BUTLER, JosEPn, one of the most eminent of English divines, was b. in 1692 at Wantaga, in Berkshire, where his father kept a shop. With a view to the ministry of the Presbyterian church, he attended a dissenting academy at Tewkesbury, in Gloucester shire. At the age of 22, he gave proof of high metaphysical ability in a letter to Dr. Samuel Clarke, usually appended to that celebrated writer's demonstration, to which it offers some objections. About this time, he made up his mind to join the church of England, and in Mar., 1714, entered Oriel college, Oxford. Soon after, he took orders. fn 1718, he was appointed preacher at the Rolls chapel, where he preached those remarkable sermons which he published in 1726. The first three, On Human Nature, constitute one of the most important contributions ever made to moral science. The scope of the reasoning is briefly, that virtue is consonant with, and vice a violation of, man's nature. In 1725, B. was presented to the rich benefice of Stanhope, in the co. of Durham, to which he removed in the following year. Here he resided in great retirement till 1733. His friend Seeker, the archbishop, desired to see him pro moted to some more important position, and mentioned his name once to queen Caro line. The queen thought he had been dead, and asked archbishop Blackburne if it were not so. "No, madam," said the archbishop; '' but he is buried." In 1733, B. became chaplain to his friend lord chancellor Talbot, and at the same time a prebendary of Rochester. In 1736, he published the great work of which the germs were contained in his three sermons, and which has entitled him, in the eyes of his eloquent disciple Chalmers, to be called "the Bacon of theology." The leading aim of the Analogy is to
show, that all the objections to revealed religion are equally applicable to the whole con stitution of nature, and that the general analogy between the principles of divine gov ernment, as revealed in the Scriptures, and those manifested in the course of nature, warrants the conclusion that they have one Author. Soon after the publication of this work, B. was appointed clerk of the closet to the queen, who greatly prized his conver sation. In 1738, he was made bishop of Bristol; in 1740, dean of St. Paul's; and in 1750, he was translated to the see of Durham. He lived only to make one visitation of his diocese. His " charge" on the occasion, in which he pointed out, with character istic depth of insight, the importance of a due maintenance of the externals of religion, as a means of keeping alive the thought of it in the minds of the people, subjected him to much censure as betraying a tendency to Roman Catholicism—a charge unworthy now of serious notice. B.'s private character was such as became a Christian prelate: grave and judicious, he was at the same time meek and generous. His intercourse with his clergy and people was frank and humane; his episcopal treasures were wisely and munificently distributed, as not his own; and no anxious legatee looked with hope to his death. That event took place at Bath, June 16, 1752, and the good bishop's remains were buried in Bristol cathedral. His works, notwithstanding a dry and uninteresting style, have gone through numerous editions. The best is that edited, with a life, etc., by Fitzgerald.