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A Model of Christian Charity HISTORY John Winthrop was born in Suffolk, England, in 1588. His father, Adam Winthrop, was the lord of Groton Manner, a small estate in the English Countryside. Being an only child, the Winthrops were able to educate young John privately, and at the age of fourteen his father enrolled him in Trinity College, at Cambridge. He studied there for two years before returning to Groton to begin practical training in running his father's estate. John was soon introduced to Mary Worth, the daughter of a distinguished Essex nobleman. Three weeks later, at the age of seventeen, the two were married. During the next ten years, John and Mary would have six children, the first coming just ten months after their marriage, when John was only eighteen. Six moths after the sudden death of Mary, John remarried. The marriage would only last one year. Ironically, on the anniversary of his first’s wife Mary’s death, John’s second wife died. One year later John married his third wife, Margaret Tyndal. Both John and Margaret were strong in the Christian faith, and the two of them never ceased to encourage one another in the work of God’s Kingdom. In his early thirties John began to study law, which would equip him with the legal expertise he needed to handle the various landlord-tenant obligations at Groton Manner. During this period the fire of Puritanism was becoming more and more infectious. John was not immune to its persuasion. Although secular history portrays Puritanism in a negative light, defining it as a stern faced Pharisee-ism, the truth is very much the opposite. Puritanism became the backbone of colonial strength and piety. Puritanism had two distinct facets. On the political side, Puritans were a group of Protestants who were opposed to the corruption and abuses of the Church of England. The Puritans wanted only to reform and to purify their church, in order to make it holy and pleasing to God. On the spiritual side, Puritans were men and women with intense personal devotion to God. They believed that the chief goal of man was to "Love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul and strength", according to Deuteronomy 6:5. The Puritan devotion manifested itself in three important ways. First, they believed that man should be in the world but not of the world. Carnality was unbecoming of a true Christian. Yet, the Puritans were not escapists. They were involved with the affairs of state, business, and entertainment. While the believer's true home is not on earth, but rather in heaven, nevertheless, the goodness of the things that God has created should not be denied. The Puritans enjoyed good food, music, wine and love toward their spouse and family. Frugality, sobriety and industry was honorable, whereas, carelessness, drunkenness, and sloth was condemned. Secondly, they believed that man has a duty to use, to the fullest extent, all of the talents and abilities that God has given him. They were strong supporters of education and diligent work. They worked hard in their professions and became doctors, lawyers, scholars, businessmen, and statesmen. They didn't believe in doing anything half-heartedly. Every undertaking would be done with the best effort, all to the glory of God. The third conviction that made the Puritans unique was their belief that God's Covenant promises in the Old Testament did not just apply to ancient Israel, but to every society and every generation. cf Exodus 19:5-6. The Puritans understood that there were consequences both for obedience and disobedience. These "Covenant sanctions" were a real concern for the Puritans. If any nation observed God's laws and commands, God would give protection, prosperity, and the spiritual blessings of knowing Him, and living as His people. On the other hand, if a people rejected God's decrees, and turned to idolatry and sin, God would eventually reject them. Puritanism realized the application of Deuteronomy 28's blessing and cursing on a nation, and a people, according to their response to the Law of God. The Puritans of seventeenth-century England were also greatly concerned about the future of their nation. They saw the corruption of government and church officials, growing immorality, materialism, and lack of concern for the poor as signs that their nation would either have to repent or experience the cleansing fire of God's wrath. The continuity of the Christian faith and ethical purity was of great importance. Early Seventeenth Century England was already suffering from spiritual debauchery. The youth of the nation were in disarray and the Puritans were concerned about their own children being negatively influenced by them. Winthrop wrote: "The fountains of learning and religion are so corrupted that most children, even [those of] the best wits and of fairest hopes, are perverted, corrupted and utterly overthrown by the multitude of evil examples and the licentious government of those seminaries As more and more news came from America, the prospects of development and opportunity to begin a new and fresh culture were strongly presented. Many Puritans sought to travel to the Colonies to take advantage of the freedom and prosperity America offered. As early as 1607, the Virginia Colony, at Jamestown, was underway, through the financial assistance of the London Company, as was the Plymouth Plantation by 1620-1621, in Massachusetts. In 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Company, was lobbying for Winthrop, now a local governing official in England, to sail to the New World. Like the London Company, the Massachusetts Bay Company was a private investment company. In those days, investors would pool their money to establish trading companies and various American settlements. Settlers would go to the new land and fulfill their obligation to the investors by securing spices, furs and other exotic goods, to be sold for a great profit in England. In return, the settlers were given ocean passage to the new land and an opportunity to establish a new life and businesses of their own. Winthrop agreed to go to New England. In order for a trading company to conduct business, it had to be sanctioned by the king. The king had to first give a charter (i.e. a license) to the Company before they could legally sail to America. This charter insured both revenue for England and colony control for the Crown. Winthrop knew he would have a leading role in the development of Massachusetts colony, but never expected to be elected Governor. On October 20, 1629 the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Company elected John Winthrop Governor. As a result of a legal oversight, the king's charter inadvertently gave the Massachusetts Bay Company, along with the board of directors and the governor, autonomous government powers in New England. The oversight provided the settlers the freedom to establish their own laws and operate without any direct supervision by the King's authorities in London. Most of the members of the Massachusetts Bay Company were Puritan. They now had the full legal authority, if they so desired, to move to New England and build an independent society where they could govern themselves according to the dictates of their conscience. When members of the Massachusetts Bay Company realized what a remarkable opportunity had come, they seized it and left for the New World. Their spiritual and civil leader would be John Winthrop. Being a man of Godly insight, Winthrop laid out the Puritan vision for the New World. America was to become a city on a hill. He wrote The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and byword throughout the world; we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all believers for God's sake; we shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us, until we are consumed out of the good land to which we are going...For this end we must be knit together. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to give up our superfluities to supply others' necessities...We must delight in each other; make others' conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together... So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and...make us a praise and a glory, that men shall say of later plantations, "May the Lord make it like that of New England."Arriving in Salem found them in a total wilderness. Each family was to bring their own provisions, but many neglected to do so. Consequently there was not enough food. Many were too afraid even to disembark from the ship. Still others were sick and dying. Within a few days of their arrival, John's son Henry tragically drowned in a river. The situation was grave and distressing. But John Winthrop refused to give up.Being a man of faith and leadership, Winthrop seized control of the situation, confident that God was with them. He led by example, by personally building shelters and securing food for the settlement. Soon the entire company was beside him working as he did. Out of his personal savings, gained from his father's estate, Winthrop commissioned a ship to set sail for England in order to bring back many needed supplies. His message was simple: "Send supplies now!" Some time later, after exploring the coast he led the colonists to what is now called Boston harbor, where they settled throughout the areas of Charlestown, Cambridge, Boston, Watertown, Roxbury and Dorchester. Over the next ten years, twenty thousand settlers poured into Massachusetts. Winthrop governed them with integrity and authority. Yet, Winthrop treated his people pastorally, as if they were his own dear children. He impressed upon them the Christian virtues of integrity, kindness, and discretion. He required that they treat the Indians with dignity and respect, so that they might be won over to Christ. John Winthrop was a man who applied the Law of God to all life. He was in every respect a Theonomic Leader. He sought to establish a culture regulated by God and His Word - a Theocracy, void of oppressive politics. The historical account of John Winthrop is living proof that the Law of Christian Ethics and Faith can, and must, be applied both to individual and civil life. In the final analysis, Governor John Winthrop established, and ruled, the Massachusetts colony with virtue, vision, leadership, faith and wisdom. He was, without a doubt, one of the finest God-fearing leaders in American history.
For a complete history of John Winthrop see: Morgan, Edmund S. (1958), The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.Morgan, Edmund S. (1965), Puritan Political Ideas Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc Twichell, Joseph Hopkins (1891), John Winthrop: First Governor of the Massachusetts Colony. New York:Dodd, Mead, and Company.
A Model of Christian Charity
GOD ALMIGHTY in His most holy and wise providence, hath so disposed of the
condition of mankind, The Reason hereof: 1st Reason. First to hold conformity with the rest of His world, being delighted to show forth the glory of
his wisdom in the variety and difference of the creatures, and the glory of His power in ordering all these
differences for the preservation and good of the whole, and the glory of His greatness, that as it is the
glory of princes to have many officers, so this great king will have many stewards, counting
himself more
honored in dispensing his gifts to man by man, than if he did it by his own immediate hands. Therefore God still
reserves the property of these gifts to Himself as Ezek. 16:17, He there calls wealth, His gold and His
silver, and Prov. 3:9, He claims their service as His due, "Honor the Lord with thy riches," etc. --- All men
being thus (by divine providence) ranked into two sorts, rich and poor; under the first are comprehended
all such as are able to live comfortably by their own means duly improved; and all others are poor
according to the former distribution. First, that every man afford his help to another in every want or distress. The law of Grace or of the Gospel hath some difference from the former (the law of nature), as in these respects:
Secondly, the former
propounds one man to another, as the same flesh and image of God. You will ask how this shall be? Very well. For first he that gives to the poor, lends to the Lord and He will repay him even in this life an hundredfold to him or his. The righteous is ever merciful and lendeth, and his seed enjoyeth the blessing; and besides we know what advantage it will be to us in the day of account when many such witnesses shall stand forth for us to witness the improvement of our talent. And I would know of those who plead so much for laying up for time to come, whether they hold that to be Gospel Matthew 6:19, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth," etc. If they acknowledge it, what extent will they allow it? If only to those primitive times, let them consider the reason whereupon our Savior grounds it. The first is that they are subject to the moth, the rust, the thief.
Secondly, they will steal away the heart: "where the treasure is there will your heart be also." So when the Tabernacle was to be built, He sends to His people to call for their silver and gold, etc., and yields no other reason but that it was for His work. When Elisha comes to the widow of Sareptah and finds her preparing to make ready her pittance for herself and family, he bids her first provide for him, he challenges first God's part which she must first give before she must serve her own family. All these teach us that the Lord looks that when He is pleased to call for His right in any thing we have, our own interest we have must stand aside till His turn be served. For the other, we need look no further then to that of 1 John 3:17, "He who hath this world's goods and seeth his brother to need and shuts up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" Which comes punctually to this conclusion: If thy brother
be in want and thou canst help him, thou needst not make doubt of what thou shouldst do; if thou lovest
God thou must help him. but if his means of
repaying thee be only probable or possible, then he is an object of thy mercy, thou must lend him, though
there be danger of losing it. (Deut. 15:7-8): "If any of thy brethren be poor ... thou shalt lend him
sufficient." That men might not shift off this duty by the apparent hazard, He tells them that though the
year of Jubilee were at hand (when he must remit it, if he were not able to repay it before), yet he must
lend him, and that cheerfully. It may not grieve thee to give him, saith He. And because some might
object, why so I should soon impoverish myself and my family, he adds, with all thy work, etc., for our
Savior said (Matt. 5:42), "From him that would borrow of thee turn not away." --- Every
seventh year the creditor was to quit that which he lent to his brother if he were poor, as appears in verse
4. "Save when there shall be no poor with thee." In all these and like cases, Christ gives a general rule
(Matt. 7:12), "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye the same to them." Likewise in their return out of the captivity, because the work was great for the restoring of the church and the danger of enemies was common to all, Nehemiah directs the Jews to liberality and readiness in remitting their debts to their brethren, and disposing liberally to such as wanted, and stand not upon their own dues which they might have demanded of them. Thus did some of our forefathers in times of persecution in England, and so did
many of the faithful of other churches, whereof we keep an honorable remembrance of them; and it is to as to instance one for many (Isaiah 58:6-9) "Is not this the fast I have chosen to loose the bonds of wickedness, to take off the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke ... to deal thy bread to the hungry and to bring the poor that wander into thy house, when thou seest the naked to cover them ... and then shall thy light brake forth as the morning and thy health shall grow speedily, thy righteousness shall go before God, and the glory of the Lord shalt embrace thee; then thou shall call and the Lord shall answer thee," etc. And from Ch. 2:10 (??) "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 draught, and make fat thy bones, thou shalt be like a watered garden, and they shalt be of thee that shall build the old waste places," etc. On the contrary most heavy curses are laid upon such as are straightened towards the
Lord and his people (Judg. 5:23), "Curse ye Meroshe ... because they came not to help the Lord." He who
shutteth his ears from hearing the cry of the poor, he shall cry and shall not be heard." (Matt. 25) "Go ye The Apostle tells us that this love is the fulfilling of the law, not
that it is enough to love our brother and so no further; but in regard of the excellency of his parts giving
any motion to the other as the soul to the body and the power it hath to set all the faculties at work in
the outward exercise of this duty; as when we bid one make the clock strike, he doth not lay hand on the
hammer, which is the immediate instrument of the sound, but sets on work the first mover or main wheel;
knowing that will certainly produce the sound which he intends. So the way to draw men to the works of
mercy, is not by force of Argument from the goodness or necessity of the work; for though this cause
may enforce, a rational mind to some present act of mercy, as is frequent in experience, yet it cannot work
such a habit in a soul, as shall make it prompt upon all occasions to produce the same effect, but by
framing these affections of love in the heart which will as naturally bring forth the other, as any cause doth
produce the effect. First it is a bond or ligament. Secondly, it makes the work perfect. 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 The several parts of this body
considered a part before they were united, were as disproportionate and as much
disordering as so many contrary qualities or elements, but when Christ comes,
and by his spirit and love knits all these parts to himself and each to other,
it is become the most perfect and best proportioned body in the world (Eph.
4:15-16). Christ, by whom all the body being knit together by every joint for
the furniture thereof, according to the effectual power which is in the measure
of every perfection of parts, a glorious body without spot or wrinkle; the
ligaments hereof being Christ, or his love, for Christ is love (1John 4:8). So
this definition is right. Love is the bond of perfection. Again the like we may see in the members of this body among themselves. Rom. 9 --- Paul could have been contented to have been separated from Christ, that the Jews might not be cut off from the body. It is very observable what he professeth of his affectionate partaking with every member; "Who is weak (saith he) and I am not weak? Who is offended and I burn not?" And again (2 Cor. 7:13), "Therefore we are comforted because ye were comforted." Of Epaphroditus he speaketh (Phil. 2:25-30) that he regarded not his own life to do him service. So Phoebe and others are called the servants of the church. Now it is apparent that they served not for wages, or by constraint, but
out of love. The like we shall find in the histories of the church, in all ages; the sweet sympathy of
affections which was in the members of this body one towards another; their cheerfulness in serving and
suffering together; how liberal they were without repining, harborers without grudging, and helpful without Adam in his first estate was a perfect model 1 John 4:7 --- Love cometh of God and every one that
loveth is born of God, so that this love is the fruit of the new birth, and none can have it but the new
creature. Now when this quality is thus formed in the souls of men, it works like the Spirit upon the dry
bones. Ezek. 37:7 --- "Bone came to bone." It gathers together the scattered bones, or perfect old man
Adam, and knits them into one body again in Christ, whereby a man is become again a living soul. Now when the soul, which is of a sociable nature, finds anything like to itself, it is like Adam when Eve was brought to him. She must be one with himself. This is flesh of my flesh (saith he) and bone of my bone. So the soul conceives a great delight in it; therefore she desires nearness and familiarity with it. She hath a great propensity to do it good and receives such content in it, as fearing the miscarriage of her beloved, she bestows it in the inmost closet of her heart. She will not endure that it shall want any good which she can give it. If by
occasion she be withdrawn from the company of it, she is still looking towards the place where she left her
beloved. If she heard it groan, she is with it presently. If she find it sad and
disconsolate, she sighs and
moans with it. She hath no such joy as to see her beloved merry and thriving. If she see it wronged, she
cannot hear it without passion. She sets no bounds to her affections, nor hath any thought of reward.
She finds recompense enough in the exercise of her love towards it. His father's kingdom was not so precious to him as his beloved David, David shall have it with all his heart. Himself desires no more but that he may be near to him to rejoice in his good. He chooseth to converse with him in the wilderness even to the hazard of his own life, rather than with the great Courtiers in his father's Palace. When he sees danger towards him, he spares neither rare pains nor peril to direct it. When injury was offered his beloved David, he would not bear it, though from his own father. And when they must part for a season only, they thought their hearts would have broke for sorrow, had not their affections found vent by abundance of tears. Other instances might be brought
to show the nature of this affection; as of Ruth and Naomi, and many others; but this truth is cleared
enough. If any shall object that it is not possible that love shall be bred or upheld without hope of requital, Secondly, the labor of the mouth
is accompanied with such pleasure and content as far exceeds the pains it takes.
So is it in all the labor of love among Christians. The party loving, reaps love
again, as was showed before, which the soul covets more then all the wealth in
the world. Herein are four things to be propounded; first the persons, secondly, the work, thirdly the This was notorious in the practice of the Christians in former times;
as is testified of the Waldenses, from the mouth of one of the adversaries Aeneas Sylvius "mutuo ament
pene antequam norunt" --- they use to love any of their own religion even before they were acquainted
with them. That which the most in their
churches maintain as 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. We must not look only on our own things, but also
on the things of our brethren. Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire,
then hath He ratified this covenant and sealed our commission, and will expect a strict performance of the We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "may 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. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and
so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word
through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all
professors for God's sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their
prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.
Therefore let us choose life,
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