Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758

MISS WINSLOW might well have taken as a text the prophet’s words, ‘ Look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged.’ At such moments as the student of civilized man finds himself expecting more of American society than it can possibly give, this book will clear his mind and restore his balance of judgment. The best of it is that apparently Miss Winslow writes with no idea that she is doing this particular service. Yet the first thing that she suggests to a reflective mind must be that all the infinite capacity for unreason, the stubborn hysterical cleaving to every known form of quackery, religious, political, economic, social — all this which now distinguishes our collective life had its rootage deep in America’s spiritual soil no longer than two hundred years ago. Miss Winslow’s work is excellent, and it has interest far outside the circle of religionists and educators towards whom it might appear to be primarily addressed.