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Untitled Article
tured publicly to discharge his official duties , and for that purpose fitted up a part of the premises as a chapel , and continued alone to officiate therein till 1695 , when he was aided in the discbarge of his pastoral duties by the Rev . Thomas Barnard , whom he had
assisted in ordaining at Glynde , about eight years before . They continued their joint labours till 1701 * when , a difference arising * relative to the enlargement of the Meeting--House , which had become insufficient for the
rapidly increasing congregation , a separation took place . As Mr . Barnard had purchased the premises in 1698 , he of course retained possession of the chapel , and Mr . Newton opened another place in Crown Lane , where he continued to officiate for some
years , until protracted age and increasing infirmities compelled him , In 1709 , to resign his office . In 1711 , a union was effected between a congregation that had been for some time under the care of the Rev . J . Olive ,
and the one assembling in the Westgate Meeting-House : and from that time to the resignation of Mr . Bar-Bard , the united congregation was supplied with two ministers . At the death of Mr . Olive , the Rev . Ebenezer Johhstoii * was elected in his room
• The Rev . Ebenezer Johnston was born at Dumfries , in Scotland , and died lit Brighton , in 1791 , aged 72 years . Having acquired at school a competent share 6 f classical learning , he was entered into the Academy nt Northampton , under the care of the celebrated Dr .
Poddridge , and there regularly went through the several stages of education for the ministry . His virtuous and unblameable conduct , and his diligence in study , gained him the esteem and applause of his excellent tutor , who gave the charge at his ordination at Lewes .
Having been indefatigable in composing judicious and useful discourses for the pulpit , and having uniformly exhibited an example of unaffected piety , benevolence , compassionate sympathy , and honourable prudence , he still lives in the grateful remembrance of his surviving friends . Of the four sons he left behind
him , three are still living , and are constant attendants at the Westgate Chapel , the more endeared to them by the circumstance of its being the place in which their father exercised his stated ministry through so long a course of years .
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In 1756 , the congregation of XKs * senters who had assembled in a chapel situated in Wate ? £ ate Lane , Cm the premises now occupied ( by Mr . TV Shelley , coachmiker , ! united with the
congregation at the Westgate meeting . Rev . J ; Watkins , * who had succeeded the Rev . —Force in the former place , resigned , and Mr . Johnston continued the minister of the united people till 1781 , wheti he was succeeded by
17 S 1 W . Johnson 1783 Richard Shiells 1788 W . Evans Bishop 1790 John Lahgdoh 1794 Evan Davies 1803 Samuel Farter 18 ) 1 William Johnston 18-17 T . W . Horsfieid .
The building has evident marks of great antiquity ; the walls are of an extraordinary thickness , and the windows are large , in massive stone frames . The interior is spacious , and , though badly laid out , and without galleries , will seat upwards of four hundred persons . The double roof is supported
? Mr . Watkins was fellow-student with Mr ., afterwards Archbishop , Seeker , at a Dissenting academy in Gloucester , conducted by the amiable and truly learned Rev . Samuel Jones . In a letter written by Mr . Seeker , whilst he was at the academy , to Dr . Watts , with whom he was
on terms of great intimacy , and who had requested from him an account of the academy , he mentions , as one of his fellow-students , Mr . Watkins , as being diligent in study and truly religious . The letter , after describing the different ; students in the acadeiny , proceeds to point
out the course of study pursued under the direction of Mr , Jones , on whom the writer bestows much praise , and to whom lie appears to have been affectionately attached . The following passage will shew that it was not the plan of Mr . Jones to make his pupils tremble in his
presence , in order to insure their obedience and respect : " We pass our time very agreeably betwixt study and conversation with our tutor , who is always ready to discourse freely of any thing that is useful , and allows us , either then or at lecture , all imaginable liberty of making
objections against his opinions , and prosecuting them as far as we can . In this and every thing else ^ he shews himself so much a gentleman , and manifests so great au affection and tenderness for his pupils , as cannot but command respect add love . " —Gibbon ' s Memoirs of Di \ Watts , p . 35 !•
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282 History of the Westgate ( Presbyterian ) Meeting + House , Lewes .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 282, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/26/
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