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 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Infamous
Life of John Church, the St. George's Fields
Preacher
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
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laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: The Infamous Life of John Church, the St. George's Fields
Preacher

Author: Anonymous

Release date: October 3, 2018 [eBook #58019]

Language: English

Credits: Transcribed from the 1817 Hay and Turner edition by

David Price

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFAMOUS

LIFE OF JOHN CHURCH, THE ST. GEORGE'S FIELDS PREACHER ***
Transcribed from the 1817 Hay and Turner edition by David Price,
email [email protected]
HAY AND TURNER’S GENUINE EDITION,
Entered at Stationers’ Hall.

THE
INFAMOUS LIFE
OF
JOHN CHURCH,
THE
St. George’s Fields Preacher,
FROM HIS INFANCY UP TO HIS TRIAL AND
CONVICTION,
WITH
HIS CONFESSION,

Sent in a Letter to the Rev. Mr. L—, two days after his Attack on
Adam Foreman, at Vauxhall, with Clerical Remarks by the
same Gentleman; to which is added, his
 Love Epistles to E**** B****.

Together with various other Letters, particularly one to Cook, of

Vere-
Street Notoriety.

London:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HAY AND TURNER,
11, NEWCASTLE STREET STRAND;
AND MAY BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS IN TOWN AND COUNTRY.

1817.
PRICE FOUR PENCE.
 THE LIFE
OF

JOHN CHURCH,
&c. &c.

It has been justly remarked, by a celebrated writer, that “a sudden

rise from a low station, as it sometimes shews to advantage the
virtuous and amiable qualities, which could not exert themselves
before, so it more frequently calls forth and exposes to view those
spots of the soul which lay lurking in secret, cramped by penury, and
veiled with dissimulation.”
John Church, the subject of the following pages, was found, when an
infant, on the steps, or near the porch of a church (some say that of
St. Andrew, in Holborn;) and the overseers of the parish not being
able to discover who were his parents, or by whom he was thus
abandoned, had him sent to the Foundling Hospital, where he
received that name, which bears the nearest analogy to the place
where he was found. Here he remained until he was nine years old,
when a complaint to the Governors having been made against him
by the nurses, that he was addicted to improper and disgusting
practices, it was thought prudent to apprentice him out at that early
age, to obviate the possibility of the contagion spreading amongst
the rest of the boys who partook of the bounties of that charity.
From his evident illiteracy, and from the badness of his writing, it is
certain that he must have quitted the Hospital at an earlier age than
usual, because, in general, none leave it who are not good scholars.
He was accordingly placed out as an apprentice to a Gilder, in
Blackfriars Road. Before the expiration of his indenture, he married
and quitted the service of his master. Shortly afterwards, he worked
for a composition ornament maker, in Tottenham Court Road. This
immaculate Minister of the Gospel here commenced his religious
career, and, under the assumed garb of sanctity, took upon him the
office of a teacher to the Sunday School, at that time established at
Tottenham Court Chapel. Thinking that preaching was a better trade
than that which he was employed in, this precious teacher, together
with two other young men, hired a garret in the neighbourhood of
Soho, where they used to learn the method of addressing
themselves to a congregation. An old chair was the substitute for a
pulpit. He now began (to use his own expression) “to gammon the
old women.”—Good fortune happened at length to procure him the
notice of Old Mother Barr, of Orange-street, who, being interested in
his behalf, allowed him the use of a room of hers, in which he
treated her and a few other choice labourers in the field of piety with
his rapturous discourses.. From this he used to hold forth more
publicly. His virtues and acquirements now recommended him to
one Garrett, of notorious memory, who obtained him a living at
Banbury. It was at this place that he became obnoxious. Having
made several violent attempts upon some young men while at that
place, he was driven out from thence, by the trustees of the chapel
in which he preached, and ordered never to show his face there
again. He hastily decamped, leaving behind him his wife and
children; and the police officers having been sent in pursuit, their
searches proved fruitless, and it was a long time before he was
heard of. He once more retired into the country, but was called from
his solitude, to use his influence in town, by a man of his own
disgraceful kind, named Kitty Cambric, and well know at the Swan,
in Vere Street. It is proper to observe here that some of these
wretches assume the names of women, and that they are absolutely
married together, as will be shown presently, from Church’s having
been the parson who performed the blasphemous mock ceremony of
joining them in the ties of “Holy Matrimony.” He now settled himself
at Chapel Court, in the Borough, when his old friend Garrett, publicly
charged him with a wicked and diabolical offence, as the law says,
“not to be named amongst Christians,” and he was obliged to run
away from this accusation. By some fortuitous event he at length
got possession of the Obelisk Chapel, where he began to deliver his
doctrines to those who were foolish and ignorant enough to attend
to his fulsome and incoherent exclamations. Several young men,
whose names are known to the writer, who were accustomed to
hear him, were obliged to leave him in consequence of his having
used them in a manner too indecent to be mentioned or hinted at.
E. B. a respectable tradesman, residing in the Borough of
Southwark, has informed the writer of the present article, that this
parson, or rather this monster, when be was about to preach, would
frequently say—“Well, I am going to tip ’em a gammoning story; my
old women would believe the moon to be made of green cheese if I
was to tell them so; and I must tell them something.” The writer
has also been informed, from credible authority, that Church was a
constant attendant in Vere-street, and that the gang of miscreants
who met at the public-house there, some of whom stood in the
pillory about seven or eight years ago, had nominated him to be
their Chaplain, and that he officiated in that capacity. By virtue of
his functions in this situation, he was often employed in joining these
monsters in the “indissoluble tie of matrimony!!!” They were
absolutely wedded together. One evening, when Church visited this
infamous place of resort, one of the gang observed, “Here’s Parson
Church. Aye, Parson, how d’ye do? Have you come to see our
Chapel?”—Church replied, “Yes, and to preach too.”
In addition to the above account is the following, communicated by
the before-mentioned E. B. who happened, unfortunately, to be an
attendant at Church’s meeting house, when the latter took notice of
and formed an acquaintance with him, commencing as usual with
pious exhortations, and then followed up by distrusting freedoms.
Mr. B. however, struck with horror at such conduct, abandoned the
place, when he received two letters from Church, of which the
following are copies:—
Dear Ned—May the best of blessings be yours in life and in
death, while the sweet sensations of real genuine disinterested
friendship rules every power of your mind body and soul. I can
only say I wish you was as much captivated with sincere
friendship as I am but we all know our own feelings best—
Friendship those best of names, affection those sweetest power
like some powerful charm that overcomes the mind—I could
write much on this subject but I dare not trust you with what I
could say much as I esteem you—You would consider it as
unmanly and quite effeminate, and having already proved what
human nature is I must conceal even those emotions of love
which I feel. I wish I had the honor of being loved by you as
much and in as great a degree as I do you. Sometimes the
painful thought of a separation overpowers me, many are now
trying at it but last night I told the persons that called on me
that let them insinuate what they would I would never sacrifice
my dear Ned to the shrine of any other friend upon earth—and
that them who did not like him, should have none of my
company at all. I find dear Ned many are using all their power
to part us but I hope it will prove in vain on your side the effect
that all this has upon me is to make me love you ten times more
than ever, I wish opposition may have the same effect upon you
in this particular but I fear not. however I am confident if you
love me now or at any other time my heart will ever be set upon
you nor can I ever forget you till death. Your leaving of me will
break my heart, bring down my poor mind with sorrow to the
grave and wring from my eyes the briny tears, while my busy
meddling memory will call to remembrance the few pleasant
hours we spent together. I picture to my imagination the
affecting scene the painful thought, I must close the affecting
subject ’tis more than my feelings are able to bear—My heart is
full, my mind is sunk, I shall be better when I have vented out
my grief. Stand fast my dearest Ned to me I shall to you
whether you do to me or no, and may we be pardoned,
justified, and brought more to the knowledge of Christ. O help
me to sing—
 When thou my righteous Judge shall come
To fetch thy ransom’d people home,
May I among them stand,
Let such a worthless worm as I,
That sometimes am afraid to die,
Be found at thy right hand.
I love to meet amongst them now,
Before thy gracious feet to bow,
Tho’ vilest of them all;
But can I bear the piercing thought,
What if my name should be left out,
When thou for them should call.
Learn these two verses by heart and then I will write two more,
as they are expressions of mind fears sensations and desires—I
must close, I long to see your dear face again, I long for Sunday
morning till then God bless you.
3d March, 1809.
I remain unalterably thy dear thy loving friend,
J. CHURCH.

The following, without a date, was written by Church to Mr. B. who

received it on or about the 15th day of March, 1809:—

Dear Sir—Is this thy kindness to thy once professed much loved
friend, surely I never, never did deserve such cruel treatment at
your hands; why not speak to me last night in James-street
when you heard me call, Stop! stop! Ned! do, pray do: but
cruel, cruel Ned, deaf to all intreaties—O why was I permitted to
pass the door of Mr. Gibbons when you and West were coming
out. Why was I permitted to tramp up and down the New Cut
after you; I wanted to speak one bitter heart breaking painful
distressing word, farewell: I only wanted to pour my sorrows
into your bosom, to shake hands with you once more, but I was
denied this indulgence. I never, never thought you would
deceive me—O what an unhappy man am I; the thing that I
most feared is come upon me, no excuse can justify such
apparent duplicity; O my distress is great indeed. O my God!
what shall I do? O Christ! O God! support me in this trying
hour, what a night am I passing through; I cannot sleep, its
near three o’clock; alas! sleep is departed, how great my grief,
how bitter my sorrows, the loss of my character is nothing to
the loss of one dearer to me than any thing else. O let me give
vent to tears; but I am too, too much distressed to cry; O that I
could. I feel this like a dagger; never, never can I forgive the
unhappy instrument of my distress in Charlotte-street. Why did
my dear friend Edward deceive me? O how my mind was eased
on Wednesday night; alas, how distressed on Thursday. I have
lost my only bosom friend, nearest dearest friend, bosom from
bosom torn, how horrid. Ah, dear Suffolk-court, never surely
can I see you again. How the Philistines will triumph; there, so
would we have it: how Ebeir, Calvin, Thompson, Edwards,
Bridgman, all will rejoice, and I have lost my friend, my all in
this world, except the other part of myself, my wife, and poor
babes; never did I expect this from my dear E— B—. O for a
clam mind, that I might sleep till day light; but no, this I fear
will be denied me. How can I bear the piercing thought,
parted; a dreadful word, worst of sensations, the only
indulgence, the only confident, the only faithful, the only kind
and indulgent sympathising friend, to lose you. O what a
stroke; O what a cut, what shall I do for matter on Sunday; O
that I could get some one to preach for me, how can I lift up
my head. O Sir, if you have a grain of affection left for me, do
intreat of God to support me; this is a worse affliction than the
loss of my character nine months ago. A man cannot lose his
character twice. O I did think you knew better: I did think I had
found one in you that I could not find elsewhere; but no, the
first object presented to you, seen suddenly, gained your mind,
gained your affections; and I, poor unhappy distressed I, am
left to deplore your loss. O for submission, but I am distressed;
woe is me. O that I had never, never known you, then I should
 never feel what I do; but I thank you for your company hitherto,
I have enjoyed it four moths exactly, but this is over for ever;
miserable as I am, I wish you well for ever, for ever. I write in
the bitterness of my soul which I feel. May you never be cursed
with the feelings I possess as long as you live. What a day I
have before me; I cannot go out of my house till Sunday
morning. How can I conceal my grief from my dear wife? how
shall I hide it? what shall I say? I am miserable, nor can I
surmount the shock at all. I have no friend to pour out my
sorrows to now, I wish I had; I am sorry you are so easily
duped by any to answer their purposes; my paper is full, my
paper is full, my heart is worse; God help me; Lord God support
me! what shall I do, dear God! O Lord! have mercy on me, I
must close; this comes from your ever loving but distressed
J. CHURCH.

For some years past, the person just named has been getting a
living by preaching as a Minister of the Gospel in an obscure
conventicle close to the Surrey Theatre. In the mean time, reports
had gone abroad that he was addicted to certain abominable
propensities; and certain gentlemen in the neighbourhood, not
actuated by any jealousy towards a successful “rival in the vineyard,”
but dreading the disgrace and pollution which Christianity might
suffer from the immoral character of any of its teachers, investigated
these rumours; and the facts now related came to light. James
Cook, who kept the infamous house in Vere Street, was released
from his two years imprisonment in Newgate, on the 21st of
September 1812. In the course of a few days after, he accidentally
met John Church, and recognized him as the gay parson whom he
had formerly seen at a certain house in the London Road, and at his
own house in Vere Street. A friendly correspondence then took
place between these two old acquaintances. About the 13th of
October, Cook received a letter from him. In this the Minister of the
Gospel offers his assistance to the “Vere Street Culprit,” to enable
him to set up another public house, as the reader will perceive from
perusing the letter itself:—

Dear Sir,
Lest I should not have time to call on you or converse with you
at I shall not be alone to Day I thought it But right to Drop you
a Line I wish you all the success you can desire in getting a
house fit for the Business in the public Line as you had a great
many acquaintance, they ought not to fail you if every one
acted right according to there ability I am sure you would soon
accomplish it. As I am by no means Rich, But rather
embarrassed I hope you will accept my mite towards it 1l. 1s.
and you shall have another as convenient wishing you all
prosperity.
I remain Your’s, sincerely.
J. CHURCH.
for Mr. Cook, at mr. Halladays Richmond Budgs. Dean St.

There is another letter bearing the two-penny post nark of the 20th
of October.—It is as follows:—

Dear Sir,
I received your note this morning in Bed, as I have contracted
such a Dreadful cold Being wet on Tuesday I am very much
grieved i have not been able to comply with the request
concerning Mr. C— But I shall certainly keep my eye upon him
and Do him all the Good it lays in my power where ever he is he
knows my Disposition too well to impute any remissness to my
conduct But I cannot do impossibilities as I have Lately had and
have now Got so many Distressing cases in hand Beside, I will
Be sure to call on you as soon as I can—But am not able to day
I remain Yours. J CHURCH.
 32 hercules Buildings
Badly directed to Mr. Oliver, or (Holloway) No. 6, Richmond’s
buildings, Dean Street, Soho.

The next document it a letter dated March 7, 1810, from a person at

Banbury named Hall, of which the following is a copy:

Honoured Sir—In reply to your letter concerning Mr. C. I can only

inform you, there was a report against him of a very scandalous
nature; but how far his culpability extends, it is quite out of my
power to determine. He was absent from hence when the
rumour first spread. The Managers of our Chapel took great
pains to enquire into the origin of such reports, and the result
was, they sent Mr. C. positive orders, never, on any account, to
return to Banbury again; which advice he has hitherto wisely
observed. Now, Sir, after giving you the above information, I
beg leave to conclude the subject, by referring you to your own
comment hereon.
(Signed) S. Hall.
Banbury, March 7, 1810.

Then follows a letter from Wm. Clarke of Ipswich, a young man

between 19 and 20 years of age, which contains an account of
attempts too horrid to be published. The written confession
(frightful indeed it is) of this poor simple young man, whose mind
was bewildered by the canting exhortations of Church; and the
whole of his statements corroborated by the oral testimony of Mr.
Wire, who resides at Colchester, and knows Clarke very well. The
circumstances related by Clarke would have furnished ample
grounds for a criminal prosecution had he made his complaint
immediately after the assault was committed:—but suffering under
the influence of ignorance and fear, he kept it a secret too long, and
afterwards accepted of a pound note from Church. A case was laid
before two eminent barristers, to have their opinion whether such a
prosecution could be carried on with any prospect of conviction.
Their opinion, in writing, is, that after the long concealment of a
Charge, a Jury would pay no attention to his evidence, unless he
was confirmed in his story by other evidence.

Extract from the Confession of Wm. Clark, of Ipswich.

Having been called by Providence to Colchester, I went to hear
John Church preach in a barn, was invited to Mr. Abbott’s; was
prevailed upon to sleep with John Church; I did sleep with him
three nights; after being enticed to many imprudencies, I was
under the necessity to resist certain attempts, which, if I had
complied with, I am fearful must have ruined both soul and
body; the crime is too horrid to relate.
William Clark.
Richard Patmore
J. Ellison
C. Wire
H. T. Wire
Witnesses.
P.S.—This took place in March last, 1812.

The peace of this poor lad’s mind however is completely destroyed,

so fatally has the event preyed upon him;—so far so as to fill the
bosom of his aged father with such a spirit of indignation and
revenge, that he actually came up to London with a full
determination to be the death of him who had thus ruined the peace
of his beloved son, while the mother’s mind was not less distracted
than that of the father. In consequence of this, the father entered J.
Church’s meeting house, with two loaded pistols, one in each
pocket; but under the excess of agitation, he fainted away, and was
carried out of the place.
The following will cast some light on the preceding:
 Colchester, September 16, 1812.
Sir—Last evening I had an interview with Clark’s father, who
wishes him to comply with your wishes. I mentioned to him
respecting Church’s conduct, and I find the last night to be the
worst. Likewise that he would have committed the act had not
Clark prevented him. The particulars I told you when in
London, but find them worse than what I described to you.
They are not able to be at any expence; but if the Gentlemen
wish to prosecute, and to pay Clark’s expences up to London,
&c. he will have no objection to come when you please to send.
I need only say, I wish you to inform the Gentlemen, and give
me a line.
I am, dear, Sir, yours, &c.
C. Wire.

The following is a narrative which Cook has given of his

acquaintance with Parson Church; and which was taken down from
his own dictation by Mr. E— B—:

In May, 1810, I was in company with Mr. Yardley and another

young man by the name of Ponder. I found after that the said
Ponder was a drummer in the Guards; I called at a house in the
London Road, where I saw Mr. Church the first time in my life:
there was at this house about twelve or fourteen altogether,
drinking gin, and Mr. Church handed me a glass of the same,
which I took; Church behaved very polite to me, and said what
a fine fellow I was; he pressed me very much to stop and get
tea with them, for he said he would call and see me when I was
settled in the house in Vere-street. I stopped a little while, and
was about to leave them, when Church said I should not go
before I had tea, and flung down a dollar; and a man, by the
name of Gaiscoin, took the money and went for the tea and
other things, but I would not stay: Church came out of the room
with me, and walked with me as far as the turnpike; there he
met another gentleman, which I never saw before, and I went
on and left him for that time; I think it was six or eight days. I
went to live at the Swan, and saw Church again; he came about
three o’clock in the afternoon, and Mr. Yardley accosted him,
“Parson, what! are you come to see the chapel?” He said “Yes,
and to preach too.” Church asked me how I was; I said I was
not very well: he asked me why I went away in that shy
manner; I told him he was a stranger to me, and I did not like
to be intruding on strange people: he said I was shy—he did not
know what to make of me; he also pressed me very much to
take a walk with him, but I declined it: he said I must go, but I
still declined, and did not go with him: he staid some time, and
joined the company in the back parlour—persons by the name
of Miss Fox and Miss Kitty Cambrick was among them, and the
Queen of Bohemia. As Mr. C. was going away, he came to the
bar and spoke to me, and said I must take something to drink,
which I did, and he paid for it, and left the house for that time,
in a few days he called again, in the afternoon, and there was
not many people there; he asked if Yardley was at home; I said
he was not: he said he was very sorry for it: I asked him what
he wanted; he said he came on purpose for me to take a walk
with him, but I did not go: he said he would wait until Yardley
came in. Church said I should do him a great favour if I would
take a walk with him; I would not go—he still pressed me very
much to go: I said I would if he would wait till I had cleaned
myself: he waited more than two hours for me; I went to sleep
because I would not go with him; and in the mean time he
waited so long that he was tired; he sent the waiter to call me,
which he did, and said the Parson wanted me, and had been
waiting two hours for me; I said, let him wait, for I should not
come; he returned, and said if I would but speak to him, he
should go away happy: I found I could not get rid of him—I
went down stairs; he said, well, sir, I hope your nap has done
you good; I said, I don’t know, don’t bother me. He said I was
very cross to him; I told him there was other men without me; if
he wanted to preach, not to preach to me about crossness. He
said, well, if that was the case, he was very sorry he had
 offended me; I told him he had not offended me nor pleased
me; but as I was not well, the less any one talked to me the
better I liked it; he said, if I was but friends with him, and shake
hands with him, he should go away happy. Mr. Yardley said he
never see such a fellow as I was, for I had affronted every body
that came to the house. I then shook hands with the Parson,
for at that time I did not know his name. He shook hands with
me, and we had something to drink, and Mr. Church paid for it
and went away. I never saw him until I came out of Newgate; I
was talking to Mr. and Mrs. Holloway, and telling them there was
a Parson somewhere about St. George’s Fields, but his name I
did not know. He asked me if I should know him if I saw him, I
said I should; by that I went to the Chapel and saw Mr. Church,
and then I asked the people what was the Parson’s name; they
told me his name was Church. I said he ought to be ashamed
of himself to preach there, a *** and rascal, and left the place,
and went home in the greatest pains I ever felt in my life, and
was resolved to see him, which I did the next day, and give him
one of the hand-bills; and the manner he received me, was like
a young man would his sweetheart;—I begun my conversation:
Well, Sir, I suppose you do not know me? He said he did not. I
said my name was Cook, that kept the Swan, in Vere-street. He
said he thought so, but was not sure: he said, why did I not call
before and shake hands with a-body. I told him I did not know
where he lived, nor I did not know his name until I went to the
chapel and found him out. He told me not to make it known
that he ever came to my house, for he and Rowland Hill had
daggers drawn, and that he should be obliged to indite Hill to
clear up his character, and for God’s sake do not expose me.—
(Here the narrative breaks off.)

There are various other documents which are too voluminous to

notice at present. The point to direct the attention of the public is,
the extraordinary circumstance of a man continuing to exercise the
functions of a christian pastor up to the present time, with such
heavy imputations as these hanging over his head. He knew that
the whole neighbourhood rung with accusations; he knew that some
hundreds of publications containing charges so severe, that any
statements compared to them, “were lenity and compassion,” have
been sold in St. George’s-fields.
The reader may probably have some curiosity to know what sort of a
preacher this person is. I have gone to hear him; and I pity his poor
deluded followers. He does indeed deliver himself in a full, clear,
articulate tone of voice; but to criticise his style, or analyse the
substance of his discourse, would be a fruitless labour: it would be
like dissecting a cobweb. Unmeaning rhapsodies, and unconnected
sentences, through which the faintest gleam of morality is not to be
traced, must, from their evanescent nature, set the powers of
recollection at defiance; they even escape from the lash of one’s
contempt. In his countenance there is none of that dignified
mildness, none of that subdued expression of piety which one often
observes in Christian preachers whose habits of life are conformable
to their precepts. His manner is forward and imposing; and his eyes
are continually employed in staring at some person among his
auditors. [11]
The following Character is given of Church by Mr. George Gee and
his wife, who live in the New Cut, Lambeth Marsh.

“Mr. Church the Minister lodged at our house a year and a half,
and left last year at Lady-day.
“We were in hopes that we were about to have a godly praying
minister in our house, and to be sure, the first night he had
somewhat like prayer, and that and once afterwards, were the
only times he ever went to family prayer in our house. Nor
could they have any prayer, as he would be frequently out
almost all hours of the night, and would lie in bed till ten o’clock
in the morning. Several times he and his wife would have
skirmishings and fightings between themselves, while their
children would be left to run about the streets out of school
hours, and allowed to keep company with children that would
swear in our hearing most shockingly. His children were always
left to be very dirty, and would be sent sometimes three or four
times in the morning for spirituous liquors of all sorts; as for
reading good books or even the Bible, he scarce ever thought of
it, but would spend a deal of his time in loose and vain talk, in
walking about, and in fawning on young men, that was his chief
delight.
“Sundays and working days were all alike to them, for they
would send out to buy liquors and whatever else they wanted,
on Sundays as well as other days.
“The house would be frequently more like a play-house (I might
say a bawdy house) than a minister’s house, where a set of
young people would come, and behave more indecently than
ought to be mentioned. Even one Sunday morning they made
such an uproar, as that they broke one of the windows, and
after that, they would go with him to his Chapel, and after that
he would give the sacrament to such disorderly people, let their
characters be ever so loose.”
“He was always ready to go fast enough out to dinner or supper,
where he could get good eating and drinking; but poor people
might send to him from their sick bed, times and times before
he would come to them. Seeing so much of his inconsistencies
and shocking filthiness in their rooms, (though they always paid
the rent,) we were determined to give them warning to quit our
house, and we do think that a worse man or woman never
came into any man’s house before, especially as Mr. Church
pretended to preach the gospel; such hypocrites are much
worse than others, and besides this, we never heard any man
tell lies so fast in all our lives. It is a great grief to us that ever
we went to hear him preach, or suffered him to stop so long in
our house.”
“GEORGE AND FRANCES GEE.”
In addition to the above testimonies, the writer has received a very
long narrative of atrocities committed by John Church while he
resided at Banbury, written by a Minister at that place; but the facts
are too disgusting and shocking to be published.

On the 6th of June 1813, the Grand Jury for the County of Middlesex
found a Bill of Indictment against John Church for his attempt some
years ago on a lad named Webster. Incredible as it may appear, this
very man, on the very evening of the day he was held to bail for trial
on the most horrid charges, given on oath, had the impudence to go
into his chapel and preach to a crowded audience.
At the Middlesex Sessions on Monday the 12th of July 1813, he was
tried and acquitted. Indeed, it was never imagined that any other
verdict than one of acquittal would have been given. If the reader
looks back to the proceedings at Union Hall, he will find that this
prosecution was ORDERED by the Magistrates of that Office, and did
not originate with the prosecutor, William Webster, on whom the
abominable attempt was alleged to have been made (now fourteen
years ago). The very mention of the attempt was a mere incidental
circumstance arising out of another proceeding then before the
Magistrates. Let the Reader also take notice of the following
sentence:—“The Magistrate observed, that from the length of time
which had elapsed since the offence had been committed, he
thought a Jury would not feel justified in finding him guilty.” This
William Webster, therefore, must be considered, in all respects, as an
unwilling prosecutor. He was supported only by one counsel, then of
young standing (Mr. Adolphus), who had to struggle against two of
the most able advocates (Messrs. Gurney and Alley) in the criminal
courts. It appears also that Webster gave his evidence with
embarrassment and trepidation, and that he suffered himself to fall
into some inconsistencies. With this solitary and confused evidence,
and after a lapse—after a silence of ELEVEN YEARS, was it possible to
suppose that a Jury would have found any man guilty? It must here
be observed, that the decision on this solitary complaint of eleven
years standing, does not in the slightest degree affect any of the
numerous accusations of a more recent date which have been made
against John Church.

Several persons have been at a loss to know by what authority this

man presumed to take upon himself the functions of a Minister of
the Gospel. They have asked how could a man so profligate—so
notoriously criminal, come forth to instruct others in religion. The
question is natural, and demands an answer. The practice among
Dissenters is, that when any man feels a strong desire to become a
preacher, he communicates the same to several Ministers, who make
strict enquiry into his qualifications as to piety, learning, morals, &c.
and if they find these established on satisfactory evidence, they then
confer on the candidate a sort of ordination, without which he can
have no authority to officiate as a minister of the Gospel. It seems,
that Church did receive some ordination of this kind at the town of
Banbury, in Oxfordshire, from which place he was driven away for
his mal-practices. Since then he has not been, under the controul,
and has acted in defiance of all the ordinances of the Dissenting
Church. He has in fact gone about as a mere isolated adventurer;
and no minister would preach in a pulpit belonging to him. Yet he
continued to preach, in defiance of Christian as well as moral
ordinances, because he could not be silenced by any legal authority,
and because he rejected all ecclesiastical government.
One character peculiar to the person we are speaking of is, that
wherever he has been admitted as a preacher, he has disturbed the
religious system, and upset the order of the place. In Colchester he
turned the whole congregation against their minister, by preaching
doctrines tending to encourage licentiousness and to foster the
worst passions. All persons acquainted with history will recollect,
that this mode of healing the consciences of profligate men was
practised by the Romish Church before the Reformation, and when it
flourished in its rankest state of corruption—when indulgences for
sins to be committed, and pardon for sins past, were openly sold for
money. The manner in which the Obelisk Preacher has conducted
the affairs of his chapel bears some resemblance to this practice;
and for the purpose of increasing his revenue, he has even
administered the sacrament to persons when intoxicated!!
However great may be the mass of folly, ignorance, and fanaticism,
which prevail throughout most of the low conventicles of this
metropolis, and however injuriously they may operate on the human
mind, their effects are innocence and virtue, compared to the
influence of that guilt which has so recently been exposed; and it is
not too much to observe that the poor silly visionaries who deal in
pictures, in miracles, and monstrous conceits, are not wilfully or
practically vicious, and that they have lashed themselves into a belief
of what they preach; therefore they cannot drag forward so close
upon the heels of Mr. John Church as to hold out an appearance of
their belonging to the same society. After Church having been held
to bail for the purpose of being tried on charges not to be named
among Christians, he ought to have abstained from entering his
pulpit, and shunned the very light, until his character was cleared up
to the satisfaction of his congregation, who ought to have deemed it
a sacrilege to be present while he attempted to promulgate the
doctrines of Christ in a place of divine worship. But one would think
there was a congeniality of sentiment and of sympathy between the
pastor and the flock! Indeed this latter remark is founded upon
something more than conjecture; for a great number of persons who
are in the habit of frequenting his chapel, have taken up the cause
of their preacher with a zeal that cannot easily be accounted for in
any way but one. They will investigate no charge; they reject all
evidence.

The following Confessional Letter, from Church, was sent to the

great surprise of the Rev. Mr. L—, two days after the offence had
been committed. It appears that Church was but very slightly
known to the above gentleman, in consequence of some money
transactions having passed between them:—
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