THE ANALOGY OF RELIGION, TO THE Constitution and Course of Nature. TO WHICH ARE ADDED TWO BRIEF DISSERTATIONS: I. ON PERSONAL IDENTITY.--II. ON THE NATURE OF VIRTUE. BY JOSEPH BUTLER, D.C.L. Ejus [Analogiæ] hæc vis est, ut id quod dubium est ad aliquid simile, de quo non quæritur referat ut incerta certis probet.--QUINTIL. l. i. c. 6. WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES, CONSPECTUS, AND AMPLE INDEX, BY HOWARD MALCOM, D.D. PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY, LEWISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA. SEVENTEENTH EDITION. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1873. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. CONTENTS. PAGE EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION 5 ” PREFACE 19 ” CONSPECTUS 21 AUTHOR’S ADVERTISEMENT 66 ” INTRODUCTION 67 PART I. OF NATURAL RELIGION. CHAP. I.--A Future Life 77 CHAP. II.--The Government of God by Rewards and Punishments 95 CHAP. III.--The Moral Government of God 105 CHAP. IV.--Probation, as implying Trial, Difficulties, and Danger 128 CHAP. V.--Probation, as intended for Moral Discipline and Improvement 136 CHAP. VI.--The Opinion of Necessity, considered as influencing Practice 157 CHAP. VII.--The Government of God, considered as a Scheme or Constitution, imperfectly comprehended 171 CONCLUSION 180 PART II. OF REVEALED RELIGION. CHAP. I.--The Importance of Christianity 186 CHAP. II.--The supposed Presumption against a Revelation, considered as miraculous 202