them to dine with him, but condescended to visit them at their respective parishes. By his will he left five hundred pounds to the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts, and some legacies to his friends and domestics. His executor and residuary legatee was his chaplain, the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Foster, a divine of distinguished literature. Bishop Butler was never married. Soon after his decease, the following lines, by way of epitaph, were written concerning him; and were printed first, if we recollect aright, in the London Magazine.

Beneath this marble Butler lies entombed,

Who, with a soul inflamed by love divine,
His life in presence of his God consumed,
Like the bright lamps before the holy shrine.
His aspect pleasing, mind with learning fraught
His eloquence was like a chain of gold,

That the wild passions of mankind controlled;
Merit, wherever to be found, he sought.
Desire of transient riches he had none;

These he, with bounteous hand, did well dispense;
Bent to fulfil the ends of Providence;

His heart still fixed on an immortal crown.
His heart a mirror was, of purest kind,

Where the bright image of his Maker shined;

Reflecting faithful to the throne above,
The irradiant glories of the Mystic Dove.

TO THE REVEREND

DR. THOMAS BALGUY,

ARCHDEACON AND PREBENDARY OF WINCHESTER, &c.

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 one, who was perfectly competent to judge, its best establishment, by the Church of ENGLAND. In the present publication I consider myself as a fellow-laborer 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 honor 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 favor, 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,
S. GLOUCESTER.

Dartmouth-Street, Westminster, 12th May, 1786.

PREFACE

BY THE EDITOR.

When I consider how light a matter very often subjects the best established charac "ters 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, which is sub joined to the present volume, 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 nee 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 Biographia Britannica, now publishing 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 partic ular account of his life, to the third volume of the same entertaining work, printed in 1784. Art. BUTLER (Joseph.)

I. The principal design of the Bishop, in his Charge, is to exhort his Clergy to "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 which is purely spiritual, stripped of every thing 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

B

1

few short fervors, 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 attone 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 chiefty to be labored after, and at all events to be secured, a correspondent temper and behavior; or, in other words, such an application of the forms of godliness as my 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 npon our minds a sense of the Divine Authority, which recals 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, as a living temple of the Holy Ghost,† and therefore no more than the other to be profaned or desecrated by any thing 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 worship,t 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 its

*Prov. xxiii. 17. † 1 Cor. vi. 19. See note [A] at the end of this Preface. § Rom. vi. 11.

affections and lusts;* 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.t 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 serions attention.

However, be the danger of superstition what it may, no one was more sensible of that danger, or more 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 Analogy he observes thus: "Though mankind have in all ages, been greatly prone to place their religion in peculiar positive rites, by way of equivalent for obedience to moral precepts; yet, without making any comparison at all between them, the nature of the thing abundantly shews all notions of that kind to be utterly subversive of true religion: as they are, moreover, contrary to the whole general tenor of scripture; and likewise to the most express particular declarations of it, that nothing can render us acceptable of God, without moral virtue." And to the same purpose in his Sermon, preached before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in February, 1738-9. "Indeed amongst creatures naturally formed for religion, yet so much under the power of imagination as men are, superstition is an evil, which can never be out of sight. But even against this, true religion is a great security, and the only one. True religion takes up that place in the mind which superstition would usurp, and so leaves little room for it; and likewise lays us under the strongest obligations to oppose it. On the contrary, the danger of superstition cannot but be increased by the prevalence of irreligion; and by its general prevalence, the evil will be unavoidable. For the common people, wanting a religion, will of course take up with almost any superstition which is thrown in their way; and, in process of time, amidst the infinite vicissitudes of the political world, the leaders of parties will certainly be able to serve themselves of that, superstition, whatever * Gal. v. 24. † Matth. xi, 19. Ezek: ii, 5. § Analogy Part ii. Chap. 1,