proposition which affirms that event is true, whether it has and positive influence in producing it or not." There is, of course, some confusion here, as the word "reason" is, in the position in which it stands, ambiguous, showing that Edwards never properly grasped the distinction between causality and mere sequence ; and further differing from Hume in recognizing that there are causes which have a positive influence in producing their effects, his state ments are rendered additionally perplexing by his unconsciously making use of either signification of the word cause, according to the exigencies of his argument. Thus he makes our knowledge not only of the law of positive causality but of mere sequence to depend not on experience but on a primary intuition "implanted by God in the minds of all mankind," which is virtually a con tradiction in terms. There is also the further difficulty as to how, con sistently with his theory in regard to the will, he can hold any other doctrine regarding causality than that it is that mere sequence which experience enables us to believe in ; for it seems impossible that we can have a primary intuition of causality unless from the conscious ness of our own casual energy.
That part of Edwards s argument in which he most decidedly fails is .his endeavour to reconcile his theory of the will with his own views in regard to moral agency, and more particularly in regard to the nature of reward and punishment. John Stuart Mill admits that, on his own theory, the only ends that can justify punishment are the benefit of the offender himself and the pro tection of others, and the only "feeling of accountability" he con tends for is that "caused by the experience of punishment." It has been disputed whether even the kind of punishment contended for by Mill is on his theory justifiable, but he has endeavoured to obviate objections to it by distinguishing between what he calls "modified fatalism" and what he calls the "true doctrine ot causation." The distinction is similar to that drawn by Edwards between "moral" and "natural" necessity. It may be questioned whether Mill s doctrine of causality leaves room for this distinction, but undoubtedly. Edwards s doctrine does not ; for by tracing our knowledge of causality not to experience but to a primitive intuition, he becomes not merely a " determinist," but a "necessitarian." Whether the doctrine of the will held by Edwards, Hume, and Mill be the correct one, or whether the true solution of the problem or its true statement is to be found in some form of the transcen dental philosophy which received its great impulse from Kant, it is not our province to inquire ; but there need be no hesitation in affirming both that Edwards is successful in showing that the doc trine of the freedom of the will must be stated in different terms and justified by different methods than those employed up to his time, and that, on account of his attempting to build on principles so widely removed from each other as to be utterly irreconcilable, his own well-planned structure, notwithstanding extraordinary ap plications of architectural skill, inevitably collapses.
The collected works of Jonathan Edwards, including a large number of sermons, were first published at Worcester, Mass., 1809, in 8 vols. 8vo. Among various other editions afterwards published may be mentioned that by his relative Sercno E. Dwight, 1830, in 10 vols., containing a memoir by Dr Dwight. This edition, with an introductory essay by
EDWARDS, Richard (1523?–1566?), a musician and writer of interludes, was born in Somersetshire, studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, took his master of arts degree in 1547, entered at Lincoln s Inn, and was appointed in 1561 a gentleman of the royal chapel and master of the singing boys. He probably died about the end of 1565, as his epitaph was written by Turberville in the following year. A "tragedy" from his pen possibly, in spite of the designa tion, the comedy of Damon and Pithias was acted before Queen Elizabeth at Christmas 1564; and on September 3, 1566, the same honour was accorded to his Palamon and Arcite. The latter play was never printed, and like most of the author s productions is now lost, but the former, entered at Stationers Hall in 1567–8, appeared in 1571 with the title of " The excellent Comedie of two the moste faithfullest freendes, Damon and Pithias," was reprinted in 1582, and may be found in Dodsley s Old Plays, vol. i., and Ancient British Drama, vol. i. It is written in rhymed lines of rude construction, varying in length and neglecting the caesura, and, according to A. W. Ward, it is " one of the clumsiest of our early plays, both in action and in language." Its principal subject is tragic, but it is interlarded, with scenes of vulgar and witless farce. A number of the author s shorter pieces are preserved in the Paradise of Dainty Devices, first published in 1575, and reprinted in the British Bibliographer, vol. iii. ; the best known are the lines on May, the Amantium Ira;, and the Commendation of Music, which has the honour of furnish ing a stanza to Romeo and Juliet. The Historic of Damocles and Dionise is assigned to him in the 1578 edition of the Paradise. In his own day Edwards was held in the highest estimation. " He united," says Warton, "all those arts and accomplishments which minister to popular pleasantry ; he was the first fiddler, the most fashionable sonneteer, the readiest rhymer, and the most facetious mimic of the court."
See, besides the numerous authorities given by Allibone in Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Authors, the Shakespeare Soc. Papers, vol. ii. art. vi. ; Ward, English Dram. Literature, vol. i.
son of ^Ella, king of Deira, and was born about 586. At the death of yElla, in 588, Ethelfrid, king of Bernicia, ^Ella s brother-in law, usurped the throne of Deira, and. united the two kingdoms Deira and Bernicia, under the name of Northumbria. Edwin ultimately found shelter with Rsedwald of East Anglia, who, in 617, defeated and slew Ethelfrid near the river Idle, and enabled Edwin to mount the Northumbrian throne. In 625 Edwin married Ethelburgha, daughter of Edbert, king of Kent. She had been converted to Christianity, and, at her desire, Faulinus, a Christian missionary, was allowed to enter Northumbria. Not long after Paulinus s arrival, Eumer, an envoy of the king of Wessex, made an attempt to"assassinate Edwin, who was only saved by Lilla, one of his thanes, throwing him self between him and the assassin s weapon. The thane was killed, and the sword passing through his body inflicted also a dangerous wound on the king. The queen about the same time was seized by the pangs of childbirth, and was so alarmed on account of what had happened that she aud her infant were for a time in imminent clanger. Paulinus offered up prayers for their recovery, and Edwin was so much impressed by the seeming answer to the petition, that, though he did not at once adopt the Christian faith, he permitted the infant and twelve of his household to be baptized. He also declared to Paulinus that if he should succeed in overthrowing the West Saxons, against whom he had determined to make war, he would himself become a Christian, and receive the rite of baptism. After his victorious return he renounced his heathen gods, but it required all Paulinus s powers of persuasion to get him finally to adopt Christianity, and to give it his sanction as the religion of Northumbria. Ultimately, however, he convened a council of his nobles to ask their advice, and when they unanimously declared for the new religion, Coifi, the high priest, at once offered to destroy all the heathen places of worship throughout the land. This was done, and in 628 the Northumbrians flocked in crowds to be baptized by Paulinus. While the introduction of Christianity into Northumbria is the circumstance most worthy of mention in Edwin s reign, it was also remarkable in other respects. So strict was his administration of justice, that it was said that " a woman with her babe might walk scatheless from sea to sea in Edwin s day." He was also the first real Bretwalda, although ./Ella, his father, first laid claim to the title. He compelled the sub mission of the West Saxons, conquered Anglesea and Man by his fleet, and received tribute from all the king doms south of the Huvnber, with the exception of Kent. To guard his northern dominion he erected the fortress of Edinburgh or Edwin s burgh. In 633 Pencla, king of Mercia, taking advantage of a reaction that was setting in in favour of the old paganism, determined to resist Edwin s
authority and combining with Cadwallader, king of the