Covenantkeepers - Part 3
“if ye will … keep my covenant”
By Walter Giddings
June 23, 2024
Featured Scripture: Exodus 19:5
[1] Are we the seed of Abraham?
[2] Are we the children of the miracle Child Isaac, Isaac’s sons, Saxons?
[3] Are we the living descendants of both Houses, the House of Judah and the House of Israel?
[4] Were we dispersed among all nations, becoming the greatest migrators on the globe, migrating through the Caucasus Mountains, becoming the Caucasian Race, much more in number than the vagabond sons of Cain, “who was of that wicked One”? [1 John 3:12]
[5] Are we, therefore, The Covenant People of God?
(Genesis 17:9). If you answered “no” to any one of these 5 Questions above, we would not have time to show you from The Scriptures how we arrived at these 5 conclusions.
The Title of our Lesson shows the subject matter is not the genealogies of The Bible, nor our inheritance from them. This is our 3rd Lesson, Covenantkeepers which is clearly based on our 5 conclusions. We are aware of this mystery: “that blindness in part is happened to Israel”! [Romans 11:25] Since you have volunteered to be with us, either by living presence on this day of assembly, or by audio, we make you in the Spirit of Christian Hospitality this offer. If your heart goes out to us, and you desire above all to see that we do not stumble blindly on in error, please join us for the second half of our Service, the Fellowship Dinner meal.
As Berean Christians we are required under the dictates of Scripture to afford you a complete hearing. Or contact us here. The Word of God requires us to remain teachable. Greetings kindred and fellow sheep. We are on a first name basis here. My name is Walter. We are in (Genesis 17:9).
9 And God said unto Abraham,
Thou shalt keep my covenant there-
fore, thou, and thy seed after thee in
their generations.
Genesis chapter seventeen.
“And thy seed after thee in their generations.” For those of us who believe we are God’s Heritage, we would obviously be double minded not to heed and hearken unto these words! Abraham’s sons and daughters are commanded to keep God’s Ever-lasting Covenant!
(Exodus 19:5). Is Obedience the highest form of worship?
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my
voice indeed, and keep my covenant,
then ye shall be a peculiar treasure
unto me above all people: for all the
earth is mine.
Did the God of our Fathers say, Since “all the earth is mine” as owner I can make you my “peculiar treasure...above all people...if ye will” be covenantkeepers?! (Verse 6).
6 And ye shall be unto me a king-
dom of priests, and an holy nation.
These are the words which thou
shalt speak unto the children of
Israel.
Exodus chapter nineteen.
Is American Israel “a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” today? Or is American Israel under heavy judgment today?! In order to be “a peculiar treasure” unto God, do we have to be covenantkeepers? In order to be “a kingdom of priests and an holy nation, do we have to be covenantkeepers? How important are Covenantkeepers to the health of “This Land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island … This Land was made for you and me.” This Woody Guthrie song is now being impeached by both sides! Kingdom believers and Aborigine Crusaders! The Aborigine crusaders say we Caucasians are a dastardly Race; we drove out the Aborigines!
There is a Huge Problem with the Aboriginal Claim!! A plague destroyed the Indians on the Land surrounding Cape Cod, and the few survivors abandoned the area because they judged The Land was cursed!! The Aboriginal Crusaders do not fret over The Truth! They are counting on our ignorance! After all, they have been separating us from our own History for years, decades even! Who needs the Truth?
Both the Pilgrims and the Puritans enacted statutes forbidding the commission of crimes against the Indians and enforced them!! Chief among those Law Enforcers were the ancestors of John, and John Quincy Adams!! Is it true that those who hate The Truth call The Truth hate?!! We ran out of time in Lesson 2 Covenantkeepers and failed to answer this Question:
How did the Eldership of the Pilgrims prepare part of their body to plant a congregation in New England? In William Bradford’s History Of Plymouth Plantation, he inserted the complete Letter from “Mr. John Robinson in Holland to the Pilgrims departing from South Hampton for New England; ‘though it has already been printed, I thought well to insert here’”:
“...Though I doubt not that in your Godly wisdom, you foresee what is applicable to your present condition, I have thought it but my duty to add some further spur, even to those who run already, ---not because you need it, but because I owe it in love and duty.” --Bradford’s History of the Plymouth Settlement, 1608-1650. Rendered into modern English by Harold Paget, 1909. Portland, Oregon: Jan 1988.
Do those words pen by Pastor John Robinson sound like something from The Scriptures? (2 Peter 1:12-13). Shall we compare the Pastor’s writing with the Apostle Peter?
p 12 Wherefore I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of
these things, though ye know them,
and be established in the present truth.
c 13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am
in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.
Second Peter chapter one.
(Verse 12) Peter says, “I will not be negligent...” Does Peter confess that he has a duty? “... to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” Pastor Robinson wrote, “I have thought it but my duty, to add some further spur, even to those who run already, --- not because you need it, but because I owe it in love and duty.” (Verse 13).
And Peter did write: “…I think it meet...to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.” How much difference is there between adding “some further spur” and “stir you up”, when the effect is the same?! The further spur is done to those already running!
Shall we see if Pastor Robinson’s Letter is remembrance of those things taught, first at Scrooby, and for 12 years in Holland? He addresses the church with this greeting: “Loving Christian Friends.”
The 1st subject matter in Pastor Robinson’s Farewell Letter is every one’s personal relationship with The Covenant God:
“First, [as] we ought daily to renew our repentance with our God, especially for our sins known, and generally for our unknown trespasses...” -- Bradford’s History of the Plymouth Settlement, op. cit. page 54.
Pastor Robinson points out, “...an occasion of difficulty and danger...lies before you...so doth the Lord call us in a singular manner... both to more narrow search and careful reformation of our ways in His sight...” Pastor Robinson, then, as he had done so many sermons before, showed them the choice before them:
“...lest He, calling to remembrance of our sins forgotten by us or unrepented of,... leave us to be swallowed up in one danger or another, Whereas, on the contrary, sin being taken away by earnest repentance, and the pardon thereof from the Lord sealed up into a man’s conscience by his spirit, great shall be his security and peace in all dangers, sweet his comfort in all distresses, with happy deliverance from all evil, whether in life or in death.” -- op. cit.
The Pastor’s 2nd subject matter was offences:
“Now next after this heavenly peace with God and our own conscience, we are carefully to provide for peace with all men so far as in us lieth especially with our associates; for though it be necessary (considering the malice of Satan and man’s corruption) that offences come, yet woe unto the man or woman either by whom the offence come, saith Christ (Matt xviii, 7) -- op. cit.
The Pastor’s 3rd subject matter was taking offense:
Nor is it sufficient that we keep ourselves by the grace of God from giving offence, except we be armed also against taking offense when it is given by others, ... The plans for your intended civill [sic] community will furnish continual occasion for offense, and will be as fuel to the fire, unless you diligently quench it with brotherly forbearance...How much more is it to be heeded lest we take offense against God himself, -- which we do as often as we murmur at his providence in our crosses, or bear impatiently such afflictions as He pleases to visit upon us.
Then Pastor Robinson in the spirit of the Prophecy of The Bible warns against “the evil day” to come:
“Store up, therefore, patience against the evil day, with which we take offense at the Lord Himself in his holy and just works.” --op. cit. page 55.
Did Pastor Robinson understand that the whore of Babylon could only come from the Israel not “born again”? The Pastor’s 4th subject matter warned the Pilgrims to “promote the general welfare”:
“A fourth thing is to be carefully provided for, to wit, that with your employments, which will be common to all, you join affections truly upon the general good, avoiding, as a deadly plague of your comfort, all retiredness of mind for selfish advantage. Let everyone repress within himself, as so many rebels against the common good, all private partialities not consistent with the general convenience...” –op. cit.
Pastor Robinson addressed the 5th subject matter:
“Lastly, whereas you are to become a body politic, administering among yourselves civil government, and are furnished with persons of no special eminence above the rest, from whom you will elect some to the office of government, let your wisdom and godliness appear, not only in choosing such persons as will entirely love and promote the common good, but also in yielding them all due honor and obedience in their lawful administrations; not beholding in them the ordinariness of their persons, but God’s ordinance for your good; ... op. cit. page 56.
Pastor Robinson concluded his Farewell Letter, saying:
“…These few things, therefore, I do earnestly commend unto your care and conscience, joining therewith my daily incessant prayers unto the Lord, that he who has made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all rivers of waters, and Whose providence is over all His works, especially over all His dear children for good, would so guide and guard you in your ways, as inwardly by His spirit, so outwardly by the hand of His power, that both you and we also may praise His name all the days of our lives. Fare you well in Him in Whom you trust, and in Whom I rest.”
In his Closing the Pastor identified himself as, An unfeigned well-willer of your happy success in this hopeful voyage, JOHN ROBINSON. Bradford noted:
“…the company was called together, and this letter was read to them, and was well received by all, and afterwards bore fruit in many.” -- op. cit.
The two ships departed from Southhampton on the 5th of August. As the sails caught wind, the smaller ship began to leak. The crew was barely able to keep her afloat by pumping. They made decision to put into Dartmouth for repairs. This proved to be a loss of expense, a loss of time, and a loss of fair wind. They set sail from Dartmouth and going no more than 100 leagues around Land’s End the small ship again barely escaped going under, and they put into Plymouth Harbor. At Plymouth they were discouraged. They made the decision to send the leaky ship on to London with part of their company and loaded the Mayflower with provisions from it. The Pilgrims felt their number was trimmed more than Gideon’s band!
“...all being together in the one ship, they put to sea again on September 6th with a prosperous wind, which continued for several days and was some encouragement to them, though, as usual, many were afflicted with seasickness.” -- Bradford’s History, page 62.
After a very perilous voyage, they at last arrived in Cape Cod Bay on the 11th of November.
“First, I will...begin with a compact or deed drawn up by them before they went ashore to settle, constituting the first foundation of their government. This was occasioned partly by the discontented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst them had let fall: that when they got ashore, they would use their liberty that none had power to command them, the patent procured being for Virginia, and not for New England, which belonged to another company, with which the Virginia company had nothing to do. And further it was believed by the leading men among the settlers, that such a deed drawn up by themselves, considering their present condition, would be as effective as any patent, and in some respects more so.” -- Bradford’s History, page 75.
Were the Pilgrims a congregation of believers? Were the Pilgrims covenant-keepers? Shall we read their Compact, their Deed by their own hand, together?
“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James,... 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 of one another, covenant and combine ourselves into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and the 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 use of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.” -- op. cit., page 76.
As stated in the above Covenant: “in the presence of God, and of one another,” Do we take “the presence of God” as deeply as The Pilgrims did? Do we believe that God is present with us in our assemblies? What is The Scripture that tells us that God’s Presence is here with us when we assemble?
Do we recall the words of Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” When The Holy Spirit pursues any one of us, who can escape?! When God said [Genesis 3] “Where are you?”, did Adam and Eve escape? With that kind of help and rescue, how hard is church?!
Did The Pilgrims covenant with God, with one another, and for their posterity to frame their civil government, as a “body politic”?
Another quote: “...covenant combine ourselves into a civil body politic...” What is a “body politic”? The best definition of the term “body politic”, fully parsed, I ever found, appears in the 1843 Bouvier’s Law Dictionary:
BODY POLITIC, government, corporations,when applied to the government, this term signifies the state, when it is passive; sovereign when it is active; power when it is compared toits equal. As the persons who compose the bodypolitic, or associate themselves, they take collectively the name of people or nation; and individually they are citizens, when considered in relation to their political rights, and subjects as being admitted to the laws of the state. When it refers to corporations the term body politic means that the members of such corporation shall be considered as an artificial person. --1843 Bouvier’s L.D., Vol I., page 217.
The 1990 Black’s Law Dictionary is a confirming witness to Bouvier’s parsed definition of BODY POLITIC:
Body politic or corporate. A social compact by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good. -- Uricich v. Kolesar, 54 Ohio App. 309, 7 N.E.2d 413, 414. 6th Ed. Black’s L.D. 1990., page 175.
In sharing these definitions with a small circle of friends, I had one point out to me the Black’s Law Dictionary definition proves that the covenant is not made with God! I referred back to The Mayflower Compact, the phrase, “in the presence of God, and of one another”! At the insistence the covenant is not made with God, I had to ask the question: Why should we give the words of The Pilgrims a meaning they never intended? Do you wish to argue with them while they lie in their graves?! At the persistence the covenant is not made with God, I asked the question, Why would The Pilgrims invoke the presence of God if He is not a Party to The Covenant?
The Answer: God’s Presence was invoked as a witness that they made the covenant with each other. I had to realize that a number of people are missing the History we have just covered: the History of the Congregation at Scrooby and the 12 years in Holland. Marshall Foster explained it this way:
“But even as the Mayflower rode at anchor, they knew that before setting foot in the New World, they had to draw up this covenant before God because they feared launching their colony until there was a recognition of God’s sovereignty and the need to obey Him. The Mayflower Compact is America’s great constitutional document. --Marshall Foster & Mary Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant. The Untold Story, op. cit. page vii.
The 1st wave of Puritans came across the Atlantic on the good ship Arbella, 1630. On shipboard John Winthrop penned the Sermon “Christian Charitie: a Model Thereof”, and shared it with his fellow Puritans. He put them in remembrance of who they were! “...we are a company, professing ourselves fellow mem-bers of Christ knit together by this bond of love,...” He put them in remembrance of what was to be their purpose! Marshall Foster writes, “the work they had in hand was to seek a place to live together” and quoting Winthrop “under a due form of government, both civil and ecclesiastical...” Foster writes, “But theirs was not to be a mere legal agreement. As in The Mayflower Compact, their relationship to God and to each other is described in covenantal terms, and quotes Winthrop:
“Thus stands the cause between God and us, we are entered into Covenant with Him for this worke...Now if the Lord shall please to bear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath he verified this Covenant and sealed our Commission...” -- Marshall Foster quoting from H. Sheldon Smith, Robert T. Handy, Lefferts A. Loetscher. American Christianity. An Historical Interpretation with Representative Documents. Vol. I: 1607-1820. New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1960. pp. 100-101.
“We are entered into Covenant with Him for this worke.” Interesting controversy, could we say? Winthrop called covenantkeeper New England “a city upon a hill”:
“…we must consider we shall be a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world. – Brown, Pilgrim Fathers, page 291.
Marshall Foster wrote this about Winthrop’s “A City Upon a Hill”: “Are not the eyes of the world, as well as the eyes of God, focused upon America today, critically evaluating how well we are living out the principles of our founding covenants?” -- Foster and Swanson, The American Covenant, The Untold Story, page 87.
The Arbella was the flagship of a total of 4 ships bearing 1000 Puritans. At the conclusion of our 1st Lesson, Covenantkeepers, April 2024, Pastor Don noted that History shows the Puritans rejected separation from England’s national church under control of The Throne. The witness of History confirms Pastor Don’s remark. Foster reports The Puritans considered themselves liberated from the national church’s corruptions, but still considered themselves members of that church, disavowing Separatism! Interesting controversy, could we say? -- Foster and Swanson, page 88.
Bibliography
3 Covenantkeepers
Exodus 19:5-6
Genesis 17:9. “and thy seed after thee.”
Exodus 19:5-6. “keep my covenant”
Woody Guthrie. “This Land is Your Land”
Farewell Letter. Bradford’s History of the Plymouth Settlement page 54.
2 Peter 1:12-13. “I will not be negligent.”
1. Repentance.
2. Offenses
3. Taking offense
4. “promote the general welfare”. op. cit. page 55.
5. “the ordinariness of their persons.” op. cit. page 56.
“this letter ... afterwards bore fruit in many. op. cit.
“sea sickness”, Bradford’s History, page 62.
Mayflower Compact. Bradford’s History page 75.
[Matthew 18:20]. “gathered together in my name.”
Mayflower Compact, “body politic”
1843 Bouvier’s L.D. Vol. I., page 217. “BODY POLITIC”.
Black’s L.D., 6th Ed. 1990. page 175. “Body politic.”
“recognition of God’s sovereignty and the need to obey Him.”
Foster & Swanson. The American Covenant. The Untold Story. op. cit. page vii.
“we are entered into Covenant with Him”. Foster & Swanson. quoting from Smith, Handy & Loettscher. American Christianity. An Historical Interpretation with Representative Documents. pp. 100-101.
“a city upon a hill.” Brown. Pilgrim Fathers. page 291.
“our founding covenants”. Foster & Swanson, The American Covenant, page 87.
“Disavowing Separatism.”, Ibid, page 88.
