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:—
Dear Sir—Surely upon the reception of this short note you will say, ah. Church is like all the rest of the parsons, promise much and do little, yea nothing: to your note I can only with a pained heart reply, I cannot indeed—I can scarcely write this note, my soul is too deeply pierced. About eight or nine years ago Dr. Draper left the church in the Boro’, and God opened Chaple court for me, many attended and have been blest, now a singular providence but a most distressing one has occurred to take me shortly from my dear, dear family and beloved congregation. But God has sent Mr. L— to preach all the truth to my poor dispersed flock, at least so it appears to me, and I would do all the good to promote the success of Mr. L— that my poor people might not be starv’d till I return to them in peace, which may be many months. My heart is broken, my enemies have ruined me at last, and I shall never, never surmount it, an unpleasant affair happening at Vauxhall, is added too, and I must take the consequences: no arm can help, relieve, or deliver but the Lord’s, and I feel persuaded the Lord will not: judge my feelings if you can. I shall secretly come and hear you, to get all the good I can to an heart deprest, disconsolate, and full of woe. O the joy of my enemies! O the distress of my friends! O my poor heart! Let a sigh go up to God for me when you can.
Yours in the utmost distress,
J. C.
The following are the remarks of the Gentleman to whom the above Letter was addressed:—
A self-sent divine and a beloved brother of the Reverend J. Church, whose name is T. A—, positively declared—(but a few weeks ago) that the very affectionate Vere-street “Mr. Church kindly put his arms round my neck and kissed me twice, and asked me politely to sleep with him.” Lord, what has sin done! However the Reverend brother T. A. further adds, “I declined the latter offer, of course,” &c. but how far this statement may be true respecting his declining the latter offer, after his allowing that pious brute to kiss him twice, must be left with the reader to judge for himself, as I am confident that none but those unclean birds, of the same nest, would in any measure wish even the slightest credit to be given to such a filthy testimony, by such an effeminate character as T. A. Again, this brother in iniquity, when speaking of another brother, in the same line of uncleanness, whose name I understand is C—, who is a person very remarkable for using the words, (when speaking of his darling Church) “bless him,” being informed by his brother A. that brother Church was about to leave town, in order to evade further inquiries, the poor thing (woman-like) fainted and fell back against a wall; but his brother A. being near him, kindly took him by the hand and raised his drooping head (dear lamb), who, when he had a little recovered the shock, they affectionately walked off together, and the fainting brother took hold of his brother A.’s hand, (“bless him,”) rubbed it affectionately, and pressed it to his bosom, wishing to have a further intercourse with him! Marvellous wickedness! may it not truly be said of such detestable monsters, in human shape, that God has given them over to vile affections and to all uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves. Burning in their own lust one towards another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which is meet. How truly awful and equally disgusting that such vile wretches should be permitted to stand up with a pretence to preach the Gospel, or that they should even profess to be believers in Jesus, as without all doubt the sin of which they stand justly charged, was invented by the arch fiend of Hell, to prevent the appearance of the seed of the woman, [15] who was to effectually bruize his head. O! my soul, come not thou into their diabolical secret! I would advise all the true followers of the meek and lowly Lamb of God, who may hitherto have been deceived as to the real character of Church and his brothers who worship with him at the Surrey Tabernacle, in the language of the Angel to Lot—
“Haste, escape for thy life, tarry not in all the plain.”—See Gen. xix. 17.
Great credit is due to Mr. Patrick for the perseverance he has manifested in bringing this hypocritical wretch to justice. Unmindful of the threats and abuse of a party, and not to be deterred by the heavy expences attending such a prosecution, he has, at length, finally triumphed over all the arts and intrigues that had been practised against his obtaining the desirable end, namely, in tearing off the mask from this pretended pious preacher, and rendering him amenable to the offended laws of his country.
It may not be improper to state one of the tricks made use of to throw the prosecutor off his guard. A limb of the law it appears, of the Jewish persuasion, gratuitously offered to conduct the prosecution for the young man; but upon a refusal being given to him, on account of Mr. Harmer being selected for such purpose, it was ultimately discovered that this philanthropic Israelite had been exerting himself towards exculpating Church, with all the ingenuity he was master of in his defence, from the heinous offence alledged against him. The “law’s delay” was resorted to, but only to put off the trial till the next assizes, but the expences materially increased, as a means of deterring the prosecutor from proceeding. It is however lamentable to observe, that the charges in bringing such a wretch to justice, should amount to eighty or ninety pounds!
The wife of Church, upon being made acquainted with his diabolical propensities, became distracted, and was in a continual state of intoxication, till death relieved this unfortunate woman from her troubles. But it appears that since he has been charged with the above detestable offence, in order (we presume under the mask of hypocrisy,) to rescue in some degree his character from the public odium with which it had been marked, induced him to marry a respectable woman, who kept a seminary for young ladies at Hammersmith. The verdict of “Guilty” had been scarcely pronounced, when the relatives of the children, with the greatest promptitude possible, took them all away from the said school.
Notwithstanding the above confessional letter, (see page [14],) for the authenticity of which we can vouch, having the original in our possession, on the Sunday after it was sent, he had the audacity and wickedness to stand up in his pulpit, and endeavour to calumniate his accusers and assert his own innocence; but this effrontery, it seems, has at length left him, since the verdict of twelve impartial men have pronounced him guilty, that on Sunday last (Aug. 17.) he had not the temerity again to face the numerous audience that had assembled both within and without the walls of his chapel.
From the acknowledgment of this monster himself, the profits of this precious recepticle produced him from 1000l. to 1200l. annually.
Printed by HAY and TURNER, 11, Newcastle-street, Strand.
OF WHOM MAY BE HAD,