THE PHILOSOPHY OP BISHOP BUTLER. 



53 



To these influences must be added that of the rising spirit 

 of liberty in thought and action, which, though certain in the 

 long run to promote a healthy expansion of the human mind, 

 did at first tend to weaken the hold of men upon doctrines and 

 practices which were generally recommended on the score of 

 antiquity and authority. It was into this England that Butler 

 was born in the year 1692. 



Butler was born at Wantage. His parents were of Noncon- 

 formist connexions and his first religious impressions were 

 derived from Nonconformists. In course of time he revised 

 his opinions, and having studied at Oxford, took Orders in the 

 Estabhshed Church. His writings on philosophy and divinity 

 attracted wide attention, and at last brought him under the 

 notice and favour of Queen Caroline, a lady much addicted to 

 speculation on such subjects. 



Partly by her influence, and still more by the weight and 

 power of his own publications, he was raised by steps of preferment 

 till he became Bishop of Bristol, and later was translated to the 

 Palatine See of Durham, where after a short tenure he died in 

 the year 1752. 



As an administrator of a diocese Butler was conscientious, 

 dihgent, and earnest, although his activities were slow and few, 

 when compared with the miscellaneous and endless work of a 

 modern Bishop. His most notable contribution to the Hfe of 

 the Enghsh Church was his celebrated primary charge to the 

 Clergy of Durham, dehvered in the year 1751. He took for 

 the topic of that charge the decay of religion in England, and 

 treated it with all his customary seriousness, power, and equity. 

 The Bishop surveys the rehgious situation of the country and 

 depicts it in gloomy colours. He acknowledges the spread of 

 infidehty, and the prevalence of practical irrehgion in all classes. 

 Among other remedies for the evil he strongly recommends the 

 care of the fabrics, greater attention to the externals of worship, 

 more devout and frequent services, and constant instruction of 

 the people in Christian truth. 



Under the shelter of his great name some persons have sought 

 to put these things as the primary or even the sole cure for 

 spiritual decay. It may be acknowledged that the Bishop does 

 not make enough of the inward and spiritual forces on which 

 Christianity really depends in the last resort. But to say that 

 Butler was a formalist, or to claim his high authority for making 

 externals the chief matters in rehgion, is equally absurd and 



