ADVERTISEMENT PREFIXED TO THE FIRST EDITION. Ir the reader should meet here with anything which he had not before attended to, it will not be in the observations upon the constitution and course of nature, these being all obvious; but in the application of them: in which, though there is nothing but what appears to me of some real weight, and therefore of great importance: yet he will observe several things which will appear to him of very little, if he can think things to be of little, importance, which are of any real weight at all, upon such a subject as religion. However, the proper force of the following Treatise lies in the whole general analogy considered together. It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry; but that it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it, as if, in the present age, this were an agreed point among all people of discernment; and nothing remained, but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures of the world. On the contrary, thus much, at least, will be here found, not taken for granted, but proved, that any reasonable man, who will thoroughly consider the matter, may be as much assured, as he is of his own being, that it is not, however, so clear a case, that there is nothing in it. There is, Í think, strong evidence of its truth; but it is certain no one can, upon principles of reason, be satisfied of the contrary. And the practical consequence to be drawn from this is not attended to by every one who is concerned in it. May, 1736. ΤΟ THE REVEREND DR. THOMAS BALGUY, ARCHDEACON AND PREBENDARY OF WINCHESTER, ETC. DEAR SIR,-I trust you will excuse the liberty I have taken of prefixing your name to the following sheets; the latter part of which, I am confident, will not be thought undeserving of your approbation; and of the former part you will commend the intention at least, if not the execution. In vindicating the character of Bishop Butler from the aspersions thrown upon it since his death, I have but discharged a common duty of humanity, which survivors owe to those who have deserved well of mankind by their lives or writings, when they are past the power of appearing in their own defence. And if what I have added, by way of opening the general design of the works of this great Prelate, be of use in exciting the younger class of students in our universities to read, and so to read as to understand, the two volumes prepared and published by the author himself, I flatter myself I shall have done no inconsiderable service to morality and religion. Your time and studies have been long successfully devoted to the support of the same great cause: and in what you have lately given to the world, both as an author and an editor, you have largely contributed to the defence of our common Christianity, and of what was esteemed by one, who was perfectly competent to judge, its best establishment, the Church of England. In the present publication I consider myself as a fellow labourer with you in the same design, and tracing the path you have trod before, but at great distance, and with unequal paces. When, by His Majesty's goodness, I was raised to that station of eminence in the Church, to which you had been first named, and which, on account of the infirmity of your health, you had desired to decline; it was honour enough for me on such an occasion to have been thought of next to you: and I know of no better rule by which to govern my conduct, so as not to discredit the Royal Hand which conferred on me so signal and unmerited a favour, than in cases of difficulty to put the question to myself, how you would probably have acted in the same situation. You see, Sir, I still look up to you, as I have been wont, both as my superior and my example. That I may long reap the benefit of your advice and friendship; and that such a measure of health and strength may be continued to you, as may enable you to pass the evening of your days with comfort, and enjoy the blessings of the life you love, is the cordial wish of, Dear Sir, Your very affectionate and faithful Servant, Dartmouth Street, Westminster, 12th May, 1786. PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. "When I consider how light a matter very often subjects the best established characters to the suspicions of posterity-posterity often as malignant to virtue as the age that saw it was envious of its glory-and how ready a remote age is to catch at a low revived slander, which the times that brought it forth saw despised and forgotten almost in its birth, I cannot but think it a matter that deserves attention."-Letter to the Editor of the Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism, &c., by BISHOP WARBURTON. See his Works, vol. vii. p. 547. THE Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of Durham was printed and published in the year 1751, by the learned Prelate whose name it bears; and, together with the Sermons and Analogy of the same writer, both too well known to need a more particular description, completes the collection of his Works. It has long been considered as a matter of curiosity, on account of its scarceness; and it is equally curious on other accounts-its subject, and the calumny to which it gave occasion, of representing the Author as addicted to superstition, as inclined to Popery, and as dying in the communion of the Church of Rome. The improved edition of the Biographia Britannica, published under the care of Dr. Kippis, having unavoidably brought this calumny again into notice, it may not be unseasonable to offer a few reflections in this place, by way of obviating any impressions that may hence arise to the disadvantage of so great a character as that of the late Bishop Butler; referring those who desire a more particular account of his life to the third volume of the same entertaining work, printed in 1784, art. BUTLER (Joseph) 1. I. The principal design of the Bishop in his Charge is, to exhort his Clergy to "do their part towards reviving a practical sense of religion amongst the people committed to their care;" and, as one way of effecting this, to "instruct them in the importance of external religion," or the usefulness of outward observances in promoting inward piety. Now, from the compound nature of man, consisting of two parts, the body and the mind, together with the influence which these are found to have on one another, it follows, that the religious regards of such a creature ought to be so framed as to be in some way properly accommodated to both. A religion 1 The account here alluded to is subjoined to this Preface. which is purely spiritual, stripped of everything that may affect the senses, and considered only as a divine philosophy of the mind, if it do not mount up into enthusiasm (as has frequently been the case), often sinks, after a few short fervours, into indifference: an abstracted invisible object, like that which natural religion offers, ceases to move or interest the heart; and something further is wanting to bring it nearer, and render it more present to our view, than merely an intellectual contemplation. On the other hand, when, in order to remedy this inconvenience, recourse is had to instituted forms and ritual injunctions, there is always danger lest men be tempted to rest entirely on these, and persuade themselves that a painful attention to such observances will atone for the want of genuine piety and virtue. Yet surely there is a way of steering safely between these two extremes; of so consulting both the parts of our constitution, that the body and the mind may concur in rendering our religious services acceptable to God, and at the same time useful to ourselves. And what way can this be, but precisely that which is recommended in the Charge; such a cultivation of outward as well as inward religion, that from both may result, what is the point chiefly to be laboured, and at all events to be secured, a correspondent temper and behaviour; or, in other words, such an application of the forms of godliness as may be subservient in promoting the power and spirit of it? No man who believes the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and understands what he believes, but must know, that external religion is as much enjoined, and constitutes as real a part of revelation, as that which is internal. The many ceremonies in use among the Jews, in consequence of a divine command; the baptism of water, as an emblem of moral purity; the eating and drinking of bread and wine, as symbols and representations of the body and blood of Christ, required of Christians,—are proofs of this. On comparing these two parts of religion together, one, it is immediately seen, is of much greater importance than the other; and, whenever they happen to interfere, is always to be preferred: but does it follow from hence, that therefore that other is of little or no importance, and, in cases where there is no competition, may entirely be neglected? Or rather is not the legitimate conclusion directly the reverse, that nothing is to be looked upon as of little importance, which is of any use at all in preserving upon our minds a sense of the Divine authority, which recalls to our remembrance the obligations we are under, and helps to keep us, as the Scripture expresses it, "in the fear of the Lord all the day long?" If, to adopt the instance mentioned in the Charge, the sight of a church should remind a man of some sentiment of piety; if, from the view of a material building dedicated to the service of God, he should be led to regard himself, his own body 1 Prov. xxiii. 17. " and therefore no more as a living "temple of the Holy Ghost,' than the other to be profaned or desecrated by anything that defileth or is impure; could it be truly said of such a one, that he was superstitious, or mistook the means of religion for the end? If, to use another, and what has been thought a more obnoxious instance, taken from the Bishop's practice, a cross erected in a place of public worship2, should cause us to reflect on Him who died on a cross for our salvation, and on the necessity of our "own dying to sin," and of "crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts;"4 would any worse consequences follow from such sentiments so excited, than if the same sentiments had been excited by the view of a picture-of the crucifixion suppose-such as is commonly placed, and with this very design, in foreign churches, and indeed in many of our own? Both the instances here adduced, it is very possible, may be far from being approved, even by those who are under the most sincere convictions of the importance of true religion: and it is easy to conceive how open to scorn and censure they must be from others, who think they have a talent for ridicule, and have accustomed themselves to regard all pretensions to piety as hypocritical or superstitious. But "Wisdom is justified of her children.' "5 Religion is what it is, "whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear ;" and whatever in the smallest degree promotes its interests, and assists us in performing its commands, whether that assistance be derived from the medium of the body or the mind, ought to be esteemed of great weight, and deserving of our most serious attention. However, be the danger of superstition what it may, no one was more sensible of that danger, or more in earnest in maintaining that external acts of themselves are nothing, and that moral holiness, as distinguished from bodily observances of every kind, is that which constitutes the essence of religion, than Bishop Butler. Not only the Charge itself—the whole intention of which is plainly nothing more than to enforce the necessity of practical religion, the reality as well as form-is a demonstration of this, but many passages besides to the same purpose, selected from his other writings. Take the two following as specimens. In his 11 Cor. vi. 19. 2 Dr. Butler, when Bishop of Bristol, put up a cross, a plain piece of marble inlaid, in the chapel of his episcopal house. This, which was intended by the blameless Prelate merely as a sign or memorial that true Christians are to bear their cross, and not to be ashamed of following a crucified Master, was considered as affording a presumption that he was secretly inclined to Popish forms and ceremonies, and had no great dislike to Popery itself. And, on account of the offence it occasioned, both at the time and since, it were to be wished, in prudence, it had not been done. 3 Rom. vi. 11. 5 Matt. xi. 19. 4 Gal. v. 24. 6 Ezek. ii. 5. |