Love: Winthrop's Source of Christian Charity

John Winthrop, an influential Puritan leader crucial in the forming of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, demonstrates to his people settling in America the behavior that they will emulate as Christians. In his work, “A Model of Christian Charity,” Winthrop provides a guide for the settlers on how they should live with each other in a Christian manner. As Winthrop encourages Christians in his new settlements to live in godly charity towards one another, he shows that the powerful source of this behavior is love.

The way to draw men to works of mercy is not by force of argument from the goodness or necessity of the work...but by framing these affections of love in the heart which will natively bring forth the other. (183)

Winthrop expresses that the method to get man to even begin acting in charity must be love. Winthrop, in his experience as a pastor, recognizes that logical arguments cannot persuade people to act charitably. People will not give because they know the Bible tells them to. Winthrop could have recognized this from the insincerity of the Anglican church his Puritan background disapproved of. Rather than giving and helping neighbors because it is sensible, Winthrop wants his parishioners to demonstrate charity because they are compelled by love for each other. He argues that Christians must change souls to promote charity among the church.“The way to draw men to works of mercy,” Winthrop writes, “is not by force of argument from the goodness or necessity of the work…but by framing these affections of love in the heart which will as natively bring forth the other” (183). Love is the cause of any true Christian charity. Winthrop sees that the only way to inspire people to charity is to first instill in them a love for their fellow man. Only once they have that love in them can they begin to do good works. For Winthrop, this is a clear cause-and-effect relationship. Love initiates charity.

When Christ comes and by His spirit and love knits all these parts to himself and each to other, it is become the most perfect and best proportioned body in the world. (183)

 Winthrop considers love a link between Christians that enables them to joyfully help one another. He describes it as a “bond or ligament,” (183). According to Winthrop, they are connected in this love by Christ, showing him as the ultimate giver of love, and thus the giver of Christian charity. Because Christ is love, Winthrop concludes that He is also the bond between Christians that empowers them to give beyond their means. He recognizes the example of Christ in providing love for which Christians can perform charitable acts. Christ’s love is what brings the church together in love.Winthrop states, “when Christ comes and by His spirit and love knits all these parts to himself and each to other, it is become the most perfect and best proportioned body in the world” (183). Drawing upon the examples of the early church, Winthrop explains that only through Christ can members of a church become united and sacrifice their lives for each other in charity. He goes on to remind his congregation that they are one body in Christ, and because of this, they cannot survive without the bond holding them together—love, from Christ. Love is what holds the church together, and so love will also be what preserves believers’ charity towards each other. Winthrop warns his people that their colony will not succeed without this bond of love, and that they must “partake of each other’s strength and infirmity; joy and sorrow, weal and woe” (183). Only then can they be united and can the entire colony be adequately provided for. Sacrificial love, furthermore, must be the end goal.

This love is always under reward. It never gives, but it always receives with advantage...love and affection are reciprocal in almost equal and sweet kind of commerce. (185)

Finally, Winthrop argues that love promotes charity because love is selfless. Winthrop examines how love is sacrificial and powerful in acts of goodness. Providing multiple Biblical examples, he demonstrates the acts of love and how his congregation can imitate these behaviors to help the community thrive and be at peace. Winthrop explains the love of friendship between Jonathan and David in the Bible, promoting the example of Jonathan sacrificing his kingdom for his best friend, and offering that as a model of how deep love should be among Christians (185). Christians are expected to love others as much as they love themselves, with little thought of reward, the love itself a reward (185). Winthrop furthermore explains how love is like a sort of currency. If everyone shows love to their neighbors in service, everyone will receive love. “This love is always under reward,” Winthrop offers as an explanation of the blessing love can demonstrate in service. “It never gives, but it always receives with advantage…love and affection are reciprocal in almost equal and sweet kind of commerce” (185). To Winthrop, if members of his Christian society give freely to each other, they will also receive freely and abundantly. Nobody will be in need if each member of the community offers time or money to help their neighbors. To Winthrop, this is the ideal model of how a Christian community should be, and it is essential to the survival of his congregation and the demonstration of their faith in the New World.

Winthrop is offering advice to the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Love is the force by which they will take care of the sick, the elderly, and the impoverished among them. Love’s natural effects are benevolence and good works, and the natural source of love is Jesus Christ. As a Christian community, Winthrop knows that his congregation must have this love from Jesus Christ to keep their settlement well and each person provided for. Winthrop assures his people that with this love, everyone will benefit and the bond between them as believers will flourish as they give freely to each other. The key to this harmony and charity is, ultimately, sacrificial love.

Works Cited

Winthrop, John. “A Model of Christian Charity.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Ninth Edition, edited by Robert S. Levine, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2017, pp. 178-189.