{5} In the DISPATCH of the 21st ult. the Editor, when speaking of the
publicity given to the evidence respecting the Princess of Wales,
expressed the following sentiments on this question: “There are cases in
which a great deal more injury both to morals and liberty, may arise from
the suppression than the exposure of indecencies.”—“Complaints have often
been made from very high quarters of the publicity given to certain
proceedings in Courts of Justice; and it is but justice to say, that
within the last twenty years, the press has been very cautious in its
manner of relating them. But it is a matter of doubt with many wise men
whether the suppression of facts in such instances does not, upon the
whole, do more injury to public morals than a complete disclosure of
them; particularly so, if there be any suspicion that facts have been
suppressed.”
{6} Messrs. Gurney and Alley.
{7} The Reader will find this fac simile accompanying the present
pamphlet.
[Picture: Facsimile of John Church’s letter to James Cook]
{11} A Correspondent, who happened to attend two or three times at
Church’s Meeting-house, took down the following sentences from his
Sermons. They may gratify the curiosity of the reader.
“God is frequently going forth, and we also are often going to the
window to look for him; The more _vile I am_ made to appear to the
_World_ the more _God_ will _assist_ me. Every citizen is a
free-born. Many have wondered how I could go thro’ so much trouble.
There have been a great many that have wished to see me—I can inform
them I had much rather they had wished to see Christ. People may be
laughed at for being fools, but you may depend upon it the more God
will like them. All that believe not will certainly be damned. The
duties of Christianity are not to be preached to an ungodly world;
John Church is very much spoken of, but they had much better speak of
Jesus; the people of the established church feel no spiritual joy.
Spiritual discourse is enlivening to the senses, &c. The bread of
life is not to be given away to _Dogs_. I am not going to turn
auctioneer, but I am going to inform you that next Lord’s Day I am
going to publish a book proving that God the Son, and the Spirit, are
all one great God. My sermon will be good news and comfort to all
poor sinners; Satan and all his spirits never sleeps; the power of
life and death is only in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. Devils
are allowed to harrass the people of God day and night—no wonder they
perplex those they cant destroy. People are mostly liable to fall in
their first love into awful heresies and temptation. All the Lord’s
people do not see into the glory of my text—’tis like a jewel in a
rock of Adamant. The worst sin was the murdering of God’s saints.
When I sit in darkness the Lord will be a light unto me. Many men
laugh at the doctrine of the new birth,—are there not many learned
Doctors that know nothing of it? Let a man come under any
circumstances I will receive him;—Don’t laugh at the doctrine of
inspiration; he wise, it has often been preached by our church,—I am
never tired of preaching, and I believe my dear brethren are never
tired of hearing me. If every one that is saved should be as bright
as the sun, what a place heaven must be, where there will be so many
millions! Angels beckon me away, and Christ bids me come. The sight
of Christ, you may depend on’t, will be worth suffering for. O that
I had the voice of an archangel, I would indeed do wonders. I doubt
the superiority of one angel over another in heaven—Christ is
entirely independent, of or with God. We must have the spirit of God
before we are his people. Believe in the predestination of eternal
life, but not in eternal death; people that suffer were beforehand
predestined so to do, _by God_. Bad or horrid is the religion of a
proud Pharisee. That religion that is preached by the people of God
is God himself. There can be no going forth until the Spirit of God
has entered. The MOB is seldom stirred up but thro’ Priests, there
is now a case of the very kind; when envy bursts forth thro’ jealous
and envious neighbouring _Priests_, and published by _Deists_, there
can be nothing to fear; and I verily believe that any thing prayed
for to Christ will certainly be granted, as has always been the case
with me. Let us for ever endeavour to turn every thing, whether good
or bad, into good. I do not not believe that God begot Jesus
Christ—they say too that Joseph was an impostor at this very
day;—every thing that is done against the church is done against
Christ; also that which is done against Christ is done against the
Church; and any thing done against the people of God is done against
Christ. It is a most blessed thing that we can throw our burthens
upon Christ;—I do not care who hears me, whether _God_, or _Man_,
_Friends_, or _Foes_, _Devils_ or _Angels_, or any thing else, and
let them call me an Antinomian again if they please. There must be
spiritual life in the soul. The Lord Jesus Christ and the people of
God are all one. Christ has no sorrow but the people of God must
sympathise with him; and the people of God have no affliction but
that Christ sympathises with them.”
{20} Alluding to his being turned out of Banbury.
{21} Before Church got to bed to young Clark, he scoffed at secret
prayer. What abominable hypocrisy, to hear the same man pretending to
pray before a public congregation, where he can get himself paid for his
devotions! how he must hate and despise himself on account of his own
most odious cant!!!
{22} A full proof of this has been given, in the falsehoods he has
repeatedly urged, to ward off the charges brought against him in these
papers.
{27} I am informed that Church belongs to that sect called ANTINOMIANS,
which is thus described by the Rev. John Evans in his “Sketch of the
Denominations of the Christian World”:—
“The Antinomian derives his name from ANTI and NOMOS; signifying,
against, and a Law, his favourite tenet being, that the law is not a
rule of life to believers. It is not easy to ascertain what he means
by this position, but he seems to carry the doctrine of imputed
righteousness of Christ and salvation by faith without works to such
lengths as to injure, if not wholly destroy the obligation to moral
obedience. Antinomianism may be traced to the period of the
reformation, and its promulgator was John Agricola, originally a
disciple of Luther. The Papists in their disputes with the
Protestants of that day, carried the merit of good works to an
extravagant length; and this induced some of their opponents to run
into the opposite extreme. “This sect (say the Encyclopedia) sprung
up in England during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, and
extended the system of libertinism much farther than Agricola, the
disciple of Luther. Some of their teachers expressly maintained,
that as the elect cannot fall from grace nor forfeit the divine
favour, the wicked actions they commit are not really sinful, nor are
they to be considered as instances of their violation of the Divine
Law; consequently they have no occasion to confess their sins, or to
break them off by repentance. According to them it is one of the
essential and distinctive characters of the elect that they cannot do
any thing displeasing to God, or prohibited by Law.”
{38a} Mr. Adolphus.
{38b} Messrs. Gurney and Alley.