The Mayflower Compact - A Covenant With God

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Bill Wilson
The Daily Jot

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

The Mayflower Compact

"What our forefathers with so much difficulty secured, do not basely relinquish." These are the words translated from Latin that are etched on the gravestone of William Bradford, governor of the Massachusetts Colony, co-writer of the Mayflower Compact, inventor of the free market system, and my grandfather 13 generations removed. Bradford is often remembered for being one of the Pilgrims who survived their first winter in the new America. He is one of the brave men and women who endured such great hardship to help make this nation what it is-a beacon of religious and economic freedom blessed in covenant with God. And unto his death his gravestone warns us not to basely relinquish these liberties.

The Mayflower Compact is a covenant with God, dedicating this land now called the United States of America to the advancement of the Christian faith. The Compact declares, "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 Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor 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 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 do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, 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." With these words, 41 men agreed to govern in submission and obedience to God.

As anyone can see, these were men and women dedicated to establishing a land for the advancement of the Christian faith and they set themselves apart bringing all they had and all they claimed in covenant with God. And it was not just for their time on earth, but as what was written on Bradford's grave, the covenant and their subsequent sacrifices were not to be relinquished. As America embraces socialism and human secularism, let us remember that only 41 men began a nation with their signatures. There are more of us today that are citizens of the Kingdom of God, and we can reclaim what our forefathers with so much difficulty secured. Jesus said in Matthew 19:26, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." Let us give thanks.

Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
www.dailyjot.com

Blaine,

You are right in that the Pilgrims made a
covenant with God. They dedicated this
land for the the advancement of the
Christian Faith for the preaching of the
gospel for the glory of God.

Did God hear and answer their prayers?

By extension;

Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

The United States of America had not been formed in the time of the Pilgrims. In first paragraph they stated that they are subjects of King James [II].

The Pilgrims' colony at Plymouth Rock was not the first colony in America. However, I believe it was the first that was not solely centered on exploiting the land for profit.

EDIT: Removed names because they didn't apply. Sorry Abideinhim and JFW, I wrote wrongly.