America, What It Is Based On and City Upon A Hill

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say could change their ultimate fate. Puritans believed that those chosen by God to be saved - the elect - would experience "conversion." In this process, God would reveal to the individual His grace, and the person would know he was saved. Only the elect could serve as Church members. If a person were truly saved, he would only be capable of behavior endorsed by God. These "living saints" would serve as an example to the rest of the world. During the early years, ministers such as John Cotton carefully screened individuals claiming to have experienced conversion. The colony needed more than a fervent church to survive. Many dissenters - Christian men and women who were not converted - also lived within the ranks of Massachusetts Bay. Towns such as Marblehead were founded by non-Puritan settlers. The Puritans allowed this for the sake of commerce. Many skills were necessary for a vibrant economy. An elected legislature was established, echoing the desire for self-government already ...

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The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken ... we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world (Winthrop 1630).''

''Therefore let us choose life,
that we and our seed may live,
by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him,
for He is our life and our prosperity.''[2]

John Winthrop used the phrase "City upon a Hill" to describe the new settlement, with "the eyes of all people" upon them. And with those words, he laid a foundation for a new world. These new settlers certainly represented a new destiny for this land.

Early Colonial writers spoke of transforming the landscape and its people. In his ...

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