Butler, Samuel, 1835-1902 -- Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
To love God is to have good health, good looks, good sense, experience, a
kindly nature and a fair balance of cash in hand. “We know that all
things work together for good to them that love God.” To be loved by God
is the same as to love Him. We love Him because He first loved us.
The Homeric Deity and the _Pall Mall Gazette_
A writer in the _Pall Mall Gazette_ (I think in 1874 or 1875, and in the
autumn months, but I cannot now remember) summed up Homer’s conception of
a god as that of a “superlatively strong, amorous, beautiful, brave and
cunning man.” This is pretty much what a good working god ought to be,
but he should also be kind and have a strong sense of humour, together
with a contempt for the vices of meanness and for the meannesses of
virtue. After saying what I have quoted above the writer in the _Pall
Mall Gazette_ goes on, “An impartial critic can judge for himself how
far, if at all, this is elevated above the level of mere fetish worship.”
Perhaps it is that I am not an impartial critic, but, if I am allowed to
be so, I should say that the elevation above mere fetish worship was very
considerable.
Good Breeding the Summum Bonum
When people ask what faith we would substitute for that which we would
destroy, we answer that we destroy no faith and need substitute none. We
hold the glory of God to be the summum bonum, and so do Christians
generally. It is on the question of what is the glory of God that we
join issue. We say it varies with the varying phases of God as made
manifest in his works, but that, so far as we are ourselves concerned,
the glory of God is best advanced by advancing that of man. If asked
what is the glory of man we answer “Good breeding”—using the words in
their double sense and meaning both the continuance of the race and that
grace of manner which the words are more commonly taken to signify. The
double sense of the words is all the more significant for the
unconsciousness with which it is passed over.
Advice to the Young
You will sometimes find your elders laying their heads together and
saying what a bad thing it is for young men to come into a little
money—that those always do best who have no expectancy, and the like.
They will then quote some drivel from one of the Kingsleys about the
deadening effect an income of £300 a year will have upon a man. Avoid
any one whom you may hear talk in this way. The fault lies not with the
legacy (which would certainly be better if there were more of it) but
with those who have so mismanaged our education that we go in even
greater danger of losing the money than other people are.
Religion
Is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly
more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other? If so, this should
be enough. I find the nicest and best people generally profess no
religion at all, but are ready to like the best men of all religions.
Heaven and Hell
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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