Horae Paulinae; or the Truth of the Scripture History of St Paul

by William Paley

The "Horae Paulinae" was published in 1790, when Paley had been Vicar of Appleby, in Cumberland, thirteen years, and Archdeacon of Carlisle eight. It was therefore written in the little cottage which now stands at the extremity of the row of buildings that now form the Vicarage of Appleby. This cottage was all of the parsonage that, ninety years ago, served the vicar for a dwelling. Larger and larger additions have been twice made since, and now it is the spacious and commodious dwelling of another Archdeacon of Carlisle, for whom the cottage where the "Horae Paulinae" was written serves but as an humble outbuilding. But a century ago almost all the clergy in the north of England dwelt in lowly cottages. Many still do; but it hasbeen rightly determined, for their own and for their parishioners' sakes, that now more capacious and more convenient dwellings should be provided for them.The "Horae Paulinae" was written five years after the "Moral and Political Philosophy," and four years before the "Evidences of Christianity;" a fact to which the author alludes in Part II. chap. vii. of the latter work. The order in which Paley's works were written will be found in the "Life" prefixed to the "Evidences" in the present series.It is universally acknowledged that as an example of acuteinvestigation and lucid irresistible argument, this treatise has not only never been surpassed, but never equalled. The reasoning is never in the slightest degree marred by the obscurity, the difficulty to get at the meaning, which frequently forms a hindrance to the usefulness of works of a purely argumentative character. The truth is, that whenever a man has a very clear apprehension of his own meaning, he seldom fails in the endeavour to convey it to the minds of others. It is at once the fault and the Nemesis of philosophers, falsely so called, that their language is veiled in mists and vapours, amidst which their disciples wander without purpose and without reward. Such is not the character of the "Horae Paulinae." It is a model of clear, transparent thought, expressed in language terse, energetic, and unmistakable.

Genres: Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published December 2, 2010

About the author

1743-1805