...against heresy, BO heresy now pleaded prescription against Christianity. " It has come," says Butler, " I know not how, to be taken for granted by many persons that Christianity is net so much as a subject of inquiry, but that it is now at length discovered to be fictitious. And...

...Still, it is only an analogy of uncertainty, and, indeed, it is only in that light that Butler uses it. "It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted,...it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious. . . On the contrary, thus much, at least, will be here found, not taken for granted, but proved, that...

...extremity of decline. "It- has come," he says, "to be taken for granted that Christianity is no longer a subject of inquiry ; but that it is now at length discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly it is treated as if, in the present age, this were an agreed point among all persons of discernment,...

...disregard for it in the generality of cases." In the advertisement to his Analogy he further says: " It has come, I know not how, to be taken for granted by many persons, that Christianity is riot so much a subject of inquiry, but that it is now at length discovered to be fictitious, and, accordingly,...

...were unwittingly stirring. " It is come, I know not how," he says in his introductory Advertisement, "to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity...it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious. . . . Thus much, at / least, will be here found, not taken for granted, but proved, that any reasonable...

...working classes in England; licentiousness and infidelity of the higher. Bishop Butler wrote, in 1736, "It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted by many persons, that Christianity is not » much as a subject of inquiry ; but that it is now at length discovered to be fictitious. And, accordingly,...

...Private Thoughts, 1709). Thirty years later, Butler writes that " it is come to be taken for granted, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry;...it is now, at length, discovered to be fictitious. Accordingly, they treat it as if in the present age this were an agreed point among all people of discernment,...

...Thirty years later, Butler writes that " it is come to be taken for granted, that Christianity is not BO much as a subject of inquiry ; but that it is now, at length, discovered to be fictitious. Accordingly, they treat it as if in the present age this were an agreed point among all people of discernment,...

...here, will do what he pleases with me hereafter; and he knows best what to do. May he bless you!"' WBR not so much as a subject of inquiry; but that it is } ;w, at length, discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it as if, in the present age,...

...that age. " It has come to pass," he says, "to be taken for granted that Christianity is no longer a subject of inquiry, but that it is now at length discovered to be fictitious." Southey says: "The clergy had lost that authority by which many almost command at least the appearance...