Although the church government was democratic in form, and thus of influence in fostering democratic beliefs as to government in general, it must be remembered that at probably no period during the life of the charter, did the number of church members include more than a very distinct minority of the population. Lechford's statement, that three quarters of the people were outside the pale of the church in 1640, seems borne out by other testimony, and this proportion appears not to have been greatly changed till near the end of the century.[302] The influence of this democratic form of church organization, however, was clearly foreseen by King James in his dictum, “No bishop, no king”; and of even greater effect in its logical political consequence was the employment of the covenant. In defending its use in the church, Cotton, in the volume already quoted, was forced onto broader ground. “It is evident,” he wrote, “by the light of nature, that all civill Relations are founded in Covenant. For, to passe by naturall Relations between Parents and Children, and violent Relations between Conquerors and Captives; there is no other way given wherby a people (sui Juris) free from naturall and compulsory engagements, can be united or combined together into one visible body.”[303] Footnote 302: Lechford, _Plain Dealing_, p. 143; A. E. McKinley, _Suffrage Franchise in the Thirteen English Colonies_ (University of Pennsylvania Publications, 1905), p. 313. Footnote 303: Cotton, _The Way of the Churches_, p. 4.