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John Winthrop. Courtesy of BGC Museum.
Saints and Strangers addresses religious influences from the Mayflower to the Great Awakening, from Plymouth Rock to the War of Independence. It examines the groups of the faithful who were crucial influences during the colonial period -- the Church of England, the Puritans, Baptist, Quakers, and others.
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he year 1588 is often considered a turning
point in world history. It was during that year that the vast Spanish
Armada of 130 ships sailed to England to try to capture the island kingdom
for Spain's Catholic monarch, Philip II. The English attributed the failure
of the invasion to a storm raised by divine Providence. The defeat of
Spain's fleet enabled England to gain superiority of the seas and enhanced
her ability to establish colonies in America. The English felt God had
chosen their land for greatness in the future.
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1588 was also the year John Winthrop was born in Suffolk, England. Winthrop
would become one of the leaders in expanding England's empire in America;
more importantly, he was an important instrument in establishing Christian
consciousness in the new world.
John Winthrop was the only son of Anne and Adam Winthrop, lord of the
manor of Groton. The family estate had formerly been the Abby of Bury
St. Edmunds, one of the abbeys offered for sale when Henry VIII confiscated
all the monasteries in England. John Winthrop's great-grandfather had
bought the land, and the family had increased its wealth from the making
and trading of cloth.
A Puritan family
The Winthrops had strong Puritan leanings; they wanted the Church of England
to be rid of any ritual or ceremony that did not have the authority of
the Bible. Even as a boy, John Winthrop had a sincere devotion to God
and considered becoming a minister. Although he finally chose to follow
his father in trade and succeed him as lord of the family estate of Groton
Manor, Winthrop never ceased to seek to honor God in all of his undertakings.
While continuing to oversee his manorial lands, Winthrop studied law
at Grey's Inn in London. As an attorney, his legal duties often brought
him to London on business. The immorality and degeneracy of the city disturbed
Winthrop, and, with several others, he published "Common Grievances
Groaning for Reformation." Winthrop, along with many other Puritans,
was intent on reforming English society. As the decade of the 1620's wore
on, however, the religious and political situation in England worsened.
King Charles I was determined to rule as an absolute monarch and not at
all in sympathy with Puritan goals. Persecution of the Puritans increased,
and many thought of emigrating. John Winthrop thought of going to Ireland,
but by 1629 a group of Puritans had formed the Massachusetts Bay Company
to begin settlement in America. John Winthrop was elected governor of
the Company, and within a short period of time he had enlisted 700 colonists
for the new settlement. He organized 11 ships with their sailors and officers,
arranged for provisions and supplies for the colony, and made certain
there were enough skilled craftsmen and laborers for the colony's development.
Why did they come?
When the Massachusetts Bay colonists sailed for America on March 22, 1630,
Winthrop and his fellow Puritans left behind their patriarchal homes and
financial security for an unknown American wilderness. In "A Model
of Christian Charity," a sermon Winthrop preached during the voyage
to America, the Massachusetts governor emphasized that the purpose of
their going to America was to increase the body of Christ and to preserve
themselves and their children from the corruption of this evil world.
The colonists had made a covenant together to obey the commandments of
God in their enterprise, and the Lord would surely bless them in their
new land if they continued to follow Him. If they maintained Christian
unity, Winthrop was certain the Lord will be our God and delight to dwell
among us as his own people...when he shall make us a praise and a 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.
Winthrop's imagery of the model Christian society as a city on a hill,
taken from Matthew 5:14, became a motif that has inspired American literary
and political thought into the twentieth century. From Winthrop and the
Puritans, America inherited the idea that in some way this land was to
be an example and beacon of light to the rest of the world.
During the 1630's, over 55,000 Englishmen fled to America. Half of these
settled in New England, and Winthrop wrote in his journal that "Godly
people in New England began now to apprehend a special hand of God in
raising this plantation." Winthrop devoted the last two decades of
his life to establishing the Massachusetts Colony. He was a pivotal figure
in New England's critical early decades.
| "He supports us in our dangers"
A later American Puritan, Cotton Mather, called John Winthrop an
"American Nehemiah." Like Nehemiah, Winthrop left behind
positions of wealth and influence to unselfishly share the difficulties
of his fellow colonists in establishing a godly society. Both Winthrop
and Nehemiah were men of prayer who sought the Lord's blessings
for their enterprises and thanked Him with true humility for all
their successes.
John Winthrop and his wife Margaret had a congenial marriage full
of love and godly companionship. While in London in 1629, Winthrop
wrote his wife: Mine own, mine one, my best beloved, - thinks it
is very long since I saw or heard from my beloved, and I miss already
the sweet comfort of thy most desired presence: but the rich mercy
and goodness of my God makes supply of all wants: Blessed be his
great and holy name. Ah my good wife, we now find what blessing
is stored up in the favor of the Lord, he only sweetens all conditions
to us, he takes our cares and fears from us, he supports us in our
dangers, he disposeth all our affairs for us, he will guide us by
his counsel in our pilgrimage, and after will bring us to glory. |
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