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JOHN WINTHROP’s “A Model of Christian Charity”

JOHN WINTHROP’s “A Model of Christian Charity”. Winthrop’s speech to his Puritan peers, laying out the principles and rules which should govern their living relationship with each other and with God, e very day of their experiment in the New World–

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JOHN WINTHROP’s “A Model of Christian Charity”

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  1. JOHN WINTHROP’s“A Model of Christian Charity” Winthrop’s speech to his Puritan peers, laying out the principles and rules which should govern their living relationship with each other and with God, every day of their experiment in the New World– trying to be an example to the rest of the world of how society should be if we are to please God and save our souls.

  2. John Winthrop… was a Puritan who wanted to stay in England and “purify” the Church of England from within. at one time considered becoming a minister, but instead decided to become a lawyer. eventually realized that reform of the Church of England was probably impossible, and certainly dangerous, with Charles I—the Roman Catholic sympathizer—soon to become king. banded together with a group of enterprising Christian merchants, and made a plan to leave England and start a new life in “America”.

  3. John Winthrop… composed a sermon/political treatise in England or on the voyage to the New World. delivered his sermon to his merchant brethren probably during the voyage to the New World. defined this new society in terms of everyday human business, commerce and enterprise (e.g., money and property matters) andalso defined it in terms of the ideal of the parts of the Body of Christ loving all other members and parts of the body— each part having its own job, but working together as one organism.

  4. Part I of “A Model of Christian Charity”… begins with a discussion of material wealth. uses passages from the Bible to defend the notion that God wants a small number of people to be wealthy, and the common public relatively poor. lays out the dual principle of justice tempered with mercy. then lays out the rules for business transactions among the parts of the Christian body.

  5. Winthrop states that while all should work very hard at the business of survival and at the salvation of their souls, some will not be materially successful. Therefore, we are bound to a duty of mercy toward those who are struggling.

  6. Winthrop carefully argues—from a Christian perspective—that this duty of mercy must be followed in three areas: GIVING LENDING FORGIVING

  7. Again using stories from the Bible,he demonstrates that God wants us to give, lend and forgive in our relationships with our brethren in the Covenant Community.

  8. He also differentiates between different economic and survival situations in terms of good times, not-so-good times, and bad times: ordinary times extraordinary times emergency times

  9. In ordinary times… the wealthy should give from their abundance (their extras) to the poor they should loan money to those who need help. they should be happy to forgive loans when people truly are unable to repay them. No one should blame anyone else for being unable to repay because, for example, they are stupid or lazy or wasteful. Precedent: Every 7th year, anyone who cannot repay a loan will have the slate wiped clean. The loan is to be “forgiven”.

  10. In extraordinary times… The wealthy should share money and property with the poor until it hurts. They have a duty to sacrifice the comforts and luxuries they are used to so that they can give assistance to those in distress.

  11. In emergency times… Everyone should share everything they can with everyone who needs help, without counting the cost or expecting repayment.

  12. Why should we be willing to do this?Because… God told us to. we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, parts of the one Body of Christ. the number one priority in life is to love one another. because nothing makes us happier than taking care of the people we love. LOVE IS ITS OWN REWARD, both here and in the hereafter.

  13. Why is GOVERNMENT necessary?Why is LAW necessary? Because of ORIGINAL SIN.

  14. When Adam disobeyed God, he sinned against love. Adam was selfish, and cared only about himself.

  15. Due to Adam’s sin,we are all BORN with original sin… and we all begin our lives as selfish little pigs who want everything and don’t want to share.

  16. But Jesus died to save us from our pig natures, and he taught us the higher way of… UNSELFISH LOVE.

  17. Therefore, our Community called “The Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England”… must be founded upon “sweet mutual consents” and “mutual affections” and “sweet commerce” between each and every individual within the community. must be like one body in which all parts strive toward the one goal of health for the whole body. must be disciplined by “laws” to maintain health by making sure that each part is doing its job for the sake of the whole group. must be tempered by mercy toward the “sick” and weak parts. must never allow the selfishness of “higher” parts becauseit would hurt the “lower” parts, and consequently the whole body.

  18. God has given us the sacred missionof making this society REAL! “It is by a mutual consent, through a special overvaluing providence and a more than ordinary approbation of the Churches of Christ, to seek out a place of cohabitation and consortship under a due form of government both civil and ecclesiastical. In such cases as this, the care of the public must oversway all private respects, by which, not only conscience, but mere civil policy, doth bind us.” (p. 103)

  19. In other words… Our government will be a union of the civil (secular) and the ecclesiastical (priestly). Our government will be a union of State and Church. Church and State will NOT be separate! The LAW will enforce LOVE and CHARITY. It will be illegal to be a selfish materialistic miser. This is called a …

  20. THEOCRACY GOD’S LAW will be STATE LAW! Religious Belief and Religious Law ARE The CIVIL LAW!

  21. Our most respected RELIGIOUS MEN will be our governors and leaders who decide on the laws, enforce the laws, and judge men and women according to the LAW of GOD.

  22. God has given us this special mission. We know that, and we have freely accepted the mission.We have a COVENANT with GOD. And when God gives a special people a holy mission, and they screw it up because they let themselves become selfish and greedy and unloving with each other…even in the smallest details of every day life… GOD GETS VERY ANGRY!!! HE WILL PUNISH US VERY HARSHLY IF WE FAIL.

  23. GOD WILL BE WATCHING US!

  24. THE WHOLE WORLDWILL BEWATCHING US!

  25. So…“We must delight in each other, make other’s conditions our own,rejoice together,mourn together,labor together and suffer together,always having before our eyesour commission and communityin the work,our community as members of the same body.” (p. 105)

  26. “The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us as His own people,…” (p. 105)

  27. “… 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 cause our “enemies to speak evil of the ways of God” and cause God’s faithful servants throughout history to curse us.

  28. QUESTION: Does our U.S. Government today— or our New York State government— operate according to any of the principles which John Winthrop says are necessary to a peaceful and harmonious society?

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