103 119 II. Of the Supposed Presumption against a Revelation, con- III. Of our Incapacity of Judging what were to be expected in a Revelation, and the Credibility, from Analogy, that it must contain things appearing liable to Objections, 124 IV. Of Christianity, considered as a Scheme or Constitution V. Of the particular System of Christianity-the Appoint- 152 PREFATORY MEMOIR. JOSEPH, BUTLER, the author of the present work, was born in the year 1692 at Wantage, in Berkshire, where his father was a respectable shopkeeper, and a Presbyterian Dissenter. After some previous education at a grammar-school, he was sent to an academy at Tewkesbury, with a view to his following the profession of a minister among the Dissenters. While occupied by his studies, he gave a proof of his talents by some acute and ingenious remarks on Dr Samuel Clarke's Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of a God,' in private letters addressed to the author; and the candour and modesty with which these were written procured him the friendship of that eminent divine. He likewise paid considerable attention to the points of controversy between the members of the Church of England and the Dissenters, the result of which was a resolution to be no longer a Nonconformist; and he therefore removed to Oxford in 1716. Having here taken holy orders, he was, in 1718, appointed preacher at the Rolls Chapel; and in 1722, by the patronage of the Bishop of Durham, was appointed to the rectory of Haughton, near Darlington. He was afterwards appointed to the rectory of Stanhope, where he spent a number of years in the conscientious discharge of every obligation pertaining to a good parish priest. Through the influence of a friend, Mr Secker, king's chaplain, he was drawn from this retirement, and his great abilities rewarded. Mr Secker having taken occasion to speak of Butler to Queen Caroline, the consort of George II., her majesty observed that she thought he had been dead;' but she was assured he was not. The queen, however, afterwards asked Archbishop Blackburn 'if Mr Butler was not dead?' His answer was, 'No, madame, but he is buried alluding to his close retirement in the country. In 1733, Mr Butler was appointed by Lord Chancellor Talbot to a prebend's stall in the church of Rochester, and was in the same year admitted to the degree of Doctor of Laws by the university of Oxford. Being now brought into notice on account of his merits, he was in 1736 appointed Clerk of the Closet to Queen Caroline; and in the same year he presented to her majesty a copy of his great work, 'The Analogy of Religion.' Dr Butler was now in the way of preferment, and in 1738 he was raised by George II. to the highest order of the church, by a nomination to the bishopric of Bristol. Thus, from a com paratively humble condition of life was Joseph Butler elevated, entirely by his excellent abilities and good conduct, to one of the most dignified stations which could possibly be attained. In 1750, Dr Butler was translated from the see of Bristol to that of Durham, with which he had long been connected as a parochial clergyman. By this promotion our worthy bishop had ample means of exercising the virtue of charity-a virtue which eminently abounded in him, and the exercise of which was his highest delight. But this gratification he was not permitted long to enjoy. His health soon began visibly to decline, and notwithstanding every endeavour to avert the approach of the fell destroyer, he died at Bath on the 16th of July 1752, in the sixtieth year of his age. The following epitaph, said to be written by Dr Nathanael Forster, is inscribed on a flat marble stone, in the cathedral church of Bristol, placed over the spot where the remains of Bishop Butler are deposited : H. S. Reverendus admodum in Christo pater Qualis quantusq; Vir erat Et si quid Præsuli aut Scriptori ad famam valent Ingenii perspicacis et subacti Vis, A.D. 1752. Annos natus 60. 'On the greatness of Bishop Butler's character,' says Dr Kippis, 'we need not enlarge; for his profound knowledge, and the prodigious strength of his mind, are amply displayed in his incomparable writings. His piety was most serious and fervent; and his benevolence was warm, generous, and diffusive. Soon after his decease, the following eulogistic lines appeared in a London magazine:— 'Beneath this marble Butler lies entombed, His life in presence of his God consumed, Merit, wherever to be found, he sought; Desire of transient riches he had none These he, with bounteous hand, did well dispense, His heart still fixed on an immortal crown. |