Josiah Lewis

Josiah Lewis came from a congregation in Kent. He was installed as minister to the Broughton Baptist Church on 14 October 1778, with Dr. Samuel Stennett, Baptist minister at Little Wild Street, London, and friend of the Steeles, preaching the installation sermon. Edward Compton, the Broughton church historian, described Lewis as ‘a man of great learning, an able divine and a good preacher.  In these respects he was, to all human appearances, calculated to build up the church; but all was marred by an unhappy temper, which hindered his usefulness. The church became divided: false doctrine crept in, and controversy ran high between the Hyper-Calvinists and the followers of Sandeman.  Mr Lewis was not the man to deal with those who differed from him and each other, therefore he resigned the pastorate, April 22nd, 1788.  The Sandemanians withdrew, and for many years had a meeting of their own in the village’. See Edward Compton, A History of the Baptist Church, Broughton, Hampshire, from the year 1653 to the present time, compiled from the old church books  (Leicester: Winks and Son, 1878), 17-18.