Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications Civil War Era Studies 7-1995 Calvinist Metaphysics to Republican Theory: Jonathan Edwards and James Dana on Freedom of the Will Allen C. Guelzo Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cwfac Part of the Intellectual History Commons, and the United States History Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Guelzo, Allen C. "Calvinist Metaphysics to Republican Theory: Jonathan Edwards and James Dana on Freedom of the Will." Journal of the History of Ideas (July 1995) 56(3): 399-418. This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cwfac/7 This open access article is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Calvinist Metaphysics to Republican Theory: Jonathan Edwards and James Dana on Freedom of the Will Abstract The Reverend Mr. James Dana, the pastor of the First Church in Wallingford, Connecticut, had never before attempted to pick a quarrel with his old friend and ally, Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale College. But in the winter of 1782 what was happening at Yale passed all the bounds of propriety and friendship. "I have understood that Mr. Edwards's book on fatality was laid aside some years since at your university," Dana wrote (not stopping to add what he surely must have thought, and good riddance too); but now, "it gave me pain to hear lately" that the divinity professor, the epileptic Samuel Wales, "particularly recommends this book to the young gentlemen who are studying divinity under his direction." Have you forgotten, Dana irritably asked, what kind of damage Jonathan Edwards and his Careful and Strict Enquiry in the Modern Prevailing Notions of that Freedom of Will, which is supposed to be essential to Moral Agency, Vertue and Vice, Reward and Punishment had done since the book appeared in 1754? "I need not say to you, sir, that it has been the root of bitterness which has troubled us...like Achan in the camp of Israel, Hopkintonianism, Westianism, and Schism are grafted upon it." It promoted fatalism and mechanism, "and if mechanism doth not explode moral good and evil, I have not the slightest pretence to any mental discernment." Not only mechanism and fatalism, "Murrayism, Deism, and atheism" also sprang indiscriminately from the head of Edwards's book; Dana even blamed the sensational murder-suicide of William Beadle that summer on "the principles" of "Mr. Edwards's system." Suppress the book, Dana pleaded, "interpose your good influence, that so dangerous a book be not introduced into college again." [excerpt] Keywords Jonathan Edwards, James Dana, moral agency, Freedom of the Will Disciplines History | Intellectual History | United States History This article is available at The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cwfac/7 FromCalvinist Metaphysics to RepublicanTheory: JonathanEdwards and JamesDana on Freedomof the Will AllenC. Guelzo The ReverendMr. JamesDana, the pastor of the First Churchin Wallingford,Connecticut, had neverbefore attempted to picka quarrelwith his old friendand ally,Ezra Stiles,the president of Yale College.But in the winterof 1782what was happeningat Yale passedall thebounds of propriety and friendship."I have understoodthat Mr. Edwards'sbook on fatalitywas laid aside someyears since at youruniversity," Dana wrote(not stopping to add whathe surelymust have thought,and good riddancetoo); butnow, "it gave me pain to hearlately" that the divinity professor, the epileptic Samuel Wales,"particularly recommends this book to theyoung gentlemen who are studyingdivinity under his direction."Have you forgotten,Dana irritably asked,what kind of damageJonathan Edwards and his Carefuland Strict Enquiryin theModern Prevailing Notions of that Freedom of Will,which is supposedto be essentialto Moral Agency,Vertue and Vice,Reward and Punishmenthad done sincethe book appearedin 1754? "I need not say to you,sir, that it has been theroot of bitternesswhich has troubledus...like Achanin thecamp of Israel,Hopkintonianism, Westianism, and Schismare graftedupon it." It promotedfatalism and mechanism,"and if mechanism dothnot explode moral good andevil, I havenot the slightest pretence to any mentaldiscernment." Not onlymechanism and fatalism,"Murrayism, De- ism,and atheism"also sprangindiscriminately from the head of Edwards's book; Dana even blamedthe sensational murder-suicide of WilliamBeadle thatsummer on "theprinciples" of "Mr. Edwards'ssystem." Suppress the The authorwishes to thankCharles L. Cohen, Bruce Kuklick,Michael Zuckerman, and themembers of thePhiladelphia Center for Early American Studies for their comments on an earlierversion of thisessay. 399 Copyright1995 by Journal of the History of Ideas, Inc. This content downloaded from 138.234.153.138 on Mon, 9 Sep 2013 15:40:07 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 400 AllenC. Guelzo book, Dana pleaded,"interpose your good influence,that so dangerousa book be notintroduced into college again."'" JonathanEdwards certainly had his critics,but the depthof Dana's animustowards Edwards, and especiallyEdwards's treatise on thewill, has fewparallels, then or now. By thetime he wrotehis letterto Stiles,Dana had alreadywritten a two-volumerebuttal of Freedom of the Will,which became the singlelongest piece of sustainedphilosophical invective in eighteenth- centuryAmerican literature; and he spentanother twenty-five years after his letterto Stilestrying to persuadeYale College and anyoneelse who would listenthat it was theideas packed into Freedom of the Will... .and not the ideas of Tom Paine or EthanAllen.. .which were leading New EnglandCalvinism downto road to obliteration.The balefulinfluence of Edwards's"book on fatality"existed on multiplelevels forDana, whichwas whatmade "this book" so unfitfor Yale undergraduates.Dana was convincedthat it led to intellectualdespair and loss of faith,that it disrupted town and church life by fosteringschism, and thatin thelargest context it wouldthreaten to capsize thefragile stability of New England'semerging republican order. This might havebeen, for Ezra Stiles,a greatdeal to imputeto a fairlyesoteric treatise on theage-old problem of freewill and determinism;but for Dana thefree will problemand politicalideas about freedomwere connecteddiscourses in whichthe wider the notion of freewill, the narrower the concept of republi- can libertywas likely to be. Thus, his apparentlyarcane debate over Edwards'sdeterministic metaphysics came to representa contestnot just overterms but over the life of themind and of societyand eventhe shape of therepublic itself. Dana's dreadof JonathanEdwards did not arise out of any personal antagonismbetween the two...Edwards,in fact,died in New Jerseysix monthsbefore Dana arrivedin Connecticutas an untriedHarvard graduate to becomethe Wallingford church's pastor. But Edwards'sNew Lightfollow- ersand admirersamong the clergy of theStanding Order in Connecticuthad crossedDana's patheven before he becamethe pastor of Wallingford; and in the fall of 1758, in themost sensational ecclesiastical rift in thehistory of ConnecticutCongregationalism, they had nearlymanaged to thwarthis call to the Wallingfordchurch. Wallingford had been a preserveof Old Light conservatismall throughthe Great Awakening and of Old Calvinistopposi- tionthereafter, due in largemeasure to theskillful management of the parish by the WallingfordFirst Church's first two ministers,Samuel Street(in- stalled1674) and SamuelWhittelsey (installed 1717).2 Unhappily,when the I JamesDana to Ezra Stiles, 18 December 1782, in the Ezra Stiles Papers(microfilm reel 4), BeineckeRare Book and ManuscriptLibrary, Yale University. 2 RobertJ. Taylor, Colonial Connecticut:A History(New York, 1979), 121; GeraldE. Farrell,"Dana, Whittelsey,and Wallingford:Change in the EighteenthCentury" (unpub- lishedmanuscript, November 1987, ConnecticutHistorical Society), 3-6, 8-9; and James Dana, A CenturyDiscourse at the AnniversaryMeeting of the Freemenof the Town of WallingfordApril 9, 1770 (New Haven, 1770), 31. "Old Light"was thegeneral term used This content downloaded from 138.234.153.138 on Mon, 9 Sep 2013 15:40:07 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions JonathanEdwards and JamesDana 401 23-year-oldJames Dana arrivedin Wallingfordas Whittelsey'ssuccessor in 1758,he couldnot suppress the urge to measureWallingford against Harvard Yard and to treatWallingford people accordingly.A groupof suspicious WallingfordNew Lightsconfronted him shortly after the call was issuedand grilledhim about "his sentiments,with regard to originalsin, and thesaints perseverance,with regard to thepower of freewill, and fallingfrom grace," and how well he likedConnecticut's Saybrook Platform. Dana repliedsharply, "why we do not ask him how he lik'd John Bunyan'sPilgrim's Progress, or Esoph's Fables"?The New Lightswere not amused.In July,eighty members of the Wallingfordchurch petitioned the New Haven Association,declaring that they "are not willingto have Mr. JamesDana settledin the workof the ministryamongst us"; and on 10 October1758 the consociation of New HavenEast met at Wallingfordto hear the chargesagainst Dana.3 The chargesinvolved a mixtureof