Love is All You Need

“All you need is love;“ “love is a many splendored thing;” “love lifts us up where we belong.” When it comes to this amorous emotion, people seem to fount a plethora of aphorisms. Yet each phrase essentially states the same thing, that love is undeniably divine and will sustain man through his troubles. In “A Model of Christian Charity,” John Winthrop discusses love on an altogether different plane. He views love in light of community and God, rather than simply lust or adoration. Though its implications are rather similar, the love Winthrop illustrates transcends the love of mortal man.
In Winthrop’s speech aboard the Arbella, he delineates love in a rather direct way. His thought process was that God loves the Christian individual. God’s love of man stems from man being created in God’s image. If the Puritan’s are to live in a community that adheres to God’s law, then they must love one another to ensure survival. It may sound like a simplisti...