Horae Paulinae, or, The truth of the scripture history of St. Paul evinced

Published in 1790, Horae Paulinae represents William Paley’s methodical attempt to establish the authenticity of the New Testament through textual analysis. Writing during the Enlightenment, Paley sought to counter the skeptical trends of the era by applying a cumulative argument approach, comparing the Pauline Epistles with the Acts of the Apostles to demonstrate subtle, corroborative details that he believed could not have been fabricated by a later author.

The work was designed as a sophisticated piece of apologetic literature, reflecting the intellectual rigour of late eighteenth-century Anglican theology. Its clear, deductive style earned it significant acclaim among contemporary scholars and clergy, eventually becoming a staple of university reading lists in Britain for over a century. The edition printed for F.C. Rivington and his associates remains a testament to the period's standard for scholarly publication, emphasizing reliability and traditional theological defense.