Butler, Joseph, 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).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Butler, Charles * Butler, Samuel