1811 JONATHAN EDWARDS. Foundational Text of Moral Government Theory of Atonement.

A scarce and finely preserved example of a foundational text of the "New England Theology" (or "Edwardsean Theology") regarding the doctrine of the atonement.

Authored not by the elder Jonathan Edwards, but by his son, Jonathan Edwards Jr. (1745–1801), the work presents his famous three discourses delivered in New Haven, which formally introduced the Moral Government theory of the atonement into American Calvinism. Departing from, or augmenting, traditional strict penal substitution, Edwards Jr. argued that Christ's death was not an exact commercial payment for individual sins, but rather a public demonstration of God's rectoral justice and moral hatred of sin, allowing God to forgive repentant sinners freely without undermining the authority of His moral law.

This theological pivot became a cornerstone of 19th-century New Divinity thought, heavily influencing Hopkinsianism, the New Haven Theology, and the evangelistic framing of the Second Great Awakening. 

Edwards, Jonathan. The Necessity of the Atonement, and the Consistency between that and Free Grace, in Forgiveness: Illustrated in Three Discourses. Portland. A. Lyman & Co. J. M'Kown, Printer. 1811. Second Edition. 107pp + Advert for A. Lyman's Bible Warehouse in Portland. 

 Near fine in original tree calf with black morocco label and tooled gold lines. Some minor foxing throughout as shown and a faint stain toward the rear. Exceptionally preserved. Early sepia signature of "Jonathan Swift." Of course, not the Jonathan Swift.