The Affliction of Self-Love

The Affliction of Self-Love

In “A Model of Christian Charity,” John Winthrop establishes a guideline for Puritan values in sight of constructing a “city upon a hill” (Winthrop 183). According to Winthrop, God has designed a fixed hierarchal system that all Puritans are subject to. Thus, Winthrop encourages his fellow colonists to do good acts and love others just for the sake of being a good Christian. Winthrop and the other Puritans enter into a covenant with God, promising to follow His works, declaring that this binding agreement will only remain intact if the colonists continue to put forth their energy and love toward the group. To love oneself violates Puritan principles, as indicated by Winthrop. This view of group love is also found in “The Flesh and the Spirit,” where Anne Bradstreet illustrates two sisters, Flesh and Spirit, arguing over what each sister’s values should consist of. Bradstreet suggests that Puritans rebuked material objects as they caused Christians to stray from the group by following his or her own interests (lines 57-60). Bradstreet’s claim is connected to Winthrop’s argument that Puritans value the productiveness and success of the group, and fail to appreciate individuality and self interests.

Winthrop determines that the Puritans are bound together and all have an obligation to take care of one another (215).Suggested by Winthrop is the concept that “every man might have need of other, and from hence they might be all knit more nearly together in the bonds of brotherly affection” (215). In order to maintain the covenant with God, Winthrop claims that all Puritans who were put in a state of wealth by God help out those who were not. Winthrop assesses the hierarchy established by God and suggests that those placed in needy circumstances must not give in to self love and challenge the upper class. Winthrop argues that the system is fixed, as constructed by God and thus the order must be maintained. Winthrop claims that “no man is...