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REV. HERBERT J. R. MARSTON^ M.A., ON 



unjust. He needed certainly the supplement of Methodism, but 

 he must be regarded as the preparer for Wesley, and not as his 

 rival or his adversary. 



Perhaps the most important service rendered by Butler 

 to the cause of Christian truth was that which he rendered by 

 the quaUties of his heart and mind. These quahties were dis- 

 played in his books without ostentation, and were at once felt 

 by a large circle of readers which has only increased with the 

 lapse of time. 



I shall consider presently whether his conclusions will stand 

 the test of modern knowledge, and whether his arguments are 

 vahd in our day as they were believed to be in his own. But the 

 quahty of his mind is a permanent possession- — many who do 

 not appreciate his reasonings are affected by his spirit and his 

 temper. 



Let me select three of these quahties for special admiration. 

 I take first his openness of mind. Butler was incapable of being 

 one-sided in his thinking. Circumspection was his dehght : 

 it was a necessity of his mental being. 



He must needs look a subject all round and see it whole. 

 He was, as people say, made that way. Neither the largeness 

 nor the complexity of a subject could daunt him in exploring it. 

 The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth was his 

 maxim, and until he had reached his limit he would not pause 

 or prejudge the matter, and when he had got to the end, so far 

 as he could, he laid down his convictions fearlessly and defended 

 them with vigour and decision. 



But this quality of his mind was the product of another, namely, 

 his rehgious veneration for truth. To see things as they really 

 are, and to impart that knowledge to others, was with him a 

 part of a sacred obhgation incumbent on all men and most of 

 all on a Christian minister, charged with the propagation of 

 the Divine Message. And these two quahties composed a third 

 in his mind, which has sometimes been called timidity and 

 sometimes caution, but which I prefer to style sobriety. This 

 inchned him to the method of reasoning which he has made 

 famous — that from analogy. 



That method finds support for one thing in another, and 

 is grounded on the common experience of men; and in that 

 experience Butler, a sober and reverent intellect, felt intuitively 

 a generous trust. 



We must neither look in Butler for the beauty and eloquence 



