The American side of the Scrooby congregation was without a pastor. John Robinson stayed with the Leyden side of the congregation in the Netherlands. The ruling elder, William Brewster, came over on the Mayflower. Robert Cushman, a deacon, came months later on the Fortune. So here is the Plymouth congregation with a ruling elder, a deacon, and no pastor.

What they did have was big conflict and big decisions. To pay for the journey across the world, the Plymouth Colony incurred an enormous debt. The pilgrims had upset their creditors—the London Adventurers—when they kept the Mayflower too long and returned it with no timber. Surviving the first year proved even harder than they imagined. The pilgrims were unable to fulfill the original agreement. They were also upset with the company policy of the “common course and condition.” This was a form of communism where all households shared equally what the colony produced. The system bred confusion, discontent, and malnutrition.

On December 9, 1621, Deacon Robert Cushman preached a sermon at the Plymouth Colony to address the issues. The sermon text was, “Let no man seek his own; but every man another’s wealth” (1 Cor. 10:24). Cushman warns of the danger of self-love and commends the sweetness of true friendship. Since the danger of self-love threatens all congregations, we would do well to listen to the words of Deacon Cushman.

“The meaning then summarily is, as if he had said, the bane of all these mischiefs which arise among you is, that men are too cleaving to themselves and their own matters, and disregard and condemn all others; and therefore I charge you, let this self-seeking be left off, and turn the stream another way, namely, seek the good of your brethren, please them, honor them, reverence them, for otherwise it will never go well among you…All men are too apt and ready to seek themselves too much, and to prefer their own matters and causes beyond the due and lawful measure, even to excess and offense against God, yea danger of their own souls. . . . As a man may neglect, in some sort the general world, yet those to whom he is bound, either in natural, civil, or religious bands, them he must seek how to do them good. . . . Now for one member in the body to seek himself, and neglect all others, were as if a man should clothe one arm or one leg of his body with gold and purple, and let all the rest of the members go naked. May you live as retired hermits? And look after nobody? Nay, you must seek still the wealth of one another. . . . [My neighbor] is as good a man as I, and we are bound each to other, so that his wants must be my wants, his sorrows my sorrows, his sickness my sickness, and his welfare my welfare, for I am as he is. And such a sweet sympathy were excellent, comfortable, yea, heavenly, and is the only maker and conservator of churches and commonwealths, and where this is wanting, ruin comes on quickly, as it did here in Corinth.”

Cushman’s sermon is a decidedly lucid and interesting warning against the reoccurring problem of selfishness. Self-love consists of seeing everything through the narrow hold of self-regard. This narrowness obscures the obligation of the law of love (Rom. 13:10). It sees every situation as so defective that self-preservation becomes inspiringly justified. This is the outrageous and crying problem of selfishness, that stress makes sacrifice unthinkable. The Christian way is exactly the opposite. When Christ was under the most pressure and the most stress he sacrificed the most in love for his people.

Cushman’s sermon is a reminder that with conflict and hardship comes selfishness. Before making a stressful decision, remember the words of the Apostle Paul, “Let no man seek his own good.”

To read Robert Cushman’s whole sermon, click here.