However, he also warned them that if they turned aside from this their "covenant with God," God would abandon them. Winthrop used the Biblical person of Saul to represent what would happen if we "fall to embrace this present world. seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against, us. and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant" (Franklin, Gura, Klinkowitz, Krupat, Levine, Loeffeiholtz. Reesman, & Wallace, 2012, p. 176). Winthrop informed them that the "City upon a Hill" they would build for God would represent God's truth to the secular world. He said that if they failed in their commission, "we will open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God" (Franklin et al. p. 177). Consequently, Winthrop placed tremendous importance on their religious purpose in the New World. He instructed them henceforth to, "rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the same body" (Franklin et al. 2012, p. 176). A Model of Christian Charity defines the Puritan belief system. It covers how Christians must love and treat one another and tells them that their sole purpose is to bring glory to God; and, therefore, strive to be stellar examples of men and women of God. This sermon not only embodies the Puritan belief system; it demonstrates the major role religion played in colonial American literature. .
"The Wonders of the Invisible World" by Cotton Mather.
In The Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather exemplifies the Puritan beliefs concerning God and the devil's ongoing interactions with humanity by way of his interpretations of the Salem Witch Trials.
