Four hundred years ago this week, on November 11, 1620, 41 adult males aboard a small ship, just 9 years after the publication of the King James Bible, signed the Mayflower Compact, the first charter of freedom in America and showing the Christian heritage of our nation to come.
There were 102 passengers (74 male / 28 female) in all made up of ‘Saints’ {later called Pilgrims), ‘Strangers’ (non-Separatists), plus around 30 crew members. In view of the ‘independent spirit of some,’ it became evident to both Saints and Strangers that they needed to cooperate and sign an agreement to rule themselves, as they were going to settle in an area that was not within the purview of their patent (for Virginia). The Elder William Brewster, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, and the Pilgrims, along with the soldier Miles Standish and the Strangers agreed to sign a covenant before they landed to ensure representative self-government, by which all of them would be bound.
The Mayflower Contract reads:
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith.
Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid;
And by Virtue hereof 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; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord...”
The ship intended for Virginia arrived about 200 miles north in what we now know as Massachusetts. The Mayflower had left England 65 days earlier on September 6, 1620.
The Pilgrims were Separatist Protestants who made a complete break with the Anglican Church of England during the reign of King James I. A small community of them in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire had begun to illegally meet together beyond the jurisdiction of the Anglican Church.
As Calvinists, they believed in strict adherence to the Bible. Led by their pastor John Robinson, they first moved in 1609 to Leiden, Holland, but, after eleven years, wanted a place of their own, fearful their children were losing their identity in the Dutch culture. The Pilgrims through William Brewster with the aid of Sir Edwin Sandys then received a patent to establish a colony in Virginia, but instead a miscalculation brought them to Cape Cod.
Some were dubbed Pilgrims by their fellow passenger and journalist William Bradford, who had in mind the Book of Hebrews 11:13-16, when he wrote - "They knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits." They wished to live a pious community life, as the Apostles in the New Testament of the Bible.
Religious life had been brutal in the Old World. Reading the Bible for yourself could get you burned at the stake. Not attending church could bring a fine. Baptizing an adult could lead to death. If you were a professing Christian with faulty doctrine you could be slit open or branded.
David Barton of WallBuilders recounts how one English monarch dealt with Christians opposing his religion and how it operated.
Barton explained, "The king said 'I'm tired of you guys criticizing me.' So to 10,000 of them, he chopped off their ears, slit their nose, sliced their tongue, and said 'let's hear you say something now.'"
Forbidden private Bible studies were raided and people arrested. State religion without Jesus is just plain mean and often fatal.
Half of the colonists did not survive the first winter at Plymouth Rock, including their first governor John Carver. William Bradford was then elected governor in the spring of 1621. No coffee bars and Zumba classes for the Pilgrims.
Today, four hundred years later most churches, now considered ‘nonessential’ in America, willingly bowed to the government to close their buildings, stay indoors, and cover their faces.
###