This covenant was voluntary, no one was forced to be part of the church. But once you became part of the church you were expected to live by the covenant.
The pastor of the Separatist Church, at this point, was John Robinson. He did not want to see any one person in charge of everything again, like the King, so when the church was formed he had his congregation elect him pastor not appoint him. This would give control of the church leadership to the congregation, not to the leaders. This led to the beginning of self-rule in our country and the result was the writing of the Mayflower Compact, our first document of self-rule where the Separatists elected John Carver the first Governor of Plymouth Colony. At this point we must look at the circumstances in which the Mayflower Compact was written. When the Separatists left the Church of England they were heavily persecuted by the King. They felt that to try to purify the church was not the best option. Their goal was to form a church where they could worship freely with each other under God. They decided to remove themselves to Holland, where people could worship freely. On their decision to leave England William Bradford said this;
“Yet seeing themselves thus molested, and that there was no hope of their continuance there, by a joint consent they resolved to go into the Low
Countries, where they heard was freedom of religion for all men.
— William Bradford
Note that when decisions were made for the whole body of believers, it was done by joint consent, not just by the leader. William Bradford also stated;
“Being thus constrained to leave their native soil and country, their lands and livings, and all their friends and familiar acquaintance, it was much and thought marvelous by many ... it was by many thought an adventure almost desperate; a case intolerable and a misery worse than death ... But these things did not dismay them, thought they did sometimes trouble them; for their desires were set on the ways of God and to enjoy His ordinances; but they rested on His providence, and knew Whom they had believed.
— William Bradford
Their resolve was unshakable. They were well aware of the cost of this adventure; but did it anyway. They believed in God and the working of His providence in their lives and no matter the cost, the rewards would be much greater for them and for their posterity.
The Separatists first went to Amsterdam where they set up their church under the leadership of John Robinson. Their church was near another church formed by people who left England and who tried to influence the Separatists to form the church their way. This caused contention between the two churches that the Separatists believed was too great to overcome. After about a year in Amsterdam they decided to move their church to Leyden where they could live in peace.
"And when they had lived at Amsterdam about a year, Mr. Robinson their pastor and some others of best discerning, seeing how Mr. John Smith and his company was already fallen into contention with the church that was there before them, and no means they could use would do any good to cure the same, and also that the flames of contention were like to break out in that ancient church itself ( as afterwards lamentably came to pass); which things they prudently foreseeing thought it was best to remove before they were any way engaged with the same, though they knew it would be much to the prejudice of their outward estates, both at present and in likelihood in the future, as indeed it proved to be." -William Bradford
In Leyden the Separatists, under the leadership of John Robinson and William Brewster, built a community where they could freely worship. But they first petitioned the city of Leyden for permission to settle there, promising that they would be good citizens and not disrupt the city in any way. It was rumored in Leyden that England had become weary of these "troublemakers" and had driven them out of the country, but it was their own free choice that brought them out. The Separatist proved this by their behavior. As William Bradford stated;
"And first, though many of them were poor, yet there was none so poor but if they were known to be of that congregation the Dutch (either bakers or others) would trust them in any reasonable matter when they wanted money, because they had found by experience how careful they were to keep their word, and saw them so painful and diligent in their callings. Yea, they would strive to get their custom and to employ them above others in their work, for their honesty and diligence."
hey worked as if they were working for God, and they believed they were. Even though they were poor, they worked hard, honored their employers and could be trusted. This, and not rumors, is how they built their reputation.
It would appear that they had it all. They could live as families, as a church and as a close knit community and they could worship freely! But after twelve years in Holland they felt that they had to move again. Why? After much consultation on their current situation the church leaders "began to incline to this conclusion; of removal to some other place." ....William Bradford. Bradford also listed in his book, "Of Plymouth Plantation" the reasons for removing from Holland and going to the new world:
"And first, they saw and found by experience the hardness of the place and country to be such as few in comparison would come to them... Secondly, they saw that though the people generally bore all these difficulties very cheerfully and with resolute courage, being in the best and strength of their years; yet old age began to steal on many of them... Thirdly, As necessity was a taskmaster over them so they were forced to be such, not only to their servants but in a sort to their dearest children... though their minds were free and willing, yet their bodies bowed under the weight of the same, and became decrepit in their early youth... Lastly, (and which was not least), a great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto, for the propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world, yea, though they should be even but stepping-stones unto others for performing so great a work"
They were losing their families. If you had a child when you landed in Holland, twelve years later that child would be speaking Dutch not English. They were losing their identity. The Dutch were liberal enough to allow all people to worship freely but they were also liberal in most other ways. This was not the place they could sustain their families and build a society based on Biblical law. They made the decision to go to the new world in the northern part of Virginia. Their destination was the Hudson river where Manhattan Island is located today. They had two issues to deal with. The first was that the needed permission from the King to settle in Virginia. A King who did not look on them favorably. But by this time the King was fed up with the Separatist and they had become a nuisance to him. He granted them a patent (or gave them permission) to settle in Northern Virginia just to get rid of them. But the Separatist could not let it go at that. They told the King that they wanted to worship the way they wanted and worship whom they wanted. The King would have none of that and would give them the patent only if they remained loyal subjects of England. A decision had to be made. Would they agree with the Kings edicts or scrap the whole trip. They decided to accept the edict, believing that they would be so far away from England and were so insignificant that the King would not bother them. The second issue they had to deal with was how to finance the trip.
The Separatists were in a foreign country for twelve years and could not earn the money to finance such a trip. There were people in England who were willing to do this strictly as a business deal. The Separatist would go to the new world and do the planting and producing while the financiers would finance the trip and in the end they would both make a profit. The Separatist would be referred to as the Planters and the financiers as the Adventures.
The Separatist assigned two agents to go to England and find someone willing to finance the trip. The agents names were John Carver and Robert Cushman and their job was to negotiate a deal that represented the will of the community as a whole. A man called Thomas Weston was the spokesman for a group of investors called the Adventures and he offered the Separatist this deal; You will travel to the new world and will work six days a week for seven years. What is produced in four of those six days will go to us and you can keep what you produce in the other two days as your own profit and at the end of seven years each family will own the land they personally developed.
This was not a bad deal and the agents of the Separatists accepted it with the stipulation from the congregation that the deal not be changed without their consent. Because this was a business deal the Adventures recruited people outside the Separatist community to insure enough Planters to make the investment worthwhile. In the end half the people that would come on the Mayflower were Separatists and were called the Saints and the other half were coming for other reasons and were called the Strangers.
The use of two boats were secured. One called the Speedwell and one called the Mayflower. The Planters owned the Speedwell and leased the Mayflower. The Speedwell picked the Separatists up in Holland and went to England to meet the Mayflower. When they left England the Speedwell leaked twice and had to be abandoned. They sold it for half of what they paid for it, lost their investment, twenty of the original passengers had to stay behind and they left later than they had planned. On the loss of the Speedwell Bradford wrote;
"And thus, like Gideon's army, this small number was divided, as if the Lord by this work of His providence thought these few too many for the great work He had to do."
When they landed on the tip of Cape Cod they had run out of food. The men looked around the area and found a stash of corn buried in the ground by the Indians and they took it. They did not steal the corn, they borrowed it. They paid it back later. Had they not taken the corn they never
would have survived. By the end of the first winter they were doling out a quarter pound of corn bread per person per day to survive on. As you can imagine, the mothers took their bread and fed their children. They covered their children's bodies with their own to keep them warm. of the eighteen married women that came on the Mayflower, fourteen died the first winter.
They sacrificed themselves for their children knowing that if the children did not survive, they would not survive. In Plymouth we have a monument honoring the eighteen married women that came on the Mayflower. On the back of the monument it is written;
"They brought up their families in sturdy virtue and a living faith in God without which nations perish."
When the Speedwell met the Mayflower in England they were also met by Thomas Weston, the man who represented the Adventures. Here the Planters found out that the financial deal was changed by Weston and the deal was agreed to by Robert Cushman, the agent for the Planters. Despite the instructions not to change the original agreement without their consent Cushman did because he felt that if he did not agree that would cancel the deal.
The new deal was that the Planters would work six days a week for seven years and the result of all six days labor would go to Weston and at the end of seven years the Adventures would own half of the Planters property. They would produce in a common field and at the end of the season they would evenly split what they produced after paying their debt. They were virtually indentured servants. They excepted the deal because they were back in England and had they stayed they would be put in prison. They were forced into a communal existence that they knew would not work.
Three years into the adventure, having lost half their population and not being able to produce enough to get through the winters, Governor Bradford changed their economic situation to land ownership. Now every family owned their own land, produced enough food to feed themselves and whatever they had left over they would trade with one and other. This caused them to triple their production and they never had a starving day after that. Free-trade saved the Plantation. About this event William Bradford made this observation;
"The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato's and other ancients applauded by some of later times; that the taking away of property and bringing in community into a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wise than God."
The Mayflower spent sixty six days at sea in very rough conditions. The storms blew the Mayflower off course and instead of landing in Virginia they landed on the tip of Cape Cod, where Provincetown is located today. Because of this they had no patent from the King. The patent from the King was for Virginia not New England, meaning they had no law to be where they were.
The Strangers, taking advantage of the situation, started a rebellion. They told the Saints that because they landed in the wrong place there was no law to keep them there. The Strangers did not want to sit under the rule of the Saints. They were going to strike out on their own and there was nothing the Saints could do about it. They were right, except they just landed on the tip of a sandbar in an ice storm in the middle of nowhere. Half were going to leave! The Separatist answered that they would not have to sit under their rule, they would have self-rule. Every man on the boat would get a vote for the leader, but once the vote was taken everyone would follow the person who won the vote whether they voted for him or not. John Carver was unanimously elected the first governor and was the first freely elected official in the colony. This was the beginning of self-rule and civil government in our country.
Like the Scrooby Covenant, where the congregation made a voluntary covenant one to the other to form a church estate, the Mayflower Compact was a covenant where they would form a body politic, which was the beginning of civil government.
The first line in the Mayflower Compact is "In the name of God, Amen" and goes on to say, in part, that they...." would solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant, and combine our selves together into a civil body politick; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid, and by virtue here of to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, Acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony."
Self-government had now given the rule to the people, not the leader. Now no one would be above the law like the King. All would be equal under the same law and held responsible for their actions, even the leaders. The ideas for self-rule came up when John Robinson was exploring the Old Testament and came across a passage called the Dominion Charter. We are to take dominion over the earth. Over the animals, birds, fish, things that creep and crawl but he also read this; we are not to take dominion over each other. He read that we are all made in the image of God and believed that if this is true then no human being has the right to be over another human being without their consent. Self-rule is a Biblical principle. Without Biblical law you cannot have a civil government.
The way I like to explain it to people is this; If you want me to be king I will be happy to take the job and the first thing I will do is set the law and the first thing I will do next week is change the law more in my favor. but I can't change God's law. God's law is truth, it is a constant and without that truth you will have arbitrary law. But to do this the people must elect leaders who are people of character, virtue and morality who live by and honor Biblical law.
The question now, for the Separatists, was; what do we do with the people we meet? What do we do with the Indians? Should they be equal under our law? The answer was absolutely! If the Separatist left England to escape the tyranny of a man who believed he was above the law to start a society where everyone was equal under the same law how could you not include the Indians. Were they not also made in the image of God?
This thinking led to the writing of a peace treaty between the Indians and the Separatists that lasted fifty five years. The longest lasting peace treaty, with the Indians in our country's history. Because the Pilgrims, also called the Forefathers, were a product of the Reformation their text book for life was the Bible and they based all they did on Biblical law and Biblical principles. These principles were picked up by the Founding Fathers of our country and can be seen woven into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The Forefathers introduced Biblical law and Biblical principles to our country and our Founding Fathers took those principles and formed the Christian nation we have today. For the Pilgrims, true freedom was found when they decided to make Jesus the King of Kings. This resulted in their change on the inside. They believed that because Jesus died for their sins and covered their transgressions they were set free. Set free from the binds of sin and even from death. Jesus would be their King in religious matters and King in Civil matters. Jesus would be King over all.
The question that still remains is what is Religious Liberty and what is Civil Liberty and how do you distinguish the two if Jesus is King over all?
To be continued.....
