<P> "A Model of Christian Charity" is a sermon by Puritan leader John Winthrop, delivered on board the ship Arbella, on April 8, 1630, while en route to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, although it might have been preached at the Holyrood Church in Southampton before the colonists embarked in the Winthrop Fleet . It is also known as "City upon a Hill" and denotes the notion of American exceptionalism . The sermon was known by reputation and preserved in contemporaneous manuscript copy held by the New - York Historical Society, but it was not published until the 1830s . </P> <P> John Winthrop begins his sermon by stating, "God Almighty in his most holy and wise providence, hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in subjection ." He then states three reasons why God made people have different positions from one another: </P> <Ul> <Li> To show conformity with the differences in the natural world . He explains how God wants to give gifts to mankind by distributing them through mankind, "dispensing his gifts to man by man ." Winthrop's view was that mankind was called upon to act as God's stewards, distributing God's gifts to others: "as it is the glory of princes to have many officers, so this great king will have many stewards". </Li> </Ul>

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