Journal of Student Research 2023

Journal of Student Research 74 Powers , possessed the power and prose capable of inspiring the colonists to resist tyranny. Mayhew’s sermon was on Romans 13, which was used by many clergy to show that Christians, indeed all people, had to commit to unlimited submission to any governing authority regardless of how tyrannical the governing authority had become. Mayhew argued strenuously against such an interpretation and put forth principles that would inspire the rising generation of Founding Fathers. Mayhew questioned from Romans: Here the apostle argues, that those who resist a reasonable and just authority, which is agreeable to the will of God, do really resist the will of God himself; and will, therefore, be punished by him. But how does this prove, that those who resist a lawless, unreasonable power, which is contrary to the will of God, do therein resist the will and ordinance of God? 31 Here Mayhew sets the stage by raising the question whether the colonists have to obey a ruling authority which itself is in violation of God’s ordinances for the purpose and functioning of civil government. After introducing the question, Mayhew delivered the crux of his sermon when he declared: Thus, upon a careful review of the apostle’s reasoning in this passage, it appears that his arguments to enforce submission are of such a nature as to conclude only in favor of submission to such rulers as he himself describes; i.e. such as rule for the good of society, which is the only end of their institution. Common tyrants and public oppressors are not entitled to obedience from their subjects, according to the teaching laid down by the inspired apostle. 32 Considering the church’s influence in colonial America, this dissertation by Mayhew is a fundamental key to the American Revolution. The idea that people have an obligation, not just a choice, to defy tyrannical authority exercised a strong influence. Mayhew challenged the colonists to look inwards and decide whether they had the courage to stand up and fight for a better country where wider freedom would prevail. Thus, Mayhew used his position of influence to sow the seeds of a new republic. The authority of Mayhew’s discourse from the lectern has been shown as significant. The decisiveness of Jonathan Mayhew on the course of the Revolution is as John Adams mused: It was read by every body; celebrated by friends and abused by enemies… The persecutions and cruelties suffered by their ancestors under those reigns, had been transmitted by history and tradition, and Mayhew seemed to be raised up to revive all their animosities against tyranny, in church and state, and at the same time to destroy their bigotry, fanaticism and inconsistency. 33 Adams crowns this one final endorsement of Mayhew and the seeds of civil disobedience he nurtured against a potentially tyrannical government. Such a tyranny, for the colonists, would arise a few years after the sermon. In sum, Mayhew taught the colonists, especially in Boston, that they could legitimately and Biblically fight against an unjust government, and in doing so, he sowed the seeds of civil liberty in America. 31 Jonathan Mayhew, A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers (Bos ton: D. Fowle, 1750), 25. 32 Mayhew, 28-29. 33 John Adams, Novanglus and Massachusetts: or Political Essays Published in the Year 1774 and 1775 (Boston: Hewe & Goss, 1819), 237.