Evidences of Christianity by William Paley

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And what our Saviour had said upon the subject appears to me to have
fixed the sentiment amongst his followers.

Saint Paul has it expressly, "If there be any other commandment, it is
briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself;" (Rom. xiii. 9.) and again, "For all the law is fulfilled in
one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Gal.
v. 14.)

Saint John, in like manner, "This commandment have we from him, that he
who loveth God love his brother also." (1 John iv. 21.)

Saint Peter, not very differently: "Seeing that ye have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of
the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."
(I Peter i, 22.)

And it is so well known as to require no citations to verify it, that
this love, or charity, or, in other words, regard to the welfare of
others, runs in various forms through all the preceptive parts of the
apostolic writings. It is the theme of all their exhortations, that with
which their morality begins and ends, from which all their details and
enumerations set out, and into which they return.

And that this temper, for some time at least, descended in its purity to
succeeding Christians, is attested by one of the earliest and best of
the remaining writings of the apostolical fathers, the epistle of the
Roman Clement. The meekness of the Christian character reigns throughout
the whole of that excellent piece. The occasion called for it. It was to
compose the dissensions of the church of Corinth. And the venerable hearer
of the apostles does not fall short, in the display of this principle, of
the finest passages of their writings. He calls to the remembrance of the
Corinthian church its former character in which "ye were all of you," he
tells them, "humble-minded, not boasting of anything, desiring rather to
be subject than to govern, to give than to receive, being content with the
portion God had dispensed to you and hearkening diligently to his word;
ye were enlarged in your bowels, having his sufferings always before your
eyes. Ye contended day and night for the whole brotherhood, that with
compassion and a good conscience the number of his elect might be saved.
Ye were sincere, and without offence towards each other. Ye bewailed
every one his neighbour's sins, esteeming their defects your own." His
prayer for them was for the "return of peace, long-suffering, and
patience." (Ep. Clem. Rom. c. 2 & 53; Abp. Wake's Translation.) And his
advice to those who might have been the occasion of difference in the
society is conceived in the true spirit, and with a perfect knowledge of
the Christian character: "Who is there among you that is generous? who
that is compassionate? Who that has any charity? Let him say, If this
sedition, this contention, and these schisms be upon my account, I am
ready to depart, to go away whithersoever ye please, and do whatsoever
ye shall command me; only let the flock of Christ be in peace with the
elders who are set over it. He that shall do this shall get to himself a
very great honour in the Lord; and there is no place but what will he
ready to receive him; for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof. These things they who have their conversation towards God, not
to be repented of, both have done, and will always be ready to do." (Ep.
Clem. Rom. c. 54; Abp. Wake's Translation.)

This sacred principle, this earnest recommendation of forbearance,
lenity, and forgiveness, mixes with all the writings of that age. There
are more quotations in the apostolical fathers of texts which relate to
these points than of any other. Christ's sayings had struck them. "Not
rendering," said Polycarp, the disciple of John, "evil for evil, or
railing for railing, or striking for striking, or cursing for cursing."
Again, speaking of some whose behaviour had given great offence, "Be ye
moderate," says he, "on this occasion, and look not upon such as
enemies, but call them back as suffering and erring members, that ye
save your whole body." (Pol. Ep. ad Phil. c. 2 & 11.)

"Be ye mild at their anger," saith Ignatius, the companion of Polycarp,
"humble at their boastings, to their blasphemies return your prayers, to
their error your firmness in the faith; when they are cruel, be ye
gentle; not endeavouring to imitate their ways, let us be their brethren
in all kindness and moderation: but let us be followers of the Lord; for
who was ever more unjustly used, more destitute, more despised?"

IV. A fourth quality by which the morality of the Gospel is
distinguished is the exclusion of regard to fame and reputation.

"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them,
otherwise ye have no reward of your father which is in heaven." "When
thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door,
pray to thy father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly." (Matt. vi. 1 & 6.)

And the rule, by parity of reason, is extended to all other virtues.

I do not think that either in these or in any other passage of the New
Testament, the pursuit of fame is stated as a vice; it is only said that
an action, to be virtuous, must be independent of it. I would also
observe that it is not publicity, but ostentation, which is prohibited;
not the mode, but the motive of the action, which is regulated. A good
man will prefer that mode, as well as those objects of his beneficence,
by which he can produce the greatest effect; and the view of this
purpose may dictate sometimes publication, and sometimes concealment.
Either the one or the other may be the mode of the action, according as
the end to be promoted by it appears to require. But from the motive,
the reputation of the deed, and the fruits and advantage of that
reputation to ourselves, must be shut out, or, in whatever proportion
they are not so, the action in that proportion fails of being virtuous.

This exclusion of regard to human opinion is a difference not so much in
the duties to which the teachers of virtue would persuade mankind, as in
the manner and topics of persuasion. And in this view the difference is
great. When we set about to give advice, our lectures are full of the
advantages of character, of the regard that is due to appearances and to
opinion; of what the world, especially of what the good or great, will
think and say; of the value of public esteem, and of the qualities by
which men acquire it. Widely different from this was our Saviour's
instruction; and the difference was founded upon the best reasons. For,
however the care of reputation, the authority of public opinion, or even
of the opinion of good men, the satisfaction of being well received and
well thought of, the benefit of being known and distinguished, are
topics to which we are fain to have recourse in our exhortations; the
true virtue is that which discards these considerations absolutely, and
which retires from them all to the single internal purpose of pleasing
God. This at least was the virtue which our Saviour taught. And in
teaching this, he not only confined the views of his followers to the
proper measure and principle of human duty, but acted in consistency
with his office as a monitor from heaven.

Next to what our Saviour taught, may be considered the manner of his
teaching; which was extremely peculiar, yet, I think, precisely adapted
to the peculiarity of his character and situation. His lessons did not
consist of disquisitions; of anything like moral essays, or like
sermons, or like set treatises upon the several points which he
mentioned. When he delivered a precept, it was seldom that he added any
proof or argument; still more seldom that he accompanied it with what
all precepts require, limitations and distinctions. His instructions
were conceived in short, emphatic, sententious rules, in occasional
reflections, or in round maxims. I do not think that this was a natural,
or would have been a proper method for a philosopher or a moralist; or
that it is a method which can be successfully imitated by us. But I
contend that it was suitable to the character which Christ assumed, and
to the situation in which, as a teacher, he was placed. He produced
himself as a messenger from God. He put the truth of what he taught upon
authority. (I say unto you, Swear not at all; I say auto you, Resist not
evil; I say unto you, Love your enemies.--Matt. v. 34, 39, 44.) In the
choice, therefore, of his mode of teaching, the purpose by him to be
consulted was impression: because conviction, which forms the principal
end of our discourses, was to arise in the minds of his followers from a
different source, from their respect to his person and authority. Now,
for the purpose of impression singly and exclusively, (I repeat again,
that we are not here to consider the convincing of the understanding,) I
know nothing which would have so great force as strong ponderous maxims,
frequently urged and frequently brought back to the thoughts of the
hearers. I know nothing that could in this view be said better, than "Do
unto others as ye would that others should do unto you:" "The first and
great commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God: and the second
is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." It must also
be remembered, that our Lord's ministry, upon the supposition either of
one year or three, compared with his work, was of short duration; that,
within this time, he had many places to visit, various audiences to
address; that his person was generally besieged by crowds of followers;
that he was, sometimes, driven away from the place where he was teaching
by persecution, and at other times thought fit to withdraw himself from
the commotions of the populace. Under these circumstances, nothing
appears to have been so practicable, or likely to be so efficacious, as
leaving, wherever he came, concise lessons of duty. These circumstances
at least show the necessity he was under of comprising what he delivered
within a small compass. In particular, his sermon upon the mount ought
always to be considered with a view to these observations. The question
is not, whether a fuller, a more accurate, a more systematic, or a more
argumentative discourse upon morals might not have been pronounced; but
whether more could have been said in the same room better adapted to
the exigencies of the hearers, or better calculated for the purpose of
impression? Seen in this light, it has always appeared to me to be
admirable. Dr. Lardner thought that this discourse was made up of what
Christ had said at different times, and on different occasions, several
of which occasions are noticed in St Luke's narrative.

I can perceive no reason for this opinion. I believe that our Lord
delivered this discourse at one time and place, in the manner related by
Saint Matthew, and that he repeated the same rules and maxims at
different times, as opportunity or occasion suggested; that they were
often in his mouth, and were repeated to different audiences, and in
various conversations.

It is incidental to this mode of moral instruction, which proceeds not
by proof but upon authority, not by disquisition but by precept, that
the rules will be conceived in absolute terms, leaving the application
and the distinctions that attend it to the reason of the hearer. It is
likewise to be expected that they will be delivered in terms by so much
the more forcible and energetic, as they have to encounter natural or
general propensities. It is further also to be remarked, that many of
those strong instances which appear in our Lord's sermon, such as, "If
any man will smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also:"
"If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him
have thy cloak also:" "Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with
him twain:" though they appear in the form of specific precepts, are
intended as descriptive of disposition and character. A specific
compliance with the precepts would be of little value, but the
disposition which they inculcate is of the highest. He who should
content himself with waiting for the occasion, and with literally
observing the rule when the occasion offered, would do nothing, or worse
than nothing: but he who considers the character and disposition which
is hereby inculcated, and places that disposition before him as the
model to which he should bring his own, takes, perhaps, the best
possible method of improving the benevolence, and of calming and
rectifying the vices of his temper.

If it be said that this disposition is unattainable, I answer, so is all
perfection: ought therefore a moralist to recommend imperfections? One
excellency, however, of our Saviour's rules is, that they are either
never mistaken, or never so mistaken as to do harm. I could feign a
hundred cases in which the literal application of the rule, "of doing to
others as we would that others should do unto us," might mislead us; but
I never yet met with the man who was actually misled by it.
Notwithstanding that our Lord bade his followers, "not to resist evil,"
and to "forgive the enemy who should trespass against them, not till
seven times, but till seventy times seven," the Christian world has
hitherto suffered little by too much placability or forbearance. I would
repeat once more, what has already been twice remarked, that these rules
were designed to regulate personal conduct from personal motives, and
for this purpose alone. I think that these observations will assist us
greatly in placing our Saviour's conduct as a moral teacher in a proper
point of view; especially when it is considered, that to deliver moral
disquisitions was no part of his design,--to teach morality at all was
only a subordinate part of it; his great business being to supply what
was much more wanting than lessons of morality, stronger moral
sanctions, and clearer assurances of a future judgment.*

_________

* Some appear to require in a religious system, or in the books which
profess to deliver that system, minute directions for every case and
occurrence that may arise. This, say they, is necessary to render a
revelation perfect, especially one which has for its object the
regulation of human conduct. Now, how prolix, and yet how incomplete and
unavailing, such an attempt must have been, is proved by one notable
example: "The Indoo and Mussulman religions are institutes of civil law,
regulating the minutest questions, both of property and of all questions
which come under the cognizance of the magistrate. And to what length
details of this kind are necessarily carried when once begun, may be
understood from an anecdote of the Mussulman code, which we have
received from the most respectable authority, that not less than
seventy-five thousand traditional precepts have been promulgated."
(Hamilton's translation of Hedays, or Guide.)
_________

The parables of the New Testament are, many of them, such as would have
done honour to any book in the world: I do not mean in style and
diction, but in the choice of the subjects, in the structure of the
narratives, in the aptness, propriety, and force of the circumstances
woven into them; and in some, as that of the Good Samaritan, the
Prodigal Son, the Pharisee and the Publican, in an union of pathos and
simplicity, which in the best productions of human genius is the fruit
only of a much exercised and well cultivated judgment.

The Lord's Prayer, for a succession of solemn thoughts, for fixing the
attention upon a few great points, for suitableness to every condition,
for sufficiency, for conciseness without obscurity, for the weight and
real importance of its petitions, is without an equal or a rival.

From whence did these come? Whence had this man his wisdom? Was our
Saviour, in fact, a well instructed philosopher, whilst he is
represented to us as an illiterate peasant? Or shall we say that some
early Christians of taste and education composed these pieces and
ascribed them to Christ? Beside all other incredibilities in this
account, I answer, with Dr. Jortin, that they could not do it. No
specimens of composition which the Christians of the first century have
left us authorise us to believe that they were equal to the task. And
how little qualified the Jews, the countrymen and companions of Christ,
were to assist him in the undertaking, may be judged of from the
traditions and writings of theirs which were the nearest to that age.
The whole collection of the Talmud is one continued proof into what
follies they fell whenever they left their Bible; and how little capable
they were of furnishing out such lessons as Christ delivered.

But there is still another view in which our Lord's discourses deserve
to be considered; and that is, in their negative character,--not in what
they did, but in what they did not, contain. Under this head the
following reflections appear to me to possess some weight.

I. They exhibit no particular description of the invisible world. The
future happiness of the good, and the misery of the bad, which is all we
want to be assured of, is directly and positively affirmed, and is
represented by metaphors and comparisons, which were plainly intended as
metaphors and comparisons, and as nothing more. As to the rest, a solemn
reserve is maintained. The question concerning the woman who had been
married to seven brothers, "Whose shall she be on the resurrection?" was
of a nature calculated to have drawn from Christ a more circumstantial
account of the state of the human species in their future existence. He
cuts short, however, the inquiry by an answer, which at once rebuked
intruding curiosity, and was agreeable to the best apprehensions we are
able to form upon the subject, viz. "That they who are accounted worthy
of that resurrection, shall be as the angels of God in heaven." I lay a
stress upon this reserve, because it repels the suspicion of enthusiasm:
for enthusiasm is wont to expatiate upon the condition of the departed,
above all other subjects, and with a wild particularity. It is moreover
a topic which is always listened to with greediness. The teacher,
therefore, whose principal purpose is to draw upon himself attention, is
sure to be full of it. The Koran of Mahomet is half made up of it.

II. Our Lord enjoined no austerities. He not only enjoined none as
absolute duties, but he recommended none as carrying men to a higher
degree of Divine favour. Place Christianity, in this respect, by the
side of all institutions which have been founded in the fanaticism
either of their author or of his first followers: or, rather, compare in
this respect Christianity, as it came from Christ, with the same
religion after it fell into other hands--with the extravagant merit very
soon ascribed to celibacy, solitude, voluntary poverty; with the rigours
of an ascetic, and the vows of a monastic life; the hair-shirt, the
watchings, the midnight prayers, the obmutescence, the gloom and
mortification of religious orders, and of those who aspired to religious
perfection.

III. Our Saviour uttered no impassioned devotion. There was no heat in
his piety, or in the language in which he expressed it; no vehement or
rapturous ejaculations, no violent urgency, in his prayers. The Lord's
Prayer is a model of calm devotion. His words in the garden are
unaffected expressions of a deep, indeed, but sober piety. He never
appears to have been worked up into anything like that elation, or that
emotion of spirits which is occasionally observed in most of those to
whom the name of enthusiast can in any degree be applied. I feel a
respect for Methodists, because I believe that there is to be found
amongst them much sincere piety, and availing though not always
well-informed Christianity: yet I never attended a meeting of theirs but
I came away with the reflection, how different what I heard was from
what I read! I do not mean in doctrine, with which at present I have no
concern, but in manner how different from the calmness, the sobriety,
the good sense, and I may add, the strength and authority of our Lord's
discourses!

IV. It is very usual with the human mind to substitute forwardness and
fervency in a particular cause for the merit of general and regular
morality; and it is natural, and politic also, in the leader of a sect
or party, to encourage such a disposition in his followers. Christ did
not overlook this turn of thought; yet, though avowedly placing himself
at the head of a new institution, he notices it only to condemn it. "Not
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done
many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto you, I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt. vii. 21, 22.) So far
was the Author of Christianity from courting the attachment of his
followers by any sacrifice of principle, or by a condescension to the
errors which even zeal in his service might have inspired. This was a
proof both of sincerity and judgment.

V. Nor, fifthly, did he fall in with any of the depraved fashions of his
country, or with the natural bias of his own education. Bred up a Jew,
under a religion extremely technical, in an age and amongst a people
more tenacious of the ceremonies than of any other part of that
religion, he delivered an institution containing less of ritual, and
that more simple, than is to be found in any religion which ever
prevailed amongst mankind. We have known, I do allow, examples of an
enthusiasm which has swept away all external ordinances before it. But
this spirit certainly did not dictate our Saviour's conduct, either in
his treatment of the religion of his country, or in the formation of his
own institution. In both he displayed the soundness and moderation of
his judgment. He censured an overstrained scrupulousness, or perhaps an
affectation of scrupulousness, about the Sabbath: but how did he censure
it? not by contemning or decrying the institution itself, but by
declaring that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath;"
that is to say, that the Sabbath was to be subordinate to its purpose,
and that that purpose was the real good of those who were the subjects
of the law. The same concerning the nicety of some of the Pharisees, in
paying tithes of the most trifling articles, accompanied with a neglect
of justice, fidelity, and mercy. He finds fault with them for misplacing
their anxiety. He does not speak disrespectfully of the law of tithes,
nor of their observance of it; but he assigns to each class of duties
its proper station in the scale of moral importance. All this might be
expected perhaps from a well-instructed, cool, and judicious
philosopher, but was not to be looked for from an illiterate Jew;
certainly not from an impetuous enthusiast.

VI. Nothing could be more quibbling than were the comments and
expositions of the Jewish doctors at that time; nothing so puerile as
their distinctions. Their evasion of the fifth commandment, their
exposition of the law of oaths, are specimens of the bad taste in morals
which then prevailed. Whereas, in a numerous collection of our Saviour's
apophthegms, many of them referring to sundry precepts of the Jewish
law, there is not to be found one example of sophistry, or of false
subtlety, or of anything approaching thereunto.

VII. The national temper of the Jews was intolerant, narrow-minded, and
excluding. In Jesus, on the contrary, whether we regard his lessons or
his example, we see not only benevolence, but benevolence the most
enlarged and comprehensive. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the
very point of the story is, that the person relieved by him was the
national and religious enemy of his benefactor. Our Lord declared the
equity of the Divine administration, when he told the Jews, (what,
probably, they were surprised to hear,) "That many should come from the
east and west, and should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in
the kingdom of heaven; but that the children of the kingdom should be
cast into outer darkness." (Matt. viii. 11.) His reproof of the hasty
zeal of his disciples, who would needs call down fire from heaven to
revenge an affront put upon their Master, shows the lenity of his
character, and of his religion: and his opinion of the manner in which
the most unreasonable opponents ought to be treated, or at least of the
manner in which they ought not to be treated. The terms in which his
rebuke was conveyed deserve to be noticed:--"Ye know not what manner of
spirit ye are of." (Luke ix. 55.)

VIII. Lastly, amongst the negative qualities of our religion, as it came
out of the hands of its Founder and his apostles, we may reckon its
complete abstraction from all views either of ecclesiastical or civil
policy; or, to meet a language much in fashion with some men, from the
politics either of priests or statesmen. Christ's declaration, that "his
kingdom was not of this world," recorded by Saint John; his evasion of
the question, whether it was lawful or not to give tribute unto Caesar,
mentioned by the three other evangelists; his reply to an application
that was made to him, to interpose his authority in a question of
property; "Man, who made me a ruler or a judge over you?" ascribed to
him by St. Luke; his declining to exercise the office of a criminal
judge in the case of the woman taken in adultery, as related by John,
are all intelligible significations of our Saviour's sentiments upon
this head. And with respect to politics, in the usual sense of that
word, or discussions concerning different forms of government,
Christianity declines every question upon the subject. Whilst
politicians are disputing about monarchies, aristocracies, and
republics, the Gospel is alike applicable, useful, and friendly to them
all; inasmuch, as, 1stly, it tends to make men virtuous, and as it is
easier to govern good men than bad men under any constitution; as,
2ndly, it states obedience to government, in ordinary cases, to be not
merely a submission to force, but a duty of conscience; as, 3rdly, it
induces dispositions favourable to public tranquillity, a Christian's
chief care being to pass quietly through this world to a better; as,
4thly, it prays for communities, and, for the governors of communities,
of whatever description or denomination they be, with a solicitude and
fervency proportioned to the influence which they possess upon human
happiness. All which, in my opinion, is just as it should be. Had there
been more to be found in Scripture of a political nature, or convertible
to political purposes, the worst use would have been made of it, on
whichever side it seemed to lie.

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