America's Tyranny Threshold

As he finishes up his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, Barack Obama would be well-served to recall the fiery words of Jonathan Mayhew, who is famous for his sermons “espousing American rights — the cause of liberty, and the right and duty to resist tyranny.”

Mayhew, born at Martha’s Vineyard on October 8, 1720, was “bitterly opposed to the Stamp Act and urged colonial liberties.” Though he did not live to see the American Revolution (he died on July 9, 1766), his “sermons and writing were a powerful influence in the development of the movement for liberty and independence.”

And they need to be revisited as the Obama presidency continues its legacy of lawlessness.

First published in Boston in 1750, “A Discourse concerning the unlimited submission and non-resistance to the high powers” was a sermon delivered on the 100th anniversary of the execution of Charles I. It was so powerful that it was published in London in 1752 and again in 1767. In fact, this sermon was the “first volley of the American Revolution, setting forth the intellectual and scriptural justification for rebellion against the Crown.”

The following words from the Discourse fly off the page in light of the continuing unconstitutional acts of President Obama.

Civil tyranny is usually small in its beginning, like ‘the drop in a bucket,’ till at length, like a mighty torrent of raging waves of the sea, it bears down all before it and deluges whole countries and empires.

Although the president cannot write or rewrite laws, this president thinks he is above the law. The “entire system of separation of powers … is designed to limit governmental power,” but Mr. Obama continually makes it clear “that he won’t respect these basic constitutional limits on his power.”

Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality along with it. It degrades men from their just rank into the class of brutes. It dampens their spirits. It suppresses arts. It extinguishes every spark of noble ardor and generosity in the breasts of those who are enslaved by it.