The life of the Rev. Thos. Collins.

Preface To First Edition

"\ ~K THY another Biography ? Because it pleased God to enrich this man's life with special endowments of grace of which the Church ought to be told. But, why such an unpractised pen set upon the work ? Because within his circle no other seemed able to undertake it.

Here it is, composed amid many hurries and many duties ; defective enough, doubtless, yet wealthy in such things as will thrill holy souls, instruct young Ministers, and stimulate all true hearts.

If it bless those who read, half as much as it has blessed him who has written, a great end will be answered, and no apology be needed.

Preface To Second Edition

"\I 7TTH the issue of this new edition the Author feels bound to express his thanks for the uniform kindness of reviewers ; his joy in the interest shown by the variously-named Methodist public ; his pleasure in the testimony of many former colleagues and intimate friends of Mr. Collins that, in these pages, they have found a true portrait of the man ; and above all his gratitude to Almighty God for the plentiful assurances he has received that, by Divine blessing, the book has been made useful alike to ministers and people, and both as an instrument of conversion and of quickening. These results have been his abundant reward. That the book may continue to serve such ends is his only wish.

Contents

CHAP. PAGE

XII. St. Austell and Hemel Hempstead, 1850 — 1853 313

XIV. Sowerby Bridge, 1854 — 1857 371

Chapter I. Childhood

Thomas Collins was born April 12th, 1810, near Solihull, in Warwickshire. His parents, happily for him, though poor, were pious. Augustine has a strong saying, that " he tasted of the salt of God in his mother's womb : " a forcible utterance of the fact that he was, by Monica pledged unto the Lord ere he saw the light, dedicated before be was born. This precious preconsecration of life by maternal purpose and prayer was not wanting in the case of Thomas Collins. The earliest scene in the life, the story of which we wish to tell, was singular. When the child was first brought to him, his father took him, placed a Bible on his breast, and folded the left arm round it ; then, after putting a pen in the tiny right hand, knelt down, and prayed that God would accept the lad ; would make him a faithful witness of that saving word ; would help him, with tongue and pen, to bless his fellows. This is not the only instance in which love, labouring to express itself in symbol, has become eccen trie. The device was odd, as was the chief actor in it, yet not reprehensible. Grave historians tell — and ecclesiastical purists do not censure — that infant Bernard, with equal form, and at as early an opportunity, was offered to Jesus, and thenceforth regarded as one sepa rated unto, and to be disciplined for, the most arduous

B service of the Great Master. Very likely the parents both of the, Methodist and of the mediaeval saint found real stimulus to faithful training in the memory of their voluntary pledge. Novelty of mode should not cause us to- despise what, in each case, was the outgush of feelings which God generates, delights in, and honours.

The cottage in which Thomas Collins was born was humble. Visiting it in later life, he writes : " What a poor hovel it is ! " Yet it had a charm for him which any palace would have lacked. He says, in lines only written for his children's eye, but which, for their free, sweet picture of rural child-life, and for their autobiographic value, I insert : —

From year to year I love to come

And see this spot, my natal home,

Near fifty years have pass'd away

Since here I first beheld the day ;

Yet time and distance fail to wean

My heart from this attractive scene.

Can I forget my mother's eye ?

Her voice of perfect melody ?

The joy, the calm, the sense of rest

I found, reposing on her breast ?

Here Nature show'd me first her face,

Her forms of life and wondrous ways.

Spring threw her scents and heauties round,

And Summer gambol'd on the ground ;

Rich Autumn brought her precious yield ;

Stern Winter took from her the field ;

Yet neither had a hasty reign,

For long the seasons linger'd then.

When I walk'd across the floor,

Like a -»essel leaving shore,

I remember how I sway'd,

Half rejoicing, half afraid ;

How I reap'd a rich reward

In the garden and the yard ;

Penetrated further still,

Gather'd strawberries on the hill ;

Gazed into the shining stream,

Saw young fishes swiftly swim,

Beetles clad in coat of mail.

What new sensations rose in me

When first I climb'd the apple-tree !

Alarm, — because I was so high ;

Chagrin, — because no fruit was nigh ;

For it was then, as it is now,

CHILDHOOD.

That on the high and utmost bough,

That feels the softest wind that blows,

The fruit delicious chiefly grows.

When I was good, then, for a treat,

An outer coat of honey sweet

Upon my butter and my bread

My mother, kind, would sometimes spread.

One day, in too much haste to thrive,

I made an onslaught on the hive :

Inform'd'that honey came from there,

And eager for a larger share,

I seized an opportunity

To storm the castle of the bee.

A stick of length I coolly took,

And in the hive began to poke.

Infuriate then, the little things

Avenged the insults with their stings.

Thus early, I was made to see

Impatience and dishonesty,

And all ill ways of getting gain,

Have pain and danger in their train.

I love to think on my child-days ;

That providential care to trace

Which all of good to all supplies,

And never' fails and never dies.

In water once, yet still not drown'd ;

Lost more than once, as often lound ;

On fire, the Guardian Hand was nigh,

And God preserved my infancy.

He is my Home, — my endless Home.

Let change or dissolution come ;

Let this loved spot, which saw my birth,

Be burnt, and pass, with heaven and earth ;

Yet God remains, a Home for me,

My Portion through eternity.

Both parents being devout members of the Wesleyan Methodist Society, that lowly home was ordered by them in the fear of the Lord. The family government was characterized by much piety and some oddity. The paternal method of insuring iron hardness to the boy, left to his latest days queer reminiscences of being plucked from the pillow. in winter mornings, and made uncomfortably wide awake by being plunged through thin ice, over head and ears, in the waters of a neighbouring stream. The impunity with which this Spartan regimen Was borne may be accepted as fair proof that, in its subject, native constitutional vigour was not wanting.

B 2

The course adopted for the correction of faults was quite as unusual. For some juvenile delinquency, the fathef, disliking severities of the scourge, found a substitute for them by tying the hands of the lad to the beam in the barn, and leaving him there t& contemplate, through all the dinner hour, some much-coveted apple dumplings placed, for that purpose, well in sight of his eyes, but out of all reach of his teeth.

Years of instructive experience, not possible to be thrown away upon one so keen in observation, brought, I think, some doubts of the value of these well meant, but rude and strange, expedients. A letter, written to his son in 1832, remarks, " Anger against thee never lodged in my breast. My chastisements, sometimes darkly done, were ever with an eye to thy salvation." Despite all peculiarities, the discipline practised in that cottage was, on the whole, religious, kind, and wise ; and has been so blessed of heaven that it has issued in makingjgood men and women of the somewhat numerous family subjected to it.

The father, John Collins, was a man of strong individuality, utterly unconventional, very original, of great faith, earnest zeal, indomitable courage, and almost infinite love of adventure ; of whom, if now fast fading memories could be gathered and fixed, a life might be written matching those of the early Methodist worthies of England in spirituality, and yet vying with, the racy stories of American pioneers in interest. The mother was a tender, nerve-shaken, loving woman. She suffered much in body, and was often much depressed in mind ; yet her conversation was not without a dash of- quaint humour. She had great interest in the progress of the work of God ; and it was beautiful to see how the clouds, results of physical causes, which frequently dimmed the joy of her experience, ever broke and scattered in presence of any special triumphs of grace.

The family early removed to the neighbourhood' of Redditch. His first teacher, still living, thus writes : — "His father committed him to my care at about the age of six. He was then a fine-grown, chubby little fellow, intelligent beyond his years, very imaginative., and specially full of pilgrim notions borrowed from

CHILDHOOD. 5

Bunyan." To his young mind good Christian's Progress was no allegory, but a very literal history. He himself, long after, narrating a visit to the " Eachway," the place of his home at that time, says, " I crossed the hill over which I had so often gone to school. The slope that descends from its brow was in those days firmly believed by me to be the entrance of the Valley of Humiliation. On reaching that point it was my custom to draw and open a large clasp-knife, allowed me for dinner purposes, and which had been carefully rubbed to an edge on a brick. Brandishing this formidable weapon, I ran through the hollow way, singing, in defiance of Apollyon, whom I verily expected some day to meet there, Bunyan's verse :

" But blessed Michael helped me, and I By dint of sword did quickly make him fly."

His tutor further describes him as much impressed with solemn conceptions of the spirit world, — a thing very natural for one possessed of such a quick and realizing fancy, — of unusual thoughtfulness, and little avidity for play ; full of strange queries ; and, altogether, a singular, noticeable child.

He remarks, that " his thoughts were uncommon, and Ijis questions often such as I had neither expected nor could answer." In a class conversation, of which the subject was the healing of Malchus, the boy at once affirmed his belief to be, that the Saviour's touch restored not the ear, but the hearing, of the smitten man : an economy of miracle power which many a German professor of venerable years would esteem to be a bright thought, and which, in the lips of a seven-yearold critic, certainly showed a mind precociously active. Holy Scripture was not only thought of, but, in his simple manner, unfalteringly accepted as a rule of conduct. His master observing that, dinner over, unlike the rest of the boys, he gave the rest of the hour to reading and quiet, asked him, " Why not join the games ? " The reply was a citation of i Cor. x. 7 : " Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them ; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." We smile at the child's exposition, but we delight in the child's conscience. Play after meat, with that text in view, wore to him a suspicious look.

An unfledged bird fails to soar, for want of strength and feathers ; but its upward leap reveals its native instinct for flight, and is the promise that hereafter it will fly. This incipient criticism, exposition, obedience, and Apollyon defiance, marked, in child-forms, the existence of heavenly gifts, which, when matured and cultured, adorned the man.

"Ye have killed My children," said God to Molochworshipping Israelites. " All souls are Mine," saith He ; His by creating fiat and by redeeming blood ; His, then, every babe that breathes.

Knowing this, of all brought to us, (of course, supposing no flagrant unfitness of the bringers to take part in any holy service,) we reject not any from baptismal recognition. We put on everyone — why should we not? — the seal-mark of the Great Proprietor.

Baptism does not cause its recipient's relation to our nature's second Federal Head, but attests it ; does not confer prevenient grace, but symbolizes and seals it.

With this agree the terms of Christ's children's charter, "Suffer little children " — little children, as such; little children, universally — " to come unto Me : " not that they may be made this, that, or the other, as common, ancient, mischievous error, thousand-tongued, proclaims it : but, because as the Master saith, " of such is the kingdom of heaven." In placing each child's name in the book of the church, we do but wisely conform the earthly register to the heavenly. Christ hath redeemed all, — claims all, — in the inventory of His subjects includes all. The ecclesiastical acknowledgment is the sequence of the mediatorial. Let holy rites^ declare them His : for reason good, — they are His.

While we prize the ritual of the font, yet in our thoughts we no way confine grace to that ritual. Children of devout Baptists and pious Quakers, because lacking water, do not therefore lack relation to Christ, or fail of their share in that " free gift " that hath come " upon all men." An Apostle writes it, "The Head of

CHILDHOOD. J

every man is Christ : " Him a Gospel proclaims as " the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Beams of mercy from Him cleave the thick darkness in every soul. His grace kindleth conscience — "the candle of the Lord" — in baptized and unbaptized alike.

The acknowledgment of the universality of blessing for childhood, in virtue of the creation and the cross, is' no denial of the fact, that children of true believers have supplemental blessings also. Faith in benefits common to humanity, in nothing contradicts expectation of the special benefits accruing from godly paternity.

As a parent, Mr. John Collins felt comfort in "the Gospel preached unto Abraham;" which "the Law four hundred and thirty years after could not disannul ;"' which Gospel still remains in force. The gracious pledge, dear to every godly father's heart, is, " I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee." This gem for the family St. Peter set afresh, when, in the plenary inspiration of Pentecost, he said, "The promise is unto you and to your children."

He held, not without Bible warranty, that until children are of age by self-action to take, and by self-will really have taken, separate standing, the Christian parent is graciously permitted to claim for them the advantages of his own. The Scripture aphorism is, " If the root be holy, so are. the branches." The case is adjudged. Paul has ruled it, i Cor. vii. 14: "Your children are holy."

At their birth he accepted his children as the Lord's. At their baptism he took them from the minister's arms as the Church's. Of a trust so precious, so solemnly committed, and so sealed, he held himself bound in aftertime to render account. His plan of carrying out that idea was this i So soon as his children reached the age of seven years, he entered their names into his classbook, led them by the hand to the meeting as auditors, and claimed for them recognition as members. If any asked, " Why should they be in ? " his reply was, " Nay, it is your business to show why they should be out ! " When one who has been an alien, a profligate, or a worldling, presents himself for admission to Churchmembership, he, of course, must be met with questions:

he has his right to prove. But childreh of Christian parents, having no stain of overt offence, are in a different case. They have a birthright — a birthright that has been publicly acknowledged ; their's it remains until they forfeit it by immorality, let it lapse by neglect, or repudiate it by perverseness. On the Church that refuses their recognition must lie tbe onus of showing 'cause.

Methodism, by its, on the whole, wise division of money burdens, according to reported numbers in membership, puts, practically, a serious check upon the wide following of this kind of parental action. Mr. John Collins once affirmed in public, " From the beginning of their seventh year, I paid a penny a week for each of my children ; " and then, reaching out his hand, he added, emphatically, " And I did that when all I had for a large family was earned by these fingers as a hardworking mason." Of course, not every poor man will have either energy or self-denial enough to do the like : we know it is not done. Statistics furnish sad proofs that there is some missing link between baptized youth and accredited membership. Many, deeply concerned, are saying, Something must be done. But what ? If, after consideration, John Collins' plan be thought healthy, the financial difficulty may be easily met, either by giving a special catechumen ticket, or by enacting that young people, so introduced, though counted in the numeration of the flock, should, until they had attained any age which a wise weighing' of the question might determine, be excluded from all calculations intended to be the basis of money arrangement. One additional line in the Circuit Schedule, giving the number of members under, say, fourteen, would furnish all the data requisite for such an adjustment.

Cotton Mather, in his " Magnalia," wisely remarks : " The Lord hath not set up Churches that old Christians may keep one another warm while they live, and then carry away the Church with them when they die : no ; but that they might, with -all care, nurse still successively another generation of subjects to our Lord, that may stand up in His kingdom when they are gone."

Methodism has done much and well by conquest;

CHILDHOOD. g

but only little and inadequately by nurture. May her power and perfection in this matter daily increase ! Thousands ought to be, might be, must be, thus gathered into our fold.

Thomas, according to the forementioned family rule, was thus early connected with the Church ; and not long after with very marked circumstances, entered into conscious enjoyment of " the peace of God." In the year 1818, Gideon Ouseley, the famous Irish Missionary, preached at Redditch. His word was clothed with much Divine power. The heavenly flame melted many. Thomas, just entering on his ninth year, was there. Under that mighty ministry, his heart, prepared by " grace prevenient," broke utterly. The public service elosed, but he would not leave. Touched by such inconsolable sorrow, Ouseley himself led him into the house of the Rev. John W Cloake, with whom, and with the father, the holy man continued in prayer until the tears of the weeping child were wiped away, and he indubitably received the Spirit of adoption.

Glad memory of that hour never failed. Warm gratitude to the instrument of good never grew cold. A portrait of the venerable evangelist formed always one of the few adornments of his private room. Life through, that parlour was esteemed sacred. To it one of his last visit's in Redditch was paid, in order that once again he might offer praise upon the very spot where the joy unspeakable thrilled him first.

The scene that had taken place in that chamber was too touching for any witness of it easily to forget. When Mr. Collins, in 1846, was entering the Conference at Bristol, he caught sight of the pastor under whose roof the facts had occurred. Changed from a boy to a man, he might have passed unrecognised. Seating himself, however, by Mr. Cloake's side, he just mentioned to him his name. The effect was electric. Starting up at the word, the aged Minister clasped the speaker round the neck, and, as if resuscitated memory were more vivid than present vision, as if he saw him a child still, cried, " O Tommy, Tommy ! is it you ?" That gush of unrestrained affection was evidence of a simplicity and ripening fulness of love beautifully prelusive of heaven,

IO CHAPTER I.

and furnished sweet thoughts when, with many brethren more, Mr. Collins, but a few -days after, stood by the goodman's open grave : for ere the session then begun had closed, most unexpectedly he was called home to God.

At the Missionary Meeting next ensuing after Ouseley's visit a circumstance occurred, at once heartmelting and uncommon. The father, being called upon to speak, closed a most earnest address by saying, " Heathens often dedicate their children unto idols ; shall I, who serve the Living God and True, do less : " Then at the word, leading to the front his little boy, he there authoritatively, as his father, offered him to the Lord, and publicly pledged himself never to withhold him from any work the Lord might call him unto. He then further solemnly took promise of his son before the people, that he, through all his after life, would be to Christ a faithful servant and soldier. At that affecting scene many wept ; and the Chairman of the meeting, the Rev. Jonathan Edmondson, that year President of the Conference, being greatly moved, laid his hands on the boy's head, and blessed him. The troth that day plighted was never forgotten.

Thomas continued to be the subject of spiritual life, power, and joy, for some considerable time, during which his piety was recognised by all. He successfully recommended his Saviour to others ; and, though of such few years, was ripe enough in knowledge profitably, and not unfrequently, to take part in the conduct of family worship.

A Sunday scholar having, by some accident, been suddenly killed, a sermon, suited to impress the monitory lessons of that providence, was preached to the young in the school. The appeals heard from the desk were well followed up by Thomas Collins upon the road. As he went with his sister towards their home, he pressed them upon her with such effect that emotion stopped their walk, and the two children knelt down together in the lane to pray.

His love of the Bible was great. The Superintendent once gave out to the whole school a subject, proffering a prize to the boy who should on the next Sabbath produce the most suitable and numerous passages of Scrip-

CHILDHOOD. II

ture bearing upon it. Though among the youngest, he easily reached the first place in a competition so congenial. The examination being concluded. " Here," said the superintendent, lifting up a large plum cake, "this, then, belongs to Thomas Collins." After a moment's pause, the lad unselfishly replied, " Sir, I am thankful to know my Bible, but, if you please, would rather share my cake." So, at his request, it was cut up for all.

Sunshine was now on the family prospects. The father, elevated from a handworker into an employer, naturally desired his firstborn son to have some opportunities of refinement and letters higher than his own. He was therefore sent away to a boarding school at "Alvechurch. The advantage, if any, was dearly purchased at the price of spiritual loss. During that twelvemonth of perilous absence from home influence declension came. The zest of the closet diminished. Mirth and trifling mastered him. An ill-chosen school — specially for that crisis time in which the boy develops into the young man — is a domestic curse. On the return of Thomas Collins to his parents they were grieved to see the class-meeting neglected and all joy of salvation gone. His conduct, however, continued to be strictly moral. " I never knew Thomas tell a lie," was his mother's witness of him. He could not rid himself of either the fear of the Lord or the curb of restraining grace.

Of this period of his life I find notice of a little adventure in a letter from my sister. She playfully remarks, " Do not make your hero too good, or I will bring up the first fact about him which I can remember." To prevent such exposures I here insert her narrative. " One Christmas morning, when I was but a little girl, the bells were ringing, and, to my fancy, the snowflakes dancing to their merry tune ; as, mounted on a chair, I watched them through the window, I saw a well-grown youth walk up to our door and knock. With childish eagerness I ran to open it. An unknown, but very resolute, face met my eyes. Mother, laying hold of the new arrival, said, ' Why Thomas, why did they let thee come without sending word, that we might meet thee ? ' He seemed thoughtful, but -passed the question with a quiet smile. I and my brother Joseph got on famously with him; he asked us so many puzzles, said so many pleasant things, and taught us so many new games, that we settled it that our new-found cousin was a very fine fellow indeed. It soon came out, however, that he had, in fact, run away from home : and what, think you for ? Because his father insisted upon his beginning to teach in the Sunday school, - and he insisted that he did not know enough to be a teacher. On discovering how matters lay, my mother, of course, sent message of his whereabout, and took steps to make his peace. After a fortnight's stay with us, which we very much enjoyed, he returned to his home."

From that time he rebelled no more against parental authority. He attended all the public means of grace, taught in the school, sang in the choir, interested himself in the progress of the cause, and laboured for mental improvement.

In the spring of the year 1826, the Lord vouchsafed to the town of Redditch, under the labours of the Rev. W Davies, now of Brecon, a time of remarkable refreshing. Mr. Davies writes, " Redditch being a solitary station, I entered upon the work there with a deep sense of responsibility. The cause seemed low, and by the consciousness of how much devolved upon me alone, I was driven to earnest prayer. My first address was upon the duty of entire dedication of body and soul to God and to His service. The impression upon the Society was deep and permanent. The class-meetings were better attended ; the week-day services improved, the prayer meetings became lively, and the Society received additions daily.

" As a pastor I was greatly encouraged by the case of Miss Perry, one who had served the Lord from her youth; but having for many years been a great invalid, in her dearth of means and strength, she had sunk into a state of doubt and anxious fear. During one of my visits, she in a most clear and marked manner recovered her joy of salvation. With holy ardour she immediately pressed into the fulness of love. Her experience of it was deep, and her testimony concerning it most satisfactory and edifying. At my request she invited the young female members of Society to see her, and to them with great

CHILDHOOD.

*3 tenderness, intelligence, and effect, she set.forth the bliss and privilege of entire sanctification of soul.

" This leaven wrought. One night Mrs. Reading, the leader of a class which usually met at a private house, found such a number gathered with her members, in distress of mind, that she judged it best to adjourn to the vestry, and also to request the presence and help of several experienced and devoted persons. The meeting was protracted. On my return from a country appointment, hearing the sound of prayer, I went in, and was gladdened by seeing many graciously set at liberty.

" The good work spread. Hundreds felt its influence. Some of the worst characters of the neighbourhood were converted."

Many have been gathered into heaven ; but a few ripe sheaves of that harvest remain on the field even to this very hour. One correspondent describes Thomas Collins as being at that time " witty, genial, and pleasant ;" another says, " I never heard any ill of him. He was so amiable and affectionate that everybody loved him." All this was true, but yet he lacked " the pearl." Amid the prevailing religious earnestness, and under the faithful preaching of his minister, he received such quickened convictions of sin as led him to say, " Death's call would to me be a summons to hell." Though thus awakened, his spirit was unmastered. When the revival had continued about two months, he was so little under the power of its spell as to be both able and inclined to scoff at what seemed to him to be the needless vociferousness of some of its subjects. Nearing the chapel, one Friday evening, he heard the loud cries of a young man, who was imploring mercy in all the agonies of spiritual distress : sarcastically he inquired, " Who is roaring there ? " The name given awoke strange emotions ; it was that of John Wright, a youth who with himself had shared the blessings of the former visitation under the apostolic Ouseley ; and who also, like himself, had let the good thing slip. Hastening on, he pushed his way through the crowded vestry, until he stood beside his stricken friend ; nor did he stand long, but falling at his feet, poured forth his soul in pleadings for salvation not less intense or loud. The prayers of each prevailed, and were soon exchanged for bursts of praise and holy raptures of thanksgiving.