Joseph Butler - Analogy

356 Pages·2010·18.64 MB·English

by  Butler, Joseph, 1692-1752

Digitized by tine Internet Archive
2010
in
littp://www.archive.org/details/analogyofreligiobutl

—
THE
ANALOGY
OF E L G N
11 I I
,
4
NATURAL AND REVEALED,
TO THE
CONSTITUTION AND COURSE OF NATURE
BJ
JOSEPH BUTLER,
L. L. D.,
I.ATE LORD BISUOP OFDCRIU.M.
Ejus(Analogic)haecvisest,utidquod dubium estad aliquidsimile,dequo non
qusrilur referat; utincertacertisprobet, Quint. Inst.,Orat. 1, i.Chap.6.
WITH AN
ANALYSIS OF THE WORK.
BY
REV. B. F. TEFFT, A. M., EDITOR.
(Hiiuuinati:
PUBLISHED BY L. SWORMSTEDT & A. POE,
FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHLRCH, AT THE WESTERN BOOK CON'CER.V,
CORNER OF MAIN AND EIGHTH STREETS.
n. r. THOMrsoN, peixter.
1860.
Entered accordin;]: to Actof Coiigrei«, in tlie year 1847,Ly L. Swormstkdt tt.
J.T. Mitchell,intlie Clerk'sOHiceforilie DittrictCourtof Ohio.
PREFACE.
No eulogy need be written on Butleh's Analogy of
Religion. It is known to be tlie ablest production, of its
class, extant in any language. It is the master-piece of
one of England's ofreatest minds. It has ever been remird-
ed, since its first publication, as a perfectly unanswerable
defense of Christianity against the most plausible of all its
opposers.
Butler's Analogy should be read by all Christians, exam-
ined critically and repeatedly by every minister, and faith-
fully studied by the students of om' schools and colleges.
That fiimih', which makes it a fireside reading-book, will
scarcely be troubled with doubts in religious matters, or
rear up skeptics from its circle. Those ministers of the
Gospel, who most frequently consult its pages, will be best
prepared to meet and master the subtil cavils of the wicked.
The pupils of that seminary of learning, wherethis Analogy
is made a prominent text-book, under whose influence all
must pass prior to graduation, will receive a bias to religion,
which subsequent years will serve only to strengthen.
To these three classes of readers this edition has been
carefully adapted. It is expressly intended for the use of
families, ministers, and students; and under the latter class
are included young ministers during their course of prepar-
atory study.
The Analysis, prepared by the Editor expressly for this
edition, is to be met with in no other. It contains the argu-
ment of every chapter, and furnishes, in every place, a key
to the author's meaning. From the antiquity or obsolete-
ness of Bishop Butler's style, much perplexity often arises
4 PREFACE.
to the most patient reader. Someliines he can scarcely tell
what is the sense of a passage. In all such cases, tho
Analysis, it is hoped, will prove of service. It will, also, be
very conveiTient to students in reviewing. Teachers, who
wish to be complete and thorough in their instruction, will
doubtless derive some aid by following the plan of it in
their questions. In preparing it, the actual divisions and
subdivisions of the author have been preserved in his own
modes of marking them. The figures surrounded by paren-
theses indicate paragraphs, and were added by the Editor
for the sake of reference and greater perspicuity. The
Analysis, in a word, is nothing less, in design at least, than
Bishop Butler's Analogy in miniature, which, though it
miirht have been reduced to a mere table of contents, or
swelled to a much larger compass, was intended to meet
exactly the wants of students and of the general reader.
The text is based on the last English edition, the Ameri-
can reprints being generally disfigured by numerous errore.
Several typographical mistakes, detected even in the En-
gUsh standard, have been corrected. The punctuation has,
also, been carefully revised and amended.
This edition is sent out without note or comment. No
preliminary essaij has been prefixed, no elaborate annotations
A
have been added, to give it a sectarian character. work
like this, as it is the common defense and boast, ought cer-
tainly to be the common property, of all Christendom.
B. F. T.