City Upon a Hill

For wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us; soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our God in this worke wee have undertaken and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall shame the faces of many of gods worthy servants, and cause theire prayers to be turned into Cursses upon us till wee be consumed out of the good land whither wee are goeing...

Therefore lett us choose life,
that wee, and our Seede,
may live; by obeyeing his
voyce, and cleaveing to him,
for hee is our life, and
our prosperity.


______________________
Taken from John Winthrop, "A Modell of Christian Charity" (1630), in Keith J. Hardman, Issues in American Christianity: Primary Sources with Introductions, p. 22. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1993.

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