444 EDWARDS which is the view of Augustine and Calvin. This view also had a most important bearing on the theory of morals. The momentous question of man's relation to moral evil, and the way of his escape from it, formed one of the chief objects of Edwards's thoughts du- ring his whole life. "Men in a very proper sense may be said to have power to abstain from sin, because it depends on the will ;" and if they will not, the defect is in themselves ; yet a man's evil disposition may be as strong and immovable as the bars of a castle. The law of causality extends to every action. Liberty consists in the power of doing what one wills, not in any power of willing without a motive. The will always follows the great- est seeming good ; and what shall seem to a man the greatest good depends on the state of his soul. Liberty is not in the act, but in the man ; and if a depraved nature is to abstain from sin, it can only be effected by a change of heart. This theory Edwards asserted by an appeal to the facts of universal experience, and by a thorough analysis of the complex cause of action. In his essay on the " Nature of Virtue" he finds it to consist in love; not in love as resting complacently on its objects, but in love as the ruling motive of the will ; love in action, benevolence. And this love is not for self; the doctrine of Edwards is the in- tensest protest against the theory of self-love. Taking Christ's summary of the law under two commandments of love to God and love to one's neighbor, he finds a general term which includes both God and man in "Being," and he therefore defines virtue as the "love of Being." Thus virtue implies the love of God with all the soul, for God is the Being of be- ings, "in effect, Being in general." The love to universal Being includes all being, each in its degree, according to its amount of exist- ence ; active love for the good of the world of mankind before the love of country, of country before that of a single city, of a city before a family, of the family before the indi- vidual, of the individual only in subordination to the great system of the whole. The theory is the opposite of that which makes self-love the foundation of moral order. It does not weaken the bonds of family affection ; only the love of wife or husband, parent or child, must not be the paramount motive. In this light the doc- trine of the oneness of the race, which Edwards asserted with great clearness and force, gains new significance. The ethical theory of Ed- wards is cosmical. It is universal history rest- ing on the principle of the redemption of the world, decreed from all eternity ; the gradual progress and advancement of the race through the presence of the Divine Word and its ever approaching triumph over all enemies. Events seem confused like the work of an architect, who employs many hands in many kinds of labor at once ; but a knowledge of the design removes all appearance of confusion ; and so the design of the Divine Word in redemption gives unity to the history of all the nations of the earth. The development of this idea em- ployed the latest thoughts of Edwards, 'though his " History of Redemption " is only a sketch of the great work which he planned. Edwards makes a turning point in the intellectual, or, as he would have called it, the spiritual history of New England. New England and New Jer- sey, in the age following him, applied more thought to the subject of religious philosophy and systematic theology than the same amount of population in any other part of the world ; and his influence is discernible on every lead- ing mind. Bellamy and Hopkins were his pu- pils ; Dwight was his expositor ; Smalley, Em- mons, and many others were his followers; through Hopkins his influence reached Kirk- land, and assisted in moulding the character of Channing. Edwards sums up the old the- ology of New England, and is the fountain head of the new. There are several lives of Jonathan Edwards. The most interesting is that by Hopkins, who was his pupil ; the fullest is that by Sereno Edwards Dwight. There have been two editions of his works in Eng- land, one in 8 vols. 8vo, and one in two com- pact volumes. The American editions are to be preferred. One was published at Worces- ter, Mass., ediCed by Samuel Austin, in 1809, in 8 vols. The New York edition is by Sereno E. Dwight, in 10 vols. 8vo, of which the first contains the life. There is also a later and convenient New York edition in 4 vols. EDWARDS, Jonathan, president of Union col- lege, Schenectady, N. Y., son of the preceding, born in Northampton, Mass., May 26, 1745, died in Schenectady, Aug. 1, 1801. At the age of six he went with his parents to Stock- bridge, where there was but one school for both Indians and whites, of the latter of whom there were so few that he was in danger of forgetting the English tongue. He thoroughly learned the language of the Stockbridge In- dians, and- in later years published a treatise on the subject. In his 10th year he was sent by his father with the Rev. Gideon Bawley among the Six Nations, that he might also learn their language and become qualified to be a missionary among them. Here he made rapid progress ; but owing to the disturbances of the French war, he soon returned to Stock- bridge. In 1761 he entered the college at Princeton, N. J., where he graduated in 1765, He studied divinity with Dr. Bellamy, and in 1766 was licensed to preach. In 1767 he be- came tutor in the college at Princeton. In 1769 he was ordained as pastor of the church in White Haven, in the town of New Haven, Conn., where he continued till May 19, 1795. Resigning his charge, mainly on account of difference in doctrinal views between himself and some of his people, he was settled in 1796 as pastor of the church in Colebrook, where he gave much time to study, and to an exten- sive correspondence with learned men in Amer- ica and in Europe. In May, 1799, he was
