Editorial policy and corrections

Original text and modern notes

The library presents transcriptions from the Wesleyan Heritage Collection. Historical prose, including dated language and views, belongs to its source authors. Collection titles identify editions, not necessarily the author of every item. Byline metadata and notes labelled “Editorial note” are modern additions. These notes explain specific discrepancies without silently rewriting the source.

Modern English Reader’s Edition and study companions

Thirteen sermons and eight sections of works have optional modern English companions. AI tools, including Astra 6, were used to prepare these adaptations. They are paraphrases intended to help readers approach the historical texts. They are not the authors’ original wording or an edition of the New Living Translation. Biblical quotations within them may also be paraphrased; the linked Bible reader displays the King James Version.

Use Side-by-Side to compare each aligned paragraph. Summaries, discussion questions, and closing prayers are modern editorial additions. Quote cards identify modern or edited wording, and Copy link preserves the selected edition. Copy citation refers to the historical source.

Each companion shows its version, AI comparison status, and review date. The comparison examines every original and modern paragraph, followed by the summary and study guide, for omissions, added claims, changed qualifications, and doctrinal meaning. A review applies only to the checked source and adaptation versions; changing either invalidates that status. This is an AI-assisted editorial check. No independent human scholarly review has been recorded. Readers should consult the original for study and quotation and report uncertainties.

Library search indexes historical texts. Modern companion text and editorial study material are excluded, so search with wording from the Original view.

Known corrections

The collection also includes sermons by Benjamin Calamy (137), William Tilly (138, extracted by John Wesley), and John Gambold (141). Their bylines and local editorial notes identify these contributions.

Wesley’s journal now places the September 22, 1776 entry in September and the February 25 and 28, 1788 entries in 1788. Old entry links lead to the corrections. Source page references have been checked against all 150 collection PDFs; the build rejects out-of-range positions. These position checks do not establish the correctness of every source attribution.

Sourced notes beside the original biographies and collection introduction explain the Alabama location of Wesleyan University, the Episcopal Church’s 1789 organization, and Daniel Whedon’s 1885 death. Historical wording remains visible.

Sermons 3, “Awake, Thou That Sleepest,” and 129, “The Cause and Cure of Earthquakes,” are by Charles Wesley. Sermon 3 names Charles in its source occasion line. The Duke annotated earthquake sermon identifies Charles’s authorship and its preaching at West Street Chapel on April 4, 1750 (introduction, PDF page 1).

Sermon 1 retains the edition’s June 18, 1738 occasion line. An editorial note cites Duke’s annotated Charles Wesley incoming letters, 1736–40, printed page 47, note 2 (PDF page 49), which dates the preaching to June 11, 1738.

The Works volume 14 display title “List of Peotical Works” is corrected to “List of Poetical Works.” Its existing URL is retained.

Page references and audit limits

Sermon source references identify the collection PDF and its page position. PDF page positions count from the beginning of the file; printed page numbers are the numbers appearing on the original pages and can differ. Citations to scholarly notes distinguish both when known. The checks above verify these particular editorial issues; they do not establish that every transcription, attribution, date, footnote, or cross-reference in the library has been independently checked. Remaining transcription errors or uncertainties may require comparison with original editions.

Report a correction

Use Copy citation or Copy link on the reading page, or copy the page address manually. Include the entry, passage or section; quote the exact wording at issue; describe your proposed correction; and provide supporting evidence with its source and page reference. State whether the issue concerns original historical text, a transcription, or a modern editorial note, byline or date. Historical wording and modern explanatory notes are handled separately.

Email your report to david@sdazm.ca. Include the page link and, for a Modern English issue, the version displayed on the page. The link opens your email application; you review and send the message there.

Rights and access

Rights for all collection material have not been resolved. Age alone does not establish the status of every edition, annotation, or digital source. The site retains its noindex directive while these questions remain open. Noindex asks search engines not to index pages; it does not make the site private or restrict access.