Okay, I found it—John Winthrop's sermon aboard the Mayflower: https://www.americanyawp.com/reader...ohn-winthrop-dreams-of-a-city-on-a-hill-1630/
Here's an excerpt:
It makes more sense when you read the whole thing. It essentially says that they were making a covenant with God and asking His blessing. For their part they agreed to form a Christian commonwealth in which everyone would be treated fairly, justly and equally; not unlike the primitive church. If God brought them through their voyage safely, that meant He agreed with them and would bless them, as long as they held up their end. If not, "the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, and be revenged of such a people, and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant."
They broke the covenant almost from the get-go. Initially, all things were held in common; no one owned anything privately. This was what they agreed to as part of their covenant. But it wasn't long until they abandoned this and started giving people private ownership of land. Anyone remotely acquainted with American history knows it went straight downhill from there.
So was this covenant anything at all like that which God entered into with Israel? Certainly not. It's ludicrous to say—based on an agreement the pilgrims made aboard the Mayflower—that the US is in a covenant relationship with God like ancient Israel. And even if it was true at one point, it certainly isn't now.
Here's an excerpt:
"Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into covenant with Him for this work. We have taken out a commission. The Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles. We have professed to enterprise these and those accounts, upon these and those ends. We have hereupon besought Him of favor and blessing. Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath He ratified this covenant and sealed our commission, and will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it; but if we shall neglect the observation of these articles which are the ends we have propounded, and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, and be revenged of such a people, and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant."
It makes more sense when you read the whole thing. It essentially says that they were making a covenant with God and asking His blessing. For their part they agreed to form a Christian commonwealth in which everyone would be treated fairly, justly and equally; not unlike the primitive church. If God brought them through their voyage safely, that meant He agreed with them and would bless them, as long as they held up their end. If not, "the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, and be revenged of such a people, and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant."
They broke the covenant almost from the get-go. Initially, all things were held in common; no one owned anything privately. This was what they agreed to as part of their covenant. But it wasn't long until they abandoned this and started giving people private ownership of land. Anyone remotely acquainted with American history knows it went straight downhill from there.
So was this covenant anything at all like that which God entered into with Israel? Certainly not. It's ludicrous to say—based on an agreement the pilgrims made aboard the Mayflower—that the US is in a covenant relationship with God like ancient Israel. And even if it was true at one point, it certainly isn't now.