Ebenezer Gay
Ebenezer Gay was a notable figure in early American religious history, born in late 1696 in Dedham, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1714 and initially worked as a teacher in Hadley and Ipswich while preparing for a career in ministry. In 1718, he was ordained and took on the role of minister at the First Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, where he served for nearly seventy years. Gay is recognized as a foundational figure in American Unitarianism, having distanced himself from Calvinist doctrines in favor of what he termed "supernatural rationalism." His work emphasized the ability of individuals to deduce ethical and religious truths independently. Notably, his 1759 lecture on "Natural Religion" at Harvard championed religious liberalism. Throughout his lifetime, Gay published twenty-three significant religious works, including sermons that reflected his progressive theological views. He passed away in 1787, leaving behind a legacy that influenced the development of liberal religious thought in America.
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Ebenezer Gay
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- Born: August 15, 1696
- Birthplace: Dedham, Massachusetts
- Died: March 18, 1787
Biography
Ebenezer Gay was born in late 1696 and grew up in the town of Dedham, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard University and graduated in 1714. Following his graduation, Gay began teaching at schools in the towns of Hadley and Ipswich. During this time he was also studying to be a Congregationalist minister. In 1718, Gay was ordained as a minister and began presiding over the First Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, a position he held for nearly seventy years. Gay married a woman named Jerusha with whom he had eleven children.
Gay is considered to be the father of American Unitarianism. He rejected Calvinist principles and instead embraced what he called “supernatural rationalism,” a process by which man can naturally deduce matters of ethics and religion for himself. Gay’s famous “Natural Religion” lecture, which he presented at Harvard in 1759, argued for religious liberalism.
Twenty-three of Gay’s religious arguments were published during his lifetime, including A Discourse on the Transcendent Glory of the Gospel, Natural Religion as Distinguish’d from Revealed: A Sermon Preached at the Annual Dudleian-Lecture at Harvard-College, and The Sovereignty of God in Determining Man’s Days or the Time and Manner of His Death: Illustrated and Improved, in a Sermon. The last sermon of Gay’s to be published was The Old Man’s Calendar in 1781. Gay died six years later.