ness he was a regular hearer at the Baptist chapel. Subsequently, a short time was passed in London for improvement, when he attended the ministry of the Rev. Dan Taylor, in Church Lane, Whitechapel; and here he made the acquaintance of the late John Heard, Esq., of Nottingham, who was about his own age, and whom in stature and general appearance he somewhat resembled. Having attained his majority he returned to Chesham, began business on his own account, and became again a regular attendant at the General Baptist chapel. The late Rev. E. Sexton and others believed him to be a Christian, and were anxious he should unite with the church; but his natural timidity and diffidence made him shrink from

a public profession. At length, however, the matter was so urgently pressed upon him by the Rev. Dan Taylor, in a long conversation they had together after Mr. T. had been preaching at Chesham, that he felt he dare delay no longer, and resolved to offer himself to the church. was baptized and received to fellowship in the month of September, 1805, when in the twenty-third year of his age.

He

In 1810 he was unanimously elected a deacon. For several years he was superintendent of the Sunday school. He always manifested the deepest interest in the welfare of the church, was delighted to see a good congregation, and to mark every sign of prosperity. He was remarkably industrious and careful in the management of his business, and succeeded in amassing a considerable fortune; but he was never heard to boast of his wealth, or to take credit to himself for his acquisitions. His tastes and habits were singularly simple and inexpensive; but they were such as accorded with his own idea of comfort. He was quite free from assumption; notwithstanding the position he so long

held in the church, and the amount of his contributions to its various objects, he required no more homage or attention than the humblest member of the congregation. He was a lover of peace; and though this is a quality not much admired by certain hectoring spirits to be found both in the world and the church, yet, in "the sight of God," the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is of great price." He was a staunch dissenter, a sincere General Baptist, and a warm friend of our Mission and College. Many who have known something of his means have often wished that he had consecrated more of his wealth to the cause of God, and some who have known him most intimately have spoken of his lack of proportionate liberality as his only failing. For the greater part of two years he was prevented from filling up his place in the sanctuary by a gradual breaking up both of his bodily and mental powers. In his more lucid` moments he often spoke of himself as a poor unworthy sinner, and of the work of Christ as his only trust, quoted favourite texts and hymns, and asked about the congregation, the progress of the church, the welfare of the Foreign Mission and the College. It was judged that he might continue sometime longer, but the excessive heat which prevailed in the month of July seemed to hasten the crisis, and he quietly breathed his last on the 31st of that month, at the advanced age of eightyfive. He was interred in the Cemetery, in the same vault as his respected son-in-law, the late Rev. G. W. Pegg.

The writer of this brief sketch has desired us to make any corrections or additions which we deem to be required.

An acquaintance with Mr. Garrett extending over a quarter of a century enables us to bear a truth

ful testimony to his general worth as a Christian man, as well as to record a few of his peculiar excellencies. His affability and gentleness were such as are not usually perceptible in those who occupy the ranks of the rich. Shunning everything like "a vain show," he bore himself pleasantly toward the poorest of the people; and while there were none of those low manners which might encourage improper freedom, there was nothing so lofty in his deportment as to forbid their nearest access to him.

Among his neighbours and townspeople he was familiar and active, like one who was anxious for the public good; but we never heard of his being so forward and officious in matters of local interest as to make himself offensive. He seemed to have no ambition to exercise the power of even a petty magnate.

As a landlord he was unexacting and even generous toward his numerous tenants. Fixing and keeping their rents low, he was anxious for their success, and pleased to see them prosper through the blessing of God on their own thrift and industry.

But his most prominent peculiarity deserving notice from us was his sterling piety. Measuring him by themselves the people of the world might suppose him to be a votary of wealth but judging him by his long continued practice we may pronounce him to have been pre-eminently "a worshipper of God." While his health and strength permitted he was nearly always present at the week-night prayer-meeting,no week-night sermon being exacted in the Chesham church. Early on every Sunday forenoon he was to be seen in the vestry leading a prayermeeting, kept by a few whom the occasion best suited, until the time for commencing public worship. He was scarcely ever absent from one of

291

the three preaching services which from time immemorial had been considered needful to the maintenance of the cause, but which are now, without any detriment to it, reduced to two, so far as the pastor is concerned. Allowing for the drowsiness which could not be driven away from such an overstrained attendance in a chapel filled with human bodies, Mr. Garrett's whole soul appeared to be absorbed in these Sabbath services. He kept a close watch over the congregations, to notice either members who might be absent, or strangers who were present, and would often move from his place, or beckon with his hand, to secure proper accommodation for his fellow-worshippers. His own pew, always pleasant to him, was never so much enjoyed as when it contained one or more of these occasional comers.

During much of the extended term of his diaconal office he had nearly the whole management of the seat rents. On each quarter day he took his usual seat in the vestry at the appointed time to receive the payments due; and the majority of the seat-holders had acquired the corresponding habit of meeting him there. The income thus derived being part of the pastor's stipend, the considerate deacon lost no time in transferring it to the proper place. At the stroke of nine o'clock on Monday morning he would be seen at or near the pastor's door with the larger instalment of the quarter's amount, not waiting even for another week for any residue which might then come in. Nor was this the only way in which he manifested his delicate regard for the pastor. Seldom was any service concluded without some word of approbation being spoken, and some wish being expressed that such and such good effects might follow. This almost habitual commendation and well

wishing were so pronounced as to suggest no suspicion of insincerity, and as to breathe none of the perfume of flattery. His kind words on the Lord's-day would be seconded by other signs of good will during the week; so that a truer and better friend we never expect to find.

Concerning his liberality as a giver of money there is some difficulty in speaking the precise truth. To the Chesham cause he contributed largely, and might have done more but for an impression he had that some would take advantage of it by giving so much less. To what pertained to other churches, and to the denomination, his hand was often open. That he did not respond to all distant appeals, or answer all letters asking for help, may be admitted without casting any reflection on either his generosity or courtesy. Being reputed to be very rich, and having his name in so many subscription lists, he was besieged with applications for money, some of which he was compelled silently to refuse. But the cases which he did assist were so numerous that many will gratefully remember him

as one who gave "with simplicity." No one was more prompt to come to the relief of our Foreign Mission in its emergencies; and those who read the roll of contributors to the Chilwell College premises, given in the present year's Report, will find the name of John Garrett at the head. His annual subscriptions to these two leading institutions were such as to evince his deep regard for them, and their discontinuance at any time in the past would have been felt as an embarassing loss. That he should have left no legacies to the denomination, or even to the church with which he has been so long associated, may be a disappointment to many; but as his wealth, whatever its amount, is inherited by those who profess to "follow his faith," it is hoped and believed that some supply of this omission may be found in the faithful fulfilment of their filial stewardship. May the spirit which was upon him, and the words which the Lord put into his mouth, not depart out of the mouth of his seed, nor out of the mouth of his seeds seed, from henceforth and forever.-ED.

THE English nation will shortly be asked at the general election to ratify the decision of the House of Commons, and do an act of tardy justice, by the disestablishment of the Irish Church. Many attempts have been, and will yet be made to raise a false issue; but it cannot too strongly be insisted on that the question does not affect the claims of Protestantism

or Romanism, that it does not even involve the righteousness or wisdom of a National Establishment of religion, that it is simply whether the English people will continue to impose upon their Irish fellow-subjects, the Church of one-eighth of the people as the Church of the nation. Against all that has been said about the sanctity of property, the sin of

sacrilege, and the perils to Protestant truth, is to be placed the hard fact that the Church, on whose behalf these pleas are urged, is an alien Church; that it has utterly failed to conciliate the affection of the people among whom it is placed, and that it owes its position solely to the external force which prevents the exercise of the national will. Even the arguments by which it is often defended involve a tacit confession of the injustice of maintaining it in its present position. Its existence is justified sometimes on the ground of the service it renders to the British connection, sometimes because of the work it does in the diffusion of Protestant truth among a Roman Catholic population; but could anything more clearly indicate the injustice of the institution itself than the employment of such reasoning in its favour? The idea of a garrison Church, or a Missionary Church being erected into a National Church, would only have provoked ridicule, were it not that the arbitrary exercise of power, which has embodied this absurdity in a great institution, has aroused instead a feeling of indignant resentment.

The orignal evil is intensified by the manner in which the internal arrangements of the Church are carried out; the existence of dioceses, in which the number of Protestants does not equal the population of an ordinary parish, and of parishes, the Protestant Episcopalians of which hardly exceed the number of a large family; the maintenance of costly cathedral establishments where they are utterly useless; and the amount of money expended where there is no work to be done in return. It is true that such anomalies as these might be redressed. A fresh redistribution of ecclesiastical revenues might be adopted a few more bishoprics be suppressed some better provision made for the in

293

creasing population of the large towns. But while the scandal which at present attaches to the Establishment would thus be greatly abated, the injustice would remain unaltered. To the seven-eighths of the Irish people, to whom the State Church is an insult and an injury, it matters not whether there are six bishops or sixty whether the forces of the Church they hate are distributed wisely or foolishly. Their grievance is the existence of a Protestant Establishment in their midst, as it would be a grievance to any people in a similar position, and its injustice is felt not by themselves only, but by unprejudiced minds everywhere.

II.

The proposal to remove this crying grievance has been met by the assertion that the interests of Protestantism are bound up with its continuance; that to meet the righteous demands of the Irish people would be to extinguish the light of the Reformation in the island: and that, anomalous and unjust as at first sight it may seem to establish and endow the Church of a minority, it is necessary if Ireland is to be preserved from absolute subservience to the Church of Rome. It is assumed that it is the duty of the Government to watch over the interests of Protestant truth: that those interests are promoted by the prestige, rank, and emoluments possessed by the Irish Episcopal clergy, in consequence of the connexion of their Church with the State, and that the present state of things ought, therefore, to be perpetuated. Those who employ this argument would be the most earnest in repudiating the maxim, that the end sanctifies the means, and yet this is what their reasoning involves. They would do violence to the consciences of millions; compel them to support a

Church which they hold in deepest abhorrence; appropriate the property of the nation for the exclusive benefit of a favoured section-and all this in the interests of Protestantism! Were an injustice resembling this to be attempted by a Roman Catholic government for the maintenance of its Church, they would not be slow in denouncing its enormity. Injustice is not the less unjust because it is done in support of an orthodox creed or a Protestant Church; nor is a wrong less a wrong because it may appear to our short-sighted judgment that some great good may be secured by its commission. Everywhere, and most of all in religious matters, is it true that it is only a policy of righteousness which can give security and strength. Congregational Dissenters have, of all men, least reason to renew their professions of attachment to Protestantism, the interests of which are supposed to be bound up with the perpetuation of this wrong. They are, indeed, Protestants of Protestants, and have made no slight sacrifices in the Protestant cause. They have toiled for it; they have fought for it; they have endured reproach and contempt for it; but they love it too well to believe that it can be maintained by means of injustice and oppression.

III.

What has the State-Church system actually accomplished on behalf of Protestantism?

If the great design of its existence be to convert a nation of Roman Catholics into a nation of Protestants, it has lamentably failed. After the centuries during which it has enjoyed all these supposed advantages, the Irish Church is in as decided and as hopeless a minority today as when it first commenced its work. In no country of Europe has the Roman Catholic priest more ab

solute sway, in none is the faith which he inculcates held with a more passionate devotion. When the Irishman leaves his native country, and is freed from the influence of its surroundings, his loyalty to his Church is often shaken; but in his own land his feelings are so irritated by the signs of Protestant ascendancy, that Protestant appeals lose all their power. With all the warmth of a generous nature he clings to a Church whose sufferings have endeared it to his heart; with all the fervour of patriotism he hates its rival, which he regards as the enemy alike of his race and of his creed. Protestantism is to him the synonym for Saxon oppression, and thus its ministers, however distinguished for personal excellence, fail to exert upon him any favourable influence. Instead, therefore, of advancing, the State-Church has hindered the progress of Protestantism. In all history there is no more striking example of the ineffectiveness of carnal weapons for the great purposes of spiritual conflict. In all Christendom there is no failure so complete as that of the Church of Ireland; and it has thus failed, because the very conditions of its existence have rendered success impossible.

IV.

What injury can Protestantism sustain by the proposed disestablishment of the Irish Church?

It may lose something of its outward dignity, but it will retain all its spiritual power. That power, too, will tell with more effect when it is disencumbered of associations which have prevented its full development, and, at the same time, have fostered a prejudice which has prevented it from exercising its legitimate influence on the minds of the people. Even were the Episcopalians of Ireland to enter upon their new career in that state of destitution which