JOHN WINTHROP
(1588-1649)
· Father = lawyer
· born in Groton, England
o estate = purchased from Henry VIII
o prosperous farm
· JW = advantaged
o $$$
o member of the gentry class
o Cambridge University
§ exposed to PURITAN ideas
§ Puritan grievances with COE:
· anything Papal, Roman
· esp. hierarchy of clergy
· traditional Catholic rituals
o change from within
o not Separatists (like Pilgrims)
· 17: married
o 4 wives
o 16 children
· lawyer
o thought to be priest
o served as Justice of the Peace
o obtained a government office
o attorney at Court of Wards & Liveries (1627-29)
§ country squire at Groton for 20 years
· 1620s:
o economic Depression (couldn’t rely on Daddy’s money)
o Charles I = anti-Puritan, pro-RC papacy
§ strong influences on Charles –
· wife = French princess of RC king, Henry 4
· Bishop Wm. Laud (Bishop of London, soon Archbishop of Canterbury) = anti-Puritan, saw them as schismatic threat
§ JW would have lost ALL if openly expressed Puritanism
· had lost government office in 1629
§ à AMERICA
· March 1629:
o “The Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England”
o merchants (ardent Puritans)
o received charter from Council for New England
§ guise of business – not religious – venture
o sold his English estate & took his family
· October 1629:
o JW = elected governor
o 1629-49
o elected 12 x, 1631-48
· April 8, 1630:
o 700 emigrants
o on Arbella
§ 350-ton flagship of the flotilla
§ named for Lady Arbella, wife of Isaac Johnson, the highest-born person in the group
o farm on Mystic River in Boston
· ?:
o petty tyrant
o father figure
o steward of MBC orthodoxy, crush all threats (Anne Hutchinson)
o sanctimony (AH’s banishment, excommunication, misfortunes & death)
· against the Puritan Civil War, 1642+
· “MODEL of CHRISTIAN CHARITY”
o sermon
o delivered either just before departure or upon the seas
o ideals of harmonious Christian community
§ perfectly selfless community
o reminder: this = Christian enterprise
o reminder that they’re an EXAMPLE to the rest of the world
§ ex. of failure or success
· original manuscript = lost
o copy made during JW’s lifetime
o Mass. Historical Society published in 1838
· Cotton Mather @ John Winthrop:
o JW = perfect earthly ruler
· dream = impossible to realize **********
o Bradford, Winthrop
o Columbus, de las Casas
§ “could have been”
“MODEL of CHRISTIAN CHARITY”
· 1630, 1838
I
A Model Hereof
· God has ordered humans
· some = rich, some = poor
· inequality
The Reason Hereof
· reasons for inequality in human society –
1. to conform w/structure of the rest of creation
o “ordering” in animal kingdom
o better for Man to dispense His gifts than Him
2. to manifest His spirit
o restraining the wicked
o so rich won’t eat poor, nor the poor revolt against the rich
o moderate the regenerate, in their love, mercy, temperance, faith, patience, obedience,…
3. to ensure each needs each
o community
o “that every man might have need of other”
o “brotherly affection”
o no man is inherently better than another except for God
§ – God makes the rich rich, the poor poor
· 2 RULES:
o (1) JUSTICE
o (2) MERCY
· LAW of NATURE
o moral law
§ love thy neighbor
§ do unto others
· LAW of GRACE
o law of the Gospel
· differences between Nature & Grace
o nature:
§ state of innocence
§ men = equal, image of God “brothers in Christ”
§ puts difference between Christians & non-Christians
o grace:
§ state of regeneracy
§ love thy enemies
§ love beyond your abilities
§ don’t ignore & hope for a miracle – do something!
· Q&A:
· 1) giving
o “measure”
o give what “God hath blessed him”
o objection: “worse than infidel” if don’t provide for family
o answer: meant for sloth & voluptuousness
o objection: store, “foresee the plague”
o answer: when you give to the poor, you lend to the Lord, & the Lord will repay him
o materialism
· 2) lending
o if they need it & can’t repay, give & don’t expect return
o if they need & can repay, give & expect return as in business
§ commerce = justice
· 3) forgiving
o forgiveness of debt
o after 7 yrs.
· 4)
o socialism, communism
o “all things in common”
· MERCY:
o can’t force conversion
o “the way to draw men to works of mercy, is not by force of argument from goodness or necessity of the work”
o love
· LOVE
o “‘Love is the bond of perfection.’”
o Love = bond, ligament….knitting together the BODY of Christ
· BODY of CHRIST:
o we = all 1 body in Christ
o help each other
o community
o a habit of the heart
§ “native desire”
§ until it becomes a habit
§ not the brain, reason
§ but heart, emotion
§ “to strengthen, defend, preserve, & comfort the other”
· Jesus = model
o lay down your lives for each other –
§ “yielded Himself to death to ease the infirmities of the rest of His body”
o total obedience to God the Father & became one of this Body
o apostles
o saints & martyrs
· ORIGINAL SIN
o Adam:
§ the Fall of Man
§ à broke apart the 1 Body
§ selfish, greed, materialism
o Christ:
§ reunited Body
§ return of the soul
§ united w/Love
· SOUL
o love = from the soul
o soul = returned to the 1 Body
o no Christian = no soul
· like will to like:
o “simile simili gaudet” (similis simili gaudet)
§ like takes pleasure in like
o Soul = attracted to Soul
o à so members of the Body = are attracted to each other
§ love, help, defend each other
§ flesh of my flesh
· selflessness
· love = always requited (not like human unrequited love)
· soul’s pleasure = finding its mate (soul mate)
· conclusions a love:
o real, not imaginary
o necessary – joins Body
o divine – makes us resemble God = “in His “image”
o continual exercise – use it or lose it (prayer, meditation)
II
· why I wrote it
· persons
o “knit together in this bond of love”
· work
o what we’ll need to do
o “by mutual consent”
§ community, convent
o to seek out a place of cohabitation
o “cohabitation” = living together – community
o civil & ecclesiastical government
§ bound by conscience
§ bound by civil policy
· end
o goals =
§ to improve our lives to do more service to the Lord (do God’s work)
§ to comfort & increase of the Body of Christ (conversion)
§ to preserve us & posterity from corruptions of the world (saints in sinful world)
§ to work out our salvations under God’s ordinances (live by His rules)
· means
o means to those ends
§ love brotherly w/o dissimulation, subterfuge, dishonesty
§ love one another w/pure heart fervently
§ bear each other’s burdens
· Lord = won’t tolerate such failings
o this = a marriage à more jealous of our love & obedience
o He = sanctified in those that come near Him
o When God makes a deal, He expects “strictly observed in every article
· CONTRACT:
o God: safe passage to America, MBC
o Puritans: live by His laws & , 1 Body,
· What’s at stake:
o breach of contract (“breach of such a covenant”)
o = materialism, don’t strictly perform His rules
· reward =
o God’s blessing if -
§ community
§ “together” x5
· punishment =
o God’s displeasure, lack of favor
o ruin
o death
§ à 2nd FALL of MAN ****
§ reasonable assumption
§ b/c of what happened the last time a human broke a contract w/God
§ sin & death entered the world
· like OLD TESTAMENT:
o see more of God’s wisdom
o God = “among us” (like Eden, like God of Israel)
o God will be on our side against enemies
o God will make us/our plantation the praise & glory of world
· *“we shall be a city upon a hill”*
o Mt. 5.14-15
o eyes of the world = on us –what’s at stake
o if we fail
§ reflects badly upon God – power for His enemies
§ the word “Puritan” will be a bad word, bad association
§ shame
THEMES:
· covenant
o contract
o breach of
o expectations for both sides
· community
o we’re in this together
o Body in Christ
· selflessness
· Love
· Mercy
· Scriptures = #1, authority, examples
· true role models =
o God, Jesus, saints, bible
o examples
§ God, Jesus
§ Bible
§ Puritans
· History =
o process, working out of God’s plan
o Old Testament- Puritans
· Logic
o reasons
o examples
· irony:
o says that reach people by EMOTION
o yet proves by LOGIC
· dream = impossible to realize **********
o Bradford, Winthrop
o Columbus, de las Casas
§ “could have been”
Questions for Discussion
· How does the text of John Winthrop's Model of Christian Charity follow the process of the American Jeremiad? Does Winthrop emphasize one component over the others?
· The Puritan community seemed to thrive on a constant state of peril. Can you think of modern examples in which threat is necessary to sustain public life?
· How is the Puritan rhetoric of love different than our contemporary concept of love? Which one seems preferable to you?
· What are some recent examples in which the notion of America as a city on a hill has entered public dialogue?
· Britannica encl.: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/645737/John-Winthrop
· summary:
o http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/149/149syllabus5summary.html
· text:
o http://www.academicamerican.com/colonial/docs/winthrop.htm
o http://history.hanover.edu/texts/winthmod.html
· other documents:
o http://www.academicamerican.com/colonial/index.html
o http://www.academicamerican.com/history121/assignments121.html
· we're on a mission from God
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKZSqd5Y8nA
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4HZKDel9N0
“JOURNAL”
· 1630-49, 1825
· mouse vs. snake
o mouse = Christians
o snake = Satan, evil
o mouse wins =moral for them to persist in fight against evil
· Anne Hutchinson
o 1591-1643
o follower of John Cotton
o extreme positions –
§ elect = superior to others, b/c of personal union w/God
§ denied that good works = sign of God’s favor
· justification = by faith alone
· nothing to do w/piety or worldly success
o faith vs. works
o other “errors:
§ proper moral conduct doesn’t = sign of justification
§ no sanctification = evidence of justification
§ had revelations (that she’d be punished by Puritans, that God would punish them)
§ soul
· was mortal (fall)
· now immortal (Christ)
§ no resurrection of the body
· get another body
§ no inherent righteousness
o swaying others to her side
§ (false sheep – false prophet)
o court
§ “lecture” “general session”
§ read charges
§ plead
§ try to reason w/her – bring her around
o banished
§ but since the winter à house arrest at another’s house
§ 75 followers = “disarmed” – severe punishment
o banished #2
§ by end of the month
§ house arrest, own house, while wait
§ “manifest evil”
§ back to England
o she glorified in her sufferings
o she & hers tried to buy land in Plymouth
§ Pilgrims denied her
§ heard @ her errors
o bought land from Indians (Narragansett)
§ Rhode Island
o has a “child”
§ “monstrous birth”
§ 6 weeks premature
§ came out “confusedly knit together”
§ 27 “globes” & lumps
· = symbol of God’s displeasure
· = symbol of her corruption of God’s natural truth
o Earthquake where she & others = praying = God’s displeasure
o death by Indians
§ moved to Dutch territory
§ Bronx, NY
§ killed her & 16 others
§ drove cattle into house & burned it
· her daughter =
o taken by Indians (8)
o returned after peace (12)
o to Puritans, but had forgotten language
§ didn’t want to be there, wanted to stay w/Indians
· sanctimony???
o reveling in her misfortune, deformed stillborn
o happy in her murder
· she =
o false prophet
o corruption of God’s rules, laws
o heretic
o symbol of all heresy of the bible, stray from the Bible
o symbol of Roman Catholic Church, Church of England (?)
o and what happens to them, what they produce
· Puritans =
o kind –
§ didn’t banish her in winter
§ tried to reason w/her, bring her back into the fold
o just –
§ by Biblical law
§ hold like a court
o reasonable –
§ tried to reason w/her, get her to see the “error” of her ways
o how to deal w/heresy
· Anne Hutchinson - Hutchinson's beliefs in Arminianism and Antinomianism and her weekly study sessions where she taught those beliefs to dozens of Bostonians touched off the greatest showdown between civil and religious authority in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
o Henry Vane- Supporter of Anne Hutchinson and governor in 1636, as a replacement for Winthrop.
o Antinomianism - ·A belief in Massachusetts Bay supported by Anne Hutchinson, which held that when God intervened to save someone that person became possessed by the Holy Spirit and therefore ceased to operate of his or her own free will.
o Arminianism - ·The belief that a person could choose his or her destiny–therefore in direct opposition to the Puritan belief of predestination.