2. Necessity of Forms, and of making them real." Nor does the want of religion, in the generality of the common people, appear owing to a speculative disbelief, or denial of it, but chiefly to thoughtlessness, and the common temptations of life. Your chief business therefore is to endeavour to beget a practical sense of it upon their hearts, as what they acknowledge their belief of, and profess they ought to conform themselves to. And that is to be done, by keeping up, as well as we are able, the form and face of religion with decency and reverence, and in such a degree as to bring the thoughts of religion often to their minds; and then endeavouring to make this form more and more subservient to promote the reality and power of it. The form of religion may indeed be where there is little of the thing itself; but the thing itself cannot be preserved without the form."

3. Neglect of the simple institutions of the Reformers." Our reformers, considering that some of these (Roman Catholic) observances were in themselves wrong and superstitious, and others of them made subservient to the purposes of superstition, abolished them, reduced the form of religion to great simplicity, and

enjoined no more particular rules, nor left anything more of what was external in religion, than was, in a manner, necessary to preserve a sense of religion itself upon the minds of the people. But a great part of this is neglected by the generality amongst us; for instance, the service of the church, not only upon common days, but also upon saints' days; and several other things might be mentioned. Thus have they no customary admonition, no public call to recollect the thoughts of God and religion from one Sunday to another."

4. The repair of churches.-" Doubtless under this head must come into consideration a proper regard to the structures which are consecrated to the service of God. In the present turn of the age, one may observe a wonderful frugality in everything that has respect to religion, and extravagance in everything else. But amidst the appearances of opulence and improvement in all common things, it would be hard to find a reason why these monuments of ancient piety should not be preserved in their original beauty and magnificence. But in the least opulent places they must be preserved in becoming repair; and everything relating to the Divine service be, how ever, decent and

clean; otherwise we shall vilify the face of religion while we keep it up."

5. Family prayers." Since the body of the people, especially in country places, cannot be brought to attend (public service) oftener than one day in the week; and since this is in no sort enough to keep up in them a due sense of religion; it were greatly to be wished they could be persuaded to anything which might, in some measure, supply the want of more frequent public devotions, or serve the like purposes. Family prayers, regularly kept up in every house, would have a great good effect."

6. Mental daily prayer.-"Truly, if besides our more set devotions, morning and evening, all of us would fix upon certain times of the day, so that the return of the hour should remind us, to say short prayers, or exercise our thoughts in a way equivalent to this; perhaps there are few persons in so high and habitual a state of piety as not to find the benefit of it. If it took up no If it took up no more than a minute or two, or even less time than that. it would serve the end I am proposing; it would be a recollection that we are in the Divine presence, and contribute to our 'being in the fear of the Lord all the day long.""

7. Grace at meals.-"A duty of the like kind, and serving to the same purpose, is the particular acknowledgment of God when we are partaking of His bounty at our meals. The neglect of this is said to have been scandalous to a proverb in the heathen world; but it is without shame laid aside at the tables of the highest and the lowest rank amongst us.

8. Parents and children.-" And as "And as parents should be admonished, and it should be pressed upon their consciences, to teach their children their prayers and catechism, it being what they are obliged to on all accounts; so it is proper to be mentioned here, as a means by which they will bring the principle of Christianity often to their own mind, instead of laying aside all thoughts of it from week's end to week's end."

Of the rest of the life of this truly great and exemplary English bishop and philosopher there is little to tell. He had not been many months in the See of Durham before symptoms of decay disclosed themselves. He went to Bath in 1752 in the hope of recovering his health, where he died, June 16th, in the

sixtieth year of his age. He was buried in

Bristol Cathedral.

Butler's system of ethical philosophy is thus summed up by Professor Ueberweg, of Königsberg : "These doctrines are practical rather than speculative in form, but are positive and well-argued propositions in opposition to Hobbes, Mandeville, Shaftesbury, and other free-thinkers:

"1. Man is capable of disinterested affections. "2. Man is a social as truly as he is an individual being in his relations and susceptibilities.

"3. Man is possessed of conscience, which by its very nature is endowed with authority, and in this particular differs from the other impulses and springs of action. This authority he defines still further as that obligation which is implied in the very idea of reflex appro

bation.

"4. Virtue is activity according to nature, when nature is thus ideally interpreted as enforcing the natural supremacy of certain principles of action.

"5. Conscience is a complex complex endowment, a sentiment of the under

including both

standing' and 'a perception of the heart.'