Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10

The Puritans knew they had to leave England. They had wanted to bring about change by working within the Anglican Church, but the Bishops did not want reform and made such changes impossible. By 1628, many Puritans realized they had to leave.

More and more they looked to America. Why not a settlement of Puritans there, loyal to both the Church of England and the Crown? In America, they could obey the laws of God as well as the laws of men. In America, they could spread the Gospel. In America, they could try to build God’s kingdom on earth.

Was it possible? Could a group of believers actually begin to set up God’s kingdom on earth? Was this part of God’s plan too? The answers to these questions are yes. God Himself was directing the Puritans to come to the New World. He knew what lay ahead for America, and He had chosen these people to lay the foundation stones the country needed to survive.

———

“But John, you’re not a Separatist,” argued Robert Ryece. “You’re a Puritan! The Church needs you here. You must stay!”

John Winthrop stood at the window, staring at the fields in front of his house. How he loved this estate in Suffolk. How he loved England. Despite the bright sun’s rays, Winthrop felt as though a gray fog covered the room.

“Robert, I must go,” Winthrop quietly explained. “God is telling me to go. We didn’t want to end up leaving like the Separatists, but we are no longer able to change the Church from within. Now, Bishop Laud has given King Charles a list of our names. It’s time to go.”

Winthrop turned to look at his friend. Ryece stood beside a table, holding some papers.

“Robert,” Winthrop continued, “you know how much I love the Church. But we can’t change anything here. All of our attempts at reform are being blocked. It’s become too corrupt. You’ve read what I’ve written in those papers. You know what I’ve said.”

Ryece sat down in a big leather chair. Winthrop sat in the chair beside him.

“The Puritans leaving England are asking me to go with them,” Winthrop said. “And I must. The time is right, Robert. God has set everything in motion.”

God had set everything in motion. King Charles had already signed the Massachusetts Bay Company Charter. The Puritans had faced enough persecution. They were ready to leave. They had grown strong through it all and were spiritually ready to handle the hardships of building a new home in a strange land. Favorable reports from the colony at Plymouth encouraged them to try.

In 1628, sixty-six Puritan men sailed with John Endecott to Salem, Massachusetts. The following year, Reverend Francis Higginson and two hundred Puritans left England to join them.

In August of 1629, some Puritan leaders met at Cambridge, England, where many had attended the university together. “Today we are agreeing together,” Richard Saltonstall said.

“Yes,” another added. “We agree to go in our persons to the New World to further the work of Christ.”

“We’ll prepare to leave by next March,” Winthrop directed.

Three days later, the men elected John Winthrop to be governor. He began to arrange passage for more than a thousand Puritans who wanted to emigrate.

———

John Winthrop sat in his cabin as the Arbella sailed through the calm waters of the Atlantic. He had been praying. Carefully, he removed his writing box from the chart table. After selecting a quill pen, he dipped it into the wide-bottomed ink bottle and wiped off the excess ink.

“This love among Christians is a real thing,” Winthrop wrote. “It is absolutely necessary to the well-being of the Body of Christ. . . . We are a company . . . knit together by this bond of love.”

Then came the heart of his vision.

“We are entered into covenant with Him for this work . . . [W]e must be knit together in this work as one man.”

Winthrop named his composition A Model of Christian Charity. It ranks in importance with the Mayflower Compact. The Pilgrims’ agreement stated that a group of people, gathered together under God, were going to be governed by mutual consent. John Winthrop spelled out why such a government would work. It would work because the believers had entered into covenant with God and with one another. It became the definition of covenant love.

On June 8, 1630, Governor Winthrop stood at the rail of the Arbella and got his first glimpse of New England: the fir-covered hills of Maine. He felt the fresh, warm coastal breeze against his skin. He marveled at pine trees taller than any he had ever seen. He enjoyed the sea gulls flying overhead. Four days later, the Arbella approached the colony of Salem, Massachusetts.

Surely this isn’t Salem! Winthrop thought as he studied the mainland. There are only a few tents and huts here! The town must be farther back in the woods.

As the ship drew closer, the governor realized it was Salem! He caught sight of some people walking slowly toward the beach. They were thin and ragged-looking. Their shoulders were hunched. Something was terribly wrong.

The provisional governor, John Endecott, met Winthrop on shore. The two men talked.

“Governor Winthrop, there are only eighty-five of us left,” Endecott said. “More than eighty have died, and the rest have returned to England. Others want to go home as well.”

“Good heavens, man, you started with two hundred and sixty-six people!” Winthrop replied. “This is as bad as Jamestown. And these people are decent Puritans, not fortune hunters!”

“We hold a teaching service on Thursdays, and two services on Sundays. But they do no good.” Endecott sighed. “The people hear the words but nothing changes.”

Winthrop’s mind was racing. Is it all over? he thought. Will covenant love not work here? Endecott interrupted Winthrop’s thoughts to tell him more of the story.

During the first winter, the new settlers had been very sick. Endecott wrote Governor Bradford at Plymouth to ask for help. Bradford sent Samuel Fuller, a doctor who understood scurvy and other illnesses.

“I was prepared to dislike Fuller,” Endecott offered. “After all, he is a Separatist. But he took care of us and showed us Christian love. He and I often talked at night by the fire. I learned much about what God is doing fifty miles down the coast.”

“Tell me about it,” Winthrop requested.

“At Plymouth, the Church helps to guide the civil government,” Endecott began, “but the two are separate. Church members choose their own leaders, and the civil government holds its own elections. We based our church here on the model at Plymouth. We elected Higginson as pastor and Skelton as teacher. We thought it would work, but—”

“That’s it!” Winthrop suddenly interrupted. “That’s why it’s not working!”

“I don’t understand,” Endecott replied, a puzzled look on his face.

“Don’t you see? These Puritans love God and want to do His will. The problem is they’re not living out the other part of the covenant. They’re not living out their commitment to one another!”

“But the Separatists were already a church,” Endecott objected. “We’ve just started!”

“All the more reason we’ve got to live up to our covenant with each other!” Winthrop stressed. “And it must begin with you and me. Unless each of us is willing to put our whole lives into the work here, we can’t expect the others to.”

Endecott stood up straight. “Sir,” he said, “you can count on me.”

Immediately, the governor made plans. “I want you to assemble every man and boy at the center of town today, one hour before noon. Have the women come too. In the meantime, I’ll see about getting my belongings ashore.”

Winthrop started out the door, then abruptly turned back.

“Oh, and tell the Gentlemen—Mr. Saltonstall, Mr. Pynchon, Mr. Nowell, and the others—that this includes them as well!” Winthrop smiled. “You’d better suggest they wear old clothes,” he added.

“Right, Governor,” Endecott replied.

Promptly at eleven o’clock, Endecott walked to the center of the huts and shelters that formed the town. A number of people were already there, staring at their governor. He was dressed in boots, work pants, and an old shirt. He looked more like a servant than a Gentleman. Endecott handed him a list of names.

“The situation here is not exactly what I expected,” Winthrop began.

Everyone stood still and listened.

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work,” the Governor continued, “but I think we can correct things. By the end of the summer, every one of you is going to be in a proper dwelling. Until then, more than one family will have to live together, at least for the first winter.”

The crowd began to murmur.

“But Governor, how are we going to do it?” one settler asked.

“By God’s grace,” Winthrop replied, “and by helping one another.”

Just then, Richard Saltonstall and a friend strolled into the gathering, carrying on a conversation. Saltonstall wore a white shirt with a ruffled collar. Winthrop glared at them, then turned back to the others.

“First of all, who can fish?” he asked. Eight men raised their hands. Winthrop consulted Endecott. “All right, Packham and Kenworthy, each of you take three men. On alternate days, you’ll take turns fishing in the shallop.

“Now, the women,” he said, looking at his list. “Some of you will do field work in the mornings. The others will care for the sick with Mr. Skelton. Mr. Skelton, you’ll be responsible for the food supplies too. Be sure to let me know how much food we have in store.”

Winthrop then addressed Mr. Higginson, who was sitting on a stump. “Pastor, I know you’ve been ill. Your job will be to pray for us and to preach on Sundays.”

Winthrop handed the folded list to Endecott. “The rest of you will form work parties. Those under forty will go with Mr. Endecott. Those over forty will come with me. Are there any questions?”

“Yes,” Richard Saltonstall said as he stepped forward. “John, you don’t really expect me to work like this, do you?”

“Yes, Richard, I do.”

“But common labor, John? I brought nine men with me to do that. And you brought more than I did!”

Winthrop hesitated. “Richard, last August you signed an agreement at Cambridge. Do you remember?”

Saltonstall did not respond.

“You agreed to be ready to carry on this work in your person. So did I. It won’t succeed unless every man gives his all. We’re all laborers in God’s vineyard together.”

Saltonstall shook his head, almost too angry to speak. “This is—”

“This is the way it’s going to be,” Winthrop stated strongly. “And I’ll tell you something else.” The governor looked around at everyone. “I consider being late a sin against God. We’re doing the work God has called us to do. We won’t steal His time by being late!

“Starting tomorrow, we’ll meet here promptly at two hours past sunrise for daily work assignments. Bring something with you to eat at the noon hour. We’ll work until four o’clock. The rest of the day will be yours.”

The people began to talk excitedly.

“Are there any more questions?”

There were none.

———

The fall and winter of 1630 tested the Puritans’ commitment. More shiploads of settlers arrived and food supplies dropped dangerously low. Once again, Winthrop stepped in. He traded with the local Indians for corn. Then he sent the ship Lyon home to London for supplies, with orders to sell his own lands to get the money to purchase them.

This kind of personal sacrifice had become his pattern. Winthrop believed that one should commit everything to the cause. Often he dug into his own funds to meet the needs of the struggling colony. In fact, he was almost supporting the colony by himself for a while. But he never once complained, not even in his personal journals.

The winter months dragged on. By February, the settlers had eaten most of the corn. There was still no sign of the Lyon.

“God is withholding His blessing from us,” Higginson preached. “We must search our hearts and humble ourselves before Him. And we must pray for a miracle.”

There was nothing else they could do. By February 5, the corn was gone, the ground nuts had been consumed, and the clam banks were exhausted. The Lyon was so long overdue that the Puritans could only think she had been shipwrecked.

They declared a day of fasting and prayer.

But that day never took place. The morning of the day before, Winthrop was reaching for the last handful of meal in the barrel to give to a starving settler, when someone yelled “Governor! She’s here! The Lyon is coming into port!”

Winthrop spied the ship at the harbor’s mouth. Everyone ran down to the shore. The Lyon had returned, loaded with food and supplies. Her cargo consisted of wheat, meal, peas, oatmeal, beef, pork, cheese, butter, suet, and casks of lemon juice.

Winthrop declared a day of Thanksgiving. Once again, God had provided for His people.

———

The Puritans had obeyed their call, and God had honored their obedience. From Salem they moved on to settle Boston and other New England towns. Everywhere they went, they established churches and communities that practiced covenant love. Slowly, God was unfolding the design of His kingdom in America.