Everything about City Upon A Hill totally explained
For the series of Christian albums, see City on a Hill (series)
City upon a hill is a phrase that's associated with
John Winthrop's sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," given in 1630. The phrase is derived from the metaphor of
Salt and Light in the
Sermon on the Mount of
Jesus given in the
Gospel of Matthew. Winthrop warned the
Puritan colonists of
New England who were to found the
Massachusetts Bay Colony that their new community would be a "city upon a hill," watched by the world:
Arbella not long before landing; recent research has shown, however, that it was almost certainly given in England prior to departure. In any case, it inspired the Puritans with a sense of holy duty that would be crucial if they wanted to increase their chances of survival in the New World.
Winthrop believed that all nations had a
covenant with God, and that because England had violated its religious covenant, the Puritans must leave the country. This was an expression of the Puritan belief that the
Church of England had fallen from grace by accepting
Catholic rituals. John Winthrop claimed that the Puritans forge a new, special agreement with God, like that between God and the
people of Israel. However, unlike the Separatists (such as the
Pilgrims), the Puritans remained nominally a part of the Anglican church in hopes that it could be purified from within. Winthrop believed that by purifying Christianity in the New World, his followers would serve as an example to the Old World for building a model
Protestant community.
The idea that their community was specially ordained by God had a powerful effect on the Puritan society of New England. Of course, breaking a covenant with God has dire results. In order to avoid incurring God's wrath by breaking their promise, the Puritans sought to maintain perfect order in their society. Even the smallest sins were punished harshly by the courts; no one was allowed to live alone for fear that they'd succumb to the temptation to sin; parents were to instruct their children and servants diligently in the Word of God; church attendance was mandatory;
marriage was required. These conventions and institutions molded an extremely stable and rigidly-structured society in New England, a stark contrast with the unstable and loosely-bound society of the early British colonies in the
Chesapeake Bay region, such as
Jamestown.
The neighborhood now known as 'Beacon Hill' in Boston, Massachusetts is named after this idea, that it serve as a beacon of light to the world. Tradionally, this area's demographic has been White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs).
Further Information
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