to stem this torrent of evil, by calling the attention of his clergy to "the importance of external religion;" justly conceiving, that while the outward form of piety was contemned, there could be but little reverence for the inward spirit of it; and that to bring back the people to a due respect to the outward ordinances, would, as a means to an end, advance them, under the Divine blessing, on their way towards the attainment of the inward spirit of piety. Such was the ground assumed by the bishop in his charge; and the view he took of the unhallowed tone and temper of the times appears very decidedly in the opening of it, as given with other extracts from it, in the latter part of this volume.

This charge, then, which will well repay a serious perusal, will be found, if regarded by an unprejudiced eye, to have pointed out the proper medium between the trammels of superstition, and the reckless abandonment of all outward forms. It will appear peculiarly appropriate to the present period, when a disposition is growing up, on the one hand, to degrade sacred rites, and to secularize sacred ordinances; and when an attempt is made, on the other, to exalt them unduly, by exhibiting the outward emblem as almost identical with the spiritual thing represented by it. Had the temper of the times, in which Butler flourished, encouraged an unscriptural dependence upon the externals of religion,

instead of an open desecration of them, it ought not to be doubted, but that this mighty reasoner would as readily have "buckled on his armour" to denounce the perils attending a reliance upon "the form of godliness without the power," as he did to expose the danger of losing sight of the power, by abandoning the forms of religion.

Soon after the publication of the charge, a pamphlet appeared, intitled, A serious Inquiry into the use and importance of External Religion, occasioned by some passages in the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Durham's Charge to the Clergy of that Diocese; humbly addressed to his Lordship. Upon the controversy which grew out of this charge, Bishop Halifax has so clearly and satisfactorily written, in his preface to his edition of Butler's Works, that it would be unjust to the friendly labours of this prelate, not to cite some of the leading portions of that preface. It will, however, be proper to mention, that, in the course of the attacks which were made upon the Durham charge, the author of it was represented as "addicted to superstition," " inclined to popery," and as "dying in the communion of the church of Rome."

"The principal design of the bishop in his charge," remarks Bishop Halifax, "is to exhort his clergy to do their part towards reviving a practical sense of religion amongst the people committed to their care: and, as one way of effecting

this, to instruct them in the importance of external religion, or the usefulness of outward observances in promoting inward piety. Now, from the compound nature of man, consisting of two parts, the body and the mind, together with the influence which these are found to have on one another, it follows, that the religious regards of such a creature ought to be so framed, as to be in some way properly accommodated to both. A religion which is purely spiritual, stript of every thing that may affect the senses, and considered only as a divine philosophy of the mind, if it do not mount up into enthusiasm, as has frequently been the case, often sinks, after a few short fervours, into indifference: an abstracted invisible object, like that which natural religion offers, ceases to move or interest the heart; and something further is wanting to bring it nearer, and render it more present to our view, than merely an intellectual contemplation. On the other hand, when, in order to remedy this inconvenience, recourse is had to instituted forms and ritual injunctions, there is always danger lest men be tempted to rest entirely on these, and persuade themselves that a painful attention to such observances will atone for the want of genuine piety and virtue. Yet, surely, there is a way of steering safely between these two extremes; of so consulting both the parts of our constitution, that the body and the mind may concur in rendering our religious services accept

able to God, and at the same time useful to ourselves. And what way can this be, but precisely that which is recommended in the Charge; such a cultivation of outward as well as inward religion, that from both may result, what is the point chiefly to be laboured, and at all events to be secured, a correspondent temper and behaviour; or, in other words, such an application of the forms of godliness, as may be subservient in promoting the power and spirit of it?"

"No man, who believes the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and understands what he believes, but must know, that external religion is as much enjoined, and constitutes as real a part of revelation, as that which is internal. The many ceremonies in use among the Jews, in consequence of a divine command; the baptism of water, as an emblem of moral purity; the eating and drinking of bread and wine, as symbols and representations of the body and blood of Christ, required of Christians, are proofs of this. On comparing these two parts of religion together, one, it is immediately seen, is of much greater importance than the other; and whenever they happen to interfere, is always to be preferred: but does it follow from hence, that therefore that other is of little or no importance, and, in cases where there is no competition, may entirely be neglected? Or rather, is not the legitimate conclusion directly the reverse, that nothing is to be looked upon as of little impor

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tance, which is of any use at all in preserving upon our minds a sense of the Divine authority, which recalls to our remembrance the obligations we are under, and helps to keep us, as the Scripture expresses it, in the 'fear of the Lord all the day long?' If, to adopt the instance mentioned in the Charge, the sight of a church should remind a man of some sentiment of piety; if, from the view of a material building, dedicated to the service of God, he should be led to regard himself, his own body, as a living temple of the Holy Ghost,' and therefore no more than the other to be profaned or desecrated by anything that defileth, or is impure; could it be truly said of such an one that he was superstitious, or mistook the means of religion for the end?

"If, to use another, and what has been thought a more obnoxious instance, taken from the bishop's practice, a cross erected in a place of public worship, should cause us to reflect on Him who died on the cross for our salvation, and on the necessity of our own dying to sin, and of crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts; would any worse consequences follow from such sentiments so excited, than if the same sentiments had been excited by the view of a picture of the crucifixion suppose, such as is commonly placed, and with this very design, in foreign churches, and indeed, in many of our own?

"Both the instances here adduced, it is very