Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 43.djvu/112

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ber of theological books would be limited indeed. Paley's textbooks are so well written that they have been treated as original treatises, and an avowed summary of a whole literature is condemned for including the familiar arguments. Stress has also been laid upon special illustrations. Hallam shows that Paley adopted some illustrations from Puffendorf (Lit. of Europe, 1854, iii. 417). The famous illustration of the watch has been said to be a plagiarism from Nieuwentyt, an English translation of whose ‘Religious Philosopher’ reached a third edition in 1750. The question is discussed in the ‘Athenæum’ for 1848 (i. 803, 907, 933). The watch was, in fact, a commonplace. It occurs in Tucker's ‘Light of Nature’ and many other writers, and is traced by Hallam (ib. ii. 385) to a passage in Cicero's ‘Natura Deorum’ (for other references see Stephen, English Thought, i. 409).

Paley advised his pupils, if they should have to preach every Sunday, ‘to make one sermon and steal five’ (E. Paley, p. xci). He apparently acted upon this principle. His son, in publishing some posthumous sermons, says that only one is ‘stolen,’ but adds that three are said to be founded upon sermons by Fleetwood; and a correspondent of ‘Notes and Queries’ (1st ser. xi. 484) states that another is slightly altered from a sermon by Bishop Porteus.

Paley's works are:

  1. ‘A Defence of the “Considerations on the Propriety of requiring a Subscription to Articles of Faith” [by Bishop (Edmund) Law],’ anon. 1774.
  2. ‘Observations on the Character and Example of Christ, and an Appendix on the Morality of the Gospel,’ annexed to Bishop Law's ‘Reflections,’ 1776.
  3. ‘Caution recommended in the Use and Application of Scripture Language,’ visitation sermon preached at Carlisle on 15 July 1777, Cambridge, 1777, again, 1782.
  4. ‘The Clergyman's Companion in visiting the Sick,’ attributed to Paley, is merely a reprint of an old compilation (see E. Paley, p. xcvii).
  5. ‘Advice addressed to the Young Clergy of the Diocese of Carlisle’ (ordination sermon on 29 July 1781), 1783.
  6. ‘A Distinction of Orders in the Church defended upon Principles of Public Utility’ (preached at Dublin on the consecration of the Bishop of Clonfert, on 21 Sept. 1782), 1782.
  7. ‘Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy,’ 1785. A seventeenth edition of this appeared in 1809. An edition, with notes by A. Bain, appeared in 1802, and one, with notes by R. Whately, in 1859. An ‘Analysis’ by C. V. Le Grice reached a fourth edition in 1822. The chapter on the British constitution was reprinted separately in 1792.
  8. ‘The Young Christian instructed in Reading and in the Principles of Religion; compiled for the use of the Sunday-schools in Carlisle.’ A charge of plagiarism was made against this by J. Robertson, author of a spelling-book from which Paley had appropriated passages. Paley's clever and amusing answer is given by Meadley (App. p. 156), and in Nichols's ‘Anecdotes’ (iii. 502).
  9. ‘Horæ Paulinæ; or the Truth of the Scripture History of St. Paul evinced by a Comparison of the Epistles which bear his name with the Acts of the Apostles and with one another,’ 1790. A sixth edition appeared in 1809; editions, with notes, &c., by J. Tate, by T. R. Birks, and by J. S. Howson appeared in 1840, 1850, and 1877 respectively. A German translation was published in 1797.
  10. ‘Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of Carlisle,’ 1790.
  11. ‘Reasons for Contentment; addressed to the Labouring Part of the British Public,’ 1793.
  12. ‘Memoir of Bishop Edmund Law,’ in Hutchinson's ‘History of Cumberland’ (1794) and the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ and reprinted, with notes by Anonymous, in 1800.
  13. ‘A View of the Evidences of Christianity,’ 1794. A fifteenth edition appeared in 1811; editions, with notes by T. R. Birks, R. Potts, and R. Whately, appeared in 1848, 1850, and 1859 respectively. An ‘Analysis,’ first published at Cambridge in 1795, went through several editions, and others have since appeared. ‘Rhymes for all the authors quoted in the first eight chapters’ was published at Cambridge in 1872, and an analysis, with ‘each chapter summarised in verse,’ by A. J. Wilkinson, in 1792.
  14. ‘Dangers incidental to the Clerical Character’ (sermon at St. Mary's, Cambridge, on 5 July 1795), 1795.
  15. ‘Assize Sermon at Durham,’ 1795.
  16. ‘Natural Theology; or Evidence of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity collected from the Appearances of Nature,’ 1802. A twentieth edition appeared in 1820. ‘Natural Theology,’ published 1835–9, includes Paley's ‘Natural Theology’ in vols. ii. and iii., with notes by Lord Brougham and Sir C. Bell. The other volumes are dissertations by Brougham. An Italian translation appeared in 1808, and a Spanish in 1825.
  17. ‘Sermons on Several Subjects,’ printed in obedience to the author's will, for distribution among the inhabitants of Bishop-Wearmouth. A surreptitious reprint induced Paley's executors to publish this, and to hand over the proceeds to charities. Other sermons were added in E. Paley's edition of his works.
  18. ‘Sermons and Tracts, 1808, contains Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11,