Mayhew, Jonathan

Jonathan Mayhew (October 8, 1720, Marthas-Vinyard - July 9, 1766, Boston) - a religious leader of British North America, a clergyman and a Protestant theologian.

He was a descendant in the fifth generation of Thomas Mayhew (1592-1682), one of the first colonists in the area, in 1641 received Martas-Vinjard in possession. His son Thomas Mayhew, Jr. (c. 1616-1657), his grandson John (d. 1689) and great-grandson Expirins (1673-1758) were engaged in missionary activities among the Indian tribes who lived in the vicinity of Martras Vinyard.

Jonathan, the son of Expirins, received a theological degree at Harvard in 1744, and in 1749 he became a doctor of theology, receiving a degree from Aberdeen University. In 1747 he was ordained pastor of the Church of West Church in Boston, but his theological views were so liberal that only two priests took part in the first ordination council, and therefore had to convene the council again. In his sermons, Mayhew opposed Calvinism and advocated anti-antintarism; in particular, he rejected the complete fall into sin of a man is actually considered the first representative of unitary congregationalism in New England, although he himself has never been officially a Unitarian.

In 1763, Mayhew published a book entitled “Observations on the Charter for the Foreign Parts”, in which he criticized the policy of this society to send missionaries to New England as not conforming to the original purpose of its creation - “supporting evangelical priests” in places "completely devoid of and not provided with the means for a normal life of priests and for faith in God among the population"; this work made him the leader of that part of New England residents who, according to Mayhew himself (told by him in 1762), were afraid that “there is a whole scheme formed to send priests to this part of the country, and that our governor, a true believer, deeply involved in the conspiracy. " To "answer" to his work, published under the title "A Candid Examination" (1763), Mayhew wrote "protection"; after the publication of the “answer”, anonymously published in London in 1764 and written by Thomas Sicker, archbishop of Canterbury, he wrote the “second defense”. His other famous work is the essay "Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission", written to the centenary of the execution of the English King Charles I, in which he openly opposes the monarchy and positions himself as a Republican. He is also credited with the authorship of the famous statement “No to taxes without representation”.

Mayhew combined religious activities with political ones, supporting civil liberties and calling the fight against injustice the duty of every Christian; in 1767, he actively opposed the Stamp Duty Act (although he categorically rejected his involvement in organizing the riots) and called for the need to create a colonial union (or "community") to ensure the rights and freedoms of the inhabitants of the colonies. In 1765 he was a Dudlian lecturer at Harvard University. The many sermons of Mayhew, published in Boston and London, had a certain effect on the growth of the independence movement of the North American colonies.

• This article (section) contains a text taken (translated) from the eleventh edition of the British Encyclopedia , which has been transferred to the public domain .