BUTLER. 



15? 



Dr Butler was made clerk of the closet to the king ; 

 and on the Kith of October, 1750, he was 

 to the princely see of Durham, an appointment which 

 we may easily conceive was peculiarly agreeable to 

 tin- worthy prelate, from having been so long con- 

 nected with that diocese in his younger days. 



At his primary visitation, which was in 1751, he 

 delivered the famous charge to his clergy, which was 

 printed at Durham. Of this his first and indeed 

 last charge, the principal object was " external reli- 

 gion." For, having long observed the growing in- 

 difference of the people, and particularly of the lower 

 orders, to sacred matters, he, on this occasion, stre- 

 nuously insisted on the usefulness of outward forms 

 and institutions, and of calling in the aid of the senses 

 to excite feelings of duty and devotion. The forms 

 of religion he would have to occur as frequently as 

 possible, so as ultimately to produce some general 

 effect ; and this he shewed to have been the policy 

 under all the other systems of religion. Under. these, 

 he observes, religion " has had a conspicuous part in 

 all public appearances, and the face of it has been 

 kept up with great reverence throughout all ranks, 

 from the highest to the lowest, not only upon occa- 

 sional solemnities, but also in the daily course of be- 

 haviour. In the heathen world, their superstition 

 was the chief subject of statuary, sculpture, paint- 

 ing, and poetry. It mixed itself with business, civil 

 forms, diversions, domestic entertainments, and every 

 part of common life. The Mahometans are obliged 

 to short devotions five times between morning and 

 evening. In Roman Catholic countries, people can- 

 not pass a day without having religion recalled to their 

 thoughts, by some or other memorial of it ; by some 

 ceremony or public religious form occurring in their 

 way ; besides their frequent holidays, the short pray- 

 ers they are daily called to, and the occasional devo- 

 tions enjoined by confessors. By these means, their 

 superstition sinks deep into the minds of the people, 

 and their religion also into the minds of such of 

 thsm as are serious and well disposed." It is evi- 

 dent, from the general strain of the good bishop's 

 charge, that he highly approved of this policy, and 

 that he even regretted that partial diminution of 

 pomp and splendour which the Reformation had in- 

 troduced into the service of the English church. 

 " Indeed," says he, " in. most ages of the church, 

 the care of reasonable men has been, as there has 

 been for the most part occasion, to draw the people 

 off from laying too great weight upon external things ; 

 upon formal acts of piety. But the state of matters 

 is quite changed now with us. These things are ne- 

 glected to a degree, which is, and cannot but be, 

 attended with a decay of all that is good. It is high- 

 ly seasonable now, to instruct the people in the im- 

 portance of external religion." 



We are fully aware of the reverence due to such a 

 character as Bishop Butler ; but we cannot help re- 

 gretting, that he should seem to have recommended 

 so emphatically those mechanical expedients for ex- 

 citing devotion, which in all ages have degenerated 

 into superstition. It is singular enough that, among 

 all these outward means, he does not once allude to 

 education. The bishop asks, whether it would be 

 superstition, were men brought to be affected with 



devout feelings at the sight of a church ? We con- 

 ceive their feelings would be much more rationally 

 excited, were the English poor more generally taught 

 to read the Bible : and all the excellent methods of 

 external religion recommended in the charge would 

 certainly be multiplied in their effects, by the single 

 addition of a competent education. 



We can easily conceive, that the bishop would 

 have gone much farther in reviving external pomp, 

 did the constitution of his church admit of it. And 

 this conclusion we are warranted to draw, not merely 

 from the general strain of the charge, which some 

 how or other has narrowly escaped being suppressed; 

 but from another circumstance still more unequivo- 

 cal : we allude to the marble cross which he erected 

 in his chapel at Bristol, to enliven his own private 

 devotions. This bold attempt at reviving ancient 

 forms, calculated to impose on the senses, gave great 

 and universal offence to the church ; and, combined 

 with the theory inculcated in the charge, gave rise to 

 public discussions, which, though anonymous, were 

 yet sufficiently important to command attention. In 

 1752, there appeared an able and spirited pamphlet, 

 understood to be written by a clergyman of the 

 church of England, entitled, A serious Enquiry into 

 the Use and Importance of external Religion, ad- 

 dressed to the bishop. The writer, the only direct 

 antagonist that Dr Butler ever met with, accused 

 him, in a pretty sharp style, of speaking favourably 

 of pagan and popish ceremonies, and countenancing, 

 in some degree, the cause of superstition : he animad- 

 verts on his number, variety, and frequency of forms, 

 as being too apt to be considered by the vulgar as 

 commutations for their vices, and as something sub- 

 stituted in lieu of repentance ; and insinuates, not ob- 

 scurely, that his lordship was no enemy to the Ro- 

 man Catholic form of worship. We have been the 

 more particular in our account of the Charge, as we 

 wished to lead the reader to the true foundation of 

 the report which was afterwards raised, that Bishop 

 Butler had actually died in the Roman Catholic com- 

 munion. This was formally asserted, fifteen years 

 after his death, in an anonymous pamphlet, entitled, 

 The Root of Protestant Errors examined; which has 

 been answered by Archbishop Seeker, and others. 

 But, in truth, there was not the least reason for such 

 an aspersion. The plain statement has already been 

 given. The bishop, in conformity to his theory, 

 wished to introduce a more ceremonious form of wor- 

 ship, and probably would have had no aversion to 

 pictures and statues, any more than to crosses in 

 churches ; but all this has evidently no more to do 

 with the Roman Catholic /ni'/A, than it has with 

 Presbyterianism. If he took delight in perusing the 

 legend! and miraculous lives of Roman Catholic 

 saints, this was no more than has been often done by 

 many other Protestants : besides, as Seeker justly ob- 

 serves, Dr Butler was a man who knew how to draw 

 instruction from any book. 



By his promotion to the see of Durham, he was 

 placed in a situation highly favourable to the exer- 

 cise of that beneficence and liberality which consti- 

 tuted one of his greatest enjoyments. Blessed, too, 

 with ample means of encouraging and promoting 

 men of piety and fidelity, and thus promoting prax> 



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