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It was November 11, 1620. After 66 days at sea, with over half that time in violent storms, they were more than ready to get off the ship. The Mayflower had just dropped anchor inside Cape Cod Bay. They had been blown off course by the storm and deposited here, much farther north than they had intended. But they came to believe that the storm was the Lord’s way to get them to settle in this place.
These Pilgrims (as they called themselves) had come to America to have the freedom to teach their children the Bible; and to them that meant much more than teaching them how to be born again. It included teaching to their children reading, writing, and all the other academic subjects. Their Pastor, John Robinson, had taught them how to establish from the Bible the institutions of education, government, and economy. These Pilgrims were Christians who believed the Bible was true and that its teachings could be lived out in this present world. Thus, they were intent on creating a community, which agreed that their children would be taught the Bible and all the academic subjects from the principles of the Bible, and that also agreed on establishing a Biblical economy to fund that teaching, as well as a Biblical government to protect that education and economic system so they could accomplish the Pilgrim vision.
And now that they were settling outside the territory of England, there would be no government authority by which to control any person who might do evil against that vision. So they knew they would have to establish their own government. Thus it was that, as eager as they were to get off the ship, they took time that first night to write a document that would unite them in a Biblical government. All the men signed that document which bound them all under the same governmental system. This simple document, written by common men, would come to be called The Mayflower Compact. It read as follows:
“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten …having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith…a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do, by these present, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid… to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws… as shall be thought most [necessary]…for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
“In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November…[The Year of our Lord] 1620.”
This simple document would be the foundation of their government for years to come. They had established a Biblical Republic, not a democracy. It worked well because these Pilgrims were self-governed by the power of Christ’s Spirit, Who indwelt them- and the community they established would grow into the greatest nation in world history.
The record speaks for itself. Shouldn’t we return to Biblical government like they established, instead of the socialistic one into which Washington is trying force us? The Bible says,
“The entrance of [God’s] words brings light.”
(Psalms 119:130)
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you. I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.