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29

THE WORKS OF

WILLIAM PALEY, D.D.

WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

THE AUTHOR,

BY

THE REV. D. S. WAYLAND, M.A.

VICAR OF KIRTON IN LINDSEY, AND Perpetual curate of thURLBY,

LINCOLNSHIRE.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

GEORGE COWIE AND CO.

M.DCCC.XXXVII.

3436

A

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF

DR. PALEY.

THE minister of the Gospel is not taught by his Divine Master to aspire after human distinctions, or to court worldly emolument. He is supposed to act upon purer principles, and to be swayed by sublimer hopes, than are to be found among mankind at large. The glory of God, and the promotion of the best interests of his brethren, should be the moving spirit of his exertions; and, in poverty, desertion, and contempt, with these ends constantly in view, there is enough in the religion of Jesus Christ, to animate, support, and cheer. But when we speak of the complete annihilation of every selfish feeling, and a complete indifference to all which the heart most ardently desires, it is manifest that we speak of such a high advancement in the Christian life as must not be expected from the average even of those who have been solemnly dedicated to God. The teachers of Christianity are men, and men whom their polished education renders peculiarly susceptible to those refinements which can only be found amidst comparative affluence, and those distinctions which can only accompany comparative rank. While therefore there are 66 greater things than these," it would not be desirable, even if it were possible, entirely to disunite from the life which is consecrated to religion all that forms the usual stimulus to moral and intellectual exertion.-While some spirits, which are "touched to finer issues," may find in their sublime self-abandonment all the motive which they need, it would surely be dangerous to make the service of the sanctuary in all instances a course of deprivation and obscurity. He who feels that poverty and neglect must necessarily be his lot, whatever benefit he may confer by his talents on the Church or on the world, if he have not a large portion of disinterested zeal, may be deterred from their exertion, and thus many of those works

VOL. I.

b

which have convinced the infidel, or edified the believer, might never have appeared. It is the boast of the Church of England, that, while she has at her disposal respectable emoluments, and honourable distinctions, they are open to all her sons. In the Church of France, before her revenues were plundered, and her honours laid low, the essential requisite of a dignitary was that he should be a noble. It is not so with us. Every man of distinguished talents, provided those talents are made subservient to the cause of Christianity, may attain to the highest eminence and authority in the Church to which we belong. The episcopal bench always comprehends much of the scriptural talent and research of the country: and the fathers of our holy religion have often been its most zealous and enlightened defenders. Of the wisdom of our ecclesiastical constitution, in this respect, we need no other proof than the number of learned and valuable works which have proceeded from the ministers of the establishment. He who will take the trouble to enter a Divinity library, or turn over the pages of a Divinity catalogue, will be struck with the vast comparative superiority, not only in talent but in numbers, of the champions of truth and piety who have been trained under the banners of the Church of England. Among these the author of the following most useful and interesting volumes holds a distinguished rank. The preceding observations are far from intending any insinuation against the purity of Paley's motives, or the disinterestedness of his exertions. There is no reason to doubt that

his primary object was to do good. But when we peruse those works which have exercised so beneficial an influence upon the age in which he lived, and view the state of comparative dignity and emolument to which they raised him, we are naturally led to reflections honourable to our establishment, and disposed to hold out his success as a stimulus to the exertion of others.

William Paley was born at Peterborough, in July, 1743, and baptised on the 30th of the following month. He was not without some advantages in early life, which are not enjoyed by all, for he was descended from parents who were able to appreciate his opening powers, and to give them a right direction. His mother was a woman of an active and inquiring mind; and he who knows how much may be done, by the kind and judicious care of such a woman, to call forth the latent faculties of infancy, will not think lightly of Paley's privilege in this respect. His father was not only an amiable and benevolent man, but accustomed to the business of tuition, and therefore better adapted to form the qualities of his mind and heart than one who, being exclusively devoted to his own mental cultivation, is often with difficulty drawn from his study to watch over the rising genius of his children. Perhaps, too, it was of no

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