Joseph Butler

“ They indeed, and perhaps some others, seem to require more than either experience or Scripture give ground to hope for, in the present course of the world. But the bare establishment of Christianity in any place, even the external form and profession of it, is a very important and valuable effect. It is a serious call upon men to attend to the natural and the revealed doctrine of religion. It is a standing publication of the gospel, and renders it a witness to them; and by this means the purposes of Providence are carrying on, with regard to remote ages, as well as to the present. ”

“ And all of them together evidently suggest thus much, that the purposes of Providence are carried on, by the preaching of the gospel, to those who reject it as well as to those who embrace it. It is indeed true, "God willeth that all men should be saved," yet from the unalterable constitution of his government, the salvation of every man cannot but depend upon his behaviour, and therefore cannot but depend upon himself, and is necessarily his own concern, in a sense in which it cannot be another's. ”

“ For what can be called good and necessary by Christians, if it be not so to support Christianity where it must otherwise sink, and propagate it where it must otherwise be unknown; to restrain abandoned, bare-faced vice, by making useful examples, at least of shame, perhaps of repentance; and to take care of the education of such children as otherwise must be even educated in wickedness, and trained up to destruction? Yet good men, separately, can do nothing proportionable to what is wanting in any of these ways; but their common, united endeavours, may do a great deal in all of them. ”

“ But what brings the observation home to ourselves is, that the great superstition of which this nation, in particular, has reason to be afraid, is imminent; and the ways in which we may very supposably be overwhelmed by it, obvious. It is, therefore, wonderful, those people, who seem to think there is but one evil in life, that of superstition, should not see that atheism and profaneness must be the introduction of it. ”

“ All our affairs should be carried on in the fear of God, in subserviency to his honour and the good of mankind. And thus navigation and commerce should be consecrated to the service of religion, by being made the means of propagating it in every country with which we have any intercourse. ”

“ Indeed, amongst creatures naturally formed for religion, yet so much under the powers of imagination, so apt to deceive themselves, and so liable to be deceived by others, as men are, superstition is an evil which can never be out of sight. But even against this, true religion is a great security, and the only one. True religion takes up that place in the mind which superstition would usurp, and so leaves little room for it ”

“ On the contrary, the danger of superstition cannot but be increased by the prevalence of irreligion, and by its general prevalence the evil will be unavoidable. For the common people wanting a religion, will of course take up with almost any superstition which is thrown in their way; and, in process of time, amidst the infinite vicissitudes of the political world, the leaders of parties will certainly be able to serve themselves of that superstition, whatever it be, which is getting ground ”

“ But if the gospel had its proper influence upon the Christian world in general, as it is the centre of trade and the seat of learning, a very few ages, in all probability, would settle Christianity in every country, without miraculous assistances. ”

“ From the foregoing view of things, we should be reminded, that the same reasons which make it our duty to instruct the ignorant in the relation which the light of nature shows they stand in to God their Maker, and in the obligations of obedience, resignation, and love to him, which arise out of that relation, make it our duty likewise to instruct them in all those other relations which revelation informs us of, and in the obligations of duty which arise out of them. ”

“ All persons to whom any notices of it come, have, in Scripture language, the "kingdom of God come nigh unto them." They are reminded of that religion which natural conscience attests the truth of; and they may, if they will, be instructed in it more distinctly, and likewise in the gracious means whereby sinful creatures may obtain eternal life; that chief and final good, which all men, in proportion to their understanding and integrity, even in all ages and countries of the heathen world, were ever in pursuit of. ”

“ In the next place, they should remember, that if Christianity is to be propagated at all, which they acknowledge it should, it must be in some particular form of profession. And though they think ours liable to objections, yet it is possible they themselves may be mistaken; and whether they are or no, the very nature of society requires some compliance with others. And whilst, together with our particular form of Christianity, the confessed standard of Christian religion, the Scripture, is spread ”

“ Christianity is very particularly to be considered as a trust deposited with us in behalf of others, in behalf of mankind, as well as for our own instruction. No one has a right to be called a Christian, who doth not do somewhat in his station towards the discharge of this trust; who doth not, for instance, assist in keeping up the profession of Christianity where he lives. And it is an obligation bat little more remote, to assist in doing it in our factories abroad ”

“ Nor can any Christian who understands his religion object that these persons are Christians without evidence; for he cannot be ignorant who has declared, that "if any man will do his will, he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God," John vii. ”

“ Everything of this kind is, in some degree, a safeguard to religion—an obstacle, more or less, in the way of those who want to have it extirpated out of the world. Such societies also contribute more especially towards keeping up the face of Christianity among ourselves; and by their obtaining here, the gospel is rendered more and more a witness to us. ”

“ They ought therefore to come into those already formed to their hands, and even take advantage of any occasion of union, to add mutual force to each other's endeavours in furthering their common end, however they may differ as to the best means, or anything else subordinate to it. Indeed there are well-disposed persons, who much want to be admonished, how dangerous a thing it is to discountenance what is good, because it is not better, and hinder what they approve, by raising prejudices against some under part of it. ”

“ We are most strictly bound to consider these poor uninformed creatures as being in all respects of one family with ourselves, the family of mankind, and instruct them in our "common salvation," Jude 3; that they may not pass through this stage of their being like brute beasts, but be put into a capacity of moral improvements, how low soever they must remain as to others, and so into a capacity of qualifying themselves for a higher state of life hereafter. ”

“ On the contrary, if the necessity of the case requires that they may be treated with the very utmost rigour that humanity will at all permit, as they certainly are, and for our advantage made as miserable as they well can be in the present world; this surely heightens our obligation to put them into as advantageous a situation as we are able, with regard to another. ”

“ Now the several religious associations among us, in which many good men have of late united, appear to be providentially adapted to this present state of the world. And as all good men are equally concerned in promoting the end of them, to do it more effectually, they ought to unite in promoting it ”

“ In this state of things, when Infinite Wisdom saw proper, the general doctrine of religion was authoritatively republished in its purity; and the particular dispensation of Providence, which this world is under, manifested to all men, even "the dispensation of the grace of God towards us," Eph. ”

“ And, since the whole end of Christianity is to influence the heart and actions, were an unbeliever to object in that manner, he should be asked, whether he would think it to the purpose to object against persons of like capacities, that they are prudent without evidence, when, as is often the case, they are observed to manage their worldly affairs with discretion. ”

“ Upon the whole, therefore, these persons would do well to consider how far they can with reason satisfy themselves in neglecting what is certainly right, on account of what is doubtful whether it be wrong; and when the right is of so much greater consequence one way, than the supposed wrong can be on the other. ”

“ The like charity we owe to the natives; owe to them in a much stricter sense than we are apt to consider, were it only from neighbourhood and our having gotten possessions in their country. For incidental circumstances of this kind appropriate all the general obligations of charity to particular persons, and make such and such instances of it the duty of one man rather than another. ”

“ For though a man prays with as much devotion and less interruption at home, and reads better sermons there, yet that will by no means excuse the neglect of his appointed part in keeping up the profession of Christianity amongst mankind. And this neglect, were it universal, must be the dissolution of the whole visible church, i.e., of all Christian communities ”

“ And the reasons for instructing men in both these, are of the very same kind as for communicating any useful knowledge whatever. God, if he had so pleased, could indeed miraculously have revealed every religious truth which concerns mankind, to every individual man ”