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Click here to find the "city on a hill" passage. WRITTEN ON BOARD THE ARBELLA, ON THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. By the Hon. John Winthrop Esqr. In his passage (with a great company of Religious
people, CHRISTIAN CHARITIE. A Modell hereof. (spelling corrected from here on) 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. THE REASON HEREOF, Secondly, that he might have the more occasion to manifest the work of his Spirit.
First, upon the wicked, in moderating and restraining them: so that the rich and mighty
should not eat up the poor, nor the poor and despised rise up against their superiors and
shake off their yoke. Secondly, in the regenerate, in exercising his graces in them: as in
the great ones, their love, mercy, gentleness, temperance etc.; in the poor and inferior
sort, their faith, patience, obedience etc. Thirdly, that every man might have need of other, and from hence they might be all knit
more nearly together in the bond of brotherly affection. From hence it appears plainly
that no man is made more honorable than another, or more wealthy etc., out of any
particular and singular respect to himself, but for the glory of his creator and the
common good of the creature, man. Therefore God still reserves the property of these gifts
to himself, as [in] Ezekiel, 16.17: he there calls wealth his gold and his silver; [in]
Proverbs, 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.... This law of the Gospel propounds likewise a difference of seasons and occasions. There
is a time when a Christian must sell all and give to the poor, as they did in the
apostles' times. There is a time also when a Christian (though they give not all yet) must
give beyond their ability, as they of Macedonia, II Corinthians, 8.8. Likewise community
of perils calls for extraordinary liberality, and so doth community in some special
service for the church. Lastly, when there is no other means whereby our Christian brother
may be relieved in his distress, we must help him beyond our ability, rather than tempt
God in putting him upon help by miraculous or extraordinary means.... The definition which the scripture gives us of love is this: "Love is the bond of
perfection." 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, is love.... From hence we may frame these conclusions. First, all true Christians are of one body
in Christ, I Corinthians, 12.12.27: "Ye are the body of Christ and members of [your?]
part." Secondly, the ligaments of this body which knit together are love. Thirdly, no
body can be perfect which wants it proper ligament. Fourthly, all the parts of this body,
being thus united, are made so contiguous in a special relation as they must needs partake
of each other's strength and infirmity, joy and sorrow, weal and woe, I Corinthians,
12.26: "If one member suffers, all suffer with it, if one be in honor, all rejoice
with it." Fifthly, this sensibleness and sympathy of each other's conditions will
necessarily infuse into each part a native desire and endeavor to strengthen, defend,
preserve and comfort the other.... It rests now to make some application of this discourse by the present design, which
gave the occasion of writing of it. Herein are four things to be propounded: first, the
persons; secondly, the work; thirdly, the end; fourthly, the means. First, for the persons. We are a company professing ourselves fellow members of Christ,
in which respect only though were absent from each other many miles, and had our
employments as far distant, yet we ought to account ourselves knit together by this bond
of love, and live in the exercise of it, if we would have comfort of our being in Christ.
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[d] to love any of their own religion even before they
were acquainted with them. Secondly, for the work we have in hand. It is by a mutual consent, through a special
overvaluing providence and a more than an 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 oversay all
private respects, by which not only conscience, but mere civil policy, doth bind us. For
it is a true rule that particular estates cannot subsist in the ruin of the public. Thirdly, the end is to improve our lives to do more service to the Lord; the comfort
and increase of the body of Christ whereof we are members, 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. Fourthly, for the means whereby this must be effected. They are twofold, a conformity
with the work and end we aim at. These we see are extraordinary, therefore we must not
content ourselves with usual ordinary means: whatsoever we did, or ought to have done,
when we lived in England, the same must we do, and more also, where we go. 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, we must not look only on our own things, but also on the things of our
brethren. Neither must we think that the Lord will bear with such failings at our hands as
he doth from those among whom we have lived, and that for three reasons. First, in regard of the more near bond of marriage between him and us, wherein he hath
taken us to be his after a most strict and peculiar manner, which will make him the more
jealous of our love and obedience. So he tells the people of Israel, you only have I known
of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your transgressions.
Secondly, because the Lord will be sanctioned in them that come near him. We know that
there were many that corrupted the service of the Lord, some setting up altars before his
own, others offering both strange fire and strange sacrifices also; yet there came no fire
from heaven or other sudden judgment upon them, as did upon Nadab and Abihu, who yet we
may think did not sin presumptuously. Thirdly, when God gives a special commission he
looks to have it strictly observed in every article. When he gave Saul a commission to
destroy Amalek, 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. Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into covenant with him for
this work, we have taken out a commission, the Lord hath given us leave to draw our own
articles, we have professed to enterprise these actions, upon these and those ends, we
have hereupon besought him of favor and blessing. 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 articles contained in
it. But if we shall neglect the observation of these articles, which are the ends we have
propounded, and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world and
prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the
Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, be revenged of such a perjured people and
make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant. Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah: to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together in this work as one man, 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, our community 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: "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. And to shut up this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithfull servant of
the Lord, in his last farewell to Israel, Deuteronomy, 30: beloved, there is now set
before us life and good, death and evil, in that we are commanded this day to love the
Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments
and his ordinance and his laws, and the articles of our covenant with him, that we may
live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go
to possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be
seduced, and worship other Gods our pleasures 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, that we and our seed may live by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him, for He is our life, and our prosperity. |