This document provides an overview of the Puritans who settled in New England in the early 1600s. It discusses the Separatists who arrived on the Mayflower and settled Plymouth and the non-separating Puritans who arrived on the Arbella and established the Massachusetts Bay colony. The basic theology of the Puritans is outlined, focusing on concepts like total depravity and unconditional election. Key passages from John Winthrop's sermon "A Modell of Christian Charitie" are analyzed, including his arguments for why God created inequality and his vision of Christians united by "the bond of perfection" of love for one another.

1. EN250 AMERICAN LITERATURE I
Puritans in New England
Bradford and the Separatists,
Winthrop and the Congregationalists
Bruce Clary, Instructor

2. EN250 AMERICAN LITERATURE I

3. EN250 AMERICAN LITERATURE I
PLYMOUTH MASSACHUSETTS
BAY
Mayflower arrives 1620 Arbella arrives 1630
Leader: William Bradford Leader: John Winthrop
Settlers: Separatists, Settlers: Non-separating
Pilgrims Puritans,
Congregationalists
Mayflower Compact Arbella Covenant
allowed some freedoms established theocracy

4. EN250 AMERICAN LITERATURE I
Basic Puritan Theology
• Total Depravity (Original Sin)
• Unconditional Election (Undeserved grace)
• Limited Atonement (Few are chosen)
• Irresistible Grace (Christ cannot lose)
• Perseverance of the Saints (Backsliders, relax!)

5. EN250 AMERICAN LITERATURE I
A Modell of Christian Charitie
The Essential Arguments of Winthrop’s Sermon
Bruce Clary, Instructor

6. EN250 AMERICAN LITERATURE I
God created everyone unequal because…
• REAS: First A complex, diverse creation displays
God’s power to create order out of chaos
• REAS: Secondly It creates many ways for God to
demonstrate his power
• REAS: Thirdly It creates an interdependence one
upon another that generates love

7. EN250 AMERICAN LITERATURE I
Christian love is the “bond of perfection”
• Christian love derives from God; none but the
regenerate have it
• Everyone loves themselves (natural law) but the
saints will love their neighbors, their enemies,
and especially their brothers and sisters in Christ
• This means doing works of mercy and justice,
even “beyond our ability, rather then tempt God,
in putting him upon help by miraculous or
extraordinary meanes”

8. EN250 AMERICAN LITERATURE I
“Bond of perfection” (conclusions)
• All true Christians are one in Christ’s body
• Love is the ligaments that bind the body together
• Each body part is interconnected and
interdependent one upon the other
• Each body part desires and strives to preserve
and strengthen the others

9. EN250 AMERICAN LITERATURE I
Christian charity is of utmost relevance
because…
• They must receive each other as brothers and
sisters in Christ
• They must put personal interests aside to
achieve their sacred, public aims
• God punishes his Chosen People more harshly
for their failings
• If they keep their covenant, they shall be “as a
Citty upon a hill”