Jonathan Mayhew: Two Discourses

Jonathan Mayhew, a pastor at the West Church in Boston, Massachusetts, offered two sermons on October 25, 1759. Delivered as an observation of thanksgiving following a military success of the British army, they were published as Two Discourses delivered October 25th. 1759. Being the day appointed by authority to be observed as a day of public thanksgiving, for the success of His Majesty’s arms, more particularly in the reduction of Quebec, the capital of Canada: With an appendix, containing a brief account of two former expeditions against that city and country, which proved unsuccessful. In his discourses, Mayhew is celebrating the battle outside the Canadian city of Quebec in September 1759 during the French and Indian War (1754–63), which was part of a larger conflict known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War. As in many of the sermons of the day, Mayhew reflects on a particular biblical passage, in this case Psalm 126, verse 3: “The LORD hath done great Things for us, whereof we are glad.”