Old West church - Jonathan Mayhew

131A Cambridge St, Boston, MA 02114

The first church was built in 1737. As for the church itself, it was occupied as a barracks by British troops during their occupation of the city prior to the American Revolution as it was one of the highest spots in the city. The British destroyed the tower to prevent patriots from using it to signal the harbor. So instead, Robert Newman (who was vestryman for Old North Church) along with captain John Pulling hung the lanterns used to signal Paul Revere at Old North church. Old West Church was rebuilt in 1806 by architect Asher Benjamin. In 1971 the internationally acclaimed organ was completed by Charles B. Fisk and dedicated. This instrument is recognized as one of the finest contemporary pipe organs in the world.

In March 1747, Jonathan Mayhew became the minister here. Mayhew was a revolutionary, in theology and in politics, and was acknowledged as a great orator. His close associates included John and Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Paine. He was to them “The Herald of Revolution, the Assertor of Civil and Religious Liberty”, and the last of the great colonial preachers. One of Mayhew's sermons resulted in the motto for the American Revolution: "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."

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He was eloquent proponent of the idea that civil and religious liberty was ordained by God. Jonathan Mayhew considered the Church of England as a dangerous, almost diabolical, enemy of the New England Way. The linked etching from 1767 of a bishop's mitre with the snake emerging from it represented his view of the Anglican hierarchy. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html#obj082

Jonathan Mayhew delivered one of the most influential sermons in American history in 1749. This was 100 years after King Charles 1 was beheaded for political strife causing civil war. Using this example Mayhew asserted the English constitution “is originally and essentially free.” England’s monarchs originally held their throne “solely by grant of parliament,” so the ancient English kings ruled “by the voluntary consent of the people.” After forty pages of such historical discourse, Mayhew reached his major point: the essential rightness of the execution of an English king when he too greatly infringed upon British liberties. Mayhew asserted that resistance to a tyrant was a "glorious" Christian duty. His tone was mostly conservative in offering moral sanction for political and military resistance. Some would say later that this sermon was the first volley of the American Revolution, setting forth the intellectual and scriptural justification for rebellion against the Crown. John Adams called him “the morning gun of the Revolution” dubbing him a “transcendent genius”.

In 1750 one printed sermon starts with Romans 13:1-8 and says things such as “Now whether we are obliged to yield such an absolute submission to our prince, or whether disobedience and resistance may not be justifiable in some cases…is the main design of the present discourse.” Then he likens the parental headship arrangement and adds “Suppose this parent at length runs distracted and attempts, in his mad fit, to cut all his children’s throats.” Said children should obey so long as the parent is obedient to their God-given assignment, and if not, then they have “a reason equally conclusive for disobeying and resisting him.” He continues “What unprejudiced man can think that God made ALL (people) to be thus subservient to the lawless pleasure and frenzy of ONE (person), so that it shall always be a sin to resist him!” With these words he challenged the ultimate power of the King who had been standing as the Anglican Church leader “who has naturally no superiority over them in point of authority”.

In 1765, with the provocation of the Stamp Act fresh, Mayhew delivered another rousing sermon on the virtues of liberty and the iniquity of tyranny. The essence of slavery, he announced, consists in subjection to others—“whether many, few, or but one, it matters not.” The day after his sermon, a Boston mob attacked Chief Justice Thomas Hutchinson’s house, and many thought Mayhew was responsible for fomenting that event.

What fruitage did these spiritual leaders produce? Mt 7:15-20. Consider John 17:16 vs Acts 20:29, 30. What would Jesus have said seeing this?

-Source Links-

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html#obj083

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Mayhew

https://captainjamesdavis.wordpress.com/tag/mayhew/

https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/american/text5/mayhewsubmission.pdf

https://www.oldwestchurch.org/history