1798-1804 EBENEZER GRANT MARSH. Early Defense of Literal Creation Account as Science. Family Provenance.

A rather scarce copy of Ebenezer Grant Marsh's 1798 landmark work, An Oration on the Truth of the Mosaic History of the Creation, sold with two sermons preached upon his untimely death, at just 26 years of age. The work represents an early American intellectual defense of traditional biblical authority during the height of the Enlightenment. Writing at a time when skepticism and early scientific rationalism were beginning to challenge literal interpretations of scripture, Marsh used his formidable background as a Yale Hebrew scholar to argue that the Genesis account was a reliable, historically accurate record of the universe's origins.

The work represents a pivotal moment where orthodox theologians felt compelled to pivot from purely faith-based assertions to rational, evidence-based defenses. Marsh sought to prove that the Mosaic narrative was not a collection of creative myths, but a textually verifiable history that could withstand the scrutiny of contemporary reason. By evaluating ancient languages and comparative history, his work attempts to harmonize divine revelation with academic intellectualism, asserting that God’s creative acts are fundamentally reasonable and historically sound rather than merely symbolic.

Ebenezer Grant Marsh (1777–1803) was a prominent American scholar, linguist, and minister who served as an instructor and professor-elect at Yale College in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The son of a well-known Connecticut pastor, Marsh entered Yale at a young age [18 years of age]] and distinguished himself as an exceptionally bright student, graduating in 1795. He possessed a profound talent for classical and biblical languages, particularly Hebrew, and quickly moved from an undergraduate instructor to an official appointment as Yale's Professor of Languages and Ecclesiastical History in 1802, at just 25 years of age. Alongside his academic roles, he was a licensed minister who gained prominence for his campus preaching during the notable Yale Campus Revival of 1802.

Expected to be a leading theologian of the next generation, his life was cut short after a brief battle with cancer, which appears to have begun showing itself during the 1802 revival. He would die just one year later. 

The address by Marsh is inscribed by. him, and one of the eulogy's by his mother. Both to a family member. 

Marsh, Ebenezer Grant. An Oration on the Truth of the Mosaic History of the Creation; Delivered at New-Haven on the Public Commencment, September, A.D. 1798. Hartford. Hudson and Goodwin. 59pp.

[With]

Dwight, Timothy. A Sermon on the Death of Mr. Ebenezer Grant Marsh, Senior-Tutor, and Professor Elect of Languages and Ecclesiastical History, in Yale College, who died November 16th, 1803, in the 27th Year of His Age; Preached in the Brick Church in New-Haven, November 20. Hartford. Hudson & Goodwin. 1804. 21pp.

[With]

Fowler, Bancroft. An Oration on the Death of Mr. Ebenezer Grant Marsh, Senior Tutor, Hebrew Instructor, and Professor Elect of Languages and Eccleasiastical History, in Yale College, who Died on the 16th of November, 1803, in the 27th Year of His Age; Pronounced in the College Chapel on the 10th of January 1804. Hartford. Hudson & Goodwin. 1804. 26pp.

All good to good - with some light foxing; removed from a larger sammelband at some point with attendant flotsam to spine and some tenderness to binding.