-Quote 1-“The definition which the scripture gives us of love is this: ‘Love is the bond of perfection.’ [I]t is a bond or ligament. . . . There is no body but consists of parts and that which each part so contiguous to others as thereby they do mutually participate with each other, both in strength and infirmity, in pleasure and pain. . . . Christ and his church make one body. The several parts of this body, considered apart before they were united, were disproportionate and as much disordering as so many contrary qualities or elements, [however, when united], it is become the most perfect and best proportioned body in the world[.]”
When Winthrop is using the metaphor of a body, he is referring to the unity of it. A brain is worthless without a heart to pump blood to it. A community is the same way. Winthrop is talking about how each person with him may specialize in different things, but together they can work together under the order of Christ and make the new world what they want it to be.
-Quote 2-“Whatsoever we did or ought to have done when we lived in England, the same must we do, and more also, where we go.”
Although Winthrop and the Puritans left England to start a new world, they didn't want to separate themselves completely. Their goal was to make a better, improved version of England. They wanted to show that even though they had left England, they were still sticking with their root. They took their roots and grew from them. Transforming their old way in England to a new way in the new world.
-Quote 3-“Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into covenant with him for this work. We have taken out a commission, the Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles. We have professed to enterprise these actions . . . . Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath he ratified this covenant and sealed our commission, [and] will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it.”
According to the Puritans, they had been commanded to abide by their religious rules. In this quote I think Winthrop is talking about God giving them a new opportunity. It was their opportunity to start fresh and to please God. To me, it basically sounds like he's saying not to screw up their chance to start new and turn the new world into what they were leaving.
-Quote 4-“[W]hen he shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding [colonies], ‘the Lord make it like that of New England.’ For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us[.]”
Winthrop is talking about being a role model. "We shall be as a city upon a hill" means that they would be what everyone sees. They were the new people and they were doing something different than everyone else. Because they were leaving England, everyone would know about them. What Winthrop was saying was that the Puritans had this opportunity from God and that they were supposed to do good things with it. Winthrop was saying that they were supposed to help everyone else see what they were doing and encourage people to do the same.
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