &c. And after much more than is necessary to produce, he fixes the penalty for " any person knowingly and wilfully swearing falsely
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in taking any oath appointed by this act to be taken, shall and may be prosecuted for the same, and upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to such punish- ments and disqualifications as any person or per- sons would be subject to for wilful and corrupt per- jury by any of the laws or statutes of this realm ; and shall also be for ever incapable of holding or receiving any ecclesiastical preferment whatever.
" Having thus brought my paragraphs to a con- clusion, what is necessary to be added by way of argument will lie in a small compass.
" The recommendations of the plan are, first, that whichever way it operates, it will do good. If it produce a more general residence of the parochial clergy, it cannot be doubted but that it will produce a beneficial effect : if it leave the state of non-re- sidence as it is, it will alleviate the evil by providing a more decent maintenance for the clergy who do reside, and whose circumstances require assistance.
" Secondly, that it will execute itself. Penal laws fall to the ground for want of prosecutors ; and when prosecutions are instituted, they generally pro- ceed from motives of so much private enmity, that the public, and courts of justice themselves, are re- joiced at their disappointment. Hence the statute of Henry the Eighth, commonly called the Statute of Non-residence, has very little other effect, as far as I have observed, than to enable parishes to extort from the absentee somewhat easier terms for their tithes than they would otherwise obtain. Whereas
a a 2
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a tax, it is very well known, never sleeps. In the present instance it would be collected without public odium, and for any thing that I can see, with as much ease and regularity as the tenths or first-fruits.
" The objections which I have been able to form to myself are such as these :
"1. Private patrons, who are apt to consider them- selves as having a property not only in the advowson but in the living, may call this alienation of a portion of the profits of the benefice, an invasion of their right. I apprehend the same objection applies to the statute of Henry the Eighth, which subjects the non- resident to a penalty of c£lO a month, or to the law which compels the payment of a salary to the curate, and authorises the bishop to assign the quantum of that salary, or to any regulation which enforced upon the incumbent the performance of his duty by pecu- niary sanctions.
" 2. It may be regarded by incumbents themselves as a legislative dispensation from the duty of re- sidence, considered as a moral tie upon the conscience. I think there is something in this objection : I mean that it may possibly be so regarded, though without any just reason. But upon whom can this considera- tion operate so as to do any harm ? Only upon those who at present reside upon their livings from a sense of duty, in opposition to their own conveniency and inclination. I apprehend the number of these at present is not great, and after the passing of this act would be smaller. The opinion itself is founded in
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no good reason ; for the moral obligation, whatever it be, remains as it was. Add to this, that all other legal ways of enjoining or enforcing residence, as the power of the ordinary, the vicar's oath, the statute of Henry the Eighth, the power of granting licences, continue unaltered by this act.
" 3. Some may think that the tax, like the window- tax, the house-tax, the servants' tax, and some others, ought to ascend in a higher proportion than the simple ratio of the value. I do not think that this would be any improvement of the plan. Non-re- sidence, which this plan is intended to remedy, is as great an evil in a moderate living as in a large one. Beside that, advancing the proportion tends too much to equality, which is a bad constitution.
"4. Some allowance, it maybe thought, should have been made for absence occasioned by sickness or urgent business. Hard cases I do allow may pos- sibly arise under both these heads ; but I am afraid it will be difficult to provide for their relief without giving up the efficiency of the plan in a great mea- sure. Physicians' certificates could always be ob- tained. Men would find out that they or their fami- lies could not have their health at their livings, or any where but in the town or neighbourhood in which they wished to live ; and as to business, the urgency of it can only be known to a man's self. I can only say, that, as the bill allows every incumbent twenty weeks to stir in, very hard cases would not, I hope, be frequent.
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"4. Upon reading the act there may appear to be confusion in the plan. Now I apprehend that the plan possesses all the simplicity which is attainable in measures of extensive operation, viz. that every person concerned will easily understand and execute his own particular part in it. The absent incumbent has only to fill up the certificate (printed forms of which I take for granted will soon be to be had in every mar- ket town), swear to it before the next justice, send it down to his curate to be read, affixed and delivered to the receiver, and to pay into the office in London his quota of the value to which he has sworn. I once thought of making the money payable in the country, but money, I believe, is more easily paid in London than any where else ; and as those who are to pay are absent from their livings, it would be no relief to them to allow payment to be made in the district in which the living is situated. To the resident incum- bent, the business would, as it ought to be, be very easy. He transacts it all at home. He has only to fill up his certificate, swear to it, read and affix it, and then carry or send it to the receiver of his deanery. The audit of the account in the office will be extremely simple. After the 25th of March there will be in the office for every living either the money, or the certificate, or a process to issue. The division of the fund into shares, after the petitions are allowed, is a mere arithmetical operation, which any careful clerk would go through in a day.
" 5. To that indefinite dread of change with which
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the minds of many, and those very good men, are strongly impressed, especially in church affairs, I can only reply, that the true way, perhaps, after all, of securing the perpetuity of any establishment is to make it answer its purpose. In the present instance I can very well conceive that the alteration may eventually protect the revenues of the church. I have often thought that non-residence was not the unlike- liest object of taxation to the state, that in times of public difficulty might happen to be fallen upon. Now the finding it to be already taxed, and that pretty amply, would hinder a second application of the paring tool ; and I am persuaded that no minister would divert the fund raised by this plan from the purpose to which it is applied by the plan itself.
" 6. A question, though not strictly in the nature of an objection, may be suggested, why is not the tax extended to sinecure preferments ? I do not mean, in answer to this question, to state such preferments as objects of indulgence or exemption ; I only con- tend that the principle of the present bill does not apply to them. The principle of the bill, as a bill of regulation, is to enforce a local duty; now the duty of members of cathedral and collegiate churches, as far as it is local, may be left to their local statutes. It is conceived that much good would be done by inducing the parochial clergy to reside eight months in the year upon their livings. No good whatever would be done by procuring an eight months' re- sidence upon deaneries and prebends. If, therefore, it should be thought proper to make these contribute to
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the relief of their indigent brethren, it should be the subject of a separate bill, as it is in truth a separate measure > so far, however, capable of being joined to the present plan as that the produce of the contribu- tion might be made payable into the same receipt, distributable in the same proportions, and by the same hands : in other words, might be added to the same fund*."
He appears to have been still fond of study as an object, and latterly to have given much attention to scripture and scripture language, as there was found upon his table a new book bearing that title, and containing, among other miscellaneous observations, " Some original Remarks on incidental and appa- rently inconsiderable Passages." It seems to have been his custom also to put down, under the head of Hints, any sentiment which struck him during his employment or leisure, and which might be of ser- vice to him in the composition of his sermons. The writing of Sermons seems indeed to have been his favourite employment, if any judgment can be formed from its being continued to the last ; and as towards the end of his life he had little hopes of being again able to use them in his church, it seems to have been pursued, if not as an amusement, with an in- tention of making them profitable in some other
* This abstract (if it may be so called) is given interruptedly, in order that it may not appear to solicit attention to what had missed publicity, but as sufficient to show the tone of the writer's sentiments on a subject which both before and since has often engaged public attention.
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way. On the publication of his Evidences, his booksellers had applied to him to know whether it would be agreeable to him to publish any sermons ; and he writes, " I have no sermons ready for the press at present, and can give no answer to that part of your proposal." It is, therefore, not improbable, that this would have been the next work he would have undertaken. Had he lived, there is room for supposing that it would have been more accurately performed, from much of his time being employed in revising his Sermons, or re-modelling them, or com- posing new ones*. As to the volume left for pub- lication, he had drawn together a bundle of sermons, out of which he was to have made a selection ; and in transcribing some that were almost obliterated, and adapting others to his purpose and his wishes, he found employment sufficient for his weak and painful state of health. He seems not to have considered himself as writing against or in favour of any parti- cular views. It is observed by his biographer, who was one of his parishioners and admirers, and who was himself a dissenter, that "the posthumous volume might have been more free from objection had he
* Amongst those so prepared, there were a few evidently written and composed for a set, never having been preached at all. Of these, two sermons on Faith and Works, which appear to have been intended as the 2d and 3d parts of some that appeared in the posthumous volume, but which were unaccountably omitted, are now restored. If this conjecture be right, the reader may also judge how far the author appears to have changed his sentiments, by comparing some expressions in these with his Charges on the Use of Scripture Language. En.
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abstained from some questions of a controversial cast, on which his opinion would, no doubt, recommend him to the adherents of the established church." On the other hand it has been represented by some of the most orthodox of our church, that in particular ser- mons he seems to have been inattentive to some of the peculiar tenets of our established faith. These contrary, if they be not contradictory observations, together with the singular want of agreement amongst different individuals of his friends, some understand- ing one objection to be generally made, and some another, show at least that there is no prevailing bias towards any particular views, nor that he was limited in his views by any prevailing bent of mind. His skill as a theologian did not perhaps extend beyond the plain common sense reception of the Christian faith. He was naturally disposed towards contro- versy by the shrewdness and research, and many other peculiar qualities, of his mind ; but he was so little inclined to indulge it, from the candor and be- nevolence of his feelings, and had acquired, per- haps, so much insight into the power of temper over reason, that on this very account he never applied much to the peculiar doctrines either of his own or any other church. By many of his natural qualities indeed he may be thought to have been more dis- posed to a liberal construction of Scripture on all points where different views seem to arise from dif- ferent propensities of mind ; and his theological know- ledge, as far as it went, seems to have been drawn
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chiefly from those authors who are generally ranged on the liberal side ; but it was quite consistent with his usual candor to correct any liberality that might, without this check, have amounted to latitude, by such general inquiries into the opposite ways of think- ing, as might tend to satisfy him where truth was to be found. This seems to have been the very point at which he aimed with all his mind, and this was not enough to give him any merit as a skilful theo- logian ; as, though it might interest himself, it could only entitle him to rank his power amongst those of a great many writers, and not at all give him a right to affect any pre-eminence. This may account for what is striking enough to those who knew his powers of mind, that a man of his celebrity should have thought himself so little eminent as a divine of the church of England, as to have applied himself so little to the peculiars of his profession. What he might have done, had his life been longer, it is impossible to say; but from his employment almost up to the very time of his death, as well as from the preparation of his papers and letters which he had made for an event, in his own opinion perhaps at no great distance, it is reasonable to conclude that he would have adhered to the same general plan of contributing rather to the common stock of doc- trinal and practical divinity, by the powers of strong sense and discerning judgment, than of considering himself called upon to stand forth as signally or emi- nently a member of the church of England.
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By the papers found on his study table at the time of his death, it may be seen how far his mind was at the same work. There are two or three unfinished sermons, which seem to have been left in that state chiefly because the current of his thoughts had been interrupted by his last illness. One is a kind of essay, headed — " The virtues of the poor."
" The virtuous poor." But whether for any other purpose, or for a sermon according to his usual manner of choosing his text when his sermon was finished, may be left for con- jecture.
It may be worth while to give it (as it is un- likely to have appeared before), both as one among many specimens of the writer's way of methodizing his subject, from first entertaining it in his mind ; and also to show that his mode of reasoning continued unimpaired and unaltered to the very last.
" It may be true that doing good is the business of virtue, and yet it may not be true that men's virtue is in proportion to the good which they do ; because the quantity and amount and degree of the good that is done must depend upon means, upon abilities and opportunities, upon power and fortune and station ; none of which men command or choose for them- selves. Hence it comes to pass, that two persons may be of equal virtue, and yet be so differently situated in the world, that the virtues of the one shall produce a thousand times more or less benefit to mankind than the virtue of the other. So that if
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the question be in what degree any one is to be ac- counted a good man, it cannot be judged of merely by the good he does -, for this, both in those who do little, and in those who do much, must be estimated not absolutely in itself, but with a reference to what the person in question was capable of doing. It follows from this observation, that a poor man, not- withstanding he have little good in his power, esti- mated absolutely, little that he can do even with his best endeavours, may nevertheless be as good a man, as virtuous, as religious, as acceptable, as well pleasing to his Maker, as he who having a great deal more in his power, does a great deal more. It cannot be helped that in the sight of the world there will be a wide difference in the two cases. The one will be praised and thanked and applauded by a whole coun- try (and it is fit he should be so), the other will be quite unnoticed and unobserved, except by a very few ; but to the eye of an all-seeing and all-judging God, both appear, as what they are, upon a level in true virtue and goodness, though separated by a great distance in the effects of their virtue, and as to the good which is actually done.
" If, then, we are not to judge of men's goodness by the degree of good they actually do, because this must always depend upon means and circumstances, which men cannot make for themselves, by what rule or rules are we to judge of it ? I shall now mention these rules : and I think the mention of them will show that a poor man is as capable of being a good
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man as a person in any station whatever ; that there are virtues and proofs of virtue within his power, as real, as substantial, and, he may hope, as well pleasing to his Creator, as those are which lie only within the reach of the highest and the richest, and even of those amongst them who use wealth and power as they ought to do.
" 1. Now one fair rule for judging of men's cha- racters is, to see whether they knowingly do harm. It is not in every man's power to do much good, but it is in every man's power to do ill. And this is the first point to be taken care of. The fear of God is the beginning of religion ; and that fear will indicate itself by keeping us from doing any thing which we know to be evil. Now this is in the poor man's power quite as much as it is in the rich man's ; namely, to be harmless. I own I count but little of those, whether rich or poor, who, at times, and by fits and starts, do good and generous actions, but at other times, and perhaps in the general course of their conduct, seem to care very little what mischief they do ; who never let the harm they may do stand in the way of their inclination, or their gratification, or their end, or the compassing of their end ; because I do not see in such characters the foundation of virtue, the fear of God. Were it within them, the contradictory conduct which we describe could not exist. The not doing harm or mischief knowingly in any shape whatever, or to any person or persons whatever, whether they be many, or few, or onej
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whether they be able to bear the loss or unable to bear it ; whether they be our acquaintance or strangers to us, and persons whom we have no cause to have any particular regard for — the abstaining, I say, from doing harm of any kind is a proof of goodness which every man must give, before he can be accounted sincere in his moral and religious principles ; and it is a proof which the poor of all others are the most bound to give, because it is often in point of conduct towards their neighbours, the chief proof which falls within their power." * * *
The last, and probably the very last piece of writing with which he was concerned, as it seemed to have been before him at his last sitting, is the following piece of a sermon.
" Lead us not into temptation" " I interpret this petition to be as though we should say, so dispose by thy providence and order the things of life towards us as to be favourable to our virtues.
" The final view of the petition relates to another life, because it relates to our salvation ; but the sub- ject and matter of the petition lies on this side the grave, because it respects that conduct upon which our future happiness or mi&ery depends. The pre- sent life is the scene of our temptations ; the stage and state of our trials. When we pray, therefore, not to be led into temptation, our prayer regards the present disposition of things ; the order and dispensa-
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tion of Providence towards us as it takes place in the world in which we now live.
" Now all prayer which respects what passes in this life supposes two things : first, that the affairs of life are within the ordination of God's providence, either ordinary or extraordinary. Secondly, prayer likewise supposes us to have some object at heart, to the attainment of which we request that the dispensa- tions and ordering of events may bring us. These two things are implied in every prayer which we offer.
" When we say that the things of this life are within the ordination of God's providence, we do not presume to say or to hope that the affairs of the world are to be conducted and directed exclusively to our advantage and benefit. God is the parent of the universe. His wisdom, his benevolence, his counsels, his providence points to the good of the whole. Every thing, therefore, which relates to us as individuals must be in submission to that large and comprehensive view upon which the divine mind rests. There may be a thousand cases which we can imagine, wherein our particular good, or at least what we should account and reckon our particular good, would obstruct the good of the whole ; and there may be ten thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand cases of the same kind which we cannot imagine. Indeed, it must be so, if we consider the immensity and variety of interests which worlds of sentient and rational beings may or rather must comprehend, and
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how small a portion of these we ever have any know- ledge of, or can form any judgment about. Still there is room and range for Providence to act. This consideration does not prove that Providence is con- fined in its operations, for Providence may act and order things very variously. Still having the same great and ultimate end in its view, the consideration only proves that by reason of the influence, if we may so speak, which this end must have upon the measures and councils of a good and gracious God, it becomes impossible in most cases for us to judge of the propriety of particular events or situations which are permitted to take place.
" We have spoken of providence being ordinary and extraordinary. This may require some explana- tion. The first idea of extraordinary providence is that of a sensible providence, that is to say, when its interposition is distinguishable. This is the case with miracles undoubtedly. It may also be the case, though not directly and properly miraculous. There may be deliverances so critical, mercies so timed and circumstanced, warnings so seasonable, nay judgments may so overtake an offender and his offence, as to in- duce the most reasonable judgment to think of them as extraordinary providences. But there is also an- other signification under which providence, though not sensible by any certain marks distinguishable, may be deemed extraordinary. The general course of God Almighty's providence is towards the general good ; and that may be called his general providence.
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370 LIFE OF DR. PALEY.
Whenever out of the various, perhaps infinitely va- rious ways by which the general good may be pur- sued, he is induced by prayer or otherwise to adopt that which brings a particular good to one or to cer- tain individuals, then his providence with respect to them may be said to be extraordinary. It is so in fact, and as to all the benefit of it, though neither miraculous nor sensible." # # #
His last illness was occasioned by an attack so little different from those to which he had before been subject, that it caused no apprehension of immediate danger, even in his medical attendant. He had been labouring during the last year under the consequences of one of his painful attacks, and for some time before he had been so much longer in regaining his strength, that it became obvious his constitution was impaired ; but he had so often escaped the common consequence of severe inflammation, that though his bodily suf- ferings were most severe, not much was apprehended on that ground. He appears to have thought of and prepared for this, as being his last, or at least his most severe illness, though without any observable alteration in his usual style of conversation or mode of life, such as might alarm those about him, or in- duce them to suspect he was sensible of the approach of death. A few days before that event took place, he had made an assortment of his letters and papers, and ordered some of them to be destroyed. Some short time before that, he had been employed in his study in tying up two or three bundles of sermons,
LIFE OF DIt. PALEY. 371
and expressed himself satisfied, " that now he had
left that ready." These proved to be the sermons
for publication, the directions for which he left in a
codicil to his will. He was confined to his bed for
i
a very short time. He had written to one of his family but a few days before his death, " that he had been very ill, but was then better ;" when a fresh return of his disorder after much suffering produced a rapid and fatal mortification. His bodily powers were so little weakened, that a few hours before his death he lifted a large pitcher of water to his mouth. That his mind was unshaken from its habitual con- fidence and self-possession, there is every reason to think ; for on his desiring to have his posture changed, and being told by his surgeon that he was in danger of dying under the attempt, he with great calmness and resignation said, " well — try — never mind" — and, after some severe convulsions, expired. His death-bed cannot be a subject for the public ; nor from his almost constitutional habit of thinking and feeling in silence, was it likely to afford matter for general interest. He died at Bishop Wearmouth in May, 1805, and was buried in the north aisle of the cathedral at Carlisle.
be 2
312
NOTE.
A facsimile of a passage extracted at random from Dr. Faleys manuscript books will present a fair view of his pages when he wrote for his own use, either in the pulpit or on any other occasion. It was but little improved when he wrote for the use of others.
^
I-
t
ADVERTISEMENT.
The following pages contain Extracts from College Lectures. These Lectures are still extant in the Author's Manuscript, but in a confused heap of loose papers. Some part of them, to which reference has been made in the foregoing account, are taken, in a form indeed much en- larged, into the Evidences of Christianity. Those now offered to the public seem sufficiently new to claim attention ; and if any of them may contain only a repetition of what has already been made public under different forms, they will at least- enable the reader to judge how far the plan adopted in such Lectures has been changed, be- fore it was made serviceable for any published work of the Author.
APPENDIX
INTERNAL MARKS OF TRUTH AND AUTHENTICITY IN THE SCRIPTURES.
I. That air of simplicity and undesignedness which runs through the Gospels, especially of Matthew and Mark, not natural to a fabulist or impostor, nor easily imitated. You have in the Gospels a plain story without ornament or embellishment; without any observations of their own, either on one side or the other ; without a single encomium upon Christ or his Apostles, from beginning to end; without any direct defence or recommendation, any excuse or apology, for him whatever. They relate the fact straight forward, without any attempt to procure credit to it, or any concern whether it would tell for or against them; that is, they write as men convinced themselves, and who suppose no- thing more necessary to convince others than the bare narration of the fact.
II. Add to this the extreme naturalness of some of the things they mention ; as, for instance, Mark ix. 24. Of the same nature is the eagerness of the people to introduce Christ into Jerusalem, Matt. xxi. 8, 9 and their rage against him when he did not turn out what they expected, Matt, xxvii. 17 — 26. The Rulers and Pharisees generally re- jecting Christ, whilst many of the common people received him, and their reflection upon it, John vii. 48. The women in particular following Paul, Acts xvi. 13. xvii. 12. The winds and the waves subsiding together, Matt. viii. 26. The blind man, upon being restored to sight, seeing men
376 APPENDIX.
as trees walking, Mark viii. 24. The behaviour of the blind man, John ix. The conduct of Gallio, Acts xviii. 12—17. Of Festus, xxv. 18, 19. Paul's violence and zeal, first against, then for Christianity. The woman of Samaria crying out to her fellow-citizens, a come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did," John iv. 29. The lawyer's quibble, " who is my neighbour ?" Luke x. 29. The twelve baskets, i.e. of the twelve Apostles *. III. The discourses of Christ alluding always to particular incidents, the most unlikely way in the world for a forger or fabulist to attempt, and the most difficult to keep up, if he had to supply all the materials, both the incidents and observations upon them, out of his own head. They would have made for him discourses exhorting to virtue and dis- suading from vice in general terms : it would never have entered their thoughts to have crowded together such a number of objections to time, place, and other little cir- cumstances as occur, for instance, in the sermon on the mount, and which nothing but the actual presence of the objects could suggest.
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF CHRIST.
In the first place, Christ was absolutely innocent : we do not find a single vice to which he was addicted, either from the accounts of his own followers, or as charged upon him by his enemies : we hear nothing like what is told of Mahomet, of his wives and concubines ; nothing of his falling, like Socrates and Plato, into the fashionable vices of his country. In the next place, his whole life, that part of it at least which we are acquainted with, was employed in doing good, in substantial acts of kindness and com- passion to all those who fell in his way, i. e. in solid virtue.
* Law's Life of Christ.
APPENDIX. 377
In his youth he set an example of subjection and obedience to his parents, Luke ii. 51. By his presence of mind and judicious replies, whenever ensnaring questions were pro- posed to him, he testified the coolness and soundness of his understanding, Matt. xxi. 24. xxii. 16. xxx. 37. By avoiding all danger when he could do it consistently with his duty, and resolutely encountering the greatest, when his hour was come, i. e. when his own office or the de- stination of Providence made it necessary, he proved the sedateness of his courage in opposition to that which is produced by passion and enthusiasm, Matt. xii. 14, 15. xiv. 12, 13. John iv. 1 — 3. Compared with Matt. xv. 17 — 19. — by his patience and forbearance, when he had the means of revenge in his power, he taught us the pro- per treatment of our enemies, Luke ix. 54. Matt. xxvi. 53. compared with Luke xxiii. 34. —by his withdrawing him- self from the populace and repelling their attempts to make him a king, he showed us the sense we ought to entertain of popular clamour and applause, John vi. 15. — by his laying hold of every opportunity to instruct his followers, and taking so much pains to inculcate his precepts, he left us a pattern of industry and zeal in our profession ; — by the liberty he took with the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Lawyers and Scribes, in exposing their hypocrisy, their errors and corruptions, he taught us fortitude in the dis- charge of our duty, Matt, xxiii. Luke xi. 54. — he spared neither the faults of his friends, nor the vices of his ene- mies ; — by his indifference and unconcern about his own accommodation and appearance, the interests of his family and fortune, he condemned all worldly-mindedness, Matt, viii. 20. xii. 46 — 50. John iv- 34- He was perfectly sober and rational in his devotions, as witness the Lord's Prayer compared with any of the compositions of modern enthu- siasts. His admirable discourses before his death are specimens of inimitable tenderness and affection towards his followers, John xiv. xv. xvi. xvii. His quiet submission to death, though even the prospect of it was terrible to
878 APPENDIX.
him, exhibits a complete pattern of resignation and ac- quiescence in the divine will, John xxii. 41 — 44.
And to crown all, his example was practicable, and suited to the condition of human life. He did not like Rousseau call upon mankind to return back into a state of nature, or calculate his precepts for such a state. He did not with the monk and the hermit run into caves and cloisters, or suppose men could make themselves more acceptable to God by keeping out of the way of one another. He did not, with some of the most eminent of the Stoics, command his followers to throw their wealth into the sea, nor with the eastern Faquirs, to inflict upon themselves any tedious gloomy penances, or extravagant mortifications. He did not, what is the sure companion of enthusiasm, affect singularity in his behaviour ; he dressed, he ate, he conversed like other people ; he accepted their invitations, was a guest at their feasts, frequented their synagogues, and went up to Jerusalem at their great festival. He supposed his disciples to follow some pro- fessions, to be soldiers, tax-gatherers, fishermen ; to marry wives, pay taxes, submit to magistrates, to carry on their usual business ; and when they could be spared from his service, to return again to their respective callings*. Upon the whole, if the account which is given of Christ in Scrip- ture be a just one, — if there was really such a person, how could he be an impostor? — if there was no such person, how came the illiterate Evangelists to hit off such a cha- racter, and that without any visible design of drawing any character at all ?
* The like did his forerunner, John the Baptist. When the publicans and soldiers, people of the two most obnoxious professions in that age and country, asked John what they were to do, John does not require them to quit their occupations, but to beware of the vices, and perform the duties of them ; which also is to be understood as the Baptist's own explanation of that /icravotot ug ctQtmv afxctpriw to which he called his countrymen.
APPENDIX. 379
THE ORIGINALITY OF CHRIST'S CHARACTER.
That is, the improbability of any one, whether enthusiast or impostor, fancying or pretending himself to be such a person as Christ professed himself to be.
The Jews understood their prophecies of a temporal prince, and therefore whoever set himself up as the object of these prophecies would most naturally fall upon the sense in which they were generally understood ; and this was the fact, for the false Christs, or pretended Messiahs, of which there have appeared so many, did assume that character.
Had he taken upon him the character merely of a prophet, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, &c. it would not have been unnatural, and he had examples before him.
Had he trod in the steps of the old philosophers, the rabbis or teachers of wisdom among the Jews, one would not have wondered.
But here he produces himself as a being of a different and superior nature to the rest of the species, as im- mediately and peculiarly connected with God himself, as invested with the government of the world, as the person who is to raise us up at the last day, and the appointed judge of all mankind, a character which there was no pre- cedent to suggest, no example to hint, nothing to make him imagine it ; besides it never would have entered into the head of a Jew either to decry the ceremonial institution of Moses, or be for setting mankind on a level with them- selves, as there was not a man of them who did not stickle for the distinction and superiority of their nation.
It was about as unlikely as that a Chinese mandarin should imagine himself inspired by the Holy Ghost, or a native of Otaheite that he was possessed by the devil.
380 APPENDIX.
INSTANCES OF DISINTERESTEDNESS IN CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES.
Christ's refusing to be made a king, John vi. 15. or to interfere in their civil concerns, Luke xii. 13, 14. forbidding his disciples to make a profit of their miracles, Matt. x. 8. Peter and John accordingly refusing money with the utmost indignation, Acts viii. 20. Christ's authorizing them only to require a subsistence from their converts, Luke x. 3 — 7- Some of them declining even this, 2 Cor. xii. 14. 1 Thess. ii. 9. 2 Cor. xvii. 18. ; but especially, Acts xx. 33, 34. their invectives against those who made a gain of their converts, 2 Pet. ii. 3. The apostles declining the receipt and management of their public funds and collections, Acts vi. 2, 3.
Instances of their humility and freedom from vanity.
Peter and John disowning any power in themselves to work miracles, Acts iii. 12. Paul and Barnabas repelling the adoration of the Lycaonians, Acts xiv. 14. Paul's account of himself and apostles, 1 Cor. iii. 4, 5, 6.
Needless difficulties, Matt, xxiii. 39-
References to circumstances omitted by themselves men- tioned by the other evangelists, Matt. xxvi. 61.
THE MORALITY OF THE GOSPEL.
Not beyond what might be discovered by reason, nor possibly could be, because all morality being founded in relations and consequences, which we experience and are acquainted with, must depend upon reasons intelligible to our understanding, and discoverable by us.
N. B. The case is different in points of faith, especially what relates to distant orders of beings.
APPENDIX. 381
Nor perhaps, except in a few instances, beyond what may be collected from the scattered precepts of different philosophers.
To put together all the wise and good precepts of all the different philosophers, to separate and lay aside all the error, immorality and superstition that is mixed with them, would have been a great work ; but that a single person without any assistance from those philosophers, or any human learning whatever, in direct opposition also to the established practice and maxims of his own country, should hit off a system so unblamable on the one hand, and so perfect on the other, is extraordinary beyond be- lief, and yet must be believed by those who hold Christ to have been an impostor or enthusiast.
I. The forgiveness of injuries and enemies, — absolutely oiiginal.
" Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy ; but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven ; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matt. v. 43 — 45.
" If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you ; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you." Matt. vi. 14, 15.
" Then came Peter unto him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven : therefore (i. e. in this respect) is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his ser- vants ; and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owned him ten thousand talents ; but, for as much as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and
382 APPENDIX.
payment to be made : the servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence ; and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, pay me that thou owest ; and his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all ; and he would not, but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked ser- vant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee ? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he shou' d pay all that was due unto him ; so likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.1' Matt, xviii. 15 — 21, adfn.
" And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any ; that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses." Mark xi. 25, 26.
" Love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Luke vi. 27 — 35.
" And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the male- factors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left : then said Jesus, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Luke xxiii. 33, 34.
II. The universality of benevolence without distinction of country or religion.
" They went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans
APPENDIX. J8tf
to make ready for him, and they did not receive him, be- cause his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem ; and when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou, that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did ? But he turned and rebuked them, and said, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." Luke ix. 51 — 56.
" The Jewish lawyer, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed leaving him half dead ; and by chance there came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side ; and likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side ; but a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and. took care of him i and on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said, take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee : which now, of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour to him that fell among the thieves ? And he said, he that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise." Luke x. 29 — 37. xvii. 8, 4.
III. The inferiority and subordination of the ceremonial to the moral law.
" Leave thy gift before the altar; and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.'' Matt. v. 2B.
" If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guilt less." Matt. xii. 7—12.
" And behold there was a man which had his hand
384 APPENDIX.
withered ; and they asked him, saying, is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days ? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, what man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it and lift it out ? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Where- fore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days." Matt, xii. 11.
" Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man ; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man — those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man ; for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, forni- cations, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man ; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man:' Matt. xv. 1 1, 18—20.
" Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith (fidelity) : these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone."
" Ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." Matt, xxiii. 23, 25, 26. Mark vii. 2—13.
" And the Scribes said unto him, well, master, thou hast said the truth, for there is one God, and there is none other but he, and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices : and when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, thou art not far from the kingdom of God." Mark xii. 32 — 34. Lukevi. 9. Matt ix. 11.
IV. The condemning of spiritual pride and ostentation. i( Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be
APPENDIX. 385
seen of them; otherwise ye shall have no reward of your Father which is in heaven : therefore when thou dost thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men ; verily I say unto you they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret ; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are ; for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men ; verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Moreover when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance ; for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast ; verily I say unto you, they have their re- ward : but thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Matt, vi. 1—6. 16—18.
"All their works they do for to be seen of men : they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men Rabbi, rabbi." Matt, xxiii. 5 — 7.
" And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a pharisee, and the other a publican ; the pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adul- terers, or even as this publican ; I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican stand-
vol. i. c c
38$ APPENDIX.
ing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merci- ful to me a sinner. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other ; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Luke xviii. 9 — 1A
V. Restraining the licentiousness of divorces.
" The pharisees came unto him tempting him, and say- ing unto him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause ? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the begin- ning, made them male and female ; and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh ? wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh ; what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away ? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so ; and I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, com- mitteth adultery ; and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery." Matt. xix. 3 — 9.
N. B. These four last articles were in direct opposition to the established practice and opinions of our Saviour's own country.
VI. The separation of civil authority from authority in matters of conscience and religion — perfectly new.
" Then saith he unto them, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Matt. xxii. 21.
" And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a di- vider over you?" Luke xii. 13, 14.
He said unto the woman (caught in adultery), P Where
APPENDIX 387
are those thine accusers ? hath no man condemned thee ? (i. c. judicially ; for the woman's answer was not true in any other sense), she said, No man, Lord : and Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee (i. e. in the same sense, or as a judge). John, viii. 11 — 33 — 36.
VII. The purity and simplicity of the worship which he prescribes.
" When ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do ; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them ; for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask him : after this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father/'* &c. Matt. vi. 7—9.
" The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor- shippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth." John iv. 23, 24.
VIII. The acceptance of the intention.
" And Jesus sat over against the treasury (i. e. for pious uses), and beheld how the people cast money into the trea- sury ; and many that were rich cast in much ; and there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing ; and he called unto him his disci- ples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury, for all they did cast in of their abundance ; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."" Mark xii. 41 — 44.
IX. The extension of morality to the regulation of the thoughts.
" I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Matt. v. 28.
" Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, &c. — these are the things which defile a man." Matt. xv. 18, 19.
cc2
388 APPENDIX.
X. The demand of duty from mankind being in propor- tion to their ability and opportunities.
" That servant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes ; but he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes : for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required ; and (i. e. as) to whom men have com- mitted much, of him they will ask the more.'" Luke xii. 47, 48.
XL The invitations to repentance.
" Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sin- ners for to hear him ; and the pharisees and scribes mur- mured, saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them ; and he spake this parable unto them, saying, what man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost till he find it ? and when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing ; and when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost- I say unto you, that like- wise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance." Luke xv. 1 — 7.
" And he said, (i. e. upon the same occasion), A certain man had two sons ; and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me ; and he divided unto them his living : and not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his sub- stance with riotous living; and when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want ; and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine, and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that
APPENDIX. 389
the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him ; and when he came unto himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger ? I will arise and go to my father, and say unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee> and am no more worthy to be called thy son ; make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father; but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him : and the son said unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son : but the father said to his ser- vants, bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet ; and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead, and is alive again ; he was lost, and is found."" Luke xv. 1 — 24.
The Gospel maxims of * loving our neighbour as our- selves," and " doing as we would be done by," are much superior rules of life to the to itpstov of the Greek, or ho- neslum of the Latin moralists, in forming ideas of which people put in or left out just what they pleased : and better also than the utile ,pr general expediency of the moderns, which few can estimate. As motives also, or principles of action, they are much safer than either the love of our country, which has ofttimes been destructive to the rest of the world ; or friendship, the almost constant source of par- tiality and injustice.
His manner also of teaching was infinitely more affect- ing than theirs ; as may be known, by comparing what we feel, when we rise up from reading the parables of the good Samaritan, Luke x. ; the Pharisee and Publican, Luke xviii. ; the servant who when he was forgiven by his master, would not forgive his fellow-servant, Matt, xviii. ; the Prodigal Son, Luke xv. ; the rich man who laid up his stores, Luke xii. ; by comparing, I say, these with any thing
390 APPENDIX.
excited in us on reading Tully's Offices, Aristotle's Ethics or Seneca's Moral Dissertations.
No heathen moralist ever opposed himself as Christ did to the prevailing vices and corruption of his own time and country. Matt. v. vi. vii. xxii. Luke xix. xx. xxi. The sports of the gladiators, unnatural lust, and licen- tiousness of divorce, the exposing of infants and slaves, procuring abortions, public establishments of stews, all sub- sisted at Rome, and not one of them condemned or hinted at in Tully's Offices. The most indecent revellings, drunkenness, and lewdness practised at the feasts of Bac- chus, Ceres, and Cybele, and their greatest philosophers never remonstrated against it.
The heathen philosophers, though they have advanced fine sayings and sublime precepts in some points of mo- rality, have grossly failed in others ; such as the toleration and encouragement of revenge, slavery, unnatural lust, for- nication, suicide, &c. &c. E. g.
Plato expressly allowed of excessive drinking at the fes- tival of Bacchus.
Maximus Tyrius forbad to pray.
Socrates directs his hearers to consider the Greeks as brethren, but barbarians as natural enemies.
Aristotle maintained that nature intended barbarians to be slaves.
The Stoics held that all crimes were equal.
Plato, Cicero, Epictetus, all allow and advise men to continue the idolatry of their ancestors.
Aristotle and Cicero both speak of the forgiveness of injuries as meanness and pusillanimity.
These are trifles to what follows.
Aristotle* and Plato both direct that means should be used to prevent weak children being brought up.
Cato commends a young man for frequenting the stews.
* See Dr. Priestley's Institutes of Natural and Revealed Re- ligion,.
APPENDIX. 391
Cicero speaks expressly of fornication as a thing never found fault with.
Plato recommends a community of women ; also advises that soldiers should not be restrained from sensual indul- gences, even the most unnatural species of it.
Xenophon relates, without any marks of reprobation, that unnatural lust was encouraged by the laws of several Gre- cian states.
Solon, their great lawgiver, forbad it only to slaves.
Diogenes inculcated and openly practised the most brutal lust.
Zeno the founder, and Cato the ornament, of the stoic philosophy, both killed themselves.
Lastly, the idea which the Christian Scriptures exhibit of the Deity is, in many respects, different from the notion that was then entertained of him, but perfectly consonant to the best information we have of his nature and attri- butes, from reason and the appearance of the universe. The Scripture describes him as one, wise, powerful, spi- ritual, and omnipresent ; as placable and impartial ; as abounding in affection towards his' creatures, overruling by his providence the concerns of mankind in this world* and designing to compensate their sufferings, reward their merit, and punish their crimes in another. The foregoing instructions, both with regard to God and to morality, ap- pear also without any traces of either learning or study. No set proofs, no formal arguments, no regular deduction or investigation by which such conclusion could be de- rived— the very different state likewise of learning and in* quiry in Judea and other countries, and the vast supe- riority of this to any other system of religion, — all these circumstances show that the authors of it must have had some sources of information which the others had not
392 APPENDIX.
SUITABLENESS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS TO THE SITUATIONS OF THEIR REPUTED AUTHORS.
Matthew and John, both apostles and companions of Christ, St. Luke only a proselyte of Antioch, who gathered his account from different eye-witnesses : accordingly we find St. Matthew and St. John's history nearly exact in the order of time, St. Luke's not. — St. Matthew, only con- verted after Christ came into Galilee, Matt. iv. 12, John iv. 1, and therefore has omitted what passed as to Christ's preaching before St. John, who was with him all the while, has supplied this omission in his first three chapters.
Now this suitableness is a circumstance of so subtle and recluse a nature, that the author of a fiction or forgery would never have thought of providing against it.
THE SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS AND VARIATIONS, BUT REAL AGREEMENT, BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT GOSPELS.
These contradictions and variations, whether seeming or real, prove thus much, that they did not concert their story with one another, or lay their heads together to make it up — their agreement in the main, and in the substance of the history, proves that they must have had some foundation of truth and fact to go upon ; it being morally impossible that four people should feign or forge these stories inde- pendent of one another, and their fictions concur and har- monize so well together. Suppose you and I, one living at Paris the other at London, and without any communi- cation betwixt us, should take it into our heads to frame out of our own imagination the history of a reformer, is it possible that our stories when they came out should be of a piece or hang together as the Gospels do ?
APPENDIX. 393
The truth is, the account given of our Saviour's life by the different Evangelists is just such an account as different witnesses in courts of justice, if they are honest and inde- pendent of one another, generally give of the same trans- action ; some real variation in their story, many seeming ones, but an agreement in the substance and principal facts of the narrative.
Add to this, that if there be any seeming differences, which upon farther examination are reconcileable and turn out real agreements, it goes still farther to the credit of the evidence. These seeming differences prove that they had no scheme or combination to deceive, and it is the merest chance in the world that these differences should be cleared up and made consistent, if they had no foundation of truth to proceed upon.
Instances of stick seeming Contradictions, which upon a nearer view admit qf being reconciled.
1. The hour of Christ's crucifixion, Matt, xxvii. 45, compared with John, xix. 14. — Matthew computed his hours in the Jewish fashion from 6 o'clock in the morning, John in the Roman way, from 12 o'clock at night.
2. The manner of Judas's death, Matt, xxvii. 5, com- pared with Acts, i. 18. — Judas might hang himself, as Matthew relates, and the body fall down and burst, ac- cording to the Acts.
3. The thieves rebuking Christ, Matt, xxvii. 44, when it could only be one of them, Luke, xxiii. 43. — Matthew says, the thieves cast the same in his teeth, when only one of them did so, just as we say a man is insulted by the mob, though perhaps only one or two of them speak to him.
4. The call of Andrew, Matt. iv. 19, compared with John, i. 40. — The call, or invitation in John previous to that in Matthew, which also accounts for their so readily following him in Matthew.
394 APPENDIX.
5. Christ bearing his own cross, John, xix. 17; laid upon Simon, a Cyrenian, Matt, xxvii. 32. — Laid upon Christ first, as John relates, probably upon his fainting on the way, or being unable to bear it, they seized upon Simon.
6. John called Elias, Matt. xi. 14, not Elias John, i. 21. — Was Elias in Christ's sense, i. e. the person whom Ma- lachi foretold by that name — not Elias in the sense of the question, i. e. not the old prophet restored to life.
7. The different order of time in which Matthew and Luke relate several events.
N. B. This argument holds equally of St. Paul's Epistles compared with the Acts of the Apostles, and with one another.
Another singular agreement is the similarity of style, i. e. the speaking "pro re nata" preserved in our Saviour's discourses throughout all the Evangelists, — nothing of it in the speeches recorded in the Acts or in any of St. Paul's epistles; when different profane historians, as Tacitus, Livy, Sallust, &c. have put speeches into the mouth of the same person : there is no sameness or similarity of style whatever, the several speeches follow the style of the several historians that record them.
Sects and Opinions.
Pharisees and Sadducees, the existence and opposition of these sects, Acts, xxiii. 6 — 10 ; the supernumerary tra- ditions of the Pharisees, Mark, viii. 34; their influence with the people ; Pharisees holding, Sadducees denying a resurrection, Acts, xxiii. 6 ; both sharing in public offices, Acts, v. 17; all these particulars to be found in Josephus ; Samaritans ; the sanctity of mount Gerizim, John, iv. 20 ; the hatred betwixt them and the Jews, John, viii. 48; road from Galilee to Jerusalem leads through Samaria, John, iv. 3, 4 ; an instance also of the ill treatment of the Jews similar to that of Christ, Luke, ix. 51 ; all mentioned by Josephus ; as also the general expectation among the Jews of a temporal prince, Luke, iii. 15, Matt. xxi. 8, 9-
APPENDIX. 395
Customs and Manners.
Oratorios and prayers by the sea or river side, Jos. Ter- tullian, Pliilo ; libertines, i. e. Jews, freedmen of Rome, Acts, vi. 9, Tacitus ; zeal in making proselytes, Matt, xxiii.
15, Hor.
Ac veluti te
Judaei cogimus in banc concedere turbam.
The corruption of manners in Judaea, Matt. xii. 39, John, v. 44 ; " nor was there ever," says Josephus, " from the be- ginning of the world a time more fruitful of wickedness than that was." — The custom of rending their clothes, Matt. xxvi. 65, 1 Mace. xi. 71 ; also Maimonides says, that " when witnesses speak out the blasphemy which they have heard, all who hear the blasphemy are bound to rend their clothes," — a^ts^sis in the plural, Mark, xiv. 53, Jos. ; the Roman governor present at the passover, Matt, xxvii. 2, Jos. ; titles set up over the malefactor, 1 John, xix. 19, 20, customary with the Romans, Suet. Dio. ; scourging before they put them to death, Matt, xxvii. 26, Livy, Jos. ; compelling the malefactor to carry his cross, John, xix.
16, 17, Plutarch ; crucified without the city, Num. xv. 35 ; burial of malefactors generally allowed by the Roman go- vernors upon petition, Matt, xxvii. 58 ; Paulus, a Roman lawyer ; customary among the Jews to bury malefactors, Jos. ; use of spices in burial, and in large quantities, John, xix. 19 — 40; Josephus1 account of Herod's funeral; the fury of the Jews against the Christians in different places and times, and the moderation and lenity of the Roman governors at Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, Judasa, Rome under Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Acts, xvii. 59 ; xviii. 11—15; xix. 24—40; xxviii. 16; xxv. 13—27; the fury of the Jews attested by Justin Martyr, Dio. ; the Roman custom of protecting men in the exercise of their religion, Livy, Cicero, Philo, Josephus ; prodigious resort to Jeru- salem at the feasts, and from all parts of the world, John,
396 APPENDIX.
iv. 45 ; xii. 12, 13 ; Acts, ii. 5 ; Josephus mentions 270,000 ; also proselytes, ibid. ; custom of frequenting the temple at the third and ninth hour, Acts, ii. 46, Jos. ; their zeal for the temple, Acts, vi. 13 ; xxi. 28, 29, Philo, Jos. ; syna- gogue worship, the reading of the law and discourses to the people, Luke, iv. 17 — 20; Acts, xv. 21; xiv. 1, Jos.; the Nazarite's vow, Acts, xviii. 18 ; xxi. 23, 24, Jos. ; being a charge upon them as an act of devotion, that they might shave their heads, both the custom and expression of the Jews, Jos. ; number of stripes, 2 Cor. xi. 24 ; Deut. xxv. 3, Jos. ; private zeal, i. e. attempts of private persons to avenge their laws, Acts, xx. 3; xxiii. 10 — 15, Philo; Josephus relates a conspiracy of the like kind against Herod ; tri- bute odious, Matt. xxii. 17, Jos. ; and publicans, Luke, xix. 7, Cicero ; yet Jews, Jos. ; the custom of using tor- ture, Acts, xxii. 24, 25, Suet., Tacitus ; by scourging, ibid, ibid. ; yet unlawful to scourge a Roman, Acts, xxii. 25 —
30, Cicero; the military commander which Lysias was, ibid. ; had this authority, Jos. ; that a Jew might be a Roman citizen, Acts, xxii. 26 — 29, Philo, Jos. ; custom of purchasing this freedom, ibid., Dio. ; that it was the Roman custom to confront the offender with his accusers, Acts, xxv. 14 — 16, Cic. in Verrem; the manner of confining prisoners by chaining them to a soldier, Acts, xii. 6 ; xxviii. 16, Seneca ; in the prisoner's own house, Acts, xxviii. 30,
31, Jos.; history of the imprisonment of Herod; appeals to Rome from the provinces, Acts, xxv. 10, Suetonius ; especially from Judaea, Jos. ; the praefect of the praetorian band, or captain of the guard, had the custody of prisoners, Acts, xxviii. 16, Pliny ; the building of the temple, John, xviii. 20; continued from the 18th year of Herod's reign to A. D. 65; famine in Judaea in the time of Claudius, Acts, xi. 29, Jos. ; the altar at Athens inscribed ayvwcrrw Qscu, Acts, xvii. 23 ; Pausanias, Philostratus, Philopatris ; Jews banished from Rome by Claudius, Acts, xviii. 2, Suetonius ; whitened sepulchres, Matt, xxiii. 29, Shaw's Travels, p. ^85.
APPENDIX. 397
Expressions in use among the Jews.
Titles of their Messiah, consolation of Israel, L. ii. 25 ; Chaldee paraphrase, E. 2, C. ii. 1 ; oepxppevos, Matt. xi. 3, Jewish prayers; horn; branch, avocTO\rh Luke, i. 69 — 78; Germen Davidis servi tui germinare fac cito et cornu ejus, i. e. Davidis exalta in salute, Jewish prayers; gates of hell, i. e. councils of hell, Matt. xvi. 18; metaphor from the Jewish custom of holding councils in the gates of their cities ; having maids ministras at their meetings, Acts, xii. 13, Pliny ; ayairou, love-feasts among the first Christians, 2 Pet. ii. 13; Jude v. 12, Pliny; Gamaliel, Acts, xxii. 3, mentioned in the Mishna (an ancient Jewish writing) as of great eminence in the law.
N. B. These agreements, many of them in minute cir- cumstances ; and it is in such chiefly that a forger or fa- bulist would have been caught tripping.
This exact concurrence of the Scripture with other hi- stories, and in such numerous and minute circumstances, proves at least thus much, that the writers of Scripture were well acquainted with the history, policy, laws, reli- gious opinions, manners, customs, geography, and dates of that age and country, and consequently must have lived in them or near them ; and then it comes to this, whether it is likely that any person should publish a history of facts in the very age in which they are said to have happened, and many of them in the most public places and noted cities of the world, and call upon mankind to change their prin- ciples and practice upon the credit of these facts, when nothing of the kind had ever actually happened ; and whe- ther such a publication would not have been treated at the time as a manifest and ridiculous forgery.
It proves more, it proves that the history could not have been forged even by persons at the time, as no man's me- mory or knowledge is sufficient for such an adaptation of forged circumstances, especially where the mention of them is so incidental and apparently undesigned.
398 APPENDIX.
PROPHECIES' WHICH SEEM MANIFESTLY AND DIRECTLY TO RELATE TO CHRIST.
No. L Vid. Bishop Newton on Prophecy, vol. i. p. 85. Gen. xlix. 10. Here it is implied — 1. that the sceptre should depart from the other tribes sooner. %. that it should remain with the tribe of Judah till Shiloh came. 3. that it should then also depart from them. And the event was — 1. that the ten tribes were extin- guished in Assyria 500 years be- fore Christ.
2. that the tribe of Judah continued a people and in possession of their country till Christ came.
3. that they also were then destroy- ed, i. e. their nation and govern- ment demolished by the Romans.
No. II.
Vid. Kennicott's Sermon, 1765, Dodsley.
- Isaiah vii. 10 — 16.
Which translate thus : " Hear ye now, O house of David,
is it a small thing with you to weary men, but will ye weary
my God also ? nevertheless, Jehovah himself will give you
a sign (or miracle). — Behold 4 a virgin shall conceive and
bear a son, and call his name Immanuel : milk and honey
shall he eat, till he shall know to refuse the evil and choose
the good."
" But before this child," (pointing to his own son, who was with him, v. 3,) " shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be for- saken of both her kings."
APPENDIX. 399
No. III. Vid. Bishop Chandler's Defence of Christianity. Isaiah lii. 13. liii. 12. N. B. This prophecy converted Lord Rochester : vid. Burnet's Life of him.
Note — v. 14, 15. in like manner, as many wonder at his obscure appearance, so shall they afterwards be astonished with his glory.
V. 8. " he was taken from prison and from judgment," render it, " he was taken oft' by authority and a judicial sentence," i. e. executed as a malefactor.
No. IV.
Vid. Chandler, p. 124.
Micah, v. 2.
Note — v. 4. instead of " therefore," render it, " never- theless."
V. 5, 6. the future enemies of the Jews, described under the names of the Assyrian and Babylonian, their known enemies in Micah's time ; just as Jerusalem is called Sodom and Gomorrah, Isa. i. 10.
No. V.
Vid. Chandler, p. 52. Malachi, hi. 1—3.
Note — v. 1. two persons spoke of, 1st. " the messenger who shall prepare the way before me," i. e, John the Bap- tist ; 2dly. " the Lord whom ye seek, the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in," i. e. the Messiah himself, whom they so earnestly expected, and from whom they promised themselves so much.
Ibid. " shall suddenly come ;" i. e. suddenly after the mes- senger that was to prepare his way.
400 APPENDIX.
No. VI.
Vid. Chandler, p. 71.
Haggai, ii. 6 — 9.
Note — v. 6, describes the civil commotions which should precede the coming of the Messiah, and which in fact took place and shook the Roman empire, from the death of Julius Caesar to the birth of Christ.
V. 8. I value not the splendor of silver and gold.
No. VII. Vid. Chandler, p. 109, or I. Newton on Daniel. Daniel, ix. 24—27. Here among other things it is foretold :
1. That after a certain period the most holy, the Mes- siah, the prince should appear.
2. That he should be cut off, i. e. put to death.
3. That some future and foreign nation should then destroy the city and the sanctuary.
All which was punctually fulfilled.
Aa to the periods here assigned it is on all hands, by Jews and Christians, agreed that the weeks are to be rec- koned weeks, not of days but of years, i. e. seven years to a week, vid. Lev. xxv. 8 ; Dan. x. 3, instead of " zvhole weeks," it is in the original weeks of days.
Now according to this way of reckoning, it was just JO weeks, or 490 years, from the Jews being reincorporated into a people and a holy city, and the death of Christ, " whereby transgression should be finished and sins ended, iniquity be expiated, and everlasting righteousness brought in, and this vision be accomplished, and the prophecy con- summated," v. 24, Sir I. Newton's Translation.
V. 27, " yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week," i. e. shall preach the covenant to the Jews for one week or seven years, which was the exact time from
APPENDIX. 401
the death of Christ to the first calling of the Gentiles and rejection of the Jews.
V. 27, render it, " in half a week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease," i. e. by the Roman army, who in three years and a half, i. e. in half a week from the first invasion, destroyed the city and temple.
N. B. The Jews themselves applied all these prophecies, except No. II., to their Messiah.
PROPHECIES WHICH PROBABLY, THOUGH MORE OBSCURELY, BELONG TO CHRIST.
Gen. xxii.18. Deut. xviii. 15. compared with Deut. xxxiv. 9. Psalm ii. — ex. Isaiah ii. 1 — 5. ix. 1 — 7. xi. 1 —10. xxix. 18—24. xxxv. 4—6. xl. 1—11. xlii. 1—9. xlix. 1 — 13. Jeremiah xxxi. 31 — 34. Daniel ii. 31 — 45. vii. 13, 14. Joel ii. 28. Zechariah ii. 10—13. ix. 9—11.
Commentariola upon some of the Prophecies above.
Psalm ex. translate " Jehovah said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
" Jehovah shall send the rod of thy strength from Sion, that thou mayest rule in the midst of thy enemies.
" Thy people shall be zealous in the day of thy army, (shall shine) in the beauties of holiness : more than from the womb of the morning to thee shall be the dew of thy progeny.
" Jehovah hath sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech.
" The Lord on thy right hand shall shake kings in the day of his indignation : he shall execute judgement in the nations with a great army : he shall shake the chief over the great land.
" He shall drink of the torrent (i. e. of afflictions) in the
VOL. I. D D
402 APPENDIX.
way ; therefore shall his head be exalted.'1 Vid. Sharpens Defence of Christianity, p. 1308.
Zechariah ix. 10, " and I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim," &c. i. e. I will establish his kingdom by other means than those of war.
Isaiah ix. 1, translate, " though he lightly afflicted the land of Zabulon and the land of Naphtali, he shall greatly honour her," &c. Mede.
Joel ii. 30, 31, relate to the destruction of Jerusalem.
CIRCUMSTANCES FORETOLD AND FULFILLED IN THE DESTRUC- TION OF JERUSALEM.
Vid. Newton on Prophecy, vol. ii. p. 220. — Jortin on Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 33.
Of the temple, " there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." Of the city, " they shall lay thee even with the ground, and shall not leave in thee one stone upon another." Luke xix. 44. The temple burnt to the ground against the inclination of Titus by the obstinacy of the Jews, who had fortified themselves in it. Titus, after it was burnt, ordered his soldiers to dig or plough up the foundations of the city and temple, which was executed, as to the temple, by Terentius Rufus. Vid. Josephus, Jewish Talmud.
" Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many," mentioned as a sign of and con- sequently to precede the destruction of Jerusalem. Matt, xxiv. 4, 5 ; accordingly we find that before this destruction arose Dositheus a Samaritan, and Theudas ; and in the reign of Nero, these impostors, i. e, pretended Messiahs, were so frequent, that many of them were apprehended and killed every day. Josephus.
" Wherefore if they shall say, behold he is in the desert, go not forth." Matt. xxiv. 26. Josephus informs us that
APPENDIX. 403
many impostors and cheats persuaded men to follow them into the desert, where they promised to show wonders and signs. The Egyptian false prophet, mentioned by Josephus and the Acts, led into the desert 4000 that were murderers. Two others also of the same kind spoken of by Josephus.
As another sign, and consequently what was to precede this destruction, " ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." Matt. xxiv. 6, 7. Christ most probably would refer to those wars and tumults in which the Jews, to whom he spoke, would be concerned, and we find, before the Romans entered Judaea, a dispute at Caesarea between the Jews and Syrians, about the right of the city, in which 20,000 Jews were slain, upon which a general war broke out between them ; so that every city, says Jo- sephus, was divided into two armies ; upon which occasion bloody contests broke out between the Jews and inhabitants at Scythopolis, in which fell 13,000 at Askelon, 25,000 at Tyre, at Gadara many, at Alexandria 50,000, at Damascus 10,000. About this time also the Jews of Peraea rose up against the inhabitants of Philadelphia, Jews and Gali- laeans against the Samaritans, and the whole nations of the Jews against Agrippa ; and not only throughout Judaea there were sedition and civil wars, but in Italy also, where Otho and Vitellius were contending for the empire. Jo- sephus.
u There shall be famines in divers places. " Matt. xxiv. ?. Suetonius mentions a famine in the days of Claudius, alluded to Acts xi. 28 ; and was so severe at Jerusalem, that Josephus says many perished for want of victuals.
And " pestilences," K[mv re koli Xo^ov, (the very words of Christ) imprecated upon the Jews, according to Josephus, by Niger, which, says he, God brought to pass upon the ungodly.
And " earthquakes in divers places.1' An earthquake at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, in Crete, mentioned by
dd2
404 APPENDIX.
Philostratus ; one at Laodicea in the reign of Nero, by Tacitus ; in Campania, by Seneca ; in Judaea, by Josephus.
" There shall be fearful sights and great signs from heaven." Luke xxi. 11. Josephus relates that a comet hung over the city for a year, and that at the ninth hour of the night there shone a sudden light about the altar and the temple : several other prodigies mentioned by Josephus. Tacitus also adds, " visas per ccelum concur- rere acies, rutilantia arma, et subito nubium igne collucere templum."
" This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Matt. xxiv. 34. The destruction of Jerusalem happened forty years after.
" Let them which be in Judaea flee to the mountains." Matt. xxiv. 15. Many, says Josephus, when the Roman army advanced against Jerusalem, fled i%$ fyv opeivyv. Euse- bius tells us that all who believed in Christ left Judaea, and removed to Pella.
CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH RECOMMEND TO OUR BELIEF THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES.
When they relate the miracle they mention the name, time, place, occasion, circumstances, the diseases that were cured, the persons healed or raised, the witnesses present, proceedings also and sentences of courts of justice in con- sequence of them, in cities of the first rank and of the greatest resort, and before persons of the highest distinc- tion.
A forger or relater of falsehood could scarce have fur- nished out such a list of particulars, and would avoid it, as it is putting into his reader's hands the means of de- tecting him ; thus you observe a great want of the parti- culars of time, place, and persons in Manetho's account of the Egyptian dynasties, Ctesias's of the Assyrian kings,
APPENDIX. 405
and those which the chronologists give of the ancient kingdoms of Greece, and accordingly those accounts con- tain much fiction and falsehood; whereas Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, and Caesar's of the War in Gaul, in hoth which, like the Scriptures, these particulars abound, are universally allowed to be true and exact.
They were wrought, or professed to be wrought, before the public, Acts xxvi. 26, 1 Cor. xv. 6 ; in the synagogues and temple, before enemies and unbelievers, John ix. Acts iii. 9, 10.
In a learned age and civilised country, polite and best inhabited parts of the world.
Acknowledged by adversaries, who attributed them to evil spirits or magic.
At a time when men wanted neither power nor inclina- tion to expose them if they were impostors, and were in no danger of being called atheists and heretics, of being insulted by the populace, hunted down by the clergy, or persecuted by the civil magistrate for ridiculing and de- riding them.
Various and numerous.
Of a permanent nature, and might be reviewed and examined.
Had nothing in them fantastical and cruel, but were acts of kindness and beneficence.
Miracles had ceased long before Christ appeared, and therefore these pretensions would the more excite the at- tention of mankind.
Did in fact convert multitudes.
Were attested by proper witnesses.
For any men to publish such a history of such things as lately done, if not true, could have been only to expose themselves to an easy confutation and certain infamy. Sup- pose three or four books should now appear amongst us in the language most generally understood, giving an' ac- count of many remarkable and extraordinary events which
406 APPENDIX.
had happened in some kingdom of Europe, and in the most noted cities of the country next adjoining to it, some betwixt sixty and seventy, others between twenty or thirty, others again within a very few years, and should call upon mankind to change their principles and practice upon the credit of these events, when nothing of the kind had ever actually happened — would they not be treated as a manifest and ridiculous forgery ? Is it likely a design so wild and extravagant should enter into the head of any sober serious person in the world ?
AN ADEQUATE OCCASION FOR THE MIRACLES.
Whether God did or did not interpose in establishing the Christian religion, is another question ; but most certain it is, that it was worthy of him : it was agreeable to all the notions we entertain of his attributes, to show himself, to put forth his power, in behalf of a religion which was to set mankind right in a matter they had almost universally mis- taken, and of the utmost consequence, — the character and unity of the being who governed them, which was to su- persede paganism, and that looseness of manners which it produced or tolerated ; and above all, was to give men surer and clearer hopes of a future state, than they either had or could have from any faculties God had furnished them with, and upon which hopes the happiness and virtue of mankind so much depend — and a religion too, which, from the insuperable difficulties that stood in its way, could not have established itself without such assistance.
Infidels lay much stress on the natural improbability of the thing itself. I see little in that : if you once allow that there is a God who made and takes care of the world, it is the likeliest thing imaginable that he should give his creatures, who were capable of it, a rule of life, and esta- blish it by suitable sanctions — and one does not see how this could be done otherwise than by miracle,
APPENDIX. 407
HUME'S OBJECTIONS.
Obj. 1st. That a miracle can never be made credible by any human testimony whatever, as it contradicts all our experience ; that the miracle should be true, does not con- tradict experience that human testimony should be false.
A single instance will answer the objection.
It absolutely contradicts the experience of the Emperor of China, that water should become hard by cold ; yet if twelve men should solemnly affirm they had seen it so ; if they were men of good characters and exemplary lives, — if there was no discoverable temptation for them to tell a lie about the matter, — if it was impossible they could be mistaken, — if they were insulted and ill-treated for main- taining such a seeming absurdity, yet still persisted in it, — if the emperor called them before him, and charged them to have done with such nonsense, and they went on affirm- ing it, — if he imprisoned, beat, banished them, and they neither varied nor retracted their story, — if he offered them their lives and liberty if they would confess it to be false, and, instead of confessing it, they insisted upon their assertions to the last, — the Emperor of China, I say, not- withstanding all his experience, and all the confidence that the most conceited man upon earth ever placed in his ex- perience, must be a madman not to believe them.
Obj. 2d. That there are miracles supported by as good testimony as those of the Gospel, which yet we allow to be false — some of the miracles of popery, for instance ; and consequently such testimony cannot be depended upon.
We deny that these miracles are built upon the like evidence that we have for those of Christ.
Vid. Campbell on Miracles
Douglas's Criterion.
There are two principal circumstances which extend to them all.
1st. That they taught men nothing different from what
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they believed before — called upon them to do nothing but what they had all along done — made no converts from one religion to another — and consequently men had neither the same reluctance to receive, nor the same reason to examine them, as those of Christ.
£dly. That they were supported by authority, or had on their side the established opinions and prejudice of those among whom they were wrought ; insomuch that it was highly dangerous, not only to inquire, but hint a suspicion about them ; the direct contrary of which was the case with the miracles of Christ. Hence we hear nothing of those miracles where they should be most wanting, — in protestant countries. No examples of miracles, properly attested, few indeed ever pretended to, by persons in circumstances at all similar to those of Christ ; that is to say, among ene- mies, unbelievers — to make converts — in contradiction to the power and prejudices of the country ; none, for instance, by any of the old reformers, the founders of the sects of the Waldenses and Albigenses ; Wickliffe in England ; Huss or Jerome in Bohemia ; Luther in Germany ; Zuin- glius in Switzerland ; Calvin in France ; or the Anabap- tists of Munster, though the most outrageous fanatics that ever appeared; nor even by Mahomet, with still greater opportunities.
3dly. No man ever gave up his time, traversed sea and land, quitted his profession, parted with his family and fortune, to publish them to the world — no man ever laid down his life, or even suffered persecution and distress in attestation of them.
Obj. 1. The Propagation of false Religions, especially the Success of Paganism and Mahometanism. As to paganism, scarce deserving the name of religion — not the same, even as to the history or object of worship, hardly in any two countries of the world— no public, au- thentic, or generally received history of facts — no system of laws and precepts built upon them; that is to say, no
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miracles produced as connected with a system of doctrines, or as express vouchers for the truth of it — their mytho- logy ridiculed and rejected by almost every man of learning and reflection among them — contained only in the writings of poets and fabulists, whose very profession was fiction, or in vague oral traditions. If their stories found a place in any serious history, it was generally some hundred years after the fact, evidently borrowed from one country to an- other, with additions and modifications of their own.
Their magic rites contemptible.
Nero was extravagantly fond of the art of magic, and sent for the most eminent professors of it from all parts of the world. The issue was, his own and the general con- viction of the folly of their pretences.
As to Mahometanism, Vid. Reland de Religione Mohammed.
Mahomet never pretended to miracles, and, conse- quently, whatever proof the Mahometans may have of their religion, it cannot be of the same nature as ours.
Again, Mahomet acknowledged Christ to be a prophet — contended that he was the itapot.K\yros whom Christ pro- mised : so that Mahometanism at the most is only a heresy ; it is still a species of Christianity.
Mahomet would find an easier reception in the world, as he did not call either upon Jews or Christians to deny or own the falsehood of their former religion — only made additions to it.
Mahomet was a soldier and a conqueror. Multitudes were invited to follow him by his successes, many forced into obedience, and more still dazzled by his victories — a very different case and character from that of Christ. . Mahomet's religion in some respects flattered the pas- sions of the East, particularly in the allowance of polygamy, divorce, and the sensual pleasures of his paradise : and a cause which contributed as much as any to the success of Mahometanism was the corrupt state of Christianity when
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it made its appearance, i. e. A. D. 622. Most of the ab- surdities of the Romish church were by this time creep- ing into the Christian religion — absurdities, some of them which shocked and disgusted the common reason of man- kind, and drove them to a religion which, though little else can be said for it, is simple and intelligible.
Mahometanism prevailed also in the darkest ages and countries in the world.
Obj. 2. The Rejection of Christ by Jews and Gentiles.
If we can account for this rejection consistently with the reality of the miracles, we answer the objection.
The Jews of Christ's time attributed his miracles to evil spirits, Matt. xii. 24, in which they were followed by the authors of the Talmud.
Exasperated against him by his reproofs, and the disap- pointment of their expectations. The character he assumed was directly contrary to what they had for ages believed their Messiah would be — contrary, as they thought, to the express declaration of many of their prophecies.
The Heathens ascribed his miracles to magic, as the Jews did to evil spirits, as appears from Porphyry, Julian, Celsus, Hierocles ; too idle and unconcerned in general to inquire about it, regarding it as one of the many thousand various religions which subsisted in the world, and which the wiser sort treated as so many ridiculous superstitions.
The best of them acquiesced in the general persuasion that all they had to do was to practise the duties of mo- rality, and to worship the Deity more patrio — a persuasion which at once shut out all arguments for any new religion.
What a contempt do the great and rich men of rank, and fortune, and wit, and abilities, the generality of them, how- ever, entertain for the Methodists ! How difficult would a poor Methodist find it to gain access to such persons, to persuade them into his opinions, or even to obtain an equita- ble or impartial hearing, let him have what he would to offer ! An infinitely greater contempt was there at that time
APPENDIX. 411
of the teachers of Christianity, and a greater reluctance to be taught by them. They passed with the great men and philosophers of that time as so many madmen, babblers ; their religion, as a superstition of their own concerning one Jesus, who was put to death, and whom they affirmed to be alive ; and what much increased their contempt of Chris- tianity was, that they reckoned it a species or sect of Ju- daism.
Obj. 5. The Silence qfJosephus about Christ or his Religion.
This objection, if it proves any thing, proves too much ; for it proves that there was no such person as Christ, no such religion as Christianity preached in the world, which is impossible, as well as contrary to the express testimony of all antiquity both sacred and profane.
This silence, therefore, of Josephus's, can only be ac- counted for by supposing it designed, ex consultot from his resolving to say nothing upon a subject, which, perhaps, he doubted about, and did not know how to represent — from its reflecting too much upon the honour of his coun- try, which he was extremely jealous of — or, lastly, for fear of giving offence or alarm to the Roman rulers, under whom he lived and wrote.
Obj.. 6. The Number of Infidels in tJie World. Vid. Le Clerc on Incredulity.
Now if we can account for the existence of so much in- fidelity, without supposing any want of reasonable evidence for religion, we answer the objection.
Causes, therefore, of unbelief are, first,
Vice. Many infidels are, at the same time, men of loose and profligate lives, who begin at the wrong end ; with the prac- tice first, and then take up the principles. No argument in the world will ever persuade such men to part with their mistresses, their gaming, their revels; to give up their
412 APPENDIX.
diversions, habit, company, conversation. It may look like scurrility to charge men in the lump with immorality, because they do not believe as we do ; but if one considers the manners of high life ; how repugnant they in general are to the rules of the Gospel ; what a revolution of conduct, what a stripping-off of pleasure there must be, if you put them under the discipline of religion ; what ways and means they are put to to get or keep their places and honours ; and, consequently, what it would cost them to turn vir- tuous : and besides, what little leisure high life affords for reflection, — what few opportunities of information, — what slender inducements and extreme aversion they have to turn their thoughts upon a subject so melancholy and gloomy as religion appears to them to be ; — I say, if one lays all these considerations together, one may see that it is no small number of unbelievers who come under this class.
Over and above the invincible bias which vicious plea- sures create against religion, it is also a certain though un- accountable effect of them to confuse and debilitate the understanding, so as to leave a man a proper judge scarce of any thing. Besides, a man, who, living up to the rules of Christianity, finds the good effects of them upon him- self, has a species of evidence which those others want. John vii. 17.
Vanity.
Every man of science or distinction has a passion for lift- ing himself above the vulgar. Nothing so flattering as to fancy one's self placed upon an eminence, and looking down upon the errors and absurdities, and follies and foibles, and tricks and contrivances, of the rest of mankind. Now to believe religion is to believe and know no more than what the lowest person in the street knows in the main, and believes as well as we do : it is setting ourselves upon a level with carpenters, and tailors, and farmers, and me- chanics ; with methodists, old women, and country parsons : whereas to see into it, and through it — to get as it were behind the scenes, and see mankind paying one another off,
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is infinitely gratifying to the conceit and ambition of the
human mind.
Rashness.
A large tribe of infidels are your giddy, hasty young fel- lows, who, without information or inquiry about the matter, take up infidelity all of a sudden, upon the first difficulty they meet with, upon a single objection or two which they happen to hear (a ridiculous story, perhaps, of a forged miracle, without at all attending to the distinguishing cir- cumstances), and when once they have avowed their disbe- lief of Christianity, it becomes a point of honour, as well as of obstinacy, to persist in it.
There are many such, whom, if you were to examine, you would find extremely quick and ready with their ob- jections, but with very little knowledge either of the facts, or reasons, or answers on the other side of the question. A trifling objection, by being frequently urged, and ad- vanced, and maintained, makes so great an impression upon the person himself, that though at first he did not believe it, yet afterwards he will not be able to dispossess himself of it.
Company and Conversation.
Whatever arguments there may be on one side of a ques- tion, if it is a man's luck to mix with company and con- versation which is for the most part on the other, it is great odds but he falls in with them. In our American disputes, there are surely arguments for the authority of Great Bri- tain, which might, at least, suspend a person's judgement ; yet in America itself, where all is said on one side, and no- thing on the other, they are in no suspense about it. Per- haps there is as little to be said for jacobitism as for any one thing in the world ; yet if a man be brought up in a jacobite neighbourhood, or associate much with Jacobite acquaintance, ten out of twenty will be drawn into their principles. Now, with regard to religion, in the high and gay scenes of life especially, a man may go through the world, and never hear religion mentioned in company or conversa-
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tion, but for the sake of a joke, or a gibe, or a scoft> or a sneer. It is rude and unfashionable to introduce religion, in order to defend, or even talk seriously about it ; whereas nothing goes down better than strokes of raillery or ridi- cule against it, which is unfair. Of the same cast is the cry against the clergy, their hypocrisy, their desire to lead mankind in a string ; their selfishness and slyness — charges which, whether just or unjust, have little to do with the truth of Christianity ; yet when a man has taken them into his head, or hears them bandied about in almost every company he comes into, the religion itself, which comes to him through their hands as it were, is instantly turned out of doors as a juggle, a state trick, a piece of priestcraft.
The Tendency of particular Studies.
1. When a man has been long accustomed to absolute certainty and demonstration, moral and probable proofs make less impression upon him.
2. When a man has been long accustomed to rely upon one single argument for each proposition, he feels himself at a loss, and unsatisfied, for the want of such an argu- ment, and is not so sensible of the force of united proofs.
Authority. However infidels may pretend to be freethinkers, there are no people under the sun greater slaves to the opinions of others : not one half, nor a third of them, disbelieve Christianity for any reason they can give themselves, but because some acquaintance of theirs, that they have an opinion of, or some noted fort d'esprit, Voltaire, or Hume, or Lord Bolingbroke, disbelieved it.
Now, although it be the weakest and wildest way in the world to trust to other men's judgement in a matter, espe- cially where so many better reasons and solid proofs may be had on one side, and so many prejudices and obstacles subsist on the other ; yet to argue with unbelievers in their own way, we can confront them with names and authorities vastly superior to any they can produce.
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To say nothing of the bulk of the community, both high and low, rich and poor, learned and simple, which for so many ages, and in so many countries, have believed Christianity ;
To say nothing of the many great divines in our own church, dissenting communions, and protestant churches abroad, who have spent whole lives in the study of Chris- tianity, and manifested as much acuteness and freedom in their researches as are to be found in any science whatever;
Not to mention these, what shall we say to such people as Newton, Locke, and Addison, laymen, under no tempta- tion to dissemble, and who did not take their religion upon trust; but spent, each of them, many years in in- quiring into it, and rose up from the inquiry fully and firmly persuaded of its truth ?
The Corruption of Christianity is the cause which has contributed, more than all the rest put together, to the making of infidels.
1. The many absurdities which several national churches have taken into their system, and which have no place nor foundation in the Scriptures ; and the universal propensity in mankind to reject a whole system for the folly or falsehood of particular parts of it. This cause alone accounts for the many unbelievers to be found in popish countries. How should you get Voltaire or Rous- seau, or people of sense and spirit, to believe Christianity, whilst they regard transubstantiation, the infallibility of the Pope, or the power of absolving sins, as so many parts of it?
2. Several lucrative tenets in some established systems, which induce the suspicion of craft and design in the whole ; such as purgatory, prayers for the dead, the efficacy of offerings and donations to the church.
3. The placing Christianity upon wrong foundations. Thus Quakers and Methodists refer you for the proof of Christianity to the motion and witnessing of the Spirit in your own breast. Now a man who hears this, and can feel
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no such motions or witnessing, has nothing left for it hut to turn infidel.
No sect of protestants is to be put upon a footing, as to the number or importance of their errors, with popery, which, first, denies to mankind the right of private judge- ment, thereby making religion no longer what it really is, a personal thing, but political ; secondly, all whose institu- tions tend to place religion in mechanical performances in- stead of substantial virtues.
The contest with the presbyterians relates chiefly to church government, and the use of a liturgy.
The dispute concerning church government, i. e. whether it should be with or without bishops ; formerly carried on with great heat, as each party would have it that his form was contained in Scripture; that therefore it was a matter of conscience and duty to stick to it.
But nowt I believe, both sides are convinced that neither Christ nor his apostles enjoined any particular form of church government, as of universal obligation ; but left each church in each country to regulate its government as it found expedient.
This being allowed, it will follow,
1. That that is the best form of church government which is most convenient, i. e. which conduces most to the edification of the people, which pleases them best, and suits with the circumstances and civil constitution of the country.
Thus episcopacy agrees better with monarchies, as it keeps up that subordination in the ecclesiastical, which sub- sists in the civil part of the constitution ; and casts the clergy more into the hands of the prince, who, without some influence of that kind, would hardly be safe, or able to maintain his authority. On the other, presbytery, per- haps, is more eligible in a republic, as it favours and falls in with that spirit of equality and dislike of distinction, upon which spirit and dislike the very existence of a republic depends.
APPENDIX. 417
2. That a man may join with a church, though he be dissatisfied with and disapprove their form of government ; just as a man may live under a state, though its civil con- stitution he thinks might be altered greatly for the better.
3. That, consequently, this alone is not a sufficient or justifiable cause of separation from any established church.
Methodism. The two leading tenets of Methodism, and the most serious points of difference betwixt us, are —
I. That faith alone saves us.
II. The perceptible operations of the Holy Spirit. The first is founded upon those passages of St. Paul,
especially in the third chapter of the Romans, where he declares expressly, " that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified," v. 20 ; and " that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," v. 28.
To which we give this answer, namely, that the justifica- tion here spoken of does not mean final salvation, but only what passed at their conversion; i.e. their deliverance from the desperate condition they were in before.
When, instead of being destroyed for their sins, as the old world was, people upon their conversion to Christianity had their former sins all forgiven, were put upon easy and gracious terms for the future, and furnished with new means, lights, and assistances, for the government of their conduct, — this was such a favour, such a change for the better in their spiritual condition, that they might properly be said to be delivered or justified, in the same sense that Rahab was justified when she was saved from the destruc- tion of Jericho ; that Noah was justified when he was saved from the flood ; David when delivered from his enemies ; Phinehas when the priesthood was given him ; Abraham when his idolatry was pardoned, and he was taken into the covenant : and that, notwithstanding their being thus justified at their conversion, if they relapsed into, or con- tinued in sin (which St Paul supposes to be possible, by warning them against it), they would finally perish.
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To the proofs of this interpretation, which we gave in explaining the Epistle to the Romans, we add,
1. That Christ himself always studiously insisted upon works accompanying their belief; and took, as it were, pains to have them understood, that hearing, believing, or call- ing upon him, would not do any good without keeping his commandments. Matt. vii. 21 — 29. John v. 29.
2. That the apostles, in all their letters and speeches, (and no one more than St. Paul), exhort to virtue and sanctity of life.
8. That St. James has expressly combated the notion that faith without works wras sufficient. James ii. 14 — 26.
4. That, above all, St. Paul himself tells the very people whom he had before pronounced "justified by faith," that " if they lived after the flesh, they should die." Rom. viii. 13.
5. That all these strong expressions which have created the doubt, and this great stress wrhich is laid upon faith, would, probably, have never been heard of, had it not been for the dispute that arose with the Jews, and the engross- ing temper of that people, who would not suffer the Gen- tiles (unless they would first become Jews) to be admitted to an equality, or be set upon a footing with themselves. To beat down this it became necessary to contend that the being admitted to a share of favour at all, or to stand upon any particular footing as God's people, was not on account of any prior merit which the Jews would have laid hold of as peculiar to themselves, but simply and singly by faith, i. e. by believing and receiving the Christian religion.
Thus much ought to be granted to the Methodists — that after all it is a dispute, perhaps, about words rather than things, certainly about an abstract doctrine, and not any practical question ; for they do not pretend that a man, who continues all his life a rogue, or a cheat, or a whore- master, or a drunkard, or in any habitual vice, will go to heaven at last by his faith : they either say it is not a true faith — that it is only in the mouth, not in the heart — that
APPENDIX. 419
he does not really believe, or have constantly some way of getting off the conclusion. Vide Halifax's Three Sermons on Justification.
II. As to the perceptible operations of the Holy Spirit, we agree with them in believing that the Spirit of God may and does act upon men's minds ; but we deny what they pretend, that these operations can be distinguished from the natural course of our own thoughts. A Methodist will have it that he can perceive the Spirit moving within him, know every impulse, be sure that such or such thoughts are not the workings of his own mind, but come from God — can tell, for instance, the time and place, the very hour and minute when he was illuminated, converted, born again, regenerated, elected, born of God, which is always with them instantaneous — is assured by the Spirit of his final salvation — knows when God accepts him, or hears his prayers — when he has communion or communication with God — when he struggles and wrestles with him.
We, on the contrary, say, that we perceive no such thing ; that without some sure sign or token, either ex- ternal as a miracle, or internal as that which accompanied inspiration, and which we allow the prophets and apostles had, we neither can nor ought to pronounce with con- fidence what is the acting of the Holy Spirit, and what is not.
That, at any rate, people telling us their feelings, their impulses, and communications, without giving us any proof besides their bare word, can be no ground of assurance to us, whatever evidence of it they may have themselves.
That Christ did not call upon mankind to believe him, because he felt or thought himself inspired — because he was conscious of communication and intercourse with God, but for his " worWs sake? on account of the outward, visible, and public proofs he gave, the signs and wonders that he wrought before their eyes. Vide Rotherham on Faith.
That it is enough, and all we have to do, to pray for the
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assistance of God's holy Spirit, to encourage and avail our- selves of good resolutions and desires when we feel them ; that we be extremely afraid and cautious of counteracting or putting them off, lest they should proceed, as they cer- tainly may do, and frequently in fact do, from God's Spirit ; and so we be found fighting against God, and quenching and stifling and grieving his holy Spirit.
Quakers
we find fault with principally for
I. Laying aside the Sacrament;
IT. Misunderstanding the agency of the Spirit ;
III. Having no clergy, or order of men set apart for the service of religion.
I. It is inconceivable how men, who believe the Scrip- tures, and profess obedience to Christ, should think the Sacrament may be dispensed with ; for,
1. It appears that Christ instituted this rite, and com- manded it to be repeated. Luke xxii. 19.
2. That the apostles and first Christians, in pursuance of this command, did repeat it ; which shows how they un- derstood it. Acts ii. 42 ; xx. 7. Still more expressly, ICor. It.
3. Lest it should be thought to be a temporary institu- tion, intended only for the first ages of Christianity, St Paul adds, 1 Cor. 11 — 26, i. e. to the end of the world.
This being so, it is no longer a matter of discretion but of duty, of propriety but of obligation, to observe it ; nor are we at liberty to lay it aside because we think we can do as well without it, or that it is of no use, or has been mis- understood or misapplied, or abused to foolish and super- stitious purposes, or has outlived the reason of the insti- tution.
II. Misunderstanding the agency of the Spirit. The Quakers contend, with the Methodists, for the perceptible operation of the Spirit, and therefore the same answer and observation will, in a good measure, serve for both.
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In two respects, however, they go beyond the Method- ists, as —
1. That the proof and evidence of our religion consists in the witnessing of the Spirit within us, and that religious faith is produced, not as conviction in other matters, by argument, reason, or probability, but is shed through the heart by the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Which is contrary, as well to common sense and expe- rience, as to the whole tenor of Scripture, and the constant conduct of Christ and his apostles ; who did not rest the faith of their converts in any inward illumination, but ad- dressed themselves to the understanding, used arguments, produced proofs, appealed continually to the evidence of prophecy or miracles. John xiii. 37, 38.
% That the Holy Ghost inspires their speakers in their meetings.
Now though we allow that this might ofttimes have been the case in the apostolical ages, 1 Cor. xiv. 29 — 33, yet it was miraculous, and ceased with other miracles ; and at this day it gives occasion to great wildness and indecency, as it can no longer be distinguished whether it be the Spirit of God that moves them or the spirit of folly.
III. Their having no clergy.
To say nothing of the odds there are against a person who has never been used or prepared to speak in public acquitting himself with tolerable propriety ;
To say nothing of the practice of every age and sect of Christianity besides the Quakers ;
To lay these considerations out of the question, now that the Scriptures are written in a dead language, remote age, and distant country, it requires the aid of human learning to understand and explain them ; — the very evi- dence moreover of Christianity being historical, depending upon records and researches, it is absolutely necessary for the keeping up a knowledge of those Scriptures in the world, for collecting, preserving, and perpetuating the proofs of the religion, that a number of people should be
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set apart, with leisure and opportunity, for the purpose ; and whose only office and business it should be to cultivate those studies.
The Quakers may do well enough where they are but a few, and while they subsist in countries where such an order is established, of whose labours they have in the main the benefit ; but it is a very different question what would have become of Christianity if no such order had ever been founded or continued in the church — possibly the very language in which the Scriptures are written might have been lost; the helps we have for interpreting them by contemporary authors, travels into the country, knowledge of customs, manners, &c. would have been wanting ; and above all the very evidence upon which it stands, for want of a succession of writers and people to consult and preserve these writings, might have decayed to nothing.
The Quaker meetings and discipline may possibly enough resemble the meetings of the first Christians, where many were under the immediate and extraordinary guidance of the Holy Spirit, and yet be very unsuitable for these times, when that extraordinary inspiration- is withdrawn.
As to their other fancies, their affectation of singularity in dress, speech, and behaviour, their allowing women to speak in their churches, in opposition to 1 Cor. xiv. 34, their not going into mourning for the dead, their refusing to pay tithes, take up arms, or take an oath, they have either been considered elsewhere, or do not deserve con- sideration.
Only as to paying tithes, if they would consider it not as a divine right, which we no longer pretend to, but a civil institution, they would soon see that the law and par- liament had as good a right to lay on that tax as any other, and that there is the same reason for paying it.
APPENDIX. 423
FOR THE STUDY OF THE GOSPELS,
Read, by way of introduction, Collier's Sacred Inter- preter, especially the former part of the 2d vol. : Har- wood's Introduction, vol. i. : the Dissertations prefixed to- Macknight's Harmony : Goodwin's Jewish Antiquities, or rather, Jennings's Lectures upon it : and Law's Life of Christ.
By way of commentators furnish yourself with Ham- mond, per Le Clerc : Lightfoot's work upon the respective Gospels, especially his Horse Hebraicse: Bowyer's Con- jectures on the New Testament: Jebb's, or any other Har- mony : the Wetstein edition of the New Testament, duo- decimo, 1711 : Parkhurst's Lexicon, or if Latin be familiar to you, Schoettgenii Lexicon, per Krebs: and Clarke's Paraphrase.
Your method of studying the Gospels for the first time of going over them may be this : read for instance a pass- age of St. Matthew in the English, with as little attention as may be to the divisions of chapter and verse, and break it with your pen as you go on into sections or paragraphs, where you observe transitions in the history or discourse. Next read over again one of these paragraphs, and mark the words, expressions, connexions, or reasonings that ap- pear to have any difficulty, and at the same time note down the best sense or explanation you can give them, however dubious or unsatisfactory ; when you have thus gone through the paragraph, then set about the clearing up these difficulties one by one in their order ; and first have recourse to the original Greek, with the assistance, if you want it, of Parkhurst's Lexicon, or Schoettgenius, which will ofttimes clear up the doubt without more to do: if not, consult the parallel passages in the other Gospels, which your Harmony points out ; if there be none, or they afford no light, turn to the texts which your Wetstein Greek Testament refers to ; if you are still at a loss for the
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interpretation, apply to Lightfoot's and Le Clerc's notes, Bowyer's Conjectures, and last of all Clarke's Paraphrase. In this train of inquiry when you are once satisfied stop, and by this means furnish an interleaved Greek Testament with notes.
In the Acts of the Apostles, besides the before-men- tioned books (except the Harmony and Clarke's Para- phrase), read as you go along Benson's History of the Christian Religion.
When you undertake the Epistles pursue the same me- thod with them, with the addition only of writing down the argument or subject of each section : read them in the following order, and let your commentators be —
Upon James, Benson. — 1, 2 Timothy, Benson. — Titus, Benson. — Ephesians, Locke. — Colossians, Pierce. — Phi- lippians, Pierce. — Galatians, Locke. — Romans, Taylor. — 1, 2 Corinthians, Locke. — 1, 2 Thessalonians, Benson. — Hebrews, Pierce. — The last three chapters, Hallet. — The rest of the general Epistles, Benson.
If you should afterwards desire a more exact and critical knowledge of the New Testament, or of any particular passage, it is best attained by comparing the senses in which a dubious word or expression occurs in different places of Scripture ; for which purpose Schmidius,s Con- cordance for the New Testament, and Trommius's for the old Septuagint, are complete. The folio edition of Wet- stein supplies quotations from profane authors. The En- glish Concordance of Cruden is wanting for a thousand purposes.
In examining any point of controversy (which by the by may be deferred till you have completed or made a con- siderable progress in the above prescribed course), I would advise before you take up a book on either side of the question to read the New Testament from beginning to endj with a view solely to that one subject; and collect all the texts as you go along, which appear to have any the most distant relation to it. Afterwards reduce the number
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of these texts by striking out such as are found, upon a second examination, to have no real connexion with the subject, and then carefully peruse the remainder with the notes, comments, and assistances I suppose you now pos- sessed of. Thus you will be enabled either to form a judg- ment of the question from what you have before you, or at least to read the books that are written upon it with edification and pleasure.
As to preaching, if your situation requires a sermon every Sunday, make one and steal five ; for which latter purpose I recommend Conant's Sermons, which are easily abridged by selecting the most important out of the many heads into which he divides them ; — the few of Scougal's bound up with his " Life of God in the Soul of Man ;" Ostervald on the Causes of the Corruptions of Christians : which you may readily break into discourses for the pulpit. Accustom yourself to insert additions and alterations of your own, and make it a point of conscience to reject what you disbelieve or disapprove.
In order to compose sermons, furnish yourself in the first place with Limborch de lteligione Christiana; get also Enfield's Preacher's Directory, which I would wish you to interleave, and make from time to time additions to it of your own ; and unless you are possessed of copious notes of our lectures, have by you Rutherforth's Institutes of Natural Law.
The first rule I give you in the composition of sermons is, " to confine your discourse to one single specific subject," a vice, for instance, or error which actually prevails ; an excuse or evasion which is in fact made use of; or a duty which you observe to be unnoticed, mistaken, or trans- gressed. When your own thoughts and observation fail to furnish you with such subjects, then but not till then have recourse for them to Enfield's Directory, or the scheme of the work, p. 1—8, or to the index at the begin- ning of Limborch.
In treating such a subject, first or early in your discourse state distinctly and clearly the point or proposition you
426 APPENDIX.
mean to discuss, and then describe with all the particularity and minuteness which decency admits of what you observe or suppose to be the thoughts and conduct of mankind, especially of those you have to deal with in respect of it. If you hit upon a train of thought which has actually passed in the minds of your audience, or a description which exactly reaches their case, you will probably be of service. Next set forth in order, and with the good old fashion of firstly, secondly, &c. what may be said upon the subject from the law and light of nature. This you must draw principally out of your own head ; but you will fre- quently receive the most excellent hints from Limborch, and may ofttimes find a full and just account of the matter in Rutherforth. In the last place, produce and explain the several texts and declarations of Scripture, always re- serving the strongest for the last. Enfield generally will supply the texts, but Limborch always, together with some useful observations upon them ; and when your Greek Testament is stocked with notes, the interpretation is at hand.
When these sort of subjects are exhausted, another species of preaching is, to give abstracts of select portions of sacred history in a familiar narrative, interspersed with a few reflections. For a collection of such subjects, see En- field, p. 6 ; and for suitable observations upon them, the 1st vol. of Collier.
Likewise paraphrases on particular portions of the New Testament, a parable for instance, a single head of Christ's sermon on the Mount, the history of some noted miracle, a speech in the Acts, or a detached section of an epistle : only take care not to improve too much upon the text, that is, do not in order to make your discourse, as you may think, more useful, put meanings into it, or make appli- cations of it, which were never intended. In this way Doddridge's Family Expositor is very valuable.
The attributes of God, as discovered in the works of the creation, and described in Scripture, such as his power, wisdom, goodness, compassion, placability, omnipresence,
APPENDIX. 427
particular providence, &c. are excellent and easy topics. The descriptions of the attributes in the 5th vol. of Search's Light of Nature are inimitable, and the texts relating to them are well connected in Enfield.
The evidences of Christianity, particularly those which arise from the morality of the Gospel, the seeming or mi- nute differences, but real and substantial agreements of the several historians, the candour and simplicity of their narratives, the inimitable zeal, affection, and earnestness, and therefore the authenticity of St. Paul's letters, the sufferings, disinterestedness, and low stations of the apostles and first teachers of Christianity, the success of their mi- nistry, and good effects it produced ; the originality of Christ's character and pretensions, the value, end, and im- portance of his mission, the explicit prophecies fulfilled in him, his own predictions of the persecutions of his fol- lowers, and the destruction of Jerusalem, may all be moulded into useful and popular sermons.
For your manner of writing. sermons take the following directions.
Let your text relate to your subject without doing vio- lence to the words, and choose one if you can which re- quires and admits an explanation ; in which case (and not as a general rule whether it wants it or no) begin your sermon with an exposition of the text: and if you make use of the context or connexion of the words, repeat entire the whole passage to which they belong, otherwise you will not be understood.
When you produce a text of Scripture to prove any thing, repeat the chapter and verse, if it be only by way of accommodation ; that is, to express your own meaning : in Scripture words you need not.
The best way of writing upon any subject is to put down, or settle at least, your own thoughts first, and consult books upon it afterwards.
In every discourse let your first care be truth and in- formation, your last ornament and exactness of language.
428 APPENDIX.
The good old way of expounding the Scriptures in the place of a sermon, or on that part of the day when you have no sermon, especially if you can persuade your con- gregation to follow you with their Bibles in their hands, is the very best service you can do them, because it will be a means of making them read the Scriptures to themselves and in their families. — Vide Abp. Hort's Charge.
If you have dissenters in your parish, make it your busi- ness by your behaviour, conversation, and preaching, to possess both them and your own congregation with a sense of the unimportance of those points which divide you, of the conveniency and consequently the duty of giving up such points to one another for the sake of one common public worship. Above all things abstain from ridicule or reflections upon their persons and teachers, from reproach- ing them with the conduct of their ancestors, or prede- cessors of the same sect, from idle reports of their ab- surdities or immoralities, from groundless suspicions of their sincerity, and particularly from charging them with opinions which they disown, or consequences they do not deduce.
When you are called upon to visit the sick, collect as many of the family or others into the sick person's room as is convenient, and make what you say a vehicle of ad- monition to them.
Distribute books in your parish, especially the tracts of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, or such as you may select from their catalogue. It is one of the best modes of instruction, and in every one's power.
END OF VOL. i.
LONDON :
rillNTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFBIARS.
BINDING SECT. SEP 4 1968
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