WINCHESTER, Elhanan, clergyman, born in Brookline, Massachusetts, 30 September, 1751; died in Hartford, Connecticut, 18 April, 1797. He began to preach about 1769, and in 1771 was ordained pastor of an open-communion church at Rehoboth, Massachusetts About a year later, adopting the views of the close-communionists, he was excommunicated by his church, and after residing in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1774-'80, he became pastor of the 1st Baptist church in Philadelphia. In 1781, with the majority of his congregation, he founded a Universalist church l ' t rare. In 1787-94 he preached successfully in England. Among his numerous publications are "New Book of Poems on Several Occasions" (Boston, 1773); "Hymns" (1776) ; " The Universal Restoration, Exhibited in Four Dialogues" (London, 1788; 4th ed., with notes by William Vidler, 1799) ; "Course of Lectures on the Prophecies that Remain to be Fulfilled" (4 vols., 1789; American ed., 2 vols., 1800); "Oration on the Discovery of America," delivered in London (1792) ; "The Three Woe Trumpets" (1793) ; "The Progress and Empire of Christ," a poem (1793) ; and "Plain Political Catechism for Schools" (1795). A sketch of his life and review of his writings was issued after his death by William Vidler (1797), and his life was also written by Edwin M. Stone (Boston, 1836).