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the seeds of things,' to use the expression of a kindred genius, (Lord Bacon) as 'the Analogy.'

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Butler having been strongly recommended to the favour of the king by the deceased queen,

and also by the lord chancellor Talbot, the brother of his early friend, it is not surprising that the weight of such influence together with the unanimous voice of the learned public, which was loud in his favour, should speedily advance him to the Episcopal Bench. It will be accordingly found that in the autumn of the year after the death of the queen, upon the see of Bristol becoming vacant by the translation of Dr. Gooch to the see of Norwich, the author of the Analogy was promoted to that high dignity; and as his memoranda book shows, was consecrated to it on the 3rd of December, 1738.

'The conscientious mind of Butler was uneasy under the pressure of duties which he could not discharge to his own satisfaction; and this led to his stipulation with the lord chancellor Talbot, upon being appointed his chaplain, that he should be allowed to pass half the year amongst his parishioners at Stanhope. The same feeling of doubt, as to the compatibliity of the new duties awaiting him in the episcopal character, with a due attention to those already devolving upon him, arose in his mind, when he contemplated the relative dis tance between London, Bristol, and Stanhope; each of which places would urge its claims upon him; and when, moreover, from the poverty of the see of Bristol, which did not yield 4007. per annum, it would be out of his power to preside over that diocese, if he resigned the benefice which supplied him with the larger part of his income. This view of the case suggested his remark to Sir R. Walpole, that the bishoprick of Bristol was not very suitable either

to the condition of his fortune, or the circumstances of his preferment:' and it will presently appear, that he took the earliest practical opportunity of escaping from the difficulty in which he was thereby placed, by relinquishing his parochial charge, which he could no longer satisfactorily superintend.

'Little more than a year elapsed from his consecration to the see of Bristol, before the deanery of St. Paul's became vacant; when the king presented him to this new dignity, early in the spring of 1740, and he was installed upon the 24th of May. No sooner, therefore, was he in possession of the deanery of St. Paul's, than he resigned the valuable living of Stanhope, and also gave up his prebendal stall at Rochester. He thereby relieved himself from the pressure of duties which were incompatible with his other avocations, and confined himself entirely to his engagements in London, and to those of his episcopal charge.

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Upon the decease of Archbishop Potter, therefore, in 1747, it was proposed that Butler should resign the See of Bristol, that he might become the metropolitan of all England. The reply which he is reported to have made, to an offer so flattering to human ambition, was strongly indicative of the unfavourable view he took of the prospects which were opening before the friends of the national establishment, from the alarming temper of the times. He is said to have answered, that, 'It was too late for him to try to support a falling church.'

The apprehensions of the good prelate, however, were happily not realized. The Church of England, although threatened by the combined forces of infidelity and revolutionary principles, was enabled to outride the tempest. And although, in more recent times, she has resembled a bark upon a troubled ocean, the waves have not

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When Dr. Butler's family at Wantage heard that he had refused the primacy, imagining that he had done so on account of the heavy charges which would attend his entrance upon the high office, his nephew, John Butler, a wealthy and eccentric bachelor, immediately hastened to London to his uncle, the bishop, and offered to advance him twenty thousand pounds, or any other sum which he might require, provided he would accept the splendid station which awaited him. Finding, however, that he was not to be moved from the line of proceeding which his conscience marked out, and disappointed that he did not. eagerly seize an opportunity of adding further dignity to his own station, and of conferring advantage and honour upon his family; his well-meaning, but testy relative returned to Wantage greatly dissatisfied with his uncle, and impressed with an opinion, that, however he might be commended for Christian meekness, he was not to be lauded for worldly wisdom.

Upon the death of Dr. Edward Chandler, in 1750, the See of Durham became vacant, and it was the wish of the king, that the bishop of Bristol should be translated to it.

About this time Bishop Butler turned his attention to the importance of introducing episcopacy into North America, and drew up a plan for that purpose, which, not being adopted at the time, was again brought under the consideration of government some years after his decease.

'It is much to be regretted, that the deliberations of the government upon this reasonable and important measure should have terminated without its adoption. It is said to have been the opinion of that distinguished statesman, Mr. Pitt, that, had the Church of England FEBRUARY, 1840.

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been efficiently established in the United States, it was highly probable that those states would not have been separated from Great Britain. That Bishop Butler's suggestions for the introduction of episcopacy into America, were inoffensive in their bearing upon non-conformity, is evident from the language in which they are now spoken of by dissenters themselves. In a note to Dr. Edmund Calamy's 'Historical Account of his own Life,' edited by J. T. Rutt, is the following allusion to Butler's plan, in contrast with one of an earlier period, by Archbishop Laud.

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Among successive proposals for American bishops, was one in 1750, by Bishop Butler. It consisted of four articles, all wisely calculated to prevent or allay antiepiscopalian jealousy.'

This project was afterwards revived by Archbishop Secker, but again failed, a disappointment which on every account is deeply to be regretted.

Shortly after Bishop Butler's arrival in his diocese, he assembled his clergy, and addressed to them at this his only visitation, a charge on the importance of external religion, which afterwards became the subject of controversy, and was, together with the circumstance of his having placed a white marble cross in his chapel at Bristol, made the pretext of an accusation of attachment to Popery, from which accusation his Lordship was ably defended by Archbishop Secker.

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highly approved of the object in view, and calling his housesteward, inquired, how much money he then had in his possession? The answer was, dred pounds, my lord.' Five hundred pounds, exclaimed his master; what a shame for a bishop to have so much money! Give it away; give it all to this gentleman, for his charitable plan.'

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Notwithstanding the liberal hospitality and munificence of Butler upon suitable occasions, his private habits were simple and unostentatious. A friend of mine, since deceased, told me,' says the the Rev. John Newton, that when he was a young man, he once dined with the late Dr. Butler, at that time bishop of Durham; and though the guest was a man of fortune, and the interview by appointment, the provision was no more than a joint of meat and a pudding. The bishop apologised for his plain fare, by saying, that it was his way of living; that he had been long disgusted with the fashionable expense of time and money in entertainments, and was determined that it should receive no countenance from his example.'

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With his views of the high responsibility with which he was invested, as the patron of church preferment, it is not surprising that he should have regarded the serious obligation it imposed upon him as paramount to the claims of private friendship, or to the ties of family connexion. He accordingly applied the same unbending rule in the case of his own relatives, as in that of a stranger. He gave preferment to the son of his eldest brother, Robert, because he entertained a favourable opinion of his adaptation for the sacred character to which he aspired; as well as of his conduct when he had entered upon the pastoral office. He did not give preferment to the son of his second brother, Jonathan, because he did not perceive in him

that consistency of habit with the clerical character, which he thought should always be looked for and because, moreover, his nephew Jonathan appeared to have so little taste for the important work, to which he had nominally devoted himself, as to be seldom employed in its active and appropriate duties. Had his lordship's discriminating and impartial conduct in this disposal of his preferment been more invariably imitated, our ecclesiastical dignitaries would have been exempted from many accusations, which though often calumnious, are not always unfounded.

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The important sphere of usefulness, which the See of Durham presented, had scarcely opened before the career of Bishop Butler, when his friends observed, with anxiety and alarm, that his health was visibly impaired, and his strength beginning to decline. After consulting, and pursuing the course recommended by the most eminent physicians in the north, his indisposition assumed a more serious aspect, and he was advised to repair to Clifton, and make trial of the waters of that place. These having failed to produce the desired effect, his removal to Bath was suggested, where he was shortly afterwards conveyed in a broken and exhausted state.'

Every effort which medical skill could devise were tried, and tried in vain, and at length on June 16, 1752, his lordship breathed his last, in the 61st year of his age.

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It is stated, upon the authority of the late Reverend Richard Cecil, that, during Bishop Butler's last illness, when Dr. Forster was one day reading to him the third chapter of St. John's Gospel, the bishop stopped him at the 16th verse, and requested him to read it a second time. When this was done, after a pause, he said,‘I never before felt those words to be so satisfactory and consoling.'

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Another observes, when Bishop

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Butler lay on his death-bed, he called for his chaplain, and said,

Though I have endeavoured to avoid sin, and to please God, to the utmost of my power, yet, from the consciousness of perpetual infirmities, I am still afraid to die.' 'My lord,' said the chaplain, you have forgotten that Jesus Christ is a Saviour.' 'True,' was the answer, but how shall I know that he is a Saviour for me?' My lord, it is written, "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." True,' said the bishop, and I am surprised, that though I have read that Scripture a thousand times over, I never felt its virtue till this moment; and now I die happy.'

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Dr. Chalmers states, that the only anecdote he ever heard relating to the last hours of Bishop Butler, was one supposed to have been mentioned by his chaplain to the Reverend Henry Venn, of Yelling, to the following effect :

That the bishop, in his dying moments, had expressed it as an awful thing to appear before the august Governor of the world. On this his chaplain expounded the efficacy of that blood which cleanseth from all sin, and in terms so adjusted to the felt and expressed apprehensions of the dying prelate, that his last utterance was, 'O, this is comfortable!' and with these words on his lips he expired.' One of the surviving daughters of Mr. Venn,. of Yelling, distinctly recollects that her father often spoke of the last hours of Bishop Butler, but remembers no allusion to his chaplain. He said, Bishop Butler in his last sickness looked to Christ as a poor sinner, and died saying, he had never before had such a view of his own utter inability to save himself.'

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'An interesting allusion to the reverential awe with which Bishop Butler habitually contemplated the divine character, occurred in a conversation between the late bishop of Peterborough, Dr. Madan, and his great nephew, a few days before that prelate's death. As I was sitting alone,' says his relative, with the bishop, who had just been dressed and laid upon the sofa, he said, 'I have had an observation of Bishop Butler's much on my mind lately. He was walking with his chaplain, Dr. Forster, when he suddenly turned towards him, and with much earnestness, said, 'I was thinking, doctor, what an awful thing it is for a human being to stand before the Great Moral Governor of the world, to give an account of all his actions in this life.' To which Bishop Madan added, And so it would be an awful thing, if we had nothing to trust to but our own merits and deservings.' After a moment's pause, he added, Ah! and if such a man as Butler thought it an awful thing-what must others? what must I think? But I have set my foot on a rock. Jesus Christ has borne our sins, and carried our sorrows," and on him I can rest with confidence.'

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Bishop Butler was buried in the Cathedral at Bristol, where a marble stone, with a suitable inscription was placed over his remains. In the year 1834, a handsome monument was erected in the Cathedral to his memory by a subscription chiefly contributed by the gentlemen of Bristol and its neighbourhood. His lordship was never married; and left the property he had acquired, which was much smaller than might have been expected among his poorer relations, or to pious and charitable purposes.

THE FULL ASSURANCE OF HOPE.

And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.-HEB. vi. 11, 12.

THE tendency of mankind to run into the most opposite extremes has been the subject of complaint in every age. This tendency is especially manifest on religious questions, and has been strikingly exemplified on the point referred to in our text, namely, the assurance of hope, which is understood to mean, that rich and full anticipation of heavenly blessedness which cheers, supports, and consoles the Christian under the pressure of those trials and difficulties with which he is called to contend during his passage through this present evil world. On the one hand the very idea of attaining such an assurance in modern times is inseparably connected in the minds of many with presumption and enthusiasm; on the other the absence of such assurance has been regarded by some as a clear indication that the individual was as yet destitute of vital Christianity. Allow me then on the present occasion to call your attention to the nature of assurance as described in the word of God-to illustrate its foundation and progress, and the means by

which it is attained.

On the subject of assurance as well as many other topics, individuals often adopt terms which they very imperfectly understand, and to which they in consequence attach very different meanings. It is therefore important carefully and seriously to weigh and compare the different expressions which the inspired writers adopt, that we may avoid those mistakes into which others have fallen. The idea commonly attached to the term assurance is a conviction of personal safety; but the Scriptures make use of this term with reference to three different topics, distinct in

themselves, though usually (if not to a certain extent inseparably) combined in the believer's experience; that is to say, the assurance of understanding, the assurance of faith, and the assurance of hope, and the combination of these three is necessary in order to the possession of a full assurance of personal safety. Hence we find the Apostle expressing his ardent desire for the Christians of Colosse, Laodicea, and all who had not seen his face in the flesh. (Col. ii. 2.) "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father, and of Christ." And so again in the tenth chapter of this Epistle, and at the twenty-second verse, he says— "Let us draw near with a true heart; in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Whereas in the words of our text the Apostle expresses his desire that "every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope even to the end." The enlarged Scriptural idea therefore of assurance, refers to the three distinct particulars I have before mentioned, namely, The assurance of the understanding, the assurance of faith, and the assurance of hope —and it were easy to show that a defect in any one of these would proportionably diminish that general assurance of personal safety which is intimately connected with peace, consolation, and usefulness.

Let me endeavour to illustrate this subject more fully1. As to the assurance of understanding. A book put into my

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