Jeremiah Learnoult Garrett facts for kids

Jeremiah Learnoult Garrett (born in 1764) was an English minister who didn't follow the main Church of England. He was known for his strong beliefs and powerful speeches.

Jeremiah Learnoult Garrett's Story

Early Life and Calling

Jeremiah Garrett was born on February 29, 1764, in a place called Horselydown in Southwark, London. His parents built boats for a living. Even when he was very young, he thought a lot about serious religious ideas. His father passed away when Jeremiah was young.

He went to school at Christ's College in Hertford and later at Jackson's Academy in Hampton. After school, he tried learning to be a tailor, but he didn't like it. He then became an apprentice to a boat builder in Wapping. This master treated him badly. When that master left because of debt, Jeremiah found another apprenticeship in the same business.

When he was about fourteen or fifteen, Jeremiah felt he had a special vision. He believed it was Jesus Christ. A minister who didn't belong to the main church came to see him. Jeremiah talked about his mistakes, and the minister helped him focus on his faith.

Later, Jeremiah made some poor choices. He got into trouble and spent time at the theatre. He also got into debt. After a difficult period, he started listening to the preachers of John Wesley and attended church services. He would also go out into fields and speak passionately about religious topics. People in Moorfields even started calling him a second George Whitefield, who was a famous preacher. One day, he mysteriously found £80 in his bed, which helped him pay off his debts.

Becoming a Minister

Later, Jeremiah Garrett began preaching in places like the old Rectifying House and the old Soap House in Islington. In 1788, he helped start a chapel now known as Islington Chapel in Church Street. He joined a group called Lady Huntingdon's Connexion and became an ordained minister. Around this time, he also got married.

He moved to Basingstoke, then to Wallingford, Oxfordshire, and spent about three years in Guernsey. When he came back to England, he preached for a while at Ashby-de-la-Zouch. However, his ideas about baptism were different from Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, so he left that group.

Garrett then started a business as a cotton dyer in Leicester. But he soon went back to preaching. After speaking for some time in Nottingham, he settled at Lant Street Chapel in Southwark, London, just before the year 1800. He also gave lectures at Monkwell Street Chapel in London. His religious views seemed to lean towards a belief called antinomianism, which suggests that faith alone is enough for salvation, and moral laws might not apply in the same way. The exact date of his death is not known.

His Writings

Jeremiah Garrett wrote and published several books and sermons. Here are some of them:

• The Power of an Endless Life contrasted with the Law of a Carnal Commandment. This was a sermon he gave in London in 1801.
• Rays of Everlasting Life. This book was published by 1803.
• Democracy detected, Visionary Enthusiasm corrected; or Sixpennyworth of Good Advice selected from the Scriptures of Truth. This book, likely from 1804, was an attack on the ideas of Joanna Southcott, another religious figure. She even wrote a reply to his book.
• The Songs of Sion. This was a collection of songs, probably for churches and congregations, published around 1804.
• Huntington corrected, and Garrett's Doctrine protected from the Misconstruction of the Disaffected; or a Reply to a Book lately published called "The Doctrine of Garrett refuted by William Huntington." This book, from 1808, was Garrett's response to another minister, William Huntington. They disagreed about a religious idea called the eternal sonship of Christ.

A picture of Garrett's head can be found in Joanna Southcott's book, 'Answer.'