More significantly, however, McDermott demonstrates that Edwards's theology was inherently a public theology. Edwards's view of theology proper implies a strongly communal understanding of Christian faith and practice. God's disposition to relate to other beings is reflected in every other being. Edwards's believed Newton's theory of universal gravitation was a scientific expression of the inclination of all beings to relate to and love others. If a thing is only as it is related to other things, then it is clear that a Christian is only in relation to others.
True virtue is the expression of the disposition of created being.
Public expression of disposition are thus of the essence of virtue. This is not to say that public action is per se virtuous. Only when an act arises from a transformed heart is it truly virtuous. Consistent with this was Edwards's insistence that practice is the only reliable index of grace, and for Edwards Christian practice was particularly manifest in active charity toward the poor and outcasts. Edwards's political theory itself was largely traditional.