Scripture for Today, 11-25-21: Mayflower Compact

Let Us Think on Good Things: Thanksgiving in the USA
Message from Bill Wilson, Great [x13] Grandson of William Bradford, Pilgrim to Colonies, 1620 AD

Psalm 106:1; Ezra 3:11; Colossians 2:6-7; Ephesians 5:18-20

​11-24-21, Bill Wilson* -- Today in the USA Americans are set about terrible troubles; however let us remember the spirit of Thanksgiving rather than being agitated by the spirit of fear. After Christ said in Matthew 6:33 to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, in verse 34, he says, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Among all the headlines and the jack-boot shutdowns and the toll-free call lines to rat your neighbors out for having family over for Thanksgiving, let’s take a deep breath and remember who we are and why we are here. Let us think on the good things.
 
My grandfather thirteen generations back was William Bradford, co-writer of the Mayflower Compact [1] and eventual leader of the Pilgrims who came to America on the Mayflower in 1620. There were some 102 passengers and about 30 crewmen on that ship that braved horrible weather, disease, and other hardships to come to this new place that later would become the greatest Christian nation in the world. Bradford wrote, “So they committed themselves to the will of God, and resolved to proceed. In several of these storms the wind was so strong and the seas so high that they could not carry a knot of sail, but were forced to hull for many days.” The trip in of itself to find a place to worship without persecution was most difficult.
 
Once landed, it was no picnic either. Bradford says, “But soon a most lamentable blow fell upon them. In two or three month’s time half of their company died…scarcely 50 remained, and sometimes two or three persons died in a day. In the time of worst distress, there were but six or seven sound persons, who, to their great commendation be it spoken, spared no pains night or day, but with great toil and at the risk of their own health, fetched wood, made fires, prepared food for the sick, made their beds, washed their infected clothes, dressed and undressed them; in a word did all the homely and necessary services for them which dainty and queasy stomachs cannot endure to hear mentioned.”​

“…And what I have said of these few, I should say of many others who died in this general visitation, and others yet living, that while they had health or strength, they forsook none that had need of them. I doubt not that their recompense is with the Lord.”

Their Virginia Company Charter, however, called for common ownership of land, property, food, drink, clothing, and provisions. Bradford saw that this socialist experiment was detrimental to the colony because it inspired laziness and a lack of productivity. Bradford then did away with this structure, giving ownership of land to each person and two days a week for “their own private employment.” This was the first capitalist system and the colony then prospered.
 
These brave souls overcame greater things that threatened their very existence than we are facing. They survived due to their faith in God, their care for one another and their individual freedom to prosper. These foundation blocks were laid in the US Declaration of Independence and built out in the Constitution as inalienable rights endowed by our Creator—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Liberty in Christ is the right to worship, to speak freely and the right to privacy. All these are under attack by a dark and sinister force.
 
This Thanksgiving, let us thank God for these blessings and ask for the strength and wisdom to preserve them for generations to come. That this American experiment from when the Pilgrims signed the ‘compact’ in 1620 AD… now over 400 years old, may be a beacon of the light of Christ to those who seek Him. Let us think on the good things. Let us this day conclude as in Philippians 4:8, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
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[1] Mayflower Compact, 1620 AD transcript:
 
“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-written, 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, etc.

Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and 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 of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politic, 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 hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November [New Style, November 21], in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620.” Source with names of signature: Pilgrim Hall Museum - Beyond the Pilgrim Story - Text of Mayflower Compact
 
*Adapted full original message from Bill Wilson, Daily Jot here https://dailyjot.com/?p=2869