The Mayflower Compact: Renewing a 400-year-old civil covenant

"In the name of God, Amen," begins the Mayflower Compact/Covenant that was signed 400 years ago this day on November 11, 1620 on board the Mayflower in Cape Cod Bay, just off Provincetown, Mass.

In those six words, the Pilgrims proclaimed that God is the beginning and the end.  He is the all and all.  He is the Alpha and Omega.  He holds all of history in His hands.

What a reminder of this we need today!  The year 2020 has been a year of chaos, riots, COVID, and now strong evidence of election fraud and/or election law violations on a massive scale.  It seems like a full-scale assault on the foundations of our country.

We need God.  We need a spiritual awakening.  We need to ask God to remain faithful to the 400-year-old covenant, the Mayflower Compact, on this 400-year anniversary day.

Here are those ancient words that we need to remind ourselves of and pray that God will still be at work in our land.  Look closely at the purposes they outlined for coming, first among them, "the Glory of God."

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 BritainFrance and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, .

Having undertaken,

  • for the Glory of God
  • and advancement of the Christian Faith
  • and 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 Politic,
  • for our better ordering and preservation
  • and furtherance of the ends aforesaid;

The body of it is just over 150 words long, yet its story and its words are censored from every public high school in our land, and it is ignored, disparaged, or mocked at most of our universities.

The Mayflower Compact is the fountainhead of other civil covenants that followed.  It served as the basis for the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, then the first State Constitution of Connecticut, then, through that, other state constitutions, ultimately having its ideas flow to the U.S. Constitution.

My heart has been stirred to be in Provincetown, Mass. this day.  I will be offering this prayer while I am there and I invite you to join me in it:  "Oh, God, might you remember this Covenant this day, and renew us to your purpose on this Anniversary Day, for your glory and for the restoration of our land."  

Craig Seibert is a writer, speaker, teacher, and trainer.  He is the director of The Online Christian Citizenship Training Course and www.ChristianCivicsTraining.org through which he trains thousands of people in history, civics, and worldview each year.  

Image: robinhbooker0 pixabay.

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