A Model of Christian Charity

Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1838

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Themes

The Divine Duty of Charity

The necessity of charity is the most dominant theme of Winthrop’s sermon. Charity is a fundamental demand God places on humanity; it’s woven into the very structure of society and exemplified in God’s creation of wealth disparity so that “every man might have need of others” (34). This demand for charity appears in the moral law given to the Israelites, and “upon this ground stands all the precepts of the morrall lawe, which concernes our dealings with men” (34). This demand for charity, however, also appears with Christ’s coming and the delivery of the law of the Gospel. This law demands one to “Doe good to all, especially to the household of faith” (35). To Winthrop, charity is the single central Christian ideal, and those who do not practice charity as Christ intends are not true Christians, a belief Winthrop backs up with scripture: “John 1. he whoe hath this world's goodes and seeth his brother to neede and shutts upp his compassion from him, how dwelleth the loue of God in him?” (37).

Charity as an Expression of Christian Love

Though God demands charity, he does not do so directly. Instead, he places love in the hearts of all people, to find its outward expression in charity. As such, “love is the fullfilling of the lawe [of mercy]” (39). God placed love in Adam, and Adam was “a perfect modell of mankinde” (41). However, Adam lost this outward love for others in his fall, and after this man thought only of himself and not of others. This required Christ, an embodiment of love, to come to mankind and offer the law of the Gospel, which demands charity between Christians as if all Christians were a single body. Christian love, and its expression in charity, maintains Christian communities as the body of Christ, and redeems each individual soul: “loue is as absolutely necessary to the being of the body of Christ. […] use, and excellency of this grace […] is needful for every true member of this louely body of the Lord Jesus […] till Christ be formed in them and they in him, all in eache other, knitt together by this bond of loue” (44). Therefore through love, Christians can regenerate toward the “estate of innocency” (35) in which God made Adam, and therefore find salvation.

Exceptional Piety to Create an Exceptional Society

Winthrop understands the colonial project as an opportunity to found a new, ideal Christian society which corrects for the corruptions of England, and therefore offers more opportunity for the redemption of the individual human soul. Charity, Christian love, humility before God, and adherence to scripture are Winthrop’s core tools to make this ideal state come to fruition: “doe justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God” (46-47). Success in this pursuit will mean a proximity to God never experienced before: “wee shall see much more of his wisdome, power, goodness and truthe, than formerly wee haue been acquainted with” (47). This will also mean advantage over other communities: “Wee shall finde that the God of Israell is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies” (47). Success in this pursuit will make New England an example for all other societies: “hee shall make us a prayse and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, ‘the Lord make it likely that of New England.’ For wee must consider that wee shall be as a citty upon a hill” (47) (see Symbols). This marks Winthrop’s sermon as an early example of the concept of American exceptionalism, the idea that the United States is fundamentally different from other nations and so must hold to different standards, and must work to spread its ideals across the globe. Though this is somewhat out of context in a sermon written long before the foundation of the United States, this meaning of the text finds frequent recapitulation in American political rhetoric, such as Ronald Reagan’s 1989 farewell address.