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Inevitably Timothy Dwight's poems will be reprinted, and among them The Triumph of Infidelity, the satirical narrative of 778 lines in which Satan visits America, speaks lengthily on the progress of "infidelity" since the birth of Christ, and then contrives the downfall of all Americans by inspiring the Reverend Charles Chauncy to preach the anti-Calvinist doctrine of universal salvation. The poem was twice published anonymously, "in the world," in 1788. Although the texts of the two editions differ from one another at many points, and although the poem is in current use even to the extent that parts of it are assigned in sophomore surveys, there has been no serious attempt to establish the sequence of these editions or to determine a proper text. On several grounds a tentative case for ordering the editions can be made. At one point, at least, establishing a proper text is important to the interpretation of the poem, which, in any case, has frequently been misunderstood by the critics.
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