Transcribed from the 1853 Rivingtons edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org
SOME REMAINS
(HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED)
OF
JOSEPH BUTLER, LL.D.
SOMETIME
LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM.
"I am more indebted to his writings than to those of any other
_uninspired_ writer, for the insight which I have been enabled to
attain into the motives of the Divine Economy and the grounds of moral
obligation."
_From a Letter of the late Bishop Kaye_, _of Lincoln_.
LONDON:
RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE.
1853.
LONDON:
GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. JOHN'S SQUARE
PREFACE.
It has long been a subject of regret that we should have so few remains
of so great a writer as the author of the "Analogy," not only the
greatest thinker of his day, but one almost equally remarkable for his
personal religion and amiability.
The few fragments and letters which remain unpublished, derive from this
circumstance a value wholly incommensurate with their extent, though, as
to the few I have been able to recover, they seem to me worthy of notice
even for their own sake.
There can, I suppose, be no doubt but that many letters on subjects
connected with their common pursuit,--the defence of religion by rational
arguments,--must have passed between Dr. Clarke and the "Gentleman in
Gloucestershire," even up to the time of the former's decease; and the
specimen I am now able to exhibit certainly excites a wish that one could
recover more of a series which it is most likely that Dr. Clarke at least
carefully preserved. The three letters now printed were all addressed to
Dr. Clarke; the first and last, though little known, were published many
years ago in the European Magazine.
The second and third Fragments are printed as they were written, having
apparently been noted down from time to time as the ideas occurred to
their author; thus at the end of the first paragraph of the third
Fragment, the word "direction" was originally written "advice," but was
subsequently altered in a different ink, being the same with that in
which the sentences immediately following were written. I have not
thought myself at liberty to make any attempt to reduce these Fragments
to better consistency; indeed, their present disordered state seems to me
rather to add to their interest, as showing the mode in which the stones
were gathered for building up such works as the "Analogy" and the
"Sermons." It will be observed that I have found a difficulty in reading
the last part of the third Fragment, and I am by no means sure that I
have quite hit the sense intended; I should like it to apply either to
the Cross set up at Bristol, or to the famous Charge delivered at Durham.
I have added a cotemporary notice of the buildings at Bristol, and an
anecdote showing how they were thought of, as well as a statement, made
after the Bishop's death, of his proceedings with regard to the church,
which is now St. George's, near Bristol, in order to establish the fact
of the separation of the property there mentioned from the bulk of his
estate;--showing his desire to do something for the benefit of the people
of Kingswood, a district the moral degradation of which had already
attracted the attention of Whitefield and Wesley.
The following extract has been kindly communicated to me from the Diary
of Dr. Thomas Wilson, the son of the great Bishop of Sodor and Man; and I
print it here more especially to invite the attention of all who take an
interest in these things to the fact, that a copy may have been made for
the King of the sermon there mentioned, and may possibly even yet be in
existence somewhere; if so, it cannot but be worth the trouble of
recovery and publication.
1737, December, Friday, 23rd. "The Master [_i.e._ Sir Joseph Jekyll,
Master of the Rolls] told me that the King desired that Dr. Butler,
Clerk of the Closet to the late Queen, might preach before him in the
Princess Amelia's apartments. He preached upon the subject of being
bettered by afflictions, which affected His Majesty so much that he
desired the sermon, and assured him that he would do something very
good for him. The Master desired that it might be known publicly, it
was told him by the Bishop of Oxford [Seeker]. The Master seemed
mightily pleased, and was in hopes it would be of great service to the
public as well as his private family, which will be a pleasure to
every body, and make even the death of Her Majesty (so great a seeming
loss) of advantage to the nation."
I have been mainly induced to publish these Remains by the pleasure with
which some copies I had given away privately have been received, and I
confess that the fruit I should be most gratified to see, would be the
recovery of some longer work, not less worthy of its Author's reputation.