1763 Octavo First Edition Pamphlet The Evangelical Preacher Sermon Delivered At The Ordination Of Rev. Bunker Gay By Ebenezer Gay-The Rev. Known As The Father Of American Unitarianism

Importance: Ebenezer Gay was the youngest son of Nathaniel and Lydia Gay, and was born in Dedham, Mass., August 15, 1696. He was prepared for college at the town school of Dedham, and graduated at Harvard in 1714, then taught the grammar schools in Hadley and Ipswich successively, and in connection with his work as a teacher studied theology. He began preaching in September, 1717, as a candidate for the church in Hingham, where the pulpit had been left vacant by the death of the Rev. John Norton. The result was that on the 30th of December following he received a call to become pastor of the church; and on the 11th of June, 1718, he was ordained and installed. The ordination sermon was preached by the Rev. Joseph Belcher, of Dedham. Mr. Gay brought with him to the ministry a high reputation for scholarship, and, while yet a young man, attracted the particular notice of Governor Burnet, who is said to have remarked that he and Mr. Bradstreet of Charlestown were the most learned of the c