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“One of the most profound treatises on social ethics ever written.” -Tim Keller
“有史以来最深刻的社会伦理学（social ethics）论述之一。”——提姆·凯勒（Tim Keller）
“True virtue never appears so lovely as when it is most oppressed; and the divine excellency of real Christianity is never exhibited with such advantage as when under the greatest trials; then it is that true faith appears much more precious than gold, and upon this account is “found to praise and honour and glory.” – Jonathan Edwards
“真正的美德（virtue）从未像在最受压迫时那样可爱；而真基督信仰的神圣至美（divine excellency）从未像在最大试炼（trials）之下那样展现出优势；正是在那时，真信心（true faith）显得比金子宝贵得多，并因此‘被发现是可得称赞、荣耀和尊贵的。’”——乔纳森·爱德华兹（Jonathan Edwards）
In Virtue, Edwards describes his views on the different levels of virtue, specifically “common morality” and “true (saving) virtue.”
在《论美德》（Virtue）中，爱德华兹描述了祂对不同层次美德的看法，特别是“普通道德”（common morality）和“真正的（救赎性的）美德”（true (saving) virtue）。
God, Edwards argues, had in mind as the end for his creation of the world His own glory and not human happiness.
爱德华兹论证说，神在创造世界时，祂心中所想的目的（end）是祂自己的荣耀，而不是人类的幸福。
Thus, true virtue does not arise from self-love or from any earth-bound selflessness (these were two common views at the time) but from a desire to see God’s glory displayed above all.
因此，真正的美德并非源于自爱，也不是源于任何受地上限制的无私（这些是当时两种普遍的观点），而是源于一种渴望看到神的荣耀超越一切被彰显的愿望。
Love of self, family, or nation is good only to the extent that it magnifies the glory of God.
对自己、家庭或国家的爱，仅在它彰显神的荣耀的程度上才是好的。
The Nature of True Virtue, and its companion work, A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World, are still popular works today.
《真正美德的本质》（The Nature of True Virtue）及其姊妹作《论神创造世界的目的》（A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World），至今仍是广受欢迎的著作。
Modern theologian John Piper, who extensively studied the works of Edwards while at Seminary, credits the work with awakening in him a “a deep longing to be a good man”.
现代神学家约翰·派博（John Piper）在神学院（Seminary）期间广泛研究了爱德华兹的著作，祂认为这部作品唤醒了祂“一种成为一个好人的深切渴望”。
He said:
祂说：
Sitting on one of those old-fashioned two-seater swings in the backyard under a big hickory tree, with pen in hand, I read The Nature of True Virtue.
我手里拿着笔，坐在后院大山核桃树下那种老式的双人秋千上，阅读《真正美德的本质》。
I have a long entry in my journal from July 14, 1971, in which I try to understand, with Edwards’ help, why a Christian is obligated to forgive wrongs when there seems to be a moral law in our hearts that cries out against evil in the world.
在我1971年7月14日的日记中有一长篇记录，我在其中试图在爱德华兹的帮助下理解，当我们的心中似乎存在一种道德律（moral law），强烈反对世界上的邪恶时，为什么基督徒有义务原谅错误。
Depending on your view of God, you may agree or not that this encounter with The Nature of True Virtue was an auspicious gift of his providence, because nine months later my “doctor-father” in Germany suggested I write my dissertation on Jesus’ command, “Love your enemy.”
根据你对神的看法，你可能会同意或不同意这次与《真正美德的本质》的相遇是祂护理（providence）的一个吉祥恩赐，因为九个月后，我在德国的“博士导师”（doctor-father）建议我写一篇关于耶稣的命令“爱你的仇敌”的论文（dissertation）。
The Nature of True Virtue is Edwards’ only purely non-polemic work.
《真正美德的本质》是爱德华兹唯一纯粹非论战性的著作。
If you have ever felt an aesthetic sense of awe at beholding a pure idea given lucid expression, then you may understand what I mean when I say that this book aroused in me a deeply pleasurable aesthetic experience.
如果你曾在目睹一个纯粹的思想得到清晰表达时感受到一种美学的敬畏感，那么你可能会理解我所说的，这本书在我心中唤起了一种深刻愉悦的美学体验是什么意思。
But more importantly, it gave me a brand new awareness that ultimately the categories of morality resolve into categories of aesthetics, and one of the last things you can say about virtue is that it is “a kind of beautiful nature, form or quality.”
但更重要的是，它给了我一个全新的认知：最终，道德的范畴（categories of morality）归结为美学的范畴，而你能对美德（virtue）说的最后一件事是，它是“一种美丽的本质、形式或品质”。
Perry Miller said that “the book is not a reasoning about virtue, but a beholding of it.”
佩里·米勒（Perry Miller）说：“这本书不是关于美德的推理，而是对它的仰望。”
Edwards gazes upon the conception of virtue “until it yields up meaning beyond meaning, and the simulacra fall away.
爱德华兹凝视着美德的观念，“直到它揭示出超越意义的意义，而虚假（simulacra）的表象消散。
The book approaches, as nearly as any creation in our literature, a naked idea.”
这本书，在我们文学作品中，几乎像任何创造一样，接近于一个赤裸的思想。”
I think it was perfectly in accord with Edwards’ intention that when I finished that book I not only had a deep longing to be a good man, but I also wrote a poem called “Georgia Woods,” because nothing looked the same when I put the book down.
我认为这完全符合爱德华兹的意图：当我读完那本书时，我不仅产生了成为一个好人的深切渴望，而且我还写了一首名为《乔治亚树林》（Georgia Woods）的诗，因为当我放下书时，一切都变得不一样了。
Table of Contents
目录
Chapter I: Showing wherein the essence of true virtue consists
第一章：论证真正美德的本质所在
Chapter II: Showing how that love, wherein true virtue consists, respects the Divine Being and created beings
第二章：论证那构成真正美德的爱，如何尊重神圣的本体（Divine Being）和受造物（created beings）
Chapter III: Concerning the secondary and inferior kind of beauty
第三章：论次要和较低层次的美
Chapter IV: Of self-love, and its various influence, to cause love to others, or the contrary
第四章：论自爱，及其各种影响，导致爱他人或相反的情况
Chapter V: Of natural conscience, and the moral sense
第五章：论自然良心和道德感
Chapter VI: Of particular instincts of nature, which in some respects resemble virtue
第六章：论本性中在某些方面类似于美德的特定本能（instincts）
Chapter VII: The reasons why those things that have been mentioned, which have not the essence of virtue, have yet by many been mistaken for true virtue
第七章：论述为什么那些已被提及的、不具备美德本质的事物，却被许多人误认为是真正的美德的原因
Chapter VIII: In what respects virtue or moral good is founded in sentiment; and how far it is founded in the reason and nature of things
第八章：论美德或道德良善在哪些方面是以情感（sentiment）为基础；以及它在多大程度上是以事物的理性和本质为基础