Elhanan Winchester was born on this day in 1751 in the Muddy River village (later rather wisely renamed Brookline), Massachusetts.
First a Baptist minister the great awakening opened Elhanan’s heart to the realization a good God would not condemn his children to eternal perdition, and became a Universalist.
A peripetatic clergyman, he founded the first Universalist church in Philadelphia and gathered a congregation in London and eventually served as moderator of the Massachussetts Universalist Convention.
A prolific writer his book generally known as Dialogues on the Universal Restoration is considered one of the classics of its time, directly responsible for leading many to the new doctrine.