...principle. Less clear, however, are the difficulties both had to maintain the discipline to live up to their high standards. Evidence suggests that important beliefs, attitudes, and behavior of the colonists conflicted with both societies’ religious ideals: many of which are presented in John Winthrop’s A Model of Christian Charity. The beliefs of the Puritans initially were toward the carrying out of God’s responsibilities, but eventually faced a conflict. The Puritans did not break with the Church of England, but instead sought to reform it. Aboard the Arbella, John Winthrop had written a sermon that pointed out their Christian duties and obligations. If they fulfilled their duties and obligations, they would be blessed; if not, they would be punished. Winthrop stated that the Lord expected a strict performance of the articles of the covenant.1 If they neglected the articles, the Lord would break out in wrath.2 The Puritans faced an enormous amount of pressure in order to be able to please the Lord and abide by his covenant that was set forth. An important point in Winthrop’s sermon is the principle of love and how it is important to love all men, and bring to a lifestyle either Puritan or Christian.3 This important belief that carried through the Puritan lifestyle would be challenged in part of interacting with Native...
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...such as typology, manifest destiny, and backsliding. However, a principle that was focused on by John Winthrop and Jonathan Edwards is irresistible grace. It makes the assertion that God’s grace is freely given; it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is recognized as the saving and transfiguring power of God. Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity” and Edward’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” are effective examples of literature that shows irresistible grace. John Winthrop, along with many other people from Europe, came to America to establish the “city on the hill” idea of religion. While being the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he felt that it was his duty to remind the people of their purpose for coming to America. He envisioned a society that practiced God’s teaching and that was based on His ideas. By creating this religious community, the Puritans would be an illustration showing everyone else how to live the way that God wanted. In his sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity,” he tells the Puritans that their success would greatly depend on their creation of a Godly community and it would also depend on God’s grace. For example Winthrop says, “If thou pour out thy soul to the hungry, then shall thy light spring out in darkness, and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones…” (152). By saying this, Winthrop is guiding the people in the way that...
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...City on a Hill Speeches John Winthrop in particular has been quoted as a source of inspiration by U.S. presidents from John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. John Winthrop crossed the ocean from England to New England aboard the Arabella in early 1630s. His passengers were primarily Puritans who had fled England in search of religious freedom. John Winthrop's directive provided inspiration and caution to the passengers, and his determination was seen through John F. Kennedy’s and Ronald Reagan’s eyes. The “City on a Hill” speech was the motivational piece for John Winthrop, and the incentive for John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. The “City upon a Hill” section of the sermon called “A Model of Christian Charity” was written in 1630s by the Puritan leader, John Winthrop, while the first group of Puritan emigrants was still onboard their ship. The “City upon a Hill” passage has come to represent irritating Puritan pridefulness; they thought they were perfect, a city on a hill that everyone else would admire and want to imitate. In reality, the passage is far from a back-patting exercise. Winthrop knew that the events in New England would be watched not just by England, but by the world. It was in this context that Winthrop noted: “We must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” His language made it clear that we were not destined to be a shining example, only that we were destined to be an example, shining or not. In theory, his speech...
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...The New England and Chesapeake regions, were originally founded, inhabited and ruled by people of English descent, but by 1700 they had become two vastly different societies. These colonies became so distinctive from each other, through what the English migrants believed a community should based upon. Individual differences between the settlers of the New World separated them, even though they all came from the same motherland. In New England, John Winthrop (a founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony), wrote “A Model of Christian Charity” (Document A) aboard the Arbella in 1630. This “model” was essentially the basis upon which Winthrop would help in founding the colony. He spoke of a colony in which there was equality, and a society that...
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...The most iconic figure of the colonial times is John Winthrop because he appears throughout history sailing the new world in search of the “city upon a hill” for his Puritan religion, and for the economic prosperity that came with it. The Puritans led by John Winthrop came to New England in 1630. They came on the Arabella, which was financed by them since they were in the high class of England. The Puritans decided to leave for the New World because they were unable to reform the Church of England. In A Modell of Christian Charity, Winthrop wrote that “the lord make it like that of New England; for we must consider that we shall be as a City Upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us” (Bedford 256). Winthrop imagines and hopes that the new puritan society will be the perfect city that everyone looks too. John Winthrop and the puritans follow their dream to be able to establish their own society and did this with the belief...
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...In 1630 John Winthrop lead a group of seven hundred settlers to find Massachusetts Bay colony. While departing John Winthrop gave a sermon “ A Model of Christian Charity” In order to arrange his ideas about how the Puritan settlers should treat one another in order to help each other - and the colony - survive. It essentially lays out their norm and societal expectations that were to govern the people of the colony, and such serves as a wonderful primary source for the ideals of its founders. John Winthrop begins his sermon by stating, “God almighty in His most holy and wise providence hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, others mean and in subjection.” He then states three reasons why...
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...Dustin Isais Professor Shakir American Literature I 29 September 2013 The New [World] Testament It's quite clear based on the literature of the day that the exploration of and expansion into the New World was seen as the ultimate epic of Christendom for 17th century Europeans. The ideation of the New World being an exotic land inhabited by savage natives guarding precious metals and herbs permeates colonial literature without question. Further, letters and journals of explorers like Thomas Hariott and John Smith along with colonists such as William Bradford and John Winthrop illustrate the unsettling mentality these people brought with them into the Americas. The depiction is of a self-important people driven by a misconstrued ancient text and motivated to fulfill their purpose as the chosen people of the sacred Bible. The commonality throughout the literature of settlement and exploration is purely driven by European hermeneutics and the persistence on becoming the antitype of the types present in the Bible. The New World ideation begins with Thomas Harriot's propagandistic A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia.Harriot wrote optimistically and full of awe despite reocurring issues between the English and the natives of the New World. In fact, the escalating violence and rising tensions between the two is rarely mentioned. A misleading and cryptic sentence alluding to the less-than-peaceful circumstances reads, “And although some of our cmpany towards the...
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...The Massachusetts Bay Company set sail to the New World in hope of reforming the Church of European nation. whereas crossing the Atlantic, John Winthrop, the puritan leader of the good migration, delivered maybe the foremost renowned sermon aboard the Arbela, entitled “A Model of Christian Charity.” The Puritan’s goal to urge eliminate the offensive options that Catholicism left behind once the Protestant Reformation came about. below Puritanism, there was a relentless strain to devote your life to God and your neighbors. not like the recent European nation, they needed to prove that geographical area was a community of affection and individual worship to God. There they created a covenant with God and would live their lives up to the covenant....
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...John Winthrop delivers a sermon on the Arbella ship as they travel towards the New World titled “A Model of Christian Charity.” In his sermon, he expresses many ideas of his view of one’s duty and behavior towards God to the passengers. His major idea is love. Love is what unites the body of the community and this love is provided by God. Love is what connects the people, it allows the people to be one and work together. Winthrop states, “There is no body but consists of parts and that which knits these parts together, gives the body its perfection, because it makes each part so contiguous to others as thereby they do mutually participate with each other, both in strength and infirmity, in pleasure and pain” (104). Love unites the body spiritually,...
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...and conflicting ideas. This resulted in a variety of beneficial results as regards the common wealth, but was interspersed with a few less than benevolent practices. One of the better religious contributions, interestingly enough, came from the idea of predestination, the idea that no matter what an individual does, their fate to either heaven or hell has already been decided. This idea spurred people on to try to prove to their fellow inhabitants that they had been some of the few chosen to go to heaven, and to this end they worked harder and developed ideas of exceptionalism, the thought that one group of people is exceptional compared to the rest. John Winthrop, a devout and influential Puritan leader, said in 1630, “For we must consider that we shall be a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” (A Model of Christian...
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...Analysis of the Term “American Exceptionalism” in the Current U.S. Culture A Reflections Paper Analysis of the Term “American Exceptionalism” in the Current U.S. Culture American Exceptionalism refers to the idea that the United States is significantly different from other countries. The concept has origins in the writings of French scholar Alexis de Toqueville who made observations during his visit to America in the nineteenth century (Mansfield, 2011). Also, Puritan John Winthrop's 1630 sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" led to the widespread belief in American folklore that the United States of America is God's country because it would become a "city upon a hill", watched by the world (John Winthrop: "A Modell of Christian Charity", 2007). Although the term does not necessarily imply superiority, many political leaders and writers have coined its use in that sense. Naturally, others hold the position that America is not really exceptional at all. In fact, after taking a cursory glance at some of the issues that our leaders are charged to correct, we can easily peel off the loftier label and replace it with a more humbling phrase. To begin, America’s hunger issue is a strong reason to reduce our loftier standing. It is not impressive that in a country without drought or famine and with enough food and money to feed the world twice over 1-in-8 of our own people struggle to put food on its table (Berg, 2009). Also, in 2010, 4.8 percent of all U.S. households...
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...atmosphere of the first colonies to settle in the new world was widely dissimilar, and some found success while others suffered harsh conditions. Virginia as labeled by Captain John Smith would fall into the last category. The colony of Jamestown came to the New World seeking land, assets and commerce, and settled in a coastal area, which did not provide the freshest water and proved to be abundant with disease. Jamestown was the first English settlement in America (1607). It had a stiff time at first and did not thrive until the colonists received their own land and the tobacco industry began flourishing due to Mr. Rolfe, the settlement took root. People continued to arrive and new settlements arose. As we can see with the article entitled “The Starving Times,” Jamestown suffered significantly when John Smith, their greatest capable leader, returned to England. Smith even records that he heard of a wife being murdered and cannibalized because of lack of food. This colony did eventually find some strength when it began to harvest tobacco, rice and indigo. Lord Baltimore received land from King Charles I to create a sanctuary for Catholics. His son, the second Lord Baltimore, personally possessed all the land and could use or sell it as he wished. In 1649, the Toleration Act was approved allowing all Christians to worship as they pleased. Maryland seemed to find more success in the New World thanks to its harvesting of tobacco, furs and flesh. Adjudicating by what is read in Alsop’s...
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...Throughout history, faith has played a vital role in literature. Many wrote of their love of God or, in some cases, their doubt. Although most of the early colonial writers wrote of their faith with upmost certainty, as science made bigger advances and became more sophisticated, many questioned their faith. The influence of science on faith is seen very clearly through the authors Winthrop, Edwards, Bradstreet, Emerson, Poe, and Dickinson. In 1630 John Winthrop wrote and delivered his sermon A Model of Christian Charity. In this sermon, Winthrop describe an ideal or model society in which all citizens give back and have complete faith in God. Edwards wrote Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God in which he invokes fear into the Christians in his parish. He makes them feel as though any faltering faith will lead to God dropping them into Hell. In Winthrop and Edward’s writings there were no signs of...
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...Jamestown almost met there complete demise because of an era aptly named “starving time the awful year of 1610, there were rumors that colonists actually turned to cannibalism to survive. Even more deaths were to come. Between 1619 and 1622, at least 3,000 of the colony’s 3,600 newest colonists perished, many of them killed in a war launched by the Powhatan Indians” (Stockwell, M. 2012, p. 2.2, para 10). The location of the settlement was marsh like and because of the marsh like conditions the area was inundated with mosquitoes that carried horrible diseases that many settler succumbed to. The settlers received help from the Native Americans and again found hope in the new crop of tobacco, introduced by John Rolfe, who “experimented with growing tobacco as a cash crop” (Stockwell, M. 2012, p. 2.2, para 11), which would increase there revenue and change the scope of there colony....
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...particular references to Winthrop, Edwards and historical events, discuss the evidence of this principle in Puritan life and culture. ______________________________________________ One may hear or read that the people who founded the early United States of America came to the “New World” in order to practice their religious convictions in peace and freedom, without being persecuted. They are often cited as examples. John Winthrop for instance, who was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, has been quoted as a source of inspiration by numerous US presidents such as John Fitzgerald Kennedy or Ronald Reagan. Yet, one may consider that John Winthrop and Puritans in general are far from representing a tradition of tolerance and freedom. Looking at history and core principles of Puritanism, it cannot be denied that the puritans’ “city upon a hill” had more in common with a totalitarian regime than with the spirit of the Bill of Rights passed in 1789, which embodies far better the values of the United States of America. Puritans were definitely not tolerant. Their culture was based on the principle of exclusion as they did not accept any religious belief that differed from theirs, and rejected and even persecuted people who dared think and act differently from them. The Puritans’ texts available today can make one understand how intolerant Puritans were. In his famous sermon called A Model of Christian Charity, John Winthrop said: “So a mother loves...
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