Editing Joseph Butler (section)

===Attack on deism===
During his lifetime and for many years after, Butler was best known for his ''[[Analogy of Religion|Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed]]'' (1736), which according to historian [[Will Durant]] "remained for a century the chief buttress of Christian argument against unbelief."<ref>Will and Ariel Durant, ''The Age of Voltaire''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1965, p. 125.</ref> English deists such as [[John Toland]] and [[Matthew Tindal]] had argued that nature provides clear evidence of an intelligent designer and artificer, but they rejected orthodox Christianity due to the incredibility of miracles and the cruelties and contradictions recorded in the Bible.

Butler's ''Analogy'' was one of many book-length replies to the deists, and long believed to be the most effective. Butler argued that nature itself was full of mysteries and cruelties and so shared the same alleged defects as the Bible. Arguing on empiricist grounds that all knowledge of nature and human conduct is merely probable, Butler appealed to a series of patterns ("analogies") observable in nature and human affairs, which in his view make the chief teachings of Christianity likely.

Butler argued that "because nature is a mess of riddles, we cannot expect revelation to be any clearer".<ref>Livingston, ''Modern Christian Thought'', p. 51.</ref> Today, Butler's ''Analogy'' is "now largely of historical interest,"<ref>Stephen L. Darwall, "Introduction" to Joseph Butler, ''Five Sermons''. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983, p. 1.</ref> with the only part widely read being the section which deals with his criticism of John Locke's theory of personal identity.<ref name=ip/>