Tice 2: City On The Hill

One reason for the Colonial Americans’ growth in faith is the fact the era was abundant with religious figures who strove to lead people to God and created guidelines for them to live by. The people of Colonial America were blessed to abide in an “enchanted world of wonders.” These wonders were no doubt brought on by the hand of God, and the recognition of this fact caused new religious leaders to rise up and help people focus on living Godly lives despite the secular distractions that they were presented with. One Puritan leader, John Winthrop, stated, “That which the most in their Churches maintain as a truth in profession only, we must bring into familiar and constant practice, as in this duty of love we must love brotherly without dissimulation, we must love one another with a pure heart fervently we must bear one another’s burdens…” Winthrop not only wanted each individual person to maintain a stronger focus on faith in daily life, he also wanted them to use their faith to unite together, and his Model of Christian Charity showed the people how to accomplish that. Many people tried to abide by these teachings and pass them onto their children before they made their own way in the changing, confusing world because many parents feared their children would “Fall un’wares in Fowler’s snare.”

John Winthrop’s “Model of Christian Charity” was delivered to the colonists bound for Massachusetts Bay Colony to unite them and help them become a model community for England. Through his use of metaphors and biblical allusions, Winthrop is able to thoroughly convey the importance of remaining unified to his very religious Puritan audience. Previous attempts of colonization in America, such as Roanoke, the lost colony, had created a negative view of colonization. Previous colonists were also only focused on profit and did not build a stable community, which led to their downfalls. Therefore, Winthrop tells his audience that they must work together “as one man”. This metaphor compares the group of colonists to a single person who has one mind

Puritans believed they had a covenant with God to build a righteous, yet prosperous society. Laziness was a sin and sacrifice was an important Puritan virtue. According to Robert Keayne, in his last will and testament, 1653, the Puritan work ethic “testif[ies] to the world on [one’s] behalfe that [he] ha[s] not lived an idle, lazie or dronish life” (Document I). The Puritans shared the “Protestant ethic” as they were genuinely committed to their work. Puritans passed Blue Laws to keep their human instincts for pleasure and recreation in check. John Higginson in “The Cause of God and His People in New England,” 1662, states it “is never to be forgotten that New England is originally a plantation of Religion, not a Plantation of Trade” (Document J). Conflicts arose though between religion and money as Jeremiads criticized Puritans for becoming more individualistic and forgetting about the common

Ø City Upon a Hill- The term “City Upon a Hill” was a significant term that was said by a Puritan governor named John Winthrop when 11 ships sailed from England to Massachusetts. All of these people were the example of rightful living in the New World and were guided by the belief of Predestination, where God had already decided their ultimate fate. Governor Winthrop stated that: "We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us."

Winthrop passed this ideology to other Puritans who were in search of an answer in life. He told the Puritans that if they bound themselves together, God would protect them and ensure their prosperity. He truly believed that he and the Puritans could be as a "City Upon a Hill." He believed that their society could be a model for all communities around them, and that all eyes would be on them. The Puritans believed that a covenant had been formed between them and God, requiring them to build a society based solely on teachings from the

Winthrop was aware that as the Puritans headed to the new world, they would have to be completely reliant on one another. Winthrop encourages the Puritans to love their neighbors as themselves. Winthrop motivates the Puritans to love their enemies and those who do them wrong. Through the words of Jesus, Winthrop encourages the Puritans to act in the way of the golden rule (149). Winthrop calls the Puritans to go out of their way when others are in distress or hurting no matter their social standing or friendship. The Puritans must be utterly reliant on one another in this new world, and the only way for this to happen is by truly loving their

Within the colony of Massachusetts, religion played an important role in shaping the community’s people and interests. The reason for the Puritans move to North America was to escape the convictions the Christians of England were placing on them (Divine, 89). Winthrop and his followers believed that in this new land they must create a place where they could come together as a people and build the perfect religious society (Divine, 90). In a speech about his vision for the land, John Winthrop said, “We must delight in each

In Edmund S. Morgan’s, The Puritan Dilemma, it was evident that John Winthrop focused his entire life around glorifying God, in turn creating a government that did the same. This ideology translated into the way he shaped and structured Puritan society. Winthrop first focused on the formation of a community of unity and harmony, then built a government that fostered it. All of the governmental structures in place were supporting one main focus of the Puritan society being “a city on a hill.” Citation Further, Puritan society was to act as an example for the surrounding colonies of godly living. Harmony was backed by their ideals of

In the Puritan religion, one cannot love anything more than one loves God. In the case of John Winthrop, this edict became an issue. He did not want to abandon the Church of England as the separatists did, a decision which eventually led to the pilgrims starting their own new church. Winthrop wanted to purify the church; however, the government in England made this particularly hard and eventually this is what led to Winthrop leaving England for the New World to solve the Puritan Dilemma. The Puritan Dilemma was a figurative battle between the Church of England and the Puritan religion. It was also a real threat with opposing religions that would come and threaten the Puritans way of life. John Winthrop recognized these problems and sought to remedy them.

Winthrop talks about the law of nature, which tells them to always to love their neighbor. No enemies, just friends. He says this because in order to work together and be a better society you must be able to get along with everyone. He states that love is the bond that will keeps the society together and as one. He says to always love with a pure heart. He talks about the law of grace, which is a moral law. This love and these rules united the Puritans. Lastly, when Christians need are in need of God, they must help him instead of just receiving. By giving, lending and forgiving. He says that no one is perfect, and that if one Christian suffers, they all suffer. Christians are held together. They are together by love; they walk with each other through strength and weaknesses.

Therefore, the Puritans strived to work towards religious and moral reforms, and to do so, first escaped persecution from the Church and the King. As a result, a group of non-separatist Puritans led by Thomas Dudley and John Winthrop established a colony in Massachusetts Bay, mainly in order to have religious freedom, but also to maintain British cultural influences (before they had ventured to North America, they lived in Holland for a few years, but decided to leave in order to settle “as a distinct body of themselves” in the New World). Unlike in the Chesapeake Bay regions, religion was at the forefront of everybody’s mind, as every settler was a devout follower of God (at least at the beginning). Therefore, the cardinal principle in their community was a sort of religious exclusiveness as the Puritans held their spiritual beliefs, which translated into certain “community laws” and customs, highest. On the other hand, religion was a negligible motivator for colonists settling in the Chesapeake Bay regions.

John Winthrop wrote A Model of Christian Charity in 1630 aboard the Arabella. Winthrop was a firm believer in the Puritan faith and is known to have spoken this sermon on board the ship to help inspire passengers to go forth and create a “new society” focused on God “in a perilous environment” (Beardsley 1). Winthrop and his fellow Puritans were determined to establish a new society in America that was focused on doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God (9). In A Model of Christian Charity, Winthrop uses theological and biblical references to define justice as loving and respecting all those around you, despite any differences, and as living out actions God wants his people to do; this exemplifies Winthrop’s Puritan religious beliefs which focus on creating a close-knit society.

During the time of English colonization and settlement, John Winthrop wrote many pieces related to the importance of religion in society. These writings include A Model of Christian Charity which focused mainly on Puritan ideas on how to treat one another in order for the colony to survive.Winthrop, a very influential Puritan founder, proposed a society in the new colony of Massachusetts centered around religion and the idea that Puritan beliefs were the only sure way to ensure God’s blessings. Winthrop discusses that it is a civil duty amongst colonists to involve the Puritan religion in everyday life in order to preserve the colony as well as Puritan values. In the piece Winthrop writes that if the colony “ ...shall neglect the observation of these

Dependent upon the clemency of God, the Puritans use their faith to ensure success in a new, foreign land. Ultimately, Winthrop implies that if the colonists genuinely dedicate themselves to Christ, their lives will be improved, in that God will help them in their endeavors: "The end is to improve our lives to do more service to the Lord...that ourselves and posterity may be the better preserved from the common corruptions of this evil world, to serve the Lord and work out our salvation under the power and purity of His holy ordinances" (215). By using the phrase "corruption of this evil world," Winthrop suggests that the only way to attain a virtuous and upright character is through spirituality and trust in God, who can help His followers to lead moral, meaningful lives. Winthrop insinuates that the Puritans have an obligation to God; they must leave their native land and establish a community abroad where God's people can live freely, strengthening their spiritual lives. If this is accomplished, then God too will aid the Puritans and bring mercy upon them: "When God gives a special commission He looks to have it strictly observed in the every article. When he gave Saul a commission to destroy Amaleck, He indented with him upon certain articles, and because he failed in one of the least, and that upon a fair pretense, it lost him the kingdom which should have been his reward if he had observed his commission"

1- John Winthrop was a lawyer and leader of the 1630 migration of the Puritans to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During the trip to New England aboard the Arbella, Winthrop gave a motivational speech detailing how the society in Massachusetts should function. The speech given by Winthrop makes many statements about New England but one sentence in specific states “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon the hill” (Winthrop 1630, 1). This excerpt of the speech given by Winthrop signifies that the city of New England should be admired by millions around the world. Winthrop indicates this meaning of the excerpt by giving statements such as “The eyes of all people are upon us” and “Always having before our own eyes our commission and community in the work” (Winthrop, 1630, 1). Throughout the passage, Winthrop instructs his audience to do good for the community and not for one’s self. Winthrop also gives many religious reasons in order to motivate the listeners to create a society that functions based on the principles of the Puritan religion. The textual context of the speech given by Winthrop exhibits all the reasons to why the town should be looked upon. The context in which the speech is given indicates that the meaning of this excerpt is that the city should be looked up to by people across the world, and should be referred to as an example of a town with virtue.