Perry Miller - The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2001 and reissued in 2014, is an unabridged reprint of the work originally published by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., in a two-volume Harper Torchbook edition, in 1963. That edition was a reprint of the work first published by American Book Company, in 1938. The bibliographies were revised for the Torchbook edition by George McClandish. Selections from the poetry of Edward Taylor (ca. 16451729) in Vol. II are from The Poetical Works of Edward Taylor, published by Princeton University Press in 1939. This Dover edition is published in one volume, with a single table of contents and index covering both volumes. As noted in the Table of Contents, the Notes and Bibliography for Vol. I are on pp. xixlix, placed in position following page 377. The Notes and Bibliography for Vol. II are on pp. 765818.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Puritans : a sourcebook of their writings / edited by Perry Miller and Thomas H. Johnson.

pages cm

This Dover edition... is an unabridged reprint of the work originally published by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., in a two-volume Harper Torchbook edition, in 1963. That edition was a reprint of the work first published by American Book Company, in 1938. The bibliographies were revised for the Torchbook edition by George McClandish. Selections from the poetry of Edward Taylor (ca. 16451729) in Vol. II are from The Poetical Works of Edward Taylor, published by Princeton University Press in 1939.

This Dover edition is published in one volume, with a single table of contents and index covering both volumes Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN-13: 978-0-486-16105-1

1. American literaturePuritan authors. 2. American literatureColonial period, ca. 16001775. 3. PuritansNew EnglandHistorySources. 4. New EnglandLiterary collections. 5. American literatureNew England. 6. PuritansLiterary collections. I. Miller, Perry, 19051963, editor. II. Johnson, Thomas Herbert, editor.

PS508.P87P87 2014
810.8001dc23

2014012861

www.doverpublications.com

FOREWORD

Jonathan Edwards cautioned himself in his Notes on Natural Science: What is prefatorial, not to write in a distinct preface, or introduction, but in the body of the work; then I shall be sure to have it read by every one. The editors of the following selections have been mindful of his warning, and they here need merely to say that the volume portrays the Puritans who settled New England and those of the next two generations who lived there. The focus of the work has been Puritanism in the seventeenth century, when the word had a comparatively definite meaning, and in only one respect has any effort been made to trace the modifications of it in the eighteenth century. The selections from the writings of Jonathan Mayhew have been included for the purpose of giving a continuous view of political theory. Otherwise the consistent aim has been restriction to what might be called pure Puritanism, leaving later ramifications to be traced out elsewhere. It has for that reason been thought wise to leave the greatest of all Puritan intellectuals, Jonathan Edwards, to be studied in the context of his different intellectual environment.

To the end that the elusive terms Puritan and Puritanism should be clearly defined, at least in so far as they apply to the colonizers of America and their spiritual descendants, the selections have been grouped into chapters;divisions which most naturally provide opportunity for discussion of all phases of Puritan ways and ideas, with such emphasis, selectivity, and proportion as seem representative and true. The General Introduction attempts to view Puritanism as a whole: to mete its boundaries, fix its location, supply guides to its monuments, and establish that unity which so clearly runs in Puritan thought, expression, and manners.

It has seemed best to let the Puritans speak for themselves as much as possible, for they were not a reticent people, nor were they wanting in ideas. As lfric remarked in the foreword to his Lives of the Saints: We say nothing new in this work, for it all stood written long ago, albeit laymen did not know it. Much that the Puritans wrote has been deservedly forgotten, but the dust has gathered as well upon the works of some who, when brought into the light of the present, appear to have been powerful instruments in working out the social and political, as well as the religious and cultural, destiny of America. It therefore seemed wiser to give in general ample passages from a few pivotal documents, rather than to go wide afield in an effort merely to extend the list of Puritan writers. The editors are aware that no American today can read a Puritan work without having a definite opinion of the author, and they in their turn have not been reticent in the introductory portions about speaking their minds; yet the larger purpose has been to supply enough of the Puritan literature itself to let each reader judge for himself.

The texts throughout follow the earliest edition, or the most accurately printed when the first seems inadvisable. Spelling and punctuation are reproduced exactly, except that the modern s has been uniformly adopted, and obvious printers errors corrected. It should be stated that the map of New England which forms the end-papers of the volume, while based mainly upon the accurate surveys of more recent times, has been constructed to show certain features of the coast-lines and harbors as indicated by a study of many old maps, some of them published near the close of the Puritan period.

The editors have collaborated closely, and each has contributed something to almost every section; but the major task of preparation and annotation was divided, and final responsibility for expression of opinion must rest as follows: The Puritan Way of Life in the General Introduction, and are the work of Thomas H. Johnson.

First of all the editors wish to express their gratitude to Professor Harry Hayden Clark, the general editor of the series of which this volume is a part. It was he who first proposed the idea of the undertaking, and his assistance and encouragement have been constant and generous. They also wish to thank the Librarians and the staffs of Harvard College Library, Boston Public Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, Princeton University Library, and New York Public Library for innumerable courtesies, always graciously extended. The demands on Mr. Gerald D. McDonald, Head of the Reserve Room of the last named institution, have been especially importunate, and always met with unfailing skill. Dr. Erdman Harris and Mr. Hugh King Wright have been good enough to read through and offer helpful suggestions about the chapters of the text prepared by Thomas H. Johnson. Perry Miller is indebted to Professor F. O. Matthiessen for his generous assistance in reading the introductory material and advising in the whole construction of the volume; he has also profited largely from the help of Professor David Prall, Dr. Richard B. Schlatter, and Mr. Edmund S. Morgan. To Catherine Rice Johnson and Elizabeth Williams Miller the debt is truly immense, for without their help the book could hardly have reached completion.

The editors reliance upon the work of Professor Samuel Eliot Mori-son is testified by the frequent citation of his name in the Introduction and the notes; but the debt goes even further, and is acknowledged elsewhere.