APPENDIX. SINCE the preceding Memoir was printed, the Librarian of the New England Historic Genealogical Society has politely copied for the present biographer, four letters of Dr. Hopkins to Rev. Thomas Foxcroft, of Boston. The following are extracts from the first letter, dated December 5, 1759: "Mr. Edwards's children thankfully accept your kind offer to advise and assist them in the proposed publication of some of their father's manuscripts, and accordingly have sent some to you. The 'Dissertation on the Nature of True Virtue,' which has been promised to the world, you will see is not completely fitted for the press. Mr. Edwards read it to me and some others, before he had wrote on Original Sin; and then told us he intended to write it over again before it went to the press, by which he should doubtless make some alterations for the better, by altering some words, shortening some paragraphs, making some sentences more perspicuous, &c. He has often told me that he found such advantages by transcribing, that he designed always to be at the pains in all his future publications. If this piece therefore sees the light, it must appear under the disadvantage of the want of his finishing hand. What is said in showing what is true virtue, I think, will be plain and easy to common capacities; but what is said in confutation of the false notions of virtue which some moral philosophers have advanced, I conceive, will be objected against by many, as metaphysical and abstruse; and will not be so readily understood by common people. For this reason, it has been inquired whether it is proper to have a number of practical sermons in the same volume with this, and whether it would not be best to have a volume of 'Sermons' published first; lest, if this should not find acceptance among common people, (without whose assistance nothing of this kind can be done,) it might discourage future publications of some things more practical. When Mr. Edwards wrote it, he designed it should precede what he has wrote on Original Sin; and when he failed of effecting that, determined to publish it with and as introductory to a Treatise on Efficacious Grace,' which he had in view, and had made considerable preparation for it. "The Dissertation on the End of God in creating the World,' you will see, was wrote before the other, and is as much prepared for the press as the latter. This was designed to accompany a Treatise on Predestination, or the Decrees of God,' which was the next thing Mr. Edwards designed to publish. Whether 'tis best to publish this, with that on Virtue, or whether 'tis best to postpone the publication of it, is left to your judgment and advice. Some have thought that if a way would be found out to get these two Dissertations printed in England, (perhaps without any name,) they would hereby be rendered more serviceable to mankind. Mrs. Edwards told me, the last time I saw her, that she had projected a scheme to get this effected; but as our last interview was short, she did not inform me what it was. Perhaps if this project should be approved, 'tis impracticable. "The same was proposed to Mr. Edwards, with respect to his Treatise on the Freedom of the Will;' and he highly approved of it, if it had been thought of sooner; but it was then too late, proposals for subscription being published. "I have selected forty-six volumes of manuscript sermons, which are, in го my judgment, as good and suitable to be published as any which I have yet read, (for I have not read them all yet.) The thirty sermons on Isaiah li. 8, on many accounts, are, with me, preferable for a present and first publication. They may be considered as the groundwork and epitome of a large work which Mr. Edwards designed to publish, if he had lived - what he called 'A History of the Work of Redemption."" In a letter to Mr. Foxcroft, dated Jan. 9, 1761, Dr. Hopkins adds: "I believe Mr. Edwards supposed that his treatise on the 'Nature of True Virtue' fully answered what he promises in his book [on] Original Sin, (p. 382.) He supposed that by showing what [true] virtue is, and, as a consequence of this, what is not virtue, he effectually answers all the objections there mentioned, and put a sufficient and full answer into the mouth of every one who should have such objections thrown in his way, though he does not mention the objections in that treatise, or answer them as being made against the doctrine of Original Sin. If Mr. Edwards has proved that what he calls virtue is indeed virtue, and that what Arminians have called virtue is in fact no virtue at all, then he has proved that the objections mentioned în the passage above referred to, have no weight in them, and so fully answers them. And while he particularly considers, and proves, which he does in that treatise, (for much the bigger part of it is taken up about this, if I don't mistake,) that Arminians' virtue, such as their moral sense, &c., is no virtue at all these objections of theirs are 'particularly considered.”” In other letters, Hopkins speaks of Dr. John Erskine's "zeal about the publication of the two dissertations on Virtue and the End of God" in creating the world, and adds: "I doubt not but that hundreds of subscriptions may be easily got for them in America," and proposes that the sale of President Edwards's Works "shall be for the benefit of his [President E.'s] two youngest sons." The disappointment of Hopkins's expectations with regard to the assistance to be rendered by Mr. Foxcroft, and to the sale of President Edwards's Works, has been intimated on pp. 217-219, above. In a letter dated April 6, 1761, Dr. Hopkins thus alludes to his own manuscript Memoir of President Edwards, which he transcribed for publication "upon Sir [i. e., Dr. Jonathan] Edwards's desire: " "Imperfect as it is, it has cost me much time and labor; much more than I thought of, when I undertook it. The Rev. Messrs. Bellamy and Brinsmade have seen it, and it has obtained their imprimatur. Mr. Edwards's children, who have come to the years of discretion, have read it, and approve.* - If it shall be thought best to publish it, I must desire you, Reverend sir, to be so good as to correct the grammar, spelling, and printing, where you find a deficiency, which doubtless you will do in many places. Some of Mr. Edwards's children object against giving the title of President Edwards, especially at the beginning, as he was president so short a time as that he did not obtain the epithet among many; and [it] will be distasteful, and perhaps provoking to some readers, who were not so friendly to Mr. Edwards. This I cheerfully submit to your better judgment, as a matter in which I am at some loss." * The dissatisfaction of one or two of President Edwards's children with Hopkins's Memoir, (see p. 213, above,) was not felt until many years after the Memoir was published, and after their father had obtained a European reputation. PREFACE. SYSTEMATIC Divinity is considered and treated, by many, with slight and contempt. And if a book be written in this form, and published under the title of a System or Body of Divinity, this is a sufficient reason, with them, to neglect it, as not worthy their attention. But can this be supported by any good reason? Is not a System of Divinity as proper and important as a System of Jurisprudence, Physic, or Natural Philosophy? If the Bible be a revelation from heaven, it contains a system of consistent important doctrines; which are so connected, and implied in each other, that one cannot be so well understood, if detached from all the rest, and considered by it-self; and some must be first known, before others can be seen in a proper and true light. When all these are stated, and explained, according to Scripture, and in their true order, connection, and dependence, a System of Doctrines is formed. This every person must do, in some measure and degree, who understands the Bible. And he who would assist others in doing this, and set the Doctrines of Christianity in a clear light, and to the best advantage to be understood, will, of course, form a System of Truths; and so far as he falls short of this, or deviates from it, he must be defective and confused. |