WINTHROP, JOHN: Puritan governor of Massachusetts; b. at Edwardston (15 m. s.e. of Bury St. Edmunds), Suffolk, Jan. 22, 1588; d. in Boston, Mass., Mar. 26, 1649. In the latter part of 1602 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, but his university career came to an abrupt close in Apr., 1605, when he married. Although reared as a member of the Church of England, Winthrop early manifested marked sympathies with Puritanism, while the death of his first wife in 1615, followed by the death of his second in the year following, heightened a tendency, already present, to gloomy. introspection. During this time he evidently thought of taking orders, but a third marriage, in Apr., 1618, changed in great measure the morbid trend of his thoughts, and, following his father's advice, he de-

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voted himself to his duties as justice of the peace and lord of Groton manor, and was probably admitted to the Inner Temple in Nov., 1628.

But to one of Winthrop's type of mind the England of Charles I. was not pleasant, and by May, 1629, he was considering the advisability of leaving his native country. Late in August he had formally agreed to sail, and on Oct. 20 he was chosen to be governor of the colony Massachusetts for the year following. With his expedition he sailed from Southampton in Mar., 1630, and, after landing at Salem, soon was led to choose Charlestown as a residence, only to leave it before long for the present site of Boston. Winthrop was repeatedly elected governor of the colony, annually until 1634, and then in 1637-40, in 1642-44, and from 1646 until his death, having also been chosen one of the two councilors of the colony for life in 1636. In 1635 he defended the banishment of Roger Williams (q.v.), and in return was accused of excess of leniency in his administration of justice. He humbly acknowledged the justice of the charge and promised to endeavor to be less remiss in future. Of more importance for, the colony was his opposition to the Antinomian Controversy (see Antinomianism and Antinomian Controversies, II., 2) headed by Anne Hutchinson and defended by Sir Henry Vane (q.v.). The

I. The Term. II. Wisdom in the Old Testament. In the Historical and Prophetical

Books (§ 1).

I. The Term: The Hebrew word for wisdom, 6okmah, as is shown by a comparison with the Arabic, has the fundamental meaning of "fasten" or "hold fast." The Septuagint, with few exceptions, translates sophia. In secular Greek sophia means, on the one hand, capability, skill, experience, and, on the other, a profound insight into the significance and the tasks of life. In the Bible, wisdom is, firstly, an attribute of God, more especially a divine organ of revelation; and, secondly, a quality of man. Theoretically, human wisdom is cognition, in a religious and ethical sense it is conduct based on the fear of God and tending to shape life to satisfactory results; it may also signify practical skill and proficiency. Divine wisdom is regarded as the original principle of all divine activity and rule, and from it are derived the concepts of teleology and divine providence.

II. Wisdom in the Old Testament: In the historical and prophetical books wisdom is generally understood to be that talent and knowl-

i. In the edge which surpass the average in- Historical tellectual endowment. He is wise who and is clever in artistic work, who is his Prophetical own counselor, who is able to judge

Books. things rightly as well as to comprehend their essence (cf. Gen. xli. 8; Ex. xxviii. 3, xxxi. 6, xxxv. 25, 35; Deut. i. 13, 15; Judges v. 29; I Kings v. 12). To recognize this quality of the divine being many religious experiences were necessary, and also a conception of wisXII.-25

result was Vane's supersession by Winthrop in the gubernatorial election of 163?, followed by the banishment of Anne Hutchinson and the punishment of a large number of her adherents. The only other event of special interest was his arraignment in 1645 on a charge of exercising arbitrary authority, of which he was acquitted: In the following year certain persons in the colony presented to the court a petition setting forth that they were forbidden the civil privileges of Englishmen on the ground that they were not church-members; but the authority of Winthrop was such that the.remonatranta were imprisoned and heavily fined.

Winthrop wrote Journal of the Transactions and Occurrences in the Settlement of Massachusetts and the other New England Colonies from the Year 1630 to 161,! (Hartford, 1790), the complete journal being later edited by J. Savage, The History of New England from 1630 to 1649 (2 vols., 1825-26; new ed., by J. K. Hosmer, New York, 1908), and Model of Christian. Charity (ed. in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3d series, Vol. vii., Boston, 1838). His letters to his third wife have been edited by J. H. Twichell under the title Some old Puritan Love-Letters (London, 1893).

Bibliography: R. C. Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop, 2 vols., Boston, 1864-67; DNB, lxii. 226-281.