A theological dictionary

We have a profound respect for Richard Watson. We also agree with Thomas Jackson that his sentences are sometimes too long and involved and that the arrangement of words could have been improved. Therefore, we have done some minor editing in order to make his work more readable. Although the original dictionary was a biblical and theological reference work, the availability of many Bible dictionaries makes the reprinting of Watson's entries on biblical topics unnecessary. Therefore, we have abridged the dictionary to include only Watson's theological definitions. And we have extracted from his Institutes entries on the eternal sonship of Christ, mercy, and Christian perfection. Bracketed passages and phrases were added by the American editors, working under Nathan Bangs, in 1832. It is our desire that this new edition will make available to a new generation the warm evangelical scholarship of early Methodism. - p. 9.