JOSEPH BUTLER

JOSEPH BUTLER (1692-1752), an eminent English divine, born at Wantage, in Berks; born a Dissenter; conformed to the Church of England; became preacher at the Rolls, where he delivered his celebrated "Sermons," the first three of which contributed so much to the stability of moral science; was raised, in virtue of his merits alone, to the see of Bristol; made dean of St. Paul's, and finally bishop of Durham; his great work, "The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature," the aim of which is twofold - first, to show that the objections to revealed religion are equally valid against the constitution of nature; and second, to establish a conformity between the divine order in revelation and the order of nature; his style is far from interesting, and is often obscure.