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”
