“ His idea of revelation depends upon the same mechanical conception of the relation of God to the world which dominates his Natural Theology; and he seeks to prove the divine origin of Christianity by isolating it from the general history of mankind, whereas later writers find their chief argument in the continuity of the process of revelation.
The face of the world has changed so greatly since Paley’s day that we are apt to do less than justice to his undoubted merits. ”

“ The truth of this will be apparent if it is considered that the Moral and Political Philosophy admittedly embodies two presuppositions: (1) that “God Almighty wills and wishes the happiness of His creatures,” and (2) that adequate motives must be supplied to virtue by a system of future rewards and punishments. ”

“ Now the second presupposition depends, according to Paley, on the credibility of the Christian religion (which he treats almost exclusively as the revelation of these “new sanctions” of morality) . The Evidences and the Horae Paulinae were intended as a demonstration of this credibility. The argument of these books, however, depends in turn upon the assumption of a benevolent Creator desirous of communicating with His creatures for their good ”