277 
X* A 
Jewing the ufual method of college-leflures, by which 
the progrefs of a Undent is left to depend chiefly on his 
own induftry, or private affiftance, he endeavoured to in¬ 
troduce his pupils to an acquaintance with the inoft im¬ 
portant truths by arguments and iliuftrations which 
were equally pleafing and forcible. His le&ures on mo¬ 
ral philofophy, and on the Greek Teftament, contained 
the outlines of the works by which he afterwards fo much 
benefitted the world, and extended his own reputation ; 
and thofe works may be faid to have owed their origin to 
the fituation which impofed upon him the duty of deli¬ 
vering the lediures. Mr. Paley at this time a< 5 ted in con¬ 
junction with Dr. John Daw, the late bifltop, of Elphin, 
and fon of the celebrated bifliop of Carlifle. The exer¬ 
tions and talents of thefe kindred fouls rendered Chrift’s 
college extremely popular; and, while they retained their 
offices, that fociety rofe to a flourifhing ftate, unequalled 
perhaps in the hiftory of the univerfity. To his engage¬ 
ments as a public tutor, Mr. Paley added others, itill 
more numerous, as a private one ; and by thefe united la¬ 
bours was in the receipt of a very confiderable income. 
Mr. Paley, after having fpent about ten years in difeharg- 
ing thefe laborious duties, quitted the univerfity in 1776, 
and married. His firft benefice was the reftory of Mufgrove 
311 YVeftmoreland, worth only about eighty pounds a- 
year: this was in the month of May 1775; and in De¬ 
cember 177C, he was induced into the vicarage of Dal- 
fton in Cumberland, after which he was prefented to the 
living of Appleby in Weftmoreland, worth about 300I. 
per annum ; and in a fhort time he was promoted to a 
prebendal flail in the cathedral church of Carlifle. While 
vicar of Appleby, he gave the world a finall volume, fe- 
Je&ed from the Bo.ok of Common Prayer, and the wri¬ 
tings of fome eminent divines, entitled “ The Clergy¬ 
man’s Companion in vifiting the Sick.” This was firft 
publifhed without his name; but it has paffed through 
many editions, and is now printed among his works. In 
the year 1782, upon the refignation of Dr. Law', who 
was created an Irifli bifliop, Mr. Paley was made arch¬ 
deacon of the diocefe ; and not long after he fucceeded 
Dr. Burn, author of “The Juftice of Peace,” in the chan- 
cellorfliip. 
While his refidence was divided between Carlifle and 
Dalfton, Mr. Paley engaged in the compofition of his 
celebrated work, “The Elements of Moral and Political 
Philofophy.” This production would probably have ne¬ 
ver feen the light, had not the inftigations of Dr. John 
Law urged him to the undertaking. Mr. Paley for a 
confiderable time objefted to the rifle of publifhing, ima¬ 
gining there would be but few readers for a work on that 
fiibjeft; and he was the more determined on this point 
after lie had entered on the married ftate, thinking it a 
duty that he owed his family, not to print a book that 
would probably not find purchafers. To remove the ob¬ 
jection, a living having become vacant, of which Dr. 
Law Had the difpofiil, he prefented it to Mr. Paley, on 
the promife that he would confider it as a cornpenfation 
for the hazard of printing ; and he immediately let about 
preparing his work for the prefs. When the MS. was 
completed, he offered it to Mr. Faulder for 300I. which lie 
refufed, propofing 250I. as the full value. In the mean 
time the author was offered by another perfon in the trade 
2000I. for the copy-right; he felt it his duty to give Mr. 
Faulder the refufal, riling, however, in his demands from 
300I. to iocoI. which the publifher agreed to pay. In 
1785 the work was brought out in q.to. with an excellent 
dedication to the bifhop of Carlifle, bearing honourable 
teftimony to the purity’of the motives by which that pre¬ 
late was actuated in his religious refearches, and avowing 
Sentiments which refleCt the higheft credit on the author’s 
jngenuoufnefs and liberality. Concerning this work, we 
may fay, in the words of an able periodical critic, that 
' ft thofe who are fond of novelty, of ingenious theories, 
curious fpeculations, abftraCt and metaphyfical notions, 
will find little in it to amufe or entertain them 5 but thofe 
Vot,. XVIII. No. 1242. 
h E Y. 
who are felicitous to have their confciences properly di¬ 
rected in the general conduCl of human life, to fee their 
duties and obligations delineated with.perfpicuity and ac¬ 
curacy, will be fully gratified.” His reafoning on fub- 
feription to articles of religion, and on the Britifh con- 
ftitution, in which he difputes the expediency of reform 
in the houfe of commons, and vindicates the undue in¬ 
fluence of the crown ir. that branch of parliament, is liable 
to great objection, and has b ( een attacked, defervedly and 
feverely, by perfons of confiderable reputation in the li¬ 
terary world. That the prevalent opinion sf the public 
was, however, in favour of the value and utility of thefe 
Elements, may be prefumed from the n umerous impreffions 
of them which werefpeedily demanded ; (the fixteenth now 
lies before us ;) and we think that whatever is objection able 
in this work is infinitely counterbalanced by its very high 
general merits. The author’s political fpeculations, in 
which his talents are molt eminently difplayed, have been 
ftudiedj.and quoted, and admired, by the moll illuftrious 
flatefmen of modern times; and it was an enviable compli¬ 
ment which was paid him by the late Mr. Fox, during the 
debate in the houfe of commons on the Catholicqueftion, 
in May 1805, after reading two paffages from his work, 
“ that no man who valued learning, no man who valued 
genius, no man who valued moderation, could hear his 
opinions without deference and refpeft.” 
On the death of the venerable bilhop of Carlifle, in 1787, 
Mr. Paley drew up a fhort memoir of him, which has been 
inferted in Hutchinfon’s Hiftory of ’Cumberland, and in 
the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and which, in 1803, was 
prefixed, with notes fuppofed to have been written by the 
Rev. Dr. Difney, to an edition of the bifhop’s Reflections 
on the Life and CharaCler of Chrift, intended for popular 
circulation. 
The next work which Mr. Paley prefented to thg pub¬ 
lic, places him in a high rank among the advocates for 
the truth and authenticity of the Chriftian Scriptures. It 
is entitled “ Horce Paulina'; or, the Truth of the Scrip¬ 
ture Hiftory of St. Paul evinced, by a Companion of the 
Epiftles which bear his Name, with the ACls of the Apof- 
tles, and with one another,” which he dedicated to his 
friend Dr. Law, at that time bifliop of Kiilala. The grand 
objeCl of t,his work is to fhow, that, by a companion of fe- 
veral indirect allufions and references in the ACls and 
Epiftles, independently of all collateral teftimony, their 
undefined coincidence affords the lirongeft proof of their 
genuineriefs, and of the reality of the tranfaClions to 
which they relate. The defign was original, and the exe¬ 
cution admirable. Notwithstanding the title, the utility 
of the work was not confined to the learned : the Hone 
Baulinas will furnifh the common reader, as well as the 
biblical Undent, with ingenious criticifms and remarks, 
which will afford valuable affiftance in the right un~ 
derftanding of St. Paul’s Epiftles. 
Soon after the appearance of this work, Dr. Yorke, 
bifhop of Ely, made an offer to Mr. Paley of the mafter- 
fhip of Jef’us-college, Cambridge ; in which the worthy 
prelate was folely influenced by the reputation of Mr. 
Paley’s extraordinary talents, and by a wilfi to render 
them ferviceable in a high academical fituation. After 
deliberate confideration, he declined the honour intended 
him; but his fenfe of gratitude for his lord fliip’s kindnefs 
he publicly expreffed in a dedicationLprefixed to his next 
work, which he publifiied in 1794, and which is entitled 
“ A View of the Evidences of Chriflianity, in three 
Parts;” firft publifiied in 3 vols. nmo. but, after a few 
months, in 2 vols. 8vo. and has bean continued in this 
form, through many fuccefiive editions. It is perhaps 
the moft complete luminary of the evidences of our holy 
religion that has ever appeared. It alfo poifefies the merit 
of offering a defence of Chriflianity, which every Chriftian 
in ay read without feeing the tenets peculiar to the feCt 
to which he is attached in the leaft decried. 
After the publication of the Evidences of Chriflianity, 
the bifliop of London, Dr. Portgus, inftituted him to the 
4 B prebend 
/ 
