58 



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



demonstration ; nevertheless, it is a real thing, and a thing of 

 r ^al value. It exists everywhere, and is perceptible by all. In 

 moral matters when demonstration is not attainable, thi< 

 probabihty becomes an important aid to faith. 



The doctrines of Butler about human nature are more 

 interesting to our generation than any other portion of his 

 philosophy. The reason for this is twofold. Psychology has 

 assumed among us an importance far greater than it enjoyed 

 a century and a half ago. The complexion of modern thought 

 is before all things humanitarian, and for both these reasons 

 we take a special and lively concern in all that pertains to the 

 inward frame of man. If Butler's treatment of human nature, 

 compared with that of a m-iter hke Professor WilHam James, 

 seems to us cold and aloof, the impression is true in appearance 

 only. The subject is the same in each case, the interest is 

 identical. The great Bishop is indeed out for a somewhat 

 different issue from that which engages the American Professor. 

 Butler designed to show that the very nature of man, that from 

 which he cannot escape, that by which he is what he is, places 

 him under an obligation to follow virtue. So far, he treats the 

 matter ethically rather than psychologically. Yet, if his argu- 

 ment is correct, and if his premises are sound, he is in no way at 

 issue with those who study man for his own sake ^vithout ulterior 

 aim. 



In certain respects Butler is pre-eminent in this subject. 

 No philosopher has shown more conclusively what the inward 

 frame of man really is : no one has shown more conclusively 

 that man carries within himself the mark of a moral and a re- 

 sponsible being ; no one has more conclusively shown the pro- 

 phetic office of Conscience ; no one has indicated more 

 cogently that the intimations of immortahty are latent in 

 us all. 



From the point of view of the Victoria Institute this quality 

 of Butler's teaching about human nature is of supreme value. 

 We assemble in this hall under a pledge to show, so far as we 

 may, that Christianity is in accord with all forms and conditions 

 of truth. Here is a teacher who asserts that by the very structure 

 and state of our inward frame we are adapted to virtue and to 

 religion. This is an argument that none can evade, that all 

 may understand by listening to the voice within themselves that 

 nothing can silence. 



Man, says Bishop Butler, is a law to himself. Even though 



