simple. It was an agreement, or covenant, or cooperative act, from which was to spring not only a stable government for the little colony, but a great series of constitutions for free states. The most remarkable phases in this compact are, covenant and combine ourselves into a civil body politic,' and 'by virtue hereof.' ...

"Although the signing of that compact was a sudden act, caused by the refusal of the captain of the Mayflower on the day before to take his vessel through the dangerous shoals which lie off the southeastern coast of Massachusetts and so bring it to the Hudson River, where the English charter obtained by the Pilgrims before leaving Leyden authorized them to establish their colony, it was an act which the whole experience of their church in England and in Holland, and the essence of the doctrines taught by their pastor and elders naturally though unexpectedly led up to. They had been trained to disregard all authority which they had not themselves instituted or accepted, and they had also become accustomed to cooperative action for the common good. Indeed, the whole doctrine and method of cooperative good-will cannot be better stated today than it was stated by Robinson and Bradford in 1618 in one of their five reasons for the proposed emigration from Holland to America: 'We are knit together in a body in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the Lord, of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue whereof we do hold ourselves straightly tied to care of each other's good and of the whole by every one, and so mutually.' Everything that is good in modern socialism is contained in that single sentence, with nothing of the bad or foolish."

One of the most interesting and significant facts in the life of the Pilgrim community that later settled in Plymouth is the calm and undisputed assurance which they had of their right, as the people of God, to organize a Church with full authority to do all that any church could do, and later to establish a State with trial by jury, and the right to enact

and execute just laws, not even excepting the right to inflict capital punishment, to declare war and to enter into treaties. The account of both these organizations is contained in the Bradford manuscript, the first apparently in the year 1606, and the other under date of November 11, Old Style, 1620. The earlier of these two initial records reads,

So many therefore of these proffessors as saw ye evill of these things, in thes parts, and whose harts ye Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for his trueth, they shooke of this yoake of antichristian bondage, and as ye Lord's free people, joyned them selves (by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate, in ye fellowship of ye gospell, to walke in all his wayes, made known or to be made known to them, according to their best endeavours, whatever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them. And that it cost them something this ensewing historie will declare.

In the organization of this and similar churches, they asked no authority from any king, pope or bishop. As "the Lord's free people" they created a Church, and obtained their authority direct from God.

It is no accident that records the church organization first and the organization of the civil body later. The common phrase which speaks of "civil and religious liberty" inverts the historic order. Religious liberty came first, and civil liberty grew out of it.

In quite as dignified a manner, and one as free from any question of their inherent right, they organized their State, not as a poor substitute for royal authority, but as something "as firme as any patent" from the Crown, "and in some respects more sure."

I shall a litle returne backe and begine with a combination made by them before they came ashore, being ye first foundation of their governmente in this place; occasioned partly by ye discontented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst them had let fall from them in ye ship-That when they came ashore they would use their own libertie; for none had power to command them, the patente they had being for Virginia, and not for New-england, which belonged to an other Government, with which ye Virginia Company had nothing to doe. And partly that shuch an

acte by them done (this their condition considered) might be as firme as any patent, and in some respects more sure.

The forme was as followeth:

In ye name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye Grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, & c., haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape-Codd ye 11, of November, in ye year of ye raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James, of England, Franc, & Ireland ye eighteenth, and of Scotland ye fiftie fourth. Ano: Dom. 1620.

The government of the Congregational Churches, and of the United States are closely related both in substance and in history. The form of government, which the Pilgrims based on manhood suffrage and the authority of God in the affairs of the Church, they wrought into the foundation of their little republic at Plymouth Rock. Virtually a government which derives its just powers from the consent of the governed is a government based on a covenant between the citizens and the commonwealth.

VII. EARLY AMERICAN COVENANTS

Whether the Puritan churches of New England would follow the Plymouth Church in its form of organization, was a more important question than any one at the time could well have realized. The opportune visit of Doctor (and Deacon) Fuller of Plymouth to Salem at the time of a general sickness in Salem appears to have had much to do with dispelling the erroneous impression of the leaders of the Salem colony concerning the supposed dangers of the Plymouth form of organization. Whatever prejudgments the Salem people had formed against the Separatists melted away under the kindly ministrations of Deacon Fuller, and under his statement of the principles and usages of the Plymouth church. The letter of thanks from Endicott to the governor of Plymouth is a classic in American church history, and a fine tribute to the good work which Dr. Fuller did for the body and soul of Salem:

To the Worshipful and my right worthy Friend, William Bradford, Esq., Governor of New Plymouth, these:

Right Worthy Sir:

It is a thing not usual that servants to one master and of the same household should be strangers; I assure you I desire it notnay, to speak more plainly, I cannot be so to you. God's people are marked with one and the same mark and sealed with one and the same seal, and have, for the main, one and the same heart guided by one and the same Spirit of truth; and where this is there can be no discord-nay, there must needs be sweet harmony. The same request with you I make unto the Lord, that we may, as Christian brethren, be united by a heavenly and unfeigned love, bending all our hearts and forces in furthering a work beyond our strength, with reverence and fear fastening our eyes always on him that only is able to direct and prosper all our ways.

I acknowledge myself much bound to you for your kind love, and care in sending Mr. Fuller among us; and I rejoice much that I am by him satisfied touching your judgments of the outward form of God's worship. It is as far as I can yet gather, no other than is

warranted by the evidence of truth, and the same which I have professed and maintained ever since the Lord in mercy revealed himself to me; being very far different from the common report that hath been spread of you touching that particular. But God's children must not look for less here below, and it is the great mercy of God that he strengthens them to go through with it.

I shall not need at this time to be tedious unto you; for, God willing, I purpose to see your face shortly. In the meantime, I humbly take my leave of you, committing you to the Lord's blessed protection, and rest. Your assured loving friend and servant, John Endicott.

The Salem church was organized in 1629 with the following covenant, only forty-one words in length:

The Salem Covenant of 1629.

We Covenant with the Lord and one with another; and doe bynd ourselves in the presence of God, to walke together in all his waies, according as he is pleased to reveale himself unto us in his Blessed word of truth.

The church in Dorchester was organized with a similar covenant and probably of no greater length, though its exact text has been lost.

Concerning the early Puritan churches, Edward Winslow, in describing the way in which the Massachusetts men, in some things, copied after the Plymouth way, says:

Which being by them well weighed and considered, they also entred into Covenant with God, and one with another to walke in all his wayes revealed, or as they should bee made knowne unto them, and to worship him according to his will revealed in his written word onely.-Hypocrisie Unmasked, etc. (1646), 92.

There was little discussion, if any, concerning the length or precise content of church covenants. Each minister wrote his own. The value was never assumed to be in a precise form of words, but there were discussions as to whether the covenant should be assented to orally, or whether silence might give consent to a covenant publicly read, and as to whether

nant should be signed. No great stress was laid upon