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JONATHAN EDWARDS
1703 1003

EXERCISES COMMEMORATING

THE

TWO-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE

BIRTH OF JONATHAN EDWARDS

HELD AT

ANDOVER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

OCTOBER 4 AND 5
1903

Printed under the direction of the Faculty

An dover, Massachusetts

THE ANDOVER PRESS

1904

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF

EGBERT COFFIN SMYTH, D.D., LL.D.

CHRISTIAN SCHOLAR

THEOLOGIAN, HISTORIAN

PROFESSOR IN ANDOVER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

186 3-1904

PREFACE

As the oldest Congregational school of theology in
America, Andover Seminary esteemed it a duty, while
she also counted it an honor, to celebrate the bicentenary
of America's foremost theologian. Within her lecture-
rooms the system of Jonathan Edwards has been diligently
studied and sympathetically expounded. Her first pro-
fessor of sacred theology, Dr. Leonard Woods, is
commonly represented as a mediator between the two
divisions of orthodox Congregationalism in his day, yet in
substance he was a vigorous advocate of the Edwardean
system, and his successor, Professor Park, was even more
widely known as its interpreter. If Edwardeanism no
longer controls the doctrinal instruction at Andover, the
fact is due to no lack of reverence, on the part of her
teachers, for the power of philosophical analysis and logi-
cal construction which has made Edwards famous for all
time, or for the fundamental truths which he strove in
thought to apprehend, but rather to causes whose opera-
tion no philosophical or theological system of the past is
able permanently to withstand.

The aim of the bicentennial celebration was not merely
to honor the memory of a great Christian leader, but also
to attempt a discriminating estimate of the enduring value
of his work, — an attempt which the lapse of time and the
subsidence of dogmatic strife have at last brought within
the range of possibility. Accordingly, in addition to
representatives of her own faculty, the Seminary invited
scholars of widely different antecedents, from outside of
New England, to participate in the proceedings. The
reader of the papers here published will observe differ-
ences in point of view which will at least relieve the
record of monotony, and, it is hoped, will not detract
from its value.

PREFACE

The celebration began on Sunday, October fourth, with
public worship in the Chapel, where a large congregation
gathered to listen to the commemorative sermon by the
Reverend William R. Richards, D.D., an alumnus of the
Seminary, now pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church
in New York. For the public exercises on Monday after-
noon a distinguished audience was assembled, including a
large number of alumni and other ministers from neigh-
boring towns, together with professors from Harvard and
from Boston University. The church had been handsomely
decorated for the occasion, and portraits of President and
Mrs. Edwards, loaned by Miss Park, stood on either side
of the pulpit. Professor Day presided, and on behalf of
the Seminary extended a welcome to the guests. By way
of introduction to the more formal papers, Professor
Platner sketched in outline the religious conditions of
New England in the time of Edwards, after which Pro-
fessor Woodbridge, of Columbia University, presented a
critical analysis of Edwards's work as a philosopher. At
the close of this session the invited guests adjourned to
Bartlet Chapel, where a reception was held and supper was
served. Many took advantage of this opportunity to ex-
amine the loan exhibition, consisting of the principal
editions of Edwards's works, unpublished manuscripts and
letters, and other objects of historical interest.1

Another large audience assembled for the evening ex-
ercises, at which Professor Hincks presided. The first
address was a sympathetic presentation of the salient
features of Edwards's theology by Professor Smyth, who
was a life-long student of the subject. A poem, en-
titled " A Witness to the Truth," was read by its author,
an Andover alumnus, the Reverend Samuel V. Cole, D.D.,

1 A list of the most important objects exhibited will be found in
Appendix II.

PREFACE

President of Wheaton Seminary. It elicited much
favorable comment. An interesting feature of the pro-
gram was the reading of a congratulatory message1 from
the Senate of the United Free Church College, Glasgow,
which formed a suitable introduction to the closing ad-
dress of the day, by Professor James Orr, D.D., of Glas-
gow, who spoke upon " The Influence of Edwards." The
exercises concluded with a piece of ancient psalmody,
sung by the congregation to the tune of St. Martins.

The memorial sermon, the poem, and the addresses of
Professors Smyth and Woodbridge are here printed prac-
tically without change. Professor Orr's address is slightly
enlarged. Professor Platner's address, which was not
read from manuscript, will be found to vary somewhat
from the form in which it was delivered. In Appendix I
are printed extracts from hitherto unpublished notes by
Edwards, collected by Professor Smyth in illustration of
statements made in his address.

Thanks are due to Dr. Owen II. Gates for aid in cor-
recting the proof sheets, and to Miss Mary W. Dwight
for completing Professor Smyth's copy and for a careful
revision of the proofs.

The sudden death of Professor Smyth lends a peculiar
interest to the publication of this little book, for it con-
tains the final labors of his pen. He had taken the
deepest interest in the Edwards celebration from the
beginning, and was earnestly desirous that the printed
record should be not unworthy of its subject. It is
fitting that the volume should forever be closely associated
with Dr. Smyth, to whose memory it is affectionately
dedicated. J- W* R

Andover, May 12, 1904.

1 This message, with reply, is printed in Appendix II.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface 5

Programme of the Celebration . . . .11

Commemorative Sermon 13

The Rev. William Rogers Richards, D.D.

Introductory Address — Religious Conditions in New

England in the time of Edwards ... 29

Professor John Winthrop Platner, D.D.
Address — The Philosophy of Edwards .... 47

Professor Frederick J. E. Woodbridge, LL.D.
Address — The Theology of Edwards 73

Professor Egbert Coffin Smyth, D.D., LL.D.
Poem — A Witness to the Truth . . . , . 95

President Samuel Valentine Cole, D.D.
Address — The Influence of Edwards .... 105

Professor James Orr, D.D.

Appendices - . .127

PROGRAMME

SUNDAY, OCX. 4
IO.30 A. M.

PUBLIC WORSHIP in the Seminary Church.

Sermon by the Rev. William Rogers Richards, D.D.

New York

MONDAY, OCT. 5

AFTERNOON SESSION

3.30 o'clock

Professor Charles Orrin Day, D.D., presiding.

DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES.

HYMN, No. 38. "All people that on earth do dwell."

WORDS OF WELCOME. . . Professor Day

ADDRESS: Religious Conditions in New England in the
Time of Edwards.

Professor John Winthrop Platner, D.D.

ADDRESS: The Philosophy of Edwards.

Professor Frederick- J. E. Woodbridge, LL.D.

Columbia University

HYMN, No. 190. " Holy Spirit, Lord of Light." (5 stanzas)

RECEPTION AND COLLATION

BARTLET CHAPEL, 5.30 O'CLOCK

(For invited guests)

Exhibition oi autograph and published writings of President
Edwards and other objects of historical interest, loaned for the

EVENING SESSION

7.00 o'clock

Professor Edward Young Hincks, D.D., presiding.

HYMN, No. 299. "Come, we who love the Lord."

PRAYER.

ADDRESS : The Theology of Edwards.

Professor Egbert Coffin Smyth, D.D., LL.D.

HYMN, No. T4. " Before Jehovah's awful throne."

POEM. - President Samuel Valentine Cole, D.D.

Wheaton Seminary

CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE, from the Senate of the
United Free Church College, Glasgow.

ADDRESS: The Influence of Edwards.

Professor James Orr, D.D., Glasgow.

HYMN, No. 663. " Let children hear the mighty deeds."

BENEDICTION.

SERMON

The Rev. WILLIAM ROGERS RICHARDS, D.D.

PASTOR OF

The Brick Presbyterian Church

NEW YORK CITY

SERMON

JEREMIAH 33 : 17 — " For thus saith the Lord,
David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne
of the house of Israel."

The words are a prophecy of Christ and his
eternal Kingdom, but the people who were first
comforted by them had no clear expectation of
that coming Kingdom. When they were told that
David should never want a man, what they could
first understand, — and no doubt did understand, —
was this, that the breed of men of the old David-
type was never to run out in Israel ; that in every
time of emergency and peril, when hearts were fail-
ing and knees trembling, — as in the old Philistine
wars, when some Goliath was striding up and down
between the camps insolently challenging any cham-
pion to appear for Israel, — in such dark days the
right champion would appear ; so the prophet says,
the good cause would never be left to fall to the
ground for lack of him. The Lord pledges his word
to this. The thing is as sure as that covenant of the
day and night which cannot fail while the world
stands. And really that was the best promise that
could be made to a people. For the gift of such a
man as David was worth more to a nation than
any other kind of gift that the Providence of God
has ever bestowed. All the gold of India, and all
the things that gold could buy, would not compare
in value with this gift of a man.

RICHARDS

What a poor little kingdom Israel was, judged by
our common standards of wealth and power. There
were richer nations on every side, better armed
nations, more populous nations. But Israel had the
man ; no other of these nations, not all of them
together, could show in those days a man like
David, a man fit to sit on David's throne, a man
with David's love for God, and trust in God, and
earnest longing for God : and now those other
nations, Babylon and Nineveh and Tyre and Egypt,
with all their wealth and power, are mostly buried
and forgotten as if they had never been ; but David,
this king of Israel ! why, more people are singing
his songs today, a hundred times over, than he ever
ruled when he was alive. This influence is still in-
creasing in the world. Such a man as that was the
best gift that God could make to a nation. Now
the promise was that so long as the nation of Israel
continued, God would continue to bless them period-
ically with this gift of men. Of course there were
some periods of great degeneracy when such men
seemed very scarce, but the supply never quite ran
out. Even in the worst times, when all things were
falling into chaos, always just at the crisis would
appear some Elijah, or John Baptist, or other like
man, firm enough to stand, if need be, alone against
the world, and pull the world his way, God's way.
The man was never wanting in the old days in
Israel.

And the man never shall be wanting. The

COMMEMORATIVE SERMON

promise still stands in our Bible, only it has been
freed from its old restriction to the nation of Israel.
We have been taught to take all these promises
more generously, but the promise has not been
revoked. God is pledged to the world to keep up
the breed of men. They may not always be Jews
now ; they may not always be Greeks, or Romans,
or Englishmen, or even Americans ; but there shall
be such men ; the race is not to run out. Whatever
the pessimists may say, the final outcome of this
great world-experiment is not to be the hopeless
degeneracy of manhood. Today, tomorrow, next
year, — so long as the old world stands, if ever old
David should come back to it again, the promise is
that he shall find somewhere the man fit to sit upon
his throne. We may not always see this man, for
we do not know where to look for him. In times of
quiet when the world is moving on its way smoothly
and easily, we may often doubt his existence ; but
when once more the storm breaks upon us, such
times as try men's souls, there he stands, your
Savonarola, Luther, Cromwell, Washington ; all
down through the ages, David has not lacked his
man yet.

That is the promise ; and, friends, how good a
promise it is. For this manhood is God's most
precious commodity : of all the things he has made
this has cost the most to make, and is worth the
most when made. We Christians always get some
hint of the infinite costliness of manhood when we

RICHARDS

read in this book the price of our redemption, the
precious blood of Jesus Christ. But even the older
records of the rocks could tell a like story, for they
show how lavishly the Creator has been using up
whole races of his creatures in making way for man.
If you are speaking of the expenditure of creative
energy involved, I suppose a great mountain range
is a very cheap product compared with one little
child who is playing at the base of it. The whole
land of Canaan had not cost so much in the making
as that one man David.

And as this gift of manhood has cost more than
all others, so it is worth more. Any great crisis
proves it. Watch those tremendous forces of the
French Revolution running out into horrible disaster,
because, as Carlyle says, no Cromwell had appeared
in France, no man able to control these forces.
There were certain dark days in the earlier part of
our own civil war, when, as someone has said, a
man able to lead the army of the Potomac would
have been worth to the national government in
hard cash not less than a million dollars a day. For
lack of such a leader the war was dragging on at
that awful expenditure of wealth.

Our own age is one of great material progress,
and there may be the more need to remind ourselves
of this superlative value of manhood. Man's life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things he
possesseth, said the Master ; but man is always in
danger of thinking that it does consist in t'hose

COMMEMORATIVE SERMON

things, when they are over-abundant. If he had
little, — poor Peter, for instance, with his one little
fishing boat, — he might make up his mind to throw
that little away ; but the young ruler who had great
possessions was in danger of throwing himself away
instead. And so, in the bewildering abundance of
good things which the Creator has now granted to
have and enjoy, there is always danger that we men
and women may lose a proper self-respect. We
ought to remember that a nation might be enriched
with all such gifts beyond the dreams of avarice,
and yet not be worth a single day's visit from a man
like David, if there was no hope of his finding in it
a man to sit upon his throne.

We must remember this in connection with all
the different departments of our national life.

When a foreigner comes to visit our country and
asks what we have to show him worth seeing, many
of us would point with peculiar pride to our schools
and colleges, and that is well. But what if it should
appear that what we really meant by a school was
simply the fine building that houses it, or the many
books in its library, or the costly apparatus in its
laboratory, or the great size of its endowment ; the
material things that it possesseth ? That would
prove that we had not yet learned what a school
really is. Money is not the school.

You will read of some great capitalist who has
turned his pocket inside out and established a great
university in our newer west ; an excellent thing for

RICHARDS

him to do. His gift creates an opportunity for the
teacher, if only you can find the teacher ; it sets up
a throne, if only you can find the king. But that is
all that money can do. All the wealth in Wall
Street could not do for a college what Dr. Arnold
did for Rugby ; or what Longfellow and Lowell and
Holmes, and the other members of that extraordinary
literary circle, have done for Harvard ; or what
General Armstrong did for Hampton. The best
promise possible for an institution of learning would
not be that it shall never want money, but
rather that it shall never want a man. We have
never been told much about the endowments and
buildings of the old Academy in Athens, or of the
Lyceum ; but the world will never forget the men —
Plato and Aristotle. We do not hear of any en-
dowments in that little college which grew up more
than eighteen centuries ago by the shores of the Sea
of Galilee ; but the world will never forget the words
that fell from the lips of its head Master, the Son
of Man.

It is the man who makes the college, and on the
other hand the one great work of the college ought
to be the making of men. And I thank God for the
old schools and colleges of New England, which,
whatever their faults, have cherished faithfully the
traditions of a worthy manhood.

So it is also in other departments of our national
life, in the active professions, and in business. It
might seem at first sight, that here the amount of

COMMEMORATIVE SERMON

capital was the essential thing, the quality of man-
hood only a secondary consideration ; but it is not
so. The life even of the business world consisteth
not in the abundance of the things that it possesseth,
but in the character of the men who are using the
things. Given the right sort of men, and sooner or
later there will be capital enough. But given the
capital, you cannot be so sure that you will always
find the right sort of men. The world has more
capital now than it quite knows what to do with.
Even at the low rate of four per cent., your savings
bank sets a limit to the amount it is willing to
receive from you. No lack of capital : it is waiting
all about us for some one to use it. The lack is of
the man who is strong enough to use it royally ; and
when once he appears, the man fit to sit on the
throne of a great railroad corporation, or insurance
company, or mining trust, and command it and make
it go, — you know how such a man is prized, how
much they will give him, — $10,000 a year, $25,000,
$50,000. If he is man enough, he can almost name
his own price.

It has been said lately that civilization is one long
anxious search for the man who can carry a message
to Garcia : and, we might add, for some other man
who has a message worth sending to Garcia. The
man is the great want in the business world.

And in the social life of every community, how we
depend on the men and women of the royal type.
It is they who make any society worth living in,

RICHARDS

and whose absence would make any society not
worth living in. They make good society.

Money cannot make society, though it might
easily destroy it. When the people had little, and
lived near the natural realities ; the backwoodsman
with his ax and gun and paddle ; the sailors who go
down to the sea in ships and see the works of the
Lord and his wonders in the deep ; the farmer with
his horses and cattle, and first-hand knowledge of
the crops and how they fare in all sorts of weather —
you know what good company such people are.
Their range may be narrow, but within it they are
perpetually interesting.

But give these same people what we call the
advantages of wealth ; let them shut themselves off
from the real world by a multitude of man-made
conventionalities and artifices ; unless you are care-
ful, you will find, as Tolstoi affirms with so much
passion, that you have destroyed all their living
human interest. The wealth that ought to have lifted
and broadened them, has really cramped and stifled
them ; and all the usages of such a social world grow
weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, till one might
be tempted to repeat the remark of the witty French
woman, that the more she saw of men the more highly
she thought of dogs. That is what society often
degenerates into. Oh, what need there is to remind
ourselves in this age of the world that man's life con-
sisted not in the abundance of the things that he pos-
sesseth ! The man himself is always what is wanted.

COMMEMORATIVE SERMON

Now our text brings a promise from God that this
perpetual want shall be perpetually supplied. If
only you knew where to look for him, the man is
somewhere to be found. If not in a palace up in
Jerusalem, the Prince will be in a manger down in
Bethlehem. God's promise shall not fail ; David
shall not want a man to sit upon the throne.

I have hoped that this old scripture text might be
appropriate to the theme which will make tomorrow
a memorable day here, and in so many of our older
institutions of learning. In the New England of
two hundred years ago God had his people, a peculiar
people ; and they found him still faithful to his
promise, for among those early New Englanders
there were never wanting men. From the very
beginning the English Puritan movement had been
distinguished for the honor it did to simple man-
hood. To a Puritan, rank and office and wealth, and
all other outward accessories, sank into insignificance
as compared with the human personality. Everyone
knows Macaulay's description of those people, how
they could look down with contempt on the great
men of the earth in church and state, " being them-
selves noble by right of an earlier creation, and
priests by the imposition of a mightier hand."
These were the English Puritans. Now send off
a ship-load of such people into any remote and
desolate portion of the earth, and you may rest
assured that they will be carrying with them, in the
hull of their little ship, all the constituent elements

RICHARDS

of a great and prosperous commonwealth : for the
reason that they themselves are men, and fit to sit
on thrones.

Let me quote the words spoken last spring in the
Congregational House in Boston, concerning the
library there, with its treasure of old New England
books. " For those who look upon these New Eng-
land fields and hills," Dr. Gordon said, " as invested
for more than two hundred years with the heroic
humanity of their ancestors, who see the image of
kingly men and queenly women burning in the sun
that lights the world today, who hear in the murmur
of the brook and the sigh of the river the voices
that once made glad the holy places of the Most
High, and who carry into the depth of nature, and
into the contemporary world of man the sense of
that pathetic, heroic, majestic past, these dead books
will live again."

Yes, they were kingly men and queenly women,
the writers of these books, and the other founders of
New England ; but among them all, or their de-
scendants, there has not yet appeared a more kingly
character than that great New Englander whose
memory we shall celebrate tomorrow.

It is not for me at this service to attempt any
analysis of Edwards's contributions to philosophy, or
theology, or education, or the revival of the churches.
Others fitter for the task will treat of these themes
tomorrow. But I shall command your assent when
I affirm that greater than all the wise things that

COMMEMORATIVE SERMON

Jonathan Edwards may ever have said, and all the
fine things that he may have done, was the man
himself. What made that day two hundred years ago
memorable was that then another man was born
into the world. That was evident from the time
when he began to resolve those strange youthful
resolutions of his. Let me read you one or two of
them : —

" Resolved so to live at all times, as I think is best
in my devout frames, and when I have clearest
notions of the Gospel and of another world."

Matthew Arnold was not the first to discover that

" Tasks in hours of insight willed
May be through hours of gloom fulfilled."

Again : " Resolved never to give over, nor in the
least slacken my fight with my corruptions, however
unsuccessful I may be."

Ah, another man had appeared !

And now after these long two hundred years, our
American thought arid life cannot escape the im-
press of that mighty personality. This celebration
does not mean that all of us could profess ourselves
his disciples in philosophy and theology. His teach-
ings on the operations of human will, or of the divine
justice, may seem to some of us quite as remote
from our customary thought as the Ptolemaic system,
or Plato's ideas. But we do all of us honor and
celebrate the man. Whatever Edwards had to say,
he spoke always with the royal accent : whatever he
had to do, it was with the royal bearing. Watch him

RICHARDS

in the great crisis of his life, those days of bitterness
and trial, when his people at Northampton turned
against him, and drove him from the church and
from the town ; see his patience and magnanimity
and courage. You see him every inch a king.

But had ever a great man a smaller stage for the
display of his greatness ? Through most of his life
pastor of a little church in the country village
of Northampton ; then, for the few remaining years,
a missionary at Stockbridge ministering to a few
red sheep out there in the wilderness. To be sure
he was called to the presidency of Princeton ; but as
if to prove that such a man as he owes nothing to
the dignity of office, he died before he had fairly
entered upon it. He had a son whom it may be
proper to speak of as President Edwards. The
father needs no such official title ; Jonathan Edwards
is his name, the man himself. It was a time of
crisis, and the man was not wanting. God had kept
his promise to his people. And so through all the
celebrations of tomorrow we do well to cheer our
hearts with the assurance that as it has been, so it
shall be ; and that to the end of the world, in the time
of sorest need there shall never be wanting a man.

" Wanted a man. " It is the great want always.
A friend once asked me to preach a sermon on the
theme, " Wanted a Saint. " " Put it at your people,"
he said, "as an advertisement, as if it stood in the
want-column in the newspaper, ' Wanted a Saint.' "
It struck me as an attractive form of words ; but

COMMEMORATIVE SERMON

when I tried to plan out the sermon, at once I ran
up against a difficulty. Such advertisements in our
papers, for coachmen, gardeners, cooks, and so forth,
are designed to encourage applications from persons
who deem themselves qualified to meet the want.
But if you say "Wanted a Saint," and a stranger
should then appear at your door and begin to re-
hearse his own saintly qualifications, you would feel
like locking the stable and setting a guard on the
hat-rack. The real saints are not so fluent about
their own saintliness. You could not advertise for a
saint, with any hope that the right, person would

apply.

But if not as an advertisement, you can issue this
as a simple statement of the facts, "Wanted a
Saint;" wanted a man of faith and character.
Nothing else in this world is wanted so much ; noth-
ing else is worth so much. The community wants
him ; the Lord wants him : and the promise of our
text is that this want, the world's great want, can
always be supplied. By God's grace that very kind
of manhood that is wanted from you or me may be
had. The man who is wanted shall not be wanting,
that is the promise. We must let the Lord fulfill
that promise.

We are gathered here in a seat of learning, some
of us in the immediate pursuit of an education.
But the crown of education, the finest product of
any school, is not the mere knowledge accumulated,
it is the living personality developed ; it is the man,

RICHARDS

the king, a man to sit upon the throne. Young
Edwards, looking forward into the future, wrote
down that long list of resolutions, and then spent
his life in keeping them manfully. As we still look
forward into the unknown future, any of us might
well take example from him and ourselves subscribe
a resolution ; and we could not do better than borrow
it from this ancient word of Sacred Writ : What-
ever the unknown future may be, and wherever in
it my lot may be ordered, I hereby resolve that,
with God's help, "there shall not be wanting
there a man to sit upon the throne."

Introductory Address

RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN NEW

ENGLAND IN THE TIME OF

EDWARDS

JOHN WINTHROP PLATNER, D.D.

Professor of History

Andover Theological Seminary

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS

It falls to my lot, by way of introduction to the
subject of the day, briefly to set before you the
framework in which Edwards is the picture, to
sketch the surroundings within which his life was
passed, and in particular to describe the state of
religion in New England in his time. To have
value, this must be done with reference to the life
and work of Edwards himself. Consequently I
shall make little effort to examine conditions which
are unrelated to this central figure, but shall rather
fix your attention upon those with which he himself
was intimately concerned, either by reason of their
influence upon him, or, more important still, by
reason of his influence upon them.

It is often asserted that all men, the great in-
cluded, are the products of their age. The assertion
contains no doubt a measure of truth. No man,
however self-sufficient, can wholly shake off the
influence of those political, social or religious con-
ditions, in the midst of which he may chance to live.
But to a certain number in every age it is given to
bear the grave responsibility and enjoy the immeas-
urable opportunity of leadership, — to exemplify in
their own persons not product, but process, — to set
in order the forces which shall mould the course of
history, — yes, to incarnate in themselves those
very forces. Such men are in a true sense creative.
And as we scrutinize their character, we discover

PLATNER

there a quality, undefinable yet unmistakable,
which we call detachment, — a certain independence
of spirit and action, by virtue of which they rise
superior to circumstance, superior to the common
limitations of time and place, and take their station
among the elect of all the ages. They are not
wholly emancipated from their age, but they are
released from bondage to it. They are no longer
among the ruled, but among the rulers.

Jonathan Edwards illustrates, to a notable degree,
this peculiar quality. He lived, and thought, and
preached, and wrote in the New England of the
eighteenth century, but in spirit he dwelt apart,
where neither New England nor the eighteenth
century controlled him, and from his isolation strove
to gaze into the soul of things. To discern the con-
stitution of the mind, to resolve the apparent anti-
nomies of thought and experience, to justify the
ways of God to man, even the most arbitrary, —
these were his favorite employments. And in them
all Edwards was spokesman for the race, though a
still half-rude colony might be the theatre of his
action, and the calendar mechanically register the
dates of his mortal life. While he was grappling
with the problem of the freedom of the will, far
away across the sea another great philosopher,
younger than himself, Immanuel Kant, was begin-
ning to analyze the phenomena of consciousness, in
search of its transcendental elements. How might
each have elicited the other's best, if these two in-

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS

tellectual giants could have been brought face to
face, and have held discourse concerning the fun-
damental realities ! And how would Europe and
America have stood in silent admiration at the
matching of such wit as theirs ! Kant was born,
and lived, and died in Konigsberg, on the eastern
border of European civilization ; Edwards dwelt in
an English colony, on civilization's western frontier.
But geography has never yet conquered genius,
and provincial obscurity could not hide the spiritual
light which streamed from these two great minds.

The career of Edwards, when judged by ordinary
standards, would scarcely be called successful. His
childhood indeed was full of brilliant promise ; his
student-life, most creditable ; his brief term of
service in a Yale tutorship, under circumstances
of peculiar difficulty, an honor to himself and to his
alma mater. His Northampton pastorate too, begun
under the most favorable auspices, was carried on
with earnestness and devotion, and accomplished
marked results in arousing the indifferent to a new
sense of the value of religion for human life. But
with the lapse of time, Edwards encountered grow-
ing opposition, and his pastorate ended in sorrow for
himself and dishonor for his parishioners. It seemed
no doubt very like a professional failure when, at
the age of forty-seven, he was dismissed from his
charge and turned adrift upon the world.

He was not well adapted to meet the daily struggle
for existence. Mere physical wants were never

PLATNER

those which he was most interested in satisfying.
Therefore we may well be thankful that, before too
long a time had passed, the way was opened to another
field of labor, where he could at least obtain the
necessaries of life for his family and for himself.
Patiently and cheerfully Edwards entered upon his
new duties, with no word of rebuke for those who
had rejected him, or of complaint against the lot
which had brought him to so unpromising a field of
labor. A true man of God, he won the hearts of the
rude red men by his noble devotion, and brought
into their lives a holy influence. Meanwhile he
found intellectual satisfaction in creative labor, that
most absorbing of occupations, and his thoughts
lingered fondly in the most abstruse regions of meta-
physical theology, where was their rightful home.
But the settlement of the greatest philosopher of his
day as a missionary among the Housatonic Indians,
is again an event which must have seemed sadly to
contravene the law of adaptation.

At last there came an opportunity which seemed
better suited to a man of Edwards's powers, — the
offer of the presidency of Princeton College. After
long delay, and with manifest reluctance, he accepted
and entered upon the duties of the office, but only to
lay them down almost immediately at the stern bid-
ding of death. This too, in the eyes of the world,
would be counted a failure. Yet, standing at our
vantage point of time, how different appears the
verdict of history upon the whole of Edwards's

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS

career. Instead of failure we behold achievement
of the highest order, we see forces set in operation
which affected life at many points, stimulating
thought, quickening conscience, reforming society,
and creating — it is hardly too much to say — a
new epoch for American Christianity.

Great political and religious changes had passed
over the face of New England before Edwards came
upon the scene. The original colonists had long
been dead, and with them had vanished the early
enthusiasm of their enterprise. Two generations
had grown up under the hard conditions of frontier
life, struggling with the reluctant northern soil, and
constantly exposed to possible outbreaks of Indian
ferocity. This contact with nature on her cruel
side had rendered manners rude, and deadened
spiritual sensibilities. Such education as Harvard
was able to provide, although highly creditable to
the colony, had not quite the same value as the
university training the first settlers had enjoyed in
their early English homes, and Yale College had
but just opened its doors. At the beginning of the
eighteenth century there were about one hundred
and twenty churches of the Congregational order
in New England, two-thirds of which were in
Massachusetts. These embraced within their mem-
bership the large majority of professedly Christian
people, yet the population was no longer religiously
homogeneous. Not even the short and easy method
of exclusion, formerly in vogue, had availed to

PLATNER

preserve ecclesiastical purity. If non-conformists
to " the New England way " had not succeeded in
becoming permanent residents of the colonies, they
at least had managed occasionally to stay long
enough to start their propaganda, and always long
enough to arouse dissension.

Baptists had vexed the souls of the dominant
party ever since John Clarke began to minister in
Newport, and since Roger Williams and his twelve
companions were "plunged" in Providence. The de-
fection of President Dunster had alarmed all those
interested in Harvard College, and moved the Cam-
bridge minister to preach " more than half a score of
ungainsayable sermons " in defence of " the comfort-
able truth " of infant baptism. As the seventeenth
century progressed, the leaders of the theocracy
took vigorous measures to suppress the objectionable
sect. "Experience tells us," says Samuel Willard,
" that such a rough thing as a New England Ana-
baptist is not to be handled over-tenderly." Yet
the Baptists increased and, in Edwards's time,
they formed an important element of the population.

It may seem strange that the Religious Society of
Friends should ever have been a disturbing element
in any Christian community, yet so it was. When
the " truth," as taught by George Fox and his fol-
lowers, " brake forth in America," like many another
truth in the course of history, it was unrecognized,
spurned, and tried in the fires of persecution, that
its alloy of error might be removed. The time had

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS

not yet come when the colonists would recognize
the truth, — which seems now as elementary as it is
Biblical, — that " the manifestation of the spirit is
given to every man to profit withal." That time,
however, would come, and all the sooner for the
mysticism of Edwards, which after all is not re-
motely akin to that of Fox.

By far the most disliked and distrusted of all
religious bodies in New England, next to the
" Scarlet Woman" herself, was the Episcopal church.
In the year of Edwards's birth, Keith and Talbot
were touring the colonies in the interest of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Just
after Edwards's graduation, Yale College, which
was relied upon to preserve genuine Puritan tradi-
tions, along with its cultivation of sound learning,
threatened to apostatize, losing Rector Cutler and a
tutor to the Episcopal communion. Not a little of
the labor and responsibility required to maintain
order and restore confidence in the college at this
crisis, rested upon the shoulders of Edwards, and
worthily did he repay the confidence reposed in him.
He took no active part, it is true, in open war-
fare against the Anglicans, but the principles of his
teaching were such as to give stability and strength
to the churches of his own order. One finds, how-
ever, that anxiety over the gains made by Anglican-
ism throughout New England, and over proposals
to procure an American episcopate, continued far
beyond the limits of Edwards's life-time. Among

PLATNER

the "trials and difficulties," of which the Diary of
Ezra Stiles gives a formidable list, we find " concern
for the Congregational churches, and the prevalence
of episcopacy and wickedness."

The new charter of the Bay colony, issued the
year Timothy Edwards was graduated from Har-
vard, greatly altered the political situation by
widening the suffrage and substituting what must
have seemed like a secularized commonwealth in
place of the old theocracy. Joshua Scottow's
pathetic book, entitled " Old Men's Tears," bears
witness to the feeling of despondency felt by con-
servative men, as they beheld the passing of the old
order. The year before Edwards was born, in the
procession in Boston held in honor of the proclama-
tion of Queen Anne, the ministers no longer took
precedence of the civil magistrates.

The change which was perhaps most keenly felt
was the abolition of the special privileges long
enjoyed by adherents of the " standing order."
What the national church was to England, that
Congregationalism has been to the colony of Massa-
chusetts Bay. The principle of toleration was new.
It had but lately and reluctantly been recognized in
the mother country, and it had many foes both
there and in America. Increase Mather said of it,
" I do believe that antichrist hath not in this day a
more probable way to advance the kingdom of
darkness." This principle, which permitted the
existence, and thereby encouraged the growth of

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS

several ecclesiastical bodies, was destined greatly to
alter the religious complexion of New England.
Edwards lived at the time when denominational
history was just beginning. Now throughout the
protestant world denominationalism has been largely
determined by doctrinal divergences. This was the
case in the eighteenth century, both in England and
in America, and to Edwards more than to anyone
else, — far more than to his great contemporary,
John Wesley, — belongs the responsibility of having
sharply defined the theological differences of that
formative period.

Christian life at the opening of the eighteenth
century was probably less decadent in the American
colonies than in England, where the corrupt social
heritage of the Restoration, the popularity of a
superficial " natural religion," and the irreligious
influence of the French school were largely respon-
sible for the condition of affairs. Orthodox belief
and moral conduct had seemed there to degenerate
together. A coarse cynicism characterized the
speech and action of many of the gentry, and it was
jestingly proposed that Parliament should pass an act
omitting the word "not" from the Decalogue and
inserting it in the Creed. But if moral deterioration
in New England was less marked, it was never-
theless grave enough, and the very severe codes of
law then in force seemed unable to check its
progress. Religious indifference was correspond-
ingly wide-spread.

PLATNER

Then, at the time of greatest need, the cause of
vital religion in old England, thanks to the Wes-
leyan movement, received a fresh influx of splendid
energy, which permeated all classes of society, and
turned back the tide of irreligion and moral laxity.
In New England, at the same time, the " Great
Awakening," as it must ever be called, infused new
life into every church and community within her
borders. And it was Jonathan Edwards more than
anyone else, — with the sincerity, earnestness and
directness of his preaching, — who started this vast
movement. The Awakening was far from being
merely a series of sensational revivals. In spite of
its fanatical excesses (with which Edwards had no
sympathy), it was accompanied by a veritable moral
reformation. Edwards directed all his preaching,
even the most terrible, towards the great end of
transforming character in accordance with the will
of God. How he harmonized his theological deter-
minism with his proclamation of the Gospel, his
realistic portraitures of future woe with his doctrine
of the divine love, we need not here inquire. The
problems are at least as old as St. Paul. And just
such antinomies as these, although incapable of
solution by the laws of logic, are proved historically
to be no bar to useful and effective service in the
kingdom of Christ.

Edwards found New England morally decadent ;
he left it under the power of an awakened moral
sense. But this result was wrought by distinc-

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS

tively religious means. Edwards made no effort to
be a moral reformer without morality's highest
sanction, and against the Arminian conception of
virtue he registered an unqualified protest. No
human effort, no ethical teaching, however lofty,
could avail to change the heart or transform char-
acter. Only divine power could do this, working
from within outward, making the tree good from its
roots, cleansing the heart, out of which are the
issues of life. And the moral tonic thus adminis-
tered accomplished its cure. " Conversion " did
result in moral reformation. By means of his
accurate insight into the nature of true virtue,
Edwards established anew the rightful relationship
between cause and effect in character-building. But
if he denied the efficacy of unaided human effort to
save the soul, he also .denied the efficacy of a mere
correct religious theory. " No merely speculative
understanding of the doctrines of religion " would
suffice. Only the power of God, with its response
in the life of obedient faith, could perform the
miracle.

Edwards found ecclesiastical discipline relaxed
under the system of the half-way covenant ; he over-
threw that system, tightened the cords which bound
believers into one body, and redeemed the churches
from secularization. The half-way covenant had
long been in use in Northampton and in other
sections of New England, where it had come to
enjoy all the prestige of established custom. It is a

PLATNER

shallow optimism which would regard this phenom-
enon as insignificant. A vital issue was at stake,
namely this : is religion form, or is it substance ?
If candidates were admitted to the church without
manifesting any fitness to assume its responsibilities,
the church would at once take on the character of a
corpus permixtum, a character which, however true
or false in itself, was clearly in violation of the
historic principles of Puritanism. Edwards corn-
batted this conception, and it cost him his pastorate;
but the qualifications for full communion were once
more stated, in their earlier sense, and sooner or
later the churches came over to his view.

Edwards found New England un-theological ; he
left it equipped with all the apparatus for an
energetic theological life. When he began his min-
istry the churches lacked a just appreciation of
the value of Christian theology, and of the beneficial
service it should be made to render. To be sure,
the early colonists had brought with them the
system of doctrine generally accepted by English
Puritans, and the Westminster standards had always
been those of American Congregationalism. But
orthodoxy, in Edwards's day, had become stereo-
typed and conventional. The familiar history of all
scholasticism was here being repeated, the end of
which is death. No great leaders had arisen to
state anew the problems of theology, much less to
attempt their solution. But upon these problems
Edwards pondered long and deeply. He noted, in

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS

his own experience, divergences from those conven-
tional rules which he had been taught were universal.
And when he discovered that he had not " ex-
perienced regeneration exactly in those steps in
which divines say it is generally wrought," he
resolved " never to leave searching" until he had
discovered " why they used to be converted in those
steps."

Now this is the first step in theological progress,
boldly to confront and to interrogate the past.
Always respectful toward his predecessors, Edwards
was not the blind follower of any, and his independ-
ence, and effort to be thorough, while they led him
into no heresies, as they have led some others, did
lead him so to restate the doctrines commonly
called Calvinistic, as to open a new chapter of
American religious thought.

Theological parties are rightly described as dating
from this time, and it was Edwards's sharp definition
of the issues which called them into being. He
himself stands at the head of that highly interesting
succession of divines, — Hopkins, Bellamy, Emmons,
Dwight and the rest, down to our own Professor Park,
— who are known as the "New England School."
Recoiling from the severity of his clear-cut Calvin-
ism, the Arminian party diverged from the Edward-
ean, and sub-divided within itself. The more evan-
gelical wing, under the leadership of Wesley and his
followers, moved on into Methodism, now numerically
the strongest protestant communion in the world.

PLATNER

The less evangelical, under the leadership of Chauncy,
Mayhew, and later James Freeman, developed into
the liberal societies called Unitarian, now numerically
among the weakest. Of other varieties of theological
opinion, many of which find their beginning in this
formative period, there is no time to speak.

But when we ask ourselves what service Edwards
rendered which appeals most strongly to the religious
sympathies of today, I think we shall not find it in
his system of theology. We must rather seek it in
his spiritual insight tand his mysticism. He had
beheld not simply the infernal terrors but also the
beatific vision, and this was for him evermore the
profoundest of realities. Direct intuition of God's
, will and personal communion with the Holy Spirit
were the forces which controlled him. His purely
religious influence, stamped clear and strong upon
his own age, is one of the church's most precious
possessions. Systems of thought may arise, and
flourish, and decay ; though they bear within them
the potency of life, yet it is in ever changing forms,
and the fact of their continuity may easily escape all
but professional students of the past. In the great
circuit of the world's intelligence, they have no
continuing city. But the search of a soul after
God stands possessed of an imperishable interest.
Whether it be an Origen or an Augustine, a St.
Francis or a Luther, a Wesley or an Edwards,
ancient and modern times unite in paying homage to
their memory. And upon the face of the fair monu-

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS

ments which posterity shall rear, this inscription
should ever stand : Here once more, in the person of
this man of God, was exemplified the union of the
human and the divine. As the flower turns upward,
to drink in the sun's life-giving beams, so this soul
opened towards heaven, and received the very life of
God.

Address
THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

FREDERICK J. E. WOODBRIDGE, LL.D.

Professor of Philosophy

Columbia University

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

In the preface to his book on Jonathan Edwards,
Professor Allen quotes with approval the remark of
Bancroft, " He that would know the workings of the
New England mind in the middle of the last century,
and the throbbings of its heart, must give his days
and nights to the study of Jonathan Edwards. "
And Professor Allen adds, " He that would under-
stand the significance of later New England thought,
must make Edwards the first object of his study. "
Time has at last set the limit to the truth of such
remarks. To understand the philosophy and theol-
ogy of today in New England or the country at
large, the student must undoubtedly seek his founda-
tions elsewhere than in the thought of Edwards.
His influence is now largely negligible. The type of
thinking which most widely prevails, is so far re-
moved from him, in such notable contrast to him,
finds its roots so markedly in other sources, that in-
terest in him is more antiquarian than vitalizing.
But the remarkable thing is that these statements,
true today, were not true in 1889, when Professor
Allen's book appeared. To question then the sound-
ness of his estimate, or that of Bancroft's, could at
best involve only the censure of a mild exaggeration.
A few days and nights, even at that time, might
have been spared the student of New England
thought from surrender to Edwards.

That less than twenty years could have involved

WOODBRIDGE

such a change, is itself a significant commentary on
the power of Edwards's work. It has failed not
through refutation, but through inadequacy. Today
we get so much more elsewhere, and find other
richer sources to stir us to progress or controversy.
It is to Greek philosophy, and to British and German
philosophy and theology, that the student must give
his days and nights, if he is to understand our
thought. And so for us, I take it, New England
thought, impressed in its beginnings so potently by
Edwards that he dominated it either positively or
negatively for a century and a half, has failed to af-
ford a foundation for progressive development in
either philosophy or theology. It is to be noted
further that the foundations we now rest upon, have
not been laid by our contemporaries. They reach
far back into the past, to Edwards's contemporaries
abroad, to his predecessors by many centuries. Sig-
nificant as the thought of New England has been on
its speculative side, it has not contained enough
native, original strength to preserve it from the in-
adequacy which profoundly marked it through its
ignorance of history. The courses in philosophy
and theology offered in our colleges, universities,
and seminaries today, are so immeasurably superior
to those offered twenty years ago, that one can read-
ily understand why the types of philosophy and
theology are so vastly different and owe such differ-
ent allegiance. But one would be a poor observer,
if he did not recognize the peculiar vigor of that

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

New England thought, which may have ceased to in-
fluence him profoundly.

So I would not have these remarks construed into
a belittling of Edwards or his influence. I have
made them because, in connection with that in-
fluence, they indicate the fact from which it must be
estimated. More than this : this fact, viewed in the
light of what Edwards himself did and of what his
early years gave promise, has given me the most
suggestive insight into the man's power and versatil-
ity, and a more satisfactory estimate of his person-
ality as a thinker. For he was a man with an
undeveloped possibility, greater to my mind than
the actuality attained. He did not belong to the
men we cannot imagine different, but to the men,
whom, the better we know them, the more we seem
compelled to view in other light. What he might
have been, becomes, at least for the student of phil-
osophy, as insistent and suggestive a question as
what he was.

One cannot write history as it ought to have been.
Yet this truth ought not to blind us to the fact that
there have been great persons, whose position in
history has been not only influential, but, more sig-
nificantly, critical. To such persons is chargeable
not only what their influence has been, but also
what it has not been. If the thought of New Eng-
land has been largely determined by Edwards in its
positive achievements, it has been almost equally
determined by him in what it has failed to achieve, for

WOODBRIDGE

he undoubtedly possessed, although he did not carry
through in his work, those elements which in large
measure would have made that thought more stable
and lasting. It has failed through lack of real phil-
osophical insight. But it was just this insight which
Edwards possessed in a very remarkable degree, but
failed to carry through in his work. And this is the
more significant because no other American, per-
haps, has possessed philosophical insight of equal
power.

It would of course be futile to attempt to say what
American thought would have been if Edwards had
not lacked philosophical thoroughness. Yet it ap-
pears to me undoubtedly true that it no longer finds
him influential because of just this lack, and that it
presents today little continuity with its past. It
has appeared to me instructive, therefore, to consider
with some detail, this lack of philosophical thorough-
ness in Edwards's work, in order to an appreciation
of his critical significance in the history of American
thinking, and of the profoundly interesting character
of his own thought.

Edwards's " Notes on the Mind," of uncertain
though doubtless early date, incomplete, detached,
and of most varying worth, are doubtless for the
student of philosophy the most impressive products
of Edwards's thought. While they reveal his philos-
ophical ability as perhaps none of his publications
reveals it, they cannot be credited with contributing
to his influence. They were not a known factor.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

They are not inconsistent with his elaborate treat-
ises, as Professor Gardiner maintains that they are
not, but one would not be led to suspect them from
these treatises. I dismiss consideration of them for
the present, therefore, to return to them after speak-
ing of some of his completed works. Foremost of
these is undoubtedly his " Enquiry into Freedom of
Will."

The reader of this Enquiry today must add his
tribute to the many bestowed by others on its great-
ness. But just because it is so great, its lack of
philosophical thoroughness is remarkable. What
amazes one about it is that an analysis of the will so
acute, so sane, so dispassionate, so free from preju-
dice or tricky argument, and so sound, if the dis-
tinction of terms made by Edwards is admitted,
could yet, with hardly a trace of rational justification,
be linked with a Calvinistic conception of God and
the world. I do not mean that it is at all amazing
that Edwards's conception of the will should be held
by Calvinists, or be thought consistent with their
positions, but rather that a mind that could so pro-
foundly philosophize about the will, could be so
insensible of the need of further philosophy to link
his results with his theological convictions. More
than this : that a mind so fair and dispassionate in
his analysis of the will, could be so unfair and pas-
sionate in his theological setting of it.

The first two parts of the Enquiry, with the ex-
ception of Sections n and 12 of Part II, which are

WOODBRIDGE

exegetical, are to be classed among the greatest of
philosophical writings. That Edwards is not unique
in what he here discloses does not detract from his
greatness. Spinoza, Hobbes and Hume all have
the same- doctrine, but exhibit no greater philosophi-
cal skill in the exposition of it. Significant too for
his remarkable power is the fact that these men had,
at first hand, acquaintance with other philosophies,
which he altogether lacked. In these parts, and in-
deed in the whole work, wherever Edwards seeks to
fix or distinguish terms, he is remarkably acute. A
notable illustration of this among many equally nota-
ble, is his analysis of the term " action " in Part IVf
Section 2. His clear insistence on the need of such
analysis, and his skill in executing it, rank him
among the great logicians. Simple distinctions in
argument, but of weighty import, abound, such as
this : " Infallible foreknowledge may prove the
necessity of the event foreknown, and yet not be
the thing which causes the necessity." Everywhere
the impression is left that such simple distinctions
are the fruit of careful thought and the utterances of
a mind sure of its grasp. So long as Edwards gives
himself up to the analysis, this sureness is evident,
so evident indeed, that he lets the argument carry
itself by its own worth without any attempt at
persuasion.

The results of the analysis are notable. Necessity
may be one in philosophical definition, but it is as
diverse in existence as the realms where it is found.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

Natural and moral necessity are both necessity, but
different kinds of it. Causal relations may exist be-
tween mental events as well as between physical
events, without making mental events physical.
What makes moral necessity repugnant is its con-
fusion with natural necessity, which is as if one were
to confuse mind with matter. We should recognize
too that necessity is not some exterior fate, compel-
ling events, but the actual linkage which the events
disclose in their existence, and that they do disclose
such linkage wherever they exist, in the mind as
well as in nature. Did it not exist in the mind,
there would then be no linkage between motive and
act, between end and means. Again, whether an act
is voluntary, and so free, depends on whether it is
the result of volition or of something else. The
causes of volition, whatever they may be, do not
affect its voluntary aspect or destroy the function of
the will, any more than the causes of life destroy the
functions of life. Again, moral praise or blame does
not belong to the causes of men's acts but to the
acts themselves, just as natural praise or blame be-
longs not to the causes of a thing but to its value.
Yet moral merit is different from natural merit, as
the mind is different from nature. So one might
continue until he had exhibited all the results of the
analysis.

I am of course aware that attempts have been
made to overthrow this analysis of Edwards, but I
confess that I find nothing in the analysis which

WOODBRIDGE

should lead one to make the attempt. Motives to
that effort are derived from other sources, and
almost exclusively from ethical or theological in-
terests. Nothing in the whole analysis is hostile to
morality, until that analysis ceases to be analysis,
and becomes instead a revelation of God's activity
or the secret workings of some ultimate being. It
is not hostile to morality because it discloses most
powerfully and convincingly the fact that man by
the necessity of his own nature must act and judge
with an appreciation of the value and responsibility
of his acts, just as the sun by the necessity of
its own nature must shine. To show that is not to
drive morality out of human life, but to found it in
the constitution of things. It is philosophy at its
best.

And just because it is philosophy at its best, we
look eagerly for its continuance. But here Edwards
fails us. He does not continue. Perhaps he could
not. And the fact that he did not, or could not, is
the critical thing for his philosophy and influence.
As we proceed to the remaining parts of the
Enquiry, containing his polemic against the Armin-
ians, we pursue arguments which have no philosoph-
ical relation to what has preceded. There is no
longer philosophical analysis and construction at a
sustained height, but only flashes of it here and
there, amid pages of rhetorical attempts at per-
suasion, tricky arguments, and sophistry. There is
no philosophical carrying through of the doctrine of

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

the will. Repeatedly he is content to dispose of a
difficulty in Calvinism by pointing out that Armin-
ianism has the same difficulty. He argues that if
total moral inability excuses a man totally, partial
inability should excuse him partially, and in proper
numerical proportion. This remarkable argument
he illustrates by his figure of the balance which can
turn ten pounds but no more, forgetting, apparently,
the deep significance of the fact that it can turn
anything less than ten pounds, forgetting, in short,
the vast difference between degrees of ability and
no ability at all. To the objection that men are
blameless if God gives them up to sin, he can only
cry, " Then Judas was blameless after Christ had
given him over." To these instances of philosoph-
ical weakness many more could be added, especially
Part IV, Section 9, where the question is discussed,
" How God is concerned in the existence of sin."
It is exceptionally remarkable that the man who
wrote the first two parts of the work could have
written this section. His apparent unconsciousness
of the significance of the fact that his own theory of
the will might, with equal justice, be linked with
totally different ultimate positions, is also note-
worthy. He recognizes the simple and cogent
truth that his doctrine is not false just because
Hobbes and the Stoics held it. But he fails to see
that their holding of it may point to other con-
clusions than the Calvinistic.

It is not that Edwards prostitutes his philosophy

WOODBRIDGE

to his theological convictions. To my mind there is
not the slightest proof of that, and, so far as I know,
it has never been seriously maintained. The fact is
rather that the philosopher never became the theo-
logian or the theologian the philosopher. It is futile
to try to understand Edwards's Calvinism from his
philosophy or his philosophy from his Calvinism.
In him they are juxtaposed, not united. But they
are not equally juxtaposed. The theology over-
shadows the philosophy. The latter, however, is of
such superior merit to the former in depth of in-
sight and cogency of reasoning, that one is irre-
sistibly led to speculate on what Edwards would
have been, if the philosophy had overshadowed the
theology. One recognizes that his influence would
have been vastly different, that it has consequently
been a critical influence for American thought.

This juxtaposition instead of union of philosophy
and theology is seen in Edwards's other work. I
will consider it in the two remaining writings which
are of particular philosophical interest, namely the
dissertations on " God's Last End in the Creation,"
and the " Nature of True Virtue." These disser-
tations, although never published by Edwards, were
written earlier than his last publication in 1757.
They are not, even if actually written after the
" Enquiry Concerning Freedom of Will," unpre-
meditated works. The suggestion of them is
frequent in his sermons and other writings, from
which we could largely construct them. One natu-

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

rally asks, therefore, why they were not published.
Unpublished manuscripts left by eminent men is so
frequent an occurrence, that the question might be
answered by this common fact. But acquaintance
with those dissertations gives a pointed interest to
the question. For while they present a general
agreement with the rest of Edwards's work, and
evince that juxtaposition of philosophy and theology
which has been remarked, they exhibit a real simpli-
fication of his thought and suggestive indications of
almost conscious attempts at unification. Their
total effect is rather to weaken than to strengthen
his theology. As they are not essentially polemic,
but rather more the work of a disinterested inquirer,
the logical trend of the thought becomes more
natural and inevitable. All the more logical revul-
sion is occasioned consequently by the juxtaposition
of the elements of an unrelated theology. One is
led to suspect that Edwards was becoming conscious
of his intellectual duality, and that the dissertations
were not published because they must consequently
appear to him as incomplete, as faulty, as demand-
ing the work of adjustment. His original power,
his versatility, his constant growth, make it improb-
able that his death in his fifty-fifth year occurred
when his intellectual life was fixed beyond alteration.
One is tempted, therefore, to regard these later
writings, not as the mere conclusions of previous
positions, but as works of promise.

It is interesting to note that the dissertation on

WOODBRIDGE

" God's Last End in the Creation " begins, after an
explanation of terms, with a consideration of " what
reason dictates in this affair," although it is admitted
that the affair is " properly an affair of divine reve-
lation." The justification of reason's dictates in
spite of this fact, really amounts to submitting the
facts of revelation to the judgment of reason. For
Edwards contends that "no notion of God's last end
in the creation of the world is agreeable to reason,
which would truly imply any indigence, insufficiency,
and mutability in God." This dictate of reason,
with which, as Edwards would show, revelation is in
most consistent agreeableness, contains in unde-
veloped form the recognition of God's last end in the
creation. God is his own last end. The developed
form of this statement we read, wondering if indeed
these are the words of the greatest of American
theologians, and not rather the words of some
disciple of Plotinus or of a Christian Spinoza. " As
there is an infinite fulness of all possible good in
God — a fulness of every perfection, of all excellency
and beauty, and of infinite happiness — and as this
fulness is capable of communication, or emanation
ad extra ; so it seems a thing amiable and valuable
in itself that this infinite fountain of good should
send forth abundant streams. And as this is
in itself excellent, so a disposition to this in the
divine being, must be looked upon as an excellent
disposition. Such an emanation of good is, in some
sense, a multiplication of it. So far as the stream

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

may be looked upon as anything besides the foun-
tain, so far it may be looked on as an increase of
good. And if the fulness of good that is in the
fountain, is in itself excellent, then the emanation,
which is as it were an increase, repetition, or multi-
plication of it, is excellent. Thus it is fit, since
there is an infinite fountain of light and knowledge,
that this light should shine forth in beams of com-
municated knowledge and understanding : and as
there is an infinite fountain of holiness, moral excel-
lence and beauty, that so it should flow out in
communicated holiness. And that, as there is an
infinite fulness of joy and happiness, so these should
have an emanation, and become a fountain flowing
out in abundant streams, as beams from the sun.
Thus it appears reasonable to suppose that it was
God's last end, that there might be a glorious and
abundant emanation of his infinite fulness of good
ad extra, or without himself ; and that the disposition
to communicate himself, or diffuse his own FUL-
NESS, was what moved him to create the world."
Mystic pantheism could not be more explicit.

Edwards appears not to have been wholly insen-
sible to the possibility of such an interpretation.
And here is to be noted an instance of that apparent
consciousness of a need of unification which has
been remarked. The first objection against his
view which he considers is to the effect that his
position may be "inconsistent with God's absolute
independence and immutability : particularly, as

WOODBRIDGE

though God were inclined to a communication of
his fulness, and emanations of his own glory, as
being his own most glorious and complete state."
To this he answers, " Many have wrong notions of
God's happiness, as resulting from his absolute self-
sufficience, independence and immutability. Though
it be true, that God's glory and happiness are in and
of himself, are infinite and cannot be added to, and
unchangeable, for the whole and every part of which
he is independent of the creature ; yet it does not
hence follow, nor is it true, that God has no real and
proper delight, pleasure or happiness, in any of his
acts or communications relative to the creature, or
effects he produces in them ; or in anything he sees
in his creatures' qualifications, dispositions, actions
and state. God may have a real and proper pleasure
or happiness in seeing the happy state of the
creature ; yet this may not be different from his
delight in himself." To let this answer suffice,
reason must silence its questions. It is no answer
at all, but simply a theological proposition juxtaposed
to the philosophy.

The silencing of reason is still more apparent in
his second answer to the objection. " If any are
not satisfied with the preceding answer, but still
insist on the objection, let them consider whether
they can devise any other scheme of God's last end
in creating the world, but what will be equally
obnoxious to this objection in its full force, if there
be any force in it."

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

Surely we have in this dissertation no thorough
consideration of what reason dictates in the affair.
He has in effect, as Professor Allen justly remarks,
" sacrificed all that is not God," and all the theology
of the world superimposed and insisted on, cannot
avoid that sacrifice. The mind that produced the
work on the will, and had so irresistibly followed the
dictates of reason up to this point, may have been
unconscious of the gap. If so, this unconsciousness
reveals anew the sharp duality in this great intellect.
If not, adjustment of some sort must have been felt
to be necessary, before the work could be given to
the world.

If the Calvinistic theology it contains should be
eliminated from the dissertation on the " Nature of
True Virtue," there would remain a conception of
virtue almost identical with Spinoza's. Disinterested
love to God is presented as the highest exercise of
the virtuous man, who will exercise it highly in pro-
portion to his knowledge of God, and also will desire
that as many as possible should share in the same
exercise and enjoy its benefits. These benefits do
not really consist in rewards, but the virtuous soul
finds in virtue itself its true good and highest happi-
ness. " So far as the virtuous mind exercises true
virtue in benevolence to created beings, it seeks chiefly
the good of the creature ; consisting in its knowledge
or view of God's glory and beauty, its union with
God, conformity and love to him, and joy in him."

This is all in thorough harmony with Spinoza.

WOODBRIDGE

But Edwards's total conception differs from Spinoza's
in one very important particular. With Spinoza
man must love God in proportion as he knows God,
and ignorance of the divine nature is consequently
the cause of all wickedness, is indeed wickedness
itself. But with Edwards man may know God com-
pletely and yet remain vicious. The devils believe
and tremble, but cease not, therefore, to be devils.
For while virtue grows as the knowledge of God
grows, a virtuous disposition must first be given,
natural or derived. Without such a virtuous dispo-
sition implanted or native in the heart, there can be
no virtuous exercise. Wherever in intelligent beings
this disposition is lacking, vice must prevail in spite
of perfect knowledge of God and his last end in the
creation. " Christians," says Edwards, " have the
greatest reason to believe, from the scriptures, that
in the future day of the revelation of the righteous
judgment of God, when sinners shall be called to
answer before their judge, and all their wickedness,
in all its aggravations, brought forth and clearly
manifested in the perfect light of that day ; and God
shall reprove them, and set their sins in order before
them, their consciences will be greatly awakened
and convinced, their mouths will be stopped, all stu-
pidity of conscience will be at an end, and con-
science will have its full exercise ; and therefore
their consciences will approve the dreadful sentence
of the judge against them ; and seeing that they
deserved so great a punishment, will join with the

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

judge in condemning them Then the sin and

wickedness of their heart will come to its highest
dominion and completest exercise; they shall be
wholly left of God, and given up to their wickedness,
even as the devils are ! When God has done wait-
ing on sinners, and his Spirit done striving with
them, he will not restrain their wickedness as he
does now. But sin shall then rage in their hearts,
as a fire no longer restrained and kept under."

This emphasis on the necessity of a virtuous dis-
position to the exercise of virtue, was one of the im-
portant principles in Edwards's doctrine of the will.
Its reappearance here is natural. But it reappears
with such force and clearness as to amount to the
recognition of something arbitrary in the scheme of
things, an element persistently refusing to be re-
lated, a reality naturally and originally obnoxious to
God. It seriously interferes with the divine power.
It can have no place in a world which is the emana-
tion of the divine fulness of perfection. One is
tempted to think that its presence in Edwards's
thinking is due to a concession to his theology, that
it is another instance of that unrelated juxtaposition
I have insisted on. And so it may well be. But it
serves to make that juxtaposition still more apparent.
It is true, however, that this dissertation on the
nature of true virtue, if taken by itself, exhibits a
greater degree of philosophical thoroughness than is
to be found elsewhere in Edwards's work. What-
ever may have influenced him thus to emphasize the

WOODBRIDGE

underlying necessity of a virtuous disposition to the
exercise of virtue, this dissertation, with the prin-
ciple admitted, is most thoroughly worked out. And
it is just this thoroughness which makes the dis-
sertation emphasize anew the duality of Edwards's
mind. It emphasizes it so emphatically, that the
suspicion is once more aroused that he was be-
ginning to feel the need of adjustment between the
unrelated elements of his thought.

Lack of adjustment, the juxtaposition of unre-
lated principles in an ordinary mind, is not a cause
of interest. But I have tried to point out that in
Edwards there is no ordinary juxtaposition. It is
extraordinary. It is crucial for our understanding
of the man. It is necessary for a clear character-
ization of his influence. It reveals itself with such
steady accumulation as to amount to a demand, not
altogether conscious perhaps, for a revision of the
whole system. It reveals Edwards not as a man of
a single idea, with opinions changelessly fixed and
doggedly supported, but as a man of remarkable
versatility, of steady growth, of rich promise, but as
a man too, who only late in life gave evidence of a
possible unification of the diverse elements of his
nature. Of these elements the theological was the
most prominent both by his exposition and his per-
sonal influence. It was his theology that he be-
queathed to New England, his theology, be it said,
however, stamped with the peculiar force of his
great personality. And it was not a philosophically

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

grounded theology. Its own force spent, it could
not draw on Edwards's other work. Its failure of
continued influence becomes his failure. Yet
philosophy was there with unusual excellence.
Surely one must recognize that Edwards has influ-
enced American thought critically, that he gave to
it, in its first significant and original outburst, the
theological instead of the philosophical cast, with a
theology left so unrelated to a real insight into
human nature and the world's nature, that it was
bound to fail with the failure of personal conviction
of its truth.

A man so profoundly interesting on account of
his versatility and the peculiar way its elements were
composed in him, so interesting too on account of
the nature of his influence, cannot be dismissed
without some attempt at an understanding of his
intellectual character. It is too easy an explanation
of him which would point to his time, his education,
his occupation. For, let me insist again, he was
distinctly a great man. He did not merely express
the thoughts of his time, or meet it simply in the
spirit of his traditions. He stemmed it and moulded
it. New England thought was already making
toward that colorless theology which marked it
later. That he checked. It was decidedly Arminian.
He made it Calvinistic. To his own personal con-
victions he was forced, through his removal from
Northampton, to sacrifice the work in which he had
unselfishly spent his best years. His time does not

WOODBRIDGE

explain him. We must look to his intellectual
history.

Perhaps he would remain altogether enigmatic,
were it not for what he has told us of himself, and for
what his early " Notes on the ..Mind " reveal. These
Notes contain an outline of philosophy, which for
penetration and breadth of interest finds no superior
in the work of other minds equally mature. More
than this, it surpasses the work of many maturer
minds which have yet received the recognition of
history. We know that its inspiration was mainly
Locke, but its promise of superiority to him is
evident. The remarkable verbal similarity these
Notes reveal to the writings of Berkeley, has led to a
comparison of Edwards with the Irish bishop and a
search for traces of his influence. These have not
been found. Nor is the philosophy unmistakably
Berkeley's. It is more the germ of that mystic
pantheism which was disclosed later with such clear-
ness in the dissertation on God's Last End in the
Creation. The trend of his thinking is not so much
revealed in such Berkeleyan expressions as these :
•'When we say that the World, i. e. the material
Universe exists nowhere but in the mind, we have
got to such a degree of strictness and abstraction,
that we must be exceedingly careful, that we do not
confound and lose ourselves by misapprehension.
That is impossible, that it should be meant, that all
the world is contained in the narrow compass of a
few inches of space, in little ideas in the place of the

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

brain ; for that would be a contradiction ; for we are
to remember that the human body, and the brain
itself, exist only mentally, in the same sense that
other things do ; and so that, which we call place, is
an idea too. Therefore things are truly in those
places ; for what we mean, when we say so, is only,
that this mode of our idea of place appertains to
such an idea. We would not therefore be under-
stood to deny, that things are where they seem to
be. For the principles we lay down, if they are
narrowly looked into, do not infer that. Nor will it
be found, that they at all make void Natural Philos-
ophy, or the science of the Causes or Reasons of
corporeal changes. For to find out the reasons of
things, in Natural Philosophy, is only to find out the
proportion of God's acting. And the cause is the
same, as to such proportions, whether we suppose
the World only mental, in our sense, or no."

The trend of his thinking is revealed rather in
such pantheistic expressions as these : " Seeing
God has so plainly revealed himself to us ; and other
minds are made in his image, and are emanations
from him ; we may judge what is the Excellence of
other minds, by what is his, which we have shown is
Love. His Infinite Beauty is his Infinite mutual
Love of Himself. Now God is the Prime and
Original Being, the First and Last, and the Pattern
of all, and has the sum total of all perfection. We
may therefore, doubtless, conclude, that all that is
the perfection of Spirits may be resolved into that

WOODBRIDGE

which is God's perfection, which is Love."
" When we speak of Being in general, we may be
understood of the Divine Being, for he is an
Infinite Being : therefore all others must necessarily
be considered as nothing. As to Bodies, we have
shown in another place, that they have no proper
Being of their own. And as to Spirits, they are the
communications of the Great Original Spirit ; and
doubtless, in metaphysical strictness and propriety,
He is, as there is none else. He is likewise In-
finitely Excellent, and all Excellence and Beauty is
derived from him, in the same manner as all Being.
And all other Excellence, is, in strictness only a
shadow of his." " We shall be in danger, when we
meditate on this love of God to himself, as being the
thing wherein his infinite excellence and loveliness
consists, of some alloy to the sweetness of our view,
by its appearing with something of the aspect and
cast of what we call self-love. But we are to con-
sider that this love includes in it, or rather is the
same as, a love to everything, as they are all com-
munications of himself. So that we are to conceive
of Divine Excellence as the Infinite General Love,
that which reaches all, proportionally, with perfect
purity and sweetness."

Indeed if these Notes inspire one to curious re-
search into the indebtedness of Edwards to others,
Berkeley is but one of several philosophers that
will be suggested. But the search thus far has
been vain, and it appears true that its vanity is

THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDWARDS

due, not to the lack of evidence, but to the fact
that there is no indebtedness which can be counted
as significant. These Notes are all the greater
warrant, therefore, for ranking Edwards among the
great, original minds.

But for the understanding of his intellectual his-
tory, it is not mainly important to discover the
sources of his ideas. It is important rather to note
that he began his life of constructive thought in
philosophy, and in a philosophy grounded in reason,
giving little promise of the theologian that was to
be, but abundant promise of the philosopher whose
mysticism should increasingly shine forth in his
latest works, in part a reminiscence, in part a re-
covery of the impulse of his youth.

This philosophy, however, was never to yield its
proper fruitage. It was arrested by emotional ex-
periences for which Edwards himself could not ac-
count. He became a theologian of his peculiar type,
not through the logical processes of his thinking,
but through a kind of mystical intuition. He gives
us this account of it : "I remember the time very
well when I seemed to be convinced and fully
satisfied as to this sovereignty of God, and his
justice in thus eternally disposing of men according
to his sovereign pleasure ; but never could give an
account how or by what means I was thus con-
vinced, not in the least imagining at the time, nor a
long time after, that there was any extraordinary in-
fluence of God's Spirit in it, but only that now I

WOODBRIDGE

saw further, and my mind apprehended the justness
and reasonableness of it. * * * * God's abso-
lute sovereignty and justice with respect to sal-
vation is what my mind seems to rest assured of, as
much as of anything that I see with my eyes."

Supervening upon his natural philosophical bent,
such experiences, revealing a nature swayed as much
by unanalyzed emotions as by reason, account for
those aspects of Edwards's thought which have been
noted. So potent were those experiences in their
effect, that his original position was never recovered
in its simplicity and originality. So disrupting were
they intellectually, that his philosophy and theology
remained to the close of his life almost completely
divorced and unrelated. Such experiences were so
consonant with Edwards's native mysticism, that
one can readily understand why they never fully
rose to the dignity of a contradiction in his thinking.
So significant were they for his influence that we
remember him, not as the greatest of American
philosophers, but as the greatest of American
Calvinists.

Address
THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

EGBERT COFFIN SMYTH, D.D., LL.D.

Professor of Ecclesiastical History

Andover Theological Seminary

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

Edwards is too large for ordinary measuring rods.
The best appreciations suggest more than is said, —
are best for this reason. There is always in him
something that seems to require the supposition of
a fourth dimension.

You will not expect me, within the time pre-
scribed, to review his theological treatises, nor to
state in detail his doctrinal opinions, either with or
without an attempt to estimate their value. I shall
take the subject assigned, "The Theology of
Edwards," in its strictest sense, and speak — mainly
on a single line — of his Doctrine of God. But in
doing this I shall endeavor to keep in mind two
things, — the immediate purpose of this celebration,
and what is due to Edwards in specializing in re-
spect to any part of his thinking.

We meet to offer a sincere, grateful, intelligent
tribute to his memory, to uncover anew, if we may,
the sources of his power, to feel afresh the tonic in-
fluence of his vigorous and rigorous reasoning, to
catch some fresh inspiration for our own busy
thoughts and lives, to come again under the influ-
ence of one who was called of God to bring many of
His wandering and lost children into their Father's
house, and guide them to the fountains of eternal
truth.

We honor him most, as we understand him best ;
and we best understand him as we discover how

SMYTH

marvellously in him, mind and heart, doctrine and
life, the boldest and loftiest speculation and the
purest and deepest feeling were attuned, one to the
other, in full rich harmony ; how, in the range and
variety of his inquiries and studies, and the growth
and progress of his knowledge and opinions through
years of intensest application and varied ministrations,
there was one central thought, one controlling pur-
pose ; how, also, remarkable as is his analytic power,
he seeks for wholes, and thinks and acts in wholes,
as when, in his younger years, his whole soul, in a
way he did not then understand, came into entire
accord with the absolute sovereignty of God, or,
when, the year before he died, he gave to the Trust-
ees of the College at Princeton, as a reason for
hesitancy about accepting their offer of its Presi-
dency, that he 'had had on his mind and heart a
great work, long ago begun, a History of Redemption,
a body of divinity, in an entire new method, ....
a method which appeared to him the most beautiful
and entertaining, wherein every divine doctrine will
appear to the greatest advantage, in the brightest
light, in the most striking manner, showing the ad-
mirable contexture and harmony of the whole.'

"The admirable contexture and harmony of the
whole," this is the key that unlocks for us the inner-
most chamber, discloses the central principle, of
Edwards's thought.

It has been easy, in some respects to miss this.
He left no Summa Theologica, no Body of Divinity.

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

His works are special Dissertations and Observations,
Controversial Treatises, Sermons, a Life of Brainerd,
Studies and Practical Guides in Experimental Re-
ligion. His Diary ends early. His Note Books
have been seen by but few, and have not been used
so as to derive from them all that is possible for a
knowledge of the history of his thinking, and es-
pecially for the light they may shed upon its unity.
Yet without this appreciation misunderstanding is
quite sure to arise. I could say more on this point
were this the appropriate occasion. If ever there was
a theologian who saw a whole, and was guided and
controlled by the sense of this relationship of every
part or aspect of universal being and life — "the
admirable contexture and harmony of the whole," —
it was Jonathan Edwards. He shed no tears, so far
as we are told, when he was dismissed at Northamp-
ton, deep as was the wound inflicted, but when the
council at Stockbridge decided in favor of his under-
taking a most honorable work in a position of emi-
nence and wide influence, though he had long been
wonted to self-control, the tears fell.

A study of Edwards's theology which brings us
into touch with its inward principle and development
will naturally start with his college essay entitled
" Of Being," first published by Dr. Dwight in an
appendix to the Life \ It was characteristic of its
author to seize upon this topic, and treat it as of

1 An exact reprint may be found in the Proceedings of the American
Antiquarian Society, Oct. 1895, pp. 241-245. See also Ibid., Oct. 1896,
pp. 251-252.

SMYTH

primary importance. Something is. " That there
should absolutely be nothing at all is utterly im-
possible. The mind can never, let it stretch its
conceptions ever so much, bring itself to conceive of
a state of Perfect nothing. It puts the mind into
mere Convulsion and Confusion to endeavor to think

of such a state A state of Absolute nothing

is a state of Absolute Contradiction. Absolute
nothing is the Aggregate of all the Absurd (?) contra-
dictions in the World : a state wherein there is
neither body, nor spirit, nor space ; neither empty
space nor full space ; neither little nor Great, narrow
nor broad ; neither infinitely Great space, nor finite
space, nor a mathematical point ; neither Up nor
Down; . . no such thing as either here or there,
this way or that way, or only one way. When we
go about to form an idea of Perfect nothing we
must . . shut out of our minds both space that has
something in it, and space that has nothing in it, . .
nor must we suffer our thoughts to take sanctuary
in a mathematical point. When we Go to Expel body
out of Our thoughts we must Cease not to leave
empty space in the Room of it, and when we go to
expel emptiness from Our thoughts we must not
think to squeeze it out by anything Close, hard and
solid, but we must think of the same that the sleep-
ing Rocks dream of, and not till then shall we
Get a complete idea of nothing."

Something is, — Being, infinite, omnipresent, eter-
nal, the consciousness which includes all other con-

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

sciousnesses, and in which the universe has its
being.

Edwards never lost this vivid sense of God, His
Reality, His Immediacy. It is the first, the funda-
mental thing to be taken into account in an under-
standing of his Theology. It is requisite to a just
interpretation and valuation of his controversial
treatises — necessary as a knowledge of climate, of
sky, soil, water-courses, to a science of the growth
of flowers or forests, necessary as atmosphere to
vitality. It is more instructive, for instance, to learn
how and why he was so persistent and uncompro-
mising a Determinist, could not be satisfied with
what has been called " soft Determinism," than to
follow his tireless logic as he chases an ambiguity or
a fallacy out of the world and beyond the bounds in-
habitable by any intelligence. And it is this con-
stant sense of God, irrepressible, pouring forth in
vivid metaphor and poetic image, and fervent appeal,
in words of force and fire, and again of calm and
sweet delight, that draws us to him, and while we
are with him at once thrills and rests our spirits, as
when, on a high mountain pass, or in some deep
ravine, with craggy steeps and signs of Titanic ele-
mental powers all about us, the eye rests on some
perfect flower. At the heart of Edwards's most
rugged and vigorous Determinism is the immediate-
ness, the very peace, of God.

This Divine, Infinite Reality, expressed in Being,
necessary to thought, implicit in all finite conscious-

SMYTH

ness, is in immediate relation to the human spirit.
This immediateness does not exclude mediateness, —
a method of Divine revelation by symbols and types,
by the ministries of Nature, prophets and priests,
gospels and sacraments, by the Incarnate Word.
But it does mean that all such media are of value in
so far as, and only so far as, there is in them and by
them in contact with our spirits the living God. Is
there any other theologian in whose experience and
teaching this realization of the Divine Presence is so
palpable ? It is the more noteworthy because never
was there a divine who gave himself more diligently
to the study of the written word, following it not only
in perusal, but in annotation, citation, appli-
cation, with persevering and tireless fidelity, nor one
who surpassed him in power of analysis and deduc-
tion. Yet behind the letter and the logic, broader
than the range of dialectic, and reaching farther
than the subtlest discrimination of thought, is evi-
dent, as the space that holds the countless stars, the
Presence to his inmost consciousness of the God he
loved with a pure surpassing love and served with a
marvelous consecration.

In this apprehension of the Divine as real Being,
everywhere present, is implied its knowableness.
One would like to see in our time a mind like that
of Edwards, — or Edwards himself, if that might
be, — dealing with the Agnosticism which oppresses
many. How he would toss on the horns of his dia-
lectic a scientific knowing that we do not and can-

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

not know, that religious verities cannot be verified !
Agnosticism as a belief, a knowledge, or a bar to
knowledge, would seem to him like that belief in
nothing which elicited his youthful polemic, and
this characteristic comment : " If any man thinks
that he Can think well Enough how there should be
nothing I'll engage that what he means by nothing is
as much something as anything that ever he thought
of in his Life, and I believe that if he knew what
nothing was it would be intuitively evident to him
that it Could not be."

We may presume, also, that with the early Chris-
tian Apologists he would emphasize that the soul is
naturally capacitated to know God, and that such
knowledge has always been in some degree in its
possession ; that not only is it found where the
Christian revelation has shed its light, but is con-
tained in other religions as well. Such is his con-
tention in one of his unpublished papers, and eagerly
would he appropriate whatever progress has been
made in these later days in the science of compara-
tive religion. The testimony of prophets of Jehovah,
of Christian experience, above all of Him who spake
as never man spake, would flame out with surpassing
splendor, for the theme would kindle his highest
powers. Especially, we may believe, would he
speak with reassuring tones to any who are now
more or less disquieted by what is termed, rather
vaguely, and sometimes a little emptily, the changed
view of Scripture, — meaning, however, more par-

SMYTH

ticularly, new suppositions or conclusions as to the
origin, construction, collection of its several books,
in a word new light upon their literary history, and
their relation to successive changes or stages in the
religious progress of mankind.

On the one hand we may be sure that Edwards
would be no less eager than the most enthusiastic
scholar to learn all that can be discovered in this
field of investigation, behind no one in courage and
sincerity of utterance. Nor would his high idealism
make him indifferent, in any degree, to historic
facts, not even in the most narrow and insufficient
meaning of this much abused phrase. His idealism
was not subjectivism. He would recognize that
there are facts with which the truth of divine revela-
tion is bound up, which are its actual expression.
Incommensurateness of fact and idea wonld not
mean to him their disjunction.

Nor was he a mere mystic. No one in the history
of our churches has had a greater influence on prac-
tical piety. He insisted on charity in speech and
benevolence in deed. Virtue is Love. In the re-
ligious movements of which he was a leader he ex-
hibited sanity and sagacity. It is enough to refer
to his discriminating treatment of the inward testi-
mony of the Holy Spirit. And though he did not
mingle directly in political affairs, he has been
credited by a recent historian with having, " more
than any other man, settled the principle which fully
justified to the American mind the complete sever-

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

ance of the State from ecclesiastical functions or
concern." 1

Yet, on the other hand, it is noteworthy, as the
author to whom I have just referred points out,
that this service was rendered, not directly, but
through Edwards's religious teaching.2 And it would
still doubtless be on this line, and with this power,
that he would influence, if living among us, the
doubt and distrust of our time. "The gospel," he
wrote, after witnessing, analysing, and studying in
many forms its divine power, — "The gospel of the
blessed God does not go abroad a begging for its
evidence so much as some think : it has its highest
and most proper evidence in itself." 3 "Unless men
may come to a reasonable solid persuasion and con-
viction of the truth of the gospel .... by a sight
of its glory, it is impossible that those who are
illiterate, and unacquainted with history should have
any thorough and effectual conviction of it at

all After all that learned men have said to

them, there will remain innumerable doubts on their
minds ; they will be ready, when pinched with some
great trial of their faith, to say ' How do I know
this or that ? How do I know when these histories
were written ? Learned men .... tell me there
is equal reason to believe these facts, as any what-
soever that are related at such a distance ; but how

1 The Rise of Religious Liberty in America, A History. By Sanford
H. Cobb, N. Y. The Macmillan Co., 1902. Page 4^5.

2/6., pp. 485-486.

3 Treatise on Religious Affections, Sect. V., I. Works, Vol. V., p.
186; ed. Dwight.

SMYTH

do I know that other facts which are related of
those ages ever were ? ' " 1

Edwards's solution of the difficulty of the un-
learned is good for all. The scholar needs it as
well as others. Still the gospel is its own best evi-
dence ; its demonstration is "the demonstration of
the Spirit and of power." Edwards knew this gospel
by its supreme result in character and life ; knew it
in his own protracted, analysed, tested, profound ex-
perience ; saw it in a life, united with his own, so
constant in cheerfulness, benevolence, devoutness,
divine communion, that its spiritual raptures seem
scarcely more wonderful than it would have been
had they not been vouchsafed ; observed it in its
effect in many places and successive seasons, in
persons of various ranks, callings and ages, and this
with as keen a psychological eye as one may read
of, quickened in its watchfulness by a profound sense
of responsibility; and in these impressive and
memorable words he gives us his testimony both as
to the reality and value of the knowledge the gospel
imparts : " He that sees the beauty of holiness, or
true moral good, sees the greatest and most impor-
tant thing in the world. . . . Unless this is seen
nothing is seen that is worth the seeing ; for there
is no other true excellency or beauty. Unless this
be understood, nothing is understood worthy the
exercise of the noble faculty of understanding. This
is the beauty of the Godhead, the divinity of divinity

1 Ibid., pp. 182-183.

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

(if I may so speak), the good of the infinite fountain
of good. Without this, God Himself (if that were
possible) would be an infinite evil ; we ourselves had
better never have been, and there had better have
been no being. He therefore in effect knows noth-
ing that knows not this ; his knowledge is but the
shadow of knowledge, or the form of knowledge, as
the apostle calls it And well may regen-
eration, in which this divine sense is given to the
soul by its Creator, be represented as opening the
blind eyes, raising the dead, and bringing a person
into a new world." 1

Edwards included in what may be known of God
His existence as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In
the editions of his collected works there is no formal
discussion of this subject. The doctrine, however,
plainly appears in various aspects, particularly in
affecting representations of the excellence and glory
of the Redeemer, and discriminating discussions of
the work of the Holy Spirit. In general it may be
said that it pervades his system of theology, so that
this would be unintelligible without it. The doc-
trine, in a word, is present in his published writings,
as it generally is in Holy Scripture, that is, in ob-
vious presuppositions, implications, and practical
applications. It sheds light upon the most intimate
and profound experiences revealed in the Christian
consciousness, and is implied in manifold known
operations and effects pertaining to the life of the

1 Ibid., p. 158.

SMYTH

children of God. It makes the via cruris a via lucis.
It belongs to the far, high, pure, ever burning lights
that guide upward to the immediate vision of Him
all whose blessedness and majesty and glory, with
the entire good of the universe, are involved and
insured in this, that He is eternally and essentially
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

In the delightful "Treatise on Grace," printed
for private circulation by Mr. Grosart, Edwards says,
"Though the word person be rarely used in the
Scriptures, yet I believe that we have no word in
the English language that does so naturally repre-
sent what the Scripture reveals of the distinction of
the eternal Three, — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost —
as to say, they are one God, but three persons." l
He recognizes also the mystery of the doctrine, and
our dependence for knowledge and guidance re-
specting it on Sacred Scripture, which, he says, —
referring directly to an inquiry into the nature of
the Holy Spirit, — " certainly should be our rule in
matters so much above reason and our own notions." 2

In Manuscripts mostly as yet unpublished, either
in whole or in part, are numerous papers on the
subject. I may say in passing that when in this
address I use the term " Observation," or " Obser-
vations," for a source of information respecting
Edwards's opinions, I refer to statements derived
from these Manuscripts.

1 Op. cit., p. 43.
2 lb., pp. 43,47.

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

How often we come closest to some great leader,
in his deepest thoughts and aims, as a biographer
gives us a glimpse of his youth, its intuitions, per-
ceptions, aspirations, dreams. The key to the life
usually hangs in that closet. Whatever critics may
conclude, the Church will always be profoundly
grateful for the picture in the Third Gospel of the
Child Jesus among the doctors.

A study of the Observations of Edwards shows
that deep thoughts upon the Trinity came to him in
the beginnings of his theological studies, indeed,
some paragraphs in the published Series entitled
"The Mind," in all probability carry us back yet
farther.1 It appears, also, that for a number of
years, perhaps down close upon the time when he
must have been much absorbed in labors connected
with the " Revival," and the " Great Awakening,"
and again after he had left Northampton, that is to
the last, the same theme engaged his thought.1
Nowhere is there any indication of dissatisfaction
with the accepted historic doctrine. Rather it is an
endeavor, by what the writer himself regards as in-
tense thought, to bring the doctrine more clearly to

1 See No. i. Excellency [Dwight's, ed. I. pp. 696, 697]; also, No. 45,
Paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 9, 12 [lb., pp. 699, 700, 701]. The earliest Observation
on the Trinity in the series entitled " Miscellanies " is numbered 94, which
is equivalent to 142. The number 52 is usually added to those in this series
on account of its beginning with the alphabet, — first a single letter, then
double letters. But I find that there is noj nor.#, also no v nor vv, so that
the added number should be 48. No. 1, of Series " The Mind," is appar-
ently, unless " Of Being " is prior, the earliest college composition by Ed-
wards of which we have any knowledge. It was probably composed in his
Sophomore or early in his Junior year. It contains the germ of his many
subsequent philosophical remarks upon the Trinity. No. 94(142) of the
" Miscellanies" is supposed to have been written towards the close of his
residence at the College as a graduate student (1720-1722), and before his
Tutorship. See Dwight, I. p. 56; also Appendix I. to this volume, No. A.

SMYTH

view, and this by seeing it as reflected in the mirror
of self-consciousness. The attempt was not novel,
but it is remarkable in its clearness of conception,
and in its presentation and answering of objections.

I had prepared a statement of its positions and
method, with quotations from hitherto unused doc-
uments, but must omit the reading, that I may
allude to other topics.1 What is most striking, for
myself I should say instructive and helpful, in the
discussions is the clear conviction, the fearless claim
of the Reasonableness of the doctrine from the point
of view of what the writer calls " naked Reason,"
the repeated assertion of the power of human reason
to deal with the subject, and the foundation of the
claim in a broader view of the likeness of man to
God. In the human spirit there is a three-fold dis-
tinction which is a resemblance to the Trinity of the
Divine Nature. I may not conceal my impression
that it would have been happy for the New England
Theology, at least, and the interests it represents,
if Edwards's thoughts on this subject had obtained
an earlier and wider publicity. I must, however,
add with equal frankness and distinctness that I
have no suspicion that they have ever been withheld
from any doubt as to the writer's Trinitarianism.

For the reason already suggested I must omit
what I had written respecting his treatment of the
Incarnation, — except to say that the same principle
which guides his thought on the Trinity is applied

1 See Appendix I. A.

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

by him to this doctrine. I refer to the principle of
man's likeness to his Maker. Edwards thus recog-
nizes distinctly and interestedly, what has become a
first principle in our later and best Christologies.1
He does not, however, follow out this principle to
its legitimate results in our conception of the Divine
method of recovering men to God. That which is
essential in the constitution of the Redeemer's Per-
son must be fundamental in our interpretation of
what He is and does for us as our Redeemer.
There is, through the Divine Creative Son, who be-
came man, a natural sonship of man to God which
must have a place in our thought of the sonship
which is by grace. To have missed this application
of his own principle may be regarded as a chief
immediate cause both of what was most excessive
and defective in Edwards's teaching.

His thought of God is still further disclosed to us
in his interpretation of the revealed Purpose or End
of God in Creation. His "Dissertation" on this
topic, which ranks with his principal works, was
written, it is supposed, for publication, though it did
not appear until several years after his decease.
From notes found among his papers it was con-
jectured that he was thinking of some revision of it,
but no evidence has appeared that he was meditating
any material change.

The Observations contain numerous papers on the
same theme, running from his early days into the

1 See Appendix I. B.

SMYTH

years at Stockbridge. In these manuscripts we
overhear Edwards saying to himself in his study
substantially what is expressed in the " Disserta-
tion." The light of the one blends harmoniously
with that of the other. Yet there is in the unpub-
lished series a fascinating variety and freshness of
utterance, and as we follow in them the growth of
his thought, we come in some respects into closer in-
timacy with it, and are impressed with its richness
and fulness.

Several questions have arisen in the interpreta-
tion of the " Dissertation."

Does its author regard happiness as the End ?
Does he subordinate virtue to happiness ? Does he
understand, in making the glory of God the End,
that receiving glory is what is aimed at, so that the
" apparent effect " of what is said is, the glorification
of " an infinite and celestial selfishness ? " Was he
perplexed in thought, when he wrote the "Disser-
tation," by seeing before him, in his recoil from
Deism, a menacing pantheism ? And for relief was
he in his last years, turning for the first time to the
" Christian doctrine of the Trinity ? "

I think, after examining the Observations as well
as reading anew the " Dissertation," that these ques-
tions must all be answered in the negative, although
Happiness no doubt enters largely into Edwards's
thought of the Divine Purpose.

The Observations are most emphatic in their evi-
dence that Edwards's thought is not that God's

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

chief end in creation is that of receiving glory. His
conception is precisely the opposite. His funda-
mental thought of God, — one that he connects
again and again with Creation, — is that of a Being
whose absolute Perfection implies self-impartation,
reciprocity, mutual Love, which itself is an energy
so intense and complete that into it as an act of in-
tercommunication is poured the fullness of Infinite
Being. This conception of the Trinity Edwards
early and late connects with the Creation of the
Universe. God does not create to meet a deficiency
in his own nature, but just the contrary. He cre-
ates because of the plenitude of His Being, as a full
fountain overflows. His glory is to give. He
creates to communicate, — to give Himself, to be the
creature's good.1

Edwards taught nothing new in presenting the
glory of God as the End of the Creation, but he
greatly enriched its interpretation. He smote the
rock, and the living waters flowed. With the bless-
ing of God he made the truth productive of noblest
service, in our churches at home and on many a
mission field, from men who lived to glorify God.
And into what simplicity, purity, disinterestedness
of motive, and inward tranquility, and liberation of
energies of consecrated service, they came in the
divine communion into which their spirits were
brought. Life under the sternest skies, on the
stormiest seas, in the farthest wildernesses, was under

1 See Appendix 1. C

SMYTH

the care and guidance of a Power known in their
own reason and deepest experience to be supreme.
The Universe was their Friend, sustaining them,
moving them ever onward, as, by a returning
voyager, his ship beneath his feet is felt, with a
thrill of joy, to be bearing him, with the whole mo-
mentum of its mighty mass, homeward.

Homeward to God, whose we are and from whom
we came — this is the innermost meaning and the
climax of Edwards's Theology.

We may get a better doctrine of the Will than he
maintained, though never without him, for he has
made forever secure in thought the doctrine of mo-
tive. We may widen our conceptions beyond his
ken in respect to the methods of divine grace, — its
approaches, and the opportunities of receiving it,
but well will it be with us if we come as fully as he
under the constraining power of such love, and drink
as deeply at its celestial springs.

I had intended to say something on Edwards's
views of Divine Sovereignty, on his Determinism,
perhaps on his severities, — but it is impossible.
The problem of Liberty and Necessity, like that of
Realism and Idealism, is not merely one of Psy-
chology. It must be solved, if at all, in the realm
of Philosophy. Edwards rises to this higher level.
It is his native air. His conception of Perfect
Being contains the Trinity, his thought of personal
freedom merges in the Liberty of the sons of God.
We have broken with him, and shall do so again and

THE THEOLOGY OF EDWARDS

again, but anon shall look and see him on some
higher range, above our clouds. The deepest phil-
osophical and religious thought of our time, on most
important lines, if I mistake not, is moving upward
on the way which led him in thought to God.

Homeward to God — this is indeed the sum of
Edwards's Theology ; yet I should be unjust to one
who saw all divinity comprised in a History of Re-
demption, if I did not add, Homeward by Him who
came to seek and to save the lost, Christ and Him
crucified. Edwards summons us to know God by
Reason, — yet by Faith. Would he not say : See
Him, know Him, and yourself, and all besides,
through the eyes that opened in the manger, turned
with compassion to the multitude, looked on Peter
in his sin, and closed on the cross to open again
upon a world redeemed.

Poem
A WITNESS TO THE TRUTH

SAMUEL VALENTINE COLE, D.D.
President of Wheaton Seminary

A WITNESS TO THE TRUTH
I.

God's truth has many voices ; sun and star
And mountain and the deep that rolls afar,
Speak the great language ; and, of mightier worth,
The lips and lives of Godlike men on earth.

For truth wrought out in human life has power

Which no truth else has — since man's natal hour.

What were the world without the long, strong chain

Of faithful witnesses, whose heart and brain

Have throbbed with truth God gave them ? without these

Who, as with hands that link together, stand

Reaching across the years to that dear Hand

Which touched blind eyes to sight, wrote on the sand,

And lifted Peter from the drowning seas ?

Who, better than through book or hymn or creed,

Draw down their living line the fire we need

Of life from Him who is the Life indeed ?

II.

A good man's work is of his time and place
Where Duty lifts the fulness of her face ;
Translate it elsewhere and you do him wrong ;
His life, his spirit — what of great and fair
And true was in him — O, that doth belong
To all the ages and dwells everywhere !

COLE

And there he stands, this nobly-moulded man ;

You can not miss him if you turn and scan

The land's horizon ; howsoe'er men talk,

He still is of us ; no mere name ; a rock

The floods may beat upon nor wash away ;

Foregatherer of the times ; his loftier height

Flushed with the gleams of sweetness and of light

That wait their fulness till some later day ;

An eagle spirit soaring in the sky

And mingling with the things that can not die.

How full of fire he was, and how sincere,
Soldier of faith and conscience without fear !
And humble as the little springtime flower
Opening its heart out to the Heavenly Power ;
Poet, and dreamer of the things to be ;
A man of Godly vision ; — such was he,
This Dante of New England, who descried
The dread Inferno of man's sin and pride ;
The Purgatorio where his eyes might trace
The workings out and upward of God's grace ;
And yet who clomb with happier step the slope
Of man's aspiring and undying hope
Toward Paradiso, there to find his goal
At last, — the Blessed Vision of the Soul !

III.

All this he was, whatever be the name
He goes by in the roll of earthly fame.

A WITNESS TO THE TRUTH

We judge him as we would ourselves alway

Be judged ; as Christ will judge the world one day ;

Not by things done, however great they be,

But by those longings which immortally

Outrun achievement since the world began ;

Yea, by the spirit in him ; that's the man.

What though the vain world scoffed and paths grew dim,

He had one Master and he followed Him.

He wielded truth to meet the age's stress

Of circumstance, nor made it truth the less.

Truth is a sword that flashes, now this way,

Now that, the single purpose to obey.

Nay, truth is large ; no man hath seen the whole ;

Larger than words ; it brooks not the control

Of argument and of distinctions nice ;

No age or creed can hold it, no device

Of speech or language ; ay, no syllogism :

Truth is the sun, and reasoning is the prism

You lift before it ; whence the light is thrown

In various colors ; each man takes his own.

If this man takes the red, as you the blue,

Is yours the whole ? and is his truth not true ?

Spirit is truth, howe'er the colors fall ;

The fact comes back to spirit after all.

IV.

Secure, invincible, the man who dare

Obey his vision — mark what courage there ! —

COLE

Dare take the sword of his belief in hand,
Whole-hearted face the world with it, and stand,
And mind not sacrifice, and count fame dross,
For truth's dear sake, and life and all things loss,
And never dream of failure, never doubt
What issue when the stars of God come out !

And would that we had power like him to rise
Clear of the thraldom of all compromise,
Like him whose feet on this foundation stood, —
That God is sovereign and that God is good.
Is such a creed outworn ? And tell me, pray,
Have we no use for it ? Alas the day,
Amid the things that savor of the sod,
If men forget the sovereign rights of God !
The true life's master-word is still, Obey.

The man of power rejoicing cries, " I can ; "
" I may," the man of pleasure : but we trust,

And all the world trusts with us, still the man
Hearing a different voice, who says, " I must."

O Conscience, Conscience, how we need thee now !

Wind, fire, and earthquake pass ; the time abounds
In these great voices ; but, O, where art thou ?

Is thy voice lost amid life's grosser sounds ?

A WITNESS TO THE TRUTH

Or art thou fled across the golden bars
Of evening with thy purer light to shine

Somewhere far off, beyond the quiet stars,
Far off, and leave us without guide or sign ?

Not so ; earth's towers and battlements decay ;

Thrones tremble and fall ; old sceptres lose control
But, as God lives, thou livest ; thou wilt stay,

O Conscience, God's vicegerent in the soul.

We are thy bondmen and thy ways are good ;

Thou art what makes us greater than the dust
We came from ; and still, howsoe'er we would,

Thy law is ever on us and we must.

VI.

The man who takes " an inward sweet delight

In God," shines like a candle in the night ;

The world's black shadow of care and doubt and sin

Is beaten backward by that power within ;

He walks in freedom ; neither time nor place

Can fetter such a spirit ; in his face

A light, not of this earth, forever clings ;

For, when he will, strong spiritual wings

Bear him aloft, till silent grows all strife,

Silent the tumult and the toil of life ;

The homes of men, far off, like grains of sand

Lie scattered along the wrinkles of the land,

All silent ; not a sound or breath may rise

IOI

COLE

To mar the eternal harmony of those skies
Through which he goes, still higher, toward the line
Where sun and moon have no more need to shine ;
And there, where sordid feet have never trod,
He walks in joy the table-lands of God.

VII.

How much he hath to teach us even yet,
Lest life should kill us with its toil and fret !
Things of the earth men seek to have and hold ;
They build and waste again their mounds of gold.
O me ! the din of life, the bell that peals,
The traffic, and the roaring of the wheels !
Work glows and grows and satisfies us not ;
Weary we are of what our hands have wrought,
Weary of action with no time for thought.
The much we do — how little it must count
Without some pattern showed us in the mount !

Who seeks and loves the company of great
Ideals, and moves among them, soon or late
Will learn their ways and language, unaware
Take on their likeness, ay, and some day share
Their immortality, as this man now
Before whose life we reverently bow.

VIII.

So shines the lamp of Edwards ; still it sends
One golden beam down the long track of years,

102

A WITNESS TO THE TRUTH

This resolute truth which neither yields nor spends, —
That life, true life, is not of what appears,
Not of the things the world piles wide and high ;
'Tis of the spirit and will never die.

His life was noble ; wherefore let the day

White with his memory shine beside the way —

Adding its comfort to our human need —

Like some fair tablet whereon men may read :

" Lo, here and there, great witnesses appear, —

The meek, the wise, the fearless, the sincere ;

They live their lives and witness to the word ;

No time so evil but their voice is heard ;

Nor sword nor flame can stop them ; though they die

They grow not silent ; they must cry their cry ;

Time's many a wave breaks dying on the shore ;

They cry forever and forevermore ;

For, in and through such men as these men are,

God lives and works, and it were easier far

To dry the seas and roll the mountains flat,

Than banish God ; we build our hopes on that."

103

Address
THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

JAMES ORR, D.D.

Professor of Theology, United Free Church College

Glasgow

THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

To speak of Jonathan Edwards to a company of
New Englanders, still more to speak of him within
the walls of an institution built in a manner to
enshrine his memory and perpetuate his influence,
is an adventurous task for one whose home is in
another continent, and whose religious associations
are different from those by which you are encircled.
Yet there may be a fitness in one from another land
being present at this interesting celebration, to bear
to you greeting, and to testify that we in Scotland
are not unmindful of the mighty debt we owe to
New England — which in truth all Christendom
owes — for the gift of a consecrated genius of such
rare power and enduring influence as his whom you
today commemorate. The name of Jonathan Ed-
wards is one which entwines itself with the oldest
recollections of many of us. We met with it in
biography, in the literature of religion, in text-books
and prelections in philosophy, in divinity systems, in
allusions to the influence of Edwards on the thought
and lives of other men ; and, though one's ideas
were sometimes vague enough of the man himself
and of his actual surroundings and struggles at a time
when, politically and religiously, everything in New
England was yet in the making, the impression
made upon us was always one of veneration for his
character, admiration for his extraordinary genius,

107

ORR

and awe at the searching spiritual power of his
words.

If I may indulge in reminiscence, it is forty years
and more since I first made my own serious
acquaintance with Edwards in poring over his
treatise on The Freedom of the Will (I think it was
as holiday reading : I have a dim memory connect-
ing it with a gooseberry garden in Kilmarnock ! ),
and I have no doubt that the trains of thought then
set in motion have continued to vibrate in my con-
scious or subliminal self till the present hour. It is
to myself a singular satisfaction to be on the very
soil from which he sprang, amidst the scenes and
the people among whom, generations ago, he lived
his laborious and devoted life, and to stand tonight
in this honourable gathering, surrounded by me-
mentos of his influence, where the one object is to
do him honour.

How could one contract any other sentiment
than that of reverence for Jonathan Edwards, when
his name was never mentioned by any distinguished
writer except with highest eulogy of his intellectual
and moral eminence ? That theologians like An-
drew Fuller, Robert Hall, and Thomas Chalmers —
all of whom acknowledge their indebtedness to him,
and in all of whom his influence is distinctly to be
traced — should place him on this high pedestal is
perhaps not to be wondered at ; but when writers
in pure philosophy, in no way enamoured of his
special doctrines, — as, e. g., Sir James Mackintosh,

1 08

THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

Dugald Stewart, F. D. Maurice, and even the Ger-
man Fichte, — speak of his metaphysical genius in
praise and astonishment, it is difficult to resist the
conviction that here is a phenomenon in the history
of mind worth turning aside to see. You, in your
own New England theology, prolonged through so
many phases, yet dominated throughout by the in-
fluence of Edwards, furnish a measure of the range
and profundity of that influence which suffices of
itself to show how many-sided, forceful, and germ-
inal it has been. And in this connection, as I have
named F. D. Maurice, I may be permitted, before
going further, to quote a sentence or two of his,
which, coming from so impartial a mind, may be
felt to be apposite to the present occasion :

" In his own country," Mr. Maurice says, " he
(Edwards) retains, and must always retain a great
power. We should imagine that all American
theology and philosophy, whatever changes it may
undergo, and with whatever foreign elements it
may be associated, must be cast in his mould. New
Englanders who try to substitute Berkeley, or
Butler, or Malebranche, or Condillac, or Kant, or
Hegel, for Edwards, and to form their minds upon
any of them, must be forcing themselves into an
unnatural position, and must suffer in the effort.
On the contrary, if they accept the starting-point of
their native teacher, and seriously consider what is
necessary to make that teacher consistent with him-
self — what is necessary that the divine foundation

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upon which he wished to build may not be too weak
and narrow for any human or social life to rest upon
it — we should expect great and fruitful results
from these inquiries to the land which they care for
most, and therefore to mankind." {Moral and
Metaphysical Philosophy, II. 472.)

I shall now, with your permission, come to closer
quarters, and shall try to state briefly for myself
the impression I have been led to form of this great
thinker's genius and influence. It is customary to
place the supremacy of Edwards in his unrivalled
metaphysical acuteness ; and even so appreciative a
critic as Henry Rogers resolves his greatness almost
exclusively into the possession, in unsurpassed de-
gree, of the ratiocinative faculty — of Reason. "In
this respect, at least," he says, " he well deserves the
emphatic admiration which Robert Hall expressed
when he somewhat extravagantly said that Edwards
was ' the greatest of the sons of men.' " But this is
at least one-sided. I shall not dwell, as I should
wish to do, on the singularly powerful influence
which Edwards has exercised, in his personality and
published writings, through the simple force of his
pure and intense godliness, but shall content myself
with saying that it will be difficult, in the long list
of saints and mystics, to point to one in whom the
pure light of intellect was more intimately united
with the pure glow of love to God in the heart —
with habitual, sustained, all-pervading, spiritual
affection. One has only to study the fragmentary

THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

records of his early resolutions and private exper-
iences, and the parts of his writings which deal with
experimental religion, to see how entirely in him the
white light is one with white heat. I name the
state of his soul godliness ; for while his mind was
filled, as few have been, with a realization of the
beauty and excellence of Christ, and with the sense
of obligation to Christ in redemption, it is still,
ultimately, God's love from which salvation is always
viewed as flowing, and to God, as the supreme object
of affection, that everything in salvation is regarded
as leading back ; while love to God, contemplation
of his excellence, and assimilation to his holiness,
are the supreme elements in the soul's blessedness.

The intellectual and spiritual or mystical powers
in Edwards, therefore, exist in inseparable union,
and even his speculative insight — which is, despite
Mr. Rogers, far more than mere logical or ratiocina-
tive acuteness — cannot rightly be understood, if
divorced from the spiritual perception from which a
large part of its light arises. There is at the same
time nothing mystical, in the wrong sense of the
word, in Edwards's spirituality, for it is never cut
away from the historical ; neither is there anything
about it fanatical and visionary, for it has its root in
humility, is checked by the most vigorous self-
analysis, and is in essence a pure aspiration after
God and holiness. Listen only to this, relating to
the years after his conversion :

" My longings after God and holiness were much

ORR

increased. Pure and humble, holy and heavenly,
Christianity appeared exceedingly amiable to me. I
felt a burning desire to be, in everything, a complete
Christian ; and conformed to the blessed image of
Christ ; and that I might live in all things, according
to the pure, sweet, and blessed rules of the Gospel.
I had an eager thirsting after progress in these
things ; which put me upon pursuing and pressing
after them .... I remember the thoughts I used
then to have of holiness ; and said sometimes to
myself, ' I do certainly know that I love holiness,
such as the Gospel prescribes.' It appeared to me
there was nothing in it but what was ravishingly
lovely ; the highest beauty and amiableness — a
divine beauty ; far purer here upon earth ; and that
everything else was like mire and defilement in
comparison with it."

Nature itself was transfigured to this man of
spiritual vision ; its objects and glories became as it
were a pure transparency, through which was visible
only the Divine excellency. Can anyone wonder at
the strange spiritual fascination of such a book as
that on the Religious Affections, coming from a soul
so penetrated with love to God ? We think of
Fenelon and Madame Guyon, but Edwards's piety
burned with as pure a flame as theirs, while it was
largely free from the morbid and quietistic elements
which marred their sainthood.

Having, however, premised these things, I am pre-
pared to go as far as any — perhaps farther than

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THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

m0st — in my appreciation of the supreme meta-
physical faculty of Edwards, and of the influence he
has exercised on subsequent thought through that.
I have already said that it is not correct to speak of
Edwards's intellectual superiority as consisting
merely in unrivalled ratiocinative ability. Jonathan
Edwards has the intuitive gift ; he is a great meta-
physical, not less than a great spiritual, idealist.
His nature instinctively soars ; the higher the tracts
in which his thought moves, the freer its action.
David Hume was a precocious speculator, but the
few pages of notes and discussions oil Mind, penned
by Edwards under the impulse of his first study of
Locke, in his sixteenth or seventeenth year, seem
to me as remarkable in metaphysical subtlety as
anything in Hume, while, in the spirit that informs
them, they are on a far higher level. The singular
thing is that, in keeping with what has been said of
his idealistic bent, Edwards, in these notes, and, so
far as appears, independently, works out a theory
of idealism closely akin to Berkeley's, sustaining it
by arguments, and meeting objections with a skill
that must evoke the admiration of everyone familiar
with the subject. When one reflects that the
Berkelean idealism is pretty much the pons asinorum
of the student of philosophy, getting safely over
which, he may justly be credited with some degree
of philosophical vovs, it will be felt that for a youth
like Edwards, thrown almost entirely upon his own
resources, to work out this theory as he has done, or,

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even if chance had thrown some work of Berkeley's
in his way, (which does not seem to have been the
case), to appropriate and reproduce its thoughts so
admirably, was a noteworthy achievement.

It is not, however, only in his theory of the ex-
ternal world, and of God as the cause of our per-
ceptions, that Edwards displays his metaphysical
faculty ; his remarks on space, time, substance,
cause, are equally acute and mature. There is, it is
not too much to say, as much pure metaphysical
thinking packed up in this score or so of pages, as
would set up many a modern thinker for life ; and
had Edwards chosen to follow out this line, and had
he, like Hume, reduced his speculations to the form
of a book, his place in philosophy would perhaps
have been as high as his.

Edwards, however, did better than I have sug
gested both for himself and for us ; for philosophy
to him was at no time an end in itself, but was
valued only as it led back to, or had relations with,
God and religion. The converse of this is also true,
that religion, as it moves back on ultimate questions,
always becomes to him again a kind of philosophy ;
is lifted up into a region of more or less lofty spec-
ulation. Here, in discussing such subjects, e. g.,
as the last end of God in creation, the relation of
eternity to time, the ground of virtue in disin-
terested love of being, the freedom of the will,
Edwards is at his loftiest and best ; the language of
the schools is dropped, and we move in a region of

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THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

pure abstract thought. To follow him in the highest
of these flights needs the eye of the eagle that is
not afraid to gaze on the sun.

The work by which Edwards is best known as a
metaphysician throughout all lands is probably his
treatise on The Freedom of the Will. In the mere
matter of this famous treatise, over which so much
ink has been spilt, I do not suppose that there is
much that is absolutely new. It could easily be
shown, I think, that its leading ideas, and practically
all its arguments in favour of philosophical necessity,
had been anticipated by previous writers. What
gives Edwards's book its classic distinction is not
its novelty, but the cool, dialetical precision with
which the argument, as a whole, is presented ; the
skill with which point after point is driven home ;
the close concatenation of all its parts ; the phalanxed
order with which, from opening to close, his reason-
ing marches to its inevitable conclusion. I do not
say that Edwards succeeds in satisfying us, or that
no flaws can be pointed out in his argument, firmly
riveted as it is. Will is not simply prevailing
desire ; nor is self-determination to be got rid of by
conjuring up the supposed necessity of an infinite
series of self-determining acts. I suppose everyone
feels, when the utmost has been said in favour of
the necessity of volition, that there is still an
irreducible element in consciousness — a something
that escapes logic — in which yet the essence of
our personality and moral freedom lies. Still, if the

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question is taken on the ground of strict logic — if
it is asked, for instance, Is Will absolutely lawless
in its action ? Is there any volition for which, if
we get to the bottom of the act, there is not a why ?
Or, if such a thing could be, would it not be something
irrational, an act utterly unaccountable, that could,
as Edwards says, neither be foreknown by God nor
relied on by man ? — if questions like these are put,
it is difficult indeed to refute Edwards, or the
subtler forms of psychological and metaphysical
determinism that have appeared since his time. It
is at any rate a curious fact that it is the greater
metaphysical minds that seem almost always driven
to determinism — Locke, Spinoza, Leibnitz ; Hobbes
and Hume, of course ; Kant on the theoretic side ;
Hegel, from the absolute point of view ; Spencer,
and with him the greater number of our scientific
thinkers. I must not dare to discuss the problem
here ; only Edwards will still be of use to us if he
warns us from the danger of superficial conclusions.
One thing, however, in Edwards's presentation,
which I regard as seriously defective, I should like
to lay my finger on. It is not his own ; it is bor-
rowed from Locke ; it is in plainest conflict with his
own deepest philosophy. All the more need is
there on that account that it should be pointed out.
It is the proposition, assumed as an axiom, that
"the will always is as the greatest apparent good
is," that the good is " of the same import with
[the] agreeable," — that "to appear good to the

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THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

mind is the same as to appear agreeable ; " — that
evil, on the contrary, is " that which is disagreeable
and uneasy." "Agreeable" or "pleasing," here, of
course, is agreeable or pleasing to the subject con-
cerned — to the agent willing. Strictly construed,
this would reduce ethics to eudaemonism, and that
of a type in which the happiness which determines
action is always one's own happiness, not another's.
I need hardly say that nothing could be further
from Edwards's own doctrine of the foundation of
virtue in disinterested benevolence, or from what he
elsewhere says of the possession by the agent of " a
moral faculty, or sense of good and evil [not here,
observe, meaning agreeable or its reverse] ....
and a capacity which an agent has of being influenced
in his actions by moral inducements or motives,
exhibited to the view of understanding and reason,
to engage to a conduct agreeable to the moral
faculty." Not that I can accept, without qual-
ification, Edwards's doctrine of the nature of virtue
— noble as it is — but the necessary qualifications
he himself, I think it could be shown, abundantly
supplies in his doctrine of rectitude, and the obliga-
tions arising out of fitness in the relations of moral
beings.

I hasten from philosophy to theology, and here so
vast a field opens itself to view, that I despair of
doing more than simply casting a glance at a few of
the greater streams of influence that have issued
from this abounding source. One thing that at

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once strikes the reader of Edwards in this connec-
tion is the immense distance the mind has travelled
within the last two hundred years — or let us say
within the last forty or fifty years — from the theo-
logical standpoint which his works represent.
How are we, it may be asked, to enter with any
intelligence or sympathy into questions about
original sin and Adam's relation to his posterity —
we, who are today discussing whether there ever
was an Adam, or have exchanged the Adam for our
scientific ancestor, Mr. Darwin's " hairy-tailed quad-
ruped, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhab-
itant of the ancient world," ; who, instead of original
sin, speak of " our brute inheritance ", which the
travail of the ages has been thus far unsuccessful in
throwing off ? I acknowledge the contrast ; I know
that we have outgrown much that belongs to the
fashion of a past age in thought and speech, and in
our modes of using Scripture ; but I do not, there-
fore, own that Jonathan Edwards has become
obsolete, or is of no living value to us today. Just
because the thoughts with which his mind was per-
petually occupied were the highest and grandest, —
just because the questions to which he pierced
down were the basal ones of all religion, — they
must, like the perennial stars, retain their interest
and fascination for us amidst all the vicissitudes in
mundane opinion. There is a permanent element
in them because they deal with the eternal.

It may be taken for granted that there never will

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THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

come a time when men cease to revolve the problem
of God's last end in creation, or are likely to find a
sublimer and more satisfying answer than that given
in Edwards's famous dissertation. We have our
modern re-handlings of the doctrine of sin, but the
questions will recur — What is sin ? Is the " brute
inheritance " after all an adequate explanation of it ?
How does sin come to be here, and what is the
holy God's relation to it ? On these subjects Ed-
wards will open up to us depths, which, whether we
accept all his own solutions or not, we shall be forced
to confess that the ordinary evolutionary text-books
have no line long enough to fathom. Our author
would find no relief in the idea that man came into
existence in a state in which the animal propen-
sities had almost undivided sway in his nature.
You don't, he would say, show how man became
sinful, but you start him off on this hypothesis
already sinful. For a moral being in this turbulent,
anarchic state — immersed in a life of unregulated
passion — is already in a wrong moral state — wrong
for him. The opponent might retort that if so, he
was in a wrong moral state by " an arbitrary con-
stitution of God," and Edwards might have difficulty
in repelling this use of one of his own arguments
against himself.

Yet how subtle are some of his ideas even in this
obscure region ? If we get to the inwardness of his
theories, we perceive that many of them depend
really on his original idealistic premises. His theory

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of identity, e. g., as consisting in a continual new
creation, — how could it be otherwise, if substance
has no independent existence, and if properties sub-
sist only through the continual exertion of the
thought and will of God ? The exercise-theory of
Dr. Emmons finds here, in fact, a very logical justi-
fication. Or, again, that constituted identity of
Adam and his descendants, in virtue of which they
form one great moral person — how curiously does
idealism here turn round to a species of organic
realism, the type of which, in Edwards's own image,
is the tree and its branches ? And how curiously
also does physiological science, as represented say
by Weissmann, with its latest novelty of the dis-
covery — or alleged discovery — of an undying
germ-plasm in the living species, give to his theory
of a single race-life a quasi-corroboration ?

What impresses one on the large scale in Ed-
wards is the exceeding grandeur, but hardly less
the strange contrasts, and often scarcely veiled
antinomies of his thought. On the one hand, how
grand the sweep of his thought, as it swings on the
pivot of the divine sovereignty, in the midst of the
eternities, between the two great poles of sin and
redemption ! Yet, on the other, how difficult to
reconcile this conception of naked sovereignty either
with his own idea of freedom, or with his doctrine
of the supremacy of love in God's nature and
purpose ! In this doctrine of what Dorner calls the
" teleological " relation of love to the other divine

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THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

attributes, Edwards held in his hands the means of
correcting the harshness of the older Calvinism,
without sacrificing anything of its truth ; but he
failed to use it. The same contrast meets us in
other respects. How strangely penetrated the soul
of Edwards was by the love of God, — how entirely
love was to him the end of creation, the essence of
virtue, God's very being ; yet how terrible his
view of the divine justice, how awful his pictures of
sin and of hell ! On this a word immediately.

On the doctrines of applied redemption — justi-
fication, regeneration, sanctification, — there is per-
haps not much that needs to be said ; but on the
doctrine of atonement, or as Edwards calls it,
" Christ's satisfaction for sin," it is not too much to
say that, with outward and entirely sincere adher-
ence to the old formulas, Edwards is a path-finder,
and inaugurates a new period in the treatment of
that doctrine. I pass over New England develop-
ments, which are much better known to you than
they can be to me, and refer to the exceptional
influence his germinal ideas have had through one of
the most original and spiritual thinkers of the Scot-
tish Church, Dr. John McLeod Campbell. Camp-
bell stands in direct affiliation to Edwards. He
connects himself directly with a suggestion of Ed-
wards that there are conceivably two ways in which
satisfaction for sin might have been made —
" either," as he expresses it, " an equivalent punish-
ment or an equivalent sorrow and repentance " ;

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and himself accepts the second of these two ways
as that in which the atonement has been made
(a view which Edwards rejected). Christ, he thinks,
presented to God on men's behalf " an adequate
sorrow and repentance" — a quite untenable con-
ception. In reality, however, this formula does
not express the central and essential thing in
Campbell's theory, and his view, when closely
scrutinized, is found closely to resemble Edwards's
own. The view of Edwards he expounds and de-
fends from objections, and in its essence accepts.

Edwards's own statement, however, is, it seems
to me, the more complete, scriptural, and adequate
of the two. While granting that Christ passed
truly under the judgment of God in enduring the
death threatened against sin, he yet lays the whole
stress, in explaining the atoning virtue of these
sufferings, on the moral and spiritual elements con-
tained in them, and so in effect transforms the
doctrine of atonement from within. Christ is the
divine and human mediator, who, standing between
God and man, is able perfectly to enter into the
mind of both, and to identify himself with both with
perfect sympathy. On the one hand, he has a full
apprehension of the sin of man, and of its evil
desert ; on the other, he enters fully into the mind
of God regarding sin, and into the realization of the
wrath which is its due. He thus truly, yet inwardly
and not merely by legal imputation, bore our sins,
rendering through his inward acknowledgement of

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THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

the justice of God in the condemnation of sin a
tribute to the divine righteousness, which makes
reparation for the guilt humanity has incurred.
McLeod Campbell, in his expressive way, speaks of
this as the " Amen " which went up from the
humanity of Jesus in response to the divine mind
about sin, in which lay the essence of atonement.
I myself think that in these utterances of Edwards
and Campbell we possibly touch the deepest mean-
ing of the Cross in its expiatory and propitiatory
aspect.

The admiration I have expressed for the genius
and character of Edwards is not to be construed as
if I were insensible of the limitations that inhere in
the piety and thought of this truly great and saintly
man. I refer only to two points in closing in which
I think such limitation must be frankly acknowl-
edged. With all his " inward, sweet delight in God
and in divine things," one cannot help feeling at
times a certain strain in the piety of Edwards, as if
he were bent on disciplining himself to live at a
height of religious emotion which it does not lie in
the weakness of human nature to sustain. There
is a tension as of the over-bent bow in much of his
experience, resulting, as his Diary faithfully shows,
in painful fluctuations of feeling — alternations of
periods of rapture with seasons of depression —
begetting in himself the suspicion, as he says, that
" too constant a mortification, and too vigorous an
application to religion, may be prejudicial to health."

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He puts himself under severe regimen ; talks often
of the need of " forcing " himself upon religious
thoughts ; drills himself with maxims in a way that
reminds one of Marcus Aurelius ; intends, at one
point, to " live in a continual mortification," though
his good sense led him afterwards to think better of
it. This strained, introspective mood is not healthy,
though it was characteristic of a good deal of the
piety of the period, and of the times of " attention
to religion," as revival-seasons were named.

Connected with this is the second limitation I
would notice in Edwards. The intensity of his nature
on the side of religion — absorbing, dwarfing all
other interests — was not without an effect in limit-
ing the range of his human sympathies. There is a
lack of the humanist element in him ; a defect in the
appreciation of art, literature and culture, which
was bound again to provoke, and did provoke a
reaction. There is a lack also of full sympathy
with human nature in the individual. The terrible
intensity of his sense of the sovereignty of God, of
the awfulness of sin, of the utter ruin wrought by
sin — even with all that existed to balance it in his
views of the love of God, and of the beauty and
excellency of God and Christ — threw other truths
out of proportion. There is a pitilessness sometimes
in his delineations of the divine justice which amazes
us. I suppose there are few more terrible pages in
literature than those of some of Jonathan Edwards's
sermons on the punishment of the lost. But let us do

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THE INFLUENCE OF EDWARDS

justice to our author even here. I do not know what
the judgment of anyone of us would be on sin, or on
ourselves as sinners, if we realized as we should do,
or as it was given to him to do, the holiness of God.
To him it was all most real. If we want to see how
far it is possible for one to go in judgment of the
damnableness of sin, who sees it in that light, we
may recall Dante, who surpasses even Edwards in
his lurid realism and intensity.

We dare not dismiss this as pure mediaevalism.
The fact that Dante's Inferno has for many today
all the fascination of a great classic, embodying
lessons of eternal import, is a proof that his hell
is not altogether an arbitrary, barbarous, and ex-
ploded conception. Still in Dante's pictures of the
circles there is a touch of sympathy — a sense of
gradations — which there is not in Edwards. One
asks in vain where the "few stripes" and "many
stripes " come in with him. But neither Dante nor
Edwards in their representations of the future can
be held to do justice to the possibilities of grace in
the Gospel. Not nature only, but grace, rises in
rebellion in us at these merciless descriptions, and
says — "There must be something more, something
else," though it may not be possible to tell precisely
what it is, and though many, in attempting to define
it, have been wise above what is written. If these
descriptions by either Dante or Edwards could be
presumed to be the last words on the subject, I

ORR

think we should have to go back to Dr. Walter
Smith's picture in his poem on " The Self-Exiled,"

" The meek soul that for love heeds not what sorrow befalls it,
Heeds not the bliss and the glory, but longs for them that are

lying
Dim in the outer darkness, tossed in the anguish undying"

and which, amidst angelic silence, pleads for per-
mission

" To go away,

And help, if I yet may help, the dead

That have no day."

I do not think however that we are shut up to this
conclusion either.

I should like in closing to recall that Scotland also
may claim its little share of influence on the in-
fluence of Edwards. Probably nothing in the course
of his own life ever impressed Jonathan Edwards
more deeply than his brief association with David
Brainerd. It is worth remembering therefore that
when Brainerd went to the Indians, it was as a
missionary of the Society in Scotland for Propagat-
ing Christian Knowledge. Further, it was through
his Life of Brainerd that Edwards produced some
of his deepest impressions on individual minds. It
is said that the reading of the work had a potent
influence on the mind of Carey, of Henry Martyn,
and of the saintly McCheyne in Scotland. If so,
in the last case, Edwards was but giving back to
Scotland what was in part given by it.

126

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Edwards began in his college days, apparently, four
series of papers. The first he entitles, " The Natural
History of the Mental World, or of the Internal World :
being a Particular Enquiry into the Nature of the Human
Mind, with respect to both its Faculties — the Under-
standing and the Will, — and its various Instincts, and
Active and Passive Powers." A briefer title is " The
Mind." The second series is referred to by its author as
" Natural Philosophy," and as dealing with the " External
World." Dr. Dwight designates it " Notes on Science."
The third, Edwards calls " Miscellanies." The fourth he
often refers to as containing a " Note " on this or that
passage of Scripture. Most of this collection was pub-
lished by Dr. Dwight under the title " Notes on the
Bible." "The Mind" and the "Natural Philosophy"
are to be found in the Appendix to the first volume of
Dwight's edition of Edwards's " Works." The autographs
of the papers on the " External World," are in my pos-
session ; those on the " Mental World " have strangely
disappeared. The originals of the " Miscellanies " and
the Scriptural " Notes " are deposited in the Library of
Yale University, and I am much indebted to Professor
Franklin Bowditch Dexter, for opportunities and kind
assistance in the examination of these and other auto-
graphs, of which he has given an interesting account in a
communication published in the " Proceedings of the
Massachusetts Historical Society, March, 1901." The
remarks on topics in Natural and Mental Philosophy
seem to have been discontinued after their author was
ordained, early in 1727, as a minister of the Gospel in

APPENDIX I.

Northampton. His first biographer, however, a pupil
and intimate friend, testifies not only that he " had an
uncommon taste for Natural Philosophy," but that he
" cultivated " it " to the end of his life, with that justness
and accuracy of thought which was almost peculiar to
him." I have noticed in the rich collection at New
Haven, a loose sheet, on which characteristic questions
relating to both scientific and philosophical problems
are noted in a hand-writing which suggests maturity.
Yet it remains true that the only series which were
continuously prosecuted through his life were those which
dealt with Biblical and theological themes. The num-
ber of topics entered in the " Miscellanies " increased
to 1408. They are contained, says Professor Dexter,
" in eight folio or quarto volumes, aggregating over
1,400 minutely written pages." From this repository
of his thoughts were drawn the contents of two volumes
published in Edinburgh from copies supplied by the
younger President Edwards, and a third collection was
added to these by Dr. Dwight, and is to be found in
the eighth volume of his edition of the " Works." Pro-
fessor Dexter says that what has thus been used is " only
a fragment of the whole amount." Of numbers in this
collection, not included in any edition of Edwards's
" Works," I have copies written by an amanuensis em-
ployed by Dr. Sereno E. Dwight, and revised by him.
These, together with others made for the son, Dr. Jona-
than Edwards, amount to more than 1700 full pages,
allowing ten and one-half inches by eight and one-half
inches for each page. The hand-writing of Dr. Dwight's
scribe is large, and plain as print, so that by these tran-
scripts the study is greatly facilitated of a collection of
which Professor Dexter remarks : " No representation of
Edwards as a thinker is quite complete so long as so

APPENDIX I.

many of these ' Miscellanies ' are still in manuscript."
Perhaps some misunderstandings of his theology, or
apologetic suggestions which appear to have somewhat
misled, would not have appeared, had the perusal of
these papers not been so peculiarly difficult.

They are far from being all of special interest or value.
Some are mere references to authors, or to Edwards's
own Notes on passages of Scriptures. Others are brief
remarks or conclusions. Only a minor part are extended
discussions. A fair idea of their varying length may be
gained from the " Notes on the Bible " published by Dr.
Dwight, who gives the number of each selection which he
uses.

It should be added, that the descriptive phrases
" Note-book," " Common-place book," often applied to
the "Miscellanies," though not, as already implied,
wholly erroneous, may easily mislead. Especially inap-
plicable is the word " tentative." The Observations
make a strong impression of being the results of pro-
tracted thought that had reached careful conclusions and
results which they were intended to preserve. Progress
in reflection is observable. The earlier papers should be
compared with later ones on the same themes. Justice
to their author requires that they be regarded as written
primarily for his own eye, and as helps in the prosecution
of his ever unwearied efforts in the attainment and main-
tenance of truth. But " tentative " they are not, in the
sense of something merely set down for further consider-
ation, and with a reserve of more or less doubt as to its
validity. Samuel Hopkins, the younger Edwards, and Dr.
Dwight, as already noticed, have drawn freely from these
" Miscellanies ; " and we have their author's own testi-
mony as to their relation to his opinions and judgments,
as will be evident by the following extract from his letter

APPENDIX I.

to the Trustees of Nassau Hall, who had chosen him to
its presidency : " My method of study, from my first
beginning the work of the ministry, has been very much
by writing; applying myself, in this way, to improve every
important hint ; pursuing the clue to my utmost, when
anything in reading, meditation, or conversation, has been
suggested to my mind, that seemed to promise light, in
any weighty point ; thus penning what appeared to me
my best thoughts, on innumerable subjects, for my own
benefit."1 "Best thoughts" would be a not inapt de-
scription of the contents of the " Miscellanies " as a
whole.

The quotations included in this Appendix relate to
remarks made in the Address on the " Theology of
Jonathan Edwards," 2 and are intended to illustrate and
justify them. They show the life-long presence in
Edwards's mind of the thoughts expressed, and also,
so far as this occurred, their growth. I wish particularly
to remove a suspicion which recently has gained more or
less currency, — (reversing rather curiously a former sup-
position) — that Edwards's interest in the doctrine of the
Trinity was of late origin, and that it arose, in part at
least, from a distrust in his mind of the validity of his
own theological system. In the selections from the Obser-
vations on the " End of God in the Creation " I desire
especially to indicate what a complete and beautiful
unity is disclosed between his highest and long cherished
thought of God, and his conception of the Divine Purpose
in Creation, a view essentially different, I may add,
from either a deistic or a pantheistic interpretation of the
universe. E. C. S.

'Dwight's Life [Works, Vol. I. p. 569].
2 See above, p. 73.

APPENDIX I.
A. THE TRINITY.

Before proceeding with citations from the " Miscella-
nies," I will introduce a few sentences from the first and
forty-fifth numbers on '* The Mind," since these papers
are not published in the edition of Edwards's Works in
common use. No. i was probably written before he
began his " Miscellanies," and No. 45 is earlier apparently
than anything on the Trinity in the theological series.

"1. Excellency. This is an universal definition of
Excellency : The Consent of Being to Being, or Being's
Consent to Entity One alone, without any refer-
ence to any more, cannot be excellent, for in such case
there can be no manner of relation no way, and therefore
no such thing as consent. Indeed, what we call One may
be excellent because of a consent of parts, or some con-
sent of those in that being that are distinguished into a
plurality some way or other. But in a being that is abso-
lutely without any plurality, there cannot be Excellency,
for there can be no such thing as consent or agreement."

" 45. Excellence. When we spake of Excellence in
Bodies we were obliged to borrow the word, Consent,
from Spiritual things ; but Excellence in and among
Spirits is in its prime and proper sense, Being's consent
to Being. There is no other proper consent but that of
Minds , even of their Will ; which, when it is of Minds
towards Minds, it is Love, and when of Minds towards
other things it is Choice. Wherefore all the Primary and
Original beauty or excellence that is among Minds is
Love ; and into this may all be resolved that is found

among them His [God's] Infinite Beauty is His

Infinite mutual Love of Himself .... the mutual love
of the Father and the Son. This makes the Third, the!
Personal Holy Spirit, or the Holiness of God, which is:

APPENDIX I.

his Infinite Beauty 'Tis peculiar to God, that he

has beauty within himself, consisting in Being's consent-
ing with his own Being, or the love of himself, in his own
Holy Spirit. «... We shall be in danger, when we
meditate on this love of God to himself as being the
thing wherein his infinite excellence and loveliness con-
sists, of some alloy to the sweetness of our view, by its
appearing with something of the aspect and cast of what
we call self-love. But we are to consider that this love
includes in it, or rather is the same as, a love to every-
thing, as they are all communications of himself. So
that we are to conceive of Divine Excellence as the
Infinite General Love, that which reaches all proportion-
ally with perfect purity and sweetness ; yea, it includes
the true Love of all creatures, for that is his Spirit, or
which is the same thing, his Love."

The following citations are all from the " Miscellanies."
They are taken from the collections of copies prepared
for Dr. Dwight in connection with his edition of
Edwards's works. They have been carefully compared
with the originals, and in spelling and capitalization more
closely conformed to those.

" 94.1 Trinity. There has been much cry of late
against saying one word particularly about the Trinity,
but what the Scripture has said, judging it impossible
but that, if we did, we should err in a thing so much
above us. But if they call that, which necessarily results
from the putting of reason and Scripture [together]
though it has not been said in Scripture in express words,
I say if they call this what is not said in the Scriptures, I
am not afraid to say twenty things about the Trinity,

1 Forty-eight should be added to each number cited from the " Miscel-
lanies," as before explained. Dr. Dwight supposes that 150 of the
Observations were written during Edwards's college days and the two
years following his graduation.

APPENDIX I.

which the Scriptures never said. There may be deduc-
tions of reason from what has been said of the most
mysterious matters, besides what has been said, and safe
and certain deductions too, as well as about the most
obvious and easy matters.

I think that it is within the reach of naked reason to
perceive certainly that there are thus, distinct, in God,
each of which is the same, three that must be distinct,
and that there are not, nor can be any more, distinct,
Really and truly distinct, but three, either distinct persons
or properties, or anything else ; and that, of these three
one is (more properly than any thing else) begotten of
the other, and that the other Proceeds alike from both,
and that the first neither is begotten nor proceeds. It is
often said that God is infinitely happy from all eternity,
in the view and enjoyment of himself, in the reflection
and inverse love of his own essence that is in the in-
finitely perfect idea he has of himself infinitely perfect.
The Almighty's knowledge is not so different from ours,
but that ours is the image of it ; is by an idea as ours
is only 'tis infinitely Perfect ; if it were not by idea it is
in no respect like ours : 'tis not what we call knowledge,
nor anything whereof knowledge is the resemblance ; for
the whole of human knowledge, both in the beginning
and end of it, consists in ideas. 'Tis also said that God's
knowledge of himself includes the knowledge of all things,
and that he knows, and from eternity knew, all things, by
the looking on himself, and by the idea of himself, be-
cause he is virtually all things : so that all God's knowl-
edge is the idea of himself. But yet it would suppose
imperfection in God, to suppose that God's idea of him-
self is anything different from himself. None will sup-
pose that God has any such ideas as we, that are only as
it were the shadow of things, and not the very things.

APPENDIX I.

We cannot suppose that God reflects on himself after the
imperfect manner we reflect on things, for we can view
nothing immediately. The immediate object of the
mind's intuition is the idea alwaies and the soul receives
nothing but ideas. But God's intuition on himself with-
out doubt is immediate. But 'tis certain it cannot be
except his idea be his essence, for his idea is the imme-
diate object of his intuition. An absolutely perfect idea
of a thing, is the very thing, for it wants nothing that is
in the thing ; substance, nor nothing else. That is the
notion of the perfection of an idea, to want nothing that
is in [shorthand]. Whatsoever is perfectly and abso-
lutely like a thing, is that thing; but God's idea is
absolutely perfect. I will form my reasoning thus : If
nothing has any existence any way at all but in some
consciousness or idea or other, and therefore that things,
that are in us created consciousness, have no existence
but in the divine idea1 .... Supposing the things in
this room were in the idea of none but of God, they
would have existence no other way ; and if the things in
this Room would nevertheless be Real things ; then God's
idea, being a perfect idea, is Really the thing itself ; and
if so, and all God's ideas are only the one idea of himself,
as has been shewn, [then God's idea] must be his
Essence itself, it must be a substantial idea, having all
the perfection of the substance perfectly ; so that by
God's reflecting on himself the Deity is begotten : there
is a substantial image of God begotten, I am satisfied
that though this word begotten had never been used in
Scripture, it would have been used in this case ; there is
no other word that so properly expresses it. It is this
perfection of God's idea that makes all things truly

1 After the word "idea" Edwards wrote "as we have shown in Phil-
osophy our natural [ ? ] Philosophy," and drew a line through these words.

APPENDIX I.

and Properly present to him from all eternity ; and
is the reason why God has no succession. For every
thing that is, has been, or shall be, having been per-
fectly in God's idea from all eternity ; and a perfect
Idea (which yet no finite being can have of anything)
being the very thing; therfore all things from eternity
were equally Present with God, and there is no alteration
made in idea by presence and absence, as there is in us.

Again : That which is the express and perfect image
of God, is God's idea of his own essence. There is
nothing else can be an express, and fully perfect image of
God but God's idea. Ideas are images of things and
there are no other images of things, in the most proper
sense, but ideas ; because other things are only called
images, as they beget an idea in us of the thing of which
they are the image ; so that all other images of things are
but images in a secondary sense. But we know that the
Son of God is the Express and Perfect image of God, and
his image in the primary and most proper sense : II. Cor.
iv. 4 ; Philip, ii. 6 ; Coloss. i. 15 ; Heb. i. 3.

Again : That Image of God which God infinitely loves,
and has his chief delight in, is the Perfect idea of God.
It has always been said that God's infinite delight con-
sists in reflecting on himself and viewing his own perfec-
tions ; or, which is the same thing, in his own perfect
idea of himself; so that 'tis acknowledged that God's
infinite love is to, and his infinite delight in, the perfect
image of himself. But the Scriptures tell us that the Son
of God is that Image of God which he infinitely loves.
Nobody will deny this, that God infinitely loves his Son,
John iii. 35 ; v. 20. So it was declared from heaven by
the Father at his baptism and transfiguration, " This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." So the
Father calls him his Elect in whom his soul delighteth,

APPENDIX I.

Isai. xlii. i. He is called "the Beloved," Ephes. i. 6.
The Son also declared that the Father's infinite happiness
consisted in the enjoyment of him, Prov. viii. 30. Now
none I suppose will say that God enjoys infinite happiness
in two manners : one in the infinite delight he has in
enjoying his Son, his Image ; and another in the view of
himself different from this. If not, then these ways,
wherein God enjoys infinite happiness, are both the
same ; that is, his infinite delight in the idea of himself is
the same with the infinite delight he has in his son : and
if so, his Son and the idea he has of himself are the same.

Again : That, which is the Express Image of God, in
which God enjoys infinite happiness, and is also the
Word of God, is God's perfect idea of God. The Word
of God, in its most proper meaning, is a transcript of the
divine perfections : this Word is either his declared word
of God or the essential [Word]. The one is the copy of
the divine perfections given to us ; the other is the per-
fect transcript thereof in God's own mind. But the
perfect transcript of the perfections of God in the divine
[mind] is the same with God's perfect idea of his own
perfections. But I need tell none how the Son of God is
called the Word of God.

Nextly : That which is the Express Image of God, in
which is his infinite delight, which is his Word, and
which is the Reason, or Wisdom of God, is God's perfect
Idea of God. That God's knowledge, or reason, or
wisdom, is the same with God's idea, none will deny ; and
that all God's knowledge or wisdom consists in the
knowledge, or perfect idea, of himself, is shewn before,
and granted by all ; but none need to be told that the
Son of God is often called in Scripture by the names of
the Wisdom and Logos of God. Wherefore God him-
self has put the matter beyond all debate whether or no

APPENDIX I.

his Son is not the same with his Idea of himself ; for it is
most certain that his wisdom and knowledge is the very
same with his idea of himself. How much does the Son
of God speak in Proverbs under the name of Wisdom !

There is very much of image of this in ourselves. Man
is as if he were two, as some of the great wits of this age
have observed ; a sort of genius is with man, that accom-
panies him and attends wherever he goes, so that a man
has a conversation with himself, that is, he has a conver-
sation with his own idea ; so that, if his idea be excellent,
he will take great delight and happiness in conferring
and communicating with it: he takes complacency in
himself, he applauds himself ; and wicked men accuse
them and fight with themselves, as if they were two ; and
man is truly happy then, and only then, when these two
agree, and they delight in themselves, and in their own
idea, their image, as God delights in his.

The Holy Spirit is the Act of God, between the Father
and the Son infinitely loving and delighting in each other.
Sure I am that, if the Father and the Son do infinitely
delight in each other, there must be an infinitely pure
and perfect Act between them, an infinitely sweet energy,
which we call delight : This is certainly distinct from
the other two. The delight and energy that is begotten
in us by an idea, is distinct from the idea ; so it cannot
be confounded in God ; either with God begetting or
with his idea and image, or Son. It is distinct from each
of the other two ; and yet it is God : for the pure and
perfect Act of God is God, because God is a pure Act.
It appears that this is God, because that which acts per-
fectly, is all act, and nothing but act. There is image of
this in created beings that approach to perfect action ;
how frequently do we say that the saints of heaven are
all transformed into love, dissolved into joy, become

APPENDIX I.

activity itself, changed into pure extasy. I acknowledge
these are metaphorical in this case ; but yet it is true
that the more perfect the act is, the more it resembles the
infinitely perfect act of God in this respect. And I
believe it will be plain to one that thinks intensely, that
the perfect act of God must be a substantial act. We
say that the perfect delights of reasonable creatures are
substantial delights ; but the delight of God is properly a
substance, yea, an infinitely perfect substance, even the
essence of God. It appears, by the holy Scriptures,
that the holy Spirit is the perfect act of God. The name
declares it, the Spirit of God denotes to us the activity,
vivacity, and energy of God ; and it appears that the
holy Spirit is the pure act of God, and energy of the
Deity of his office, which is to actuate and quicken all
things, and to beget energy and vivacity in the creature ;
and it also appears that the holy Spirit is this act of the
Deity, even love and delight, because from eternity there
was no other act in God but thus acting with respect to
himself, and delighting perfectly and infinitely in himself,
or that infinite delight there is between the Father and
the Son, for the object of God's perfect act must neces-
sarily be himself, because there is no other. But we
have shown that the Object of the divine mind is God's
Son and Idea ; and what other act can be thought of in
God from eternity, but delighting in himself, the act of
love which God is, I. John iv. 8. And if God is Love,
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in
him, doubtless this intends principally the infinite love
God has to himself. So that the scripture has implicitly
told us that that love, which is between the Father and
the Son, is God. The Holy Spirit's name is the Com-
forter, but no doubt but 'tis the infinite delight God has
in himself, in the Comforter, that is the fountain of all
delight and comfort.

APPENDIX 1.

It may be objected that at this rate one may prove an
infinite number of persons in the godhead, for each
person has an idea of the other person, thus the Father
may have an idea of his Son, but you will argue that his
idea must be substantial. I answer, that the Son himself
is the Father's idea, himself : and if he has an idea of this
idea, it is yet the same idea, a perfect idea of an idea is
the same idea still to all intents and purposes.

Thus, when I have a perfect idea of my idea of an
equilateral triangle, it is an idea of the same equilateral
triangle to all intents and purposes. So if you say that
God the Father or Son, may have an idea of their own
delight in each other ; but I say a perfect idea or percep-
tion of one's own perfect delight cannot be different, at
least in God, from the delight itself. You'll say the Son
has an idea of the Father, I answer the Son himself is
the idea of the Father, and if you say he has an idea of
the Father, his idea is still an idea of the Father, and
therefore the same with the Son ; and if you say the Holy
Spirit has an idea of the father, I answer the Holy Spirit
is himself the delight and joyfulness of the Father in
that Idea and of the Idea in the Father. Tis still the
Idea of the Father ; so that if we turn it all the ways in
the world, we shall never be able to make more than
these three : God, the idea of God, and delight in God.

I think it really evident from the light of reason that
there are those three, distinct in God. If God has an
idea of himself there is really a Duplicity, because [if]
there is no duplicity it will follow that Jehovah thinks of
himself no more than a stone ; and if God loves himself,
and delights in himself, there is really a Triplicity,
Three that cannot be confounded ; each of which are the
Deity substantially.

And this is the only distinction that can be found or

APPENDIX I.

thought of in God. If it shall be said that there are
power, wisdom, goodness, and holiness, in God, and that
these may as well be proved to be distinct persons, be-
cause everything that is in God is God ; [I answer,] as to
the Power of God, Power always consists in something ;
the power of the mind consists in its wisdom, the power
of the body in plenty of animal spirits and toughness of
limbs, etc. And as it is distinct from those other things
tis only a relation of adequateness and sufficiency of the
essense to everything. But if we distinguish it from
relation, it is nothing else but the essense of God, and if
we take it for that where is that by which God exerts
himself, it is no other than the Father ; for the perfect
energy of God with respect to himself is the most
proper exertion of himself, of which the creation of
the world is but a shadow. As to the Wisdom of God, we
have already observed that this wholly consists in God's
idea of himself, and is the same with the Son of God.
And as to Goodness, the eternal exertion of the essense
of that attribute, it is nothing but infinite Love, which,
the Apostle John says, is God ; and as we have ob-
served that all divine love may be resolved into God's
infinite love to himself, therefore this attribute, as it was
exerted from eternity, is nothing but the Holy Spirit,
which is exactly agreeable to the notion some have had
of the Trinity. And as to holiness, tis delight in excel-
lency ; tis God's truest consent to himself, or in other
words his perfect delight in himself, which we have
shewn to be the Holy Spirit."

"96. Trinity. The argument of this Observation is
from the perfect goodness of God. I quote a few sen-
tences.

" It appears that there must be more than a Unity in
infinite and eternal Essence ; otherwise the Goodness of

APPENDIX I.

God Can have no perfect exercises. To be Perfectly
Good, is to incline to, and delight in, making another
happy in the same proportion as it is happy itself : that
is, it delights as much in communicating happiness to
another as in enjoying it himself, and [is] an inclination to

communicate all his happiness God must have a

perfect Exercise of his Goodness, and therefore must have
the .fellowship of a person equal with himself."

Ao8^ Trinity" This Observation finds in the Biblical
application to the Holy Spirit of the Symbol of a Dove
reason for supposing that He " is nothing but the infinite
love and delight of God." Part of p. 103 of the " Essay "
recently published by Professor Fisher is identical with
this number. The closing sentence of the Observation
is clearer than the corresponding one in the " Essay."
It reads : " It was under this representation that the
Holy [Ghost] descended on Christ at his Baptism, signify-
ing the infinite love of the Father to the Son, and that
thereby is signified that infinite love that is between the
Father and the Son ; which is further illustrated by the
voice which came with the dove, 'This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well Pleased.' "

"117. Trinity. Love is certainly the Perfection as
well as Happiness of a Spirit ; God, doubtless, as he is
infinitely Perfect and happy, has infinite love. I cannot
doubt but that God loves infinitely, properly speaking,
and not with that which some Call self-love, whereby
even the devils desire pleasure, and are averse to pain,
which is exceeding improperly called love ; and is nothing
at all akin to that affection or delight, which is called love.
Then there must have been an object from all Eternity,
which God infinitely loves. But we have shewed that all
love arises from the perception, either of Consent to being
in General, or Consent to that being that percieves.

APPENDIX I.

Infinite loveliness, to God, therefore must consist either
in infinite Consent to Entity in General, or infinite con-
sent to God. But we have shewn that consent to Entity,
and consent to God are the same, because God is the
General and only proper Entity of all things ; so that it is
necessary that that object which God infinitely loves
must be infinitely and perfectly consenting and
agreeable to him ; but that which infinitely and perfectly
agrees is the very same essense, for if it be different it
dont infinitely consent."

" 133. Trinity. Coroll. to a former meditation of the
trinity. hence we see how Generation by the Father,
and yet Coetaneity with the Father, or being begotten,
and yet being eternal, are Consistent ; for it is Easy to
Concieve how this image, this thought, Reason or Wisdom
of God should be eternally Begotten by him, and be-
gotten by him from Eternity, and Continually through
Eternity. And so the holy Spirit, that personal Energy,
the divine love and delight, Eternally and Continually
proceeds from both.

" Coroll. 2. Hence we see how and in what sense the
Father is the fountain of the Godhead, and how natur-
ally and Properly God the Father is spoken of in scripture,
as of the Deity without distinction, as being the only
True God, and why God the Son should [be] commonly
spoken of with a distinction, and be called the Son of
God ; and so the holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. %W Re-
member to Look, the next time I have the oppor-
tunity of, to see if Spirit, in scripture Phrase, is not Com-
monly put for affection, and never for understanding ;
and to shew that there is no other affection in God but
love to himself.''

" 136.^) Trinity. The word Spirit most Commonly in
Scripture is put for affections of the mind ; but there is

APPENDIX I.

no other affection in God essentially, properly, and pri-
marily, but love and delight, and that in himself ; for into
this is his love and delight in his Creatures resolvable.

" I dont Remember that any other attributes are said
to be God, and God to be them but \.6yos and, dya?^, or
Reason and love. I Conclude because no other are in
that (a personal) sense."

"141. Trinity, vid. I believe that Jesus Christ not
only is exactly in the image of [God], but in the most
proper sense is the image of God. Now however exactly
one being, suppose of one human body, [may be] like
another, Yet I think one is not in the most proper sense
the image of the other, but more Properly in the image
of the other. Adam did not beget a son that was his
image properly, but in his image ; but the idea of a thing
is, in the most proper sense of all, its image ; and God's

idea the most perfect image."

" 150. Deity. Many have wrong conceptions of the
difference between the nature of the Deity and that of
Created spirits. The difference is no contrariety, but
what naturally Results from his Greatness and nothing
else ; such as Created spirits come nearer to, or more
imitate, the Greater they are in their Powers and faculties.
So that if we should suppose the faculties of a Created
spirit to be enlarged infinitely, there would be the Deity
to all intents and Purposes : the same simplicity, im-
mutability, etc."

" 179. Logos. It the more Confirms me in it that the
Perfect Idea, God has of himself, is truly and Properly
God, that the existence of all Corporeal things is only
Ideas." 1

1 Edwards's idealism is not subjective. See Am. Journal of Theology,
1897, p. 959; Jonathan Edwards' Idealisms: Inaugural Dissertation
.... von John Henry MacCracken, Ph.D., Halle A. S., C. A.
Kaemmerer & Co., 1899; The Early Idealism of Edwards, by Prof.

APPENDIX I.

" 184. Union. Spiritual. [From] What insight I have
of the nature of minds I am convinced that there is no
Guessing what kind of union and mixtion by Conscious-
ness, or otherwise, there may be between them ; so that
all difficulty is Removed in believing what the scripture
declares about spiritual union of the Persons of the
Trinity, of the two natures of Christ, of Christ and the
minds of Saints."

" 194. God. That is a Gross and unprofitable idea we
have of God, as being something Large and Gross as
bodies are, and infinitely extended throughout the im-
mense Space. For God is neither little, nor Great, with
that sort of Greatness : even as the Soul of man is not at
all extended, no more than an idea, and is not present
anywhere as bodies are present as we have shewn
elsewhere. So t'is with respect to the uncreated
Spirit. The Greatness of a Soul Consists not in any exten-
sion but [in] its comprehensiveness of Idea and extended-
ness of operation. So the infiniteness of God Consists in
his perfect Comprehension of all things, and the extended-
ness of his operation equally to all Places. . . . We ought
to concieve of God as being omnipotence, perfect
knowledge and Perfect Love; .... and not as if it
was a sort of unknown thing, that we Call substance,
that is extended."

" 238. Trinity. Those Ideas which we Call Ideas of

H. Norman Gardiner, A. M., republished in Jonathan Edwards: A
Retrospect, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1901.

I noticed on a loose leaf, in the New Haven Collection of Edwards's
Mss., apparently in a later hand-writing than the early papers, this entry :
" How there may be more in material Existence than Man's Perception,
past, Present, or future.

" Show how far the Perception of superior spirits may belong to this
[illegible] "and how far the Perception of God."

Edwards's Idealism (" Spiritualism "-) always includes a something
"more" than subjectivism recognizes; viz. "a perfectly stable idea
in God's mind, together with his stable Will .... with respect to cor-
responding communications to Created Minds, and effects on their minds ; "
or, as phrased on the leaf referred to above, "an universe of coexisting and
successive Perceptions connected by such wonderful methods and Laws."

APPENDIX I.

Reflection, all Ideas of the acts of the mind, such as the
Idea of thought, of Choice, love, fear, etc., if we diligently
attend to our own minds we shall find, they are not properly
Representations, but are indeed Repetitions of those very
things, either more fully, or more faintly ; they therefore
are not properly Ideas. Thus, t' is impossible to have an
Idea of thought, or of an Idea, but it will [be] that same
Idea Repeated. So if we think of love, either of our past
love that is now vanished, or of the love of others which
we have not, we either so frame things in our Imagination
that we have for a moment a love to that thing, or to
something we make represent it, or we excite for a mo-
ment that love which we have, and suppose it in another
place, or we have only an idea of the Antecedents, Con-
comitants, and effects of love, and suppose something un-
seen, and Govern our thoughts about as we have learned
how by experience and habit. Let any one try himself
in a particular instance, and diligently observe. So if we
have an Idea of a Judgment not our own, we have the
same Ideas, that are the terms of the Proposition, Re-
peated in our own minds, and recur to something in
our own minds, that is Really our Judgment, and suppose
it there, [That is we Govern our thoughts about
it as if it were there], if we have a distinct Idea of
that Judgment ; or else we have only an Idea of the atten-
dants and effects of the Judgment, and supply the name,
and our actions about it as we have habituated ourselves.
And so Certainly it is in all our spiritual Ideas ; they are
the very same things Repeated perhaps very faintly and
obscurely, and very quick, and momentaneously, and with
many new References, suppositions, and translations. But
if the Idea be perfect, it is only the same thing absolutely
over again.

Now if this be certain, as it seems to me to be, then its

APPENDIX I.

quite Clear that if God doth think of himself, and un-
derstand himself with perfect Clearness, fulness, and dis-
tinctness, that that Idea he hath of himself is absolutely
himself, again, and is God perfectly to all Intents and
purposes. That [idea] which God hath of the divine
nature and Essence is really and fully the divine nature
and Essence again. So that by God's thinking of him-
self, the Deity must certainly be Generated, this seems
exceedingly Clear to me.

God doubtless understands himself in the most proper
sense, for therein his infinite understanding chiefly con-
sists ; ami he understands himself at all times perfectly,
without intermission or succession in his thoughts.

When we have the Idea of another's love to a thing, if
it be the love of a man to a woman that we are uncon-
cerned about ; in such eases we have not generally any
proper Idea at all of his Love, we only have an Idea of
his actions that are the effects of love, as we have found
by experience, and of those external things which belong
to Love, and which appear in Case of Love ; or if we have
any Idea of it, it is either by forming our Ideas so of per-
sons and things as we suppose they appear to them, that
we have a taint vanishing motion of their affection ; or,
if the thing be a thing that we so hate, that this can't
be, we have our love to something else faintly and least
excited, and so in the mind as it were referred to this
place, we think this is Like that."

" 259. rrinity. T is Evident that there are no more
than these three Really distinct in God : God, and his
Idea, and his Love or Delight. We cant concieve of
any further Real distinctions. If you say there is the
Powrer of God ; I answer, the Tower of a being, even in
Creatures is nothing distinct from the being itself besides
a mere Relation to an effect. If you say there is the

APPENDIX I.

Infiniteness, Eternity, and Immutability of God ; they are
mere modes and manners of existence. If you say there
is the wisdom of God ; that is the Idea of God. If you
say there is the holiness of God ; that is not different
from his Love as we have shewn, and is the holy Spirit.
If you say there is the Goodness and mercy of God ; they
are included in his Love, they are his Love with a Relation.
We Can find no more in God, that even in Creatures are
distinct from the very being ; or, there is no more than
those three in God, but what even in Creatures are
only but the same with the very being, or only some
mere modes, or Relations, duration, extension, Changeable-
ness, or unchangeableness, so far as attributed to
Creatures, or only mere modes, and Relations of existence.
There are no more than these three that are distinct in
God, even in our way of concieving.

There is in Resemblance to this threefold distinction
in God a threefold distinction in a Created Spirit :
namely, the spirit itself, and its understanding, and its
will, or Inclination, or love ; and this Indeed is all the real
distinction there is in Created spirits."

"260. Trinity. There is no other properly Spiritual
Image but Idea, although there may be another Spiritual
thing that is exactly like. Yet one thing being exactly
like another dont make it the proper image of that
thing. If there be any distinct spiritual substance ex-
actly like another, yet is not the proper image of the
other, tho one be made after the other, yet it is not
any more an Image of the first, than the first is of the
Last.

That Christ is the spiritual Image and Idea of God see
John xii. 45 ; xiv. 7, 8, 9. Seeing the Perfect Idea of a
thing, is, to all Intents and purposes, the same as seeing
the thing. It is not only equivalent to seeing of it, but it

APPENDIX I.

is seeing of it ; for there is no other seeing but having
an Idea. Now, by seeing a perfect Idea, so far as we
see it, we have it. But it cant be said of anything else,
that, in seeing of it, we see another, speaking strictly, ex-
cept it be the very Idea of the other. The Oil, that
signifies the Holy Ghost, with which Christ is anointed,
is Called the oil of gladness : the Holy Ghost is God's
delight, joy. Ps. xlv. 7, Isai. lxi. 3. "The oil of joy for
mourning." They anointed themselves to express Joy.

Another Name of the Son of God that shows that he is
God's perfect Idea, is the Amen, which is a Hebrew word
that signifies truth. Divine truth, or the Eternal truth
of God, is God's perfect understanding of himself, which
is his perfect understanding of all things."

"308. Trinity. With Respect to that Objection against
this explication of the Trinity, that according to the
truth of this Reasoning there would not only be three
persons, but an Infinite number, for we must suppose
that the Son understands the Father, as well as the
Father the son, and Consequently the Son has an Idea of
the father and so that Idea will be another person, and
so may be said of the Holy Ghost : This objection is
but a colour without substance, and arises in a Confusion
of thought and a misunderstanding of what we say. In
the first place we dont suppose that the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, are three distinct beings, that have
three distinct understandings. It is the Divine essense
that understands, and it is the divine essence is
understood ; Tis the Divine being that loves, and tis the
Divine being that is loved. The father understands, the
Son understands, and the holy Ghost understands, be-
cause everyone is the same understanding Divine essense
and not that Each of them had a distinct understanding
of their own. 2. We never supposed the Father gene-

APPENDIX I.

rated the Son by Understanding the Son ; but that God
Generated the Son by understanding his own Essense, and
that the Son is that Idea itself, or Understanding of the
Essense. The Father understands the Son, no otherwise
than as he understands that essence, that is the essence
of the Son. The Father understands the Idea he has
merely in his having that Idea without any other act :
thus a man understands his own perfect Idea, merely by
his having that Idea in his mind. So the Son understands
the Father in that the Essense of the Son understands
the essence of the Father, or in himself being the un-
derstanding of that Essense, and so of the holy Ghost.
After you have In your imagination multiplied under-
standings and loves never so often, it will be the
Understanding and loving the very same essense, and you
can never make more than these three ; God, and the Idea
of God, and the love of God. But I would not be
understood to pretend to Give a full explication of the
Trinity ; for I think it still remains an Incomprehensible
mystery, the Greatest and the most Glorious of all
mysteries."

"309. Trinity. The name of the Second person in
the Trinity, Aoyos, evidences that he is God's Idea ;
whether we translate the word the Reason of God, or the
word of God. If the Reason or the Understa?iding of
God, the matter is past Dispute ; for everyone will own
that the Reason or understanding of God is his Idea.
And if we translate it the word of God, he is either the
outward word of God or his Inward. None will say he is
his outward. Now the outward word is Speech ; but the
inward word, which is the Original of it, is thought, the
Scripture being its own Interpreter ; for how often is
thinking in Scripture called Speaking, when applied to
God and men : So that it is the Idea, if we take the
Scripture for our Guide, that is the Inward word."

APPENDIX I.

"330. Holy Ghost, It appears that the holy Spirit is
the holiness or excellency and delight of God, because our
Communion with God, and with Christ, Consists in our
Partaking of the holy Ghost: 11. Cor. xiii. 14; 1. Cor.
vi. 17; 1. John iii. 24; and iv. 13. The Oil that was
upon Aaron's head Ran Down to the Skirts of his Gar-
ments. The Spirit, which Christ, our head, has without
measure, is Communicated to his Church and people.
The sweet Perfumed oil signified Christ's excellency, and
sweet delight. Philip, ii. 1.

Communion we know is nothing else but the Common
partaking with others of good. Communion with God is
nothing else but a partaking with him of his excellency,
his holiness, and happiness."

" 336. Trinity. All the metaphorical Representations
of the holy Ghost in the Scripture, such as water, fire,
breath, wind, oil, wine, a spring, a River of Living water
as proceeding from God, do Abundantly the most
Naturally Represent the perfectly active, flowing affection,
Holy love and Pleasure of God. So the holy Ghost is
said to be Poured out, and shed forth ; Acts ii. 32, 33.
Titus iii. 5, 6. So Love is said to be shed abroad in our
hearts."

"341. Trinity. I can think of no other Good account
that Can be Given of the apostle Paul's wishing Grace
and peace, or Grace, mercy, and Peace from God the
Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ in the beginning of
his Epistles without Ever mentioning the holy Ghost, but
that the holy Ghost is the Grace, the Love and peace of
God the Father, and (the) Lord Jesus Christ. We find it
so fourteen times in all his salutations, in the beginning of
his Epistles ; and, in his blessing at the end of his
11 Epistle to the Corinthians, where all three Persons are
mentioned, he wishes Grace and Love from the Son and

APPENDIX I.

the Father, but the Communion of the holy Ghost, that is
the Partaking of him. The blessing from the Father and
the Son, is the holy Ghost ; but the blessing from the holy
Ghost is himself, a Communication of himself."

" 362. Trinity. We have a lively Image of the
Trinity in the Sun ; The Father is as the substance of the
sun ; the Son is as the brightness and Glory of the disk
of the sun, or that bright and Glorious form under which
it appears to our eyes ; the Holy Ghost is as the heat and
Powerful influence, which acts upon the Sun itself, and
being Diffusive Enlightens, warms, Enlivens, and com-
forts the world. The Spirit, as heat is God's Infinite
Love and happiness, is as the Internal heat of the Sun ;
but, as it is that by which God communicates himself, he
is as the Emitted beams of God's Glory: n. Cor. iii. 18,
that is we are Changed to glory, or to a shining bright-
ness, as Moses was, from, or by God's glory or shining,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord, i. e. which Glory or
shining is the spirit of the Lord. The word, that is
translated From with Respect to Glory, and By with
respect to the Spirit, is the same in the Original, it is airo,
in both, and therefore would have been more intelligibly
translated, " we are Changed By Glory into Glory, even
as By the Spirit of the Lord." Moses was Changed by
God's glory Shining upon him, even as we are Changed
by God's Spirit, Shed as bright beams on us.

The Spirit of God is Called the Spirit of glory, 1 Peter
iv. 14. The Spirit of glory Resteth upon you, upon two
accounts, because it is the glory of God, and as it were
his Emitted beams, and as it is the believer's glory, and
causes him also to shine.

The various sorts of Rays of the Sun and their Beau-
tiful Colours do well Represent the Spirit, and the
amiable excellency of God, and the various beautiful

APPENDIX I.

Graces and virtues of the Spirit ; the same we find in
Scripture are made use of by God for that purpose,
even to signify and Represent the Graces and virtues
of the Spirit. Therefore I suppose the rainbow was
Chosen to be a sign of the Covenant, and St. John
saw a Rainbow Round about the throne of God, Rev.
iv. 3, and a Rainbow upon the head of Christ, Chap,
x. i. So Ezekiel saw a Rainbow Round about the
throne, Ezek. i. 28. And I believe the variety that there
is in the Rays of the sun, and their various beautiful
Colours were designed in the Creation for this very pur-
pose. See Shadows of divine things, No. 58.

There is yet more of an Image of the Trinity in the
soul of man. There is the mind, and its understanding
or Idea, and the will or affection, or Love : answering to
God, the Idea of God, and the love of God.

Indeed the whole animal Creation, which is but the
shadows of beings, is So made as to Represent Spiritual
things : it might be demonstrated by the wonderful agree-
ment in thousands of things, much of the same kind as is
between the types of the old testament and their antitypes ;
and by their being spiritual things — being so often and
Continually compared with them in the word of God, and it
is agreeable to God's wisdom that it should be so, that the
Inferior and shadowy Parts of his works should be made
to Represent those things that are more Real and ex-
cellent, spiritual and divine, to Represent the things that
Immediately concern himself and the highest Parts of his
work. Spiritual things are the Crown and glory, the head
and soul, the very End and alpha, and Omega of all
other works ; what, therefore, can be more agreeable to
wisdom than that they should be so made as to shadow
them forth ? and we know that this is according to God's
method, which his wisdom has chosen in other matters.

APPENDIX I.

Thus the Inferiour Dispensation of the Gospel was all to
shadow forth the highest and most excellent which was
its end : thus almost Everything that was said or done,
that we have Recorded in scripture from adam to Christ,
was typical of Gospel things. Persons were typical per-
sons ; their actions were typical actions ; the cities were
typical cities ; the nation of the Jews and other nations
were typical nations ; their Land was a typical Land ;
God's Providences towards them were typical Provi-
dences ; their worship was typical worship ; their houses
were typical houses ; their magistrates, typical magis-
trates ; their clothes, typical clothes ; and Indeed the
world was a typical world. And this is God's manner to
make inferior things shadows of the Superior, and most
excellent ; outward things shadows of spiritual ; and all
other things, shadows of those things that are the End of
all things, and the Crown of all things. Thus God Glori-
fies himself and Instructs the minds that he has made."

"376. Trinity. It Can no other way be accounted
for, that in the first of John i. 3, ' Our fellowship ' is said
to be 'with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,'
and that it is not said to be also with the holy Ghost, but
because our Communion with them Consists in our Com-
munion of the holy Ghost with them. It is in our Par-
taking of the holy Ghost, that we have Communion with
Father and Son, and with Christians. This is the Com-
mon excellency and delight, in which they all are united :
this is the bond of perfectness, by which they are one in
the Father, and the Son, as the Father is in the Son and
the Son in the Father."

" 405. Trinity. It may be thus expressed, the Son is
the Deity, Generated by God's understanding, or having
an Idea of himself ; the holy Ghost is the Divine Essence
flowing out, or breathed forth in Infinite Love and De-

APPENDIX I.

light ; or which is the same, the Son is God's Idea of
himself, and the Spirit is God's Love to and delight In
himself."

"446. Trinity. Christ is called the face of God,
Exod. xxxiii, 14, and the angel of God's face, the word in
the original signifies face, or looks, form, or appearance
of a thing : Now what can be so fitly called so as God's
own Perfect Idea of himself; whereby he has every mo-
ment a view of his own essence ? This is that face, as-
pect, form, or appearance, whereby God Eternally ap-
pears to himself, and more Perfectly than man appears to
himself by his form or appearance in a looking glass.
The Root, that the word comes from, signifies to look
upon or behold. Now what is that which God looks
upon, or beholds, in so Eminent a manner, as he doth on
his own Idea, or the perfect Image of himself, which he
has in view. This is that which is Eminently in his
presence, this is the Angel of his presence".

" 1065. Tri?iity. That ,the Spirit of God is the Love
of God, well agrees to the Scripture names, appellations,
and representations of this Person of the Trinity : his be-
ing called the Spirit of God, or Breath of God ; and being
compared to water, to a Spring, a River, a Shower, to
flowing oil, and precious ointment, to wind, and Fire ;
and to his being represented as flowing forth, poured out,
breathed forth, blowing, burning, being Quenched, etc.
Holy affection is aptly compared to fire, to breath, to a
flowing Stream, and is aptly spoken of as burning, being
enkindled, cherished and quenched, flowing out, breathed
forth, diffused abroad, etc. But the Representation
would be very unnatural if we should speak of under-
standing, wisdom, or Idea, as breathed forth, poured out,
shed abroad, burning, blowing, etc. And it is not very
credible that those names, similitudes and Representa-

APPENDIX I.

tions that are given to the Holy Spirit, are no more
adapted to him than to the other Persons of the Trinity,
any other way than by an arbitrary constitution, or agree-
ment of the Persons of the Trinity, appointing a Par-
ticular work to the Holy Spirit, no more suited to any
thing in this person of the Trinity as he is in himself any
more than to either of the other Persons, and that there
was nothing in the nature of things but that the Son of
God, or the Father might as properly have been ap-
pointed to the same office, and so that either of the
former Persons of the Trinity, might in that Case as
properly be Represented by breath, wind, Rain, a River,
ointment and fire, and be spoken of as flowing, breathing
forth, burning, shed abroad, being quenched, etc., as the
Holy Spirit. I have shown No. 1062, Corol. that the
second Person in the Trinity has not the name of the Son
of God from his appointment to his office, and work on
the affair of our Redemption ; and there is no more
Reason to think that the Spirit of God is so called only
from his particular office and work in that affair."

"1162. It may be worthy of consideration whether or
no some of the Heathen Philosophers had not with re-
gard to some things, some degree of Inspiration of the
Spirit of God, which led them to say such wonderful
things concerning the Trinity, the Messiah, etc. In-
spiration is not so high an Honor and Privilege as some
are ready to think. It is no peculiar Privilege of God's
Special favorites ; many very bad men have been the
subjects of it, yea some that were Idolaters. Balaam was
an Idolater, and a great sorcerer, or wizard, and yet He
was the subject of Inspiration, and that even when in the
Practice of his witchcraft, when He went to seek by en-
chantments. Yea, the devils themselves, seem some-
times to have been immediately actuated by God, and

APPENDIX I.

forced to speak the Truth in Honor to Christ and his
Religion. So the Devil at the oracle of Delphi was
probably actuated by God, and compelled to confess
Christ, and own that the Hebrew Child to be above him,
and had sent Him to Hell, and forbidden Him to give
forth any more oracles.

Why might not Socrates and Plato, and some others of
the wise men of Greece have some degree of Inspiration ;
as well as the wise men from the East, who came to see
Christ when an Infant. Those wise men dwelt among
the Heathen, as much as the wise men of Greece, and
were in like manner Gentiles, born of heathens, and
brought up among them, and we have no Reason to think
that they were themselves less of Heathens than several
of the Grecian Philosophers ; at least before they were
the subjects of that Inspiration that moved them to follow
the star that led them to Christ.

Pharaoh and his Chief Butler and Baker were the
subjects of a sort of Inspiration in the dreams they had ;
for it is Evident those dreams were divine Revelations ;
as were Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. He, though a
Heathen, and a very wicked man, and a Great Idolater,
yet had a Revelation concerning the Messiah, and his
future Kingdom, In his dream of the great Image, and
the stone cut out of the mountain without Hands.

If it be objected, that, if we suppose some of the
Heathen Philosophers to have Truths suggested to them
by the Inspiration of the Spirit of God, we must suppose
that God gave those Revelations without giving with
Them any certain Evidences by which others, to whom
they declared them might determine them to be such, or
by which they might be obliged to regard and receive
them as such : Allowing this to be the Case, yet a
good end might be answered in giving those Revela-

APPENDIX I.

tions nevertheless. Though they could be no Rule to
the heathen, among whom they lived, yet they might
be of use these three ways.

i. They might dispose the Heathen nations, as they
had occasion, to converse with the Jews, and to be in-
formed of the Revelations and Prophecies that they had
among them, to attend the more to them, and to enquire
into them, and their Evidences.

2. They might prepare the Gentile nations, that had
among them the Records of those sayings of their
most noted and famous wise men, to receive the Gospel
when God's Time came for its promulgation among those
nations, by disposing them the more diligently and im-
partially to attend to it.

3. They may be of Great Benefit to the Christian
Church, ages after they were delivered ; as they serve as
a Confirmation of the great Truths of Christianity.

4. We know not what Evidence God might give to
the men themselves that were the Subjects of these In-
spirations, that they were divine, and were true ; (as we
know not what evidence was given to the wise men of the
East of the divinity of their Revelations ; ) and so we
know not of how great Benefit the truths suggested
might be to their own souls."

APPENDIX I.

B. END OF THE CREATION.

Tis very certain that God did not
create the world for nothing. Tis most certain that if
there were not intelligent beings in the world, all the
world would be without an end at all ; for senseless
matter, in whatever excellent order it is placed, would be
useless, if there were no intelligent beings at all, neither
God nor others ; for, what would it be good for ? So,
certainly, senseless matter would be altogether useless, if
there was no intelligent being but God, for God could
neither receive good himself, nor communicate good
What would this vast universe of matter placed in
such excellent order, and governed by such excellent rule
be good for if there was no intelligence that could know
anything of it ? Wherefore it necessarily follows that in-
telligent beings are the end of the creation ; though their
end must be to behold and admire the doings of God, and
magnify him for them, and to contemplate his glories in
them. Wherefore religion must be the end of the creation,
the great end, the very end. If it were not for this all
those vast bodies, we see ordered with so excellent skill,
so acceptable to the surest rules of proportion, according
to such laws of gravity and motion would be all vanity,
or good for nothing, and to no purpose at all, for religion
is the very business, the noble business of intelligent
beings. And for this end God has placed us on this
earth. If it were not for men, this world would be
altogether in vain, with all the curious workmanship of
it, and accoutrements about it. It follows from this that
we must be immortal.

The world had as good have been without us, as for us
to be a few minutes and then be annihilated. If we are
not to own God's works to his glory, and only glorify him a

APPENDIX I.

few minutes and then be annihilated and it shall after that
be all one to eternity as if we never had been, and be in
vain, after we are dead, that we have been once, and then
after the earth shall be destroyed it shall be for the
future entirely in vain that either the earth or mankind
have ever been. The same agreement seem to be used,
Isai. xlv. 17, 18."

" k k. Religion. Corollary. Since the world would be
altogether good for nothing without intelligent beings, so
intelligent beings would be altogether good for nothing
except to contemplate the Creator. Hence we learn that
devotion and not mutual love, charity, justice, benefi-
cence, etc., are the highest end of man,, and devotion is
his principal business ; for all justice, beneficence, etc.,
are good for nothing without it, or to no purpose at all,
for those duties are only for the advancement of the great
business, to assist mutually each other to it."

" / /. Religion. It may be said, If religion be really
the very business of man, for which God made him, it is
a wonder it is no more natural to them ; the world in gen-
eral learnd and unlearnd say little about it, they are very
awkward at it ; as if it were contrary to their nature. I
answer, Tis no wonder, because Sin has brought them
down nearer to the beast, a sort of animals uncapable of
religion at all."

" 87. Happiness. ' Tis evident that the end of man's
creation must needs be happiness from the motive of
God's creating the world, which could be nothing else but
his goodness. If it be said that the end of man's creation
might be that he might manifest his power, wisdom, holi-
ness, or justice ; so I say too ; But the question is, Why
God would make known his power, wisdom, etc. What
could move him to will that there should be some beings
that might know his power, and wisdom ? It could be

APPENDIX I.

nothing else but his goodness. This is the question :
What moved God to exercise and make known these
attributes. We are not speaking of subordinate ends, but
of the ultimate end ; of that motive into which all others
may be resolved. ' Tis a very proper question to ask,
What attribute moved God to exert a power ; but ' tis not
proper to ask, What moved God to exert his goodness ?
for this is the notion of goodness, an inclination to shew
goodness. Therefore such a question would be no more
proper than this, viz., What inclines God to exert his
inclination to exert goodness ? which is nonsense ; for it is
an asking and answering a question in the same words.
God's power is shown no otherwise than by his power-
fully bringing about some end. The very notion of wis-
dom is wisely contriving for an end ; and if there be no
end proposed, whatever is done is not wisdom. Where-
fore, if God created the world merely from goodness,
every whit of this goodness must necessarily, ultimately
terminate in the consciousness of the Creation, for the
world is no other way capable of receiving goodness in
any measure, but intelligent beings are the consciousness
of the world. The end therefore of their creation must
necessarily be that they may receive the goodness of God,
that they may be happy."

" 92. End of Creation. How then Can it be said that
God has made all things for himself, if it is certain that
the highest End of the Creation was the communication
of happiness ? I answer : That which is done for the
Gratifying of a natural inclination of God may very
properly be said to be done for God. God takes Com-
placence in Communicating felicity, and he made all
things for this Complacence. His Complacence is this,
this is making happiness the End of the Creation. Rev.
iv. 11."

APPENDIX I.

" 104. End of the Creation. We have proved that the
end of the creation must needs be happiness and the
communication of the goodness of God ; and that nothing
but the Almighty's inclination to communicate of his own
happiness could be the motive to him to create the world ;
and that man or intelligent being is the immediate object
of this goodness, and subject of this communicated happi-
ness. And we have shown also that the Father's be-
getting of the Son is a complete communication of all his
happiness, and so an eternal adequate and infinite ex-
ercise of perfect goodness that is completely equal to
such an inclination in perfection ; why then did God in-
cline further to communicate himself, seeing he had done
it infinitely and completely? Can there be an inclination
to communicate goodness more than adequately to the
inclination ? To say so, is to say, that to communicate
goodness adequate to the inclination, is not yet adequate,
inasmuch as he inclines to communicate further, as in the
creation of the world. To this I say, That the Son is the
adequate communication of the Father's goodness, and is
an express and complete image of him. But yet the Son
has also an inclination to communicate himself in an
image of his person, that may partake of his happiness,
and this was the end of the creation even the communi-
cation of the happiness of the Son of God, and this was
the only motive herein, even the Son's inclination to this.
But God the Father is not the object of this, for the
Father is not a communication of the Son, and therefore
not the object of the Son's goodness ; but men, that is
those of them that are holy ; as the Son says, Psalm xvi.
2, 3. It is Christ here speaks, as is evident by the fol-
lowing passage. And Man, the consciousness or per-
ception of the creation is the immediate subject of this.
Therefore the Church is said to be the completeness of

APPENDIX I.

Christ, Eph. i. 23, As if Christ were not complete with-
out the Church, as having a natural inclination thereto.
We are incomplete without that which we have a natural
inclination to. The man is incompleat without the
woman ; She is himself, as Christ is not complete without
his spouse. The soul is not complete without the body,
because human souls have a natural inclination to dwell
in a body : So Ephesians i. and ii. last verses. Prov. viii.
30, 31. First we are told where the Father's delight was,
and also the mutual delight of the Son, and then where
the Son's delight is in the object of his communication of
his goodness. " Then I was by him as one brought up
with him, etc." The Son is the fulness of God, and the
Church is the fulness of the Son of God.

Corol. 1. Then doubtless he is the only proper and fit
person to be the Redeemer of men.

Corol. 2. Therefore they are so nearly united to Christ
and shall have such intimate communion with him, shall
sit down with him in his throne, even as he is set down in
his Father's throne and sit with him in the judgment of
the world, and their glory and honour and happiness
shall be so astonishingly great, as is spoken of in the
Scripture.

Corol. 3. Therefore the Son created and doth govern
the world ; seeing that the world was a communication of
him, and seeing the communicating of his happiness is
the end of the world.

Corol. 4. We may learn in what sense Christ says,
John xv. 9 : As the Father loveth the Son as a communi-
cation of himself as begotten in pursuance of his eternal
inclination to communicate himself, so the Son of God
loveth the Church or the Saints, as the effect of his love
and goodness, and natural inclination to communicate
himself.

APPENDIX I.

Corol. 5. Hence the meaning of Col. i. 16, 17, 18. In
this verse there is a trinity, an image of the eternal
trinity ; wherein Christ is the everlasting Father, and be-
lievers are his Seed, and the Holy Spirit, or comforter, is
the third person in Christ, being his delight and love
flowing out towards the Church. In believers the Spirit
and delight of God being communicated unto them flows
out towards the Lord Jesus Christ, vid. note on Dan. ix.
25, Mark xiv. 3, and Gen. xxviii. 11, 12.

Corol. 6. Hence we may plainly percieve how these
expressions of the Lord Jesus are to be understood, John,
xvii. 21, 22, 23, 24, John xiv. 20; These sayings at first
seem like nothing but words carelessly cast together, very
abstruse and dark, but yet we may here see and know
what he meant. Many other of Christ's speeches may
receive light from hence ; the meaning of the apostle
John's gospel and epistles particularly, and many
passages through the whole Bible.

Corol. 7. How glorious is the gospel that reveals to us
such things.

Corol. 8. Hence we see why it is most suitable and
proper that the Son of God should have the immediate
management of the affairs of the church, and that it
should be this person of the Trinity that has all along
manifested himself by the visible tokens of his presence
to the antediluvians, the Patriarchs and Israelites."

"197. Christian Religion. It seems to me exceeding
Congruous and the highest manner Consentaneous that a
God, a being of infinite Goodness and love, who, it is
evident from mere Reason, Created the world for this
very End, to make the Creation happy in his love : I say
it seems exceeding Congruous, that he should Give to the
Creature the highest sort of Evidence or Expression of
love. For why should not that love, which is infinitely

APPENDIX I.

higher than any other and the love of a being infinitely
more excellent, of which other love is but the emanation
and shadow ; why should not that love have the highest
and most noble manifestations and the surest Evidences ?
Now we know that the highest sort of manifestations and
evidence of love is expence for the beloved. How much
soever the lover Gives, or Communicates to the beloved,
yet, if he is at no expence himself, there is not that high
and noble expression of love as if otherwise. Now I Can
Clearly and distinctly concieve how the Giving of Christ
should have all that in it, that Renders it every way an
equal, and like, and perfectly equivalent expression of
love, as the greatest expence in a lover ; as I have shown
elsewhere. And this is a way that is exceeding noble and
excellent, and agreeable to the Glorious Perfections of
God. But no other way can be Concieved of ; and they
that deny the Christian Religion Can Pretend no other ;
and if they do 'tis impossible they should think of any in
any measure so exalted, noble, and excellent."

" 243. Glory of God. The first part of the xvii. Chap,
of John, and the 18 verse of the xii. Chap., and Isai.
xlviii. 11, and Isai. xlii. 8, and many other such passages
of Scripture, make me think that God's glory is a good,
independent of the happiness of the creature ; that it is a
good absolutely and in itself and not merely as subor-
dinate to the Creature's real good ; nor not merely because
it is the Creature's highest good : a good that God seeks,
(if I may so speak) not merely as he seeks the Creature's
happiness, but for itself ; that he seeks absolutely, as an
independent, ultimate good. And many passages in the
Old Testament that seem to speak as if the end of his
doing this or that was his honour's sake, or his name's
sake ; though it still appears to me exceedingly plain that
to Communicate goodness is likewise an absolute good,

APPENDIX I.

and what God seeks for itself, and that the very being of
God's goodness necessarily supposes it ; for to make
happy is not goodness, if it be done purely for another
superior end."

"247. Glory of God. For God to glorify himself is to
discover himself in his works, or to communicate himself
in his works, which is all one. For we are to remember
that the world exists only mentally ; so that the very be-
ing of the world implies its being perceived, or discovered.
Or otherwise, for God to glorify himself, is, in his acts
ad extra, to act worthy of himself, or to act excellently.
Therefore God does not seek his own glory because it
makes him the happier to be honoured and highly thought
of, but because he loves to see himself, his own excel-
lencies and glories appearing in his works : He loves to
see himself communicated. And it was his inclination to
communicate himself, that was a prime motive of his
creating the world. His own glory was the ultimate end ;
himself was his end ; that is himself communicated.
The very phrase the glory seems naturally to signify
Glory is a shining forth, an effulgence. So the glory
of God is the shining forth, or effulgence of his
perfections, or the communication of his perfections;
for effulgence is the communication of light. For this
reason that brightness, whereby God was wont to
manifest himself in the wilderness, and in the tabernacle
and temple, was called God's glory. So the bright-
ness of the sun, moon, and stars is called their glory ;
1 Cor. xv. 41, John i, 14. We beheld his glory \ that is
his brightness, in his transfiguration. 11 Peter i. 17,
Heb. i. 3, Rev. xviii, 1, that is brightness. Rev. xxi. 11,
verse 23. So that the glory of God is the shining
forth of his perfections ; and the world was created,
that they might shine forth; that is that they might
be communicated."

APPENDIX I.

"271. End of the Creation. It is indeed a condecent
thing, that God should be the Ultimate End of the
creation, as well as the Cause ; that in creating he should
make himself his end, that he should in this respect be
omega as well as alpha, and the Scripture saith, " God
hath made all things for himself ; " and this may be, and
yet the reason of his creating the world be his propensity
to goodness ; and the communication of happiness to
creatures be the end. It perhaps was thus : God created
the world for his Son, that he might prepare for him a
spouse or bride to bestow his love upon, so that the
mutual joys between this bride and bridegroom are the
end of the creation. God is really happy in loving his
creatures ; because in so doing he as it were glorifies a
natural propensity in the divine nature, viz., goodness.
Yea, and he is really delighted in the love of his creatures,
and in their glorifying him, because he loves them, not
because he needs ; for he could not be happy therein,
were it not for his love and goodness. Col. i, 16, "All
things were made by him, and for him ; " that is for the
Son."

" 332. End of the Creation" The great and universal
End of God's creating the world was to communicate
Himself. God is a communicative being. His com-
munication is really only to intelligent beings. The
communication of Himself to their understandings is His
glory and the communication of Himself with respect to
their wills, the enjoying faculty is their happiness. God
created the world for the shining forth of his excellency
and for the flowing forth of his happiness. It dont make
God the happier to be praised, but it is a becoming and
condecent and worthy thing for infinite and supreme ex-
cellency so to do."

" 445. End of the Creation. There is a necessity of

APPENDIX I.

supposing that the exercise of God's goodness, or the
Communication of his happiness is not merely a sub-
ordinate End, but stands in the Place of an Ultimate
End ; though there is no necessity of supposing it the
only ultimate end. But if God's making his Glory to
appear be an ultimate end, this must stand not in sub-
ordination to it, but fellow to it, and in the same Rank
with it ; for to suppose that God's Communication of
Goodness is wholly subordinate to some other End, is to
suppose that it is not from God's Goodness. That which
is Done by any being Entirely in subordination to some
other End, or that is not done at all for the sake of itself ;
that is wholly and only for some other thing, that is more
ultimately in view. The attribute or disposition, that ex-
cites to that action, is wholly that which seeks that more
ultimate end. Thus if God makes the Creature happy,
only for a further end, viz., that he may manifest his own
perfections by it ; then his making the Creature happy is
not Indeed from his goodness, or his disposition to com-
municate good, but wholly from the attribute or dis-
position of the divine nature, whereby he is disposed to
shew forth his own excellency. It is not consistent with
the nature of Goodness to be wholly moved and excited
by something else that is not Goodness.

If it be said that God Communicates good to the
creature only to manifest that Part of his essential Glory,
viz., his Goodness, this implies a Great absurdity ; for it
supposes that God is good only to manifest his own
goodness, which goodness is only an Inclination to mani-
fest his glory this way. So that now it Comes to this, that
God is Good in order to manifest his Inclination that he
has to manifest his Inclination to Communicate good. He
Communicates that he may glorify his goodness, which
goodness itself is nothing else but an inclination to com-

APPENDIX I.

municate good for this end, viz., to glorify his inclination
to communicate good to this end. And so we may run
to Endless nonsense.

If God is Good only to manifest the Glory of his Good-
ness, then this would be that Glory which was manifested,
even his Inclination to manifest his own glory. God has
an Inclination to manifest his own Glory, and the Glory
which he manifests is this, viz., his disposition to manifest
his own Glory ; for his Goodness is nothing else, if the
sole ultimate end of communicating Good be to Glorify
himself or to shew forth the glory of his goodness.
Surely God's Glory, that is to be manifested, must be
Considered as something Prior to his disposition or de-
sign to manifest it. God's Inclining or designing or
exerting himself to show his glory, surely, is not that very
Glory which he shows : the Glory must be something else
besides the manifestation of it.

You will say, Why may not the same be said of God's
Justice ; why can't the exercise of that be argued to be an
ultimate End of the creation ? I answer, That when the
world is already Created, merely the Glorifying his Jus-
tice Cannot be the only motive to his acting Justly ;
though the Glorifying that attribute might be the motive
for his giving himself occasion for the exercise of that
attribute by making the Creatures.

Indeed the glory of God cannot be Considered as the
Proper end of God's acts of Justice ; for if it be tis the
glory of his justice is the End, which will Imply those
absurdities mentioned concerning God's Goodness being
altogether for the glory of his goodness.

A view to the Glorifying of God's Justice is not the
sole motive to God's acting Justly when there is occasion ;
for he acts Justly, because tis agreeable to> his nature,
and he delights so to do. God's glorifying himself

APPENDIX I.

might be his End in Giving himself occasion for the ex-
ercise of his Justice.

So that although God's Glorifying and Communicating
himself were the sole Ends for which he created the
world ; yet they cannot be Properly Considered as the
sole ends of All that God does in the world. Thus God
when he speaks the truth to his Creatures the sole motive
to his speaking the truth, when he does speak, (is not to
glorify his truth ;) for tis impossible that he should speak
anything else : he speaks the truth, because he delights in
truth for its own sake.

But the attribute of Justice, or a Just disposition of the
Divine nature cannot be directly the motive to God's
Creating the world, as his Goodness may. For a Just
disposition has for its object only being, existing either in
act, or design. It is absurd to suppose that an inclina-
tion to do Justice, upon all occasions, should Properly
be his motive to Give Creatures being that there may be
occasion (to exercise it;) for that is not any part of the
notion we have of Justice — a disposition to make occa-
sions for the exercise of Justice. It must be some other
disposition that does that ; and in God, it is his dis-
position to cause his attributes to shine forth, or to
Glorify himself. But now Goodness, or an Inclination to
Communicate Good, has merely possible being as much
its proper object, as actual, or designed, being. A dis-
position to Communicate Good will move a being to
make the occasion for the Communication ; and Indeed
Giving being is one part of the Communication. If God
be in himself Disposed to Communicate himself, he is
therein disposed to make the Creatures to communicate
himself to ; because he can't do what he is in himself dis-
posed to do without it. God's Goodness is not an Inclina-
tion to Communicate himself, as occasion shall offer, or a

APPENDIX I.

disposition, conditionally, to Communicate himself; but
absolutely.

But God's Just and Righteous disposition is only his
disposition to act Justly upon every occasion. If God be
in himself just that supposes no more than that he will
certainly act Justly, whenever there is occasion for his
being concerned with the rights or deserts of any. It
dont Imply in its nature a disposition to make occasion
for it. If God be disposed to make occasions for the
exercise of his attributes, that must be only because he is
disposed to cause his excellencies to shine forth, or to
glorify himself. Vid. 461. Vid. note on the cxxxvi
Psalm."

" 448. End of Creation. God is glorified within him-
self these two ways.

1. By appearing, or being manifested to himself in
his own perfect Idea ; or in his Son, who is the brightness
of his glory.

2. By enjoying and delighting in himself, by flowing
forth in infinite Love and Delight towards himself ; or in
his Holy Spirit.

So God glorifies himself towards the creatures also two
ways.

1. By appearing to them ; being manifested to their
understanding.

2. In communicating himself to their hearts, and in
their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, the mani-
festations which he makes of himself.

They both of them may be called his glory in the more
extensive sense of the word, viz., his shining forth, or the
going forth of his excellency, beauty and essential glory,
ad extra. By one way it goes forth towards their under-
standings, by the other it goes forth towards their wills or
hearts. God is glorified not only by his glory's being

APPENDIX I.

seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see
it delight in it, God is more glorified, than if they only
see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul,
both by the understanding and by the heart. God made
the world that he might communicate, and the creature
receive, his glory ; and that it might [be] received both
by the mind and heart. He that testifies his views or
idea of God's glory, does not glorify God so much, as he
that testifies also his approbation of it, and his delight in it.
Both those ways of God's glorifying himself came from
the same cause, viz., the overflowing of God's internal
glory, or an inclination in God to cause his internal glory
to flow out ad extra. What God has in view in either of
them, either in his manifesting his glory to the under-
standing or [his] communication of it to the heart, is not
that he may receive but that he go forth. The main
end of his shining forth is, not that he may have his rays
reflected back to himself, but that the rays may go forth.
And this [is] very consistent with what we are taught of
God's being the Alpha, and Omega, the first and the last.
God made all things ; and the end for which all things
are made, and for which they are disposed, and for which
they work continually, is that God's glory may shine forth
and be received. From him all creatures come, and in
him their well being consists. God is all their beginning,
and God, received, is all their end. From him, and to
him, are all things ; they are all from him, and they are
all to be brought to him ; but it is not that they may add
to him, but that God might be received by them. The
damned indeed are not immediately to God, but they are
ultimately ; they are to the glorified saints and angels,
and they to God, that God's glory may be manifested in
them unto the vessels of mercy.

It is said that God hath made all things for himself ;

APPENDIX I.

and in the Revelation it is said they are created for God's
pleasure ; that is they are made that God may in them
have occasion to fulfil his good pleasure in manifesting
and communicating himself. In this God takes delight,
and for the sake of this delight God creates the world,
but this delight is not properly from the creature's com-
munication to God, but in his to the creature ; it is a de-
light in his own act.

Let us explain the matter how we will, there is no way
that the world can be for God save than so for It can't
be so for him, as that he can receive anything from the
creature.

" 553. End of the Creation. There are many of the
divine attributes, that, if God had not created the world,
never would have had any exercise : the power of God,
the Wisdom of God, the prudence and contrivance of
God, the goodness and mercy, and grace of God, and the
justice of God. It is fit that the divine attributes should
have exercise. Indeed God knew as perfectly that there
were those attributes fundamentally in himself before
they were in exercise as since. But as God he delights in
his own excellency and glorious perfections, so he delights
in the exercise of those perfections. It is true that there
was from eternity that act in God, within himself, and
towards himself, that was the exercise of the same
perfection of his nature. But it was not the same
kind of exercise ; it virtually contained it, but there
was not explicitly the same exercise of his perfection.
God, who delights in the exercise of his own perfection,
delights in all the kinds of its exercise. That eternal act
or energy, of the divine nature within him whereby he
infinitely loves and delights in himself, I suppose does
imply, fundamentally, goodness and grace towards
creatures, if there be that occasion, which infinite wisdom

APPENDIX I.

sees fit. But God, who delights in his own perfection,
delights in seeing those exercises of his perfection
explicitly in being, that are fundamentally implied."

" 662. End of the Creation. Glory of God. It may
be enquired Why God would have the exercises of his
perfections and expressions of His glory known, and pub-
lished abroad.

Answer, It was meet that His attributes and perfections
should be expressed ; it was the will of God that they
should be expressed and should shine forth ; but if the
expressions of his attributes are not known they are
not expressions ; the very being of the expression de-
pends on the perception of created understandings ; and
so much the more as the expression is known, so much
the more it is."

" 1082. End of the Creation. The glory of the Lord
in scripture seems to signify the excellent brightness and
fulness of God, and especially as spread abroad, diffused,
and as it were enlarged : or, in one word, the excellency
of God flowing forth. This was represented in the
Shechinah of old. Here, by the excellency of God, I
would be understood of everything in God in any respect
excellent, all that is great and good in the Deity; in-
cluding the excellent sweetness, and blessedness that is
in God, and the infinite fountain of happiness that the
Deity is possessed of, that is called the fountain of life,
the water of life, the river of God's pleasures, God's
light, etc. The flowing forth of the ineffably bright and
sweet effulgence of the Shechinah, represented the flow-
ing out and communicating of this as well as the mani-
festation of his majesty and beauty ; joy and happiness is
represented in scripture as often by light, as by water,
fountains, streams, etc. — And the communication of
God's happiness is represented by the flowing out of

APPENDIX I.

sweet light from the Shechinah, as well as by the flowing
forth [of] a stream of delights, and the diffusing of the
holy oil, called the fulness of God's house, Ps. xxxvi,
7, 8, 9.

A fountain in diffusing itself abroad in streams, and the
holy anointing oil in diffusing itself in a sweet odour, are,
in a scripture sense, glorified and magnified, as well as
the lamps in the temple by diffusing abroad their light.

Happiness is very often in scripture called by the
name of glory, or included in that name, in scripture.
God's eternal glory includes his blessedness ; and when
we read of the glorifying of Christ, and the glory which
the Father has given him, it includes his heavenly joy.
And so, when we read of the glory promised to or con-
ferred on the saints, and of their being glorified, their un-
speakable happiness is a main thing intended. Their
joy is full of glory, and they are made happy in partaking
of Christ's glory : the fulness of the saints' happiness is
the riches of God's glory in the saints. Therefore the
diffusing the sweetness and blessedness of the divine
nature is God's glorifying himself, in a scripture sense,
as well as his manifesting his perfection to their under-
standings. The beams, that flow forth from the infinite
fountain of light and life, don't only carry light, but life,
with them ; and therefore this light is called the light of
life, as the beams of the sun have both light and warmth,
and do both enlighten and quicken, and so bless, the face
of the earth.

This twofold way of the Deity's flowing forth ad extra,
answers to the twofold way of the Deity's proceeding
ad intra, in the proceeding and generation of the Son,
and the proceeding and breathing forth of the Holy
Spirit ; and indeed is only a kind of second proceeding
of the same persons : their going forth ad extra, as before
they proceeded ad intra."

APPENDIX I.

" 1 151. End of the Creation. It is no just objection
against God's aiming at glorifying himself, as one way of
that flowing out, or beaming forth of the infinite good
that is to be considered under the notion of a last end of
God's works ; that this adds nothing to God's happiness ;
any more than it is a just objection against his Com-
municating his happiness to his creatures being aimed at
by him as his last end ; for the creature's happiness does
not properly add anything to God's happiness, any more
than God's being glorified in the view of the creature,
and by the creature, adds something to God's happiness.
It is true, God delights in communicating his happiness
to the creature, as therein he exercises a perfection of his
nature, and does that which is condecent, amiable, and
beautiful, and so enjoys himself and his own perfection
in it, as his perfection is exercised in it. So, in like
manner, he delights in glorifying himself, as it is in itself
condecent and beautiful that infinite brightness and glory
should shine forth, and it is a part of the perfection of
God to seek it.

These two ways of the divine good beaming forth, are
agreeable to the two ways of the divine essense flowing
out, or proceeding from eternity within the godhead, in
the person of the Son and Holy Spirit : the one, in an ex-
pression of his glory, in the idea or knowledge of it ; the
other, the flowing out of the essence in love and joy. It
is condecent that, correspondent to these proceedings of
the divinity ad intra, God should also flow forth ad extra.

The one last end of all things may be expressed, thus :
It is, that the infinite good might be communicated ; that
it might be communicated to, or rather in, the under-
standing of the creature, which communication is God's
declarative glory ; and that it might be communicated
to the other faculty (usually, though not very express-

APPENDIX I.

ively, called the Will) which communication is the mak-
ing the creature happy in God, as a partaker of God's
happiness."

" 12 18. End of the Creation, Glory of God, etc. It
can't be properly said that the end of God's creating of
the world is twofold; or that there are two parallel co-
ordinate ends of God's creating the world : one, to exer-
cise his perfections ad extra; another, to make his
creatures happy. But all is included in one, viz., God's
exhibiting his perfections, or causing his essential glory
to be exercised, expressed and communicated ad extra.
Tis true that we must suppose that, prior to the creature's
existence, God seeks occasion to exercise his goodness,
and opportunity to communicate happiness, and that this
is one end whereby he gives being to creatures ; and so
we must conceive this prior to the creature's existence.
He seeks occasion to exercise other attributes of his
nature, that can have none but creatures for their objects ;
as his justice, his faithfulness, his wisdom, etc. But a
disposition to seek opportunity and occasion for the exer-
cise of goodness towards those that now have no being,
and so a being disposed to give being to creatures, that
there may be such an opportunity, is not the same attri-
bute that we commonly call Goodness ; any more than a
disposition to seek opportunity or occasion to exercise
justice, and so to give being to creatures that there may
be such occasion, is not the same attribute that we call
Justice. God seeks occasion for the exercise of one and
the other of those attributes, by giving existence to beings
that may be capable objects of their exercise, in the same
manner, and for one common reason, viz., because it is
in itself fit and suitable that these attributes of God
should be exerted, and should not be eternally dormant.
Tis true tis from an excellent disposition of the heart of

APPENDIX I.

God, that God seeks occasion to exercise his goodness
and bounty, and also his Wisdom, Justice, Truth; and
this in one word is a disposition to glorify himself, ac-
cording to the Scripture sense of such an expression, or
a disposition to express and communicate himself ad extra.

I know there is an inconsistency in supposing that God
inclines to exercise goodness, and do Good to others,
meerly for the sake of the Honour of his Goodness ; for
the very notion of Goodness is an Inclination of Heart to
do good to others. And therefore, the Existence of such
an Inclination must be conceived of as prior to an Incli-
nation to Honour it. There must first be an Inclination
of Heart to do good, before God desires to honour that
Inclination. So in like manner it is an inconsistence to
suppose that God is inclined to Exercise Justice, and do
justly, only for the sake of the Honour of his Justice ; for
Justice itself is an Inclination to do justly, which must
exist before God is inclined to honour it. Therefore
God's glorifying Himself — that glorifying Himself,
which is the End of the creation — is a different thing
from properly seeking his Honour.

They, that suppose God's inclination to make occasions
for the doing Good, or communicating Happiness, by
giving being to capable subjects of it, to be what is
properly called God's Goodness, seem to have a Notion
of a bountiful disposition in the Heart of God, disposed
to increase the sum of Happiness, which is to be found
in the universality of Existence. But there is no such
Thing. Man's Benevolence and Bounty, taking his own
Good, and the Good of the Person benefitted by Him to-
gether, increases the sum of Good; and therefore tis
more easy to conceive of a benevolent Disposition in a
Creature wishing for the being of new subjects of Kind-
ness, because the Goodness of his Nature causes Him to
love to see a great deal of Happiness.

APPENDIX I.

But God sees no more by making creatures that they
may be happy.

He hath in his Son an adequate object for all the de-
sires of this kind that are in his Heart, and in his Infinite
Happiness, he sees as much Happiness as can be when
new beings are made that are infinitely less, and there is
opportunity to do them good, God sees not the sum of
happiness increased.

The more proper Notion signified by all such words as
Goodness, Kindness, Bounty, Favour, Grace, etc., includes
Love, Benevolence or Good will, but this is not properly
Love or Good will that has the Existence of the object
loved first supposed. A disposition to make an object
that it may be loved, and that we may have good will
towards must be prior to another, and properly distinct
from Love and Goodwill itself. It may be an ex-
cellent Quality, but it must be Quality of some other
denomination : if it be called Goodness and Grace it must
be in a less proper sense. To desire new beings to com-
municate happiness to 'em, especially without increasing
the sum of Happiness, dont agree with the notion
mankind have of Goodness, Benevolence, Grace, etc.
Men may call this disposition in the Heart of God by the
name of Goodness, if they please ; but tis properly re-
ferred to another Perfection of which it is one sort of
exercise ; viz., the disposition that is in the Infinite
Fountain of Good and of Glory, and Excellency, to shine
forth, or flow out ; which shining forth or flowing out of
God's infinite fulness, is called God's Glory in Scripture.

Indeed God, in making the creature happy, seems as it
were to express, or exhibit himself ad extra, two ways.
Not only does one of his perfections exercise itself in it,
viz., his Goodness ; but there is something of God
actually communicated, some of that Good that is in God,

APPENDIX I.

that the creature hereby has communion in, viz., God's
Happiness : the creature partakes of the happinesss of
God, at least an image of it. And we must therefore
conceive that there is a disposition in God not only to
exercise his attributes and perfections in this, but also to
communicate of his divine good. But then it is to be
considered that God does not only communicate of
happiness, but also his holiness, and his understanding,
and power, or an image of these ; and we must conceive
that there is truly a disposition in God to communicate
of these, as well as his happiness ; which general dis-
position, though in itself excellent, seems to be a dis-
position besides the goodness of God, or at least is called
so in a less proper sense, and in a more extensive sense
than that which is more frequently called God's goodness.
But although there are several kinds of good in God,
that are communicated, and though according to our
manner of conceiving things there are two ways of God's
exhibiting himself ad extra : i. His perfections that we
conceive to be an active nature are exercised ad extra ;
as his power, wisdom, justice, goodness, holiness ; 2. The
Good that is in him is communicated ad extra ; and,
though this good be of various kinds according to our
manner of conceiving, yet as all this good that is in God,
of whatever kind, belongs to his essential glory and
brightness, and there is the same fitness that each part of
this brightness or glory should shine forth in every pos-
sible way, and be both exercised and communicated, and
that all this good should flow out, and that God is dis-
posed that each part should do so, may well be referred
to one general disposition, and the effect may well be
called by one name, viz., God's Glory : Ao£a. TD3.

Both these dispositions of exerting himself and com-
municating himself, may be reduced to one, viz., a dis-

APPENDIX I.

position effectually to exert himself, or to exert himself
in order to an effect. That effect is the communication of
himself, or himself ad extra, which is what is called his
glory. This, communication is of two sorts : the com.
munication that consists in understanding or idea, which
is summed up in the knowledge of God ; and the other is
in the will consisting in love and joy, which may be
summed up in the love and enjoyment of God. Thus
that which proceeds from God ad extra is agreeable to
the twofold subsistences which proceed from him ad intra
which is the Son, and the Holy Spirit : the Son being the
idea of God, or the knowledge of God ; and the Holy
Ghost, which is the love of God and joy in God.

Although the things which God inclines to and aims at,
are in some respects two, viz., exercising or exerting the
perfections of his nature, and the effect of that, viz., com-
municating himself; yet these may be reduced to one,
viz., God's exerting himself in order to the effect. The
exertion and the effect ought not to be separated, as
though they were two ends ; one is so related to the
other, and they are so united that they are most properly
taken together as one end, and the object of one in-
clination in God ; for tis not an ineffectual exertion that
God aims at, or inclines to, and God in aiming at these
makes himself his end. Tis Himself exerted, and
Himself communicated ; and both together are what is
called God's Glory. The end, or the thing which God
attains, is Himself, in two respects. He himself flows
forth ; and He Him[self] is pleased and gratified : for
God's pleasure all things are, and were created.

God has made intelligent creatures capable of being
concerned in these effects, as being the willing active
subjects, or means ; and so they are capable of actively
promoting God's glory. And this is what they ought to
make their ultimate end in all things."

APPENDIX I.

" 1266. Glory of God, the End Of the Creation. God's
Glory, as it is spoken of in scripture, as the End of all
God's works, is, in one word, The Emanation of that
Fulness of God, that is from Eternity in God, ad extra,
and towards those Creatures that are capable of being
sensible and active objects of such an Emanation. It
consists in communicating Himself to those two Faculties
of the Understanding and will ; by which Faculties it is,
that Creatures are sensible and active objects, or subjects,
of divine Emanations, and communications.

God communicates himself to the understanding in the
manifestation that is made of the divine Excellency ; and
the understanding, Idea, or view, which Intelligent
creatures have of it. He communicates his Glory and
Fulness to the wills of sensible, willing, active beings
in their rejoicing in the manifested Glory of God ; in their
admiring it ; in their loving God for it, and being in all
respects affected and disposed suitably to such Glory,
and their exercising and expressing those affections
and dispositions wherein consists their Praising and
Glorifying God ; and in their being themselves holy,
and having the Image of this Glory in their Hearts, and
as it were reflecting it as a Jewel does the Light of the
Sun, and as it were partaking of God's Brightness ; and
in their being Happy in God, whereby they partake of
God's Fulness of Happiness.

This twofold Emanation or communication of the
divine Fulness ad extra is answerable to the twofold
Emanation or going forth of the Godhead ad intra ;
wherein the internal and Essential Glory and Fulness of
the Godhead consists : viz., the Proceeding of the Eternal
Son of God, God's Eternal Idea and infinite under-
standing and wisdom, and the Brightness of his Glory,
whereby his Beauty and Excellency appears to Him ; and

APPENDIX I.

the Proceeding of the Holy Spirit, or the Eternal will,
Temper, disposition of the Deity, the infinite Fulness of
God's Holiness, Joy, and Delight."

" 1275. l^hat Glory of God, that is the End of God's
Works, is not only a manifestation of his Excellency, but
a communication of his happiness. Goodwin's Works,
Vol. 1, Part 2, p. 246, on Happiness. Words, Eph. ii, 7,
" It implies that God will rejoice over you in glorifying of
you. It imports that he will not do it merely to show his
riches, as Ahasuerus made a feast and invited all his
nobles, to show the riches of his glorious kingdom. God
indeed will bring us to heaven, and show the exceeding
riches of his grace ; and that is the chiefest end he aims
at. But now Ahasuerus did not do this in kindness.
But God, as he will there show forth the exceeding riches
of his grace,/<?r the glorifying of it, so he will do it in all
the sweetness and kindness that your souls can desire or
expect."

Ibid. p. 250. " It hath been questioned by some,
Whether the first moving cause to move God to go forth
to save men was the manifesting his own glory, or his
kindness and love to men, which he was pleased to take
up towards them. I have heard it argued with much
appearance of strength, That, however God indeed in the
way of saving men carries it as becomes a God, so as his
own glory and grace shall have the pre-eminence, yet that
which first moved him, that which did give the occasion
to him to go forth in the manifestation of himself which
else he needed not, was rather kindness to us than his
own glory ; yet so as if he resolved out of kindness and
love to us to manifest himself at all he would do it like a
God, and he would show forth the exceeding riches of
his grace, as that that alone should be magnified. Now
the truth is the text (Eph. ii. 7) compounds the business,

APPENDIX I.

and doth tell us plainly and truly, that the chief end is
that God should glorify his own grace. It puts the chief
and original end upon the showing forth the exceeding
riches of his grace ; Yet so as that he hath attempered
and conjoined therewith the greatest kindness, the great-
est loving affection in the way of manifesting of it, so as
in the way of carrying it. It shall appear it is not simply
to glorify himself, but out of kindness towards us, he puts
that in as that which shall run along with all the mani-
festation of his own glory. And therefore now he makes
in the 4th verse mercy and great love to us, to be as well
the fountain and foundation of our salvation as the mani-
festation of the riches of his grace here."

Ibid. p. 253. " Because the chief and utmost thing
that God desireth is the manifestation of the riches of his
grace, it argues, that his end of manifesting himself was
not wholly for himself, but to communicate unto others
why ? because grace is wholly communicative. There
can be no other interpretation of showing the riches of
his grace but to do good unto others. If he had said
that the supreme end had been the manifestation of his
power and wisdom, it might have imported something he
would have gotten from the creature ; not by communi-
cating anything unto them, but by manifesting these upon
them. He could have showed his power and wisdom
upon them, as he hath done upon the men he hath cast
into hell and yet have communicated no blessedness to
them. No, saith God, My highest and chief end is not so
much to get anything from you, but to show forth the
riches of my grace towards you. Thus, look at faith
which is the highest grace in us ; it is merely a receiving
grace from God. So take grace, which is the chief thing
God would exalt ; what is it from God, a mere bestowing,
communicating property and attribute. It imports noth-

APPENDIX I.

ing else but a communication unto us. It is well there-
fore for us, that God hath made the highest end of our
salvation in himself (when he will aim at himself too) to
be that which shall communicate all to us. It is, saith
the text, to show forth the riches of his grace."

Ibid : Part 3, p. 63. " Our allwise and infinitely blessed
Lord who had, from everlasting, riches of glorious per-
fections, which, though he himself knew, and was in-
finitely blessed in the knowledge of them, though no saint
or angel had ever been or ever knew them ; yet all these
his glorious perfections being crowned with goodness,
have made him willing to make known what riches of
glory were in him unto some creatures which yet were in
Christ. His goodness moved him to it. For Bonum est
sui communicatio, — and it is the nature of perfection also
to be manifestatio sui. And that not because any per-
fection is added to it when made known, but that they
might perfect others. This set Him upon some ways to
make known his riches and his glory to some that should
be made happy by it ; and to that end he would have
saints, (his saints as being beloved of him) unto whom
he might as it were unbosom himself, and display all the
riches of glory that are in him ; into whose laps he might
withal pour out all his riches, that they might see his
glory, and be glorified in seeing of it. John xvii, 3, 24."

APPENDIX II.

LOAN EXHIBITION

Not the least interesting part of the Bicentenary was
the exhibition, in Bartlet Chapel, of many autograph
and published writings of Edwards and other objects of
historical interest, partly in the possession of the Semi-
nary, and partly loaned by friends for this special
occasion. The books were in large part from the
Seminary Library, but several of the most interesting
came from the Congregational Library of Boston, the
Boston Public Library, and the Library of Harvard
University. The manuscripts were mainly from the
collection of Professor E. C. Smyth. Other objects were
loaned by Professor Smyth and Miss Park, of Andover,
Dr. H. C. Hovey, of Newburyport, Mrs. A. C. Stone, of
Lawrence, and the Rev. Calvin M. Clark, of Haverhill.
To all these friends the thanks of the Seminary are hereby
extended for their kind co-operation in making the ex-
hibition a success.

The following list includes the most interesting of the
objects exhibited, leaving out the books : —

A sketch of the life of Richard Edwards, of Hartford,
by his son, the Rev. Timothy Edwards.

Letter from Mrs. Solomon Stoddard to her daughter,
Mrs. Timothy Edwards, after the birth of her son,
Jonathan.

Letter from the Rev. Timothy Edwards to his son,
Jonathan, dated Feb. 13, 17 16.

Letter from Rector Cutler, of Yale, to Timothy Ed-
wards, congratulating him on the good qualities of his
son, dated June 30, 1719.

APPENDIX II.

Unpublished letter of Edwards to his father, dated at
Yale College, March i, 172 1.

Various treatises in manuscript, including, Of the
Rainbow ; Of Insects, being the first draft of Edwards's
account of The Flying Spider ; The Flying Spider, and
draft of a letter to a gentleman in England accompanying
the same ; Notes on Science, with specimens of short-
hand writing and of illustrative figures ; On the Soul ;
Of Being, written while a college student ; Manuscripts
relating to Qualifications for Communion, and Prophecies
of the Messiah.

Leaves from Edwards's Hebrew Bible, containing his
family record.

Notes of sermons preached to the Mohawk Indians in
Stockbridge, in January and February, 1751.

Letter to the Rev. Joseph Bellamy, dated Canaan, Nov.
5, 1750, concerning a proposed sale of sheep, occasioned
by Edwards's enforced resignation of his Northampton
parish.

Numerous letters from the later years of his life.

Notes from which Edwards preached his farewell
sermon to the Stockbridge Indians, Jan. 8, 1758, just
before his removal to Princeton.

Letter of Dr. Shippen, the attending physician, an-
nouncing the death of Edwards to his wife. Written
from Princeton, March 22, 1758.

Letter from Mrs. Edwards to her daughter, Susanna,
after the death of Edwards. Written April 3, 1758.

A Latin Dictionary belonging to Sarah Pierpont, who
became Mrs. Edwards ; a piece of her wedding dress ; a
wrought iron tray, supposed to be one of her wedding
presents ; the manuscript containing an account of Mrs.
Edwards's religious experiences of Jan. 19, 1742, nar-
rated by her to her husband, and recorded by him.

APPENDIX II.

Copy of a Covenant entered into by the people of God
at Northampton, March 16, 1 741-2 ; a fragment of the
cloth used with the communion service at Northampton
during Edwards's pastorate.

Numerous sermons, notes and plans for sermons, show-
ing his shorthand writing, and his economy in making use
of newspaper margins, fragments of letters, pulpit notices,
proclamations, and especially scraps of paper left by his
daughters from their manufacture of fans.

A Note Book of " Things to be particularly enquired
into and written upon ".

A letter to the Rev. John Erskine of Kirkintilloch,
Scotland, in which Edwards speaks of his thoughts of
writing on the Freedom of the Will and Moral Agency.
It is dated Northampton, Jan. 22, 1746-7.

A silver bowl or porringer, inscribed with the names of
its various owners, viz. Pres't Jonathan Edwards, Hon.
Timothy Edwards, Phoebe (Edwards) Hooker, Edward
W. Hooker, Edward T. Hooker. By will of Edward W.
Hooker the porringer must thereafter go to an orthodox
Congregational clergyman in direct descent. Loaned by
the present owner, the Rev. Calvin M. Clark, of Haverhill.

APPENDIX II.

CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE

To the Committee of Arrangements for celebrating the
Bicentenary of the Reverend fonathan Edwards, M.A.
The Senatus of the Glasgow College of the United
Free Church of Scotland have deputed their colleague,
the Reverend James Orr, D.D., to represent them at the
celebration of the Bicentenary of the celebrated Jonathan
Edwards within your theological Seminary. Our Senatus
gladly unites with you in doing honour to one of the
earliest of renowned American Theologians, whose pre-
eminent abilities were recognized in his life-time not
only in the land of his birth but throughout Great Britain
and Germany, and whose writings, more especially his
Treatise on the Freedom of the Will, his work on the
Doctrine of Original Sin, and above all his Treatise on
the Religious Affections, have taken and must always
retain a place among the theological master-pieces of
earlier generations.

The Senatus congratulate the Andover Theological
Seminary, so justly celebrated among American Schools
of Divinity, on this celebration, and they see a peculiar
fitness in a Seminary, so well known for its theological
activity in the present, summoning around it theologians
from all lands to do honour to one of the greatest theo-
logians of the past.

The Senatus send cordial fraternal greetings and desire
to express every wish for the success of the Meetings to
be held on the fifth of October.

In the Name and by the Authority of the Senatus

(signed) Thomas M. Lindsay,

Principal.
College of the United Free Church of Scotland,
Glasgow, June 9, 1903.

APPENDIX II.

REPLY TO THE CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE

To the Reverend Thomas M. Lindsay, D.D., Principal
of the Glasgow College of the United Free Church
of Scotland, Greeting :
The Faculty of Andover Theological Seminary take
pleasure in acknowledging the congratulatory message of
the Senatus of Glasgow College, received on the occasion
of the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Jonathan
Edwards, to be observed on October fifth. They highly
value and cordially reciprocate the fraternal good wishes
therein expressed. They also gratefully acknowledge
their indebtedness to Glasgow College and the United
Free Church of Scotland for the favoring presence in
Andover, at the approaching Bicentenary, of an honored
representative of modern Scotch Theology, the Reverend
Professor James Orr, D.D., whose name lends distinction
to the order of proceedings, and whose address is certain
largely to enhance their historical value.

Adopted at a meeting of the Faculty, held in Andover,
on the sixteenth day of September, Nineteen Hundred
and Three.

(signed) Charles Orrin Day,

President.

Date Due

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Full text of "Exercises commemorating the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Jonathan Edwards, held at Andover theological seminary, October 4 and 5, 1903"

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