Transcribed from the 1817 Hay and Turner edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org [Picture: Public domain book cover] THE Rod in Pickle; OR, AN ANSWER TO THE APPEAL OF JOHN CHURCH, The Obelisk Preacher: CONTAINING AN AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF THE CAUSE OF HIS LEAVING BANBURY, IN OXFORDSHIRE: TOGETHER WITH THE Charges exhibited against him—the Meeting of his Friends in conse- quence of those Charges—and the Result of that Meeting. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, HIS LETTERS, _Written to the Managers of the Banbury Meeting-House_, _begging them_ _not to let the Cause of his Dismissal be known in London_. BY THE REV. T. LATHAM, MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. “The nearer to CHURCH the farther from GOD.”—ENGLISH PROVERBS. * * * * * London: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HAY AND TURNER, No. 11, NEWCASTLE-STREET, STRAND. 1817. _PRICE FOUR-PENCE_. * * * * * AN ANSWER TO THE _APPEAL of JOHN CHURCH_, &c. &c. &c. THERE is something so ungenerous in assailing a fallen foe—something so outrageous to humanity—that nothing but an imperative and paramount sense of duty to the public, could induce the Publishers of the following details, to notice the contents of “an Appeal to the Candid Public,” by John Church. Unfortunately for him, unfortunately for the practice he has espoused, his own account is sufficient to condemn him; so that it might justly be said of him—“Out of thine own mouth I judge thee, thou worker of Iniquity!” What, indeed, do his exculpations mean? Every where he intimates his proneness to the hateful and unpardonable sin of backsliding. But still he backslides in his sleep. Unknowing transgressor! What would society say of that female, who, acknowledging that she had been seduced, should pretend that her seduction was effected in her sleep? Professors like Church are the bane of christianity. They are tares among the wheat. Jesus may be in their mouths, penitence and pardon their prayers, but their practice is that of Satan!