The City on the HillJohn Winthrop founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, where he served as the colony's first governor, a position he held for twenty years. In April 1630, aboard the ship Arbella, he led a large group from England to the New World to establish a purely Christian colony. “They hoped to establish communities of pure Christians who would collectively swear a covenant with God that they would work for His purposes, knowing that in return He would watch over them.” John Winthrop was born in Edwardstone, Suffolk, England on January 22. , 1588, and died in Boston, Massachusetts on March 26, 1649. He was the only child of Adam Winthrop and his wife, Anne Brown. Winthrop briefly attended Trinity College, Cambridge, studied law at Gray's Inn, and in the 1620s became a barrister at the Court of Wards in London. John Winthrop was a man who considered Christianity to be above all churches. Winthrop had decided to leave England to found a pious community in the new world. Like most Puritans, Winthrop was extremely religious and fervently subscribed to the Puritan belief that the Anglican Church needed to be cleansed of Catholic ritual. Winthrop was convinced that God would punish the English Puritans for their heresy against God. As the leader of the party heading to the new world, he believed in creating a society based on a moral code rooted in the Bible. Winthrop and the other Puritans hoped to establish a pure church in the new world that would provide a model for the churches of England, thereby purifying the Anglican Church from within. “They sought homogeneity, not diversity, and believed that the good of the community outweighed the protection of the rights of its individual members.” Beyond... middle of paper...... unities for the benefit of all,The sermon "A Model of Christian Charity", delivered by John Winthrop, is an example of the deeply religious Puritans who settled in Boston. They felt they had a convent with God to live a righteous life, a life that prioritized God's commandments and community. The Puritans were very concerned about good behavior – their own and others. The Boston settlers were pious Puritans who regularly reassessed the state of their souls. By living this righteous life, the Puritans believed that the Massachusetts Bay Colony was the “city upon the hill” and that they would be the light of the world. John Winthrop stated in the closing statement of his sermon how deeply the Puritans walked with God. Therefore let us choose life, that we, and our seed, may live, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him, for he is our life, and our prosperity..