CH 1, ¶5

In this paragraph, Paley seeks to illustrate how unappealing this new religion would have been to Jewish hearers. These hearers had found the law impossible to keep, but they believed that acceptance in God’s eyes was still possible. With pious disposition and conformity to extra-biblical traditions, they sought to prove their devotion to God. To teach against this basis of spirituality would have angered the religious backbone of society. (Williams)