Literature: U1:4 "A Model of Christian Charity"

True

A sermon delivered today would not have to be written down to endure because the sermon could be recorded and preserved through other technologies. In the future, people could potentially hear and see the sermon and experience it as if they were members of the originalaudience. In the seventeenth century, the only way to make a sermon such as "A Model of Christian Charity" last was to record it in writing, but the written form of the speech cannot convey the same emotion that comes with hearing it spoken aloud.

Winthrop states that the Puritans must keep their covenant with God because it is morally right, because they are going to be an example for the rest of the world to follow, and because failing to keep their covenant would lead to the withdrawal of God's protection and their own destruction. Winthrop's sermon is an effective way to unite the members of his audience because it gives them a common goal to achieve and binds their fates together if they should fail.

Unlike Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, which Bradford wrote to detail the experiences of the Pilgrims for those who were not members of their group in 1620, Winthrop's sermon is a speech directed to the settlers. Bradford writes largely in the third person and seems to separate himselffrom the group for objectivity, while Winthrop purposely uses the first person to include himself among the group and create unity. Whereas Bradford records events after they have happened, Winthrop's work is about what should and will happen in the future.

Bradford's writing does notsuggest that the failure of Plymouth Colony would have been a victory for the Pilgrims' enemies and proof against God, but Winthrop does make this claim about the potential failure of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Both works, however, help readers to understand the danger anduncertainty faced by the early American settlers. Both works use Biblical allusions to explain the circumstances faced by these people and convey to readers how both the Pilgrims and the Puritans viewed themselves as being similar to the ancient Israelites.

-A sermon is a speech about matters of religion, faith, duty, or conduct.

-Members of the clergy usually deliver sermons, and their audiences usually consist of a congregation of believers.-"A Model of Christian Charity" is a sermon, but John Winthrop was not a clergyman. He delivered his remarks aboard the Arbella, a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

One reason writers choose a particular literary form, such as a sermon, is to appeal to their audience. Good writers define their purpose for writing and keep their audience in mind.

-Sermons should inspire people to think, to act, and to improve themselves.

Winthrop chooses words that he knows will appeal to his audience and encourage these actions.-But sermons are more than words on a page: they are -delivered to an entire group of people at the same time. This shared experience creates a bond in the community of listeners. Hearing a sermon within a community of like-minded people can be a powerful experience.-As in other speeches, delivery is critical to the success of a sermon.

-Notice that Winthrop writes from the first-person point of view.

He uses first-person pronouns such as we and us.-Winthrop emphasizes unity and includes himself in the community.

Sermons are delivered aloud. The speaker can vary speed, tone, pitch, and can place emphasis on critical ideas. The speaker infuses his or her words with strong feeling and listeners respond to the emotions conveyed as well as to the words

-"A Model of Christian Charity" contains several Biblical allusions.-Early in the work, Winthrop describes a "covenant" that exists between God and the Puritan settlers of New England.

A covenant is a sacred agreement, and the use of the word covenant here is important.-The use of the word covenant signals a comparison between the Puritans and the ancient Israelites.-In his sermon, Winthrop suggests that the Puritans have a similar agreement with God that they must respect and abide.

-In the second paragraph of "A Model of Christian Charity," Winthrop refers to Micah.-Micah was an Old Testament prophet who urged the Israelites to keep their sacred agreement with God.

-Winthrop states that the Puritans must follow Micah's advice and be just, merciful, and humble.

-Winthrop later states that the settlement that the Puritans establish will be "as a city upon a hill."-The phrase "a city upon a hill" is an allusion to a sermon given by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.-Imagine a city, built atop a hill, that everyone can see. Such a city should be a shining and positive example.

"A Model of Christian Charity" articulates God's high expectations for the settlement and explains the consequences of failure. The sermon was designed to unite the settlers by giving them a common goal—and a common fate if they failed to achieve that goal.--Winthrop's sermon urges his fellow Puritans not only to love God and one another, but "to walk in His ways and to keep His Commandments and His ordinance and His laws, and the articles of our Covenant with Him."--Winthrop insists that the community uphold God's laws for several reasons-It is morally correct.-The world will be watching.-Their survival depends on it.

-Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 in Northampton, England, to relatively wealthy parents. She married Simon Bradstreet, the son of a Puritan minister, and immigrated to America with her husband and her parents aboard the Arbella, the ship on which John Winthrop delivered his sermon in 1630.-Bradstreet's father became John Winthrop's deputy governor and her husband became the Massachusetts Bay Colony's chief administrator.-Simon Bradstreet's political duties required travel, which left Anne Bradstreet frequently alone. During the time when she was not raising her eight children and running the household, Bradstreet turned to poetry.

-In 1650, she became the author of the first book published by a woman in colonial America with her volume The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, By a Gentlewoman of Those Parts.-This was to be the only volume of Bradstreet's poetry published in her lifetime. All of her other works appeared posthumously. Anne Bradstreet died in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1672.