Joseph Butler
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [1]
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 (1692-1752).
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
a Presbyterian minister, was born on the shores of Lake Champlain in 1799. He was educated at Middlebury College, licensed by the Congregational Association at Montpelier in 1825, and ordained by Champlain Presbytery in 1827. In 1836 he went West, spent some time in Indiana, and then went to Illinois. He was called at once to the Church of Shiloh, in Edwards Co., and there labored, with but short intermissions, for twenty-three years. He removed from Illinois to Pawselin, Minn., where he died, Oct. 27,1872. See Norton, Hist. of the Presb. Church in Illinois; (N.Y.) Presbyterian, Oct. 19, 1872.
