John Winthrop’s A Modell of Christian Charity – delivered on board the Arbella as members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony sailed toward the New World – describes the struggle of Puritans and their “errand into the wilderness.”  Their struggle? How can a group of outcasts who have a habit of quarreling with authority construct a strong society without fighting amongst themselves?

http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/sacred/charity.html