Note to the Reader
Preparation of the Text
The text of Jonathan Edwards is reproduced in this Edition as he wrote it in manuscript, or, if he published it himself, as it was printed in the first edition. In order to present this text to modern readers as practically readable, several technical adjustments have been made. Those which can be addressed categorically are as follows:
1. All spelling is regularized and conformed to that of Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, a step that does not involve much more than removing the “u” from “colour” or “k” from “publick” since Edwards was a good speller, used relatively modern spelling, and generally avoided “y” contractions. His orthographic contractions and abbreviations, such as ampersands, “call’d,” and “thems.” are spelled out, though pronounced contractions, such as “han’t” and “ben’t,” are retained.
2. There is no regular punctuation in most of Edwards’ manuscripts and where it does exist, as in the earliest sermons, it tends to be highly erratic. Editors take into account Edwards’ example in punctuation and related matters, but all punctuation is necessarily that of the editor, including paragraph divisions (especially in some notebooks such as the “Miscellanies”) and the emphasizing devices of italics and capitalization. In reference to capitalization, it should be noted that pronouns referring to the deity are lower case except in passages where Edwards confusingly mixes “he’s” referring to God and man: here capitalization of pronouns referring to the deity sorts out the references for the reader.
3. Numbered heads designate important structures of argument in Edwards’ sermons, notebooks, and treatises. Numbering, including spelledout numbers, has been regularized and corrected where necessary. Particularly in the manuscript sermon texts, numbering has been clarified by the use of systematic schemes of heads and subheads in accordance with eighteenth-century homiletical form, a practice similar to modern analytical outline form. Thus the series of subordinated head number forms, 1, (1), 1, a, (a), in the textual exegesis, and the series, I, First, 1,
(1), 1, a, (a), in Doctrine and Application divisions, make it possible to determine sermon head relationships at a glance.
4. Textual intervention to regularize Edwards’ citation of Scripture includes the correction of erroneous citation, the regularizing of citation form (including the standardization of book abbreviations), and the completion of quotations which Edwards’ textual markings indicate should be completed (as in preaching).
5. Omissions and lacunae in the manuscript text are filled by insertions in square brackets ([ ]); repeated phrases sometimes represented by Edwards with a long dash are inserted in curly brackets ({ }). In all cases of uncertain readings, annotation gives notice of the problem. Markings in the text designate whole word units even when only a few letters are at issue.
6. Minor slips of the pen or obvious typographical errors are corrected without annotation. Likewise, Edwards’ corrections, deletions, and internal shifts of material are observed but not noted unless of substantive interest.
7. Quotations made by the editor from the Bible (KJV) and other secondary sources are printed verbatim ac literatim. Edwards’ quotations from such sources are often rather free but are not corrected and are not annotated as such unless significant omissions or distortions are involved.
Most of the texts included in this volume are either from single manuscript notebooks (“Faith,” “Signs of Godliness”), a series of manuscript notebooks (“Efficacious Grace,” Books I–III), an individual manuscript (“On the Equality of the Persons of the Trinity”), an early printed edition (“Directions for Judging of Persons’ Experiences”), or an early printed edition collated with original fragments and an early copy (“Treatise on Grace”). These are all described in detail in the headnotes.
However, several writings are drawn from larger notebooks, constructed from disparate pieces composed by Edwards over many years, and now in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. “Discourse on the Trinity” and “Christ’s Example” were part of an untitled folio-sized volume (now disbound) that also included items published in volume 6 of the Yale Edition, Scientific and Philosophical Writings: “Beauty of the World,” the “Outline of ‘A Rational Account,’” and “Notes on Knowledge and Existence.” The remaining unpublished pieces, all of them quite brief, are “Of Free Will,” “Rough Notes on the Truth of the Christian Religion,” “Notes on Conversion from Various Authors,” and “List of Questions for the Young People of Northampton.” These were apparently gathered by Edwards himself, though only Jonathan, Jr., in-
x Note to the Reader scribed the cover with the comment: “This volume contains a number of loose papers on the Trinity, Free Will, Efficacious Grace, etc.”
Three pieces printed here—“Justification,” “Efficacious Grace,” and “The Nature of True Virtue”—are parts of another notebook constructed by Edwards but again only titled by Jonathan, Jr., this time as “Controversy Book C” and “Sundries” on the front cover. This book is a gathering of manuscript notes on many subjects dealing with current theological “controversies” that Edwards apparently felt were related. That he himself put these notes into one volume is indicated by his cross references within the volume itself. The book consists of 120 folio leaves, but Edwards’ numbering does not correspond with the physical page numbers. In several places, he divided the pages up into blocks, numbering each block and counting it as a page. Thus Edwards’ pagination goes to 298. On the inside of the front cover he provided a table of contents, indicating page references to sections on Original Sin, Perseverance, Regeneration, Universal and Particular Redemption, Justification, Saving and Common Grace, Foreknowledge of God, Efficacious Grace, The Nature of True Virtue, Importance of Doctrines and Mysteries, Future Punishment, and Predestination. As with many of Edwards’ manuscript notebooks, this volume has an organic quality. For example, as he ran out of room when writing on a particular topic, he would continue on blank pages elsewhere in the book (sometimes later, sometimes earlier) and use cue marks and cross references to connect the pieces. Also, he made many later additions and emendations, significant instances of which are indicated in the footnotes.
Acknowledgments
My greatest debt in connection with this volume is to Harry S. Stout, General Editor, for making my participation in the Edition possible and for his generous support, and to Kenneth P. Minkema, Executive Editor, without whose remarkable expertise and helpful guidance throughout the process, this volume surely would not have been possible. The vigorous and gifted leadership of both the General and Executive Editors, as well as the dedication and skill with which the staff of The Works of Jonathan Edwards have done their work, will certainly be appreciated by scholars for many years to come.
Daniel L. Migliore and George Hunsinger, both my colleagues at Princeton Theological Seminary, read all or a portion of the earlier draft of the “Editor’s Introduction” and provided helpful comments. I have
Note to the Reader xi also benefited from conversations with other colleagues at Princeton, including Robert W. Jenson, Senior Research Scholar for Research at The Center for Theological Inquiry, E. David Willis, Bruce L. McCormack, W. Stacy Johnson, and Stephen D. Crocco.
I would also like to record here my indebtedness to those scholars whose support has sustained me and my studies of Edwards over the years: Richard R. Niebuhr, John E. Smith, Roland Delattre, Thomas A. Schafer, Wilson H. Kimnach, John F. Wilson, Gerald McDermott, Douglas Sweeney, the late Alan Heimert, and the late Wallace E. Anderson. I have received important personal support for my work on Edwards from President Thomas W. Gillespie, Dean James Armstrong, and the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary, and from Donald Schweitzer, Wayne Proudfoot, and other friends, as well as from my wife, Inn Sook, my daughter Mi Hyong and my son Cy Suh Hyong.
Funding for this volume and for the Edition as a whole has been provided by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Lilly Endowment, Inc., and the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc.
xii Note to the Reader