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Most people who study American history know that John Winthrop's "sermon" or "message" to his fellow travelers aboard the Arbella in Spring 1630, before landing in Salem (MA), laid out some of the principles on which the Massachusetts Bay Company was to be governed. In this message is the famous phrase to describe the venture--a "citty upon a hill." This phrase, beloved by President Ronald Reagan, has received loads of attention, though the rest of the message, entitled "A Modell of Christian Charity," has usually been ignored. The purpose of this and the next essay is to focus on little noted parts of this message.

A Word on Winthrop

In October 1629 Winthrop was elected Governor of the venture, launched in the Spring of 1630, to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was brought up in privilege, being born on a manor in Groton and attending Trinity College Cambridge at age 14. After managing his father's manor for a while he decided to study law at one of the Inns of Court, after which, in 1626 he received his most decisive political appointment--to be an attorney for the Court of Wards and Liveries. This little-known body (the surviving records for it are in general in such a poor state of preservation that it is impossible to follow a "case" from beginning to end) supervised the letting out of estates to businessmen after the chief tenant had died and before his son became of age to take over the estate. The assumed world of the Court of Wards and Liveries was medieval feudalism--the King owned all the land and the nobles held of him as tenants in chief. After the death of the tenant in chief the land, as it were "reverted" to the king and the son (occasionally the daughter) had to pay various feudal incidences, known as relief, before taking up the land again. In cases, however, where the tenant in chief died before the child legally could assume control of the land, the land would be leased for others to exploit. And the word "exploit," with its two-fold meaning, is probably a good term to describe what often happened. People would enter in, lay waste to the land, and turn it over to the heirs in a depleted condition. I am not sure whether Winthrop, as an attorney for the Court, was primarily engaged in helping businessmen secure these contracts or was involved in the supervision of the estates so affected but, in any case, he was "part of the problem" that the Puritans (of whom Winthrop was one) gradually had with the government under James I and, especially, under Charles I (1625-49).

It is interesting to speculate that the inner tension created in Winthrop by the unsavory job in the Court and his Puritan desires for a community based on biblical principles would lead him to be open to invitations to go elsewhere to set up shop (like the New World). Thus, the real Puritan dilemma, to use the words of the great Puritan historian Edmund Morgan, was not necessarily how to set up a society that was holy while recognizing, at the same time, the fallenness of creation, but how someone like Winthrop could have lived with himself when he had such high ideals but also contributed to the perpetuation of an unjust system. Well, he decided to do what Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz. To quote that classic: "I've got to get away. I've got to run away." So Winthrop did. He and about 1000 people, in 11 ships, left Southampton early in May 1630, arriving in Salem harbor about six weeks later.

The details of the trip and the description of people/animals on board is far beyond my purposes here, but the practicalities of arranging such a trip were daunting indeed. Let's turn now to the structure of his message aboard the Arbella that is so beloved by so many Americans.

The "Modell of Christian Charity" (1630)

We should first realize that the "citty upon a hill" reference appears at the end of a 10-page message/sermon. That is, he says: ''From the former Considerations arise these Conclusions...." and then, eventually, follows the passage beginning with "We are a company professing ourselves fellow memebers of Christ..." The statements of mutual love and being knit together in harmony flow from the points previously mentioned. What are those points? Here is the "flow" of the message.

1. The Hierarchical Nature of Society. You don't often see an exposition of this in reading about this sermon, but this principle is the basis of his remarks. He says: "GOD ALMIGHTY in his most holy and wise providence, hath soe disposed of the condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poore, some high and eminent in power and dignitie; others mean and in submission." Thus, the problem in the message for Winthrop is how to frame a social ethic, an ethic of mutuality in this case, when hierarchy is assumed. He is a product of his 17th century English society, a time long before yearnings for democratic governance were present in the most progressive breast.

2. His Argument is Thoroughly Theological. The basic textbook for him to derive examples and theory is the Bible. He has to have a most intimate acquaintance with that text because it is the source of generative theory. That is, it is not as if the Bible is used simply as a collection of spiritual "proof texts," much as it is used by Fundamentalists/Evangelicals today. Rather, the Bible is used to address hard problems about inequity, distribution to the poor, and providing for one's own family. I find this most impressive, since it demonstrates a way to try to ground one's action in an authoritative source. Much like a modern attorney when making a case before an appellate court will bottom every statement in his/her brief on legal authority, so Winthrop frames his argument in terms of the Bible (the next essay will provide an illustration).

3. The Literary Form of the "Modell" is a Question & Answer. We are not to assume that we have interlocutors present who interrupted him with questions. But he does anticipate the crucial ones. Here are a few. In response to his principle that one needs to operate with the "duty of mercy," the question is raised: "What rule shall a man observe in giving in respect of the measure" (i.e., what practically does this duty of mercy mean?)? After giving an answer to the question, Winthrop further develops the form by putting in some objections. And, the objections are also framed biblically. That is, if Winthrop shows how the Scriptures point to showing mercy and giving of one's possessions to others, someone might interject from Proverbs: "The wise man's eyes are in his head and foreseeth the plague." This suggests that one should hoard or keep one's possessions rather than given them away. Ah, Winthrop needs to respond to this, and he responds with a Scriptural answer from "Solomon" (Ecclesiastes 11): "Cast they bread upon the waters..." Then, there is a question, "What rule must wee observe in lending?" Winthrop responds with biblical examples.

The whole message is therefore suffused with, or drenched in, biblical language. And, in addition, the tone of the whole, in addition to the specific examples, shows indebtedness to the rhetoric of Deuteronomy.

With this overview, I think it might be helpful to show, in the next essay, how the Bible informs one of his arguments.

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