JHE LIFE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REV.THOS. COLLINS 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. SAMUEL COLBY. 
 n 
 
 WITH A PORTRAIT. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, 
 
 AND SOLD AT 66, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 1869.
 
 
 
 
 ELLIOT STOCK, PRINTER, LONDON 
 
 
 
 

 
 PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 
 
 "\17"HY 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. 
 
 ~\ \TITH the issue of this new edition the Author feels 
 bound to express his thanks for the uniform kind- 
 ness 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. 
 
 I. Childhood, 18101826 i 
 
 II. Preparation, 18261830 15 
 
 III. Waiting, 1830, 1831 , . . . 25 
 
 IV. Wark, 1831, 1832 . . 32 
 
 V. Sandhurst, 1832 1835 50 
 
 VI. Orkney, 18351838 86 
 
 VII. Durham, 18381841 134 
 
 VIII. Dudley, 1841, 1842 162 
 
 IX. Coventry, 1842 1845 197 
 
 X. St. Allan's, 1845 1848 246 
 
 XI. Camborne, 18481850 284 
 
 XII. St. Austell and Hemel Hempstead, 1850 1853 . . 313 
 
 XIII. Bradford, 1853, 1854 342 
 
 XIV. Sowerby Bridge, 1854 1857 37 1 
 
 XV. Leamington, 18571860 412 
 
 XVI. Pontypool and Bristol, 1860 1863 446 
 
 XVII. Close of the Day, 1863, 1864 469
 
 LIFE 
 
 REV. THOMAS COLLINS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHILDHOOD. 
 
 THOMAS COLLINS was bornApril i2th, 1810, near 
 Solihull, In "Warwickshire. His parents, happily for 
 him, though poor, were pious. Augustine has a strong 
 saying, that ""lie tasted of the salt of God in his 
 mother's womb : " a forcible utterance of the" fact that 
 he was, DyMbnica pledged unto the Lord ere he saw the 
 light, dedicated before he was born. This precious pre- 
 consecration 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 o'n his breast, an(Tlolded 
 the left 'arm round it ; then, after putting a pen in the tiny 
 right hand, knelt down, and prayed that Godwould 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. TKe device was odd, as was the chief actor in it, 
 yefnot reprehensible. Grave historians tell and eccle- 
 siastical 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
 
 2 CHAPTER I. 
 
 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 feel- 
 ings 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 qf life and wondrous ways. 
 
 Spring threw her scents and beauties 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 vessel 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, 
 
 Wriggling tadpoles, head and tail, 
 
 Beetles clad in coat of mail. 
 
 What new sensations rose in me 
 
 When first I climb'd the apple-tree I 
 
 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 found ; 
 
 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 
 MethodTst 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 cmeer reminiscences of being plucked 
 from the pillow in' winter mornings, and made uncom- 
 fortably 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
 
 4 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The course adopted for the correction of faults was quite 
 as unusual. For some juvenile delinquency, the father, 
 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 to 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 
 making'good men and women of the somewhat numerous 
 family subjected to it. 
 
 The father, John Collins, was a man of strong indi- 
 viduality, utterly*"trfrct>nventional, 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 pre- 
 sence 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 Pro- 
 gre"S"swas 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 
 his 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 i, 
 restored not the ear, but the hearing, of the smitten I 
 man : an economy of miracle power which many a Jl 
 German professor of venerable years would esteem to be 
 a bright thought, and which, in the lips of a seven-year- 
 old 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
 
 6 CHAPTER I. 
 
 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 exist- 
 ence of heavenly gifts, which, when matured and cul- 
 tured, adorned the man. 
 
 "Ye have killed My children," said God to Moloch- 
 worshipping 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, suppos- 
 ing 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 con- 
 form the earthly register to the heavenly. Christ hath 
 redeemed all, claims all, in the inventory of His sub- 
 jects 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. Chil- 
 dren 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. 7 
 
 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 chil- 
 dren 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 : So soon as his children reached the 
 age of seven years, he entered their names into his class- 
 book, 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 Church- 
 membership, he, of course, must be met with questions:
 
 8 CHAPTER I. 
 
 he has his right to prove. But children of Christian 
 parents, having no stain of overt offence, are in a dif- 
 ferent 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 mem- 
 bership, 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 consi- 
 deration, 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 succes- 
 sively 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. Q 
 
 but only little and inadequately by nurture. May her 
 power r ~3rH pcifcclimi m 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, 
 preachecrat kedditch. 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 
 closed, but he would not leave. Touched by such incon- 
 solable 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 grati- 
 tude 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 
 visits 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 him- 
 self, 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 good 
 man'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 authori- 
 tatively, as his father, offered him to the Lord, and pub- 
 licly 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 Con- 
 ference, 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 moni- 
 tory 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. 
 
 I . love of the Bible was great. The Superintendent 
 once giiVB WTt tirTTTe" Whote SCTiool a subject, proffering a 
 pri/c to the boy who should on the next Sabbath pro- 
 duce 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 con- 
 genial. 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 oppor- 
 tunities 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 pur- 
 chased 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 adven- 
 ture 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 Christ- 
 mas 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
 
 12 CHAPTER I. 
 
 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 respon- 
 sibility. 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. 13 
 
 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 appoint- 
 ment, 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 need- 
 less 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 tiiere ? " 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
 
 14 CHAPTER I. 
 
 each prevailed, and were soon exchanged for bursts of 
 praise and holy raptures of thanksgiving. 
 
 The blessed tidings soon reached his mother; she was 
 at the time in the very deep of one of her too frequent 
 fits of depression. Her soul, though safe, was all in 
 storm, trouble, and alarm. The cause was physical. 
 Her Father above remembered her frame, and regis- 
 tered no condemnation against her. Yet in the gloom 
 she could neither see His smile nor realise His love. 
 Fear had taken hold upon her. Words were of no 
 avail. Reasonings cannot control disease. Poor crea- 
 ture ! it had been midnight with her for months. But 
 the good news came : her son was saved ! Ah ! that 
 lifted her into sunshine in a moment. Every fibre of her 
 maternal heart rejoiced. With all the gush of a mother's 
 love she exulted in God ; and, despite the devil and the 
 nerves, lived in the impulse of that glad fact a joyous 
 woman for years. 
 
 From this eventful day until his final hour Thomas 
 Collins ever walked in the light of God's favour. Long 
 after, in a recorded act of devotion, he says, " O Lord, I 
 thank Thee for breaking and renewing my heart under 
 Gideon Ouseley, and for weaning me from sin a second 
 time under William Davies." Who that knows what 
 thence ensued, the pure and useful life over which holi- 
 ness threw such a glory and beauty, will not say to that 
 doxology, " Amen ? "
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PREPARATION. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP TRENCH, commenting on the saying of 
 Jesus to the Paralytic, well remarks that " the absolv- 
 ing words, ' Thy sins be forgiven thee,' are not to be 
 regarded as a desire that so it might be, but as declara- 
 tory that so it was ; the man's sins were forgiven. Nor 
 yet were they declaratory alone of something which 
 passed in the mind and intention of God ; but, even as 
 the words were spoken, there was shed abroad in the 
 heart of the man the sense of forgiveness and reconcilia- 
 tion with God. For indeed God's justification of a 
 sinner is not merely a word spoken about him, but a 
 word spoken to him and in him ; not an act of God's 
 immanent in Himself, but transitive upon the sinner. 
 In it there is the love of God ; and so the consciousness 
 of that love, shed abroad in his heart upon whose behalf 
 the absolving decree has been uttered." This citation 
 exactly saints the case of Thomas Collins. His soul 
 set aglow in the hour of prayer was strengthened to 
 believe ; and as in the act of faith he trusted all all for 
 ever to the Atonement, the Saviour's own absolution, 
 inwardly pronounced by " The Spirit that beareth wit- 
 ness," scattered his fears. Having in childhood " tasted 
 the powers of the world to come," he knew the taste 
 again, and said to a friend, " This is what I wanted ; 
 this is the joy lost for years but I know it ; it is the 
 very same that filled and thrilled me while Ouseley 
 prayed." He immediately as all who would get to 
 heaven should sought union with the people of God ; 
 and, on the very next Wednesday night, in the class 
 conducted by his pastor, was enabled to give testimony 
 of his salvation at once clear and rapturous. From that 
 hour he was, life through, a loving, active, exemplary 
 Methodist.
 
 l6 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The ancient knight was a cleaver of skulls, a fighting 
 man rather than a leader : his great force lay in 
 muscle, not brain. But who ever thought of estimating 
 the value of Napoleon upon a battle field by the blows 
 he gave ? He wielded an army not a sword. 
 
 Ministers should " covet earnestly " the general's gift. 
 The man who has the faculty of getting others to work, 
 keeping them at their work, and wisely directing their 
 work, will get more done than any solitary labourer can 
 do, though he be strong as Samson and diligent as 
 Paul. 
 
 The Rev. W. Davies toiled ; but what was more and 
 better, he attracted toilers round him ; he stimulated 
 such converts as God gave him both to improve their 
 talents and to use them. Of the young men he 
 organized several bands ; and commissioned them to go 
 forth week by week to visit, pray, exhort, and in every 
 possible way evangelize in the surrounding villages. 
 At the head of one of these pioneer companies Thomas 
 Collins was placed. His first public attempt to call 
 sinners to repentance was made in a large room at 
 Stratford-on-Avon : to reach which place he walked 
 fifteen miles, and then, after the service, weary, but 
 happy, trudged the fifteen miles back again. 
 
 Ere long he was formally proposed to the Local 
 Preachers as a candidate for place and work among 
 them. The only objection was some very noticeable 
 impediment in speech. About it h6"wToT:e7 -H l"tTSve laid 
 thisThatter before God. I will try to master it, and He 
 will help." Acquaintance of twenty-six years' standing 
 leaves me completely ignorant of what kind the defect 
 was : whatever it was, prayer and care cured it. His 
 enunciation, as known to me, was always clear and 
 impressive. There are few cases of defective articulation 
 which painstaking perseverance cannot amend. This 
 successful issue is recorded here for the purpose of en- 
 couraging promising young men, of stammering tongue, 
 to set with good heart to the work of remedy. 
 
 About this time the following excellent advice reached 
 Thomas Collins in a letter : " Whether in piety, useful- 
 ness, or learning, let perfection be your aim. Your motto 
 must be, Try, try, try, again ! ' Failure must not lead
 
 PREPARATION. IJ 
 
 you to lower your standard, but to quicken your step." In 
 the spirit of that counsel, with growing earnestness, he 
 sought every possible improvement in matter, manner, 
 and aim. All labours issuing in mental culture became 
 thenceforth to him a pleasure. 
 
 As is common, these youthful exercises include many 
 essays in verse. Receive an instance, the earliest I can 
 find. Called for a time, by business, from Redditch, the 
 abode he happened upon was such as to make him think 
 sleep sweeter for its dreams of home than for its rest. 
 He writes : 
 
 What absence denies me while waking I mourn, 
 That vision supplies me at evening's return. 
 
 The contrast which made memories dear appears also 
 to have stirred his bile, and made his muse satirical : 
 
 To know the full pleasure and sweetness of home, 
 Renounce that best treasure, to Netherton come : 
 For Washer, and Mender, and Mother, behold 
 A female in gender, in anger a scold. 
 Home, Home, there's no place like Home ! 
 How constant the comforts beginning at Home ! 
 
 Whatever the disadvantages of his lodging may have 
 been, a list, yet extant, of books read there furnishes 
 proof that such opportunity as it afforded for study was 
 not, as is too often the case, because small, neglected, 
 but used to the full. Of his poetic faculty friends thought 
 much more highly than he ever did himself. A reply to 
 a request for a specimen begins : 
 
 Dear Sir, I hardly know the time 
 I last employed my pen in rhyme ; 
 Nor would it much degrade my pen 
 Were I no more to rhyme again. 
 
 When a gentleman doubtless overestimating his powers 
 sought to incite him to an adventurous epic effort, his 
 answer, in lightsome verse, first shows the difficulty of 
 winning popular respect for any but "Respectables;" 
 next, describes himself as " born to moil amid the 
 mortar ; " dilates with genuine wit upon the hard, unfan- 
 ciful realities of his mason craft; and then, thus epi- 
 grammatically concludes : 
 
 c
 
 l8 CHAPTER II. 
 
 It will not do for men like these 
 
 To think of writing poem ; 
 Such author's work could never please, 
 
 Unless they did not know him. 
 
 That this merry fling at his occupation may neither leave 
 a wrong impression, nor encourage in any young mind 
 unhealthy dissatisfaction with its lot, I hasten to say that 
 of that feeling I find no trace in him. He never feared 
 hard work ; never was ashamed to own his trade, or 
 handle his tools : that good old morality had been taught 
 him, that it was part of religion " to learn and labour 
 truly to get mine own living, and to do my duty in that 
 state of life unto which it shall please God to call me." 
 In fact, the only difficulties friends had to overcome to 
 induce him to enter the clerical rank, were the sturdy 
 English independence that loved to win with his own 
 hand the bread he ate, and the generosity that longed to 
 give to the Church all he could do for her freely. Ex- 
 perience soon taught him that his scruples had been 
 groundless ; that the Methodist phrase was right, " He 
 had entered our work ; " that Christ's separated men are 
 labourers, not loiterers; that ministers, as well as masons, 
 are sons of toil ; and he, like many others, proved the 
 toil he entered upon to be more wearing, exhausting, and 
 life-shortening than that which he left. He, undoubt- 
 edly, wrought harder as a builder for God than ever he 
 had done as a builder for men. Men true to the Gospel 
 call need not blush to take the maintenance their " Lord 
 hath ordained " them. They earn it well. An idle 
 minister ! shame befal him ! of none is the devil surer. 
 An indolent not worth his salt, it were a contradiction to 
 call him minister. He does not deserve that honourable 
 title ; no, not though an Apostle's hand had touched his 
 head, or an archbishop's name endorsed his licence. 
 
 One of his vigilant pastors, wisely fearing that Thomas 
 Collins might be led by flatterers to waste mental strength 
 in clinking rhymes when he ought to be pursuing know- 
 ledge and disciplining himself to furnish reasons, thus 
 wrote to him : " Poetry gives polish. I do not say re- 
 nounce, but limit your labours of that kind. Your work 
 will want vigour rather than gloss. You will have to 
 preach in prose ; and, if much good is to come of it, in
 
 PREPARATION. ig 
 
 very plain prose too." This advice he accepted ; and, 
 without burying his talent, kept it in exercise just enough 
 to give point to a child's appeal in behalf of its mis- 
 sionary box, or to enable him, when 'required, with ease, 
 to set precious truth in graceful form upon a lady's 
 album page. I find a few better than common Sun- 
 day School Festival Odes of his authorship ; several 
 devout metrical meditations ; and many epistles to his 
 children, describing adventures of his outgoings in verses 
 of that jingling rhyme and cantering metre which, though 
 not fit subject for lofty criticism, always gives to the 
 circle it reaches more pleasure than Milton's masterpiece. 
 Without any pretension to be, in the highest sense, a 
 poet, he was an ingenious marshaller of words, and a 
 fair verse-maker ; and sometimes, in favoured moments, 
 achieved on Zion's harp success not unworthy of her 
 famous minstrels. One hymn commencing, 
 
 Stars of Morning, shout for joy, 
 Sing Redemption's mystery, 
 Holy, Holy, Holy, cry, and praise the Lamb ! 
 
 is a very spirit-stirring lyric. In certain circles it has 
 had popularity ; and, having been adopted in several 
 well-known collections of revival song, both in England 
 and America, though, I believe, in all cases without 
 appending the writer's name, it will probably endure. 
 
 A Tuesday morning meeting for mutual improvement 
 was initiated. To Thomas Collins the preparation of an 
 Inaugural Address upon the duties of young men was 
 allotted. From faded jottings I recover its sum. Con- 
 scious of ignorance, inexperience, and personal deficiency 
 he yet professes to take lovingly to his appointed subject. 
 He can claim no authority, but has much affection. 
 Though they cannot reverence him as a father, he can 
 trust them to receive him as a brother ; the very youth- 
 fulness which makes them doubt him as an oracle may, 
 he hopes, assure them of his sympathy. 
 
 He classifies their duties as Personal, Relative, and 
 Religious. He argues the early years of life to be the 
 season most suitable for mental improvement : the organs 
 then are acute, the faculties quick, and the pursuit of 
 knowledge full of zest. 
 
 C 2
 
 2O CHAPTER II. 
 
 He sets forth the wisdom of that Divine arrangement 
 which, in the human subject, so protracts the period of 
 physical youth as to avoid the evil of the body's growth 
 outrunning the mind's maturity : both develop, both 
 reach manhood together. 
 
 He recommends Reading, Meditation, and Communi- 
 cation, as the three great means of mental improvement. 
 
 He predicts that their weekly intercourse will issue in 
 strengthening their memories, training their logical 
 faculties, and bringing out much valuable knowledge, 
 which else, continuing latent, would have been lost. 
 
 He finally advises all to prepare carefully, speak freely, 
 and ever to seek each the others' good. 
 
 The next essay had for its subject, " Human Will." 
 So ever recurring is that among the problems of young 
 truth-seekers, that it would seem as if Wisdom kept it, 
 like Penelope did Ulysses' bow, as a test for all her 
 suitors. We will melt into a few sentences the sub- 
 stance of this really vigorous paper : 
 
 Will is man's royalty ; the shadow of creative power ; 
 a lingering line of God's primeval image. It is the 
 arbiter of life's ends ; the spring of action ; the spirit- 
 helm that gives to conduct its guiding turn. 
 
 None can ignore volition as a fact; its phenomena are 
 visible to all. Fatalism may be printed in a book, but 
 cannot be acted upon in life. All intercourse, business, 
 government, is invariably carried on as if responsi- 
 bility were just and undeniable. 
 
 Will is vital to any right conception of obedience, or 
 transgression ; of penalty, or reward. Every application, 
 either of distribution or demand, whether coming to man 
 from Hell, or Earth, or Heaven, presupposes will within 
 him, and appeals to it. If it be not there, the devil is a 
 fool to tempt, and the preacher runs on a bootless errand. 
 
 Deprive a man of recollection, reason, charity, you 
 make him a beast ; but deny him will, and you sink him 
 into a machine. The emotions of such a being would 
 have no more moral character than the rotations of a 
 millwheel. 
 
 Freedom is essential to the idea of will. Performance 
 may be restrained, but purpose is free. You may as well 
 talk of spiteful love, or dark light, as of necessitated will.
 
 PREPARATION. 21 
 
 The Necessitarian, to explain prescience, falls back upon 
 fate. They err who, to explain a mystery, invent a theory. 
 Mystery is only another name for our ignorance. We are 
 little. Truth infinitely overlaps us. Is it any wonder 
 that its circumference should outreach our vision ? God 
 sees all. How ? we are not asked to believe, and need 
 not care to know. One thing, however, we maintain, 
 His foresight of human fall must never be so held as to 
 make Him accessory to human sin. 
 
 The doctrine of fate is false in philosophy, heathen in 
 religion, and impracticable in affairs. It endeavours to 
 atone for robbing man of one will by declaring God to 
 have two ; and two diametrically opposite : one, public 
 and preceptive, which sinners violate ; the other, secret 
 but determining, which they every moment fulfil. This 
 is surely a limping theology, full of contradictions, absurd- 
 ities, and ill consequences. 
 
 A Lecture upon Human Depravity was subsequently 
 prepared for delivery before the same audience. 
 
 Every candid observer finds humanity to be a bundle 
 of contradictions. The doctrine of the Fall is the very 
 Rosetta stone of man's condition : master it, and it gives 
 the key, the explanation of everything. All who would 
 not be superficial divines must drop their plummet in 
 this deep. Realization of this truth, what profundity it 
 gave to Wardlaw's ethics, to Pascal's thoughts, to 
 Augustine's theology ! It is not surprising that a doctrine 
 so humiliating should be opposed : who would not start 
 from the mirror that found there an image so ugly ? 
 
 The paper written upon this theme by Thomas Collins 
 was, for the time, a very creditable performance ; clear, 
 orthodox, orderly, and well sustained by scriptural proof. 
 His next attempt was not so successful. It had for its 
 subject, " Providence." It must have been taskwork, 
 labour allotted, not chosen. The treatment is thin, shallow 
 and unsatisfactory. " Did you ever take such a text ? " 
 inquired a Minister of a sensible Local Preacher. " No, 
 sir." "Why not ? Do you not see your way into it ? " 
 " O yes, but I do not see my way out of it ! " Much in 
 that case seems Thomas Collins in this discourse. 
 Lacking thought, he takes to adjective-piling, and uses 
 much juvenile grandeur. He flounders and struggles,
 
 22 CHAPTER II. 
 
 but makes no progress ; and fails all through to reach 
 " the height of that great argument." 
 
 One only other document remains which had origin in 
 the Young Men's Association. Its title is, " Hell; or the 
 Future Punishment of the finally Impenitent." The intro- 
 duction embodies the result of much careful reading. It 
 furnishes full information of the poetic fictions of the 
 mythologists, of the material horrors depicted in the Koran, 
 and of the the wild dreams invented bythe heathen. This 
 is followed by a large and reverent statement of the Scrip- 
 ture teaching. The close is polemic; and in it the reasons 
 which lie against the Purgatory of the Papist, and the 
 Reformatory of the Universalist, are well urged. I will 
 reproduce just one noteworthy remark: "'For ever:' 
 doubtless this phrase is sometimes used in a secondary 
 signification; but, even when so used, it always denotes 
 the longest period of which its subject is capable; e.g., ' a 
 servant for ever' means, a servant while life shall last ; 
 , an ordinance for ever,' an ordinance until the dispensa- 
 tion it is a part of closes : ' tormented for ever,' by the 
 law, then, even of this lower usage, must mean tormented 
 as long as the soul hath any being." 
 
 These early productions fairly depict Thomas Collins 
 in the labour of mental preparation; and excellently show 
 how he trained himself to think by grappling with impor- 
 tant questions. Few who, in these summaries, have 
 watched the processes and progress of his thoughts will 
 deny them to be manly, worthy, and full of promise. 
 
 Early in the year 1830, Henry Breeden, a disciple fresh 
 from the school of John Smith, came to Redditch. If 
 possible, he outflamed his master. His sermons were 
 numerous, but his topics few. As in the broadside of a 
 war-ship, everything was so directed as to strike one 
 mark. Each shot was weighty, well-aimed, and red-hot. 
 Nothing was thrown away. The whole force of the man 
 was concentrated. Hear him when you would, the terrors 
 of eternity, the freeness of salvation, the fulness of Chris- 
 tian privilege, and no other themes whatever, employed 
 him. A letter of the period, written by a good judge, 
 says, " Such a man for faith, strength, and tact, I never 
 heard."
 
 PREPARATION. 23 
 
 The issue of this earnest, pointed, vigorous preaching 
 was the outbreak in the Circuit of a revival widespread 
 and remarkable. The unhappy controversies concerning 
 faith ; the unnecessary employment of women in pulpit 
 exercises, and the unwise protraction of religious meet- 
 ings into midnight hours, which afterwards caused strife 
 and division, however much they illustrate the craft of 
 Satan, detract not in the smallest degree from the 
 genuineness of a work which brought many to Christ 
 and wedded others indissolubly to holiness. Calmly 
 looking back, we thank God for the salvation which He 
 wrought ; we pity men for the mistakes they made ; we 
 rejoice over the fruit which to this day endures ; and are 
 happy to know that the chief instrument, with ripened 
 piety and maturer wisdom, serves, in a vigorous age, his 
 Great Master still, as an honoured, much beloved, much 
 blessed Minister in another fold. 
 
 At a prayer-meeting held on the evening of March 5th, 
 1830, Thomas Collins, whose spirit for some time had 
 been stirred with desire after holiness, was enabled to 
 believe the cleansing word ; and, in the strength of that 
 faith, to bow his whole will utterly to Christ, to whom he 
 surrendered all authority in his soul. The act of devo- 
 tion was complete. Thenceforth life was a priesthood, 
 and sacrifice a vocation. The altar upon which self was 
 dedicated sanctified the gift, and upon the living sacrifice 
 which faith laid there, heavenly fire came down. The 
 covenant that hour made was never revoked : " Not your 
 own," was printed indelibly upon his heart. His sister, 
 during his last illness, remarked to him, with joy, upon 
 his long testimony before the Church of the bliss and 
 duty of perfect love. His reply was, " I got it; I kept 
 it ; I have it now, and it is heaven ! " 
 
 His brother writes : " The Saturday night upon which 
 he received that blessing I shared his bed. Sleep I could 
 not ; he was praying and praising all night." 
 
 Until this time naturally with one to whom all literary 
 work, whether of creation or correction, had become a 
 joy the productions of his pen had been too laboured. 
 Simplicity, that last of excellences, was wanting. Gaudy 
 adornings had cumbered the truth, and big words dinned 
 the ear more than they touched the heart. A specimen
 
 24 CHAPTER II. 
 
 of very cunning artificiality lies on yellow, year-worn 
 pages before me. It is a Missionary Report : it was 
 drawn up for the young people. In it the elder Society 
 is described at length as a ship, and the juvenile associa- 
 tion as her attendant boat. Plank, and copper, and 
 cordage, all mean something or other. She is ribbed 
 with Resolution ; Wisdom is her guiding rudder ; her 
 anchor Faith ; her cable Hope ; her stowage Charity : 
 thus it goes on through one of those hundred-jointed 
 analogies Flavel so much delighted in, but which only 
 an exceptional genius like Dawson can make endurable. 
 This Report, queer, yet clever in its way, secured, no 
 doubt, the wonder and the claps of its friendly audience. 
 
 A change, now, however, passed over his soul that 
 made, for ever after, mere time-wasting architecture of 
 words abhorrent to him. " I have done with it," said he. 
 Quite right. It was too ingenious to be earnest. A man 
 who throws somersaults all along a road may prove to the 
 crowd his skill in posturing, but cannot be in much hurry 
 to get anywhere. Men do not so when they run to catch 
 a train, or fetch the doctor, or find a fire-escape. 
 
 Henceforth, hunting after what he called " figure and 
 finery" was postponed for the pursuit of souls. His 
 sentences became brief and his illustrations homely. 
 Though he never lost his fine ear for a felicitous phrase, 
 nor his quick eye for a beautiful image, yet his deter- 
 mined directness of aim and at-you-at-once style caused 
 him sometimes to appear abrupt. Everything was real 
 and powerful. A clever sceptic once said to me, " Thomas 
 Collins is the hardest hitter I ever knew." 
 
 His brother connects the change of style we have thus 
 adverted to with the " fire baptism " of that Saturday 
 prayer-meeting. He says, " After that memorable night 
 he threw aside his abounding rhetoric and became a plain 
 witness for the truth. I accompanied him the next day 
 to his appointment at New Iffn. Until then his sermons 
 had always been too high-flown for my young apprehen- 
 sion, but the preaching of that afternoon smote me with 
 impressions that have never been erased. Six in that 
 service found peace with God." This was the hopeful 
 beginning of one of the purest revivalist careers of modern 
 times.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WAITING. 
 
 A MISSIONARY once beautifully wrote : " Remind my 
 old friends of their covenant. Let them not forget the 
 Christian's telegraph, all whose wires meet where Jesus 
 sits at the right hand of God." Concert of prayer does 
 not make assembling together necessary. It may be 
 had though oceans roll between the several pleaders. 
 A document yet exists, the first signature appended to 
 which is the name of Thomas Collins ; it is an agreement 
 of twelve young men, every morning at five o'clock, 
 each in their closets, to implore the salvation of their 
 townsmen. The early hour trained them to self-denial ; 
 the place saved their time, no sooner into their clothes 
 than at their work ; the solitary exercise disciplined 
 them to habits of secret communing; the harmony of 
 thought and aim with brethren invisible and absent, was 
 a daily lesson of the true method of Christian oneness. 
 None can calculate the good that came of those retired 
 yet combined intercessions. 
 
 Nominated in March, 1830, by the Rev. Francis 
 Collier, Thomas Collins was warmly approved by the 
 Quarterly Meeting, and passed on with due attestations 
 to the District Meeting as a candidate for the Wesleyan 
 ministry. 
 
 Much debate concerning the relative sphere of the 
 Divine and the human in faith had arisen. How of 
 grace ? How of man ? Any one offering for the minis- 
 try must expect orthodoxy, in regard of all questions 
 currently controverted, to be tested. Queen Elizabeth 
 is reported to have said to two nobles who addressed 
 her at once, " My lords, you forget yourselves, I cannot 
 be both-eared." A stripling under question has no such 
 regal right of quelling dual examiners. In such case it 
 is little to be wondered at if, in more modern English,
 
 2,6 CHAPTER III. 
 
 he gets bothered. A letter written after the District 
 Meeting to an anxious friend thus speaks: " As on the 
 matter of faith I agree in every point with John Wes- 
 ley's teaching, it was impossible for me before such 
 triers to get into any peril. I do not suppose that any- 
 body imagined any unsoundness in me. The rumour 
 that excited your unnecessary fear must have arisen 
 from the fact that two preachers inadvertently rising at 
 once interrogated me together ; and not without some 
 manifest distance between their own views. This 
 simultaneous catechizing a little perplexed me. The 
 words which in that confusion were uttered my memory 
 cannot now recal. But they were received as satisfac- 
 tory by the meeting ; and, however imperfectly, yet cer- 
 tainly expressed what is my constant belief, that every 
 effort of the human soul towards salvation is, and must 
 be, assisted by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 He was accepted by the ensuing Conference, and 
 placed upon the list of reserve, with special designa- 
 tion, at his own request, for labour in the foreign field. 
 To this, as he then felt, he was bound in obedience to his 
 father's public pledge. Summoned to London, he had 
 interviews with the secretaries, and from impressions 
 there received held himself in expectation and readiness 
 for a speedy call. During this time of waiting he de- 
 livered a speech in Redditch, which, for its value, both 
 biographic and intrinsic, is worthy of preservation : 
 
 " Sir, were it not that as an intended Missionary my 
 Christian friends have irresistible claims upon me, I 
 should have refused an honour, the weight of which 
 makes me tremble. But circumstanced as I am, 
 pledged to the work, daily expecting the summons to 
 enter upon it, and little likely to be present at another 
 annual meeting, it seemed proper to those whose autho- 
 rity I respect that in a few words I should state the 
 motives which induced me to lay myself upon this altar. 
 
 " To this work I was dedicated in my childhood ; for 
 it some here present remember how holy hands were 
 laid upon me in the name of the Lord ; towards it grace 
 has inclined my heart, and Providence opened my way. 
 
 " The missionary design seems to me to embody all 
 that is wise, and pure, and good. In it all sects concur,
 
 WAITING. 27 
 
 all charity mingles. To fill its treasury the maiden 
 plies her needle, and the widow casts her mite. There 
 the pence of the child and the wealth of the merchant 
 meet. 
 
 " In this path Jesus, Heaven's own Missionary, led 
 the way ; His first Apostles and most devoted servants 
 follow after. 
 
 " The Mission theme mingles with all my thoughts, 
 and weaves itself into all my visions. To my mind, 
 loaded legions of toiling summer ants call up missionary 
 collectors ; birds on the wing for other climes suggest 
 missionary travel; while the crowds which, since the 
 commencement of the recent gracious revival, come 
 flocking hither, make the blessed missionary prediction 
 recur : ' It shall come to pass in the last days that the 
 mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the 
 top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it.' 
 
 " In London, a little time ago, in the attic of the Mis- 
 sion House, I joined in prayer with some young men 
 just about to start for the foreign field. It was a melt- 
 ing time. In that hour their souls were sanctified, their 
 tears dried, their fears scattered, their heads anointed, 
 their hearts fired, and a few days after they were sent 
 flaming off. May heaven's blessing go with them ! 
 
 " I join this work with all my heart, and would not be 
 out of it for all the world. 
 
 " Some go abroad that they may be wise ; so would 
 I, ' to win souls.' Some to gather gems ; so would 
 I, for the Saviour's crown. No mine too deep, no 
 shore too far, if but I may such treasure gain. 
 
 The love of Christ doth me constrain 
 To seek the wandering souls of men, 
 With cries, entreaties, tears to save, 
 And snatch them from a gaping grave. 
 
 " I have read poetic farewells to ancestral halls ; there 
 is nothing of the kind for me to utter. ' No foot of land 
 do I possess.' I have friends, however, to be parted 
 from; but, being Christians, they, when the Master calls, 
 hang no clogs about me. My father, whose former toil 
 for me I might now remunerate, with ready mind gives 
 me up. My mother, weak, afflicted, very affectionate,
 
 28 CHAPTER III. 
 
 who would spare me for nothing else, says, Go. Eight 
 brothers and sisters, some quite young, hold my heart- 
 strings with a strong grasp. What if returning I should 
 find them destitute ? What if I should have to weep 
 upon their graves ? What if, worst of all, they should 
 have wandered far from God ? Such thoughts touch me 
 to the quick. But the Lord's commission is a fire in my 
 bones. I must go. ' He that loveth father or mother, 
 or son or daughter, more than Me is not worthy of Me.' 
 
 " I shall not be unattended. Where that lone Mis- 
 sionary sleeps, angels keep vigil ; where he walks, they 
 attend his steps ; where he rescues a soul, they raise a 
 song ; whence he in the battle falls, they pioneer his 
 way to heaven. 
 
 " I go, but the Spirit, the fount of might and comfort, 
 is pledged to be with me. Pentecost did not exhaust 
 the promise ; it endures long as the last days. Floods 
 of mercy, deluging all flesh, are yet due. 
 
 " I go, then, in the name of the Lord. So farewell, 
 home! farewell, dear friends ! Voices that have mingled 
 with mine, knees that have bent with mine, hearts that 
 have beat with mine, farewell ! My way lies across the 
 sea. I go to gather souls abroad, you stay to fold them 
 here. But God, right soon, shall gather us all together 
 where words of parting shall be heard no more. This 
 remembering, welcome, waves ! Welcome, winds. Wel- 
 come, foreign climes and arduous toil ! Till that day 
 dawns, dear friends, farewell ! " 
 
 This adieu, so touching, and so beautiful, was prema- 
 ture. Months passed : he waited and the world wanted, 
 but the laggard Church made no sign. The year rolled 
 by, Conference came and went, still he was on the list of 
 reserve. 
 
 This delay of men of burning soul, whose qualifications 
 have been tested and approved, argues guilt somewhere. 
 Heaven makes no mistakes. When the Master sends 
 labourers for His field, there assuredly is maintenance 
 for them, if His stewards do not withhold it. 
 
 Hope wearily deferred brings temptation and peril. 
 Thomas Collins passed the trial unscathed ; but cases 
 have occurred, and not a few, in which men of ardent 
 temperament, feeling that they cannot be quiet, and
 
 WAITING. 29 
 
 finding that they cannot get recognised, lose patience, 
 and set to work on their own account. Thus mushroom 
 sects multiply, the outcome of zeal which elder organisa- 
 tions, if they had not been deficient in energy, wisdom, 
 and courage, might have absorbed, regulated, and em- 
 ployed. Of this defect evil comes. These ecclesiastical 
 splinters sometimes do in dark corners a modicum of 
 good ; but, at best, lack sobriety and weight. Ropes of 
 sand, they have no cohesion. They run wild, and at 
 length vanish as suddenly as they rose, too often leaving 
 a sad stench of antinomianism behind them. 
 
 Few things of this sort would occur if the Church 
 always remembered that expansion is the law of its life. 
 Old hives should swarm. Too large concentration of 
 membership binds its minister over to keep peace with 
 the devil. Pastoral requirements swallow everything. 
 No time is left to carry war into hostile territory. A 
 tendency to repose, much to be guarded against, strongly 
 affects well-circumstanced congregations. They easily 
 adopt, " Rest, and be thankful," as their motto. The 
 chariot gets into ruts. All things run in old grooves. 
 
 Evangelistic success is best achieved by frequent crea- 
 tion of new centres. As populations gather and grow, 
 there should be fresh sanctuaries for them, and fresh 
 heralds of the Gospel among them. Without these 
 advances of the boundary the Church can neither utilize 
 nor keep the stirring life which its past labour has 
 begotten. Of course, such movements ask for guineas, 
 and hence by many are dreaded as spectres or avoided 
 as bores. "Too costly! cannot be done!" exclaim 
 well-satisfied, well-provided worshippers. By caution 
 thus cramped into stinginess ever-multiplying masses of 
 our countrymen are left to live in ignorance and die in 
 despair. 
 
 The practicability of further aggression upon the 
 nation's darkness is proved by what occurs when quarrel 
 wakes the slumberers. Secession takes place. Then, 
 see, the Church gives double to keep up ; the outgoers 
 treble to get a start. That separated fragment, in its 
 new fervour, erects structures and sustains agencies, 
 which it had before been declared impossible for the 
 united whole to do.
 
 30 CHAPTER III. 
 
 O when will love of Jesus draw forth more gifts than 
 love of party? Perhaps, had we been true to our many- 
 sided work, and ever kept at full stretch in evangelistic 
 effort, we might have continued one in form and name, 
 as, thank Heaven, we are yet one in doctrine and general 
 vocation. God loves Methodism much, but He loves 
 \ souls more. It may be that Providence has permitted 
 our divisions because it can get more good out of us for 
 the world sundered as we are, than we should ever have 
 attempted if left whole as we were. 
 
 Earnest work found for everybody keeps unity in a 
 Church better than any devices of polity, however wise, 
 can do. Heart-hold is the strongest link, and fellowship 
 in toil rivets it. The salvation of all England seriously 
 meditated and vigorously set upon, would bring evan- 
 gelical alliance nearer, and make it more real, than any 
 other possible thing. 
 
 The time of delay was not wasted by Thomas Collins 
 in idle regrets. It passed rapidly and happily amid 
 scenes of joyous revival. The Circuit membership that 
 year rose from two hundred and ninety to four hundred. 
 Winning bread with his hands, he yet contrived by early 
 rising to secure hours each day for study and prayer, and 
 his profiting appeared unto all. 
 
 A little before this time the religious destitution of 
 that large tract of Northumberland which borders upon 
 Cumberland and Scotland had excited among neigh- 
 bouring Christians earnest attention. The country was 
 for the most part uncultivated, the population sparse, 
 the villages far between, the cottages only here and there, 
 wide apart, on the sides of the hills. For many years 
 the people had been as sheep having no shepherd. 
 Places of worship were remote. Those who desired 
 such helps had Sabbath by Sabbath to walk six, eight, 
 and even ten miles, to reach the nearest church or 
 Presbyterian meeting-house. The spiritual darkness 
 was dense. To this neglected region, in the year 1827, 
 a few gentlemen of Newcastle determined to send, at 
 their own expense, a Methodist preacher to work round 
 among the scattered hamlets. 
 
 Mr. Marshall was the first selected. He settled at 
 Wark, as the place most central for the district. The
 
 WAITING. 31 
 
 reception he met with was encouraging. Though there 
 were not more than two or three Methodists in the 
 neighbourhood, there were many hungry for the word, 
 who hailed with joy the advent of a man whose itinerant 
 evangelism promised to bring the message of life to their 
 very doors. 
 
 Mr. Marshall's method was to take his stand in the 
 most public spot of every village he reached. There, by 
 singing a hymn, he gathered the people, to whom he 
 preached the Gospel. In about a fortnight, he had, by 
 incessant travelling on foot, thus entered upon his 
 labours at nearly every place within fifteen miles. In 
 most instances requests were made that he would come 
 again ; and, generally, the kindness of the people provided 
 both a lodging for the preacher and a room for the service. 
 
 After months of such work Mr. Marshall was succeeded 
 by Mr. Leake, and he by Mr. Coulson, who, in turn, 
 receiving appointment to a Circuit from the Conference 
 of 1831, left the committee on the outlook for another. 
 
 The Rev. James Heaton directed their attention to 
 Thomas Collins, with whom, at their request, he corre- 
 spomJecT" As Wark was not yet a Conference Station, 
 it was necessary before accepting to consult the President, 
 the Rev. George Marsden, upon whose list of reserve his 
 name then stood. The reply was, " It does not seem 
 likely that for some time you will be wanted for any 
 foreign Mission ; you are, therefore, at liberty." 
 
 Thus permitted, he closed with the offer at once ; and, 
 on the evening of the next Sunday, October 23rd, de- 
 livered a farewell sermon in Redditch chapel. It was a 
 word of caution to himself and to others, founded upon, 
 " Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he 
 fall." The after service was exceedingly impressive. 
 As he stood within the communion rail, the leaders, with 
 the whole company of praying men, gathered round, and 
 in united prayer commended him to God. 
 
 Thus freed at length from secular employ, assured that 
 he would be remembered in the intercessions of the 
 church he was leaving, and laden with the benedictions 
 of them that loved him, he went forth to his lifelong 
 separation to the Gospel of God.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WARK. 
 
 THE Wark Mission included a district about fourteen 
 miles by twenty. The country was wild and rugged. 
 The roads, always bad, became in winter almost im- 
 passable. The work to be done required labour heavy 
 and incessant. The hardships endured were in some 
 respects greater than the privations so eloquently, and 
 with such romantic interest, told of backwoods preachers 
 by Milburn. It was here evangelism on foot ; primitive 
 itinerancy unfortunately minus the horse and the saddle- 
 bags. 
 
 A letter says, " My journeys often lie along mere 
 sheep-tracks ; across bogs where the hollow sound be- 
 neath the foot, until you are accustomed to it, is quite 
 alarming ; or over barren heaths upon which you may 
 travel miles without meeting a man or coming in sight 
 of a house. Six times a week the Tyne ferry has to be 
 crossed, and one night the boatman either could not or 
 would not hear my call. It was a case of wade, or go 
 back, so I just sought the shallowest place, went in, and 
 came through." 
 
 To tramp thirty miles and preach three times ; to be 
 benighted, or at least belated, on foggy moors ; to guess 
 his way by starlight, or no light, across swamps that 
 trembled as he trod ; and to ford rivers in cold December 
 nights, were difficulties real, and not small. But inured 
 to toil, of vigorous frame and manly courage, I find in 
 him no pulings about these crooks in his lot. He re- 
 marks, " Were complaining of any use, I could fill sheets 
 with that kind of stuff. I find it, however, much better 
 to practise myself in Habakkuk's song : " Yet I will 
 rejoice in the Lord : I will joy in the God of my salva-
 
 WARK. 33 
 
 tion." He shed tears in plenty over hard hearts, but 
 none over rough roads ; he lamented few conversions, 
 but thought little of many miles. Whenever he touched 
 upon these secular trials, it was always done with a 
 merry sprightliness which made people rather envy his 
 adventures than pity his toils. Thus a correspondent 
 replies: "While reading your description, I quite fancied 
 myself wandering among Northumbrian scenes and feast- 
 ing on bannocks of barley-meal. So graphically was all 
 brought before me by your most pleasant, humorous, 
 exulting epistle." 
 
 The spirit in which he faced his work may best be seen 
 in a transcript of his first day's diary : 
 
 "Oct. 28th, 1831. Here I am home left a new 
 circle entered a new work before me. My soul trusts 
 in God. Before Him I resolve : 
 
 " i. That I will rise early. 
 
 " 2. That every Sunday morning, upon my knees, I 
 will, in the form prescribed to Methodists for annual use, 
 solemnly renew my covenant with God. 
 
 "3. That the whole time before breakfast shall be 
 spent in Bible-searching, meditation, and prayer. 
 
 " 4. That from breakfast to dinner shall be given to 
 regular and consecutive study. 
 
 " 5. That the entire afterpart of the day be sacredly 
 devoted to active labour, as visitation, preaching, or the 
 like. 
 
 "6. That I will always have some selected text to 
 which embracing opportunities as they occur my mind 
 may turn and keep itself profitably practised in the com- 
 position of a sermon. 
 
 " 7. That, unless compelled, I will leave no home 
 without prayer. 
 
 " 8. That wherever I am received to lodge, I will, if 
 possible, morning and evening, gather all together for 
 united family worship. 
 
 " 9. That, if I can anyhow reach, I will never miss an 
 appointment. 
 
 " 10. That I will neither jest, nor trifle, nor waste time 
 in parties. 
 
 "ii. That I will faithfully rebuke sin wherever I see 
 it.
 
 34 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " 12. That I will seek ever to act as one altogether 
 given up to labour for tne salvation of the souls of men 
 and the promotion ot the work of God." 
 
 It needed no long survey to discover that in his field 
 of toil there was much to be done. He found classes 
 neglected, piety low, and things generally in confusion. 
 He writes, " What can I do, young, ignorant, unguided, 
 and alone ? My soul groans out itself to God. Lord, 
 instruct me ; inspire me ; control me ; take Thine own 
 way with me. That my dim eyes may discern Thy way, 
 condescend to make it very plain to me. Only let me 
 know it, and, with thy help, I will walk in it ; for unto 
 Thee, O God, moment by moment do I yield up myself." 
 
 " Darkness covers the people. Dulness freezes the 
 Society. Some, indeed, are well-meaning and very sin- 
 cere, but completely ignorant of the short and straight 
 Gospel way. There is not much religion ; and the little 
 there is, not of the type that gives promise of diffusion. 
 Professors here seem to have no idea of God's mighty 
 saving purposes : they have not learned to care for 
 others, and, as in such case generally happens, are ever- 
 lastingly full of complaints about themselves. Sinners 
 are perishing all around. My heart yearns for them. 
 I am racked, and torn, and rent in pieces, because men 
 will go to hell." 
 
 " Lord, give me converts ; raise up for me helpers, 
 men who in the freshness of first love will joyously go to 
 and fro and tell Thy simple plan. O for more men of 
 God ! " 
 
 " God will come ; will revive His work ; will do it 
 speedily. I have seen His tokens. For every dew, for 
 every drop, good Lord, I thank Thee. But O for floods ! 
 when shall they come ? " 
 
 The result of observations is well summarized in a 
 letter to the Secretary of the Committee, dated Novem- 
 ber i5th, 1831. 
 
 " I have now preached at Wark three times. The 
 Sunday evening congregation is good, but the people 
 seem unprepared for the seed. Much ploughing and 
 harrowing needs to be done. Few of the members really 
 understand our system. There is a lack of that godly 
 sociality which is the spirit, life, and leaven of genuine
 
 WARK. 35 
 
 Methodism. They are coy, and shy, and reserved about 
 spiritual things. There is a coldness one towards an- 
 other, which prevents co-operation, which sets men back 
 to back when they should be embracing, and clenches 
 the fist when the hand should be shaken. 
 
 " I have instituted a Sunday morning prayer-meeting: 
 I turn out and look the people up beforehand: I visit the 
 members and haunt the backsliders as often as I can." 
 
 " At Gunnerton the congregation is good, and some 
 hearers have an air of respectability. Last Sunday 
 many hearts were touched. One stayed the class in 
 much distress. If the Society could be made ' bold to 
 take up and firm to sustain the hallowed cross,' many 
 souls might there be won. 
 
 " At Bellingham the place is filled, but some who come 
 are rude and disorderly. Last Sunday, a drunken man 
 placed himself just before me, and gave frequent re- 
 sponses which, though accurate enough in sentiment, 
 when given in his maudlin manner, did much to disturb 
 the gravity of the young people of whom the congregation 
 mainly consists. Their conduct, indeed, was little more 
 decorous than his. I soon discovered from becks, nods, 
 whispers, glances, and smiles, that the room was to them 
 rather a place of tryst than of worship. As I reproved the 
 poor drunkard I gave a word to them also, rebuking their 
 toying and dalliance in the house of the Lord. I warned 
 them against letting loose those passions which, being ill 
 regulated, overthrew the strength of Samson. With a 
 quiet glance at the cooing striplings, I added, this at 
 least might be said for him, which I saw could not for 
 most of them, he had a beard, though his folly lost it. 
 
 " In every place I find vowel marks (a) far too common 
 in the class books. 
 
 " At Houghton I was much encouraged by visiting 
 John Douglas, whom I found very ill, but very happy. 
 At the next house a poor Papist woman ordered me to 
 be gone. Had prayer been poison, she could not have 
 hated it more. From thence I passed to Ann Sloe, a 
 prime old Methodist, whose conversation edified me 
 much, and more than paid for all. 
 
 " The Lord saves me from love of ease and all selfish 
 desire. He has laid the weight of souls upon me ; to 
 
 D 2
 
 36 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 win them is my great concern. I want souls ; I want 
 them for God. 
 
 " Feeling is awaking. There is a stir in several 
 places. I do not, however, suffer my expectations to be 
 lowered and raised by the many changing signs of 
 emotion here or there. / have pledged my heart, what- 
 ever I may see or not see, to give full credence to God's 
 sure promise. So doing, I steadily, everywhere and 
 always, believe and declare that God is about to visit us 
 for good." 
 
 Coming, as Mr. Collins did, from a church fused into 
 one by the fire of revival, the sense of isolation that came 
 over him in Wark was a trial. " Here," he says, " I 
 have neither confidant nor counsellor; no sympathizing 
 spirit with whom I may respire congenial breathings ; 
 none to help in efforts of supplication ; none to respond 
 to the sighs of grief, share the heart-throbs of hope, or 
 swell with me the song of gratitude. I am alone. 
 
 " At home I had friends strong in affection, full of 
 holy sympathy, strangers to suspicion ; we trusted each 
 other with the very bottom secrets of our hearts." 
 
 Between people so akin correspondence could be 
 neither slow nor dull. Oft the standard-bearer was 
 strengthened to hold his banner firm and high by hearing 
 how the same flag triumphed gloriously still upon the 
 field from which he had just been called. A few 
 specimen extracts will best show the quality of the 
 cheering informations and assurances sent by those 
 whom Mr. Collins was accustomed to call " heroes in 
 faith and brothers in soul." 
 
 One writes, " February ayth, 1832. It will gladden 
 your heart to hear of the welfare of our Zion. The 
 shout of a King is still in our camp. Several lately have 
 died in full exultation of faith. The work goes on. 
 Bereavements do not thin us. Numbers daily increase. 
 Seventy have been added during the quarter. The 
 word is quick and powerful, fellowship is sweet, and the 
 prayer-meetings more blessed than ever." 
 
 Another declares, " March i5th. God has visited my 
 soul, and wonderfully increased His love within me. This 
 deepening holiness soon led me to make a bonfire of my 
 old sermons. I blush to think what dry, ambitious,
 
 WARK. 37 
 
 pointless things they were. I have given up all desire 
 of being ' a nice preacher.' It has become terrible in my 
 eyes to please men while we let them be damned. I 
 long to be a plucker of ' brands from the burning.' 
 Henceforth I will use great plainness, and aim at one 
 thing." 
 
 A third narrates, " March 24th. At our recent special 
 watchnight resistless power came down. Many were 
 stricken. Some lay as if dead. We could not break 
 up; the people would not go. The service was pro- 
 tracted until six in the morning. Conversions are occur- 
 ring daily. Drunkards, boxers, poachers, and suchlike, 
 the vilest and most abandoned draff of the town, are 
 impressed." 
 
 " A fourth says, " March 26th. The leaven spreads. 
 Leason, the carpenter, told in the lovefeast how at the 
 Mill not long since he was alone. ' But now,' said he, 
 ' we are four, and expect soon to be a dozen ; for we have 
 covenanted to attack sin wherever we find it.' O, it was 
 a joyful sight on the evening of the day of our Quarterly 
 Meeting to see the crowd of disciples thronging the table 
 of the Lord. Brother, speak and spare not. You keep 
 your place in our intercessions. Some of us bear you 
 up daily in the closet, and not a few still publicly in our 
 meetings send up your name to heaven." 
 
 The communications we have just cited, warm though 
 they be, are ice itself compared with the burning words 
 written to him by his father's hand. The thrilling, flaming 
 utterances of love thus sent to him cannot but have 
 stirred his soul beyond measure. Accept a sample : 
 
 " Dear Son, in the most ample manner, as thou 
 desirest it, I mow, before God, discharge thy conscience 
 from any fear that thy father hath any foible of thy youth 
 against thee. I assure thee of my favour, and in God's 
 name give thee my blessing. 
 
 " Thy mother loves thee more than ever. In recollec- 
 tion of thy infant endearments, of the bread won for her 
 by thy labour while Providence called me away, of the 
 comfort the Lord has given her through thy preaching 
 and prayers, she almost sinks with excess of tenderness. 
 Such thoughts fetch many teardrops from those eyes 
 often dim with longing to see thee. Well, we shall soon
 
 38 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 meet where partings are no more. As for myself, I have 
 a glass which gives me oft a glimpse of thee. I give 
 thee a lift by faith, and then shout ' Hallelujah ! ' on thy 
 behalf. 
 
 " Seven of the Redditch squadron met the other day 
 
 at your sister's house to pray for poor D G . 
 
 While Annette was pleading, a strange influence mas- 
 tered the unhappy backslider in the tavern where he sat. 
 Agitated and alarmed he rushed away, and was myste- 
 riously drawn to the very room where the little company 
 interceding for him was gathered. There, after no small 
 struggle, his backslidings were healed. Glory be to Him 
 that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for 
 ever! 
 
 " Birmingham, where I now am, is a mighty field of 
 labour. I have raised two new classes, and am just 
 commencing two others. I preach almost every night. 
 I mean to leave few streets of the town without a warn- 
 ing. I set the crucified Saviour before the people. I 
 show them Jesus, the tears, the groans, the sweat, the 
 pillar, the scourge, the cross, the nails, the hammer, the 
 silence, the vinegar, the gall, the prayer, the cry, the 
 death, the spear, the grave, the broken seals, the 
 affrighted soldiers, the rising Christ, the comforted 
 disciples, the waiting multitude, the rushing wind, the 
 baptism of fire, the crowd of penitents. While I thus 
 witness, the Lord makes bare His arm, and many are 
 saved. 
 
 " We knew thou wouldst not be negligent ; but thy 
 letter has made us glad. Serve Bramwell's God as 
 Bramwell served Him, and He will be with thee as He 
 was with him. God with thee, thou wilt find no diffi- 
 culty but may be surmounted ; no burden but may be 
 borne ; no enemy but may be conquered ; no people but 
 may be moved ; no sinner but may be converted ; no 
 foul heart but may be cleansed. 
 
 " Dear lad, may God keep thee faithful unto death, 
 and then give thee a crown of life. And when, the vic- 
 tory won and the harness off, I, in glory, see thee wave 
 a conqueror's palm, I ehall shout a thousand ' Halle- 
 lujahs! ' through the heavenly air; and, if the Lord per- 
 mit, will give such a thunder-silencing burst of ' Glory
 
 WARK. 39 
 
 to God,' as shall make Heaven ring, pervade the mid- 
 way spaces, and shake earth to its utmost poles. A 
 shout loud enough to make Earth hear from the Celestial 
 City will be none too big to utter thy father's joy when 
 he shall see thee crowned." 
 
 The extracts given above were excellent fuel for the 
 heart, but among the things which at this time guided 
 and gave character to the mind of Mr. Collins, counsels 
 written by the Revs. Francis Collier, James Heaton, and 
 others, may be placed in the first rank. The substance 
 of those advices, combined and compressed, I sub- 
 join : 
 
 " You have done well to accept the call to North- 
 umberland. It saves for Gospel work a whole year of 
 the morning of life ; a year that will tell upon every 
 year afterwards. Have no anxiety because it is not a 
 regular station. The footsteps of Providence to us seem 
 often slow, but the goal they reach is always right. God 
 reigneth. Wait and trust. All will end well. 
 
 " Your rough untilled field is not without advantages. 
 You will not be likely to find the ghost of Diotrephes 
 walking there, and the rugged labour of its husbandry 
 will be good for your soul's health. 
 
 " Set to work with all your heart. Be an early riser. 
 Lose no time. Say 'No' to a friend, rather than waste 
 an hour. Follow no mere impulses. ' Square your 
 useful life below by reason and by grace.' Be a 
 Methodist. Do nothing haphazard. Forecast. Lay 
 plans, but, before committing yourself to any, pray for 
 light, seek counsel, and exercise wary judgment. 
 
 " all your reading bear upon your work. Wil- 
 liams's 'Christian Freacner * would just now' be valuable 
 to you. Be sure that you study thoroughly John Wes- 
 ley's writings. For purity and force, plainness and 
 elegance, they have seldom been equalled. HTs dis- 
 tinct ffiought, appropriate lan-iui-v. and iucid arrange- 
 ment, are exemplary. 
 
 " lCma~appr6val wisely expressed by the sensible and 
 devout is a favour from the Lord, cheering and helpful. 
 But beware of the flatterer's net. If a man can but 
 hold up and hold on, loud and fast, ignoramuses, with 
 wonder smitten, rate him a nonpareil at once ; and
 
 4O CHAPTER IV. 
 
 being, as fools generally are, afflicted with a flux of 
 speech, straightway assure their victim that he is a 
 very great preacher indeed. Should any of these loose- 
 tongued agents of the devil for the ruining of young 
 ministers thus deal with you, let their manifest impru- 
 dence moderate your estimate of their judgment. Trust 
 them not. Exaggerating adulators are almost invariably 
 fickle. They go round like a weather vane, and are 
 often among the first to wish their former idol gone. 
 
 " Set your mind upon excellence. Determine to be a 
 workman, not a bungler. Carefully treasure up with 
 your pen for future use every weighty thought and apt 
 expression that occurs to you. Seek tohave_good ser- 
 mons rather than many. Take pains with them. Oppor- 
 tunitie?~for repetition should not make us idle, but 
 excellent. We have chances for paring, pruning, enrich- 
 ing, "and perfecting, such as no other ministers possess. 
 
 " Pay special attention to the framework of your dis- 
 courses. Orderly arrangement helps memory, holds 
 thought together, and accumulates force for the final 
 appeal. 
 
 " Avoid subjects that take you out of your depth. 
 Never let rhetoric outrun logic. Have aim. Know what 
 you are at, what you want to do. 
 
 " Subdivisions, if numerous, should not be announced. 
 1 They afe pegs for your own thoughts, but will only per- 
 1 plex those of others. Skeletons, though useful, are not 
 ' beautiful, and should not be thrust nakedly before the eye. 
 
 " Be a preacher, not a reciter. In regard to delivery, 
 Ward's **~System of Oratory ' would furnish you with 
 many important suggestions. Admit no anxiety about 
 mere words. Sound doctrine, godly unction, manly 
 reasoning, and free speech, answer all evangelical ends. 
 
 " Whatever else you be, be holy. Adorn the doctrine 
 of God your Saviour in all things. Be a man of one 
 business. In every place, to every person, in every way, s/ 
 do all the good you can." 
 
 This " charge," worthy of the faithful pastors who 
 delivered it, is, as here presented, the elixir of three 
 much read, much prized, carefully preserved epistles. 
 How diligently Mr. Collins followed these godly admoni- 
 tions may in part be learned from the Bible messages
 
 WARK. 41 
 
 selected, studied, and declared by him to the people of 
 Wark. The following is a resume : 
 
 Depravity exhibited : John iii. 7. " Ye must be born 
 again." The terrors of the Lord urged : Amos v. 12. 
 " Prepare to meet thy God." Plain counsel given : 
 Matt. iii. 7. " Flee from the wrath to come." The 
 claims of God argued : i Kings xviii. 21. " If the Lord 
 be God, follow Him." The yearnings of God expressed : 
 Prov. xxiii. 26. " My son, give Me thy heart." The 
 publican's prayer : Luke xviii. 13. " God be merciful 
 to me." The jailor's question : Acts xvi. 30. " What 
 must I do to be saved ? " The evangelical answer : 
 Mark i. 15. " Repent ye, and believe the Gospel." 
 Jesus wooing : Matt. xi. 28. " Come unto Me, all ye 
 that labour." Jesus dying : i Cor. i. 23. " We preach 
 Christ crucified." The forerunner's cry: John i. 29. 
 " Behold the Lamb." The mighty Saviour : Heb. vii. 
 25. " Able to save to the uttermost." The duty of 
 faith : i John v. 10. " He that believeth not God hath 
 made Him a liar." The way into the kingdom : Matt, 
 xi. 12. " The violent take it by force." The Church's 
 charter : Matt, xviii. 20. " Where two or three are 
 gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst 
 of them." The Church's fellowship : Mai. iii. 16. " Then 
 they that feared the Lord spake often one to another." 
 The Church's solicitude : Hab. iii. 2. " O Lord, revive 
 thy work." The aim of redemption: Titus ii. 14. " He 
 gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all 
 iniquity." The model of perfection : i John iv. 17. 
 " As He is, so are we in this world." The work for per- 
 fect Christians : Jude 20, 21. " Ye beloved, building up 
 yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy 
 Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the 
 mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." 
 
 If, perchance, the eyes of any former supporters of 
 that Northumbrian Mission should fall upon this page, 
 surely their hearts will dance to think that by their 
 means truths so pointed, plain, and precious, were 
 preached in every village of that then spiritually sterile 
 land. 
 
 The Wesleyan evangelists in Wark soon discovered 
 the scene of their labours to be a land of darkness.
 
 42 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Gross ignorance prevailed. The famous versicle com- 
 mencing, 
 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
 Bless the bed that I lie on, 
 
 was no unusual evening prayer. Manners were rude : 
 women smoked. Morality was low : couplings unhal- 
 lowed by rituals of the Church were common. Congre- 
 gations were discouraging : " small," " hard," " rough," 
 or the like, are the phrases which described them. Errors 
 were rife : a blacksmith, when rebuked for public, noto- 
 rious vice, replied, " I cannot help it ; the Father has 
 not drawn me yet ! " That fatal lullaby of souls, " If I 
 am to be saved, I shall be saved," kept many asleep. 
 The awakened, " waiting for the Lord's good time," 
 stayed on the wrong side of the threshold of peace ; 
 while " humble hopes " were supposed by even the 
 more advanced to be the height of Christian attainment. 
 Bigotry was intense ; J C was a most aban- 
 doned drunkard ; he often beat his wife, and turned her 
 out of doors at midnight. As she was a member of 
 Society, Mr. Collins called upon the man, and earnestly 
 entreated him to think on his ways. ** I don't want any 
 new religions," said he, " I keep to my Church and my 
 parish priest. / am for good works ." Alas! his moral- 
 ism left him to get drunk the same night ; and over his 
 cups he bragged that he was " true blue to Church ; no 
 Methodist should ever turn him." Poor wretch ! he was 
 plainly faithful to the devil, whatever he. might be to the 
 Church. Prejudice is thick armour, and Satan loves to 
 get his servants clad in it. Drunkenness was shameless ; 
 
 men went intoxicated into the very sanctuary. S 
 
 R , an aged schoolmaster, came in, and, seating 
 
 himself just before Mr. Collins, took out his pencil, and 
 in very odd fashion commenced diligently taking notes. 
 At the close of a sentence, perhaps more sonorous than 
 common, he leaped up and began loudly to applaud. 
 " Friend," said the preacher, " it saddens me to see your 
 grey hairs thus publicly shamed ; leave off this drinking, 
 or it will surely drown your soul in perdition." " Hear 
 him ! " cried the pedagogue, " what a gift he has ! What 
 language ! What composition ! " " Repent," was the 
 reply, " and forsake your sins, lest they prove your
 
 WARK. 43 
 
 eternal ruin." " Choice words ! so suitable ! I assure all 
 of you that I am a judge in composition, and I declare 
 that it is wonderful ! " In distress, Mr. Collins exclaimed, 
 " Old man, be still, and listen, with prayer that God in 
 His mercy may not suffer your heart to be for ever har- 
 dened by the deceitfulness of sin." " Ay, jewel ! you are 
 modest ; but it was, I tell you, wed put together, very 
 weel very wcel indeed ! " Every rebuke being thus 
 capped by a compliment, it was no easy task either to 
 keep the congregation grave or to silence the poor sottish 
 admirer. 
 
 Personal dealing with the conscience, direct inquisi- 
 tion after the soul's health, was, in that part of the 
 country, so unusual as to be not merely distasteful, but 
 positively alarming, to those who were first subjected to 
 it, A letter says: "The people can bear distant fire 
 from the pulpit, but dislike home thrusts in the prayer- 
 meeting. From private conversation some run off, and 
 others answer roughly. The prophets forebode that my 
 catechizing will drive the congregations away. At pre- 
 sent they increase. But, issue as it may, I must do 
 right. A clear conscience is better than a crowd." 
 
 Colwell, one of the places whither Mr. Collins had to 
 go, lay beyond a moor, divided by an unbridged brook ; 
 at a shallow of the brook the neighbouring peasants had 
 carefully deposited stepping stones : there, and at no 
 other point, might the stream be crossed. The likeli- 
 hood was small of a stranger on that pathless wild just 
 hitting upon the proper spot. Mr. Collins, therefore, 
 called at the nearest marshside hut to get a guide. His 
 custom, to use his own phrase, was, " To feel the pulse 
 of every soul he conversed with." In that walk, however, 
 topics common to wayfarers had uprisen, and ere he was 
 aware the ford was gained. Faithful to his invariable 
 rule, without preface, as time for it was gone, he 
 solemnly asked, " Have you made your peace with 
 God ? " The man looked confused, as if he could make 
 nothing of such query. To put the matter more dis- 
 tinctly, with voice deeping to its lowest tone, Mr. 
 Collins inquired, " Are you prepared to die ? " The man 
 turned pale, and, retreating a step or two, replied, in 
 trembling accents, "Sir, I hope you mean no harm I"
 
 44 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Stories of " Burking," and " body-snatching," just then 
 had thrilled the country with horror, surpassing anything 
 in the recent panic of garrottery. When, on that lone 
 heath, by the level light of the declining sun, the stranger 
 saw the left hand fishing for coin, not easily caught in 
 so thinly stocked a pocket, while the right hand of the 
 strong-limbed evangelist accidentally held up with ap- 
 parent menace a stout oaken staff, he expected nothing 
 less what could he ? than that a blow to fell him, and 
 a pitch plaster to stop his breath, would be the im- 
 mediate sequel of such doom-suggesting questions. It 
 required many affectionate Christian words to restore 
 the poor fellow's confidence at all. 
 
 While thus faithful to the solitary sinner, fear never 
 deterred Mr. Collins from giving rebuke to the shameless 
 transgressors who flocked to their sin in crowds. He 
 writes, " Last Sunday a rough lot of hulking youths 
 were wasting the sacred hours in hurling stones, just 
 outside Wark. I went and reproved them. They mut- 
 tered ' muckle,' but the sport was spoiled, the camp 
 broke up, and some even sauntered off to the preaching." 
 
 At first the world's sin and the Church's deadness 
 were to Mr. Collins almost a crushing grief. A letter 
 says, " I am heavy laden. I carry the burden of the 
 Lord from place to place. I sigh and cry for the abomi- 
 nations of the people. My heart aches. My spirit 
 groans all day long." On more than one occasion this 
 sacred grief so overpowered him that his train of thought 
 was lost in the gush of emotion, and the sermon, broken 
 through, ended in pleadings so importunate, so accom- 
 panied with strong cryings and tears, that all present 
 were melted, and the place became a Bochim. 
 
 The memoirs of Lopez and De Renty, Ann Cutler 
 and Bramwell, read first at this time, greatly increased 
 this growing love of devotion. He gave himself unto 
 prayer. Wood and lonely wayside became closets. In 
 such exercises time flew unheeded. Once, going by 
 invitation to dine at Gunnerton, he stopped amid the 
 solitary crags to pray, and heaven so met him there that 
 hours elapsed unconsciously, and with difficulty he met 
 the guests for tea with whom he should have dined. 
 
 Strong in the might of such baptisms, he became bold
 
 WARK. 45 
 
 to declare the cross, and willing to bear it. His fidelity, 
 his determination to let none rest who would not come 
 to Christ, made him too much like a living conscience 
 for worldly people to feel him very welcome. Homes 
 were therefore closed against him, and helps and hospi- 
 talities, formerly given, in some cases refused. He 
 writes, " All who do so, get entered on my throne of 
 grace list. O God, convert them ! That is the requital 
 I wish." Most of these early opposers became, ere he 
 left, convinced of his sterling value ; and concerning 
 some of them his prayer was answered, and they will be 
 his crown of rejoicing. He passed no wayfarer without a 
 word, no homestead without leaving a tract ; saw no sin 
 without rebuke ; left no company without a blessing. 
 Like the Master, " he went about doing good." None 
 were too low: he writes, " I had a round of prayer with a 
 beggar." None were too distant : " I walked ten miles 
 over the moors to see a dying man." At the end of that 
 long, miry tramp he found the Gospel itself not welcome 
 from his Arminian lips. The mother, a Presbyterian of 
 " the straitest sect," would not shake hands with him 
 whose pity for her son had brought him afoot so far. 
 
 Amid his labours he says : " My soul grows. I love 
 God more than ever. My whole being is pledged to 
 Him ; my whole time employed for Him. O God, descend 
 upon this Circuit : in saving power come down." The 
 Lord heard. The following sentences, culled from diary 
 records, are proof: "The wheels begin to move." 
 " Many could not get in at Barrasford." " Much power at 
 Gunnerton." "Conversions at Manor House." "Glorious 
 lovefeast at Wark." " Many saved at Haydon Bridge." 
 " All over the Circuit warm souls are rising who are not 
 afraid to lay on at the Lord's work." 
 
 The first revival outburst was at the Watchnight ser- 
 vice held on Saturday, December 3ist, 1831. It was a 
 hallowed season. On New Year's Day a warm, e'arnest, 
 pleading prayer-meeting occupied the forenoon. At one 
 o'clock Mr. Collins preached with much liberty. During 
 the afternoon a lovefeast was held. For number, and 
 for holy fire, no such meeting had ever been held in Wark 
 before. -Thanks to God, for sending the Methodists 
 there, were many and loud. " I once hated them," said
 
 46 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 one, "but now I should not mind if ' Methodist ' were 
 printed on my back and on my brow." Some blessed 
 the Lord for good received under their former preachers, 
 Marshall, Leake, and Coulson. Others, with the joy of 
 souls new born, gave testimony of their more recent con- 
 version. A few bore witness, clear and strong, of the 
 Spirit's sanctifying work within them. The speaking 
 was plentiful and blissful. Mr. Collins writes : " The 
 earnest breathings after purity, and sighs for revival, the 
 frank simplicity and godly sincerity of the Society, both 
 edified me and delighted Mr. Wilson, who had come to 
 help me." 
 
 As visitors had come in from places all around, the 
 little town was moved and astonished at the influx. 
 Many came to the evening service. " The fire so burned 
 that," says Mr. Collins, " I could scarce hold myself in 
 the pulpit. In the midst of the sermon, able to contain 
 no longer, we burst into song ; and as the sweet chorus 
 rang through the place, we felt that heaven was begun 
 below." The happy day was closed by a solemn renew- 
 ing of the covenant with God. When the hour for separ- 
 ation came, the people wept that they must leave. One 
 young man came forward to tell that he had lost his 
 doubts in the arms of Jesus ; and another, that he had 
 left his sins in " the Fountain opened." When some 
 rehearsed to a poor invalid the pleasures of the day, " O 
 ninneys," said she, " how I should have enjoyed being 
 there ! " " That you would, Tibby," was the reply. 
 " Ay, it was a top meeting ! " 
 
 Thenceforth Wark held Methodistic name. It had 
 grown into such favourable repute, that I find requests 
 from neighbouring Societies to Mr. Collins, when they 
 held special gatherings, " Pray send over to us some of 
 your lively souls." 
 
 The work continued. Take specimens. " Last Sunday, 
 at Manor House, a mere child burst forth into a prayer 
 that touched me and moved many. Who can tell ? 
 God may He often does begin a glorious revival by 
 opening the mouth of babes." " Last night a poor 
 backslider was so stricken that he could not keep up 
 with our company as we returned from Sutty Row. 
 We were made aware of his lingering behind by hear-
 
 WARK. 
 
 47 
 
 ing his cries for mercy. He had fallen upon his knees 
 upon the road. We returned and prayed with him there 
 until he received comfort." 
 
 Pastoral visits bring contact with odd varieties of 
 character. Mr. Collins writes, " Yesterday I went to 
 visit a woman dying of cancer. After some time spent 
 in conversation, seeing her husband, an openly irre- 
 ligious man, and her nephew, a strict Presbyterian, 
 employed among the timber at the door, I stepped out 
 and invited them to join us in worship before I left. 
 ' This,' replied the nephew sourly, ' is no season for 
 prayer. We are not required to be always on our knees. 
 " Not every one that saith, Lord ! Lord ! shall enter the 
 kingdom." " I must work the works of Him that sent 
 Me." ' As he seemed inclined to enlarge, I said, ' Fewer 
 texts, friend, will suffice. Your industry will be impeded 
 as much by stopping to quote as by coming in to pray. 
 I want an answer, not an argument. Will you join us, or 
 not?' 'I will not.' 'Will you, old man ?' ' I will, honey.' 
 So, marvelling that in such a case the sinner should come 
 and the saint refuse, I turned in again, and trust that 
 the poor afflicted woman found the Lord to be with us." 
 
 On January loth, 1832, the President sent to the 
 Superintendent of Redditch a summons for Mr. Collins 
 to enter the ranks of the regular ministry as supply in 
 the place of a brother then lately deceased at Kendal. 
 That official document was transmitted by his friend 
 Henry Breeden with this endorsement : " I have the 
 honour to send what, I trust, will prove to be the life- 
 warrant of thousands of souls." 
 
 This call was thought, by the Committee of the Wark 
 Mission, to be so untoward for their work that they 
 having learned Mr. Collins's value, and knowing his 
 growing usefulness asked him to allow them to beseech 
 the President to send some other, not previously em- 
 ployed, man." Though he longed for an acknowledged 
 place among Methodist preachers, yet his love for those 
 sheep in the wilderness prevailed ; and, therefore, despite 
 the perils of bog and ferry, despite the vile roads and 
 hard toils, he at once agreed to stay if they could get 
 consent. The petition was granted, and until the next 
 Conference he remained.
 
 48 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Though nameless in the " Minutes " he was sum- 
 moned to, and was actually at, the District Meeting 
 held that year in Sunderland. As it was intended that 
 the Mission should be offered to the Connexion, and the 
 private arrangement terminate in a regular appointment 
 at the next Conference, it seemed to the Chairman, the 
 Rev. V. Ward, that though Mr. Collins was technically 
 without "locus standi " in that meeting, there were suf- 
 ficient public reasons for requesting his presence there. 
 
 Journal records show how he was employed during his 
 visit. " May 24th. Heard Casson at Monkwearmouth. 
 It was a good time. The Lord was present to heal. 
 25th. Spent the whole day in the District Meeting. 
 26th. Visited various Christian families with Casson 
 and Mortimer ; had some good rounds of prayer. At 
 night heard Casson again. It was a glorious time. 
 Many were saved. 2yth. Returned to Gateshead ; 
 heard Mr. Greensmith preach out of doors. He it is 
 who, when a boy, had his eyes opened at Bramwell's 
 prayer. After the sermon we marched to the chapel ; 
 numbers went in with us ; we had an excellent prayer- 
 meeting, and some were saved." 
 
 One asked, " Did Mr. Collins pray in your house ? " 
 " Pray ? Ay ! he just did ; and it was worth hearing 
 too ! " The replicant in that colloquy had, perhaps, not 
 sufficiently perceived that heart and sympathy, not ears, 
 are what men should give to prayers ; yet his unusual 
 phrase lets us know that already prayer had become 
 Mr. Collins's element and power. 
 
 Ere we pass we will insert a word of warning which 
 internal evidence shows to have been composed within a 
 short time of his departure from Wark. 
 
 " Why so earnest ? Because I love you, and would 
 far rather make you angry than let you fall unwarned 
 into hell. I fear no frown, but the frown of God ; and 
 ask no favour, but the favour of God. I desire not your 
 smiles, but I long for your souls. Probably soon I shall 
 have to cross the sea and preach to men of strange 
 tongue. What do I say ? Who knoweth the future ? 
 Death may frustrate all. This may be my last mission. 
 Your churchyard yet may prove to be my long home, 
 and your hands may carry me there. If any tear embalm
 
 WARK. 49 
 
 the spot, you may shed it. All this may come, ere the 
 fortnight yet remaining shall have passed. Two weeks ! 
 nay, this issuing breath may be the last. Well, and if I 
 thought it would be, it should be expended crying, ' Turn 
 ye, turn ye ; for why will ye die ? ' ' 
 
 These strong yet tender words are a fair type of his 
 method of appeal. In prayer and work, conflict and vic- 
 tory, the months had worn away. August came, that 
 annual turning time of the Methodist wheel of fate. The 
 draft of Stations appeared ; and, lo, Mr. Collins found 
 himself in line with Wesleyan Ministers at last. Ap- 
 pointed, however, not to any foreign land, but one of the 
 allotted Ministers of Sandhurst, in sunny Kent. 
 
 From the many converts and quickened church of 
 Wark he, therefore, took his leave, and writes : " I left 
 at last, weeping much, and amid the tears of many."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SANDHURST. 
 
 MR. COLLINS left Wark, August 2ist, 1832 ; and set 
 sail for his new Circuit, from Shields, on the ayth. The 
 ribald speech and gambling of the seafarers soon com- 
 pelled his faithful rebuke. The Captain, resenting admo- 
 nition, roughly answered, " If anybody here does not 
 like our ways, there is the door, he can walk out ; and 
 the sooner he does so the better we shall be pleased." 
 Taking matters into His own hand, the Lord helped His 
 servant. Squalls began almost immediately. The Cap- 
 tain, called to the deck by his duty, had little more cabin 
 shelter, and the passengers little more play. The rude 
 winds increased to a gale ; and the voyagers, pale and 
 alarmed, became only too glad to accept an invitation to 
 prayer. The manifest power with God of their fellow- 
 traveller won esteem from them. They requested daily 
 service ; and, thenceforth, through the time on board, 
 the Captain at every meal requested " the reverend 
 gentleman to say grace." None could have treated him 
 more respectfully if by authority he had been rated chap- 
 lain of the ship. When the weather cleared, and the 
 sickness wore away, the splendid cliff and coast scenery, 
 which passed before them, like JL gigantic panorama, more 
 than paid for all. 
 
 On September ist he safely landed at Gravesend ; and 
 went straightway to the Wesleyan Superintendent, Mr. 
 Gilpin, for advice about lodging. Not every minister can 
 bear Saturday intrusions with equanimity. Perhaps this 
 accounts for Mr. Collins's quiet observation,' '_' A good 
 man but snarly rather, I thought?" A " quid pro quo " 
 for the time consumed was found. He obtained Mr. 
 Collins a Methodist home, and Mr. Collins preached for 
 him next evening at the chapel. That service was
 
 SANDHURST. 51 
 
 memorable. Sinners were pardoned, backsliders re- 
 claimed, believers sanctified. Fifteen names were 
 recorded. Hearing of this, his father wrote : " Those 
 fifteen souls were God's seal of your call. Remember, 
 henceforth, what God hath sent you to do. Talk much 
 to your Master, and much about Him. Have the say- 
 ings of Jesus in your head, heart, and mouth. Take, as 
 the disciples did, the bread from His hand to distribute. 
 His word will draw multitudes, and His bread feed 
 them. O, may you in age look back upon thousands 
 converted ! " 
 
 The day following that night of power, taking his way 
 through Rochester, Maidstone, and Cranbrook, he reached 
 his allotted place. To guide him to his home at Sand- 
 hurst, an aged sexton met him at the coach. Though 
 Mr. Collins was but in the twenty-third year, his full 
 form, sun-browned face, and grave demeanour left little 
 look of youth about him. In their way they passed a 
 crowd busy at athletic sports : " Ah, Sir," said his 
 venerable companion, " when they get as old as you and 
 7, they will not care for such vanities ! " 
 
 The now almost forgotten " Derby Secession " was to 
 Mr. Collins no small trouble at this stage of his ministry : 
 not that it ever reached his circuit. It rent his heart, not 
 his flock. Among the " Arminians," as the seceders 
 were designated, were many early and intimate com- 
 panions, dear to him as his own soul. Some of them, 
 full of hope of winning one so earnest to their side, sought 
 to scare him from his place in Methodism by raising 
 before him the ghost of a tyrannical Superintendent. 
 After suggesting a multitude of absurdities which autho- 
 rity, if delirious, might require, one concludes with : 
 " And, of course, you must oby your chief pastor in all 
 things." 
 
 This is the common target of the dissatisfied. An odd 
 thing in this line one has sometimes seen, a man with 
 a conscience so decidedly against ministerial subordina- 
 tion that.it could not by any means yield the deference 
 of a junior colleague ; but, somehow, though the power 
 of a Rector is far greater, and less checked, than that of 
 a Superintendent, his conscience and a curacy convene 
 exactly. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Collins discovered this alarm of authority to be a 
 mere bugbear. No servile submission was ever required 
 of him. He found, as most men of Christian love and 
 common sense do, that matters worked smoothly enough. 
 His reply was, " I never received anything but kindness 
 from Wesleyan ministers. Among so many, some, per- 
 haps, may not be so full of love as God is willing to make 
 them. Multiplied up to our number, would " Arminians " 
 be free of such ? As for myself and my Superintendent, 
 we go together ; we love one another; and, when I show 
 any tokens of knowing best, he makes, I assure you, no 
 trouble of submitting to me." 
 
 Many who go out of the house of Methodism get the 
 strange hallucination that they take all the fire with 
 them : one, thus thinking, wrote to him : " Methodism 
 is too cold for a revivalist." Had the charge of coldness 
 been true, what is the use of a revivalist, if that be a 
 reason for his leaving ? Where would he be so much 
 needed ? Where could he be so suitably placed as in a 
 chilling church ? These thoughts not occurring, his 
 friend, determined to have him from the ice-house, says, 
 " We will pray you out of it." Heaven is our helper in 
 holiness, not our partisan in strife. It is unseemly to 
 attempt to engage Omnipotence in small plots of prose- 
 lytism. Mr. Collins calmly replied, " Closet exercises 
 should have higher aim. Do not write to me thus. Let 
 us commune, as of old, how best to bring showers of 
 blessing down. I see my calling. I have no doubt. 
 There is not the shadow of a reason to justify my think- 
 ing for one moment of leaving Methodism. The obsta- 
 cles you dream of are all imaginary. A few cannot work 
 in my manner ; but none oppose, none hinder me. I 
 am as free and as fearless in doing good as you can be. 
 With success already beyond my expectations, and a 
 door of usefulness opened wider far than I can see how 
 any other church could open before me, it would be a sin 
 to think of retiring. To my work grace has fitted, God 
 called, and Providence appointed me." 
 
 The great themes of Methodist preaching in early 
 times were Repentance, Faith, and Holiness : may it in 
 this be semper eadem ! We deprecate any salvation by 
 wholesale, achieved by slurring over any of these indi-
 
 SANDHURST. 53 
 
 vidual experiences. Ever and anon classical tutors are 
 threatened with loss of scholars by the popularity of new 
 methods of teaching, set forth, with manifold puffery, as 
 " Nature's own," or the like. On examination, the secret 
 of swiftness will be found to consist mainly of doing the 
 pupil's construing for him, and leaving the grammar 
 lessons out. Celerity obtained by omission is theologi- 
 cally fashionable just now. In many quarters convincing 
 speech is denounced as legal. The fallow ground is 
 unbroken. Men are in such haste to sow that they can- 
 not wait to plough. In their husbandry the Gospel seed- 
 basket is everything. Share and harrow lie idle. 
 
 Diligent toil may if the generation be gainsaying 
 win only slow success. Who does not hanker for vast 
 results ? May God give unto His Ministers seals multi- 
 tudinous as the converts of Pentecost ! But let them 
 far rather let them be few and true, than count up into 
 crowds and be spurious. 
 
 The salvation of a soul is heart-work, not head-work. 
 It begins with a broken heart, it becomes a peaceful 
 heart, it issues in a holy heart. Salvation cannot be 
 learned oft", or got by rote. " Did Jesus die for all men ?" 
 "Yes." " Are not you a man?" "Yes." "Then did 
 not Jesus die for you?" "Yes." "Do you believe 
 that?" "Yes." " Is it not true that he that believeth 
 shall be saved ? " " Yes." " You believe : then, clearly, 
 you are saved." 
 
 Ah ! this salvation by syllogism is a delusion. " Jesus 
 died for me," minified into the mere premiss of an argu- 
 ment in an impenitent lip, is as worthless as any Shib- 
 boleth bigot ever framed. Precious truths so held are 
 in mortmain, and are harvestless as seed corn in a 
 mummy's hand. Thousands can get through the narrow 
 steps of that poor mental exercise only to realize that in 
 its bosom lies a sophism, and that its conclusion is a lie. 
 
 Woe befalls any church multiplied by such accessions ; 
 as John Bunyan would say, " They have tumbled over 
 the wall, not come in at the Wicket Gate." A Gospel 
 minus repentance, a salvation without conviction of sin, 
 a faith without trust, an assurance by logic, and a religion 
 without holiness, what will it all issue in but an eternity 
 without hope ?
 
 54 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Errors of this kind very rife to-day were in existence 
 then. I subjoin, with brief answers appended, questions 
 sent to Mr. Collins, during that period of strife, by some 
 of his polemic friends. 
 
 Q. Why consume time in preaching such A B C as that men 
 should forsake their sins ? 
 
 A. Because we care rather to be right than to be quick. Saving 
 time by leaving out God's commandment, " Cease to do evil," might 
 lose eternity. 
 
 Q. But supposing that they do, as you tell them, forsake their sins, 
 will doing so save them ? 
 
 A. No. But not doing so would damn them. A thing not in itself 
 saving may yet be necessary to salvation. Though the first step does 
 not finish a journey, yet none can reach the goal who will not take it. 
 The query is of no force against preaching this, but, it is allowed, has 
 resistless force against permitting preaching to stop short at this. 
 
 Q. Until faith be exercised in Jesus as a Saviour, are they not, 
 whatever else has been done, unjustified and unregenerate ? And if 
 unjustified and unregenerate, what better, or safer, Godward, will they 
 be for leaving one, or more, or all their outward abominations ? 
 
 A. No better, if that forsaking be made ground of self-dependence 
 and practical Christ-refusal ; but much better, quibble about it who 
 may, if done by Divine aid, in submission to Divine will. Un- 
 doubtedly the putting away of sin the penitent "clearing of them- 
 selves," denotes a state far better than they were in when their life 
 was vice and their purpose rebellion. Though not cured, they are 
 surrendered to treatment ; the physician has them in hand. 
 
 Q. Is not all this telling a man to repent mere delaying of him 
 from the cross ? 
 
 A. Nay, it is in front of the cross, and with motives fetched from 
 the cross, that I urge him to repent. 
 
 Q. But if you have him there, with Jesus in view, why not tell him 
 to believe ? 
 
 A. I do so tell him. But ordering my requirement of faith after 
 God's own method, I claim it first for the Divine statements concern- 
 ing wretched, damnable, helpless self ; and then for the record given 
 of His Son. Conviction of sin is a necessary antecedent of saving 
 trust. Who seeks food until he is hungry ? or shelter until he appre- 
 hends danger ? or medicine until he knows himself to be sick ? 
 Seeing that men will neither seek, nor care for, nor accept, a Saviour 
 until they feel themselves to be sinners, with this we begin, this 
 testimony we press home, this word of God we will have believed : 
 then presenting the crucified Lord, as Paul teaches, " The righteous- 
 ness of God is revealed from faith to faith." 
 
 O. You talk as if " reconciliation " were a thing divinely willed 
 merely. Does not Paul (2 Cor. v. 19-21) teach that it is accom- 
 plished ? God is reconciled. Why do you maim the message ? 
 Why do you not tell that Gospel that good news everywhere to 
 every man ? 
 
 A. We should be sorry to clip, or cloud the magnificence of God's
 
 SANDHURST. 55 
 
 free love, yet let us not confuse things. God was rconciled to the 
 world in Christ eighteen centuries ago ; to me when in the act and 
 moment of faith I accepted Christ. Reconciliation to humanity was 
 planned in eternity, justified on Calvary, proclaimed in the Gospel, 
 and is true for ever. Reconciliation with individual men is accom- 
 plished, realized, and experienced, when sin is renounced, the Saviour 
 embraced, and the Gospel trusted. Atonement was accepted from 
 Christ the moment He offered it ; accepted for me the moment I 
 claim it. 
 
 Q. Why pray for faith ? Why pray for that which the Bible calls 
 upon you to do ? 
 
 A. Dare you go through with that principle never to pray for 
 anything which the Bible calls upon you to do ? The fact is, through 
 the whole process of salvation, God is a giver and man a receiver. 
 It may foreclose controversy, however to remember that faith is 
 prayed for in one sense, and exercised in another. The Holy Ghost 
 gives not the act of faith, but the light, power, and disposition to 
 believe. In that, as and only as in every other acceptable act, 
 " He helpeth our infirmities." Why should not this fact be devotion- 
 ally acknowledged ? If I may pray for love, or joy, or the like, why 
 may I not pray for faith ? 
 
 Mr. Collins's own words on this subject are valuable. 
 He says: 
 
 " Man possesses, and often employs, the terrible power 
 of resisting God. In preaching, I deal with man : my 
 chief business is then, of course, to get him to cease the 
 exercise of that awful power. In prayer, on the con- 
 trary, I deal with God, and ask the gift, the plentitude, 
 and the continuance of the Spirit. Addressing the peni- 
 tent, I bid him believe; addressing the Lord, I say, 
 ' Lord, help this poor creature ! ' This is the old Metho- 
 dist way ; this is my way. I find it succeed, and do not 
 intend to alter it." 
 
 Among those who at that time broke away from Wes- 
 leyanism it was not unnatural that in the first spring 
 of freedom from old standards of orthodoxy, much 
 diversity, and some confusion of thought, should arise. 
 Except upon the one point concerning faith, the opinions 
 uttered in the preceding questions, though they were 
 held by many, have but the authority of the individual 
 sending them. They are inserted here because of the 
 intrinsic importance of the matters discussed, and not 
 as any supposed manifesto of the minds of the Derby 
 seceders. Partisans often outgo their leaders. John 
 Wilkes told George III., " I assure your Majesty that I
 
 56 CHAPTER V. 
 
 never was a Wilkite." The Rev. H. Breeden, I know, 
 would never have endorsed the queries of his puzzled 
 disciple. The little book, " A Call to Holiness and Use- 
 fulness," published by him at that time, is tree from all 
 such theological fog ; and has in it, perhaps, not ten 
 words which, for any dogmatic reason, I should care to 
 alter. It is just such an appeal as one would like all 
 churches to read. It is further due to say that the great 
 influence Mr. Breeden at that time wielded over the 
 mind of Thomas Collins was never marred by the 
 slightest effort to gain him as a proselyte. Subjoined 
 is a specimen letter, the plain intent of which was 
 not to win an " Arminian," but to inflame a Methodist 
 preacher : 
 
 " Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." What an awful 
 thing it would be if we who are employed about the sanctuary should 
 preach salvation and then go self-damned to hell ! Holiness is every- 
 thing. O, what beauty there is in holiness ! Let us seek her, court 
 her, win her, love her, and that for her own sake alone. 
 
 There is power in holiness. I want Thomas Collins to have as 
 much of this power as any man under the stars. Stick to your Bible. 
 Be much on your knees. Follow Jesus. Thus get power that will 
 make strong-hearted sinners bend. 
 
 I often wish that I had opportunity to converse with you. John 
 Smith had an inheritance from Nelson. I received from Smith. 
 Perhaps I may pass over a little instruction to you. The following 
 hints are echoes of his words : 
 
 1. Be a man of decision. An administrator, a popular man, a 
 winner of souls, which is it to be ? At Madeley the very worldlings 
 said of Fletcher, " There goes the soulsaver ! " Make up your mind 
 whether you will be a soulsaver or not. 
 
 2. If you decide to be one, thenceforth make that your business ; 
 be devoted to it; compel everything to bend that way; throw all 
 your energies into it. 
 
 3. Be restless. Success is not likely, in our age, to overtake the 
 world's necessities. While we live, we can never have done. Be 
 always tenderly yearning for sinners. This is a happy unhappiness. 
 A man full of Christ-like tears is a noble creature. Such concern 
 melts men, and tells with God. 
 
 4. Keep your eye single. Having chosen your aim, be true to it. 
 Do nothing idly or without meaning. Be not of those who do with 
 the right hand and undo with the left. 
 
 5. Study the Acts of the Apostles. In those Acts lie the seeds of 
 all evangelistic methods. Cultivate fertility of expedient. In prin- 
 ciple be fixed, but in action manifold. 
 
 6. In composing sermons first fix your eye on what you mean to 
 hit. Let nothing in that is not meant to strike. Ask not, " is it 
 pretty ? " but, " Will it do the thing I wish."
 
 SANDHURST. 57 
 
 7. In selecting the sermon to be preached consider the people, not 
 yourself; take, not the one that will give you the least trouble, nor 
 the one that will win you, as a preacher, the most credit ; but that 
 which is most appropriate to the current need. If the people be 
 hungry, it is better to feed them than dazzle them ; even though you 
 were able to do it with the sheen of diamonds. 
 
 8. Choose your hymns carefully. Give them out heartily, and 
 with much inward devotion. In your first prayer plead until the 
 people move ; wait until the baptism of power falls. You must not 
 preach without the power. 
 
 9. Preach as a dying man to dying men. How would you speak 
 if you were sure that in sixty minutes you, with nineteen others from 
 that room, would be in eternity? and at present, of all the score, you 
 only saved ? In such a case how would you entreat, and warn, and 
 weep ! Do as much like that as you can every time you stand with 
 God's message of mercy among poor sin-smitten, dying hearers. 
 
 10. Never doubt either God's presence, God's word, God's pity, or 
 God's power. 
 
 11. During the closing prayer remember that success or failure will 
 be protracted through eternity. Dash jewels to atoms rather than 
 miss your point. 
 
 12. If strength permit, marshal the after meeting yourself. Study 
 the peculiarities and tastes of the people among whom you labour. 
 In mode be pliant. Let not the lion of your will roar about mere 
 methods. Meet prevailing notions of decorum as far as may be con- 
 sistently with the work being done. 
 
 Teach the people to confess what they receive, and, for yourself, 
 watch, pray, and believe. 
 
 Who that reads this precious communication can 
 wonder at the affection Mr. Collins bore to the writer of 
 it? 
 
 A lively friend deprecating any breach of amity be- 
 tween them on the ground of the secession thus wrote 
 to Mr. Collins : 
 
 " We preach Christ the common Saviour. The church 
 needs builders at back as well as front. Do not you front 
 workmen despise us at the rear. We are neither work- 
 ing for another master nor for another job. Do not make 
 it too great an offence that we have picked up a few stones 
 not polished enough for place in the front wall ; now they 
 are built into the back, they fit, and stick, and serve 
 better than you would have thought." 
 
 Mr. Collins, in his reply, said : 
 
 " Many Ministers fear new and unusual methods ; 
 many people love them. When the difference, arising 
 from the caution of the one and the love of novelty of
 
 58 CHAPTER V. 
 
 the other, gets dilated into division, that is much to be 
 deplored : yet, if the result could be confined to setting 
 a few hundred warm-hearted men free to make onslaughts 
 on the devil's kingdom in their own fashion, some good 
 and little ill would come of it. But if, instead of working 
 as converters, they set themselves to be proselyters, 
 denouncing and seeking to destroy the church which, 
 after all, won them to Christ, that is wrong; all wrong; 
 very wrong. God forbid that one word of mine should 
 sanction such a thing ! Methodism is my mother, my 
 father's mother, the mother of millions. It tears me to 
 see her torn. 
 
 " Though I shall never leave the old body, that does 
 not prevent me from loving Henry Breeden as I do my 
 own soul. I shall ever wish ' God speed' to him and his 
 helpers so long as they keep to the glorious work of 
 plucking brands from the fire. Let those who have gone 
 from us seek lost sinners as fast as they can. My 
 ' Hallelujah ! ' shall not be wanting for any prodigal who 
 by their means returns ; but every one seduced from the 
 elder Society is an injustice and a shame." 
 
 On the same subject Mr. Collins wrote to a perturbed 
 Methodist : 
 
 " Talk as little as possible of the secession. The time 
 others give to prattle give you to prayer. The Spirit will 
 descend for asking. A general revival would best of all 
 things heal the wounds, hush the murmurs, and supply 
 the wants of Methodism. Work, full work for God, 
 would leave us little time for quarrelling; and devotion, 
 full devotion, would leave us no inclination. O how 
 little love, life, and labour many make shift with ! Be 
 not of the number of Methodists who spend more time in 
 grumbling at ' Ranters,' and cavilling with ' Arminians,' 
 than they do in crying, ' Thy kingdome come.' Let us 
 not live to the world in the least degree. Let us love 
 God, and leave all to Him." 
 
 The valuable, vigorous letter of Mr. Breeden was fol- 
 lowed almost immediately by another from his father's 
 hand, written in his most thrilling, flaming manner : 
 
 Son, why may you not be the holiest man that ever lived ? With 
 a Bible full of promises, and a God full of delight to see you 
 " Divinely confident and bold " to claim them, what is there to hold
 
 SANDHURST. 59 
 
 you back ? God would have you holy : meet God in His purpose. 
 O, how He rejoices over holy souls to do them good ! 
 
 Grace has oceans unexplored. Prophets, apostles, and worthies 
 have left a fulness unexhausted and untried. Why should not my 
 Thomas be the man to fathom some new deeps of God ? 
 
 Perhaps you will say, " Father, why not do this yourself? " Thanks 
 be to God, who, through our Lord Jesus Christ, hath made me, poor 
 worm, partaker of His holiness ! I have been wonderfully blest of 
 late. All in my soul is love. That heaven and earth are full of the 
 majesty and glorious influence of my adored Creator and Redeemer 
 has become to me an experience. I believe Him whom my soul 
 loveth to be everywhere, because I find Him everywhere. Through 
 faith His Light, and Power, and Purity flow in. It often seems as if 
 the spirit must break through the flesh. At such times, like a silken 
 vessel filled with gas, I soar above the region of clouds. Why 
 do I ever sink again ? I trust the Lord will help even poor me to 
 spring, and rise, and still shoot forward through the pure sunlit ether, 
 until, at Heaven's portal, Jesus stretch that same hand that was 
 nailed to the wood, catch my fluttering soul, I believe He will ! 
 and bear it through the blood-washed bands, safe and shouting, to 
 the throne. 
 
 But, son, while thus by grace I am all for God, yet my measure is 
 very limited. My retrospect differs terribly from yours. Twenty 
 years of life's prime were by me expended in desperate despairing sin. 
 Through all these gloomy years I floundered in the Slough of 
 Despond. It was dreadfully broad were I came across. If my foot 
 had not found rock just when it did, I believe I should never have 
 tried again. Alas ! when saved, twenty years more were only half 
 improved. I lingered in a low, doubting, unworthy state. I awoke 
 not to the glory, I got not the grasp of holiness. It is better with me 
 now. Hallelujah ! I am the Lord's and He is mine. But O those 
 squandered years ! The thought of them makes me wither, and weep, 
 and sigh, and cry, and vex. In sight of the spiritual imbecility 
 entailed upon me I mourn, and humble myself, and nauseate myself. 
 But neither prayer, nor labour, nor agonising outstretchings of the 
 soul, can undo the damages of those forty years. God hath forgiven 
 me all, for which now, and eternally, I will praise Him : but that, 
 surely, is no reason why I should forgive myself. 
 
 These then, son, are the reasons why you may surpass me. From 
 all this mercy hath preserved thee. 
 
 Dwell ever where the dayspring shall shine direct upon thy heart. 
 Keep a diary, that thou mayest be able to bear true and thankful 
 witness among God's children how clearly thou hast seen the King's 
 face and how often. 
 
 That God may help thee to lead believers to sunnier heights than 
 any ever did before thee is the prayer of thy father. 
 
 An early Sandhurst letter observes : " My Superin- 
 tendent is a useful, much respected man, and his wife a 
 mother-like woman. I live with them. The children 
 are affectionate, the home comfortable, and the situation
 
 60 CHAPTER V. 
 
 rural. Hop-gardens, beautiful as vineyards, surround us 
 everywhere." The Circuit was large : he remarks, " Of 
 leg exercise there is no lack here." There were eighteen 
 places upon the Plan, and some of them were fourteen 
 miles distant. These things caused Mr. Collins no 
 anxiety ; he seemed to think no amount of walking, 
 praying, and preaching to be hard. His own record is : 
 " Bless God for calling me into His work. To labour 
 for God ! What a high vocation ! I will be no lounger. 
 I mean to be faithful. I do in some measure give 
 myself unto prayer ; but O that I could feel that expe- 
 rience of Gregory Lopez mine, ' Every breath is 
 prayer ! ' ' 
 
 The religious condition of the district was low. At 
 Cranbrook, Huntington, the Antinomian, and Paine, the 
 Infidel, were born. The evil principles of both had lea- 
 vened the whole countryside. Rude scoffers abounded 
 in the ale-houses, and Antinomians in the pulpits. By 
 the Wesleyan Societies a banner for the truth had, in 
 that region, been long upheld. The members were 
 steady, the workers fervent, diligent, and willing to bear 
 the cross. 
 
 It was a transition time in Mr. Collins's ministry. 
 The rough fidelity, stern rebuke, and Boanerges thunder 
 acquired among the Redditch revivalists, had been much 
 softened in hours of lonely walk with Jesus passed in 
 Northumberland. The tender pathos, which in after 
 years gave such sweetness to his preaching, was begin- 
 ning to appear. One of his hearers says, " Constant 
 Divine communion secured for him a fulness of the 
 Spirit that inflamed his soul with love, and melted it 
 with pity. The anointing that was upon him caused 
 his voice to tremble with emotion, while it clothed his 
 word with power. Such a man, among such a people, 
 could not labour in vain. The wisdom and unction with 
 which he spake did ' every conscience reach, and sound 
 the unbelieving heart.' " 
 
 Mr. Collins's entrance upon his work was marked no 
 marvel by fierce onsets of the devil. The following is 
 an early entry in his Journal : " In the night I was 
 forced to rise from my bed for prayer, so hard did hell 
 assail me." Within two days he writes again : " I
 
 SANDHURST. 6l 
 
 wrestled with God in a wood for deliverance from temp- 
 tation." He was heard, for soon the record says : " God 
 is my Refuge and Salvation every moment. My soul is 
 happy. I am fully dedicated. I am given up to God, 
 and, by the help of grace, ever intend to be. I love 
 souls, and God has full possession of my soul. My 
 determination is to act and speak only for God and for 
 His people." 
 
 Of preparation for Sunday take the appended instance : 
 " I spent Friday in secret fasting, meditation, and prayer 
 for help on the Lord's day." That day is registered thus : 
 " At Peasemarsh Divine unction descended. About the 
 middle of the sermon a man cried out ; at the cry my 
 soul ran over. I fell to prayer, nor could we preach any 
 more for cries and tears all over the chapel. We con- 
 tinued in intercessions, and salvation came." 
 
 Mr. Collins instituted throughout the Circuit early 
 Sunday morning gatherings for intercession. To be 
 present at these blessed matin services he often walked 
 miles, regardless of the fact that he would have to preach 
 three times in places remote from each other, afterwards 
 meet classes for tickets, and finally close the day with 
 protracted and exhausting labours of prayer. The toil 
 he underwent would have broken down any constitution 
 not of the very strongest. 
 
 It will give fair insight into the work of the Circuit to 
 produce jottings of the first three Sabbaths spent in it. 
 
 " Sunday, September gth, 1832. Goudhurst. Held a 
 prayer-meeting at six o'clock : one in distress. Gave 
 tickets at eight : two in distress. Preached at half-past 
 ten, and gave tickets after. Held a short prayer-meeting 
 immediately after dinner. Preached at half-past two, 
 and gave tickets after. Found one mourning soul out 
 at the tea table. Preached at six o'clock ; held a prayer- 
 meeting ; several persons were in sorrow. As the youths 
 of a school attending the chapel seemed much affected, 
 I announced a meeting for them at five o'clock the next 
 morning. They came, and several of them received 
 comfort." 
 
 " Sunday, September i6th. Preached at Wadhurst, 
 In the morning service two young women whose 
 hearts had been broken the Sunday before, and who had
 
 62 CHAPTER V. 
 
 passed the week in deep affliction were comforted. In 
 the afternoon I preached again. For the evening, went 
 on to Ticehurst ; preached there, and held a prayer- 
 meeting. The work was hard, and the impression small. 
 The people seemed untrained for such services. I had 
 to dismiss them with little visible fruit. O God, come 
 down upon this place." 
 
 " Sunday, September 23rd. Preached at Tanhouse. 
 Many wept under the word. I gave tickets after, and 
 then passed on so Northiam, where, in the afternoon, I 
 preached and gave tickets again. The evening service 
 was at Brede. In the prayer-meeting with which we 
 closed the day there many wept aloud, and some entered 
 into liberty." 
 
 The Rev. James Harris informs me that he had but 
 recently joined the Northiam Society when Mr. Collins 
 preached his first sermon there, the notice of which has 
 just been given. The text was, " No man cared for my 
 soul." The word laid on the hearer such a spell that 
 quite against his wont he followed the preacher to 
 Brede. Special power as the Journal has told de- 
 scended there. The loud cries of the awakened, and 
 of those who interceded for them, sounding strangely in 
 the unaccustomed ears of the young Methodist, he, next 
 morning, asked Mr. Collins, " Was there not much wild 
 fire last night ? " who answered, " Well, brother, even 
 that might be better than no fire. Do not judge too early, 
 or too harshly. Consider, God employs workmen upon 
 different work. Naturally, and wisely, their gifts and 
 methods vary. As I do not complain of quiet labourers 
 who slowly and silently bring pillars of the temple to 
 polished perfection, so neither should they murmur at 
 me because blasting in the quarry makes a noise, and 
 raising rough stones proves to be rough work." 
 
 That similitude fairly set forth the kind of results Mr. 
 Collins's labours frequently accomplished. Take a case. 
 Thomas Eldridge was a wild young fellow, given to 
 drink, and a Sabbath-breaker. Rude and burly, he was 
 a mighty fighter, the terror of peaceable people. He 
 had never gone near a place of worship, unless to scoff 
 at those who went. . Strange tales told of this new 
 preacher led the man to think, as he expressed it after-
 
 SANDHURST. 63 
 
 wards, that " it would be a rare lark to hear him." 
 Having heard that Mr. Collins often took hold of those 
 he warned, he said to his wife, when starting, " If that 
 Collins puts a ringer on me, I'll lay him on his back." 
 He went. Mr. Collins did not touch him, but the Word 
 did. He stayed the after-meeting, and came home so 
 changed in manner, that, at a glance, his wife exclaimed, 
 " Why, Tom, throw Collins ! He's thrown thee, I can 
 see." Answering not a word, he walked up to a box, 
 pulled out dice, and cards, and balls, and all the et cetera 
 gambling tools, and cast them into the fire straightway. 
 Not long after the man found peace with God at a peni- 
 tent bench while Mr. Collins was talking to him. From 
 that time he seemed filled with attachment tender and 
 ardent towards the instrument of good. Neither weather 
 nor miles prevented him from hearing the Word from his 
 lips. Every place in the Circuit found him there. He 
 proved to be a genuine Christian, and became very zealous 
 for God. 
 
 The supplementing of Sabbath efforts by extemporized 
 old-fashioned services on the morning of the next day, 
 became common. The journal shows it to have been 
 done at St. Leonard's, at Tenterden, and at other places. 
 Of Rye he writes, " I preached there at five o'clock : two 
 mourners were comforted." At the close of a glorious 
 Monday service at Northiam, Mr. Collins announced 
 that they would gather again for early prayer next morn- 
 ing. " Will any this winter weather be such fools as to 
 come?" said one of the auditors, in his heart: "they 
 will not catch me there." Ah, he little knew ! He was 
 so scared with dreams and visions of the night, that he 
 gladly left his bed at three o'clock, paced the cold street 
 with weight of trouble on him that made him forget the 
 frost, and was the first, when the door was opened at 
 five o'clock, to enter it. In that meeting the Lord saved 
 him, and he remains to this day a Local Preacher and 
 Leader in the Wesleyan Society. 
 
 On week-days Mr. Collins's custom was to set off early 
 to the place where he was appointed to preach. He de- 
 nounced sin and published Jesus to every pilgrim on the 
 road, visited the village homes, talked to the children, 
 prayed with the families, got tea, and then retired, if
 
 64 CHAPTER V. 
 
 weather permitted and locality favoured, to some neigh- 
 bouring wood, if not to some trusted friend's chamber, 
 in order that he might wrestle with God. From such 
 exercises he loved to go, saying as little as possible to 
 any, straight into the pulpit. Many have been melted 
 under his utterance of the first hymn. On week-day, as 
 on Sabbath, he seemed unable to leave the seed sown by 
 the preaching, until it had been harrowed in by the effect 
 of the prayer-meeting. That meeting generally com- 
 menced by his rich, deep, mighty voice striking off, 
 
 Jesus, the Name high over all 
 In hell, or earth, or sky. 
 
 Oft, as he sang, he would walk down the aisle, scanning 
 the congregation. Nor was it easy for any whose hearts 
 the Lord had touched to conceal their trouble from his 
 practised eye. All such, when discerned, were kindly 
 invited to gather around the communion-rail, where the 
 Pastor directed them, loving Christians pleaded for them, 
 and in multitudes of cases God saved them. 
 
 Mr. Collins kept unannounced,but regular, days of fast- 
 ing. A correspondent who knew him at that time says : 
 " He was very self-denying. People often noticed how 
 at table, silently and without ostentation, he passed by 
 delicacies, and chose the plainest fare. He was exem- 
 plary in almsgiving. Having but little, he did diligently 
 of that little." His stipend was of the very lowest. He 
 had to write home, " I long to see you, but could not 
 come without borrowing ; and debt would cut my tongue 
 out" He had to say, " I want new clothes, and am 
 pining for books:" yet, with all this, pinched families 
 and sick sufferers found mysterious shillings and half- 
 crowns under tablecloths, and the like, after his departure. 
 
 Devotion was the secret of his power. A farmer said 
 to me of him, " Before he sowed the seed, he always 
 took care to steep it well." One writes : " Our house 
 was his occasional home. A man so prayerful I never 
 knew. Once hearing, about two A.M., a gentle tap at my 
 bedroom window, I looked out, and, to my surprise, saw 
 Mr. Collins. He asked me to slip quietly down, and let 
 him in. I did, and inquired, much wondering, " How 
 have you been so delayed ? ' ' O, 1 said he, ' I had busi-
 
 SANDHURST. 65 
 
 ness to settle with my Father upon the road.' It turned 
 out that, communing with God in a wood, his oft- 
 chosen closet, hours had passed unregistered, and time 
 been forgotten." 
 
 We have it under Mr. Collins's hand, " I expect sal- 
 vation every sermon." Few were the cases in which he 
 did not ask the people to remain to pray. For himself, 
 he loved to stay until the jubilant shout of sin forgiven 
 and doubt dispelled arose. He occasionally records, 
 with evident sadness, " Good feeling, but no specific work 
 done." It seemed to him like retreat to go from the 
 field without spoil. His joy was victory won upon the 
 spot. To achieve this, sometimes his pleadings became 
 agony, and his meetings were long, but God ' caused 
 him to triumph in every place.' 
 
 None could expect to run a course so special smoothly. 
 A storm of persecution soon rattled round. He 
 writes : 
 
 "June 28th, 1833. We opened the new chapel at 
 Brede. Such a concourse was scarcely ever seen in 
 Sussex. A great booth had been erected, and both booth 
 and chapel were filled. The collections were large but, 
 better still twenty souls were gathered in. We have 
 begun a school, and already have a hundred scholars. 
 The whole parish is in a ferment. All manner of things 
 are invented concerning me; but having read Ezek.vi. n, 
 and Luke vi. 22, I heed them not." 
 
 About that time, a commercial traveller told Mr. 
 Collins's father, " Sir, your son has become a man of 
 fame. He is setting Kent on fire. I heard of him 
 repeatedly, and saw foolish rhymes about him in the 
 barbers' shops. The devil hates, sinners fear, and true 
 hearts love him." 
 
 As of old, opposition often turned out for the further- 
 ance of the Gospel. A poor fellow, at Northiam, dis- 
 tressed that his wife should go where, if tales were true, 
 such abominable things were done, threatened, if she 
 persisted, that he would commit suicide. A second and 
 a wiser thought came, " Go and see for yourself what 
 they really do." He went ; the word cut him so keenly 
 that he could not restrain his tears. A circle kindly 
 gathered round him for prayer. His wife knelt by his 
 
 F
 
 66 CHAPTER V. 
 
 side ; and Mr. Collins writes, " O ! it was a noble sight to 
 see their mutual joy when his soul was set free." 
 
 Carlos Coleman informs me that the " baser sort " 
 often gathered rudely round the chapel doors, and saluted 
 this evangelist of their villages with odious epithets. 
 Into the very centre of many such a crowd did Mr. 
 Collins walk manfully ; never debating, but in few words 
 announcing his Master's love, he would bid them " Kneel 
 down." Many, awed by his tender authority, seemed to 
 be upon their knees ere they were aware. The effect of 
 these pointed, touching, chapel-door prayers was almost 
 magical. Scoffers ran, but left of their band wounded 
 mourners behind ; who, entering the sanctuary, cast in 
 their lot with God's people, and bid their bad companions 
 and bad ways a solemn and lasting farewell. 
 
 This novel ministration drawing after it to every place 
 in the Circuit a trail of fire, in the shape of vehement 
 praying men, could not but cause anxiety to some 
 cautious, and offence to some devout and extremely 
 order-loving, souls. It was not Mr. Collins's wont, as 
 some revivalists do, to denounce all such as cold-hearted. 
 He says, " At Tanhouse I found a number of pious aged 
 persons, unable to endure the fervours common among 
 our new-born converts. I therefore, after preaching, 
 committed the conduct of the prayer-meeting to the 
 Leader, a sober, discreet, excellent Christian, inviting 
 the anxious to follow me to the parlour of a neighbouring 
 house. Seven came. God's work was well done there, 
 while the good quiet people helped us, and got sweetly 
 blessed themselves, in offering calm prayers, after their 
 manner, in our behalf." 
 
 The journals furnish many instances of peripatetic 
 evangelism. One Sabbath, meeting a lad with a basket 
 of groceries upon his arm, it did not seem right to him 
 to leave that untaught youth to disregard the holy day 
 without an effort to instruct him. " My boy, do you 
 know anything of the great God ? " " No." " What ! " 
 not know anything of the Lord, who made heaven, and 
 earth, and you, and all things ?" " No." " Has father 
 never told you of God Almighty ? Has mother never 
 taught you to pray ? " " No." Much moved by this 
 instance of that terribly frequent crass ignorance of our
 
 SANDHURST. 67 
 
 cottier families, which is at once a shame and a peril to 
 the land, he began to put before him, simply as he could, 
 those foundation truths which make the substance of our 
 creeds and catechisms. To that untutored mind, every- 
 thing had the charm and power of novelty ; and as the 
 lad trotted by his side, wonder and weeping alternated. 
 Who can tell ? That wayside seed may be waving in 
 harvest fruit somewhere now. 
 
 On another occasion, hearing hammerstrokes upon the 
 Lord's day, he just went round the house to whence the 
 sound proceeded, and found there, at the back, an old 
 man mending a cart. To his rebuke, the old man, in 
 excuse, pleaded ignorance : " He was no scholar." The 
 plea was immediately adopted as a text from which 
 God's goodness was magnified for giving those weekly 
 returning hours of separated, sacred time, in which, from 
 fit instructors in open sanctuaries, poor toiling men 
 might all be taught. 
 
 Were every Christian thus faithful in admonishing, 
 ignorance would soon vanish and sin be ashamed. We 
 might not expel sin out of the world ; but if all pro- 
 fessors, like policemen, were " on duty," they would soon 
 drive it from the streets. Vice would feel itself a felon, 
 and skulk and hide. The Church's timorousness makes 
 evil brazen, and lets it dare to flaunt itself before the sun. 
 
 Conversions on the road became frequent. Returning 
 from Cranbrook, Mr. Collins was overtaken by a person 
 of sober, steady look ; brief intercouse discovered the 
 man to be of thoughtful, serious mind, wishful for 
 good, but uninstructed in the simplicities of the Gospel 
 offer. Telling him, as they journeyed, the story of 
 Philip and the Eunuch, he assured him that there and 
 then, like the Eunuch, he might believe on the Son of 
 God and be saved. Opening up to him at length the 
 saving plan, he plied him with the duty of present sub- 
 mission to the evangelical conditions, and earnestly ap- 
 pealed to him at once to put his trust in the Saviour. 
 Nor was this exhortation vain. Before they reached the 
 village towards which they went, the man was rejoicing 
 in the bliss of accepted salvation. 
 
 Another day Mr. Collins met a person of the name of 
 Morgan on the road to Mountfield. To godly converse 
 
 F 2
 
 68 CHAPTER V. 
 
 the man gave earnest heed. As they walked, attention 
 deepened into desire ; desire intensified to distress ; to 
 the distressed soul the Gospel was explained, and with 
 prayer pressed home ; and there, in that rural lane, 
 willingly as if it had been a cathedral, God sealed His 
 Word, and sent the villager to his cot, filled with un- 
 speakable joy, ever to look back upon that as the birth- 
 hour of a new life. 
 
 It would be wrong to leave Mr. Collins's profitable 
 parlour work unillustrated. Records such as the follow- 
 ing are in the Journal at once very sweet and very com- 
 mon : " At Mrs. Smith's, of Brede, one of the servants 
 was saved at family prayer." "At Peasmarsh, at tea, at 
 Brother Filmer's, a youth was filled with joy unspeak- 
 able." " On Saturday evening, at Salehurst Abbey, the 
 neighbours gathered in ; I talked to them awhile ; we 
 then fell to prayer, and five of them were saved." " We 
 had tea last evening at Miss Apps's. Two girls found 
 peace. Miss Hilders, Mr. W. Apps, and Oliver, with 
 several others, were there. Next Friday, in the same 
 way, Miss Dawes will gather a few friends. Carefully 
 managed, good will come of it." Susannah Hodges 
 writes : " Mr. Collins met me at Mr. Francis's house. 
 I had been a self-righteous Pharisee ; but, in the morn- 
 ing service, the Spirit had opened the eyes of my soul to 
 see its own vileness. Mr. Collins asked, ' Do you expect 
 salvation to-night ? ' I replied, ' Whatever good I may 
 have, it is my resolve not to go away without it.' He 
 said, ' I have pleaded with God this day for hours, in 
 the wood, for souls : He will give them. I know His 
 sign. I shall have souls to-night. Yours, I trust, will, 
 be one.' Well, night came, and with it such a power as 
 I had never felt. Cries for mercy rang all over the 
 chapel. Before the sermon was done, I, with many 
 others, fell upon my knees to implore salvation. I found 
 it; and to all eternity shall bless God for that Easter 
 Monday." 
 
 This good Pastor was very diligent in visitation of the 
 sick. He says : " I went to see a sick man. Knowing 
 his case, I faithfully brought up his sins before him. 
 He was offended, and cried angrily, ' Don't set yourself 
 up to judge me.' Under the prayer, however, the Spirit's
 
 SANDHURST. 69 
 
 touch on his conscience mastered him. His pride broke 
 down thoroughly. His humble confessions, made amid 
 the tears of his weeping family, I shall never forget." 
 
 Ann Boots, a well-informed, moral person, when about 
 forty years of age, was taken ill ; though a regular at- 
 tendant at ordinances, she had yet deferred decision for 
 God. With her, as with thousands similarly situated, the 
 devil's " Time enough yet " at once changed into " Too 
 late now." In this snare her soul lay bound. After con- 
 versing with her of almighty, unfailing, ever-ready love, 
 to use Mr. Collins's own words, " he wrestled in prayer." 
 Consolation came. He left her crying, " I will trust 
 Him ! I will trust Him ! " 
 
 On another occasion it is written : " I went to see 
 poor Tommy Curd. His prayers have brought me many 
 a blessing. He has been much tried. I found him sink- 
 ing in decline, and brought by Satan's bufferings into 
 extreme darkness. As we talked, however, the cloud 
 lifted. Tommy, to my surprise, suddenly rose in his 
 bed, and, as if the devil had been visibly present, with 
 clenched fists and determined air, hurled defiance at 
 him ; then, as in a rapture, shouted, ' Glory be to God ! 
 Glory be to God ! Glory be to God ! ' with the strength 
 of a giant. I could only say, ' Amen.' How was I 
 humbled in sight of that blessed ecstasy ! I offered all 
 my soul to God afresh, and came away rejoicing." 
 
 Outcasts were not forgotten. Sarah W had fallen 
 
 into shame. All her friends despised her. Having been 
 once a Sunday Scholar, Mr. Collins turned aside to Goud- 
 hurst workhouse to speak with her. He says : " While 
 1 showed to her her sin, she wept. My very soul pitied 
 her. Never, as then, had I seen the beauty of the love 
 of Jesus to the lost. O, in face of that purity stooping so 
 low, why are we, sinners, so swift to forsake ? so merci- 
 less to condemn ? Lord, replenish me with perfect love ! 
 Some Christian women, encouraged by my going first, 
 will now visit, and, I trust, rescue to ways of virtue this 
 wanderer from the fold." 
 
 Soon I find him again seeking a soul-jewel sunk down 
 in mire still deeper ; a poor waif of the street, rotting 
 with disease. Seduced, cast off, degraded, she had run 
 a fearful course, and run it fast. The poor wretch could
 
 7O CHAPTER V. 
 
 scarcely speak through her gangrened throat. He says : 
 " I sat over her bed with a broken heart, preached to 
 her, with tears, the mighty Saviour, and'came away, not 
 without hope that, at the last, this fallen one too should 
 be found enfolded in the loving arms of Christ." 
 
 Such as had " erred " from the faith were not over- 
 looked : " I conversed with Henry E , a Socinian. 
 
 As he professed to take Scripture as his guide, I replied, 
 'So do I ; therefore, to it at once we will go ; and I 
 challenge you to cite any text which I, with my creed, 
 will not accept just as it stands ; further, I pledge my- 
 self to find many which, if yours is to be held, must be 
 rejected, altered, or manifestly quibbled about.' " That 
 Biblical appeal was safe ; the process short ; the issue 
 argumentatively satisfactory. The objector's battery 
 was silenced ; but I do not learn that his creed was 
 changed. 
 
 The Lord's Word was mighty among the worst. At a 
 lovefeast at Robertsbridge many bore witness of the 
 Saviour's glorious power. One had been a poacher ; 
 another, a gambler ; a third, a drunkard ; and, last of 
 all, one described himself as having " well deserved 
 hanging." Considering the classes from which many of 
 the converts came, their stability was remarkable ; yet 
 there, as elsewhere, occasionally the Minister's heart 
 was riven by instances of backsliding. He tells of find- 
 ing " poor J. H drunk upon the road ; " and remarks : 
 
 " Hop-picking had led him into old scenes, and among 
 old associates. It is very perilous for unstable men to 
 go upon ground where they have often fallen. I wept at 
 the miserable sight. There he lay, under a hedge, without 
 a hat, filthy, degraded, mastered by the devil, all uncon- 
 scious of his shame. O, may he yet return ! " 
 
 Of God's just dealings with such, I find many monitory 
 instances recorded : " Not long since, an old backslider 
 stumbled drunk into the Rother and was drowned. A 
 few days ago another fell from the top of a load, and 
 died on the spot. Providence speaks in warning yet 
 again. E. C., who for a time ran well, at length lost 
 fire, grew careless, absented himself from means, fell into 
 open sin. We saw him no more ; but, last week, sad 
 to tell, crossing his father's floor, he suddenly dropped,
 
 SANDHURST. 71 
 
 and without one word of prayer, or penitence, or hope, 
 expired." 
 
 The revival had happy social influence. Two families 
 at Brede had been in feud about a well. Their houses 
 belonged to different landlords, between whom under- 
 standing existed that the well on the one property should 
 be common for the use of both. The tenant within 
 whose holding the water was, refused admittance to it. 
 Proceedings in the Court to test the right were about to 
 be initiated ; when, lo, the heads of both families were 
 someway drawn to chapel, and both converted. Gospel 
 precluded law. The quarrel terminated ; and the recon- 
 ciled families learned to love, esteem, and help each 
 other. 
 
 Circumstances awaking public interest were employed 
 for evangelical uses. The case of William Goodsell, a 
 poor wretch brought at once to man's justice and to God's 
 mercy, as dealt with by Mr. Collins, was productive of 
 good to hundreds. The unfortunate convict was the son 
 of parents miserably ignorant, miserably wicked, and 
 miserably at variance with each other. Their squalid 
 cot was a place for clandestine, unlicensed sale of beer ; 
 a den of the worst description, the resort of the very 
 vilest company. Mr. Dawes, a respectable farmer, moved 
 the authorities to rid the neighbourhood of the nuisance ; 
 and on the evening of November 22nd, 1833, William 
 Goodsell, in revenge, set fire to that gentleman's barn. 
 Much corn was destroyed ; and, in the glow of the flame, 
 bystanders were horrified to see, without possibility of 
 reaching or helping, four bullocks on their knees backing 
 with all their might from their chains. The fastenings 
 were too strong to be broken; and the poor creatures 
 died in terrible agonies in sight of all the people. The 
 culprit was suspected, arrested, convicted ; and, eventu- 
 ally, as the manner then was, hanged for the crime. 
 Some of his uncles, God-fearing men, prayed for him, 
 visited him, and led him to the Saviour. His penitential 
 grief was deep, and the mercy of God shown to him 
 manifest. A very suitable prayer, invoking pardon for 
 Christ's sake, had been written out for him. It was 
 found after his death among his papers, with this addi- 
 tion in his own scrawlly hand : " This prayer is my
 
 72 CHAPTER V. 
 
 most earnest request, which / be in good hopes has 
 reached the heavens and my blessed Saviour." 
 
 The man left messages for many, such as these : 
 " Entreat mother to give up selling beer." " Beg John 
 to leave off cards." " Tell Frederic to be warned by me, 
 and shun evil company as he would a lion coming to 
 devour him." 
 
 To make public the monitions, praise God for the 
 mercies, and apply the lessons of this incendiary's fatal 
 end, Mr. Collins preached a sermon at Staple-cross. To 
 chapel-goers in that place the unfortunate youth had 
 often been a rude annoyance. Crowds of people, who 
 never ordinarily attended worship, came. When the 
 doors of the chapel were opened, those nearest rushed 
 through them, but far more were left outside than could 
 anywhere squeeze within the walls. Seeing this, though 
 the day was wet, Mr. Collins at once made up his mind 
 to preach out of doors. A great cask was found, and set 
 against a row of houses. It must have provoked a smile 
 to see the thankful joy with which Eldridge, the huge 
 pugilist, whose conversion we not long since narrated, 
 lifted, as if he were but a child, the not light evangelist 
 to the top of the tub ; and then stood tenderly shielding 
 him from the rain with an umbrella. The front rooms of 
 the houses were filled ; but, so intense was the interest, 
 that, wet as it was, not one of the unsheltered multitude 
 before the preacher stirred. That service closed for ever 
 some holes of iniquity which had been the curse of the 
 parish, won some profligates to the Lord, and impressed 
 with awe many who until then had despised every reli- 
 gious thing. 
 
 Mr. Collins's preaching was often attended by Divine 
 unction almost resistless. Large congregations bowed 
 beneath its influence as trees in a wood before a mighty 
 wind. An auditor remarks, " While discoursing at 
 Northiam, from Isaiah xliii. 25, 26, feeling grew until the 
 people instinctively rose from their seats. During the 
 final appeal preaching merged into praying ; all seemed 
 carried to the throne ; the chapel resounded with loud 
 amens. Many were saved, and more abundantly com- 
 forted." 
 
 Success was not limited to trophies won at penitent
 
 SANDHURST. 73 
 
 benches. A good woman informs me that her husband, 
 finding the chapel lit up late one evening, walked in. 
 The flour-covered garb of his trade made tbe man very 
 conspicuous, as he stood curiously and undevotionally 
 gazing in wonder at the scene. " Lord have mercy on 
 that baker ! " cried Mr. Collins. The man started like a 
 frighted deer ; but the arrow was in him. " Lord have 
 mercy on that baker ! " kept ringing in his ears until he 
 made the prayer his own. It was answered then ; and a 
 few weeks after, happy in God, he joined the Society 
 from whose sanctuary doors in such scared confusion he 
 had fled. 
 
 Many found the salvation of the Lord at home, others 
 at work. Peniel might have become the name of fields, 
 and woods, and roads ; for there men saw the face of 
 God. One, who is now venerable alike in character and 
 in years, went forth with sad heart to his labour ; as he 
 wrought and thought, it pleased the Father " to reveal 
 His Son " unto him. The hop-pole work of a week was 
 before the man. That strange light which brought 
 heaven into his soul made him so glad and strong that, 
 he says, " I felt as if I could have stacked the lot in half 
 a day." 
 
 During Mr. Collins's ministerial term at Sandhurst, 
 emigration was in full flow. That movement bore many 
 of his converts to distant shores. Stephen Gardiner went 
 to Australia, settled up the country, built a chapel pretty 
 much with his own hands, and then preached in it to the 
 edification of many. John Boots is this day a useful 
 Local Preacher in the same part of the world. Spencer 
 Shoesmith went to the United States, entered the min- 
 istry, and has told many a story of the Kentish revival in 
 American camp-meetings. 
 
 One other case is too rich in spiritual interest to be 
 
 withheld. In the village of N resided a farmer, 
 
 whose wife feared God and was much attached to 
 Methodist preaching of the Word. As often as possible 
 she induced her husband to attend the chapel ; but was 
 still more delighted when she could obtain his sanction 
 to make his house, for the night, the home of the 
 minister. With them Mr. Collins went. He writes : 
 " I soon discovered my host to be too fond of gin. In
 
 74 CHAPTER V. 
 
 the name of my God I struck. The reproof got hold. 
 He confessed his sin, wept much, and begged of me to 
 pray for him." Alas ! this penitent mood was but a 
 passing one : he was soon snared by the dram and the 
 bottle again. Time rolled away in strange alternations 
 between fits of sorrow and fits of drunkenness. As sin 
 reigned, dislike of him who made conscience vocal, 
 increased. Mr. Collins was appointed to preach and 
 conduct a lovefeast in the village where the lady's father 
 resided. To the preaching the farmer accompanied his 
 wife, which being ended, at her request he returned to 
 her father's house to await there her coming from the 
 loveieast. That proved to be a special season ; she lost 
 all note of time, and a late hour arrived ere the meeting 
 closed. The lady, after charging a friend to secure the 
 preacher as her guest, turned towards her father's to 
 seek her husband. Weary of the delay, he had sallied 
 forth to fetch her ; and she met him in anything but an 
 amiable temper. The journey was too short to allay the 
 storm. The first sight within his own door was the 
 preacher's hat. Annoyed to learn that this disturber of 
 his peace had already retired to repose under his roof, he 
 struck the hat across the hall, and with difficulty was 
 restrained from arousing and expelling Mr. Collins from 
 the premises forthwith. Night gave space for reflection. 
 The farmer was up betimes and ofi", that he might not 
 encounter the man whom he both hated and feared. 
 His enmity increased and extended until Methodists in 
 general were included in it. To such a pitch of mad- 
 ness did it rise, that at length he told his wife, if she 
 persisted in sitting under Wesleyan ministry, they must 
 separate. Seeing that an intimation which she well knew 
 he would never carry out failed to alarm, he said at last, 
 " Every time you go to the chapel I will go to the inn." 
 Her response was, " Husband, whatever you do, I must 
 save my soul." He gave himself to intoxication, she 
 gave herself to prayer. God took the man in hand. 
 Affliction smote him and scared him. On recovery he 
 again appeared at chapel ; but Mr. Collins writes, " He 
 made off before I could speak to him. He is, I hear, 
 very miserable. Deepen the wound, my God." Unstable 
 still, his life seemed an oscillation between penitence and
 
 SANDHURST. 75 
 
 intemperance. Holding on the even tenor of her way, 
 his loving wife pleaded incessantly for the imatuated 
 man. God looked upon her trouble, and in a wonderful 
 manner answered her believing prayer. The husband 
 one night came home from his carousals deeply in liquor. 
 With difficulty he was assisted to bed. It was expected 
 that the dulled brain would soon be wrapped in sleep : 
 instead of that all in the house were in a short time 
 alarmed by a wail of distress proceeding from his room. 
 As his wife entered, he seemed perfectly sober, but cried, 
 " O Anna, Anna ! I am dropping into hell ! " His family, 
 all of whom, with most of the servants, had been recently 
 saved, gathered round him. In half an hour, from the 
 time when that cry startled them, the room was resound- 
 ing with shouts of praise. Henceforth through life the 
 man walked in sobriety and godliness, thanking God for 
 the salvation given on that memorable night. 
 
 The subsequent attachment of that gentleman to Mr. 
 Collins was as ardent as his previous antipathy had been 
 intense. Hospitality, without grudging, was free to all 
 who preached the Gospel ; but Mr. Collins's company was 
 sought with special earnestness, and welcomed with 
 peculiar pleasure. 
 
 About this time, at the request of a former much- 
 beloved Minister of Sandhurst, with hope of benefit for 
 his flock, he exchanged pulpits for a month. This took 
 him to what he calls, " cold and stony Hertford." Find- 
 ing few in the chapel, he resorted to the streets. There 
 gibes were not lacking. Some coadjutor, commencing 
 service for him, announced, to guide his setter of tunes, 
 " Common Metre." A feeble and inharmonious choir 
 responded, which hearing, some wag of the street raised 
 cheap laughter against them by declaring, " Ay, it is, 
 common enough ! " As jokes did not drive this disturb- 
 ing Methodist, his haters thought that there might be 
 virtue in turf ; great tufts were plentifully flung, but so 
 wildly that not one hit its mark, though it much taxed 
 Mr. Collins's gravity to observe one fit itself exceedingly 
 well into the wide open mouth of a raving fellow, who for 
 some time had been roaring ribaldry into the preacher's 
 ear. The blow probably shook his teeth, and certainly 
 silenced his tongue. A battery of rotten eggs was next
 
 76 CHAPTER V. 
 
 tried, with some damaging effect on broad-cloth. But 
 certain rough navvies who were there, getting defiled by 
 a stray missile of that odious kind, took offence, and 
 threw brick-ends and pebble-stones at the persecutors 
 so lustily that they were glad to seek for safety in imme- 
 diate flight. Thus, after all, by aid of these irregular 
 auxiliaries, the evangelist was left victor on the field, 
 and the service ended in peace. 
 
 In his return journey, passing through London, Mr. 
 Collins called upon the venerable Henry Moore. He 
 writes : " How affable he was ! I had not from things 
 I had heard expected this. My office was my only 
 introduction. I called as a young Methodist preacher. 
 He expressed great pleasure in seeing and conversing 
 with me. His frame of mind seemed deeply devotional. 
 ' Eighty-two years,' he said, ' I have lived ; and my life 
 has been given to God. I have but few more days ; to 
 Him who is mine through Christ I will give them all.' 
 The old man's words affected me to tears. I knelt down, 
 and he gave me his blessing. After that interview I 
 went on to the Institution, where Mr. Entwistle received 
 me most courteously. Very pleasant he was ; full of 
 tales of old times and of old men." 
 
 It will be suitable here to explain how terminated the 
 early unfulfilled resolve of service in the work abroad. 
 At Sandhurst, Mr. Collins received a summons to join 
 a strong party then going forth to reinforce the West 
 Indian Mission. Against this arrangement his Super- 
 intendent, an experienced Missionary returned from that 
 very field, firmly set himself. He declared and his 
 assurance was confirmed by medical testimony that, to 
 such a constitution, the West Indies, or, in fact, any 
 tropical climate, would be soon and surely fatal. 
 
 This compelled Mr. Collins to pause and reconsider 
 the whole question. Though still perfectly certain that 
 the spirit which had originally prompted missionary offer 
 had been acceptable to God, it yet did seem that the 
 door so long closed against it, and the newly discerned 
 physical objection to his entrance into it when opened, 
 suggested grave doubts whether Providence endorsed 
 the judgment upon which that oiler had been based. 
 
 He had chosen Mission work as the altar of completest
 
 SANDHURST. 77 
 
 sacrifice ; the Divine ordering which had driven him to 
 home labour had, at the same time, called for, and 
 received, a consecration not surpassed by any of the 
 toilers in the foreign field. His eye, being single, was 
 full of light. In his mind the inquiry could be conducted 
 without any cloud of fear that retractation arose from 
 shirking of peril, or soft desire of self-indulgence. Such 
 things were not in him, and he knew it. 
 
 There is undeniably a clear distinction between gifts 
 fitting a man remarkably to be a quickener of slumbrous 
 churches, and those which specially designate one adapted 
 to be the pioneer of a faith. Revivalist, rather than mis- 
 sionary, endowment had descended, and that in no ordi- 
 nary measure, upon Mr. Collins. The signal blessing 
 vouchsafed to him in British work uttered in his soul a 
 call, unheard before, to remain where so sealed, unless 
 removal became imperative, and the duty of it plain. 
 His friends, who were conversant with all the facts, 
 unanimously pressed it upon him as their conviction 
 that his true sphere of usefulness would be found at 
 home. 
 
 Writing to his father, he says : " Conference will, I 
 doubt not, be led aright. So strong is my confidence in 
 that, that if it command me abroad, I will at once accept 
 it as the voice of God, and without one misgiving go. 
 At the same time, my faith, with my present light, is 
 neither that it will, nor that I ought. I live, however, in no 
 careful suspense. The Lord reigneth. I take all things 
 to Him, and leave them all with Him. He will so rule 
 that everything shall issue in His glory, which is all my 
 desire." 
 
 One work the Circuit needed, for which Mr. Collins 
 felt conscious of incompetency. " We have," he says, 
 " many promising young women. They want leading 
 up. Set on, and set right, they would be exceedingly 
 useful." 
 
 In regard to the sex, Mr. Collins, from youth up, with 
 fine instinctive propriety mingled kindliness that won 
 confidence, with courtesy that forbad familiarity. Writing 
 to his father, he says, " I want for them a female friend. 
 Annette must come. I have arranged for her expenses. 
 Tell her to come full of Divine power. She will have
 
 78 CHAPTER V. 
 
 many visits to pay, many prayers to offer, and much 
 work to do." 
 
 She came : did deaconess' work right well, and gave 
 an impetus to female piety in that Circuit, for which she 
 is rewarded by many tender friendships which endure to 
 this day. 
 
 It was upon this station that Mr. Collins met with, 
 admired, and won the ahections of his late most excellent 
 and exemplary wife. Stories, foolish and untrue, of her 
 patrician relationships somehow got disseminated by the 
 newspapers at the time of her marriage. She was of 
 highly respectable, and indeed affluent, connexions ; edu- 
 cated and accomplished. Her childhood under maternal 
 care had been trained to ethic propriety, perfect so far as 
 an instructor of "the whole duty of man" school could 
 carry it. Providence early supplied the necessary sup- 
 plement of this mere moralism by the ministry of the 
 Revs. Gerard Noel and Dr. Dealtry, under whose evan- 
 gelical preaching she felt strong drawings to the Saviour. 
 
 Her eldest brother furnishes reminiscences, of which 
 the following is the sum. In the bright days of youth, 
 when everything in her condition and circumstances 
 combined to make the world attractive, she set herself 
 with her whole heart to turn unto the Lord. When her 
 brother was afterwards similarly moved, her prayers and 
 words of instruction greatly helped him. He told her of 
 the stress temptation laid upon him. " Suppose," she 
 answered, " that you were seeking to cross a river, would 
 slothful yielding to its strong current land you at the 
 point you wish upon the opposite bank ? No. You must 
 fix your eye steadily, determinately, constantly, upon that 
 point ; and with the point in view strike your oars, and 
 bend your energies to gain it. Would you come unto 
 Jesus ? Fix, then, your eye of faith upon Him. Aim at 
 Him ; and He will let no current of nature, no wind of 
 temptation prevail to keep you away ; acfbss them all, in 
 spite of them all, drawn by Him, you shall reach Him 
 whom your soul desireth." 
 
 Faith in Christ led her to zealous work. On a beech- 
 tree, in the village path, in the vicinity of her brother's 
 residence, she cut the words: " Pray ye, therefore, the 
 Lord of the harvest that He would send forth labourers
 
 SANDHURST. 79 
 
 into His harvest." Many years have passed, the inscrip- 
 tion is nearly obliterated ; but the prayer has been ful- 
 filled, and is fresh in heaven for further answers to-day. 
 By her brother's influence faithful Clergymen, Scripture 
 Readers and other evangelical agencies have multiplied 
 in the neighbourhood. Her own work is not forgotten. 
 Some of her Sunday scholars sleep in Jesus ; others yet 
 glorify Him by a Christian life, and speak of her still, in 
 the name by which they knew her, as " dear Miss Emily." 
 
 In this, at that time, dark village, Miss Emily found 
 a class of humble, earnest, godly Wesleyans. Their 
 prayers and Christian testimony, and especially the con- 
 versation of the Leader, an intelligent man, a Local 
 Preacher, brought her to acquaintance with the clear 
 strong teaching of Wesley concerning the witness of the 
 Spirit, and the fulness of believers' privileges. From 
 that time she yearned for closer association with the 
 Wesleyan branch of the catholic Church of Christ. 
 
 Life through, her heart never narrowed to the limits of 
 a sect. Jesus, the joy of every believer, being her joy, 
 to Him, in all things, she gave the pre-eminence ; yet I 
 have it under the hand of her sister, a devoted, useful, 
 excellent member of the Established Church : " Her 
 attachment to the Wesleyans never wavered. She 
 loved the doctrines which were peculiar to them ; she 
 loved those peculiarities of order which enable them to 
 be so missionary in their work and so watchful over the 
 spiritual experience and growth of each individual who 
 joins them ; she loved, too, all those wise counsels by 
 which Mr. Wesley endeavoured to keep the people called 
 Methodists in entire separation from the spirit of the 
 world, and in conformity to the lowly, self-denying, 
 spiritual, holy example of their Lord and Master." 
 
 These are well-considered and weighty words. Wes 
 leyanism must continue true to its early type, if pure, 
 tender souls like Emily Graham are thus willingly to 
 be ours ; not won by arts of the proselyter, which we 
 ineffably scorn, but drawn by spiritual sympathy. 
 
 This gently-nurtured lady, having full consent of her 
 friends, feared not to become affianced to a toiling 
 labourer in the Master's Methodist field. She was re- 
 warded with the love of as true a heart as ever beat.
 
 8O CHAPTER V. 
 
 The thing was of God. After years manifested mutual 
 adaptations of each to other, marking wise providence. 
 
 Holiness shows among men all the more amiably 
 when it is thoroughly human. Who is there that de- 
 lights not in that " touch of Nature which makes all 
 kin ? " It has privately pleased me well to find affec- 
 tion fetching down and re-tuning the long-neglected 
 harp. Expect nothing. We shall reproduce none of 
 its strains. It were breach of confidence to publish 
 thoughts of a lover's heart in any other than the chosen 
 lady's private ear ; though, if we did, every sonnet 
 thus inspired would be found worthy of him, pure and 
 beautiful. We shall, however, as is fitting, be brief, and 
 keep to prose. Writing to his father, he puts impreS' 
 sions in such forms as may be told to all. " She is a 
 Methodist, and has suffered much for the sake of being 
 one ; she is of the right sort, all devoted to God ; very 
 humble and spiritual, simple and plain." These things 
 drew to her Mr. Collins's choice, and were the qualities 
 which underlaid the happiness of their future years. 
 
 So far as from notes and sermon jottings I have been 
 able to recover the subjects of pulpit discourses prepared 
 in Sandhurst, the following, placed in consecutive order, 
 is the summary, 
 
 A lamentation over sinners: Psalm cxix. 158. "I 
 beheld the transgressors, and was grieved because they 
 kept not Thy word." Sighs for revival : Psalm xiv. 7. 
 " O that the salvation of God were come out of Zion ! " 
 Amazement at the ignorance of evil doers : Psalm xiv. 4. 
 "Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?" 
 Speculative hearers reproved : Ezek. xxxiii. 30. " The 
 children of Thy people speak one to another, saying, 
 Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh 
 forth from the Lord. They hear Thy words, but will 
 not do them." An awakening appeal : 2 Chron. xxx. 8. 
 " Be not ye stiff-necked, but yield yourselves to the 
 Lord." The self-injury of opposers : Luke vii. 30. They 
 " rejected the counsel of God against themselves." The 
 doom of the lost : Psalm ix. 17. " The wicked shall be 
 turned into hell." Encouragement for the penitent : 
 Psalm li. 17. " A broken and a contrite heart, O God, 
 Thou wilt not despise." The Friend of sinners : Luke
 
 SANDHURST. 8l 
 
 vii. 34. " Behold a Friend of publicans and sinners." 
 The Bearer of our griefs : Isa. liii. 4. " Surely He 
 hath carried our sorrows." The Pardoner of sin : Isa. 
 xliii. 25. " I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy trans- 
 gressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy 
 sins." The record of God: i John v. n. "God hath 
 given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." 
 The gladness of the newly-saved soul : Acts viii. 39. 
 " He went on his way rejoicing." A caution for young 
 disciples : Romans xi. 20. " Be not high-minded, but 
 fear." The Christian man's commission : Luke xxii. 32. 
 " When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." 
 The way to be soul-winners : Matt. iv. 19. " Follow Me, 
 and I will make you fishers of men." Evangelical 
 workers encouraged : John xiv. 12. " He that believeth 
 on Me, the works that I do shall he do also." The bold- 
 ness of the devout : Neh. ii. 4. " So I prayed to God, 
 and said to the king." The benefit of trial : James v. n. 
 " We count them happy which endure." The glorious 
 name of God : Exod. xxxiv. 5. " The Lord, the Lord 
 God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant 
 in goodness and truth." The confidence of them that 
 know the name of. God : Psalm ix. 10. "They that know 
 Thy name will put their trust in Thee." Backsliders 
 entreated to return : Jer. iii. 22. " Return, and I will 
 heal your backslidings." Believers urged onward : Josh, 
 xviii. 3. " How long are ye slack to go to possess the 
 land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given 
 you ? " The privilege of saints : i John i. 3. " Truly 
 our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus 
 Christ." The first recorded example of its enjoyment : 
 Gen. v. 24. " And Enoch walked with God." The 
 Christians's way into the holiest, manifest : Heb. xi. 20. 
 " By a new and living way which He hath consecrated 
 for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh." 
 Loiterers called to account : Jer. xiii. 27. " Wilt thou 
 not be made clean ? When shall it once be ? " 
 
 Here are no metaphysical subtleties, no themes sug- 
 gestive of doubtful questions ; no battle-cries of school 
 divinity ; no pegs to hang fancies on ; no texts selected 
 on account of special fitness for fine sermon-making. 
 All are practical ; all could be well dealt with by a man 
 
 G
 
 82 CHAPTER V. 
 
 whose only college had been experience ; all relate to the 
 very life of the soul. To convince sinners, to set forth 
 the Saviour, to bring penitent men to faith, to stir and 
 rouse the Church to effort and to holiness, is the plain 
 intent and drift of the whole. 
 
 This resume is inserted as evidence of Mr. Collins's 
 early ministerial directness of aim; and also not without 
 hope that the scheme so drawn out and presented may 
 furnish valuable suggestion to any of the Lord's work- 
 men, who, conscious of small store of scholarship, will be 
 glad to perceive that there is a plenitude of subjects 
 thoroughly within reach of any called ambassador though 
 young as Timothy, or uncultured as the Galilean fisher- 
 men. 
 
 The first year's labour in this faithful preaching added 
 one hundred and eighty-four to the Sandhurst member- 
 ship ; the second, one hundred and sixty-two ; the third, 
 two hundred. He found three hundred and sixty-six, he 
 left nine hundred and twelve. Who can wonder that he 
 wrote : " Since God has given me such a family here, 
 this place has become home to me, the dearest spot on 
 earth ! " Long after he called them "those blessed years 
 at Sandhurst ! " 
 
 With revival, as usual, material prosperity came. New 
 chapels were built, and old chapels enlarged ; debts dis- 
 appeared ; Mission and school collections augmented ; 
 long chronic impecuniosity of Circuit treasuries was 
 cured ; stewards found, with wondering eyes, a balance 
 in hand of 20 upon the quarter. He found the Circuit 
 in debt, with 25 subsidy from the Contingent Fund ; he 
 left it independent, with 75 in the steward's hand. 
 
 Over all this Mr. Collins rejoiced ; but, as he says in 
 the Memoir he printed of Mary Apps : " Greater is our 
 joy when men of prayer unite in holy agony ; when the 
 Spirit descends and the Word penetrates; when preachers, 
 leaders, classes, and congregations are all anointed ; 
 when cries for mercy arise, soon followed by bursts of 
 praise over pardoned souls ; when parents receive chil- 
 dren to their arms, happy in the love of God, or children 
 embrace their parents, converted at the eleventh hour ; 
 when whole families are saved ; when believers press into 
 purity, abide in it, confess it, and adorn the doctrine ; when
 
 SANDHURST. 83 
 
 new labourers, blessedly qualified, are called into the vine- 
 yard ; when entire villages and whole parishes seem 
 moved by the inquiry, ' What must we do ? ' Then have 
 we the highest joy; and hundreds can testify that all these 
 things have been witnessed in the Sandhurst Circuit." 
 
 Mr. Collins's spirit of zeal and enterprise breathed 
 itself into others, until it became characteristic of the 
 Societies. He writes, " There are some rare jewels in 
 this Circuit, fine fellows ; they know how to lift when I 
 flag. Many, both of the Leaders and of the Local 
 Preachers, are men of flame." 
 
 With desire for conversions so widespread, expecta- 
 tion of success so fostered, and workers so well-trained, 
 all ministries within those bounds became harvest-work. 
 Visitors felt themselves to be strangely upborne by hearty 
 prayers, and cheered by speedy manifest success. 
 
 Marvellous results come not of nothing. What then 
 were the causes of this unusually triumphant good ? 
 There was a concurrence in grace, in the people, and in 
 the man. We reverently acknowledge, first of all, the 
 plentiful descent of that power by which " God giveth 
 the increase." After that, no doubt, as the Rev. James 
 Harris remarks, " Mr. Collins's appointment was most 
 opportune. He found a people prepared, using his own 
 phrase, " to take fire, hold fire, and spread fire." As to 
 the man, he had diligence, prayerfulness, and dedication, 
 in degrees seldom reached. These characteristics gave 
 him might ; but which of them is there that any forth- 
 going servant of the Lord may not emulate ? 
 
 Young disciples will do well to notice his practical 
 regard of what now-a-days is too much forgotten the 
 claim of religion upon the body. " Thou shalt love the 
 Lord with all thy strength." Observe, I have no wish to 
 set some half-grown, sickly boy killing himself by imitat- 
 ing the restless labours of this firmly-knit young man. 
 " All thy strength," saith the Lord ; not all Mr. Collins's. 
 But let lazy, sleep-loving, indulgent Sybarites know that 
 they cannot be followers of Him who bore the cross. As 
 regards the body, the Bible requires that we seek to keep 
 it pure, to keep it healthy, to keep it at work, to keep it 
 under, and to keep it on the altar. In illustration of this 
 unfashionable godly self-discipline, I have gladly set 
 
 G 2
 
 84 CHAPTER V. 
 
 down how Mr. Collins despised ease for duty, chastened 
 his body by fasting, taxed it by toil, and kept it in con- 
 trol by self-denial. 
 
 Among those villages of Kent and Sussex the mind 
 could get little literary filling and little literary culture. 
 Time consumed on the road left brief space for retired 
 study. Sandhurst allowances furnished little money to 
 purchase books, and farmsteads, of that period, few 
 libraries from which to borrow them. Yet, undoubtedly, 
 his mental strength and stature grew. In Christ's Uni- 
 versity, few Colleges are so famous as that of Experience. 
 Its lessons are gotten not in the lecture-room, but in the 
 laboratory, where, as the manner of craftsmen is, we 
 learn to do by doing. None can deny that, in this Cir- 
 cuit, Mr. Collins was, as surgeons say, in practice, 
 practice that made him, and showed him to be, mighty 
 to convince, sure as a guide to the cross, and trustworthy 
 as a leader in the way of holiness. He writes : " I still 
 enjoy, profess, and preach a full salvation, and many 
 press into it." 
 
 Walking with God and working for God, his life had 
 unity. He had no desire to be considered a many-sided 
 man. He made no pretensions to that breadth of 
 thought, in praise of which the cant of to-day is so loud. 
 Much of it is broad as the unbounded air, and as thin. 
 The life we are looking upon was directed by a single 
 aim. His early resolve I have it under his own hand 
 was. " The solemn one thing of my life shall be to save 
 souls." To that determination he was true. To that he 
 devoted all. 
 
 For this, family visits were postponed. He writes : 
 " I love you, and long to see you ; but, O, my work ! my 
 work ! I cannot leave it. Souls ! souls ! desire for souls 
 swallows me up." 
 
 For this, seducing popular calls were rejected. " I 
 receive many invitations for anniversaries, but am refus- 
 ing them all, because of the anxiety I feel to confirm the 
 numerous young converts in this Circuit. 
 
 For this, sight-seeing was neglected. All the diaries 
 of that period furnish record of but one. Nor was that 
 undertaken for himself. He took his sister to Battle 
 Abbey. The narrative of the excursion, after, in a sen-
 
 SANDHURST. 85 
 
 tence, humorously alluding to doubtful antiquities which 
 the Cicerone eulogizes to visitors there, at once dismisses 
 scene and ruin, and hastens to tell of the Word which he 
 that evening preached in the little town, and of the 
 sinners God saved. I have indeed, heard him tell one 
 other case ; but it shows, even more strongly than the 
 last, the sway of the ruling passion of his heart. After 
 a week-day morning service, with three or four of his 
 fervent friends, he ascended the tower of Tenterden 
 church. When there, they were more taken with the 
 look of the bell-room as a choice oratory for prayer than 
 as an observatory for landscape. Thinking it suitable 
 employment for a consecrated place, they fell to devotion, 
 depending on the thick walls to ensure privacy, forgetting 
 that belfreys are constructed to let sound out. Confused 
 noise coming down from the height of that old tower 
 seemed portentous. What could it mean ? It caused 
 some fear and more curiosity among the neighbours. 
 The old sexton, soon remembering to whom he had lent 
 his keys, roused himself, conveyed his heavy flesh, with 
 pantings not a few, up to them, and with much authority, 
 and more ire, broke up the unlicensed conventicle, dis- 
 missing, without a benediction, the daring Methodists, 
 in a speech rather to be described as forcible than elegant. 
 
 Intense lover of the beautiful I know that Mr. Collins 
 was ; yet so, at that time, did a stronger love absorb 
 him, that, though dwelling in the very garden of Eng- 
 land, allusions to scenery in the Journal are almost as 
 rare as in the Wellington despatches : like them, they 
 are bulletins of battle ; registers of march, and struggle, 
 and victory. 
 
 This limitation, call it narrow, call it rigid, call it 
 what you please, how strong it made him ! Men of 
 "one thing" are mighty. What marks they leave ! If the 
 purpose to which they restrict themselves be the noblest 
 and the best, then each who chooses it becomes, what 
 Thomas Collins was, a blessing from heaven among men. 
 
 The Rev. Moses Rayner writes : " To have had such 
 a colleague I count among my mercies. He was a 
 benediction in my house, a kindler of holy fire in the 
 Circuit, and has left a name which, through all that 
 region, will be fragrant for generations. 
 
 '
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ORKNEY. 
 
 WHAT brought Methodists at the stormbeaten Ork- 
 neys ? What need was there for Conference to send 
 labourers into fields tilled by the Assembly ? What call 
 had Wesleyans to cross Pentland Frith with Class Meet- 
 ings and Arminianism ? 
 
 Answers may be found in a document, dated August 
 I4th, 1833, which reached the Rev. John Knowles, then 
 stationed at Lerwick. After adverting to the great good 
 effected by Methodist efforts in Shetland, it adds, " We 
 rejoice to hear of the islands of the sea thus waiting 
 upon God." But, as meals eaten by others could not 
 feed them, the writers proceed to tell how Orkney pined 
 for similar ministrations. They urge that, though on an 
 ecclesiastical map every island would be found in a 
 parish, and though nominally they had shepherds, yet, 
 as practically those got the care who gave the fleece, 
 the three hundred seafarers of the fishing station, having 
 nothing to offer, found nothing bestowed. 
 
 " Come among us," they say. " We fishermen of 
 Stronsay all join, all are one in this petition." Poor, 
 dependent for existence upon the uncertain harvests of 
 the sea, they could offer no stipend ; but added, " We 
 can get a house to preach in ; Hugh Hossack, of Hunton, 
 will give bed and board, and all of us will give welcome 
 to any evangelist you send." 
 
 "We have no school, no teacher, no guide, no spiritual 
 food, no ordinances. We are entirely neglected. These 
 things being so, it will not surprise you to hear, though 
 it would fill your eyes with tears to see, how the Sabbath 
 is profaned, and the young people go astray." 
 
 " O, Sir, do not let us any longer be left in want of all
 
 ORKNEY. 87 
 
 Gospel helps. Do lay our case before your Society, and 
 either come yourself, or procure that some other faithful 
 servant of the Lord shall come, and break among us also 
 the bread of life." 
 
 It could not be in the heart of a Methodist preacher to 
 repel an appeal like this. At his earliest opportunity, 
 which was in June, 1834, the Shetland Minister went 
 over and spent six weeks in Orkney, surveying the field, 
 visiting the people, and preaching wherever he could 
 among the islands. 
 
 Only made more hungry by that brief privilege, the 
 same persons, in 1835, forwarded a similar petition to 
 the Shetland District Meeting, and, through that meet- 
 ing, to the Conference. At the Conference, held that 
 year at Sheffield, it was agreed that the Orkneys should 
 be accepted upon the Minutes, and that two Ministers 
 should be sent. 
 
 Mr. Collins's appointment thither stands connected 
 with his original missionary offer, in a way that we will 
 explain. At the Conference of 1834, his demur to the 
 official call to the West Indies came up. It was sum- 
 marily said, " That young man's zeal is declining." 
 Against that judgment all mistaken, too hasty, too 
 publicly pronounced the Rev. George Jackson, then 
 travelling at Hastings, rose to protest. " No ! no ! " 
 he cried, " we, who are his neighbours, know better 
 than that. The fire is as bright as ever, though it 
 flames upon another altar." 
 
 That chivalrous shielding of integrity in the midst 
 of the brotherhood, whose good opinion was, to his 
 friend, more precious than the praise of all the world 
 beside, was never forgotten. Mr. Collins mentioned it 
 to me with warm gratitude years after ; and I have 
 reason to believe that because of it the name of George 
 Jackson got permanent place upon his " Throne of 
 Grace " list. The issue that year was a third appoint- 
 ment at Sandhurst. 
 
 At the Conference of 1835 the Mission-House autho- 
 rities renewed their claim. They little liked who can 
 blame them allowing so promising a man to slip 
 through their fingers. Mr. Fordred, representative of 
 the Kent District, stated that, as he understood it, the
 
 88 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 decision of the previous year was a transfer to the 
 home work. It was answered, " Not so ; we only lent 
 him to you for a year." Mr. Rayner, the Sandhurst 
 Superintendent, said, " The information which reached 
 Mr. Collins after last Conference was of an opposite 
 nature. After long waiting and anxious questioning 
 in that decision his mind has found rest. To take him 
 now will raise in him doubt and disappointment." To 
 this it was replied : " Well, if the work for which he 
 offered himself be now distasteful to him, we give him 
 up ; we will not have him. But let Moses Rayner tell 
 that young man, ' He that putteth his hand to the plough 
 and looketh back is not worthy of the kingdom.' " 
 
 This surrender was too scornfully done, it was un- 
 gracious ; it was done with the air with which we fling 
 away a weed. Few readers of these pages will believe 
 that many worthier of " the kingdom " were that day 
 extant, even among the heroes of the work on foreign 
 shores. 
 
 When Mr. Collins heard of these severe words, he was 
 neither angry nor much surprised. Believing that unac- 
 quaintance, not unkindness, had dictated the sharp re- 
 buke, he meekly wrote : " I expected censure. Nor is 
 it wonderful that they, who can neither see into my 
 heart, nor know all my case, should misjudge, or, under 
 the circumstances, think hardly of me." 
 
 Shortly after this conversation, the Orkney petition 
 claimed attention of the Conference. A post so cheer- 
 less, naturally enough, was refused by many. Dr. 
 Knowles writes : " At length I rose, and said, ' I will 
 go if you will give me Thomas Collins as a colleague.' " 
 
 A larger boon than that would not have been denied 
 to a volunteer who, thus willingly, bade farewell to 
 wheaten bread, and set forth to a very fair chance of 
 keeping lent all the year in a climate of which Sir 
 Walter Scott has written, " Come from where you may, 
 you will say that you came from a better." The Ex- 
 President remarked, " We have had question which 
 work should claim Brother Collins. Well, Orkney, is it 
 Home, or is it Foreign ? Here is a station affording 
 equal question which work it is ; send him." Dr. Beau- 
 mont, from intrinsic reasons, liked the suggestion. " I
 
 ORKNEY. 89 
 
 know him," he said, " robust, earnest, self-denying, be- 
 lieving; he is the very man; the Minutes from A to Z 
 will furnish you no better." Mr. Collins's representative, 
 with due regard to the honour of his client, could scarcely 
 object. A young soldier whose hardihood has been pub- 
 licly questioned, may not shrink when ordered forward 
 to the breach. The members of Committee who had 
 found Orkney stationing no small difficulty, accepted 
 with joy such a solution. If he would indeed prefer 
 those cold, tempest-torn rocks to the sunny archipela- 
 goes to which they would have sent him, the very Sec- 
 retaries could not complain. Moreover, with such an 
 issue coming of it, they shrewdly foresaw that none 
 upon their list would be encouraged to play loose with 
 missionary pledges. The proposition was manifestly 
 opportune : it united all parties. While " heads of 
 houses " thus concurred, the timorous brethren, over 
 whom, like a cloud of ill omen, that " awsome " appoint- 
 ment had seemed suspended, cried, " Agreed, agreed," 
 most lustily ; so down went the name, and on went the 
 Conference. 
 
 The station was hard ; yet appointment to it could 
 not fairly be construed into a hardship. Some one 
 must go ; and, if any good were to be done, some such 
 man. I know no other to whom at that time so many 
 designating fingers pointed. Sending him hushed a 
 discussion, filled right well a place not easy to fill, and 
 met the wishes of a deserving pioneer. 
 
 As to Thomas Collins, it was no penalty ; it was a 
 Providence ; the manifest answer of his own prayer. 
 After the fire of revival, he needed a school of the 
 heart. Orkney to his great advantage drew him from 
 the whirl of a premature, noisy, dissipating popularity. 
 It hid him from men, and sent him to God. It trained 
 him to deal with units ; it perfected patience ; it taught 
 him to work and wait. It cultured self-reliance, exer- 
 cised him in the management of affairs, and allowed 
 him time to read, and think, and pray. 
 
 A Minister's removal from scenes of Gospel triumphs 
 can never be done without a wrench. Mr. Collins says, 
 " I had powerful struggles of mind. Depend upon it, 
 when the time came, I felt it a hard piece of work to
 
 90 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 leave Sandhurst. Never can I forget the agonies and 
 raptures I have had there. I love that people deeply. 
 Many of them live in the clear light of purity. They 
 confessed it nobly in their lovefeasts, and exemplified it 
 nobly in their homes." 
 
 A removal so long as that from Kent to Orkney was 
 little likely to be appropriately paid for by Stewards of a 
 Circuit financially weak as Sandhurst. The strain was 
 one which at that time Mr. Collins's own purse was 
 ill prepared to meet. By various self-denials he saw his 
 way to such expenses of travel as would fall upon him ; 
 but how also to pay 2 IDS. due to a London bookseller, 
 he could not devise. The kind-hearted wife of his Super- 
 intendent though knowing nothing of his special diffi- 
 culty offered to lend him money. This offer was, with 
 thanks, declined. His heart turned to his Heavenly 
 Father. The difficulty came without his fault ; he felt 
 that it was a case for trust that it might be removed with- 
 out his anxiety. Better beg of God than borrow of men. 
 If he borrowed, how out of Orkney pittances could he 
 repay ! " Borrowing only defers trouble, my Lord can 
 remove it." Thus thinking, away he went to Sandhurst 
 chapel, a very usual closet of his, locked himself in 
 for an hour's communing, and laid all his affairs before 
 God. How early an answer came, may be learned from 
 a note written next morning, which thus commences : 
 " This first sheet of your excellent paper is, as is proper, 
 inscribed to you. When your man came to our house 
 last night, I was but just in from the chapel, where I had 
 been asking assistance of my Heavenly Father. I re- 
 turned, assured that He would help, though I did not 
 know how, nor expect it so soon. My first petition could 
 scarcely have been uttered ere you were packing your 
 present. When I received it, I went to my knees, and 
 thanked my good Father with tears; and now I thank 
 you." 
 
 The gift which came thus opportunely was a large and 
 excellent supply of stationery, accompanied by twenty- 
 five shillings. That amount it had been intended to ex- 
 pend in a writing-case; but as he prayed, a second 
 thought arose in his friend's mind, that, perhaps, at such 
 a time, cash would be more serviceable to him.
 
 ORKNEY. QI 
 
 The same day, a lady of another church, who, at times, 
 had been severe in her strictures upon the thunder of his 
 exhortations, sent an earnest request that he would call 
 upon her. He did so; and with deep feeling spoke to 
 her of the things of Jesus. At the farewell she slipped 
 a sovereign into his hand, and insisted upon its accept- 
 ance. 
 
 Five shillings yet were wanting. Mr. Collins remarked 
 to me, " I said no word to any creature, but felt sure my 
 Father would send them." 
 
 He was about to mount the coach. That last crown 
 has not come. Will it ? 
 
 " Mr. Collins," said the Rev. Moses Rayner, " it just 
 occurs to me, that upon the Narrative of William Good- 
 sell, which we jointly published, there is a balance of ten 
 shillings profit: half is righteously yours; here it is." 
 
 So with the last mite of the sum in his palm, he 
 mounted the coach, and found in that answer to prayer 
 sweet solace amid the heartbreaking farewells of his 
 friends. He writes : " As the vehicle rolled on, looking 
 up to heaven, I said, ' Father, Thou art true ; Thou art 
 all-sufficient ; Thou art mine. Since Thou givest Thy- 
 self to rrre, I will not be cast down because Thou callest 
 me to leave Thy children. Whether I go east, or west, 
 or north, or south, I will be at Thy work. From Thee 
 no change of place can separate me. In Thee have I 
 friendship and wealth. Thou art all I need for time, or 
 through eternity; and since Thou art my portion, in 
 Thee will I be content.'" 
 
 Mr. Collins stayed to preach at Sevenoaks ; saw sin- 
 ners converted ; thought " that Circuit fine ground for 
 a soul-saving man, the very key of Kent and Sussex." 
 On Wednesday, in London, he breakfasted with the Ex- 
 President, the Rev. Joseph Taylor, who informed him 
 how four Orkney men came, in a boat, a hundred miles, 
 over their rough seas, to fetch a Methodist preacher. 
 That narration touched his heart, and drew him strongly 
 towards those Gospel-hungry isles. He went on to Bir- 
 mingham ; met his mother; heard a tender, memorable 
 sermon from Bumby ; joined his colleague in Manchester; 
 went on with him to Edinburgh : saw the son of Tippoo 
 Sahib ; admired the magnificent site, and wondered at
 
 Q2 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 the tall houses of the city; heard a brilliant sermon from 
 Beaumont ; took steamer at Leith ; landed safely at Kirk- 
 wall on Saturday ; found a solitary Methodist, an excise- 
 man, taken thither by the duties of his office ; from thence 
 came by boat to Stronsay. From his lodging there he 
 wrote : " Our quick, safe passage is of God. Not the 
 value of a pin has been lost. I have come six hundred 
 miles, seen all my family and many of my friends, in 
 less time than some have had to wait for a vessel. After 
 all the travel by land and tossing by sea, here we are 
 well, and beginning to work in the name of the 
 Lord." 
 
 The land was not attractive. An early Orkney letter 
 says : " This is a wretchedly sterile place. There is 
 not even the smallest shrub ; nor will they grow if 
 brought. Hundreds of the inhabitants of these isles 
 never saw a tree in their lives. There are a few good 
 houses, but the homes of the poor are miserable huts. 
 You have to bend low to get in at their doors, and are 
 lucky if you do not find the inside such as to make you 
 quickly willing to bend double to get out again. The 
 walls are rough, unplastered stone ; the floors earth ; 
 the space so limited, that you can lie on the bed and 
 warm your hands at the fire ; the fire is of peat ; the 
 room full of smoke ; and, surely, there never was smoke 
 anywhere else of such a hateful odour. 
 
 " Amid all their privations, these humble, unassuming 
 people are a contented race. I visited one poor felloM 
 who had neither tasted meat nor possessed a pair of shoe r 
 for years. After toiling all through last fishing season, 
 his share of money came to but fifty-four shillings, forty 
 of which must go to the Laird for rent, leaving fourteen 
 with which to supply wife and children until next year, 
 and no prospect of earning more. ' Why, man,' said I, 
 ' yours is but a gloomy outlook. Can you sing ? ' ' O, 
 yes ! ' he replied ; and at the word started off with : 
 
 The Lord is only my support, 
 
 And He that doth me feed: 
 How can I then lack anything 
 
 Whereof I stand in need? 
 
 After that man's song I dare not murmur." 
 
 Free Kirk zeal had not yet stirred the heart of Scot-
 
 ORKNEY. 93 
 
 land. In those remote, sea-girt parishes Moderatism, 
 prevailed. The world mastered the Church. Bills of 
 auction sales were announced in Kirk. It was not un- 
 common for island Clergymen to curse and swear. Com- 
 munion services had been disgraced by ministerial 
 drunkenness. One disgusting sot, in face of all the 
 people, defiled from the pulpit the head of the Precentor 
 in the desk below. Exemplary pastors were few, and 
 lacked power. The bonds of discipline were relaxed. 
 Evangelical doctrine was wanting. Present faith in 
 Christ was not urged. All talk of being saved here and 
 now was thought to be sheer enthusiasm. Assurance of 
 sin forgiven was neither preached, enjoyed, nor expected. 
 Moralism and orthodoxy satisfied the serious, while 
 fatalism kept asleep the multitude. 
 
 Churchmen there were plenty : saved men were few. 
 Almost every family, native to the place, belonged 
 nominally either to Kirk or Secession. These, of course, 
 with their heritage of stiff Calvinism, at first neither 
 wished the presence of Wesleyans, nor came to hear 
 them. Few, poor, and sluggish, the neglected seafarers, 
 who alone had sought Methodist ministrations so implor- 
 ingly, were but an unpromising charge. Was it worth 
 while to go to this land of rain, and sleet, and storm, for 
 the sake of a handful of fishermen, who could seldom 
 furnish a congregation of more than eighty ? 
 
 It was a cheering and beautiful fact, that under Mr. 
 Collins's very first public prayer a woman had the long- 
 worn fetters of her spirit broken. That heart set free 
 was Heaven's speedy answer to the question. The 
 Church is paid for any cost where it has won a soul. 
 
 Like many beach-dwellers, Orkney people looked upon 
 the wealth of shattered ships as the lawful tariff of their 
 shores. Flotsam and Jetsam were calculated sources of 
 income. In truth, rentals came down when, much 
 against the will of many, lighthouses were erected upon 
 the perilous promontories of the coast. As Methodism 
 stopped wrecking in Cornwall, so it opposed it in Stron- 
 say. Mr. Collins writes : " November i6th, 1835. 
 Last week several of our members, by managing a 
 distressed vessel, saved her from the rocks. I com- 
 mended them strongly ; but the townsfolk think it was
 
 94 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 unneighbourly of them to do so, and call them fools for 
 their pains." 
 
 Caring nothing for the merchant's loss, looking only 
 on their own things, those islanders were accustomed to 
 desire treasures of castaway freight. Once stranded, 
 the ship was held to be theirs by gift of the waves. 
 Salvage for owners was never thought of. " Catch, 
 who catch can," was the word. Such seizures were not, 
 in island ethics, held criminal. Everybody was at work. 
 The great delineator of Northern manners speaks of 
 " some who canna walk a mile to hear the Minister, but 
 will hirple ten if they hear of a ship embayed ; " and 
 further represents one in authority at such a scene 
 exhorting the spoilers " to part things fair, and lay by a 
 share for the auld and helpless, which," he devoutly re- 
 marked, " would bring a blessing on the shore, and send 
 them mair wrecks ere winter ! " 
 
 About forty persons being found desirous of " fleeing 
 from the wrath to come," they were formed into a So- 
 ciety. At the beginning Mr. Knowles travelled as an 
 Evangelist from island to island, and left Mr. Collins 
 as a Pastor to lead and feed this little flock at Stronsay. 
 Among them Sandhurst sermons would not do : an 
 entirely different class of ideas and experiences had to 
 be met. Mr. Collins says : " These poor people have 
 already caused me hours of waiting before God. Few 
 of them enjoy any consciousness of pardon ; yet I will 
 not fear. Truth is mighty everywhere. The love of 
 Jesus touches hearts everywhere. The blood cleanses 
 everywhere. Faith triumphs everywhere." 
 
 The cottages were utterly inadequate for congrega- 
 tional use, even though the roof for the nonce, was 
 turned into a gallery by anxious men, who mounted the 
 thatch to listen. Preaching in the open air, in latitude 
 61, was not often practicable. The little church found 
 its first shelter in a barn. When farm uses required 
 that, they removed to a loft. Through the long winter 
 they found it as was likely to be cold, draughty, and 
 dark ; yet, writes the Pastor, " the glory occasionally 
 glimmers over us. I get filled, and the people, who 
 scarcely understand the matter yet, amazed." 
 
 Mr. Collins's Sabbath soon became, as aforetime, full
 
 ORKNEY. 95 
 
 of toil. He writes : " I hold a prayer-meeting at ten ; 
 preach at eleven ; meet the Society at half-past twelve ; 
 preach again at three ; commence the school at five ; 
 close at seven. The children recite texts ; the young men 
 and maidens undergo examination upon a theme allotted 
 for the week's meditation and research upon the previous 
 Lord's day. I find that this method trains them to think, 
 affords me an excellent opportunity for much godly exhor- 
 tation, and excites such interest that many of the general 
 congregation gather with us to witness and to hear." 
 
 This Scotch catechizing, if we could import it into 
 English churches, would be the best thing that ever 
 crossed the Tweed. " Methodist Preachers ; " the 
 designation suggests our lack, while it expresses our 
 power. People say that " we preach well." If practice 
 can insure that, we certainly ought to do so. The 
 inexorable pulpit demands of Methodism are more 
 numerous than those of any church in Christendom ; 
 but is preaching everything ? " What now ? What 
 would you be but a Methodist Preacher ? " Nothing in 
 all the world. " Why, then, discontented with the title ? 
 If it did for our fathers, will it not do for you ? " Gladly 
 would we be found at last at the feet of the glorious men 
 who earliest bore that name. We deem ourselves no 
 peers of those matchless Evangelists. They laboured 
 harder and better than we do ; yet, after all, not in so 
 many ways. The designation, accurate enough when 
 Methodism was, in its own esteem, but a Society, and 
 Itinerancy meant life on a saddle, with a county for a 
 Circuit, wants supplementing now. We should be sorry 
 to let either their work or their title lapse. Both are 
 our heritage. But venerable and honourable as is 
 their appellation, it is neither older nor better than the 
 (jroifikvaq Kai SidaaicaXovf) " Pastors and Teachers " of 
 Eph. iv. ii. 
 
 The correlative of your Churchship is our Pastorate. 
 None will suppose me likely to rate the value of preach- 
 ing too low ; yet I say, woe comes of it when a Church 
 can discern nothing in Christ's ambassadors except the 
 glibbest tongues of the brotherhood. They degrade the 
 vocation who see in it no other elevation but that of the 
 rostrum stairs
 
 96 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Who can tell the area of a room from its length ? 
 Give me also its breadth. Thus, by square measure, did 
 John Newton reckon Clergy. " What, in the pulpit ? 
 What, out of it ? " Minister is a bigger word than 
 Preacher; utters more ideas; covers a wider field of 
 duty. Minister, servant of God ! Let none, moved by 
 vain ambition, desire upon himself that label. It is a 
 work-imposing, conscience-quickening name. Men ex- 
 pect him to be that Trinity in Unity Evangelist, Pastor, 
 Teacher, welded into one. Heaven help us ! " Who is 
 sufficient for these things ? " 
 
 The lambs will never be fed by a mere sermon mill. 
 Hooker says: "The delivery of elements should be 
 framed to the slender capacity of beginners." They 
 must be catechized. What is catechizing ? Something 
 far higher than mere lesson hearing. The Rubric hits 
 the point in a single phrase : " The Curate shall instruct 
 and examine." He must do in divinity what Socrates 
 did in philosophy. Surrounded by untaught youth, his 
 business is to instruct by questioning knowledge into 
 them, and to examine by questioning knowledge out of 
 them. There is immense informing power in well put 
 leading questions. Judges, juries, and opposing bar- 
 risters know that ; and, as the object of a court is not to 
 instruct a witness, but to examine him, very properly re- 
 buke them. The skilful dealer with children does both ; 
 he first instils, and then extracts. 
 
 Without Curates and with many churches, we can 
 never do this alone. Nor was it the primitive Christian 
 plan that Presbyters should. The great life-thought of 
 Samuel Jackson will yet bear fruit ; Methodism must 
 get its bands of Catechists. Week by week let them 
 work ; then, at set seasons, aggregate their catechumens 
 round the Pastor. Beautiful sight ! the shepherd in the 
 midst of the lambs ! Our noblest sanctuaries would be 
 honoured, our most fastidious congregations interested, 
 our devoutest saints edified, and our best instructed 
 people informed, by a quarterly exercise in nature similar 
 to that which, under favouring circumstances, occurred, 
 as we have seen, weekly at Stronsay. To make room 
 for such a service, a sermon foregone would be amply 
 repaid.
 
 ORKNEY. 97 
 
 We have in the Creed what we must believe ; in the 
 Lord's Prayer, what we may desire ; in the Decalogue, 
 what we ought to do. These compends supply the 
 teacher with matter to be amplified ; and the taught, 
 with truth condensed : hence they have been, in all ages, 
 the core of every catechetical system. 
 
 To these we would add the footsteps of Jesus, as 
 printed in Gospel story ; the planting and principles of 
 the Church, as depicted in Apostolic narrative ; and the 
 special verities entrusted to Wesleyan witness, as set 
 forth in our own formulas. 
 
 Catechizing keeps attention awake ; trains the reason- 
 ing faculty ; tests attainment ; explains things before ill 
 understood ; methodizes, summarizes, and puts well into 
 the scholars' hands what they know ; and accustoms them 
 to confess, produce, and defend the articles of their faith. 
 
 In a congregation so brought up, sermon power has 
 its maximum of force ; by them heresy and novelty stand 
 detected ; from its ranks effective workers come. 
 
 Early prostration with diarrhoea was the result to Mr. 
 Collins of the great and sudden alteration in climate and 
 diet. He could have borne cold with impunity; but that 
 air, ever laden with damp, seemed to keep him perpetu- 
 ally doing penance in a wet sheet, and chilled him to the 
 very bones. A traveller, weatherbound one day at a 
 little inn in the Trosachs, asked of an ostler, " Boy, does 
 it always rain here ? " " No, sir, it snaws whiles," was 
 the cheering reply. Orkney, after October, through its 
 long winter, offers much the same choice. It has very 
 few dry days. It is an everlasting drizzle. Of course, 
 such seasons bring mortal diseases. Typhus and small- 
 pox strike down many of the ill-fed, ill-housed, ill-clad, 
 ill-cleansed inhabitants. Among the small population of 
 Stronsay eight died in a few days. 
 
 Island festivals are, by that out-of-the-way people, 
 kept on Old Style dates. On what, according to that 
 obsolete calendar, would be New Year's day, Mr. 
 Collins gathered his little flock to Covenant, Wesleyan 
 fashion, with God. It much surprised him while on 
 the way to their poor loft to find almost the whole 
 island turned out to rivalries at football If some High 
 
 H
 
 gS CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Anglicans, to whom the " Book of Sports " is yet a 
 Gospel, had strayed to that Borean latitude, surely they 
 would have thought "these Genevan schismatics are 
 not such sour Puritans after all ; " for there they were, 
 members of Kirk and Secession alike, kicking away most 
 frantically. The game concluded, Wassail began ; song 
 was heard, and toddy went round, and dance kept up till 
 morning. 
 
 Wise men are wedded to usefulness, not to methods. 
 Where manners vary, means must vary. In England 
 Mr. Collins had been accustomed to collect in his meet- 
 ings penitent seekers to one spot, where they might be 
 counselled and prayed for together; but among. this shy 
 people little work of that kind could be done in public. 
 Bunyan says : 
 
 You see the ways the fisherman doth take, 
 To catch the fish : what engines doth he make ! 
 Behold how he engageth all his wits ; 
 Also his snares, lines, angles, hooks, and nets ; 
 Yet fish there be that neither hook, nor line, 
 Nor snare, nor net, nor engine, can make thine ; 
 They must be groped for, and be tickled too, 
 Or they will not be catch'd whate'er you do. 
 
 Thus warily did this fisher of men behave. Keenly 
 watching every sign of emotion, he followed each indi- 
 vidual, in whom he marked it, to talk with them in 
 their quiet homes, or lonely walks. Reserve about 
 spiritual things is a strong wall, by which one man is 
 kept out of another's soul. It would take a thick one to 
 keep Mr. Collins out; but so utterly alien to all their 
 habits was confession of heart exercises, that even when 
 they were saved, when their eyes were sparkling with 
 joy and love, their tongues stammered still. They 
 seemed as if they had to learn the dialect of praise. All 
 this, in time, got amended : but in the interim these 
 tongue-shackles sorely tried him. He tells of one who, 
 at home, had with gladness received Jesus ; he took her 
 to a class meeting, in hope that her fresh witness would 
 bless others. Alas ! no sooner there than the usual 
 Orkney frost fell upon her lips. All his efforts failed to 
 extract a word, much less a song. "What! so much 
 received, and not a breath of thanks 1 Such silence
 
 ORKNEY. 99 
 
 will bring a smart." It did. The night was sleepless, 
 and the passing hours a pain, until another gathering 
 occurred, in which she delighted her pastor, honoured 
 her Lord, and set on fire the little company by simple 
 heartiness of praise. 
 
 Mr. Collins says : " I plead continually for outpour- 
 ings of the Holy Ghost. In my approaches to the 
 throne, I often get those refreshing meltings that I 
 delight in. I feel in myself a growing oneness by the 
 Spirit, with the Father, through the Son." 
 
 The Rev. James Harris writes : " At Stronsay he 
 gave himself to prayer. As his lodgings furnished no 
 convenience for vocal freedom, he was accustomed to 
 retire to a sheltered cave in the cliff. Though he knew 
 it not, loving people observed his frequent resort thither, 
 and wonderingly found that their pastor often spent 
 successive hours communing with God in that cold 
 closet on the shore. Sometimes a whole day passed in 
 fasting, intercession, and meditation. After one such 
 season, returning home, he met an unconverted hearer. 
 Conscious that a well of power had gushed up in his 
 own soul, he longed that it should flow out upon 
 others. ' Donald,' says he, ' I wish to pray with you.' 
 Though quite unconcerned, the man respected his 
 Minister too much to refuse, and, therefore, led the 
 way to his humble cot. Mighty influence came upon 
 him ; and as his Pastor urged the reiterated prayer, 
 * Lord, break Donald's heart ! Lord, break Donald's 
 heart ! ' the great rough fisherman sobbed for mercy, 
 nor did he get up from that floor until he arose in the 
 conscious joy of a new creature." 
 
 The Journal of January 25th, 1836, records : " I went 
 to my lonely retreat among the rocks. Having to form 
 a new class this evening, my heart was broken with 
 desire for conversions. I wept much as I besought the 
 Lord to give me souls. I felt unusual nearness, sweet- 
 ness of intercourse, and strength of faith ; and came 
 away sure that my covenant God had engaged Himself 
 to me to make bare His wonder-working arm. Nothing 
 wavering, in that belief I commenced the meeting ; and 
 that night Robert Williamson, Lawrence Irwin, and 
 Miss Farquharson were set free." 
 
 H 2
 
 IOO CHAPTER VI. 
 
 In the beginning of February, 1836, his colleague 
 joined him at Stronsay. During their first night to- 
 gether, there was more talk than sleep. " Brother," 
 said Mr. Collins, " we must have souls, or I can't stay." 
 Next morning, as they sat over their breakfast of fish, 
 he proposed that they should go down to the shore for 
 what John Smith used to call " knee business." " We 
 went," says Dr. Knowles ; "and never shall I forget the 
 power of his prayer. The following Sabbath I preached 
 in the morning ;. drops of blessing fell. He preached in 
 the evening ; and, for the first time in Orkney, sinners 
 cried aloud for salvation." Within a fortnight from that 
 date, forty-two known, clear cases of conversion had 
 occurred. One among the saved in that blessed visita- 
 tion was Daniel Farquhar, who afterwards entered the 
 ranks of our Ministry, but now sleeps in Jesus. 
 
 As aforetime, Mr. Collins, like his Master, sought after 
 the lowliest. A maiden who, by her mistress, was per- 
 mitted to spend each alternate Sabbath with her parents, 
 was known by him to be in penitential sorrow. He 
 writes : " As it was her liberty Sunday, I just ran down, 
 between the preachings, to her father's house to converse 
 with her." It was a scene of struggle, tears, and agonies ; 
 but, poor girl, it proved at length to be " liberty Sunday" 
 indeed to her, for her soul was set free. Her father was 
 the first in the movement to bring Wesleyans there. God 
 rewarded him. " Five of his children," says Mr. Collins, 
 " are already saved ; and he will not rest till Jesus has 
 them all." 
 
 No chance was thrown away : " Robert Henderson 
 came to take an order for slippers : while with me, 
 knowing him to be anxious, I laid God's offers before 
 him ; he accepted them, and went away with a spirit at 
 rest." 
 
 In an epistle to Kent, dated February 5th, 1836, Mr. 
 Collins says : 
 
 When I read in your acceptable letter that you had not lost one 
 member ; that you had added new ones ; that your classes were 
 getting more religion ; that your praying men still had the power, 
 and lived in the glory ; I felt a thrill of joy run through both body 
 and soul such as I could scarcely bear and cannot describe. Glory 
 be to my God for ever ! 
 
 Go on, my noble fellows. My soul delights in you. I ever did
 
 ORKNEY. 10 1 
 
 love you at Northiam, and to all eternity ever shall. I will see you 
 again on earth, if possible ; but if that may not be, will meet you in 
 heaven. 
 
 Soul-saving work is next to heaven. Indeed, it gets more of my 
 thoughts than heaven does. 
 
 I have been very jealous over you. I have feared lest any of you 
 should decline or desert, and so the good we saw together get depre- 
 ciated. Tell the young people from me, that with all love I beg of 
 them that they dwell in God, and that they may be teachable and 
 meek. 
 
 Orkney is very different from Sandhurst : but God has shown me 
 that He keeps the keys of hearts here as well as there. Your inter- 
 cessions for me have not been in vain. 
 
 On Wednesday last while warming my feet after a cottage service, 
 I observed that a young couple standing by the fire seemed much 
 dejected. I asked, " are you seeking the Lord ? " They were. 
 After a few words we went to prayer, and soon their faith was clear, 
 and their bliss was great. 
 
 Since conversions have multiplied, no small muttering has been 
 heard in the Samaritan camp. The Kirk Clergyman, assured of his 
 living, is, indeed, easy about matters as an old shoe ; but the Seces- 
 sion Minister, fearing loss if we gain, prattles against us. This find- 
 ing pardon of sin stumbles him. He compares me to a Popish Priest, 
 and slanderously insinuates that I profess to forgive. 
 
 Even here, God is raising up fellow workers for me. Four of the 
 new converts are fine young men, fit for the yoke. 
 
 The damps try me. After Sunday exertions I generally feel unwell. 
 Last Monday I had to go to bed quite ill, heated, and expecting fever. 
 We have no doctor here ; so I cried to God, and in the morning rose 
 exulting in strength renewed. God heareth. Still pray for me, dear 
 brethren, and urge others to do so too. 
 
 In the beginning of March, 1836, Mr. Collins paid 
 his first visit to the Fair Isle. This involved a sail of 
 fifty miles in an open boat. The sea was very rough, 
 and he was very sick. The place was scarcely Eden- 
 like, as its name. When the wife of Dr. Clarke once 
 pressed a slattern with the aphorism, " Cleanliness is 
 next to godliness," given with much unction, she re- 
 ceived for reply, " Thank Heaven, that is not in my 
 Bible ! " According to the report of the Rev. James 
 Harris, such grateful people are plentiful in those lati- 
 tudes. Certain agile parasites of man, found equally 
 with Arab or with Esquimaux, abound. A bed could be 
 got, but sleep not warranted. Charles Lamb describes 
 with rare humour, in his own manner, the onset of 
 such midnight foes, small, lively, and multitudinous. 
 " Luckily," says he, " they could not agree ; for had
 
 IO2 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 their battalions, a thousand strong, pulled all one way, 
 they would have had me on the floor." He might have 
 been in the Fair Isle. Shaking of hands had to be 
 charily done. Diseases, rather irritating than mortal, 
 were annoyingly frequent. Mr. Collins there sought 
 privacy among the rocks for other purposes ihan to 
 pray ; and on his return burned his under clothing in 
 sheer disgust. 
 
 It is due to set forth every possible palliation. The 
 people were miserably poor. Purity of skin is not easily 
 kept in over-crowded, smoke filled huts. Even English 
 housewives would fail to make ablutions popular on the 
 rim of the Arctic circle. 
 
 At the time of this visit, terrible distress lay heavy on 
 the people of the Isle. The fish had failed on their 
 shores, and the grain perished in their fields. Men 
 grew weak with pining ; mothers' breasts were dry ; 
 children were dying ; the famine was sore. They had 
 sent for aid to Lerwick. The waves ran mountains 
 high. While those great western gales blew, none 
 expected any return : when, lo, over the rough sea, the 
 boat hove in sight. Its crew had defied the storm, that 
 relief for their hunger-bitten friends might not be delayed 
 an hour. Mr. Collins says : " It almost broke my heart 
 to see the overjoyed people kiss the brave fellows who 
 thus, at peril of their lives, had brought such sup 
 plies as from her scanty treasures poor Shetland could 
 send." 
 
 Though laden with calamity, the islanders were eager 
 for the Word. No minister's face had been seen among 
 them for two years. During the months of that long 
 interval, a faithful few had kept up meetings for godly 
 fellowship. These believers, remembering Christ's " Do 
 this," longed for the sacrament of communion. If 
 any precisian complain because, in such necessity, the 
 Evangelist, not yet ordained, administered : well, let 
 him. But I gladly record that for sixteen days he went 
 in and out among them ; sharing their hardships ; 
 carrying joy to their homes ; preaching the Word ; con- 
 firming the brethren ; breaking the holy bread ; and 
 baptizing the children. By the bye, sorrow in the land 
 failed to check fondness for euphonious names. The
 
 ORKNEY. 103 
 
 first three on the register are Audiena, Rabina, and 
 Jerome. 
 
 Upon reaching home Mr. Collins so bestirred himself 
 that, one way or other, he was enabled immediately to 
 send twenty-eight bolls of meal to the famishing people. 
 Not content with that, he proceeded to lay the case in 
 the columns of the " Watchman " before the Wesleyan 
 public. Answers came. One from the Rev. F. A. 
 West, characteristically valuable, deserves notice. 
 Enclosing sixteen pounds of Stockport donation, it 
 says : 
 
 Yours would be a sad position indeed, if while compelled to witness 
 such misery, you were left hopelessly unable to relieve it ; but it 
 will be a happy one, if assisted to afford help. Those destitute 
 people can give you nothing again, except enviable reward ! the 
 silent tear of the eye that blesses you. 
 
 Your charge upon those distant, rugged, stormy islands is part of 
 our common family. We cannot deny the obligation of feeding the 
 hungry, and clothing the naked. " Fulness of bread " is with us a 
 national peril. Our superfluities would at once abundantly supply 
 every want of those poor orphans, wretched widows, squalid men, 
 and mothers weeping over tender babes, of whom you tell us. 
 
 Continue, then, without fear, to make your appeal on their behalf. 
 A plea for those who so patiently suffer can never fall unheeded 
 upon the ears of godly men. 
 
 We of England are debtors to all the world ; but specially to 
 fellow-subjects in this realm. It will not enter our minds to shirk 
 the duty, because, happily for us, the sufferers can neither throng 
 our doors, nor appeal to our mere animal sympathies by haggard 
 looks and unclothed limbs : that would be unworthy of us either as 
 Britons, as Christians, or as Methodists. 
 
 Difficulties, anxieties and disappointments will arise ; yet, go on, 
 my dear brother ; the prayers of the Church attend you in your 
 blessed work, the work for which you live. Trust and be not afraid : 
 never despair ; never despond. Now, as of old, " the best of all is, 
 God is with us." 
 
 This encouragement of a brother so lonely and so 
 haiassed was nobly done. Such fraternity is beautiful. 
 A letter like this would carry a blink of sunshine into an 
 Orkney fog. 
 
 Report of such surrounding distress made friends 
 naturally anxious concerning Mr. Collins himself. To 
 allay such alarms he wrote to his father thus . 
 
 Dismiss your fears. Winter was trying. Aches in the joints, 
 something of rheumatism, affected me, brought on by having to stand
 
 104 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 so many hours in our very chilly preaching-room. With returning 
 spring these pains, through mercy, have gone. My health is good ; 
 and Mr. Knowles declares me looking better than when I came. 
 
 As for Orkney fare, it gets little of my thought. Of fish and barley 
 cake Stronsay has plenty; I can take either without repugnance, and, 
 indeed, when hungry, with relish. 
 
 This appointment is of the Lord. My theological examinations 
 draw near : Providence kindly brought me hither to prepare. Reflec- 
 tion reveals and recalls to me much ignorance and many indiscre- 
 tions Amid the heat and bustle and slavery of work at Sandhurst, 
 I could find little time for consideration. Each error is, however, 
 purged by the blood ; and, despite every drawback, I can never recur 
 to those glorious years without hallelujahs. Here Heaven gives me. 
 leisure and seclusion. I read more, think more, pray more. My 
 soul grows. Communion becoms inexpressibly sweet. I walk and 
 talk with God ; and, so far from regretting, often bless Him for 
 sending me here. 
 
 The District Meeting in May made a visit to Aberdeen 
 necessary. To all the brotherhood, but specially to 
 remote and solitary labourers, such annual gatherings 
 are festivals. Mr. Collins preached by appointment, in 
 the chapel at five o'clock in the morning ; and, by 
 choice, in the open air at six o'clock in the evening. 
 On the Lord's day he heard the President, the Rev. 
 Richard Reece, and records, " My heart melted under 
 the Word." The book-list given in for the year enables 
 us to know exactly upon what his mind had been feeding. 
 It includes, in Biography, Hess's " Life of Zwingle," 
 Samuel Clark's " Lives of Eminent Christians," the 
 " Life of Mrs. Fletcher," and the " Life of Lady Maxwell." 
 In Systematic Theology, I find the names of Barrcw, 
 Burnet, Pearson, and Wesley ; in Polemics, Waterland 
 and Sellon ; in Experimental Divinity, Mason, Horneck, 
 Shaw, Alleine, Quarles, Rutherford, and Edmondson ; 
 in Homiletics, Maclaurin and Saurin ; in Exposition, 
 Benson, Sutcliffe, and Watson ; in Christian Evidence, 
 Robinson " On the Messianic Prophecies," and Butler's 
 "Analogy;" in Mental Science, Locke; in History, 
 Robertson's " Scotland," Prideaux's " Connections, "and 
 Milner's" Church History." Young Methodist Preachers 
 often read not what they would, but what they can get. 
 Omissions of works of pressing importance frequently 
 arise from shallowness of purse, absence from libraries, 
 and lack of guidance ; and are misfortunes rather than
 
 ORKNEY. IO5 
 
 faults. Considering where Mr. Collins had been, and 
 what he was, this is a very creditable catalogue. He was 
 a slow and sure, not quick and ready, man. The list is 
 long enough to show industry, and good enough to show 
 sobriety. No censor, at all events, would give the cha- 
 racteristic verdict which Mr. Collins records against a 
 sermon that he heard, " Too much among the toys for 
 me." All the books are solid and valuable. That " On 
 the Human Understanding," no change of philosophic 
 fashion can make it obsolete. Some since have dropped 
 a deeper plummet than its author, but who ever matched 
 him in clearness ? a thing much needed, much to be 
 applauded, in metaphysical discussion. The man who, 
 through every book and chapter, has honestly reached 
 John Locke's " Finis," is no unworthy graduate in 
 mental discipline. Butler has been justly described as 
 " one to whose profound sayings no thoughtful mind 
 ever yet was introduced for the first time without ac- 
 knowledging the period an epoch in intellectual history." 
 Private memoranda show the books to have been not 
 merely read up, but analysed, extracted from, and their 
 value estimated. He writes: "Watson's Exposition is 
 precious ; Pearson I read twice ; from Saurin I gleaned 
 much : not that I try to soar in his manner, but he has 
 given me improved ideas of reaching and laying open 
 the treasures of a text. Milner is replete with choice 
 spiritual information, but far too much a Calvinist partisan 
 to be trusted as an historian. Nevertheless, reading him 
 has strangely confirmed my own views. Was it likely to 
 be otherwise when I find him obliged to give up Justin 
 Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Irenaeus, as hopeless 
 Arminians ? They were Freewillers : so, without reve- 
 rence for nearness to Apostolic times, he just sets them 
 down as debasers of Gospel by philosophic mixtures. 
 All his diligence fails to find a Predestinarian, until 
 Augustine of Hippo, in the fifth century; and even he 
 admitted the universal redemption of man." These 
 notes will suffice as examples of his wary, reflective 
 manner of reading. 
 
 To that searching question, put by the President, 
 " Are you resolved to devote yourself wholly to God, and 
 do you earnestly seek to experience the purity of perfect
 
 I06 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 love ? " one who heard it tells me, that the reply, devoutly 
 and frankly given, thrilled the brethren. It was in these 
 terms : " I am so devoted, and in that enjoyment do 
 daily walk." 
 
 The District Meeting heartily recommended him for 
 acceptance in full Connexion by the ensuing Conference. 
 
 Of the return journey from Aberdeen the seagoing part 
 was rough, and made Mr. Collins think the shore on 
 which he landed worthy a poetic salutation : 
 
 Welcome, Stronsay, bonny isle, 
 
 I love to come to thee ; 
 May salutes thee with her smile, 
 
 Which makes thee smile on me. 
 
 When from Southern towns I came, 
 
 Thy hills, I thought were bare, 
 Thy houses scarcely worth the name, 
 
 And lean and poor thy fare. 
 
 But, Stronsay, how to love thee now 
 The rolling waves have taught me ; 
 
 And thanks, Great God, to Thee, that Thou 
 To this loved isle hast brought me. 
 
 Since I left thee, thou art grown, 
 
 Stronsay, lovelier far ; 
 Winter's frowns and storms are gone, 
 
 And gentler is thine air. 
 
 Bright shines the sun through thy long day ; 
 
 Green does the new corn spring ; 
 Violets dance on every brae, 
 
 And laverocks sweetly sing. 
 
 Thy mossy hills, thy shelly shores, 
 
 Thy rocks, a calm retreat, 
 And all the peace I've found in thee, 
 
 Sweet isle, I'll ne'er forget. 
 
 The joy which thus burst forth in verse, ere evening 
 came, was dashed with sorrow. The ink of his matin 
 song was scarce dry before ill tidings reached his ear 
 and saddened his heart. During the detention of their 
 shepherd by necessity at the District Meeting, and by 
 charity at the Fair Isle, several of his Stronsay flock 
 had gone in evil ways astray. This unexpected stroke 
 made him with sorrow cry unto God. Travel and ab- 
 sence from home had broken the regularity and limited
 
 ORKNEY. IO7 
 
 the hours of his accustomed closet communion. Sab- 
 bath work, not to be deferred, found him burdened in 
 spirit and bowed down with grief. He writes : " I 
 preached as I could, but felt feeble, and heavily pressed. 
 Return unto thy rest, O my soul ! I must have more of 
 the Divine image, more of the Divine power, and more 
 of the Divine fellowship, if I am successfully to labour 
 here." 
 
 A letter, written about this time to a Sussex friend, 
 says : 
 
 Learn your ABC. Perfection transcends elements, but does not 
 forget them. Go on from faith to faith. Dwell in love, then you 
 will dwell in God. So doing, you will have not merely gleams and 
 occasional baptisms of fire ; but, walking " in the light as He is in the 
 light," will live in abiding glory. God is with us here, and saves. 
 Blessed thought ! God everywhere ! with you, with me, with all 
 who, like Enoch, walk with Him. O, keep clear with God ! Nothing 
 less than entire devotedness will do. I have been devoted to Him, 
 and mean unceasingly to be so. I send you a few shells. Do not 
 despise them : They were taken from the King's cabinet. 
 
 On Thursday, June gth, 1836, Mr. Collins paid his first 
 visit to Skarfskerry. His short stay there began well. 
 He writes : " I found, on the shore, a secret place, 
 where, from ten o'clock until four, I had a very humbling 
 yet comforting season, and came away in the strength of 
 renewed dedication to God." 
 
 The rise of the Skarfskerry Society is a very interesting 
 story. Four years before Mr. Collins went, Donald 
 Brotchie, a Local Preacher of Inverness, coming to 
 visit his brother in that neighbourhood, preached to 
 the people. Under the Word many were so powerfully 
 smitten that they fell to the earth, where, prostrate in 
 prayer, they remained, refusing all comfort, until God's 
 own witness of peace came into their souls. These 
 saved people, at his exhortation, joined themselves 
 together in Christian fellowship. It is a remarkable 
 proof of the power of grace, that a work so commenced, 
 and so left, should prove so abiding. Edward Lyall, a 
 faithful man, one of themselves, became the Leader. 
 Besides meeting them weekly for godly counsel, he gave 
 a lecture every Sunday evening. As the result, Mr. 
 Collins found twenty-four united in membership, and for
 
 IO8 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 the most part walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. 
 The jottings in the Journal are : 
 
 Saturday, June nth. Preached, and met one of the classes. The 
 people are hungering and thirsting after righteousness. 
 
 Sunday, iath. Preached three times, and met the other class. 
 Much comforted in conversing and praying with the members. One 
 penitent was pardoned, two backsliders in heart restored, and the 
 Leader entered into the joy of purity. These were all men. Their 
 stories at home set their wives aflame to share the good. 
 
 Monday, i3th. Several women so stirred up resorted to the preach- 
 ing-room to seek advice, to join in prayer, and to wish me good-bye. 
 During the interview I sang, " Come to Jesus. " They had never 
 heard it before, and it strangely melted them. After conversation I 
 next sang a hymn in praise of Christ, which, in the hours of a sleep- 
 less night, I had myself composed . 
 
 God is man in very deed, 
 
 Born to bruise the serpent's head : 
 
 Sing the woman's promised seed, . 
 
 And praise the Lamb ! 
 
 Wake to rapture ancient sires ; 
 Prophets, bring your choicest lyres ; 
 Join, ye high celestial choirs, 
 
 And praise the Lamb I 
 
 Meek and lowly though He came, 
 Humbly born in Bethlehem, 
 High exalt His wondrous name, 
 
 And praise the Lamb ! 
 
 See in sad Gethsemane, 
 See in tragic Calvary, 
 Sinner, see His love to Thee, 
 
 And praise the Lamb ! 
 
 At these words a poor widow, unable to contain herself longer, leaped 
 from her seat, clapped her hands, and literally danced for joy, crying 
 all the while, " Glory till Him ! glory till Him ! Hallelujah ! " As 
 we finished by singing together of the heavenly meeting where we 
 shall part no more, feeling grew into rapture. My soul was much 
 blessed by the childlike faith and tamest gladness of these simple 
 people. 
 
 Tuesday, I4th. Setting my face again toward Orkney, I crossed 
 Pentland Frith. Landing at the first isle, South Ronaldshay, I 
 walked across it, seven miles ; then passed the ferry, half a mile, to 
 the isle of Burra ; there heard that just after my boat had gone 
 over in the way to Skarfskerry, another had been upset by a sudden 
 squall, and several of those on board perished. Thanking God for 
 safety, I trudged the breadth of the isle, two miles, to the next 
 arm of the sea, beyond which lies the mainland of Orkney. 
 Having attained thither, and refreshed myself at an inn, with milk,
 
 ORKNEY. IOg 
 
 biscuit, and butter, I toiled on seven miles further to Kirkwall ; which 
 about six o'clock, weary enough, I reached, and gladly rested in the 
 hospitable home of Mr. Walker. 
 
 Wednesday, i5th. After doing a little business relating to our 
 new chapel, thankfully got back to my own Stronsay. 
 
 On Friday, June 24th, a huge package, deep with 
 many a bonny layer, hams and tongues, sausages, pork- 
 pies, and such like " vivers," came in from Mrs. Austen, 
 a kindly Kentish friend. Think not the dating too par- 
 ticular for such a carnal fact. A few months of Orkney 
 fare would induce any man to mark such arrivals with 
 red letters in his calendar. To the donor Mr. Collins 
 wrote : 
 
 This season of the year is healthy. The coolness of the summer 
 air here suits me better than the heats of Sandhurst did. Many 
 thanks for your maternal care. The contents of your box of bless- 
 ings were, I assure you, very acceptable. Of cod, haddock, flounder, 
 herring, crab, or lobster, I can take my choice, but meat cannot be 
 got. Providence generally sends need and help together. Your gift, 
 like all my mercies, has been well adjusted ; it was, more than it 
 could be possible for you to suppose, wisely timed. It found me 
 preparing for another visit to the sad and suffering people of the 
 Fair Isle. There, there is such penury of food, that it is difficult to 
 get any either for love or money. Your bounty makes me indepen- 
 dent, and enables me to carry stores with me. About fifty pounds 
 were collected by me for those famishing islanders. Alas ! all that 
 it would buy was soon consumed. As the fisheries are this year 
 producing plentifully, the extreme peril of famine will soon be over. 
 I shall take about twenty pounds' worth more of meal with me, a 
 supply which will, I trust help some of the poorest till the new corn 
 comes. 
 
 In this promised labour of almsgiving, by which, one 
 of his after letters affirms, lives were preserved ; with 
 many preachings, much prayer, and various success, the 
 little interval until Conference passed busily away. 
 
 The Orkney appointment having been of two young 
 men, each entering upon their fourth year, both, accord- 
 ing to usage, should at the Conference of 1836 have 
 been received into full connexion. This they desired ; 
 and, that it might be, sought ministerial supply for their 
 work from Shetland, where dwelt their nearest Wesleyan 
 neighbours. Help from thence proving impracticable, 
 as their post might not be deserted, it was mutually 
 agreed that Mr. Knowles should go alone; thus defer- 
 ring the formal reception of Mr. Collins until the next
 
 110 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 year. This willing abstinence, for the flock of God's 
 sake, from urging his claim to present ecclesiastical 
 recognition was, of course, not held by authorities to be 
 any bar to his entrance at the usual Methodist felicitous 
 date upon the holy estate of matrimony. Accordingly, 
 after the conclusion of Conference, as Mr. Pascall, the 
 newly-appointed man, came down to Orkney, Mr. Collins 
 went up to London. 
 
 Notes of travel tell how the steamer from Kirkwall 
 had to cleave her way amid vast, wonderful, shoals 
 of herrings ; how dense fog gathered, through which, 
 labouring on, they, unwittingly, were bearing directly 
 down, at twelve knots an hour, upon a perilous bank off 
 Peterhead. Two minutes more and the steamer would 
 have been a wreck; when, opportunely the sun scattered 
 the mist and, with just time to escape it, revealed to 
 the seamen the imminence of their danger. The further 
 voyage from Hull to London, what with vibration from 
 the engine, crowd of passengers, sickness, and perhaps a 
 little pardonable longing for its termination, appears to 
 have been more than commonly uncomfortable. 
 
 At London he met his affianced bride, and was received 
 by her relatives with great cordiality. Having, ere the 
 marriage, a few days' interval, he ran down and preached 
 among his old friends. In anxious foresight of that 
 service, he had written : " Pray for me ; long travel, and 
 pressure of disturbing things, may cause me to expe- 
 rience inward weakness. I tremble at this idea. The 
 Lord bless me and all the people. Tell all who know 
 the joyful sound to believe for such a day as the sun 
 never shone upon in Northiam yet." When the time 
 arrived, his fears were banished : it was a day of power. 
 
 Having been hitherto chary of citing love epistles, I 
 venture to give the final one entire : 
 
 MY DEAREST, 
 
 I have only time to beg, most earnestly, that you will spend 
 this day, and to morrow, in fervent ceaseless prayer. 
 
 I am, your own, 
 
 THOMAS COLLINS. 
 
 The marriage took place at St. John's Church, Hoxton, 
 August 26th, 1836. The diary after the wedding much
 
 ORKNEY. HI 
 
 resembles the letter before it. This is the record : 
 " My wife and I have entered into this union with much 
 prayer, and in the fear of God." 
 
 Miss Emily Graham had been delicately reared ; she 
 knew the labours, privations, and frequent removals, 
 involved by sharing a Wesleyan Minister's life ; but, 
 believing herself providentially called thereto, she wil- 
 lingly embraced her duty, and never either shunned, or 
 complained of, any required sacrifice. Her husband's 
 station, the year of marriage, was Wick, upon the tem- 
 pest-torn coast of Caithness, in the extreme north of Scot- 
 land ; nor would she, for promotion of her own comfort, 
 allow any change of appointment to be sought. Thither, 
 fearlessly Mrs. Collins went, and bore every hardship 
 with unflinching courage and unmurmuring patience. 
 
 The change of residence to Wick needs a word of 
 explanation. To sober Conference Committee men, the 
 Orkney Mission evidently appeared rather romantic than 
 prudent. The feeling which ultimately led to withdrawal 
 had begun to work. It seemed Quixotic for Methodism 
 to take charge of a field covered by organizations of 
 other churches. It was urged, " But they work it ill." 
 It was answered, " Then the shame and blame are 
 theirs." To the reply, that " on the same principle 
 Anglicans would keep us from their parishes," it was 
 remarked, " Here we are at home, we have both a 
 birthright and a vocation ; but that going forth to pre- 
 occupied fields, whilst so much territory elsewhere lies 
 altogether untilled, is not so defensible a matter. That 
 such work should only be undertaken of our abundance, 
 when we have both men and means to spare. That 
 was far from being the case ; for there were few men, 
 and many calls ; calls from localities at once more 
 ignorant, more neglected, more accessible, and more 
 remunerative." 
 
 Who can wonder, that Mr. Knowles, the island pioneer, 
 after hearing such reasonings, wrote back with some 
 twinges of heartache? "They permit Stronsay to be 
 continued, and desire Wick to be cultivated ; but resolve 
 that the intermediate isles be left to Kirk, Secession, and 
 Co." When, eventually, Methodism's work in Orkney, 
 flock, and fold, and fruit, was handed over to the Free
 
 112 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Kirk, Mr. Collins, as was natural to one who had toiled so 
 hard to raise it, thought the decision rather thrifty than 
 wise. Perhaps he was right. Hard stations train 
 heroes. The Church may gain a loss that gets rid of 
 them. 
 
 On the return journey from London I find Mr. Collins, 
 first, rejoicing at Nottingham, over autograph letters 
 by John Smith ; next, gladdening his parents at Man- 
 chester by a visit ; then preaching to the prisoners in 
 Carlisle Castle, and again, by-and-by, to the neighbours, 
 in the kitchen of Edmond Castle, the seat of T. H. 
 Graham, Esq., his wife's eldest brother ; afterwards 
 conducting special services in Edinboro' ; and, finally, 
 pleasantly reaching Wick, where the Rev. Joseph Pas- 
 call, his newly-allotted colleague, awaited him. 
 
 Of Wick, tourists tell that you know by other senses, 
 as well as the eye, when you are there. Certain places 
 are famed for the pungency of their odours : Cologne is 
 reported to have a fine choice ; but Wick, the mart for 
 herrings, makes up in strength what it lacks in variety ; 
 it is the fishiest of the fishy. Its seamen, a hardy race, 
 daily face the terrors of the deep, and think little of 
 fetching their bread out of the roaring storm. When 
 Mr. Collins went, the population of Wick and Pulteney, 
 united, was about ten thousand. The outlying places 
 of his Circuit on the Scottish mainland, were Skarfs- 
 kerry, Sarclet, Stanstill, Lybster, and Brecan. In the 
 town, Kirk and Secession had each strong and well- 
 sustained establishments. Most families showed more 
 or less regard for the forms of godliness. Public wor- 
 ship was largely attended. A goodly number were 
 really pious. The chief blot and blight of the place was 
 intemperance. No business could be finished without a 
 dram. Whiskey was the pastor's plague and the people's 
 curse. 
 
 The same diary page gives at once information of 
 some early discomforts, and of their removal : " When 
 we first came, want of retirement caused me to suffer 
 both in mind and heart. In our confined lodgings I 
 could get no privacy, and the severity of the winter 
 forbad my resort to the rocks. I felt this much, and 
 urgently put my case before God. Blessed be the Lord,
 
 ORKNEY. 113 
 
 He has opened for me the door of the best house for 
 name and site of any in Wick. It is called Mount 
 Sharon ; and, though standing alone, is situate in the 
 very centre of the population. We have a good stable 
 for my pony, and a nice garden to walk in ; we have 
 excellent out-offices, a good kitchen, a good sitting- 
 room, two good bed-rooms, and, above all, a good study. 
 For premises and furniture, we pay thirty pounds a 
 year." 
 
 Mr. Collins took possession, February i3th, 1837, and 
 says : "I kept thanking God all day long for the house." 
 The very next Friday, before his books could well have 
 found rest on their shelves, he writes : " This day I 
 have set apart to fast, pray, and renew my covenant 
 with God. I resolve, in the strength of grace, upon a 
 more thorough and prayerful searching of the Scriptures. 
 To the devotional reading of them I intend to dedicate 
 daily half an hour in the morning, half an hour at noon, 
 and half an hour at night." 
 
 A letter, dated March 6th, records : 
 
 Several special seasons of fasting have, of late, been blessed to 
 the renewal of my spiritual strength. Prayer breathes more freely, 
 and the Word preached goes forth with power. Crowds come to 
 hear. We keep up three prayer-meetings a week, employ fifteen 
 tract-distributors, and have a Sunday-school of sixty children. 
 Yesterday, (Sunday,) was a good day. God is working. Some 
 wept : but we cannot carry on here in the wholesale way we used to 
 do at Northiam. Methodism here is a new thing. Till the people 
 know me, and I have hold on their hearts, I must be wary. This is a 
 very humbling station. I am learning that the excellency of the 
 power is of God. How helpless I feel in presence of Scotch pride, 
 hardness, formality, reserve and prejudice ! I just work on in faith. 
 My mind is made up to stay upon this stony ground yet another year. 
 I cannot leave without my sheaves. God will break through all. 
 God will save souls. It is still true that, " He causeth us to triumph 
 in every place." I love my Master's yoke. It is easy. It is 
 glorious to work for God in bringing poor sinners home. Like Paul, 
 one hardly knows which to choose, this or heaven. 
 
 1836 and 1837 were times of terrible distress through- 
 out the North. Highlands, Hebrides, Orkneys, and 
 Shetland were alike involved. Mr. Collins, mentioning 
 some personal gratification foregone, says : " I had 
 laid aside a five pound note for it, but the poor of this 
 place pull down all my financial plans." Again, de- 
 
 i
 
 114 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 scribing his out-door congregations, he writes : " It 
 is distressing to see the pale, lank visages of the half- 
 starved objects who stand before me. Ill clad, and with 
 not half enough to eat, it is no wonder that typhus rages 
 among the people." 
 
 He got his father personally to present an appeal, 
 written by himself, and endorsed by the Revs. R. Wood, 
 D. Walton, and Robert Newton, to some of the wealthy 
 manufacturers of Leeds and Manchester. They generally 
 responded. The Rev. John Mason's business accuracy 
 is a household word in Methodism : kindness of heart, 
 though less widely known, was not less characteristic. 
 The following notes to Mr. Collins so well set forth both 
 features, that it would be wrong to omit them. Benevo- 
 lent, laconic, direct, they are just like the man. 
 
 March jth, 1837. 
 MY DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 I HAVE procured for your poor people, twenty-two pairs of blan- 
 kets, forty-three yards of stout flannel, with binding, needles, and 
 thread sufficient to make them up. They are packed in one bale, 
 and directed to you. They will I doubt not, be acceptable. 
 I am, dear Brother, 
 Yours truly, 
 
 JOHN MASON. 
 
 April loth, 1837. 
 MY DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 I HAVE now in hand 40 for the poor of Orkney, which you 
 may draw for, in whole, or in part, as you judge best. 
 
 Praying that the Lord may sustain you and the sufferers by whom 
 you are surrounded. 
 
 I am, yours truly, 
 
 JOHN MASON. 
 
 The charities placed at Mr. Collins's disposal were 
 diligently and wisely used. Nothing was thrown broad- 
 cast. Every case was personally inspected. Godly 
 instructions accompanied each gift. To avoid pau- 
 perizing the people, and also to extend the area of bene- 
 ficent action, he required, wherever it was practicable, 
 half the prime cost of the meal, or cloth, or blanket. By 
 his efforts many lives were saved, and many souls were 
 blessed. 
 
 Early in 1837, Mr. Collins, wishing for a season to 
 itinerate through the isles, besought his father to leave
 
 ORKNEY. 115 
 
 his business, come over to Wick, and do there for a 
 while the work of an evangelist. The good man, de- 
 siring to make the cost of his visit as light for his son as 
 possible, proposed to attempt a little trade among the 
 managers of the fisheries. The reply was, " Bring no 
 merchandise. The dealers can get it as cheaply as you 
 can. I will keep you; not, however, to sell fishing 
 tackle, but to go fishing for men. You will be obliged 
 here to mind your P's and Q's ; and must, for a season, 
 lay aside all bargaining. Among this people Local 
 Preachers are unknown. To them, sermons and selling 
 seem incongruous; and it would be unwise to hinder 
 your usefulness by exciting their prejudice. Get your 
 friends to intercede with God, that you may come full of 
 blessing. We will leave you no time for traffic. Be 
 prepared to preach ten or twelve times a week ; to hold 
 many prayer-meetings ; to visit many sick ; and to live 
 on barley loaves and fishes." 
 
 His father came, and the projected Mission tour in the 
 isles was made. Writing to his wife, Mr. Collins says : 
 " Absence from you is painful ; but, that I may win souls, 
 I am obliged to prolong it. I, with you, make the sacri- 
 fice for Christ's sake. Keep looking to Jesus. Inwardly 
 feed on Him. Next to Him, I think of thee. Peace be 
 with thee." 
 
 I subjoin the father's Journal for a month: it gives a 
 graphic description of Wick work, and is altogether, also, 
 a good picture of that excellent man : 
 
 Wednesday, April 26th, 1837. This day, by the mercy of God, I 
 arrived in Wick. I preached in the evening to a full congregation, in 
 my son's chapel, from Ps. Ixxxiv. 2 : " My soul longeth," &c. If ever 
 any man's soul longed, if ever any man's flesh cried out, surely 
 mine did. Protracted absence from pulpit exercises had made me 
 keenly hungry for opportunity. Two women and one man found 
 peace. O that refreshed me. 
 
 Thursday, 27th. I preached again in the same place, from Luke 
 ix. 22 : " If Thou canst do anything, have compassion." Bless God 
 many tears flowed, and many hearts were touched ; but the crowd 
 was such that it was impossible to gather the penitents together. 
 
 Friday, 28th. Went to Stanstill. Many came. I preached from 
 Luke xix. 10 : " The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that 
 which was lost." The feeling was deep. Surely God is preparing a 
 people for Himself. 
 
 Saturday, agth. Returned to Sarclet. Preached from Gal. ii. 20: 
 I 2
 
 Il6 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " I live by the faith of the Son of God." Much emotion was 
 manifested. 
 
 Sunday, 3Oth. At Wick. At half past ten, from John xv. n : 
 "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain 
 with you, and that your joy might be full." At half-past one, again, 
 from John viii. 31 : " If ye continue in My word, then are ye My 
 disciples indeed." A third time at six from Rev. xxii. i, 2 : " A pure 
 river of water of life." Feeling deepens. Some cannot hold out 
 much longer. The Lord will raise up a people here. 
 
 Monday, May ist. At eleven o'clock I was called down to speak 
 to two ladies. At my first service on Wednesday their hearts had 
 been stricken ; on Thursday, distress sat heavy upon them ; yester- 
 day, their trouble became agony ; and to-day, with every sign of woe; 
 they declared, " We can no longer live without the pardon of our 
 sins." Things having come to such an issue, the teaching needed 
 to be but short, and the struggle brief, ere their souls entered into 
 liberty. 
 
 At night I preached at the water-side. My spirit rejoiced within 
 me to see plentiful proof that the Spirit of conviction fell. 
 
 Tuesday, 2nd. Walked seven miles. The men were busy sowing, 
 but with a few women we held a precious meeting. 
 
 Wednesday, 3rd. Three more anxious inquirers called upon me. 
 How sweet this work of directing souls into the way of peace ! At 
 seven o'clock I preached from Matt. v. 14 : " If ye forgive," &c. 
 Many stayed the after-meeting. Not a few cried aloud. Several 
 were saved. O my God, save multitudes ! I now retire to rest in 
 the name of Jesus. May the Lord protect my soul from evil ! Amen. 
 
 Thursday, 4th. O Father, how good Thou art ! Thou hast refreshed 
 my body and renewed my soul. All my powers I will use for Thee. 
 Go with me to Lyth. Give me a congregation. Give me a word to 
 them. Give me, and them, Thy Holy spirit. Convert many, and 
 keep through Thy grace such as have believed. 
 
 Remember for good my family, whom, for Thy sake, Lord, I 
 have left. Thine they are, and Thou gavest them me. Into Thy 
 hands, with tender care, do I resign them. Keep them, O Father! 
 May we meet again, cleansed by the blood of the Cross, and filled 
 with the Spirit of grace ! May our affections never stoop again to the 
 beggarly things of this world ! 
 
 Lord, help me this day, and always, for Christ's sake. Amen. 
 
 1 preached at Lyth from Jer. xxiii. 29 : " Is not My word like afire? 
 saith the Lord ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ? " 
 " Like a fire," when the spirit is cold and frozen, and the Word thaws 
 it. " Like a fire, "when convictions, desires, resolves, all are overlaid 
 and imprisoned by worldliness, as precious ore is by an earth-clod, 
 and the Holy Flame gives flux to the imbedding clay, runs it off, 
 and sets the treasure free. " Like a fire," when in the soul, gold 
 and dross, good and evil, mix ; and sanctifying grace, like the glow of 
 a furnace, purges and refines. The unawakened heart lives in con- 
 tented fellowship with sinners, fits in with them, holds hard on to 
 them. It must be struck to be to be broken off, and wrenched to be 
 got out. While I showed how the Word as a hammer did this, the 
 tears, the sighs, the groans, and the prayers of the people proved the
 
 ORKNEY. 117 
 
 power of God to be among us. I stayed the troubled ones for con- 
 versation. After pointing them to Jesus, I explained the nature and 
 value of our class meetings, and set myself to form one upon the spot. 
 Isabella M'Pherson, Mary Reney, Barbara Ross, and Alexander 
 M'Pherson gladly covenanted to meet with each other weekly. May 
 the handful become a host ! 
 
 Friday, 5th. I was this morning lost in admiration of the Divine 
 goodness, and overcome with gratitude, while listening to the narra- 
 tion of God's mercies given to my daughter, my dear son's wife. 
 
 Saturday, 6th. Morning. 
 
 How do Thy mercies close me round I 
 
 For ever be Thy name adored ; 
 I blush in all things to abound, 
 
 The servant is above his Lord. 
 
 Lord, give me a proper text for Sarclet. Give me clear light upon 
 it. Impart to me Thy mind. Join with me Thy power. Draw out 
 my soul to honour Thee. Let every one that hath an ear hear. 
 Convince deeply of sin. Lead safely to the blood. Pardon freely. 
 Wash thoroughly. Reign triumphantly. All for Thy mercy's sake. 
 
 Evening. Bless the Lord ! He has been true. While visiting 
 among the fishermen. Jesus, who of old took such pains with fisher- 
 men, assuredly went with me. I found an old woman, who seemed 
 to be nothing but a few bones held together by skin, smoke-dried till 
 it appeared like shrivelled leather. The good news that Jesus loved 
 her, and cared about her, seemed to strike the poor creature with 
 affectionate amaze. Dry and withered as she looked, we had not 
 been long in prayer before her aged eyes became fountains. When 
 
 1 was leaving, grasp and tears and tongue united to assure me how 
 " muckle glad " she felt at my unexpected visit. Many to-day, in 
 the huts of Sarclet, have received instruction and encouragement. 
 
 Not since I left England have I experienced such a melting season 
 as this night while preaching from i Pet. v. 10 : " The God of all 
 grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Jesus Christ, 
 after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, 
 strengthen, settle you." I was myself almost choked with emotion, 
 and the people were in tears all around me. Three found peace, 
 and have given in their names to be added to those of the little 
 Society. 
 
 Sunday, 7th. Welcome, sweet day of rest. 
 That saw the Lord arise, 
 Welcome to this reviving breast 
 And these rejoicing eyes. 
 
 I am but poorly in body. Lord, help me this day lest I faint. 
 
 At half-past ten I preached from Ezek. xi. 19-21. Solemn awe 
 rested upon the people as I expounded. " I will put a new spirit 
 within you." At half-past twelve, without retiring, I met the class, 
 nor could I finish before the afternoon congregation had gathered. 
 I, therefore, just ascended the pulpit, and discoursed from Ps. cxxx. 
 7, 8 : " With the Lord there is mercy and plenteous redemption."
 
 Il8 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 This service ended left me very unwell. At my son's, however, I got 
 a cup of tea, an hour's sleep, and a little quiet communion with God, 
 which refreshed me to meet the crowd that so crushed in at six 
 o'clock, that I could scarcely push through them to the pulpit. 
 My text was Ezek. xxxiii. n. I showed the character of the wicked ; 
 that the wicked go in an evil way, and will come to an evil end ; that 
 neither in their way nor their end hath God any pleasure ; that there 
 is no necessity that they should persist in so vile a way, or issue in 
 so ruinous an end ; that God makes oath of His good-will toward 
 them, hath givea for them His Son, inspired for them His word, sent 
 for them His ministers, poured forth for them His Spirit, and now, 
 bending from His throne, commands, exhorts, nay, even supplicates, 
 " Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die ?" The excitement became 
 very great while I insisted that it was the duty of that congregation, 
 then and there, either to turn, or to assign to God some sufficient 
 reason for their refusal. Nearly all stayed for prayer. At a second 
 prayer-meeting, for which only penitents were invited, a hundred 
 remained. I was weak and spent, but how could I leave ? My dear 
 daughter laboured nobly. I concluded the second meeting; but some 
 who continued in distress would not stir. We fell to prayer again ; 
 several were comforted, and the rest agreed to wait upon me at 
 eleven o'clock in the morning. 
 
 Monday, 8th. I rose rather better. At eleven o'clock six persons 
 came all of whom went away rejoicing. I sallied forth to Staxego, 
 where, in the evening, I preached to forty-five persons, from, " Be- 
 hold the Lamb." In after conversation I found one poor fellow with 
 his head in a strange mist. He had been a great theological reader; 
 but complained that, having to work hard for his daily bread, he could 
 not, for the life of him, keep all the points in mind. Now, how 
 could he be saved unless he believed all that Scotch divinity ? And 
 how could he believe what he had forgotten ? He was in a sadly 
 puzzled case, and was grievously perplexed. I endeavoured to direct 
 him a way nearer than that which lay through all the old volumes on 
 his shelves. 
 
 " Do you believe yourself to be a sinner ? Do you feel your sins 
 to be a burden ? Are you now willing to renounce them all ? Will 
 you accept pardon upon God's terms ? " To all these things, with 
 much appearance of sincerity, he answered, "Yes." "Then," said 
 I, " Can you find, or can you wish better guidance than that of 
 God Himself in His own word ? " "I cannot." I thereupon 
 pointed out to him, in Isaiah, "Behold, I, even I, am He that blot- 
 teth out thy transgressions for My own sake." " Now " I asked, 
 "will you, do you now believe that?" "Why "said he, "of 
 course, I believe that ; it is in the Bible." Well, do you expect that 
 it is anything not in the Bible that is to be believed in order to 
 salvation ? But friend, it is not ' of course ' that you believe it, 
 because it is in the Bible. A little self-examination will discoyer 
 that up to this very moment you never have believed it. Did you 
 not tell me that for many years you had been seeking this very thing, 
 that your transgressions should be blotted out, and had not found it ? " 
 " Well " the man replied, " I hope that He will blot out my sins in 
 His own good time." I answered, " That is not what is written ;
 
 ORKNEY. I ig 
 
 therefore, there is no need to believe that at all. Take the text into 
 your troubled heart, just as it is, just now, and it will do you 
 more good than all the technical divinity you either remember or 
 have forgotten. Hear it : ' Behold I, even I, am He that BLOTTETH 
 OUT thy transgressions for My own sake.' Do you believe God, in 
 that His saying, now ? " "Do you intend that I must believe that 
 that promise means me ? " " Undoubtedly. Promises being ad- 
 dressed to characters, if you have the character spoken to in any one 
 of them, that is full warrant for personal acceptance of it. Thus, 
 any true penitent trusting this Divine assertion, just as it stands in 
 the Book, will find the Word so trusted to become a fact." " I see," 
 he said " what I never saw before ; but I must think over it." So 
 he left. May the Lord give him light and peace ! 
 
 Tuesday, gth. I visited many families in the parish of Walton, 
 got promise of a room to preach in next time, returned to Pulteney, 
 and held a prayer meeting. One woman found peace. Bless the 
 Lord. 
 
 Wednesday, xoth. A stricken soul came for spiritual instruction 
 this morning. At night I preached in Wick, from, " No man cared 
 for my soul." I argued that the soul ought to be cared for, because 
 it is capable of such vast improvement ; because if not cared for, it 
 will be lost ; and because, if once lost it is lost for ever. Almost all 
 stayed to the prayer-meeting. As few can pray, this work lies 
 heavily upon me. Lord, send labourers. I concluded, but the people 
 would not go. There is generally a repugnance to penitent benches 
 here ; but, as we fell to prayer the second time, one poor fellow, 
 thoroughly broken down, humbly came, wept, prayed, believed, and 
 found mercy. Glory to God ! 
 
 Thursday, nth. Went to Stanstil. The Clergyman threatens to 
 close the school-room against us. I was, however, suffered to preach 
 there this time ; and did so, with great comfort, from Ps. cxvi. 5, 7 : 
 " Return unto thy rest, O my soul." After preaching, I came over 
 hills, bogs, mosses, and dykes, to Calder, where I was received into 
 the house of Mr. John Bean. 
 
 Friday, i2th. Preached in Mr. Bean's room to as many as I could 
 gather, from Jer. viii. 21, 22 : " For the hurt of the daughter of My 
 people am I hurt. Is there no balm in Gilead ; is there no physician 
 there ? Why then is not the health of the daughter of My people 
 recovered ? " I showed how, in Adam, seminally, all people existed and 
 were the Lord's ; that in the fall of Adam all people have been hurt ; 
 that, for the hurt of that same universal people, which, originally, in 
 Adam was His people, Christ has been hurt ; that the blood of the 
 wounds which hurt Him is an all-healing balm ; that for the applica- 
 tion of that balm the Holy Ghost is a matchless Physician. To 
 the question, " Why then is not the health of the daughter of My 
 people recovered ? " I replied, Because many do not think that they 
 are out of health at all ; and more imagine their hurt to be so slight 
 that certain old family prescriptions of their own will very well meet 
 the case without the Physician. Some think themselves too far gone 
 to be cured ; while others strangely give the good Physician an ill 
 name, roundly declaring that He never either intended to cure all, or 
 had balm enough to do it.
 
 I2O CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Saturday, I3th. I went over this afternoon to Sarclet. When 
 there last, speaking of the penitent publican, I took to task such as 
 despise others, and count themselves alone to be God's peculiar 
 people. It has been alleged that in those sayings I was covertly 
 striking at such as, according to the orthodoxy of the Confession of 
 Faith, believe themselves to be the elect of God ; now, clearly, unless 
 they add fanaticism to Calvinism, and uncharitably set themselves 
 to contemn others, my word concerned them no more than it did the 
 Khan of Tartary. However, they thus thinking, orders had been 
 given that, as a slanderer of the Kirk, I should be shut out of the 
 school. From its closed door I turned into a cottage, and with much 
 comfort preached from Ps. cxvi. 12 : " What shall I render unto the 
 Lord for all His benefits ? " Surely the dragon is awake, and has 
 declared war against me ; for, on my return, a deputation awaited 
 and strangely beset me. Revival doings have startled Wick. In 
 market, shop, and commercial-room, the talk is, " Mr. So-and-so was 
 on his knees;" "Miss So-and-so was weeping." The whole town 
 votes this getting of pardon to have a very Popish look. Our friends, 
 themselves but newly won and little established, are timorous at the 
 storm that rattles round them. I tried to show them that this was 
 only the stir of life, and the very answer of their own prayers ; but, 
 with great anxiety, they desired me to compromise matters, and be > 
 moderate. My son returns from the islands on Monday ; will he 
 think, when he finds all this hubbub in his Circuit, that I have 
 obeyed his charge to mind my P's and Q's ? If he meant any other 
 thing than that I was to give myself up wholly to praying, believing, 
 and preaching, with the sole aim of getting sinners convinced and 
 saved, he will find me guilty of having gone astray ; for thus with 
 toil nay, with agony have I been doing ; thus doing, bless God ! I 
 have succeeded. If this be right, and I think Thomas Collins will 
 say it is, I cannot be wrong. 
 
 Sunday, I4th. I rise this morning in the name of Christ. O 
 Lord, be my strength ; be my wisdom ; be my hiding-place this day ! 
 O Lord, arise ! Open the eyes of Thy people. Take from them the 
 fear of man. Make them willing to be despised for Thee. O, cut 
 sinners to the heart. Humble them before Thee. Help me this day. 
 The enemies are many ; and Thy people, a feeble folk, seem ready 
 to lay down their weapons. 
 
 Morning text, Ps. vii. 9-16. Afternoon, Acts v. 31, 32. 
 
 Help me to-night, my God, that I fear not the face of man. 
 Never yet have I failed, O Lord, to declare Thy whole counsel, 
 whether it were against myself or against others. Let me not now 
 be unfaithful ! 
 
 Shall I, to soothe the unholy throng, 
 Soften Thy truths, or smooth my tongue ? 
 How, then, shall I Thy anger bear ? 
 Or in Thy purer sight appear ? 
 
 I preached from those tremendous words, Ps. xxi. 8-12. Expound- 
 ing them, I showed who God's enemies are ; what He will do to 
 them ; what will become of their fruit and their seed ; and what they
 
 ORKNEY. 121 
 
 have done to deserve all this. The Word was with power. The 
 Lord helped me to deliver my own soul. Hallelujah ! 
 
 Monday, 15th. At eleven o'clock this morning, eight persons 
 came to me in distress. While I exhibited to them Jesus, the great 
 object of faith, the promises of God about Him, and the sure 
 warrants we have for at once believing them, every one of the 
 number was enabled to do so. These eight persons now glad in 
 the Sin-pardoner are the fruit of yesterday's labours. Bless the 
 Lord! 
 
 In the evening I preached at Staxego, from Luke viii. 25. It was 
 a good time. I showed the grounds we have for believing in Jesus ; 
 the sin of not believing in Him ; the folly of putting wonder instead 
 of faith ; and the obstinacy of man in not obeying Him whom 
 wind, and wave, and every creature else obeys. One man found 
 peace. 
 
 Tuesday, i6th. Preached at Keiss, at one, from Lam. v. 19, 20. 
 Then went on to Treswick, where the schoolmaster withstood me. 
 He declared that I was a deceiver of the people ; that especially my 
 teaching the possibility of men once saved ever perishing was 
 nothing less than abominable. I reminded him that it was, avow- 
 edly, lest such a thing should occur to St. Paul himself, that he 
 kept his body under ; that we have it on the testimony of prophets 
 and apostles both, that " the just shall live by faith, but if any man 
 draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him ; " that, further- 
 more, Christ's own promise runs in this tenor, " Be thou faithful 
 unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Texts against 
 prejudice are like wind against a rock. He bluntly answered that 
 the people neither liked our Arminianism, nor wanted us. It proved 
 true that few came. To the few I preached Jesus, and promised to 
 go again. 
 
 Wednesday, I7th. Through pouring rain I reached the village of 
 May. About sixty people crowded into the smithy, where, in my 
 shirt sleeves, while my coat dried at the fire, with the anvil for a 
 desk, I preached from Rom. i. 16 : "I am not ashamed of the Gospel 
 of Christ." Many wept, and all desired me to come again. 
 
 I rode on to Skarfskerry, where I preached in the afternoon from 
 Lam. iii. 24: " The Lord is my portion, saith my soul." In the 
 evening I took John xx. 31 : " These things are written that ye 
 might believe." 
 
 Thursday, i8th. On the way to Thurso I overtook a gentleman 
 of Castleton, the place next ahead of us, in company with another 
 from Wick. The friend from Wick asked me, " Shall you preach in 
 Castleton ? " " If I can get a room," I replied. Turning to the 
 other, he said, " Could not you arrange that ? Could not you secure 
 the use of the schoolroom for Mr. Collins? " " Indeed," he answered, 
 " I will do nothing of the kind. I am a true son of the Kirk. I hate 
 this kind of work. There is too much, far too much, toleration. If 
 it lay in my power, all this errant wildfire should soon be put down." 
 Thus I learned that, not systems, but loving hearts make men 
 generous and brotherly. Persecution is no monopoly of "black 
 Prelacy," but may be done by Presbyterians too. 
 
 At Thurso I preached to sixty people in a barn, from Ps. cxxx. 3 :
 
 122 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, who should stand ? " 
 I made many appeals. O God, let not my labour be in vain. 
 
 Friday, igth. Returned to Castleton ; applied for use of the 
 school. "No." For loan of a barn. "No." The schoolmaster 
 had married one sister of the Clergyman, and the owner of the barn 
 the other. Both resented as impertinence such a request from a 
 Methodist Preacher. Both were too near akin to Kirk to favour 
 heresy. Each door was barred by my faith in the world-loving God. 
 I was at length admitted to a cottage ; and, to as many as could get 
 in, preaching from John iii. 35, 36. 
 
 Saturday, 2oth. Rose with sore throat. Set off. Prayed with 
 the family at a cot on the way. Weary and very poorly reached 
 Sharfskerry. Immediately retired to rest. 
 
 Sunday, 2ist. Preached in the morning from Ps. li. 10 : 
 " Create within me a clean heart." In the afternoon from Matt. 
 xxix. 4: " Take heed that no man deceive you." I called attention 
 to some points about which they should take heed, e. g., they should 
 believe nothing bad about the blessed God ; and, except as given 
 from Him, nothing good about themselves. They should despair of 
 ever saving themselves even from one sin ; but never doubt that the 
 Lord can save them from all sin. They must never explain away 
 what God has promised ; or think that God will not do it ; or that 
 He will not do it now ; or that grace cannot work as well in the 
 time of health as in the hour of dissolution. They must never tell 
 lies to appear humble, or keep sin to keep them humble. They 
 must never imagine that the righteous live in sin : or that any who 
 do so are anything else but servants of the devil. 
 
 At night I preached from Matt. xxiv. 45 : " Who then is that wise 
 servant," &c. Bless the Lord for three sweet seasons, and three 
 large congregations. This is the best country in Christendom for a 
 Minister who loves to labour in the Word and doctrine. The people 
 seem never to tire. I began at eleven and ended at one. Re-com- 
 menced at two, and closed at five. At it again at six, kept on till 
 eight, then held a prayer-meeting until nine. After that I met the 
 class. After class I stayed with some distressed and anxious souls, 
 nor could we separate till the noon of night. Bless the Lord, many 
 were comforted. When I reached my lodgings, I found my host and 
 his wife weeping in bitter penitence : so to prayer I fell again ; and, 
 ere we retired, both were glad in the pardoning love of God. Jesus 
 maketh us to triumph ! 
 
 Monday, 22nd. Went in search of one whose family duties had 
 compelled him to go sorrowfully home the night before. The Lord 
 set him free this morning; and I, rejoicing, passed on to Lyth, and 
 discoursed in a barn from Acts xiii. 38, 39: " Through this Man is 
 preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." After sermon the seekers 
 followed to my room. Many were made happy, and eight new names 
 enrolled in the little Society's list. 
 
 One young man who had received much good, being invited to 
 join, replied, " Before I do that, I must learn from you two things, 
 viz., what do you believe ? and how do you govern ? " I said, 
 " Hast thou been here to day, and witnessed such things, and yet 
 doubtest of what we believe ? Ask this poor woman." " I believe,"
 
 ORKNEY. 123 
 
 said she with tears, "that Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me." 
 " I believe," said another, " that through this Man, Christ, 1 am jus- 
 tified from all things." To their witness I added, " And I believe 
 that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin." " Well," said the 
 canny Scot, " this is good indeed : but how do you govern ? " 
 "Why," said I, "the Lord hath commissioned us tc seek His lost 
 and scattered sheep. This we do ; and, as we find them, lead them 
 to His open side, the sheep for whom their Shepherd died." The 
 young man answered, " I wad thus believe, and thus be led : so ye 
 can just tak my name doon too." 
 
 I was wonderfully lifted up, and a more blissful company I never 
 saw. How preferable the simplicity and good nature in that poor 
 cottage, to the compliment, lacquer, and sham, too frequent in politer 
 circles ! Happy souls ! may the Lord multiply, sanctify, and esta- 
 blish them ! 
 
 Tuesday, 23rd. Returned to Wick. Attended a fellowship meet- 
 ing ; some were saved, and many edified. 
 
 Wednesday, 24th. Preached. One found peace. I hear that 
 some were much profited. 
 
 Thursday, 25th. Preached at Stanstill from Psalm xxiii. At a 
 fellowship meeting my Lyth friends who had come over bore noble 
 testimonies. The Clergyman of the parish was present. He seemed 
 much interested, took me home with him. and desired me to assist 
 in looking over the proof sheets of a sermon which had just come in 
 from the printer's. This was condescension which I could not have 
 expected, and an honour which my qualifications little deserved. I 
 found one error in citation. The text, " Whom having not seen ye 
 love ; in whom, though now ye see Him "not. yet believing ye rejoice 
 with joy unspeakable and full of glory ; receiving the end of your 
 faith, even the salvation of your souls," he quoted as, " Until yc 
 receive the end of your faith," &c. I remarked, Sir, this is not 
 what St. Peter says; nor, in fact, would it agree with St. Peter's 
 views. Peter certainly knew that people could not rejoice at all, 
 much less with joy unspeakable, unless they already had received 
 ' the salvation of their souls :' for it is salvation experienced which 
 alone can enable them so to rejoice." He looked in the New Testa- 
 ment, and found the words to be as I said. He turned to the 
 Greek I could not follow him there but plainly saw that it helped 
 him nothing. However, despite of me, of English version, and of 
 Greek original, the good man was of Pilate's temper, " What he had 
 written he had written," and not a letter of it should be altered. 
 " Well," said he, " let it be as it is : I think it sounds stronger than 
 the common reading ! " I began to fear that I had been sought rather 
 to be an admirer than a censor. 
 
 Friday, 26th. I preached at Lybster. Five agreed henceforth to 
 meet weekly for Christian fellowship. 
 
 Saturday, ajth. I went to Sarclet. The Clergyman will neither 
 come himself and preach in the school-room, nor suffer us to supply 
 his lack of service. Popish spirit can live in Protestant forms, I 
 have since I came here found that there is some truth in what some- 
 body has said, that " Presbyter may be only Priest writ large." Such 
 experience has caused me to remember the transfigured cat of
 
 124 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ^Esop's fable. She looked like a lady, was called one, and married 
 as one, but fell upon a poor mouse not less heartily than when her 
 name was " Puss." 
 
 I gathered the people into a barn, and preached to them from Jer, 
 xxvii. 17 : "Be not Thou a terror to me. In the day of evil Thou 
 art my hope." 
 
 I have now been here a month. I have preached thirty-nine 
 times, met six classes, held fourteen prayer-meetings, conducted 
 three fellowship meetings, and seen many conversions. Praise the 
 Lord! 
 
 Of this visit Mr. Collins wrote : " Though our people 
 thought my father rather too rampant, few took offence, 
 and many were saved. He was very laborious, very 
 useful, very helpful. After making up for some back- 
 slidings, many deaths, and more emigrations, we count 
 an addition of twenty members." 
 
 At the District Meeting of 1837 Mr. Collins narrated 
 the incidents of his recent tour. He showed that merely 
 working Wick and Stronsay was wasteful alike of time 
 and money; that if the cause of God were to be efficiently 
 served, there must be an intermediate station and a third 
 man ; and that by personal invitation he had found the 
 way for evangelistic action in Walls, and Flotta, and 
 Kara, to be quite open. Dr. Bunting, the President, ad- 
 mired his zeal, sympathised with his feelings, and 
 approved his plan ; but assured him and the Meeting 
 that there was one insuperable difficulty in the way of its 
 fulfilment, viz., that he had not, for a considerable time, 
 had a single name left upon the list of reserve, and that 
 the demand for young men, in more promising places, 
 was so in excess of supply, that there was no probability 
 that Conference would be able to afford to Orkney another 
 beyond its present staff. 
 
 The memory of Mrs. Collins claims of us to say, that 
 in the Mission work of Wick she did her part nobly. To 
 many a fever-plagued family of the poor fishermen was 
 she an angel of mercy, carrying alike kindly words and 
 material help. She had sometimes to dwell alone for 
 weeks, while her husband visited the sea-sundered frag- 
 ments of his flock. How well she knew, when her 
 spirits drooped, whither to go, and how believingly she 
 went, the following sweet lines, written June yth, 1837, 
 will show :
 
 ORKNEY. 125 
 
 Through unwatchfulness I've been 
 
 Dark and distant, Lord, from Thee ; 
 Dwelt upon the verge of sin : 
 
 O, my Saviour, visit me ! 
 
 Grief I cannot give my heart, 
 
 Cannot give my eyes to see; 
 Godly sorrow, Lord, impart, 
 
 Now, my Saviour, visit me ! 
 
 Thou hast promised that the stone 
 
 From my heart removed shall be ; 
 Now fulfil Thy word, Thy own 
 
 O, my Saviour, visit me ! 
 
 Amen ! Promise-keeping God, 
 
 Thine eternal verity 
 Takes away my spirit's load, 
 
 Now my Saviour visits me ! 
 
 The period of Mr. Collins's residence at Wick was one 
 of mental growth. He laid plans for future reading, 
 commenced the study of the Greek and Hebrew tongues, 
 and gave himself, in every way, to diligent self-culture. 
 To his former Northiam friend, James Harris, who by 
 this time had entered the ministry, he wrote : " I often 
 remember the death-prayer of a pious uncle. As I knelt 
 by his bedside, God, in order that his benediction might 
 be suitable, opened his eyes to see one of my greatest 
 evils. ' Lord,' said he, ' bless Thomas with a teachable 
 disposition.' This temper of mind I think you have. 
 Men lose much for want of it. Under the name of 
 meekness Scripture often praises it. I send, and, as an 
 expression of brotherly love, beg you to accept, Blair's 
 ' Rhetoric,' Benson's ' Sermons,' and ' Pearson On the 
 Creed.' " 
 
 We interject here, that, though Blair is now obsolete, 
 yet, at that date, his was the best treatise our language 
 afforded. Mr. Collins apologises for directing his cor- 
 respondent's attention to " Rhetoric," but covers himself 
 by citing a similar recommendation from saintly Bram- 
 well, and then adds affirmation of his own consciousness 
 of personal benefit derived from the study. The apology 
 was unnecessary. Every workman should learn to handle 
 his tools. Many are said to have command of language 
 of whom it would be nearer the truth to say that language 
 has command of them. Paucity of matter and plethory
 
 126 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 of speech make the huge performance like Falstaff's 
 celebrated bill: "But one halfpennyworth of bread to 
 this intolerable deal of" sack ! " Verbal mastery, not 
 finery, was what Mr. Collins wished his friend to attain. 
 Strong thoughts in words, fit, plain, and packed, were 
 ever his delight. 
 
 The letter proceeds : " Select the most important 
 works of Wesley and Fletcher, divide them into four 
 portions, read and present one such portion each year : 
 of their treatises every list of a Wesleyan probationer 
 should contain some. Quality is more than quantity. 
 A few good books will benefit you and satisfy the District 
 Meeting better than many inferior or unsuitable ones 
 would do. Always have your mind err.ployed about some 
 text. Carry paper with you everywhere ; and if God 
 gives you good thought, nail it immediately with your 
 pen ; else, when you want it, it will be gone. 
 
 " As to the title Rev., it is absurd to object to that 
 and keep Mr. The Literalist who objects to his Minister 
 being called Rabbi, should, doubtless, refuse himself to 
 be called Master. To me, also, it seemed, at first, un- 
 suitable, on the ground of my youth, that I should receive 
 such a designation ; but I soon found that, being given 
 to all Ministers alike, it neither conveyed, nor was in- 
 tended to convey, any personal compliment whatever; 
 that, in short, it magnified the office, not the man. Con- 
 ventionally, the distinction is useful. If Rev. were not 
 upon the letters you send to me here, they would infal- 
 libly get delivered to some fish-curer or other. 
 
 " When I was at Stronsay last, Brother Pascall and I 
 retired for prayer to the new chapel. There God gave 
 him a clean heart, which he has retained ever since, and 
 before the brethren at Aberdeen bore unwavering testi- 
 mony of it. I should like you to come here next year." 
 
 Strange to say, Mr. Harris liked to go. The friend- 
 ship must have been warm that made such an invitation 
 seem desirable. One eulogist of the islands offered as a 
 temptation thither, " a house by the side of an inland Voe, 
 that would bring live herrings to the door." Another 
 inquires, " Do you want air ? Well, there is no lack of 
 that. England's strongest winds would be thought but 
 zephyrs at Stronsay." Mr. Collins supplied considera-
 
 ORKNEY. 127 
 
 tions which he supposed more attractive, viz., that the 
 long winter, during which rough seas forbade travel, fur- 
 nished large opportunities for reading ; and that, more- 
 over, the very inconveniences of the place were such 
 as made the situation more resemble the Great 
 Master's : for He, as Orkney Missionaries do, often fed 
 on barley-bread, and spent much time among the 
 fishermen. 
 
 On Thursday, July i3th, 1837, Mr. Collins left home 
 for Conference. On the following Sunday and Monday 
 he preached in Glasgow. As the Society there was ripe 
 for effectual revival action, the prayer-meetings became 
 scenes of remarkable manifestation. Several found 
 peace, and perhaps twenty were strengthened to claim 
 the virtue of the cleansing blood. One asked, " How is 
 it that many very gifted, very learned, and very laborious 
 men never realise such results ? " The answer was, 
 " Among the brotherhood I am but a child ; yet it some- 
 times seems to me that I could whisper even into the 
 ears of greater men a more excellent way. Wesley 
 tells it ; the Bible tells it : Let every Methodist Minister 
 get, keep, preach, and press full salvation. God would 
 seal His sanctifying Word. The way of holiness is the 
 right way : Lord, help me, and I will walk in it." 
 
 The Glasgow Stewards besought that they might be 
 aHowed to seek Mr. Collins's immediate appointment to 
 their Circuit. His reply was, " No, no ; my heart is 
 with my own poor people." 
 
 After a visit to his mother, Mr. Collins reached Leeds. 
 He writes, " Conference was to me a solemn sight. I 
 could not but weep as I entered it." 
 
 On Wednesday, August 2nd, 1837, Mr. Collins, with 
 twenty-four others, was ordained by the laying on of 
 hands. The session is described as " short, spiritual, 
 and pleasant." Its chief memories were of an eloquent 
 address by the Negro Preacher, Frazer, and of a sermon 
 by the Rev. John Hannah, noted down as " one of the 
 right sort, and accompanied with great power." 
 
 In the return the celebrated Dr. Duff was a fellow- 
 voyager. The jotting of him is, " A tall, thin, young- 
 looking man ; faithful in daily prayer in the saloon, and 
 bent on speedy return to his Indian work."
 
 128 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Mr. Collins reached Wick in safety on Tuesday, 
 August i5th. 
 
 Theological difficulties impeded the work in Caithness 
 far more than material ones. Clergymen publicly de- 
 nounced the Mission from their pulpits. Bigots pri- 
 vately spoke of Wesleyans as " a damned people, who 
 ought to be stoned out of the country." The popular 
 mind was thoroughly imbued with prejudice. Methodism 
 was compelled to be militant : it could speak no word 
 in its own dialect that would not awake a controversy. 
 Old opinions, the dead weight of centuries, like earth- 
 works, surrounded and defended all hearts from con- 
 vincing appeal. That Christ died for all ; that it is 
 our duty to turn to Him; that we maybe saved now; 
 that we may know our sins forgiven ; that we may be 
 delivered from indwelling sin ; that, after grace received, 
 unless vigilant, we may fall away ; are things which, if 
 omitted, would leave a Methodist sermon like a bomb- 
 shell minus the powder ; but by that people each of these 
 axioms to us was felt to be a challenge. 
 
 After an open-air service in Thurso, a poor woman, 
 much conscience-smitten, followed Mr. Collins to the 
 house of a friend, where he gave her kindly advice. 
 Before leaving the town, he sought out the humble home 
 where she dwelt, in order to leave with her some final 
 instruction. Seeing that she had seven children, he 
 prayed for them, blessed them, and besought her to 
 "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord ;" for, said he, all their immortal souls are pre- 
 cious in His sight. That all was fatal. It broke the 
 spell thrown over her. All precious to God ? Not one, 
 out of so many, reprobated ? What heresy ! To whom 
 had she been listening ? What terrible falsehood had 
 well nigh beguiled her ? From that day she held him 
 to be a deceiver, and would never see or hear him more. 
 Methodism had no easy task in a land where to tell 
 a mother that God loved all her babes would drive her 
 from its fold. 
 
 Not every one has the ready ingenuity with which Mr. 
 Collins's father at once avoided controversy and asserted 
 truth. A strong polemic asked him, " Do you believe 
 in the perseverance of saints ?" " Certainly," was the
 
 ORKNEY. I2g 
 
 unexpected reply. " Indeed ! I thought you were a 
 Wesleyan. I thought you did not." " O, Sir, you have 
 been misinformed : it is the perseverance of sinners that 
 we doubt ! " The biter, bitten, said no more, and for 
 once debate was postponed. 
 
 At the request of the little Society at Wick, Mr. 
 Collins published a sermon from Ezek. x. n, entitled, 
 " Why will ye die? " It exceedingly well mingles logic 
 with appeal. In presence of current teaching, that by 
 unchangeable decree God hath eternally pre-ordained 
 many men to everlasting death, it could not be expected 
 of a Methodist Preacher to be silent. He asks, " Is it 
 possible for that creed to be proved without convicting 
 the only true God of perjury ? Hear His oath : ' As I 
 live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of 
 the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way and 
 live. ' " 
 
 The citations relied on in proof of reprobation are, 
 by common consent, difficult places of Holy Writ. 
 Bishop Horsley remarks, " It is no sin not to under- 
 stand a dark text, but it is a great sin not to believe a 
 clear one." Being of that mind, Mr. Collins proceeds to 
 lay down as a rule of interpretation, that " Scriptures 
 hard to be understood must be expounded by such as are 
 plain." He then asks, " Can anything be plainer than 
 this oath ? " He further pushes an inquiry, " If the 
 terms which stand in the Bible do not express universal 
 right in the benefits of Atonement, pray tell how such 
 right could be expressed ? It is said that He gave 
 Himself for ' the world ; ' ' for all ; ' ' for every man.' 
 What more could be said ? " To the supposed limita- 
 tion by the assertion that " Christ gave Himself for the 
 Church," he replies, " That ' Christ gave Himself for the 
 Church,' and that ' Christ gave Himself for none but 
 the Church,' are two distinct and very different proposi- 
 tions. The argument, that Christ gave Himself for none 
 but the Church, because it is said that He gave Himself 
 for the Church, would, if valid, prove that He gave Him- 
 self for none but Paul; for in Gal. ii. 20, with equal 
 emphasis, Paul affirms, ' He loved me, and gave Himself 
 for me.' The whole truth is beautifully uttered by St. 
 John, where he says, 'He is the Propitiation for our sins, 
 
 K
 
 130 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole 
 world.' " 
 
 This reasoning appears to me to be manly, clear, and 
 conclusive ; but letters which it brought upon Mr. 
 Collins show that to those who read it through Genevan 
 spectacles, it looked weak and contrary to truth. His 
 own people were confirmed ; but I question whether 
 one of his opponents was converted. At the Confer- 
 ence, an examiner pressed Mr. Collins with some pre- 
 destinarian difficulty ; and, to the answer given, replied, 
 " I do not think that would satisfy a Calvinist." 
 "Neither do I," was the response: "I never found 
 anything that would." His experience in this line was 
 not materially altered by the publication of this dis- 
 course. 
 
 About this time a miracle of saving mercy caused 
 much joy. Thomas Reed, who had been reserved, 
 morose, and, as to religious things, utterly careless, fell 
 ill. Slow but surely mortal disease was upon him. At 
 length he awoke to his peril. After the Bible, the 
 Wesleyan Hymn-book was almost his only spiritual 
 directory. He now wished those visits of the Pastor 
 which before he had scarcely brooked. To Mr. Collins's 
 inquiry, " What do you feel you need ? " his answer 
 was, " A heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set 
 free." The young men of the Society made special 
 prayer in his behalf. The very day they did so proved 
 to be the birthday of his soul. He cried so vehemently 
 to God that his mother feared his agony of prayer would 
 be the death of him. At length his countenance 
 changed, and he exclaimed, " My heart is opening ; the 
 Lord is filling me with His love. O mother, though I 
 am a great sinner, Mercy forgives me all. Though I 
 am a worthless wretch, heaven's gate is open before 
 even me." Thenceforth, through months of weariness 
 and pain, he continued praising God and exhorting 
 men. There was not a relative he did not warn, nor an 
 acquaintance for whom he did not pray. His days were 
 passed in Divine communion, and his nights were 
 cheered with song. To his mother's entreaties to spare 
 himself, his reply was, " The Lord makes me speak." 
 " But, dear, you must be quiet, the water is rising
 
 ORKNEY. 131 
 
 towards your heart." " Never mind, mother, many 
 waters cannot quench love, and the love of Jesus aye 
 keeps my heart warm." " Happy, happy, happy in 
 Christ ! " were his last full spoken words. Then fol- 
 lowed many broken whispers of God's goodness, then a 
 gentle, but unmistakably triumphant, wave of the hand, 
 and then he sweetly rested in his Saviour's arms, April 
 5th, 1838. 
 
 Mr. Collins's first child was born, April i6th, 1838. 
 He writes, " Our solicitude has been great, and our 
 prayers many. The help afforded, blessed be God's 
 name, has been marvellous. The mercies of the day 
 lay upon us new and weighty obligations to be wholly 
 His." 
 
 The District Meeting made absence from home an 
 early necessity. A letter to his wife, dated Aberdeen, 
 May gth, shows how much he felt this, " Landed at 
 six A.M. Got breakfast at the Lemon Tree, a comfort- 
 able inn. I shall hide awhile from my Wesleyan host, 
 that I may have a few hours with God. I will arise and 
 go to my Father, and will try to carry thee with me. I 
 want the Lord to give mine eyes refreshing tears ; so 
 my plan is to leave my trunk here, and wander into the 
 country for a day's prayer. Leaving home just now has 
 tried me strangely. Do not fret, dear love, or let your 
 mind be agitated by my absence. Cast all your burden 
 upon the Lord." 
 
 The following is very characteristic. " I am glad the 
 box from our Clapham friends has arrived safely. Pre- 
 sent, with your own, my grateful acknowledgments. 
 But, remember, my style is plain ; and fine gifts must 
 not tempt you to forget yourself to be the wife of a 
 Methodist Preacher. Let us keep ourselves in the love 
 the perfect love of God. The Lord be ever present 
 with thee." 
 
 The first Sunday after his return has the following 
 entry : " Wick, on the morning of this Sabbath, May 
 2oth, 1838. By baptism we, in the congregation, pub- 
 licly dedicated our little Emily Anna to the Holy Trinity. 
 May she be a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom 
 of heaven. Amen." 
 
 " Patience worketh experience." " Stronsay expounded 
 
 K 2
 
 132 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 that text to me," says Mr. Collins. " I found the people 
 there to be amazingly slow in movement Godward, and 
 very inconstant in the matter of abiding with Him." 
 
 Temper does not chill with the latitude. It makes us 
 pity human nature to read how, envious of chief places 
 in so small a synagogue, official men became jealous of 
 each other. By this means evil speaking, annoying to 
 endure and hard to repress, entered and did much harm 
 in the little church. Only a Christlike spirit can keep 
 tender amid such folly. Though moving in a narrower 
 sphere, the workers in Wick, verily as St. Paul, could 
 say, " We are not ignorant of Satan's devices." 
 
 Faithful toil, as it usually does, issued in success. In 
 the face of many difficulties two complete establishments 
 were raised. At Stronsay a chapel thirty-five feet long 
 and twenty-five feet wide, with a gallery across the end, 
 was built and paid for. At Wick, the Masons' Hall, 
 but recently used as a theatre, was so fitted up that it 
 would comfortably seat four hundred. In out-places, 
 and over the Archipelago, were many preaching stations, 
 cots, barns, and school-houses. Mr. Collins writes : 
 " We had seventy communicants last Sunday. We 
 count a hundred and ninety-one members. God is 
 speaking for Himself gloriously. Sinners both in town 
 and country are finding mercy." 
 
 Thus, despite of prejudice and poverty, sin and hell, 
 victories were won, and gems gathered, on these cold 
 coasts and mist-covered isles. Daniel Farquhar, a 
 worthy Minister now deceased, was one of the children 
 given to Mr. Collins there. 
 
 We, at the commencement of this chapter, faithfully 
 narrated the censure which withdrawal from the Mission 
 list drew upon Mr. Collins. Acutest judges may at 
 times be misled by appearances. Humanum est errare. 
 In the moment of mistake Dr. Bunting's words had 
 been wounding and severe : but that truly great man 
 was too generous to be long harsh ; too just ever to do 
 intentional wrong; too wise to keep a prejudice; and 
 too observant to be long ignorant of current facts. 
 Orkney, apparently an exile, was really an arena. A 
 labourer in such a new, special, and trying sphere, could 
 not but come under the watch of our chief adminis-
 
 ORKNEY. 133 
 
 trators. Thus strangely God had hidden this good man 
 that he might be made known. Though Dr. Bunting 
 was one of those who from the first doubted Wesleyan 
 vocation to Orkney, yet none more clearly discerned, 
 and none more heartily applauded, the heroic devotion 
 with which the work there had been done. His kindly 
 expressions proved that whatever tarnish had in his 
 eyes aforetime seemed to overspread Mr. Collins's fair 
 name, it had now all, and for ever, vanished. Thus, 
 having won a good degree among those poor abjects of 
 the north, at the Conference of 1838, he came back to 
 England well furnished, disciplined, and strong, to be 
 thenceforth among his brethren a beloved and trusted 
 man.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 MR. COLLINS set forth from Wick, Tuesday, August 
 7th, 1838. He says : " During a few hours' stay of the 
 steamer at Aberdeen I saw Brother Hine. Ever since 
 the District Meeting he has been living altogether for the 
 Lord. What God has done for him he is urging in God's 
 name upon others. His last Sunday morning text was, 
 ' Blessed are the pure in heart.' " Refreshed in soul by 
 this fraternal communion, Mr. Collins went aboard again ; 
 and the steamer so swiftly ran the journey, little short 
 of seven hundred miles, that he, his wife, and child, 
 were on Saturday evening enjoying the hospitalities and 
 endearments of the Clapham family home. 
 
 Love for old friends soon drew Mr. Collins from rest. 
 On Tuesday, August i4th, he went down to help and 
 gladden the churches among whom he had formerly 
 laboured. He records : " At Staplecross I could hardly 
 speak for emotion." " Good times at Goudhurst." 
 " Mighty influence at Brede." " Met a crowd in a 
 booth at Northiam, the chapel would not hold them ; 
 but the day at Tenterden was the most soul-subduing of 
 all. The work goes on in these parts. Many still 
 retain the power and glory of perfect love. Praise the 
 Lord." 
 
 On Thursday, August 23rd, he returned to London ; 
 and, as a letter to his mother informs me, " found his 
 wife quite well, and little Emily Anna grown into uni- 
 versal favour." This latter fact excited in him no won- 
 der. Father-like, he adds, " Indeed, she is a sweet- 
 tempered, smiling, engaging child." 
 
 Tuesday, August 28th. They left Clapham for their
 
 DURHAM. 135 
 
 new station. The sea was rough ; and the feeble steamer 
 being utterly unable to breast the contrary winds, the 
 captain put in at Yarmouth. Leaving the weatherbound 
 vessel at anchor, the itinerants took places in the mail, 
 and, by hard travelling, reached Durham on Saturday at 
 dead of night. Thanking God, who, through the way- 
 farings of a thousand miles, had suffered no ill to come 
 nigh them, they retired to rest. Long travel and late 
 arrival are poor preparatives for meeting audiences in 
 that critical mood which naturally characterizes any con- 
 gregation listening to first addresses of a Minister enter- 
 ing upon his charge among them. Mr. Collins writes : 
 " After my small places in Stronsay and Wick, the chapel 
 seemed very large. I preached in behalf of the funds of 
 its Trust, and the friends met me very kindly." 
 
 Durham, whither Mr. Collins was now called, is a city 
 of much interest, both historic and present. To an 
 approaching stranger, it appears impressive and unique. 
 Castle and cathedral stand conspicuously upon a lofty 
 eminence, which has won itself the name of " English 
 Zion." The Wear laves, and almost surrounds, this 
 hill. To the river, the declivity, on one side, is rocky 
 and precipitous ; but, on the other, gently descends in 
 beautiful garden slopes. Traditions are plentiful of 
 Saxon sainthood, Norman cruelty, and Border wars. 
 In Durham's ancient church is Cuthbert's shrine ; near 
 which, for ages, no woman might worship. Evil spoken 
 of him by a princess wrought this hatred in him. For- 
 getting the determined misogyny of their patron, the 
 monks began a chapel for the Virgin. The unforgiving 
 old bachelor split the walls. Neither " Regina Cceli " 
 nor any of her sex should have foot-hold near him. Of 
 course, the Reformation reformed all this. Protestant 
 ladies, despite the doughty saint, now walk his cathedral 
 floor, gracefully, fearlessly, and saiely as elsewhere. 
 Monuments of olden time abound. In the neighbour- 
 hood lay the chief seat of Neville, that mighty Baron, 
 whose manors and mansions were so numerous that, 
 without leaving his own, he could abide at a fresh one 
 every week. Durham is, however, not possessed of 
 feudal memories only ; few of England's shires equal it 
 in nineteenth century wealth. It is famous for kine,
 
 136 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 rich in salt and coal, lead and iron, marble and 
 freestone. 
 
 With this county, three immortal names, more pre- 
 cious to me than all its pits and quarries, are honourably 
 connected : the last of the Fathers, venerable Bede ; the 
 first of the Reformers, John Wickliffe ; the most unan- 
 swerable of the Apologists, Bishop Butler. 
 
 Mr. Wesley once visited Durham Castle, and notices, 
 in his observant way, the stateliness of the rooms, the 
 meanness of the furniture, and the odd devices on the 
 tapestry. That intended to depict the Vision of Bethel 
 is described : " On one side there is a little paltry ladder, 
 up which an angel, much in the attitude of a chimney- 
 sweep, is climbing ; on the other side stands Jacob, 
 staring at him from beneath a huge silver-laced hat." 
 The castle is now a college. Its history furnishes re- 
 markable illustration of the tardy way in which good 
 thoughts struggle into reality of fact. In Fuller's 
 " Worthies," published in 1662, is the following : " I 
 understand there is intention of setting up a university 
 in Durham, and some hopeful progress made in order 
 thereunto ; which I cannot but congratulate." Alas! Dur- 
 ham University like the North Cape, which geologists 
 declare is rising three inches in an age lifted its head very 
 slowly. It only got its charter in 1831, one hundred and 
 sixty-nine years after those premature congratulations. 
 Surely some stronger difficulty had occurred than that 
 mentioned in those old pages, viz., " Some object that it 
 would be monstrous for one face to have three eyes, 
 one land three universities." A frivolous argument, 
 sufficiently met by the witty Doctor's wish, " that Eng- 
 land, Argus-like, might have a hundred." Better late 
 than never ; the university is come at last. Fuller's 
 prayer none the worse for keeping we heartily join 
 in : " May this new spring have pure water, i. e., pious, 
 orthodox professors ; by whom the students may ever be 
 principled and elemented at once with Learning and 
 Religion." 
 
 At Durham kindly colleagues awaited Mr. Collins. 
 He soon wrote, " We labour together in love." The 
 obituary of the Superintendent, the Rev. Thomas Cat- 
 terick, in the Minutes of 1861, says: "He was of
 
 DURHAM. 137 
 
 devotional habits, great meekness, and strong faith." 
 With this witness the entry in Mr. Collins's Journal 
 agrees : " He is much to my mind, plain and weighty 
 in his words, a faithful, simple, lively, affectionate man." 
 
 The Durham home I find described as " pleasant, 
 quite retired, in a good neighbourhood ; but rather 
 small." If the house was small, the Circuit was not. 
 Mr. Keysell's record, at a later date, and when the 
 sphere of labour had been contracted by the transfer of 
 several Societies, is : " Here we have to be at it, and 
 always at it. To do justice to this Circuit requires the 
 mind of an angel and the strength of an elephant." A 
 veteran in service, physically vigorous, long disciplined 
 to endure hardness, it was natural for Mr. Collins to feel 
 the pressure less. Contrasts familiar to his mind were 
 favourable. It was neither so wild as Wark, so com- 
 fortless as Orkney, nor so toilsome as Sandhurst. He 
 writes : " The Circuit is wide ; but we have three men, 
 and keep a horse. The number of places, however, 
 over thirty, which are upon the Plan, makes it impossible 
 to give necessary attention to them all." To a Minister 
 without leisure, an ever-thickening crowd of population 
 is not a vision of unmixed delight. Mr. Collins goes on 
 to say : " Need of evangelistic agency daily increases. 
 New collieries are starting all about. Thousands of fresh 
 inhabitants come clustering round them. Alas ! we have 
 neither chapels built to receive the people, nor time left 
 to look after them." 
 
 " November I3th, 1838. We have lately been holding 
 meetings for special prayer. Blessed be God ! conver- 
 sions have followed ; still, as yet, we have seen no extra- 
 ordinary outbreak of power. As a whole, I fear the 
 Circuit is low. A few fine old saints live very near to 
 God. The talk of two greatly comforted me to-day. 
 One of them knew Mr. Wesley, and the other was con- 
 verted under William Bramwell. Perfect love is what 
 my people want. I keep continually preaching it. The 
 witness is not in vain. Many ' see from far the beau- 
 teous light ; ' some ' inly sigh for its repose.' " 
 
 About this time, Mr. Collins devised a scheme which, 
 with great benefit to himself and others, was perma- 
 nently used. He daily, whenever possible, set apart and
 
 IS CHAPTER VII. 
 
 hour at noon for intercessory prayer. The following was 
 his plan : 
 
 "Monday. For my family and kindred. These, as is 
 right, come first. What affection suggests, Providence 
 endorses, by putting them nearer to me, and laying them 
 more upon me, than others. 
 
 " Tuesday. My throne of grace list : enemies, if I 
 have any : friends, specially beloved, specially tried, or 
 who have specially claimed an interest in my prayers. 
 
 " Wednesday. My own Connexion in general, and my 
 own Circuit in particular. 
 
 " Thursday. The universal Church of God, with care- 
 ful remembrance of its decayed branches, and considera- 
 tion of its current wants, perils, or progresses. 
 
 " Friday. The unsaved world. Jews, Turks, infidels, 
 heretics, and all such as are out of the way. For this 
 litany prepare by study of the missionary map, and 
 diligent perusal of all accessible reports of evangelistic 
 effort. 
 
 " Saturday. Implore heavenly blessing on the labours 
 of the coming day." 
 
 We strongly counsel young disciples reading this to 
 adopt for themselves some such ordering of prayer. 
 Such pre-arrangements save time and fix the mind. 
 They exemplify what Wesley meant by " holy arts of 
 living." This division of topics is necessary to tho- 
 roughness. They who attempt to crowd everything 
 into one petition, rather present a catalogue of wants 
 than a prevailing plea. To the culture of these " still 
 hours " I trace the singular beauty of expression, rich- 
 ness of idea, and plenitude of unction which marked Mr. 
 Collins's public exercises of devotion. Every day has 
 moments which, like those stray stars which lie outside 
 all constellations, prove to have been unincluded by the 
 most careful morning forecasts of engagement. One of 
 these unpledged life fragments may be of small value ; 
 but the sum of such in a year constitutes an item of 
 tremendous importance. More precious than grains of 
 gold, or dust of diamond, may they not be utilized ? 
 To accomplish this wise economy it is best, after 
 mapping out our staple work, to allot each day some 
 special topic of consideration. This theme will profit-
 
 DURHAM. 139 
 
 ably occupy intervals ; will be a sort of catchall for casual 
 leisure and odd minutes ; a thread for beads of thought, 
 which, lacking such a string, will be scattered. 
 
 Actuaries are just who mulct riders of an increased 
 rate for their life policies. If walkers have most toil, 
 equestrians have most peril. Mr. Collins writes : 
 " November 22nd. On the way to Thornley I was 
 thrown from my horse. I rose uninjured by either 
 bruise or scar. My hat was ruined and my coat soiled, 
 but not a bone was broken. Surely He gave His angels 
 charge concerning me." 
 
 An entry, December 2nd, well exhibits this unwearied 
 
 seeker of souls. Meeting a class, I found M W 
 
 and P H to be earnest seekers of salvation. As 
 
 soon, therefore, as tickets were given, we joined in 
 prayer for them, and God blessed both of them with 
 pardon." 
 
 The Christmas Quarterly Meeting was a happy one. 
 It found hearts warmed, funds improved, fifty additional 
 members on the list, and the whole Circuit full of hope. 
 Writing to a friend, Mr. Collins says, " We have some 
 sweet young men rising." To benefit these, with the 
 opening of 1839, he inaugurated a weekly meeting. In 
 the spirit of one of his own aphorisms, " He who loses 
 the morning beheads the day," he appointed that they 
 should come to his study each Saturday at six A.M. 
 The lessons imparted, doubtless excellent, would be 
 secondary in value to the habit of early rising nurtured, 
 and the affection won by this instance of ministerial self- 
 denial. 
 
 With 1839, the Wesleyan Annus Mirabilis, came the 
 Centenary celebrations ; joyous gatherings which were 
 the crown of our fathers' days, and abide among the 
 brightest memories of our own morning. Mr. Collins 
 was gladly present at the Newcastle Central Meeting. 
 It was a great occasion. The Revs. Dr. Bunting, R. 
 Newton, G. Marsden, and F. A. West, were there; 
 with Messrs. Wood, Heald, Chappell, Farmer, and 
 Walker of Stockton. The speeches were excellent, and 
 the gifts abundant. Durham Circuit followed on Mon- 
 day, January 7th ; and though by an almost unprece- 
 dented gale chimneys were broken, houses unroofed,
 
 140 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 tiles thrown about, and the streets made perilous, yet 
 the attendance was large, the feeling delightful, and the 
 collection a success. 
 
 Naturalists affirm that there are tiny creatures with 
 auricular organs so constructed that they cannot hear 
 the thunder of heaven or the speech of men. The only 
 sounds that strike their tympanum are the hum of bees, 
 the grasshopper's call, and such like feeble pipings. 
 
 Methodism used to be ignored in politer circles ; its 
 revival triumphs were all unheard by those who, insect- 
 like, had no ear for blessings of Heaven, or godly confes- 
 sions of men. Attention of such was, however, strangely 
 compelled when, in 1839, it came " down on the nail " 
 with that wonderful Centenary gift of 230,000. The 
 amazing clink of coin, sound just suited to the mam- 
 mon gamut, awoke, startled, and set questioning the 
 land. Since then historians have found a page for 
 us ; philosophers speculated about us ; and secular 
 prints, seeing we have a balance at the banker's, have 
 thought it prudent not quite to taboo us. We hold in 
 small esteem this respect given to coffers rather than 
 characters, and know the world to be still God's enemy 
 and ours. 
 
 The Centenary Fund was a thank-offering : shame if 
 the heart of Methodism had not beat warmly for the 
 mercies of a hundred years. It was a public proclama- 
 tion of love and loyalty to our system by those who had 
 tried it, and a much needed help to many burdened 
 institutions. It was an example of generosity to the 
 Catholic Church which inaugurated an epoch of un- 
 wonted beneficence. It was a grievous blow to eccle- 
 siastical niggards of all sorts : they have had hard times 
 of it ever since. Shamed by the munificence of poor 
 Methodists, they have been obliged to shell out in a 
 most distressing manner. Church and Kirk, Congrega- 
 tional Union, and the growing crowd of philanthropic 
 societies have not been slow either to cite or to emulate 
 the large free-hearted donations of that blessed year. 
 Aggressions on sin, and claims on the purse, among all 
 denominations multiply, until it seems a settled thing 
 that religion is to be idle and cheap no more. 
 
 The Durham Ministers were of one heart. Mr.
 
 DURHAM. 141 
 
 Collins writes : " We have great confidence in each 
 other. Our meetings are gracious seasons. Any sug- 
 gestion that tends to improve the Circuit is always 
 welcome. A few weeks ago we, in private communion, 
 partook of the Supper of the Lord. We were by that 
 service much knit together and refreshed." The result 
 of diligent brotherly toil appeared at the close of the 
 March quarter in the addition of one hundred members, 
 with a hundred and fifty on trial. It was sad at the 
 District Meeting to find this Durham increase more 
 than swallowed by retrogressions in other Circuits, which 
 left numbers, as a whole, sixty-five less than the total of 
 the previous year. The chief cause was the political 
 excitement which at that time greatly agitated all towns 
 in the north. The popular cry was loud for universal 
 suffrage, vote by ballot, annual Parliaments, and many 
 changes in the poor law. Demagogues laboured to set 
 the workers against the wealthy, and organized them by 
 thousands into unions designed to win a charter guaran- 
 teeing the wished-for changes. Open-air meetings, 
 sometimes by night, were held, at which inflammatory 
 addresses were delivered, and appeals to physical force 
 threatened. Wild theories of a communistic sort became 
 so rife that timorous, well-to-do people began to live in 
 fear. A Methodist Preacher amid the clamour of such 
 boisterous discussions would be ill-circumstanced for his 
 work as an evangelist on a vessel in a gale. The 
 mariners are too busy, and the passengers too fright- 
 ened to attend. Earnest entreaties fall like whispers, 
 and are lost in the hurlyburly of the tempest. All 
 thought of anything but the safety of the ship seems out 
 of place, until either returning calm assures it, or despair 
 makes further effort hopeless. 
 
 The frequency with which, about this time, Mr. 
 Collins was selected at hcme and solicited abroad for 
 special services proves him to have been alike beloved 
 by his own people, and of growing repute among the 
 churches around. I find him at Houghton, Shields, 
 and Newcastle. Platform jottings yet remain, telling 
 with whom his labours were associated. Archbell, 
 "rich in facts;" Clough, "kind, open, ardent;" 
 Newton, " peerless in eloquence ; " and others, are
 
 142 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 mentioned with characteristic notes. As for himself, in 
 outgoings as at home, pardon, revival, and holiness 
 were his constant themes. How he prepared and how 
 he prevailed, the record concerning Sunderland may be 
 accepted as a specimen : " Having sought the Lord by 
 earnest prayer, I found in the service His gracious pre- 
 sence : many were healed." 
 
 For soul-saving, Mr. Collins had not only a vocation 
 but a passion. Rest from such work seemed to him 
 disaster. On the few days his much-demanding Circuit 
 left unfettered, cottage services were improvised, or out- 
 door preaching undertaken. He sought, indeed, occa- 
 sional change, but no vacation. Thus the yearnings of 
 first love drew him to re-visit the scenes of his early 
 mission at Wark. That week crowded with preachings, 
 and lovefeasts, and godly visits, in which new converts 
 were won, and old friends edified, yielded him much joy, 
 but no repose. This leisureless life, too exhausting to 
 be long, was more benevolent than prudent. When the 
 strong man prematurely bowed, and the harvest-field 
 had to be left ere nightfall, he saw this, and quaintly 
 remarked, " I might have lasted longer, had I sometimes 
 set my back against a tree." 
 
 His vigilance of opportunity was remarkable: " A few 
 
 weeks ago I heard of the illness of Miss G , the 
 
 daughter of a surgeon. Hearing that she was anxious 
 about her soul, I wrote requesting permission to visit 
 her. It was granted. I found her truly penitent, and 
 left her rejoicing in Salvation. Life soon after ebbed 
 away, but her end was peace." 
 
 Again : "Visiting on Sabbath, in the interval between 
 services, I found Mrs. Still, long an attendant at chapel, 
 yet, until that very day, utterly ignorant of the grace of 
 God. She was troubled, and well might be, seeing 
 that consumption had brought her to the verge of the 
 grave. While hearing of faith's simplicity, her heart 
 was strengthened for its exercise. The change from 
 gloom to gladness was immediate and manifest. Joy 
 seemed to wipe every wrinkle from her face. With tears 
 she declared that Jesus was hers, that death had no 
 terrors, and that all her fears were gone." The precious 
 and speedy effect of this marvel of mercy was the salva-
 
 DURHAM. 143 
 
 tion of the husband; a fact which so gladdened the poor 
 sufferer that it turned to ecstasy the good confession with 
 which triumphantly she passed home to God. 
 
 Friday, July 26th, 1839, Mr. Collins set forth to Leeds, 
 en route to Conference. In suitable seasons, for a journey 
 not too long, a well-appointed coach exceeds in pleasant- 
 ness our modern railway mode. Upon this occasion all 
 things concurred. The team was good, the company was 
 sensible, and the country beautiful ; the fields on either 
 hand were lively with busy farmers, and the air perfumed 
 with the smell of fresh hay. " Altogether," says Mr. 
 Collins, " it was most agreeable." He found his father 
 happy in that Leeds Mission work, which occupied the 
 remainder of his useful life. " It would have touched 
 your heart " a letter says " to have heard the tender 
 cross-questionings father and mother put me through 
 concerning our little Emily Anna. They fairly cried for 
 a sight of her." 
 
 Railway versus Coach would have got a more favour- 
 able verdict next day. Mr. Collins writes: " I had taken 
 an inside place for Manchester ; but, as the weather was 
 wet, gave it up to accommodate some ladies. A poor 
 woman, who sat on the top with her babe, quite unshel- 
 tered, got my umbrella. I reached Droylesden, with no 
 further harm than the soaking of my coat, and found my 
 sisters well. 
 
 The next day like himself he preached out of doors 
 once, in chapel three times, and closed the whole with 
 a blessed prayer-meeting. On Monday, the train con- 
 veyed him to Liverpool. His Journal states: " On 
 going where my instructions directed me, I found the 
 house all in disorder. One of the children having been 
 stricken with fever, the gentleman had procured another 
 place for the rest of the children, and for me. Thither I 
 followed them ; but, strange to say, an inmate of that 
 house suffering a similar seizure, I found them, there- 
 fore, just removing again. Knowing that under such 
 circumstances a visitor must be a trouble to them, I 
 essayed to excu-se myself, but they would not listen to 
 me for a moment. So, this double migration ended, I 
 find myself settled at last, in perfect health and in com- 
 fortable lodgings, at 15 Tyrer Street North."
 
 144 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The gathering of Ministers was larger than had ever 
 met at Conference before. Though numerous, the Con- 
 ference was blessedly unanimous. It had been a 
 glorious year. Near seventeen thousand members had 
 been added to the Societies. Glad tidings came alike 
 from Mission Stations and from English Circuits. One 
 hundred and eighteen candidates, a number at that time 
 beyond all precedent, offered themselves for the ministry. 
 Fifty-two young men were ordained. Of one of them, 
 David Gravel, now in heaven, Mr. Collins writes : " It 
 would have done you good to have heard his witness of 
 the Lord's dealings. Being imperfect in English, he 
 was permitted to use his native tongue, and one was 
 appointed to interpret. Fervour led him to speak long 
 without pausing. The translator, finding it impossible 
 to remember all, gave us the substance. On he went 
 again, and again was abridged. ' He does not tell you 
 half,' cried the warm-hearted fellow, ' I will try for 
 myself.' He did, and moved us all exceedingly. As 
 passion grew intense within him, he burst off with a 
 Welsh hymn. None could join him, but all were 
 thrilled." ' 
 
 The crowning glory of the Conference of 1839 was 
 the marvellous unction which marked the devotional and 
 religious services connected with the Centenary celebra- 
 tion. Joy, mingled with tenderness and tears, pervaded 
 the meetings. The holy feeling, while the Rev. Thomas 
 Jackson, in the Centenary sermon, set forth Methodism 
 as a revival of Apostolic Christianity, was overwhelming. 
 Mr. Collins's final notice of that Conference is very cha- 
 racteristic : " Perhaps never before were the brethren 
 so graciously visited, aided, and drawn out in devotional 
 services. In this baptism I shared. It has been a 
 happy time. Yet, having here but limited opportunity 
 for secret reading and prayer, I feel the lack, and long 
 to reach home. For me sermons and public exercises 
 are not enough. I never prosper without much retire- 
 ment." 
 
 The third Preacher of the Durham staff unfortunately 
 fell ill just as Conference closed. It was a considerable 
 time before he was able to come to his Circuit at all. 
 When he did come, he could do little ; and, ere the year
 
 DURHAM. 145 
 
 closed, was compelled by continued weakness finally to 
 retire irom the ministry. Such a failure saddest of all 
 for the sufferer could not but be a source of great 
 perplexity to colleagues in a Circuit of such inexorable 
 requirements. 
 
 About this time joyous tidings of a glorious work of 
 God at Kilsyth reached Mr. Collins. Special meetings 
 for exposition, prayer, and religious conference had 
 raised the spiritual tone of the church there. On Lord's 
 day, July 2ist, 1839, the Communion Service was greatly 
 blessed to many. A missionary sermon the next evening 
 was accompanied with unction. At its close an out- 
 door service, to be conducted by W. C. Burns, was 
 announced to be held on the morrow in the market-place. 
 At the appointed time a great crowd gathered. As rain 
 threatened, the church was thrown open, and the mis- 
 cellaneous crowd rushed in, packing every nook and 
 corner. The service, tender, affectionate, and solemn, 
 seemed to melt everybody. The preacher pledged to 
 go forth from his native land as a Missionary told 
 them in his final appeal how he dreaded the thought of 
 leaving undecided for God so many whom he should 
 probably see no more, until he met them in front of the 
 " Great White Throne." While with thrilling earnest- 
 ness he besought them there and then to accept of 
 Christ, the emotion became indescribable. The preacher's 
 utterance died away in choking sobs. The precentor 
 set forth a psalm ; but the tune strangely trembled and 
 quavered, in a manner not noted in the music book, 
 until he fairly broke down in a gush of tears. Then the 
 people lifted up their voice and wept. Prayer burst 
 spontaneously from unwonted lips. The clergy, elders, 
 and praying men took out such as seemed most 
 distressed ; vestries and sessions-house were soon filled 
 with anxious souls. The service was continued until 
 late, and had to be renewed day by day. The whole 
 town was astir. The next Lord's day, four thousand 
 people gathered to service in the churchyard, while 
 numbers of women without bonnets, and men and 
 children in the rough garments of field and shop, 
 gathered at the usual hours, in the sanctuary, with the 
 accustomed worshippers, showing how the heart of the 
 
 L
 
 146 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 lowest deeps of the population had been reached. 
 Politics lost their zest. Kirk and Secession forgot 
 their differences. Love breathed everywhere. Religion 
 appeared to absorb everybody. The Minister declared 
 the influence to have been so general, that a stranger 
 going haphazard into any house in the parish would 
 almost be certain to find himself surrounded by it. 
 
 To the Rev. James Harris, then of Montrose, Mr. 
 Collins says : " This is noble work. God's thoughts 
 are not ours. I am sure I thought Scotland to be, of 
 all countries, the least likely theatre of revivals. I hope 
 you, on the eastern side, are catching the flame. Preach 
 them perfect love : stick to it." 
 
 Care of promising young men, an important minis- 
 terial duty, was affectionately given by Mr. Collins. 
 Thus, wishing him a wider sphere, he sent for Daniel 
 Farquhar from the Isles of Orkney, paid his passage, 
 and maintained him until he found a situation in which 
 he could maintain himself. He got him upon the Plan, 
 made him free of his library, guided his studies, and 
 opened before him the door into that ministry which, 
 though briefly, yet worthily, he was permitted of God to 
 exercise. 
 
 The March Quarterly Meeting brought with it a new 
 and unexpected test of character. Officials had quietly 
 agreed to pass the first Minister by, and warmly urge 
 Mr. Collins for next year to accept his place. Law and 
 usage agree to make it the undoubted right of Quarterly 
 Meetings to reinvite Ministers or not, as may seem best 
 to themselves. Legal rights, however, when pushed 
 extremely, often become practical wrongs. The corre- 
 lative of that lay right must be, that Ministers wished to 
 remain have, of course, equal freedom of refusal. Kind- 
 ness suggests that no man whom it is purposed to pass 
 by should be left unwarned. Ostracism should not be 
 allowed to come upon him in a public meeting unex- 
 pectedly. Justice demands that from Ministers desired 
 to continue, nothing relating to choice of partners for 
 their work should be kept secret. Their happiness is so 
 involved in the question, that they have a claim to know 
 as early and as much as can be known. Any man may 
 properly resent proposals which would seem to identify
 
 DURHAM. 147 
 
 him with schemes that would elevate himself at the 
 expense of another. He is unworthy the brotherhood 
 who would accept any step of advancement purchased 
 by what his own judgment regards to be evil treatment 
 of his senior. Several of these considerations intuitively 
 presented themselves, and the plan was at once broken 
 by Mr. Collins's firm refusal. He would not hear of it 
 for one moment, nor accept, in any case, the position the 
 device had been meant to achieve for him. The incident 
 is recorded as witnessing at once his popular favour and 
 his fraternal fidelity. 
 
 Durham about this time succeeded in two new things : 
 it got a new organ into its chapel : " Not without 
 need," says Mr. Collins ; " for the choir was the most 
 pitiful I ever knew ; " and next, the town, for the first 
 time, received the Ministers of the District, to hold there 
 their annual meeting. 
 
 It would be wrong to pass unnoticed Mr. Collins's 
 exemplary goodness to the different branches of his 
 own family. At his charge the youngest sister was 
 well and carefully educated to take position as a teacher. 
 The last-born brother also, at no small expense, was 
 brought up to scholarship ; in fact, received a thorough 
 University training. Utterly unfitted, by loss of a leg, for 
 the labours of a Methodist itinerancy, yet conscious of a 
 Divine vocation, as soon as he attained his Bachelor's 
 degree, he sought and had ordination as a Clergyman. 
 His feeble health too early broke. Gentle, thoughtful, 
 devout, much loved by all who knew him, his removal 
 left a blank not to be filled by many showier men. To 
 those elder members of the family whose lifepath had 
 been entered before it was in Mr. Collins's power to do 
 much in the way of directing them, he was, all through, 
 standing counsel and pillar of help. " Meeting C. in 
 Liverpool," he says, " I bought him a hat, presented him 
 with a New Testament, gave him abundance of good 
 counsel, and promised, if he did well, that I would find 
 fifty pounds for him when he should set up for him- 
 self." To H. he writes : " What a merciful Heavenly 
 Father we have ! How gracious he has been in saving 
 you ! Give yourself to reading the Bible and to prayer: 
 that is the way to grow in grace. God has bestowed 
 
 L 2
 
 148 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 upon you a good understanding : improve it to the utter- 
 most, that you may be fit to serve Him. Let me know 
 how you do in business. If you should be in straits at 
 any time, do not fear to tell me. I love, as far as I can, 
 to help those who help themselves." Similarly he re- 
 quests his sisters : " If pinched, never fail to tell me. 
 I would always rather spare a pound or two than have 
 you suffer lack." While thus generous, he was not 
 thriftless or thoughtless. He says : " I send a cheque ; 
 but tell E. that she must put down, and send me word, 
 how every penny is expended. Order and economy are 
 necessary lessons for young people ; and if she does not 
 learn them now, she will be in difficulties when thrown 
 upon her own resources." Affection for his sickly, nerve- 
 shaken mother was always strong and very tender in 
 him, and his care of his warm-hearted, self-sacrificing 
 father was constant. A letter says : " Dear father, to 
 hear of your illness grieves, but does not surprise, me. 
 Do be more careful. You are irregular at meals, and go 
 too late to bed. In meetings you exert yourself to a 
 degree that neither your body, nor any body, could long 
 sustain." Mr. Collins's beneficence gilded the declining 
 years of his parents, conferring many comforts which the 
 narrow stipend of a Town Missionary could not have 
 reached. 
 
 June 3Oth, 1840, Mr. Collins writes : " We need 
 more of the love, power, and fellowship of God. Of all 
 speculation, mining speculation is most absorbing, and 
 everybody here seems drawn into it. New pits are 
 opening perpetually. Hurry forbids thought. Business 
 continually growing, keeps all heads in a whirl. Amid 
 this earthly tumult the Lord's work proceeds but slowly. 
 We rejoice, however, that the enemy does not have it 
 quite all his own way ; like the shepherd Amos tells of, 
 (iii. 12,) we get 'out of the mouth of the lion two legs, 
 or the piece of an ear.' So at our Quarterly Meeting 
 we found a considerable increase of numbers ; and 
 Stewards, free from care, were jubilant with fifty pounds 
 in hand." 
 
 The Conference of 1840 was held at Newcastle. It 
 being only fifteen miles away, Mr. Collins hired pleasant 
 lodgings in Claremont Place, took over his family,
 
 DURHAM. 149 
 
 and kept them in residence there during the festival 
 weeks. Of the Conference he writes: "In ordinary 
 discussions there is great freedom both in speech and 
 manner; but whenever anything arises touching either 
 the honour of God or the purity of the Body, the 
 solemnity which the proceedings then invariably as- 
 sume greatly impresses me. The deep anxiety on all 
 questions of character produces a sense of awe almost 
 indescribable. It would be easier to me to die than to 
 stand arraigned as a delinquent at the bar of that 
 assembly." 
 
 The Conference wisely abridged the over- wide Durham 
 Circuit by transferring several places and some hundreds 
 of members to the newly-formed Shotley Bridge Circuit. 
 
 Further notes say : " The Conference services have 
 been spiritual and profitable. The preaching of the 
 Rev. P. M'Owan particularly affected me. The Con- 
 nexion has an addition to its members of twenty-two 
 thousand five hundred and fifty-one ; while more than a 
 hundred candidates afford evidence of God's call in their 
 hearts to ministerial work. Praise the Lord ! " 
 
 " Saturday, September iath. I spent an hour, at his 
 home, with the Rev. G. S. Faber, the celebrated Master 
 of Sherburn Hospital. His able, learned writings have 
 aforetime given me considerable instruction. Through 
 them I have become especially interested in the sal- 
 vation of the Hebrew people. Though venerable, the 
 worthy Prebend is yet hale and active. His desire for 
 the spiritual good of adjacent colliery workers pleased 
 me much. 
 
 " Saturday, September a6th. I went out to Coxhoe, 
 and held in the evening a fellowship meeting. The next 
 was a glorious day, a day of days for God's children 
 there. Such a weeping time I hardly ever knew. We 
 had a sweet lovefeast at Hill Top in the afternoon ; but 
 the evening service, closed with the Sacrament of the 
 Supper, crowned all. Every heart seemed melted, and 
 at the Lord's table two of our leading friends entered 
 joyously into the bliss of perfect love. 
 
 " Monday, October 5th. Hearing that a poor fallen 
 Methodist was in the workhouse, I went to see him. Sin 
 had ' found him out.' There he lay, sick and sorrowful ;
 
 I5O CHAPTER VII. 
 
 the corner of a great room in that ill-cared for Union his 
 only refuge. His linen was very dirty, and his wants 
 little attended to. I found the prodigal wishing to return. 
 I trust that there, amid those paupers, he did get again 
 the Father's kiss. 
 
 " Sunday, October nth. I rose at five to seek the 
 Lord. He drew near to me. He helped me to preach 
 in Durham with liberty and power. We had a great 
 shaking. I felt so strongly for the work of God, that 
 I thought my heart would have broken. The church 
 here has been sadly world-pressed, sluggish, and dull. I 
 was led to declare simply how much I had felt in their 
 behalf, and how much I had tried to raise them. Having 
 done this, I solemnly charged upon them the delay of 
 the revival of God's work. The Word smote. The fire 
 burned. In the prayer-meeting salvation work was 
 done. I look for more. My soul abides in precious 
 satisfying communion with the Triune Jehovah. Adored 
 be His holy name ! 
 
 " Thursday, October i5th. A blessed revival is in 
 progress at Shotley Bridge. The Lord is affecting 
 sinners at their own firesides. One of our members, a 
 travelling dealer, when on his round that way last week, 
 found that in the cottages, for some miles of his route, 
 he could scarcely get in a word about worsted and small 
 wares, the people were so taken up with talk of Christ 
 and things Divine." 
 
 In answer to a request for a week of help in the 
 Wolsingham Circuit, Mr. Collins told his friend, the 
 Rev. James Harris, " Having reached the third year of 
 my ministry here, I do not like absence on the Sabbath. 
 I feel that, if I would gather my sheaves before I go, I 
 must be more engaged for this people than ever. How- 
 ever, I have laid your wish before my Superintendent ; 
 and for the week-nights he consents that I should come 
 and serve you." Accordingly, November 2nd found Mr. 
 Collins there. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were 
 employed in Missionary Anniversaries. Diligent every- 
 where, Mr. Collins gathered fruit in parlours as well as 
 chapels. In one home a servant found peace ; at 
 another, the master was filled with perfect love. On 
 Thursday night he preached at High House, and met
 
 DURHAM. 151 
 
 there Aaron Ritson, who is named by Mr. Wesley. 
 The Diary reads : " Though aged, he is still active, a 
 Leader in the Society, and fully alive to God." 
 
 " Saturday, November yth. I went in the afternoon 
 to Waldridge, that I might be fresh and ready for Pelton 
 Fell on Sunday. I preached a short sermon, and held a 
 fellowship meeting after. 
 
 li Sunday, November 8th. I rose early, and spent an 
 hour in prayer with Thomas Gibbon. After which I 
 took a walk, that I might talk with God alone in the 
 solitude of the Fell. At half-past ten I preached, and at 
 the close of the sermon administered the sacrament. A 
 more gracious communion I have seldom known. The 
 words ' given for thee,' strangely moved my heart ; and, 
 as I repeated them to each, seemed to thrill the people. 
 There was a general weeping. One was so deeply 
 affected that, if I had not placed the elements in his 
 hand, and then directed his hand to his mouth, he could 
 not have received. In the evening, at Framwell Gate 
 Moor, the Lord was with us again. Four persons 
 obtained peace with God, and one backslider was 
 restored." 
 
 Being found so useful, this prefacing the Lord's day 
 by Saturday services soon became common with Mr. 
 Collins. Much good came of it. To one blessed meeting 
 of the kind, held at Pittington, on November 2ist, 
 seven persons were known to date their salvation. 
 
 Did anybody ever like the total of an attorney's bill ? 
 The following entry shows one, in Mr. Collins's eyes, 
 not to have been very lovely. 
 
 " December, 7th. The solicitor who prepared Stronsay 
 Chapel Deed sent me in a charge of twenty guineas, 
 with a request for the money by return of post. The 
 sum for so wee an affair appearing to me extravagant, I 
 wrote informing him that as it was not a property, but a 
 charity, the cost of which would come out of my private 
 purse, I felt that I might request him to tax his bill, and 
 reduce it to the most favourable possible terms. The 
 answer, immediate and very curt, was, that upon con- 
 dition cash arrived by next mail, he would accept 
 twenty pounds ; but that if payment was not thus 
 prompt, he should not only claim the whole, but
 
 152 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 demand interest too. I freed myself from further com- 
 munion by sending a cheque for the amount, and thus 
 gladly got done with the lawyer." 
 
 About this time a friend sent a broadsheet which was 
 being distributed widely by a Sussex Clergyman, to 
 induce the Wesleyans of Northiam to forsake their 
 Ministers, and put themselves under the legally 
 appointed pastors of the Establishment. The paper all 
 through quietly assumed Divine rights of Hebrew priests 
 to be the heritage of Anglican clerics. Mr. Collins 
 remarked: "As I read the weak whining thing, one 
 point of resemblance did indeed strike me between 
 Episcopal and Aaronic priesthoods : ' Law maketh men 
 high priests which have infirmity.' If that document 
 fairly represent the teaching they will get by going, 
 Methodists will be likely to stay where they are." 
 
 May aist, 1841, registers an incident of great domestic 
 interest. " Yesterday my dear wife brought me another 
 sweet daughter. I was at Newcastle, at the District 
 Meeting, at the time. Through the care of our hea- 
 venly Father, all was well. We shall call her ' Maria 
 Graham,' after her aunt, an excellent creature who, 
 very literally imitating her Master, 'goes about doing 
 good.' " 
 
 July 2ist. I have just finished the life of Charles 
 Wesley. How full of fatness ! 
 
 Opportunities of profit and occasions of public inter- 
 est were not neglected by Mr. Collins. He writes: 
 " Monday, August and. I attended the Bishop of 
 Durham's Visitation Service. I do not know who the 
 preacher was. The sermon, on ' Search the Scriptures,' 
 though turgid in style, was good in doctrine. His 
 Lordship in his address rebuked Incumbents who beat 
 down stipends of Curates, censured the Oxford Tracts 
 strongly, inculcated avoidance of novelties either in 
 teaching or worship, and urged study of the Scriptures 
 in their original tongues. Concerning this last point he 
 argued that those who did thus would be equal scholars, 
 better Christians, and better divines than such as gave 
 all their strength to study of the Fathers." 
 
 In a letter sent, Tuesday, August 3rd, 1841, to the 
 Rev. James Harris, then attending Conference, Mr. 

 
 DURHAM. 153 
 
 Collins says : " President Dixon, health and long life to 
 him ! How does he bear business iatigues? What a 
 state our Mission work is in : a hundred applications 
 for men : a hundred men ready to go : no money to send 
 them ! How is Mammon to be mastered ? 
 
 " What a pity that large societies should have been 
 disturbed by raising a millinery question ! ' Pray for the 
 peace of Jerusalem ; ' and beware of the Scribes who 
 ' desire to walk in long robes.' 
 
 " That volume of ' Takings ' is a perplexity. Its 
 author has undeniably great talent. Is it not grievous 
 that he did not find some better thing to be doing 
 with it ? 
 
 " The ' Watchman ' will inform me of the course of 
 discussion ; but I wish you specially to note and write 
 for me those private touches and passages which, 
 though not printed, equally reveal the mind and heart of 
 the Conference. A good correspondent will give the 
 incidents and tone, as well as the conclusions of such an 
 assembly." 
 
 One great cause of the steady strength of Mr. Collins's 
 spiritual growth lay in his habitual seasons of seclusion, 
 fasting, self-examination, and prayer. How much he 
 prized these weekly audiences with the King, may be 
 learned from the answer given to a friend, who besought 
 him to prolong a visit so as to take a Thursday night 
 service. " The only objection is, that it will involve me 
 in company and travel all through Friday. Now Friday 
 at home I always spend in my study. Regularity suits 
 me best. I am not, however, so tied to a particular day 
 that I cannot, when necessary, change it. If, therefore, 
 you can secure me a private room, I will for once take 
 Thursday for retirement instead, and stay with you." 
 
 A letter to a Sussex friend contains very judicious 
 remarks upon fasting, which, from one so practised, 
 some may prize. " You fast the whole day : if you can 
 do so without material inconvenience, go on. But if 
 you find that it leaves you unable to attend to business 
 with vigour : or causes you to feel irritable, and to be 
 easily vexed ; or inclines you, when the fast is over, to 
 devour food rather than to eat it; or, while the fast con- 
 tinues takes up attention more with subduing craving
 
 154 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 than practising devotion ; then. I advise that you, as I 
 do, keep in your chamber toast-water with a few slices 
 of dry toast, and take of them as need requires : so will 
 you be more composed and devout. Your abstinence 
 will be known unto your heavenly Father, while yet you 
 will not appear unto men to fast. Do not mistake ; 
 fasting is not a penance ; pain is no part of the profit of 
 it. The true idea is, care of the body postponed, in 
 order that undivided attention may be given to spiritual 
 exercises." 
 
 The following, selected from Durham Friday records, 
 are precious closet photographs ; fair samples of the 
 searching inquiries, practical resolves, and happy com- 
 munings that characterized his weekly returning day of 
 abstinence. 
 
 " Friday, May agth, 1840. I see the necessity of 
 seeking to grow in grace every day. I desire a closer 
 walk with God. O my Father, if I would live near 
 Thee, I must be faithful to Thee. Show me in what I 
 can amend. I will try : 
 
 " i. In endeavouring to keep up a more pervading 
 savour of godliness in my own family. 
 
 " 2. In preaching, witnessing, and pressing entire 
 sanctification more plainly. 
 
 " 3. In more carefully arranged and methodical pas- 
 toral visitation. 
 
 " 4. In greater effort to make each visit tell, by 
 spiritual conversation, and by frequent, pointed, well- 
 considered questions. 
 
 "5. In earnest labour for revival in every service, and 
 in every part of rhy Circuit. 
 
 " 6. In praying more constantly and fervently for the 
 salvation of God's ancient people, and for the universal 
 outpouring of the Holy Ghost. These things by Thy 
 help, O Lord, I resolve to do. 
 
 " Friday, August 28th. Lord, help me to renew my 
 covenant with Thee. I am beginning another ecclesi- 
 astical year: in what can I improve ? 
 
 " The answering Word seems to be, ' Walk circum- 
 spectly, as wise, redeeming the time." I have done too 
 little before breakfast. This has been foolish. Time 
 lounged is talent buried. Should I, a Minister of God,
 
 DURHAM. 155 
 
 be slower to my work than pitmen to their mines, 
 labourers to their fields, or the mechanic to his toil ? 
 An example of vigilance is wanted from me both by 
 family and flock. By early rising I might have com- 
 muned with God more ; might have received more of 
 His image ; might have gained increase of power ; 
 dug into deeper treasures of the Word ; been a better- 
 read theologian, and a better-disciplined man. I cannot 
 either retire as early, or do with as little sleep, as Mr. 
 Wesley did ; but I may, I ought, I will arise at a 
 quarter to six. Till half-past six shall be spent in 
 devotion. Chosen divines will afterwards occupy me 
 till eight. Breakfast and family worship may be allowed 
 an hour. From nine till ten, Greek and Hebrew on 
 alternate days. From ten to twelve, compose. From 
 twelve till one, read the Scriptures and pray. From one 
 till two, dine. During the afternoon, visit among the 
 people either in town or country." 
 
 Mr. Collins not only mastered himself, and rose 
 thus early, according to plan ; but, as a letter to his 
 youngest sister humorously describes, found a success- 
 ful regimen for sluggishness in another. " Brother 
 Barney is fond of bed ; but, some time since, feeling 
 that all was thrown into hurry by morning lateness, he 
 promised, if I would call him, that he would arise. I 
 did so : but instead of turning out he turned over. At 
 breakfast his place was vacant. As this was worse than 
 before, I slipped upstairs to see what the cause might 
 be. Behold you, he was asleep ! asleep so soundly 
 that my presence in the room did not awake him. A 
 sponge lay so temptingly upon the stand that it imme- 
 diately and irresistibly suggested ' water cure.' I filled 
 and squeezed it gently over him. At that cold comfort 
 he started, stared, and was out like a shot : and, what is 
 better, O rare virtue of the recipe ! he has been up with- 
 out an alarum every morning since." We return from 
 this note of playful benevolence to graver records. 
 
 " Friday, September 4th. I have found the benefit of 
 living by method. I have had more comfort and more 
 power. This day I want, and seek, deeper concern for 
 souls, and fuller sympathy with Jesus my Master in pity 
 for mankind. O for a great revival this third year !
 
 156 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Friday, September nth. My experience improves: 
 but I want more Divine power ; I want it always to 
 abide. I have, therefore, this day prayed to be filled 
 with the Spirit." 
 
 Devoted Ministers are always a blessing to their 
 brethren. Many a Methodist Preacher carries this day 
 a warmer heart through contact with Thomas Collins. 
 From the first his zeal was infectious. One tells me, 
 " I sat by him in his first District Meeting. His words 
 were few, but weighty: his questions, grave and piercing: 
 e.g., 'Is the work prospering? Do you see conversions? 
 Do you preach perfect love ? Do you enjoy it ? ' Such 
 brotherly inquiries, not always pleasant to answer, made 
 me feel as if I had a live conscience sitting at my elbow. 
 Thought of moving on a few seats occurred to me ; but, 
 somehow, his simple goodness charmed more than his 
 queries stung. I could not leave him, and never ceased 
 to love him." 
 
 Friday, October i6th, a similar case occurred. Just 
 as Mr. Collins's appointed lonely hours were ended, his 
 junior colleague, the Rev. William Roberts, came in. 
 Replete with heavenly affection, it being well with 
 himself, Mr. Collins began tenderly to inquire after his 
 brother's weal. It appeared that while in Sheffield, his 
 native town, Mr. Roberts for a time had walked in 
 unclouded light ; but, strange to say, since entering the 
 ministry his soul had consciously sunk to a lower stand. 
 While Mr. Collins urged upon him how unworthy and 
 intolerable it would be for one with such a vocation to 
 continue so fallen, smitten by those faithful words, a 
 tempest of feelings mastered him. Then the two 
 friends together fell upon their knees ; God drew near, 
 filled the young man with perfect love, and sent him 
 home rejoicing with the pearl. It is believed that 
 the blessing of that hour was abiding. His labours 
 thenceforth were marked by richer unction and larger 
 results. His short career terminated in less than two 
 years. The end came 'suddenly, but found him ready. 
 The memorial of him in the " Minutes " declares him 
 to have been " deeply pious, very zealous, a diligent 
 student, an energetic preacher, and altogether a very 
 hopeful man."
 
 DURHAM. 157 
 
 " Friday, April i6th, 1841. The Master finished the 
 work of His earthly life at thirty-three ; I, last Monday, 
 entered upon my thirty-second year ; but how little have 
 I done ! Nine years of ministry have gone. Alas ! 
 review of them pierces me with a sense of unprofitable- 
 ness. Not that I have been sparing of my own labour : 
 the great defect has been that I have not enough 
 claimed, realised, and wielded Divine power. More 
 must be done for the honour of God, and for the salva- 
 tion of souls. My cry is, ' Lord, what wilt Thou have 
 me to do ? ' Servants of God in ancient times went to 
 the throne, and waited there till they prevailed. May 
 not I ? Thinking that to this the Holy Ghost is gently 
 drawing me, I dedicate the next three hours to seeking 
 the Lord. 
 
 " O my Father, my business is with Thee. Thine 
 indwelling, abiding power, hast Thou not given it to 
 others ? May I not have it ? Art Thou a respecter of 
 persons ? As instructed by Thy Word, I see that pecu- 
 liarities of time, or place, or opposition, are no bar to 
 Thee. I am bidden to desire, and pray, and believe. 
 With Thee willing to do great things, why have I been 
 content with little ? O give me repentance ; soften my 
 heart : make me ashamed before Thee of my ignorance 
 and spiritual feebleness ; of the levity of my heart, the 
 slackness of my hand, and the littleness of my fruit. 
 Make me alarmed lest life fly away before I begin to 
 live." 
 
 In such appeals the appointed hours passed. Faith 
 won its reward ; and the final record in these words 
 registers the triumphs of that memorable day. " Thou 
 hast given me life now. O may I ever keep it ! May 
 my coal, now all aflame, never be quenched! " 
 
 " Fellowship of the Spirit " was the chief form of self- 
 growth in Durham. We, of course, do not mean that 
 experience of that was unknown before, but that there 
 it became intimate and characteristic. He says, " I 
 used to think it was the thunder, I have now learned it 
 to be the lightning that strikes." 
 
 " Friday, May aist. The District Meeting is over. 
 The company of brethren has been refreshing, yet I now 
 gladly retire and shut my closet door. To me, in secret
 
 158 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 and alone, the anointing comes. I more than ever feel 
 that, except in the power of the Spirit, I can do no 
 worthy thing either for God or man." 
 
 A letter dated June 3rd, says : " Let us not think 
 anything as of ourselves ; our sufficiency is of God. Let 
 us, for we may, be able Ministers ; not of the letter 
 . which killeth, but of the Spirit which giveth life. I 
 have meditated much lately upon John vii. 37, 40. I 
 talked with my Master about it yesterday under a tree, 
 begged a draught of His water, and received it. When 
 we are fully devoted to the work and things of God, then 
 are we happy ; then the Spirit comes and fills us with 
 intelligence, purity, tenderness, energy, and bliss." 
 
 Convinced that evangelistic power, not being of self, 
 is only at the full when the man becomes the channel, 
 instrument, and minister of the Spirit, Mr. Collins most 
 diligently marked the promises which pledge such Divine 
 condescension, pleaded them, and in expectant faith 
 yielded himself up for their fulfilment. His studies 
 turned into the same track with his devotional exercises. 
 Authors who have dealt thoroughly with the subject 
 were taken up with avidity. Goodwin on the Holy 
 Spirit was carefully read. An analysis of Owen's folio, 
 accurately framed as any I ever saw, still remains among 
 his papers. That ponderous tome, not generally lively 
 in style, has one smart passage, which, carrying a sting 
 that might prick pretenders of our own day, deserves 
 notice : An ancient legend tells that an angel whipped 
 Jerome for emulating Cicero. Dr. Owen, answering 
 unorthodox men who complained of being nicknamed 
 Rationalists, adverts to this tale. Believing, equally, 
 that the pages of the old Father lacked polish, and that 
 the Polemics of his time lacked cogency, the great 
 Puritan boldly pronounces that, if Jerome were so chas- 
 tised, the seraph was too ready with his rod j and that, 
 if they be so called, their revilers have been injudicious 
 in the choice of a name. " For his own part, he repu- 
 diates concurrence alike in the ancient fustigation or 
 the modern reproach ; and can conscientiously promise 
 that he will neither call the crabbed monk Ciceronian, 
 nor the limping logicians rational." I fear the saint 
 would rather take his flogging, and the opponents bear
 
 DURHAM. 159 
 
 their label, than escape by such a verdict. Not, however 
 for gems of wit, but for wealth of truth, did Mr. Collins 
 search every chamber of that noble storehouse of divinity, 
 of wftich, though two centuries have gone since it was 
 written, we may affirm that, as yet, no work in our lan- 
 guage, on its theme, approaches it in exhaustive fulness. 
 
 A later fast-day record reveals this same topic stirring 
 him once again : 
 
 " Friday, June i8th. I get more religion. My views 
 of Divine things take stronger hold of my feelings. I 
 am determined to live and preach in the Spirit more 
 than ever. Edward Brookes has spent some successful 
 days in this neighbourhood recently. But for pressure 
 of tickets I would have been with him. He has learned 
 that secret which many good men, great men, and most 
 exquisite preachers seem not to know. He honours the 
 Spirit ; dwells in the Spirit ; bends faith, with all his 
 power, to expect mighty workings of the Spirit : hence 
 the Spirit honours him, uses him, and blesses the people 
 through him." 
 
 The following is the record of the last Durham fast- 
 day : 
 
 "Friday, August 6th, 1841. Six hours this day I 
 dedicate to acts of devotion. I desire to humble mysel/ 
 before God for the unfaithfulness of the last three years ; 
 to seek renewed assurance of Divine favour now ; to 
 commit myself and family to God's care for our journey ; 
 to implore blessing upon my visit to Sandhurst ; and to 
 get baptized with the Spirit of power for entrance upon 
 my new Circuit. 
 
 " While lying low in the dust before my Lord, I yet 
 feel that I have much for which to praise His goodness 
 and exalt His glorious name. By His grace, I have had 
 order in my family, peace with my colleagues, and 
 affection from the Church. Conversions have sealed 
 my ministry, and some have been led into the way of 
 Perfect Love. I retain Entire Sanctification. Many 
 seasons of refreshing have been given to me, both in 
 public and in private ; and, now, my heart is fixed. 
 For blessing upon pastoral visits, and for help continu- 
 ally to preach a Free, Present, Full Salvation, I humbly 
 and reverently thank my God.
 
 l6o CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " But my usefulness, how small it has been ! O 
 God, the shame of its littleness I take to myself. I 
 have not been straitened in Thee. I have erred in cal- 
 culating when I should have been believing. I have 
 regarded, with disturbing fear, my own feebleness, the 
 poor abilities of our working staff, the political disturb- 
 ances, the pressure of worldliness, and the sluggishness 
 of the Society. I ought to have looked only at the pro- 
 mise, and trusted the glorious, all-conquering power of 
 God. Not doing this has limited the Holy One, wronged 
 the Church, and hurt my own soul. O Lord, pardon ! O 
 Lord, help ! Henceforth, despising outward things, 
 may I look to Thee alone. 
 
 " My love to God, though supreme, has not been suffi- 
 ciently active. The fire has had a steady glow, but has 
 lacked ascending flame. The compass has pointed to 
 Christ, but the ship has moved heavily. O that I had 
 felt always as I have felt sometimes ! I must have 
 greater fervour. I have pledged to Thee more simple 
 faith ; may I be true. The faith will bring the fervour. 
 
 "As a student, I have done little. Repenting my 
 heaviness, want of order, and of steady perseverance, 
 before that God who requires of me that I feed His 
 people with knowledge, I hope in Him to amend. 
 
 " As a preacher, I have not sought praise of men ; but 
 has there been no fear of their displeasure ? no shrinking 
 from attacks upon sin in the Church ? no tameness in 
 description of Christian privilege and duty out of de- 
 ference to aged, unprogressive members ? O Lord, there 
 are Methodists who will not stir; Thou knowest they 
 will not stir. I have not feared evil men ; may I never 
 more fear slow and difficult good men. Help me to give 
 witness for Thee, clear, and strong, and high. May I 
 never idolize men, or gifts, or system. Be Thou my All. 
 God is great ; God makes great. O Father, fill me with 
 Thy Spirit, that I may exalt Thy Son. Take hold of me 
 as Thy instrument. Let me be pure. Let me be useful. 
 May I look only to Thee ; trust only in Thee ; follow only 
 Thee. Amen." 
 
 In all his Circuits Mr. Collins both won affection and 
 gave it ; hence, separation, when it came, was always 
 painful. He informs his sister : " I leave on Tuesday,
 
 DURHAM. l6l 
 
 August loth. Pray for me. It is a trying time for me, 
 for my family, and for the people. If spared to enter 
 another Circuit, I intend to be more determined, and to 
 take higher ground for God than ever. But, ' Dust and 
 ashes is my name.' Remember me at the throne ; for, 
 if God help me not, my vows will be but wind." 
 
 Review of Durham work rightly called for gratitude. 
 He found nine hundred and nine members; and, although 
 whole Societies had gone to a new Circuit, he left a 
 thousand and sixteen. Hundreds had been saved ; yet, 
 in one so ardently longing for the good of his fellow-men, 
 who wonders that it excited sorrow to think of thou- 
 sands left unsaved ? It has not been possible to exhibit 
 upon these pages the success of which blessed evidence 
 is yet extant. One diary records : " In my round four 
 persons found peace with God." It is next written : 
 " The Lord gave me two." Another entry is : " This 
 
 week, three ; last week, six." And, again : " J I , 
 
 A. W , and J. H were saved." These numbers 
 
 and names, of course, recalled to Mr. Collins's mind the 
 accompanying incidents of each conversion ; but, if 
 reproduced here in a manner so barely statistical, would 
 read like columns of a spiritual register, and become 
 wearisome by iteration. Much good, only thus sum- 
 marily attested, cannot therefore be repeated. Where 
 desire is large, it makes achievement seem small. 
 Though thankful for trophies won, yet when setting his 
 face towards his new Circuit, Mr. Collins's heart thrilled 
 with dying Xavier's prayer : " Amplius t Domine, 
 (implius J" " More, Lord, more I"
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DUDLEY. 
 
 WITH his family, Mr. Collins left Durham on Tuesday, 
 August loth, 1841. They stayed at Derby that night, 
 and reached Mrs. Graham's house at Clapham on the 
 evening of Wednesday. On Friday, the i3th, accom- 
 panied by his sister, Mr. Collins went down to Kent. 
 " My object," he says, " is to edify the brethren, and to 
 win souls." Friends there had looked forward to this 
 visit with special prayer for months. His first lodging 
 was with Mr. Austen, one who loved him as only spiritual 
 children can, and who habitually referred to him as his 
 most trusted adviser. The wisdom with which Mr. 
 Collins filled that office may be seen in the following 
 letter, sent at a somewhat earlier date. It is a pattern 
 of scrupulous regard for the honour of God, faithful 
 dealing with conscience, prudent practical devotion, and 
 profound religious attainment : 
 
 Dear brother, thy strength is small ; thou faintest in the day of 
 adversity. Trials are physic; it is foolish to think the Physician 
 cruel because the medicine is bitter. 
 
 I read in a story of old that a certain man buried his money, and 
 then vilified his lord. You have done much the same. 
 
 Why this complaining ? Your own hand tied the rod that whips 
 you. You had fair opportunities for sale ; hunger for larger profits 
 seized you ; you chose to keep your hops ; prices have gone down ; 
 and, now, instead, as you ought, of blaming your own mismanage- 
 ment and greed of gain, you dare to murmur against Providence. 
 It is slander against Heaven. I know God as a Master. He is my 
 Master. He is a good Master. I love Him as a Master. I leap for 
 joy beneath His yoke. I kiss His cords and bands, and cannot bear 
 to hear Him calumniated. 
 
 That evil thoughts of Him so easily should sway you, and for 
 such slight and worldly causes, brings into grave doubt the heaven- 
 liness of your heart, and the spirituality of your aims. I once held
 
 DUDLEY. 163 
 
 a service among some farmers of your county, who made no secret 
 of their dislike of loud responses. I prayed, " Lord, save souls ; " 
 not a sympathetic breath was heard. It was a season of drought, 
 so, in due course, I said, " Lord, send rain ! " " Amen ! " went in 
 whispers round the place. " Lord, send rain f " " Amen ! " was the 
 audible reply. " LORD, SEND RAIN ! " " AMEN ! " thundered through 
 the building. Devotion ended, I showed the dull fellows that it was 
 manifest, when their heart was really stirred, they could say "Amen " 
 as lustily as others. But how sad that men should care for fields 
 more than for souls ! Brother, have your desires thus grovelled ? 
 Has your " God bless me," only meant, " Give me hops, and corn, 
 and cattle, and cash ? " 
 
 Are you industrious for God ? Inquire whether your very wish for 
 revival be not indolence in disguise. Do you toil to bring good days, 
 or only long to enjoy them ? Do you ask. " What wouldst Thou 
 have me to do ? " Does your heart dance at the thought of under- 
 taking some unusual, or hard, or extra work for Jesus ? 
 
 Are you submissive and meek ? You voluntarily entered into 
 covenant ; have you fallen out with its terms ? Do you now object 
 that the Lord should appoint you your lot ? Do you dislike saying, 
 " Thy will, O God, Thy will be done ? " 
 
 You request my counsel : plainly, and in God's name, I will 
 give it. 
 
 1. Arise, put on strength. Take Daniel's advice: "Break off 
 thy sins :" short off; all off; clear off. You renounced the gin. 
 now let the ale and porter go. That sacrifice for you is necessary : 
 it will free your character from a peril, and strengthen your soul by 
 a self-denial. 
 
 2. Avoid uncalled-for fellowship with the worldly. When Pro- 
 vidence sends you among them, ask Jesus, and He will keep you 
 company : but if of choice you consort with such, will it be wonder- 
 ful if the devil and the ungodly trample you down ? 
 
 3. Harshness of speech, and hardness of act, were of old your 
 besetments. Remember, whenever you are now betrayed into them, 
 that it is not enough, with suchlike sins, merely to confess them to 
 God. Duty requires also that, so far as may be, the injury be 
 repaired, and the feelings of the wounded solaced. We must be 
 reconciled to our brother as well as offer upon the altar. 
 
 4. Spend half an hour a day in your room in secret with God. 
 Practise abstinence on Friday ; and that day remain with the Lord 
 at least an hour. 
 
 5. Put first, and keep first, every day and every hour, the 
 kingdom. 
 
 6. Get sanctified wholly. Your soul right, all else will be right. 
 In perfect love your spirit will find a home, and live in an element 
 where the world's attraction shall cease, and its cares trouble you no 
 more to bear than do the hairs on your head. 
 
 Observe, I have here prescribed nothing for you which I have not 
 practised myself. I have often lately seen the face of my Lord with 
 unspeakable comfort. Losing self, selling all to buy Christ, I daily 
 walk in the joy of purifying perfect love. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 This communication was, as it ought to be, of great 
 and lasting service to Mr. Austen. He was, through 
 the remainder of life, a trustful, diligent, spiritual man. 
 
 On retiring to bed at Mr. Austen's house, Mr. Collins 
 felt himself seriously unwell : he lay tossing about in 
 pain for hours. " About three," he says, " betaking 
 myself to prayer, I besought my good Lord to heal me, 
 that I might do His work among the people. Ease 
 came almost instantaneously. I dropped off to sleep, 
 and awoke in the morning refreshed and well." 
 
 Saturday, August i4th. We held a prayer-meeting at Mr. Austen's 
 house. William Cox found mercy. 
 
 Sunday, I5th. I preached in the morning at Sandhurst. One 
 was saved. Afternoon and evening I preached at Hawkhurst. The 
 enemy raged, but the power of the Lord was present to heal. A 
 cursing Shimei a miserable backslider waited at the door to revile 
 me. He had got his head full of some stupid story, which was 
 refuted as easily, and amazed me as much, as the rumour of his own 
 death which once reached Sammy Bardsley did him: " Brother," 
 said that simple-hearted man, "I never heard of it before. I do not 
 think that there is a word of truth in it!" For matter and manner, 
 my answer was much the same. 
 
 Monday, i6th. Early in the morning I sought the Lord for a 
 blessing on the day. It came. Under the sermons, and in the 
 homes, many were affected. Henry Smith's daughter, -and one of 
 Mr. Roger's children, found the Lord. 
 
 Tuesday, ijth. I preached twice at Staplecross. Young Trill 
 entered into liberty. Another person having joyously proved the 
 virtue of the cleansing blood, I asked of what Society he was. " O," 
 he replied, " I am not one of you : I am a Bible Christian." Is it 
 wise for a sect to assume as its own a title which belongs to every 
 branch of the Protestant Church alike ? Such a name fails to be 
 distinctive ; and is in sound, to say the least, discourteous. 
 
 Wednesday, i8th. I preached at Northiam. Among the peni- 
 tents, a young woman, who had been brought up a Socinian, was 
 clearly saved, felt the peace of God which comes through receiving 
 the atonement, and gave praise to Christ as " over all, God blessed 
 for ever." 
 
 Thursday, igth. In the morning, Mrs. Austen's maid, Harriet, 
 was set free. Willy Wenham, the servant man, had been very 
 satirical about these conversions ; but, as last night the convincing 
 Spirit had shaken him, I called him early into my room. For a time 
 his groans filled the house ; but at length his sorrow turned into joy. 
 At Ewhurst Green, I went to see Mrs. Piper, long imprisoned by 
 lameness. As we prayed, the glory and beauty of the Lord were 
 sweetly manifested unto us. All were in tears ; but poor Mrs. Piper 
 so trembled with emotion that the bed shook under her. My soul, 
 remember that hour ! S.Oliver drove me to Robertsbridge. As we
 
 DUDLEY. 165 
 
 went, I pointed out house after house in which, of old, on that road 
 I had held services. Those were happy days. I then sought souls 
 continually; and, blessed be God, I do so still. Owing to intense 
 heat, the evening meeting dragged heavily at first ; but, ere we 
 finished, the Lord drew near in saving power preciously. 
 
 Friday, aoth. Souls were saved at Wadhurst. At my host's, a 
 crazy boy seemed fired with most unaccountable fury against me. 
 He used rough words, and kept up a dreadful din by beating the 
 floor of his room, which was just over mine. Why was this ? Had 
 the devil, who did not like my errand there, any power over that 
 poor mad brain ? That I knew not : but I did know that lifting my 
 heart to Christ could not in any case be wrong. I prayed therefore ; 
 and at once the wild creature became calm and still. 
 
 Saturday, 2ist. The Lord was with us at Kiln Down. Souls 
 were saved. 
 
 Sunday, 22nd. A triumphant day at Goudhurst. I preached 
 three times. The distress of the mourners, and the joy of the saved, 
 were unutterable. 
 
 Writing of this day to the Rev. James Harris, Mr. 
 Collins says : In return for your Conference intelligence, 
 I send you the better news that the Lord saved your 
 brother yesterday. His distress was deep, and his de- 
 liverance clear. How many consciences found rest in 
 Jesus, and how many hearts by His precious blood were 
 made clean, I do not know ; but the woik equalled any- 
 thing I ever saw." 
 
 A letter from Mr. H. Tompsett, referring to the same 
 day, says : " Mr. Collins lodged with me. We told 
 him we wanted our three eldest children converted. 
 * Three eldest ? ' said he, ' why not all ? My God 
 says, ' Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.' I will 
 not ask Him for less than all ! ' That large-hearted 
 prayer was answered. All were given. One was saved 
 in the chapel, and the other three at the family altar. 
 Of those four, three already are landed in heaven." 
 
 " Monday, 23rd, I preached at Rotherfield. Many 
 from Tunbridge Wells were there. The shout of a king 
 was in the camp, and the right hand of the Lord did 
 valiantly. 
 
 " Tuesday, 24th. Praising the Lord for this noble 
 week, in which so many poor sinners have been brought 
 to Jesus, and so many believers filled with perfect love, 
 I returned to Clapham, and found my loved ones well. 
 
 " Thursday, 26th. We left London at eleven, arrived 
 at Birmingham at four, hired a coach and reached
 
 l66 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Tipton at six. We found my predecessor still in the house 
 in deep sorrow, and unable to vacate for us ; his youngest 
 child being far too ill to allow thought of removal." 
 
 The dear little creature died on the morning of the 
 following Saturday. The funeral had to take place, also 
 necessary cleansings and repairs, delayed by the affliction, 
 to be attended to, ere the house could be open to its 
 new occupants. Mr. Collins writes : " It was, of course, 
 inconvenient to us not to be able to unpack; but still 
 more inconvenient for Mr. Cox, despite his own large 
 family, to accept us all as guests. This, without a 
 murmur, and with ready mind, was done at once. He 
 and his were kindness itself. Their hospitality was 
 most Christian. Nothing that thoughtful affection could 
 suggest for our comfort was left undone." 
 
 " I never entered a Circuit where so many encouraging 
 tokens showed themselves at once. The Spirit of suppli- 
 cation is poured out. Prayerful expectation prevails 
 everywhere. Many hearts pant after holiness. All long 
 for revival. It will come if we look for it, not to each 
 other, but to God." 
 
 " Sunday, August 2gth. I preached in the morning at 
 Dudley Port, from John xvii. 17: 'Sanctify them through 
 Thy truth.' The people wept, I wept, and we were 
 blessed together. In the afternoon I went to Oldbury, 
 and preached from Mark xi. 22 : ' Have faith in God.' 
 The evening text, at the same place, was John xvi. 9 : 
 * He shall convince the world of sin, because they believe 
 not on Me.' God was great in the midst of us." 
 During the week he preached at Dudley, Bloomfield, 
 Dudley Wood, Mamble Square, and Horsley; and at 
 each service was much encouraged. 
 
 On Tuesday, September yth, Cornelius Mills much 
 amused Mr. Collins, while describing some by-gone 
 revival scene, by the grotesque, yet most graphic, pic- 
 ture of his father, which, without for a moment suspect- 
 ing the relationship between them, Cornelius gave : 
 " A mon came over from Brummagem ; he carried your 
 name, I think. He was a lion. What a voice he had ! 
 How he did roar ! When he shook his great head, he 
 shook our hearts, I can tell you. I should like above all 
 things to see that old mon again ! "
 
 DUDLEY. 167 
 
 " Thursday, gth. At Pensnett, Divine presence over- 
 shadowed us. Many were moved, and several saved. 
 At the close of the meeting, a person came, took me by 
 the hand, and asked, ' Do you not know me ? ' It was 
 
 T. B , but greatly altered. He has been much 
 
 pinched ; and, as he said, has known little but adversity 
 since he left the old ship. He, with his wife, incline to 
 embark in her once more. Three glass-blowers accom- 
 panied me toward home as far as Dudley. As we 
 walked, one of them, a backslider, obtained anew the 
 joy of salvation ; the other two were enabled to trust 
 God for His gift of entire holiness. 
 
 " Wednesday, I5th. I preached at Woodside, from 
 Heb. x. 12, 13. The Word was with power. I invited 
 seekers to the communion rail. A poor blind boy groped 
 his way there first ; then his sister, weeping, followed ; 
 then their mother came and knelt between them. The 
 two children obtained pardon, and the mother went home 
 rejoicing with a clean heart. Others were similarly 
 blessed. As we were separating, seeing a poor woman 
 with very woebegone countenance, I stopped in the aisle 
 to speak with her ; she broke down, and her husband by 
 her side literally groaned with agony. They were back- 
 sliders. That night they both set forth afresh." 
 
 In a letter dated September 28th, Mr. Collins says : 
 " Matters improve here. Souls are brought to Christ 
 every day. There are omens of a great work. Last 
 Wednesday I preached at Darby Hand, from i John 
 v. 9, 12. The first, in the prayer-meeting, that came to 
 the communion rail was a rough navvy, a champion 
 bruiser, whom none of the boxers of the neighbourhood 
 dared to face. My Superintendent, Samuel Dunn, saw 
 him standing one night by a bridge, and invited him to 
 chapel. Years had passed since he had seen the inside 
 of a sanctuary : feeling honoured that ' the parson ' had 
 asked him, he came, and continued to come. That 
 night with others, eight in all God set him free. 
 
 " Yesterday was our Quarterly Meeting. We began 
 our business at two. In the evening I preached from 
 i Thess. v. 23, 24 : ' The very God of peace sanctify 
 you wholly.' After that, Mr. Dunn gave an exhortation. 
 As he did so, a woman cried aloud for mercy. ' Let us
 
 l68 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 pray,' said Brother Hickman. So he began, while 
 Dunn, and I, and Father Gill sallied forth among the 
 people. Sinners yielded on every hand. It was really 
 fine. We could not break up until nearly eleven. About 
 fifteen found mercy." 
 
 " Wednesday, September 2gth. At two o'clock this 
 morning, I was roused from sleep by dreadful cries. I 
 dressed hastily, went into the street, and found men 
 stripped and fighting. The landlord of a miserable beer- 
 house, having taken the last halfpenny, had then refused 
 more drink; hence the quarrel with his drunken cus- 
 tomers. I threw myself between them ; and, with words 
 of godly exhortation, soon broke up the riotous assembly. 
 No harm befel me, beyond what soap and water would 
 amend ; my hands got reddened, but it was with blood 
 from their wounds, not mine. In the evening I preached 
 at Dudley Wood. We retired into the vestry for prayer. 
 Seven mourners were made to rejoice in Christ. 
 
 " Thursday, 3Oth. In the afternoon, visiting in Pea- 
 cock's Buildings, I desired a woman to gather in her 
 neighbours. Among them two came who were seeking 
 the Saviour. They found Him in that cottage. As I 
 approached Mamble Square, I heard two women quar- 
 relling. Their oaths and hubbub soon quieted down at 
 my word. O Lord, have mercy upon the ignorant poor 
 of this district ! As I went into the chapel, several, un- 
 accustomed to worship, pleased that I had finished the 
 fray, followed me. I preached about the Publican; and 
 believe two went down, that night, to their houses 
 justified." 
 
 Mr. Collins writes : " The mental type of the inhabi- 
 tants, and all their surroundings, are new to me. 
 Special grace and special application alone can enable 
 me to warn, feed, and guide this people aright." So 
 gloriously, now-about, did the Lord pour out His Spirit 
 that, for a season, even every week-night service has its 
 record of conversions. 
 
 Sunday, October 3rd, was a day of grace in Dudley. 
 A crowd heard the Word. The number of those who 
 wished to remain to pray was such as quite to fill the 
 body of the chapel. A vestry was appropriated to the 
 use of mourners seeking counsel ; it was thronged.
 
 DUDLEY. l6g 
 
 The names and addresses of not less than two and 
 twenty were taken who that night were made happy 
 in God. 
 
 Sunday, October loth, 1841, will ever be dear to me. 
 It was my earliest opportunity of enjoying the teaching 
 of this beloved kinsman. His morning text in Tipton 
 Chapel was Jer. xiii. 27, " Wilt thou not be made clean? 
 When shall it once be ?" Unction richer than was wont, 
 even to him, came down. Such power I had never felt 
 under any ministry, nor, after the lapse of these years, 
 have I ever yet again experienced anything approaching 
 to it. The Journal of the date beautifully says : " There 
 was such a shaking and such a cry, that I could not finish 
 my sermon; it seemed as though every child of God 
 would get his Father's image there and then." These 
 simple words I will somewhat supplement." At the 
 urging of the query : " 'When shall it once be ?' The 
 loving Father says, ' Now ;' what do you say "? 
 " Now " breathed audibly from pew to pew. " The 
 Son who gave His cleansing blood says, ' Now ;' 
 what do you say?" At this reiteration of appeal, 
 "Now," louder and more earnest, circled me in answer. 
 " The waiting Sanctifier, the Spirit of Holiness, says, 
 'Now;' what do you say? when?" Twice the re- 
 sponse, though it moved my inmost heart, had passed, 
 leaving me, trained in the school of order, silent ; but 
 with that third questioning came a gush of influence 
 irresistible. I could keep my lips no longer, but, like 
 the rest, cried, " Now !" What is more, and better far, 
 my soul, that blessed moment, as certainly said, "Now," 
 as did my tongue. It was no flash of enthusiasm ; it 
 was a work of the Holy Ghost. Its force is still unex- 
 pended. That " Now " stirs me yet. Nor ever since 
 that memorable time has my faith dared to procrastinate, 
 or say anything but " Now " to all sanctifying offers of 
 the promise-keeping God.' As the Diary, in such simple 
 words, indicates, the sermon was " swallowed up in 
 victory." Seekers left their pews, and trooping, uncalled, 
 up the aisles, knelt around the communion rail. Thus, 
 unexpectedly, that morning service developed into a 
 prayer-meeting one of the most pleading and trium- 
 phant I ever knew. The whole day was in keeping with
 
 170 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 its auspicious beginning. In the afternoon a lovefeast 
 yet precious in many a memory was held. Under 
 the evening sermon, feeling so over-tasked flesh that 
 some fainted. Special miracles of grace were wrought. 
 At that date the outlying " Black Country " population 
 was rude and ignorant exceedingly. Doves, bulldogs, 
 and fighting men, about equally attracted attention from 
 the idlers of those parts. Drawn by curiosity to hear 
 " the parson " that turned out of his warm bed to quell 
 a quarrel, a noted pigeon-fancier, the crack trainer of the 
 neighbourhood, was at the chapel. He had been accus- 
 tomed to waste each holy Sabbath in whistling after his 
 birds, and watching their flight. He did so no more ; 
 for that night brought him to the birth-hour of a new 
 life. Nor was he alone ; names of seventeen were added 
 to the list of converts. 
 
 The Journal says : " October I5th. I walk in the 
 light. My Father gives me to see both my work and my 
 way. There is much to be done: but then I am strong 
 to labour ; have hold on the heart of the people ; and 
 feel that my key fits their lock. The work progresses. 
 We have conversions continually. On Tuesday night 
 we had six at Dudley Port ; on Wednesday, seven at 
 Woodside. One of them, a labourer from the fields, with 
 black face, and frock tied over his shoulders, came weep- 
 ing to the rail, nor would he go till Jesus blessed him. 
 The baptism of fire descends on many. My brethren, 
 and several of the Local Preachers also, hold similar 
 meetings with good success. The revival will, I trust, 
 be wider and longer than many here expect. All within 
 me cries, ' Onward, with the Ark ! " 
 
 " Tuesday, October igth. I called upon a sick woman 
 at Horsley Field. While we were at prayer, Jesus set 
 her daughter free. I went on to Oldbury, preached, and 
 gathered fruit. Mrs. Tonge, wife of my host there, is 
 great granddaughter to Mr. Wesley's much beloved 
 Grace Murray. While visiting among the friends, I saw 
 good done. One widow's heart was made to sing. As 
 we joined in supplication, the Lord revealed Himself to 
 both her children. From that happy group I passed on 
 to ' see an aged paralytic, whose earnestness of love 
 solemnly affected me. Any mention of Jesus seemed to
 
 DUDLEY. 171 
 
 thrill him. His tears were wonderful. Upon my remark- 
 ing them, he said, ' It refreshes me to weep ; I am 
 always happiest when the tears bowl out.' The old man 
 charged me to tell the people at Darby Hand whither 
 I was going how great things the Lord had done for 
 him. 
 
 " Friday, October 22nd. Blessed Father, I want to 
 come to Thee this day. Thou art working. That I 
 may work with Thee, bring me near to Thee. Ever- 
 lasting Good, Portion of my soul, my own God, dwell in 
 me. Dwell in me as the holy God, the mighty God, 
 the wise God. Take hold of me : take hold of me 
 more strongly than Thou ever didst before. O my God, 
 I am Thine. Here I am ; serve Thyself of me ; put 
 Thy hand upon Thine instrument. May I live by Thee, 
 for Thee. Amen." 
 
 A letter dated October 26th says : " I am in the 
 thick of harvest. So grand a work of God as I am now 
 in the midst of I never saw. My heart leaps at a review 
 of every week's meetings. No sermons now without 
 seals. On Sunday last, two women walked miles to 
 be present, and, when they approached the table to 
 partake of the Holy Communion, were so filled with 
 contrition that their sobs and cries rang through the 
 place. There, to them, as to disciples of old, Jesus 
 made Himself known in ' the breaking of bread.' Last 
 night I preached in Dudley, upon holiness. Such a 
 congregation nobody ever saw there before at an ordi- 
 nary week-night service. As the people seemed wonder- 
 fully to drink in the Word, I requested them to gather 
 for prayer into the large school-room beneath. All 
 seemed subdued. Such a cry for mercy I have seldom 
 heard. Numbers found Christ. How many, I cannot 
 tell ; but among them was one poor prostitute from the 
 streets. Glory to God for that ! That melts my heart ! 
 Altogether, the scene last night was one of the most 
 astonishing displays of saving grace that I ever wit- 
 nessed." 
 
 " Thursday, October 28th. J. C., the young Minister 
 from Castle-Donington, called upon me. While in 
 my study, I urged the duty of having his heart so 
 cleansed, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that
 
 172 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 he might perfectly love God and worthily magnify 
 His name. 'How blessed that state ! ' said he: 'I wish 
 I enjoyed it.' ' Why not enter now ? ' 'I must seek it.' 
 ' Did you not, as a candidate, assure the District Meet- 
 ing, years ago, that you were earnestly seeking it ? ' 'I 
 did ; but from this time I really will pray for it.' ' Have 
 you not prayed for it before ? ' ' Well, yes, I have.' 
 * See, then, another further thing is wanting. Let Jesus 
 teach you what it is in those gracious words, Mark xi. 
 24: ' Whatsoever ye desire when ye pray, believe that 
 ye receive, and ye shall have.' Here are three steps : 
 you have only taken two, and, hence, have come short of 
 success. Observe, there must be holy desire ; the 
 desire must be uttered in petition ; and then, at once, 
 the word, and might, and heart of God must be 
 trusted. ' Believe that ye receive.' The young man 
 promised me that he would do this. I love to press my 
 young brethren upon this point. Perfect love in a 
 preacher's heart is the best possible guarantee of success 
 in his work. 
 
 " Friday, October 2gth. Crowds of souls surround 
 me, dull and dead, yet in terrible danger. O Father, 
 awaken them. Thou gavest Thy Son for them, give Thy 
 grace to them. Fill me with Thyself, O my Father. 
 It will be a glorious condescension in Thee thus to stoop 
 to me, poor wretch, with Thy glory ; it will agree with 
 the wondrous propensions of Thy heart to show this 
 unspeakable kindness unto me, all unworthy, but whom 
 yet it pleaseth Thee to love ; in it, Thy grace will join 
 hands with Thy Providence; for such a fulness, and that 
 alone, can enable me to accomplish the work unto which 
 Thou hast called me. My hungry soul cries, ' Fill, O 
 fill me, Father ! ' Thy truth hath promised. I wait, 
 believing Thy faithful word." 
 
 Monday, November ist, was the Anniversary of the 
 Tipton Tract Society. Fifteen persons had attested, 
 in the service of the night before, that they then and 
 there trusted the Saviour. Expecting a choice oppor- 
 tunity of confirming such in the faith, Mr. Collins 
 resorted to the tea-meeting. The Pastor, confronted by 
 fiddles, and flutes, and such like apparatus, found his 
 opportunity much curtailed, if not absolutely filched
 
 DUDLEY. 173 
 
 away. He writes : " The singers had prepared a num- 
 ber of pieces and anthems. As they must either sing or 
 be sulky, we let them sing, and so with small result the 
 precious time was consumed. It taught me that, in 
 future, I must vigilantly investigate all arrangements for 
 the conduct of such meetings before the time for holding 
 them comes." 
 
 Luther says, " Satan does not like music." I believe 
 he did not like "Brother Martin's;" but music as mere 
 music he has little reason to be displeased with. In 
 not a few places the arch foe has found the choir door 
 very open to him. Methodists cannojt yet spare the 
 petition of their early hymn : 
 
 The secret pride, the subtle sin, 
 O, let it never more steal in, 
 
 To offend Thy glorious eyes ; 
 To desecrate our hallow' d strain, 
 And make our solemn service vain, 
 
 And mar our sacrifice. 
 Still let us on our guard be found, 
 And watch against the power of sound 
 
 With sacred jealousy : 
 Lest, haply, sense should damp our zeal, 
 And music's charms bewitch and steal 
 
 Our hearts away from Thee. 
 
 The choristers pew often usurps the service which it 
 ought but to lead. By constant change, and fugue, and 
 cunning harmony, it condemns untrained people to silence, 
 and, at the best, shuts praise up in the organ loft. What 
 at the worst ? Why, it turns praise out of doors. Art 
 supplants devotion. Skill becomes everything: piety, 
 nothing. The very heavenliest part of worship is 
 thenceforth transmuted into a performance : professionals 
 do what loving hearts should offer. Chorus, quartet, 
 trio, solo, all is vain. It is just " a very good song, 
 and very well sung." Such singing may make a church 
 as it would a theatre popular, but will neither please 
 God at all, nor, despite the dictum of Luther, drive the 
 devil an inch. 
 
 On Wednesday, November 3rd, Mr. Collins wrote 
 thus to me : " I rejoice that you begin to realise 
 success. Never be content without it. If the promises 
 be true, we may have it. If we may, shall we not ?
 
 174 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 In order to preach so as to bring down blessing, you 
 must come down. Christ must be all. Self and sin 
 must be out of the way. Do not think to accomplish 
 anything by clangour of words, or by attitudinizing. 
 Get your sermon preparation well done before the Sab- 
 bath ; turn into bed in good time on Saturday night, 
 and out of it early on Sunday morning. Get three hours 
 with God before you go to the pulpit ; get at Him by 
 reading, believing, and praying over His book. Talk 
 with Him till He talks with you, and says : ' Go, in 
 this thy strength.' Then go, full of humility and tender- 
 ness, and you will have power. Do not clack of success 
 to every little Methodist you meet. Keep the cork in 
 your bottle, if you would have strength in your wine. 
 As to study, calculate your time, prize it, consecrate it, 
 apportion it. Every man can best form his own plan. 
 Do not aim at too much at once. Let your scheme be 
 simple and easy to be practised. Remember, the master 
 rule of all is : ' Stick to it.' But whatever else you 
 do, deal much with God. People say, ' This man has 
 talent,' and, 'That man has talent;' depend upon it, 
 the great secret of usefulness is close dealing with 
 God." 
 
 After writing thus, Mr. Collins went to Gornal 
 Wood, where he preached ; and, that he might have 
 opportunity of visitation, remained in a very humble cot 
 all night. In the morning, this earnest evangelist set 
 himself to hunt after souls from house to house ; and 
 had reason to believe that, at least, one poor sick man 
 received comfort in Christ. Thus, witnessing for his 
 Master in the roadside homes, as he went, he worked his 
 way to Pensnett, dined, and then, getting the key of the 
 chapel, locked himself in, spending from half-past three 
 until five alone with God. He writes : " The Lord 
 strengthened my soul ; assured me of help for the even- 
 ing ; and revealed Himself as my Good, my Portion, 
 my All." The evening service was glorious. Eight 
 persons appear to have obeyed the truth by believing it 
 to the joy of their souls. Incessant walking, preaching, 
 praying, talking, had made the day one of excessive 
 toil. At length, late and weary, yet full of bliss, he 
 reached his home.
 
 DUDLEY. 175 
 
 Sunday, November 7th. Good was done at Oldbury; but good 
 there is much hindered by the prevalence of evil-speaking. Harsh 
 judgments, tale-bearing, and mischief-making, grieve the Spirit and 
 impede the work. 
 
 Monday, November 8th. Robert Newton preached at Great- 
 bridge. My soul was refreshed while he showed how " the Spirit 
 and the Bride say, Come." 
 
 Friday, November igth. I went to the Bloomfield prayer-meeting. 
 One J. A. was there. I knew nothing of him, but felt drawn to go 
 and speak to him. Almost at a word he began to tremble and weep. 
 I observed that our Leaders seemed shy of him. None came to 
 speak with him until I called them. The fact was, he was known 
 to them as such an " awful rough" that they feared him. His wife, 
 a member, had long prayed for him, and long suffered much from 
 him. He was a great boxer, and a notorious blackguard. So 
 anxious for a fray had he been, that, but a short time before, he had 
 given a Darlaston man two quarts of ale to fight him. Lured by the 
 price, the stranger fell to the work so lustily, that he gave the poor 
 fool, as he well deserved, a terrible beating. But this night my 
 Lord smote him harder still, broke his heart, and then healed him. 
 Hallelujah! 
 
 Saturday, November aoth. Mr. Cox and Mr. Dixon were with me 
 when J. P., a poor glassblower from Dudley, who had been noto- 
 riously wicked, came in to tell me how the Lord had blessed him. 
 "But," said I, "you see two gentlemen are here; can you tell it 
 before them ? " Ay, Sir, with pleasure, if, instead of two, there 
 were two thousand." " Go on then." "You see, somehow I came 
 to chapel ; and as I had been a very bad fellow, the preaching 
 punished me. I felt very cut up. I heard that there was to be 
 some sort of a meeting at Tipton ; so I set off there. When I got 
 to the door, I found that it was a lovefeast ; that I could not get in 
 without a ticket ; and that it had already been going on for an hour. 
 I felt disappointed at being shut out. Just then you, who had been 
 at Bloomfield preaching, walked into the vestry. I followed. I 
 don't think you saw me ; for, leaning back in the chair, you cried. 
 4 Glo ry ! ' I never heard such a ' Glory ' before : and your face 
 looked as if heaven were shining through it, while I felt miserable as 
 hell. I waited a minute, and then asked for a note of admission. 
 You said, ' Behind time, friend. Mind you are not too late at last. 
 No tickets can be got there when once the door is shut.' That hit 
 me very hard. From then till last Sunday I carried what is not 
 easy to carry an aching heart. In a prayer-meeting at Dudley 
 chapel, one desired me to take my place among the penitents. I 
 refused. A second came : but I would not. Another entreated me : 
 I replied, ' Well, this is the third time of asking ; I will go.' I went, 
 and bent one knee." Here the man seemed somehow to have got 
 impregnated with Sammy Hick's idea, who asked, " Did you ever 
 know a man saved on one knee ? " " The Lord would have me 
 lower than that : so, at last, I went right down, and mercy soon 
 lifted me right up. I have been blessing the Lord ever since ; but, 
 last night, as I could not sleep for praising, it struck me that I 
 ought to come and tell you. I turned out at three to do so ; but felt
 
 176 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 it would be too bad to disturb you so soon. However, now, here I 
 am, bless the Lord ! a happy man at last." 
 
 This man continued steadfast. Months after, his 
 wife said to Mr. Collins, "What a blessed change this 
 is in my husband ! He used to blaspheme God and 
 abuse me continually ; but now he is full of love and 
 praise like an angel ! " 
 
 A letter to Mr. Austen, dated November 23rd, 1841, 
 furnishes a good specimen of Mr. Collins's parlour work. 
 " Your wife and friends are making the best possible 
 preparation for my visit. Folk about here are for 
 anthems and music. I like your prayers and fastings 
 better; and so does my Master. God bless you all. 
 Last Sunday a gentleman came with his gig to fetch me 
 to Brierley Hill. As we went, I asked, ' Are you 
 happy in God ? ' ' No.' ' Are you a Methodist ? ' 
 ' No.' ' How came you to fetch me ? ' ' O,' said he, 
 ' the Methodists often make use of me.' I told him 
 that I thanked him for letting the Methodists have 
 his gig ; but for all that must claim from him that he 
 let the Lord have his heart. At dinner, he besought me 
 not to feel offended by his leaving at the end of the 
 sermon ; he was so nervous that, really, he could not 
 bear the noise of the prayer-meeting. After preach- 
 ing, Mr. P. and this nervous man came in to tea. I 
 asked P., 'Are you happy?' 'No.' 'Do you wish 
 to be ? ' ' Yes.' ' When ? now, or seven years to 
 come?' 'Indeed, I hope it will not be seven years 
 first.' ' Well, then, let us seek it of God now.' At the 
 word we fell to prayer. The men wrestled ; the servant 
 wept ; and the daughters, two sweet young maidens, 
 sobbed as they knelt at the sofa. It was a boisterous 
 time ; but in less than half an hour P., the nervous 
 man, and the girls, were all rejoicing together. The 
 presence of the Lord went with us to chapel : several 
 were saved there. Then mercy visited the house again. 
 An unsaved son, affected by the happy witness of those 
 blessed in the afternoon, began to weep. Seeing that, 
 we deferred supper for prayer; he and Phoebe the 
 servant were both made glad in God. I retired, had a 
 gracious night's rest, and awoke with the sweetness of 
 God upon my spirit."
 
 DUDLEY. 177 
 
 Sunday, November 28th, was spent in the Wednesbury 
 Circuit in behalf of Missions. The congregations were 
 crowds, and the collections double those of the foregoing 
 year. Rumour had carried before him fame of the unc- 
 tion which so commonly gave success to his ministry. 
 Praying people and troubled souls naturally, therefore, 
 resorted to the service. As he was commencing the 
 customary intercession meeting after sermon, he saw a 
 number of persons so standing as to block the approaches 
 to the Communion rail, around which his manner was 
 to gather inquirers. His request, that these, by retiring, 
 should leave the way of access open for penitent seekers, 
 was met unexpectedly, but happily, by the assurance 
 that they themselves were penitent seekers, waiting only 
 his earliest invitation at once to place themselves in 
 order about him. A large harvest was easily gathered 
 where all were so prepared and so expectant. 
 
 The next day Mills, a collier, went home heart-smitten 
 from a service held in Tividale. Very miserable, and 
 very ignorant, the poor fellow knew not what to do. He 
 got up into his chamber. Framing prayers was new 
 work to him. An odd fancy struck his troubled brain : 
 if he could but read, " Lord Jesus Christ," in the New 
 Testament, he should be saved. Moved by this strange 
 form of faith in that name, he set to work. If he ever 
 had learned his alphabet, the acquirement had well- 
 nigh passed away, for his sad scholarship, try as he 
 might, carried him no further than, L, O, R, D, Lord. 
 The ill omen that he could not find Jesus on the page 
 led him in agony of soul to seek Him in prayer. The 
 trick of Bibliomancy failed, but the way of prayer as 
 of old succeeded ; in the quiet of that room his heart 
 was set free. 
 
 Monday, December 6th, Mr. Collins preached at 
 Dudley a most memorable sermon to backsliders, from 
 Jonah ii. 4 : " I said, I am cast out of Thy sight ; 
 yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple." It was 
 ascertained that more than twenty were by that service 
 reclaimed. 
 
 At Woodside, on Wednesday, December 8th, inform- 
 ation was given of the triumphant end of Margaret 
 Reynolds, a recent convert. After finding peace with 
 
 N
 
 178 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 God at a prayer-meeting, her whole conduct had been 
 changed. Her persuasions won her husband to the 
 sanctuary. She set at once upon the work of Sabbath- 
 school teaching and tract distribution. The course was 
 scarcely entered ere the race was run. She was taken 
 ill on Sunday, November a8th, and before the close of 
 Tuesday, 3Oth, passed away to heaven, shouting, "Glory! 
 glory ! glory ! " 
 
 Meeting a class for tickets, Mr. Collins found Jane 
 Gill anxiously longing for " a heart in every thought 
 renewed, and full of love Divine." He opened for her 
 the way of faith. " Are you a child of God ? " " Yes ? " 
 " Are you not, as a child of God, an heir of God ? " 
 "Yes?" "Have you not, as such, a gracious and 
 assured right unto eternal glory? " "Yes." " Does not 
 right unto eternal .glory necessarily include right unto 
 everything without which that glory may not be entered ? " 
 "Yes." "Is not holiness such a thing?" "Yes." 
 " Have you not then a right unto that ?" " Yes," 
 " Well, will you then claim your right ? It only waits 
 your claim." They fell to prayer. The claim was 
 urged, and Heaven admitted it. 
 
 We may profitably append to the record of this conver- 
 sation an extract from a letter to Mrs. Austen upon 
 the same theme : " Faith brings love, and works by 
 love. Would you be holy ? Know then that love in 
 the heart is holiness in the root. Let that Divine prin- 
 ciple be received, cherished, and exemplified, and the 
 character you seek is yours. In seeking perfect love 
 your business is with God and His promises. 2 Peter 
 i. 4 : ' There are given unto us exceeding great and pre- 
 cious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the 
 Divine nature.' 
 
 " Look to the hills. Have to do with God. ' Having 
 these promises, let us cleanse ourselves.' 
 
 I cannot wash my heart, 
 
 But by believing Thee, 
 And waiting for Thy blood to impart 
 
 The spotless purity. 
 
 Neither you, nor I, have ever made all the use we might 
 of these precious, precious promises. Jesus prays : 
 4 Sanctify them through Thy truth : Thy word is truth.'
 
 DUDLEY. 179 
 
 ' I found Thy words,' says the prophet, ' and did eat 
 them ; they are the joy and rejoicing of my heart.' 
 Let us join in that feast. Let us take in the Lord's 
 words by faith ; so shall we evermore rejoice. 
 
 " Your constitutional bias, my sister, leads you to 
 attend to some religious exercises to the neglect of others. 
 To you, it is more easy to reproach yourself than to 
 honour your God ; to pray and to confess, than to believe 
 moment by moment for full salvation ; to mourn, than to 
 rejoice ; to look down upon the sin of your life, and the 
 wretchedness of your nature, rather than to ' behold the 
 Lamb ' that taketh away your sin and the sin of the 
 world. Deny yourself in this. Does it sound strangely 
 to you, that, calling you from fear to faith, from mourn- 
 ing to joy, I should say, Deny yourself? Yes, though 
 you have never so seen it, this perpetual wailing 
 comes not of heaven-born lowliness, but of unbeliev- 
 ing self. Henceforth, give happy credence to the 
 words of your Father. Deny that sinking heart of 
 yours. Deny it when it would doubt as sternly as 
 when it would do wickedly. Let it no more have its 
 own sad way. By doubting it dishonours God ; 
 and then, forsooth, calls its miserable lack of trust, 
 ' humility ! ' 
 
 " 0, stir up yourself! ' Fight, the good fight of faith. 
 Lay hold on eternal life.' Of eternal life holiness is 
 the very essence. ' God hath given to us eternal life, 
 and this life is in His Son.' Make not Him who hath 
 said this a liar. ' Dare to believe ; ' so shall you ' on 
 Christ lay hold : ' continue believing ; so shall you 
 continue receiving." 
 
 The returns at the Quarterly Meeting held at Dudley, 
 Monday, December ayth, showed an increase of seventy 
 members, with two hundred and fifty on trial. 
 
 The Journal of December agth says : " I met with 
 Mrs. Allington, who was at Madeley when Mrs. Fletcher 
 was brought there as a bride ; she saw the people 
 throw flowers into the coach as it drew up to the 
 vicarage. It was her happiness to be, soon after, re- 
 ceived into Mr. Fletcher's family as a servant. It 
 appears that public prayers and preachings could not 
 content his earnest soul. His habit was to gather his 
 
 N 2
 
 l8o CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 neighbours frequently into his house for exhortation. 
 In these services his speech was very informal and 
 free. He wisely imitated the Master in using illustrations 
 that lay next him, and did not disdain kitchen allusions 
 in kitchen sermons. Thus once, without much break 
 in his colloquial homily, he removed a crackling bat 
 from the fire, and, as he stood with the tongs still in 
 his hand, said : ' O that I could as easily pluck sin out 
 of all your hearts.' Mrs. Allington listened to the holy 
 man's last discourse, and heard the bell toll for his 
 funeral. She was nigh at hand, reaping at the time ; 
 and says she wept bitterly because the farmer, in whose 
 employ she wrought, would not let her leave the harvest- 
 field to be at church. 
 
 Lured by old love, though the weather was unusually 
 severe, Mr. Collins, early in January, 1842, set forth to 
 anniversary services in Kent. Foreseeing the freezing 
 which coach-top travel threatened him with, he wrote : 
 " Meet me at Flimwell with a good horse ; for I shall be 
 very cold, and want to fly to your comfortable fire." 
 Doubtless, the horse was, as was requested, a good one ; 
 but the age and infirmity of the gig led to some gym- 
 nastic exercises not set down in the programme, and 
 most unexpected by the performers. Beneath the double 
 trial of a well-to-do farmer and a weighty divine, as they 
 were proceeding at a swinging trot, the axletree broke. 
 With much more than common celerity of movement, 
 out shot the farmer, and over him Mr. Collins. What, 
 however, with the friendly buffer beneath, and the cushion 
 of snow, a good yard thick, no harm came of it. They 
 had just released their horse from the wreck when, the 
 Rye mail opportunely arriving, Mr. Collins mounted the 
 box ; while the worthy yeoman, leaving the ruins of the 
 gig to their fate on the road, mounted the horse. Safely, 
 though in diverse fashion, both at length reached the 
 hospitable home. After two happy days, such as seemed 
 prescriptive among his Sandhurst children and associates, 
 Mr. Collins returned to the arduous toil that lay unceas- 
 ingly before him in the Dudley Circuit. 
 
 The next Sunday was a glorious day. Observing in 
 the prayer-meeting a roughly clad labourer evidently 
 struggling to conceal unconquerable emotion, Mr, Collins
 
 DUDLEY. l8l 
 
 made towards him. At the first syllable the scared man 
 bolted from the seat to the door. The preacher thought 
 such a prize should not be lost for lack of a chase. He 
 says : " I saw that my Master's hand was on him ; that 
 the devil very much wished to get him away ; and that 
 there was no time for parley. Under the circumstances I 
 made no scruple of apprehending the fugitive in the 
 name of the Lord. Poor fellow, he was stricken through; 
 strength to resist he had none ; he had scarcely strength 
 to come. However, when once safely deposited at the 
 communion rail, he fell earnestly to prayer. By-and-bye, 
 the love of God was shed abroad in his heart; then, first 
 thing, he ran to me, threw his arms around my neck, 
 and, before all the people, embraced me like a brother. 
 He blessed God, and thanked me, for not letting him 
 escape." 
 
 The unpreparedness of poor colliers amid their immi- 
 nent perils much affected Mr. Collins. Among his 
 papers, within a few months, I find death notices of 
 Richard Griffiths, William James, Arthur Roberts, 
 James Fisher, George Allen, James Pearson, Richard 
 Spicer, Thomas Peters, and James Naylor. All these 
 were killed in neighbouring pits. Of course, while mor- 
 tal accidents were numerous, slighter ones were much 
 more so. Some hairbreadth escapes are registered; 
 c. g. : " Sunday, January 2gth, I visited Isaac At- 
 wood. As he was at work, last week, an immense 
 quantity of coal came suddenly crashing down. There 
 was no chance for flight. Most mercifully, two huge 
 pieces fell together rafterwise, making a roof over him 
 strong enough to resist the pressure of tons that else 
 would have crushed every bone in his skin. With much 
 fright, but whole limbs and only a few bruises, he hap- 
 pily escaped." 
 
 How strangely small the dint of moral impression left 
 by death ! Miners, mariners, and soldiers, though so 
 much in danger, are seldom thoughtful. As two drunken 
 colliers were staggering home, one reeled into the shaft 
 of an old worked-out pit, and miserably perished ; the 
 other alas ! a type of thousands stayed not in his path 
 of sin one moment because of that alarming and moni- 
 tory fact. He drank, he blasphemed, he fought, he beat
 
 l82 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 his wife, just as before. Returning from his toil on 
 Tuesday, February i8th, more for a rest than a sermon, 
 the poor sinner turned into Bloomfield chapel. That 
 night salvation came. Thenceforth the brute was a 
 man, a kind husband, a quiet neighbour, a doer of good, 
 a follower of Christ. 
 
 Moved with compassion for the crowd of neglected, 
 sinful, sensual, low-sunk pitmen around him, Mr. Collins 
 determined upon a special service for their benefit. To 
 his friends he wrote : " Pray for my poor colliers." 
 
 Friday, February nth, was spent in fasting and special 
 prayer in their behalf. During those hours of wrest- 
 ling, his desire grew intense, and his faith venturesome. 
 His whole spirit breathed itself in one definite, reiterated 
 cry which swallowed up every other petition : " A hun- 
 dred souls ! Lord, give me and my brethren next week, 
 in this Circuit, a hundred souls ! It is little for Thee. 
 O Thou, who didst in one day at Pentecost save three 
 thousand, give us next week a hundred souls ! " On 
 Sabbath morning, five o'clock found him again in the 
 closet, urging the same plea. What wonder that when 
 one so prepared went up to the sanctuary, the congrega- 
 tion should find that they had among them a man full 
 charged with heavenly power ? In the first prayer, the 
 gush of emotion mastered utterance ; but the Minister's 
 falling tears, trembling tones, stammered words, and 
 involuntary pauses, thrilled responsively every heart in 
 the house. Strong men bowed and sobbed, and the 
 whole congregation melted before the Lord. " The 
 Gospel " was that morning visibly " the power of God 
 unto salvation." The evening sermon had been adver- 
 tised as an address to colliers. Hundreds, little accus- 
 tomed to chapel-going, swarmed thither. Every inch of 
 space was packed, and numbers had to return from the 
 door unable to get in. The text was Luke xiii. 4, 5 : 
 " Those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, 
 and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all 
 men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, 
 except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." A ser- 
 mon more suitable to the class for whom it was designed 
 very ignorant, very hard, very wicked, very much in 
 peril could not have been preached.
 
 DUDLEY. 183 
 
 After very clearly and effectively setting forth the 
 doctrine, and urging the duty, of repentance, he pro- 
 ceeds, in the close, to the inquiry, " What is it to 
 perish ? " He shows that, when applied to things capable 
 of doing so, the phrase signifies loss of existence. 
 Thus, Psalm xlix. 20, speaks of "the beasts that perish ; " 
 i Peter i. 7, also, of " gold that perisheth." When used 
 in relation to this mortal life, it means the termination 
 of it through neglect, in circumstances of great sudden- 
 ness or misery. In such sense, " the righteous " may 
 " perish." Battle and accident, famine and pestilence, 
 come even unto them ; but then the body only has 
 perished, nor even that without hope ; it will not lie in 
 wreck for ever. 
 
 To the Saviour's hearers, " likewise perish" uttered 
 prophetic warning of Roman swords, which soon should 
 smite ; and of falling city walls, which soon should 
 crush that Christ-rejecting people ; bringing doom to 
 them in the very modes prefigured by Pilate's slaughter 
 of the Galileans, and by the crash of the Siloam tower, 
 which had slain the men of Jerusalem. 
 
 That allusion to the fatal siege was, however, but of 
 temporary use, not to be forgotten in exposition of the 
 Saviour's words, considered as a spoken discourse ; but 
 as the terms lie on the New Testament page, parts of 
 the abiding Word, warning men of all time, that tempo- 
 rary sense merges into the larger, terrible, everlasting 
 idea expressed, 2 Peter iii. 7, in the phrase, " Perdition of 
 ungodly men." Compare John x. 28: " My sheep shall 
 never perish." i Cor. i. 18 : " The preaching of the 
 cross is to them that perish foolishness." And 2 Peter 
 iii. 9 : "The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, not will- 
 ing that any should perish, but that all should come to 
 repentance." 
 
 To see what this perdition is, Mr. Collins said, 
 
 You must look further than that room where, scarcely cold, lies 
 the spirit-forsaken body; where stands the band of weeping friends. 
 Follow the soul. It is the soul that has perished. For that perished 
 soul the Intercessor no more lifts up his hand ; towards that soul the 
 face of God settles into unchangeable frown. Gloom, like that of 
 midnight, falls around, just cleaved by one passing ray, the last 
 shimmer of the bright wings of the departing angel, who lingered by 
 the sinner in ministry of mercy till the expiry of his latest breath.
 
 184 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " O," shrieks the affrighted soul, " for one Sabbath, one hour, one 
 hope, one offer more ! " Memory recalls ten thousand squandered 
 opportunities ; Judgment presents a host of reasons why they should 
 have been embraced ; Despair sighs out, " Too late ! Too late ! " 
 its doleful requiem ; Conscience grasps its whip of scorpions. Hell 
 begins. 
 
 What words can utter, or what wail express, the horrors of a soul 
 in Hell ? Hell, that " wine-press " in ,which the Almighty -crushes 
 down His foes! Hell, that " lake of fire" where all that do wickedly 
 shall welter in molten billows, that rise and roll, blown into ceaseless 
 tempest by the " wrath of God ! " Hell, that " bottomless pit " where 
 every deep hath yet a lower deep, and wretches lost sink, and sink, 
 and sink for ever ! 
 
 But what dark forms are these, whose black outline makes the 
 midnight pale ? How the hollow laugh of that infernal band, as it 
 approaches, mocks the terror-smitten, ruined soul ! They are demons, 
 who have practised hating till their very being is malignity. 
 
 O sinner, if thou be lost, devils, all malice, all unrestrained, will 
 gather round thy perished soul, as vultures do around a carcase. 
 Thou wilt be their prey. Thee they will pursue. Thee they will 
 tear. They will coil round thy heart like serpents. They will sting 
 thee like adders. 
 
 Evil-doer, weigh well the solemn words written concerning Achan, 
 Josh. xxii. 20 : " That man perished not alone in his iniquity." 
 Who ever did ? There, all ruined by thee will meet thee. After 
 carousal comes quarrel ; when the store is spent, the feast ends in a 
 fray. There all the jollity of sin over, all rejoicing done the se- 
 ducer and his victim, the deceiver and his dupe, the tyrant and the 
 oppressed, the murderer and the slain, confront each other. What a 
 meeting ! What reproaches ! What rage ! What endless strife ! 
 
 In sickness there is hope of recovery ; in prison of liberty ; in 
 exile of return ; but hope is dead in Hell, each horror is " for ever." 
 The sinner's mittimus says " Eternity." " Eternity " is graven on 
 the gates, and written on the walls. " Eternity " is the taunt of the 
 tormentors. Every burning wind howls out, "Eternity;" every 
 hollow cave echoes back, "Eternity." 
 
 O sinners, flee, while ye may, to Jesus. Flee from " the wrath to 
 come." Could you count the stars of the sky, and the rays of the 
 light, and the leaves of the forest, and the blades of the grass, and 
 the drops of the deep, and the sanJds of the shore, your huge arith- 
 metic, when ended, would have failed to reach the smallest fraction 
 of the measureless Eternity through which, " except ye repent, ye 
 must all likewise perish." 
 
 Thus loudly did this vigilant watchman blow the 
 trumpet of alarm ; thus strongly did he warn the people ; 
 thus without abatement did he tell the wicked his mes- 
 sage from God. The scenes which followed these terrible 
 thunder peals are not easy to describe. Cries for mercy 
 rose in all directions. Here, a child of pious parents ;
 
 DUDLEY. 185 
 
 there, a chapel-going moralist ; yonder, a backslider. 
 Here, an ignorant collier; there, a fire-tanned puddler; 
 yonder, a burly navvy. But not only sons of toil, sons 
 of shame were weeping there. The very riff-raff of 
 society, blacklegs, drunkards, and fighting men, lay 
 smitten at His dear feet, whose might alone can 
 " gather such outcasts in, and save from sin and Satan's 
 power." Hours passed in prayer. Forty-two new wit- 
 nesses of grace were registered. All through the week 
 the impulse continued ; souls were saved every day, and, 
 at its close, Mr. Collins triumphantly records : " I have 
 no doubt that the hundred has been given to us." 
 
 " Saturday, February 26th. I went to Lawley, in the 
 Madeley Circuit. The next morning, beginning at five, 
 I spent three sweet hours with my God. In the services 
 Divine power accompanied the Word. Nineteen persons 
 at night were enabled to exercise present trust in Christ 
 for His mercy. 
 
 " Monday, February 28th. I visited Madeley, and 
 saw Mr. Smith, one of Mr. Fletcher's catechumens. He, 
 with other young men, was ringing the bells, one Satur- 
 day evening, when Mr. Fletcher came over to the church 
 and asked them to desist, as in those hours of prepara- 
 tion for Lord's day work he desired and needed quiet. 
 1 But,' said he, ' I should be sorry to diminish your enjoy- 
 ment, so come with me ; perhaps I can give you equal 
 pleasure, with more profit.' He led them to his study, 
 allowed each to choose a book, and, upon condition that, 
 after reading, each should tell him their thoughts upon 
 its contents, permitted them to carry it home. 
 
 " While walking from preaching appointments, Mr. 
 Fletcher always regaled his companions with profitable 
 talk, interspersed with frequent incident. One, Mr. 
 Smith remembered. A wealthy person being summoned 
 before a magistrate for profanity, replied to the charge, 
 that he ' only swore as a gentleman.' The magistrate 
 answered, ' You could not swear as a gentleman ; swear- 
 ing is utterly ungentlemanly ; and that you, being a 
 gentleman, should do such a thing, greatly aggravates 
 the offence. The station Providence permits you to 
 occupy renders the fault more inexcusable in yourself, 
 and the example more mischievous to others. Sir, I fine
 
 l86 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 you the last farthing the law will allow.' Mr. Fletcher 
 said. ' Such a decision did honour to the bench ;' and 
 added, ' If all magistrates were like-minded, evil speech 
 would soon be shamed out of the land.' 
 
 " The men in the parish who fattened on their neigh- 
 bours' drunkenness, as was likely, both hated and 
 dreaded their clergyman. A publican was one day 
 boasting defiance of ' the Methodist Parson ' to Mr. 
 Smith's father. On the instant, unexpectedly, Mr. 
 Fletcher turned a corner, and was seen approaching. 
 At the sight, the pot-house hero quailed at once, bid his 
 company good-bye, and, with all his valour, took to his 
 heels rather than face the saintly Vicar. 
 
 " I went to the good man's tomb ; it bears the names 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher, and also of Sally Lawrence, 
 their adopted daughter. I then called upon Miss Tooth, 
 who well remembered my father's visit to Mrs. Fletcher; 
 she showed me a number of interesting things, especially 
 numerous books much marked with margin notes by Mr. 
 Fletcher. 
 
 " In the evening I preached in the chapel from 
 Deut. xxxiii. 26. It was a time of blessed sanctifying 
 grace." 
 
 Home sorrow awaited Mr. Collins upon his return 
 from Madeley. He writes : " My dear little girls were 
 both ill. Emmy suffered from catarrh, and was in 
 agonies of earache. Perilous inflammation of the lungs 
 caused us anxiety about Maria." By the time the 
 daughters recovered, unwearied attention, night-watching, 
 and maternal solicitude, brought low the feeble power of 
 their mamma. Affliction went the round of the house ; 
 for Mr. Collins himself was next prostrated. His strength 
 was great, but, in his Master's work, he was spendthrift 
 of energy; often overdone, he was at length fairly felled. 
 It came thus : on Easter Sunday he preached at Burslem 
 on behalf of Missions. Tne chapel was large, but the 
 congregation seemed slow to respond, and the church 
 low in spiritual life. Bent upon victory, his exertions 
 were intense and great. Fifteen seals were given to his 
 ministry there ; but the meeting was protracted and 
 exhausting. Midnight came before he could retire to 
 rest. He was compelled to set off early in the morning,
 
 DUDLEY. 187 
 
 ere half recruited, in order to be present in the Dudley 
 Quarterly Meeting at two o'clock. Of the journey, the 
 part of it between Wolverhampton and Dudley, nearly 
 six miles, he was obliged to walk. God's work had pros- 
 pered. The increase declared for the three months was 
 one hundred members, with two hundred on trial ; yet, 
 though numbers were up and funds in hand, such dis- 
 turbing causes existed as made the meeting to be one of 
 great excitement. At the close of stormy discussions he 
 had to preach. Who can wonder that, at the end of 
 such a Monday, after such a Sunday, he reached Tipton 
 jaded and borne down by accumulated toil ? Bilious 
 headache, accompanied with alternate fits of shivering 
 and burning, came on. He writes: "Cousin Samuel 
 Coley came over and helped me for a week." It 
 would have been more truly written that he helped 
 me for a life. I had never before seen holiness so 
 perfect, beautiful, and impressive in a living type. 
 Affliction chastened his sometime rugged might into 
 gentleness, and his conversations with me upon 
 purity of heart were melting and profound. The 
 memory of them is a wealth to me yet. The Diary of 
 the first Friday of convalescence reads : " I thank the 
 Lord, who has kindly made my body better : I thank 
 Him more for giving me His comfortable presence when 
 I was almost too weak to ask it. This day, O God, I 
 desire to get a clear understanding of the relations 
 between Thee and me. I am Thine, and Thou art mine. 
 I withhold nothing from Thee. Lying at Thy feet, in an 
 act of dedication, I yield my entire being afresh unto 
 Thee." 
 
 No sooner strengthened to be again at work, than 
 records of success recommence. One night, a boy ran 
 home with a better " Eureka " than that of Archimedes. 
 Going to the foot of the stairs, unable to keep his joyful 
 secret longer, he shouted, "Mother, dear mother! I have 
 found Christ! I have found Christ!" Sweet simplicity! 
 Precious news for a praying parent ! Many a godly 
 family that year was similarly gladdened. 
 
 " The other day," says Mr. Collins, " Sandy Hender- 
 son wrote me from Caithness, and told me how a man in 
 his neighbourhood, George Campbell by name, got into
 
 iSS CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 concern about his soul. His ignorant friends, thinking 
 him lunatic, bound him with cords. Sandy, hearing of 
 his case, went and told him of Jesus. While he talked 
 and prayed, the poor creature's heart, set free, leaped for 
 joy. As there really seemed no cause for alarm in the 
 happy man's doxologies, his family ventured to untie the 
 knots ; and, if love of the Saviour the world's old sign 
 of madness be insufficient proof of insanity, then the 
 rescued prisoner must be acquitted of the charge, for 
 never since has he given any other." 
 
 Monday, April i8th, Mr. A., of Burslem, brought by 
 business to Wolverhampton, could not deny himself the 
 pleasure of an interview with the Minister whose word 
 had been blessed to the salvation of his soul. He there- 
 fore hired a gig, and drove over to Tipton. Finding that 
 Mr. Collins had gone away to a meeting at Dudley, with 
 persevering love he made after him there. His first 
 salutation was, " Sir, I am one of your spiritual children." 
 From him Mr. Collins joyfully learned that much more 
 good than he had known of came of the hard labours of 
 Easter Day. God had then shaken many who had 
 since ventured to come out of their corners. This man, 
 his wife, his servant, and his employer, had all since that 
 time entered into the joy of faith. In fact, conversions, 
 fruits of that impulse, had occurred on every subsequent 
 Sabbath. 
 
 Tuesday, May 3rd. Mr. Collins says, " I called a 
 prayer-meeting after preaching ; the first I have held 
 after a week-night service since my illness. I think my- 
 self strong enough now to recommence that useful plan. 
 Going home without it, I feel like a sportsman who has 
 shot at the birds, but not stopped to bag the game." 
 
 Wednesday, May nth. My wife's brother came to see us. He 
 is, just now, building and endowing a church, near his mansion in 
 Cumberland. While thus thorough and true as a Churchman, he is 
 very catholic in spirit, and specially friendly to the Methodists. 
 Both himself and Mrs. Graham seemed much delighted with the 
 grounds and ruins of Dudley Castle ; and also took great interest 
 in all the processes of making and working iron. On Friday they 
 left, to spend a while with Lady Carnegie, at Leamington, before 
 going on to Clapham. 
 
 Wednesday, May 25th. G. H., a recent convert died at Oldbury. 
 His last act was to sing the hymn commencing;
 
 DUDLEY. l3g 
 
 What are these array'd in white, 
 
 Brighter than the noonday sun, 
 Foremost of the Sons of Light, 
 
 Nearest the eternal throne ? 
 
 Surely a dying saint anticipating heaven in song is a lovely sight. 
 
 Monday, May soth. While I was giving tickets, a maiden, a 
 member of the class, had a singular seizure ; she fell into a trance- 
 like sort of state ; she suffered nothing, but perfectly oblivious of all 
 around, sang correctly, in a low sweet voice, the popular hymn, " I 
 love Jesus." In half an hour, quite ignorant of what she had been 
 doing, she opened her eyes and was conscious as usual. 
 
 Tuesday, May 3ist, Mr. Collins wrote to his youngest 
 sister : " Thank God for your good meetings. Per- 
 severe, and the Lord will perfect that which concerneth 
 you ; then religion will become the habit and happiness 
 of your life; you will dwell in God, and God will dwell in 
 you. In your busy seasons avoid hurry of manner, if 
 you would keep from flutter of spirit. Nothing gives 
 calm like committing all to God in prayer. Rest all 
 upon the Lord by faith. So shall you have perfect 
 peace." 
 
 Friday, June 3rd, a letter to Mr. Collins's father says, 
 " I have done much out-door work lately, and with good 
 success. If fine, I shall go forth to-night." 
 
 Tuesday, June 7th. The venerable Joseph Sutcliffe honoured my 
 table with his presence to-day. He told me of his first hearing 
 Charles Wesley at the Bristol room. On that occasion Charles 
 Wesley wore no gown, and preached from Heb. vii. 25 : " He is able 
 to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." His 
 manner, in the commencement, was hesitating, and the sentences 
 broken by pauses ; but, as he warmed with the subject, he grew 
 pointed and vigorous, and closed with an application full of fire and 
 power. Mr. Sutcliffe preached in the evening for me at Bloomfield. 
 He gave from i Thess. v. 23, 24, a delightful old-fashioned Metho- 
 dist witness for the doctrine of holiness. 
 
 Thursday, June gth. Daniel Farquhar has passed the Newcastle 
 District Meeting. So I have written, requesting the Chairman of 
 that District to obtain, if he can, for my Orkney boy, what he much 
 needs, the advantage of the Institution. To facilitate this, I have 
 commissioned him to oft'er, in case it be done, a donation of twenty 
 pounds towards his maintenance as a student 
 
 Sunday, June zath, the Communion rails at King 
 Street were crowded with seekers, when a young 
 Quaker, uninvited, but moved by something, somehow,
 
 igO CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 came up, not to kneel as a penitent, but to observe as a 
 censor. He soon wanted to debate. That, the noise of 
 the Dudley Revivalists prevented. They prayed on ; 
 and, in all likelihood, prayed at him : if they did, how- 
 ever, the owner of drab and broadbrim took with charac- 
 ; teristic coolness all the candid opinions they may have 
 -, happened to give Heaven about him ; for he quietly 
 kept his post to the end, then went, and they heard of 
 him no more. 
 
 That kindly Sheffield " Friend" understood Methodism 
 better, who, as he looked on the building at Carver 
 Street chapel, using a figure easily appreciated in that 
 locality, said, " The Wesley ans are putting up a great 
 converting furnace there." The young Dudley Quaker, 
 sceptical about conversions, appears to have given 
 verdict that he perceived nothing but smoke and 
 roar. 
 
 Monday, June i3th,the Society at Stourbridge devoted 
 the whole day to religious exercises. Thanks for the 
 Queen's preservation from Oxford's pistol ; prayer for 
 God's helpful blessing upon their failing trade ; and 
 intercession for a gracious outpouring of the Holy Ghost 
 upon their Circuit, well occupied them until Mr. Collins 
 got there to preach in the evening. He found them 
 sweetly prepared, and writes, " We let down the net at 
 the Master's word, and there was a good take of fishes." 
 
 Monday, June I3th, Mr. Collins preached at Tipton,in 
 the open air, from Ezek. xxxiii. n. Many unaccustomed 
 hearers heard ; and as the friends sang their way from 
 the field to the schoolroom, many such accompanied 
 them. In the prayer-meeting there, six " outcasts o_~ 
 men " were gathered to Jesus. 
 
 Monday, June ayth. I saw Ann Hancox. She is fast passing 
 away, but is very happy. " Surely the last enemy is under our feet." 
 Here consolatory sight! I saw one weak, yet a conqueror ; a very 
 feeble child of God facing death arid eternity with joy. 
 
 Monday, July 25th. Being Tipton wake and races, I preached out 
 of doors at ten, held a lovefeast at two, and preached in the open 
 air again at half past six. Much good was done, and more evil 
 prevented. 
 
 Wednesday, July 27. Conference opened in London. My col- 
 leagues are both there. The suffrages for office were unprecedentedly 
 near. Dr. Hannah was President by one hundred and twenty-nine
 
 DUDLEY. igi 
 
 votes, but John Scott received one hundred and eighteen. Dr. 
 Newton was elected Secretary by one hundred and twenty-four 
 votes, but John Scott had one hundred and twenty-three. 
 
 What a blessing that in the Methodist Conference 
 close runs imply no feuds ! None loved, or honoured, 
 each the other more than did these almost equal com- 
 petitors. The votes once counted, unsuccessful electors 
 give, in that body, adhesion as loyal to officers de facto 
 as it would have been possible to have done had the 
 men of their own choice occupied their chairs. 
 
 Why did Mr. Collins leave this thick and fruitful 
 harvest field at the end of the first year ? Stories of 
 evil are little to my taste. I have, therefore, weeded all 
 the records of these months of every allusion to what, in 
 order to answer the foregoing question, I must now 
 regretting the necessity of touching such matters at all 
 briefly deal with and dismiss. 
 
 In Dudley Mr. Collins happened upon trying times. 
 The Circuit, under the management of the Rev. Samuel 
 Dunn, became very unquiet. 
 
 At the head of his Plan, a copy of which now lies be- 
 fore me, the following excellent narrative was placed : 
 "John Wesley, being asked by Mr. Robert Miller, in the 
 year 1783, ' What must be done to keep Methodism 
 when you are dead ? ' replied, ' The Methodists must 
 take heed to their doctrine, their experience, their 
 practice, and their discipline. If they attend to their 
 doctrines only, they will make the people Antinomians ; 
 if to the experimental part of religion only, they will 
 make them enthusiasts ; if to the practical part only, 
 they will make them Pharisees ; and if they do not 
 attend to the DISCIPLINE, they will be like persons, 
 who bestow much pains in cultivating their garden, but 
 put no fence round it to save it from, the wild boar of the 
 forest.' " 
 
 The printing of the one word DISCIPLINE, in this 
 really valuable citation, in noticeable Roman capitals, 
 reveals that, in the vision of the Dudley Superintendent, 
 of all four things it looked largest. Those who render 
 Paul's iyovfiivot, "rulers-/ ' might have found in Samuel 
 Dunn, at that date, r^ man very reac iy to accept and, 
 after his manner, ex^ mp iif y t h e ir version.
 
 IQ2 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Trustees in that locality from time immemorial 
 had been accustomed to take not only the rents of the 
 seats, and the gifts at the Anniversary, but also the 
 proceeds of the quarterly collections. A letter, bearing 
 date April 22, 1842, says : " This thing Mr. Dunn wished 
 to alter, so as to bring the quarterly collections to furnish 
 funds to sustain another man." The Trustees, holding 
 their purse with hard grip, would yield nothing of their 
 ancient revenue ; he, proverbially " inflexible," would 
 abate nothing in the pursuit of his object. Hence arose 
 contention. 
 
 Concerning Circuit finance, our laity have recognised 
 rights. Even improvements may not be dictated. In 
 suasion, not self-will, lies ministerial monetary power. 
 
 At Christmas, to force his plans, Mr. Dunn invented a 
 test unknown in their Meetings before ; he would nomi- 
 nate none as Society Stewards who would not engage to 
 "support his procedure." Offended at what seemed to 
 them arrogance of authority, the next Quarterly Meeting 
 in March, by a large majority, negatived the proposal to 
 invite Mr. Dunn to remain another year. 
 
 , Constituting himself judge in his own cause, he de- 
 clared that opposition to be factious ; said, " I will not 
 endure it ;" and crying, " Let the Stewards follow me," 
 to the astonishment of all others, leaving behind more 
 than eighty persons, including the leading men of the 
 Circuit, set forth with his handful of friends to another 
 room, where, as if they were the Quarterly Meeting, 
 they passed a resolution of adjournment. At the end of 
 three weeks, the adjourned meeting " a true Quarterly 
 Meeting," he designated it consisting of Stewards only, 
 met. At that conclave, composed solely of his own 
 pledged nominees, all things of course went swimmingly. 
 It was agreed to recommend to the District Meeting the 
 division of the Circuit ; to ask for another Minister; and 
 to invite Mr. Dunn to remain. 
 
 The representatives of the ignored Quarterly Meeting 
 brought Mr. Dunn before his peers in the District Meeting, 
 charged with the introduction of new official tests ; with 
 unnecessary disturbance of their Circuit about a matter 
 of collections ; with unlawfully dissolving their Quar- 
 terly Meeting on March 28th ; $nd with holding an
 
 DUDLEY. 193 
 
 unusual and unfairly constituted meeting to act as if it 
 were the Quarterly Meeting, on Monday, April i8th. 
 
 While giving due credit to Mr. Dunn for his laudable 
 design of multiplying labourers in that toilsome field, 
 his ministerial brethren were obliged to condemn in toto 
 his illegal methods of procedure. As he had ruled the 
 people harshly, so he flouted his brethren contemptuously. 
 He appealed to Conference, but only submitted to that 
 because he must. 
 
 He was forbidden to be any longer Superintendent. 
 Thus wisely was removed from his grasp the crook with 
 which he had beaten the flock he ought to have tended. 
 The Conference smote him for the people's sake. It was 
 both an odd and impudent thing that he, of all on earth, 
 should by-and-bye assume to smite the Conference in the 
 people's name. Putting the torch to a palace is much 
 more facile than building one. It is easier far to be an 
 Erostratus than an architect : easier to wrap in flame the 
 magnificent Ephesian pile, than to rear it. But it was sad 
 that one who might, perchance, have achieved enviable 
 fame as a master builder, should then and more notably 
 since cast from him the bright reward possible to his 
 better gifts and tireless energy, by wasting them upon 
 the unworthier task. 
 
 Like the loyal helper he always was, Mr. Collins stood 
 by his Superintendent to the last tenable inch. The 
 Diary says : " Though often grieved at his spirit, I 
 gave him all the support I conscientiously could." 
 When at length compelled to admit that Mr. Dunn's 
 method had been perfectly indefensible, he still carefully 
 let everybody know that, in his judgment, the thing 
 aimed at, viz., an increase of the Ministry, was most 
 needful to be done. 
 
 During the pressure of this trouble, the causes of which 
 he had told to his father, he received from him a very 
 characteristic epistle. " I am truly sorry. Why does 
 Mr. Dunn waste his strength in throwing down what it 
 has taken other men so much trouble to build ? Why 
 cannot he be quiet ? I do not know how his temper 
 would do for my work. A wicked wretch of this town 
 makes it a rule, whenever he meets a Missionary or 
 Minister, to lift his hat, look up to heaven, and invoke 
 
 o
 
 IQ4 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 upon them the most horrid curses. Last Monday he 
 met me in a public place, and acted as he is wont. 
 I turned upon him, and said, ' The Lord have mercy 
 upon your soul ! ' ' Yes,' he replied ; 'and confound you, 
 you Methodist thief, for ever ! ' I lifted up my voice, and 
 cried, ' O Lord, give this man repentance ! ' He 
 responded, 'And send this canting Parson to everlasting 
 darkness!' I continued, ' God bless this man ! ' ' And 
 send this fellow to perdition!' he roared. I persisted, 
 ' Lord, let him never suffer the ruin which he wishes 
 for me ! ' Thus we kept on until hundreds gathered round. 
 Petition outlasted blasphemy ; and the reviler, baffled 
 and put to shame, slunk away amid the hisses and 
 groans of the crowd. He had only been bellman for 
 me. To the congregation so unexpectedly brought, I 
 preached, distributed tracts among them, and went on 
 my way, thanking God ' who giveth us the victory.' 
 But this is rough work : and how Ministers who cannot 
 agree with praying men, would get on with cursing men, 
 I do not know. 
 
 " Do care for your health, my son. The devil will 
 be well pleased if he can get you prematurely broken 
 down, or killed outright. Entwistle, James Wood, and 
 other such, holy and wise, have passed away in good 
 old age. We want experienced, peaceable men to fill 
 their places : men who will not make breaches, but build 
 up broken walls. 
 
 " May He, who is Head of the Church and over all, 
 rebuke for you the wind and the sea, and give you a 
 great calm ! " 
 
 What this strife cost Mr. Collins, God only can tell. 
 A letter says : " May the Lord send us quietness ! 
 When I come to seek Him in the closet, it is often a 
 full hour before I can get Circuit broils cleared out of 
 the way, and my soul find free thoroughfare." How he 
 rebuked talebearers, who on either hand blew up the 
 flames of contention, every congregation could attest. 
 How he gave the whole weight of his popular influence, 
 and the whole stress of his tremendous exertions, to 
 prevent mischief and to repair damage, was patent to 
 all. Not blaming officials for opposing unconstitutional 
 assumptions, he yet rebuked them without stint, and at
 
 DUDLEY. 195 
 
 last left them, because, when by action of the District 
 Meeting freed from every vestige of galling yoke, they 
 did not nobly and of willing mind do what neces- 
 sity, justice, and piety, alike required. He writes : 
 " Another Minister is absolutely demanded. With our 
 present staff the work is impracticable. We have in 
 Tipton six hundred members ; and in places within a 
 mile, three hundred more. I can do all that a man 
 ought to do; but I cannot approach what ought to be 
 done. Henley, the last but one here, worked himself 
 almost into the grave ; to which some weeks ago he 
 was carried. Hardy, my predecessor, went away a 
 broken man, and has not yet rallied. I have had an 
 illness ; and were I to preach and hold meetings as 
 often as this crowded population presents opportunity, 
 and as often as my feelings prompt, I should soon be 
 worn down." 
 
 In another letter, written to me, Mr. Collins says: 
 " Our leading friends gather round me, and say, ' Do 
 not leave us. Pray do not think of it.' I reply, ' The 
 work, now crushing, with every convert is still growing. 
 If you would have me remain, call out a helper to share 
 my toil.' The answer is, ' dear no ! we can face no 
 such risks. It would land us in embarrassments.' This 
 talk would be endurable, if either our exchequer were in 
 difficulties, or our people were poor. Neither is the 
 case. There is a surplus revenue, a'nd a large, money- 
 getting membership. Why, this very week they are 
 spending as much upon paint as would have kept a 
 young man two years as a winner of souls. I must go : 
 for, first, they refuse the help which is necessary to 
 accomplish the work, and, second, from further contact 
 with prevailing contentiousness my soul shrinks." 
 
 The last Dudley Friday record says, " I have this day 
 profited by a treatise of Pike's upon the Christian 
 Ministry. A letter in the Diary of Williams, of Kidder- 
 minster, has also been blessed to me. How soon this 
 year has fled ! Rye, Gateshead, Evesham, and Keigh- 
 ley have all asked me for next appointment ; but I have 
 accepted an invitation to Coventry. Some friends 
 wonder at my choice. They say, ' It is low.' ' By 
 God's help I may improve it.' ' It is poor.' ' That, 
 
 O 2
 
 ig6 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 might be worse for some other brother than for me/ 
 On the other side, it is easy. I may read my Bible 
 more, pray more, and prepare more fully for weightier 
 charges, if God ever see fit to lay them upon me. It is 
 central : I can sally out, if asked to do so, into other 
 Circuits. It offers me free sphere for working out my 
 own plans : I shall be Superintendent. It is healthy : 
 near to my native air. It is within convenient distance 
 of my wife's mother and friends in London. My choice, 
 which few will covet, has been made in the fear of God. 
 I now dedicate this hour to prayer that for me, and for 
 all my brethren, the decisions of the Stationing Com- 
 mittee may be guided aright." 
 
 Thus closed a year entered upon with bright hope ; 
 gone through with gigantic effort; marked by entire 
 consecration; educational by the new forms of trial which 
 chequered it ; and crowned with wonderful success.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 COVENTRY. 
 
 METHODISM did not get very early hold in Coventry. 
 Mr. Wesley writes : "Wednesday, August 2ist, 1779, 
 I came to Coventry, and found that notice had been 
 given for my preaching in the Park: but heavy rain 
 prevented. I sent to the Mayor, desiring the use of the 
 town hall. He refused ; but the same day gave the use 
 of it to a dancing master. I went to the market. Many 
 gathered and listened with all seriousness. I preached 
 there again the next morning, and again in the evening. 
 Then I took coach for London. I was nobly attended : 
 behind the coach were ten convicted felons, loudly bias 
 pheming and rattling their chains; by my side sat a 
 man with a loaded blunderbuss, and another upon the 
 coach." Tuesday, July ntli, 1786, Mr. Wesley went 
 once more, and remarks : " The poor little flock at 
 Coventry have at length procured a neat, convenient 
 room. As many as could get in were all attention. So 
 is the scene changed, that I know not but, if it had been 
 proposed, the Corporation might this time have given 
 the use of the town hall to me, rather than to a dancing- 
 master." 
 
 Coventry has oft been troubled by industrial distress : 
 its ribbon-weavers, having to compete with the soup- 
 eating artisans of the Continent, have never been able 
 to maintain wages at the standard of fair English 
 comfort. A petition presented to the House of 
 Commons on the i3th of May, 1819, by P. Moore, Esq., 
 then M.P. for the city, in its plea for relief, stated that 
 44 the very best workmen earned but ten shillings per 
 week, though they laboured sixteen hours a day; that
 
 ig8 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 inferior hands could not get enough to obtain neces- 
 saries ; and that poor's rates in aid of them were levied 
 to the amount of 17,500 in one year." The handicrafts- 
 men of the city, though raised above that starvation 
 point, have failed, even yet, to get as a class out ot the 
 cold shade of penury. What Mr. Wesley lett it, that 
 Mr. Collins found it " the poor little flock at Coventry.*' 
 The people were worthy, and, after their power, liberal : 
 but their number was small, their debts large, and their 
 financial burden to them intolerable. In despair, they 
 had wished to relinquish the second Minister. In 
 answer to their overtures, Mr. Collins told them that 
 he could not come to be a "solitary;" that sending 
 labourers from the field would be more likely to extinguish 
 the Circuit than to help it ; that, if, however, they would 
 trustfully hold on, in God's name he would come and 
 share the struggle with them. 
 
 To be " sent to Coventry " is not pleasant, as under- 
 stood in common society ; ecclesiastical appointment 
 thither, at the date we speak of, though not penal, was 
 as we have shown, not specially desirable : few would 
 have wished it. The choice of such a Circuit set one 
 inend expostulating: " Why, it is a perfect throwing of 
 yourself away. I do not think an angel from heaven 
 could raise Coventry." " Neither do I," was the calm 
 reply: "but 1 believe the Lord from heaven can; and 
 He is going with me." 
 
 " Saturday, August ayth, 1842. We arrived at our 
 new home. It is of fair size, and I have a good study. 
 The house needs much to be done in it, but my Stewards 
 have no funds ; so I reckon it will tax my own pocket 
 about twenty pounds." 
 
 A friend writes to me: " Mr. Collins's first Sabbath at 
 Warwick Lane Chapel was a never-to-be-forgotten day. 
 The service commenced with that appropriate hymn, 
 beginning : 
 
 ' Give me the faith which can remove 
 
 And sink the mountain to a plain; 
 Give me the child-like praying love, 
 
 Which longs to build Thy house again; 
 Thy love let it my heart o'erpower, 
 And all my simple soul devour.'
 
 COVENTRY. igg 
 
 " As he gave the lines, force, beauty, and impressive- 
 ness, never perceived by me before, seemed to breathe 
 through the words. Then followed a prayer so pleading, 
 so child-like, and yet so mighty, that all believing hearts 
 felt assured that revival was already begun. The dis- 
 course, founded upon Deut. xxxiii. 8 n, was original, 
 unique, and stimulating. In the evening, the warnings 
 of the unconverted, the invitations of the penitent, and 
 the appeals for present exercise of faith, had directness 
 and unction such as none of us had known before." 
 
 The Journal record is : " The congregation is small. 
 I began my pulpit labours with tears : I had signs of 
 good." My own correspondent states: "Ten, chiefly 
 senior Sunday scholars, were led that night to cry for 
 mercy;" and adds, "Like results followed successively 
 Sabbath after Sabbath, until our Society was nearly 
 doubled ; our congregation more than doubled ; and 
 our funds replenished. His morning sermons can never 
 be forgotten while any of the church that listened to 
 them remain. His witness for holiness was constant. 
 His thoughts were profound, heart-stirring, and, for 
 variety, inexhaustible. Upon that theme his words 
 glowed and burned : while the heavenly benignity that 
 beamed in his happy face helped to mak every sentence 
 tell." 
 
 Mrs. H had been long afflicted ; her husband was 
 
 an Independent : private Eucharist being a custom 
 avoided by the church of which he was a member, its 
 Pastor scrupled to administer to the poor sufferer at 
 home. She had now been a prisoner seven years : what- 
 ever logic there might appear to others against clinical 
 Communion, it failed to stay the yearning of her heart, 
 which languished to "do this in remembrance of Jesus." 
 At a word, wishing to do a service, not to win a prose- 
 lyte, Mr. Collins went, and, with a Christian friend or 
 two, held a sweet service in the chamber of the invalid. 
 At the close, she exclaimed, " O, my faith has been 
 greatly strengthened. My spirit is refreshed. It has 
 been as if my Saviour had been set forth before my 
 eyes." 
 
 " Friday, September gth. This is a large and wicked 
 place. Of 32,000 inhabitants it is computed that 24,000
 
 200 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 make no profession of religion, attend no place of 
 worship, and, to a fearful extent, are evangelically 
 untouched. Ignorance, sensuality, and all kinds of 
 immorality abound. There are many Socialists. There 
 is much poverty, and more sin : much degradation and 
 desperateness of wickedness. They harden the neck at 
 rebuke. Boys and men, to whom I have spoken in the 
 streets, give me ill replies. Our people are few ; our 
 Circuit bowed down with debt ; the stewards are in 
 advance "100 ; and the quarterly deficiency is six or 
 eight pounds. One thing I see, we must visit the out 
 places oftener. What has been called full work here has 
 hardly been enough for healthy exercise. I have never 
 been thoroughly weary since I came. Four times a 
 week is not all the preaching a Methodist Minister must 
 do if he would keep blood of souls off his conscience in 
 a dark district like this. How can things be expected to 
 rise with such little effort ? Lord, I give up the Circuit 
 to Thee. Teach me to make the new Plan to Thy glory : 
 but, Lord, while we multiply our deeds, do Thou revive 
 Thy work. O God, help me now to take up a lamenta- 
 tion for the city ! I bewail the unbelief of Coventry : 
 many read infidel books, gather in infidel assemblies, 
 and answer rebuke with infidel flippancy. I bewail the 
 profaneness of Coventry : Thy name is taken in vain ; 
 men curse, and children blaspheme, in the streets. I 
 bewail the Sabbath-breaking of Coventry : Thy house is 
 neglected, sloth indulged, traffic done, or pleasure pur- 
 sued, all the day long. I bewail the lack of family care 
 in Coventry : parents neglect, children run riot, and 
 neither pray. I bewail the strifes of Coventry : in busi- 
 ness, in politics, in religion. I bewail the abounding 
 wickedness of Coventry. O Thou, who didst weep over 
 Jerusalem, give me tears for the sins of this people : 
 help me to live for the good of this people. Before Thee, 
 and for Thee, I resolve to improve time, to rebuke sin, 
 to declare Thy salvation, and to be continually diligent 
 in every kind of labour." 
 
 On Tuesday, September I3th, Mr. Collins paid his 
 Hrst visit to Wood End. A correspondent says : " We 
 had, to hear the new preacher, a much larger congrega- 
 tion than common, and, while he insisted upon the duty
 
 COVENTRY. 2OI 
 
 of present and entire holiness, unwonted feeling and 
 earnest desire pervaded all hearts. The members oi 
 Society, with their two Leaders, stayed for renewal oi 
 Quarterly Tickets. The senior Leader expressed him- 
 self in a very desponding tone. Said Mr. Collins, ' You 
 are like a man in a house with the shutters closed. 
 Light ! light ! an ocean of light all around, but he will 
 not let it in. Block out the love of God no longer. Let 
 
 in the light. Let it in at once.' Mr. H returned 
 
 again to dolorous laments of his own unworthine s,, 
 which were thus laconically cut short : ' Why, brothers 
 you are poking at the sinkhole now ! Down with 
 the shutters, man ! Down with the shutters, I tell you ! 
 Look up ! Look up in faith, and straightway love of 
 God, the brightest glory of heaven, will fill your soul.' 
 
 Mr. L , the other Leader, then also coming upon 
 
 the Plan as a Local Preacher, spoke tar below the mark 
 of one who should be a guide in the Church. He had 
 sunk into a state of doubt. He had more fear than 
 faith, and was living without any satisfactory assurance 
 of personal acceptance with God. ' Why, Lissaman,' 
 said Mr. Collins, ' what do you tell your members ? 
 What do you say when you go to preach ? I could 
 not preach, and I would not live, in your state of mind 
 for one day. Here,' said he, giving him the Bible, 
 ' read for me i John v. 9 12. You see, ' He that 
 believeth not God hath made Him a liar ; because he 
 believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.' 
 Now, which will you do ? Will you believe Him? or, 
 will you make Him a liar? Lissaman a Leader he 
 ought to believe ! a Local Preacher ! there is no 
 excuse for him he ought to believe ! he must believe ! 
 Lord, help him to believe.' " 
 
 From the date of this visit Leaders and members 
 alike started forward with fresh vigour. New life came 
 to the place. 
 
 Monday, September i.gth. Mr. Collins went to the 
 Financial District Meeting, held in Birmingham. His 
 Steward accompanied him, hoping to obtain 60 ; but 
 funds being very low, 38 was all the aid he could get. 
 The purse-bearer probably returned disconsolate, but the 
 Pastor enters in his Journal : " O my God, I look to
 
 2O2 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Thee alone for my Circuit ; " and then narrates how, 
 at night, he went to preach at Belmont Row, and 
 " could not supplicate, the Lord so filled his mouth with 
 praise." 
 
 October 5th was set apart as a day of fasting and 
 prayer for a revival of the work of God in the Coventry 
 Circuit. Public services were held at 8 A.M., at i, and 
 again at 8 P.M. The Diary notices a profitable hour of 
 secret prayer in the vestry, had before the public evening 
 meeting began. At the after service several souls were 
 saved. A letter written the same week contains an 
 important restime: "This part of the country is as 
 fine as Kent. Spiritually, however, ' Death reigns.' 
 But, at length, a stir begins among the bones. At each 
 prayer-meeting eight or ten persons have come forward 
 as penitent seekers. In the classes this week I have 
 given twelve notes upon trial. Pastoral visits cheer me 
 by frequent discovery of instances of saving mercy, 
 which, but for them, would have been by me unknown. 
 Thus, yesterday, I learned the cases of two young 
 women : one was set free during the sermon last Sun- 
 day ; the other found peace at the table of the Lord a 
 fortnight ago." 
 
 " My colleague, Thomas Hudson, is an Institution 
 man, most amiable in manners, and likely to draw many 
 souls to Jesus by cords of love. He is an excellent 
 helper ; works with me well ; has begun to fast on 
 Friday ; pleads for success ; and is a ready-minded 
 man for all good things." 
 
 " I have a comfortable house, and every person in it 
 is fully alive to God. I have a people, humble, teach- 
 able, and who have learned by what they have suffered ; 
 I have a field thick with thousands of unconverted ; I 
 can generally secure the forenoon in the study ; I have 
 God, All Sufficient ; I am happy, well assured of being 
 in my right place, and thankful to that Providence which 
 directed me hither." 
 
 " It is the prime purpose of my inmost soul to get 
 more into heaven, and bring down power of God upon 
 men more than ever. May God subdue the masses ! 
 Why are not we, of to-day, endued as the Lord's mighty 
 i.:ics of old? By Him, let us get to Him: then shall
 
 COVENTRY. 203 
 
 we prevail as they did. How often do I wish that the 
 precious truths, which constitute the essential witness Oi 
 Wesleyan Methodism, had full rule and fair play in the 
 soul of every member, officer, and preacher of our 
 Society I Then should we 
 
 Seize on foes, divinely bold, 
 
 And lorce the world into the fold." 
 
 A letter, dated October nth, says : " The work of the 
 Lord commences delightfully. Almost every Leader has 
 some increase to report. Grace is also opening foun- 
 tains of liberality. A meeting last night at Bell Green 
 realized 16 from among those poor people towards 
 liquidation of the Circuit debt. Two young men, recent 
 converts, having no money, gave their guns. Another, 
 who has become a teetotaller, subscribed two barrels, for 
 which he has no further use." 
 
 " Sunday, October i6th. I found great nearness to 
 Christ in early prayer. I entered the pulpit of Warwick 
 Lane with tears. Blessing from the Lord sweetly 
 refreshed us all." Mr. Collins remarks upon the hum- 
 bling, invigorating communion his soul had during the 
 cnmposition of the discourse he gave at night. The 
 text was, Isa. Ixiv. i 4 : " O that Thou wouldest rend 
 the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the 
 mountains might flow down at Thy presence ! " After 
 explaining the original allusions, he treats the words as 
 a prayer that may be used by people of God in any 
 age in which its petitions answer to their circumstances. 
 
 Nature is ever obedient. Its course may be relied on: but the 
 ways of the moral world are unsteady ; resistance and rebellion 
 have found place there. Being thus, the moral world cannot 
 without certainty of ruin be left to work on as it will. It is, 
 therefore, the scene of frequent moral miracle, of frequent sovereign 
 interposition. 
 
 When Moses and Elias came down, nothing is spoken of the 
 j heavens being rent for them : when angels descended upon 
 Bethesda waters, the heavens were not rent for them : but of the 
 Lord it is said, " He bowed the heavens and came down ; " a phrase 
 befitting well the Majesty of Him to whose sovereignty alone all 
 things do yield. 
 
 Paul did not rely upon power of suasion, energy of new-born 
 conviction, or force of truth. His watchword was, " That I may 
 know Hun and the power of His resurrection. He expected
 
 2O4 CHAPTER IX, 
 
 forth-puttings of the might of God, manifest and resistless as that 
 which raised Christ from the dead. Earth and hell conjoined to 
 slay and keep that sacred flesh ; that flesh itself, cold and impotent, 
 could neither put forth a foot, nor stretch a hand, nor open an eye, 
 nor any way co-operate with the coming power that quickened it. 
 Gloriously " the power " came ; and, lo, the Saviour lived again ! 
 This " power," conquering and matchless, Paul set himself to 
 prove. Relying upon this, he went forth confronting the nations. 
 He calls it: ''The power that worketh in us:" "The power of 
 His might :" " The exceeding greatness of His power:" "The 
 power by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself." 
 
 The descent of God may be sudden as the lightning flash. At 
 creation, one omnipotent word irradiated the eternal darkness with 
 a sudden noon. In Jerusalem the Lord came " suddenly " to His 
 temple. At Pentecost, " suddenly there was a sound as of a rush- 
 ing mighty wind." 
 
 Preparation is not inconsistent with suddenness. There is much 
 of this in soil, and seed, and root, through winter ; yet, at length, 
 it seems as if leaf and bloom all broke forth in one bright May 
 week together. Though for the last great day all days of time 
 prepare, nevertheless terribly sudden will the summons of its 
 trumpet be. There has been in this place considerable preparation 
 work. I have seen streaks in the sky. I have noticed partings 
 in the cloud. I have heard the ice cracking. Winter is giving way. 
 I have felt the softer breeze. Spring approaches. There are sure 
 signs of it. There are tears in the cottages : I have seen them. 
 There are prayers in the sanctuary : I have heard them. There are 
 groans in the closet : I have no doubt of them. 
 
 It would delight some of you to be filled with the Spirit to-day. 
 If your child were to be converted to-day, if your class of scholars 
 were to be visited to-day, if careless sinners were to be awakened 
 and saved to-day, what joy would be yours ! If such things above 
 all would please you, cry now, in the language of the text, for the 
 nstant, sudden, coming of the Lord. 
 
 Preachers, Leaders, do you not feel need of God in your work ? 
 Cry then, " O that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come 
 down ! " 
 
 Teachers, guides, and instructors of youth, you cannot bear your 
 weighty charge alone. Cry then, " O that Thou wouldest rend the 
 heavens, and come down ! " 
 
 Feeble, secluded, retiring ones, here is a door opened unto you for 
 secret service of the kingdom. Cry, " O that Thou wouldest rend 
 the heavens, and come down ! " 
 
 Heads of families, mothers, Christian mothers, be not content that 
 your children should come forth upon the world unconverted. Cry, 
 " O that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down ! " 
 
 Do not weary. If man, by prayer, may bring the descent of God 
 among men, the object is worthy of energy protracted to agony. 
 Do not weary. The heart that pants and cries for God is blessed in 
 its hungering. Do not weary. He will come, surely come, soon 
 come. O, cry on, and live according to your cry. Live as those 
 who believe that He is coming; as those who desire His coming;
 
 COVENTRY. 205 
 
 as those who daily expect His coming. O Jesus, long dishonoured, 
 long disowned, come. Come, and show to whom dominion belongeth. 
 Amen. Lord Jesus, come quickly. 
 
 At the intercession meeting following the sermon, of 
 which we have just given citation, the penitents were 
 many, and some of the cases were of special interest. 
 One was that of a fallen Local Preacher, who had 
 become first delinquent, and then utterly apostate, 
 having embraced, avowed, and taught, the principles of 
 Socialism. 
 
 Saturday, October 22nd, Mr. Collins that he might 
 be on the spot fresh and ready for a long day of Sunday 
 work went to, and slept at, Mr. Arlidge's house. He 
 preached in the Baptist chapel, at Sowe, at nine ; in 
 Barnacle chapel at eleven ; at Bell Green at half past 
 two and at six. Several young men were saved that day. 
 
 Sunday, October 3Oth, was spent in Burslem. He 
 found things much more cheering than at his former 
 visit. Fifteen persons professed to find the Lord. He 
 was informed how, sometime before, a riotous mob had 
 burned houses, and destroyed much property : they were 
 rampant until a handful of soldiers wheeled in sight. 
 Such majesty does authority wear in England ; such is 
 the ingrained terror of our people at being found arrayed 
 against it, that, though taken man by man, just as brave 
 as the military, the huge crowd, ten thousand strong, 
 broke and fled before that minim troop of thirty-two. It 
 was law, not sabres, made the stalwart potters run : a 
 thing, after all, in which we may find more to admire 
 than to laugh at. 
 
 Mr. Collins s Journal has some noteworthy passages : 
 
 " Sunday, November 6th. Going to Bell Green, I came 
 up with a stout boy, carrying a basketful of marketings. 
 He was very ignorant, and knew nothing of the sacred- 
 ness of Sabbath hours. I next met a man coming from 
 his field with a sack of potatoes upon his back ; I gave 
 him a word, but, soon after, looking back, I with joy per- 
 ceived that he was getting a second edition of the lecture, 
 with enlargments, from a good Local Preacher, whose 
 duties brought him along the same way. Praise the 
 Lord. This is right. If we go on thus claiming the 
 highway for God, sin will skulk yet."
 
 206 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " Sunday, November i3th, I rose for prayer before five. 
 The power was felt in the congregations. In the evening 
 I called the prayer-meeting in the chapel, but desired 
 such as were anxious to go into the vestry." One of 
 the Leaders appointed to converse with them writes 
 thus to me : " About thirty followed us. So over- 
 powered were some, that with difficulty they reached 
 the place. It was a night to be remembered by many." 
 
 " Monday, November i4th. W. Holmes, a Chartist 
 leader, a public advocate of Socialism, and a chief mouth- 
 piece and organizer of the colliers in their late strike, 
 this night publicly renounced infidel principles, before a 
 large congregation at Bell Green. This is a heavy 
 blow to unbelievers there. The man seems candid, 
 serious, and fully convinced of the truth, though not yet 
 made happy by it." 
 
 A remarkable conversion that of Mary B. took 
 place about this time. Her aunt with whom she lived 
 was a useful Leader, whose class Mary joined, but 
 remained unsaved. Some scenes in the revival awoke 
 her scorn, and she said : " If anybody comes teazing 
 me, I will offend them." Soon after that flippant speech, 
 in a dream her deceased mother, a holy woman, came 
 to her, and, laying her hand upon her, said : " Mary, 
 work while it is day : night cometh ! " Waking with 
 that unexpected message from the dead on her heart, 
 she could rest no more until at the penitent bench, to 
 which at the earliest opportunity she humbly went, the 
 Lord revealed Himself unto her. 
 
 " Monday, November ayth. At Lockhurst Lane I 
 admitted thirteen candidates into Society." 
 
 "Sunday, December nth. Such a Communion ser- 
 vice has never been known here, since the Wesleyans 
 first came to the city, as we have had to-day : one hun- 
 dred and fifty-one communicated ; several found peace 
 with God at the table; all seemed comforted and 
 quickened." 
 
 As Mr. Collins had much experience of prayer, so he 
 had much confidence in it. He writes : " Prayer 
 offered in faith, cannot be unnoticed, yet answers do not 
 always come in the form we look ior them. That God 
 has heard me I have had proofs as certain as I have of
 
 COVENTRY. 2C7 
 
 my own existence. O Lord, giving me this power puts 
 the key of heaven into my hand. Help me, by faithful 
 exercise of it, to bring blessing down upon this Circuit." 
 
 Mr. Collins carefully noted instances of the workings 
 of Providence. Thus he records : " Brother S. declared, 
 ' Since I have given more, I have lost less.' Widow 
 Holland said, ' So soon as I opened my cottage for the 
 Lord, He furnished me, from whom I know not, with 
 fifteen hundredweight of coal for the winter.' " Mr. 
 Sprigg, after preaching one Lord's day, was received 
 into a home, where, though they refreshed him willingly 
 with the best they could, everything was so marked with 
 poverty that his heart was touched. Unobserved he 
 placed and left all the silver he had under a candlestick 
 on the mantel. When next entertained there, the cloud 
 of adversity had passed ; but the poor people gratefully 
 told him how, on the former occasion, God had mani- 
 festly directed him to help them in a great trouble. 
 Every exertion they could make had been made, and 
 yet a deficiency in the rent was left, which deficiency 
 the sum his charity provided completely and exactly 
 supplied. 
 
 " Tuesday, December 2yth. Our Quarterly Meeting 
 was held. Three new places were taken on for preach- 
 ing. Funds are hopeful. During the last three months 
 we have had many solemn displays of God's power. 
 Sinners of all grades have been saved. We have an 
 increase of ninety members, and sixty on trial. At the 
 evening tea-meeting the feeling was good, and the 
 amount realized towards the Circuit debt swelled up to 
 sixty pounds." 
 
 A characteristic and wise letter was written to me, 
 bearing date December 28th, 1842 : 
 
 DEAR COUSIN, 
 
 I FEEL anxious about your health. Beware of overdoing. The 
 Master, if you will let Him, will open your way into His vineyard. 
 But if by premature exertion you break up your constitution, or 
 render yourself incapable of study, it will be ruin. Many earnest 
 men shorten life. This need not be done. In the bodily exercises of 
 our Master's work there is surely a medium to be found between 
 softness and excess. Better far exceed in zeal than shrivel in effemi- 
 nacy ; but best of all to learn of Paul, who, though in labours most 
 abundant, yet did them so wisely, that he became " such an one as
 
 208 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Paul the aged." Ask of God : He can teach you, as He did John 
 Wesley, to work successfully through a long life. 
 
 Agree with God before you go forth. When Jacob had settled 
 matters overnight with the Angel, he found little difficulty next 
 morning with his brother. In the field of action exhibit the power 
 of your faith by calm firmness of demeanour. If the tone of feeling 
 in a meeting be low, try to raise it rather by brief believing exclama- 
 tions, than by frequent, long, exhausting prayers. 
 
 On Sunday, January 8th, 1843, Mr. Collins, in his 
 evening sermon, set forth the picture of " Christ's 
 confessors," given Rev. xiv. 3 5. The sermon bating 
 some Faber-taught calculations of the mysterious twelve 
 hundred and sixty days was stirring, valuable, evan- 
 gelical, and practical. It gives 1860 as the climacteric 
 year. Old Father Time, that ruthless destroyer of 
 Apocalyptic chronologies, has brought us to the date, 
 but not verified the expositor's announcements. Well, 
 so be it. Thomas Collins's predictions another warn- 
 ing for the daring must go to the same limbo which 
 receives and buries hosts of ingenious speculations, 
 endorsed by such names as Brightman and Mede, 
 Bengel and Gumming. 
 
 The Coventry Leaders' Meeting, like many other 
 people, had an itch for these novelties, and urgently 
 requested the publication of this discourse. Mentioning 
 this to a friend, half apologetically for the topics on 
 which the sermon treats, Mr. Collins adds words of bio- 
 graphic value, which lay open to us the enlarging ideas 
 of pulpit duty that moved him in its composition. He 
 says : " In these days Ministers need to be decided 
 and active. Popery and infidelity have to be confronted. 
 The faith must be contended for as well as taught. 
 Public and prevailing sin must be denounced in the 
 name of the Lord. But, while thus valiant for the 
 truth, we must be so in such manner that the infinite 
 worth and goodness of Christ be ever upon our tongue, 
 and so dwelt upon that the world be won to Him." To 
 t his end the preacher's own words had in that sermon 
 been faithfully directed ; all had been redolent of Jesus, 
 as the spikenard box was of perfume. 
 
 Monday, January i8th. During house-to-house visi- 
 tation in the neighbourhood where he was to hold an 
 evening service, Mr. Collins entered a cottage, and found
 
 COVENTRY. 209 
 
 within it a sad, but common case : one of a thousand 
 equally monitory, ah ! how little heeded ! a woman 
 once a happy Methodist, now out of the pale of all 
 Church recognition. A husband a Jnisband without 
 religion had been the devil's bait for her soul. Surely 
 in his wooing the man must have come in more pre- 
 sentable form than his visitor found him, for he de- 
 scribes him as " a dirty, wicked, little creature." The 
 wife had been comely ; but sin had brought the poor 
 backslider down, until now the bridegroom found in her 
 his ill conditions fairly matched. Both were won to hear 
 the Word. 
 
 Wednesday, January 25th, a subscription to add 
 class-rooms and obtain an organ for the chapel was 
 hopefully commenced. The sinking Circuit had become 
 buoyant. Six months earlier any dream of such ex- 
 pansions would have been thought fit only for " The 
 Arabian Nights." 
 
 Sunday, January 2gth, Mr. Collins, being at Hinckley 
 for an anniversary, rose at three, and communed with 
 the Lord. He says : " I had a sweet time until half- 
 past five. I slept a little after. God was in my heart 
 all day. Souls were saved." Mr. Collins's host, no 
 admirer of prayer-meetings, gave him, at the close of 
 the evening, his candid opinion, that early suppers were 
 better than late revivalism : " He had no faith in such 
 ways. One half at the chapel were too good to need 
 them, and the other half too bad to be mended by them." 
 His guest writes, " I was enabled to urge strongly the 
 claims of personal religion. May it yet be a blessing to 
 him and to his wife ! " 
 
 Sunday, February 5th, special services, with a view 
 to promote revival, were commenced in the Coventry 
 City chapel. I recall that week with gladness. It affords 
 me delight to find in Mr. Collins's Journal my own name, 
 coupled with a sermon about "the faithful saying," said 
 to be fruitful of results, and noted with some very kind 
 and kinsmanlike commendations not to be reproduced 
 here : to me privately pleasant proof of that interest 
 taken in my early days, which I joy to know won for me 
 so many prayers of this holy man. It was the first of 
 such services with which I ever stood publicly connected. 
 
 p
 
 2IO CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Dr. Nettleton- says, " I attach much importance to a 
 series of meetings." Undoubtedly there is power in 
 reiteration. There must be blow after blow, if the nail is 
 to go deep. In other things none question this method : 
 why should they in religion ? Friendship gets its pro- 
 tracted services when the year turns to its days of festi- 
 val ; and, without demur, family love burns warmer 
 through all the months by reason of those Christmas 
 reunions. Savans make a week of it at the British 
 Association ; nor does the student's hunt after science 
 become less keen by any reaction from that public 
 gathering up of results. The rifle practice of each week 
 is stimulated, and each drill made cheery, by thoughts of 
 those field-days in which our volunteers annually turn 
 out in their camp at Wimbledon, when a prince reviews, 
 and fair hands reward, our successful marksmen. An 
 instinct of humanity underlies these things : why should 
 not religion seize, use and hallow it ? I have heard no 
 objection to reiterated religious services that ever 
 touched their principle. All exceptions of any weight 
 really bje but against evils of mode, no way intrinsic to 
 the thing. 
 
 The register of that week tells of one young prodigal 
 in tears, and says, " It was affecting to see his good 
 father praying over him." Such scenes are the gems of 
 revival history. The case of another convert, called for 
 special praise. He proved to be the grandchild of the 
 first Methodist Leader in Coventry. The power that 
 fell in those services was mighty. Some ribbon-weavers 
 smitten, but not healed, went away to their employ. 
 Such was their trouble of soul that their hands " forgot 
 their cunning:" the silk broke in their fingers. They 
 had to stop their looms to pray, and were so enabled at 
 the next gathering to confess how in their poor shops 
 they had found the mercy-seat. Salvation followed the 
 pastoral visits as well as the sanctuary labours of the 
 week. G., a boat builder, was ill. He had been con- 
 sidered sceptical. To his chamber Mr. Collins went, 
 and says, " I let him tell me all his sad tale, and then, 
 without shrinking, showed him, and pressed home, his 
 guilt. Such palliations as he urged I vigorously threw 
 aside, by plain assertions of God's rights. I proved to
 
 COVENTRY. 211 
 
 him, and without relenting, maintained, that justice must 
 have its course. He was deeply aflected ; and when his 
 last excuse was silenced, cried, ' Sir, you hit me too 
 hard.' As he was both convicted and alarmed, I now set 
 myself patiently to show him how in Jesus justice has 
 had its course. The Gospel seemed new to him. He 
 drank it in at once, eagerly as would a thirsty deer the 
 stream, and there and then found peace." With such 
 facts occurring, what wonder that, as the days passed on, 
 the interest deepened, and the congregations grew, until, 
 upon the final Sabbath, the chapel, whose desolate look 
 extorted tears when first the preacher saw it, was filled 
 in every aisle, and crowded up the pulpit stairs. Thus 
 hearers were multiplied, sinners rescued, and the Church 
 confirmed. 
 
 To Leamington, and to Birmingham, Mr. Collins 
 went forth to give his valuable help in similar services. 
 In the Birmingham East Circuit, for weeks before he 
 came, a few young men united in intercession for a 
 mighty outpouring of the Spirit in connection with his 
 visit. It came. At Belmont, on February I5th, he 
 preached from Acts ii. 40. It was a sermon perhaps 
 matched, but not exceeded, in raciness and strength by 
 Daniel Isaac's published discourse from the same text. 
 Much good resulted. The next night he expounded 
 Deut xxviii. 26 29, in the most sweet, simple, spiritual 
 manner possible, Some reminiscences I can afibrd : 
 " The eternal God is my refuge, and underneath are the 
 everlasting arms" "As I sat in the railway carriage, we 
 stopped at Weedon ; a soldier's wife, from the barracks 
 there, came in, with two young children and an infant 
 at the breast. Novelty, noise, and motion, much excited 
 the children who were not ' in arms ; ' the one there, 
 busy drawing life from her life, lifted but his eyes to 
 meet her kindly look. The sudden whistle, which 
 warned us of an approaching tunnel, startled him some- 
 what ; but her quiet glance of love assured him again, 
 and he sank back to nestle in her embrace. The tunnel 
 was long, and when we emerged I observed that little 
 one asleep! Then, in my heart, I prayed ; ' So, O 
 my Father, may I repose upon Thy bosom and under 
 Thine eye. So, as I enter the valley of death, may I 
 
 p 2
 
 212 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 fall asleep upon Thine arms, to awake and find myself 
 with Thee in the light of eternity ! ' 
 
 " ' Everlasting arms ' are ' beneath thee.' Jeshurun, 
 rest upon them : rest upon thy God. One Sabbath I 
 entered the cottage of a good man, and said : ' Well, 
 James, is your soul joying in God to-day ? ' ' Indeed, 
 no. My mind is clouded, my prayer feeble, and my 
 heart cold. I can, however, still conscientiously say 
 that I hate sin, and, though with many fears that it will 
 master me, strive against it.' ' You want perfect love, 
 James.' ' I do, I feel I do.' ' Have it then.' ' Is not 
 that what I wish ? Is not that what I am trying for ? ' 
 ' Yes, James, you have tried too much, and trusted too 
 little. Here ; read this : 
 
 Round thee and beneath are spread 
 The everlasting arms. 
 
 ' Whose arms ? ' ' God's.' ' Where spread ? ' ' Around 
 my soul and underneath.' ' Why, man, say you so ? 
 Sink down upon them then and rest ! ' 'I will try.' 
 'James! James! there you are again; trying in- 
 stead of trusting. Suppose you placed your child in 
 the cradle, and said, " Now, dear one, rest," would 
 you expect the little one to set itself shaking the 
 cradle, and to say, "I am trying?" would he rest 
 so ? ' ' No, Sir, he must be still to rest.' ' And so must 
 you, James. Tell God, ' Thou art Mine, and I am 
 Thine : ' cast thyself on His fidelity : sink down upon 
 Him, and, on an arm firmer than rock, tenderer than 
 a mother's, thou shalt rest.' " 
 
 At the conclusion of this sermon, filled with things 
 deep, touching, and very beautiful, the Communion rail, 
 at a word was surrounded by seekers ; and as fast as 
 any, being made happy, withdrew, others took their 
 place. By such relays, through two blessed hours, the 
 whole space was kept full. 
 
 Wednesday, March 8th, was the first of the Coventry 
 race days. True to his conviction of the duty of 
 opposing public sins, Mr. Collins set forth a handbill, 
 giving six reasons why people should not go. It was 
 the most trenchant, vigorous paper that I ever saw of 
 the kind. Thousands, at his own expense, were printed
 
 COVENTRY. 213 
 
 and distributed. It was known that the appeal turned 
 back some to pray who had started in the path of vanity. 
 As he was coming home from a protracted meeting, held 
 to keep young converts in good and happy employ, Mr. 
 Collins met one of the devil's over-burdened beer- 
 carriers. The poor wretch's line of walk was so eccen- 
 tric that he might have been supposed to have business 
 on both sides of the road at once. His method of 
 locomotion was anything but uniform. First he ran, 
 then he reeled, next, with serio-comic air of dignity, 
 attempted to pull himself up to a perpendicular. Alas ! 
 his whirling brain made him top-heavy: he lurched, now 
 this way, now that, staggered, fell, and found a couch in 
 the gutter, with a mud-heap for a pillow. A respectable- 
 looking man, with some trouble and much bedaubing, 
 set him once more on end again. The delirious sot, 
 evidently fancying himself a party in a prize ring, cried, 
 " Time ; " and gave a blow, well delivered, full in his 
 helper's face. Irritated by this unexpected and ungrate- 
 ful assault on his nose, the man first boxed the pot- 
 valiant fool well, then, with more kindness than he 
 deserved, taking him out of the wet and out of the way, 
 reared him against the wall, and left him, sad specimen 
 of race-day work, to get sober at leisure. 
 
 A letter, dated March i5th, gives good information of 
 the progress of the work of the Lord. It says : " This 
 is a pleasant little Circuit : much to my mind. I bless 
 God that I came. In September last three hundred met 
 in class ; more than five hundred meet now. As the 
 harvest of half a year, all things considered, this is the 
 best I ever saw. Many of the cases of conversion have 
 been remarkably interesting. Rejoice with us, in what 
 the Lord hath wrought ; but ask yet more, for tens of 
 thousands yet unsaved still dwell around us. 
 
 " I was lately at Leamington ; the church there 
 seemed greatly refreshed, and I hear that signs of 
 quickening have continued ever since. From among the 
 converts of that day, the lady with whom I stayed has 
 gathered six new members for her class, and others, I 
 hear, have been equally successful. While God thus 
 blesses extra-parochial visits, I dare not refuse, up to my 
 power, to pay them : but applications for such out-
 
 214 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 goings are pressing upon me too numerously. I must 
 not neglect my own people, nor peril the glorious work 
 commenced in this town." 
 
 " Tuesday, March 28th. We have held our Quarterly 
 Meeting. It has been a most comfortable day. When 
 the brethren learned of our increase, and also heard 
 from the Stewards the cheering news that income not 
 only met expenditure, but also yielded towards the debt 
 an overplus 01 lour pounds, they were greatly moved, 
 some of them even to tears, by overwhelming sense of 
 the mercy of the Lord." 
 
 Mr. Collins was characterised by such persistence in 
 well-doing, that, if literally reproduced, his diary would 
 let attention flag by sameness of good. Suffice it to 
 say that, for some months, house-to-house visitation, 
 cottage meetings, out-door preachings, and series of sanc- 
 tuary services, were all successfully tried. The toil, too, 
 as of old, was interblent with prayer. One record tells 
 of " two hours secured for sweet intercourse with God;" 
 another says, " I rose before day for prayer ;" a third 
 witnesses, " I had a precious time in a wood near 
 Meriden, crying, ' Come, Lord Jesus.' " Take yet one 
 further note : " The Lord has given me many secret 
 refreshings this week." Is the power of this man, so 
 oft in audience with God, any wonder? 
 
 A memorable visit was paid to Mrs. S., who very 
 peacefully, and very painlessly, was going home. Her 
 life was gently fading like the morning star, which, as 
 one says, "melts away into the light of heaven." After 
 a thrilling testimony of the rapture felt, she observed, 
 " But, you do not look well ; you do not seem cheerful ; 
 what is the matter?" He replied, "Nothing is the 
 matter ; I am all right : but then our cases differ. 
 Happy woman! you are near your labour's end: I am 
 in the midst of mine. What wonder that, looking at it 
 out of the sunshine of Beulah country, my joy to you 
 seems dim ?" He remarks, " I came away much en- 
 couraged by the bliss of this departing saint." 
 
 When opportunity served, Mr. Collins loved to hear as 
 well as preach. About this time I find notices of his 
 delight under the Word delivered by Dr. Beaumont ; of 
 interest in a discourse by Peter Jacobs, a Chippewa
 
 COVENTRY. 215 
 
 Chief; and of solemn feeling awakened by a very affect- 
 ing sermon on " All souls are Mine," by James Parsons, 
 of York. 
 
 A letter, dated June i4th, says, "We have had a com- 
 fortable District Meeting ; three hundred increase ; one 
 thousand one hundred on trial ; finances fair; no objec- 
 tion against any brother. At Coventry we sadly needed 
 more class-rooms, and the chapel was dirty and out 
 of repair. My poor fellows met in committee, talked, 
 talked, talked, and did nothing, until I was weary. 
 Seeing the season passing, and clearly understanding 
 that they would talk on, but never face the expense, 
 at my own risk, I just set the workmen going. We 
 have repaired the roof, whitewashed the chapel walls, 
 and built three new class-rooms. I fully expect that 
 my year's salary is sunk ; but never mind, if only the 
 way for the Lord's work be cleared, and men's souls get 
 saved." 
 
 The year 1843 was the date of several important 
 public events which greatly stirred the religious world. 
 First, the outrages at Tahiti, where poor Pomare got 
 from the French such protection as the wolf gives to the 
 lamb; where the London Society's Mission was threatened 
 and impeded by armed force ; and Papal supremacy proved 
 by the logic of bayonets and cannon shot. Then came 
 Sir James Graham's notorious education scheme, pro- 
 fessedly designed for the elevation of the manufacturing 
 districts, but so unjustly devised as to give all control 
 of religious instruction to the Anglican clergy, hundreds 
 of whom, in the fresh zeal of young Puseyism, were 
 then declaring the exclusive validity of episcopal ordi- 
 nation ; treating Nonconformists with utter contempt ; 
 preaching everwhere the destructive delusion of salva- 
 tion by sacraments ; denouncing Protestantism; sidling 
 off towards Rome; and acting out the full-blown Jesuitry 
 of Tract No. XC. This measure, which bore more 
 the impress of priest than statesman, failed, as any 
 attempted legislation must which goes upon the sup- 
 position that but one form of Christianity is recognised 
 in England. That narrow thought vanished from our 
 laws when the Stuarts disappeared from the throne. 
 It is as far behind the times as the slashed costume of
 
 2l6 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 the Cavaliers. In the high judgment of Lord Mansfield, 
 the Toleration Act more than permitted ways of worship 
 other than those of prelatists. It passed upon them 
 the nation's verdict of, " Innocent." They were thence- 
 forth to be, not merely connived at by authorities, but 
 to be protected by the laws. We tell those who claim 
 to teach the children of our poor, and we will always tell 
 them, that Nonconformist rights are for ever woven into 
 the Constitution of this free realm ; that we will not be 
 ignored ; that the position won we will keep ; and are 
 resolved that the status and liberties which have been 
 our birthright shall also be our legacy. 
 
 On Thursday, May i8th, 1843, occurred the most re- 
 markable ecclesiastical event of this century ; when, for 
 the crown rights of Jesus, Chalmers, and Candlish, and 
 Cunningham, and five hundred more of Scotland's best, 
 turned their backs on kirk, and glebe, and manse, and 
 bade Caesar and his money-bags " good-bye." The fact 
 was heroic. Every Scotchman stood measurably taller 
 that day. Critical natures, like that of Lord Jeffrey, 
 were stirred. " I am proud of them," he said. Any 
 opponent so busy with hostile logic that he could not 
 admire conduct so honourable to common Christianity, 
 would deserve the label which the matchless power of 
 Guthrie fixed for life upon one whom he described as 
 " clear as a moonbeam, and cold as an icicle" 
 
 " Expressions of Christian oneness, long yearned for, 
 happily characterized this year. Christian unity is felt 
 by spiritual men to be a fact ; but how to make the fact 
 visible has been a problem puzzling many ages. Solu- 
 tion has been immensely delayed by the error of count- 
 ing uniformity essential to unity. Uniformity is a bigot's 
 dream. Sad experience, red with blood, black with 
 tyranny, full of failures, has demonstrated it to be unat- 
 tainable. We doubt whether it be desirable ; we are 
 sure it is unnecessary. In that year good men seem to 
 have read afresh the primitive motto : " Forbearing one 
 another in love ; " and wondered and wept that their 
 eyes had been holden so long from reading it before. 
 The banns of matrimony between Principle and Charity 
 were loudly proclaimed, and an Alliance made, the funda- 
 mental law of which is Recognition without Compromise.
 
 COVENTRY. 217 
 
 On the very first day of 1843, this note of love was 
 sounded in an enthusiastic gathering which, at the call 
 of Dr. Leifchild, crowded Craven chapel ; next ensued a 
 Conference of evangelical Ministers of many names, held 
 in the Wesleyan Mission House, under the presidency 
 of the venerable Richard Reece ; then followed, in June, 
 a wonderiul meeting in Exeter Hall. It breath of love 
 would have slain bigotry, it must have died instanter 
 amid the glorious eloquence of that day. 
 
 In each movement of this remarkable time, I find 
 evidence of Mr. Collins's deep interest. By prayer, and 
 speech, and eflort, and gift, he did what he might to 
 thwart the evil, and to help the good. He writes : 
 " We are passing through eventful times. The forces 
 ot light and of darkness seem alike to be drawing to- 
 gether and marshalling. Tremendous collisions may be 
 looked for. They only are safe ' who still abide close 
 sheltered in His wounded side.' " 
 
 On Monday, July 24th, Mr. Collins went to Sheffield 
 to the Conference. He hired chambers, and invited his 
 sisters to meet him ; thus adding to the zest of Confer- 
 ence services the joy of family festival. Mrs. Collins 
 was not able to accompany him. A specimen of the 
 devout, yet piquant, style in which she kept her husband 
 current with Coventry affairs I subjoin : 
 
 Daniel Farquhar is here. The steamer that has been wrecked 
 was the very one he intended to have come by. His sister for some 
 reason, which at the time seemed rather whimsical than weighty, 
 preferred another. He yielded, not to her argument, but to her wish : 
 thus God, whose are all our ways, and in whose hand our breath is, 
 saved him. 
 
 Yesterday morning, Mr. H , from i Chron. xii. 32, described 
 
 for us " men that had understanding of the times, to know what 
 Israel ought to do." As he used notes much more largely than 
 common, I taxed him with the fact, as we sat at the tea-table. He 
 admitted the indictment, but pleaded that the nature of the subject 
 demanded such correctness as could not be easily insured by memory. 
 The discourse dealt with Puseyism, and other topics of the day, and 
 seems to have been prepared with great pains. I must say that, 
 though rather grand, the thing was well done. I like these books in 
 pulpits so little that, had it been night, I might have thought it 
 venial if somebody had emancipated him from his literary fetters by 
 blowing the candles out ; an old trick which I remember your Kentish 
 men once to have played upon a reader who mistook his way into 
 their region. Our Sunday lecture had no lack of warmth. I assure
 
 2l8 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 you the worthy man quite perspired with earnestness, while, with 
 theologic cudgels, he banged to purpose the Scarlet Lady of 
 Babylon. Her well deserved pommelling did not, however, make me 
 weep so much as when you told us of Esau and Jacob kissing. 
 
 I must cease ; it is late, and I am weary. What a comforting 
 word is that : " They that wait on the Lord shall renew their 
 strength ! " Long time has passed since first it was applied to my 
 soul ; but it wears well, and has brightened in my eyes from year to 
 year ever since. 
 
 Adieu! dear husband. May you find treasures in prayer! May 
 the God of peace be with you ! May He sustain you, bless you, and 
 enrich you with all grace ! 
 
 At Conference, Mr. Collins set himself to understand 
 affairs, admired the wisdom of President Scott, was 
 made glad by every service, and rejobed in the reported 
 increase of eight thousand six hundred. Yet, at the 
 end, he writes: "It is refreshing to return to my poor, 
 loving people again. Much business, little retirement, 
 and no preaching are not good for me." 
 
 The poet's despairing one rushes to death, crying, 
 " Anywhere, anywhere, out of this world ! " That senti- 
 ment we repudiate ; but Stationing Committees think it 
 the acme of Methodist Preacher perfection joyously to 
 say, "Anywhere, anywhere, in this world." Strange 
 changes from Dan to Beersheba annually occur. They 
 come under no rule, except the all-including one of Pro- 
 vidence. To one just tried by such vicissitude, Mr. 
 Collins, not inexperienced in the same, wrote : "I hope 
 your wife learns to bear and to enjoy our vagrant kind of 
 life. There are not many earthly attractions in it ; but, 
 tell her, it is full of rewards and satisfaction to those 
 whose hearts are right." 
 
 The first Journal record after the Conference breathes 
 the contented spirit which his counsels inculcated : 
 
 " Friday, September ist, 1843. I am re-appointed to 
 Coventry. My soul this day is happy in God. I devote 
 myself to the great work of exalting my Saviour. Recent 
 perusal of Count Zinzendorf's Life has much moved me 
 to this. What a strong lover of Christ he was! A cer- 
 tain Professor of Divinity once, in his hearing, in a large 
 company, spfcke most beautifully of Jesus. Stirred by 
 the sweet sentences, that holy nobleman could not con- 
 tain himstxl ; but, as they closed, rose, fell on the
 
 COVENTRY. 2ig 
 
 speaker's neck, and kissed him before them all. I select 
 magnifying my Lord as the end of this year's en- 
 deavour. Sermons, prayers, and efforts shall go that 
 way." 
 
 About this time an invitation to Sussex came from 
 Mr. Austen, thus commencing : " Dear friend, unto 
 whom, as the instrument of my salvation, I am eternally 
 indebted ; whom I respect above all others ; and whom 
 I long to see." Who could refuse a request so prefaced? 
 Mr. Collins at once acceded. At his home the good 
 farmer told Mr. Collins : " When I began to seek the 
 Lord, I left ten boon companions. They said I should 
 soon return to them ; they predicted that I should find 
 religion dull, and get me back to the parlour of ' The 
 Ring o' Bells.' From such a fall grace has kept me ; 
 while now, poor fellows, they are all gone. In yonder 
 churchyard I can walk over all their graves; and, Sir, 
 but for religion, doubtless ere this I should have been in 
 mine too." Mr. Collins's record of this evangelical 
 campaign is joyous : " At St. Leonard's, twelve young 
 persons were saved. At Goudhurst we had conversions. 
 Though Northiam was quiet, and Sandhurst would be 
 the better for a shaking, yet it filled me with gratitude 
 to meet scores of my spiritual children. The work 
 abides. They are in health. Bless God ! they will live 
 for ever." 
 
 A letter, dated September I4th, from Mrs. Collins's 
 brother, T. H. Graham, Esq., says: " I have just had 
 very special cause for gratitude for preserving mercy. 
 As for five years I have given up shooting, you will 
 think it rather young of me to have gone out again. 
 Last Saturday was a most lovely day ; so, though taking 
 no gun myself, I accompanied Reginald and my game- 
 keeper, that I might watch the running of the dogs, 
 which is, really, very beautiful. We came to a wood, 
 always a dangerous place for shooters, and some how 
 I got struck. I did not use my common prudence. The 
 keeper was no way to blame. Through all the twenty- 
 four years he has been with me I never knew him care- 
 less. The issue, however, was, that two shots were 
 lodged, one on either side of my left eye, but, thanks to 
 my gracious God, without any serious injury either to
 
 22O CHAPTER IX. 
 
 health, vision, or appearance. So you may praise Pro- 
 vidence, and put away tear." 
 
 This chivalrous shielding of an old servant from blame 
 is characteristic of the true gentleman. Mr. Graham 
 continues : " I thank you ior the very excellent Address 
 of your Conference : its remarks upon the Free Kirk 
 question much delighted me. Your letters of ample 
 Wesleyan information for Mr. Douglas, of Cavers, 
 leave me much in your debt. You burn with desire 
 lor rapid increase : perhaps steady, continuous growth of 
 your Society may, in the end, be better. I often ponder 
 that saying ' The kingdom cometh not with observa- 
 tion.' Sudden and striking results lead to idolatry of 
 instruments. This tendency makes necessary much 
 restraint of Divine power. The healthiest and safest 
 condition of things is when progress comes of the lively, 
 spiritual, aggressive action of Christians in general. 
 Such common effort with the least possible individual 
 peril of pride spreads the Redeemer's kingdom apace. 
 
 " Mr. Wright, an interesting man, trained to the law, 
 but now separated to the Gospel, has been here. I col- 
 lected my neighbours in three places. On each occasion, 
 with great plainness and power, he brought before them 
 the Gospel invitation, and pressed them to embrace 
 there and then the salvation so freely offered unto them 
 in Christ. Sir Andrew Agnew has only just left us. 
 He has lately addressed a letter, ostensibly to the 
 shareholders of the Glasgow and Edinbro' railway, but 
 really an appeal to the shareholders of all lines every- 
 where. Perhaps you might get the Coventry editors 
 to insert it as a piece of information. It has thus got 
 not only admittance, but commendation, in many pro- 
 vincial papers." 
 
 Douglas, of Cavers, widely known as one of the most 
 thoughtful Christian authors of our time, thus wrote to 
 Mr. Collins : 
 
 CAVERS, October ^ist, 1843. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I AM much obliged by your gift of the Centenary volume, and 
 still more for your own full and careful information respecting the 
 Wesleyan body. Great thanks are due to the Author of all good 
 Ior the benefit Methodism has conferred upon England. In what a
 
 COVENTRY. 221 
 
 state would that country have been, if the multitudes rescued by 
 Wesleyan exertions from vice and ignorance had been left to augment 
 the mass of crime and discontent ! The narrative of the work of 
 God you have recently witnessed in central England of the nature 
 of revival has given me much pleasure. It is very desirable that 
 accounts of such seasons of refreshing as from time to time gladden 
 the labours of your ministry should be set forth. Though, perhaps, 
 well known in the Wesleyan body, they escape general attention. 
 More publicity given to these things would edify all. 
 Believe me, my dear Sir, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 JAMES DOUGLAS. 
 
 After the close of the September visitation, Mr. Collins 
 writes : " The state of things comforts me. Defalca- 
 tions are fewer than might have been feared ; several 
 feeble classes have been strengthened, and, as to ex- 
 perience, the people are doing well." 
 
 Sunday, October ist, began a week specially dedicated 
 to exhortation and prayer. True to his design of glorify- 
 ing Christ, Mr. Collins led off with a sermon from Pjalm 
 Ixxii. 15 : " He shall live, and to Him shall be given of 
 the gold of Sheba : prayer also shall be made for Him 
 continually ; and daily shall He be praised." 
 
 Concerning work and fruit, accept these entries : 
 " Willenhall ; not fewer than twenty blessed with peace 
 in the evening." "Barford ; some souls came to 
 Jesus." " Dudley ; salvation work was done." 
 "Coventry; at the Communion we had sweet feeling; 
 the congregation is both larger and steadier ; forty or 
 fifty new sittngs have been taken this quarter." 
 
 The following letter is a good specimen of the respectful, 
 painstaking, loving way in which Mr. Collins dealt with 
 good, but mistaken, disquieted, narrow men: 
 
 COVENTRY, November loth, 1843. 
 MY DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 YOUR main objection to continue in place among us appears to 
 be the expense of Preachers. Allow me to offer you a few thoughts 
 on that subject. 
 
 First. The Preachers must appear in society equal to Ministers 
 in general; equal to shopkeepers of standing and respectability; 
 equal to excise officers, surgeons, and such like people. "Why must?" 
 Propriety demands it. In your own measure you feel thus. You 
 would not allow your Minister to be worse provided for than you 
 are yourself. But is it clear that your status marks the true level ?
 
 222 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Do you not see that the very same principle which thus works in you, 
 an artizan, works also in those a little above you, and causes them 
 to feel that they ought not to allow their Minister to be provided for 
 noticeably worse than they are ? " Then let them give accordingly." 
 No doubt they should, and many of them do ; nor are you to give in 
 proportion to their ability, but only as your own conscience before 
 God tells you that you can afford. 
 
 Then again. Preachers must give money continually to the poor 
 and sick ; at public meetings ; and to benevolent institutions. It 
 would be an awful thing if the Church were to pare its pastors down 
 until it would become impossible for them to give any example of 
 liberality to the flock and to the world. 
 
 Thirdly. Our Ministers need more than others by many pounds 
 in the year. Their charge is not a congregation but a Circuit, to 
 each place in which in all weathers they must go. Itinerancy of 
 families involves also expenses never fully met which other minis- 
 tries have not to bear. A settled man probably could do with ;ioo 
 as well as we could with 120. 
 
 You suggest that Preachers should have a fixed stipend, and you 
 put the money at ,100 per annum ; you say : " People would 
 then know what to aim at, and when they had done with it." The 
 system Methodism has chosen is : 
 
 1. Kinder. You cannot fix wants : sickness or growth of family 
 will make them vary. 
 
 2. Easier. The Circuit brings to its Quarterly Board 8s. 4*?. 
 per annum per member ; no intolerable load ; the well-to-do should 
 add of their greater fulness : then when all is done, if the sum fall 
 short of the Circuit's necessities, Connexional help maybe sought. 
 
 3. More evangelistic. Each bringing their customary gift works 
 thus : If numbers increase, funds show overplus, and you see 3'our 
 way to call out another labourer ; but if you altered this into simple 
 indebtedness of say ,100, as you have said, ' the people would 
 aim at that, and know when they had done.' One hundred members 
 must raise it, and six hundred would do no more. 
 
 4. Wiser. All who have known its working so think it. Hence, 
 such as have separated from us have retained this part of the old 
 Methodist plan ; practically confessing that they can do with no 
 other, and find no better. 
 
 Now, my dear brother, I greatly want you to resume your place 
 and labours, therefore do I enter into these explanations : but let me 
 be understood ; I do not wish to urge upon you a work which your 
 judgment will not approve. If, after all. in your mind and conscience 
 you do not approve of Wesleyan Methodism, do not be a Wesleyan ; 
 if you do not approve of our collections, do not be a Leader, for 
 whoever is a Leader must make them, or be unfaithful. This you 
 have understood, for you have adhered faithfully to every part of our 
 economy hitherto. I admire in you that honesty which would 
 rather resign your trust than betray it ; and I further know that your 
 difficulty has much arisen from a compassionate delicacy mistaken, 
 of course, I think towards your poorer members ; a delicacy which 
 has made it painful for you to mention these collections to them. 
 It may help you to see the mistake if I ask, Have any of them ever
 
 COVENTRY. 223 
 
 given as much as they have gained ? Should any of them be ex- 
 cluded from the privilege of beneficence ? Will it not pain you 
 more, if, following your example, they stray from the fold, fall away, 
 and spend far more upon sin than collections have ever cost them ? 
 
 I trust you will see it right to resume your work, and hope that 
 you may henceforth be happy in it. Pray dismiss all hard thoughts 
 of Travelling Preachers. As toward me personally you express 
 confidence, I presume upon that confidence to assure you that I do 
 not know a more holy, laborious, generous set of men ; nor any men 
 who are doing as much for God and mankind as Wesleyan 
 Ministers are. 
 
 I remain your constant friend, 
 
 THOMAS COLLINS. 
 
 On Sunday, December 3rd, Mr. Collins was among 
 his old friends at Redditch. It appears that on Wed- 
 nesday, August 3rd, 1843, thunderings, unprecedentedly 
 loud, alarmed the town. The Methodists sent the bell- 
 man round to summon the people to prayer. Many 
 who, terror-stricken in that tremendous storm, had 
 thought that surely Nature's final hour was come, 
 obeyed the invitation. Several were brought to God ; 
 and, among the rest, J. M., the head of a set of 
 poachers. He had carried with him in his pocket to the 
 prayer-meeting an order from a Birmingham dealer for 
 five pounds' worth of game. After the experience of 
 that hour, filching in the woods was no work for him. 
 When his " pals " came up in the gloaming, to put 
 themselves, as usual, under his guidance, he handed 
 over the order ; but told them that he was " Christ's 
 man now," and that he would " poach no more." Be- 
 reaved of their captain, they lost heart, and the gang 
 broke up. Wild ways had reduced the prodigal to straits. 
 Before Sunday, knowing the penury of his wardrobe, 
 some friends sent the new convert a tolerable chapel- 
 going suit. He wore it in the morning service, but sent 
 it back to them in the afternoon, and appeared in his 
 own at night. The sturdy Englishman preferred seem- 
 ing poor to being an almsman. That was hopeful con- 
 duct. He plainly meant to be a hanger-on of nobody. 
 He turned out to be true and steadfast. Work soon 
 mended his apparel ; and Mr. Collins says, " I found 
 him prospering for both worlds." 
 
 This visit to the scenes of early days and old mercies 
 was felt to be so pleasant that it took little urging to
 
 224 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 induce its repetition. Early in the new year, he went 
 again, and spent in special services Wednesday, Thurs- 
 day, and Friday, the loth, nth, and i2th of January, 
 1844. The six o'clock and the noon-time prayer-meet- 
 ings had his presence. In the intervals he visited many 
 that were sick. He notes : " Poor J. W. has learned 
 infidelity in France, but is now penitent. The froth of 
 Voltaire gives no strength to face eternity with." " Mrs. 
 F. was so delighted to see me once more, that, as we 
 united in thanks, she fainted on her bed with excess of 
 joy." " I spent several hours, day by day, in secret 
 prayer ; my soul was refreshed, and the Word, each 
 evening, was clothed with power. Many found peace, 
 and a good number opened their hearts to the fulness 
 of love." 
 
 A letter from Mr. Collins to his mother, bearing date 
 January I3th, 1844, affords felicitous domestic news : 
 " I arrived home from Redditch this day, about one 
 o'clock. What think you ? During my absence the 
 Lord had given me a son. I found him, a fine, healthy 
 boy ; ready to receive me. He was born on the morning 
 of Thursday, nth, at four o'clock. My dear wife has 
 been mercifully upheld, and is doing well. How precious 
 she seemed to me ! I am exceeding joyful and grateful ; 
 join with us in thanksgivings." 
 
 The next Friday record makes permanent a memorable 
 act of praise : 
 
 " Friday, January igth. Six in the morning. I bless 
 Thee, O Lord, for Thy goodness to man in all ages and 
 places ; for Thy goodness to the first man ; for the 
 patience Thou hadst with Cain ; for the salvation given 
 to Abel ; for sustaining Enoch and preserving Noah ; for 
 keeping promise with Abraham ; for succouring Moses ; 
 and for all Thy long-suffering with Thine ancient people ; 
 but, above all, for the gift of Thy Son, and for all the 
 mercies of the Gospel dispensation. 
 
 " I bless Thee for all Thy mercies to me in childhood, 
 in youth, and in riper years. I bless Thee for breaking 
 and renewing my heart under Gideon Ouseley ; for wean- 
 ing me from sin a second time under William Davis ; 
 for keeping me five years amid the seductions of the 
 world before I began to travel ; for opening my way to
 
 COVENTRY. 225 
 
 the Wark Mission, and for all the communion I had 
 with Thee there. For my appointment to Sandhurst I 
 bless Thee, and for my appointment to Orkney. Thou 
 wast with me in Durham and in Dudley, and I have 
 sweetly found Thee with me here. 
 
 " How shall I thank Thee for the abounding mercies 
 of last week ? Thou wast with me at Redditch. I 
 praise Thee for helping Tindall and Sheers to com- 
 mence the good work ; for Thy presence with Andrews ; 
 for Thy blessing on me ; for delicious closet hours ; for 
 chambers of sickness made bright with the light of 
 heaven ; for Thy gift of perfect love to some, and of 
 converting grace to more. 
 
 " I thank Thee for bringing me home. For my son, 
 the dear gift Thou hast bestowed, and for preserving 
 my wife in the hour of her trial, my heart cannot suffi- 
 ciently utter its gratitude. I consecrate myself to Thee. 
 Quicken me, Lord, for Thy work ! " 
 
 With Mr. Collins, "renouncing the pomps and vanities 
 of this wicked world " was something more than a vene- 
 rable phrase ; it was a veritable requirement of religion, 
 to be acted out every day. His children were carefully 
 trained in obedience to that part of the baptismal cove- 
 nant ; no finery ever bedizened them. Could feminine 
 nature be expected never to resist this godly discipline ? 
 He writes, " My Emmy expressed wishes for fine clothes." 
 She was too young to know either their snare, or the 
 pang her wish would give her father's heart. He set 
 forth before her Jesus trampling on such desires by 
 choosing the manger cradle, by leading a life of self- 
 denial, and by directing His work and way among the 
 poor. Dear child ! that picture of the Saviour melted 
 her; she said, with tears, " Papa, I only want one thing, 
 and that is to be good." It is believed that the aim for 
 life that hour selected was never after departed from. 
 
 Letters of this period furnish interesting narrative : 
 " Two enterprising brethren, Deacon and King, have 
 rented for us a new place at Spon End. The Dissenters 
 have tried it before, but have failed. The neighbour- 
 hood is very dark and heathenish. Nothing less than 
 hard labour, with prayer and fasting, will, cast out the 
 devil that now triumphs there. 
 
 Q
 
 226 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " I have seen good in recent visits to neighbouring 
 Circuits. At New Town Row, in Birmingham, a number 
 of very poor people were saved. At Bromsgrove, where 
 I preached at seven in the evening, and at six the next 
 morning, brother Mainwaring tells me that he took thirty 
 names. One anxious man there followed me to my 
 lodging. Much dejected, he was trying to humble him- 
 self into fitness for Christ. His eyes were opened as 
 I exposed to him the subtle pride that, hidden from him, 
 lay beneath that attempt. I proved to him that self- 
 renunciation, acceptance of Christ just there, just then, 
 all ungodly as he was would be the truest humility. I 
 plied him with ' the record God hath given of His Son;' 
 he believed it, and went away rejoicing. 
 
 " I have lately published a handbill-tract on the Sab- 
 bath. God has owned the effort. I have also put into 
 print an account of an affecting occurrence, in my mind 
 worthy of such notice, which recently took place at 
 Langford, near this city." 
 
 The occurrence adverted to was this : A poor, swear- 
 ing, ill-living woman thought, in a dream, that she heard 
 sweet singing in a tent ; allured by the sound, she entered, 
 and was astonished to find that those attractive notes 
 had come from the lips of a man so tiny that he was 
 suitably mounted upon a butterfly with beautifully 
 spotted wings. As, wonderingly, she approached, the 
 strange little rider, with piercing voice, said to her, 
 " This day month thou wilt die !" Those words of doom 
 awoke her, and she could sleep no more. This dream, 
 next day, with many tears, she rehearsed to her neigh- 
 bours. They, marking how strongly it affected her, and 
 being godly people, urged her to act as she would do if 
 sure that it were a warning from the Almighty. They be- 
 sought her to give up her sins, to come with them to the 
 house of God, and at once begin to lead a new life. All 
 of which things she promised to do, but never did. On 
 occasion of several outbreaks of her accustomed pro- 
 fanity, they kindly renewed their exhortations. At 
 length, she, who had never adverted to that vision of 
 the night without paleness and visible trembling, let 
 them know that she had dismissed alarm. Her 
 daughter's child was dead. The omen of the dream, she
 
 COVENTRY. 227 
 
 thought, was now made out. Breathing again without 
 fear, she cursed without stint. But, on the very last 
 morning of the month assigned, she was taken ill ; soon 
 became unconscious ; lay through the day without one 
 movement, or one word; and, a little before midnight, 
 died. 
 
 This startling story, published at the time, in the 
 place, with full attestation of the well-known, trust- 
 worthy persons who had held the conversations with the 
 woman, was the means of causing serious thought in 
 some by whom ordinary tracts or sermons would have 
 been unheeded. 
 
 Sunday, February 4th. I preached in the afternoon at Spon End. 
 The place was filled. Many were affected. After preaching, six- 
 teen or eighteen boys and girls of the school remained behind, 
 weeping and praying with great earnestness. 
 
 Wednesday, February i8th. I went to help in special services at 
 Leamington ; had liberty and success. The next morning, though it 
 snowed heavily and was bitterly cold, many met me in the chapel at 
 five o'clock. I dined, and passed a refreshing hour that day with 
 good, happy Lady Carnegie. The evening preaching was accom- 
 panied with unction. The Lord's people were greatly rejoiced ; they 
 seemed to be sitting in heavenly places, blessed with all spiritual 
 blessings in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Tuesday, March 26th. Dr. Newton preached for us twice, nobly. 
 We gathered 26 for our chapel. He baptised my boy : we called 
 him " Thomas Graham." 
 
 Friday, April lath, 1844. This day I am thirty-four. How great 
 has been God's goodness unto me ! He called me into the ministry. 
 He separated me from worldly things unto this glorious work. The 
 Great Shepherd hath set me to seek and, so far as I can, to bring 
 unto Him His lost and wandered sheep. I am determined to live 
 for this. I am willing, yea, Lord, I am fainting for the longing I 
 feel to answer Thy call and to do Thy work. 
 
 Thursday, May 2nd. Thomas Davis, a recent convert from infi- 
 delity, died in peace. He is the fifth Socialist won back to the faith 
 of Christ since I came here. 
 
 Monday, May 2oth. Benjamin Sadler, Esq., laid the memorial 
 stone of a new chapel at Kenikvorth. I was delighted with the 
 eulogy he gave of Bramwell and Carvosso ; and with the earnest 
 hope he expressed that Wesleyans would never cease to preach and 
 press their founder's views of Christian perfection. When he had 
 finished, I mounted the stone and preached from Isa. xxviii, 16. 
 
 The Journal of this week records a monitory instance 
 of a scoffer smitten. An excellent person, a Mrs. 
 Sansom, died. An infidel expressed his disgust at what 
 
 Q2
 
 228 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 he called "the fuss" the Methodists made over a dead 
 woman. " When I die," said he, " I am done with ; 
 and I don't care what they do with me." " Mark you," 
 said he flippantly, " If I thought that there would be a 
 resurrection, I should like a hole to myself." Little did 
 this foolish trifler with life and death think that that 
 very night " the king of terrors " would come to him: but 
 so it was. He was found in his bed lifeless the next 
 morning. 
 
 Friday, May 24th. This day I had in my chamber delightful 
 communion with God. While thanking Him for past mercies, I felt 
 growing love, great sweetness of spirit, and increase of expectation, 
 that with reviving power, He would visit my Circuit again. 
 
 On June 4th, from various congregations Mr. Collins 
 forwarded six petitions against the Unitarian Chapel 
 Bill, then before Parliament. The Member of Parlia- 
 ment to whom he committed them replied, " I have 
 duly presented, but am not free practically to support 
 the prayer of them. The subject allows great room for 
 difference of opinion. I incline to think that the Bill 
 has justice on its side. None can believe Unitarian 
 doctrine to be more erroneous than I do ; but this seems 
 to me a question of property, not theology." The 
 putting of the honourable member was ingenious, but 
 irrelevant. The petitioners never dreamed of denuding 
 Unitarians of anything which was really their own on 
 the ground of lack of orthodoxy. The matter com- 
 plained of was their usurpation of evangelical endow- 
 ments a thing as unjust to the rights of property as 
 their creed, in our view, is unfaithful to the text of 
 Scripture. Spoliation legalised is spoliation still ; nor 
 before God will lapse of twenty years make a thievish 
 holding honest. Mr. Collins remarked, " I fear that the 
 Bill will pass ; but, at all events, the opposition it has 
 called forth has achieved one good thing Socinians 
 henceforth must stand alone. The common Christianity 
 of the land refuses to be counted up with them. By 
 these petitions other denominations have, before Parlia- 
 ment and before the nation, solemnly repudiated com- 
 munion with the sect that denies the Divine honours of 
 God's redeeming Son."
 
 COVENTRY. 229 
 
 Monday, June loth. Dr. Styles, the Congregational Minister" 
 laid for us the foundation-stone of our new chapel at Barnacle. 
 Brother Laycock preached. 
 
 Tuesday, June nth. I preached in the fair from Num. xxi. 9. 
 
 Mr. Collins having become pledged to visit again his 
 old friends in Kent, a sudden thought occurred to him 
 that, by starting a few days earlier, he might fulfil also 
 a desire long cherished of visiting France. The fact 
 that one of his former colleagues was stationed at 
 Boulogne, determined him to select that as the place 
 whither he would go. His Journal says : 
 
 Saturday, July i3th. I reached Folkestone. The roughness of 
 the weather forbade all idea of crossing that day. I went to an inn : 
 at our order the waiter brought in tea for me, and for a gentleman I 
 found in the room. When we drew up to the table, I remarked, 
 " You, Sir, probably, if at home, would as I should, ask God's bless- 
 ing." " Certainly," was the reply. We at once did so there ; and 
 the exercise opened straightway to Christian converse. He proved 
 to be a godly man, a Methodist from Sittingbourne, one of the fruits 
 of William Barton's labours in that Circuit. After tea I sought and 
 found a Wesleyan home for the Lord's day. 
 
 Sunday, July i4th. I preached twice in the chapel, and once on 
 the quay. 
 
 Monday, July i5th. Brother Buckley, that he might have con- 
 versation, took passage to Boulogne, and came along with me. 
 
 Vain thought ! That projected talk has place only in 
 the list of good intentions. A fresh breeze and a rolling 
 sea found for them, as it generally does for landsmen, 
 other employment. They, like most occasional sea- 
 goers, were pleased to reach shore. It is an old ex- 
 perience : " Then are they glad because they be quiet." 
 Mr. Collins says : " Coast, houses, and people, all re- 
 minded me of Orkney, except that both French houses 
 and French people have much more paint." On inquiry, 
 it was found that the Minister, Mr. Lyon, unaware of 
 Mr. Collins's coming, had gone away to England on 
 business. After a short stay Mr. Collins returned to 
 Dover, where with good success he preached. In the 
 prayer-meeting, the Communion rail was surrounded by 
 anxious inquirers. A note says: "The noise of battle 
 scared mine host ; he fled the field, leaving me to find 
 my way home through the dark streets as best I might. 
 However, bless the Lord ! souls were saved."
 
 230 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A letter to Mrs. Collins, dated Thursday, July i8th, 
 says : " How comfortable railway travelling : This 
 country is full of conveniences. I left Dover at nine, 
 reached here (Ashford) at ten. R., with whom I am 
 staying a few hours, appears delighted to see me again ; 
 flies about to serve me ; and whistles and sings from 
 room to room for very gladness of heart. 
 
 "This Ashford would be no undesirable place to 
 labour in. Mr. Betts has built a good chapel ; the 
 hearers as yet are few, but important villages, with no 
 Methodism in them, lie all around. One Preacher can- 
 not supply the town and work the country too ; but if, as 
 I think they might, they would take two Ministers, 
 much might be done. However, we will not, dear Em, 
 speculate about the field of our labour. The determina- 
 tion of my heart, with which I know you sympathize, is, 
 wherever I may be, to live nearer to Christ, and more 
 for Him than ever." 
 
 At two o'clock of that day, Mr. Collins started to Rye, 
 where his old friend Austen met him, and drove him to 
 his home at Brede. The Diary of the next day says : 
 " How lovely is this part of our land ! It is specially 
 pleasant to me ; hereabout many souls have been given 
 me of the Lord ; and they stand O that is the joy ! they 
 stand fast. This day I have visited some sick ; finished 
 a tract that I am about to publish ; found sweet mani- 
 festation of the Lord in a quiet wood ; delivered an 
 address at Staplecross ; conducted a prayer-meeting, 
 and seen lost sinners brought home to God." 
 
 Sunday, July 2ist. I rose at five ; and in solemn prayer obtained 
 sure token of a day of power. The morning service was edifying. 
 In the afternoon, while I exhorted and conducted a prayer-meeting, 
 the young seemed wonderfully moved. At night-the work went on. 
 Many stony hearts were melted. 
 
 Monday, July 22nd. Before I could leave Wightwick's, with 
 whom I lodged, I was obliged to have prayer with some young 
 people in distress. It pleased God to set free Mr. W.'s eldest son 
 Humphrey, the servant, two other children, one of Standen's sons 
 and many more. Tompsett fetched me to Ticehurst, where I had 
 good success in the ingathering of souls. 
 
 Tuesday, July 23rd. I met some promising young people at 
 Tompsett's, and set out at midday for Tunbridge Wells. Brother 
 Philp met me. He and I were in London together as Missionary
 
 COVENTRY. 231 
 
 candidates. It was very pleasant to talk over old affairs. I 
 preached and had fruit. 
 
 Wednesday, July 24th. I set forth on my return journey. I 
 should like very well to travel again in these parts. I believe that 
 God would kindle again the ancient flame. In London I called at 
 my dear wife's mother's house, she being ill. As I praised Christ, 
 and commended Him unto her, she said earnestly, " I build on no 
 other." A late train brought me safely to Coventry a little after 
 midnight. 
 
 Thursday, July 25th. I prayed in the cell of a convict. The 
 unhappy man was once devout, but became neglectful, lost good, fell 
 into vice, went on from bad to worse, until here he is, a felon in gaol, 
 condemned to two years' imprisonment. He writhes under the 
 degradation, feels the bitterness of sin, and seems truly penitent 
 before God. 
 
 Friday, July a6th. I visited a very poor, but very precious woman 
 in our infirmary. On leaving I said, " The Lord be with you." " He 
 will." she replied. But soon after, much sooner than we thought, 
 the word of release was given, and she has happily gone to be with 
 Him. 
 
 Tuesday, July 3oth. Hearing that my dear wife's mother was 
 worse, we went up to Clapham together. She has for some time been 
 fully aware of her approaching end, and has set herself with becoming 
 seriousness to be found ready. We were cheered by many comfort- 
 able signs of preparation of heart. On Thursday, we took our leave, 
 as it proved, to see her face no more until the morning of the 
 resurrection. 
 
 Upon his return Mr. Collins went on to the Confer- 
 ence at Birmingham. Dr. Bunting, for the fourth 
 time, presided. Tranquility and prosperity had marked 
 the year: the increase was thirteen thousand two 
 hundred and thirty-two. By a new arrangement the 
 forenoon of Wednesday, August yth, was set apart for 
 the ordination service. The Annual Address says : 
 " God was remarkably present. A large and devout con- 
 gregation appeared to be inspired with one common senti- 
 ment of awe, delight, and love. To the young men, and 
 to their fathers and brethren, that ordination was a means 
 of grace. The universal resolve seemed to be that 
 1 holiness unto the Lord ' should be our motto ; our one 
 great business, the salvation of souls ; and the concen- 
 trated theme of our ministry, ' Christ crucified.' The 
 blessedness of that season of power can never be for- 
 gotten by any who enjoyed it. We doubt whether a 
 more solemn, holy, and glorious service has ever been 
 witnessed in Methodism. Mr. Collins writes, " The
 
 232 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Charge was excellent. Immediately upon their ordina- 
 tion the fifty-seven partook of the Lord's Supper ; after 
 them all the Ministers present did so. In that holy 
 Communion my soul was subdued, humbled, and 
 refreshed exceedingly." 
 
 A large party of Wesleyan excursionists came up by 
 special train from Bristol and Gloucester. They had 
 contrived a Breakfast Meeting in the town hall, quite 
 calculating upon it being unquestionable that a word 
 would bring the magnates of the Connexion to meet 
 them there. The work devolving upon Conference is 
 too large to leave leisure ; the time for it, too limited to 
 permit postponement ; the character of it, too grave to 
 allow any other thing precedence. The Conference 
 therefore resolved that its own duties must go on with- 
 out regard to the programme of the pleasure-seekers. 
 The next morning, so soon as devotions were ended, 
 Dr. Bunting, somewhat sternly inquired, " Is any 
 Preacher present who took part in the town hall Break- 
 fast Meeting ? " Chivalrously, A. E. Farrar, with 
 courage equal to martyrdom, rose, and said, " I did." 
 " Then," said the President, with the driest humour, 
 " you are to preach at Wesley Chapel to night." This 
 atonement by special service to-day, for lack of service 
 yesterday, was a doom so oddly, yet adroitly given, that 
 to those who had opened their ears for a specimen of 
 severe rebuke from the famed disciplinarian who occu- 
 pied the chair, the surprise was ludicrous. The victim 
 so cleverly trapped saw clearly, in the amused look of 
 the brotherhood, that all chance of successful appeal was 
 hopeless : he therefore, gracefully, as his manner was, 
 subsided at once into submission, and the Conference 
 set pleasantly to its work. 
 
 Sunday, August 2gth. I preached at Dawley : souls were saved. 
 It grieves me to have allowed one chance to slip. Two people who 
 took tea with me were much affected as we sat at table : expecting 
 to see them in the prayer-meeting, to which it turned out that they 
 were not able to stop, I did not give immediate attention to their 
 case. O, why did I not bring them to their knees at once ? My host 
 remembered Mr. Fletcher. He heard the good man tell his school- 
 master, " Were I not a Minister of the Gospel, I would choose to be 
 a teacher of youth." 
 
 Friday, September 27th. In a wood, on the way to Balsall, I
 
 COVENTRY. 233 
 
 obtained audience of the King. My spirit has been cast down of late. 
 The illness of several Leaders, the age of some, and the neglect of 
 others, has impeded the work. There are not many fathers, "who 
 naturally care " for souls. I am pressed with anxiety for a fresh out- 
 pouring of the Holy Ghost upon the thousands of the unconverted 
 around. May God help with His glorious riches of power? 
 
 Sunday, October i3th. Among those who found mercy were a poor 
 tramp and a drunkard, who confessed to me that he had come 
 thither from the alehouse. 
 
 Sunday, October 2oth. In the morning heard Dr. Harris, author 
 of the prize essay on " Mammon." The sermon from " Lord, what 
 is man ? " was a most finished production. He did not seem well. 
 His reading, beautifully correct, lacked the power which, I am told, 
 he is usually able to throw into it. 
 
 Friday, October 25th. In special services at Stourport many sin- 
 ners were won home to Christ. One aged man of ninety years im- 
 pressed me much by the simple fervour with which I found him say- 
 ing over and over again the Apostles' Creed. 
 
 Sunday, October 27th. A dozen found the Lord last night; among 
 them two poor lost girls from the street. They were brought by one 
 who had been of their own class, but whom the Lord had rescued 
 some while ago. How her eyes glistened while they prayed ! As 
 the meeting closed, D. said to me, " I have all the week been looking 
 forward to, and praying about, this day. So concerned was I that 
 last night it filled my head, as is usual in dreams, with thoughts 
 turned to whimsies. I saw you fishing. ' What,' said I, with sur- 
 prise, ' fishing on Sunday ? ' ' The best of all days for my fishing,' 
 you replied. It has made me very glad to-night to see how your 
 net has prospered." As this recital was finished, a stout, fresh-look- 
 ing countryman, who had been made gloriously happy in God, came 
 to shake hands with me before he went. Wishing to secure him foi 
 a class, I asked his name, " Salmon. John Salmon, bir." This 
 coincidence of natne and dream was so odd and unexpected that it 
 amused me exceedingly. 
 
 About this time Mr. Collins wrote to me, then a 
 Student at the Institution, the following: "I expect 
 you to do well. I know that you will aim to accomplish 
 something for God and for man. Such purposes please 
 God. Have a horror of sinking into a tattling, twaddling, 
 trivial sort of man, talking much and achieving 
 nothing. Now is your time. Put conscience into your 
 work. Throw away no opportunities. Nothing less 
 than ceaseless diligence will satisfy your tutors, there, 
 in your studies, and your friends when you revisit home, 
 in your sermons. Steer clear of the young man's rock, 
 self-importance. Walk humbly with God. Acts of self- 
 condemnation are, next to acts of faith in Christ, the
 
 234 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 most profitable of devotional exercises. I have grown 
 best and done best when most frequent in them." 
 
 Another letter, soon after, said : " Bring all your 
 spiritual strength to the grasp of the promises. All of 
 them bear the image and superscription of Christ : in 
 Him they are all Amen. Believe them, and you will 
 bear His image too. By intensely beholding them, with 
 the look of faith, you will get both a true conception and 
 a real possession of Christ. When His indwelling 
 becomes to us a reality and an experience, then have we 
 perfect love; then are we filled with all the fulness of 
 God." 
 
 Upon my writing to this " master in Israel," to 
 explain to me more at length the meaning of that 
 phrase, " the fulness of God," he wrote : " God is light ; 
 God is love ; fulness of God is, therefore, fulness of 
 knowledge and love. Not such a fulness as we shall 
 have in heaven ; for that mortality could not bear. 
 Not such a fulness as would make us cease to think and 
 feel as men ; not such a fulness as would supersede 
 effort in doing the Divine will ; but a fulness which 
 interpenetrates God's will with all, and makes His glory 
 the end of all. The soul is the fulness of the body, 
 actuating each part ; God is the fulness of the soul ; 
 raising it, that there be nothing low ; filling it up, that 
 there be no painful want ; filling it out, that there be no 
 ugly wrinkle. The sea-plants lie flat, flabby, and form- 
 less, when the tide is out ; but when that returns, they 
 rise, and stand, and beautifully wave themselves amid 
 the vitalizing element ; every stem full, every leaf full, 
 every pore and vessel full. Thus is it with believers 
 when flowed around and flowed into by the fulness of 
 God. A heart enriched with this plenitude does more 
 than occasionally advert to God, or draw near to Him at 
 times, as a duty or a necessity : God is its atmosphere, 
 its abode. The apprehension of Him is abiding; the 
 reference to Him habitual ; the help from Him unceas- 
 ing. Into that soul Jehovah brings the court and king- 
 dom of heaven, and makes it the wonder and the 
 admiration of the very angels." 
 
 The Diary of February loth, 1845, says : " I went, 
 by invitation, to meet Sir Andrew Agnew at Lady
 
 COVENTRY. 235 
 
 Carnegie's. What a holy zeal he has for the Lord's 
 day ! It delighted me to learn also that the heir of his 
 house addicts himself to the work of the ministry ; is 
 very devoted, and, like young Burns, goes about ear- 
 nestly labouring to promote revivals." 
 
 Family affection in Mr. Collins was intense. Enlarge- 
 ment on a virtue so common is unnecessary. We need 
 but say that, using the word in all its deep, tender 
 strength of meaning, he was a father. He stood in the 
 parent's place with a parent's heart. A visitor, describ- 
 ing the members of that happy Coventry home, wrote of 
 the babe : " Tommy is a winning little fellow. None 
 can help loving him, so unusually sweet is his smile." 
 This charming child, the only son, be sure was well 
 beloved. About this time it pleased God to reclaim this 
 precious boon. Providence generally breaks bereave- 
 ments to us gradually ; lets there be visible approaches 
 of dissolution, lest the mind should be crushed by a 
 sudden blow. So, months before this infant was re- 
 moved, I read of him in peril : " March 8th, 1844. 
 All Wednesday night my dear little son was restless ; 
 through Thursday, though every effort was made by the 
 doctor, he grew worse. Little hope of life seemed left. 
 I retired to my study, and begged for my boy, if the Lord 
 could trust me with him. Such, however, was my sense 
 of unfitness to sustain so weighty a charge, and such 
 my faith in God's wisdom in dealing, that though the 
 struggle cost me many tears, I put him unreservedly 
 into the hands of the Lord. Great sweetness rilled my 
 soul, and I was enabled sincerely to say, ' Thy will be 
 done.' " At that time the child was restored. A little 
 incident preserved in a letter to Mrs. Collins shows how 
 the memory of this trial affected him four months after : 
 " I called on a bookseller to purchase a book to bring 
 home for my dear little readers. I found the man sad, 
 , and his wife in tears. That morning a lovely girl had 
 been taken from them. ' Ah ! Sir,' said the father, 
 1 we do not know how much we love them till we lose 
 them.' ' We do not lose them,' I replied. But, dear 
 Em, as I uttered those words of comfort, I wept in 
 memory of the bitterness of our own struggle and griet 
 when we feared similar desolation of the home. Let us
 
 236 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 be careful to train our children for God ; then, if He call 
 us to such exercises, He will help us in them." The fear 
 came, and the help. " Sunday, April 3Oth, 1845. This 
 is a day of mourning. Sorrow hath taken hold upon 
 me. The Lord has been pleased to call away my lovely 
 boy. He left us, as in a sweet sleep, about ten o'clock 
 last night. His closing sigh was breathed upon my 
 face. At his birth I solemnly dedicated the child to 
 God, and I know that God accepted him. It was my 
 strong desire that he should be a Minister ; he will, but 
 in the upper sanctuary. The Lord mercifully up- 
 holds while He smites. May this heavy stroke be 
 sanctified." 
 
 This bereavement was deeply felt, but with a thankful 
 not a murmuring sorrow. This was well shown in a 
 touching incident artlessly told in a letter to his little 
 girl: "Yesterday I heard Dr. Bunting preach for 
 Missions, at the Centenary Hall. I was getting half-a- 
 crown for the collection, when he asked, 'Are they 
 little things the Lord has done for you ? Are they little 
 things you hope the Lord will yet do for you ? ' At those 
 words I remembered that He had taken dear Tommy to 
 everlasting glory ; and that I wished Him, in due time, 
 to take us all thither. At these words my silver turned 
 to gold." 
 
 When Mr. Collins went up to London, to the Mission- 
 ary Anniversary, he also attended the Conference con- 
 vened to oppose the endowment of the Popish College 
 of Maynooth. A memorable sermon, from Rev. xix. 14, 
 on Christ leading forth His armies, with another about 
 the three Hebrew confessors, preached upon his return, 
 taught his people strong truth in strong old English 
 Protestant form. His congregations sent up petitions, 
 which, at a personal interview, he deposited in the 
 hands of Williams, the well known economist M.P. for 
 Coventry. He says : I found him able, and was 
 received with courtesy. But the religious argument 
 seemed to have no weight whatever with him. Like 
 the majority of mere politicians, on grounds of expediency, 
 he inclined to vote for the endowment." The Act passed. 
 Nor will Maynooth sink until, perhaps, Irish Establish- 
 ment, Grant, and Rcgium Donuiii, crash down together.
 
 COVENTRY. 237 
 
 How strongly Mr. Collins felt, the following letter will 
 show : 
 
 To the President of the Conference. 
 
 COVENTRY, August gih, 1845. 
 REVEREND SIR, 
 
 WHEN the Maynooth Bill passed, I was much pressed in spirit 
 to submit to your honoured predecessor whether it would not be 
 becoming for our Connexion publicly to mark its sense of that 
 national sin by the appointment of a day for confession, humiliation, 
 and deprecation. 
 
 Fear of being intrusive has restrained me. I have waited, assur- 
 ing myself that, if such a course be really needful and wise, as in 
 my eyes it seems to be, some of those who usually guide so pru- 
 dently our public action would suggest the thing. 
 
 Apprehending now, as it is so near the close of Conference, 
 that in hurry of affairs the thought might not occur, it appeared to 
 me to be my duty thus to raise the point. It being now before you, 
 without taking your time by urging it, I leave the matter to your 
 superior judgment, and remain. 
 
 With respectful affection, 
 Yours truly, 
 
 THOMAS COLLINS. 
 Rev. Jacob Stanley. 
 
 The Pastoral Address of the year has in it Protestant 
 witness of rare force and value. Defending the atti- 
 tude taken by Methodism, it says : " Towards the 
 adherents of Rome, as men and as fellow-citizens, we 
 entertain a cordial good will ; but to the corrupt and 
 corrupting system of which they are at once the votaries 
 and the victims, we are irreconcileably hostile. We cannot 
 forget that during the reign of Popery in this land our 
 sovereigns were vassals, the Bible was a sealed book, 
 and free discussion on matters pertaining to salvation a 
 crime punishable with death. The laws of God and the 
 decisions of our courts of justice were made void by 
 priestly absolution and Papal indulgences ; the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel was substituted by the narration of 
 foolish legends and lying wonders ; ceremonies the 
 most unscriptural, opinions the most mischievous, and 
 assumptions the most despotic, were forced upon our 
 forefathers by the terrors of the dungeon, the rack, and 
 the stake. That the principles of the system are un- 
 changed, its deeds declare, and its advocates boastfully 
 assert : and that it retains its ancient spirit of proscrip-
 
 238 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 tion and persecution, recent transactions in Piedmont, 
 Madeira, Tahiti, and Ireland, but too fully prove. Of 
 forbearance and toleration this system knows nothing, 
 except as expedients for concentrating its energies, and 
 selecting its opportunity to crush its unsuspecting prey. 
 It complains of oppression wherever it is restrained 
 from acting the oppressor; and it would scorn mere 
 equality with other forms of Christianity, as certainly 
 as it now lays claim to universal supremacy. While it 
 proclaims itself the only true church and the centre of 
 unity, it has, more than all other churches, corrupted 
 the purity of Divine worship, departed from the truth as 
 it is in Jesus, and violated the peace and charity of the 
 Gospel. As a system, it turns the house of God into a 
 temple of idols ; it dignifies a ' wafer ' with the titles of 
 our Saviour, and adores it in His stead ; it seats the 
 Pope on the throne, and invests him with the headship 
 of Christ ; nay, it practically neutralizes His atonement, 
 and disparages His entire mediation, by ascribing to 
 sacraments a necessary efficacy, and to saints and angels 
 the attributes of intercessors. It has often imbrued its 
 hands in the blood of saints ; it dispenses with the moral 
 obligation of vows ; it absolves from sin, and commutes 
 its punishment in the eternal world. It is, we verily 
 believe, that gigantic personification of evil which the 
 spirit of inspiration characterizes as ' that man of sin, 
 the son of perdition, who exalteth himself above all 
 that is called God ; whom the Lord shall consume 
 with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the 
 brightness of His coming.' " 
 
 Coventry cherishes and commemorates a well-known 
 but little credible legend of the wife of its old Saxon 
 Earl. The improbable story of her riding in puris 
 naturalibus is mentioned by no known writer earlier 
 than Matthew of Westminster. Leofric died in 1057 ; 
 Matthew was living in 1307, two hundred and fifty 
 years after. The pageant which has given unenviable 
 notoriety to the city, no way proves the veracity of 
 the tale, seeing that its observance can be traced no 
 further back than to the licentious days of the second 
 Charles. But the very authorities relied on for the 
 history condemn the immodesty of the celebration.
 
 COVENTRY. 239 
 
 The citizens of Leofric's days, more decent than their 
 sons, retired to their homes, closed their windows, and 
 left to the nude lady the empty streets. One only of all 
 their number, and he secretly, sought lustfully to feast 
 his eyes. The Godiva story makes the name of that 
 shameless man a by-word, and his fate a warning. If 
 the narrative be a fiction, their procession is a folly ; 
 but if it be true, their tradition rebukes their deed. 
 The crowd of libidinous gazers disgrace their sires. 
 Fuller says : " The good Countess took order that her 
 charity should not prejudice her modesty." Let those 
 who commemorate her name imitate her care. 
 
 Mr. Collins believed the tale to be a lie ; knew the 
 celebration to be obscene, fit only for a city of satyrs ; 
 and set himself to protest against it as a public scandal. 
 He says : " Paul found * beasts at Ephesus ; ' I have 
 ' found some here, and have had a sharp battle to fight 
 with them concerning their old, bad, lewd, Lady Godiva 
 custom." His opposition was vigorous. He printed 
 two thousand tracts ; addressed every Minister of reli- 
 gion ; memorialized the Mayor ; circulated six thousand 
 copies of an Appeal ; wrote to Her Majesty's Judges ot 
 Assize ; and communicated with the Bishop of the 
 diocese. The letter to the Bishop I append : 
 
 UPPER WELL STREET, COVENTRY, November 6th, 1844. 
 
 To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Worcester. 
 MY LORD, 
 
 YOUR great courtesy, together with your distinguished name as 
 a lover of good men, and as an advocate of the interests of religion 
 and morality, emboldens me, an obscure Wesleyan Minister, to beg 
 your attention awhile. 
 
 By the standing regulation of my own community, none of its 
 Ministers may remain in one station longer than three years. The 
 working of this rule has cast my lot in various parts of this king- 
 dom ; and, of course, wherever I have been, the state of public 
 morals has been a subject of careful observation by me. Having 
 now lived with plentiful opportunity of knowledge more than two 
 years in this city, I am compelled sorrowfully to bear witness 
 that \vant of family discipline, laxity of morals, and general licen- 
 tiousness, mark this locality more than any other in which I have 
 ever dwelt. 
 
 This "superfluity of naughtiness," may have many causes; but, 
 at this time, I beg to bring under the notice of your Lordship an 
 old, but base and hurtful, custom, disgracing this place ; to which, it 
 appears to me, much of the evil may be debited ; the only use and
 
 240 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 tendency of which, so far as I can see, is to familiarize the young 
 mind with lewdness, and keep in countenance the vilest excesses. 
 
 Once in three years, in May or June, there is, what is called, " a 
 grand procession," professedly in honour of a lady who is reported to 
 have rendered services to the citizens many ages ago. The historic 
 value of the well-known story, your Lordship will better judge of than 
 I can ; be it truth or fable, it is made, by unprincipled people, the 
 occasion of the perpetration of a most monstrous indecency. 
 
 Persons are sent to select and to hire a prostitute from the stews 
 of Birmingham, Leicester, or some other neighbouring town : she is 
 brought to the City Hall, stripped, and put into a flesh-coloured 
 dress, sewn upon her so tightly as to show her entire form ; she is 
 then if any shame yet live in her plied with liquor until, woman- 
 hood drowned, she dares to face the crowd. When impudence thus 
 aided has mastered every blush, the degraded creature is lifted upon 
 a horse, and led for hours amid the gaze of thousands through the 
 city streets. 
 
 The taste of the people has become so depraved that, not content 
 with the triennial abomination, they, in July last, got up, at Spon 
 End, an intervening one. Nor, I regret to say, could the Corpora- 
 tion be moved to discountenance this extra enormity, which, initiated 
 by the class of people who live upon the folly and extravagance of 
 their neighbours, had not even the pitiable excuse of use and wont 
 to defend it. 
 
 I need not suggest to your Lordship of what evil tendency such 
 exhibitions must be. They are, I feel assured, a terrible barrier to 
 religious improvement here. Clergymen and others may preach 
 like angels about sobriety and chastity; but the coming forth of this 
 drunken harlot, with splendid equipage and public acknowledgment, 
 at intervals Satanically adjusted to catch attention of each youthful 
 generation as it rises, must, to a fearful extent, nullify the effect of 
 their labours. 
 
 My Lord, I know that you love the souls of the young; thousands 
 of whom, guided by your own Church, have vowed to renounce the 
 vanities of the world, the works of the devil, and the sinful lusts of 
 the flesh. I know that it will be in your heart to do all in your 
 power to remove this great temptation, and to preserve their youth 
 in Christian purity. I know that you will wish this revel dis- 
 graceful even if its scene were in a heathen city no longer to blot 
 your diocese. I know that you care for the vast multitudes practi- 
 cally lost to Christianity; and that you desire to remove the hin- 
 drances out of the way of their return to virtuous living and to the fold 
 of Christ. I venture, therefore, to hope that your Lordship, with the 
 high authority of your great name and place, will, in some manner, 
 express disapprobation of this iniquity. 
 
 At Coventry, long custom has in this regard so lowered public 
 sentiment that every expectation of successful opposition to this 
 hateful thing lies in the hope that good, wise, and weighty persons 
 away from us may, by utterance of their judgment, awake the 
 respectable inhabitants to a sense of the discredit and humiliation 
 which this disgusting affair brings upon this city in the eyes of all 
 England.
 
 COVENTRY. 241 
 
 Not vanity, my Lord, not impertinence, has led me to this intru- 
 sion upon your time ; but a feeble degree of the same desire for 
 God's glory and the good of precious souls which, I am persuaded, 
 your Lordship also feels, and will know how to appreciate. 
 My Lord, 
 
 I have the honour to be 
 
 Your Lordship's very obedient humble servant, 
 THOMAS COLLINS. 
 
 The distinguished persons with whom Mr. Collins 
 held correspondence upon this subject so sanctioned his 
 views, that the traffickers in vice found it unusually dif- 
 ficult to raise funds. This stirred the lower sort to 
 anger. One night, returning from an appointment, Mr. 
 Collins found a tree cast across the road with pretty 
 clear intention of throwing down his horse. Another 
 day, foolish fellows paraded his effigy before his own 
 door, and then burned it in the street. He was made 
 the subject of many lampoons ; but these things dis- 
 turbed him not. His diary says : " Man can do no- 
 thing but what shall turn to my good. ' Woe unto you 
 when all men shall speak well of you.' The friendship 
 of the world is dangerous ; the enmity of it, safe. It 
 breaks my affection for the world, and sets me on my 
 guard ; it calls into exercise the grace of charity and the 
 practice of patience ; it meetens me for heaven, and 
 heightens my reward. Welcome, then, the fellowship 
 of my Saviour's sufferings ! I shall soon sit with Him 
 on His throne, and all the storm be overpast. But it is 
 not all loss now. The ungodly hate me ; but I have 
 had many proofs of increased respect from all for whose 
 respect I have the slightest care." 
 
 Though not entirely successful, the cause of decorum 
 gained much. Bishop, and Judge, and Minister of State 
 all made such communications that the Mayor was 
 strengthened to refuse the armour and the city hall, 
 except upon engagement given by the Committee that 
 no indecency should be permitted. 
 
 When the day arrived, it rained so heavily that the 
 start of the procession had to be delayed from eleven until 
 three. The weather cleared ; off they went ; but, long 
 ere their programme was fulfilled, a storm, unusually 
 heavy, scattered the drenched multitude, to rally no 
 
 R
 
 242 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 more. Not a few of the wet and muddy fugitives 
 declared, as they went home, that " it all came of old 
 Collinses prayers ." 
 
 Mr. Collins, in his Journal, writes : " May 26th. The 
 procession was attempted. The lady, I hear, was, this 
 time, not a harlot, but an actress ; and was decently 
 dressed ; a fact which, I am told, occasioned not a little 
 murmuring among those who, moved by vile curiosity, 
 had come miles to see the accustomed sight. They 
 said she was ' no Godiva at all.' But, O, what rains ! 
 Surely God looked out of the cloud. He troubled His 
 enemies. May He raise up men to resist this sin until 
 it be annihilated ! " 
 
 "June 24th. My dear sister, E. M. Graham, left 
 us to day. Her company has refreshed, and her zeal 
 in the cause of Christ edified, me. She visited our 
 schools on the Lord's day. Twice she has been with 
 me to the workhouse ; and all through the week her 
 labours in the houses of the poor have been incessant. 
 She has given tracts, books, good counsels, and kind 
 words, in abundance." 
 
 A correspondent writes me thus : " The name of the 
 Rev. Thomas Collins will ever be dear to me. Twenty- 
 three years ago I lived in a village on the outskirts 
 of the Coventry Circuit. I was but a boy ; but the 
 pleasure with which we anticipated his visits is very 
 fresh in my mind to this day. His custom was to ride 
 over early in the afternoon, and give some hours to 
 visitation, not by any means confined to Wesleyans, 
 but from house to house. It was my privilege to be 
 his first guide to the sick ; and well do I remember 
 how, with his hand on my head, he talked with me of 
 my soul. In a little time he needed no guide, but really 
 knew the inhabitants better than many who lived in the 
 place. His benevolence was unbounded, and his sym- 
 pathy with the poor and suffering very tender. The people 
 loved him, and, whenever he came, flocked to hear him." 
 
 Only with large interval between does God make men in 
 the mould out of which St. Paul and John Wesley came. 
 They seemed effective at everything. This catholicity 
 of power is not the endowment of every man. Let 
 each be true to his Lord, and to his gift. Variety of
 
 COVENTRY. 243 
 
 vocation is undeniable ; but variety is not opposition. 
 "Wisdom is justified of all her children." I admire the 
 faithful work of Mr. Collins ; but I would not, therefore, 
 draw the patient scholar from collating MSS. ; nor set the 
 profound thinker marshalling night by night the array of 
 penitent prayer-meetings; nor clip the page of the mighty 
 divine to send him hunting laggards from class in scat- 
 tered cottages. Sir Astley Cooper, while writing a " Vade 
 mecum " for surgeons, would accomplish more than if that 
 time had all been spent in setting broken bones. It was 
 worth while locking Paul up in gaol to get his prison 
 Epistles out of him. The debility then mourned which 
 gave John Wesley leisure to pen his " Notes " will yield 
 larger harvest than strength through all those months to 
 go " gospelling " twice a day could have reaped. 
 
 Methodism does its best to train its Ministers as 
 " servants of all work." Wesleyan Theological Tutors 
 have all been Pastors. May it never be otherwise ! 
 Theory, unsobered by necessity of practical application, 
 is a great source of German scepticism. Who would 
 trust the therapeutics of one who never healed ? Medi- 
 cal professors reach their chairs through hospital wards. 
 According to Wesleyan usage our " masters in Israel" 
 have to do similarly. This is wise. We would reject a 
 man, though he could unfold the Creed learnedly as 
 Pearson, unless we knew that he could apply it also to 
 the cure of souls simply, as did the old Monk of Erfurt 
 his " I believe in the forgiveness of sins " to the comfort 
 of " Frater " Martin. 
 
 They who direct an age's intellect are more potent, 
 though, to the eye, less active, than those who do its 
 deeds. He who could purge a fever-breathing atmo- 
 sphere would well affect the national health more than 
 the hardest-working parish doctor, though his case-book 
 were filled with notices of typhoid patients successfully 
 treated. The messenger who effectually bears the word 
 of mercy to a stricken soul heals a man ; but the great 
 Reformer, who in God's name protested against the 
 Papal lie, sent currents of health half across a conti- 
 nent. Polemics like Athanasius and Luther, divines 
 like Augustine and Richard Watson, have a usefulness 
 which no Quarterly Meeting statistics can register. 
 
 R 2
 
 244 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 We say these things to rebuke persons to whom doc- 
 trine cleared, the Word expounded, duty enforced, and 
 instruction in righteousness given, are all nothing unless 
 they have an accompaniment of cries and groans ; who 
 can discern no good unless it be declared amid the 
 hallelujahs of a congregation. This is wrong. 
 
 On the other hand, one has known men respectably 
 frosty men inanities, that never missed an aspirate, 
 and never smote a conscience ; men leebly elegant ; too 
 impotent to think for the age, and too genteel to work 
 for it ; too unimportant to guide its clergy, and too 
 listless to move its people. The contempt with which 
 these ciphers in orders who must be excused from 
 saving souls because they have to polish sentences 
 look down upon earnest evangelists as only " noisy 
 revivalists " is a small matter, not further to be noticed ; 
 assuredly not generated in its subjects by any special 
 plethory of brain. 
 
 Mr. Collins occasionally endured this disdain, but 
 never retorted it ; never allowed himself to be stung by 
 it into denunciation of culture ; an error into which 
 some men oi his class have almost equally fallen. He 
 always disliked that onesidedness which arrays men of 
 thought and men of action against each other. Very 
 concentrated in his methods, he was yet very expansive 
 in his affections. He deeply reverenced scholars, theo- 
 logians, and men of ruling, administrative, executive 
 gifts. He held in high esteem all who, in any true way, 
 fill life with faithful endeavours for Christ. 
 
 The narrative of these three years furnishes proof 
 that, though not less evangelical than when, a fire- 
 souled boy, he was busy calling sinners of Wark to 
 repentance, yet much larger conceptions of the field of 
 action had opened before him. The work committed to 
 him had grown in his view : it was more manifold than 
 at first it seemed. Two elements, life through, consti- 
 tuted the noticeable character of Mr. Collins's ministry; 
 he was to the last, the evangelist, and the unfaltering 
 witness for holiness. But now, and henceforth, he felt 
 it to be also within his vocation to deal with errors of 
 the time, to give verdict on public questions, and to 
 smite at fashionable sins. All this, bravely and notably,
 
 COVENTRY. 245 
 
 he had done in Coventry. He went thither in the name 
 ot the Lord, and the Lord stood by him. In the city, 
 the school was enlarged, the chapel cleaned, an organ 
 put into it, and vestries added. In the Circuit, debts 
 were paid, new sanctuaries built, and languishing So- 
 cieties revived. He joyously and thankfully says : 
 " I found three hundred members, I am leaving five 
 hundred and twenty ; I found bankruptcy, I leave com- 
 fort ; I found a small congregation and a church cast 
 down, I leave a chapel well filled, and a set of well- 
 ordered workers, and Methodism standing in the city 
 firmer and higher than it ever did belore."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 
 
 AT the Conference of 1845 Mr. Collins was appointed 
 to St. Albans. He wrote to his father : " We arrived 
 here on Thursday, August 28th. The house being small, 
 I have taken another. It is roomy, and has a good 
 garden. The lawn at the back, just the thing for the 
 recreation of my little girls, is perfectly private. It will 
 cost me considerably, but health and comfort are more 
 than cash. This place has not yet full hold of me : 
 Coventry is scarcely off my mind. Christ, and Christ 
 alone, can keep all Circuits and all men on His heart at 
 once.. Things are low. The Circuit debt is 60. 
 Several chapel cases are deplorable. The Societies are 
 faint. On my first Sabbath at Rickmansworth I rose 
 and went to the early prayer-meeting ; there were pre- 
 sent but two young women and two children. I wept 
 over the desolation, and the young people wept with me. 
 May the Lord remember our tears ! I shall study and 
 labour to promote a revival; that once come, other things 
 will amend." 
 
 " This country is barren ground for Methodism ; yet I 
 doubt not that here also Christ will give me fruit. My 
 sermons, hitherto, have been chiefly to believers, of 
 whom some appear to have got a little warming." 
 
 "The sects are, in these parts, unusually friendly. I 
 have just attended a Bible Society Committee, at which, 
 while I presided, a Clergyman and a Baptist Minister 
 acted as Secretaries." 
 
 " Yesterday, Emmy and I, and a little party, went up 
 to survey the country from the top of the tower of our 
 fine old Abbey. The scene from thence is very wide
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 247 
 
 and rich. St. Alban, our patron saint, was first and 
 famous among British martyrs. This is a pleasant town, 
 and an ancient one. Before Christ was upon earth, 
 and before London was founded, there was a city upon 
 this spot. Here Boadicea, the British Queen, fought 
 the Romans. From this place Lord Bacon, the Prince 
 of Philosophers, got the title of his peerage ; near here 
 he wrote his greatest works ; and in one of our churches 
 he lies buried." 
 
 " Wednesday, October ist. At Shenley a poor woman, 
 after listening awhile at the door, could not contain her- 
 self, but rushed into the chapel with uplifted hands and 
 streaming eyes. Her deep sorrow moved many ; her 
 bitter cries for mercy stopped the preaching, but set us 
 in a flame of prayer. 
 
 " Sunday, October 5th. At St. Alban's. I was very 
 unwell ; tried with toothache and burdened with cold. 
 The Lord knew my infirmity, and descended upon the 
 congregation with His own power. He is my Master: 
 I am His Minister. He will go on, and I will follow." 
 
 The next day Mr. Collins lost his pain by losing his 
 tooth a fact which, in order to puzzle and please his 
 little girls, he commemorated in the following poetical 
 enigma : 
 
 A certain good servant went into his place, 
 
 And gave his young master a pain in the face ; 
 
 Then stuck to his person, whatever occurr'd, 
 
 And rendered assistance at every word. 
 
 He agreed with the neighbours, obeyed his lord's will ; 
 
 He worked like a grinder shut up in a mill ; 
 
 Most active at table, then mounting on guard, 
 
 He stood like a sentinel silent and hard. 
 
 Whatever they gave him, though strange it may seem, 
 
 He return'd to his master to benefit him. 
 
 In the midst of his duties he fell to decay, 
 
 Or his master not ever had sent him away. 
 
 Now tell me the name of this servant so true, 
 
 For some of his family wait upon you. 
 
 I will illustrate the course of Mr. Collins's labours and 
 experiences at this time, as much as possible, by cita- 
 tions of his own epistles and diaries. 
 
 A letter, dated November igth, says : " Bramford 
 and Buckley work with me well, but the people are unim-
 
 248 CHAPTER X. 
 
 pressible ; hard work yields small result. Last Sunday 
 I rose at five, prayed in my chamber until the hour of 
 the morning prayer-meeting, then went there and con- 
 ducted it. During the day I addressed the Sunday 
 scholars ; preached three times ; held a general prayer- 
 meeting in the chapel ; and, last of all, a special one for 
 anxious persons in a room close by. Some were moved, 
 yet the whole day did not afford a single clear case of 
 conversion. I shall not rest until I am surrounded by 
 penitents. O cry to God with me for this." 
 
 " Friday, November 2ist. O my God, I humbly seek 
 Thy face for this Circuit, and for my own soul. Why 
 does my poor net take so few ? I pray for my people, 
 and I abase myself before Thee, O Lord. come to 
 my help." 
 
 A letter to me, dated December 6th, says, " We are 
 improving ; gently, slowly, yet we are improving. 
 When, as a visitor, I go out to a place, I have only 
 salvation work to do ; but a Superintendent going the 
 round of his Circuit, specially if the Circuit be in diffi- 
 culties, cannot act as a mere evangelist : foundations 
 have to be examined, institutions kept in order, and 
 finances looked after. Nevertheless, as opportunity 
 serves, I try as hard as ever for the conversion of souls. 
 A few solitary stalks of corn have been plucked ; 
 but the harvest is not ripe, the time of sheaves is not 
 come. I have had new lessons to learn in every 
 Circuit hitherto, and new ones lies before me here. It is 
 all right. May each lesson my Master sets me be 
 welcome ! " 
 
 " Sunday, December yth. My subject was ' the bap- 
 tism of fire.' The Lord enabled me to speak strong 
 words. I was led to tell my people that they must move, 
 or I must leave. 
 
 " Thursday, December nth. I preached in behalf of 
 the trust at Sleep's Hide; in the prayer-meeting, at my 
 wish, all the people gathered upon one side : then, 
 calling forth from among them such as desired pardon, 
 or longed for perfect love, I marshalled them in 
 separate groups. We fell to prayer, and good work was 
 done. 
 
 " Sunday, December i4th. At Nash Mills I rose at
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 249 
 
 three : God graciously met me. The overshadowing 
 glory accompanied me all day." 
 
 Another letter to me, dated Hertford, December jyth, 
 says, " The chapel here was perfumed with the presence 
 of the Holy Spirit last night. In the prayer-meeting we 
 were filled with emotion. Some were set free, and 
 others filled with holy love. There will be a work in 
 Hertford and Hertfordshire yet. I have a happy, quiet 
 rest in God for this. I know that He is about to bless 
 my Circuit. Let us know Christ in His death, in His 
 resurrection, and in His ascension. Dwell deep, dwell 
 n God, my dear Samuel." 
 
 On Monday, December 2gth, the Quarterly Meeting 
 of the Local Preachers was held. With all possible good 
 speed the usual routine was gone through ; then Mr. 
 Collins addressed these helpers of his evangelistic efforts ; 
 after which all joined with their Ministers in a solemn 
 act of dedication, followed by commemoration of the 
 holy Supper. The record is, " It was a most refreshing 
 time." 
 
 A letter says, " The people generally are sluggish ; 
 they will not stir. Yet, despite prevailing hardness 
 and pride, the Lord has let us see His conquering power. 
 We add forty this quarter. I must try yet more decided 
 means. Sinners are in peril, I must plunge into the 
 wave after them. Through mercy, I am strong in body 
 and fixed in soul. By God's grace, I will apply myself 
 to God's work. I mean to allow myself no rest until all 
 the towns and villages included in the wide span of my 
 Circuit have been blessed with revival." 
 
 The year 1846 was in St. Alban's well and lovingly 
 commenced. Congregationalists, Baptists, Primitives, 
 and Wesleyans all united in religious services. In the 
 morning there was a meeting for prayer in the Independ- 
 ent chapel ; in the evening a combined communion in 
 the Wesleyan chapel. Several of the Ministers present 
 were so overpowered by hallowed feeling as to be scarcely 
 able to proceed. 
 
 At Mr. Collins's request, I, being then a Student at 
 Richmond, went down to take the first service of a 
 special series which commenced on Sunday, January 
 i8th. It was a Sabbath of much power and marked
 
 250 CHAPTER X. 
 
 success. I have not forgotten the day, nor, while 
 memory holds her seat, can I ever forget the night. 
 Weary and happy, I retired to rest in my holy kinsman's 
 house. Soon asleep, I dreamed a horrid dream. " A 
 dream! what will you tell us next?" Stay, gentle 
 critic. It did me, and may do others, good enough to 
 pay for space and ink. I thought I died. Instead of 
 rinding myself in heaven, resistlessly sinking, I entered 
 a gloomy vault, where countenances, stamped with hope- 
 less despair, surrounded me. "Where am I?" "In hell, "a 
 hollow voice replied. " And are these sad souls to be my 
 everlasting companions ? " " Nay, nay," was answered in 
 the same sepulchral tone, " lower down, lower down than 
 this for unfaithful Ministers ? " Those pitiless words 
 awoke me. Psychologists could, no doubt, explain this 
 freak of fancy by many a subtle mental law ; association 
 of ideas by contrast ; suggestion by opposites, or the 
 like. I troubled myself with no philosophy, but just 
 thanked God for a warning, cast myself and all my poor 
 doings of the day upon Jesus, and sank away to happier 
 slumbers. It is no fiction that of all hells a fallen 
 Minister's would prove most terrible. That dream 
 enshrines within its grim symbology a tremendous truth. 
 At many a thought of it I have cried, " Lord, keep me ! " 
 and tell it here that it may wake like prayer in others. 
 Taught fidelity, the Lord had yet another lesson for me. 
 The converts of the day had been numbered, and my 
 heart had, perhaps, secretly, counted on them as seals 
 attesting me. On the Tuesday next -ensuing, a letter 
 came to hand, written by a godly, but retiring, person ; 
 reading thus : " I know you had on Sabbath a good day. 
 So drawn out in prayer on your behalf was I that I rose 
 from my knees assured of your success." As I perused 
 that epistle, " Ah ! " thought I, " how little we know at 
 whose call the power that wrought the wonders fell." 
 Thus I learned that much achievement of the Church is 
 born in closets where unofficed, unordained, unnoticed 
 people pray. When the just Judge gives crowns at last, 
 some of the very brightest will, doubtless, flash on unex- 
 pected brows. 
 
 Of the after course of these services Mr. Collins wrote 
 me thus : " They have much pleased me. Of the
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 251 
 
 Lord's day you know. I may say, however, that so 
 abundant was the grace of God, that the children of 
 that day seemed of the stature of men before the close 
 of the week. On Monday I preached about the day of 
 Pentecost. In the prayer-meeting I, first of all, sum- 
 moned the labourers ; a little swarm of preachers, 
 teachers, and leaders, surrounded me. We earnestly 
 besought the Lord for a Pentecostal ' Fire Baptism ' 
 upon ourselves. The scene was solemn ; earth seemed 
 to tremble under us. When it appeared that each soul 
 was saturated with pure, deep, holy feeling, I bade the 
 workers rise, and do God's will upon the congregation. 
 At a word, they poured themselves over the chapel, and 
 soon returned, each man in charge of some stricken one. 
 Mightier demonstration of the Spirit I never knew. In 
 the strength of that meat we went through the week. 
 The six o'clock meetings were full every morning. On 
 Saturday we had a public fellowship meeting. At the 
 door, I myself took the names of fifty, who during the 
 course of that blessed week have professed to have 
 found the Lord. Many women have cast off Baby- 
 lonish garments. Set free, they have set to work. Some 
 promise exceedingly well. One young lady, L. P., who 
 a while ago could not speak in a class, said to me with 
 tears, ' Sir, to win a soul I should not mind crying the 
 name of Jesus through St. Alban's streets.' I have 
 lately been delighted with information concerning Dr. 
 Browning, given to me by my dear sister, Maria Graham. 
 He went in April last to Van Diemen's Land, a^ surgeon 
 in charge of three hundred and twenty-nine convicts. 
 During the voyage, not less than one hundred and fifty- 
 six gave evidence of having experienced salvation through 
 Christ; of the rest, many were seriously concerned, while 
 the conduct of all proved them to be under gracious re- 
 straint. The good Doctor set sail with but shattered 
 health. His experience was that each day's strength 
 came with each day's prayers. What a Master is ours ! 
 This work in that ship of exiles, among outcasts of 
 men, seems as marvellous to me as anything since 
 Pentecost." 
 
 " Monday, February 2nd. On the way to Watford I 
 called upon poor old Wilson, the lock-keeper. He met
 
 252 CHAPTER X. 
 
 me at the door, looking better than usual. I went in 
 and took tea with him. We conversed pleasantly of 
 things of God. At some reference to the name of 
 Jesus : ' Ah ! ' said he, ' that name charms our fears.' 
 Those words were his last. As he finished them, his 
 head sank upon his breast, he breathed a heavy sigh ; 
 lo, without a fear, and, apparently, without a pang, he 
 was gone. We thought he had fainted, but no, he 
 was ' with the Lord.' I bore him to his room, and, after 
 prayer, went forward, with strangely solemn feelings, to 
 preach. 
 
 " Sunday, February 8th. I addressed the young con- 
 verts of St. Alban's in the afternoon, and distributed 
 them into classes. The Leaders were there. Among 
 them, three, new ones, just appointed to their work. I 
 solemnly committed the lambs to their care." 
 
 A note, written about this time, remarks : " I have 
 just read Mrs. Fletcher's Life again. What a remarkable 
 woman she was ! In many things how Christ-like ! 
 What exemplary self-denial ! What love of the poor I 
 It is recorded of one year that in it she spent upon dress 
 but nineteen shillings, while she distributed to the neces- 
 sitous 180. O that women of our time would follow in 
 this track of simplicity and charity ! " 
 
 This note recalls my earliest reminiscence of that 
 saintly Minister, John H. Bumby, whose usefulness in 
 Birmingham, through all these years, has had no peer. 
 A gaily dressed person presented herself to him as an 
 anxious inquirer: he told her, that vain attire and 
 sorrow for sin did not agree ; that Jesus did not like His 
 servants to go in the world's livery ; then, with her 
 consent, he took the gauds of fashion from her brow, 
 and cast them beneath the Communion table. Mr. 
 Collins's love for plain apparel was equally primitive and 
 strong. The straw plait district, where so many young 
 girls congregate, and where their employment is clean, 
 light, and fairly remunerative, has, not unnaturally, ever 
 been somewhat remarkable for the dressiness of its 
 women. Mr. Collins both hated and dreaded worldly 
 conformity. It seemed to him the moth and rust of the 
 church. The gewgaws common in female head-gear 
 greatly grieved him. " Here," he says, " the silly
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 253 
 
 fashion of bedizening with flowers and gaudy ribbons so 
 prevails, that members yes, and old ones too are 
 carried away with it." When he saw an evil, it was im- 
 possible for him to keep hands off. He always struck. 
 His exhortations on this matter some despised, but 
 many obeyed. Jewels and flowers were laid aside for 
 the Lord's sake. The members, neat and plain, revived 
 the memory of early Methodist simplicity. Not a few 
 brought to their Pastor the garlands which aforetime 
 had decked their brows. His ingenuity found better use 
 for them. They became the ornaments of a Missionary 
 Maypole. It was rather more than six feet high ; and, 
 when tastefully wreathed from top to bottom, though it 
 could not be proud, was exceedingly pretty. A Mission- 
 ary box iormed the base oi this trophy of crucified 
 vanities ; while a poetical inscription solicited a thank- 
 offering tor the triumphs ot grace, which during the 
 revival had induced so many to put away what it 
 designated 
 
 Pride that taints the church's youth, 
 And shames the church's poor. 
 
 It went on to say : 
 
 Better showy trifles here, 
 
 Than twined in ladies locks ; 
 They could add no beauty there, 
 
 Nor fill the Mission box. 
 
 Men to dress are tempted less, 
 But more their gains to hold ; 
 
 Sacrifice before their eyes 
 Your dress may gain their gold. 
 
 There was a touch of quaint humour in all this ; but 
 it impressed young people with a much-needed lesson, 
 and in the Missionary campaign oi that year proved to 
 be financially a great success. After a vigorous protest 
 against flowers and finery, delivered during some special 
 services in the Lambeth Circuit, Mr. Collins received the 
 following letter : 
 
 WALWORTH, March zoth, 1846. 
 
 REV. AND DEAR SlR, 
 
 HEARING you speak at Vauxhall, upon personal adorning, made 
 me think it right to let you know my experience in the matter. 
 My heart got troubled on the question while pleading in my closet
 
 254 CHAPTER X. 
 
 to be made all that God would have me he. Following of fashion, 
 and conformity to the world, arose before me, burdened my conscience, 
 and gagged my prayer. My spirit did not yield at once. I tried to 
 defend my gold, and jeweller)', and dress. I said, ' I have never felt 
 the wearing of them to be a sin; I am sure that I am not proud of 
 them ; many excellent persons wear them.* As if in answer to 
 these pleas, the hungry, the naked, the distressed, who by the cost 
 might have been aided, with painful vividness seemed to surround 
 me. It came also to mind, that when speaking to a poor unfortunate, 
 my eye had fallen upon her garish array ; and that at the time, I had 
 been mournfully stricken with the thought that hankering after finery 
 annually snares hundreds of poor girls into that unhappy path of sin 
 and death. It occurred to me next that fine dresses in the pews 
 shame the poverty-stricken out of the sanctuary. I said: "Well, 
 why do I wear them ?" I conld find no reason higher than man- 
 pleasing, or better than fear of peculiarity. I saw the necessity of 
 decision. I conscientiously laid them aside. As trophies, for you, 
 of grace's victory, I send herewith now useless to me a packet of 
 my old adornings. Do with them what seems to you best. I intend 
 henceforth, to be a simple follower of the Lamb. 
 
 Jesus I my cross have taken, 
 
 All to leave and follow Thee ; 
 Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, 
 
 Thou from hence my all shalt be. 
 
 Perish every fond ambition, 
 
 All I've sought, or hoped, or known : 
 
 Yet how rich is my condition ! 
 God and heaven are still my own. 
 
 Now before I close, I will confess a woman's weakness. I had 
 often defended these badges of the world by the plea of indifference ; 
 I had felt sure that I did not care for them. Ah, Sir, such sayings 
 were words of ignorance. In laying them down I first found how 
 much I had really loved them. It was a much greater denial of self 
 than ever I expected it to be. My sisters, who have not made the 
 experiment, will smile. To encourage them however, to try, I will 
 further say that I have found the burden of the cross to be sweet. 
 
 Friends urge upon me that the use of trinkets and the following 
 of the fashions do good to business. An argument I reply as old 
 as Demetrius ; and no more triumphant in the lips of traders in 
 vanity than it was in those of the shrine makers of Diana. 
 
 I now endeavour to adorn myself only with godliness and good 
 works ; and desire, henceforth, that my very dress may tell whose 
 I am. 
 
 That God may help you, Sir, to expose this device of Satan 
 before the church, and to drive it right out of it, is the sincere 
 prayer of your sister in Christ, 
 
 AGNES Moss. 
 
 Of the Vauxhall special services, Benjamin Gough, 
 Esq., says : " It was my privilege to entertain Mr.
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 255 
 
 Collins. Many years have passed, yet the impressions 
 of that visit are unfaded in my mind. Pre-eminently a 
 man of prayer, we found Mr. Collins to be a man of 
 power. A halo of sacred influence seemed to accom- 
 pany him. His character was fragrant, and all his con- 
 versation seasoned. I inquired, ' Where do you go at 
 Conference?' The reply, 'Where God wills,' was 
 characteristic. We soon perceived the aim of his every 
 word and work to be the accomplishment of Divine 
 purposes. At the service the congregation was large. 
 The hymns were given out with such depth and truth 
 of feeling, and with such hallowed emphasis, that every- 
 body saw them, sang them, prayed them. We felt 
 that our song went into the ears of Heaven. The 
 prayer uplifted men, and laid hold on God. Its plead- 
 ings were inexpressibly tender; its mighty faith brought 
 down an answer that filled the place with melting power. 
 The subject of the sermon was 'the baptism of fire.' 
 While the preacher yet spake, ' the Holy Ghost fell on 
 them that heard him.' At the end of the discourse, 
 few left the chapel. Mr. Collins, descending from the 
 pulpit, entered the Communion : there he stood ; his 
 broad features strangely beautified, and glowing with 
 the radiance of devotion. He called upon the Leaders, 
 Local Preachers, Prayer Leaders, all of them, to come 
 and surround him. They came. ' And now,' said he 
 ' let us kneel down, and in five minutes of silent prayer 
 consecrate ourselves afresh to God,' There came upon 
 us 
 
 The speechless awe which dares not move, 
 
 And all the silent heaven of love. 
 
 The stillness was breathless and most solemn. Every 
 one felt, ' How dreadful is this place ! This is none 
 other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven.' 
 When Mr. Collins rose, and with uplifted hands and 
 eyes began to supplicate the outpouring of the Spirit, 
 the scene was overwhelming and sublime. All melted 
 into tears ; but soon the tears of penitence brightened 
 into tears of joy. and confessions of sin were followed 
 by hallelujahs of deliverance. This work continued for 
 some hours." 
 
 At Watford, on Sunday, February I5th, it was again
 
 256 CHAPTER X. 
 
 my own happiness to conduct services initial to a series 
 of special ones to be continued by Mr. Collins. In the 
 Lord's work Mr. Collins cared nothing for expense. He 
 paid a good man to call upon every family in the town 
 with an invitation. He also brought up several people 
 of praying power to help in the protracted spiritual exer- 
 cises of that week. He said, " My difficulty is lodgings ; 
 you must stay with a sweep." The sound was worse than 
 the fact. Though soot paid for the house of my host, it 
 was not permitted to defile it. The man was a worthy, 
 respectable person ; and had a fund of remembrances 
 full of racy humour. The first Missionary Meeting he 
 attended, after conversion, found him wealthy in the 
 possession of one shilling and twopence. As the col- 
 lector approached, a question of some difficulty arose. 
 " Copper, silver : which is to go ? Those poor Pagans 
 are in awful case ; but then : a shilling is a good lump ; 
 it is my last ; and where the next is to come from I 
 don't see. What a hurry they are in ! Why, here's the 
 plate. Mammon has it; on goes the twopence. The 
 closing prayer commenced. The petitions were too big 
 for my gift. I could not respond. I felt mean. So, 
 quietly going up the aisle, I stealthily dropped my 
 shilling on the plate as it lay on the table. Then I 
 could say ' Amen,' as lustily as the best of them. But, 
 botheration, I lost my twopence. So I learned stingi- 
 ness to be a losing game. When Old Satan has tempted 
 me to it since then, I've often thrown that twopence in 
 his face ; and I don't believe he likes it, Sir." 
 
 The effort put forth in these Watford services was 
 abundantly repaid. The handful of members were 
 cheered and revived. It was touching to see the whole 
 Sunday School, children, teachers, and officers, bathed 
 in tears together. The power, as the days passed, 
 seemed to accumulate. Four visitors, casually in the 
 town, carried with them from it the joy of a newly-found 
 salvation. One young fellow of the place pleased Mr. 
 Collins much. He said, " Sir, I have given up the 
 glass ; smoking shall go too ; so here's my pipe. I do 
 not know that I have any other idol ; and, by the help 
 of God, I never will have." Another case was peculiar. 
 J. S., of K , had long been the subject of gracious
 
 ST. ALBAN S. 257 
 
 strivings, but had resisted them, and carefully avoided 
 all things which he supposed likely to strengthen them. 
 Mr. Collins had been his special dread. At sight of him 
 on the road, the youth had often turned over into a way- 
 side field, to avoid the meeting. With hidden remorse 
 he had braved it out ; but only just. Some one told 
 him, " After Watford, they are coming here." He 
 thought within himself, " Whatever shall I do ? I am 
 sure I cannot stand it ; I shall break down and make a 
 fool of myself before all my companions." Haunted by 
 this fear, the young man determined to anticipate 
 matters by going over, fairly yielding himself up, and, if 
 the Lord would, getting converted at Watford. He 
 came. His tears, and cries, and agitation were great ; 
 but Jesus met the trembler, and sent him home to his 
 godly father with a song in his mouth. The reality of 
 religious experience often finds confirmation in the fresh 
 phrases used by new converts ; unborrowed and self- 
 minted, they yet always turn out to be exactly true to 
 the old ideas. Take two instances afforded by the band- 
 meeting which closed the labours of this happy week. 
 They came from the extremes of youth and age. A little 
 girl, with ecstasy in her beaming eyes, exclaimed, " O, 
 I do like Jesus ! " " Why ? " " Because He likes me." 
 An old woman, who, until those days of grace, for a life- 
 time had neglected worship, rose up to tell how she had 
 been " renewed in the spirit of her mind." " I feel," 
 said she, "just as if I was somebody else." 
 
 At the further request of Mr. Collins, my Richmond 
 superiors kindly permitted me the honour of commenc- 
 ing, on Sunday, February 22nd, the proposed special 
 services at Rickmansworth. My excellent kinsman 
 much loved to bring me into the yoke of revival work. 
 It was his desire to pledge me to labour for the conver- 
 sion of men, that led him to put me thus at the front 
 time after time. 
 
 The fidelity that passes none without a word for Jesus 
 soon generates ingenuity for its introduction that pre- 
 cisians will be apt to think eccentric. Mr. Collins's life 
 was thickly strewn with such things. He did them, but 
 did not, except in very intimate circles, tell of them. The 
 specimen I append is only preserved in a sprightly letter
 
 258 CHAPTER X. 
 
 to his little daughter. On Monday, when walking to 
 Rickmansworth, to take charge of the meetings for the 
 week, he came up with an angler on the bank of a 
 stream. "Any success to-day?" "Fair." "I had a 
 good take yesterday, myself." " Roach ? " " No ; souls." 
 " La ! Soles ? Can't catch soles about here." " O, yes, 
 I can. I catch nothing else. The Lord has made me a 
 fisher of men. My bait, and hook, and line, and net, are 
 all for never-dying souls. I catch, not to kill, but to 
 save ; and nothing would please me better than to catch 
 you." 
 
 At Rickmansworth Mr. Collins stayed at the house of 
 Mr. H. The son, Henry, was a backslider. He would 
 not go to the meetings ; and slipped off to bed to avoid 
 family prayer. Mr. Collins called in at his room, 
 knelt by his bedside, and prayed for him. Next morn- 
 ing, at half-past five, there he knelt again. This, each 
 night and each morning, he continued until Friday, 
 when the pent-up, long-resisted feeling could be re- 
 strained no longer. The youth arose, went to the 
 prayer-meeting, and, with tears, submitted his heart to 
 Christ. 
 
 From March 22nd to March 2gth inclusive, a second 
 series of special services was held at St. Alban's. There 
 were meetings for prayer at five, twelve, and half-past 
 six each day ; with preaching at seven. Mr. Collins did 
 most of the preaching himself. Some were converted ; 
 all were quickened. 
 
 On Monday, March 3Oth, at the Quarterly Meeting, 
 all went cheerily. The exchequer was adequately sup- 
 plied ; the membership sixty in advance, with one 
 hundred and fifty on trial. Efforts for chapel relief were 
 resolved upon. 
 
 Tidings having reached Mr. Collins of the departure of 
 his warm, true friend, E. Austen, of Brede, he imme- 
 diately wrote to the widow : " You have now become 
 specially the ward of heaven. The Lord Jesus did not 
 visit Martha and Mary in the affliction of their brother, 
 as they had expected ; but in His own time and manner 
 He did come ; and, when He came, did what was for 
 Himself most glorious ; and, for them, exceeding abun- 
 dantly above their thought. It is a great thing for
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 259 
 
 Providence so to order the suffering of our friends as to 
 secure by them the edification of the Church. Your dear 
 husband, through his later years, with gieat heartiness 
 and childlike simplicity, witnessed a good confession; 
 and now, sustained by grace, by a triumphant end he 
 has stimulated the desires and confirmed the faith of 
 many." 
 
 Of the same, to the Rev. J. Harris, he wrote: "My 
 poor, true friend, Edmund Austen the elder, has taken 
 flight. The manner of his departure was a triumph. 
 His dying testimony has greatly excited his neighbours. 
 I tried to reach in time to drop a few loving tears upon 
 his ashes ; but could not. The funeral was over ; but to 
 such as could be collected I gave an address. Death is 
 at work. Pascall, Hickman, and Hudson, among my 
 own fellow-labourers, are gone. I must be alive for God 
 and souls. For Hudson, my late amiable and affectionate 
 colleague, it was, no longer since than last Tuesday, my 
 mournful duty to preach at Coventry a funeral sermon. 
 The chapel was crowded. It was solace to find how well 
 the work God did by us together there abides. Croakers 
 said, when I was gone all would sink. Blessed be the 
 Lord, there is in that Circuit, this year, not merely 
 retention, but increase." 
 
 Of the first term of toil at St. Alban's, with its fruit, a 
 letter by an eye-witness, the Rev. G. Buckley, gives a 
 good summary. " It was my good lot," he says, " to be 
 appointed by the Conference of 1845 as the fellow- 
 labourer in St. Alban's with Mr. Collins. The holiness 
 his sermons set forth his heart experienced. Sanctifica- 
 tion, the frequent theme of his discourse, was by him 
 fully, constantly, joyously realized. Such preaching, so 
 practically sustained, had incomparable force. He did 
 not pass off the doctrine of purity as a sort of ecclesias- 
 tical coin, but daily exhibited it as a life. The impression 
 his sterling excellence made upon me I can never forget. 
 A greater enemy to the kingdom of darkness Satan never 
 had. Instant in season and out of season, he preached 
 the Gospel out of the pulpit as much as he did in it. 
 Ordinary means could not content him. The cry of his 
 soul was, ' Too much for Thee to cannot do.' Special 
 efforts were going on, here and there, in the Circuit, all 
 
 S 2
 
 260 CHAPTER X. 
 
 through the year. * Showers of blessing ' came down ; 
 and the work of the Lord revived on every hand. We 
 had in the year an increase of one hundred and forty- 
 three, with sixty upon trial." 
 
 Mr. Collins attended the Conference of 1846, at Bristol. 
 He lodged, as usual with him, at his own charge. His 
 journey was so hindered that it had got far on in the 
 night when he arrived. Lest the family might be in 
 anxiety waiting his coming, he thought it better to go 
 down in the omnibus and reconnoitre : intending, if he 
 found all dark, quietly to return to an inn. The con- 
 ductor, however, settled matters in his own fashion, by 
 giving a ring at the bell vigorous enough to have proved 
 an alarum for Rip Van Winkle, or the celebrated 
 seven sleepers. Mr. Collins writes : " My host, a neat 
 little man, was soon at the door ; and I was soon in my 
 chamber." 
 
 Of the public prayer-meeting of the next morning, the 
 record is : " I felt the mighty power of God. Mr. 
 Waddy, Dr. Newton, Robert Young, Dr. Hannah, and 
 Dr. Beaumont prayed. Dr. Beaumont's plea for mercy 
 with the Holy Trinity bore with it my whole heart. 
 Again, at the Ordination Communion, Christ was so 
 revealed to me, as offered for me and for the world, that 
 my soul was dissolved in love." 
 
 To each of the newly ordained Mr. Collins presented 
 a copy of the Rev. Thomas Harris's life of William 
 Bramwell. 
 
 A letter to me, dated August 3rd, says : " Our 
 President, Mr. Atherton, in the chair, does his part very 
 well. He has great nerve : puts men down who talk 
 seesaw without mercy, and pushes on business expedi- 
 tiously. I did not think that in the pulpit he accomplished 
 as much as I have known Presidents do. His text was : 
 ' In the last day, that great day of the feast,' &c. It 
 was finished, and terse, but altogether in the minute 
 way ; ' A river is this ; and a river is that ; and a river 
 is the other.' Thus he got shut up in words and phrases, 
 instead of dwelling upon, and getting us into, the gush- 
 ing fulness." 
 
 Mr. Collins goes on to narrate how he extemporized 
 a service in a shabby part, called Phippin Street ; he
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 261 
 
 says ; " The people behaved admirably. I wept, and 
 they wept. About four I would have closed, but as they 
 seemed hungry for the Word, and murmured, ' Go on, go 
 on,' I continued a while longer. The affectionate cling- 
 ing of the poor people round me reminded me of some of 
 Mr. Wesley's old Bristol experiences." 
 
 In a letter, dated August 7th, Mr. Collins informs his 
 father : " Your old friend, J. W. Cloake, in whose house 
 my soul first tasted the joy of salvation, departed to 
 heaven this morning. He has been plenteous in bene- 
 dictions and good words ; full of love and holy life. He 
 was taken ill on Sunday, and now he is at home." 
 
 In deliberate assemblies during discussion, pro and 
 con are alike legitimate. Rule by majorities supposes 
 the existence of minorities. Every man who has brain 
 and conscience in working order, has been in a minority 
 some time. If a calamity, it is one which only men of 
 the make of Byends' celebrated friend, Mr. Facing-both- 
 ways, can possibly keep out of. No intellect can be so 
 attuned as always to chord with the conclusions of a 
 convention. 
 
 But when the Tellers' count goes against the convic- 
 tions of a loyal man, what must he do ? Jump round 
 in his views with the vote ? Since the decease of the 
 "Vicar of Bray," no extant people, except the editors of 
 the " Times," can do that. 
 
 A recent leading article, in that versatile print, criti- 
 cizing the speech of a well-known M.P., who had said, 
 " Almighty Providence will take care that what is neces- 
 sary be done," remarks, " Such speculations are out of 
 our range of vision." In that sentence the great, strong, 
 purblind Titan of the press unwarily blurts out its own 
 weakness. With all its cleverness there is much beyond 
 its " range of vision." Of the earth, earthy, it beholds 
 not the stars. Though clear-sighted, near-sighted, it 
 cannot see into the empyrean. 
 
 It is the slave of the English money men ; bound, like 
 one of the spell-fettered ge^nii of Arabian tales, at the 
 talismanic touch of a threepenny bit to appear, morning 
 by morning, bearing a load of words, alas ! too often 
 cunningly devised to set forth its masters' selfishness 
 shapely : not but that it can, upon occasion, speak godly,
 
 262 CHAPTER X. 
 
 and be charitable, when to do so is respectable. Set- 
 ting itself to utter the dominant opinion of each day, 
 versatility is both its profession and its power. " The 
 fashion of this world passeth away; " and "The Times" 
 is just the passing world in print. Blame " The Times " 
 for changing ? You might as well blame the moon for 
 the same fault : it would soon be behind " the times " if 
 it did not. Let us allot what praise we may ; its de- 
 signation is honest ; it calls chicory, chicory ; its label 
 rather shabby in the esteem of men who live for eternity 
 is yet true ; for, to suit " the times," not to uphold 
 principles, is its chosen vocation. 
 
 The thing which, while it now tried Mr. Collins's 
 feelings, gave also occasion for his Methodist loyalty, 
 was the action thought necessary in the case of the 
 American, Caughey. As was very natural, Mr. Collins's 
 sympathies were with that prominent and powerful revi- 
 valist. He never concealed the fact that the decision 
 arrived at was not according to his mind. He felt it so 
 painfully, that months after he said ; " I do not like to 
 advert to the subject." 
 
 It may be profitable to learn the attitude towards 
 authorities which this holy man's mind assumed under 
 this pressure. 
 
 One, bsing himself greatly irritated, knowing Mr. 
 Collins's love of the successful revivalist and his work, 
 wrote, expecting sympathy with a vehement and whole- 
 sale denunciation of the Conference, but was surprised 
 and calmed by receiving from him a statement that, 
 while he regretted the conclusion to which his brethren 
 had come, yet he felt sure of their integrity ; that, while 
 he sorrowed that divided feeling should have existed, he 
 recognised moderation in the course the majority had 
 decided to adopt. Nor would he leave his correspondent 
 to suppose that they had proceeded in the matter without 
 reason. In the fairest manner possible he sent him a 
 well-digested sum of the arguments by which their 
 conclusions were reached ; dealing with each point 
 seriatim : 
 
 " ' Why did Conference interfere ? ' It is responsible 
 for the carrying out of the discipline committed to us. 
 Two District Meetings made appeal upon the point.
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 263 
 
 Conference must then either consider the case, or shirk 
 its functions. 
 
 " ' But, shottld the measures of our discipline be applied 
 to a visitor ? ' No courteous visitor would wish the 
 modes of a family to be disturbed for him. Besides, a 
 visit protracted through years becomes a residence. 
 
 " ' Well, what evil hath he done ? ' 
 
 "i. It was alleged that he often made professions that 
 the alarming things he uttered were Divine warnings 
 for persons whom, by direct inspiration, he knew to be 
 present. In answer to the defence, that he only threw 
 things into that form when being an acute observer of 
 mankind he was morally sure that the crowd around 
 him must furnish instances, the reply was : He would 
 not degrade himself by acknowledging such a device ; 
 but, if he would, how would it mend the case ? His 
 words convey the impression that he is inspired ; his 
 friends urge that he is calculating. What defence is 
 there in such a plea? One said of this supposed inspira- 
 tion : " If it be a claim, I disbelieve it ; if it be a trick, 
 I despise it ; in either case I oppose it. 
 
 " 2. It was argued by Mr. Vevers that every man in 
 that Conference was responsible ; was regularly inquired 
 after as to orthodoxy, order, and purity of life ; that this 
 was necessary ; that we hold each other strictly to it ; 
 and that it was alike perilous and unreasonable that a 
 stranger should be upheld, for years together, in a posi- 
 tion more independent and unchecked than we should 
 dream of permitting to the most tried and trusted of all 
 our brotherhood. 
 
 " 3. To the plea, that, by subjection to the several 
 Superintendents, he was though indirectly amenable 
 to discipline, Mr. Naylor replied that practically a man 
 with such a host of partizans at his back becomes too 
 strong for the rule of a solitary pastor ; nor have facts 
 shown his deference to the Superintendent's wishes to 
 be very special: I W. N. wrote, informing him that 
 I desired him not to come into my Circuit. My right to 
 do so was of course indisputable. He neither acknow- 
 ledged my right, nor quietly submitted to my decision, 
 but sent me an uncourteous letter, threatening exposure 
 in hostile prints.
 
 264 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " After long conversation, full of conflicting opinion, 
 Dr. Bunting said : ' The Connexion is undeniably 
 becoming divided in feeling; the judgments even of 
 District Meetings are diverse ; this Conference itself is 
 not at one. No man however gifted can do so much 
 good as schism among ourselves will do harm. I there- 
 fore move that the Bishops of the Troy Conference be 
 written to, and requested to recall Mr. Caughey.' This, 
 being seconded by Mr. Scott, was carried. 
 
 " Concerning this decision, though I gave against it 
 my vote, I dare not for conscience-sake speak of it in 
 terms of opprobrious condemnation. Conference when, 
 in its judgment, reason to do so appears removes us all : 
 we concur in its right to do so : why then is this one man 
 to account it a hardship that his removal is requested ? 
 
 " ' But God specially called Mr. Caughey.' Be it so. 
 But did He not also specially call you and me ? Should 
 not our spirits, nevertheless, be subject to the prophets ? 
 to our own control ? and, in godly order, to the 
 brethren ? 
 
 " ' / tell you, the whole thing is mean spite and envy. 
 Leading Ministers secretly repine at being eclipsed by his 
 marvellous success.' Avaunt, Satan ! I will yield, no, 
 not for a moment, to such a devilish suggestion. 
 When a man, or a body of men, have done an act which 
 lay, if they choose to do it, fully within their own legiti- 
 mate sphere, I am free to regret their choice ; but if I, 
 to whom the secrets of hearts are not open, set myself 
 imputing ill motives for the conduct of those men, 
 whether they sinned or not in what they did, assuredly 
 I shall in my censure of them. 
 
 " The question shaped itself thus : Is it consistent 
 with the constitution and discipline of our body for a 
 Minister to remain occupying the best pulpits of our 
 Connexion, from year to year, without attending our 
 District Meetings ; answering our usual testing ques- 
 tions ; or being amenable to our Conference ? 
 
 " Had the Conference condemned Mr. Caughey's 
 efforts for the salvation of souls, they would have 
 arrayed themselves against God ; but on the other hand, 
 had they, when it was challenged, justified his anomalous 
 position, they would have been untrue to their trust.
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 265 
 
 " My own wish was, that the brethren had seen it 
 right to end the anomaly by accepting the suggestion of 
 S. D. Waddy, that the Conference should adopt him ; 
 take the rule of him ; and, henceforth, appoint both the 
 time and the place of his labours. Would that Caughey 
 had sought this himself ! 
 
 " I, loving the man, regret that others do not look 
 upon him as I do. But, since they do not, what ? Must 
 I wish them to be gagged, or silenced ? Where then is 
 my regard for liberty ? Am I to assume that only they 
 who see as I do, love the Lord's work, love souls, 
 love revivals, love Methodism ? Where then is my 
 humility ? Because the majority decide what does not 
 please me, should I impute ill motives to them ? 
 Where then is my charity ? Am I to allow my mind to 
 brood over the disliked result, taking no note of any 
 marks of moderation in the method ? Where then is 
 my candour ? Am I, so soon as my private will is 
 thwarted, to turn rebel ? Where then is my submission? 
 Where my loyalty ? How, if such conduct were com- 
 mon, could any church hold together ? " 
 
 This is an exemplary specimen of the way in which, 
 while Mr. Collins was manfully true to his own convic- 
 tions, he was also beautifully true to his brethren. 
 
 Later on, when the excitement of his correspondent 
 had subsided, he wrote : " Poor Caughey has left our 
 shores at last. I did not mean my former letter to cause 
 you to love less either the man or his work. I saw that 
 hurtful feelings were finding place within you. It 
 became, therefore, my duty not to exasperate them by 
 my opinions, but to calm them by setting forth, with all 
 the strength I could, the reasons which weighed with 
 men, wiser than either of us, at the Conference. That 
 end being answered, and your bitterness abated, I may 
 now without hurting you let my heart speak. How 
 much I have felt cannot be told. As I had always re- 
 joiced in the success of the man, so have I mourned the 
 clouds that came over his path. Nor have I ceased to 
 pray that all his difficulties may work for his good." 
 
 After the Conference, Mr. Collins went up to London 
 to the Meeting of the Evangelical Alliance, at Free- 
 mason's Hall. Distinguished Christians of many names
 
 266 CHAPTER X. 
 
 were there. He says : " It was a noble sight to see so 
 many great and good men gathered for so great and 
 good a purpose. The conduct of affairs was admir- 
 able. All foreseen perils were approached with prayer. 
 This, without checking earnestness, subdued it into 
 sweetness. I observed, that when any topic was intro- 
 duced, which, in an ordinary assembly, would have 
 called forth strong feeling and loud tones, it seemed in- 
 variably to be entered upon with more quietness of 
 manner, meekness of spirit, and self-control than com- 
 mon. Thus, matters of difficulty were encountered 
 with patient application, exciting themes dwelt on with 
 calmness, and perplexities overcome by waiting upon 
 God. Wesleyans found themselves well at home in 
 the Alliance. As Churchmen and Dissenters mutually 
 approached, our hearts welcomed them upon ground 
 which our favourite motto, ' Friends of all, and enemies 
 of none,' had, from the beginning, marked as our own. 
 The Divine power was eminently felt. I came away 
 much edified and refreshed." 
 
 From Conference until Christmas Mr. Collins con- 
 tinued his usual course, marked by unsparing toil, 
 diversified by incident, chequered with difficulties, 
 cheered by conversions. 
 
 An election strife divided his people and vexed his 
 soul. A shying horse, with little warning, rudely 
 deposited him upon a roadside heap of flirts ; from 
 which he rose, " sore, but sound." He writes : " De- 
 cember gth. I was never more fully occupied than now 
 with the duties of my ministry. I have been holding 
 special services in Hemel-Hempstead and Redbourn. 
 In Christmas week I intend doing the same at Boving- 
 don. That place had been laid upon my heart. Some 
 time ago the chapel would have been sold away from 
 Methodism if I had not found for it 80 upon my own 
 responsibility. This is almost the first money I ever 
 borrowed in my life ; nor would I have done it now but 
 for Christ's sake." 
 
 The Journal of December 23rd, 1846, gives a beauti- 
 ful and unique record of closet work at that poor 
 Bovingdon. 
 
 I lodged in a large house, formerly the mansion of Lord Mon- 
 tague. I had, to myself, a noble room ; and much enjoyed, within
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 267 
 
 it, a day of devotion. The great blessing I received induces me to 
 pen down some communings which my soul had with God at that 
 time. The following was the order of my prayer : 
 
 "I adore Thee, O Lord God, for thy Word, in which Thou hast 
 revealed Thyself. What I read of Thee in that Word I most firmly 
 believe. 
 
 " Guided by Thy Word, I believe that Thou art : that Thou art a 
 Spirit, incomprehensible, everlasting, infinite, and unchangeable ; 
 that Thou art true, and righteous, and holy, and wise, and mighty; 
 that Thou art love ; that Thou art blessed. 
 
 "I believe that Thou art true; that Thou art incomprehensible, 
 eternal, infinite, immutable truth. 
 
 "I believe that Thou art righteous ; that Thou art righteousness, 
 incomprehensible, eternal, infinite, immutable righteousness. 
 
 " I believe that Thou art holy ; incomprehensibly, eternally, in- 
 finitely, immutably holy. 
 
 " I believe that Thou art wise; incomprehensibly, eternally, infi- 
 nitely, immutably wise. 
 
 " I believe that Thou art mighty ; that Thy might is incomprehen- 
 sible, eternal, infinite, immutable. 
 
 "I believe that Thou art love; that Thy incomprehensible, ever- 
 lasting, infinite, and unchangeable truth, righteousness, purity, wis- 
 dom, and power, are deep-founded in love ; that Thy Deity of love 
 upbears all Thy perfections ; penetrates, pervades, governs, shines 
 through, and is the substance of them all. 
 
 " I believe that Thou art blessed in Thy love ; incomprehensibly 
 blessed ; eternally, infinitely, unchangeably blessed. 
 
 " Thus do I believe of Thee, O Jehovah the Father ! only Foun- 
 tain of Being, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I adore Thy 
 paternity, Thy most perfect and ever-blessed Fatherliness. I adore 
 Thee as, by the incomprehensible law of Thy nature, by Thine 
 everlasting, infinite, unchangeable act, Thou dost give Thyself forth 
 in the person of Thy Son. 
 
 " And thus do I believe of Thee, O Jehovah Jesus ! who. by this 
 incomprehensible, everlasting, infinite, unchanging generation, 
 art the Son of the Father. I adore Thee in Thy filial state, Thy 
 filial Name, Thy filial right. Thou art of Thy Father ; Life, of His 
 life; Truth, of His truth ; Holy, of Him that is holy ; Wise, of 'the 
 only Wise;' Almighty, of the Almighty; Love, of His love ; Bliss, 
 of His bliss. Thou art Thy Father's image, His Heir, His Glory. 
 
 'And thus do I believe of Thee, O Jehovah the Spirit ! Thou one 
 Spirit, of the Father, and of the Son, ever proceeding. Thou art incom- 
 prehensible, e%'erlasting, infinite, and unchangeable. Thou dwellest 
 in the Father and in the Son ; and the Father and the Son dwell in 
 Thee. 
 
 " Thus, O Three-One Jehovah, do I believe in Thee ! Thoa 
 Triune Life, Truth, Holiness, Wisdom, Power, Love, and Blessed- 
 ness. 
 
 " Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one only Lord, I adore Thee. In 
 so far as Thou art revealed to me, I adore Thee. In all Thy work 
 of Creation, Government, Redemption, and endless Salvation, I 
 adore Thee.
 
 
 268 CHAPTER X. 
 
 I adore Thy truth in its substance and realness. 
 I adore Thy righteousness in that it cannot bend or be broken. 
 I adore Thy holiness in that it cannot be approached by any- 
 th ng that becomes not Thy majesty. 
 I adore Thy wisdom in its depths. 
 I adore Thy power in all its acts and capabilities. 
 I adore Thy love in all its forms, and Thy blessedness in all its 
 degrees. Thou, O Father, lovest to give forth living forms ; and to 
 protect, sustain, feed, fill, comfort, and delight in, all that live of 
 Thee. 
 
 " Thou, O Saviour, by inheritance hast all Thy Father's perfec- 
 tions ; all His work is Thine ; done of Him, by Thee, and for Thee ; 
 and Thou lovest to show Thyself, and through Thyself Thy Father, 
 unto all minds. 
 
 " Thou, O Spirit, lovest that all the Father's work should be done, 
 and all the Saviour's work known through Thee. Through Thee, 
 the Father impressed His image upon man at the creation ; through 
 Thee the Son offered Himself for man in redemption. Thou, 
 Third in order of the Three, giving Thyself to man, art his loving 
 Sanctifier. 
 
 " Ineffable Jehovah, Unity in Trinity, O Author, Redeemer, Re- 
 newer of my being, to Thee will I now confess my sins and sinfulness. 
 " Apart from Thee as I am in myself I am all sin. If Thou 
 wert to withdraw Thine own out of me, all, both of nature and life, 
 would be alike vile. In me except as Thou hast put it there is no 
 good thing. Show me self as in itself in the light of truth it is. 
 Keep me from boasting as my own, such things as are in me only by 
 Thy grace. Keep in me, inheritor of a fallen nature, memory of 
 what weltering in ruin I was when first Thy mercy found me : re- 
 bellious, malignant, filthy, and proud. Show me how, since then, I 
 have been quick to joys of sense, but slow and unready to know, 
 obey, and enjoy Thee. I humbly confess that through all my days 
 there has been no thought, word, or act, wholly mine, but has been 
 evil : so evil that Thy holiness must detest its vileness, and Thy 
 righteousness condemn its guilt. With Thy hatred of these my ill- 
 deeds I agree. I abhor them with all my heart. Thy sentence I 
 justify. 
 
 " But, O Thou loving, glorious God, while Thou hatest my sin, 
 Thou hast loved and pitied me, poor sinner, and graciously provided 
 for my return unto Thee. To this, Thy love, I shall be eternally in- 
 debted. I now come in Thy way, at Thy call, to Thee. Thy mercy 
 embraces me. Thy Majesty covers me. I hide in Thee. Thou art 
 all in all. 
 
 " I thank Thee for all that Thou hast done for me and given to 
 me ; in my birth ; my parents ; my Christian friends ; in the ministry 
 of Thy word ; in my conviction of sin ; in my pardon, adoption, re- 
 newal, and preservation hitherto; and in the blessing of Thy perfect 
 love. I thank Thee for my call to the ministry ; for my continuance 
 through these years ; for the answers to prayer which have been 
 given me ; and for the fouls by Thy grace won to Jesus through my 
 preaching. I thank Thee for my wife and my children, my son, who 
 is with Thee, and my two daughters, who are both on the way unto
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 269 
 
 Thee. I thank Thee for worldly substance, with which to glorify 
 Thee. Thou hast supplied my wants, that Thou mightest have all 
 my thoughts. 
 
 " And now I renew my dedication unto Thee. I am Thine, and 
 must be Thine altogether, and for ever. 
 
 " Help me in constancy of prayer ; in writing down the thoughts 
 Thou givest me ; in the guidance of my Circuit ; in faithfulness of 
 speech ; and in the ceaseless seeking of souls for Thy sake. 
 
 " Now, O Lord, hear my prayer for conversions this night. I am 
 come to this place, at Thy word, to seek souls ; these souls are 
 Thine ; I seek them for Thee. To win them for Thee is my object ; 
 is it not Thine ? Is it not mine only as I am Thy servant, and as I 
 am in sympathy with Thee ? 
 
 " ' Father of the spirits of all flesh,' the men to whom I shall speak 
 are ' Thine offspring ; ' seduced away ; made prodigals ; brought 
 under Thy just displeasure, by Satan. But Thy First-born, Thy 
 Loved One, has redeemed them. To Him hast Thou not promised 
 the neck of His foes ? O Lord, fulfil. O Lord, overthrow Satan in 
 Bovingdon this day : overthrow him through this Circuit : overthrow 
 him speedily in all the earth ; and reign Thou in all hearts alone. 
 Amen." 
 
 The remaining privacy of this day was occupied in 
 devout reading of the Word, and in the composing of 
 hymns of adoration. Of the work of that kind I subjoin 
 a specimen, an acrostic. 
 
 I AM THAT I AM. 
 
 Incomprehensible, eternal One, 
 
 All being springs, and is, in Thee alone ; 
 
 Mind, matter, space, duration, are Thy own. 
 
 Thou changest not, but art to endless days, 
 High, holy, wise, and blest beyond all praise. 
 All worlds in height, or depth, and all that be, 
 Throng the wide universe to honour Thee. 
 
 Invisible, but seen in Thy own Word 
 
 As Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one Lord. 
 
 My soul adores ! Be Thou by all adored. 
 
 The high thoughts and holy joy induced by such com- 
 munings as we have here recorded, may be gathered 
 from the following remark : " God hath wonderfully 
 opened His heart unto me. Oceans of delight are 
 there. Many things are amiss in the earth ; but, 
 hallelujah ! all in God is right. While looking^ there, 
 the mass of evil in the universe, huge as it is, seems but 
 as the dot of a pen by the side of a planet, when com-
 
 270 CHAPTER X. 
 
 pared with the measureless abysses of purity and good 
 which exist in Him. The Lord is, and the Lord 
 reigneth : let the earth be glad." 
 
 On February 23rd, 1847, Mr. Collins sent to me a 
 letter of condolence, upon occasion of the death of my 
 mother. He says : " She was a tender-hearted, cheer- 
 ful, active Christian. I loved her, as an aunt; you, as 
 a mother ; but the Lord has loved her as His own. 
 He who loved her best has called her. Let us embrace 
 His will. With Him do live the spirits of all the 
 faithful dead. Strengthen yourself, and your dear 
 sisters, in Him, who is the resurrection of the dead, and 
 the life of the living. Let me know the day when you 
 deposit the precious dust to rest, as the Saviour did, in 
 hope, and I will be with you." With the day of sorrow our 
 kinsman came. His kindness, and his holy words, gave a 
 sweetness never to be forgotten to those hours of mourning. 
 
 Lack of space compels the omission of many details of 
 evangelistic outgoings, jottings of railway conversations, 
 notes of special services, and records of closet pleadings. 
 
 One singular case we will advert to. Matilda Harris, 
 a young woman well known at Harrow, and of unblame- 
 able reputation, had an illness ; fits shook her frame 
 daily, and paralysis, apparently beyond all remedy, a 
 long time held her. As the invalid was very patient, 
 gentle, winning, and devout, her chamber was much 
 resorted to by godly people. At the end of about the 
 seventh year of her affliction, she fell into a state of 
 trance. The beholders were expecting her dissolution, 
 when, lo, she awoke and astonished them by a state- 
 ment that she had seen a heavenly vision, in which 
 recovery had been promised to her, and its time and 
 manner, which she proceeded to declare, made known. 
 As the recovery happened accordingly, the facts attracted 
 great attention. Some of the people of Watford and 
 Rickmansworth invited this young person over; she 
 came and told among them her strange story. Passing 
 no judgment, Mr. Collins simply says : " While I was 
 agonizing in prayer on the other side of the Circuit, God, 
 by this unusual means, was converting and quickening 
 here. All glory to His name. How Thou wilt, Lord ; 
 only work."
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 271 
 
 About this time Irish famine was thrilling all British 
 hearts with pity. Every mail brought doleful messages. 
 
 Captain Caffin, R.N., sent word : " Exaggeration is 
 impossible. Famine, with all its horrors, stalks through 
 the land, and fever follows in its train. The people 
 you meet are mere skeletons; their tale of woe is stamped 
 upon their face." 
 
 A Clergyman, writing to Dr. M'Neile, said : " A 
 bright or peaceful moment has long been unknown to 
 me or mine. A continuous, unbroken scene of misery 
 surrounds us. The mirth of the land is gone. No 
 laugh is ever heard. No smile is ever seen. All is 
 deep-seated gloom and despondency. The haggard eye, 
 the sunken cheek, the ghastly hue of almost every 
 passer-by, tells but too mournfully the dire prevalence 
 of the distress." 
 
 The Coroner of Mayo affirmed : "I have seen a young 
 man stagger with weakness, and fall dead upon the road. 
 I have seen an infant die upon its mother's dry and 
 empty breast. I have seen a babe trying to suck nurture 
 from the cold bosom of its dead mother. I have seen 
 three of a family often lie dead at once; the stronger 
 remnant having subsisted for days upon nothing but a 
 few watercresses." 
 
 These are but a few specimens from the black record 
 of that crushing desolation. History has few sadder 
 pages. This terrible calamity greatly affected Mr. 
 Collins. It touched his heart, opened his purse, and 
 moved his prayers. He published a discourse upon the 
 occasion, which he designated, " the Man of Prayer : 
 the better Patriot." The text was, I Kings xviii. 42. 
 " So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah 
 went up to the top of Carmel." He told his sister: 
 " I hope to aid some in understanding God's voice. I 
 want to send the saints to Carmel." The sermon is a 
 vigorous call to repentance for national favouring of 
 Popery. In it he says : " The plagues of ancient 
 Israel are upon us : where are the prophets ? Ministers 
 must, like Elijah, be so filled with the Spirit, and so 
 above the fear of man, that they shall walk as in eternity, 
 and be entirely given up to prayers and tears, and labours 
 for souls ; then, with hearts full of God, and sermons
 
 272 CHAPTER X. 
 
 full of heart, their trumpet will give a certain sound, 
 and they will, through God, awaken the nation." 
 
 Of course, Mr. Collins knew and held in as small 
 esteem as it is worth the puny wit which makes epi- 
 grams about the folly of connecting the feeing of 
 Popery with the failing of potatoes. He knew the 
 arguments and despised them of those who rather 
 than lose a place would pension Antichrist. Convenient 
 flexibility was net his characteristic. He had no sym- 
 pathy with osier politicians, benders with the wind, the 
 world's applauded Pliables ; in whose vocabulary God 
 and Truth, Providence, and For Ever, get printed small ; 
 for whom one human word, EXPEDIENCE, has sup- 
 planted all God's laws. Honest convictions unlike 
 policy will not swerve. No doubt, on questions of 
 right, faith stiffens a man. Talleyrand's " No preju- 
 dices," in English unadorned, most likely, would be 
 called, " No principles." Such facile, supple men, 
 however, have but fading fame. They are but men of 
 their time, not men for all time. Their souls' eyes have 
 but a half-inch focus ; their boasted, practical sense is 
 but a glowworm light, irradiating what it can touch, but 
 leaving the deep infinity of surrounding space in mid- 
 night. Clever, in their own days, at wriggling through, 
 their memory married to nothing eternal perishes. 
 
 The negotiations were now in progress which issued 
 in the acceptance by Wesleyan schools of Government 
 educational grants. On this question Mr. Collins stood 
 upon very characteristic, but uncommon, ground. In a 
 letter he says: 
 
 I have lately been much afraid of the probability of our Connexion 
 getting trammelled by its reception of State aid, and its admission of 
 State supervision, in the matter of education. Not that I should at 
 nil object to a truly Christian State helping : but can our Govern- 
 ment now claim to have that character ? 
 
 The training of our statesmen is perilous: while finishing their 
 education by foreign travel, they learn to admire Continental ways, 
 they come to look upon Protestant feeling as bigotry ; crown all by 
 paying their respects to "His Holiness;" and then come home to 
 annihilate, if they can, the good old English abhorrence of Popery. 
 Should such people be permitted to mould this nation's mind ? 
 
 The attitude of Government towards evangelical religion has been 
 but too clearly manifested in each part of the Queen's realm : in
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 273 
 
 England, by the Socinian Chapel Bill; in Scotland, by its treatment of 
 the good men of the Kirk ; in Ireland, by its endowment of Maynooth. 
 
 A Government that could so act can in no spiritual things be 
 trusted. While it continues to do so, or holds it right to do so, it is 
 utterly unfit to have any voice concerning the education of the Church's 
 children. Such rulers I will pray for, but not take pay from. 
 
 Shall we make covenants with promoters of Popery ? or, for gain, 
 enter into coalition with worldly great ones in our Master's work? 
 " What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" Money is, 
 in this age, the devil's strong bait : shall we, willingly, subject the 
 Church to its corrupting power ? I fear lest the issue of this be that 
 we shall begin to " have men's persons in admiration because of 
 advantage." 
 
 As Mr. Collins's feeling on this matter was so strong, 
 he manfully expressed it thus in his printed sermon : 
 
 While king and country adhered to idolatry, only one kind of 
 correspondence with them was open to Elijah, namely, reproof. He 
 did reprove; and the enraged king outlawed him, and negotiated 
 with kings around to take his life; but the witness for God was 
 unmoved, and noble example of fidelity to all ages held to his 
 testimony still. 
 
 Suppose, now, Ahab had tried another way ; had attempted to 
 conciliate him by a grant of money for religious purposes, or for 
 schools of the prophets ; why, every Hebrew child could have pre- 
 dicted that Elijah would spurn the idolater's gold. 
 
 Let Protestant Ministers and Churches be as faithful to-day. Our 
 Romanizing Government, fresh from endowing a college for the 
 training of idol priests, now turns to evangelical Churches with offers 
 of aid in educational work. 
 
 Let all free Churches demonstrate to this Government, which 
 favours Popery, that it has no more power to draw them round its 
 defiled treasury, to stand for doles side by side with infidels, and take 
 grants turn about with priests of Rome, than Ahab would have had 
 to win Elijah to share the dainties of his table with prophets of Baal. 
 
 Our motto must be, " No peace with Rome ; " and no pay from 
 allies of Rome. 
 
 Our nation, by reason of the wrong action of these directors of the 
 State, can no longer be called Protestant. It is essential to fidelity 
 that we refuse aid and praise offered by such unfaithful men. The 
 battle we fight is the Lord's : He alone can give us the victory. We 
 must, therefore, that we may please Him, our great Leader, keep 
 ourselves pure, and advance only according to His word, even 
 though, by His will, it should be along the old paths of labour, 
 suffering, and sacrifice. 
 
 Mr. Collins failed to make many perceive that the 
 analogy of Ahab and his priests of Baal went on all 
 fours with the current case. They admired the boldness, 
 
 T
 
 274 CHAPTER X. 
 
 fidelity, and self-denying spirit of his Protestantism, 
 but denied the truth of the parallel and the cogency of 
 the logic. It was urged that the State's having done 
 wrong in endowing a bad thing furnished no reason why 
 it should not do right in aiding a good one. A reply in 
 itself so ready and terse specially when pressed home 
 with weight from the Mint was sure to be popular. 
 
 Having freely spoken out the burden of his heart, his 
 conscience was clear; his duty was done ; the good man 
 was at rest. It is, however, due to the directors of our 
 Connexional educational policy to say, that experience 
 of its working led Mr. Collins, though still inclined to 
 think the time of its first acceptance inopportune, to 
 acknowledge that it had been so wisely guarded as to be 
 unattended by the mischiefs he had feared. The judg- 
 ment recorded in his journal some years later is : " My 
 fear was that our Christian dignity would be compro- 
 mised. God protected us, and confounded the plans of 
 the Parliamentary trucklers to the Pope. Just as they 
 were legalizing the long forbidden embassies of Rome, 
 lo, the men of that city drove the Pontiff from his throne. 
 The inspectors I have met in our schools have always 
 been courteous, and in regard of our special affairs unin- 
 trusive. From the whole case, I have learned that the 
 rule, ' We are not to do evil that good may come,' has 
 another side, which is, that we are not to reftise to da 
 good lest evil may come" 
 
 The man who at the demand of conscience mistaken 
 or otherwise, we need not inquire was thus outspoken, 
 necessarily lacked all sympathy with the methods of the 
 men in masks who at that juncture were insidiously 
 labouring to set, in the Methodist Connexion, brother 
 against brother. His diary says : 
 
 "July 2ist, 1847. The post has brought me 'Fly 
 Sheets' again. They come from the Cave of Envy, not 
 the closet. I discern in them plenty of personal enmity, 
 but little vehement yearning for the good of the cause. 
 The hand of Everett is in it, I have no doubt. It is a 
 bitter yeast. The ferment of revival, how much better ! 
 Godly labour, followed by gracious success, will be 
 Methodism's best safeguard in these disturbed times. 
 Salvation is appointed for walls and bulwarks.' O that
 
 ST. ALDAN'S. 275 
 
 all the Lord's Ministers were ' flames of fire !' If every 
 one yearly added his list of names to the roll of the 
 saved, then 'upon all that glory the Lord would create 
 a defence.' " 
 
 To one who asked, " Did you sign the Declaration ? " 
 he answered, " I did, I signed the former one also in 
 Dr. Warren's time ; and, should similar occasion arise, 
 I would sign again. If an anonymous document dero- 
 gatory of me were sent to all my brethren, I should both 
 be sure that it would be read, and, also that, if believed, 
 it would seriously damage me in their esteem. I could 
 not ask them what they thought of me ; but if, led by 
 brotherly affection, they chose to inform me that by no 
 such anonymous communications would they permit 
 their regard for me to be lessened, that kind act of 
 theirs would greatly relieve me. As I would that men 
 should do to me, I did to them. I signed, however, 
 quite as much in the interest of righteousness and equity 
 as of kindness. Suppose that, at a future day, I should 
 have a charge to prefer against those brethren, now thus 
 assailed, should I not do it with all the less hesitancy, 
 and all the more power, because it was known that I 
 had ever been a hater of all hole-and-corner, underhand, 
 anonymous operations ; and that I would only deal with 
 them fairly, openly, honourably, and where their defence 
 could be heard ? " 
 
 " August 4th. We have just had a disquieting farce 
 of an election. A good man, and a good Protestant, 
 has been rejected. Our old Member voted for May- 
 nooth ; the town has just sent a Romanist to keep him 
 company. The success was achieved by the infatuations 
 of cup and gold. Our people are displeased with each 
 other's votes. Estrangements have come about which 
 it will take years to amend. The abominable bribery, 
 folly, excitement, and strife of the last week have left' us 
 in a flat and deplorable state. I see no indication of a 
 more Protestant Parliament. The loud words of anti- 
 Maynooth meetings come back in but feeble echoes from 
 the hustings. The state of the Churches and of the 
 nation has, of late, taken such hold of my feelings as to 
 make me really unwell. This one thing I can see, the 
 Churches are not yet holy enough to be trusted with 
 
 T 2
 
 276 CHAPTER X. 
 
 much power. The influence we have is not used faith- 
 fully ; perhaps more, if permitted us, would be utterly 
 ruinous to our simplicity, faith, and heavenliness. 
 
 " Friday, September I7th. I have this day waited 
 upon God for aid in this, my third year's appointment. 
 We have, in the past two years, had addition to num- 
 bers and improvements in other things, but not up to 
 my prayers or expectations. The prospect ahead is 
 not cheering. Great mountains, deadness, selfishness, 
 timidity, and pride, are in the way. I am tried exceedingly 
 by my own people. I need wisdom as well as zeal, lest 
 I damage what is good in strongly assailing what is evil. 
 
 " Instead of laying plans, I resolve, for a season, to 
 wait, giving myself quietly, but entirely, unto prayer ; 
 and, as I have, in former times, derived great benefit 
 from an ever-breathing act of faith for ' all the fulness 
 of God,' I resolve, by grace, to persevere therein." 
 
 The following exordium of a discourse, delivered in St. 
 Alban's about this time, is of biographic value : 
 
 " During the past two years I have endeavoured to 
 commend my adorable Saviour unto you by the charms 
 of His name, the attractions of His person, and the pre- 
 ciousness of His salvation. Thus dealt with, few of you 
 have cared to notice Him, and of the few who have, at 
 various times, professed to be smitten with the love of 
 Him, several turned back. 
 
 "This is my last year; it will soon be gone; with it ends 
 my opportunity of pleading His cause in this place. As 
 the time shortens, I feel more and more anxious for your 
 salvation. 
 
 "I try new ground, therefore, this day. Having in 
 vain shown you the blessedness of His mercy, I will now 
 endeavour to set before you the terrors of His judgment- 
 seat. My love for you ; my duty to declare the whole 
 counsel of God ; and my determination to deliver my 
 own soul, all require this of me. 
 
 " Whether I tell you or not ; whether you apprehend 
 such a thing or not ; ' we must all appear before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ.' In that day there will be 
 terror in the passing elements of nature ; terror, in the 
 appar'tion of angels, fiends, and risen dead ; terror in 
 the advent of the Lord ; terror, in the purpose of His
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 277 
 
 coming; terror, in guilty hearts; and, above all, terror in 
 the sinner's final doom. These terrors we will consider, 
 and then, 'knowing the terrors of the Lord, persuade 
 men.' " 
 
 As appointed by Conference, the Ministers had, after 
 the Financial District Meeting, a special day for inter- 
 cession and spiritual conversation. Mr. Collins says : 
 
 " Wednesday, September 22nd. We met in the Morn- 
 ing Chapel at City Road. The President, the Rev. 
 Samuel Jackson, called upon us to deal honestly with 
 ourselves, as in the presence of God, the Judge of all. 
 Let Him but see that we are true of heart and sincerely 
 concerned for His cause, and, as of old, he will help us. 
 W. W. Stamp, Ingle, Squance, Lomas, Beaumont, and 
 Rattenbury, engaged in prayer; the Liverpool Minutes 
 were read, and afterwards addresses given. Ex-Presi- 
 dent Atherton deprecated the prevalence of boastfulness, 
 and feared that our pride had grieved the Lord. Mr. 
 Reece, after bearing witness, with old Methodist sim- 
 plicity, of the continual joy experienced in his own soul, 
 urged brethren to faithful dealing with such hearers as 
 wrong themselves and the Church by stopping short of 
 membership. He deplored the lack of reverence mani- 
 festly growing in this age. On more than one occasion 
 young people, without the courtesy of offering a reason, 
 without regard for his concern for their welfare, his 
 senior years, or his pastoral office, had thought it enough 
 curtly to reply, ' I differ in opinion, Sir.' He would 
 have us take high ground upon the subject ; teach 
 Church membership as a duty; a thing ruled and 
 decided; a thing to be laid before seekers of salvation, in 
 the Lord's name, not for opinion, but for submission. 
 Thomas Jackson looked to former times. There were 
 years of decrease even in Mr. Wesley's days. They 
 lead to heartsearching and to humiliation, and then were 
 followed by seasons of refreshing ; he trusted that so it 
 would be now. It was encouraging to know that our 
 doctrines and our aims continued just what they had 
 ever been; and God, who had blessed them before, would 
 bless them again. John Scott thought that too often 
 preaching was directed only to the illumination of the 
 understanding, without wrestling with the conscience,
 
 278 CHAPTER X. 
 
 or determinately seeking the salvation of the soul. Dr. 
 Bunting spoke many cheering words of trust and hope ; 
 and, adverting to the gracious influence during the 
 prayers of the day, said that the Lord would be 
 entreated. Much refreshed by this meeting, I went to 
 my chamber, and waited upon God. I looked to Him 
 for my colleagues, my Local Preachers, Leaders, and 
 members. I believe His Fatherly heart accepted my 
 prayers and tears. 
 
 " November ist. I have been much affected by the 
 death of a young man at Hemel Hempstead. He had 
 been perverted by infidels. The sophistries which had 
 sapped his confidence in Christ could furnish him no com- 
 fort in affliction. He was proud, hard, and unhappy. 
 Proffered visits he declined : still, though unwelcome, I 
 went. Persistence won upon him. At my last call, after 
 prayer, he pressed my hand, and, as I urged him to look 
 to Christ, he replied, ' I wish I could.' I hoped he was 
 yielding. Alas ! before I could be there again he had 
 gone. What a clinging curse is unbelief! I cannot learn 
 that he ever did look to Christ. I do not limit the mercy 
 of God, but the cloud upon that grave makes me sad." 
 
 " November 28th. I went to Berkhampstead, where, 
 that I might hold services there, I had procured lodgings 
 for a week. I visited each day from house to house. 
 Intense cold thinned the congregations, yet good was done. 
 William Mileman whom I am employing in the Circuit 
 as a Missionary, came to me on Thursday ; we retired 
 together to the chapel, and were blessed while I prayed 
 for an anointing to come upon him for his new work." 
 
 Charity carrying a purse is often hardly put to it to 
 make the contents spin out. But Providence often mar- 
 vellously helps men of simple aim. Mr. Collins writes : 
 " God has shown kindness to me in temporal things 
 lately. Having enlarged Redburn chapel without the 
 Trustees, given 50 to Bovingdon, 10 to a brother in 
 need, and helped in other matters, I had become incon- 
 veniently short of cash ; when my gracious Master, who 
 alone knew my case, moved a gentleman to give me 40, 
 which set me free at once. How wonderful the care of 
 my Father God ! " 
 
 In a letter sent to me January 4th, 1848, Mr. Collins
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 279 
 
 writes : " I was, to appearance, more useful in saving 
 souls when I was younger, knew less, and had more lim- 
 ited means than I now have. This diminution of success 
 has tried me ; but this also I have cast upon God, and I 
 wait for His appearing. I trust, if the Lord will, that 
 my next appointment may set me among a more sympa- 
 thizing people. The people here will not no they will 
 not stir towards the land of perfect love. Trade is in a 
 miserable condition. The poor are distressed for bread, 
 and the wealthier are not thoroughly on the Lord's side. 
 The modern system of being members without meeting 
 in class ; of being on the Plan without preaching ; and 
 of expecting deference for a do-nothing sort of patronage, 
 is trying hard to grow here. I hate it have set my face 
 against it and have laid hands upon it. We have just 
 dropped the name of one such from the Plan ; it has 
 stirred his ire ; would rather that it brought him to 
 repentance. 
 
 "Our Connexion wants a wide and effectual work; 
 but, like the Assyrian men of might, we cannot find our 
 hands. Controversies prevail. A blight is on us. It is 
 an hour of the power of darkness. Satan is unwontedly 
 busy. We see small ingatherings, sad apostacies, and 
 divided hearts. There will, I fear, be a falling away, a 
 great falling away, of half-hearted, superficial, incon- 
 siderate professors. 
 
 " The guides of the realm, with those who compose it, 
 are, hastily as may be, denuding themselves of all those 
 peculiar marks of a specially Christian people which our 
 fathers gloried in. If the nation be weary of the Lord's 
 livery, the Church should be all the more careful to have 
 it on. Above all, Ministers should put on Christ ; first 
 in the closet, then in the pulpit. Members should put on 
 Christ ; first in heart, then in life. So shall Christ come 
 through His Church unto the world, discomfit Antichrist, 
 and set up His kingdom. 
 
 " In these days the devil harasses sincere Ministers 
 and seduces lukewarm ones. Poor D. F. writes me that 
 he is in much hesitation about his call. Devotion to 
 soul-saving is the remedy. A doubt on such a point 
 never crosses my mind. 
 
 " My determination is to put on Christ ; and my advice
 
 280 CHAPTER X. 
 
 to you, dear Samuel, lies in those three words : ' Put 
 on Christ.' " 
 
 Of Mr. Collins's ride to the District Meeting, in May, 
 1848, a valuable notice remains : " I asked myself, How 
 may I best improve these three hours upon the coach 
 top ? It darted through my mind, with vivid light, as a 
 beam from the Lord, that a man can do no better thing 
 than believe the love of God to himself and to his species. 
 I saw as I never saw before how all stimulus to holy 
 work comes out of that. I therefore at once gave myself 
 up to a believing meditation of the truth which, with this 
 unusual demonstration, the Spirit had borne home upon 
 my heart. As I did so, the meaning of the cross marvel- 
 lously shone out. My faith strengthened. I took such 
 hold of God's love to me and to man as I had never 
 done before. The journey seemed done too soon. I got 
 down from that coach-top with an indelible lesson and a 
 soul on fire." 
 
 The following entry written in Mrs. Gough's album 
 during that District Meeting shows how the great idea 
 had become fixed: "God wills that I should believe 
 His love to me and to my species; and God's will is 
 man's heaven." A letter of a subsequent date sent to 
 me returns to this theme : " Since I saw you, I have 
 found a fountain of happiness in God. He has revealed 
 Himself to me in the face of Jesus Christ. He has 
 taught me that firmly and always to believe God's great 
 love to me and to all men, is itself the highest form of 
 obedience to Him, and also that it issues fruitfully in 
 every other form of obedience." 
 
 Sunday, May 2ist. Mr. Collins preached at Tunbridge 
 Wells. He writes : " Powerfully and sweetly did my 
 blessed One visit me in the early morning. The perfume 
 of His presence made fragrant every service of the day. 
 
 " Friday, June 3Oth. In these evil times Christians 
 need more closet work. The dovelike Spirit retires from 
 strife to nestle in the hearts of sons of peace. This day 
 my sacred Covenant Friend has visited me, and led me 
 afresh into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. He en- 
 courages me to closer communion. My prayer is, Lord, 
 glorify Thy Name, Thy Son's Name, Thy Spirit's Name, 
 in a great revival.
 
 ST. ALDAN'S. 281 
 
 " Sunday, July 2nd. I stepped into the house next 
 door to the cottage where I dined. I found the woman 
 to be a backslider, and the man an anxious inquirer. 
 We fell to prayer. The answer came soon and remark- 
 ably ; both were saved there and then." 
 
 Tuesday, July 4th, at a meeting in his Circuit, Mr. 
 Collins was treated in a manner which he felt to be alike 
 uncourteous and ungenerous. He writes : " It was 
 well that I entered the room happy and strong. Power 
 was given to me to demean myself meekly. When the 
 trial ended, my soul sought and found tranquility in an 
 hour of meditation and prayer at home." 
 
 For next year's labour, Mr. Collins had overtures from 
 Camborne, Downham, Durham, Gateshead, Tenterden, 
 and Taunton : but in preference to them all he accepted 
 an invitation from Bristol North. The Stationing Com- 
 mittee, not without reason, thought that three such men 
 of flame as Joseph Wood, John M'Lean, and Thomas 
 Collins could not be given all to one Circuit. The repre- 
 sentative of Durham upon this demur put in his claim, 
 which was acceded to. Mr. Collins, 'however, wrote that 
 he had travelled there before, and that on the whole he 
 would prefer an entirely new field of labour. Camborne 
 next asked, and had him. Mr. Collins's father, in a cha- 
 racteristic letter, asks : " Son, where have you got to 
 now ? Your station must be west, for it is in the Corn- 
 wall District ; but I have searched my Geography for it 
 in vain, and looked through the list of English towns 
 without being able to find of it as much as its name." 
 My dear uncle was fond of antiquities. I dare say his 
 Geography was venerable. And as Camborne only set 
 up a market in 1802, its absence from his time-worn list 
 is easily accounted for. 
 
 The changes, as each draught of stations came, natur- 
 ally caused some anxiety to Mrs. Collins. Mr. Collins, 
 being from home preaching, wrote to her words of en- 
 couraging faith : " Dear Emkin, my supreme desire is to 
 know and do the will of God. As a Christian, I know His 
 will : it is that I should ' rejoice evermore ; pray without 
 ceasing ; and in everything give thanks.' As a Minister, 
 I wait his will : Providence will show it soon. He who 
 holds the stars in His hand will direct my course."
 
 282 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Bristol Stewards ill-pleased with the issue, sent 
 Mr. Collins word, " We pressed for you to the last. It 
 frets us to be thus done. Nor does it appear to us that 
 Conference has dealt either honestly with us, or well 
 with you." He, though the sufferer, could appreciate 
 stationing difficulties better than they could. They, 
 naturally concerned only for Bristol, looking only on their 
 own things, could see no reason why three revivalists 
 might not be spared for one Circuit : men charged with 
 the interests of the whole Connexion could not but feel 
 differently. While his correspondents were thus chafed, 
 he in happier mood, wrote in his closet: "August I5th, 
 1848. My Father God, I accept Thee as wholly mine. 
 Take me where Thou wilt. I leave it to Thee, and 
 promise, in regard of my new Circuit, wherever it be, 
 that, with Thy help, I will do in it Thy will." 
 
 In the three years now closing it will have been 
 marked how Mr, Collins had increased in resources. 
 His mental stature, strength, and self-reliance were 
 grown. All leading-strings were gone. He walked, a 
 man. A young Methodist Preacher may learn from his 
 example how possible it is to dissent from the wisdom of 
 a particular conclusion, and yet be loyal to the heart's 
 core to Conference authority. He beautifully blended 
 independence with deference and charity. 
 
 His view of the high vocation of Methodism had ex- 
 panded. In a letter to me he remarked : " While 
 Romish superstition is giving forth its full-grown fruits 
 in Ireland, and godlessness doing the same in France, 
 the world ought to see Christianity matured in England. 
 Wesleyan Methodists have the beam of heaven upon 
 the doctrine of perfect love, and for that gift owe to God 
 and to the world a great service at this time." 
 
 Mr. Collins was a great lover of home, yet, as we have 
 seen, instead of hastening to it so soon as his necessary 
 work was done, there was scarcely a village society 
 in the St. Alban's Circuit to which he did not surrender 
 some week of leisure for special services. 
 
 -The season had been unpropitious, and the ground 
 stony. His great efforts had been far too little sympa- 
 thised with. He himself records that the whims and 
 worldliness, sins and misfortunes of men, alike con-
 
 ST. ALBAN'S. 283 
 
 curred in these three years to throw difficulties in his 
 path. Yet, despite adverse times and unhelpful people, 
 he left an increase of a hundred souls. 
 
 Doubtless some things we have narrated will be called 
 eccentric. The words of Calderon may be applicable 
 here : 
 
 He who far off beholds another dancing, 
 
 Even he who dances best, and all the time 
 
 Hears not the music that he dances to, 
 
 Thinks him a madman ; apprehending not 
 
 The law which moves his else eccentric motion ; 
 
 So, he that's in himself insensible 
 
 Of love's sweet influence, misjudges him 
 
 Who moves according to love's melody. 
 
 And, knowing not that all these sighs and tears, 
 
 Ejaculations and impatiences, 
 
 Are necessary changes of a measure 
 
 Which the Divine Musician plays, may call 
 
 The lover crazy, which he would not do, 
 
 Did he within his own heart hear the tune 
 
 Play'd by the Great Musician of the world. 
 
 The impression made at that time by his holy life and 
 deeds I will put in the words of the Rev. John Eglinton, 
 the colleague of his final St. Alban's year : 
 
 " I never knew one who so invariably manifested 
 intense desire for the glory of God and the welfare of 
 men. Ever ready to avow his reception of promised 
 holiness, he ever sustained the avowal by a consistency 
 as beautiful as it was uniform. His works of charity, 
 though unostentatious, were frequent, bountiful, and to 
 the full of his ability. His faith in God seemed to be 
 unfailing, as his acts of devotion were ever-recurring. 
 His aptness in private conversational teaching was as 
 marked as the unction and power of his public preaching. 
 His rebukes were resistless. I have seen him bring a 
 drunken sinner to tears by a single sentence. I have seen 
 a number of careless young men drop down in humilia- 
 tion and penitence, melted, one after the other, under the 
 influence of his prayer. I never met with any who could 
 give such freshness to well-known truth, or explain oft- 
 repeated scriptures with such heart-arresting raciness, 
 I shall ever cherish towards his memory reverent admira- 
 tion and grateful love."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CAMBORNE. 
 
 A LETTER from a Camborne colleague, welcoming 
 Mr. Collins, informed him : " Of the two chapels here 
 one is very spacious and handsome. The Circuit ranks 
 with the very first in the county ; nor are there many in 
 the Connexion more compact. In ticket time you will 
 find fellowship of saints not scarce. The members are 
 so numerous that you will both have to work yourself 
 and take care that we do also, if the visitation is to be 
 accomplished in moderate time. The friends are, for 
 the most part, connected with mining operations. The 
 mines in this neighbourhood are amongst the most pro- 
 ductive in Cornwall. Cornish Methodists, with many 
 excellences, join some peculiarities. Preachers labour- 
 ing in this region, Superintendents above all, must make 
 straight paths for their feet. Uppish men are an abom- 
 ination here : and, not seldom, get awkward thumps 
 and communications more frank than welcome. This 
 characteristic of the people will, I know, cause you 
 neither fear nor difficulty. I may add, what is more 
 likely to touch your experience, that they are very warm- 
 hearted, and hold such Ministers as win their confidence 
 in extraordinary esteem." 
 
 Mr. Collins's first Friday record in Camborne bears 
 date : 
 
 "September 8th, 1848. At Watford on August i5th, 
 I took God to be wholly mine, covenanting to go where, 
 how, and to whatever, He should choose for me. For 
 my being here I am free of responsibility. It has come 
 to pass contrary to my thought ; without my seeking ; 
 independently of my action. Believing in God, and
 
 CAMBORNE. 285 
 
 standing fast to my agreement with Him, I accept the 
 appointment as His own. Already He has sanctioned 
 it, and cheered me by making four persons happy in the 
 joy of His salvation. O Lord, Thou hast loosed my 
 bonds ; Thou has made me ready for all Thy perfect 
 will. Let Thy will be done ; done according to the 
 unspeakable greatness of Thy love to me and to my 
 species." 
 
 The statistics of the Connexion reported to the Con- 
 ference of 1848 were not satisfactory. The following 
 " Tract for the Times " came to Mr. Collins from his 
 father; dated September gth : "The present slow 
 advance of Methodism becomes a grief to me. Surely 
 our array, Ministers, Local Preachers, Leaders, Prayer 
 Leaders, Sick Visitors, Tract Distributors, Teachers, 
 ought to accomplish greater things. O for a baptism of 
 the Holy Ghost ! Bethesda was troubled before it could 
 cure ; and we must be better to do more. When fire 
 infuseth its vehement heat, water seems all alive with 
 motion. So when power from God thrills a church, 
 members and officers are full of holy zeal, penitents 
 move, and the neighbourhood is stirred. This it what 
 we want. 
 
 " A great evil is among us. Indolence prevails. An 
 infinite amount of Methodist talent is buried. Scores 
 of thousands who should be labourers stand idle in the 
 market-place; very many because no man appears to 
 hire them. 
 
 " Through all our socities let every class be examined, 
 and let every man and woman found in them possessing 
 gifts be encouraged, required, and urged to employ 
 them. No pains pay so well as those taken to call out, 
 instruct and make way for Christian labourers. Can- 
 vassers for Sunday schools, visitors for the sick and 
 destitute, might at once in great numbers be enrolled. 
 Many new cottage prayer-meetings and exhortation 
 services should be started. Large classes should be 
 divided ; much benefit accrues. The leader of a small 
 class can deal more thoroughly with cases that arise, 
 and keep more careful oversight of members, than the 
 leader of a multitude can do. The muliplication of 
 classes gets more personal influence .into exercise.
 
 286 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Each new leader is the centre of a circle within which 
 he, better than any other, can work and win souls. If 
 the flattering word, sometimes said of us, that we are 
 ' all at it and always at it,' could but be made true, an 
 annual increase of one hundred thousand would by no 
 means be impracticable. That good seed the Saviour 
 told of, which ' brings forth some sixty and some a hun- 
 dredfold,' seems, now-a-days, hard to find in the field." 
 
 The same matter was carefully taken up by the Mini- 
 sters who gathered in the Financial District Meeting at 
 Redruth. They devoted, as directed by the Conference, 
 a whole session, on Wednesday, 'September igth, to 
 careful examination into the spiritual condition of the 
 District. Mr. Collins's notes say : " The Chairman, 
 the Rev. R. Young, directed us to David's prayer, 
 ' Create within me a clean heart, and uphold me with 
 Thy free Spirit.' W. P. Burgess set forth some diffi- 
 culties which competitive rivalry of other denominations 
 now-a-days throws in our path. Being called upon 
 to speak, I then said, 'This is an eventful hour: 
 more so than we apprehend, perhaps. The eyes of 
 the enemy ; the eyes of the people ; the eyes of our 
 brethren are upon us. But what most solemnly im- 
 presses me is, that the eyes of the Lord behold us. 
 To-day He subjects us to the test. He would know 
 what is in our heart ; whether we can endure this 
 shameful decline ; whether we can bear that the precious 
 influence long connected with our Church in this land 
 should gradually melt away ; or whether the thought of 
 such an evil will move us from our quiet, set us harder 
 to work, and bring us closer to Himself? If these 
 effects be not produced, some heavier stroke may come 
 upon us. 
 
 " ' Decrease in Methodism is a damage to religion in 
 general ; a calamity on our country, and a loss of bless- 
 ing, in many ways, to mankind. We know that a few 
 years of it would cripple our system, and force upon us 
 an inglorious struggle for mere existence. We must 
 neither magnify nor dwell upon diffuulties. The matter 
 lies in small compass ; despite the lion in the street, we 
 must either increase or die. 
 
 44 ' The history of our fathers is encouraging ; when
 
 CAMBORNE. 287 
 
 they were tew, and their external aids few; when the 
 opposition made to them was frightful on all sides, they 
 yet made progress. They had power with God, and, 
 through God, power with men. We may have as much 
 power as our fathers had, and more ; and we must have 
 as much as they had, and more, if we would achieve the 
 mighty results our times require. 
 
 " ' God and men may righteously expect us, for whom 
 the road is prepared, to move faster than they did who 
 had to make it. Our platform of doctrine is settled ; 
 our system of discipline fixed ; our schools and places 
 of worship numerous ; our working staff a great army. 
 God, who has given us such vantage, cannot but require 
 of us much aggression. 
 
 " ' The old power can be obtained by three things : 
 experimental consistency with our own teaching of truth ; 
 freedom from the manners, maxims, and spirit of the 
 world ; and passion for souls. Before Ministers perfect 
 in love, members spiritually minded, and workers agoniz- 
 ing for souls, the kingdom of hell would tremble.' 
 
 " The Lord then enabled me to confess before my 
 brethren, to the glory of His grace, my experience of, 
 and constant joy in, His perfect love. I, moreover, told 
 them that, pledged as we, in all our examinations, are 
 to faith in that doctrine, and to earnest seeking of its 
 possession, I did not see how I, or any other Methodisf 
 Preacher, could honestly live without it. 
 
 " This whole day of brotherly conference was one ot 
 heart-searching, of tears, and of spiritual refreshment." 
 
 " Sunday, September 24th. At Illogan Downs many, 
 during the first prayer, were filled with joy. My spirit 
 was so borne away that at its close I was compelled to 
 pause, that I might recover the calmness and memory 
 necessary for repetition of the Lord's prayer. 
 
 " Monday, September 25th. Saw Mrs. P. She was 
 very ill, and very contrite. Her witness was sweet. 
 ' I am a poor, unworthy wretch ; yet even in me Jesus 
 saw something that He was loath that the devil should 
 have. The love is unspeakable which stooped so low 
 for one so vile.' 
 
 " Friday, September 2gth. This day I have a satis- 
 faction in God that I cannot describe. I take Him for
 
 288 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 my own with all the might I can command of faith and 
 love." 
 
 " Monday, October nth. I have observed that when 
 ' times of refreshing come from the presence of the 
 Lord,' men are sensible of them, enjoy them, and profit 
 by them, in proportion as they are holy. Signs of a 
 mighty work appear in this town. Nobody opposes. I 
 have only to abide with God in the closet, receive Him 
 there, and then go among the people and break the 
 alabaster box ; they know the odour, and love it." 
 
 Whole pages of the Journal now about are taken up 
 with records of conversions. 
 
 " Sunday, October 22nd. My gracious Father, with 
 my own adorable Saviour, came near this morning ; nor 
 let me omit grateful memory of Thy sweet power, O 
 Spirit of grace ! ' The Lord is my portion,' saith my 
 soul. 
 
 " Sunday, November igth. Walking from Forest to 
 Tuckingmill, in the quiet, lonely road between the hills, 
 I lifted my heart to God, and offered myself afresh for 
 His service. O my God ! since Thou hast bestowed 
 Thy well-beloved Son upon me, I take Him with my 
 utmost power, and Thee in Him. Thou art mine ; even 
 all Thy fulness. Yes, the whole ocean of happiness and 
 good in Thee, though my narrow heart cannot contain 
 it, yet I claim it. It is the reserve out of which will 
 come the ever-growing bliss of my eternal heaven. O, 
 stretch my vessel wider ! Let me daily love Thee more. 
 Do Thy will in me ; do Thy will by me ; above all, do by 
 me Thy will in the salvation of men." 
 
 The young here, as in former Circuits, had the kindly 
 solicitude of Mr. Collins. He carefully visited the 
 schools : conducted a Bible class for young men ; and 
 met little children weekly at Saturday noontimes. 
 
 Though full of work, he still maintained hours of 
 privacy, and kept up reading with diligence. Through 
 his habit of note-making we can track his course and 
 learn, for instance, how the patient zeal portrayed in the 
 life of the Chinese Missionary Morrison delighted him. 
 The writings of Archbishop Usher called forth his ad- 
 miration of the clear and weighty way in which they 
 treat of redemption and justification ; though he pens
 
 CAMBORNE. 289 
 
 a regret that sanctification, the theme of so many of his 
 own meditations, had not won equal place in the great 
 prelate's thoughts. 
 
 Mr. Collins's clear, strong witness concerning holiness 
 soon bore fruit. From many proofs we select just one. 
 It came, bearing date, Monday, December i8th, 1848: 
 " Variously moved by your sermon yesterday morning, 
 drawn, driven, and encouraged, I ventured to exercise 
 faith in the promises of full salvation. Doing so, I 
 have again proved that saying true ' The faith shall 
 bring the power.' I now joyfully testify that 'the blood 
 of Jesus cleanseth from all sin.' 
 
 " Confession strengthens faith ; mine needs every 
 help. It has not, for even this brief space, been left 
 unassailed. The enemy already has struck at it. I 
 clearly see that my Lord has both commanded holiness 
 and promised it. ' His promise I believe ; His offer I 
 embrace.' To Him, in trust, moment by moment, I 
 commit my soul, that He may work in it the good 
 pleasure of His will. Too weak to fight, I take 
 JEHOVAH as my strength, and find that His right 
 hand does valiantly for me. 
 
 " When you go to the throne, pray and give praise, 
 for yours truly, E. V." 
 
 On Tuesday, December 26th, Mr. Collins preached in 
 the afternoon at Redruth in behalf of Missions. An 
 incident related in the evening meeting much interested 
 him. The Rev. T. Hull stated that, when at Gibraltar, 
 his gift to a refractory soldier, of a tract entitled, " The 
 Roll Call," led to the man's conversion. When at 
 London, in 1842, Mr. Hull was invited to the house 
 of the well-known authoress, Charlotte Elizabeth, at 
 Blackheath. She being perfectly deaf, and he ignorant 
 of the finger alphabet, conversation had to be carried 
 on through her husband. She inquired, " Have you 
 ever known any good done by tracts ? " Through the 
 interpreter he told the wayward soldier's case ; and was 
 surprised to see how, as the narrative was slowly spelled 
 out, it melted her into tears. The tract was of her own 
 writing ; and now, in a day of depression, when fearing 
 that her work was in vain, the kind Father had thus 
 brought to her home cheering tidings from afar.
 
 2QO CHAPTER XI. 
 
 In the Minutes of the Conference of 1745 the following 
 occurs : 
 
 " Q. 16. Do we not discourage dreams and visions 
 too much ? As if we condemned them toto genere. 
 
 " A. We do not intend to do this. We neither dis- 
 courage nor encourage them. We learn from Acts ii. 19 
 to expect something of this kind ' in the last days.' " 
 
 In the spirit of that old Minute, taking facts as I find 
 them, attested by the signature of the party concerned, 
 I give the following narrative, endorsed by M. R. of 
 Camborne : 
 
 " I dreamed that as I was walking through a beautiful 
 meadow, a gentleman came up, and said, ' Go with me.' 
 * Where ?' I asked. ' To hear the Gospel.' At that 
 reply I followed him to a chapel door ; he opened it ; I 
 looked within, and then awoke. The scene was so 
 vivid that I could not forbear mentioning it to my 
 husband ; after which, as a matter of no moment, I 
 quite dismissed it from my thoughts. The next day, 
 business taking me along the road, I came, before I was 
 aware, to the door of the Wesleyan chapel. It recalled 
 my vision. The door being open, curiosity drew me to 
 step, for the first time in my life, within the walls. 
 Judge my astonishment when I saw that every brick 
 and beam in the place exactly answered to what in the 
 night I had seen ; but astonishment changed into un- 
 speakable awe when I observed that you, then praying, 
 both in dress and face, were the very evangelist of 
 my dream. I felt that I had had a message from 
 Heaven. My sense of sin ; my conviction that God 
 intended me mercy ; and my determination at once 
 to embrace it, were deep and immediate. Since then, 
 thank God ! myself and my husband have both received 
 Christ ; and are, by His grace, resolved to serve Him 
 all our days." 
 
 At the Quarterly Meeting held at Camborne, Thursday, 
 January 4th, 1849, there were found to be two hundred 
 and eighteen on trial. Mr. Collins writes, " It was a 
 comfortable meeting, and will diffuse a good savour 
 through the Societies." 
 
 The records of closet work on the first five Sabbaths 
 next ensuing after the Quarterly Meeting, will perhaps
 
 CAMBORNE. 2QI 
 
 furnish the best waymarks of spiritual progress ; and 
 best teach how the success vouchsafed was insured : 
 
 About five o'clock on Lord's day morning, January 7th, 1849. In 
 anticipation of the solemn service of Covenant renewal, I was wait- 
 ing upon God in believing acts. He mercifully drew near to me, as 
 once only once before He did, years ago, on the Rock of Skarfs- 
 kerry. His coming darkened and distanced all earthly things. My 
 soul felt as if within the cloud of Tabor. While it hung around me, 
 I cried, " I know Thee ! Yes, I know Thee ! " That ineffable glory 
 did not long abide, such specialties of manifestation never do ; but 
 in its gentle ascent it left a sweet life, a calm, and a tenderness 
 which cannot be expressed. 
 
 A letter to his recent colleague, the Rev. John Eglin- 
 ton, dated three days later, January loth, further advert- 
 ing to this unusual manifestation, says : 
 
 So in the light of that revelation did I see my natural evil, the 
 delinquencies of my youth, the roughness of my manner, and the 
 impetuosity of my spirit, that, humbled before God, I have, ever 
 since that hour, felt disposed to ask forgiveness of men. 
 
 My heart thus chastened fears that although I cannot with cer- 
 tainty recal any circumstance of the kind I may, during our former 
 intercourse, have occasionally urged you unduly, or grieved you 
 unnecessarily. 
 
 Yielding to such a feeling as this, some would stigmatize as weak; 
 all I know is, the approach of God awakened it. Therefore, without 
 hesitation, I ask, if ever I improperly caused you pain, forgive me, 
 my brother. 
 
 In reply to the kind things it has pleased you to say of my manner 
 of life at St. Alban's, I admit that I intended well, but in many 
 things performance lagged behind intention. The work of mortifica- 
 tion, necessary for a Minister who has been in a degree successful, 
 was carried on there. I learned, by experience, the great profit of 
 abasement before God, and, remembering the lesson, can truly say 
 that I rejoice more in the good St. Alban's Circuit did to me, than in 
 any good I did to it. 
 
 My change has brought some comforts. Here the work progresses. 
 Here I am rather popular; I have to complain rather of a crowd than 
 Of desertion. Here, seemingly, the people think something of me; 
 but as God drew me to Himself in places where men could not know 
 me, now, when many throng around me, my soul cleaves to Him. 
 Learning of Him more, I think of myself less. 
 
 I hope, my brother, that ere this you have attained to love God 
 with all your heart : He loves you with all His. Look ever where 
 the Incarnate Love bleeds naked on the cross for man. Learn there 
 how God loves you. In return for such love my whole heart is such 
 a poor nothing, that in its entirety I am ashamed of it : how, then, 
 could I come before Him if any of it were held back ? 
 
 U 2
 
 2g2 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The register of the next Sabbath is : 
 
 Sunday, January i4th. Waiting on God in my room, meditating 
 on Chr st as King, the relation between His cross and His throne 
 grew plain to me. It pleased me to see the Father's delight in that 
 " obedience unto death." The idea was ecstatic that for redeeming 
 man, for redeeming me, " God hath highly exalted Him, and given 
 Him a name which is above every name." Love sounded in my 
 ears as the keynote of the coronation decree : " I have set my King 
 upon My holy hill." The vision of the Son, my Saviour, by the 
 Father thus seated on the highest throne, administering universal 
 rule, and robed in ultimate authority, was a source of rapturous 
 thought. How brightly now that sentence shone, " All power is 
 given unto Me in heaven and in earth ! " Paternal Deity backing the 
 Mediator's throne, in that light, seemed to me a fact very full of 
 Gospel. Guided by the Lord's own prayer, I besought the Father 
 that this kingdom by Him set up in heaven might soon visibly come 
 unto all the earth, and His will everywhere be so done, that to 
 Jesus, His well beloved, every knee might bow, and every tongue 
 confess. 
 
 Sunday, January 2ist. I began at half past four to commune with 
 God. At six I went into the vestry to join a few chosen friends in 
 acts of faith. 
 
 Sunday, January 28th. I was with the Lord at half-past four. I 
 claimed my Father through His Son. After dinner I was more 
 stirred than common, having read how " the Holy Ghost said, 
 Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called 
 them," I took hold of Him as the Giver of my vocation, and dealt 
 with Him for His help. 
 
 Sunday, February 4th. At half past four I began to wait before 
 the Lord. At six I resorted to a select company of believers gath- 
 ered in the vestry. Our motto for the morning, which we set 
 ourselves to understand, and plead, and claim, was this : " In all 
 places where I record My name, I will come unto thee, and I will 
 bless thee." 
 
 These meetings of a few chosen friends prepared to 
 pass an hour in exercises of faith, became somewhat fre- 
 quent ; and, to those who shared in them, were of inesti- 
 mable advantage. 
 
 A letter written by Mr. Collins to his mother we 
 subjoin. It will beautifully set forth both his exemplary 
 filial affection, and also the success which now rewarded 
 his labour for the Lord. 
 
 CAMBORNE, February z8th, 1849. 
 Mv DEAR MOTHER, 
 
 I enclose two pounds for you ; observe, for you ; it is to be 
 given to nobody, but spent, all of it, honestly in comforts for your-
 
 CAMBORNE. 293 
 
 self. I am sorry to hear of your poor health. The distance is great, 
 yet, if you do not get better, I will come and see you. 
 
 I have that perfect confidence in the Lord, and love in Him, that 
 will not wish to let me keep you back from His joyous presence even 
 one moment longer than He pleases ; though the thought is very 
 sharp not of losing, I shall not lose, but of losing sight of such a 
 mother. 
 
 I call to mind the soothing tones of your voice, as you sang to me, 
 when I was little ; and all your oft-expressed desires that I might be 
 obedient, and wise, and good. Your mind then, as now, was always 
 towards the Lord. 
 
 It is near eighteen years since, by the providence of God, we were 
 separated. I have myself become the head of a family ; I have 
 walked heartbroken by the grave of a child ; I have had upon me 
 many cares of the Church ; but, through all, have never forgotten 
 you, mother. I say this, though I never was, and am not now, any- 
 thing like the picture which is upon my mind of what a good son 
 ought to be. But, for my failures in this, as in other things, I betake 
 me to the blood of Jesus. 
 
 You will be pleased to hear that the Lord helps me in my work. 
 We have not yet the overwhelming power of a great revival, yet 
 conversions are continually taking place. 
 
 The day before yesterday I called on Nanny Paul, and the Lord 
 saved her as she lay ill upon her bed. On Sunday, I told Henry 
 Vivian, a sick man, the way of life, and God blessed him with it 
 there and then. In the afternoon of the same day, Alice Mayne 
 informed me that she found peace the Sunday before, through hearing 
 from me of Christ as exhibited in the lifted serpent. Yesterday week 
 I took tea where do you think ? at an inn ! The landlady has 
 given herself to God; and, that day had invited a seeking penitent, 
 Miss Treglown, to meet me. While we talked and prayed, the 
 Lord set her soul at liberty. The day before that, Monday the igth, 
 at Mr. Eddy's, his brother William received forgiveness. On the 
 Saturday before that, Simon Hocking, the younger, was brought 
 happily to God. So we go on, mother. I trust that you will 
 think that you did not nurture me, and pray for me, altogether in 
 vain. 
 
 I receive the Atonement ; and open my heart to receive with that 
 all God is pleased to give. Thus welcomed, He comes to me, lives 
 in me, works through me. The help that is done on the earth, He 
 doeth it. Mother, what a mystery of love is this, God accepting man 
 into fellowship ! 
 
 My wife joins in love with your affectionate Son, 
 
 THOMAS COLLINS. 
 
 About this time Mr. Collins was rejoiced, and his 
 people greatly moved, in a meeting at Tuckingmill, by 
 hearing a narrative of the glorious doings of the Lord 
 then in progress in the Truro Circuit. Whole families 
 had been saved in a day ; scores set free in single meet-
 
 2Q4 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ings ; and, on one occasion, when those not being mem- 
 bers, who were willing to give up sin and give them- 
 selves at once to Christ and His people, were invited to 
 follow the Minister into another room, amid the sobs of 
 the witnessing congregation, one hundred and ten arose 
 and went after him.* 
 
 The Journal says: 
 
 " Tuesday, March ayth. We held our Quarterly 
 Meeting. A message came to one of the Circuit 
 Stewards, as he sat counting cash, that, in a class-room 
 nigh at hand, his wife had just received the peace of 
 God. We sang praise ; and felt it no hardship for 
 business to suffer such an interruption. As funds were 
 up, finances were soon disposed of; and the whole time 
 after tea was given up to godly conversation and prayer. 
 Dr. Smith and others told with much feeling of the con- 
 version of members of their families. The Rev. W. 
 Arthur, here as one of the Missionary Society's deputa- 
 tion, cheered us with an account of a recent wonderful 
 work of God among the youths of Wesley College. 
 Most there had felt its influence. Of the masters one 
 alone was left. He was packing his boxes to go home 
 for the vacation, when, lo, a circle of happy lads 
 gathered round him, and prayed for him with such power 
 that his melted heart submitted to the Lord on the spot ; 
 and he thus became the crowning trophy of this season 
 of grace. 
 
 " Since Conference, in this Circuit three hundred and 
 fifty-eight additional join in our fellowship ; one hundred 
 and fifteen full members, and two hundred and forty- 
 three on trial." 
 
 Under the weight of Cornish deputation work Mr. 
 Barrett's strength so broke down that he was obliged to 
 return home, leaving some of it undone. In the emer- 
 gency the friends of Hayle obtained Mr. Collins as the 
 supply of their pulpit on the afternoon of Tuesday, 
 April loth. The text chosen was Deuteronomy vi. 4, 5 : 
 " Hear, O Israel : The Lord our God is one Lord : and 
 thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 
 and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Dr. 
 Smith writes " That sermon dealt with the first truth 
 and with the first duty, in a most original, profound, and
 
 CAMBORNE. 295 
 
 powerful manner. It was a masterly discourse." The 
 Rev. W. Arthur, who was also present, said, sixteen 
 years after, in the Conference, " I never heard Mr. 
 Collins preach but once ; but that once brought a bless- 
 ing I shall never forget." 
 
 The Diary of Thursday, April I2th, 1849, says : 
 " This day I enter upon my fortieth year. How im- 
 portant does the improvement of time now look to me ! 
 I feel more anxious than ever to be of service to the 
 souls of men. I cannot do much ; may all I do be 
 good ! O for a great revival ! My spirit groans for 
 God this day. I shall soon be called away from earth to 
 Him ; and I beg for more of Him before I go." 
 
 An agreement was largely entered into by the Cam- 
 borne Leaders for daily noontime intercession ; answering 
 works of special grace soon followed. I read of con- 
 versions taking place in the depth of the Tincroft Mine ; 
 of penitents sobbing along the road ; of people saved 
 finding their cottage rooms too narrow for their joy, and 
 rushing out of doors to shout their praises in the free 
 air ; of new classes formed, and growing in one short 
 month to such numbers as made division a necessity. 
 
 Saturday, April 2ist, found Mr. Collins in the service 
 of the Mission cause at St. Austell. The large family 
 surrounding him where he lodged awoke his interest. 
 He says, " On Lord's day morning I prayed ear- 
 nestly for all of them before I came down stairs." The 
 services of the day were fruitful. On Monday morning 
 a short walk brought him to a beautiful copse, the quiet 
 of which invited him to an hour of his beloved com- 
 muning. The exercises of his sylvan closet being ended, 
 he wandered on into the fields. Some Methodist 
 people of the adjoining farmstead knew him, and, fol- 
 lowing, requested his services for the comfort of a sick 
 young man. He went, and had a glorious reward. Full 
 of power, gathered in his recent talk with God, the 
 influence that accompanied him seemed irresistible. 
 The farmer opened his heart to perfect love ; his wife 
 entered into peace ; and the afflicted son-in-law received 
 comfort. This good work held him so long that at his 
 return he found the visitors gathered, and dinner half 
 concluded.
 
 296 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 This part of Mr. Collins's ministry appears to have 
 been specially rich in accompanying grace and issuing 
 .fruit. The instances of conversion registered are very 
 numerous ; and of services now held such descriptive 
 phrases as these are common : " Melting influence," 
 " precious season*," " much drawn out," " Divine 
 presence powerfully manifested," " Blessing filled the 
 place." 
 
 On Tuesday, May i5th, the District Meeting began. 
 Thursday was largely occupied in hearing glad tidings 
 of the gracious work God was then doing in various 
 parts of Cornwall. The Revs. R. Young and J. H. 
 James specially refreshed the hearts of the brethren by 
 their narratives. At Penzance, their solicitude had 
 been awakened by the large number of young people of 
 Christian parentage, of regular habits, and of amiable 
 manners, who yet were careless about religion, lovers 
 of pleasure, and undeniably unconverted. Intercessions, 
 sermons, and private pastoral attentions were all directed 
 to their benefit. Results came ; a great work soon 
 began, and speedily spread, until it had reached and 
 blessed most in the congregation between fourteen and 
 five-and-twenty. Of one Circuit Steward's children, 
 five were saved in a week ; in the household of his 
 colleague, three. Nights of wrestling with God occurred 
 in many homes, followed by a happy day-dawn shining 
 upon families completely saved. The March lovefeast 
 is of joyful memory. It affected the pastors to tears to 
 hear young people, many of them from a class which, 
 much too seldom, in such meetings, contributes its 
 quota of edification, one after another, for three hours, 
 bear testimonies of God's saving grace, singularly clear, 
 simple, and impressive. The young ladies of Penzance, 
 with no other prompting than their own sense of duty, 
 adopted quiet, godly attire, and discarded superfluous 
 ornament. Of the artificial flowers which in the days 
 of folly had served vanity, an elegant work-basket was 
 constructed, and sold for the Missions. At the anniver- 
 sary just concluded before the District Meeting, a 
 thank-offering of 10, was laid upon the Mission altar 
 by these young converts, thus recently turned to the 
 Lord.
 
 CAMBORNE. 2Q7 
 
 At Mousehole, the work was among another class; 
 there, hardy sons of the ocean abound, whose burly 
 frames, weather-beaten features, and sailor jackets, give a 
 novel and interesting look to the congregations in the eyes 
 of a Minister from inland stations. The place is rich in 
 Methodist traditions, circling round such names as those 
 of John and Michael Wright, Trewavas, and Carvosso. 
 The first indication of good began with the year. In 
 its earliest moments, at the close of the Watch-night, 
 one whose spirit had long been in fetters, found liberty. 
 On the evening of the New Year's day so auspiciously 
 commenced, heavenly fire fell in a meeting of Sabbath- 
 school teachers ; and many of them began to cry after 
 God. The work rapidly spread, and numbers were 
 saved. The zeal of the new converts was remarkable. 
 The idea of concealing what God had done for them, 
 entered none of their heads. Whole days were spent in 
 going from house to house, telling all, without fear or 
 exception, of the love of Jesus. Thus, in a short time, 
 the work spread over the whole town. 
 
 At Newlyn, " showers of blessing " came down. 
 Sinners were brought to God by scores. The climax 
 came on Easter Monday : formerly a day of riot, it was 
 this year a day of holy power. In its services a hundred 
 persons, chiefly men, were added to the Lord. All ages 
 and all ranks were subdued by the power of the cross. 
 A Minister, at the renewal of tickets, asked the new 
 converts to come around the table. To his surprise, seven 
 old men, the youngest sixty-five, the oldest eighty, 
 responded to his call. It was unspeakably affecting to 
 see the tears chase each other down the furrows of their 
 hard and storm-worn faces. Many a prayer-meeting out 
 at sea was held in tiny barks by such brave mariners. 
 Oft when they had shot their nets, the voice of prayer 
 and praise swelled out in the calm evening, and made 
 the deep vocal, as it rose from boat after boat of the 
 fisher fleet. 
 
 Mr. Collins came home jubilant over this great work 
 of God, which had thus made gay butterflies of fashion, 
 plain ; intemperate fishermen, sober; and weak churches, 
 strong. 
 
 On May 25th, to give poor children of the school
 
 298 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 pleasure, and at the same time to take them away from 
 the perils of a noisy, revelling fair, a trip to the shore 
 was devised. Ever affectionate to children, Mr. Collins 
 not only accompanied them, but dashed off for the 
 occasion a holiday ode. Its end was answered in the 
 happiness it gave hundreds of young hearts. I append 
 it rather as an instance of his kindliness than as a 
 specimen of his verse. The cheeriness with which its 
 easy flowing lines rang out that day, sufficiently proved 
 their suitability to utter, yet guide, the exuberance of 
 child gladness. 
 
 Hearts are lighter than a feather, 
 
 As we walk in rank and row : 
 First we sing and pray together, 
 
 Then away to Hayle we go. 
 Happy teachers ! 
 
 Who reward their children so. 
 
 We rejoice, and we have reason, 
 
 Though we don't attend the fair ; 
 Better spend the happy season 
 
 Breathing in the fresh sea air. 
 Happy children ! 
 
 What a number will be there I 
 
 We shall see the rolling ocean, 
 We shall breathe the fresh sea air, 
 
 We shall go with rapid motion, 
 In a twinkling shall be there. 
 
 Happy morning ! 
 When we breathe the fresh sea air. 
 
 See, the country comes to meet us, 
 
 And the swallows can't outfly ; 
 Houses, trees, and hedges, greet us, 
 
 Running by, and running by. 
 Happy Camborne ! 
 
 Where the railway is so nigh. 
 
 Where there is no Gospel preaching, 
 There the children have no friend ; 
 
 They have neither treat nor teaching, 
 Till the blessed book we send. 
 
 Happy Britain ! 
 Where the children find a friend. 
 
 Tuesday, May 2gth, Mr. Collins preached a funeral
 
 CAMBORNE. 299 
 
 sermon for Polly Tonkin. Her age was ninety. For 
 threescore years and ten she had walked in the light of 
 the Lord. Bunyan, in that touching description of 
 Christian at the cross, tells how, as there he looked, and 
 wondered, and wept, three shining ones came unto him. 
 Not less certainly did Father, Son, and Holy Ghost at 
 that same cross draw near to poor Methodist Polly 
 Tonkin : nor were salutation, robe, or seal lacking. 
 The text, as she said, given to her in the day of her 
 adoption, was Psalm ciii. 12 : " As far as the east is 
 from the west, so far hath He removed our trans- 
 gressions from us." Through seventy years that Word 
 remained the gem in her memory. It never lost its 
 power to awake her praise. It acted like a spell, even 
 amid the decays of failing nature. Mr. Collins says, " I 
 never quoted it without finding that I had the key of her 
 heart." 
 
 " Friday, June ist. I have perfect complaisance in 
 God, and a strong desire to glorify Him in my brief day. 
 I want, and am believing for, more constant penetration 
 of, and by, His truth. 
 
 "Thursday, June yth. I am trying to raise a Ragged 
 School. I long to be useful. I have been asking my 
 Master to help me. 
 
 " Friday, June 2gth. Our second Camborne Fair 
 began. To guard our young people we held an evening 
 meeting. The Rev. John Gostick showed ' the insuffi- 
 ciency of the world for the soul ; ' Dr. Smith set forth 
 ' the claims of Christ ; ' Mr. W. Smith argued the 
 benefit of religion in relation to this life ; ' the Rev. 
 Robert Lyon urged ' immediate decision for God ; ' I 
 closed with ' counsels for young disciples.' " 
 
 A letter, dated July gth, says : " On Sunday, July ist, 
 I preached at nine o'clock in the open air, in front of the 
 shows. The same thing was done at five in the after- 
 noon. As two of the travelling theatres stayed after the 
 fair, the campaign thus opened was continued through 
 the week. Outdoor service, amid noise and excitement, 
 proved to be so exhausting, that on the morning ot 
 Thursday, the 5th, I was too unwell to rise. A visitor 
 from Somersetshire, stricken by the Word the evening 
 before, came up to my house to ask the way to Christ.
 
 3OO CHAPTER XI. 
 
 I had him into my bedroom ; made him read, and called 
 upon him to believe, i John v. 9. While he prayed at 
 the foot of my bed, his prayer was turned into praise. 
 Thus in my weakness God gave me spoil. One of 
 the play-acting companies, not liking our competition, 
 cleared off. My bilious attack prevented me from bom- 
 barding the other ; however, my colleagues carried the 
 siege on well, and knew of sinners saved. By Saturday 
 night I was sufficiently recovered to return to my post. 
 And this evening, Monday, gth, all being well, I shall be 
 at it again. I do not know that I ever was more com- 
 fortable than here. The Circuit improves. The women 
 dress simply, the men are zealous, and the converts are 
 numerous." 
 
 Before the Conference, to which Mr. Collins was to 
 go as his sister's guest, she then living at Droylesden, 
 near Manchester, he wrote to her : " Dudley, Coventry, 
 and Leamington have asked for services on my way, but 
 / need rest, and have declined them all ; yet, if you will 
 get my mother over from Leeds, for her sake I will give 
 you a few sermons." 
 
 At the close of that eventful Conference a letter came 
 to me, full of reminiscences, not without interest now. 
 He says : 
 
 " This has been one of the largest and most im- 
 portant Conferences ever held. It struck me that the 
 prevailing agitation is telling upon the health of many 
 brethren. The younger men were balder and more 
 wrinkled than they should have been ; the elder, 
 observably shorter. Dr. Newton, for instance ; his head 
 has gone down an inch or two since I last saw him. 
 Dr. Bunting looks well, and has worked hard ; his 
 deliverances have been lucid and helpful as ever ; nor 
 has he ever been too excited. Loveliness more and 
 more blends with his true greatness. 
 
 " Dr. Beaumont took care early, though seemingly in 
 an incidental way, to purge himself from connexion with 
 the ' Fly Sheets.' His stigma of G. Osborn as ' the 
 accuser of the brethren ' was wrong. He did once or 
 twice intimate, in some general way, apology for words 
 uttered unadvisedly in the excitement of such a time. 
 A manly, Christian, definite withdrawal of that offensive
 
 CAMBORNE. 301 
 
 misapplication of Scripture phrase ought, however, to 
 have been made in plain terms. 
 
 " G. Osborn could not well avoid beginning that 
 movement which has brought upon him the condemna- 
 tion of a faction, and the gratitude of the Conference. 
 Three years ago, in the Conference, he proposed changes, 
 deemed by him to be salutary, in the management of 
 our Book Affairs ; the ' Fly Sheet ' people quoted him in 
 their service. No man who could form an opinion and 
 state it, was safe from such appropriation. This left no 
 way for true men to maintain their independence, except 
 that of disavowing all connexion with the slanderers in 
 masks. 
 
 " G. Osborn's addresses in Committee and in Con- 
 ference were marked by much feeling. His tone was 
 bold, and his epithets strong ; but I did not see at the 
 time, nor can I now recall, anything he has need to 
 regret. His energy was what was necessary to the 
 achieving of a great deliverance for his brethren and for 
 the Connexion. 
 
 " Daniel Walton conducted himself as well as, in 
 his circumstances, a man could. He said how deeply 
 he regretted the use made, without his consent, of 
 a paper of his composition, in No. 2 of the ' Fly 
 Sheets.' He altogether condemned the ' Fly Sheet ' 
 species of writing, and justified his brethren in 
 saying that it ought, and seeking that it should, be 
 ended. 
 
 " You may have noticed in certain reports of the 
 reception given by the Conference to the addresses of 
 Dunn and Griffiths, that ' hisses ' are marked. So gross 
 a departure from truth grieves me. Nobody ever heard 
 hisses in Conference. What alone could possibly be so 
 mistaken, was that hushing sound which some brethren 
 made to stay the whisperings of others near them : a 
 thing really intended, not to interrupt, but to secure 
 profoundest silence. 
 
 " The Conference performed its work of putting away 
 in a solemn spirit. Many tears were shed. These 
 expulsions will occasion perplexity to many. Such 
 oftences as these men had done, though equally wicked, 
 and more widely mischievous, do not scandalize people,
 
 3O2 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 do not prepare them to admit the justice of acts of 
 discipline, as sins of fleshy indulgence do. 
 
 " The President, the Rev. Thomas Jackson, looks but 
 little older, and mentally is quite equal to his former self 
 in the Centenary year. He greatly wins my sympathy. 
 He seemed filled with the Spirit. An unction was upon 
 him for his arduous work. His addresses, crowded with 
 solid verities, were gushes from the heart, yet full of 
 wisdom as of warmth. His holy power at the ordina- 
 tion ; his grasp of principles ; his tact in the manage- 
 ment of business ; his reliance upon his own resources, 
 without turning here or there for hints ; his impartiality 
 in giving every man a hearing ; are pleasant to look 
 back upon. The richness of his memory, tenderness 
 of his heart, and clearness of his understanding ; his 
 gentleness of authority ; his steadiness of purpose, and 
 his fulness of spirituality, manifest in every look, and 
 tone, and act, made my heart rise in gratitude to God 
 that such a man was found among us for the necessities 
 of such a time." 
 
 The first Friday record after Mr. Collins's return, 
 bearing date August 24th, reads : " I feel my need of 
 God. I want this year to live nearer to Him than ever. 
 I desire wisdom for all His work. That every moment 
 may glorify Him is, and shall be, by His grace, the 
 effort and end of my whole life." 
 
 About this time mighty wonders were wrought by the 
 Holy Ghost. A revival broke out which swayed the 
 people through several Circuits with extraordinary power. 
 There had been much prayer and much general pre- 
 paredness ; but the approach of pestilence brought things 
 to a point. A few fatal cases occurred at Illogan, Red- 
 ruth, and Camborne. The dread name of cholera 
 seemed to awake the people like the trumpet of doom. 
 Anxiety became deep and general. In many places, 
 such numbers flocked at all hours to the chapels, that 
 their doors could not be closed for days together. The 
 Rev. Robert Bond writes: "One great momentous 
 concern seemed to pervade the mass of the people. 
 One intense agonizing inquiry was heard in every direc- 
 tion, ' What must I do to be saved ? ' Domestic 
 engagements and worldly business seemed suspended
 
 CAMBORNE. 303 
 
 until the great question of salvation was settled. An 
 awful circumstance occurred in Redruth on Monday, 
 September 3rd. A young man was being borne to 
 burial : a spirited horse ridden by Lady Bassett's groom, 
 scared by some unknown cause, dashed unmanageably 
 among the mourners, leaped over the coffin, and killed 
 the bereaved father dead on the spot. This death in the 
 street, so sudden, so terrible, filled the town with tears. 
 The chapel was resorted to by a multitude ; nor could 
 it be closed the livelong night. The day appointed by 
 Connexional authority for special fasting, humiliation, 
 and prayer was memorable. Though market-day at 
 Redruth, yet one thousand people bent their knees at 
 every meeting; while at night not less than two thousand 
 crowded in to hear the Word." 
 
 In Mr. Collins's Circuit similar multitudes came ; and 
 when he tried to preach, so overpowered was he by the 
 cries of penitents, that the service necessarily developed 
 into a prayer-meeting. 
 
 Many interesting revival incidents are preserved. 
 Take the following : " I called on Mrs. Crowle ; my 
 time was short ; and, had I allowed it, she would have 
 wasted every precious moment in mere dilating upon 
 her misery, wretchedness, and sin. I insisted that she 
 should stop, turn her mind right round from self, look to 
 Jesus, and tell me what she saw in Him. While I 
 enlarged upon the love of God revealed in His Son, she 
 received the atonement. When I went next time, she 
 was full of joy. The third time I called, her happy soul 
 had fled to heaven." 
 
 " At Forest, a butcher, till lately very wicked, cried in 
 agony, ' I am lost ! I am lost ! I have nothing ! ' 
 ' Nothing ?' I replied, 'why, man, all the hill of Calvary 
 belongs to you /' The word struck. The poor fellow's 
 doubt fled like darkness before the morning, and he 
 shouted, ' Glory ! Glory !' till the place rang again. 
 
 " I went on to Mrs. T., who was supposed to be dying. 
 Her husband sorrowfully said, It is hard to part.' 
 During prayer the Lord spoke peace to her soul and health 
 to her body, all at once. In an ecstasy she rose from her 
 bed, exclaiming, I am well now : sin and suffering are 
 both gone.' "
 
 304 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Returning home rather late, in the quiet street I 
 heard distressful cries proceeding from a chamber. A 
 moment's listening let me know that it was a sorrowing 
 soul pleading for mercy. I got admission, and found 
 that the man and his wife were alike determined not to 
 sleep until they could rest in Jesus. I joined them in 
 prayer, and salvation came to that house before I left." 
 
 "At the December Quarterly Meeting there was an 
 addition of one hundred and seventy-one members, with 
 nine hundred and thirty-five on trial." 
 
 " Sunday, December 3Oth. At four o'clock I came 
 into my study to commune with the Lord. I was much 
 moved to ask a work of holiness upon the work of con- 
 version which God had so gloriously wrought. In the 
 morning service I felt power, but my pent-up emotions 
 thoroughly broke through in the afternoon, by the bed- 
 side of Carvosso's niece, old Mrs. M'Lean. Her daughter 
 offered her some cordial to drink. She replied, 'I cannot, 
 child ; I am too weak.' ' Do not say so, mother 
 dear. You will be down among us again yet.' ' Who 
 says so ?' 'I do, mother.' ' You ! you are always 
 a-foreboding /' Poor soul ! she so longed for heaven 
 that thought of recovery was an alarm to her." 
 
 A letter dated January 3rd, 1850, says : " Dear 
 mother, I wished you with me last Monday. We 
 gathered more than fourscore widows to tea in the 
 school-room. Six of the company had known Mr. 
 Wesley. After tea, I set before them the exemplary 
 widows of Holy Scripture, the hospitable widow, the 
 devout widow, the distressed widow, the importunate 
 widow, and the magnanimous widow." 
 
 To a young Minister Mr. Collins wrote: " I volunteer 
 nothing respecting Hebrew. My knowledge of it is not 
 sufficiently thorough to warrant me setting up as Pro- 
 fessor ; and recent revival work has much broken 
 through my habit of daily reading it. 
 
 " The three words you mention are exceedingly ex- 
 pressive ; variously uttering love. ' Grace, 1 to an un- 
 deserving creature; ' Mercy, ' to an ill-deserving one; 
 ' Peace,' sets forth reconciliation, with its resulting 
 ' quietness and assurance for ever.' 
 
 " I have just read. Simeon's Life, and have adored the
 
 CAMBORNE. 305 
 
 Lord who opened to me, very early, those views of Him- 
 self which Simeon is described as rejoicing in when 
 nearing his end. Thoughts of God in His Fatherliness 
 reign in my soul. The Spirit cries in me, 'Abba.' I 
 have of late been enabled in the closet to wait on Him 
 without hurry. He comes very near. He desires my 
 confidence and fullest love. It is a reasonable demand, 
 and shall be complied with. 
 
 "Just thoughts of God lie at the foundation both of 
 religion and of happiness. I hope you often resort to 
 the secret place of the Most High : we best deal with 
 rebels while we ourselves keep close to the throne." 
 
 Mr. Collins took part in the Penzance Missionary 
 Anniversary. At the Breakfast Meeting held April 2nd, 
 he riveted attention by his quaint recital of a conversa- 
 tion held that morning between himself and King David. 
 The Rev. H. L. Church, one of his auditors, informs me 
 that it was a comment on Psalm xix., most original, 
 beautiful, and impressive. The dialogue form was so 
 managed and maintained as to reveal skill and graphic 
 power of no mean order. While in Penzance, one said, 
 "Sir, did you ever preach in Hastings?" "Yes." 
 " Then you must be the man under whom, sixteen years 
 ago, I and my wife were saved." " Was the text, ' Ye 
 will not come to Me that ye might have life ?' " " That I 
 cannot recal." " Did the Minister say, ' You are like a 
 drowning man, swimming round the boat, and round the 
 boat, but never getting in ?' " " Yes. I remember that." 
 " Then I am the man. Do you both continue stead- 
 fast ?" "Yes, Sir, and have done ever since." 
 
 April i2th, 1850. This day I am forty years of age. In the last 
 ten years my experience in things of God has deepened. I habitually 
 receive God in my heart, I continually rest in His paternal character. 
 In sight of all His mercies to me, and knowing the use He has made 
 of me, I bless the day that I was born. 
 
 This fair dawn, spent in closet musings, began the 
 unhappy day in which quiet Camborne was afflicted 
 with the presence of the trio of deposed Ministers. 
 Going in the afternoon to preach, Mr. Collins unex- 
 pectedly met one of them, Samuel Dunn, walking alone 
 in the field. The narrative of the interview I append : 
 
 x
 
 306 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Mr. Dunn held out his hand. As a friend of former days I saluted 
 him, but with protest that the act must not be understood as 
 welcoming him upon his present business. 
 
 D. " You should not have placed me in circumstances which make 
 such visits necessary." 
 
 C. " As the case appears to me, the position you occupy is one of 
 your own making." 
 
 D. " What New Testament law have I broken ? " 
 
 C. " Paul will tell you, ' A bishop must be blameless, as the 
 steward of God. Not self-willed.' Now, so long ago as at Dudley 
 I thought you self-willed." 
 
 D. " Dudley ! You never opposed me there, why vilify me 
 now ? " 
 
 C. " I never vilified you then, or now ; and then, as now, having 
 respect to authority, you being my Superintendent, I deferred to 
 you and defended you as far as I could. But, without adverting to 
 those bygone matters, recent conduct shows the same character. 
 Your refusal to answer the question Conference put to you, a ques- 
 tion which if put to me should have been answered in a moment, 
 showed you to be still a self-willed man ; which Holy Scripture says 
 you ought not to be." 
 
 D. " Well, why were not all non-signers questioned equally? " 
 
 C. " A known writer should he on some occasion choose to omit 
 his name will, most likely, soon be suspected by touches of his 
 style. Thus, at an earlier date, suspicion in regard to the ' Wes- 
 leyan Takings ' fell strongly on Mr. Everett. Questions he then 
 refused to answer. Similar reasons, in the opinion alike of friends 
 and foes, implicated him now in the authorship of the ' Fly Sheets.' 
 Again he refused to answer; and I, for one, rejoice that Conference 
 would no longer endure such treatment at his hands." 
 
 D. "If the 'Fly Sheets' betrayed Mr. Everett's style, his style is 
 not mine ; why was I questioned ? " 
 
 C. " A chief writer and editor is not inconsistent with the idea of 
 a number of various contributors : and, indeed, the ' Sheets ' them- 
 selves professed to be thus the joint productions of persons in 
 various parts of the kingdom. The question put to you was not, 
 ' Are you the author ? ' but, ' Are you any way concerned in the 
 authorship?' To this question you made yourself justly liable by 
 your condemnation of the ' Declaration.'" 
 
 D. " Had I submitted to that inquisition, I should have directly 
 contravened Matt, xviii. 15." 
 
 C. "That is not proved; but it is indisputable that the 'Fly 
 Sheet' writers contravened Matt, xviii. 15. Yet your conscience 
 had no scruple on that side ; it allowed you to screen them. Mem- 
 bers of Conference were accused ; accused persistently, until it 
 became necessary that the accusations, though unendorsed, should 
 yet be noticed. The writers alleging such matters were challenged 
 to come forward ; ought to have done so ; as they would not, Con- 
 ference owed to its servants, if it could, to bring them forward. 
 Justice could no otherwise be done. When Conference was doing 
 this, you threw yourself across the path of justice, and it has smitten 
 you."
 
 CAMBORNE. 307 
 
 D. " Did not Mr. Everett call for his accusers as well as Dr. 
 Bunting? Why, then, is one retained and the other expelled ?" 
 
 C. " Mr. Everett did indeed call for his accusers ; but he omitted 
 to deny the allegations, which was the first thing Dr. Bunting did." 
 
 D. " I will ask you one question ; look me in the face and answer 
 me. Did you lift up your hand for my expulsion, or not ? " 
 
 C. " Certainly I did." 
 
 D. " Then come down and meet me before the public." 
 
 C. " The world is no proper court of appeal against decisions of 
 the Church." 
 
 D. " Choose, then, fifty Wesleyans, and I will choose an equal 
 number." 
 
 C. " What good either to you or to me could come from such a 
 course." 
 
 D. " You would have opportunity of setting yourself right ; or I, 
 if I got from them a favourable verdict, might find it so much 
 towards my readmission." 
 
 C. " I need no setting right ; I am under no sentence ; and your 
 readmission is hopeless. A Minister after your own mode you may 
 be ; but a Minister on the Connexional plan a Wesleyan Minister 
 with your insubordinacy, you cannot be. And I, for one, seeing 
 your subsequent conduct, am so far from wishing that you should be 
 that, I tell you, the day Conference lets you in they will let me out." 
 
 D. " Well, come and defend yourself and your vote." 
 
 C. " Nay, I will go and visit the sick and preach the Gospel." 
 
 D. " Can you approve of Thomas Jackson ? Can you say that 
 Dr. Bunting is not indolent ? " 
 
 C. " For the gift of such men to our Connexion for these times I 
 have this day adored God. Face to face with Dr. Bunting you were 
 silent. I will not hear you now, I must go." 
 
 D. "You are a despot." 
 
 C. " No, not I." 
 
 D. " Then you are a slave." 
 
 C. " I am as Paul was of the Lord Jesus." 
 
 The threatened meeting took place ; and to thousands 
 in the public streets this saint of God was held up to 
 derision in blatant and inflammatory speeches. I do 
 not care to trace the havoc, blasting, and desolation that 
 followed this sad inauguration of strife. My whole heart 
 detests such scenes. Suffice it to say, that it stopped 
 revival, divided brethren, scattered the fruit of better 
 men's labours, struck seven hundred from the church's 
 muster-roll, and in the end harassed into illness this 
 holy man. Tears of blood were not too much to weep 
 over the huge mischief done that day. May the Lord 
 have mercy on the doers of it ! 
 
 On the reading of Mr. Collins's obituary in the Con- 
 x 2
 
 308 CHAPTER xr. 
 
 ference Dr. James said, " I call to mind a very remark- 
 able scene in his life which I witnessed at a Missionary 
 Meeting in the Camborne Circuit three days after the 
 visit of certain men, never mentioned in this Conference 
 now. So successfully had they blackened his character, 
 because of his loyalty to you, that he, awhile before the 
 favourite, almost the idol, of the neighbourhood, was 
 actually hooted as he passed along the streets. Nine- 
 tenths of the people at the meeting, so misled, at a word 
 would have been ready to pull him in pieces. Being 
 called upon to speak, he stepped to the front, and, 
 calmly facing them all, said, ' Mr. Chairman, Christian 
 friends, I am a man who neither fears the frown, nor 
 courts the smile, of any living. I am a man through 
 whose soul the light of the Sun of Righteousness beams 
 all day and all night.' I shall never forget the impres- 
 sion produced on that audience. That testimony was 
 irresistible. I then felt, what I now say, that if ever we 
 had in this ministry a holy man, a man owned of God, 
 that man was Thomas Collins." 
 
 Mr. Collins had skill and humour for such times and 
 such meetings, as well as saintly boldness. Accept the 
 following specimen delivered in Truro : 
 
 " We Methodist Ministers have, of late, been much 
 accused ; and before this audience I feel that I have 
 some admissions to make. It is said, i. 'You love 
 power.' So we do. I love power dearly ; yet I would 
 not thank you for the power which the Pope has; indeed, 
 just now, he in exile, it is not easy to say what his power 
 is ; but I apprehend it to be some eminent degree of ' the 
 power of darkness.' Nor do I covet such power as Her 
 Majesty so graciously wields ; no, I grasp, I assure you, 
 after higher things ; I would have the very highest pos- 
 sible power ; power with God ; and, through Him, power 
 with men ; power to take them as in a net. I want 
 my brethren want this power, and no other, I am 
 persuaded. 
 
 " 2. ' You are always . after money.' True ; our 
 Master has committed to us to preach the Gospel all 
 over the world ; our people on all sides are solemnly 
 praying for the world's conversion. Is it wrong that we 
 confide in their consistency with their own petitions ?
 
 CAMBORNE. 309 
 
 that we believe in their liberality ? that we believe that 
 it only waits for us to open the way in which to apply it ? 
 Here are four hundred men, for the most part with 
 families, and all the necessary expenses of Missionary 
 establishments, to be provided for. Now, some, through 
 covetousness, give so little, and others, through careless- 
 ness, so late, that unless we would leave those families 
 to lack, we, for their sake, must be busy here and there 
 after the cash. Does anbody dream that these appeals 
 can be pleasant to us ? No; our eye is upon the judg- 
 ment seat. When our people stand there, their reward 
 will be not according to their knowledge, but according 
 to their work. Should any fail of full reward through 
 our neglect of urging him to activity and charity, from 
 him, and from the Judge, what a look of reproof should 
 we get then ! Stirred by fear of this, often at the cost 
 of much feeling, we move you to toil and to give, that 
 we, in that day, may be without blame ; and that you 
 also may receive of the Lord praise, and honour, and 
 glory, at the last. 
 
 " 3. 'You are designing men.' That is true. I am a 
 designing man. I have in my mind a design now : to 
 begin my Bible again, and read it with more faith, 
 prayer, and thanksgiving than ever. I have a design 
 to draw my family closer to God, and to get my hearers 
 into the same mind. These are my chief designs at 
 present. All others that I have bow down to them and 
 serve them. Could you this moment scan the naked 
 hearts of my brethren, you would, I doubt not, find some 
 such designs in them. 
 
 " 4. ' You are clever tacticians. You outwit the 
 people.' To cleverness and tact I have no pretension. 
 But, I admit that my brethren who manage Connexional 
 affairs really are clever tacticians. Well, should your 
 weighty affairs be committed to asses ? The men are 
 clever, but holy withal ; and use their brains not to cir- 
 cumvent, but to serve you. 
 
 " 5. ' You are the Conference party.' Some time ago 
 there was danger of parties in the Conference. Thank 
 God, that is over now. Statecraft delights to play one 
 party off against another. The Church of Christ must 
 not be ruled so. Party is a worldly word ; it has no text
 
 3IO CHAPTER XI. 
 
 in the Bible, and should have no place in the Church. 
 The church of God is the kingdom of God ; it has one 
 Head, one law, one end. 
 
 " If there ought to be parties in the Conference, there 
 ought to be also in the gatherings of Leaders, Local 
 Preachers, Sunday School Teachers, scholars, and fami- 
 lies. What would come of that but universal strife ? 
 
 " I like our old word, the Bible word, ( Body.' That 
 is it ; we are a body, ' one body,' in which every 
 member does his office. We cannot consent to be made 
 monstrous in the eyes of the world ; Janus-headed, look- 
 ing opposite ways, and talking with two tongues. We 
 will not be like the Siamese twins, two bodies in one, 
 mutually scowling. We will have but one head, one 
 mouth, one mind. But we will have ten fingers to work, 
 and ten toes to walk ; and each shall mind its own busi- 
 ness ; and so there shall be no schism in the body. 
 
 "6. 'You are against Wesleyan Reform.' Yes, I 
 am. Methodism is the child of Providence ; originated 
 in God's mind ; modelled by God's hand. He has 
 watched, and fed, and kept the child. The child is 
 growing and will grow ; but it keeps its form. If she 
 has a spot, talk not of reforming, but of washing her. 
 But those who would do that must beware lest they 
 come to the work with a sooty hand. You think her 
 wrinkled ; it is only want of rest of late. Seek for her 
 heavenly cordial. Ask the Lord to ' revive ' her; but 
 leave her form alone. He made it, and you cannot 
 mend it. 
 
 "7. 'You are Popish Priests.' Nay, nay; they burn 
 the Bible ; we urge you to read it. 
 
 " After all, we Ministers are poor things at best. 
 Pray for us more. Would you have belter? Well ; those 
 dear boys of yours, who will soon fill our places, train 
 them up to be as self-denying and laborious, as holy and 
 as wise, as you think Methodist Preachers ought to be." 
 
 Early in June Mr. Collins's health broke down ; so 
 broke down that it compelled him, though only ending 
 his second year, to seek from the Conference change 
 from the air, relief from the anxieties, and rest from the 
 toil of Camborne Circuit. 
 
 The impression made in that place by the man and
 
 CAMBORNE. 31 1 
 
 his work I will set forth in the following extracts from 
 competent witnesses : 
 
 Dr. Smith observes : " His spirit was ardent and 
 evangelical ; his words well chosen and full of force. 
 His sermons exhibited mental strength, originality, and 
 genius, in no ordinary degree. His ministry was accom- 
 panied by mighty influence, and issued in the salvation 
 of hundreds." 
 
 M. G. Pearce, Esq., writes : " His piety towered 
 above the stature of common Christians. How mighty 
 he was in prayer ! how profound in spiritual insight ! 
 how cheerful in temper ! how confiding in faith ! Times 
 of extreme trial passed over him ; yet no bitterness ever 
 tainted his soul. He was firm without acrimony ; true, 
 yet charitable. His condescension to the ignorant, 
 compassion for the sick, and liberality to the poor, the 
 last day only can reveal. Fervent love to God moved 
 every pulse of his heart, breathed in all his words, and 
 glowed in all his actions." 
 
 The Rev. John Gostick says : " It was my privilege 
 during the Camborne years to be Mr. Collins's colleague. 
 That association I regard as one of the best blessings 
 of my life ; and derive from it many most treasured 
 recollections. Those who knew Mr. Collins, even 
 slightly, must have a vivid impression of his worth ; 
 and will never be likely to forget him, or to confound 
 him with another; but to have enjoyed his continued 
 and intimate friendship is to feel an increase of re- 
 sponsibility, and to possess a life-long memory of no 
 common value. 
 
 " Mr. Collins was in all respects a man of mark. His 
 intellect was broad and vigorous ; and his acquirements 
 were not inconsiderable. His social qualities were of 
 the highest order. Every influence of his nature was 
 generous and noble. Rich, quiet humour lent unspeak- 
 able charm to his conversation. 
 
 " By Divine grace every attribute he possessed, na- 
 tural or acquired, went to make him a good Minister 
 of Jesus Christ. Whether regarded as to the extent and 
 influence of his pulpit labours, the amount and quality of 
 his pastoral intercourse, 'or the general, varied, and con- 
 stant effect of his life and spirit upon those around him,
 
 312 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 he will ever be remembered as a burning and shining 
 light. His influence with all classes was extraordinary. 
 Members and hearers, rich and poor, religious and pro- 
 fane, young and old, alike acknowledged it. His useful- 
 ness was immense. 
 
 " Of Christian holiness he was a beautiful example, 
 and a constant witness. It was continually urged in 
 his preaching and in his conversation ; but still more 
 commended and illustrated in his life. Holiness seemed 
 in him, not an effort, but a result ; you were struck with 
 its simplicity as much as with its dignity. He walked 
 with God and with you too. No one can describe the 
 happiness and sanctity that were blended in his spirit ; 
 the heavenly sunshine that seemed to come out of him 
 and rest upon his features. In Mr. Collins's society 
 you ever felt your own deficiencies ; but never dreamt 
 that he saw them. 
 
 " His prayers and nowhere more than in our weekly 
 Preachers' Meetings were wonderful outpourings of the 
 soul. What thoughts and language came to him, as he 
 adored and magnified the Lord, acknowledged and 
 bewailed sin, exulted in the work and offices of Jesus, or 
 pleaded with beseeching importunity and unwavering 
 faith for the blessings of grace ! Those were scenes and 
 seasons of refreshing ; and sweet is their memory still, 
 I ought not to omit mention of his faithfulness as a col- 
 league. With fellow-labourers he was ever not only 
 true-hearted but warm-hearted. 
 
 " While enthusiastically loyal to Methodism, Method- 
 ism did not limit his Christian sympathy. By all 
 means in his power he kept acquaintance and sought 
 intercourse with the ' whole estate of the Church.' 
 Neither has our own nor any other section of the Church 
 often lost so devoted, loving, and useful a Minister as we 
 did, when my revered Superintendent and beloved friend, 
 Thomas Collins, went home to God."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ST. AUSTELL AND HEMEL HEMPSTEAD. 
 
 ST. AUSTELL, the station allotted by the Conference, 
 was in that sad time one of the most unquiet and per- 
 turbed of the Cornish Circuits. The Chairman of the 
 District laid hands upon Mr. Collins, not with his will, 
 hoping that his weight of character might steady the 
 people, and his earnestness of zeal engage them in better 
 work. 
 
 How came dissatisfaction to be so widely diffused ? 
 Judicious Hooker well says: 
 
 " He that goeth about to persuade a multitude, that 
 they are not so well governed as they ought to be, shall 
 never want attentive and favourable hearers ; because 
 they know the manifold defects whereunto every kind of 
 regiment is subject, but the secret lets and difficulties, 
 which in public proceedings are innumerable and inevit- 
 able, they have not ordinarily the judgment to consider. 
 And because such as openly reprove supposed disorders 
 are taken for principal friends to the common benefit of 
 all, and for men that carry singular freedom of mind ; 
 under this fair and plausible colour whatsoever they 
 utter passeth for good and current. That which wanteth 
 in the weight of their speech, is supplied by the aptness 
 of men's minds to accept and believe it. Whereas, on 
 the other side, if we maintain things that are established, 
 we have not only to strive with a number of heavy pre- 
 judices deeply rooted in the hearts of men, who think 
 that herein we serve the time, and speak in favour of 
 the present state, because we either hold or seek prefer- 
 ment ; but also to bear such exceptions as minds, so 
 averted, usually take against that which they are loath 
 shall be poured into them." 
 
 I will, of choice, omit all further record of the Strug-
 
 314 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 gles of that disastrous season, which many of us pain- 
 fully remember as having hindered us in our work for 
 God, and bereaved us of our children. Such a time were 
 unworthily passed if it taught nothing. Lessons pur- 
 chased by heart-pangs should not be forgotten. Truths 
 made apparent at such a cost deserve the pages their 
 record may cover. 
 
 The chief opponents of Wesleyan Methodism in my 
 time have been Anglicans without and dissidents within. 
 
 By the former it is objected that Methodism is not in 
 accordance with antiquity. What is meant by antiquity? 
 The vagaries of mediaevalism ? Learn the apostolic 
 mind from Popes, Councils, and Schoolmen ! You 
 might as well dip in Mississippi, where it is mingled with 
 the blending of a thousand streams, muddy with the 
 gatherings of a thousand miles, or brackish with the 
 influx of a thousand ocean waves, to learn how it tasted 
 in its earliest fountain. Milton, in his grand and 
 ponderous way, says : " We do injuriously in thinking 
 to taste better the evangelical manna by seasoning our 
 mouths with the scraps and fragments of an unknown 
 table. Why should we be ever searching among the 
 verminous and polluted rags dropped over-worn from the 
 toiling shoulders of Time, with these deformedly to quilt 
 and overlace the spotless and undecaying robe of truth ? 
 Truth is the daughter not of Time, but of Heaven ; and 
 only bred up here below in Christian hearts by two 
 grave and holy nurses, the doctrine and discipline of the 
 Gospel." 
 
 Two questions arise : What was primitive usage ? and 
 what binding force has primitive usage upon us ? The 
 difficulty of answering the first question suggests an 
 answer to the second. Had God willed the forms and 
 rules of the first planted churches to have been the 
 immutable ecclesiastical model and changeless law of 
 all times, He would have provided for us a sure record of 
 what those rules and forms were. 
 
 The Scriptures, though abounding in principles of 
 church life, have a marked absence of the details of 
 church form. They prescribe no ecclesiastical system, 
 decree no ceremonials, contain no law canonical. Omis- 
 sions from inspired books have a logical value, and
 
 ST. AUSTELL. 315 
 
 afford basis of argument. The Book teaches all that is 
 necessary to salvation, all that may be required to be 
 believed in as an article of faith ; but the Book does not 
 teach systems of polity nor rubrics of ritual ; therefore 
 these things are not requisites of faith, or essentials of 
 salvation. They are left among the things of which 
 expedience is the law, and about which freedom of pre- 
 ference may be permitted. 
 
 What evidence there is, favours the opinion that, in 
 the main, Apostles, in their ordering of the Church, 
 followed the humanly-invented modes of the synagogue, 
 with such changes as suited the new time, new teaching, 
 and new circumstances. 
 
 The idea that the externalism of the Church, in the 
 days of its first planting, was to be its ruling exemplar 
 through all ages, never occurred to the men of the ages 
 immediately subsequent. Its simple forms they altered, 
 and supplemented without scruple. If the Fathers, in 
 these things, were not afraid to diverge from the Apostles, 
 who shall convict us of boldness if we dare affirm our- 
 selves to be under no bond to follow them ? 
 
 But whether we, in our usages, be primitive or not, 
 Anglicans may not safely throw stones, prelates, with 
 baronies and lordships, a service outvying Hebrew lites 
 in pomp and mystery, a Church unfenced by godly 
 discipline, and a creed with latitudinarian lawyers for 
 its final exponents, are certainly not apostolical. 
 
 In politics the Divine thing is authority, not the 
 name, or shape, it happens to bear. Wine is wine, 
 though you put it in a teacup : the decanter is not 
 essential. Loyalty is a Christian duty in the United 
 States as much as in England. A republic is as much 
 " Del Gratia " as a monarchy. Paul would have written, 
 " The powers that be are ordained of God," whether 
 King, Dictator, Triumvirate, or Emperor, had been for 
 the time at the top. Most earthly dominations have 
 blood at their base, but we tease not our consciences 
 with scruples of dark historic inquiry about title. We 
 recognise facts. To whom Providence gives the lease 
 of power, to them we render acknowledgment. Where- 
 ever there is a magistracy armed with strength, 
 actually repressing anarchy, smiting evil doers, and
 
 316 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 giving peace and security to them that do well, in our 
 eyes " they are God's Ministers, attending continually 
 upon this very thing." 
 
 Now as I recognise de facto governments, so I recog- 
 nise de facto churches. Wherever there is a body of 
 believing men, who have among them provision for 
 Christian worship, fellowship, the means of grace, and 
 the regular inculcation of Divine truth ; who have also 
 recognised power of godly discipline, enforcing the laws 
 of Christ, shutting goats out and keeping sheep in ; there 
 is a church. 
 
 Gold is gold, and will fetch its price the world over, 
 wherever minted, however called, ducat, moidore, 
 sovereign ; whatever symbol made to bear of power 
 imperial, mixed, or popular. Intrinsic value makes it 
 pass. So, wherever there are guarantees for the expres- 
 sion, maintenance, and outworking, of the great essen- 
 tial principles of truth, purity, peace, and evangelism, 
 there is a Church precious to Christ, whether its meeting 
 place be beneath the roof of a cathedral, or the rafters of 
 a village chapel. It is current with Him, whether the 
 impress be Connexional or Congregational, Presbyterian 
 or Prelatic. 
 
 That system is most Divine which is best. That 
 system is best which most wisely meets the exigencies 
 of the times ; most completely embodies the principle of 
 fellowship, which is love, love of God, love of the 
 brethren, love of the common cause ; and most fully 
 answers the ends for which the Church was instituted, 
 viz., to witness for truth, to foster individual piety, and 
 to spread it through the world. 
 
 When changes in any existing system are mooted, the 
 question testing their value is this : Will the proposed 
 alterations make brighter the verities of the creed, raise 
 higher the attainments of the soul, or diffuse more 
 widely the Gospel through the world ? 
 
 That corner-stone of Protestantism, the right of 
 private judgment, is but the other side of the truth that 
 " every man must give account of himself to God." 
 This claim, one of the noblest trophies the struggles of 
 the sixteenth century won, cannot be surrendered with- 
 out closing the eyes of the soul, foregoing manhood, and
 
 ST. AUSTELL. 317 
 
 putting ourselves at disadvantage for the audit at the 
 last day. I must judge for myself, seeing that I must 
 be judged for myself. I must judge for myself, since I 
 cannot ponder by proxy, and may not appear at the bar 
 of doom by deputy. 
 
 Of course, this truth the right of private judgment 
 stands not alone : many other considerations come in. 
 Individualism must be limited enough to make societies 
 cohere. 
 
 How far is free action to issue from free thought ? If 
 to my mind certain regulations appear undesirable, it is 
 admitted that I may seek to change them ; but I must 
 do so lawfully, prudently, and charitably. And, before I 
 undertake so weighty a business, it would be wise to 
 study what qualifications befit one who would be a 
 reviser of church rules. 
 
 1. Freedom from all feud and personal animositv. 
 Such high vocation cometh not to angry spirits. 
 Changes proposed because of quarrel are more likely 
 to inflame the Church than to amend it. " The wrath 
 of man worketh not the righteousness of God." For 
 one to set on fire the Church that won him to Christ 
 out of mere resentment, is conduct heathenish as that 
 of the Brahmin who, with tearless eyes, puts torch to 
 his living mother's funeral pyre. 
 
 2. Holiness. Only the pure truly sympathize with the 
 Lord's mind, and plans, and purposes. I would rather 
 trust a committee of village blacksmiths and uncultured 
 ploughmen as " Board of Management " for the Royal 
 Academy, than a company of men of unsanctified 
 tempers as ecclesiastical reformers. 
 
 3. Thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. Sail with a 
 captain ignorant of his chart, sooner than follow a leader 
 " unskilful in the Word." 
 
 4. Acquaintance -with church history. History lengthens 
 experience. Men unacquainted with it often waste time 
 in experiments which old attempts have proved to be 
 useless. 
 
 5. Knowledge of the times. How strangely the Ritualists 
 of this day read the dial wrong! They do not know 
 the difference between A.M. and P.M. The clock has 
 struck twelve. It is noon. They think it is midnight.
 
 318 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 6. Practical skill. Methodism was not born in the 
 brain of a theorist. Like the British Constitution, it 
 is a growth rather than a manufacture. Providence 
 moulded it by the pressure of emergencies, and de- 
 veloped it by the bestowment of success. Some men 
 would improvisatorize you a code any day before break- 
 fast: I should not like to give them their breakfast for 
 their trouble. Systems that leap at once full-grown 
 from the brain, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter, 
 may read well enough on paper, but seldom work. 
 
 If these personal qualifications be in me, and, with 
 them all, I still think changes to be necessary, how must 
 they be sought ? 
 
 'i. Warily. Festina lente, " Make haste slowly," is a 
 good motto here. Changes in church systems are not 
 to be desired lightly, unadvisedly, capriciously. You 
 would think long before you allowed anybody to revise a 
 Homer, touch up a Phidias, or mend a Raphael. To all 
 freakish men, or rash and presumptuous men, you would 
 cry " hands off." 
 
 2. Patiently. However clearly a change appears unto 
 you likely to prove beneficial, you must not be angry 
 because others cannot see it in your light. Nothing 
 must be forced. Your idea, if wise, and good, and true, 
 will live and leaven : but you must wait. Nothing must 
 be done before the time. 
 
 3. Charitably. Do not knock out a man's brains to 
 kill a fly on his forehead. To buy a farthing with a 
 sovereign is foolish trade. To win a little change by 
 ruining many souls is woful folly. 
 
 4. With careful self-abnegation. Self-seeking in the 
 Church, like sin in heaven, shows the blacker for its 
 locality. There are who would rather be printed in 
 Newgate Calendar than forgotten ; who would not stick 
 at burning the world, if only sure that another world 
 would talk about it. 
 
 5. Lawfully. Onward movements should be in line 
 with the ancient grooves. Progress had better be slow 
 than ungovernable. The spirit of insubordination gives 
 little presage of good. 
 
 6. Religiously. Let nothing be done through strife or 
 vain-glory. Let God be all. On no account, and on no
 
 ST. AUSTELL. 319 
 
 side, let fraud, or defamation, or wrong be used. Some 
 men have such an itch for evil-speaking, that, like that 
 unmannerly thief, if caught and crucified, they would 
 rail on their crosses, and die reviling. 
 
 When unable to convince others of the value of the 
 changes I seek in ecclesiastical system, what course 
 must I then pursue ? 
 
 1. I may, without sin, seeing that it is not an essen- 
 tial, give the matter up ; or, 
 
 2. It is open to me peacefully, at proper seasons, and 
 in legitimate modes, to continue my petition, and to state 
 the grounds of it to competent authorites ; or, 
 
 3. I may seek and join some church sympathising with 
 my views. If in this day of many sects there be not one 
 that does so, I may well suspect my idea to be a crotchet, 
 utterly unpractical and valueless. 
 
 4. If I be really alone in my thought, and my convic- 
 tion of its importance still remain, one other course is 
 open. It may not be wise, yet it is lawful, for me to go 
 to the outcast masses who lie beyond the pale of all 
 churches, and seize them for Christ ; and build them up, 
 if I can, into a polity to my liking. Those who denied 
 my fitness to touch up what they believed to be a master- 
 piece can have no just ground of complaint, when I 
 attempt to excel it on canvas of my own. I may prove 
 a failure, but I shall avoid a sin. 
 
 I remember once giving this counsel of peace to one 
 who was uselessly perturbing his own soul, and agitating 
 a whole Society. He answered, " Leave Methodism 
 indeed, after all that I have done for it ! " I replied, 
 " You have, Sir, done much for it ; but, ' Quits,' so it 
 has for you !" A young man goes to lodge with a sober 
 couple ; for months all goes on smoothly ; at length 
 he gets into a circle of night-walkers, and now his late 
 incoming is a sore trouble to the worthy pair. They 
 venture to suggest that he either set up a house of his 
 own, or that he go and board with a family they tell 
 him of, who never lock up until after his latest hour. 
 ' A pretty notion, indeed ! leave, after paying money 
 every week as I have done ! ' ' True, you have paid, but 
 have you not had lodging for your price ? ' ' But 
 consider how long I have been with you.' ' I do consider
 
 32O CHAPTER XII. 
 
 it, but also remember that for long you kept our rules.' 
 ' But this leaving touches my heart. I love you.' 
 ' Well, young friend, it touches me to hear you say so ; 
 and, I assure you, that we love you dearly too ; and, 
 moreover, it can be no information to you that we want 
 our chambers let ; and if you will, as formerly, observe 
 the customs of our house, none in the town can be so 
 welcome as yourself, whom we have had so long: but, 
 if you are determined not to do so, then our friendship 
 , will be closer for our living apart. In such circum- 
 stances we can love you better as a neighbour than as an 
 inmate.' 
 
 What is to be said of attempting to keep within a 
 church, while avowedly withholding all contributions 
 towards its charges ? 
 
 It is a wrong to fellow church-members ; a breach of 
 the golden rule ; a dishonesty to the Pastor ; a defiance 
 of the Lord's own ordinance. It is conduct steeped in 
 apostasy and unbelief. " Stop the supplies," always 
 has been, and ever will be, an impotent cry in the 
 Church of Christ. Such a policy at once revolts 
 generous hearts. Gifts and givers multiply, until the 
 persecuting minority, who degraded themselves by adop- 
 tion of that stingy course, find themselves about as 
 likely to accomplish their purpose as if they had put up 
 their umbrellas to stop the sunbeams. No church ever 
 failed for want of money. The geniuses who can see no 
 better way of reaching brains than that of pinching sto- 
 machs may do well enough for tiger-tamers, but are 
 utterly unfit to deal with Ministers of God. 
 
 It is but fair to those whose sense of duty impelled 
 them to try and put away persons guilty of this odious 
 conduct, to observe that they ever carefully reserved the 
 right of the poor to free participation in every privilege 
 of the Church. Not lack of cash, but lack of honesty, 
 was always the ground of action. 
 
 " Stop the tickets," whether or not it were wise, 
 whether or not it were dignified, was, certainly, a just 
 response to " Stop the supplies." No man who refuses 
 aid can expect service. He who asserts a ministry to 
 have no claim on him, must admit himself to have no 
 claim on them.
 
 ST. AUSTELL. 321 
 
 Many debates, errors, and fogs of the mind will be 
 precluded by considering that severances on the ground 
 of differences concerning church polity are not and are 
 not supposed to be excommunications. 
 
 " But is it right to shut a man out of your Society for 
 what will not shut him out of heaven?" Of course it is. 
 The Quakers would do right in ejecting one who would 
 sing in their service ; or the Baptists, one who would 
 sprinkle babies in their chapel. A Romanist may get to 
 heaven, but he ought, for all that, to be expelled from 
 the ranks of the English clergy. In my view, Arminian 
 doctrine is scriptural : I none the more blame the Scotch 
 Congregationalists who sent six young students packing 
 from their Theological Seminary because they contra- 
 dicted Calvinism. If I gave a musical student notice 
 to quit because I could not think or write for the noise 
 of his fiddle, would that mean either that I cursed him, 
 hated him, or wished him to be homeless for ever ? I 
 can quite understand sending him away to-day, and 
 heartily shaking hands with him to-morrow. 
 
 Now our dissidents have built for themselves a polity, 
 I gladly recognise them fully as Christian brethren. 
 Their choice is not mine, yet none among themselves 
 more sincerely wish them peace, happiness, and pros- 
 perity, than I do. But should hereafter which heaven 
 forbid some stirring minority in their own community 
 make nameless attacks, defy rule, refuse aid in those 
 daily charges which they help to incur, and determine 
 continually to do so I hope, in such case, their courts 
 will, as ours did, unite grace not to anathematise with 
 manliness enough to expel. 
 
 Mr. Collins from the beginning had distaste of grum- 
 blers ; he said : " The Lamb and His company harp 
 and sing, but these creatures, whether they speak of 
 religion or business, doings of men or dealings of God, 
 croak, croak, croak." I am happy to append the 
 response of Mr. Collins's earliest and most valued friend, 
 the Rev. H. Breeden. Its strong sayings, excellent 
 cautions, and wise counsels, I the more appreciate, 
 because its author had conscientiously gone forth from 
 us, and then, as now, was honourably labouring beyond 
 the fences of the Wesleyan fold. 
 
 Y
 
 322 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LEICESTER, November i^th, 1834. 
 MY DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 THERE is nothing new. Bradburn, in his day, down in the fen 
 country, found croakers swarming; and, in his slashing style, said 
 of them : " These Lincolnshire lying varlets, with their spitfire 
 pamphlets, remind me of those apocalyptical frogs, spawned of the 
 devil." Hot words ; but, indeed, none too hot for a brood so base. 
 Sammy was a master of invective, but even his tongue failed to 
 furnish a designation mean enough to express the character of such 
 creeping, crooked, slimy things. Many a blessed work of God have 
 they withstood, and many a glorious revival have they stopped. 
 
 Lust of power is the taproot of Church grumbling. Disappointed 
 men become bitter, set up as grievance-mongers, go down to the 
 Philistines to sharpen their weapons, and set the Lord's people at 
 variance by tactics borrowed from political parties. 
 
 Poor things ! they never pray about the matters of which they 
 complain. If jealous for the Lord of Hosts, why not on their knees 
 more ? If murmurers would use their knees more and their tongues 
 less, everybody would gain by the exchange. 
 
 Keep from all such, my dear lad ; communion with the like 
 of them would lower your tone, hurt your mind, destroy the intimacy 
 of your fellowship with God, and spoil you for soul-saving. Avoid 
 them. Take no notice of them. Keep to your work. Suffer not 
 their evil deeds in your presence : turn the conversation, or retire. 
 
 Until the moment I left the Wesleyans, I conscientiously kept 
 every rule ; and since I have left them, have never designedly said 
 one word to injure either their cause or the character of one in their 
 ranks. I find enough to do in keeping my own heart, and minding 
 my own work. 
 
 The following is my sincere advice to you : 
 
 1. Keep God in your eye every moment. 
 
 2. Cherish deep concern for the salvation of immortal souls. 
 This will be done by considering the value of the soul ; the concern 
 of God about it; the terrors of the hell it is in peril of; and the 
 glory of the heaven it may win. 
 
 3. In every sermon let your heart confide in the wonder-working 
 power of the Holy Ghost, and your tongue tell of the all-redeeming 
 death. 
 
 4. As a Methodist Preacher, be loyal to the order of the Connexion. 
 Never, as long as you remain in the body, willingly break one of its 
 rules. If you were a Churchman, I should tell you to be a true one ; 
 if a Baptist, a Baptist ; since, then, you are a Methodist, be one. 
 Play the man. The end of Methodism is saving^eouls. 
 
 5. Act towards your Superintendent, not as some vain striplings 
 do, but as becometh a godly junior. Love him, help him, honour 
 him, and obey him in the Lord. 
 
 I am yours affectionately, 
 
 HENRY BREEDEN. 
 
 To St. Austell Mr. Collins came easily ; it was but a 
 leasant run of twenty-six miles. Happily, he was, also,
 
 ST. AUSTELL, 323 
 
 more plentifully provided than one of the most illustrious 
 of his predecessors had been. Adam Clarke says : 
 " When appointed here, I had a guinea allowed me, with 
 which I was to pay toll bars, and keep myself and horse 
 through a journey of near four hundred miles." The 
 issue of such impecunious itinerancy was, that often 
 while the good steed took his corn, his master took the 
 air, because he could not afford a meal for both. 
 
 The Wesleyan premises at St. Austell, chapel and 
 Preachers' houses, are well situate and good. The im- 
 mediate surroundings of the town are pleasant, but the 
 country beyond has a bleak and sterile look. The con- 
 trast between its rich mineral treasures and its barren 
 soil led a wit to say that, " like the shabby mien of a 
 miser, its aspect does not correspond with its hoards." 
 
 " September gth. The people generally are expecting 
 good, and already fruit has appeared. 
 
 " September agth. Hunger for holiness seems rising. 
 After the lovefeast, G. P. told me at the door that he was 
 longing for perfect love. ' Return with me,' I said, ' to 
 the vestry.' He came at a word, prepared, according to 
 the Cornish idea, to wrestle until midnight. I had 
 strength for no such thing, and knew right well that 
 Heaven did not wish it. So I just knelt down, and 
 simply besought the Lord to light the poor man's candle 
 at once. It was done. 
 
 " Friday, October 4th. Since entering upon this 
 Circuit, I have endeavoured to live near to God. Strife 
 miserably prevails. I have as Solomon did in his 
 dream asked the Lord for wisdom. 'Give Thy servant 
 an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may 
 discern between good and bad.' 
 
 " October gth. As, on the seashore, I read Paul to 
 the Colossians, and meditated, the Holy Ghost merci- 
 fully touched my heart. I offered my people to God, and 
 felt baptized and filled with power of God for my people." 
 
 In this month, Mr. Collins went away to serve once 
 more his loved old friends in Kent. On his return, the 
 hour was late ere he could reach St. Austell. To his 
 surprise, on nearing home, he saw the chapel lighted up. 
 What is this? "O, Sir, a mighty revival has begun." 
 That news deferred his rest. He at once, with joy, set 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 upon the work, unended before midnight, of directing 
 seekers to the Saviour. He soon after wrote : 
 " Affairs improve. Miracles of mercy take place daily. 
 The town is, at last, fully awake to the fact that there 
 is a Wesleyan chapel in it. The families, noticeably, 
 of our faithful, law-abiding, peace-loving men, have 
 been wonderfully visited. In the house of W. V. eight 
 have been saved." To the agitated Circuit this out- 
 gush of grace was as oil on the waves. For a time they 
 could sing : 
 
 All the struggle now is o'er, 
 And wars and fightings cease. 
 
 At the December numeration one hundred and twenty 
 additional were found meeting in class. The Journal 
 says : 
 
 "January ist, 1851. The good work progresses. 
 Every week increases the number of conversions. 
 Labour increases ; and, in fact, overpresses my weak- 
 ness. I am obliged to seclude myself from current 
 movements, and walk closely with God, In His pavilion 
 I hide me until the strife be overpast ; whether it be of 
 Wesleyan agitation, or of Papal aggression. Error is 
 multiform and various ; but God is one, and truth is at 
 one. Keeping my mind at home with God, my experi- 
 ence seems to concentrate." 
 
 The records of some of Mr. Collins's pastoral visits 
 at this time are very interesting. 
 
 He went to see a sincere but very depressed creature ; 
 and, rinding her with her babe in her arms, said, " Drop 
 that little one upon the floor." With an air of wonder 
 at such a request, she refused. " Well," said he, " for 
 what price would you do it ? " " Not for as many sove- 
 reigns as there are stars." " You would not ?" " No ; 
 I would not." " And do you really think that you love 
 your feeble children more than the Lord does His ?" Her 
 face brightened ; and, aided by that lesson from her own 
 maternal love, faith grew strong. The next visit was to 
 poor John Stephens of Tywardreath. The man was 
 very nerve-shattered ; but very true-hearted. He had 
 an experience like that Bunyan pictures in the whisper- 
 ing hends that haunted Christian in the Valley of the
 
 ST. AUSTELL. 325 
 
 Shadow of Death. He said, " It came hissing from 
 behind that curtain, ' You swore.' Wife says, it is all my 
 poor head. Perhaps it is ; but it flurried me. I knew it 
 was a lie ; and I thought the devil told it. Be that as 
 it might, I just rose in my bed and cried, ' Lord, I can 
 bleed, or I can burn, but I can't swear. I am Thine;' 
 and, bless God ! whether it were my weakness or the devil's 
 malice, that finished it ; it has troubled me no more." I 
 pity those who can discern nothing sublime in this in- 
 tegrity for God amid brain-wanderings and bodily decays. 
 
 In both Camborne and St. Austell Mr. Collins was 
 taxed to the utmost of his strength by remarkable re- 
 vivals that called for exhausting labours. This strain, 
 aforetime borne easily, became an oppression to him in 
 a climate so unsuitable for the specialties of his consti- 
 tution. His remaining in the county after Camborne 
 was against his own judgment. From the first at St. 
 Austell he felt himself an ailing man. I throw together, 
 and subjoin, allusions to these bodily sufferings, of various 
 dates : 
 
 " September gth, 1850. I am not well. My Chair- 
 man would hold me here, though Sussex, or the Mid- 
 land, would have been better for me. Cornwall is too 
 humid and too relaxing for me." 
 
 A letter to me, bearing date September a6th, says : 
 " My nervous system is unstrung. You remember 
 how, in her later years, your dear mother wept when 
 she touched the things of God. I am becoming like 
 her. Feeling masters me." 
 
 " October 4th. I am not now able to watch, or to 
 fast, or to make any of those strong efforts which it has 
 been my wont to do. 
 
 " October gth. I am not at all the man I was. I 
 cannot rise so early as I did. I sooner tire. I cannot 
 last through long meetings. 
 
 " December 6th. My elasticity is all gone. The 
 continual wet and warmth of this county subdue my 
 constitution, and take away my energy. I flag. I get 
 drowsy in the daytime. I cannot work half as hard, or 
 walk half as far, as I used to do. My legs feel as if 
 coated with lead." 
 
 Another cause more hurtful than the damp inteh
 
 326 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 air that enervated, or the toil in the work that wearied 
 him, was the turbulence then prevailing in the Church. 
 " I am daily grieved," he wrote, " by oppositions of men 
 thoroughly infected by an itch for notoriety and wonder- 
 fully perverse." 
 
 I remember Mr. Collins playfully illustrating for me, 
 by my own fireside, the kind of people with whom he 
 had to do, in a story well showing Cornish selfwill 
 matched by Cornish tact. A certain mine was jointly 
 managed by two agents, Captain James and Captain 
 John. John, by fiery temper, strength of -will, and per- 
 petual self-assertion, came, though but equal in place, to 
 be chief in authority. The miners often found the mis- 
 erable shed in which they left their garments to have 
 proved so poor a shield that the rain had drenched 
 them. They, therefore, asked of Captain James per- 
 mission to put hooks round the engine house ; where, 
 whenever they emerged, hot and sweating, from their 
 gloomy work, they would be certain to find them dry, 
 warm, and comfortable to put on. The kind-hearted 
 man wished to serve them, but foresaw a rock ahead in 
 his Nabal of a colleague. A bright thought occurred, 
 thus graphically expressed : " Since he is so hoggish, 
 we must deal with him as Paddy does with a pig; pull 
 him the wrong way, that we may get him to go the 
 right." " No ! " he then cried, with emphasis, " you 
 shall not ; I say you shall not ; and so," he added, with 
 a comical wink, " you can go and tell Captain John as 
 soon as you like." They soon obeyed, rehearsed their 
 grievance, and put it to Captain John, " if such conduct 
 were a fitly thing." " A churlish fellow ! " he replied, 
 " he would like you all to have the rheumatism, I sup- 
 pose. How would he like it ? Not let you have the 
 place, eh ! I say you shall. So up with your hooks, 
 and we'll see." 
 
 Selfwill is no monopoly of the West ; yet those days 
 of turbulence developed it with special plentifulness there. 
 Nor was it in Mr. Collins's earnest, simple, truth-loving 
 nature to cheat perverseness into goodness. Repudia- 
 ting the swineherd method, he preferred acting upon the 
 dictum of the celebrated Sir Barney Roche, who told 
 the Irish Parliament that "the way to avoid a difficulty
 
 ST. AUSTELL. 327 
 
 is to meet it plump." What people call " management " 
 was alien to Mr. Collins's character. He could assert 
 the right, do the right, or suffer for the right ; but he 
 could not, even for the right, attempt to win by a trick. 
 The prevailing discord he strove to overcome by grace, 
 truth, love, and evangelism. It is due to say that he 
 was very successful both in winning members and in 
 keeping waverers. Still, do what he might, mischie- 
 vous results of ecclesiastical strife lay round him, large 
 and terrible. Ever-growing anxiety for the flock of 
 Christ so bitterly affected his soul, and so frequently 
 broke his rest, that at length he was threatened with 
 entire prostration. Too long deaf to the entreaties, he 
 was, at length, compelled to submit to the absolute 
 commands of his medical advisers. They would hear 
 of nothing short of absolute rest. Mr. Collins accord- 
 ingly requested of Conference permission to have a 
 year of retirement. His petition was granted. A letter, 
 informing me of the fact, remarks : " I now see the 
 wisdom of those old Levitical arrangements giving 
 intervals of refreshment between the labours of the 
 temple courses. I used to think the most glorious 
 course to be that of those who, crowding much life into 
 little time, worked hard, and died early in the harness. 
 The deaths of Vevers, Fowler, and Bell, have not only 
 convinced me that the strongest powers must give way 
 before unremitted toil conjoined with anxiety, but, also, 
 shown to me how great the loss to the Church is, when 
 men so ripe, experienced, and valuable, are thus re- 
 moved. I now, therefore, feel that duty to the Lord's 
 cause forbids me, by any act of my own, hurrying life 
 prematurely to its end." 
 
 Mr. Collins left St. Austell on Tuesday, August a6th, 
 1851, with no very fixed plan for the forthcoming year. 
 He says, " We posted to Plymouth, intending to stay 
 there all night; but the attractions of a Regatta had 
 caused every respectable hostelry to be preoccupied ; so 
 we took train at once, and went on as far as Totness. 
 There a comfortable hotel furnished every accomoda- 
 tion we needed. The next morning we set forth by the 
 eleven o'clock train for London. At Bristol, Maria 
 complaining of thirst, thinking the stoppage there would
 
 328 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 be longer than it proved, I stepped out to get for her a 
 bottle of ginger beer ; the train started instantly, and, to 
 the consternation of us all, we were separated. They 
 wisely waited at Bath, where in half-an-hour, I rejoined 
 them. The result of getting displaced from the express 
 was to deter our arrival by three hours. With no 
 further mishap, we safely reached Spring Well, and 
 were instantly made happily at home by the affectionate 
 and thoughtful hospitality of our dear sister Graham." 
 
 The temporary abode of the family there, at Clapham, 
 until after the printing of the Minutes, is the reason of 
 the appearance of Mr. Collins's name for that year in the 
 Lambeth list. A permanent London residence was not 
 his choice : he wrote : 
 
 Your cities vast, your seas of men, 
 
 Have no delight for me. 
 I seek a calm sequester'd life, 
 
 A rural privacy. 
 I seek a rural privacy, 
 
 Yet would not be alone ; 
 So give me, nigh my residence, 
 
 A pretty country town. 
 For life has its necessities, 
 
 And man is social made; 
 And towns supply the country's lack 
 
 For company and trade. 
 
 With such ideas, it was not wonderful that the memory 
 of Hemel Hempstead should recur to him. His verse 
 records that mighty monarchs and famous healers had 
 loved the place. 
 
 'Tis said that Harry Tudor came 
 
 Occasionally down, 
 And, liking, gave such privilege 
 
 As kings can give a town. 
 What beauty could it be he sought? 
 
 II landscape were the thing, 
 In his selection, then he shovv'd 
 
 The wisdom of a king. 
 For quiet, and for wholesome air, 
 
 Sir Astley Cooper came ; 
 And worthy of a doctor's praise 
 
 Are they that do the same. 
 
 The neighbourhood selected for Mr. Collins's temporary 
 retreat I leave to his rhymes to describe :
 
 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD. 329 
 
 Thy fertile vale abundance yields 
 
 Of food for man and beast ; 
 Thy circling hills abate the winds 
 
 That blow from north and east. 
 How often from those gentle heights 
 
 Thy beauty I admire ! 
 Thy Hall of Commerce, lately rear'd ; 
 
 Thy glistening, taper spire. 
 As sleeps an infant half undress'd 
 
 And perfectly at ease, 
 So does thy tranquil picture seem 
 
 'Mid shade of grateful trees. 
 All we shall need that earth affords, 
 
 O Hempstead, thou hast got ; 
 And blest be He who gave to thee 
 
 To stand on such a spot. 
 
 Mr. Collins says, " We came here September i8th, 
 1851. The house is suitable; the air bracing, without 
 being too cold ; and, though within an hour of London, 
 we enjoy all the quiet and purity of the country." 
 
 At Hemel Hempstead, uninterrupted by public duties, 
 he enjoyed, for a season, calm domestic bliss. His, there, 
 was, in better than the Popish sense, a religious house. 
 Every heart in it loved God. I never saw home life 
 more happy, godly, and beautiful. 
 
 Writing to one of his brethren, he said : " One great 
 error of Wesleyans, ay, of Ministers too, is stopping 
 short of perfect love : another is neglect of the first 
 grace the Holy Ghost plants within their children. O, 
 bring your children up for the Lord from the cradle : 
 mind, from the cradle." True to his own counsel, Mr. 
 Collins took care that godly discipline began its mould- 
 ing influence upon his children in their infancy. As 
 father, and chief in his house, he held himself responsible 
 for his full share of training work. In him a pattern and 
 an authority of goodness was always present in the 
 home. 
 
 Veiled from publicity, hidden from honour, but now 
 sweetly embalmed for it in surviving memory, the 
 mother devoted herself to her children. She never sent 
 them to any other teacher. Thoroughly competent, she > 
 diligently instructed them herself. Her aim was not to' 
 encourage in them showy display of accomplishments, 
 but by enrichment of the mind, culture of the under-
 
 330 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 standing, and training of the character, to fit them for 
 the Master's service. She succeeded well. They followed 
 Christ, and found happiness in paths of love and obedi- 
 ence. For her children, as for herself, she acted upon 
 the command, " Come out, and be separate." Their 
 companionship was refused to the ungodly : their early 
 pleasures, the most delightsome young hearts can have, 
 were ministries of mercy to the poor. Piano or harp 
 and voice were daily heard blending harmoniously, but 
 always in songs of Zion. Their lessons and their learn- 
 ing circled round the Word of God. I say, their learning ; 
 for of Emmy, now in heaven, I may record that she was 
 no despicable Grecian and a very good Hebraist. 
 
 The plan of a week will give interesting information 
 of the curriculum of this Hemel Hempstead domestic 
 College. 
 
 " Monday. We read reports, from all sources, of 
 Missionary work among the Jews, and specially search 
 those Scriptures which seem to concern them. This we 
 conclude with prayer on their behalf. In this devotional 
 work my children greatly delight me. 
 
 " Tuesday. ' Barney ' (his brother, a university gra- 
 duate) and I stick to Greek. 
 
 " Wednesday. He, I, and Emmy work at Hebrew. 
 
 " Thursday. Mamma and Maria join us at Latin. 
 
 " Friday. All to French. 
 
 " Saturday. We have a Scripture conversation. Thus 
 we keep from rust." 
 
 I find that the rule was to turn out twice in the day, 
 either to work in the garden, to enjoy some light out- 
 door game, or to explore one of the many lovely walks 
 and fieldways of the neighbourhood. These rural ex- 
 cursions were modes of going about doing good. Mr. 
 Collins ever seemed to have a gift for the necessitous, a 
 pretty book for the child, and a word in season for all. 
 Miss Collins says, " A walk with Papa was the greatest 
 treat either Emmy or I could possibly have. He was 
 sure to bring us some new road : or find for us some 
 beautiful flowers ; or take us to some ii 'cresting person. 
 His ingenuity in devising pleasure seemed inexhaustible, 
 and the tact with which he suited things to our taste 
 was wonderful. At that time Aunt Maria first brought
 
 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD. 33! 
 
 us acquainted with Moon's system of reading for the 
 blind. Our kitchen became the meeting place of 
 a blind readers' class. Papa's interest in this work never 
 relaxed. In every subsequent place of residence he 
 always strove to find out, get books for, and instruct 
 such sufferers." 
 
 At Hemel Hempstead one great source of improvement 
 mingled with enjoyment was a family literary associa- 
 tion. As Friday came round, each had, after tea, to pro- 
 duce, in turn, an original paper. The commencement 
 and laws of this hearth-circle Institute will best be learned 
 from Mr. Collins's pleasant Inaugural Address, 
 
 Dear members of this learned sect, 
 
 I give you loving greeting ; 
 My duty is, you recollect, 
 
 First to address your meeting. 
 
 My task, as it appears to me, 
 
 Should be, at its formation, 
 To chronicle the history 
 
 Of this association. 
 
 By this, then, let all people know. 
 
 In this affair concern'd, 
 That February fifty-two 
 
 Produced a band so learn'd. 
 
 On day the sixth, our party came, 
 
 At five o'clock on Friday ; 
 And, if I may the party name, 
 
 First, there's Mamma, so tidy. 
 
 Then sage Avuncu', in his place ; 
 
 Then Emmy, always hearty ; 
 Maria next, with cheerful face, 
 
 And I, make up the party. 
 
 The day's demands make breakfast brief, 
 
 And dinner is for hunger ; 
 But tea comes, in a sweet relief, 
 
 With conversation longer. 
 
 Great Johnson talk'd, and drank his tea, 
 
 That prince in conversation : 
 Though few can talk as well as he, 
 
 Tea brings us inspiration. 
 
 So, as we drank, the talk began 
 
 About another movement, 
 Some simple, pleasant, weekly plan 
 
 Of mutual improvement.
 
 33 2 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A paper of domestic news, 
 
 In which we all might mingle, 
 Shall we have this ? or shall we choose 
 
 To keep our papers single ? 
 
 " The mingle plan," said two, " we'll have," 
 
 The other two demurring ; 
 For reasons good, which then they gave, 
 
 The single plan preferring. 
 
 The chairman, feeling all the weight 
 
 Of his august position; 
 Advanced to give the grave debate 
 
 A permanent decision. 
 
 " I give my casting vote," said he, 
 
 " For single papers weekly : " 
 So, to a clear majority, 
 
 The others yielded meekly. 
 
 " Five weeks," said he, "we'll try this plan;" 
 
 And all said, " Let it be so ; " 
 "Then talk the matter o'er again ; " 
 
 And all said, "We agree so." 
 
 Five minutes, and not more than ten, 
 
 Are granted us for reading ; 
 Two farthings we shall forfeit when 
 
 We fail or are exceeding. 
 
 This is the law, I certify ; 
 
 So don't complain, or alter : 
 I shall not be surprised if I 
 
 Should be the first defaulter. 
 
 Mamma's was the next venture in competition. Her 
 lines present too true a photograph of houses as in many 
 Circuits Ministers' wives find them. The verses have a 
 cheerful ring about them. Though brought up in 
 affluence, through all her itinerancy Mrs. Collins never 
 shrunk from hardship ; never worried her husband with 
 murmurings. Her children were cultured to refinement, 
 but taught to hate fastidiousness. Without indebted- 
 ness to Epictetus, she concurred with him that " happi- 
 ness lies in ourselves, not in our circumstances." Give 
 her her family, and she had felicity quite independent of 
 the town, or street, she lived in ; or of the chattels by 
 which she was surrounded. That excellent definition of 
 faults, "Things to be mended," commanded her assent, 
 and she applied it alike whether to defects of character 
 or of accommodation.
 
 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD. 333 
 
 Where'er the Conference marks our lot, 
 Should it be more or less remote, 
 I'll always think upon that spot 
 
 As home. 
 
 Though weeds may grow where flowers should bloom, 
 And paint be needed for the room, 
 Fear not, when we the rule assume 
 
 Of home. 
 
 We soon will trace the garden rim, 
 And plant it out with flowers prim, 
 And all the premises make trim, 
 
 Like home. 
 
 Then, if cracked teacups, limping chair, 
 Tables three-legg'd, and jugs be there 
 Unhandled ; neither fret nor care, 
 
 It's home. 
 
 Though saucers few be in beaufet, 
 And fewer cups and spoons are set, 
 Still will we try our tea to get 
 
 At home. 
 
 And when, officially, we're told, 
 Circumstances cannot be controll'd, 
 Or make beds new, that now are old, 
 
 'Tis home. 
 
 Home gives music to twelve other verses, in which 
 Mamma turns prophet, but foresees no cloud. 
 
 The next contribution was by Emily. It was called 
 " Memory's Dream." Without printing it, I may, as 
 she also is now beyond earshot of praise, say that it 
 was a beautiful reflex of her tender, gentle spirit. 
 
 The family that could furnish such literary homespun 
 as was presented week by week at this happy Sympo- 
 sium, must be of more than common culture and power. 
 Of the remnant papers I will reproduce just one from 
 Mr. Collins's own pen : 
 
 Not all at once creation rose, 
 
 Its Author to make known ; 
 Six days to work that Wisdom chose, 
 
 Which might have chosen one. 
 Whence He would have us understand, 
 
 For He has made it clear, 
 That when we take good work in hand, 
 
 We ought to persevere.
 
 334 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Not all at once the king of light 
 
 Assumes his southern throne, 
 Evoking from the depths of night 
 
 An instantaneous noon. 
 In gradual might he brings the day 
 
 Upon our hemisphere ; 
 And shows, by his increasing ray, 
 
 How we should persevere. 
 
 Not all at once the forest oak 
 
 Becomes a mighty tree ; 
 Not all at once the coral rock 
 
 Emerges from the sea ; 
 Not all at once the ripen'd corn 
 
 Fills up the golden ear ; 
 But each production, in its turn, 
 
 Tells us to persevere. 
 
 A hammer's strokes one day I heard; 
 
 So, first they seem'd to me ; 
 But, looking up, a little bird 
 
 Perch'd in a filbert tree. 
 'T was God that little bird had brought 
 
 To find provision there ; 
 And by its motions I was taught 
 
 How we should persevere. 
 
 Not all at once the filbert's shell 
 
 Would yield its kernel's store, 
 But Tomtit plied his weapon well, 
 
 And strokes were added more, 
 Till on the mark the final stroke 
 
 Brought him delicious cheer ; 
 And his achievement plainly spoke, 
 
 Be sure you persevere. 
 
 Hid, as the kernel in the shell, 
 
 The wealth of wisdom lies : 
 Not every student will prevail 
 
 To win the precious prize. 
 Who will ? The meaner creatures show 
 
 By instinct they declare ; 
 "Tis not the swift, 'tis not the slow, 
 
 'Tis they who i - ersevere." 
 
 The best and greatest of the earth 
 
 Began, at first, as we ; 
 Who gain'd, by their transcendent worth, 
 
 Bright immortality. 
 Not all at once, but steady pace 
 
 They held, and hoped as we, and fear'd 
 And only gained the arduous race 
 
 Because they persevered.
 
 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD. 335 
 
 But Heaven holds out a nobler goal 
 
 Than honourable fame ; 
 As the salvation of the soul 
 
 Is better than a name. 
 And He who spoke for God below 
 
 Proposed the seed, the corn, the leaven, 
 That sure, progressive course to show 
 
 By which we rise to heaven. 
 
 The friends of the Circuit found it easy of belief that 
 Providence had directed Mr. Collins to his location 
 among them. Agitated and poor, they had been com- 
 pelled to give up one of their Ministers. To make 
 things worse, the Superintendent, soon after Con- 
 ference, was laid aside by a railway accident, and his 
 colleague, also, by an attack of small-pox. Mr. Collins 
 found free space to use returning strength as fast as it 
 came. He writes : " My ordinary occupations are, a 
 class in the Sunday school on Lord's day mornings, a 
 sermon on Sunday evening, preaching once in the week, 
 a Society class and three Tract Districts." 
 
 These tract distributions involved Mr. Collins in con- 
 troversy with a clergyman of the neighbourhood, who, 
 following in his wake, gathered and sent back the little 
 books with the following message : 
 
 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, December gift. 1851. 
 SIR, 
 
 I beg to return three Dissenting tracts left by you in the houses 
 of certain Church persons living in Queen Street. 
 
 The " divisions and offences," caused by Dissent, are a grievous 
 hindrance to the ignorant in their search after truth. 
 
 That the poor, already too much perplexed by seeing around 
 them, what they call " so many religions," should have such publi- 
 cations thrust upon them, containing teaching contrary to that of 
 their own spiritual pastors, is worse than useless. 
 
 I am Sir, 
 
 Your faithful Servant, 
 
 CHARLES LIFFORO. 
 
 Of the " publications " so stigmatised, the first was a 
 warning against intemperance ; the second, an exhorta- 
 tion to immediate religious decision ; the third had for 
 its theme, " Salvation by Christ." If to teach such 
 things really did contradict " their spiritual pastors," the 
 more earnestly that were done, the better.
 
 336 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Terrible responsibility comes upon any man who 
 claims, within the eight or ten square miles of a parish, 
 to be the only one having right to speak unto men of 
 their souls ; the only one at liberty to tell them of the 
 Son of God their Saviour. If " living epistles, epistles 
 of Christ," will commend a Minister, Mr. Collins could 
 have produced enough to have authenticated a whole 
 bench of Bishops. But a commission, sealed and veri- 
 fied by thje Divine Head of the Church Himself, was 
 nothing to this Curate, unless a Prelate indorsed it. 
 
 With the rejected tracts a Puseyite pamphlet also 
 came, thus labelled; "Mr. Lifford hopes that Mr. Collins 
 will give the enclosed ' Country Curate's Protest ' a 
 little patient consideration." So invited, Mr. Collins 
 employed his leisure, not only in considering, but in 
 confuting it. 
 
 The author of the " Protest " appears to have been 
 sorely tried by the necessity of being courteous to a 
 Methodist Preacher. For the guidance of others, he 
 chronicles, at the expense of a page, both his struggle 
 and his victory. " Several modes of address," he says, 
 " successively occurred to me, and were successively 
 dismissed. At last, it struck me that I should be extri- 
 cated by just using the ordinary appellation common 
 among us." How graphic ! Irresistibly we are drawn 
 alongside the desk of this troubled clerk, and behold 
 him severing the knots of this huge difficulty : " What 
 shall I call this fellow ? ' Reverend ? ' Impossible. 
 ' Esteemed or Respected Friend ? ' Revolting. ' My 
 dear Sir ? Too complimentary. I have it ! ' Sir, 
 simply ' Sir. 1 Ay, that will do ! So addressing him, I 
 escape being uncivil, and leave altogether reserved the 
 point whether he be good Sir, or bad Sir." This won- 
 derful achievement of charity accomplished, the author 
 becomes so delighted, that, though personally concerned, 
 he cannot withhold praise felt to be due to himself, for 
 the self-denial which had avoided sarcastic language, of 
 which precedent might have been found in the Bible ; for 
 following the meek and holy example of the Master; and 
 for obeying Paul's admonition against wrath and evil- 
 speaking. Were virtues scarce in him, that the man 
 made such an ado about the use of a formula that a de-
 
 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD. 337 
 
 cent plough-boy would have taught him ? Had the 
 meditative Curate pondered the great Example longer, 
 perhaps, beyond the poor lesson of civility, he also might 
 have learned not to " protest " at all against the effort of 
 others to do good. " John answered, saying, Master, we 
 saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and he followeth 
 not us : and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. 
 But Jesus said, Forbid him not." 
 
 Mr. Collins's tract proved to be popular, and went 
 through several editions ; it was scriptural and well 
 argued ; but the foeman was not worthy of his steel. 
 A case of rural logic, cited with gusto, and pronounced 
 to be crushing and irrefutable, reveals the blinking dim- 
 ness of the narrow cleric's intellect : " One of your 
 head men advised a poor man to take his wife to the 
 meeting house to return thanks to Almighty God for 
 safe deliverance in childbirth, advice which was silenced 
 at once by the unanswerable question, ' How can my 
 wife be churched at meeting ? ' ' If Her Majesty have 
 many unfortunate lieges On whom an argument like that 
 would press with a feather's weight, the sooner Her 
 Commissioners for Education enlarge their stroke of 
 business the better. 
 
 Besides service rendered at home, letters show that 
 with his first rallying strength Mr. Collins re-commenced 
 labours of outgoing : 
 
 " April I4th. After preaching at Tipton, memory of 
 my late beloved colleague, Thomas Hudson, made it 
 pleasant to me to see his brother. It might have been 
 the man himself, so like is he, spectacles and all. 
 
 " April 23rd. At Leamington. I remember when this 
 town was only just rising ; now, it has twenty thousand 
 inhabitants. Cleanness, stillness, romantic beauty, trees 
 and houses intermingled, make the place lovely. But 
 the gentle, courteous ways of the people endear it more. 
 
 " May aoth. At the District Meeting we have had 
 four candidates. One, J. B., much interested me. A 
 wealthy uncle bore the charge of his education, and 
 wished to introduce him into a lucrative business ; but 
 the youth told him, ' I must preach.' ' Well, it won't 
 pay ; but, have your way, I'll send you to Oxford, and 
 make a Parson of you. 1 ' No. By Methodism I have 
 
 z
 
 333 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 been saved, and for Methodism I must work.' ' Tut, tut r 
 the boy's mad ! I will spend no more on such a crack- 
 brain.' 
 
 " In the meeting Mr. Jackson spoke kindly of my reply 
 to the Curate. A committee of fathers will meet to 
 advise with me in regard of taking a Circuit at the Con- 
 ference : privately, Mr. Mason counsels me to have 
 another year of quiet." 
 
 I doubt not the wisdom of that advice. Mr. Collins's 
 power had so diminished that a new thing in his expe- 
 rience slumberers could repose under his pulpit. He 
 notes, 
 
 "June I5th. The day was so wet that we had but 
 fifteen at the afternoon service. I was freed from care 
 concerning the collection, by observing that the chief 
 trustee had so little anxiety that he slept contentedly 
 well-nigh through the sermon." 
 
 During that time of physical weakness there was less 
 of animation, and a voice much diminished in volume 
 from its former wont. The Stewards of Leeds Third, 
 and of Nottingham North, sought, during this year, to 
 engage Mr. Collins to them ; but both alike, on hearing 
 him, suggested doubts whether in their large chapels he 
 would be audible to the congregation. He was not 
 himself so conscious of this temporary difference of 
 vocal force as others were. Boanerges could scarcely 
 believe himself a whisperer. 
 
 In July, he took one of his much-loved southern 
 evangelistic tours. He had good success in soul-win- 
 ning at St. Leonard's, Mayfield, Ticehurst, Goudhurst, 
 and Knockholt. He writes : " Knelstone Farm, the 
 new home of the Austens, is larger and better than their 
 former one. Yesterday morning, I heard one of my own 
 children preach. He and his brothers were excavators : 
 rough creatures, it was no easy task attacking them : I 
 did, however, and the Lord gave them to me. This one 
 has become quite gentle and polished in his way : he 
 preached very well. I am writing this in the garden. 
 Before me is a beautiful scene. I can see many vessels 
 passing the port of Rye. I can see Icklesham church 
 and mill, and Dr. Fearon's church on Fairlight Down ; 
 still further, the view stretches to the heaths and hills of
 
 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD. 339 
 
 Sussex. Between me and Fairlight there is the Marsh, 
 a large rich level, eight or ten miles, over which the sea 
 once rolled, but where thousands of sheep and many 
 herds of kine feed now. The line of railway crosses the 
 Marsh, and a sluice drains it, down which a barge in full 
 sail is just passing. The slopes trending towards the 
 Marsh are covered with hop-gardens, of which the deep 
 green is very beautiful to look upon. This is a glorious 
 country ; hill and dale, wood and water, field and sea, 
 mixture yet agreement, blend in the lovely whole that 
 lies before me." 
 
 On his return, Mr. Collins preached in London as a 
 supply for Ministers gone to Conference, both at Great 
 Queen Street, and at City Road. 
 
 A letter, dated July ijth, 1852, says : " I have sent 
 word to the Stationing Committee, that if there be any 
 place in which regard for the public good makes it de- 
 sirable to keep up the number of Ministers, although by 
 reason of agitation funds run short, if only there be a 
 suitable house, I am willing to go upon diminished 
 stipend. I have further said, that though I now think 
 myself able to take an easy Circuit, yet if, through the 
 defections of these troublous times, they have difficulty 
 in finding stations for all the brethren, I waive all claim 
 to an appointment, and will contentedly remain as I am 
 another year." The generosity of this offer will be ap- 
 parent, when we add that, declining all aid from our 
 funds, Mr. Collins, as a Supernumerary, was living en- 
 tirely at his own charge. The issue was, that further 
 rest was granted. Mr. Collins writes : " Not being 
 appointed, I, with my family, took a little excursion to 
 Clapham, to Brighton, and to Lewes. On our return to 
 Hemel Hempstead, I applied myself to my usual occupa- 
 tions, preaching more frequently, and taking also a 
 second class, left vacant by the emigration of its leader." 
 
 The following notice of a book, in a letter to a friend, 
 shows how he kept up his habit of critical and observant 
 reading : " Have you seen Isaac Taylor's ' Wesley and 
 Methodism ? ' The philosopher is out of his track. In 
 the way of being or doing good, he has nothing to teach 
 which Wesleyans did not know long before. Some of 
 the things which we prize, e.g., class-meetings, he 
 
 z 2
 
 340 CHAPTER xir. 
 
 dislikes ; and in his' opposition, very likely unintention- 
 ally, but certainly grossly, and, as Methodists well know, 
 absurdly, misrepresents. The book is thin : its know- 
 ledge of the early Methodists is about what might be 
 expected from a hasty reading up. To those who 
 through life have been conversant with them, his esti- 
 mates cannot but appear manifest blundering. He 
 places Charles Wesley before John. Courteous phrases 
 cannot veil his little regard for the writings of Wesley, 
 and his real contempt for those of Fletcher. Lady 
 Huntingdon and George Whitefield, though assuredly 
 narrower alike in intellect and influence, rate with him 
 as the great leaders of the eighteenth century movement. 
 The book will add not much to its author's fame, and 
 nothing to our instruction. If you have not bought it, 
 save your money." 
 
 In October, after preaching for Missions at Ampthill, 
 Mr. Collins says : " On Monday, I went a pilgrimage 
 to Elstow, to see the birthplace of Bunyan. The house 
 has been rebuilt. We entered the cottage that occupies 
 the site : it is small, having but one lower and one 
 upper room, with a pantry under the stairs. A strong 
 old beam is the only remnant of the original cot. In 
 consideration of a gratuity, we were permitted to take 
 some small splinters for my relic-loving friends. While 
 my companion got them, I said to the woman, ' That 
 timber is from an ancient tree ; but I know of an older, 
 it is called the tree of life.' ' Indeed,' she replied, ' I 
 never heard of such a tree.' ' Never heard of it ? ' I said. 
 ' A well-known book tells of it : the first part of which 
 was written by a man whose name was Moses ; one 
 David also added another part. Do you know that 
 book ? ' ' Well, I'm no scholard, Sir. I can't read, so 
 I don't know anything about books.' This ignorance of 
 the Bible, and, of all places on earth, in John Bunyan's 
 cottage, astonished me. On leaving, in the street we 
 met a grey-haired man ; wishing, if I might, to gather 
 up any floating, local traditions, I accosted him. ' Old 
 friend,' said 1, ' we have come ;i loni; way this morning 
 to H>k at the birthplace of one John Dunyan, who was 
 born in these parts. Do you know anything about 
 him ? ' ' What was he, Sir ? ' < Well, they tell me that
 
 HEME*, HEMPSTEAD. 34! 
 
 he was a great preacher.' ' A preacher ! I knows 
 nothing about such as them. I goes to church.' Think- 
 ing I might speak with the man of Jesus, though I had 
 failed concerning John, I asked, ' Do you know the 
 Head of the Church ? ' ' The Head of the Church,' he 
 repeated inquiringly, ' the Head of the Church ? it must 
 be old Whitbread, sure enough.' ' What ? a brewer the 
 head of the Church ? ' ' Must be him, Sir ; he owns all 
 the parish ! ' Passing on, I tried another venerable- 
 looking villager. ' Do you know anything of John 
 Bunyan ? ' ' I've heard of him.' ' What have you 
 heard ? ' ' Well, they tell me that he was oft in jail.' 
 ' Oft in jail ? Why, how was that ? Did he poach the 
 quality's game ? or did he knock people on the head in 
 the highway ? or what ? ' ' Well, Sir, I can't say : but 
 they do say he was oft in jail. ' ' 
 
 A Bunyan school speedily set up at Elstow would be 
 at once a fair memorial of the man, and, unless Mr. 
 Collins's specimens of the peasantry were specially un- 
 fortunate, a very necessary boon for the village. 
 
 Hemel Hempstead leisure, so happily filled with home 
 enjoyments, pleasant excursions, and easy labours of good, 
 ended with the current year. A ministerial resignation 
 in the Bradford East Circuit, which, if not judiciously 
 met, might have issued in disastrous consequences, led 
 the President to write and urge Mr. Collins to proceed 
 thither forthwith, and supply the unexpected and peri- 
 lous lack. So requested, Mr. Collins, with his usual 
 self-denial for the Lord's sake, without question and 
 without delay, leaving his family, set forth and arrived 
 there safely, though late, on Friday, January 7th, 1853.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BRADFORD. 
 
 VERY characteristically Mr. Collins commenced work 
 in Bradford by a sermon upon God's command to 
 Abraham, Gen. xvii. i : "Walk before Me, and be thou 
 perfect." He says : " The largeness of Eastbrook 
 affected me at first, but as I proceeded my soul felt 
 liberty." He got into full swing of Circuit work at 
 once. The record of the first week mentions a profit- 
 able meeting with Prayer-leaders ; comfort received in 
 comfort given to a poor widow ; pleasant intercourse 
 with a lively little society at' Calverley; Psalm Ixxxi. 
 expounded to a congregation of six at Prospect Place, 
 one of whom, as she listened, entered into full salvation; 
 preaching at Parsley, where the service had to be con- 
 ducted in a loft, because dissidents had locked the 
 Wesleyans out of their own chapel ; late hour invita- 
 tions declined ; and Yorkshire hospitality discerned to 
 be a perilsome kindness. 
 
 On Tuesday, January i8th, 1853, on returning to 
 Hemel Hempstead for his family, he found his children 
 both unwell : influenza had prostrated them. After 
 protracting his stay until Wednesday a6th, as they still 
 continued too feeble to permit of removal, sorrowfully he 
 returned again to his new labour alone. 
 
 A letter, dated Friday, 28th, after telling of safe arrival 
 and of weary labours of book-fixing, says : " There is 
 zeal for Missions here. The collectors would have no 
 subscriptions lost : three already have applied for mine. 
 Several Ministers have called upon me. Brother Felvus 
 spoke very fraternally. He strengthened my heart by 
 narration of a great work done here some years ago, and 
 encouraged me to strike at once in the name of the 
 Lord. In the order of special services, now being held,
 
 BRADFORD. 343 
 
 Mr. Carr preached last night, with good influence. In 
 the prayer-meeting a very simple-minded person in 
 from the country came to the Communion rail. I 
 asked, ' Are you convinced that you are a sinner ? ' ' O 
 yes.' 'Are you sorry for your sins?' 'Very.' Will you 
 forsake them all ?' 'I should like.' 'The decision must 
 lie with you: will you?' 'Yes.' 'When?' 'When God 
 pleases.' 'My friend, God says now.' 'Very well, then 
 I say now.' ' Who by his own death redeemed such 
 poor sinners as you ? ' ' Christ.' ' Do you love Him 
 for doing so?' 'Indeed I do.' 'Tell Hjm so, then.' At 
 the word, the teachable old creature cried aloud : ' I 
 love Thee, O Christ; for Thou diedst for me.' In such 
 correspondence we continued, until we both, and all 
 around us, were gloriously happy together." 
 
 On Saturday, January agth, depressing tidings reached 
 Mr. Collins. His journal says : ' The account of Maria 
 is most distressing. Her sickness shows itself now 
 unmistakeably as typhus fever. The doctor considers 
 her in danger. Over the letter bearing to me such sad 
 news, I shed many tears : it seemed to open the grave 
 before me again. In the afternoon it fell to my lot to 
 inter a child. The service so affected me that it was 
 with difficulty that I could get through. I drew near 
 to the bereaved mother, and grasped her hand, but 
 my heart was so full that I dared not trust myself to 
 speak." 
 
 A letter to Mrs. Collins, written the same day, 
 wisely leaves this paternal feeling untold. It says : 
 " While we accept the perfect will of God, it is our 
 duty to use all means for the child. Mention the Saviour 
 to her as often as you can. I have pledged some good 
 people here to remember us in their secret petitions. 
 If the next communications bring no word of improve- 
 ment, I shall think nothing of the journey, but hasten to 
 you at once. 
 
 " P.S. Last night I preached on Jacob's princely 
 name (Gen. xxii. 27, 28.). The Spirit descended .Many 
 became Israels in prayer. Seekers came round in crowds. 
 While some were saved, others entered into perfect 
 love ; and, so far as from this morning's visitation I can 
 see, the glory abides, and all faces shine."
 
 344 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Another letter, dated February 2nd, carries on the 
 narrative : " Blessed be God ! Your comforting packet 
 has turned my sorrow into joy. On Sunday last, it 
 being my duty to prepare for the Lord's work, I claimed 
 merciful aid. I told my Master how much I wished to 
 do something for Him, but that in order to do it I needed 
 a free and quiet mind. While, to do His will, I sought 
 the good of His children in the church, I ventured to 
 cast upon Him the care of my child at home. In these 
 exercises of faith my mind grew calm. On Lord's day 
 morning, in the public prayer, I brought up the affliction 
 of my family. God's people joined earnestly in the 
 intercession ; and it rejoices me to learn that it 
 was in that very hour that the marked change for 
 the better had its commencement. That fact shall ever 
 be remembered among the special mercies of my Father 
 God.- 
 
 " I was enabled to throw myself thoroughly into the 
 special services. God was nigh me all day. At night 
 many were gathered in. The numerators vary; some 
 say twenty ; some forty. It matters not, the Lord 
 knows. He makes my poor rusty key fit and turn in 
 the Bradford lock better than I might have expected. 
 Annette was over with me. It pleased me to see her as 
 busy among penitents as she used to be, in happy old 
 days, in Sussex and Kent. 
 
 " Dear Em, our affliction is a preparation. Just before 
 Jericho fell, the Lord said to Joshua, ' Make thee sharp 
 knives, and circumcise Israel again the second time.' 
 (Joshua v. 2.) What a time of pain and humiliation was 
 that ! but it prepared them for great victories. That 
 lesson is for us. When the Lord hath made us toward 
 and docile in His hands, then will He use us, for we 
 shall be fit for His use. 
 
 " I never needed to say to you, Care for my children ; 
 but, pray care for yourself. Do not overdo. May the 
 good Lord raise up the children, build us all up, and in 
 His own good time, bring us together !" 
 
 Journal notes will best show Mr. Collins's course in 
 his new sphere : 
 
 " Tuesday, February 8th. Attending a meeting at 
 Kirkgate, I was much touched by the few words of the
 
 BRADFORD. 345 
 
 Rev. Henry Fish. Referring to that loss of voice which 
 has for a long time, withheld him from the work he 
 loves, he said with a great effort, which after all, attained 
 but to a whisper : ' I have sweet music in me, but I 
 have no instrument. My heart burns, but my tongue 
 fails. Though laid aside, yet not forsaken. I am a 
 happy man, and I shall be happy for ever ! ' 
 
 " Wednesday, gth. I conducted a special service at 
 Idle. The Lord was with us. Some took hold of full 
 salvation, among them the young Preacher. Returning 
 home, I learned how exceedingly beautiful Bradford 
 looks at night from the hill sides, when the lights of all 
 its mills are gleaming. 
 
 " Thursday, loth. The man who drove me to Calver- 
 ley told me how some years ago, being stimulated by 
 reading the Life of Hester Ann Rogers, he sought and 
 believed himself to have found the blessing of perfect 
 love. On making confession, in his class, of God's gift 
 unto him, the Leader, without one word of either counsel 
 or congratulation, passed him over with the remark, half 
 sarcastically given : ' You are altogether beyond me. 
 Justification I understand. Concerning such things as 
 you now now speak of I know nothing.' Discouraged by 
 such cool treatment, his faith faltered, and, in short 
 space, his experience sank back to its former level. I 
 explained to him how Jesus is ' unto us sanctification.' 
 He received the Word, and with it glorious bliss, as we 
 rode along. After preaching, I detained the Society, 
 and narrated to them such fresh triumphs of grace as I 
 had witnessed in our recent services. I called upon the 
 people to rejoice with me for these, and also for the 
 restoration of my children." 
 
 " Tuesday, I5th. I went over to my father in Leeds. 
 My arrival was opportune. Gracious Providence often 
 shines in little things. Barney was in trouble. That 
 morning, only just as he was about to set off to his 
 ordination, he discovered, to his dismay, that 4. iys. 6d. 
 would be required as fees by sundry official persons. 
 He knew not where to get the money. A five pound 
 note from my purse brightened his spirits, and sent the 
 poor lad, free from care to face his Bishop." 
 
 " Thursday, i7th. I went to tea with Mrs. K. At
 
 346 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 my coming she went away to change her dress, and 
 returned much finer, with a cap noticeably grand with 
 artificial flowers. Believing the metamorphosis intended 
 to be a mark of respect to me, it seemed right that I 
 should prevent such unnecessary trouble for the future, 
 by expressing to her my views of the duty and wisdom 
 of plain attire. Disputatiousness is in these days so rife, 
 and church members so incline to debate with their 
 teachers and to blame their brethren, that, for a season, 
 prudent Pastors think it wise to administer as little 
 rebuke and as much encouragement as they conscien- 
 tiously can. Speaking strong words on the subject of 
 dress to unprepared people the first time you meet them, 
 like ' putting new cloth on an old garment,' is more 
 likely to rend their tempers than to mend their ways. 
 My censure, though apparently abrupt, was not thought- 
 lessly given; not given until I had reason to think that 
 the good woman could bear, and also that she might 
 profit by my testimony. She, as I hoped, took it 
 meekly ; stated that for years she had refused adorn- 
 ments; that, though borne away by prevalent custom, 
 she still believed self-denial in regard of such things to 
 be the more excellent way ; and promised prayerful con- 
 sideration of what I had said." 
 
 " Thursday, 24th. Three men came begging for the 
 widows and orphans of poor sufferers killed at Little 
 Dale Colliery last week. While I was seeking a little 
 cash to give them, who, to my surprise, should walk in 
 but mother and Barney ? They had indeed written ; but 
 the undated letter, which preceded their appearance 
 about an hour, only said, ' We shall come to-morrow.' 
 That the writer's ' to-morrow' would be the reader's ' to- 
 day ' had not occurred to me. With such brief notice, 
 and the larder in after-dinner condition, my inexpert 
 auxiliar had no small difficulty in presenting things 
 shapely, or with such a look of hospitality as I desired. 
 However, luckily, the guests knew my love, and seemed 
 to partake of the remnants with relish." 
 
 " Sunday, zjth. Meeting a young man, I asked, 
 ' Have you been to church or to chapel ?' He replied, 
 ' Neither. My Sabbath is over. I am an Israelite.' 
 ' I love Abraham and his children,' I replied. ' Much
 
 BRADFORD. 347 
 
 obliged to you, Sir, for your kind words,' he said. He 
 then proceeded to tell me how the Talmud affirmed 
 Abraham to have been tried ten times, and to have been 
 faithful in all. I answered, ' I do not know much of the 
 Talmud, but I love the Torah, (the Law ;) it is very 
 precious to me.' I observed to him that many of his 
 brethren were beginning to acknowledge Jesus as the 
 Messiah. ' For interest,' he replied. In further talk he 
 mentioned Austria and Russia. I asked, ' Are not your 
 people persecuted there ?' He said, ' They were.' 
 I asked, ' Are they here ?' He answered, ' No. Eng- 
 land is the freest country in the world.' I asked, ' Are 
 the Scriptures largely circulated in Austria or Russia ?' 
 He said, ' They are not.' ' Mark,' I said, ' the chief 
 lovers of the Scriptures are the chief friends of your 
 nation.' He quickly retorted, ' But if you Christians 
 believed as we do, you would be better friends still.' I 
 urged him to note the fact that from the time the 
 Hebrew people had fully rejected Him whom we believed 
 to be their long-promised Messiah, Providence had 
 seemed to reject them ; their daily sacrifice had ceased ; 
 their holy temple had been destroyed ; their genealogies 
 were lost ; and their nation in exile and scattered to the 
 four winds. ' All this,' said he, ' is for our sins. Our 
 fathers neglected the Sabbatic years; held men in bond- 
 age despite the return of jubilee ; they robbed, and 
 killed, and did evil.' I replied, ' Weigh well, whether, 
 after all, these long-lasting troubles have not come 
 because they killed Him who is greater than all.' I was 
 much interested in the conversation. One of his say- 
 ings, showing wide departure from ancient Hebrew 
 faith, grieved me. ' Messiah, whensoever He may 
 come, will not be God, as you Christians affirm Jesus to 
 be, but a man like unto Moses.' '' 
 
 " Tuesday, March ist. Barney has gone to his 
 curacy. Mother and I get on cosily. Nobody is with 
 us except the charwoman, who reigns in the kitchen. 
 She tells mother she knows that she is clumsy, and 
 wonders at my patience. Conscious of defect, she 
 strives after improvement, and gets better every day. 
 I have indeed lectured her gently on such trifles as going 
 to bed, and leaving all the windows and doors unfastened.
 
 348 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Nay, this morning I even plucked up courage to suggest 
 that by a sweep, at least once a week, the back yard 
 might be made to look all the better." 
 
 In a letter to his children, dated March nth, 1853, 
 Mr. Collins says : " I rejoice at the thought of soon 
 having you with me again. There will be work for us 
 all in Bradford. You must no longer hang on me, but 
 help in matters of faith and prayer. O that I might see 
 the full renewal of every member here ! For yourselves 
 reach out in faith : you know the way. Hold fast the 
 promise of the Spirit. The earnest you possess ; the 
 fulness is pledged to you. The Lord says to each of 
 you, ' I am thy God.' Bring your minds to that Divine 
 assertion. Accept it. Say, 'O Lord, my heart responds 
 to what Thou informest me. I believe that Thou art 
 mine ; mine by donation ; mine by most cordial, 
 delighted, continuous reception.' " 
 
 On Tuesday, March i5th, Mr. Collins went to Hemel 
 Hempstead to fetch his family. Maria was well 
 recovered, but Jane Vivian, the servant maiden, though 
 free from fever, was extremely feeble. It had been 
 planned that all on the Saturday ensuing should start for 
 Bradford. Jane did not fear the journey; the medical 
 man thought hopefully of her readiness ; all who had 
 seen her through the course of her affliction pronounced 
 her to he satisfactorily amending ; yet, on his arrival, 
 her altered look and manifest prostration of strength 
 awoke in Mr. Collins grave doubts of the propriety of so 
 early a removal. On Wednesday she was able to leave 
 her room, and appeared cheerful when at various times 
 during the day her master went and conversed with her 
 as she reclined on the couch. Early in the evening, 
 wishing to retire, she set forth to her chamber, leaning 
 upon Catharine, her fellow servant. When about half 
 way up the stairs, she fainted. At the alarm the surgeon 
 was sent for : but ere he could reach, though he was not 
 long, life was extinct. 
 
 Mr. Collins says, "Death scarce left an imprint. She 
 slept in Jesus. Looking on her placid face, a feeling, 
 more than once experienced in presence of blessed 
 dead, came over me, well expressed in that much con- 
 troverted hymn commencing,
 
 BRADFORD. 349 
 
 Ah, lovely appearance of death ! 
 What sight upon earth is so fair ! " 
 
 Jane was a Camborne convert. She walked humbly 
 with God, and continued faithful to the end. Home 
 letters sent during her affliction attested her final trust in 
 the Saviour, conscious preparedness for death, and good 
 hope through grace. As her friends were remote, Mr. 
 Collins saw her remains borne with due respect to the 
 grave, whither, as a sincere mourner, he followed them. 
 
 The family left Hemel Hempstead on Wednesday, 
 March 23rd ; and arrived safely at their new home in 
 time to hear Dr. Newton preach in Eastbrook chapel on 
 " Glorying in the Cross." Mr. Collins observes, " I 
 had heard the sermon years before, in Scotland, but it 
 touched me as at the first." This notice is very charac- 
 teristic of Dr. Newton. Some, who every week could 
 command days of quiet in the study, have spoken de- 
 spisingly of that great man. They have said, " He drove 
 a large trade with a small capital." In reply, I first 
 thank God that it was a large trade, which is more than 
 can be said of the deeds of the pedlers who have traduced 
 it ; then, further, I say that, during those years in which 
 Providence gave him opportunity for labours of compo- 
 sition, he produced more and better* than his critics ; 
 and I add, that when, under altered circumstances, 
 calls of duty kept him constantly on the wing, when 
 toils and travel, that would have broken ordinary 
 strength, left him no possibility of fabricating novelties, 
 then the value of unmatched God-given compensations 
 appeared. The majesty of his presence, the volume and 
 music of his voice, the naturalness of his manner, the 
 heartiness of his tone, the unrivalled power of adaptation, 
 caused that nothing he had ever made grew stale. Few 
 of his detractors ever delivered a sermon that seemed to 
 its auditors as fresh the first time as Dr. Newton's did 
 the fiftieth. The growths of his youth kept the dew on 
 them to the end. His flowers never lost their perfume, 
 nor his fruit its bloom. The same sermon, as given by 
 him, has riveted a Conference, thrilled an American 
 Congress, blessed many a city gathering, and many a 
 rural congregation ; while, in each case, it came home to
 
 350 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 the listeners with all the freshness of newborn thought, 
 and all the fitness of a discourse composed for the 
 occasion. 
 
 After a Communion service at Eastbrook Mr. Collins 
 writes : " I do not remember, ever before in all my 
 life, administering to so large a number. I cannot 
 hurry in religious services : any appearance of doing so 
 is distasteful to me. The service, though I had assist- 
 ance, occupied two hours. 
 
 " Sunday, May ist. At Calverley. The day was 
 warm ; the walk, six miles. I was very happy in my 
 work; but very weary at night. No conversions were 
 known to us. Once, I should have been miserable with- 
 out visible fruit. I strive as faithfully as ever for it ; 
 but, in troublous times, and in stony fields, the Lord 
 has taught me that hardness of men must not abate my 
 gladness in Him. In Him I will rejoice, even ' though 
 the fig-tree shall not blossom.' 
 
 " Thursday, May 5th. Necessary calls upon sixty 
 families to solicit accommodation for Ministers at the 
 ensuing Conference, I have found to be a means of grace. 
 All influence I win in the people's homes I purpose to 
 use for the Lord's glory and the people's good." 
 
 On Monday, May i6th, a terrible fire consumed Wood 
 and Walker's mill. The next morning, while many 
 workpeople were within the charred walls, seeking to 
 secure any property the flames had spared, huge masses 
 of masonry came crashing down. Four were killed, 
 and several were wounded. Among the slain was Mr. 
 Jennings, a Leader and an excellent man. Mr. Collins 
 says, " His joyous, eager countenance, as he sat the 
 night before under the Word, had been noticed by many. 
 His widow is a pattern of resignation. To every 
 wounded man, and to every bereaved family, I have felt 
 it my privilege to become a bearer of consolation." 
 
 " Tuesday, May iyth. Our District Meeting began at 
 Keighley. It was the first ever held in that town. Our 
 Chairman having resigned, the President, the Rev. John 
 Scott, came down from London, opened the meeting, 
 and then desired the brethren to select one from among 
 themselves as their Chairman. The choice fell upon Mr. 
 Stinson. I felt my heart full of gratitude for a place
 
 BRADFORD. 351 
 
 again in the active service; yet without the cares of 
 superintendency, which, at present, I fear that I could 
 not bear. 
 
 " Friday, May 2yth. I spent some time, happily, 
 with Mr. Brice, in his study, in prayer. 
 
 "June ist. Extension Fund Meeting at Leeds. Dr. 
 Bunting presided. How quick of fence, and vigorous 
 in the conduct of affairs, he yet continues ! At two 
 o'clock in the afternoon, the younger men seemed more 
 hungry than eloquent. The Doctor remarked, ' You 
 faint too soon. It is too early yet to confess that we 
 " our bodies feel." ' However, the hungry party carried 
 it, and adjourned to dinner. Some one spoke slightingly 
 of the London meeting. With ready pleasantry he 
 lifted that matter out of the way by replying, ' We 
 certainly had not all the sense of the Connexion there ; 
 no, nor all the nonsense either.' The gathering never 
 rose to the fine Centenary fervour ; nor did it seem to me 
 that the wealthy gave very heavily. Still, the total sum, 
 over 9,000, was a fair result. Mr. Farmer, as his wont 
 is, did nobly. He had given "1,000 at the Metropolitan 
 Meeting ; but said, ' As, by residence at Arthington, I 
 have become a Yorkshireman, to identify myself with 
 you as one, I will give another 1,000 here.' 
 
 " Sunday, June 5th. I preached in Eastbrook to one 
 thousand five hundred children, on Samson's first en- 
 counter. The children behaved well ; and their singing 
 moved me to tears. 
 
 " Tuesday, June 28th. I preached this day in a cellar 
 occupied by Widow Womersly. My text was, ' Yea, 
 come.' It was a great pleasure to tell of Christ to a few 
 poor people in such a lowly place. One advantage of 
 this Circuit, over any that ever fell to my lot before, is 
 the leisure afforded for visitation, and the frequent oppor- 
 tunity for such services. 
 
 "July 4th. We met in Eastbrook to distribute such 
 copies of the Holy Scripture as had been purchased by 
 weekly pence of the scholars. Not less than seven hun- 
 dred had been so bought. Suitable addresses were given. 
 The meeting was both pleasant and profitable." 
 
 About this time Mr. Collins was somewhat singularly 
 called to aid and visit William Short, Irish labourer.
 
 352 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 For two years the man had been slowly declining. 
 Nourishment was needed. The surgeon ordered, but 
 the poor fellow could not get it. A statement was sent 
 in writing to the Priest : as he perhaps, could not, 
 certainly did not, help, the doctor applied to Mr. Collins, 
 and assured him that to have any chance of rallying the 
 man must have porter daily. Him Mr. Collins directed 
 to order from a neighbouring inn what as a physician he 
 believed to be needed. Visiting the sufferer, Mr. Collins 
 gave him a New Testament, and afterwards from time to 
 time sought his good by prayers and counsels. Going 
 one day, he stepped into the inn to discharge the debt, 
 and, on coming out, a fact occurred, odd enough, yet of 
 value as showing how wary good men need to be of 
 seeming evil. Mr. Collins says, " A person touched his 
 hat to me, and said, ' I regret to see you come from 
 such a place.' I replied, ' Inquire first and judge after.' 
 Ministers must, if faithful, often be on messages of 
 mercy in homes of sin.' One thing was queer in the 
 matter; my forward monitor was himself far gone 
 under the influence of drink. Having by explanation 
 justified myself, I thought it right gently to reprove him. 
 That done, I said further, ' Come with me : I am going 
 now to preach, only a few doors away, in the house of 
 old Mr. Dobson, to whom since his hurt at Wood and 
 Walker's fire he being unable to come for a sermon I 
 often carry one.' The man accompanied me ; sobered 
 under the Word ; and, when it was ended, went on with 
 me to my Irish protege, whose poverty so struck him 
 with pity that he promised at once to send him a coat. 
 So what had been my peril worked for his good. 
 
 " Tuesday, July i2th. With all the Bradford Ministers 
 I met Dr. Bunting at Mr. Walker's, of Bowling Hall. 
 After dinner, the evening being beautiful, I asked leave 
 to retire awhile into the park, that I might see the sun 
 set. The Doctor, who, with no approach to levity, had 
 through the whole interview been full of geniality, 
 threatened to test my love of such fair scenes by append- 
 ing as a condition a promise that I would also see it rise. 
 
 " Wednesday, July i3th. I went to the opening ser- 
 vice of Richmond Terrace chapel. Dr. Bunting's text 
 was I John i. 9, ' Confession, and its results.' I truly
 
 BRADFORD. 353 
 
 enjoyed the sermon. The Doctor's teaching is so 
 scriptural; his views of things so clear; his manner so 
 natural ; his language so simple, just, and dignified ; 
 and his heart so evidently in harmony with the Word he 
 preaches, that it is most improving to hear him. 
 
 " Friday, July i5th. The Stationing Committee com- 
 menced its work. 
 
 " Sunday, July ijih. Henry Davies preached most 
 profitably from ' I beseech Thee, show me Thy 
 glory.' 
 
 " Saturday, July 23rd At Eastbrook, Mrs. Barrow- 
 clough, a widow, laid two young women, her only 
 daughters, in one grave. Both had died during the week. 
 Her sad bereavement, and this so sorrowful a funeral, 
 moved the whole neighbourhood. 
 
 " Sunday, July 24th. Alfred Barrett preached a rich 
 and spiritual discourse from John xiv. 15, 16. 
 
 " Wednesday, July 27th. Conference opened. The 
 Rev. John Lomas was, with great unanimity, elected 
 President. The public prayer-meeting was a gracious 
 season. Wonderful power accompanied the prayer of 
 old Mr. Hickling, a remarkable old man : sent forth by 
 John Wesley himself, he has continued in the work sixty- 
 five years, and now, at eighty-eight, is hale and active. 
 Through all our preliminary meetings a fine spirit has 
 prevailed. 
 
 Wars and fightings now are o'er, 
 And contradictions cease. 
 
 "Sunday, July 3ist. At Eastbrook, Dr. Dixon 
 preached a noble sermon about ' the kingdom which 
 cannot be moved.' 
 
 " Monday, August 8th. A letter of resignation arrived 
 from the Rev. George Steward. He declares himself a 
 hater of faction ; free from partizanship ; and no way 
 sympathising with either the men who have attacked the 
 Conference, or their methods of doing it ; yet he thinks 
 that his views in relation to the pastoral office, and 
 some other matters in discussion, are too much out of 
 harmony with those of his brethren to allow him to 
 remain silently, or, if not silently, pleasantly, among 
 them. 
 
 A A
 
 354 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " Dr. Beaumont gave a speech of commanding elo- 
 quence in favour of special consideration for Scotland. 
 
 " Tuesday, August gth. Daniel Walton's adjudicator- 
 ship of the Mediationist Prize Essay was inquired into. 
 Daniel Walton spoke with great frankness ; affirmed 
 love to Methodism, to his brethren, and to our disci- 
 pline ; said, had he foreseen how offensive this step 
 would have been to his brethren, assuredly he would 
 not have taken it; but that, being taken, going back 
 would excite more odium against the Conference and 
 do more mischief than going on could do. John Scott 
 spoke plainly and well. ' The Mediationists,' said he, 
 ' say that Conference is wrong : they want to prove us 
 so ; offer "100 to any man who will do it ; and ask Mr. 
 Walton to decide for them which, of all who attempt, 
 does it best. Would they have asked Thomas Jackson 
 or John Hannah to have done that ? Is that a place 
 which any member of this Conference ought to accept ?' " 
 
 Close attendance in Conference wrought so unfavour- 
 ably upon Mr. Collins's but half established health 
 that he was compelled to set forth for change and 
 rest. 
 
 A letter, dated York, August i8th, says, " I am better 
 to-day. Mr. Snow had me out to the minster. Such 
 artistic services are not easy either to understand, or to 
 join in, or to be edified by. Brother Methley also was 
 present. He took part vigorously as long as he could ; 
 but when choristers usurped the matter with solos, trios, 
 quartetts, and the like, I observed that he took up his 
 hat and hasted away. I infinitely prefer the quiet 
 worship of an ordinary parish church to the perform- 
 ances in a cathedral." 
 
 On his return Mr. Collins preached at Eastbrook from 
 Jeremiah xiii. 27, and notes : " I can only bless this 
 people by getting inside their hearts by the preaching 
 of holiness. Indeed, for years, I have felt, in every 
 place, that my strength lay just there." 
 
 " Friday, September lyth. I took tea with brother 
 Swindlehurst, and held after a Scripture conversation 
 with him, his wife, and a few friends. Good will come 
 of it. 
 
 " Sunday, September igth. I waited upon the Lord
 
 BRADFORD. 355 
 
 early about my work. The Divine Three, the Ever- 
 blessed One, heard me, and came unto me. 
 
 " Monday, September 2Oth. I took Emmy and Maria 
 to Westgate Hill, to Bramwell's grave. The spot 
 where rest the remains of that man of prayer is truly 
 lovely." 
 
 A letter to the Rev. James Harris, dated September 
 2ist, 1853, furnishes information: "Your Otley is a 
 beautiful part of Yorkshire. I hope you will not get 
 killed with kindness. On one of my visits, though I 
 begged as for h'fe to be excused, my well-meaning 
 hostess, exuberantly hospitable, insisted upon my con- 
 suming such a Saturday supper as I could not overget 
 for a day or two. 
 
 " I am better in health, and the Lord's presence has 
 refreshed me of late. My great labour and aim is to 
 awaken the Church. We shall arise. Feeling concern- 
 ing heart holiness is growing : but the town is often full 
 of interfering excitements, and has great press of busi- 
 ness. Lately the inauguration of St. George's Hall for 
 a time turned all attention towards music. As the Bishop 
 of the diocese and the Archbishop of the province were 
 both present at the oratorios, it was not easy to convince 
 others that attendance could be questionable or un- 
 seemly : though a thing more lavish in expenditure or 
 worldly in tone seldom occurs. 
 
 " Last Tuesday, having found Mrs. M at the re- 
 newal of tickets, though long a member, to be but misty 
 in her experience, I called upon her. She said, ' O, had 
 I known that it was the Minister's night, / should have 
 kept away.' I found that she had been teaming herself 
 with the experience of others, instead of looking simply 
 to God, and to His Word. I endeavoured, I think suc- 
 cessfully, to draw her attention from them to Gal. iii. 
 
 I3 H- 
 
 " We have had fever in the house. One of our servants 
 had it badly, but was, we thought, recovered, when, lo ! 
 last evening its attack returned with such violence as to 
 make her quite delirious. 
 
 " My poor father is very ill. Dropsy is set in. What 
 a mercy that I am now so near Leeds ! I go as often as 
 I can. 
 
 A A 2
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " Sunday, October gth. The Lord refreshed me early 
 in my chamber. I was assured that He would work to- 
 day. Accordingly seven at the prayer-meeting entered 
 into liberty. Many are stirred up to seek after perfect 
 love, and witnesses of the good Lord's sanctifying power 
 increase. 
 
 " Since the tea, before mentioned, with brother Swin- 
 dlehurst, I have, with good fruit, made it my business to 
 go to tea on a Saturday with one or other of our artizan 
 families. As on that day they leave their mills at two, 
 they have leisure to receive a visit. I call it a ' Bible 
 tea,' in distinction from a ' gossip and twaddle ' tea. 
 Those to whom I go invite two or three serious neigh- 
 bours. The meal over, each opens a Bible, we read, and 
 converse about what we read ; then one or two pray, and 
 I come home. I find it a blessed mode of pastoral com- 
 munication. 
 
 "Tuesday, October 2ist. While I was in the wait- 
 ing-room of the Apperley Bridge station, two gentlemen 
 entered ; one took up a book from the mantel, but hastily 
 put it down, saying, ' It is a Bible, I thought it had been 
 a Directory.' His friend replied, ' Indeed it is a 
 Directory.' ' Well,' said he, ' you are right : so it is ; 
 and a good one too.' The approach of my train only 
 left me one moment in which to remind, that practically 
 the Directory would be valuable just to the extent to 
 which it was followed." 
 
 "Thursday, October ayth. I finished D'Aubigne's 
 ' Reformation in England.' Unless he proceed further, 
 the title is too wide for the performance. The Reforma- 
 tion here was scarcely out of its cradle at the downfall of 
 W T olsey, with which he concludes. The book well teaches 
 how the seed of the Reformation was sown in multiplied 
 copies of the Word of God ; and how Providence with 
 small thanks due to the agent made the wrath and 
 power of Henry the Eighth serve Him." 
 
 Three paragraphs of the journal now-about contain 
 noteworthy reminiscences of eminent men : 
 
 " Heard the renowned Father Gavazzi. He gave no 
 information beyond what was current ; nor did he speak 
 at all of, what Methodists most like to hear, his conver- 
 sion. His fame arises from, perhaps, unrivalled skill at
 
 BRADFORD. 357 
 
 expressing passion in look and tone, and exhibiting 
 thought in action and gesture." 
 
 " Heard the celebrated J. B. Gough in St. George's 
 Hall. In earnestness he is a flame ; in descriptive 
 power, unparalleled. I never heard any other Temper- 
 ance advocate deal with the question in its relation to 
 Holy Scripture so discreetly. He showed that while the 
 Bible nowhere condemns abstinence, it does plainly 
 teach the giving up of a lawful enjoyment out of regard 
 to our brother's benefit, to be a thing beautiful, expedient, 
 and good ; and that in that teaching lies the general 
 principle of which philanthropic teetotalism is but a 
 particular instance." 
 
 " Heard of the death of the learned and famous 
 George Stanley Faber. His books have taught me 
 much. When I was labouring in the City of Durham, 
 he honoured me with several interviews. He was a 
 most industrious man. His habit of early rising ena- 
 bled him to be a voluminous writer. He was a profound 
 scholar, and, what is far better, a very humble, devoted 
 Christian. His end was delightful. Among his dying 
 words were these : ' Jesus speaks peace, peace. He 
 saith unto me, " It is I, be not afraid." Nor, indeed, 
 though I shrink from the pain, have I the slightest 
 dread of the result of death. I wish to bear my. last 
 testimony to the realness of the religion of Christ. 
 " Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 
 death, I fear no evil." Why should I ? " Thy rod and 
 Thy staff they comfort me." Peace ! Peace ! Tell my 
 friends I die in perfect peace ! ' ' 
 
 In a letter Mr. Collins said to me : " It pleased the 
 Lord to release my father about five o'clock of the after- 
 noon of Thursday, December ist, 1853. On Monday I 
 saw him ; he was then weaker than ever ; but I did not 
 apprehend that I should see him no more alive. On that 
 occasion his conception of the majesty, justice, and 
 parity of God seemed to be overwhelming ; and he 
 spoke of himself with such humility and self-abhor- 
 rence as men often have when on the point of receiving 
 some great blessing. Meditations on the eternity and 
 immutability of Jesus, suggested by John viii. 57, 58, 
 had been sweet to him. On leaving him I prayed, and
 
 358 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 the door of access, as indeed in his chamber had ever 
 been the case, seemed open wide. 
 
 " On Wednesday night he quoted as the Lord's word 
 to him, ' This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.' 
 His death within twenty-four hours verified that he had 
 heard aright his Master's message. 
 
 " His illness has lasted eighteen months. It has been 
 a merciful visitation. Though it came on in a manner 
 that precluded hope of recovery, yet it left him many 
 intervals for communion with the Lord, and with his 
 friends. 
 
 " On Friday, December 2nd, I went over to Leeds. 
 Death had not marred my father's countenance; he 
 looked as he lay like a saint at rest. On Tuesday, the 
 6th, the funeral took place. The Rev. J. H. James 
 officiated. All the Town Missionaries of Leeds at- 
 tended. As the body was borne from the door, the Mis- 
 sionaries sang, 
 
 We know, by faith we know, 
 
 If this vile house of clay, 
 This tabernacle, sink below 
 
 In ruinous decay, 
 We have a house above, 
 
 Not made with mortal hands ; 
 And firm, as our Redeemer's love, 
 
 That heavenly fabric stands. 
 
 "When we reached the cemetery chapel, the General 
 Superintendent delivered an address full of affection and 
 respect. He instanced as memorable excellencies my 
 father's loving harmony with fellow- workers, his kind- 
 heartedness, his readiness in Holy Scripture, and his 
 great success. 
 
 " It was by no means a day all dark to me. My mind 
 was rather drawn up after the spirit of my father than 
 down after his coffin. His glory won more of my thought 
 than his grave. 
 
 " During the afternoon, which we spent together, the 
 Missionaries rehearsed many instances of my father's 
 singular zeal. One impressed me. A certain court in 
 his District was entirely inhabited by fallen women. 
 Every house in it was of ill fame. One being vacated, 
 my father took it. It was situate at the very mouth of
 
 BRADFORD. 359 
 
 the entry, so that none could be a visitor of that court 
 without passing its door. Night after night, under his 
 direction, religious services were held there. He kept 
 vigil ; and whenever such a woman as is described by 
 Solomon, ' subtil of heart,' with the flattery of her lips 
 and much fair speech had snared some foolish victim, 
 and was bringing him to her den, my venerable father 
 inevitably intercepted them, saying, ' Remove thy way 
 from her. Come not nigh the door of her house, lest 
 strangers be filled with thy wealth ; and thou mourn at 
 the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed.' A 
 few weeks of persistent witness so spoiled the evil trade 
 that every home of shame was closed ; and soon a 
 decent tenantry, quite changing the character of the 
 neighbourhood, rilled up the place. 
 
 " How great Heaven's goodness to my father in these 
 latter years ! Ever since 1837, when he came to assist 
 me in Orkney, Providence has opened his way to full 
 employment in that work of the Lord which lay so near 
 to his heart. During the eighteen months of illness 
 he has been sweetly solaced by the assiduous care of 
 medical attendants, the regard shown to him by many 
 Christian friends, the kind attentions of his brother 
 Missionaries, and the frequent visits which, now it was 
 necessary, Providence, by placing me so near, enabled 
 me to pay." 
 
 In regard of this venerable kinsman I may be per- 
 mitted to add to Mr. Collins's notice a few supplemen- 
 tary words. After an almost unparalleled fight with 
 despair the way of peace was made known to him in a 
 sermon preached in a lone country cottage by the Rev. 
 James Mole. The trembler entered just in time to hear 
 the text, " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
 shalt be saved." It set him free. Had that excellent 
 man gathered no other gem for the crown of his Lord, 
 this one would well have paid for every weary walk and 
 Gospel word of his whole life. The new convert began 
 at once to reprove, rebuke, and exhort. Bent on full 
 consecration, he went over to Madeley to hear and speak 
 with Mrs. Fletcher. It was a visit of which rich memo- 
 ries abode with him through life. She gave him written 
 counsel ; a copy of which I subjoin :
 
 360 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MADELEY, yune tfh, 1808. 
 DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 You have cause to praise the Lord for bringing you through 
 fire and water into the wealthy place. If you now abide waiting 
 upon God, you shall surely inherit that promise, "They that wait 
 upon the Lord shall renew their strength : they shall mount up with 
 wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be weary ; they shall walk 
 and not faint." 
 
 The three heads on which you ask advice are important; viz., 
 whether you ought to reprove sin wherever you see it ? whether you 
 may expect to do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven ? 
 and, whether you are called to preach ? 
 
 With regard to the first, you observe yourself that " your soul has 
 been most happy when your tongue has been most faithful." No 
 wonder. Such work is laid upon us by the command of God. He 
 hath said, Lev. xix. 17, "Thou shall not hate thy brother in thine 
 heart : thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer 
 sin upon him." It is therefore your duty in the meekness of wisdom 
 so to warn sinners who in your sight or hearing break the law of 
 God. Such kind and loving reproofs have brought many to repent- 
 ance. 
 
 As to your second question, ask yourself, Would Jesus Christ 
 have put that prayer into my mouth if it could not be granted ? 
 Hear for your encouragement His word, Heb. viii. 10. " This is the 
 covenant that I will make ; I will put My laws into their mind, and 
 write them in their hearts :" i.e., He will take your will and affec- 
 tions ; He will enable you to love Him with all your heart. Now, 
 when all you do, or say, or entertain in your mind, springs from love, 
 then all will be pleasant in His sight. Blunders and shortcomings 
 will mix with all so long as you remain in the body. For these 
 defects and errors you will feel, and delight in feeling, 
 
 " Every moment, Lord, I need 
 The merit of Thy death." 
 
 Love is the fulfilment of the law. Love is the element of heaven. 
 This liberty of pure love is both gained and retained by faith, and by 
 faith only ; faith that cleaves every moment to the Saviour, from 
 whom, from first to last, all our salvation flows. 
 
 You further seek light into the will of God concerning the duty 
 of preaching. This question it is not my place to answer. In all 
 church affairs we are to seek the guidance of those whom God hath 
 made overseers and directors of the flock. With them, therefore, 
 you will do well to consult. 
 
 But as a little help for the present, I advise that you wait on the 
 Lord in much prayer, that He will in an abundant manner pour out 
 His Holy Spirit upon you, and open all your way before you. That 
 is a true word, " Where the Lord leads us, He lights us." 
 
 Do all the good you can among the sick. Prayer-meetings will 
 afford opportunity for you to give occasional words of exhortation. 
 You cannot be wrong in gathering a few poor neighbours into a 
 cottage to hear the Scriptures : such explanations and applications 
 as you know their condition to require, might be given by any good
 
 BRADFORD. 361 
 
 man without usurping anybody's function. Do each hour just the 
 good that opens before you : doing so, you will find our Lord faithful 
 to that saying : " He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, 
 but shall have the light of life." 
 
 Praying that that light may abundantly be your portion, 
 I remain, your friend in the Lord, 
 
 MARY FLETCHER. 
 
 Obeying these wise directions he sought counsel of 
 his Minister ; and a duly written credential still exists, 
 signed James Bogey, authorizing " John Collins to ex- 
 hort, and expound God's Word, in any of our Societies, 
 so long as he shall continue to honour the Gospel of 
 God our Saviour." Thenceforth he appeared upon the 
 Plan. I may not further trace his path of toil and fruit ; 
 but extracts of letters to me, dated 1841, will briefly 
 exhibit him both as an earnest worker and a loving 
 kinsman : 
 
 " I have long desired to write to you, but such have 
 been my engagements that I have scarcely found time 
 for a line to my own children. You will not doubt this 
 after reading a summary of my labours for the year : 
 
 Visits in the order of my District 4,168 
 
 Occasional visits 958 
 
 Special visits to sick persons 795 
 
 Sermons preached 411 
 
 Tracts distributed 38,000 
 
 Number of persons conversed with n>734 
 
 Neglectors induced to attend public worship ... 283 
 
 " I am glad to hear that you are on the Plan. So far 
 my prayer is answered. I shall continue to pray that 
 you may be very holy and very useful ; and that by your 
 means many souls may be saved. Furnish yourself 
 with thoughts, enrich yourself with words, and study 
 how to put them in array." 
 
 My uncle was of the mind of that general who said, 
 he would " rather fight a battle than write a bulletin ;" 
 he proceeds : 
 
 " The slowness of my pen, and the deficiency of my 
 grammatical knowledge, cause report-making to be the 
 most tedious part of all my labour. Let my lack be a 
 lesson to you. Make yourself a good grammarian, and 
 for another thing, take Walker's Dictionary in hand;
 
 362 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 read carefully down until you come to a word which you 
 did not before understand ; then, write the definition of 
 that in a book of your own ; read on until you have thus 
 discovered five such words ; make the meaning of those 
 five new words your own ; do the like every morning ; 
 keep this rule twelve months, and you will thank me." 
 
 In answer to my objection that to flood my brain with 
 such a deluge of hard words would be perilous, seeing 
 that the hearers of my juvenile discourses, like enough 
 with great justice, complained of my words being too 
 big already, he shrewdly replied : 
 
 " That fault so prevalent with young preachers 
 comes oftener of penury than of wealth. Better scholars 
 do not utter the first word they can, but select the very 
 word they ought to say. To give you power to do the 
 same, I urge upon you this way of increasing the stock 
 of words from which you may pick. Such study, dis- 
 ciplining you to define and distinguish, besides being in 
 itself good, will make every book you read easy, and 
 the beauties of every choice piece of composition visible. 
 Once master of copious stores, you will have power to 
 be at once simple enough for the poor, accurate enough 
 for the critic, and varied enough for the man of taste, so 
 that the edification of none may be hindered." 
 
 " But whatever else you do, and above all else you do, 
 cherish earnest faith. Realize the truths you preach. 
 Be sure that hell fire is quite as hot, the devil quite as 
 cruel, damnation quite as terrible, and sinners quite 
 as much in peril as the Bible says they are. Never 
 doubt God's willingness to save, to save at once, and 
 to save by you. Always preach remembering that for 
 that very sermon you will have to answer at God's bar." 
 
 Who, after reading this, will wonder that I cannot 
 even yet without emotion advert to the fine features of 
 the character of Mr. Collins's father ? He stands before 
 my eyes as he did when I was a very little boy. He 
 was the first Christian whose character permanently 
 fixed my attention, and called up within me any emula- 
 tion of goodness. I can never forget the warm affection 
 of his heart, the cheerfulness of his company, the 
 ardent flame of his zeal, the incessant and self-sacrificing 
 nature of his toil, the simplicity of his testifying for
 
 BRADFORD. 363 
 
 Jesus, the all-venturing confidence of his faith, his 
 tender compassion for perishing souls, his unmistakeable 
 enjoyment of religious ordinances, and his love of God. 
 
 The shadow of bereavement did not yet pass from Mr. 
 Collins's path. No grass grew on his father's grave 
 before it was re-opened to admit his mother. In their 
 deaths they were scarce divided. On Sunday, Decem- 
 ber i8th, Mr. Collins was at Leeds, to be present at the 
 funeral sermon for his father, preached by the Rev. J. 
 H. James. In the afternoon of that day he read to his 
 mother Psalms xxxvi. and xxxvii. A perpetual cough 
 left her little rest. Weary, but thankful, she said, "It is 
 well that I have not my sins to bear too." Mr. Collins 
 says : " The next morning, in prayer before coming 
 away, my tongue seemed held from asking my mother's 
 life. My desire could find outlet only in asking for her 
 " the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." 
 And on the Wednesday following word reached me that 
 from pain and all the troubles of this mortal state my 
 dear mother had escaped away. Her departure was 
 beautifully tranquil. Nearly the last thing she did was 
 to repeat the Hundreth Psalm, ever a favourite with 
 her. Her cough compelled a pause at the words : ' O 
 go your way into His gates with thanksgiving.' She 
 never finished the recitation, and was only able to add: 
 ' His gates, His gates. Go into them ; yes, I may, 
 for they are open wide open to me ; and have been 
 for some time.' And so, without another word, speedily 
 and peacefully she passed those heavenly portals, which 
 her faith had gazed upon. 
 
 " Saturday, December 24th. I looked upon my mother 
 for the last time, and then followed her remains to their 
 final resting place. As she went down into the grave, 
 the tones of her voice seemed to fall fresh upon my ear, 
 in the well-remembered words, oft said as she dismissed 
 me morning by morning to school : 'Make haste home, 
 Thomas! Make haste home!' I well knew how to 
 apply the words, / shall be early home; but I have 
 devoted myself afresh to God, and hope to do some little 
 further good before I reach the endless rest." 
 
 Mr. Collins's excellence, laboriousness, general popu- 
 larity, and usefulness in Bradford, none questioned ; yet
 
 364 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 there, for the first and last time in his life, opposition 
 was made to his stay in the Circuit. This arose from 
 various causes. Just such, however, as ordinarily make 
 respectable precisians antagonists of the revivalist type 
 of men. 
 
 Sciolists, who read everything in their review, declared 
 his range to be narrow. It was : narrow as Paul's deter- 
 mination ; narrow as repentance, faith, and holiness ; 
 themes concerning which Dr. Dixon once said, " Our 
 fathers used to preach those things and nothing else." 
 " But, Doctor," interjected a young divine, " the times 
 now need more latitude." The reply was, " The times 
 need ? you mean the devil tempts you ! " It is due to 
 Mr. Collins to say, though, as to subject, he attempted 
 no novelties, yet he often found the old truths in ne- 
 glected texts; and that good judges invariably pronounced 
 his treatment of them to be remarkable for strength and 
 originality. 
 
 Nominal members, and professors with piety to seek, 
 dreaded his probing questions and pressure for present 
 decision. If sleep be better than safety, they were right. 
 Take a specimen case that occurred in a Bradford 
 class : 
 
 " Have you peace with God ? " " No, Sir." " How 
 long have you been among God's people ? " " Fifteen 
 years." " Fifteen years ! Ah, I see how it has been ; 
 ding, dong, bell ; ding, dong, bell. Ordinances round 
 and round, but no Divine conviction of sin ; no tears at 
 the Saviour's feet ; no clasping of the Crucified ; no 
 agonizing resolve, ' Lord, I will not let Thee go.' How 
 long is this inertness to last ? Down on your knees, 
 man." Stung to earnestness by admonition so strong 
 and faithful, the laggard of all those years knelt, and 
 wept, and wrestled, and prevailed, and home he went 
 that night a happy man. 
 
 A quaint writer has said, " If the fiend can but get the 
 church turned into a weekly show-room of fashions, he 
 would ring the bell himself rather than it should lack a 
 congregation." Lovers of gay attire felt astonished at 
 the literality with which Mr. Collins held the baptismal 
 vow to " renounce the pomps and vanities of this wicked 
 world," and were annoyed at having their cherished
 
 BRADFORD. 365 
 
 fineries pelted with apostolic texts and half-forgotten 
 Methodist Rules. An instance will most fairly exhibit 
 what there was, be it excessive or not, of sternness in 
 his fidelity ; while it will also at the same time make 
 one enduring record of its successful issue. At a quar- 
 terly visitation a young woman, notably tawdry, and 
 garlanded with the painted rags commonly called flowers, 
 seated herself just before him. As to him such bedizen- 
 ment on a Methodist woman in a class-meeting was a 
 great pain, he requested her to occupy a chair less con- 
 spicuous. The Leader's wife, though herself carefully 
 plain, said, " Sir, you are too severe. Your rebuke of A. 
 has greatly hurt my mind. God looks at the heart." 
 Mr. Collins replied, " My sister, God looks at everything. 
 What love should I show to Adelaide by not trying to 
 make her better ? And how should I look either God or 
 Adelaide in the face at last, if I failed to declare unto her 
 His whole counsel ?" The next Lord's day Adelaide, 
 neat enough to have met John Wesley's taste, rose in 
 the lovefeast and told of the bitter tears that word had 
 made her weep ; yet publicly, before the Church, gave 
 thanks for the admonition. She stated that in her con- 
 science she knew that love of such things had really been 
 to her soul a peril and a snare ; that in obedience to her 
 pastor's word she had gone home to her closet, and on 
 her knees told the Lord, 
 
 All the vain things that charm me most, 
 I'll sacrifice them to Thy blood : 
 
 and while doing so, bliss, abiding and sweeter than she 
 had ever felt before, filled her spirit. 
 
 Occasionally, in the pulpit Mr. Collins offended itch- 
 ing ears ; nor will I affirm that there never were sen- 
 tences which might not grate on better ears. I hasten, 
 however, to say, that no offence against the canons of 
 strict good taste was ever brought about by buffoonery, 
 a thing which he held in deserved contempt : but, 
 putting use before elegance, he allowed himself that 
 freedom of illustration which, while edifying to the mil- 
 lion, has always, whether in Luther or Latimer, White- 
 field or Spurgeon, given horror to men of cold cor- 
 rectness.
 
 366 CHAPTER XIII, 
 
 Then, finally, his prayer-meetings were noisy. I must 
 admit the fact. Perhaps not quite so noisy as the inquiry 
 meeting at Pentecost, but certainly noisy enough to jar 
 sensitive and unsympathetic nerves. 
 
 Citations from several letters will explain alike the 
 course the opposition to Mr. Collins's remaining in 
 Bradford took, and his wise, pure, peaceable, and exem- 
 plary conduct in face of it. 
 
 " On Saturday, January i4th, the Stewards informed 
 me of their intention to invite a successor in my place. 
 I could not but esteem this passing by of the claims of 
 one who came to help them in an emergency, and had 
 served them with much toil, as somewhat ungrateful. I 
 wrote two days after, asking the reasons of their deci- 
 sion. To that letter no written reply was ever sent, and 
 no verbal one given until about a fortnight before the 
 Quarterly Meeting. I was then simply assured that they 
 should not alter, and that resistance would be vain. 
 This matter gave me much anguish. Many nights my 
 sleep departed from me. The trouble was that my path 
 of duty was not clear to me. I loved the people, and 
 felt sure that the people loved me. What must I do ? I 
 went on the matter to my Heavenly Father again and 
 again. On Saturday, March 25th, the Lord gave me 
 light. I was conscious, as I have often been, of com- 
 munion with the Triune God. My loving ' Abba ' 
 assured me of His help. Jesus, my Master, revealed 
 Himself as that ' Man ' who is a hiding place from the 
 wind. I felt the gracious presence of ' the Comforter.' 
 The thirty-seventh Psalm read sweetly. After that the 
 twenty-seventh furnished faith with rich appropriations. 
 The Lord is my light : ' then I shall be guided. ' The 
 Lord is my salvation : ' then I shall be protected. ' One 
 thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after : ' 
 then, that one thing given, care of other things may be 
 dismissed. My way seemed plain. I resolved neither 
 to resign my claim nor to strive for its realization, but 
 just to let the Quarterly Meeting use its own judgment, 
 and take its own course. I went to the meeting in calm 
 assurance that the Lord would direct all matters that 
 concerned me aright. The Stewards, as they had inti- 
 mated, proposed a successor to fill my place. They
 
 BRADFORD. 367 
 
 had no sooner so done than an amendment inviting me 
 was moved. Many testimonies pleasant, under the 
 circumstances were given. The issue was that my 
 invitation to remain was carried by a large majority. 
 Upon this I appealed to the minority to say whether 
 they would work with me and with their brethren. No 
 response was given. I then felt that, as one in humble 
 fellowship with my great Master, as one who could do 
 nothing but for the edification of the body, my work 
 there was done. I could not stay to be a party man. I, 
 therefore, sincerely thanked those who had desired my 
 re-appointment, but declined to accept their kindness ; 
 and most heartily, as, indeed, knowing him, I conscien- 
 tiously could, joined in the recommendation before given 
 by the Stewards. I exhorted all to union, and besought 
 those who loved me to vote for him. The name was 
 put up again, and accepted with unanimity. I came 
 home full of thankfulness, and rejoicing in God exceed- 
 ingly. I had at once the satisfaction of not being rejected 
 by my Circuit, and of having done something to promote 
 peace and harmony, though I left it." 
 
 " Sunday, April loth. Preached at Dudley Hill. 
 John Patterson, a Leader there, informed me that he 
 was first convinced of sin under the ministry of the 
 well-known Evangelical clergyman, Carus Wilson. He 
 said, ' About 1812, being then a farm servant, I used, 
 with my master and mistress, to attend Whittington 
 church. In that church my heart has ached and my 
 tears have flowed many a time. Scores were similarly 
 affected. I needed further instruction, but could never 
 muster courage to seek it. The restraints of the Lord's 
 fear continued with me through years of rough navvy 
 work, but I never got peace until 1825, I found it in 
 a Methodist class meeting." 
 
 The next day Mr. Collins preached at Prospect school, 
 when an odd circumstance occurred. One Benjamin 
 R., who a short time before, in a very remarkable 
 manner, had been awakened to the peril of his sinful 
 state, was there. His case was this : going to bed 
 drunk, he was in the night awfully scared. Like enough 
 it was a first attack of delirium tremens. Whatever theory 
 may satisfy others, nothing could shake the belief of the
 
 368 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 man himself that he, in very deed, had seen the devil. 
 Alarmed by that vision, he broke his evil habits off at 
 once, and seriously set himself to seek the Lord. On 
 this night of service, a foundry man, black with the dust 
 of his trade, came reeling in from a public-house. It 
 was affecting to see poor Ben weep over that grimy 
 drunkard. They recognised each other as old com- 
 panions. " But, I say, Ben," said the sot, " did you 
 really see the devil ?" Ben affirmed, " I did." " O that 
 I could see him!" cried he. "Ben, pray for me, that 
 I may see him !" The poor wretch, thinking more of 
 the power of fright than of faith, seemed certain that 
 a glimpse of the devil, and nothing less, would insure 
 his conversion. 
 
 " Tuesday, July 25th. I preached out of doors at 
 Broomfield. It was a wild congregation ; still some 
 attended to the Word. 
 
 " Sunday, July 3oth. I preached in Kirkgate in the 
 open air. The congregation was large. With the Brad- 
 ford poor many Germans and some Irish gathered. The 
 play of facial muscle betrayed deep emotion in several. 
 Some eyes were dewy, and the whole company gave 
 earnest heed. To this day, outdoor preaching is the 
 only way of meeting with a large portion of our popula- 
 tion. 
 
 " Monday, July 3ist. My meditation this morning 
 turned upon, 'They took knowledge of them that they 
 had been with Jesus.' How necessary for Ministers to 
 be much with Jesus. Of those who are, friends and 
 foes soon know it. How lack of other things is made 
 up by that ! How patient such are in suffering ! how 
 potent in work ! Prodigies attend them. May I abide 
 with Him, 
 
 And nothing know beside, 
 Nothing desire, nothing esteem, 
 But Jesus crucified ! 
 
 "Tuesday, August ist. Conference is considering 
 the state of the work. May the good Spirit lead them 
 to a sifting and thorough inquiry ! We want the heart 
 to condemn ourselves. The Lord would agree with us 
 in that ; would approve of such exercises ; would accept
 
 BRADFORD. 369 
 
 of them, and exalt us. Hitherto our tone has been too 
 apologetic : we have found out explanations rather than 
 made confessions. We must abase ourselves. We 
 need the ' increase of God ;' and, at whatever cost, must 
 get it. 
 
 "Tuesday, August 8th. Solicitude for souls is our 
 great want. All plans for revival fail where this ani- 
 mating spirit is wanting. The majority of our ministers 
 and people are good, sincere Christians ; they wish 
 well to the work of the Lord, but come short of soli- 
 citude. 
 
 " Many recent tractates have dealt with the polity of 
 Methodism. When will some able man give us a good 
 one upon its spirit ? Sacred sociality is the spirit, 
 life, and leaven of genuine Methodism. Colleagueship 
 in the ministry, and class-meetings for the members, are 
 its result. They are our strength : but the strength of 
 them is love. Let love decline, and such a system must 
 at once be felt to be a bondage and a fret." 
 
 The Bradford sphere of labour, as all before it have 
 been, is affluent in instances, which may not be narrated 
 at length, of Mr. Collins's ingenious, laborious philan- 
 thropy. I find him going to teach blind widows to 
 read ; visiting and aiding friendless strangers ; turning 
 out to reprove Sunday gamblers at their " pitch and 
 toss ;" undertaking open-air campaigns for godless 
 artizans ; preaching in a cellar, in a sick room, and in a 
 milkman's kitchen, because, in the one case, lameness, 
 in the next, weakness, and in the last, specialties of 
 trade, kept back the various occupants from public 
 worship. 
 
 A Bradford correspondent says : " Thomas Collins 
 was the most zealous Minister I ever knew. In an 
 evening, I often had him at my door with the question, 
 ' Can you sing to day ?' If I happened to be at liberty, 
 away we went, singing along the street, to some spot 
 before selected as suitable for a congregation : which 
 reached, he would stop and offer up such a prayer as I 
 never heard before from any other man. I have seen 
 some of the most hardened wretches of Bradford weep 
 under those prayers. Then followed an exhortation, 
 plain, pointed, evangelical, mighty. Preaching ended, 
 
 B B
 
 37 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 he would next carry me off to some poor hovel, or cellar 
 dwelling, where either sick sinners or suffering saints 
 were lying. To such cases his acts of charity, very 
 fresh in my memory, were frequent and costly. It was 
 not uncommon to come straight from the house of 
 sorrow to the nearest shop, and there at once order and 
 pay for such articles as the necessities of the sufferers 
 required." 
 
 It would be wrong to pass on to the next location 
 without devout observance of the good Providence 
 which, just when it was necessary, by the Bradford 
 appointment, brought Mr. Collins, for the first time 
 since 1831, into neighbourship with his parents. The 
 solace his frequent visits gave to their declining days 
 and final hours, cannot be told. In face of that mani- 
 fest guiding by the heavenly Pillar to so opportune a 
 coming to Bradford, I shrink from pronouncing that his 
 leaving of it was premature. As I see him move off to 
 his new field of labour, faith, looking higher than 
 Stewards and Stationing Committee, compels me to 
 say, " The steps of a good man are ordered by the 
 Lord."
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 
 
 BEFORE entering upon the duties of his new Circuit, 
 Mr. Collins, with his family, paid a visit to Edmond 
 Castle, the residence of Mrs. Collins's brother. From 
 thence he sallied forth to a Sabbath service at Barras- 
 ford, one of the places in connexion with his first station 
 in the Wark Mission. He was entertained by Mrs. 
 Foster, of whom he writes : " When I travelled there, 
 she was an exemplary Christian ; and such I found her 
 now. Her steady piety has received reward. Her 
 husband has joined the Society; one of her sons is a 
 Local Preacher ; and all her children have grown up in 
 the fear of God. On Saturday, at Gunnerton, I walked 
 by the Tyne, and strolled among the crags, sweetly 
 musing on the merciful ways of Providence toward me 
 through all these years. With the Lord's day came 
 many old friends to meet and to hear me. While glad 
 to find fruit abiding from labours of my own early days, 
 I also record with pleasure that three persons, Peter 
 Waddell, now a Local Preacher among the Primitives, 
 with Joseph Lowe and Joseph Walton, of Wark, 
 informed me that they had been saved through ministra- 
 tions of the Home Missionaries supported by Douglas 
 of Cavers. On Monday I went to Wark. A local 
 celebrity there presented me with a set of rhymes, at 
 the same time informing me, with an impressive glance, 
 "No man in the country, Sir, has written more poetry 
 than I.' The quantity may merit praise : of the quality, 
 as set forth by the sample, I cannot say much. I was, 
 in my journey, delighted to find so many signs of 
 progress. The roads are now good ; the farming is 
 improved ; the houses are better, and the whole face of 
 the country renewed." 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 During this visit a sprightly letter came from a 
 beloved, and since deceased, colleague, the Rev. E. 
 Brice. Mr. Collins had left him preparing for removal. 
 The epistle says : " Packing has quickened my inge- 
 nuity. I have turned carpenter ; and, though, I fear, 
 with some waste of timber, have made a box for my two 
 easy chairs. Incipient triumph over my skilful achieve- 
 ment was, however, rudely dashed by memory of one of 
 sarcastic South's most stinging remarks, viz., that 
 ' many men go into pulpits, who would more fitly be 
 employed in constructing them.' My lads, who have 
 just come in from Shipley, desire love to you. They 
 say they have been fishing : but what they have caught, 
 except a wetting, I cannot find." 
 
 Mr. Collins was in his new Circuit betimes, and early 
 entries show in what spirit his work began. 
 
 " Saturday, August 26th, 1854. While waiting on 
 the Lord, Psalm cxxi. came sweetly to my mind ; speci- 
 ally the last verse, ' The Lord shall preserve thy going 
 out and thy coming in, from this time forth, even for 
 evermore.' 
 
 " Sunday, August ayth. Preached this morning in 
 Sowerby Bridge. The Lord certainly opened my mouth 
 to describe full salvation from Gal. ii. 20. As I addressed 
 the scholars in the afternoon, I was left free in the 
 evening to hear my Superintendent, Samuel Allen. 
 After sermon he met the Society. His communications 
 and remarks concerning the Conference were most judi- 
 cious and edifying. 
 
 " Monday, August 28th. When renewing tickets, I 
 was pleased by the words of an aged man, who said, 
 ' Sir, I have double cause of gratitude to-night ; first, 
 because this ticket completes my fiftieth year of member- 
 ship ; and second, because my grandson, who bears my 
 name, is here to be admitted on trial.' " 
 
 On Sunday, September loth, Mr. Collins preached at 
 Stainland. A correspondent, resident there, says, " It 
 was a gracious season. In that service I was deeply 
 convinced of the folly of living, as I had done, beneath 
 the full standard of that inward holiness which is ' our 
 calling's glorious hope.' I was stirred with a restless 
 desire of perfect love."
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 373 
 
 "Wednesday, September I3th. A profitable meeting 
 for ministerial conversation was held at Keighley. 
 David Hay spoke well of secret prayer in its relation to 
 pulpit power. Samuel Tindall confessed and deplored 
 the too common lack of that eminent holiness which 
 alone can make Ministers vessels fit for the Master's 
 use. Robert Spence Hardy testified to the good results 
 of a rule which he and his colleague, Jacob Morton, had 
 formed to themselves of reading the Scriptures together 
 daily with prayer. Isaac Denison gave thanks for suc- 
 cours of grace given to his soul amid the continued trials 
 of his agitated Circuit. 
 
 " Friday, September 22nd. I am much moved to 
 gratitude. My house is pleasant, the country beautiful, 
 the friends cordial, my position quiet and secluded, the 
 way for usefulness open. My coming is of the Lord. 
 At Bradford, when my mind was in a conflict, I felt love; 
 in the issue of that conflict I had joy ; here I have peace, 
 and all the sweet luxury of a quiet mind. 
 
 " Friday, October 27th. This day I have communed 
 with God. While meditating on Psalm xviii. i. 'I 
 will love Thee, O Lord, my strength,' I was enabled to 
 contemplate my work here with comfort. I was drawn 
 out to plead with my Heavenly Father for the progress 
 of His Son's kingdom ; for the increased purity of His 
 people ; and for peace upon earth. War still rages in 
 the East. In the battle of the Alma, September 2Oth, 
 1854, poor Robert Graham Polhill, my wife's nephew, 
 was among the slain. 
 
 " Friday, November loth. My most earnest prayer is, 
 
 Let the soul-converting power 
 Thy Ministers attend. 
 
 This is the common need. I have spoken unto the 
 Lord for an increase of the Spirit. My way is opening 
 well among the sick and poor. Yesterday I read, and 
 sang, and prayed in a poor creature's room ; and while I 
 did so, her children all around me were in tears. May 
 the Lord move whole families at once ! The reflection 
 that I have now served the Lord in His ministry 
 these three-and-twenty years is full of encouragement. 
 Hitherto He has helped me. I know the covenant, so
 
 374 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 often renewed, He will keep with me to'the end. I have 
 not long to stay upon earth. Through Him I can 
 ' watch one hour.' I was lately deeply affected by read- 
 ing in Mrs. Sherman's Life what were almost her last 
 words. ' Exalt the Saviour,' said she to her husband. 
 ' Extol Him. Make Him very high.' This is precisely 
 what I purpose, by gracious help, to do. I will make 
 much of Him. The words, ' Hallowed be Thy name,' 
 seem graven on my mind. How deep their meaning ! I 
 resolve to trust more than ever the Spirit's work ; seek 
 more than ever the glory of Christ ; and look more than 
 ever for the descent of God in the assemblies of His 
 people." 
 
 At the date we have now reached the land was bur- 
 dened by the loss, and cost, and anxieties of war. 
 Most of the churches were troubled by sadly numerous 
 defections from vital truth. Methodism was slowly 
 emerging from the long eclipse of its time of strife. 
 Beneath that baleful shadow the sheep had been scat- 
 tered, prayer hindered, and converting power fearfully 
 diminished. For five successive years Wesleyan churches 
 had been compelled to record decrease of numbers. The 
 Pastoral Address, a most suitable and affecting one, 
 said : 
 
 We would humble ourselves in the dust before the holy Head of 
 the Church, and acknowledge that we are unworthy to bear His 
 banner and to extend His kingdom. But from that dust we would 
 urge the cry, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest 
 Joseph like a flock ; Thou that dwellest between the Cherubims, 
 shine forth ! Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up 
 Thy strength, and come, and save us. Turn us again, O God, and 
 cause Thy face to shine ; and we shall be saved." 
 
 In the year upon which you now enter, put away, we beseech you, 
 all such little thoughts as merely making up numbers, or of sustain- 
 ing respectably denominational position. Set your hearts upon 
 seeing all your neighbours brought to Christ. Look for a converted 
 world. 
 
 Children are daily committing their first conscious sin ; youths, 
 daily falling into their first outward act of vice ; men, daily hearing, 
 reading, learning their first lesson of infidelity ; and thousands upon 
 thousands daily, dying meet their God. 
 
 Whenever, therefore, a week passes in the Societies to which you 
 respectively belong without conversions, cry aloud to God, for in 
 that week Satan has gained ground. If your classes remain from 
 week to week without new members, cry aloud to God. When at
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 375 
 
 your lovefeasts there are none new-born, telling in the warmth of 
 first love what hath been done for their souls, cry aloud to God. A 
 flock without lambs is tending to extinction. An army without recruits 
 will soon fight its last battle. In old time " the Lord added to the 
 Church daily." This was surely written for our learning. Our 
 prayers should be most lowly and most reverential, but most impor- 
 tunate also ; importunate as the prayers of men conscious that they 
 are pleading for the life of uncounted souls. 
 
 By an appointment of the Conference the week 
 beginning Sunday, January I4th, 1855, was given up to 
 special religious services. Mr. Collins commenced 
 them by what he had never in his life done before- 
 reading a sermon. It was a thoroughly outspoken 
 homily against adornments in dress ; a faithful echo of 
 John Wesley's teaching. The discourse, which was 
 afterwards published, is clear, strong, and original. The 
 text was Gen. iii. 6 ; the title, " The Sin in the Garden a 
 Type of Sin in the Church." 
 
 In the introduction Mr. Collins remarks, " Though sin 
 takes grosser and fiercer forms of hostility to God in the 
 world than it can do in the Church, it is yet sin in the 
 Church, rather than the world's hostility to God, that 
 hinders the salvation of mankind. God's plan of good 
 for man includes the Church's co-operation. That some- 
 thing interferes to hinder the efficacious co-operation of 
 the Church with its Divine Head is a fact generally 
 admitted and complained of. What is it ? Is it few- 
 ness of members ? poverty ? violence of outward oppo- 
 sition ? No ; for the Church is not few, nor extremely 
 poor, nor generally persecuted ; and when did the 
 Church prosecute its work in the world with greater 
 vigour and effect than when it was few, and poor, and 
 persecuted ? It is none of these things. It is sin. It 
 is sin in those insidious forms which, while they change 
 the mind's posture towards God, yet awaken no appre- 
 hension among men. It is sin after the pattern of sin 
 in the garden : which by thoughtless persons in all ages 
 has been spoken of as a small thing, though it separated 
 man from God, and brought upon him the Divine dis- 
 pleasure, with all its dreadful consequences." 
 
 After this preface the preacher sets himself most 
 vigorously to deal with that branch of worldly conformity 
 which Holy Scripture designates " outward adorning."
 
 37 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 As all his friends were not in every point at one with 
 him, selected from much correspondence, I subjoin a 
 condensed breviate of their exceptions and of his replies. 
 
 Objection i. "I mislike the title; 'The Sin in the 
 Garden a type' The parallel you have drawn is in- 
 genious, but cautious theologians fear to pronounce any 
 fact to be a divinely designed type, unless they can show 
 New Testament endorsement of it as such." 
 
 Answer. " That rule is safe and true, nor have I 
 infringed it. I use the word in a lower, lighter sense. 
 To defend rny usage, and to clear my meaning, I have 
 inserted a reference to i Cor. x. 1 1 : ' All these things 
 happened for ensamples,' (Greek, rvirot, ' types.')" 
 
 Objection 2. " Doddridge and others give a more 
 elastic interpretation of these texts relating to dress." 
 
 Answer. " I know it. I dread elastic interpretations. 
 Doddridge had little of the martyr about him. To so 
 gentle a spirit it would not be easy to embrace views 
 known to cross the inclinations and current practice of 
 the mass of professing people. I prefer and in such 
 points you will find it safer to follow Wesley and 
 Benson." 
 
 Objection 3. " I cannot look upon clothes as ' Satan's 
 flag : ' they are only so when made and worn after 
 Satan's mind. I cannot forget that the first garments 
 were given by mercy and made by God. I therefore con- 
 sider mine rather as memorials of that kindness of the 
 Lord, than of the sin, and nakedness, and shame that 
 preceded it." 
 
 Answer. " You miss my meaning. My controversy 
 is not with dress, but with ornament in dress. My own 
 words I stand to : ' Parade of ornaments is a banner 
 for the adversary.' Admitting what you further say, I 
 ask, Can there be a memento of mercy which will not at 
 the same time be a reminder of the sin and misery it 
 seeks to remedy ? Your statement, though correct, 
 leaves me at liberty to say : 
 
 O never in these veils of shame, 
 
 Sad fruits of sin, my glorying be! 
 Clothe with salvation through Thy name 
 
 My soul, and let me put on Thee ! 
 Be living faith my costly dress, 
 And my best robe Thy righteousness."
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 377 
 
 Objection 4. "What do you say of Aaron's robes, 
 which were ' for glory and beauty ? ' ' 
 
 Answer. " I remark, first : that the High Priest alone, 
 of all Israel, might wear that splendid array. Second : 
 nor he, except in his function before the Lord. Third : 
 nothing was left to fashion, or taste, or choice. Finally : 
 every broidery, vestment, and gem had evangelical mean- 
 ing. Such specialties fence him and his attire quite oft 
 from the track of our argument." 
 
 Objection 5. " But Psalm xlv. depicts ' the Bride, 
 the Lamb's wife,' as grandly apparelled." 
 
 Answer. " It is inaccurate to say that that Scripture 
 speaks of 'the Bride, the Lamb's wife.' The same 
 object, I grant, is contemplated, viz., the Church ; but 
 not from the same point of view. Messiah is not 
 there revealed as the Lamb, but as the King : fitly, in 
 such relation, the Church is set forth as a queen. The 
 only inference touching our matter, which can be drawn 
 from that Psalm, is one which I do not question, to wit, 
 that queens on occasions of state may be gloriously 
 arrayed in raiment of needlework, and stand clad in 
 gold of Ophir. Against proprieties of regal state I 
 make no war. Jesus, with no note of disapproval, 
 says, ' They which are gorgeously apparelled are in 
 kings' courts.' " 
 
 Objection 6. " But the very letter of the precept which 
 you so powerfully seek to enforce, while, indeed, it con- 
 demns all vain, extravagant, meretricious frippery, yet 
 allows such adorning as is pure and seemly, as well by 
 dress as by holy tempers : ' I will that holy women 
 adorn themselves in modest apparel.' " 
 
 Answer. " I will the same. Neatness and simplicity are 
 always elegant. But above all, I teach the prayer : 
 
 Send down Thy likeness from above, 
 
 And let this my adorning be ; 
 Clothe me with wisdom, patience, love, 
 
 With lowliness and purity, 
 Than gold and pearls more precious far, 
 And brighter than the morning star." 
 
 Objection 7. <c You do not seem sufficiently to allow 
 for suitable denoting by dress of the different grades in 
 the social scale. Position in society should no more be
 
 37^ CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 left unmarked than sex. It is as sinfully proud for the 
 lower classes to be aping their superiors, as it would be 
 immodestly wicked for maidens to assume the garb of 
 men. All things should be done decently, and in order. 
 It is not decent to appear in too sordid, any more than 
 in too costly, array. It tends to confusion for mistress 
 and servant to be indistinguishable." 
 
 Answer. " Without doubt, could I conscientiously 
 confine myself to attacking vanity in cottages and 
 kitchens, my course would be open, and the applause 
 great. I think, however, that, except as authoritatively 
 appointed insignia, abstinence from gems and jewellery 
 is binding on every Christian. Neatness, inexpensive- 
 ness, and utility, should govern the choices of all ranks. 
 General plainness would lead to no confusion. Many 
 things, better than dress, make distinction between 
 superiors and domestics. Vulgar wealth, whose only 
 right to rank is balance at a banker's, needs finery to 
 mark it ; but cultured people, native to the air of good 
 society, are not in such straits, and require no such label. 
 I never heard that in Mrs. Fletcher's house the mistress 
 was mistaken for the maid, though I have read with 
 pleasure that in one twelvemonth she gave 120 to the 
 poor, and spent less than 5 upon dress. Her plain 
 attire was neither an error nor an oddness ; it came from 
 the working of those very principles, which made her 
 so eminent for piety and spiritual power." 
 
 Many copies of Mr. Collins's faithful Tract for the 
 Times were given away, and probably, through private 
 influence, not a few were sold ; but unsolicited buyers 
 came not. An account from his publishers, covering 
 three months, lies before me. Its sum total of sales 
 reaches the magnificent amount of 45. ii^d. I fear the 
 throne of the great Diana of fashion was not much 
 shaken by the good Methodist Preacher's missile. 
 
 A clear conscience is better than a book-selling suc- 
 cess. Mr. Collins says, " I felt bound in spirit to write, 
 and preach, and print that sermon. It cost me some 
 pain, much thought, and more prayer; but it is, and 
 will remain, my protest against a great and growing 
 evil. 
 
 " Satan lays thick, in these times, his snares for young
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 379 
 
 feet. Tea-gardens, people's concerts, circuses, theatres, 
 and such like things, invite our youth away to folly and 
 sin. Nothing would bar the doors through which they 
 wander half so well as early training to plainness of 
 attire. 
 
 " It cuts my heart to see young mothers and Sunday 
 school teachers tricked out in the very height of fashion. 
 This evil so increases that guilt would have come upon 
 me if I had refrained longer. Can we wonder that 
 children with such nurture hanker after concerts, dances, 
 and those worldly amusements in which such fineries 
 are to the best advantage exhibited ? Such things 
 ever will prove to be ruinous snares, until we start our 
 children on another track. Mr. Wesley told his people 
 so; his early Preachers did the same. Well, I have 
 now done what I can ; my mind is relieved, and, what- 
 ever my fellow-servants think, I know that I have pleased 
 my Master." 
 
 On Sunday, January 2ist, 1855, at Waltham Street 
 Chapel, Hull, occurred the sudden and singularly affect- 
 ing demise of Dr. Beaumont. After, in the usual order 
 of the service, announcing the 31 6th hymn, he gave the 
 lines : 
 
 Thee while the first archangel sings, 
 He hides his face behind his wings. 
 
 Those majestic words were the great Preacher's last. 
 He fell in the pulpit, and straightway expired. Without 
 a conscious pang the pearly gates were passed. It was 
 translation rather than death. His ears closed softly 
 to the Church's hymn ', and, lo, in a moment, glorious 
 transition ! his unfettered spirit thrilled with the anthems 
 of heaven. 
 
 Where died he ? On the couch of pining sickness, 
 
 Body and mind alike enfeebled, worn ? 
 No ! on the battle-field, with lightning quickness 
 
 Forth went the mandate, and his soul was borne 
 
 Triumphantly to heaven! ere friend could mourn 
 Or pray for fortitude to bear the blow. 
 
 The pulpit was his death-bed. Wreathe the urn 
 Not with sad cypress, as the sign of woe : 
 Twine victor's laurel : conquer'd now is every foe. 
 Glory to God on high ! The conflict's ended : 
 
 Life's warfare is accomplish'd. Whilst he view'd
 
 380 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The great archangel's homage, he ascended 
 
 And, in a moment, by the seraph stood : 
 Himself transform'd, rapt, radiant, deep imbued, 
 
 And purified by Love's effulgent rays ; 
 Then mingling with the countless multitude, 
 
 He prostrate worshipp'd, and commenced such lays 
 
 As earth hath never heard in his Redeemer's praise. 
 
 No death this century has, in the eyes of Ministers, 
 been at once so admonitory and sublime. Mr. Collins 
 wrote : " Dr. Beaumont was a wonderfully attractive 
 and eloquent man. His work is done ; mine will be 
 soon. His brilliant gifts I do not covet ; but daily ask 
 and in some degree receive grace to live so near, and 
 in such communion with the Lord, that every word of 
 mine may bear with it His blessing to the hearts of 
 men." 
 
 March 2nd the same year furnishes a diverse, but 
 not less instructive, obituary. Then died Nicholas of 
 Russia, the world's mightiest autocrat, the absolute lord 
 of sixty millions of men. It is perilous to allow our- 
 selves, one-sided and warped as we are, freedom to 
 denounce a fallen foe as smitten of Heaven. Yet the 
 eyes are dim which, at that antedated funeral cannot 
 see inscribed on the imperial pall, " The wages of sin is 
 death." Sebastopol was a concrete iniquity ; its exist- 
 ence a crime. It was no defence. It stood where no 
 enemy menaced. Its only use was as a robber's nest, 
 from whence, with vantage, the spoiler might go forth 
 to filch from neighbouring men their rights and liberties. 
 Did Mary of England feel the name of lost Calais 
 branded deep within her ? As ' surely that beleaguered 
 Crimean fortress was written upon the broken heart of 
 the Czar. The great king fell consumed by barred 
 ambition, that fevered blood and brain beyond endu- 
 rance ; worn by cares of monarchy too big for mortal ; 
 brought down by the crash of broken pride. 
 
 But yesterday the word of Cassar might 
 
 Have stood against the world ; now lies he there. 
 
 And nations in solemn inquest asking, over the proud 
 tyrant, why he fell, could only give true verdict by 
 accumulating unusual meaning in accustomed words, 
 and saying, " Died by visitation of God."
 
 SOVVERBY BRIDGE. 381 
 
 Mr, Collins wrote : " This Emperor had embroiled 
 his country in war, and now, thus terribly, is called 
 from amid the din of strife to give account. Europe 
 breathes freer for his removal. His stubbornness would 
 heed no overtures. To the last coin and to the last 
 man, he vowed resistance. May his successor prove to 
 be, as is well hoped of him, a man of peace !" 
 
 Though returned to full work, and actually doing 
 more than most, yet never again had Mr. Collins the 
 unflagging vigour of his early years. Many sayings 
 reveal his consciousness that his strength had been 
 overborne. Thus he writes : " I have not as much out- 
 going as formerly. I cannot bear it as I used to do. In 
 strange beds, now, my rest gets broken. I begin to 
 think that my time of active service will not be long ; 
 this gives me no anxiety ; I leave it with the Lord." 
 
 In Sowerby Bridge, as elsewhere, every method of use- 
 fulness was essayed. I read of cottage services in which 
 souls were saved ; of refreshing wayside talk during which 
 believers' hearts burned with the Father's love; of family 
 prayer-meetings where, with wife and daughters, he 
 pleaded for the scattered, yet beloved, nation of the Jews; 
 of visitations of the sick whose worn and furrowed faces, 
 at his message, were beautified with the peace of God ; 
 and of special band-meetings for seekers of holiness. 
 
 Early in the year a series of meetings were held at 
 Ripponden. The weather was unpropitious ; the frost, 
 biting; and the school-room, with its stone floor, 
 wretchedly chill. In a narrative of proceedings there, 
 Mr. Collins, in his racy way, asks a friend, " Did you 
 ever know a man saved when his toes were cold ?" 
 Each night after a brief sermon he dismissed the shiver- 
 ing congregation, but took the earnest seekers to warmer 
 quarters in Mrs. G.'s cottage, where not a few received 
 good that will outlast the stars. 
 
 The diary of Wednesday, February 2ist, tells of one 
 of his profitable Social Bible Readings in the house of a 
 member at King Cross. The theme was Gal. ii. 20: 
 " I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live : yet 
 not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I 
 live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
 who loved me and gave Himself for me." Mr. Collins
 
 382 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 guided the meditations by conversational exposition, so 
 managed that most, if not all, of the little company, 
 either in the way of question, suggestion, or confirma- 
 tion, were drawn to take part. The Lord was eminently 
 present, and the record is, " We all saw the way of faith 
 very clearly, and all, with much prayer, solemnly agreed 
 to walk in it." 
 
 Though at the March Quarterly Meeting the classes 
 showed an increase of numbers, yet finances, owing to 
 depression of trade, were low. Such was the deficiency 
 of income that Stewards declared it necessary to seek 
 from the next Conference some junior man, who might 
 be induced to fill their third place at a reduced stipend. 
 This evil was averted by Mr. Collins's generous sur- 
 render of 20 from his own claim for the ensuing year. 
 He says, " I like this Circuit. Our numbers are not 
 equal to the easy sustaining of three families. However, 
 there is heart and hope in the people. Most of them, at 
 the renewal of tickets, bring their offering and lay it 
 down in the old way. We are expecting the descent of 
 the Spirit. I am unwilling to settle down into a quiet 
 way, but I cannot sustain long wrestlings as once I 
 could. The ear of the Circuit is open to the doctrine of 
 the Cross, and the heart of it panting with good beat for 
 loliness." 
 
 " March 3Oth. Returning from the prayer-meeting, I 
 heard some men speak profanely. To my rebuke one 
 answered, ' Why, I said no bad words : every word I 
 used is in the Bible.' I replied, ' This is in the Bible, 
 "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in 
 vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh 
 His name in vain." ' I added, ' While such language 
 makes you guilty before God, it also lowers you in the 
 eyes of men. To speak as if none might believe you 
 without appeal to that awful name suggests but a mean 
 opinion of your own trustworthiness.' ' You are right, 
 Sir,' said one, and the rest stood abashed. May the 
 Lord bless that feeble word ! 
 
 "Saturday, October i4th. I started for Coventry. 
 At Normanton I took my ticket ; but seated myself in 
 the wrong carriage ; and, before I learned my error, the 
 express, by which I had been booked, rushed away. A
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 383 
 
 detention of four hours was the consequence. It was 
 all well. The sun was bright and the air pure, so I took 
 a sweet walk through the fields, and, as I went, besought 
 the Lord to employ me again in the conversion of sin- 
 ners. A comfortable assurance was given me that He 
 would. I next dined at a clean and quiet inn ; then 
 rested well on the sofa ; and, at length, after a refresh- 
 ing cup of tea, moved off towards Birmingham. Just 
 as I took my seat in the carriage, a nice, fresh-looking, 
 elderly man of the middle class came in. Immediately 
 after there entered another, farmer-like in dress, a 
 wrinkled, rheumatic, old subject, with a stiff knee. 
 They faced each other, and soon glided into talk. Rosy 
 was a teetotaller, a vegetarian, and a hater of tobacco. 
 Poor old Rheum, much younger in years, though not 
 half so hale, stuck up for his indulgences. Freshcolour 
 gave results of thirty years of abstinence, and assured 
 his fellow-traveller, ' Do like me, and you will look and 
 feel like me. But Stiffknee rejected such overtures, and 
 maintained that, ill as he was, he should soon be worse 
 if any one stopped his cloud and bottle comforts. The 
 repartees and ins and outs of the conversation were very 
 amusing. 
 
 " I arrived in Birmingham at thirty-five minutes past 
 eight. From thence no train left for Coventry until 
 ten minutes past twelve. As I knew that privacy would 
 be difficult to secure the next day, I embraced the 
 opportunity of those interval hours to busy myself in 
 meditation, prayer, and acts of faith. For the most 
 part I had the platform to myself; and as I solitarily 
 paced it back and forth, I was much quickened and 
 blessed in God. The exhalations of that night came 
 down in abundant showers next day. 
 
 " On the Lord's day, comparing appearances with 
 memories, I was pleasingly assured that Coventry im- 
 proves. More shops were closed, more people going to 
 places of worship, and strollers were neither so many nor 
 so dirty as they used to be. 
 
 "On Tuesday I went over to Leamington, and spent 
 an hour with good Lady Carnegie. Her look is little 
 altered, but new and distressing excitements trouble 
 her. She has almost constant confusing noises in the
 
 384 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 head ; but occasionally the sounds become words ; 
 words, as of people plotting against her life. The 
 dialect is always Scotch. Though conscious that it is a 
 delusion, yet she cannot always free herself from terror. 
 I suspect some fright stamped itself upon the nervous 
 system in early life, and is thus strangely repeating 
 itself in her extreme and feeble age. Despite of this, I 
 found her, as usual, full of gratitude ; we had good talk, 
 and were comforted together in prayer. She told me, 
 with joy, of the restoration of the South Esk title and 
 estates to her family by the reversal, in the present 
 session of Parliament, of the Act of Attainder passed, 
 upon the fifth Earl, a hundred and fifty years ago. 
 More joyously still she assured me that her grandson, 
 Lord South Esk, the inheritor of them, is a true Christian. 
 She informed me that just recently he had given 500 
 to the London City Mission, besides permanently support- 
 ting a Missionary, who labours under the direction of 
 his uncle, the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel. 
 
 " From Leamington I took a little tour among the 
 scenes of my own child days. In the books of the 
 church at Solihull, I found the register of my baptism : 
 'July agth, 1810. Thomas, son of John and Ann 
 Collins.' It was in a book of parchment, and looked 
 clear and fresh of if written but yesterday. Under date 
 of May a8th, 1812, I found record also of the burial of 
 my grandfather Davis. The stick he used to shake at 
 me, and ' Saucebox,' the name he used to call me, are 
 my only reminiscences of him. 
 
 " The next morning I went to Knowle, where I had 
 arranged to meet Uncle David, my father's last sur- 
 viving brother. I had to wait an hour at the station for 
 the coming of his train. It was passed pleasantly in 
 reading, ' The Victory Won,' an interesting narrative of 
 the salvation of a sceptical physician. When uncle 
 arrived, he and I daddled along a pretty narrow lane, 
 called Packwood Gullet. Over against a cottage he 
 stopped and said, ' I used to know the man who lived 
 here.' We knocked. A tremulous voice answered us 
 from above : 'Her's gone out, and locked me in.' 
 Uncle cried, ' Is that Master William Pickerell ? ' ' Ay, 
 it is : but I tell you her's gone out and locked me in.'
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 385 
 
 At another word, however, the poor old man got up 
 from his couch, opened the casement, and looked out at 
 us. He soon learned who we were. In answer to my 
 inquiry concerning his age, he said, ' I be eighty-five.' 
 He knew my grandfather and grandmother very well. 
 He and uncle had a world of ' Auld lang syne' talk ; 
 which being ended, I wrapped a coin in a tract, threw 
 it in at his window, and we went on. We passed the 
 Aylesbury estate, famous in our family as the subject 
 of the life-long dream of our kinsman, Buttwell, who 
 always believed himself to be its rightful lord. We 
 visited the church, a desolate-looking place ; and next, 
 with far more interest, sought out and entered the little 
 cot in which Methodist Preachers first told our departed 
 kindred the words of life. We finally went to the marl- 
 pits ; and there, in the house on the site of the one in 
 which I was born, I read John xiv. to my mother's 
 sister and my father's brother. As I knelt between 
 those near and aged relatives, my heart melted in 
 prayer. Going forth from the cottage, I grew enthusi- 
 astic in sight of my native hills and ancient haunts ; 
 though, somehow, all things seemed smaller to me 
 than in days of yore. I laid me down in grandfather's 
 field ; and, until uncle's wheezy cough awoke me, had a 
 refreshing sleep. Those meadows are classic ground to 
 me. There I first saw birds, fishes, butterflies, and 
 snakes ; there I first gathered bilberries, blackberries, 
 strawberries, and nuts ; there grew primroses, violets, 
 and daffodils ; the flowers that first drew my attention, 
 and, in many a night since then, have re-appeared in a 
 thousand pleasant dreams. While returning to the 
 station with my uncle, we passed an old farmstead, of 
 which he rehearsed a story that, with a dash of 
 romance, well illustrates rural manners at the close of 
 last century. 
 
 " B., once tenant there, lay nigh unto death. One of 
 his labourers, named Hains, on his way home, called at 
 an inn in Knowle, where sat, boasting amid his cups, 
 the brother of the dying farmer. With loud oaths the 
 heartless fellow declared, ' Our Harry is booked. The 
 better for me ; for, so soon as breath is out of him, I'll 
 be there, turn out the woman and her brats, and take 
 
 c c
 
 
 386 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 everything for myself. Though few knew it, she was 
 never married to him ; and, ha, ha, ha ! I am heir-at- 
 law.' Disgusted by such dreadful selfishness, the poor 
 man set off straight to Kemball, the doctor, and told him 
 what he had overheard. They together drove right off 
 to Solihull for Chattock the lawyer ; and, reinforced by 
 him, went on at once to the farmer. It was midnight 
 when they arrived. The doctor went up to the sick- 
 room alone. The patient was surprised by so late and 
 unexpected a visit. The reason of it was explained, 
 and questions put to find how matters really stood. The 
 answer was, ' I and Mary did really go to church to 
 be married, but we were somewhat behind time, and 
 the impatient parson was gone : we said we could trust 
 each other's word, and would neither wait another day, 
 nor trouble the clergy any more. I have always treated 
 her as my wife, and have put her in my will as my wife ; 
 I see my error, but what can I do ? Before the lawyer 
 could get here to alter my will I shall be gone.' ' All 
 right about that,' said the doctor. ' I've got him down- 
 stairs.' The man of the pen was set to work at once. 
 The will was new drawn ; and the property fenced from 
 the spoiler's hand long before the morning dawned." 
 
 One cause of grief Mr. Collins found in this excursion 
 through familiar scenes. The places formerly preached 
 in by Wesleyans have their witness in them now no 
 more. He remarks, " It is sad to retreat from ground 
 once occupied. Though scattered cottage services 
 never pecuniarily pay for working, yet they pay spiritually. 
 They are invaluable Mission training grounds. What 
 are young men doing ? In my early days we loved to 
 go forth and keep the candle of the Lord burning in 
 such places." 
 
 During the week following Sunday, April 22nd, special 
 services were held at Greetland. On Monday and Tues- 
 day Mr. Collins conducted them. He says : 
 
 In the forenoon of Tuesday for two hours, in my chamber at Miss 
 Stott's, I occupied myself in prayer. The notes of what passed in 
 my communing are as follows : " O my tender Father, save souls. 
 By the love Thou hast to Thy dear Son, save souls. Give Him His 
 dominion. Remember His humiliation to our nature." Here, after 
 considering Luke vi. 12; John xii. 28; Luke xxii. 41 44; and John 
 xix. 34, I pleaded, " Remember His days of labour ; His nights of
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 387 
 
 prayer ; His agonies in the garden ; His death on Calvary ; and 
 save souls. 
 
 " O my loving Saviour, save souls. According to Thy prayer in 
 John xvii., Thy Father hath glorified Thee. Thou didst ask Him to 
 glorify Thee, that Thou mightest glorify Him. How, better than in 
 saving souls, canst Thou do this ? Thou sayest, in John xiv. 6, ' I 
 am the Truth ; ' and in Rev. iii. 14 callest Thyself ' the Amen, the 
 faithful and true Witness.' O my Master, these are Thy names. 
 My soul rests in Thy verity. Thou only Son of the only true God, 
 Thou wilt glorify Thy Father by bringing souls to know Him. 
 
 " O sacred Spirit, Comforter, save souls. Remember John xvi. 14. 
 The Son of God looks to Thee to glorify Him. Holy men were 
 moved by Thee to say that Thou shouldest be poured out upon all 
 flesh. This Thy Word hath raised expectation in me. Come, O 
 Spirit of truth. My faith relies on Thee. Thou wilt not disappoint 
 my trust." 
 
 I was much strengthened by these thoughts, and pleas, and acts of 
 faith. Sweet refreshment in these exercises came from the Beloved 
 of my soul. 
 
 Saturday, May 5th. I went over to Greetland in time to conduct 
 the band-meeting. The next day I preached, morning and evening, 
 at Stainland, and at Greetland in the evening. Eight young persons 
 found peace with God. It was pleasant to join in the hearty halle- 
 lujahs of the congregation. In meeting a class that day, I admitted 
 five upon trial. 
 
 Friday, June i5th. I preached to an attentive congregation in the 
 open air. I stood near Hannah Holdsworth's door, who is ill, in 
 order that she might hear. 
 
 Sunday, June lyth. Preached at Colne. Religious feeling has 
 not leavened there as much as in Yorkshire. Boys were shame- 
 lessly at their games in the street on the Lord's day. Rude remarks, 
 intended for chapel-goers' ears, were made as we passed in the street. 
 
 Sunday, July ist. A young man convinced of sin accompanied 
 me home. At my door I offered my hand, and said, " Good night." 
 " But " said he, " I must get this load off." I took him in, directed 
 him to John i. 29, prayed with him, and he went away rejoicing. 
 
 The Conference of 1855 was held in Leeds, under the 
 presidency of the Rev. Isaac Keeling. Mr. Collins 
 remarks : Eighteen years ago, at the same town, I was 
 received into full Connexion. The devotions of the 
 Conference have been eminently spiritual. Ex-President 
 Farrar fulfilled his work admirably. In the sermon 
 before the Conference, and in the charge to the newly 
 ordained, his faithfulness gave me great satisfaction. 
 The Conference was full of heart, honesty, and love. 
 
 " Friday, August 24th. I was greatly comforted by 
 reading with prayer Ephesians i. in the wood above 
 Copley. 
 
 c c 2
 
 388 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 "Tuesday, September nth. The deputation at the 
 Sowerby Bridge Bible Society Meeting told of a Clergy- 
 man who preached so admirably before the Lord Mayor 
 and Corporation of London, that he was urged to 
 publish the discourse. As he persistently declined to do 
 so, a friend, who had heard it, privately asked him, 
 'Why?' He replied, 'Well, I once heard the famous 
 Robert Newton ; he so impressed me that from memory 
 I wrote it all down. That was it which you and the 
 Corporation have so fallen in love with. It is the best 
 sermon I have; but, you see, printing it would pillory me.' 
 
 " On Tuesday, September i8th, died Joseph Holmes, 
 a good old Leader of Sowerby Bridge. His words at 
 our recent lovefeast showed thoughts of approaching 
 dissolution to be familiar with him. He gave a very 
 solemn testimony, and spoke of doing it ' as a man does 
 a job for the last time.' Speaking on Saturday evening 
 in the band-meeting, he turned to George, his son, and 
 with voice faltering with emotion, urged him to follow 
 Christ fully and for ever. During the Lord's day he 
 appeared at public worship three times. He affectionately 
 waited at the chapel door for the newly-arrived Minister, 
 and blessed him. That night apoplexy seized him, and 
 now he is gone. He was a ripe Christian, full of perfect 
 love. His removal seemed sudden, but many facts show 
 that the Lord as in such cases He often does had 
 whispered him to be ready. 
 
 " Monday, September 24th. Miss S., of Stainland, 
 who, at her class yesterday, gave edifying information of 
 the way in which, on Tuesday last, the Lord, in her 
 closet, had opened to her the gates of perfect love, now 
 told me of the severe harassment with which the enemy 
 had disturbed her through the night, by suggesting that 
 the experience she had confessed would soon subside, 
 and she be left to public shame. I told her that the very 
 trouble Satan made about what she had done, might 
 assure her how little such filial acknowledgments of our 
 Father's gifts are to his mind ; and I advised her practi- 
 cally to contradict and defy the tempter's will by at once 
 sitting down, and penning to her former Pastor whose 
 heart I knew it would rejoice a full account of all the 
 great things the Lord had done for her.
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 389 
 
 " Going home, I turned again into the wood above 
 Copley, and waited upon God in meditations upon Jesus 
 as Messiah, the anointed One. (John iii. 34.) 
 
 " Proceeding from that pleasant closet, I called upon a 
 sick farmer. 'Who,' said he, ' is more regular at church 
 than I am ? Why, three absences would set half the 
 parish asking after my health.' ' Well, friend, church 
 is a good place, and regular attendance is a good thing ; 
 but church and market agree in one point ; more go 
 to each than ever do business at them. Do you 
 always profit at church ? ' ' Not always, perhaps ; but 
 church-going itself is something. My Clergyman says : 
 ' Neglectors of worship, like uncut rock in the delf, 
 cannot be used ; but worshippers, like quarried stones, 
 lie ready at hand for the builder to give them a place 
 in the wall.' ' Very good,' said I, ' and Christ, the 
 great Master Builder, is willing to put you in place just 
 now ; but, mind, He Himself, and He alone, must be 
 your foundation.' ' Of course,' was the reply, ' I know 
 and believe all that.' ' A stone placed rests. Is 
 your heart at rest ? Does your faith make you happy ? ' 
 ' Happy ? No ! I am not happy. No man on earth 
 is happy,' he responded. ' Nay ! there I must con- 
 tradict you ; so resting on Jesus, I am happy ; and 
 thousands of others are so too.' ' Well, I expect I shall 
 get to heaven,' he continued. ' Not unless heaven first 
 come to you,' I replied. ' Does your corn ripen in the 
 barn, or on the ground ? You, like it, must be ready 
 here, if you would be happy there.' And so with prayer 
 I left him." 
 
 To a Minister Mr. Collins wrote: " I rejoice to hear of 
 your night of prayer ; and, still more, of the assurance, 
 that by faith your soul has entered the cleft of the 
 Rock. That is well. Now abide there. Before you obtain 
 those special influences, by which as you say you are 
 ' set all right,' you must have delivered yourself up to 
 the Lord. Observe, that surrender must never be retracted. 
 Such engagements are not mere temporary expedients by 
 which to wriggle yourself out of a difficulty, but solemn, 
 binding, everlasting covenants. As the God of Truth, He 
 requires you to believe Him: as the indwelling Love, He 
 will make you like Him. Believe His truth every moment :
 
 390 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 so shall you every moment be filled with His love, and 
 have His likeness. Among them that fear Him, bear 
 witness in the plainest terms that you do so believe. 
 Such testimonies encourage others, and bless ourselves." 
 
 " Sunday, October yth. I preached at Denby-Dale. 
 The Superintendent and his wife are both my own 
 children in the Lord. Three interesting young men, 
 earnestly longing for sanctifying grace, came to me for 
 advice. As they were true-hearted, it needed but little 
 to set them upon the present exercise of faith. The 
 following were the arguments used with each case : 
 
 " First case. ' What did the Lamb of God come to do?' 
 ' To take away the sins of the world.' ' Does the word 
 " sin " mean " pollution " as well as " criminality ? " ' 'In 
 my idea of it I certainly include both.' ' Think you that 
 Jesus failed, or did His work by halves ? ' ' Nay, no fault 
 can in my Saviour be. His work was done wholly, per- 
 fectly, gloriously. ' Well then, accept Him now. He 
 is a complete, and perfect, and glorious Saviour. Take 
 Him as all that to thee. Sing it : 
 
 Though earth and hell the word gainsay, 
 
 The Word of God can never fail ; 
 The Lamb shall take my sins away, 
 
 'Tis certain, though impossible. 
 The thing impossible shall be ; 
 All things are possible to me.' 
 
 " Second case. ' Is God in Christ your FathGr ? ' 
 ' Yes.' ' Will your Father withhold any good thing ? r 
 ' He says that He will not.' ' Would it not be the best 
 of all good things perfectly to love Him ? ' ' Indeed it 
 would.' ' Believing His word, that " He will withhold 
 no good thing," tell Him : 
 
 My soul breaks out in strong desire 
 
 The perfect bliss to prove ; 
 My longing heart is all on fire 
 
 To be dissolved in love. 
 
 Then challenge His pledged fidelity to deny thee if it 
 can.' 
 
 "Third case. 'Did Christ give Himself for you?' 
 ' Yes.' ' Must not the love that gave the gift be 
 equal to the gift ? ' ' Yes.' ' If then He gave Him- 
 self, His whole self, can that imply less than that
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 5^1 
 
 He loves you with all the force of His infinite 
 being? 1 'It cannot.' 'Is He changed? Does He 
 love you at that rate still ? ' 'He does.' ' What, 
 does He this moment love thee with all His bound- 
 less, burning heart ? ' ' Indeed He does.' ' And in 
 return you offer Him half yours?' 'Nay.' 'Well, 
 three parts ? ' ' Nay.' ' How much then ? ' ' All.' 
 'What? are you sure ? all ?' 'Yes, all.' 'Then 
 hallelujah ! you, man, and God are agreed at last. 
 " We have known and believed the love that God hath 
 to us. Herein is our love made perfect." " The Son 
 of God loved me, and gave Himself for me." That is 
 enough. Look only at that. Begin not to say, " I am 
 thus, or thus ; " say only, " The Son of God loved me, 
 and gives Himself for me." I take Him ; in taking 
 Him, love Him ; in loving Him, give myself to Him. 
 He gave Himself to the cross : He gave Himself to 
 my heart. I accept Him now with all my heart, from 
 this moment and for ever.' " 
 
 Each of these three young men went away filled with 
 exceeding joy. 
 
 In October of this year Mr. Collins made yet another 
 evangelistic excursion among the much-loved haunts of 
 his youth in Kent and Sussex. The rich autumnal 
 scenery delighted, while the fine, pure air refreshed, 
 him. He preached at Goudhurst, Staplecross, St. 
 Leonard's, Ticehurst, Brede, Northiam, and Winchelsea. 
 The notes are many of sweet thoughts in quiet walks ; 
 of closet joys ; of incidents of conversion ; and of 
 exultation over one and another entering into perfect 
 love. On every hand he found his spiritual children 
 rising into usefulness. While on this journey, he 
 visited Mr. Polhill, the husband of one of Mrs. Collins's 
 sisters, and received from him a gift of the works of 
 an honoured ancestor, " Polhill, of Burwash ; " a lay 
 writer of divinity, too little known ; strongly Calvinistic, 
 but fuller of learning, logic, beauty, and evangelical 
 savour, than most of his clerical contemporaries. Am- 
 brose and Austin, Bernard, Anselm, and Bradwardine, 
 seem to have been his chief masters. His books deserve 
 place with those of the front rank in the seventeenth 
 century.
 
 392 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " Monday, November 5th. A tea-meeting was held, 
 at which, as far as possible, we collected all the mem- 
 bers of Society. Mr. Allen, from an old record, read out 
 the names of all who were in class at the time the Cir- 
 cuit was formed. It was affecting to find out how few of 
 them remain. Departed worthies were profitably recalled 
 to memory, and, before we separated, a covenant of 
 daily prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit was heartily 
 entered into by the people. 
 
 " Monday, November iath. I was laid aside. Life's 
 uncertainty was clearly manifested to me ; but my 
 humble joy, in anticipation of the home in heaven pre- 
 pared for me, was so great that, though I wished and 
 tried to express it, I found all words to be a failure. 
 
 " Friday, November 23rd. While I waited upon the 
 Lord, His presence was a comfort to me. I meditated 
 on all the way the Lord had brought me, and was glad. 
 
 " Thursday, January 3rd, 1856. Miss H. sought 
 counsel concerning the way into perfect love. Tho- 
 roughly sincere, she but needed help to the exercises of 
 faith. I asked her, ' Is this record true, " God hath 
 given unto us eternal life ?" ' ' Yes.' ' If in that 
 glory be given, does not that imply that in Him there 
 must be also grace to make us meet for glory ? that, in 
 fact, pardon, holiness, and heaven, are all included in 
 that one phrase, " Eternal life ?" ' 'I believe so.' ' Then, 
 my sister, take Christ as God offers Him; take Him 
 now ; take Him wholly. That saying is evangelical, 
 " Not a bone shall be broken." God offers thee a whole 
 Christ ; think not of dividing Him. By Divine gift He 
 is thine ; by faith call Him thine, and straightway thou 
 wilt find Him thine ; the Canceller of thy sin ; the sanc- 
 tifying Indweller of thy heart.' " 
 
 On Sunday, February 3rd, Mr. Collins re-opened the 
 chapel at Matlock Bridge, in Derbyshire. While there, 
 a lady, in answer to his inquiries about her soul, said, 
 " It is painful to me to talk of my feelings ; but, Sir, in 
 this volume, poetry of my own composition, you will 
 find my sentiments." Mr. Collins thanked her, glanced 
 over its contents, and then said, " But, Madam, here are 
 no songs in praise of the Redeemer." " I confess that 
 subject has never yet been the theme of my verse."
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 393 
 
 "Then, lady, whatever praise I may give your skill, I 
 must complain of your ingratitude. Your harp will 
 deserve breaking, if its chords be silent another week in 
 honour of Him who bought you with His blood." The 
 poetess confessed her fault with tears, and promised 
 amendment. 
 
 To children in many a home Mr. Collins was a mes- 
 senger of salvation. The following is a touching and 
 characteristic narrative : " Little B., the son of my 
 host, had, I found on my arrival, been for some days 
 under his parents' heavy displeasure. On Monday he 
 fell again into error. Thought of my own boyish folly 
 and obstinacy awoke in me strong feeling for the child. 
 / retired to my room and prayed for him. After which 
 I asked of his father permission to visit him in the 
 chamber where, as a punishment, he was lying in bed. 
 That granted, I went and laid before the lad his sin ; 
 but, also, let him know of the pain I felt on his account ; 
 I told him that it was a grief to me not to have his com- 
 pany either in the house or in such walks as I medi- 
 tated ; and that, if he persisted in sin, it would not only 
 separate him from his friends now, but also from God 
 Himself at last. The boy wept much, and begged of me 
 to call in his parerrts, that at once he might make his 
 submission to them. My mediation was gladly accepted 
 by them ; and so the little fellow was restored. Some 
 hours after, when none could see him, the poor boy took 
 opportunity to steal my hand, and quietly press it with 
 his lips. I felt his meaning, and it moved my heart 
 much. There rose within me memory of the woman 
 who came behind the Lord and wept upon His feet." 
 
 Early this year the first English Edition of Mrs. 
 Palmer's " Way of Holiness " was published. To it a 
 neat, brief, excellent Introduction was prefixed by Mr. 
 Collins. The book, simple and artless, with a strong 
 life-throb of piety in it, won his regard. Results justified 
 his estimate; for few treatises have urged more people to 
 entire consecration, or helped more to the immediate 
 exercise of faith. 
 
 About this time gracious visitations cheered the 
 Methodist Societies all along the Vale of Todmorden. 
 Many precious narratives reached Mr. Collins's ears, and
 
 394 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 in more than one service he saw marvellous things. 
 After a visit there he writes : " The people sang so 
 harmoniously, prayed so heartily, and believed so 
 readily, that it did my heart good to be among them. 
 Nothing refreshes me like the scent of a revival when 
 the balmy buds of spring are opening in the Church." 
 
 On Friday, March yth, Mr. Collins preached at Mir- 
 field. Of this service a correspondent has furnished me 
 an account : " I accompanied him. The young man 
 who drove us said, ' Sir, you must give us a variety 
 to-night, for all sorts of people will be there.' ' You wish,' 
 was the quiet reply, ' a portion of meat to be given to each 
 in due season.' ' Just so.' Mr. Collins not being well, 
 I took the preliminary parts of the service. Those 
 ended, he entered the pulpit, and preached with wonderful 
 power from Eph. v. 18 : ' Be ye filled with the Spirit.' 
 Great grace rested upon the people. Attention was 
 rivetted. Tears flowed fast. Prayers, half thought, 
 half uttered, breathed around. The whole congregation 
 seemed athirst for the blessed fulness of which he spake. 
 Never, before or since, have I seen an assembly so 
 divinely moved. At the close of the sermon the Com- 
 munion place was crowded with seekers. Several who 
 received good were of respectable families in Dewsbury. 
 Mr. Collins was glad exceedingly. His face shone with 
 heavenly joy to see, in these young men, education, 
 talent, and rich promise won over to the Lord's side. 
 Triumph after triumph delayed us until a late hour. 
 The young man who had driven us was kneeling among 
 the seekers. Mr. Collins spoke to him. I overheard 
 the conversation. ' Well, young friend, what have you 
 set your heart upon obtaining? this fulness of the Spirit? 
 Are you a pardoned man, an accepted child of God ?' 
 ' Yes.' ' Now, listen to me. Set carefully before the 
 eye of your faith the blessed Saviour, as He hung upon 
 the cross. Do you see Him ?' ' Yes.' ' Those hands 
 and feet; that thorn-crowned brow and pierced side ?,' 
 ' Yes.' ' That Saviour who suffered thus for you hath 
 the Spirit offers the Spirit gives the Spirit. Can 
 you believe in Him the overflowing fountain as giv- 
 ing the Spirit now unto you ?' The young man was 
 silent. ' " Whatsoever ye desire, when ye pray, be-
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 395 
 
 lieve that ye receive, and ye shall have." Do you so 
 believe?' 'No.' 'What! not believe Him who is "the 
 Truth ?" not believe Him who bought and besought 
 the pardon you say you enjoy ? not believe Him in 
 whom, at the price of His streaming blood, this fulness 
 of the Spirit is, and all for you ?' With many such 
 words he strove to awake the young man's faith ; at 
 length, meeting no response, he said, ' That unbelief 
 within keeps every blessing out. If the like were in all, 
 this gracious revival would stop. I must pass from you 
 to the next. God will not alter His terms. He will be 
 trusted ; and, while you will not trast Him, I have no 
 more to say.' In a short time the young man rose, 
 took his hat, and left the chapel. As we came home, 
 Mr. Collins said, 'You fear for that young men. It is a 
 false alarm. / should not, however, so have left a seeking 
 penitent. The cases vary. He, a child, though with no 
 progressive faith, would be obliged to talk that matter 
 over in his first interview with his Father. You re- 
 member, he desired " each to have a suitable portion ;" 
 he has received his ; it tasted bitter, but it will prove 
 medicinal. You will find that he only went away to 
 seek a quiet place to weep and shake off unbelief in. 
 The Church will hear of him again.' " 
 
 On Whit Monday, May iath, the foundation-stone of 
 a new town hall for Sowerby Bridge was laid by Major 
 Edwardes. After the ceremony was a banquet. Know- 
 ing that the Clergy and Dissenting Ministers would be 
 there, Mr. Collins, with his Superintendent, went, being 
 invited by the rulers of their town. Civic festivities, as 
 at present conducted, are not often congenial scenes for 
 earnest divines. Mr. Collins says, " on the following 
 Lord's day morning, I felt obliged to deliver my testi- 
 mony against the method of proceeding. The object I 
 commended. The town needed this larger room. But the 
 bacchanalian mode of conducting the meeting must, when 
 judged by Christian principles, be pronounced altogether 
 reprehensible. None of the sentiments introduced were 
 bad in themselves, many of them were laudable ; but 
 what reason can there be for filling glasses and drinking 
 wine at the introduction of every new topic ? This 
 method should be banished from all Christian circles.
 
 396 CHAPTER xiv. 
 
 It is altogether a senseless, evil custom. I left early, 
 but I am informed that nearly twenty toasts were drunk. 
 Surely the devil invented this fashion. It cannot but be 
 perilous to sobriety and good morals. 
 
 "Thursday, May 22nd. A gentleman informed me 
 how a sermon of mine, respecting Balaam and the 
 drawn sword, when I was in Bradford, was used by the 
 Lord for his good. He was, until he heard it, fond of 
 gaiety and mighty to mingle strong drinks ; but from 
 that hour until he turned to the Lord, the drawn sword 
 scared him in all his ways. He is now a happy and 
 useful Christian. Blessed be God ! " 
 
 On Tuesday, June lyth, a letter from St. Austell 
 gladdened Mr. Collins by information of an extraordinary 
 revival then in progress. Five hundred had been 
 admitted upon trial during the quarter'. 
 
 In July Mr. Collins set forth upon a long projected 
 tour to revisit the scenes of his early labours in the far 
 north. I will give his interesting Journal : 
 
 "July yth. I left York at six P.M. by the third class. 
 My companions were very civil, and received tracts with 
 thanks. After a while a boy on his mother's knee 
 threatened noisy nuisance ; but a navvy undertook the 
 matter, and soon found, if not a good, yet an effectual 
 way of abating it. Taking out a large pocket knife, he 
 said, ' Youngster, I likes children when they behave ; 
 but, look ye, this is what I cuts their heads off with when 
 they won't be quiet. 1 This piece of oratory, delivered 
 with face and action all to match, settled the business at 
 once : we heard no more. 
 
 " Between Darlington and Durham three handcuffed 
 men, accompanied by a policeman, entered the compart- 
 ment and sat by my side. I fell into conversation with 
 the one nearest to me. He was going to Durham gaol 
 for a week for trespassing. I suggested to him that 
 when that week was over it would be well so to conduct 
 himself that such attendants in livery as now accom- 
 panied him might never be needed more. He intimated 
 that such was his intention. He came from Thornley 
 colliery, and had been a Sunday scholar. I advised 
 him upon his return to seek counsel of a good Leader 
 there, whose address I gave him. He seemed af-
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 397 
 
 fected by the verse upon the back of the tract I gave 
 him : 
 
 O Thou that wouldst not have 
 
 One wretched sinner die ; 
 Who diedst Thyself, my soul to save 
 From endless misery ! 
 
 "July 8th. Standing on the quay at Berwick-on- 
 Tweed I was pleased to overhear some persons talking 
 religiously together. Haliburton and the Haldanes 
 were mentioned : Dr. Duffs recent magnificent Mis- 
 sionary speech, Dr. Gordon's Life, and other such topics 
 arose. At last, one of them brought up the ninth 
 chapter of the Romans. ' That is a grand chapter,' 
 said he. ' Nae doot, nae doot,' was the canny reply 
 of the other, who seemed determined to steer clear of 
 controversy, % and so is the eighth, where Paul saysj " If 
 any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." ' 
 He then strongly uttered his belief in Christ's willing- 
 ness to save all, and made my heart warm to him by 
 capping his sentiment with those Wesleyan words : 
 Witness that streaming blood. 
 
 " About half-past one I started for Edinburgh. The 
 route gives frequent sea views. The country is fine, and 
 the crops were abundant. A man entered at one of the 
 stations, and sat by me. The guard put in his head, and 
 bade us beware of our company. Soon after we were 
 again in motion, the reason of the warning became appa- 
 rent. My neighbour was a card sharper, nor was it long 
 before his tools were in hand. He asked me to play. 
 To my answer, that I did not know how, he replied by 
 proffering to teach me. My response, that I had no 
 wish to learn, displeased him. He tried the company 
 round, but failed to find a dupe. I rubbed my eyes, for 
 I had been somewhat sleepy, and said, ' Sir, will no 
 gentleman take your cards ? Now I will try, and I 
 will venture a guess that no one will refuse mine.' So 
 saying, I drew out my packet of tracts ; each including, 
 at his own request, the poor fellow himself took one. 
 As he could do nothing in his own line, he really read it; 
 and, at parting, in a whisper said, ' Pray for me.' Who 
 knows the struggles passing in that soul ? 
 
 " At night I preached at Leith for Mr. Hardy. At the
 
 398 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 close some ladies from Skipton, and also some of the 
 town, who remembered my preaching there eighteen 
 years before, came to speak with me. 
 
 "July gth. At half past six, I took the train for 
 Stirling. My only companion was a person infatuated 
 by love of litigation. A female relative dying had, much 
 to his disgust, left the bulk of her property to the Bible 
 Society, the Missionary Society, and the Kirk. In two 
 attempts to upset the will he had been nonsuited, but 
 now, poor man, deluded by lawyers, with grand expecta- 
 tions of success, was going in for a third. 
 
 " At Stirling, I made my way to the celebrated Tract 
 Store. A large place, long and high. Mr. Drummond's 
 original business was that of a seedsman, but the 
 tract department has so grown as to absorb all his 
 time; his partners, therefore, now, attend to the earthly, 
 while he gives himself entirely to the evangelical seed. 
 He employs an editor permanently. I observed that his 
 desk was quite covered over with letters. He is a tall, 
 dignified, fine-looking man; well beseeming his position 
 as an elder of the Kirk. 
 
 " At half-past one I left Stirling. At the Bridge of 
 Allan many courtly-looking people were about. The 
 beauties of the place attract tourists and visitors. A 
 fine old ruined abbey is in sight. In the evening I 
 preached in Perth about ' the man with the withered 
 hand.' There was great attention, and some emotion. 
 The Rev. Jabez Palmer concluded with a very earnest 
 prayer. At the close of the service one said, ' O, had 
 we known, all the children of the school should have 
 been here ! ' I reminded him that my coming had been 
 published on the Sabbath.- ' Yes, yes, we knew that you 
 would preach, but we did not know how you would preach. 
 You have blessed all the men ; and God helped you to 
 do it so simply, that you would have instructed all the 
 children, if only they had been there.' 
 
 "July loth. I left Perth at six o'clock A.M. Two 
 cheery ancients sat in the train, talking as fast as their 
 tongues could go. As I wanted to get in a word 
 with them, I remarked, 'What a very fine morning!' 
 ' Verra, verra.' ' Years ago, at a service in Orkney, we 
 sang a paraphase beginning,
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 399 
 
 Blest morning ! whose first dawning ray 
 Beheld the Son of God ; 
 
 Could you recal for me the conclusion of that verse ? ' 
 Both old men moved their lips in quick repetition of 
 the lines I gave, but with no token of bringing up the 
 lines I wanted. I suggested, and with it they con- 
 curred, that what we did remember, fragmental though 
 it was, uttered a thought both true and precious ; that 
 any day is blest in which a man beholds his Saviour. 
 They became communicative to me of local lore. We 
 passed many objects of interest, Guthrie, Farnel 
 Manse and Kirk, Kinnaird Castle, and the gravel-bedded 
 Esk." 
 
 At Aberdeen in the evening Mr. Collins preached. 
 In that city he met with a singularly vain man ; good- 
 looking, very aware of the fact. Photographs of his 
 precious self, taken from all points of the compass, 
 adorned his room. He informed Mr. Collins, with gusto, 
 how a fashionable tailor, touting, not for a job of 
 clothes-making, but for a study of human proportions, 
 pursued him with a request that he might be permitted 
 to measure him. "Allow me, Sir," said he; "that back 
 would be of advantage to me." I owe it to the good 
 nature of the rattle-pate to observe that his thoughts 
 were not all selfish ; he gave sundry, perhaps valuable, 
 directions for the general bettering of my kinsman's 
 shape; but in particular instructed him that the large 
 ness of his face might be easily corrected by wearing a 
 collar well up. 
 
 On Friday, seeing two churches under one roof, Mr. 
 Collins turned aside to look at them. A sexton was 
 there, of whom he inquired if he enjoyed religion. The 
 man answered in some commonplace rigmarole about 
 having to labour; but was brought up with the ques- 
 tion, " Is it not part of the law of God, Six days shalt 
 thou labour?'" "Yes." "Will obeying the law of God 
 keep you from loving God ? Do you not see that in 
 giving labour as the reason of your not enjoying re- 
 ligion, you have really thrown the fault on Him whose 
 providence made it necessary, and whose Word enjoined 
 it?" 
 
 The Kirkyard stones furnished intances of how in
 
 4OO CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 this world big first impressions often shrivel under close 
 inspections. 
 
 ABERNETHY had record as a shoemaker. JAMES WATT, 
 cut deep and large upon a splendid slab, evoked thought 
 of the world-famed engineer: the disappointing conclusion 
 in smaller letters was, " Flesher, of this town." Mr. 
 Collins's industrious research was more than repaid for 
 any odd matings of noble names by finding the memorial 
 of Professor Kidd, whose excellent sermons, singular 
 volume on the Trinity, and very valuable Treatise on 
 the Eternal Sonship, had long been known and, for their 
 great ability, admired by him. 
 
 At five o'clock Mr. Collins took steamer for Wick. 
 In conversation on board, a shrewd sea-goer said, " I 
 don't doubt Providence, Sir, but I don't believe my 
 clergyman, who says that, because of it, a man is as 
 safe at sea as ashore." King William's celebrated fatal- 
 istic aphorism, " Every bullet has its billet," no doubt 
 strengthened his nerves in many a day of fight, but 
 would not prevail with many to think it good for their 
 health to take exercise along the front of battle. 
 
 The passengers had good store of chaplains; for, 
 beside Daniel Farquhar, Mr. Collins's companion, there 
 was a Baptist Minister, and two divines of the Kirk. 
 It is noted, " We had devout talk ; and in the evening 
 read the Word of the Lord with prayer. When bedtime 
 came, so crowded was the little steamer, that the floor 
 had to come in aid of sofas and berths." Tossed by that 
 unquiet sea, in midnight Mr. Collins found rueful neces- 
 sity of rising. As the light was dim, and his step un- 
 steady, some of the sleepers, in that cabin carpetted with 
 men, learned his weight. He says, " I nearly set my 
 foot on the face of one." On deck, revived by the fresh 
 sea air, he remained until with dawn the well-remem- 
 bered hills of Caithness came in sight, and the boat lay 
 safely anchored in the bay of Wick. 
 
 Mr. Collins says : " Sandy Henderson, Hector Suth- 
 erland, and John M'Pherson met us. They told me 
 that of my old flock some have gone to the Kirk, some 
 to the Frjee, and some to the Morisonians ; but that all 
 their hearts are warm towards Methodism still, and that 
 they long for us back again.
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 401 
 
 " On Lord's day, July i3th, I preached at the Tem- 
 perance Hall morning and evening. D. Farquhar took 
 the afternoon. The congregations were good. Many 
 friends of auld lang syne gathered round. I noticed 
 Betty Bremner, the blind woman ; Malcolm, to whom I 
 gave my horse ; Connop, the Italian ; James Good, 
 James Ware, with many others ; and among them an 
 aged acquaintance, ever memorable for the courteous 
 raising of his hat to my wife, a refinement of which, 
 during our time in Wick, he had a monopoly. 
 
 " The town is greatly grown. There are many good 
 buildings, new roads, and new places of worship. Our 
 house, by itself of yore, is now one in the regular line of 
 a street. Fish-stores and fishermen abound. Washer- 
 women are plentiful. Old men are abroad with their 
 sticks, and barefooted children romp in all directions. 
 Wick is wonderfully larger, busier, livelier than it was. 
 I preached on the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday 
 in the Established Kirk, Argyle Square. 
 
 "Wednesday, July i6th. I went to Skarfskerry. I 
 cannot say much for my equipage ; for, to Huna, the 
 half-way house, my vehicle was a dog-cart ; from thence 
 to Skarfskerry, a dung-cart. I passed a place where a 
 bawbee-loving Scot once included in the charge of his 
 bill, so much for my barley cake ; so much for care of 
 my horse ; and so much for hearing me preach. Fierce 
 wind and rain compelled me to leave my ill-flavoured 
 chariot, and shelter with a roadside blacksmith. The 
 wife knew me at once. Her name was Begg, a very 
 proper designation of many of my old acquaintances at 
 Wick ; but this good woman, with her pauper name, 
 had a princely spirit. I was sheltered for three hours in 
 that stress of weather, and generously entertained ; yet 
 not one farthing would she accept, and only with impor- 
 tunity allowed her child to receive a gift. The rain had 
 not ceased ; but as there seemed no hope that it would 
 cease, at six o'clock, with desperate courage, I betook 
 myself to the cart again, and faced the storm. Twice 
 my hat blew off; twice, as the lumbering thing without 
 springs jolted over the rough road, the seat gave way ; at 
 length, with aching limbs, but thankful for whole bones, 
 I reached the comfortable home of Edward Lyell." 
 
 D D
 
 4-O2 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Mr. Collins preached four times ; and when he saw 
 how even women came in, walking ten miles to hear the 
 Word, it awoke all his former regrets of the abandonment 
 of our Mission there. He mentions Edward Lyell, a 
 Methodist staunch and true as any we have in England, 
 who, though so forsaken, neither abated his Methodist 
 testimony nor his Methodist work; but kept on his class, 
 nor did he cease until declining years, broken health, and 
 failing strength compelled him. 
 
 Sandy Forsyth, one of Mr. Collins's children in the 
 Lord, is also affectionately named. During the last past 
 winter, a dancing master had somehow got the school- 
 house of May to teach his jigs in. To the worthy ex- 
 Methodist, such capering seemed no fit use of an eccle- 
 siastical edifice ; so he brought the matter before the 
 Minister. The clerical reply was, " As I pay the Pro- 
 fessor to teach my own children, I can have no regret 
 that he is teaching other people's." This sounded 
 strangely to Sandy, who, years agone, at his Saviour's 
 feet, had given up whiskey, reel, and strathspey, all 
 together. To him, a ball in the schoolroom suggested a 
 farce in the church, and the world in the heart: he, 
 therefore, moved the parish ; and a protest of house- 
 holders, by his means, was so numerously signed that 
 the man of legs had to get him gone. Poor Sandy, with 
 no Wesleyan Minister nearer than Inverness, is obliged 
 to sit, with such respect as he may, beneath the pulpit of 
 a pastor whom his conscience thus compelled him to 
 oppose. 
 
 One of the pleasures Mr. Collins enjoyed in this trip 
 was to seek again those lonely caves, those haunts of 
 prayer, those Bethels on the shore, where in bygone 
 days the Lord had met him. He says, " Formerly God 
 came strangely nigh unto me in those places, giving me 
 a mysterious, ineffable, awful, yet happy, consciousness 
 of His presence. That specialty of manifestation He 
 gives not now, but He enables me to exercise unwaver- 
 ing faith. 
 
 "July 22nd. Dunbeath, twenty-one miles towards 
 home ! I came hither to day in a gig. The fresh 
 Highland breezes have been very agreeable after the 
 fishy smells of Wick. As it was Wick Fair, numbers
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 
 
 403 
 
 were resorting hither as we were coming away. I gave 
 tracts among them plentifully. Finery has come north. 
 Bare feet and rainbow headgear seemed in odd contrast. 
 At Dunbeath, I found a quiet grassy place overlooking 
 the sea. The calm was delicious. There, for an hour, 
 I had happy communion with God. He impressed my 
 soul with a clear idea of Him as my all-sufficient Good. 
 He showed me how, moment by moment, my being 
 depended upon Him. I renewed my dedication to 
 Him, and was sweetly strengthened to take Him there 
 and then as the strength of my failing mortal life, and 
 my portion for ever. The blessing of that hour abides. 
 
 "July 23rd. I mounted the coach at half-past five. 
 The cloud-capped hills threatened rain. The vapours, 
 however, melted away before the morning sun ; and 
 such scenery opened before us as I had never before 
 beheld. Berrydale, Helmsdale, the Ord of Caithness, 
 Golspie, Dunrobin Castle, Dornoch, Tain, Invergordon, 
 and Cromarty, each offered beauties of their own. My 
 companions were intelligent and agreeable. Altogether 
 the day passed so delightfully, that when I reached 
 Inverness, I was so tired and yet so pleased that I 
 scarce knew whether to wish for bed or for a longer 
 journey. 
 
 "July 24th. Choosing the route of the Caledonian 
 Canal, I went at five A.M. on board the 'Cygnet' steamer. 
 The voyage through the lakes, by the forts, and among 
 the mountains, was incomparable. I noticed that Ben 
 Nevis still had snow here and there around his noble 
 head." 
 
 At Glasgow Mr. Collins cheered with a visit the 
 nurse of his first-born. At Dumfries he soothed the 
 soul of a weeper, by reciting and explaining the parable 
 of the Prodigal. At Lancaster he found himself com- 
 panion to an honest Yorkshire serving man ; who, 
 yearning for Methodist ministry and means, had bid 
 Scotland good-bye. The poor fellow, little to his own 
 comfort, had been exiled to take care of some great 
 person's shooting lodge. To him the land seemed 
 spiritually barren, as the heaths and mosses that fur- 
 nished his master's sport. " Sir," said he, "a man's soul 
 wants something besides -wages" 
 D D 2
 
 404 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Strangely bronzed by sun, and sea, and wind, but 
 invigorated and safe, Mr. Collins ended his tour by 
 arrival at home, on Saturday, July 26th. 
 
 " Monday, August 4th. I preached out of doors in 
 David Boocock's yard. 
 
 " Tuesday, August 5th. I preached at the front of 
 Millbank chapel. 
 
 " Sunday, August loth. A young soldier, son of one 
 of our people, offered public thanks for deliverance 
 from the many imminent perils of the Crimean war. 
 He had been under fire at the Alma, Balaclava, Inker- 
 mann, and Tchernaya fights. He was one of the sur- 
 vivors of the famous ' six hundred.' In that celebrated 
 charge he and his next comrade alike had their horses 
 killed ; both, crushed by their dead steeds, lay unable to 
 help themselves ; an officer, worthy of his rank, bravely 
 stayed amidst a tempest of shot to extricate them ; that 
 done, he caused them to hold on by his stirrups, one 
 on each side, and so ran them safely in to the British 
 lines. 
 
 " Sunday, November gth. Widow G. at King Cross 
 of late has had a perpetual noise in her head. Such a 
 thing I never before heard described but as distressing 
 and disagreeable, but she amused me by saying : ' It is 
 delightful ; like an organ, or heaven's angels ! " 
 
 Mr. Collins was much cheered by the deep experience 
 and joyous exultation of some of the Leaders of the 
 Society, together with the simplicity and earnest sin- 
 cerity manifested by chief people in his Circuit. 
 
 Thursday, November 27th, and Friday, November 
 28th, were spent in special services at Cheetham Hill, 
 Manchester. Among the seekers, one particularly ar- 
 rested the attention of Mr. Collins. His words were 
 few, his manner quiet, almost motionless, yet his soul 
 seemed struggling with pressing agony. The night was 
 cold, yet sweat stood in beads upon his brow. Relief 
 came at length, and the young man exulted greatly. Of 
 the result of these services the Rev. S. R. Hall wrote : 
 " Six young persons have found peace. Several elder 
 people also have obtained salvation ; while not a few 
 are rejoicing in the deepening of the work of grace. At 
 the Saturday band, instead of thirty we had eighty
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 405 
 
 present, and the testimonies concerning good recently 
 received were very distinct and encouraging." 
 
 A few Friday closet jottings will probably show us the 
 sweet communion still maintained. 
 
 " Friday, January and, 1857. I have given myself to 
 the Lord for this year. I cannot fast, as once I could ; 
 but by taking a biscuit at one o'clock I am still able 
 on Fridays to have the seclusion of my room, without 
 injury, until tea time. Now, if I feel I need it, without 
 any scruple I take a chop with my tea. It is not penance, 
 but retirement with God that I want. Those hours, 
 given up to communion, I find to be most sweet, 
 refreshing and valuable. My mind at such times, is 
 led to the Bible, to thanksgiving, and to prayer, and to 
 acts of trust. This day I meditated upon Isaiah Ixiii. 
 15. I took the words as from Messiah's lips ; He 
 standing as Head of His people appeals thus to the 
 Father : ' Look down from heaven, and behold from 
 the habitation of Thy holiness and of Thy glory : where 
 is Thy zeal and Thy strength, the sounding of Thy 
 bowels and of Thy mercies towards me ? Are they 
 restrained ? ' I, being one of Christ's members, felt, in 
 my great Advocate's name, daring of faith to urge again 
 this ancient appeal to the Paternal heart. 
 
 " Friday, January 3Oth. I pleaded this day for a 
 blessing on the few remaining months I have in this 
 Circuit. I was refreshed by the word, ' Delight thy- 
 self also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires 
 of thy heart.' I do delight in the Lord. 
 
 " Friday, February i3th. My meditation had refer- 
 ence to Luke xi. 13 : 'If ye, being evil,' &c. I was 
 strengthened by consciously receiving into my soul the 
 Holy Spirit. It was a baptism for the good of my 
 family, and of my Circuit. I long for Christ to have 
 more souls by me in this Circuit. 
 
 " Friday, February 2oth. I waited upon the Lord. 
 His word was Num. xi. 23 : 'Is the Lord's hand waxed 
 short ?' My whole heart answers, ' No.' 
 
 " Friday, April lyth. My meditation upon the Trans- 
 figuration has been sweet. 
 
 " Friday, May 2gth. My thoughts to-day turned first 
 upon> the Father's name, Exod. ix. 16 : "That Thy
 
 406 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 name may be declared throughout all the earth.' Psalm 
 Ixviii. 4 : ' Who rideth upon the heavens in His name 
 JAH.' Psalm Ixxxiii. 18: 'That men may know that 
 Thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art most high 
 over all the earth.' I then thought upon the glory of 
 the beloved Son, as revealed in John xvii. I adored also 
 the Spirit of grace, duteously and reverently opening my 
 heart for His fulness. I do "receive Him strengthening 
 me for all His purposes." 
 
 In care of the sick, Mr. Collins was always exemplary. 
 Within four months I find notes of ten death-bed scenes. 
 Take one : " Tuesday, December i6th. I spent a little 
 time with Richard Wood, our chapel-keeper. He and 
 the late Joseph Holmes were among the first to be 
 convinced of the duty of entire consecration. They 
 conversed on the matter, and agreed together that see- 
 ing it to be God's will, they would never rest until it was 
 their experience. They were not long of this mind 
 before ' they were filled with the Spirit,' and their hearts 
 overflowed with perfect love. In each case it has been 
 the anointing for glory. James Holmes is there : 
 Richard Wood I found upon the threshold. When 
 I began to pray, I heard the dying man say, ' It is too 
 much.' At those words I lowered my voice, and soft- 
 ened my tones ; but, on rising, he told me, it was not 
 my voice, but God's rich blessing that seemed more than 
 he could bear. In a rapture he added : ' What a pros- 
 pect ! What a magnificent prospect ! What an expanse!' 
 His waving hand and brightening look gave intense ex- 
 pression to his words. When a little calmer, he said : 
 ' The chapel people may wish to hear something of the 
 end of their old servant ; tell them what is fit ; but, Sir, 
 don't praise me. Extol the Saviour. Who would not 
 die to go to be with Him ? ' ' 
 
 Around the good pastor, who thus cheered the closing 
 hours of members of his flock, death soon threw a darker 
 shadow. He was called to weep the departure, from the 
 circle of his own family, of one much loved : 
 
 " Wednesday, March 4th, 1867. I received a sum- 
 mons to Tranmere. Barney was seriously ill. I went 
 at once. As I approached his bed, my arrival being 
 earlier than expected, he gratefully exclaimed, ' Brother,
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 407 
 
 O, what a brother you are ! ' The complacency and trust 
 that mingled in his tone I can never forget. It moved 
 my heart inexpressibly. I thought at once, and spoke to 
 him, of the joy and faith with which we ought to meet 
 the advances of that great elder Brother of our race, who 
 has done all for all." 
 
 The poor sufferer's expiring life went out fast. In 
 early morning of the very' next day the struggle ended. 
 The brief interval was well filled with interchanges of 
 words of consolation and of hope. Though feeling never 
 intensified to rapture, peace abounded. " It is not my 
 nature," said Barnabas, " to shine out." This was true ; 
 yet " he feared no evil." When his extremities, numb 
 and cold, no longer obeyed his will, free from alarm, he 
 happily said, " A good sign ! A good sign ! " It was 
 so to him. It meant heaven near. Breathing with diffi- 
 culty, he asked to be raised ; that done, he gently passed, 
 just as he might have wished, supported by his brother's 
 hand, and leaning on his sister's breast. 
 
 He was a most humble, affectionate, sober-minded 
 man, greatly desirous of being and of doing good. The 
 Clergyman whose Curate he had been wrote in well- 
 weighed words, " Of his piety and solid Christian worth 
 I entertain the highest opinion." 
 
 Of mortal omens and presages matters long debated 
 I offer no opinion ; but, for the sake of the curious, 
 note that Mr. Collins records in his Journal how, being 
 alone in his chamber, the evening before his brother's 
 demise, he heard, as if within it, music, soft and low, 
 like the airs of a flute. He further states that, men- 
 tioning this, he was assured that when Miss Clay died 
 at Gate Farm, Greetland, harmonies were heard simi- 
 larly sounding, as though they came from an organ 
 which was indeed in the house, but the keys of which 
 at that time no human fingers touched. 
 
 On Monday, June 8th, Mr. Collins went to Man- 
 chester to be present at a ministerial conference for 
 consideration of the best means of suppressing the 
 liquor traffic. Three hundred ministers were there. 
 Mr. Collins says : " A deputation of working men, 
 imploring Ministers to use all the means in their power 
 to remove this temptation out of the way of their
 
 408 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 children, very much moved me. A godly and becoming 
 spirit pervaded the Conference. All objections that I 
 have ever heard against the object aimed at may be 
 included in one word, ' Utopian ! ' Of what good thing 
 has that not at first been said ? " 
 
 On Monday, June I5th, Mr. Collins visited Mrs. 
 Wadsworth, an aged woman who heard Mr. Wesley 
 twice. Her conversion was memorable, she being the 
 first fruit of a revival which, though half a century has 
 passed, is still spoken of at Greetland. The great work 
 began thus : one Sunday morning the preacher, the Rev. 
 Robert Lomas, had not proceeded far in prayer before 
 his voice trembled and his words were choked : the 
 woman Mr. Collins visited, being present, lifted her eyes 
 to discover the cause of that broken utterance, and saw 
 that the Minister's face was wet with tears. The sigh 
 melted her. At the close of the prayer Mr. Lomas told 
 the people, " All last night I prayed for you." The 
 sermon smote, and that day a mighty movement com- 
 menced, which accelerated until cautious people feared 
 wildness, and would have stopped it ; but John Pawson 
 said, " It is of God ; let it alone. If you will not throw 
 cold water on it, it will bless you all." 
 
 Mr. Collins was a true son of consolation. Neither 
 lateness nor distance kept him from the afflicted when 
 they needed him. He says : " Mr. L. sent for me. I 
 went. He spake of the enemy. I told him of the 
 Friend. He covenanted with me two things : first, to 
 die rather than sin; and, second, to die rather than 
 doubt. So he came to faith. We had a hymn. I then 
 read Psalm xxv., and prayed. Near midnight I left him 
 singing, 
 
 My God is reconciled, 
 
 His pardoning voice I hear; 
 He owns me for His child, 
 I can no longer fear. 
 
 I walked home through the darkness, exulting in the 
 Lord. If people would praise God, they would neither 
 need pastimes nor fear footpads." 
 
 Abundance in the purse never tempted Mr. Collins to 
 self-indulgence. He continued simple and inexpensive 
 in all his habits, that he might be generous to the neces-
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 409 
 
 sitous. The Rev. J. Floyd, one of his colleagues, says, 
 " He delighted in the company of Christ's poor. He 
 often took tea in the midst of their families, and in cases 
 of distress they were not only cheered by the sympathy 
 which took him there, but also liberally aided by the gifts 
 he left behind him." 
 
 A correspondent writes : " I am but a working man, 
 and have but a lowly home, yet Mr. Collins was a fre- 
 quent visitor there. The remembrance of his pastoral 
 kindness and of his condescending, loving intercourse 
 will ever be cherished by my family with grateful affec- 
 tion." 
 
 Another says : " Out of a number of charitable acts 
 known to me I will tell you one. A thinly-clad child 
 was following the carts to pick up such little fragments 
 of coal as fell in their track. ' Why do so, my child ? ' 
 ' Because, please Sir, we have none at home.' ' Why 
 does not your father buy you some ? ' ' Father is dead, 
 Sir.' 'Where does your mother live ? ' The humble cot 
 was pointed out, and the questioner was soon over its 
 threshold. Next morning, to gladden the widow's 
 winter, a load of coals, much to her astonishment, was 
 shot down at her door." 
 
 The poor loved Mr. Collins for his beneficence ; the 
 unlettered flocked to hear his homely sermons, and even 
 the profane revered his spotless character. The Curate 
 of Greetland tells me that a cottager, whose eye bright- 
 ened at the mention of Mr. Collins's name, said of him, 
 " Sir, if you took a good horse, and rode the country 
 through, you would not in a summer's day come up with 
 a better preacher or a better man." 
 
 A lady once seeking, in Sowerby Street, to check the 
 ill words of a blasphemer, using a common phrase, said, 
 " Why swear, good man ? " and was oddly answered, 
 " Why do you tell lies by calling me good ? I only know 
 one good man in all the town, and that is Collins, the 
 Methody Parson." 
 
 A singular instance of the place he held in the esteem 
 of evil doers happened to himself. His diary records : 
 " As I was coming home, a man 'in drink' accosted me. 
 * I like you,' said he, ' and I like your family, and I like 
 your ways.' ' Well,' I replied, ' I am glad to be thought
 
 410 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 worthy of the approbation of my neighbours ; but one of 
 my ways is to keep away from the public house.' ' A 
 very good way too,' replied the poor fellow ; ' but, you 
 see, they catch me sometimes.' " 
 
 In all his journeys Mr. Collins, like his Master, went 
 about doing good. Of course such associations as the 
 chances of transit afford were not all found by him to 
 be of yielding stuff. Thus, once he met with a sceptic 
 who, stupidly mistaking a symbol in a poetic book for 
 a concrete stone and mortar architectural fact, thought 
 it witty to say, that "he found no inticement to heaven; 
 and certainly would rather not go than live in the top 
 stories of a city twelve thousand furlongs high." 
 
 Shortly after, an Antinomian came in his way, who 
 made light of sin, and despised warning as a legalism 
 unworthy of the elect. To such a one, who lived vilely, 
 and yet said, " I have no fears for myself," Rowland 
 Hill readily replied, " Then I have many fears for you." 
 Such filthy dreamers John Calvin would have spurned. 
 He, at all events, believed, " God hath chosen us in 
 Him before the foundation of the world, that we should 
 be holy and without blame before Him in love." 
 
 The next unmanageable companion was a lady, a 
 Papist. One of the many American sects gets the 
 quaint title of " Hardshells." The name would have 
 done for her. Quite confident that her creed had the 
 suffrage of all the Fathers, though of them she had 
 never read a single page; too narrow to believe that any 
 good could be in a Protestant ; too nimble of tongue to 
 leave space for many words from anybody else ; too pre- 
 judiced to set the slightest value upon the few they might 
 be able to interject ; and too scrupulous to allow her 
 eyes to be defiled by contents either of Gospel or tract ; 
 she seemed absolutely shot-proof. 
 
 Though not in every instance successful, yet to many 
 a fellow-passenger Mr. Collins preached Jesus with 
 saving results. Much good so done is known, but much 
 more waits for the final day to declare. 
 
 To children in the Sowerby Bridge Circuit unusual 
 blessing came through special sermons to them, special 
 meetings for them, and special attention given at their 
 homes. Many were gathered into the Church.
 
 SOWERBY BRIDGE. 4! I 
 
 Free from the cares of superintendency ; retired to some 
 extent from labours of outgoing, Mr. Collins, during these 
 three years, set himself heartily to fresh and deeper studies 
 of the Word. From pure joy in the work, he composed 
 there more and more valuable sermons than he had 
 within the same space of time ever done in his life before. 
 
 From various sources I learn that here, as elsewhere, 
 the impression left was, that they had had among them 
 a man very spiritually-minded ; an eminent Christian ; 
 a true saint ; a great 1 enemy to indolence, trifling, and 
 worldly conformity. His thorough acquaintance with 
 the Word of God gave wealth of truth both to his con- 
 versation and to his preaching. Talk, in his presence, 
 seemed always to go right. If he were there, social 
 gatherings were felt to be means of grace. 
 
 The scene, when the Quarterly Meeting gave him its 
 thanks, was most affecting. The testimonies to his 
 usefulness, numerous and hearty beyond any comparison, 
 made tears of adoring gratitude and love flow fast from 
 many eyes. 
 
 Was this to be wondered at? As a Minister, he had 
 not only done every duty of his place, but also added 
 incalculable extra work, such as afternoon preachings in 
 cottages, open-air addresses on spare evenings, and 
 countless visitations of outcast sick and poor. 
 
 Holiness, whether he were speaking in pulpits or par- 
 lours, had, as usual, been his most loved subject. Fre- 
 quency of recurrence in his lips produced, however, no 
 sense of monotony. The deep, long-continued medita- 
 tions of a mind of such native originality enabled him 
 to treat the theme with a variety impossible to feebler, 
 less thoughtful, or less experienced men. His pure life 
 gave force to his witness, while his manifest and perpetual 
 happiness invested his character with beauty, charm, and 
 attractiveness rarely equalled.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LEAMINGTON. 
 
 MR. COLLINS attended the Conference at Liverpool. 
 An incident at Stanhope Street chapel much delighted 
 him. His friend, the Rev. E. Brice, preached ; after the 
 service a young man came into the vestry and said, ''Mr. 
 Brice, twenty years ago, in this very chapel, your hand 
 Daptized, and here, to-night, your sermon has led me to 
 Jesus. Bless the Lord ! and bless you ! " 
 
 Mr. Collins writes : " This is the first Conference I 
 have known with Dr. Bunting away." The vacant place 
 of that great man was appropriately and tenderly, yet 
 manfully adverted to in the Annual Address: "Voices, 
 which for many years have counselled us, cease now to 
 be heard among us. The strong man boweth down. The 
 standard-bearer fainteth, not from lack of courage, but 
 from loss of strength. It is as when David went no 
 more out with his men to war. Yet we do not fail of heart 
 or hope. God, who has guided us in the past, guides us 
 still. Our trust is not in man, not even in the princes 
 among men, but in the living God." This due mingling 
 of respect for an honoured servant with unshaken con- 
 fidence in the great Master was in the true Christian 
 tone. " ' God with us,' no leader's absence can arrest 
 our army's march." 
 
 On Mr. Collins's return to Sowerby, an amusing inci- 
 dent occurred. Busy packing, he requested a young 
 candidate for the ministry to take a week-night service 
 for him, but was refused. " Well," said he, " if you 
 will not do this little thing for me, I must consider what 
 I can do for you." Those playful words were no fun 
 to the young man ; they sorely troubled him. Fear- 
 ing that he had created an enemy, whose ill word,
 
 LEAMINGTON. 413 
 
 perchance, might bar his way, he, a few days after, 
 sought an interview. The reception he met, kind 
 as usual, puzzled him. He inquired, " Sir, do you not 
 remember your last saying to me ? " " Perfectly." 
 " How am I to understand it ? " " Why, that so soon 
 as opportunity of serving you offers, I will embrace it" 
 " But, Sir, the words were a threat." "Yes, if from a 
 threatener's lips, but not irom a Christian's." After the 
 explanation the youth went home, not a little relieved by 
 finding, that in his pastor's heart no worse intention 
 rested than the Christ-like one of returning good for evil ; 
 that, in fact, the fancied menace was but a promise in 
 disguise. 
 
 Proceeding to London for settlement of some affairs, 
 Mr. Collins found himself by unexpected reception ot 
 arrears in better financial case than he had hoped. As 
 it was not his custom to lay up treasure, he at once light- 
 ened his purse by presenting 50 to the funds of the Wes- 
 leyan Missionary Society; and also by giving a like sum 
 to the Leamington Stewards, in aid of their addition of 
 new rooms to the too diminutive Circuit house. 
 
 In consequence of this building work, with its dust, 
 draughts, and disturbances, Mr. Collins kept back his 
 wife for a short time, and tells with sprightliness the 
 care he took in preparing for her comfort. Feeble, and 
 often suffering, sleep with her needed wooing ; but the 
 bed he found, if intended to give ease, was a good speci- 
 men of the art of how not to do it. It would have 
 served for the self-denials of an anchorite better than 
 for the light slumbers of an invalid. There were not 
 only boards athwart, but also a thick rail down the 
 middle. He merrily says : " Until this unbending timber 
 had been removed, that luxury of bed, a roll into the 
 centre, was a vain thing." 
 
 An early letter to his friend, Thomas Worthington, 
 fully expresses Mr. Collins's delight in entering upon his 
 new sphere : "Leamington suffered much by agitation; 
 but the united labours of my predecessors, Sanger and 
 Sharr, have been much blessed to its restoration. 
 When stationed in Coventry, I often held happy services 
 here. It somehow became a fixed idea in my mind that 
 after serving the Lord awhile in rougher fields He would
 
 414 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 lead me hither. By His providence I am now come. 
 On the first Sabbath I gave tickets in the morning to 
 brother Winterburn's class : by occasional pauses I got 
 through ; but, at brother Keartland's, in the afternoon, 
 when I found nearly all athirst for full salvation, though 
 I tried silence and pauses, I could command myself no 
 longer, but burst into tears of joy. My first month has 
 been one glow of delight. The country pleases me. 
 The beautiful, clean, quiet town pleases me. The recol- 
 lection of ' former rains ' pleases me. But, above all, to 
 find myself among many earnestly desiring to love my 
 Master with all their hearts, and to feel that, concerning 
 this matter, I have a message from God unto them, 
 makes my cup run over, and fills me with a rapture that 
 is inexpressible." 
 
 Local attachments were more common and stronger 
 in the last age than in this. Railways have made 
 Englishmen national. We belong to everywhere now- 
 a-days. The parish is less and the realm more to us. 
 In Mr. Collins the old fashion lingered. Affection for 
 his own country was strong in him. He loved his native 
 air, and of all shires put Warwick first. Appointment 
 to Leamington, the very pearl of Warwickshire, could 
 not but be a joy to him. 
 
 A Minister to whose Circuit Mr. Collins went for 
 special service tells me : " I drove him. The way lay 
 through lonely woodland. All at once he cried, ' Stop.' 
 I pulled up. He got out, and, taking off his hat, stood 
 as if in mute adoration. It was the fresh springtime, 
 and every branch seemed to have a songster amid its 
 foliage of vivid green. ' Do you not hear,' said he, 
 * those little creatures ? Their praise of God so stirs 
 my soul that I can keep quiet no longer. Come down. 
 They do all their nature can, but ours can do it better. 
 Let us say what they mean. Let us put into sentences 
 what they are only able to breathe into music.' I 
 descended, and joined him. The doxology and prayer 
 that followed I shall never forget." 
 
 With an ear so tuned, and a spirit so responsive, it is 
 scarcely necessary to say that Mr. Collins never moaned, 
 as some do, about country journeys. Village preaching 
 always delighted him. His heart dictated when, to a
 
 LEAMINGTON. 415 
 
 young Minister, his fingers wrote : " Never shirk hard 
 work, nor whine about long walks. Do not hanker to 
 be perpetually before crowds, and preaching to cultured 
 men. Look after the ignorant and such as are ' out of 
 the way.' Labour that itinerancy lose not its old glory ; 
 that it cease not to be what so long it has been, a minis- 
 try of mercy to scattered cottagers, and a boon to Eng- 
 land's rural population." 
 
 An early Leamington diary beautifully shows how syl- 
 van tastes and love of God redeemed his weary pedestrian 
 wayfarings from drudgery, and filled them with delight: 
 " Sunday, September 2Oth, 1857. The day was fine, 
 and the country lovely. I enjoyed amazingly the walk 
 from Stratford to my afternoon appointment at Snitter- 
 field. The noble elms, the green hedgerows, and the 
 many orchard trees, bending with fruit, delighted me. / 
 blessed the Lord for them all. The flocks were at rest. 
 No noise of toil broke from the quiet fields. Sabbath 
 repose, such as towns never know, rested on all the scene, 
 and each turn of the road brought fresh beauties into view. 
 I thought, as I went on my way, of early days spent in 
 these parts ; I mused on the mercies of my life, and then 
 gave thanks to God who had brought me hither to labour 
 among a people of courteous manners and gentle spirit ; 
 quick to hear and willing to receive my simple witness. 
 The sense of Divine goodness bowed me down, and the 
 hope that I should prevail with many of them to accept 
 the grace of perfect love so ravished my soul that I could 
 not refrain from tears of joy as I walked." 
 
 Mr. Collins found a true helper in his colleague. 
 Affectionate notices of Mr. Broadbent's usefulness are 
 frequent. Over the directness of his preaching, the 
 persistence of his labours, and the earnestness of his 
 search after souls, his Superintendent greatly rejoiced. 
 
 Under date October 2ist, I find memorable record of a 
 profitable " Bible tea." A few of such as were panting 
 after holiness were gathered to meet their pastor at the 
 house of a common friend. The narrative says, " They 
 dwelt upon the disease, I magnified the remedy." After 
 sundry explanations of the blessing, and rehearsals of 
 Divine promise concerning it, Mr. Collins turned to 
 Mark xi. 24, and reasoned it over with them. " What
 
 416 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye 
 receive them, and ye shall have them." All took part in 
 the conversation ; all seemed aided to believe ; all 
 solemnly covenanted together to continue in the exercise 
 of that faith the act of which is expressed in those 
 words : 
 
 Saviour from sin, I Thee receive, 
 From all indwelling sin. 
 
 The diary of November nth furnishes an excellent 
 specimen of skilful dealing with a difficult case. Zadoc 
 T. lay ill. It is disappointing to find one bearing such 
 a priestly name to be so ignorant. He felt no sin, and 
 would own none. A prayer-book lay by the bedside ; 
 Mr. Collins took it up and read for him the confession. 
 The man admitted that there might possibly have been 
 some few offences, slight affairs, but nothing, nothing 
 at all, deserving hell. His visitor next turned to the 
 petition, " Most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into 
 the bitter pains of eternal death," and said, " You think, 
 then, a prayer like that unnecessary for you ? " " Cer- 
 tainly." " Shall I cross it out?" "Well, no, Sir; the 
 lady who gave the book might not like that. It will 
 not hurt. I shall never say it." " But," said his faithful 
 monitor, " your assertion of innocence does worse than 
 clip a prayer, it rejects a Saviour. Paul, i Thess. i. 10, 
 speaks of 'Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to 
 come.' If you never were in peril of the wrath to 
 come, then is Jesus no Jesus to you. Am I to under- 
 stand that you let Christ, and Mercy, and Gospel go, 
 and that, for eternity, you trust only to yourself ? " " Well 
 Sir, no, Sir, I dare not go so far as that." " But you must 
 do one thing or the other. You must either take place 
 as a sinner, or, so far as you are concerned, you do 
 repudiate the Saviour. Which shall it be ? " Though, 
 to that man, the words, " Our Saviour," could never 
 have been more than a conventional phrase, yet, some- 
 how, when brought up full before him, the idea of 
 renouncing Jesus seemed terrible. The poor fellow 
 recoiled, and felt, in his shudder at the thought, that his 
 plea of innocence had broken down. He became a wil- 
 ling listener, as Mr. Collins taught him to pray :
 
 LEAMINGTON. 417 
 
 By Thy Spirit, Lord, reprove, 
 
 All my inmost sins reveal ; 
 Sins against Thy light and love, 
 
 Let me see and let me feel. 
 
 A little subsequently the Journal registers two facts of 
 the class which give point and barb to pulpit admoni- 
 tions. J. T. a sottish tinner, being drunk on Sunday 
 night, as he went reeling towards his home, fell head- 
 long down some steps; and after some hours, was 
 found, with fractured skull, lying at the bottom of them, 
 quite cold and dead. The very same week, P., another 
 inebriate, staggered into the canal, and was found 
 drowned. Both these, in illness, Mr. Collins had visited 
 and reproved. He observes : " Since they hardened 
 their necks, and would not be warned, God, in righteous- 
 ness, has made them warnings." 
 
 On Wednesday, November 25th, Mr. Collins met Mr. 
 and Mrs. Graham at Lady Carnegie's. They had just 
 returned from an evangelical gathering at Berlin. 
 Their account of the royal reception at Potsdam, given 
 to members of the Alliance, by the King and Queen of 
 Prussia, was exceedingly interesting. 
 
 The Quarterly Meeting, held December 28th, was 
 cheered by the report of an increase of twenty members, 
 with sixty on trial. 
 
 Mr. Collins once asked a farmer's boy, a Sunday 
 scholar, " Where are you in reading ? as far as the 
 Bible?" "The Bible!" he exclaimed, "/ am a long 
 way beyond that ! " It was Mr. Collins's fear that, in 
 some places where he had laboured, many, in hearing, 
 had got " a long way beyond that." Simple messages 
 from the Lord were distasteful to them ; their hunger 
 was for talent, intellect, and eloquence. He says, 
 " they lusted after great men ; looked for commodities 
 from London ; and despised the idea of being one whit 
 behind metropolitans : but my people here appear to be 
 content with communications from heaven, whether via 
 London or not." 
 
 A field labourer followed Mr. Collins, one week night, 
 from a village chapel, " Thank you, Sir," said he, " for 
 that sermon. I understood every word of it ; and so I 
 did when you were here on Sunday." This praise from 
 
 E E
 
 41 8 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 the lowly, even though balanced by scorn of the vain, he 
 greatly delighted in. Mr. Collins's sermons, like a king 
 in homespun, did not always get the respect they 
 deserved. The feeble-witted folk, who mistook glitter 
 for gold, and nebulosity for depth, sometimes pronounced 
 his plain speech to be shallow and mean ; but better 
 judges wondered at his strength, and admired his sim- 
 plicity. His power of searching the heart was not often 
 equalled. A scholar and a gentleman, who was some- 
 times an auditor, said, " All your discourses seem to be 
 about me. None other, that ever I hear, get inside me as 
 yours do" 
 
 About this time good work was done among young 
 people. One went home in inconcealable distress ; she 
 at once begged her grandmother to go with her to her 
 chamber and pray ; in that chamber she received com- 
 fort. Another, having, in the lovefeast, heard testimony 
 of some who had brought matters to an issue by deter- 
 mining that they would give no sleep to their eyes until 
 they found the Lord, set herself in like manner to a 
 vigil of prayer. The selfsame night Jesus, to her also, 
 manifested Himself. 
 
 One of the delights of Mr. Collins's present location 
 was, that his evangelistic excursions from that centre 
 led him up and down among scenes of former labours. 
 Many of the converts made during his previous four 
 years' ministry within the bounds of the Birmingham 
 District, he found to be firmly fixed monuments of grace, 
 pillars of the churches, and not a few of them lovely 
 witnesses of full salvation. 
 
 Mr. Collins strengthened himself in hope : he writes 
 " It may be that in this place the Lord will requite the 
 sore travail of my heart, and give me many children, 
 as in the days of old. Methodism in this fashionable 
 centre attracts little public attention. Our cause is not 
 much thought of by the great and gay who throng this 
 town. Yet Jesus regards us in our low estate. I often 
 in the closet see the glory glancing down from the face 
 of the Beloved." 
 
 Mr. Collins's strong sense and thorough knowledge of 
 God's Word made him very useful when presiding among 
 his lay helpers. A Local Preacher, in recoil from the
 
 LEAMINGTON. 419 
 
 Sabellianism taught by some aggressive Swedenborgian 
 lecturer, unguardedly spoke of separate Persons of the 
 Godhead. His pastor at once reminded him that the 
 catholic faith is this : " That we worship one God in 
 trinity, and trinity in unity ; neither confounding the 
 persons, nor dividing the substance ;" the ancient phrase 
 which duly and justly expresses the orthodox idea being 
 " distinct persons," not " separate persons." " But, 
 Sir," said the puzzled polemic, " can a thing be distinct 
 without being separate J" " O yes," was the reply, 
 " we need not soar so high to find out that. " See that 
 lamp: its flame, its heat, its radiance, are certainly dis- 
 tinct, but yet essentially inseparable." 
 
 At the same meeting an ill-furnished candidate for 
 place on the Plan presented himself. The examination 
 of him brought out a strange " Comedy of Errors." 
 " Why are these brethren called Local Preachers ?" 
 Whether, seeing that his defective theology had insured 
 that it was all over with him, he wished to have a 
 Parthian shot at his censors as he retired, I cannot say; 
 but he gravely answered, " The name (q. d., ' low call ') 
 signifies them to be of a lower order than the Travelling 
 Preachers." An etymologist whose mistakes were 
 satires, would never do. The brethren dropped him 
 instanter. 
 
 I throw together, and subjoin, a few characteristic 
 critiques penned about this time : 
 
 " Heard the Rev. J. A. James. His subject led him 
 to describe the religious quickening in the last century. 
 I noticed that he coupled Whitefield and Wesley ; but 
 invariably in that order, always giving precedence to 
 Whitefield. After exulting over the great revival now 
 in progress in America, he observed, ' Some shrink from 
 acknowledging anything Divine about it, because there 
 is slavery in America. He admitted the fact, but 
 added, to show that the work might be genuine never- 
 theless, 'Whitefield had slaves.' My Methodist heart 
 beat quicker with joy at the thought that he could not 
 put John Wesley's name first, second, or anywhere, in 
 connection with that evil thing which, with incomparable 
 force, his pen has branded for all time as 'the execrable 
 sum of all villanies.' To see Mr. James looking so 
 E E 2
 
 42O CHAPTER XV. 
 
 well, to hear him preach so ably, and, above all, to 
 observe the affectionate earnestness of his manner, 
 greatly delighted me." 
 
 " Attended the District Missionary Meeting in the 
 Town Hall at Birmingham. Thornton and Punshon 
 served the cause admirably. The third speaker did not 
 achieve much. His time was consumed, I fear wasted, 
 in laboured descriptions of battlefields and graveyards. 
 These piles of rhetoric never stir Christian people so 
 deeply as information about rod's work, and strong 
 theology manfully put." 
 
 " Heard Dr. Dixon at City Road. The text was, ' My 
 Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' The view set 
 before us of the work was comprehensive ; the faith was 
 noble that glowed in his exhibition of the purpose and 
 competency of Christ to carry it on, and to finish it suc- 
 cessfully. The doctor's infirmity of vision and increasing 
 weakness rob him of physical power ; but, on the other 
 hand, they awaken so much respectful and affectionate 
 sympathy, that I know not whether the final effect be 
 less than in the days of his prime." 
 
 " Heard Dr. Guthrie at Queen Street from, ' It pleased 
 the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.' The 
 sermon was rich in truth, fresh in form, simple in lan- 
 guage, beautiful in illustration, and replete with heavenly 
 unction." 
 
 " Heard Spurgeon at the Surrey Gardens. He did 
 three capital things : he spoke vital truth, he spoke out, 
 and he spoke home. These things people like. The 
 vast hall was crowded. I rejoiced at the sight. The 
 Gospel hath its old power yet." 
 
 Mr. Collins's Journal registers a remarkable narrative 
 which he heard, and thus noted down from the lips of an 
 eye-witness : 
 
 " Mr. W. said, ' My friend, the late Rev. John Henley, 
 when attempting to preach out of doors in a village 
 within the bounds of the Witney Circuit, was so per- 
 sistently disturbed by a rude, ungodly blasphemer, that 
 he thought it wise quietly to dismiss the congregation 
 with a blessing, subsequently announcing the date upon 
 which he would again be there. ' Ay,' cried the sot, 
 ' and I'll be here with you, and put you down again.'
 
 LEAMINGTON. 421 
 
 ' God will not let you.' ' I'll try Him,' said the ribald. 
 ' God will not let you,' was firmly repeated. The day 
 came. Henley preached ; and the congregation shud- 
 dered as, ere the service was halfway through, they saw 
 the coffined corpse of that shameless man borne past 
 them to its unhonoured grave." 
 
 Jottings of travel, well worthy of memory, are 
 frequent : 
 
 " Saturday, July loth, 1858. I was hospitably enter- 
 tained at Mr. Loxton's. The servant she informed me, 
 her brother also was one of my spiritual children. 
 
 " Sunday, July nth. I opened a new schoolroom at 
 Woodside. The Lord helped me. The people re- 
 sponded and wept as of old. Many after the service 
 claimed filial relation to me. 
 
 " Monday, July i2th. As I was proceeding by third 
 class to Birkenhead, three butchers got into the carriage. 
 Two were grave, the third was young and jocose. 
 
 * Come,' said he, as soon as he was set down, ' we have 
 some pretty young women here, anyhow.' The young 
 women referred to seemed confused by this uninvited 
 admiration : so, to turn his attention from them I 
 offered him a tract. He refused it, saying, that he 
 neither was religious nor ever would be. I answered 
 with a hope that his last words might not prove to be 
 true. He said, ' I don't like cant. We are sent into 
 the world to do good ; and perhaps I do more of that 
 than some who talk so much.' 'We agree so far,' I 
 replied, ' I also hate cant, and like to do good. But, I 
 have observed that they are most likely to do good who 
 have first sought to be good.' ' Well,' said he, ' I bring 
 up a family of fatherless and motherless children ; I 
 reckon that that is good.' ' It is, exceedingly good to 
 them. Are they your brothers and sisters?' 'Yes.' 
 
 * Then, for taking such care of them, you are a very 
 kind brother ? Are there any little ones among them ? 
 any that would like a few picture books ? ' ' Ay ! they 
 are always after pictures.' ' Here, then,' said I, ' are 
 some.' He took them readily ; nor did he now refuse 
 the tract I slipped in for himself. We thus got upon 
 good terms ; and at the end of the journey he heartily 
 bade me ' good bye ; ' and the young women, whom I
 
 422 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 found to be of a godly family, thanked me for having 
 been their shield. 
 
 "Tuesday, July I3th. I passed a pleasant evening 
 hour conversing with my relatives in Henry's garden. 
 From thence were visible, here, iron furnaces, belching 
 flames ; yonder, long, graceful lines of light marking 
 the course of the gaslit streets. Now and then the sky 
 was irradiated by most beautiful fireworks, shot up from 
 some public gardens not far distant ; while over the 
 busy Mersey, ships and steamers, making strange reflec- 
 tions in the waters, were gliding hither and thither. We 
 sat until half-past ten, and the air was so soft, and the 
 scene so delightful, that I could have stayed all night. 
 When I got in, the hostess at my lodging became com- 
 municative; told me of an offer of marriage; asked my 
 opinion ; and, to help my judgment, drew from her bosom 
 a photogram of the gentleman. When I saw whence 
 the picture came, I suggested my notion that the time 
 for giving opinions was gone. She smiled assent, and I 
 hastened to rest. 
 
 " Wednesday, July i4th. I arrived at Sowerby Bridge. 
 Conversing with Mrs. T. of numbers whom recently I 
 had known to be saved, she asked, 'Are such cases real ?' 
 and then added, ' Doubt of my own conversion is a 
 temptation that often besets me. I never contend with 
 the accuser about whether it were genuine or not. I 
 just reply, " Granted, Satan, that I never was saved 
 before, I will be this hour, for I accept the Saviour now."' 
 I replied, ' The relief you get comes not from what you 
 grant to the devil, but from what you receive from Jesus; 
 which might just as well have been received without 
 that grant. Your plan, as you see, leaves you inclined 
 to question the work of God upon others ; it formally 
 surrenders what you should hold, and God be praised 
 for ; and, after all, it is but a device, an untrue thing ; 
 you do not, in your heart, grant what you say ; it ignobly 
 evades the foe who ought to be smitten and conquered. 
 For my part, I grant the devil nothing, but resist him, 
 " steadfast in the faith" ' 
 
 On Monday, July igth, Mr. Collins returned home. 
 The journey was not without peril. The train by which 
 he travelled, ill-guided, ran into some coal-trucks. The
 
 LEAMINGTON. 423 
 
 concussion gave him a blow which broke a tooth in his 
 mouth. Many passengers were much shaken and 
 severely bruised, but no life was lost ; and, so far as 
 he knew, but for his unfortunate tooth, it might have 
 been said that no bone was broken. To an Irishman, 
 injured in a similar disaster, a fellow-passenger re- 
 marked, "You must sue the directors for damages." 
 " Damages is it you say? I've had enough of them, sure. 
 It's repairs I'm wanting." Mr. Collins, much of the 
 same mind, left the directors untroubled, but resorted to 
 his dentist, got a new tooth, and so the matter ended. 
 
 " Thursday, July 22nd. On my way to Watlington I 
 reached Oxford by an evening train. As I wished to 
 look round the city, I found home for the night in a 
 comfortable inn. At five in the morning I arose, and, 
 in the chamber there, had sweet communion with the 
 Lord. My meditations were based upon John xiv. 15 : 
 ' If ye love Me, keep My commandments.' I carefully 
 scrutinised myself by that test. I said, ' O Lord Jesus, 
 of what is due unto Thee my efforts come short: but yet, 
 Thou that knowest all things knowest that I love Thee. 
 My illness has made some bodily indulgence necessary ; 
 but I am jealous lest I should allow too much, or extend 
 the term of it too long. Thy mercy has very consider- 
 ably restored me. Help me, therefore, to return to my 
 forewonted self-denials, whether as to abstinence, early 
 rising, or work. I deplore before Thee that many excel- 
 lent thoughts which Thou from time to time has given 
 me, by my omission of painstaking record, to my loss, 
 and to the loss of Thy people, have been let slip. By 
 Thy grace I here devote myself to do with fresh diligence 
 Thy work. I will especially endeavour that my conver- 
 sation with all manner of persons shall more directly 
 convey to them testimony for Thy truth, and words for 
 their salvation. With Thee, O Jesus, I covenant to 
 attempt these things, believing that Thou wilt pray the 
 Father, and that He will give me the Comforter to enable 
 me to perform them.' " 
 
 Sallying forth, after breakfast, Mr. Collins met, fortu- 
 nately, with a policeman off duty. The man proved to be a 
 Wesleyan, and made it a labour of love to take the stranger 
 Minister in charge, and show him round the sights of the
 
 424 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 city. Not unnaturally, Mr. Collins's chief interest was 
 in the Martyrs' Memorial, near to the spot where Latimer 
 told Ridley to play the man in the fire ; in Lincoln Col- 
 lege, of which John Wesley was sometime Fellow; and 
 in St. Mary's church, where, on Friday, August 24th, 
 1744, that great man preached to a crowded congregation 
 his last university sermon. The subject was, " Scriptural 
 Christianity ; " the text, Acts iv. 31. The conclusion is 
 a warning appeal, serious, compassionate, and though 
 without anger, satire, or invective of incomparable 
 fidelity. After that faithful discourse, Mr. Wesley 
 wrote, " I have fully delivered my soul. I am clear of 
 the blood of these men." It was not long before intima- 
 tion was given him that he might testify in that pulpit 
 no more. When, as a Fellow of the college, his turn to 
 preach recurred, thenceforth the authorities called him 
 not, but paid another to take his place. The day of this 
 final service happened on the anniversary of that Black 
 1662 Bartholomew, when so many godly Ministers were 
 at once ejected from the Church by law established in 
 these realms. Among those confessors, Dr. Annesley 
 and John Wesley of Whitchurch, grandsires of the 
 preacher, had both been numbered. When adverting to 
 his barring-out from the university pulpit, this parallel 
 of date appears to have been a comfort. Mr. Wesley 
 felt honoured that, in some sort, persecution had put him 
 in line with Baxter and Bates, Howe and Henry, and 
 their compeers of the former age. The thing being done, 
 he says, " I am well pleased that it should be on the 
 very day upon which, in the last century, near two thou- 
 sand burning and shining lights were put out at one 
 stroke." The Church that rejected Wesley did it much 
 to her loss, and more to her shame. Of that evil good 
 hath come. Methodism, free as Christianity in the 
 Apostolic age, blesses the world better for being unen- 
 cumbered either with the Service Book, the ceremonials, 
 or the trammels of the State religion. 
 
 From Oxford Mr. Collins took rail to Culham ; from 
 thence proceeded by waggon to Dorchester. Dined at 
 Dorchester. He says, " When the waitress at the inn 
 brought me water, I took occasion to remind her of 
 that Fountain which the Lord hath opened, in which
 
 LEAMINGTON. 425 
 
 poor sinners may wash and be clean. She wept as I 
 spoke." 
 
 Setting forth again he preached Gospel on the road to 
 a beggar, who went the same way for a mile. His next 
 companion was a mother, evidently much weary with 
 long carrying of her child. " Would you leave it ? " he 
 asked. " Not for my life," she replied. He then told 
 her of a Father whose arm never tires, and of whose love 
 her motherly affection was but a dim shadow. 
 
 Soon after she stayed at her cot, the road divided, and 
 no finger-post was there to tell the puzzled pedestrian 
 the way he should take. He got over a gate, made up 
 to a busy reaper, and asked of him direction. The man 
 readily and courteously gave it. Mr. Collins says : " I 
 prayed the Holy Ghost to direct him into the way of the 
 cross." "Sir," said the man, " are you a Methodist 
 Preacher ? " The man was a Methodist member, so the 
 two were " at one" directly. 
 
 Wearied by carrying a carpet bag, in a harvest day, 
 through a walk of eight miles, when he reached the 
 village of Bridewell, he turned into the first house of 
 refreshment he saw, and desired the woman to get him 
 a cup of tea. She gruffly told him, " They sold beer, 
 not tea, there." He turned pleasantly to the little boy, 
 prattled with him a little while, and then gave him a 
 book. The loquacious child soon let him know that he 
 had a sister upstairs in bed, whither she had been sent 
 for some fault. A little picture was added to the gift for 
 her also, when she should come down and do better. 
 After this little scene, turning to the mother, he said, 
 " Perhaps you would give me a cup of cold water, 
 Ma'am." Soft words had killed her unkindness. " Sit 
 down, Sir," she said ; " / have put the kettle on" 
 
 The day ended by his safe arrival at Watlington, at 
 the house of his son in the Gospel, the Rev. Daniel 
 Farquhar, in which Circuit he did service with encourag- 
 ing success. 
 
 The next Journal entry was of intense domestic 
 interest : " Tuesday, August lyth, 1858. I gave my 
 dear child Emily in marriage to the Rev. John Broadbent. 
 All the help I could summon, either of reason or faith, 
 was needed to enable me to make with equanimity
 
 426 . CHAPTER XV. 
 
 the surrenderor a treasure that had been so precious. The 
 Holy Presence overshadowed us in the devotional exer- 
 cises of the day. May the Lord's blessing be upon both ! " 
 
 Doubtless the paternal blessing fell ; but Heaven's 
 answers come not always in the shape we wish. The 
 fair dawn of that sweet bride's life was soon and sadly 
 overcast. One short month found her returned to her 
 home, the subject of distressing illness. 
 
 Mr. Collins writes : " September aist. Through the 
 night dear Emmy was sleepless and in pain. At four 
 A.M. I withdrew to my study to plead for her relief. 
 Approaching my heavenly Father, I first set myself to 
 embrace His whole will. I prayed Him, at whatever 
 cost to me, to glorify Himself. I then reminded Him 
 that my child was His child ; that my love for her was 
 from Him, and but a shadow of His ; I committed her 
 into His hands, assuring myself that His protecting 
 power was so great that none else could hurt us, and His 
 Paternal love so tender that He would not. 
 
 " I next recognised the rights of Jesus, my Master. 
 To His decision, as my Sovereign Lord, I asked perfect 
 submission, but yet put before Him my petition. I re- 
 minded Him of His own strong crying and tears, and 
 cast myself upon His sympathy. 
 
 " I then addressed myself unto the adorable Spirit; 
 spoke to Him of my sorrows, and drew near to Him as 
 my Comforter. 
 
 " From my Triune Friend, my Covenant God, who 
 withholdeth no good thing, I numbly asked sleep for my 
 suffering child." 
 
 A speedy answer came. She, who for two nights had 
 had no sleep, in half an hour gently sank into a slumber, 
 from which, for eight hours, she did not awake. Thus 
 soon prayer was turned into praise. 
 
 During a necessary absence Mr. Collins wrote the fol- 
 lowing precious words of counsel to the much harassed 
 sufferer : " You speak of temptation : make not too 
 much of it. We do unwisely when we magnify our 
 assailant. He is but a conquered devil after all. Let 
 your thoughts dwell most upon the almightiness of your 
 Helper. Magnify Him. Do so, do so, my child. 
 
 " Receive God's unspeakable gift, accustom your heart
 
 LEAMINGTON. 427 
 
 to the ceaseless habit of believing gratitude for it. Let the 
 breath of your soul be, ' Thanks be unto Thee, O God.' 
 
 " You tell me that I do not know the vileness of your 
 sin. The vileness of sin yours, mine, anybody's God 
 only knows. But though we know not the vileness of 
 sin, we do know, and are sure of, the superabounding ' 
 vastness of grace. Abandon yourself, a wretch undone 
 and lost, into the broad depths of atoning love revealed 
 in the blood of Jesus. This shall be your righteousness. 
 
 " In regard of cure, what means can do is being done ; 
 but the Lord above means can do all for you. Habituate 
 yourself to repose in Him. Yes, repose entirely upon 
 your heavenly Father. Have faith in God, and be of a 
 tranquil mind. God will glorify His name. That con- 
 tented His Son, and should content us, dear Emmy.' 
 
 This painful season led to great searchings of heart. 
 " Have I loved this dear creature too much? Have I 
 thought too much of her ? As to my love of her, the Lord 
 knows that what I loved most in her was her love of Him" 
 
 During the continuance of the trial exercises of sub- 
 mission were frequent. " What ground have I to claim 
 exemption from the common human lot ? Shall not I, 
 who all my life have been receiving mercies at the hand 
 of the Lord, now, patiently, bear His stroke ? " 
 
 While these thoughts precluded murmuring, they no 
 way barred his right of telling the Lord his sorrow ; of 
 setting before the Paternal heart his wish, and of making 
 his supplication known. Accordingly his own pleadings 
 were oft protracted until midnight. Colleagues and 
 friends of known spiritual power were taken aside, that 
 they might join their entreaties with his own. His wife 
 was called in to share his Friday retirement, and the 
 Society gathered in special meeting for united intercession. 
 
 Mr. Worthington writes : " I met Mr. Collins, by ap- 
 pointment, in the Minister's vestry. A fire had been 
 kindled, as if for a lengthened service. We were alone. 
 He unbosomed to me the exceeding pressure of sorrow 
 he felt on behalf of his beloved and suffering child. He 
 told me how, while making true acts of submission, he had 
 lately felt drawings towards acts of faith for relief. Then 
 adverting to the touching circumstances; a bride, stricken 
 with affliction in her honeymoon : affliction which, so
 
 428 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 timed, could not but give exquisite anguish to her 
 parents, and throw early shadow along the life-path of 
 her husband. He requested my unbiassed judgment, 
 whether this were such a case as would warrant our 
 united claiming, for her healing, the Lord's Word, writ- 
 ten Matt, xviii. 19 : 'If two of you shall agree on earth 
 as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done 
 for them of My Father, which is in heaven.' I answered 
 that, in my mind, it was. Then said he solemnly, ' I 
 intend to put my Heavenly Father to the trial. Will you 
 agree with me not to leave the throne of grace until we 
 receive inward assurance that this cup will pass from us, 
 and this request of ours be granted ? ' I replied, ' I do 
 so agree ; and, the Holy Ghost being my helper, will not 
 cease my plea until the answer come.' 
 
 " I had seen much of my ever-to-be revered friend 
 before : I had often seen him clothed with Divine power 
 when, as upon Samson, 'the Spirit of the Lord came 
 mightily upon him ; ' but, now, I saw him, Jacob-like, 
 wrestling with God in an agony of prayer. The struggle 
 Continued for hours. I, strengthened by witnessing a 
 pleading that would not be denied, and the efforts of a 
 faith that would not yield, grew sweetly assured that 
 Heaven's ' So be it ' had been uttered. At length, 
 similar conviction turned Mr. Collins's prayer to praise. 
 He rose, made the place ring with his hallelujahs, threw 
 his arms round my neck, and wept tears of pure joy. 
 That scene of conflict and of triumph can never be 
 erased from my mind while memory holds its seat." 
 
 After that morning, Mr. Collins never wavered. He 
 knew that the Lord had in mercy heard. Soon the 
 black cloud broke, the peril passed, and the beloved 
 sufferer was restored. But, though back in the circle, 
 quick eyes thenceforth saw Heaven's mark upon her. 
 Mr. Collins himself, from that time, kept the idea that 
 she was but lent, and would be as in fact turned out 
 at an early date reclaimed. Thus writing to the Rev. 
 James Harris, he said : " My dear child is better. Yet 
 the thought continually comes over me, with strange 
 reality, that the Lord intends to call her early home. O 
 my friend ! but I check myself. At this time the Lord 
 hath heard me, and I will not antedate future sorrows,
 
 LEAMINGTON. 429 
 
 nor allow myself to wander beyond the present moment 
 and the present duty. To the glory of God I must add, 
 that by sending us more to prayer ; by teaching us to 
 hold each other in God's will ; and by preparing us to 
 sympathize with the sorrows of others ; this has proved 
 to be a blessed affliction." 
 
 About this time there came to Leamington a peripa- 
 tetic shilling-gatherer, an orator by trade, whose chief 
 capital lay in lungs and brass ; his theme was Wesley. 
 That name drew Mr. Collins among the auditors. The 
 subject was beyond the man. Brief listening would 
 have made Henry Moore say to him, " Sir, the well is 
 deep, and tJwu hast nothing to draw with." Evidence was 
 wanting alike of the insight of genius, and of the patience 
 of research. The discourse was. right when its autho- 
 rities happened to be so. However, if it ran short of 
 information, it had no lack of venom. Inuendo, satire, 
 and invective against the Methodism of to-day were 
 blended in it with considerable clap-trap skill. Mr. Col- 
 lins ever loyal rose at the end, and without debating 
 opinions calmly corrected some of the lecturer's errors 
 in fact. He left the room convinced that the chief per- 
 former there had more action than elegance, more rhetoric 
 than knowledge, and more impudence than either. 
 
 Mr. Collins's frame had irrecoverably lost its early 
 hardness. The nerves of steel that once accepted plea 
 santly wood, or damp sea-cave, as closet, now thrilled 
 with agony in the currents of a draughty room. The 
 Leamington study was not the best thing in the Circuit ; 
 it had the chapel wall for a prospect, and was sunless 
 and cold. Mr. Collins had always rejoiced to be much 
 alone ; to stay with God ; and, as he said, " to ply argu- 
 ments in prayer." Though his fellowship abridged 
 would, to most, have been communion notably extended, 
 yet he mourned the physical necessity which, by rheu- 
 matic pain, ever-recurring in that gloomy place, con- 
 tracted the hours of his beloved retirement. One chilly 
 Sabbath, his morning interview with his Master thus 
 abbreviated, he went forth to his duties, though uncon- 
 demned, depressed. To the first person he met, he gave 
 a tract. "Thank you, Sir," said the man, "and may 
 God bless your labours this day ! " That unexpected
 
 43 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 benison from the wayfarer sent the workman on with 
 sunshine in his soul. 
 
 The diary contains the following characteristic obi- 
 tuary : 
 
 " November I4th, 1859. Daniel Farquhar died of 
 typhus fever. He was my own son in the Gospel. The 
 Lord gave him to me at Stronsay. He was a good man, 
 and a diligent pastor. Through life he had many fears, 
 but his dying witness was, ' I am upon the Rock ! ' ' 
 
 Special cases of usefulness still resulted from Mr. Col- 
 lins's ministry. A young man, of respectable family, had 
 been ensnared and disgraced by the demon of drink. 
 His employer talked seriously with him, and besought 
 him to become at once a teetotaller. " Never ! " he 
 replied energetically, " Never, while a blade of barley 
 grows ! " When found so stubborn, he was told, " Only 
 regard for your worthy parents leads me to retain you 
 one single day; but, take warning; that reason, weighing 
 this once, will have place no more. Upon the next 
 offence, you leave." The following Sunday evening the 
 youth was at chapel ; the text was Dan. iv. 27 : " Break 
 off thy sins by righteousness." Mr. Collins, in pithy 
 words, showed how sinners should break off their sins : 
 short off; all off ; dear off. As one close-fitting 
 truth after another was uttered, the hearer felt indig- 
 nant, thinking that the preacher had been informed of 
 his misconduct; but, when afterwards assured that no 
 such thing had been done, he said, " Well, it is clear, 
 then, if you did not tell him, God did ; for that sermon, 
 every word of it, was to me." He not only signed the 
 pledge forthwith, but also set himself earnestly to seek 
 the Lord. 
 
 Remaining notes enable me to present another picture 
 of this vigilant evangelist on a journey. May his labour 
 and success enable many another of the Lord's servants 
 to scatter seed as they go ! 
 
 " At the station I reproved a hoary blasphemer. The 
 old man answered roughly at the first, but soon softened 
 down, and gave me good wishes at parting. My next 
 word was with a drunkard. These quick following in- 
 stances of human sin and folly moved me to tears. 
 
 " In the train I presented a New Testament to a
 
 LEAMINGTON. 431 
 
 soldier ; he received it gladly, and I was pleased to see 
 that he caught my meaning at once when I called it ' a 
 sword.' A cooper got in at an early station, and, without 
 apology, lighted a pipe. After a little introductory talk 
 I submitted for his consideration whether the cost of that 
 cloudy gratification would not send a child to school ; 
 and whether that would not be a better outlay, as it 
 would confer a benefit that would last for ever? He 
 said, ' I never thought of that, but it is true ; so out 
 goes the pipe, and here's for the child ? ' ' Do you mean 
 that ? Will you give up the practice ? ' ' To be sure I 
 will, and send the young un to school ? ' 'I am glad so 
 pleasantly to have put your pipe out. Will you oblige 
 me by the gift of the cast-off thing ? ' ' Certainly, Sir, 
 here it is.' So, with joy, I brought the trophy home." 
 
 While away, walking through an old churchyard, 
 Mr. Collins came upon a venerable stone erected many 
 years ago by a widower. After the wife's name came 
 her character, thus expressed, " AN ODD WOMAN." The 
 very favourable traditionary exposition of the doubtful 
 phrase was that her husband held her to be of such 
 unparalleled excellence, so uniquely good, that she must 
 ever stand alone, the broad earth being unable to furnish 
 for her a match. 
 
 On Sunday, February igth, I86o, Mr. Collins preached 
 at Oldbury. Several obtained mercy. Take one case. 
 The notes are curt but instructive. " ' Are you a be- 
 liever ? ' ' No.' ' How long have you been seeking 
 salvation ? ' ' Years.' ' Who is it, whom through all 
 those years you have not believed ? ' ' Christ.' ' What ? 
 not believe Christ ! Is He a liar ? ' The youth paused, 
 then slowly and firmly answered, ' He is not.' ' But 
 He says, " He that believeth on Me hath everlasting 
 life," and you can't believe Him.' I can.' ' You won't.' 
 * I will.' ' But you don't.' ' I do.' ' You won't continue. 
 4 I will.' ' Then, man, if these things be so, you are a 
 believer.' ' Yes, now I am, and, hallelujah ! I, this 
 moment, feel that God is my salvation.' " 
 
 " Saturday, May igth. I went to Erdington, four 
 miles from Birmingham, to see the Rev. James Heaton, 
 one of the guides of my youth. He was aged, bed- 
 ridden, and blind, yet happy ! After praising God for
 
 432 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 manifold help, he added : ' Yet now, in my meditations, 
 I often see how I might have fulfilled my ministry more 
 wisely.' Wishing the benefit of his reviews of life, I 
 asked what course, from his standpoint, appeared to be 
 the wise one. He replied, ' A Minister should enter 
 into, and devote himself wholly to the accomplishment 
 of, God's saving designs.' This voice from the shores of 
 eternity more than repaid the cost of my visit." 
 
 " Saturday, June gth, 1860. Lady Carnegie died, 
 aged ninety-seven. This excellent person had, to the 
 last, all the teachableness of a young convert. Her 
 simplicity of faith was very beautiful. She was a friend 
 to every good work, a liberal giver, and perfectly free 
 from ' the pride of life.' " 
 
 "Sunday, July 8th. I preached at Barnacle. Mr. 
 Birch told me how a singular piece of good fortune had 
 happened lately to one in his employ. Having pur- 
 chased a clock, to his dismay, he found that there was 
 not room enough for its tall case to stand in his low- 
 roofed kitchen. As the best help for a bad matter, he 
 took up some quarries of the floor, and dug out a hole. 
 While doing this, he turned up two ancient coins. They 
 became playthings for his children, and were so some 
 time before his attention was directed to them. When 
 at length aware of their value, he at once made further 
 search, and in the issue fourteen golden guineas re- 
 warded his pains. The finding of that hidden treasure 
 furnished an effective illustration for my sermon to the 
 villagers." 
 
 In the closing year of the Leamington appointment 
 Mr. Collins was called to visit the county gaol, in the 
 very difficult position of chosen spiritual adviser of a 
 murderer, who was in confinement there. From his 
 notes I will select enough to show his wise, faithful, and 
 successful dealing with the case. 
 
 Tuesday, April 24th, 1860. I was summoned to attend at Warwick 
 gaol, upon Francis Price, a prisoner there. The charge against him 
 was murder. I felt a momentary recoil from the man of blood ; but, 
 as it seemed a call of duty, set forth earnestly praying for wisdom so 
 to deal with the case that the culprit might be led to salvation, and 
 at the same time the purity and honour of religion be magnified. 
 
 I was shown into a vacant cell ; the prisoner was brought to me, 
 and we were locked in together, alone. His bewildered look im-
 
 LEAMINGTON. 433 
 
 pressed me with an idea of defective intellect, which, however, my 
 after intercourse removed. In answer to my inquiry, " Why did you 
 send for me ? " He said that he understood Methodists best ; that he 
 had most claim on them ; that his father had been a lay preacher in the 
 New Connexion ; afterwards a hired Scripture Reader for them amon 
 the Papists of Limerick and Arran ; that he died an accredited man 
 among them ; and that his Memoir might be found in their Magazine 
 for the year 1845. From that Memoir, which I obtained afterwards 
 and read, I found what encouraged me in hope for this guilty an 
 wayward son. The good man in his dying hours had consoled himself 
 with God's words of gracious promise for believers' children. 
 
 The early disposition of Francis appears to have been unusually 
 vicious. When but a child, he was a truant from school, a pilferer at 
 home, a lover of bad companions, ready at all mischief, and precocious 
 in ill speech. The lad's mother only survived his father two years. 
 Before she died, she apprenticed him to a shoemaker ; from whose 
 service, soon after her death, he absconded. Without parent or 
 friend, he wandered over the land, suffering misery, and wallowing 
 in vice. He begged with lying tales ; picked up pence as a cad, or 
 filched as opportunity served ; ran races for money ; enlisted, deserted, 
 and enlisted again, three times ; got into prison in Liverpool five 
 months, and in Wakefield six, for stealing watches. 
 
 At Birmingham he fell violently in love with a comely and honest 
 servant maiden. To set himself favourably before her he paid a 
 skilled man to make a beautiful pair of boots which he presented to 
 her as the work of his own hands. Deceived into the thought that 
 he was a clever artizan and a true man, she promised to marry him. 
 Soon of course tales of his evil antecedents reached her. 
 
 She then hesitated ; told him he must wait ; and, when his impor- 
 tunity became irksome, finally recalled her promise. 
 
 Passion made him desperate. On April i8th, 1860, he went to a 
 neighbouring house, and sent for her in her sister's name. She 
 came. Nor did she seem much surprised when she found the mes- 
 sage to be a trick. She sat down. He sat at her right hand. " Will 
 you have me ? " he asked. Her refusal was immediate and decided. 
 In a moment his left hand seized her head, while his right, with a 
 shoemaker's knife, fatally gashed her throat. Almost instantly she 
 fell dead at his feet. 
 
 Mr. Collins says of his interviews : 
 
 All our talk had relation to his soul, was based upon the Bible, 
 and accompanied with prayer. 
 
 Such notes of this prison intercourse as seem likely to 
 edify, I subjoin : 
 
 Tuesday, April 24th. P. " Sir, do you think that there is any 
 mercy for me ? " C. " Not from man, so far as I know your case." 
 P. " I do not expect that. I have committed the crime, and ought 
 to suffer. But do you think God will forgive me ? " C. " My com- 
 mission is to preach the Gospel to every creature. The Gospel is 
 
 F F
 
 434 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 the Good News. It cannot be, then, upon my lips that there is 
 with God no mercy for you ; for that would be terrible news." 
 
 Thursday, April 26th. I found Price though admitting the fact 
 to be in his own mind, habitually extenuating its guilt. The evil 
 of his sin had to be laid bare. C. " Look what you have done. 
 Sarah Pratt did right to refuse you ; you were of bad character." 
 P. "Well, yes, but all was not true that was told her." C. " False 
 information given to her was no reason why you should lay violent 
 hands upon her. You drew her to you by treachery, and then, not 
 giving her one moment for preparation, took away her life. There 
 are men who scarcely know that we have souls, but you had early 
 teaching ; you knew that your deed of blood would send her spirit, 
 perhaps all unready, into the presence of her Judge." P. " Poor 
 Sarah was a good girl." C. " So much the less she deserved such 
 bad treatment." P. " O, I was mad with love." C. I have indeed 
 heard of some who, wild with frenzy, have said, ' If we cannot live 
 together, we will die together ; ' but even that vain excuse fails you. 
 However hot you were against her life, you were cool enough to 
 spare your own." P. " I could have killed myself; but I had heard 
 that self-murder was the worst of crimes, and also knew that I should 
 soon die by the law." C. " Such balancing of reasons excludes all 
 extenuation on the plea of sudden over-mastering passion. You 
 plotted aforehand. You took a knife with you. You invented a lie 
 to ensnare your victim. You deprived her of life at a stroke, but 
 took care to have yourself opportunity to prepare for death. And 
 after all this you would soothe your conscience by saying that this 
 foul murder, with such calculation and selfish exceptions done, was 
 done for love." Here was a long pause. C. "Do you know the 
 fifty-first Psalm ? Make that your daily prayer ; and may the Holy 
 Spirit bring you to icel as David did when he composed it." 
 
 Monday, April 3Oth. C. " I am not going to dwell upon the wrong 
 you did to the young woman herself, and to society, in taking away 
 her life ; but I wish you to-day, Price, to look at the deed you have 
 done as it was a sin against God. Suppose you went into a field, 
 and set your dog to worry a lamb, it would be, no doubt, a cruelty 
 to the poor dumb creature, but who would bring you to account ? " 
 P. " The owner." C. " Well, God is the O-wner of mankind, 'the 
 Possessor of Heaven and earth.' You broke down His hedge. You 
 destroyed that poor lamb of His flock. Very shortly He will call 
 you to account. What can you say before Him ? " P. " I hope He 
 will have mercy upon me, and forgive me, and take me to heaven." 
 C. " To be in heaven is to be 'for ever with the Lord.' Could 
 two live happily together for ever who were not agreed ? " P. " No." 
 C. " Consider how altogether opposite to the Lord you are. What 
 did the love of Jesus lead Him to do for His enemies ? " P. "To die 
 for them." C. " But what you call your love led you to murder your 
 friend. He, as He died, prayed for His enemies ; you left not that 
 poor girl one moment to pray for herself. Do you not see how unlike 
 your love and the love of the Lord Jesus is ? " P. " I do." C. " And 
 in other things you are just as unlike Him as in that. How can you 
 be happy with Him ? " P. " O, Sir, I see it now : I must have a 
 ntw heart."
 
 LEAMINGTON. 435 
 
 Sunday, May 6th. Many, at my request, were continually praying 
 for Price, and I was, this day, gladdened to find that he had been 
 much in prayer for himself. His spirit was tender. He had learned the 
 fifty-first Psalm, and as he went over it, verse after verse, he marked 
 its appropriateness. The conversation of the last visit was working 
 in him. It was touching to hear how he accused himself of the 
 slaughter of that defenceless lamb ; of the wrong done to the great 
 Owner; and how with tears he bewailed his utter unlikeness to Jesus. 
 
 Tuesday, May 8th. We went over the history of David's great 
 and complicated sin, with its extreme aggravations ; took notice of 
 his subsequent insensibility ; of Nathan's method with him ; and of 
 his deep repentance and merciful restoration. C. " What did David 
 pray for first of all?" P. " Mercy." C. " In the view of law, in 
 what condition must a man be that needs to ask for mercy ? " P. 
 " Guilty." C. " Yes. To ask mercy is to admit guilt. Guilt must 
 be acknowledged before God. He will hear no prayer that agrees 
 not with truth. Have you observed the ground upon which David 
 prays for mercy ? Does he name the good he had aforetime done, 
 and ask for mercy according to that ? " P. " No. He says, ' accord- 
 ing to Thy lovingkindness.' " C. " When showing mercy ' according 
 to lovingkindness,' does God, think you, set righteousness altogether 
 aside?" P. "No." C. "Your thought is true. The great Judge 
 must be just: first, a 'just God,' then 'a Saviour.' But how can 
 this be ? " P. " Through Jesus Christ." 
 
 Sunday, May i3th. I was grieved to find that Price had been 
 wasting time in composing a wretched travestie of Wesley's forty- 
 eighth hymn. He had written : 
 
 How blest is poor Sarah, bereft 
 Of all that could trouble her mind I 
 
 Himself he described as : 
 
 In love with the beautiful clay, 
 And longing to lie in its stead. 
 
 I expressed strong displeasure at this affecting the feelings of a saint, 
 in a case where he knew himself to have acted the part of that old 
 murderer the devil. 
 
 Monday, May 2ist. C. " In our last interview, Price, I was 
 obliged to speak strongly to you. You had been indulging your 
 feelings altogether in a wrong direction. Spurious sentiment of 
 that kind would soon have filled you with a false tenderness, not 
 only diverse, but adverse to true brokenness of heart. Psalm li. has 
 nothing in it like 
 
 How blest is Uriah, bereft 
 Of all that could trouble his mind I 
 
 It says, what you ought to say, ' Deliver me from bloodguilti- 
 ness, O God ! ' Have you ever been concerned in any other murder ? " 
 P. " No." C. " Ah, Price, you have : and I also must plead guilty 
 with you. Turn to Zech. xii., and read it." I expounded our having 
 pierced God's Son, and showed that since in each of our lips the 
 words were true, 
 
 F F 2
 
 436 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 My sins have caused Thee, Lord, to bleed, 
 Pointed the nail, and fix'd the thorn, 
 
 the grief of a father pouring tears into the coffin of his son comes 
 short of the bitterness we ought to feel on account of having first 
 pierced that Holy One, and then neglected Him. As I spake, the 
 spirit of weeping came on us both. For awhile I could not proceed, 
 and streams ran down his face. 
 
 Saturday. June and. C. " Is there any portion of the New Testa- 
 ment that you wish me to explain ? " He had turned down Romans x. 
 When he came to, " They have not submitted themselves to the 
 righteousness of God," I asked, " Do you ? " P. " I do." C. " If 
 God should ' swear in His wrath that you should not enter into His 
 rest,' would He do you any wrong?" P. "He would not." C. 
 " You justify his sentence, then, even if it should pronounce your 
 doom." P. " I do." C. " So far, you are right : you come over to 
 God's side. Now read on." He read the vivid description commenc- 
 ing with these words, " The righteousness which is of faith speaketh 
 on this wise." I asked, " Do you believe ? " P. "I try ; but I am 
 sorely troubled with bad thoughts." C. " As Paul teaches, let your 
 mouth help your heart : ' Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.' 
 Whose Son is He ? " P. " The Son of God." C. " What has He 
 done for sinners ? " P. " Died for us." C. " If a thing be done for 
 us well done all done need we do it for ourselves ? " P. " No." 
 C. " Christ was made a curse for us. Are you content that His 
 death should stand for you?" P. "I am." C. " It does, then, so 
 stand. To manifest this, ' God hath raised Him from the dead.' 
 Suppose you saw a bondsman put in prison for another's debt; and 
 suppose, at three days' end, you saw the creditor procure the bonds- 
 man's release; what could that mean, but that he intended to urge his 
 claim no further ? " P. " I should so understand it." C. " Thus 
 hath God, in the act of raising our surety from the grave, whither 
 for us He went, given proof that He is well satisfied. Are you well 
 satisfied?" P. "I am." C. "Say so then. Let your heart rest 
 upon that death of God's Son for us : be thankful for it, and joyful 
 in it." 
 
 Tuesday, June 5th. Observing dust on his knees, I asked, " How 
 often do you pray ? " P. " Every hour that I am awake, all through 
 the day. Yet, for all that, I have been doing wrong." C. "What 
 have you done ? " P. " As I was not well, the doctor ordered me 
 better food. The need for special consideration passed; and, accord- 
 ingly, they brought me again the ordinary prison fare. The change 
 back came upon me unexpectedly, and made me so angry that I 
 refused the rations, and declared that I would eat no more. Since 
 yesterday morning, I have not tasted. I see my conduct has been 
 wrong, but what can I do ? To eat now will involve my soul in the 
 guilt of a lie." C. "Evil purposes, when the wrong of them is seen, 
 are not to be persisted in, but repented of. Changes of mind, or of 
 conduct in accordance with such changes, are not lies, where there 
 has been no intent to deceive. Read Genesis xix. 2, 3 : 'And the 
 angels said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he 
 pressed upon them greatly, and they turned in to him.' Would
 
 LEAMINGTON. 437 
 
 you say that those blessed angels lied ? " P. " No." C. " Neither 
 will you, if now, at my desire, you take food." 
 
 Saturday, June gth. We read again Romans x. Price declared 
 his entire submission to God's righteous condemnation of him as a 
 sinner. " But," I asked, " do you submit for God to justify you 
 righteously ? Do you believe in the Redeeming Son of God ? Is 
 your heart sure that He died for you ? and that the Father raised 
 Him again for you ? " P. " I do so believe, and my heart is sure of 
 it." C. " What a glorious thought ! you Price, in less than three 
 months, through Jesus Christ, may be in heaven." P. Sir, it will 
 be so in less than ten weeks." I came away penetrated with thank- 
 fulness. The change in the man every officer and every fellow 
 prisoner remarked. 
 
 Tuesday, June igth. P. " I have been much troubled since you 
 were here." C. " What about ? " P. " My crime. What if, after 
 all, it should shut me out of heaven ? " C. " Has Jesus undertaken 
 for you ?" P. "Yes." C. " Cannot you trust Him ?" P. "lean, 
 I will, I do." C. " If you trust Him, quietly leave all to Him. He 
 will not swerve from His engagement. Set up His goodness against 
 your badness. His crimson is stronger than yours, and will take 
 out your last stain." 
 
 Having found that Price had been writing letters re- 
 questing postage stamps, Mr. Collins, jealous lest it 
 might be some remnant of old acquisitiveness, strangely 
 revived, asked him, for what reason he had done this. 
 It turned out, that having no money, but yet anxiously 
 desiring to give New Testaments to certain fellow 
 prisoners with whom he had read the Bible, he had hit 
 upon this expedient ; and with the proceeds had, accord- 
 ingly, made the necessary purchases. The best return 
 he received was a very precious letter from the well- 
 known and excellent Miss Marsh. 
 
 BEDDINGTON RECTORY, SURREY, S., August isth., 1860. 
 To FRANCIS PRICE. 
 DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 YOUR letter goes to my heart. By God's grace even you may meet 
 your pious mother in glory. Look to Jesus. " His blood cleanseth 
 from all sin." If you are willing to let Him save you, nothing shall 
 hinder Him ; nothing can hinder Him. His purpose in coming down 
 to earth from heaven, and dying on the cross, was to save you. " He 
 came into the world to save sinners." " This is a faithful saying, and 
 worthy of all acceptation ; " worthy, therefore, of yours. Nay, we are 
 told, He came to save "the chief" of sinners. Do you feel yourself 
 LOST ? Then you are just the man He came to seek and to save. 
 He is come for you. He, the Son of Man, says it Himself; " Come 
 to SEEK AND TO SAVE that which was LOST." He is pleading for 
 you now with the Father. Do you think His Father can deny any-
 
 438 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 thing to such a Son ; His only Son ; His Beloved One, who fulfilled 
 His will by dying to save a world of sinners ? 
 
 Read Romans iii., and see there how we all are justified before 
 God. " There is no difference." There is but one way for us all. 
 
 Whosoever breaks one commandment, thenceforth all the law is 
 against him. From that moment he is outside, instead of inside. It 
 matters little which way we broke outside ; there we are, and nothing 
 but Christ's life, and death, and righteousness can save us. In Him 
 is everlasting salvation. In Him is salvation free as the air we 
 breathe. 
 
 Dear friend, a man in your circumstances once said, just as he 
 was going into eternity, " No man ever perished with his face 
 toward jfesus Christ." That witness was true : for Jesus Christ, who 
 is "THE TRUTH," said, "He that heareth My words, and believeth 
 on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into 
 condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." 
 
 Do you desire deeper repentance ? Go to Jesus for repentance. 
 That loving Saviour, who died for you, is exalted as a Prince and a 
 Saviour, that He may give repentance and remission of sins. 
 
 Look at Isa. xliii. 23, 24. After such a description of sins it might 
 have been expected that a sentence cutting the people off for ever 
 would have followed ; but no, the gracious conclusion is : " I, even 
 I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and 
 will no more remember thy sins." 
 
 To the pardoning Saviour I now commend you. Take His own 
 words with you until death ; ay, take them over death into 
 eternity. " Him that cometh unto Me I will IN NO WISE cast out." 
 
 Praying much for you, which, until your end, by the grace of God, 
 I will not cease to do, 
 
 I am your sincere Friend, 
 
 CATHERINE MARSH. 
 
 Saturday, August i8th. This evening the Governor 
 kindly allowed Price to have in his cell a final interview 
 with three youths, with whom he had been accustomed 
 to read. He presented them with the New Testa- 
 ments he had obtained, and within which he had 
 written suitable inscriptions. Then, knowing their 
 cases, gave them various counsels. One he urged to 
 learn to read while he had present opportunity ; another 
 he begged to give his heart to God without delay ; the 
 third he besought to keep steadily the religious purposes 
 which he had avowed. We prayed together. Once 
 and again the young men embraced him. They literally 
 wept upon his neck and kissed him. I think they can 
 never forget that hour. The scene of their farewell was 
 most affecting. 
 
 "Sunday, August igth. With two friends I stayed
 
 LEAMINGTON. 439 
 
 with Price until eleven P.M. We sang, and prayed, and 
 conversed about i Peter iv. i, and Rom. viii. 3. 
 
 " Monday, August aoth. The fatal day. I spent half- 
 an-hour in the cell with Price alone, commending him to 
 God in prayer. We went then to chapel, and partook of 
 the Holy Communion. As we left the table to go to the 
 room where he was to be pinioned, he spoke of his 
 assured hope. To his executioner he presented a New 
 Testament. Strong emotion shook him, but all his 
 demeanour was becoming. Though full of thought, he 
 was recollected, and took respectful leave of the Chaplain, 
 the Governor, and all the other official persons. He went 
 up trembling, but not shrinking; and, before he was 
 turned off from the drop, was able so to recite his last 
 confession, that it fell distinctly on the ears of the crowd 
 below, and was heard with much feeling. It was in the 
 following words : 
 
 I confess, before heaven and earth, that I am guilty of the dreadful 
 crime for which I am this hour to die. My sentence is just, and I 
 have prayed for grace to receive it with submission ; and I now 
 earnestly request all who hear me to join me in the prayer, " Lord 
 Jesus, receive my spirit." Repenting of my sins, I have already 
 trusted, and do now trust, in His most precious blood. 
 
 I ask forgiveness of all whom I have wronged in any way : if it 
 were in my power, I would restore everything which I ever dishonestly 
 took away. 
 
 Above all I ask forgiveness of the mother and family I have 
 injured beyond repair. 
 
 From my heart I freely forgive any who have done me wrong. For 
 those who may have helred to lead me astray I pray that they may be 
 forgiven, even as I trust that God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven me. 
 
 I wish to express my gratitude for the consideration and kind 
 attention which I have received from the Governor and officers of the 
 prison, from my spiritual advisers, and, also, from all Christian 
 people who have remembered me in their prayers. 
 
 May my untimely end be a warning, especially to young people, 
 against turning away from the counsel of godly parents, from the 
 Bible and prayer, and from the merciful Saviour ; and also against 
 the indulgence of evil passions ! 
 
 Lord, have mercy upon me ! O Lamb of God, Son of the Father, 
 Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me ! 
 Amen. Amen." 
 
 In a farewell meeting, held at the close, which had 
 now come, of Mr. Collins's ministerial term at Leam- 
 ington, he said : " I entered upon my work in this town
 
 440 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 with joy : I found a people willing to be led nearer to 
 the Lord. Sharp trials have come upon me here, but in 
 them I have ever been solaced by your sympathy and 
 sustained by your prayers. Some have emigrated, others 
 have died, a few have fallen, many removed ; yet, after 
 all, I leave more than a hundred additional in your fel- 
 lowship. Ten years earlier than I came you invited 
 me ; perhaps our mutual wish was delayed by the all- 
 wise, all-loving God, in order that I might be here when 
 poor Price might receive from me those attentions which 
 have been blessed to his salvation. God's mercy to that 
 bloodstained man has been a great joy to me." 
 
 The strong, inflexible course of law, inexorably de- 
 manding the murderer's life, was, in Mr. Collins's judg- 
 ment, not only one of scriptural authority, but also 
 right in itself, and, in its frequent moral issue, most mer- 
 ciful to the criminal, Price, shut up for life among the 
 rascals of a gaol, would, most likely, have become daily 
 more abominable. Price, told, " In ten weeks you must 
 die," set himself to prepare. It is no unknown process 
 of Divine mercy which provides that " destruction of 
 the flesh " shall contribute to the spirit being saved in 
 the day of the Lord. 
 
 The term spent in Leamington was one crowded with 
 remarkable incidents full of interest for godly men. 
 He has little music in his soul who cannot sing to 
 another's harp, I need scarcely say that the revival 
 marvels then occurring filled Mr. Collins with joy. In many 
 Methodist churches the visits of Dr. and Mrs. Palmer, 
 friends dear to him, had been as dew from the Lord. The 
 Wesleyan Magazine for August, 1860, gives a beautiful 
 specimen narrative of their success at Newcastle, en- 
 dorsed by Robert Young and all the Ministers then upon 
 that Circuit. Much intercession had been made, the 
 vials containing prayers of saints were full of odours, 
 before the visitors reached that town. Their simple, 
 earnest, affectionate, urging of the duty of entire conse- 
 cration sounded the heart-depths and stirred the con- 
 science of many a sluggish professor. No placards were 
 used, no puffing advertisements, no tricks. The work 
 was orderly and solemn, but grew to dimensions that 
 aroused public attention. Men of the world were
 
 LEAMINGTON. 441 
 
 astonished, Christians rejoiced, scoffers awed, and all 
 churches in the town multiplied. 
 
 Beyond the Tweed, Grant of Arndilly, Ratcliffe, and 
 Reginald North, with others, evangelized, until cold 
 Scotland blazed with fire. Humbler preachers, possess- 
 ing little lore, and knowing no " orders " except Christ's 
 own, " Go ye out," with much power laboured among 
 England's outcasts. Ministers of front rank made 
 theatres, concert rooms, and public halls ring with Gospel 
 messages ; while prelates and clergy turned out to do 
 good among " roughs," and " costers," and " cabbies," 
 in fashions as irregular as those of the despised itinerants 
 of an earlier day. 
 
 In America stupendous miracles of grace were wrought. 
 Surely never had revival so little of men and so much of 
 prayer. The work waxed gloriously, yet no human names 
 grew large. Spurgeon said, " Providence had sent 
 Caughey, and Finney, and such wide-famed revivalists, 
 packing, that honour might be given to the Lord alone." 
 
 The commencement of the great movement which 
 swept over that continent, was very noiseless. J. C. 
 Lanphier, a loving, devout man, was, in July, 1857, 
 appointed a lay Missionary in the city of New York. 
 Yearning for the salvation of souls, turning the lecture 
 room of the old Dutch church into a closet, he daily 
 wrestled there in solitary prayer for an outpouring of 
 the Spirit. At length an idea struck him : " Open the 
 door ; invite others to join you." Accordingly at twelve 
 o'clock, on Wednesday, September 3rd, 1867, he did so. 
 For thirty minutes no one came. He continued, as 
 before, a lonely supplicant. After that time had elapsed, 
 one entered the room ; then another ; then another ; 
 and so on. This was the first of the now world-famed 
 Fulton Street prayer-meetings. During its earliest 
 half hour it consisted of one person ; and at its close 
 only six were present to give "Amen" to its petitions. 
 The influence descended richly, strengthened mightily, 
 rolled on resistless as an advancing tide, until, as 
 its result, leaving the gains of other communities 
 untold, the Methodist Episcopal Church North, alone, 
 added in one year one hundred and forty-six thousand to 
 its membership.
 
 44 2 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Rev. J. A. James, a loving watcher of such 
 things, in the last address he ever gave to the Congre- 
 gational Union, asks, " Are these things so ? Is it a 
 fact that great masses of men in the most intensely 
 energetic nation upon earth have been simultaneously 
 moved with a concern relating to God and their eternal 
 interests ? that revival has penetrated not only the 
 ordinary spheres of religion, but has made the voice of 
 God to be heard in the busy scenes of trade, the colleges 
 of learning, and the resorts of fashion ; in the ships, the 
 schools, and the very hotels ? that it has drawn hun- 
 dreds of thousands, including men of all parties in 
 politics and all denominations of religious faith, even 
 Unitarians, Papists, Jews, and Infidels, into deep 
 solicitude about salvation ? If so, with what profound 
 attention should the report of such a fact be heard ! I 
 regard this movement as a mighty work of God ; a type 
 of those glorious outpourings which shall herald the 
 long-hoped-for millennium, and in which ' a nation shall 
 be born at once.' " 
 
 Contemporaneously with these Transatlantic marvels, 
 northern Ireland had, proportionally, an equal visita- 
 tion. 
 
 In September, 1857, four young men, James M'Quil- 
 ken, Robert Carlisle, J. Meneeley, and John Wallace, 
 commenced in a little school-room near to Connor, 
 county Antrim, what they called, a " believers' fellow- 
 ship meeting." Their special object was, prayer that 
 God would bless the preaching, the schools, the prayer- 
 meetings, and all the evangelistic work then doing in 
 that district. One kindred spirit after another joined 
 the little band. Together they wrestled on ; such a 
 work resulted that all the nation now knows how they 
 prevailed. The revival gave magistrates a holiday, 
 ruined shebeen keepers, emptied prisons, stopped faction 
 fights, reclaimed fallen women, filled Popish priests with 
 rage, made fools of philosophers who would puzzle their 
 brains to account for it all minus the Holy Ghost, and 
 strangely set editors penning evangelical articles. A 
 local poet said : 
 
 O, think not the Lord has from Zion departed! 
 O, think not the days of her glory are o'er !
 
 LEAMINGTON. 443 
 
 That Victory's beam has that banner deserted, 
 That flamed in the front of her battles of yore ! 
 
 Scarce nobler the trophies of conquest that crowned her, 
 When march'd forth her armies on Pentecost's morn ; 
 
 Scarce louder the shouts that then echo'd around her, 
 Than now from yon green hills of Antrim are borne. 
 
 Wales also had its time of refreshing. From the rich 
 records of its progress, I select two specimen incidents. 
 
 Morlais Castle is a place where meet, on fine Sunday 
 mornings, the worst characters from all the surrounding 
 iron works. They are accustomed to carry up beer in 
 great quantities, and there drink and curse, play and 
 fight, the Sabbath through. To this den of wickedness, 
 one Sunday, in the June of 1859, twenty young con- 
 verts, full of missionary zeal, wended their way. Scores 
 of evil men were already gathered. But, despite the 
 drunkard's scorn, and the blackguard's threat, the Scrip- 
 ture was opened, and a chapter read : a hymn was 
 sung ; it sounded out melodiously in the fresh breeze of 
 the morning. Serious concern settled on every spec- 
 tator. Nor had the meeting commenced long, before 
 many a rough face was bathed with tears. The beer 
 cans were turned over, and the devil's camp fairly sur- 
 rendered. Similar meetings were continued through 
 the pleasant season, until Morlais ruins, rid of its ill 
 fame, became the worshipping place of hundreds, and 
 the birthplace of many. 
 
 In October of the same year, two young men came, 
 from a neighbouring village, to work in the quarries of 
 Festiniog. Their mates in toil observed them weep, 
 but knew not why they wept. They were in distress of 
 soul. Dinner briefly ended, the two climbed the hill, 
 and on its quiet top began to pray. Some sounds of 
 their pleading, borne down by the wind, fell on the ears 
 of the workmen below. As if by irresistible impulse, 
 the whole five hundred clambered after them, and joined 
 them in prayer. In one short hour, men who that 
 morning were sots and scoffers, were imploring mercy 
 with loud cries and tears. The mountain became hal- 
 lowed as Zion. That day and the next were spent in 
 religious exercises upon its summit ; and a revival com- 
 menced that turned Merioneth to a garden of the Lord.
 
 444 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Prebendary Venn calculated that the addition to the 
 various churches from the entire Welsh revival could 
 not have been less than forty thousand souls. 
 
 Much objection was taken to the not infrequent bodily 
 affections which accompanied the soul troubles of this 
 period. The philosophy, however pretentious, must be 
 shallow that cannot find solutions both physiological 
 and pyschological for such results, quite consistent 
 with the genuine divinity and true religiousness of the 
 work. 
 
 Adverting to these things, Merle d'Aubigne, remarked, 
 " Such impressions on the bodily frame furnish no diffi- 
 culty at all. A great divine told me how, forty years 
 ago, when full alike of the strength and vigour, and also 
 of the nervous quickness, of youth, a servant entered the 
 room and, all unexpectedly, announced, ' Sir, your father 
 is here ! ' That father had been absent beyond the sea 
 for sixteen years ; no message of return had been 
 sent. The thrill of the sudden word seemed to empty 
 the heart of its blood, and the hearer fell powerless to 
 the ground." 
 
 Another eminent person says : " I remember stand- 
 ing on the shore of the German Ocean, while, in a high 
 storm, a vessel was trying to ride into harbour. Sud- 
 denly striking the angle of a jutting rock, the ship so 
 recoiled and staggered that it seemed about to heel over. 
 As suddenly did a mother by my side, whose son was in 
 that ship, fall down in convulsions ; and nobody was 
 surprised." 
 
 Dr. M'Cosh writes; "At one part of my life it was 
 my painful ministerial duty to go to many a poor woman 
 who thought herself a sailor's wife, and let her know 
 that indeed she was but a sailor's widow ; for that her 
 husband slept his final sleep beneath the waters of 
 the Baltic Sea. The sad intelligence I laboured to inti- 
 mate in the most gentle and delicate manner: but, 
 however slowly, and with whatever preparation, when 
 the awful truth burst on each mind at last, what scenes 
 I had to witness ! Some, not without desperate effort, 
 kept outward calm, covering inward struggle. Some 
 could neither shed a tear nor utter a cry; but seemed 
 on the instant withered by the terrible word, as a tree is
 
 LEAMINGTON. 445 
 
 by the lightning. Others wept, screamed, were con- 
 vulsed, and, as to all bodily strength, became utterly 
 prostrate." 
 
 Now what physiological difficulty is there in the 
 effects during revival that did not occur in these cited 
 cases ? 
 
 It seemed in those blessed years as if a vial, not of 
 wrath, but of mercy, had been poured in the air. In all 
 probability not less than a quarter of a million of souls 
 were then won to Christ. This vast result putting, if 
 its proportions were maintained, a saved world within 
 speedy reach, shocks the slow thought of some : it 
 ought to confirm the faith of all. The record of such 
 triumphs remains a proof of what God can, and a pledge 
 of what God will, do. A saved world ! and soon ! 
 Glorious idea ! Why should we doubt ? The work is 
 not ours, but the Lord's. Beautifully does William 
 Arthur say : " If you or I desired to-morrow morning 
 to awaken London at a certain hour, our utmost effort 
 could only reach to a few chambers, call up only a few 
 slumberers ; but when the time appointed by Provi- 
 dence comes for bidding sleepers rise, He will pour light 
 into every casement through all this city, will touch the 
 eye of each individual sleeper as well as if he alone had 
 been thought of, and awake them all at once. We think 
 of national revival as if it were something too grand to 
 be hoped ; and surely it is, so long as we look to any 
 power below the sky, of men, or books, or churches. Let 
 us then turn our eyes away from all these, up, right up, 
 and say, ' Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst ! ' '
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PONTYPOOL AND BRISTOL. 
 
 AT the removal time, Mrs. Collins, suffering from asth- 
 ma, and troubled by erysipelas, was in no condition for 
 travel. Depressed by departure from a loving people, and 
 in sorrow at the necessity of leaving wife and daughter 
 behind, Mr. Collins had once more to set forth to a new 
 sphere of labour alone. The first Friday record at Ponty- 
 pool, written under such discouraging circumstances, 
 breathes his accustomed spirit of submissive faith. It 
 says : " Subject to the decision of Conference, I had 
 pledged myself to the Deptford Circuit. Without my 
 choice, nay, to some extent, against my remonstrance, I 
 find myself in this place. The people receive me gladly. 
 
 Lord ; I am engaged for Thee. I look to Thee alone. 
 
 1 renounce my own will. I believe in Thy Providence, 
 and accept this as Thy appointment. Thou who hast 
 brought me hither, doubtless hast some work for me to 
 do here. Show me what it is, and with all my heart I 
 will do it. I wait upon Thee. My soul doth wait. 
 Come, Lord Jesus." 
 
 To his absent loved ones all Mr. Collins's communi- 
 cations were cheering : " Do not hurry. I can manage 
 very well until you are perfectly recovered. Absence is 
 a mutual trial, but, as all others are, it shall be made to 
 minister to our good. The Conference could scarcely 
 have sent us among scenery more magnificent. The 
 hills remind me of Sowerby Bridge, and the people, of 
 Camborne. It is Cornwall and Yorkshire blent. At 
 present, the dry pure air has suited me. Our house 
 has a lawn in front, and a pleasant outlook ; is built of 
 stone, and looks well, but lacks room. My study is
 
 PONTYPOOL. 447 
 
 exquisitely small, but hitherto, on shiny days, has been 
 beautifully filled with sunbeams." 
 
 Mrs. Collins was able to rejoin her husband at Ponty- 
 pool, on Wednesday, September i8th. An epistle to 
 a friend, bearing date December 2ist, 1860, conveys 
 information interesting in the domestic sphere of en- 
 trance upon the new relation of grandpapa. It says : 
 " During my daughter's deep affliction, you so sympa- 
 thized with our sorrow, that I cannot but let you share 
 in her joy and ours. On Wednesday morning last 
 she gladdened her husband by the gift of her firstborn 
 child. Of its resemblances, its beauty, and its altogether 
 unparalleled winning ways the usual rumours reach me. 
 Thank God, mother and babe are both doing well." 
 
 As the chilly months came on, Mr. Collins no longer, 
 as of old, able to bear its severities felt painfully con- 
 scious of the keen air of the hills ; and was obliged 
 much to their grief to let the Stewards know that the 
 health of neither himself nor his wife would allow of 
 their wintering in Pontypool again. 
 
 While visiting among his flock, Mr. Collins called 
 upon a convalescent, just returned from Bath Infirmary. 
 The man said, " Sir, my body is better, but my soul is 
 worse. You see, I could get no privacy. In the room 
 I went to, I happened on a bad lot ; some of them were 
 quite scoffers. When I knelt to pray, half the pillows 
 in the ward were thrown at me. I did not like to 
 complain to authorities, and I did not dare to continue 
 visible devotion. I soon found that praying in bed, 
 when I ought to be out on my knees, confessing Christ, 
 rather chafed my conscience than brought me blessing. 
 I have been a coward, and come home unhappy." After 
 suitable dealing with this case, the pastor went on to 
 the cottage of an aged pilgrim, who, with an odd fancy, 
 when telling his Christian course, used the surface of his 
 kitchen table as a map, and pointed to notch after notch, 
 as illustrating the stages of his progress. Here was 
 some Marah, with its bitter waters ; there, an Elim, with 
 its fountains and palms; this marked Calvary, where 
 pardon was received ; that, the wild desert spot where 
 the demon was encountered and conquered. Mr. Collins 
 tell in with the humour of the old man, knowing how
 
 448 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 such quaint devices often profitably beguile a sufferer's 
 lonely hours. He marked for him a further notch yet 
 to be reached in that itinerary of the soul, a Tabor 
 Mount where in prayer his spirit might be so possessed 
 by indwelling God that the sinner should be transfigured 
 to a saint, whose every outward act should gleam with 
 purity and love. The man doubted not ; for, in his 
 chamber, Scripture study had made him strong. He 
 aptly cited Heb. ix. 13, 14: " If the blood of bulls and of 
 goats sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh : how 
 much more shall the blood of Christ purge your con- 
 science from dead works to serve the living God?" and 
 then added for comparison Rom. v. 10 : " If when we 
 were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of 
 His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved 
 by His life." During many solitary musings the cumu- 
 lative force expressed by the Apostle in the emphatic 
 much more in each of those texts had been profitably 
 revealed to him. Wise insight into God's Word is 
 commoner in humble homes than some proud students 
 think. Of many an aged heart it is the only solace. It is 
 fed upon morning, noon, and night. To a poor almswoman 
 Mr. Collins said, "What part of God's Word do you love 
 the most ?" And was struck with the appreciative, in- 
 telligent, earnest reply : " Those glorious Epistles /" 
 
 " Sunday, January I3th, 1861. I commenced special 
 services at Abersychan. I rose early each morning to 
 seek from the Lord a blessing on the day. While so 
 engaged, my heart was made tender. Weather thinned 
 our congregations, yet the power of God was among us. 
 Some were saved, and others graciously filled with the 
 Spirit. 
 
 " Sunday, February i7th. I preached morning and 
 evening at Loughborough, and baptized dear Emmy's 
 babe. I was much affected in the service. How mar- 
 vellous is the loving kindness of the Lord ! May I and 
 all belonging to me live to His glory !" 
 
 As Mr. Collins returned home, a young man seated 
 himself by his side, a specimen of those loose fellows 
 who, now and then, by their allegiance and praise, dis- 
 grace each denomination in turn. "Are you a Minister?" 
 "Yes." "Of what sort?" "A Wesleyan." " O, a
 
 PONTYPOOL. 449 
 
 Wesleyan. I don't believe in them. I am a Baptist." 
 The odours oi the forward youth's breath sufficiently 
 explained his impertinence, and gave evidence he 
 little thought of, that whatever love he might have for 
 water in the baptistery, for internal application he pre- 
 ferred something stronger in the glass. " I have 
 answered your question," said Mr. Collins; "allow me to 
 ask you one." Expecting a puzzler in the polemics of 
 the font, he replied, "Well, Sir, I have no books with me. 
 You may set me fast. But whatever you have to say I 
 will lay before my Minister, and he would answer the 
 whole Conference of you." " My question can be answered 
 without help of either book or Minister. Is it whiskey 
 ro gin that you have been imbibing so early this morn- 
 ing?" "You are all out," he replied. "It was neither; 
 it was rum." " Well, young man, think well of what I 
 now say: the habit of dram-drinking is one of the devil's 
 strongest fetters. Do not let him slip it over you. 
 You are in great danger. Take care lest you sip your- 
 self to poverty, your character to shame, and your soul 
 to hell." 
 
 " March 5th. The shout of a King is among us. 
 More than a hundred have just recently given their 
 hearts to God. I admitted thirty into Society last Lord's 
 day. Yet it requires nearly all simply to maintain 
 numbers. Trade is so depressed that scores are leaving 
 the neighbourhood. Eight blast furnaces haye ceased 
 work, throwing out of employ three or four hundred 
 people at once." 
 
 To a friend, a farmer, just bereaved, Mr. Collins wrote 
 thus characteristically. March a6th, 1861 : "Ours is not 
 all mourning and tears. I will sing with you ' Harvest 
 Hoi-ne.' That field you sowed, and fenced, and for 
 thirty years have weeded and watched ; out of it happy 
 thoi ght ! the devil never had a harvest ; the growth 
 has been full ; it has ripened early and well : it is now 
 cut, carried, and garnered with God. Harvest home ! 
 Let her mother sing ' Harvest home ! ' Tell her that with 
 tnat dear child she did not travail in vain ; did not give 
 her the breast in vain ; or teach her so many good and use- 
 ful things in vain. Let each of your family sing ' Harvest 
 home ! ' Tell my young friends that in each of their 
 
 G Q
 
 450 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 hearts too the great Husbandman sees a field and looks 
 for fruit. May they all be cleaned, and filled, and 
 fenced, and kept, and finally be joyfully added to the 
 Lord's harvest, as their sister has been ! Attendance on 
 departing saints is hallowing. Having been with your 
 child under the Portico of Eternity has, I dare say, made 
 you love the beauty of holiness more. My brother, she 
 has gone before ; has joined the adorable Forerunner; 
 represents your family in heaven ; in due time you will 
 see her again among those who will receive and welcome 
 you to ' everlasting habitations.' " 
 
 Another letter written about this time to a candidate 
 for the ministry says : " Thirst for godly knowledge. 
 Store your mind with Scripture. Form the habit of 
 writing all texts out in full in your pulpit preparations. 
 Not doing so is a source of much inaccuracy. Get the 
 citations you think needful firmly into your memory. 
 Give them deliberately and correctly. Let there be no 
 ' so ons ' and ' so forths.' Cultivate your taste. Re- 
 member that society is, like the living creatures, 'full of 
 eyes within and without.' Seek increase of conversa- 
 tional power. It is sad to fill time uttering by the hour 
 such trite and common things as drop from the lips of 
 people who never think. Fulness of knowledge, vigi- 
 lance of opportunity, and versatility are necessary to 
 make talk profitable, and to make it permanently reach a 
 high level. In the esteem of Christian brethren you 
 will rise, if there be solid value in their habitual commu- 
 nications. Keep your mind with God all day. Nothing 
 equals that for giving both sweetness and elevation to all 
 your thoughts and modes of expression." 
 
 "Thursday, May i6th. I preached in King Street, 
 Bristol; but, having spent so many previous hours in 
 the District Meeting, did not feel as much enjoyment 
 and liberty as upon ordinary occasions I do. My mind 
 has not the ability, as some have, of working easily upon 
 different lines in the same day. Business left me weak and 
 unready for the pulpit. Meeting so many of my brethren 
 has refreshed my spirit. The power of religion is cer- 
 tainly strengthening in the Ministers. After blessed 
 seasons and mighty prayers we have parted with much 
 and growing love.
 
 PONTYPOOL. 451 
 
 A letter to a young friend, dated June ryth, says : 
 We elder men must retire before you of recent birth. 
 How soon the hour will arrive when you also will have to 
 say the same ! Work while it is day. That you may 
 work, pray. When I flag in labour, I betake myself to 
 prayer. That always revives me. So I keep up, and so 
 I keep on. I have taken to the streets of late. Four 
 times I have blown the Lord's trumpet in the market- 
 place of Pontypool. At Blaenavon, Varteg, Abersychan, 
 and Garndyfaith, I have also held outdoor services." 
 
 "June 22nd. Letters from Mr. Broadbent tell that, 
 after careful examination, Emmy's medical adviser pro- 
 nounces that her lungs are seriously diseased ; that her 
 sufferings may be alleviated, but her recovery must not 
 be looked for. The way in which, in her previous afflic- 
 tion, the Lord heard me, much prepared for meekness 
 and submission now. These are solemn tidings ; they 
 seem to dig a grave across our path. Well, heaven 
 shines beyond it." 
 
 A letter to his invalid child, dated July i6th, furnishes 
 interesting information : " Last Lord's day I opened a 
 chapel at Gilwerne, in the Abergavenny Circuit. Maria 
 and Aunt Maria accompanied me. It is not possible to 
 tell you how beautiful the country there really is. Many 
 hills, the Sugar Loaf, the Skerrits, and the Blue Range, 
 stand grandly round. We met, and were much inte- 
 rested by, Mr. G., a superintendent of railway works. 
 The duties of his calling had led him to spend many 
 years in Spain. His narratives of Spaniards athirst for 
 truth were very cheering. By his means the well-known 
 Protestant tract called ' Andrew Dunn ' had been trans- 
 lated and widely distributed. He knew Matamoros and 
 several others of those who, with him, are at present wit- 
 nesses in bonds. Some Spaniards are ashamed of their 
 national bigotry, but not all. One thus retaliated the 
 charge : ' Good ! An Englishman talking of intole- 
 rance ! A man of a nation gloomy as its sky ; a nation 
 that locks up theatres on a Sunday, and would persecute 
 an organ-grinder for filling the air with music ! ' On its 
 being urged that the sanctity of the Lord's day rested 
 upon authority scriptural, binding alike upon Spain and 
 England ; though proud to call himself a Catholic, the 
 G G 2
 
 452 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 man pooh ! poohed ! the Bible as vigorously as if he 
 had been an infidel. It was then observed that our Sab- 
 bath customs and their religious intolerance differed 
 thus: whatever a man's likings for such things might be, 
 there could be no conscience requiring him to go to the 
 theatre upon a certain day ; or to make a noise, which 
 not everybody called music, just then, in the streets ; 
 that if he were a visitor among a people to whom, during 
 certain hours, doing such things would be a grief, polite- 
 ness, if he had any, without need of a higher principle, 
 would lead him to defer, for that brief space, his personal 
 gratification : that restraint, so limited, differs funda- 
 mentally from the Inquisition, with its history of blood 
 and fire, and no way resembles the fetters on thought, 
 and prisons for Bible-readers, which deservedly cause 
 to be ranked with bigots of the dark ages, the present 
 tyrannical administrators of Spain." 
 
 'On the way to Conference Mr. Collins called first to 
 preach among his friends at Leamington, and next 
 hastened to his much loved, slowly sinking daughter at 
 Loughborough. From her he went on to Newcastle. A 
 letter from thence to me says : " My host, Mr. Southern, 
 knew and had affection for me in the Durham Circuit. 
 God, since then, has blessed him in temporal things. 
 He has a good house, and entertains five of us. Be- 
 side myself there are President Rattenbury, Theophilus 
 Woolmer, Gervase Smith, and Jacob Morton. This 
 company is very pleasant. Conversation never flags. 
 The President is full of devotion ; while the younger 
 brethren unite good store of information with such 
 wealth of quaint tales, that they would let nobody be 
 dull. During the crowded services of the open Confer- 
 ence I quietly stayed in my chamber, asking a blessing 
 on the President, and while doing so was filled with 
 Divine delight." 
 
 To his wife Mr. Collins wrote : " About our appoint- 
 ment neither distress yourself nor be afraid. The Lord 
 takes care of us." Return of post brought to him so 
 trustful a response, that he replied, " You speak nobly; 
 just as in past years you have ever done." At a later 
 stage he said to Miss Graham, " Bristol is named for 
 me. I expect to go. My representative is President.
 
 PONTYPOOL. 453 
 
 I lodge with him : so you see, for once, I am near the 
 ear of authority and the arm of power." 
 
 On Sunday, July 28th, Mr. Collins opened a new 
 chapel in the Hexham Circuit. Many friends of those 
 early days, when his ministry began at Wark, were 
 there. He says : " I could not but praise that God 
 who has kept me through thirty years of public life. 
 How many have not been permitted to labour so long !" 
 
 On Friday, August 2nd, there was a touching scene 
 in Conference. Thomas Jackson then seventy-eight 
 retired from the Theological Chair. His reminiscences 
 were very interesting. He told how he was converted 
 at seventeen ; and sent without passing either District 
 Meeting or Conference early into the work ; that he 
 set forth to his Circuit with just one crack sermon, 
 which subsequent study had shown him to be, like many 
 other crack sermons, founded upon a misunderstanding 
 of the text. His statements of experience were blessed 
 testimonies, full of exultation. At the close of his ad- 
 dress a suitable resolution was read ; then Dr. Osborn, 
 Benjamin Gregory, and J. H. Rigg spoke excellently well 
 upon it ; next the Conference, all standing, accepted it. 
 The good father, comely and venerable, again stood up, 
 and responded in a manner most infectiously joyous. It 
 was the wisdom of a sage gushing from the heart of a 
 child. The lessons of long experience never have dimmed 
 the eye of his hope. All past blessings upon our Con- 
 nexion were, in his belief, but preludes. He thought, and 
 made his hearers think, that in its course of triumphant 
 good, Methodism was but just beginning. 
 
 On Monday, August 5th, the Conference was saddened 
 as the President read a communication, giving informa- 
 tion of the death of Samuel Jackson. It was affecting 
 that this should occur the self-same week in which the 
 weight of numerous years compelled his elder brother 
 to resign the post of active service, where for more than 
 half a century he had so nobly stood, and, by the grace 
 of God, never been found wanting. Thus, as one brother 
 sat down from his work, the other went up to his throne. 
 Samuel Jackson was a brave, shrewd, practical, weighty 
 man ; seldom matched for vigour of mind, integrity of 
 character, and strong, racy, Saxon speech. One idea
 
 454 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 the children for Christ possessed him, and became 
 thenceforth the vital centre of his work. The youth of 
 Methodism never had such a friend, such a pleader for 
 their interests, before ; to this day this Elijah's mantle 
 waits for its Elisha. Not given to much speaking, 
 among his peers he oft was silent, oft shrank into him- 
 self; but, without fail, lit up dear old man whenever 
 the little ones came in sight. Shortly before his departure, 
 as he lay very still, with a look that bespoke profound 
 meditation, his daughter asked, " Father, are you spe- 
 cially thinking ? " " Yes, said he." " Of what ? " " Of 
 the children .'" was his reply. Thus beautifully his great 
 life-thought was his last thought. 
 
 When Conference closed, Mr. Collins's appointment 
 proved, as he expected, to be Bristol South. It is edify- 
 ing to observe how, entering upon this last sphere of 
 his busy ministry, he set himself as carefully to meditate 
 its duties, and to surrender himself wholly up to God 
 for help in the performance of them, as ever he had done 
 in the fresh zeal of his youth. The first Friday record, 
 bearing date September 6th, 1861, says : " I am brought 
 hither by God. Now, as aforetime, the Lord hath 
 chosen my inheritance for me. His lovingkindness is 
 unsearchable. Blessings come upon us in showers. 
 The friends have received us with affection. The home 
 is comfortable, and apparently suitable for our health. 
 The members are respectful, looking for good, and willing 
 to work. About me lies a large population, easily reached. 
 The corn awaits the sickle all around. Through life I 
 have found that each successive appointment has opened 
 before me some specialty of duty : what form it will 
 take here, time will show. Whatever it may be, to fit 
 me for it, I this day yield myself to God. Soberly, as 
 beseems my years, and aided by all the lessons of past 
 experience, I set myself to seek a closer walk with God. 
 I desire to be filled with the Spirit of power : and with 
 fixed purpose determine to addict myself altogether to 
 prayer and to the ministry of the Word." 
 
 In some near slum in Bristol there dwelt one of those 
 whose blotted names may not be written ; " a woman in 
 the city, which was a sinner." All joy had faded from the 
 wanton's path. There she was in miserable poverty, sad,
 
 BRISTOL. 455 
 
 and sick. Mr. Collins's was pity that sin never drove from 
 a sufferer's door. So soon, therefore, as the case was 
 brought before him, he visited the forsaken one. Light 
 the faint lingering gleam of early teaching was in her 
 mind; but callousness the result of long-cherished filthi- 
 ness was on her heart. Life was ebbing fast. Penniless, 
 and all-degraded as she was, yet her soul to him seemed 
 precious as a queen's; and had, from him, no less of 
 prayer, and care, and tears. We cannot send the memory 
 of this poor nameless waif back again into the dark 
 without adding that her end was brightened with hope. 
 
 In this last appointment, as in preceding ones, Mr. 
 Collins's ever-busy beneficence was well kept up. Now, 
 I find him discovering on a road a Christian brother in 
 a rag-gatherer; rejoicing in his simple witness of a 
 Saviour's love ; sending him singing on his way gladdened 
 by gracious words. Then, putting himself, for a little 
 sunny walk, side by side with a cheerful, but tottering, 
 poor old man of eighty-one, who said, " Thank God, I 
 have my wits and my limbs ; I never was in a prison, 
 and I am not going to hell. I am the Lord's. So, while 
 I see everybody in this busy world looking keenly, as they 
 do, after their own, the sight helps me to believe, and I 
 am comforted in the faith, that Jesus is looking after me, 
 and He will take me soon." Next, I see him with patient 
 charity teaching blind people to read. While doing so one 
 day, as sentence after sentence of sweet promise revealed 
 itself to the scholar's touch, the man suddenly exclaimed, 
 "O, this Bible is a treasure. Thank you, Sir, thank you 
 much, ar\d thank God more ; for I can now, for myself, 
 in these holy words, feel the way to heaven with my finger 
 tips ! " That ecstatic saying well repaid the trouble of 
 many a weary lesson. 
 
 A letter of this time says : " To proclaim the duty 
 and privilege of the perfect love of God has become a 
 passion with me. I love to ' talk of His power ' as a 
 Sanctifier. Some here have felt it. They are my glory 
 and crown. Others desire the thing, but demur to pay 
 the price. Worldly fashions have strong sway here. I 
 hate this evil, and smite at it, but with small success. 
 It is gradually introducing caste into the family of God. 
 Caste suits a theatre, but is abhorrent in a sanctuary.
 
 456 CHAPTER XVI, 
 
 It is surely out of place in His Presence, before whose 
 Majesty all are dust alike, or in the embrace of whose 
 love all are children alike." 
 
 " Friday, October 4th. I rose at three, and spent an 
 hour with my Master." 
 
 " Friday, November I5th. My Superintendent being 
 ill, more than usual is needed from me. I rose at four, 
 to seek the Lord. In this Circuit I discern in the 
 young people much levity, and see in the congregations 
 much finery. On every hand abounding departures 
 from the simplicity that is in Christ grieve and embarrass 
 me. Hitherto my rebukes have not only borne little 
 fruit, but have provoked much opposition. My present 
 concern is how next and how best to assail these evils. 
 I strive to exercise and to urge others to exercise 
 faith for a visitation of the Spirit. I need ' the Spirit of 
 counsel and might.' May He strengthen me that I do 
 valiantly ! may He guide me that I do discreetly ! Jesus 
 John xvi. 7 says, ' If I depart, I will send Him unto 
 you.' On that promised mission of the Holy Ghost I 
 rely. O Lord Christ, I long to bring souls to Thee. 
 Send down the Holy Ghost. Send Him. Let Him my 
 helper be. Thou, in various places, art helping others ; 
 Thou, of old, hast helped me. Lord, help me still, and 
 help me now." 
 
 " Friday, November 22nd. About three I began to 
 commune with the Lord. I was much refreshed in 
 reading Proverbs viii. and ix. New light shone from 
 every verse. My heart was touched and humbled, yet 
 encouraged. Feeling my need of instruction, I, there 
 and then, entered myself anew as a student in the college 
 of wisdom. Unspeakable sweetness flowed into my soul 
 while, beholding Jesus revealed in that Word as 'the 
 Wisdom of God,' I was enabled to see Him, and to ac- 
 cept Him, as ' unto me Wisdom.' " 
 
 The result of so much foregoing thought and prayer 
 was manifested in a remarkable address delivered on 
 Monday, November 25th, at a tea-meeting consisting of 
 members of Society only. It was a vigorous mainte- 
 nance of old Wesleyan teaching concerning the impro- 
 priety of adorning the person with gold. Mr. Collins 
 remarked : " This evil spreads like leprosy. Wherever
 
 BRISTOL. 457 
 
 I go, I see its growing prevalence. To keep my own 
 conscience clear, I must rebuke it." The following is a 
 breviate ot his argument against such adorning : 
 
 "It is unnatural. The Creator hath given to each 
 creature its adorning in itself. None borrows from 
 another. There is no plagiarism of beauty. Each form 
 hath its own symmetry ; each flower its own loveliness. 
 
 " It is unnecessary. Beads, and stones, and metals 
 neither satisfy the mind nor bring any benefit to the 
 body. 
 
 " It is unworthy. To us, marred by sin, is proffered 
 ' the beauty of the Lord our God to be upon us.' Too 
 often, in this fashion-following age, the toilet robs the 
 closet ; clothes get more thought than character ; feather 
 and flower, trinket and gem, divide the heart with 
 Christ : thus, ' the image of God ' is declined for the 
 ' admiration of men.' 
 
 " At your homes, the pastor, when he calls, must wait 
 until despite his exhortation, Paul's words, Peter's 
 texts, and Wesley's warnings Babylonish array, the 
 very grief of his heart, has been donned. 
 
 " In the schools, stones and gold on the teachers are 
 copied in gilt and glass in the scholars ; and, year by 
 year, betrayed by love of finery, wrecked virtue falls 
 from those maiden ranks into the mire. 
 
 " To the table of the Lord many come with garlanded 
 brow to commemorate Him whose crown was of thorns ; 
 and, unfitly, stretch forth a jewelled hand to receive His 
 sign whose hands the nails did tear. 
 
 " Fashion clips charity. Shallow purses cannot bear 
 the cost of both. Self-denial in this matter alone might 
 make every church treasury overflow. Dark neighbour- 
 hoods could be illumined, and whole nations of Pagans 
 evangelized, by the cost of professors' finery. 
 
 " It is an evil, heedlessly, to get isolated from a glorious 
 past. Would one only acquainted with Methodism by the 
 writings of its founder, the records of its history, and the 
 biographies of its saints, know people glistening with 
 gold to be its adherents ? 
 
 " The world's applause of present more liberal views is 
 doubtful praise. Does it mean that we have a less per- 
 vading, less controlling conscientiousness ? If so, I fear
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 it accounts for acknowledged dwarfishness in spiritual 
 stature, and for the uncommonness of the experience of 
 perfect love. It was Laodicea, among the early churches, 
 that with multiplied adornment flaunted forth, ' I am 
 rich.' But Jesus saw spiritual poverty beneath all that 
 wealth of the jeweller, and, in pity, counselled her, 
 ' Buy of Me gold tried in the fire.' Alas ! Laodicean 
 finery and Laodicean feebleness still go together. Less 
 careful of precept than our fathers, we find ourselves in 
 the same degree less able to exercise faith in promise 
 than they. Primitive assemblies might lack refinement, 
 but in them faith, and hope, and love, and simple piety 
 abounded." 
 
 Soon after giving this address, Mr. Collins wrote in a 
 lady's album: 
 
 The rainbow needs no tint, 
 
 And no perfume the rose ; 
 On woman's lovely countenance 
 
 'Tis God the gift bestows. 
 Adorning after Him 
 
 Does no delight impart, 
 But oft indexes on the face 
 
 A weak and restless heart. 
 Would you abhor to hear, 
 
 From pulpits, playhouse lies? 
 Bring not the gaudy theatre 
 
 Before the preacher's eyes. 
 Who "dwells alone" in God, 
 
 Will on the world look down ; 
 Meekness, and Truth, and Christ will have 
 
 For ornament and crown. 
 
 As Mr. Collins made conscience of " not allowing 
 himself in any known sin," so he equally showed love by 
 not suffering it unrebuked in others. Worldliness was 
 his great dread. It seemed to him coming up over the 
 Church like that ever-encroaching drift of the desert which 
 daily narrows the fertile fields of Egypt. As he saw 
 things, worldly conformity was the present, pressing peril. 
 Against that, therefore, he sternly set himself with hos- 
 tility that knew no compromise. The evil thing being 
 voted a trifle, or having grown into custom, no way con- 
 ciliated him. Hence the directness of his attack on all 
 departures from the simplicity of appearance and of
 
 BRISTOL. 459 
 
 manners which John Wesley recommended and loved. 
 " Pooh ! Pooh ! " was not an answer that could stay for 
 one moment the action of Mr. Collins's earnest soul. 
 He saw this "pride of the eye" blighting early piety, 
 weaning young hearts from communion with God, and 
 wiling them astray into the ways of the world. To him 
 such things seemed momentous and terrible. 
 
 In Brazil there grows a common plant which forest 
 dwellers call the Matador, or Murderer. Its slender stem 
 creeps at first along the ground; but no sooner does it 
 meet a vigorous tree than, with clinging grasp, it cleaves 
 to it and climbs ; and, as it climbs, keeps, at short inter- 
 vals, sending out armlike tendrils that embrace the tree. 
 As the murderer ascends, these ligatures grow larger and 
 clasp tighter. Up, up, it climbs, a hundred feet, nay, two 
 hundred, if need be, until the last loftiest spire is gained 
 and fettered. Then, as if in triumph, the parasite shoots 
 a huge, flowery head above the strangled summit ; and 
 thence, from the dead tree's crown, scatters its seed, to 
 do again the work of death. 
 
 Even thus, worldliness has strangled more churches 
 than ever persecution broke. Mr. Collins's heart ached 
 when in chain and ring, bracelet and brooch, garland 
 and plume, he thought he saw this murderer more fatal 
 to trees in the garden of God than is the Matador to the 
 forestry of Brazil insidiously twining round the Societies 
 committed to his care. 
 
 Fox, Fletcher, Wesley, Bramwell, ay, and if any find 
 authority in venerable names, I may go earlier and say, 
 Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Cyprian, the martyr 
 of Carthage, each was pained, and each, in his day, 
 found, like Isaiah, a " burden of the Lord " against 
 " the bravery of ornaments, the round tires like the 
 moon, the mufflers, the mantles, the wimples, and the 
 crisping pins." But spite of them all, Apostles and 
 Prophets, Fathers, and Martyrs, Quaker witnesses and 
 Methodist worthies, there are still daughters of Zion 
 that are haughty; who, as the Scripture says, walk 
 " mincing as they go." 
 
 Mr. Collins feared that things waxed worse. I am not 
 sure of that. Saints weeping the errors of their age sel- 
 dom see it fairly through their tears. However, when a
 
 460 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 watcher so prayerful and so vigilant utters a warning, it 
 deserves good heed. In this Litany all may unite : 
 " From worldliness, that mildew of churches, good 
 Lord deliver us." 
 
 It is due, because true, to say that by Mr. Collins this 
 subject was undertaken, not with a censor's pride, but 
 borne as a prophet's burden. In the message to a 
 friend, accompanying the gift of a copy of his address, 
 he says, " I am, you see, employed in the hard service of 
 rebuke. Smiting wicked aliens I can do without com- 
 punction, but reproving within the Lord's family is in- 
 tensely painful to me. I kept silence as long as I dared. 
 At length my Father's face was getting hidden from me. 
 I followed hard after God. I almost lived in my closet, 
 but I could not get nigh. It would not do. Nothing 
 would do but speaking plainly out according to the light 
 given. I have now done so. None have sent me a vote 
 of thanks. But my conscience is at peace, the way 
 heavenward is cleared, and, best of all, my Father 
 smiles." 
 
 To one that ventured to suggest that what he had 
 done might be accepted as once for all; and that, having 
 printed his testimony, he might by future silence dwell 
 in greater quiet, and, innocently, find a smoother path ; 
 his reply was, " Few now bear this witness. It lies 
 very much upon me. It seems committed to me. 
 Though I lift up my voice with fear and trembling, 
 though giving this testimony almost prostrates me, it is 
 my duty. If, ashamed, I neglected to say the thing for 
 God which He shows me that the present times require, 
 all business between me and Heaven would be suspended. 
 This evil in our respectable families leads more lambs 
 from the fold, hinders more aggressive work, and keeps 
 more souls in a low dying state than any other thing I 
 know. Sir," he added, with unspeakable solemnity, and 
 with tears trembling in his eyes, " the work is a cruci- 
 fixion to me : but, do it I must I must or I could not 
 look my Father in the face." 
 
 Justice to the Societies among whom Mr. Collins 
 laboured requires us to say that though some, at first 
 thought his warnings personal and intrusive, further 
 acquaintance with his unaffected love, singular excel-
 
 BRISTOL. 461 
 
 lence, and transparent rectitude, won their affection 
 even when it did not compel their obedience. 
 
 About this time some reason led Mr. Collins to hear a 
 sermon in a neighbouring church. The ritual was 
 ornate. The exposition, well, those who choose to 
 consult the Catena Aurea of Aquinas may find high- 
 sounding patristic names to endorse it ; or, if they will 
 come lower, Benjamin Keach will stand sponsor for it. 
 It would have been ingenious if original. But if university 
 men be permitted so to let fancy run riot, preachers fresh 
 from lapstone, field or forge, if, perchance, they do the 
 same, surely, should be less despised. The subject was 
 " the good Samaritan." Jerusalem was heaven ; Jericho, 
 hell. Man's fall was the journey down. The thieves 
 who met, stript, wounded, and left the man half dead, 
 were Satan and his angels. The priest and the Levite 
 were Moses, with his " Do this, and live : " and Aaron 
 with his rites and types : they passed by but helped not. 
 The good Samaritan was Jesus : the oil was the Spirit 
 He gives ; the wine, His " precious blood." Putting 
 the man on his own beast, was Christ humbling Himself 
 to exalt us. The inn was the Church. The direction 
 to the innkeeper, Christ's commission and charge to 
 His Ministers. The two pence were the two testaments. 
 The promised reward at the Samaritan's return, the 
 glory which, at His coming, the Lord will give to 
 faithful Ministers. 
 
 On Saturday, December i4th, 1861, Prince Albert 
 died. On the day of funeral Mr. Collins took occasion 
 to preach. His sermon was very appropriate. The 
 statement of the circumstances was well expressed, and 
 the eulogium sober and discriminating. He says : 
 
 How unexpectedly by the death of the Prince has the usual season 
 of our festivity been filled with mourning. The Queen is a widow. 
 The royal children are fatherless. The whole country is in grief. 
 The case is very admonitory. It would be culpably thoughtless to 
 allow such a time to pass unmarked by suitable reflections. 
 
 If rank, and affluence, and a good constitution, and a regular life, 
 and years not far beyond the limit of early manhood could have 
 given security, Death's shaft had not smitten him. If virtues, and 
 accomplishments, and the claims of a numerous family, and the 
 needs of a vast empire could have held him, he had still been here. 
 If the help of attendants, and the skill of physicians, and the assidui- 
 ties of love could have averted death, the Prince had been living now.
 
 4^2 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Prince has been a blessing in the land. Unusually prudent, 
 he walked safely in a path where many would have stumbled. 
 Standing on the steps of the throne, he helped without hiding its 
 occupant. He did not mischievously intrude himself at any time. 
 No party could claim him, though all were indebted to him. With- 
 out either the power of a king, or the freedom for independent action 
 of a peer, he has eclipsed peers, and, as Albert the good, has left a 
 name matched by few of our noblest kings. He considered the poor. 
 He encouraged agriculture. He fostered art. He laboured to pro- 
 mote the harmony of classes. He was a genuine man ; in spirit, 
 devout ; in creed, Protestant ; in morality, a model. Always a praise 
 to them that did well, he was, also, if not, by office, a terror, yet, by 
 life, a reproof, to evil-doers. 
 
 This stroke has come upon us suddenly. Many of us knew not of 
 his illness. The first word that fell upon our ears, blighting many 
 hopes, was this, " The Prince is dead." 
 
 The loss has come just when his experience was ripe ; just when 
 his plans for public good were in progress ; just when the education 
 of his children needed his supervision ; just when the nations could 
 worst spare from their councils so peaceful, influential, and wise a 
 man. 
 
 In living memory no such sadness has ever touched the heart of 
 Britain. Zech. xii. n predicts that the mourning before Israel's 
 restoration shall be bitter "as the mourning of Hadad Rimmon in 
 the valley of Megiddon," when Judah wept Josiah slain. May 
 Britain's tears for her lost Prince and with her smitten Queen be to 
 her, also, the type and commencement of a national repentance ! O 
 Lord, pour upon the house of Victoria, and upon the inhabitants of 
 England, the Spirit of grace and of supplications ! May we all look 
 unto Thee, pierced for our sins and mourn ! Thus may this day of 
 sorrow be sanctified to our country's good ! 
 
 In a Christmas letter to his much loved, daily droop- 
 ing, daughter Emily, Mr. Collins says : 
 
 This morning, December '25th, while I set forth God's ' unspeakable 
 gift' a poor stricken sinner cried out so vehemently that I was 
 obliged to stop awhile and leave him way. To-night my theme has 
 been Mary's faith and joy. I have spoken of 
 
 I. Her usual creed: "God my Saviour." 
 
 II. Her special believing act : " My soul doth magnify the Lord." 
 Consider ; she accepted as true, and in that trust magnified the 
 Lord, despite 
 
 1. The apparent impossibility of the thing: "A virgin shall con- 
 ceive." 
 
 2. The risk to her character ; unmarried, yet a mother. 
 
 3. Tjjie unparalleled wonder of the fact: The Eternal born; 
 Immanuel ; God with us. 
 
 My child, in the darkness the Lord well light up your candle with 
 exceeding joy. You know Mary's God ; follow her unhesitating 
 faith ; imitate her submission ; emulate her spirit of praise. In daily 
 weakness remember :
 
 BRISTOL. 463 
 
 Thee the Eternal God sustains, 
 Thy Maker and thy Friend. 
 
 Christ is your life. Keep on thinking so, saying so, feeling so. 
 Ever magnify the Lord, Emmy, do. Seek perfect subordination. 
 You, my child, know my plan of standing up for God in all things. 
 It is too common to dwell only upon what is sad. By affliction we 
 ought to be sobered ; but we, who believe the Gospel and stand with 
 God, may so take broader, brighter, views, that we shall not be dis- 
 tressed. As we see His hand uplifted, let us not flee from Him, but 
 close, and closer, let us cleave to His beloved embrace. The proof 
 of self conquered is the soul's power habitually to say, " Good is the 
 will of the Lord : good, acceptable, and perfect." 
 
 " Friday, March i4th. I gave thanks for the revivals 
 that are in progress all around. At Wedmore an infidel 
 recanted his creed, and burnt his books ; at Axbridge 
 the day-school teacher had to stop his lesson to let the 
 children pray : at Hanham thieves and harlots have 
 been saved. Wonders of grace have been done in 
 Midsomer-Norton, Banwell, and Abergavenny, and 
 Blaina. 
 
 " Thursday, May 2gth. Went to Muller's House at 
 Ashley Down. There eleven hundred orphans are 
 maintained and trained in the fear of the Lord. What 
 a work! At sight of it I was both amazed and humbled. 
 By the side of that God-honoured man I felt ashamed. 
 I abhorred myself for my fruitlessness, and adored the 
 Lord for His mighty acts. The word of my heart was, 
 4 Lord ' what wouldst Thou have me to do ? " 
 
 A letter, dated June i3th, adverts well to national trou- 
 bles then pressing: "These are days in which we 
 ought to pray exceedingly. How dreadful this fratricidal 
 war in America, and this stagnating cotton famine in 
 England ! America and England, the lands of clearest 
 Gospel light, are to God as His Israel now. Therefore 
 are their sins sorely visited. His knife is sharp. Blood 
 and hunger cut deep. America has been proud of 
 territory and of population : her unity is threatened, and 
 her sons are slain. England has boasted of wealth, and, 
 behold, the cry of her poor reaches to heaven. The 
 sorrow may become bitterer still. God hath not yet 
 touched our cattle or corn, or let the pestilence loose. 
 May we repent, and may the Lord be merciful ! " 
 
 A letter to a young Minister, dated August 27th, says :
 
 464 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " Make as full a day for God as you were accustomed to 
 do for man. Read carefully. Make what you read 
 thoroughly your own. Have a book always in use for 
 analysis, reviews, and extracts. Stick close to Wesley's 
 writings : he wrote, as I would have you live, for God 
 and for souls. Do not at present spend much money 
 upon books. Our standard works may generally be 
 borrowed from libraries in the Circuit. Riper experience, 
 and more learning than you have yet, are necessary to 
 the wise and economical purchasing of books. Work 
 hard, very hard, at your Bible. Write your preparations 
 with prayer and care. Sermons short, and strong, and 
 well steeped in the water of life, are the sort you want. 
 Be loving, simple, and studious. Do not listen to 
 recitals of faults of the absent. Specially frown down 
 ill tales of your predecessor. People who love to talk 
 disrespectfully about other Ministers, will in turn speak 
 in the same way about you. If any will persist to speak 
 thus, call upon them to engage in prayer for the erring 
 party. Scripture read the first thing in a house will 
 suggest good themes for conversation, and give savour 
 to all your further communications. Learn ' The twelve 
 Rules of a Helper,' and keep them. Often, in secret, 
 renew your covenant with God, and never live lower 
 than perfect love." 
 
 Mr. Collins threw few chances of usefulness away : 
 thus, I find note how two Local Preachers were guided 
 into perfect love by a conversation carried on amid the 
 busy hum of a bazaar. When was he without a word 
 in season ? " Sir," said one he visited, " I hope to be 
 saved at last." " It would be better, friend," was the 
 reply, " to be saved at first : so let us go down upon our 
 knees and seek the blessing now." 
 
 " What talents have I ? " asked a desponding lady. 
 " Well, at all events, two : leisure and God's Word : time 
 and truth. Let them be well used, and your crown 
 will be bright." 
 
 " Sin is so ruinous," observed another, " I cannot be 
 happy: it makes me afraid." To this Mr. Collins returned, 
 " My brother, sin is not a whit better than you think 
 of it. It is destructive to the soul as arsenic is deadly to 
 the body. But does alarm of arsenic keep you from
 
 BRISTOL. 465 
 
 enjoying daily food ? No ! For, you truly argue, 
 though arsenic is bad, seeing that I shall not take it, 
 it will not hurt me. So say I. Sin is bad, but Jesus 
 strengthening me I will not do it. Against poison, 
 whether bodily or spiritual, I will be upon my guard ; 
 but neither the one nor the other shall involve me in the 
 terror of perpetual dread, or lower my life into a perennial 
 misery." 
 
 Of a young Local Preacher he inquired, " Have you 
 family prayer at your lodgings ? " The answer was, 
 " We are not to throw our pearls before swine : so I have 
 never proposed it." His reply was, " Be ashamed if you 
 have chosen a hogstye for your home, and more ashamed 
 if you have vilified your home without reason. Evade 
 duty no longer. Offer to do it this very night. If the 
 offer be refused, find a better place. Never willingly 
 pitch your tent where you may not build your altar." 
 
 An invalid he found thankfully mindful of intervals of 
 ease, but doubtful of God's mighty mercy in Jesus. 
 " Thomas," said he, " suppose I plunged into the Severn 
 to save you from drowning ; got you out, led you home ; 
 and at parting, on your door step, gave you a lozenge. 
 What would rise to your mind ever after when you 
 thought of me ? The lozenge ! the lozenge ! " " O no, 
 Sir ! the rescue ! " " Well, let it be so concerning Jesus. 
 You tell me of just one of His little gifts. Speak as 
 Paul did of His dying love. Say, ' He loved me and 
 gave Himself for me.' Think of that, till it sets your 
 soul on fire ; think of that, till a passion for Him swells 
 within you." 
 
 Frequent labours of visitation brought Mr. Collins in 
 contact with some peculiar cases. The softening brain 
 of one dear old saint had become possessed by a singu- 
 larly happy monomania. To her every day was Sunday. 
 The little left of life was to be all worship. The only 
 trouble the pleasant delusion caused was that her 
 daughter was obliged to clean the cottage early, and on 
 the sly; for pails, scrubbing brushes, and mops, seemed 
 awful improprieties to her ever Sabbath-keeping mother. 
 Another aged woman had gone blind : she became the 
 subject of a beautiful illusion. "All," said she, " around 
 is dark. I see nothing there : but when I lo right up 
 
 H H
 
 466 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 towards heaven, for months past, I have always seen 
 the letter W printed as if in pearls : I know what it 
 means. I am going soon, and it means WELCOME." 
 
 I will here, as seems most fitting, briefly summarize what, 
 from various sources, I find to have been the impressions 
 made by Mr. Collins's course of labour at Bristol; leaving 
 entirely to the next and final chapter to tell how his 
 work there, and, indeed, his active ministry, was by a 
 sudden stroke of illness brought prematurely to its close. 
 
 His appointment to Bristol was preceded by much 
 curiosity of expectation. The reports which had reached 
 the people concerning him were various and conflicting. 
 There could not long be doubt. The first sermon showed 
 what manner of man he was. 
 
 Many in the Church were startled, and some offended, 
 by the bold and direct reproof with which at once he 
 smote worldliness and apathy; whilst such as had been 
 waiting in hope of full salvation were gladdened by the 
 clear, strong, way in which all the privileges of holiness 
 were set before them. 
 
 His style, biblical in spirit and idiom, attracted the 
 devout; always accurate, often elegant, it pleased the 
 educated; terse and simple, it suited the busy; frequently 
 illustrative, sometimes quaint, now lit up with humour, 
 then piercing with the probe of wit, it fixed the attention 
 of the careless ; laden with truth, pungent in appeal, 
 replete with unction, his discourses were words of life to 
 many. 
 
 His originality was uncommon. People, well read in 
 theology, know, nor do they think it any blame to find 
 it so, that the gist and ground-work of ordinary homilies 
 may be found in standard commentaries, or the writings 
 of previous divines upon the text. They who tested Mr. 
 Collins thus, were, as the result, assured that his preach- 
 ing like Paul's was not with words of man's wisdom. 
 As diamond is best polished with dust of diamond, so, 
 in his esteem, scripture upon scripture was the best 
 expositor. Like Mary, " he pondered things in his 
 heart:" like the Apostles, he gave himself " continually 
 unto prayer." Prepared by closet exercises, he entered 
 the pulpit full of fresh thoughts, and baptized with 
 heavenly power.
 
 
 BRISTOL. 467 
 
 In the work of the Lord, though he had become in 
 body unwieldy and weak, he allowed himself no stint. 
 He no more counted the sermons he preached than a 
 nightingale does the tunes it sings. " Never unemployed, 
 never triflingly employed, never wiling away time," he 
 did, with joyful industry, much more than ever got 
 allotted to him on the Plan. I find record of sermons 
 in the open air ; sermons in cottages ; sermons by the 
 firelight of glass works ; sermons amid the tubs of a 
 laundry ; sermons to the aged in workhouses ; and ser- 
 mons to the sick in hospital wards. 
 
 The favourite theme of his Bristol ministry was the 
 glorious privilege of loving God with all the heart. 
 Thus living himself, holding nothing back, a dedicated 
 man, altogether the Lord's, to this great duty and bliss- 
 ful experience he turned again and again. In the pulpit, 
 in the Leaders' Meeting, in the class, in the company he 
 spake of it. Yet no repetition of the theme seemed "to 
 stale his infinite variety." New aspects and new beauties 
 appeared to open endlessly before him. 
 
 Mr. Collins's parlour-work was great and very fruitful. 
 He was no manufacturer of laughs. He always had a 
 message to bear ; and as did his Master at the Phari- 
 see's table could ever have said, " I have somewhat to 
 say unto thee." Parties, as generally managed, were to 
 him but social nuisances, in the midst of which his 
 heart often ached tp find that after all warnings against 
 the world, to many in his flock the summum bonum still 
 seemed to be to eat, drink, trifle, and be fine; and that 
 his own feeling was so little understood that, with 
 mistaken kindness, they invited him to see the folly 
 done. In such a circle, if attempts to give it holier 
 tone proved vain, he soon seemed reserved, reticent, ill 
 at home ; and, like enough, if imprisoned too closely for 
 escape, before the time wore through, his candid opinion 
 of the whole thing became uncomfortably manifest. 
 But place him among a company, rich or poor, that 
 evinced any wish to know and do the Father's will, then 
 his stores of experience were at their command. The 
 spirit of an Apostle breathed in him as he said, " My 
 little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until 
 Christ be formed in you." His words had a sweetness, 
 
 H H 2
 
 468 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 his manner a winning tenderness, his look a happy 
 fascinating glow, and his communications a spiritual 
 richness, that made hungry souls listen with loving 
 silence, like Mary at the Master's feet. 
 
 As a pastor, Bristol will not soon forget Mr. Collins. 
 He warned the declining : he says : " I spoke plain 
 words to a Leader : the man has good gifts ; his class 
 once flourished ; but he has become half-hearted, does 
 the work of the Lord negligently, and, of course, it 
 dwindles in his dilatory hand." He hunted after the 
 stray : he says : " I talked, with many tears, and I hope 
 not without effect, to a youth that had wandered." 
 
 The Journal records: "The Rev. Edward Nye 
 preached at our chapel, on Elisha raising the son of the 
 Shunammite. The whole narrative was turned to good 
 account, but with special wisdom and ingenuity he ex- 
 horted us to ' bring ourselves into warm contact with 
 those whom we wish to bless.' " This Mr. Collins did. 
 He carried the Gospel to the poor. Among them he 
 taxed his purse, as well as offered his prayers. One 
 characteristic note of a visit reads thus : " I thanked 
 the Lord, and gave the poor man a shilling." Daily he 
 fed the hungry, clothed the naked, warned the vicious, 
 visited the sick, comforted the saints, and through all the 
 neighbouring lanes, courts, and alleys, cared for those for 
 whom no man else did care. Through all the purlieus 
 of Bedminster poverty, his name, to this day, is " as 
 ointment poured forth."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 WE shall, as much as possible, narrate the fluctuating 
 experiences oi broken health in Mr. Collins's own words. 
 
 " Wednesday, December loth, 1862. I finished a 
 sermon upon ' the mind that was in Christ.' On Thurs- 
 day morning, upon arising, my mind was obscured, my 
 speech impeded, and my step uncertain. I became 
 painfully conscious that, all unknown to me, during the 
 night, the power to control my right hand and foot had 
 been seriously diminished. It was clear that, to some 
 extent, one side of me was paralysed. In my walk I 
 felt a peculiar sense of tottering ; and it was with the 
 greatest difficulty that I could dress at all." 
 
 Sad evidence of the immediate result of this stroke is 
 visible in a letter still remaining, which was commenced 
 before, but concluded after, this gentle and painless, yet 
 potent attack. The early portion, very cheerful in tone, 
 is written neatly as usual; but in the close it is affecting 
 to see the letters become sprawling, the thoughts are 
 repeated, and the whole is wound up with the touching 
 apology: "Excuse this strange writing; I am sorry 
 to send you such, but / really cannot guide my hand." 
 
 As the medical adviser ordered mental rest and imme- 
 diate change of scene, Mr. Collins set off on Saturday, 
 December i3th, to Redditch, his early home, now the 
 residence of his eldest sister. 
 
 December i5th. I feel better. My rest last night 
 was less broken. I am revived. Mr. Wright, my 
 brother, has driven me out among old scenes, much 
 altered, but yet suggestive to me of many pleasant 
 memories.
 
 47 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 "December i8th. I am sensibly weaker than before 
 my seizure ; my knee fails me still, but my hand is gra- 
 dually recovering its cunning again. Many of my friends 
 are in heaven. My journey nears its end. Whether I 
 shall ever do full work again is doubtful. I am in the 
 Lord's hands. He hath ever led me; He leads me now, 
 and He will lead me aright. 
 
 " December 28th. I do not yet fully discern the meaning 
 of this affliction. It is so gentle that I feel no pain : it 
 is so effectual that muscles and nerves are beyond my 
 control. Let God's will be done. To be anything or to 
 be nothing alike pleases me, if He make the allotment." 
 
 A letter bearing date December 3Oth, 1862, says : 
 " Our great bazaar opens to-day. The friends desire 
 me to commence their doings with prayer. I shall do 
 so. I am, however, so little in love with bazaars, at 
 best, necessary evils, that at the first request a feeling 
 came over me akin to what I felt when, ' lang syne,' a 
 Scotch farmer begged of me to crave a blessing on a 
 whiskey bottle. 
 
 " I am glad that you are reading Baxter : there is 
 none better. Use your pen freely. Lose nothing. 
 Every little helps. Work hard while your intellect is 
 vigorous. My inventive power is now gone. 
 
 " Tell all your need, tell out your whole soul, to 
 Him who hears prayer. He will teach you all things. 
 Some most useful have had little teaching except of 
 the Holy Ghost. Who cultivated John Bunyan ? Per- 
 secutors locked him up, and in the leisure of that den 
 God gave him thoughts that will never die, in words that 
 men will never cease to read. 
 
 " What are you doing in the salvation line ? Make all 
 your sermons with the design of saving souls full in 
 view. I rejoice to hear that you are following hard after 
 God. While you do so, His right hand will uphold you, 
 and His counsel guide. How many sermons have you 
 upon perfect love ? A clear, strong, feeling sermon on 
 that subject is of great value alike to yourself and to the 
 people. ' Heavenly places in Christ Jesus ' must be your 
 element." 
 
 "January 5th, 1863. Left home at half-past four P.M. 
 Quiet third class companions. One smoked. When his
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 471 
 
 pipe was out, I asked, ' Do you wish these boys around 
 to learn that habit ? ' ' No, indeed. I wish I had never 
 learned it myself. But, Sir, the pipe is now my master.' 
 
 "January gth. I went this morning to consult Mr. 
 Ingoldby, of Finsbury Sqyare. I found it pleasant to 
 have a medical adviser who, in seeking information, 
 asked about the pressure of the burden of souls 
 upon my spirit ; and who, after prescribing tonics, did 
 not forget to encourage "me to cast my care upon the 
 Lord. 
 
 "January loth. I went to Reedham, to the Orphan 
 Asylum, to see little Robert Campbell. The day was 
 fine, the country beautiful, my spirits rose until my emo- 
 tions became ungovernable. I chuckled until I was 
 ashamed to meet people. This weakness of self-control 
 for the present perfectly unfits me to conduct public 
 worship. 
 
 "January nth. Damp and dull. It brought me back 
 to moderation of tone. I thus found that dull days 
 have their use : who shall say that dull people have not ? 
 I opened up to S. C. my plan of seeking retirement at 
 Warwick. I told him, that though I could live without 
 being chargeable upon any of our funds, yet it caused 
 me sorrow to foresee that I should be obliged to curtail 
 charities which had been my wont. He answered, 
 ' Rightly considered, your charity will be not one grain 
 diminished. You did give cash ; you will give yourself. 
 You will give all you do ; and you will do all you can. 
 Free, loving labour is more than money.' This reply at 
 once relieved me. 
 
 "January 24th. Arrived at Tranmere a little before 
 seven P.M. During the night a terrible storm raged. 
 The great blast so shook the window, in the room of my 
 brother Henry's house, that its rattling forbade my sleep. 
 Thinking to find some way of fixing it, I rose ; while 
 crossing the room, all strength went so instantaneously 
 from my right knee that I shot down in a moment, with- 
 out the slightest power to soften my fall. My weight 
 broke a towel stand, and my head reached not an inch 
 short of the sharp corner of an iron fender; which had I 
 struck, I must have been dreadfully hurt. For that nar- 
 row escape I thanked the Preserver of men.'
 
 472 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " February 4th. I cannot yet command my feelings ; 
 until I can, sense of propriety keeps me out of the 
 pulpit. At Tranmere I visited Barney's grave, sailed 
 round and explored that leviathan, ' the Great Eastern,' 
 amused the children, led them out in one pleasant 
 excursion or other, exhausted my scanty stock of recrea- 
 tions, and then fell home-sick. After short absence I 
 always do. I long for my own pillow. So I pushed 
 on, and am at Bedminster once more. 
 
 " February 8th. I went to Torquay. Two navvies, 
 my third-class companions, began to banter each other. 
 Their droll heartiness of fun, kept up in perfect good 
 humour, and without any ill words, perfectly convulsed 
 me. I would have done anything to have stopped the 
 laughter with which I was shaken. The thing was 
 quite against my will. I really had no possibility of 
 self-control. I was obliged to preface a few loving, 
 serious words to them by an explanation of my weak- 
 ness. 
 
 " February loth. The Rev. John Morgan took me a 
 most enchanting walk : I remember nothing equal to it. 
 I have also been over the house in which William of 
 Orange passed the first night after his landing. I have 
 been happy in this place ; and in conversation have tried 
 to bear a witness for God. 
 
 " February i6th. I am now at Ilfracombe. In 
 Christian company I have been much refreshed. In 
 lonely walks the Lord has come nigh me. In some of 
 the retired coves, and on the slopes of Hillsborough, I 
 was sweetly conscious that the Dove of the Master's 
 baptism nestled afresh in my bosom. 
 
 " I am weak. I cannot bear much. On Sunday, by 
 mistake, I seated myself near the singers. I was 
 obliged to remove. Their voices, though sweet, were 
 too much for me. 
 
 " I fear that in many pretentious ' Ladies' Establish- 
 ments ' little of human learning, and nothing of Divine 
 truth is taught. The middle classes had better soon 
 look to it ; for the public schools for children of artisans 
 and cottagers are often, in both ways, better. In my 
 lodging a young lady ' finished,' as it is called read 
 for me Rom. xi. I asked, 'Who wrote these words ?'
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 473 
 
 She did not know. ' To whom ? ' She could not tell. 
 Here was a well-grown Miss, ' educated ! ' Now, 
 walking on the sands, I came up with a child picking 
 drifted wood, with which to keep alive her poor mother's 
 fire. ' My dear,' said I, 'who was gathering sticks when 
 a prophet spoke to her ?' ' The widow of Sarepta,' was 
 the little maiden's prompt reply. Nor was that first 
 answer an unfair specimen of her quick, bright readiness 
 in the conversation that followed. 
 
 " There are memorials of six centenarians in the 
 entrance of Ilfracombe churchyard. 
 
 " March 4th. I am now at Brighton. I am very 
 weak. I have no control over emotion. Joy in the 
 Lord makes me often burst out into laughter which I 
 cannot stop, and which, of course, strangers cannot 
 understand. 
 
 "March loth. Portishead is my present resting-place. 
 This day our Prince of Wales has been united in mar- 
 riage with Alexandra of Denmark ; and it has been a joy 
 to me to observe the jubilant loyalty of the cottagers 
 upon the occasion. 
 
 "April 6th. Clevedon. I have worshipped with 'the 
 Friends,' ' the Brethren,' and the Independents. I have 
 seen nothing better than Methodism, nor, in my judg- 
 ment, so good. I have just had an interesting conversa- 
 tion with Mr. Goldschmid, a converted Jew. I was greatly 
 moved by his reading of the eightieth Psalm. His 
 talk also of Joseph as a type of Jesus much affected me. 
 The two men in prison with Joseph foreshadowed to him 
 the two thieves crucified with Jesus. 
 
 " April 23rd. Lewes. I went up to the castle this 
 morning ; the view is most romantic. What with the 
 fair scene and the exhilarating air I literally quivered 
 with emotion. I found out Mrs. Dawes, one of my old 
 Sandhurst mothers. She is now seventy-eight. Her 
 house used to be one of my palaces: always beautifully 
 clean. In the afternoon I got up a little gathering in 
 her room. Besides myself and our venerable hostess 
 we had an invalid City Missionary, a young lady, very 
 fragile, fast sinking to the tomb, and a poor worn out old 
 Class Leader. We were a set of broken, feeble folk ; 
 yet heavenly talk made us very happy. The aged
 
 474 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 veteran, being asked to give out a hymn, made me smile 
 by his selection. ' Soldiers of Christ arise ! ' said he. 
 It irresistibly struck me that we were fitter for hospital 
 than for field ; and that, as swordsmen, our shattered 
 party would be counted but a sorry lot." 
 
 In May Mr. Collins sought and, of course, received 
 the recommendation of his District Meeting to the Con- 
 ference that he be permitted to retire from active service, 
 and rest as a Supernumerary. 
 
 " May 22nd. An unoccupied house, abutting upon the 
 Warwick Lammas ground, seeming suitable for our pur- 
 pose, I have this day taken it. We shall have plenty of 
 space, fresh air, open prospects, a chapel near, and 
 lonely, lovely, walks beginning at its very door. 
 
 "June 5th. I am struck with the numerous deaths of 
 men younger than myself. John Mollard's name occurs 
 in the obituary of this week. At Durham, I was his 
 pastor : I examined him, and received him as a Local 
 Preacher upon the Plan ; now, he is home before me. 
 
 "June 1 8th. Malvern Hills were visible in my walks 
 as a child : their forms were familiar as an old friend ; 
 yet never, until to-day, have I essayed to ascend them. 
 The feat was accomplished upon the back of a vene- 
 rable mule. In going up the old creature was so gentle, 
 and safe, and pleasant, that I felt much inclined to sink 
 the dignity of horse exercise, make a bid for the helpful 
 animal, and take him off with me for Warwick riding ; 
 but coming down shook me, tried me, revealed the 
 littleness of my strength, and deferred all thought of 
 purchase." 
 
 Mr. Collins's beloved daughter Emily was now fast 
 drawing nigh to the gates of death. He wrote, " The 
 prospect of speedily going home, of going to be ' for 
 ever with the Lord,' is not one to make you either 
 alarmed or sad. By tender affection we have lived 
 much in each other's heart, but our hope and life are 
 supremely in Jesus. How full His Word is of assurances 
 of love ? You have in part proved them. You go to 
 know their fulness of meaning. All you have had is but 
 the earnest of that blissful union with the Lord in 
 immeasurable and eternal love that yet awaits you." 
 
 "July 2nd. At eleven this morning a telegram sum-
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 475 
 
 moned me as I would see dear Emmy alive to set 
 forth at once to Loughborough. I started immediately, 
 and arrived at three. She was relieved by seeing me. 
 It was a comfort to press my hand and have me by her 
 side in her last earthly hour. Breathing was, for her, a 
 hard struggle, painfully laborious. Her toil beneath ac- 
 cumulations upon her lungs was oppressive ; and when 
 she attempted to speak, her utterance was so impeded, 
 and her cough so sorely troubled her, that it was impos- 
 sible to make out all she said. But her eyes spoke. 
 Resignation shone in every feature. My weakness of 
 nerve was now first felt in its bitterness of trial. I could 
 not command myself. As she looked upon me, I felt 
 almost choked with grief. It was only possible to keep 
 composure by keeping silent. Whenever I attempted to 
 speak, irresistible bursts of passionate weeping mastered 
 me. How well, in my weakness and hers, that we had 
 thoroughly known each other before ! still better, that we 
 knew Christ ! I was, however, strengthened to kneel and 
 pray as she departed, and then, when her happy soul 
 was fled, I was enabled to give thanks. Many wept her 
 loss, but only few could know her worth. Her intelli- 
 gence, gentleness, and tenderness of conscience were 
 exemplary. 
 
 "July 6th. Emmy was buried in the Loughborough 
 cemetery. My heart bows without rebellion to the will of 
 the Lord, but my nerves succumb. In the stress of these 
 days of sorrow uncontrollable paroxysms shook my 
 frame ; slight renewal of paralysis came on, so drawing 
 my face towards the left side that I could scarcely open 
 or shut the right eye. 
 
 "August 5th. I fear that I am gradually losing 
 strength. Here, at Warwick, I pay many visits to the 
 sick and poor. Three of my cottage neighbours suffer 
 from paralysis ; with them my weakness helps my 
 sympathy. 
 
 " August 2gth. I have returned to Malvern. I did so 
 in order to try Dr. Caplin's electro-chemical bath. My own 
 physician would neither advise nor forbid it. As it was 
 much upon my mind to make the experiment, about a 
 week ago I took one, and certainly have felt much im- 
 proved. It is just an ordinary warm bath with the
 
 476 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 simple addition that the vessel you sit in is made of 
 copper, and that while sitting in it you hold a conductor, 
 by means of which a stream of electricity passes per- 
 petually through you. This in my case was done for an 
 hour, and then I went to bed. As soon as I lay down, 
 there commenced in my brain, and continued for half- 
 an-hour, a gentle throb, a tingle, and a strange sensa- 
 tion as of trickling. I wondered how it would end, 
 committed myself to the Lord, and fell asleep. In the 
 morning I awoke two hours earlier than common, but 
 with more conscious refreshment than I had known 
 for twelve months. My tremor, my uncertainty of 
 step, and all my unfavourable symptoms were sensibly 
 abated." 
 
 October igth. A letter of this date advises and en- 
 courages a young labourer in a wide Circuit thus : 
 " Those numerous villages afford good room for evan- 
 gelism. Be not one of those who can do nothing out of 
 their study. Accustom yourself to read, to think con- 
 secutively, and to make sermon jottings, on country 
 roads, in poor chambers, and even in farm kitchens. I 
 used to do so. The growing plan of preachers coming 
 home every night has sadly relaxed the hold of Me- 
 thodism upon rural England. Formerly, the preacher's 
 visit, and the preacher's talk, linked families to him. 
 Now they scarcely see him except in the pulpit ; and then 
 under the chilling influence of a thin week-night congre- 
 gation. The old plan was really less wearing to us as 
 well as more profitable to the people. It involved less 
 night exposure, and, with moderate tact and self- 
 discipline, was not so much hindrance to study as 
 those who never tried might fear." 
 
 The new year, 1864, Mr. Collins's last, opened upon him 
 with a heavy trial. Almost its first fact was bereave- 
 ment by the death of his beloved wife. Her true worth 
 was little known. Sufferings result of asthma and 
 diseased heart had for some years precluded the possi- 
 bility of her cultivating, as she desired to do, intimacy 
 with the friends among whom her husband laboured. 
 But all who were favoured to have intercourse with her 
 were invariably impressed with her sincerity and 
 thoroughness of character. Religion was her life. She
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 477 
 
 was very prayerful, and more manifestly unworldly than 
 almost any one I ever met. 
 
 The Rev. S. Allen, once her Class Leader, says : 
 " Her piety was both ardent and enlightened. The 
 beautifully clear statements in which she revealed the 
 ever-deepening, ever-expanding, work of grace in her 
 soul, rendered it a privilege of no common kind to be 
 associated with her in the communion of saints." 
 
 With this testimony my own knowledge of her agrees. 
 Her love for good people and all good works was ad- 
 mirable. I have often been much pleased to see in this 
 sensitive, cultured lady her evident joy in those religious 
 services where, in the Methodist manner, solid Christians, 
 though but rude in speech, are permitted to give evidence 
 for God. Her delight was specially in the faith and pa- 
 tience, worship and witness-bearing, of the Lord's poor. 
 
 Her husband says : " For more than a quarter of a 
 century her truthful love has been to me a steady stream 
 of consolation and refreshment. She was never forward 
 to intrude counsels upon me in temporal things ; and 
 still less did she seek to intermeddle with management in 
 the Church of God ; but her prayers have, all through, 
 upheld my hands and brought a blessing on my work. 
 
 " Since dear Emmy died, her thoughts have turned 
 unceasingly towards eternity. She has seemed specially 
 pressing to follow her child. The last six months have 
 been months of retirement and rest. Repose was upon 
 her spirit. Sabbath and assurance dwelt with her. She 
 often spoke cheerfully and hopefully on her approaching 
 dismissal. 
 
 " In her last hours, when pain lay heavy upon her, 
 though I had, at the moment, some doubt about the 
 fitness of such an inquiry of such an one, yet, for the 
 sake of others, I brought myself to ask, ' Is your eye 
 wholly on Christ now ? ' She had little breath to spare. 
 Her answer was necessarily brief. With a look as if of 
 wonder that I could question it she replied, ' Of course.' 
 Then I remembered the Word of the Lord to His disciple. 
 ' Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou 
 not known Me, Philip ? ' 
 
 " From the time the doctors gave up her case, her 
 soul vehemently desired heaven. Her heart and flesh
 
 478 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 cried out for God. So earnest became her longings, 
 and so great her pains, that at length it seemed right to 
 unite our petition with hers, that the Lord would now 
 admit her to His glorious presence ; which He graciously 
 did about forty minutes past twelve P.M. of Wednesday, 
 January 6th, 1864. 
 
 " April 1 2th. My fifty-fourth birthday. Home seems 
 lonely without my accustomed mate. I find, however, 
 sweet solace in thought of heaven, and efforts to do 
 good. How full of mercy has been my life ! How 
 graciously the Lord has dealt with me ! I determine, 
 henceforth, through my brief remaining day, to get and 
 to keep nearer to Him." 
 
 In May, Mr. Collins was hastily summoned to Kent 
 to the deathbed of Mrs. Austen, one as will be remem- 
 bered of his oldest and truest friends. Concerning 
 this last visit to that much-loved region, Mr. Carlos 
 Coleman writes : " He stayed with me. The spirit of 
 his friend had fled ere he could reach. His thrills of 
 emotion in sight of her remains were very touching. 
 Though feeble, he took part in the conduct of the 
 funeral. His address to a numerous company, over 
 the coffin in the chapel, will never be forgotten. It 
 was so simple, heartfelt, and exceedingly beautiful, that, 
 from that moment, Christian friendship seemed to us 
 to be a thing sacred, deep, strong, and tender, beyond 
 anything we had ever conceived before. His visible 
 weakness, and that gushing of soul which only just 
 allowed him to speak, and no more, no doubt increased 
 the melting effect of the service. While, in the interval 
 between that day and the Sabbath, preparing a funeral 
 sermon and memorial sketch, I could not but be struck 
 with the diminution of his strength. His mind was clear 
 as ever ; but bodily debility rendered him incapable of 
 long consecutive effort. It was sweet, however, to 
 observe how prayer, his ancient habit, was now his 
 best refreshment. Oft, when wearied with writing, 
 he would say, ' Come, let us pray a little.' From such 
 exercises he ever seemed to rise invigorated. 
 
 " When Sunday evening came, the gathering was a 
 crowd. It was good to be there. Yet, those of us who 
 had known the preacher in his day of might, were sad.
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 479 
 
 Though aided in preliminaries, it was as much as he 
 could do to get through. As he showed the blessedness 
 of such as ' die in the Lord,' we joyed with the joy of 
 hope : still it was a day of sorrow. We all mourned 
 the holy woman, the mother in Israel, who was gone ; 
 but many, his children in the Gospel, wept even more 
 to see the strength of the man who had been among us 
 such a Samson, so utterly broken. We saw that we 
 should soon be also bereaved of him. We perceived 
 that we should see his face no more. 
 
 "At my home he was cheerful and full of good talk. 
 Standing on his old battle-ground, reminiscence revived 
 his ardour. Flashes of hope sparkled in him, that he 
 might even yet, by rest and quiet, be strengthened again 
 to do valiantly for the Lord. 
 
 " His form is indelibly printed upon my memory. I 
 see him still. Now in the house, bright, intelligent, 
 and joyous : now in the garden, upright, slow, leaning 
 heavily upon his staff, his strong, noble. features half 
 hidden by the shadow of a loose black hat ; sometimes 
 absorbed in thought ; next uttering terse sentences ; 
 then, after narration of some bygone mercy, pausing, 
 and, with beaming countenance and eyes filled with 
 tears, looking me full in the face, he would say, with 
 infectious joy, ' Bless God, Carlos ! bless God, I say ! ' ' 
 
 Upon his return, Mr. Collins wrote in his diary, " I 
 have been more excited in Sussex than my feebleness 
 can well bear. Many spots there are sacred to me. 
 Even yet I seem always to realize more gracious Divine 
 manifestations in those parts than I do anywhere else." 
 
 With waning strength Mr. Collins seemed to have 
 waxing love. Each day had its deeds of mercy; visits 
 to cottages, dealings with the sick, efforts for the good 
 of haymakers, militiamen, and the like. He relieved 
 distress, scattered tracts, spoke good words, and dis- 
 tributed portions of Scripture all round. 
 
 For meeting the case of untaught, unprepared minds, 
 nothing equals personal, illustrative instruction. Public 
 preaching often fails with such. " If you would fill 
 narrow bottles," as Baxter says, " you must take them 
 separately ; you must pour the wine into them one by 
 one : not throw it over them in a crowd." Thus pri-
 
 480 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 vately and patiently did Mr. Collins expound from house 
 to house among the poor of Warwick. To a gardener 
 he gave the thought that God can see acts in tempers, 
 by reminding the man how he himself could foresee the 
 garden, with all its plants and flowers, by only looking 
 at the seed. To a passer by, whom he called to take a 
 coin that lay upon the road, from his own lack of 
 power through stiffness of the limbs to pick up the 
 cash that was in his path, he taught the value of humi- 
 lity. " Stoop, stoop ; " said he, "we fail of many a gift 
 God puts before us, because we will not, do not, cannot 
 stoop." To a soldier, much sought by Romish prose- 
 lytizers, he set forth the Pope as he is pictured in 
 2 Thess. ii. 4, exalting himself above all that is called 
 God ; and made the fact that he does so plain to his 
 military hearer's mind, by showing to him that in for- 
 bidding the sacramental cup, though Jesus said, " Drink 
 ye all of it ; and in teaching adoration of images, 
 though Jehovah commands, " Ye shall not bow down to 
 them," the Pope acts as a subaltern would do if he 
 presumed to reverse the orders of the commander-in- 
 chief. 
 
 How valuable is goodness ! What a treasure this 
 broken-down Methodist Supernumerary Preacher must 
 have been to his lowly neighbours ! The poor blessed 
 him* The widow and the desolate found in him a 
 comforter. The outcast learned from him to love the 
 Saviour. 
 
 On September 3rd, 1864, Mr. Collins paid his last 
 pastoral visit. After that, neighbours saw him no more. 
 He never went out again. His work was done. 
 
 The final entry in his Journal bears date, Tuesday, 
 September i3th. It reads thus : " My breathing has 
 been worse since I wrote last. I feel deeply impressed 
 that I cannot live long. I am much as my dear wife 
 was when her end drew nigh. My heart palpitates 
 exceedingly. At class, on Sunday, in my own house, I 
 was very happy with our brethren. But I fear I must 
 request them not to come again. Reading and prayer 
 are my favourite occupations. Some one joins me, 
 Aunt Maria, or my daughter, or one of the servants." 
 
 September i4th was the last day in which he came
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 481 
 
 down stairs. Adverting to the comparatively early close 
 of his course, he seemed to be of baxter's mind, who 
 asks: "What is a candle for but to be burnt? Nor 
 will we complain of its consumption, if only it have all 
 gone in lighting men." Yet conscious that his own 
 early labours had been excessive, and his continuance 
 in them too restless, he, in his own quaint way, added: 
 " If I had taken things more quietly, and sometimes 
 rested my back against a tree when I was weary, I might, 
 perhaps, have kept longer in the field." 
 
 Speaking of his pulpit preparations, he said : " Some 
 passages of Scripture especially the promises of perfect 
 love I have prayed over for hours ; I have meditated 
 upon them for days ; 1 have kept them before me tor 
 months ; 1 have reverted to them with ever-deepening 
 thoughts, again and again, from year to year. Thus I 
 have been enabled to feel them, to sound the depth of 
 them, to see them in many different points of view, and 
 with clearness to speak of them." 
 
 When one sympathized with his suffering agony, he 
 said : " It becomes me a rescued sinner to be thank- 
 ful. What is this to the torment of eternal fire ? Who 
 can sufficiently warn sinners ? I have been earnest 
 with them. Many a time I have trembled from head to 
 foot at thought of their peril ; but my ieeling, and all 
 feeling, except that in the heart of Jesus, is utterly in- 
 adequate to the dolefulness of their case." 
 
 Upon my visiting Mr. Collins in his affliction, he said: 
 " You must preach my funeral sermon. The people 
 will have one, and, of all others, you know me be-st : 
 but, mark, your text must be the case of the penitent 
 thief." " But, Sir, such a selection will be thought 
 strangely inappropriate." " Why so ? That Scripture 
 I am sure suits me : for it sets forth man's lowest and 
 God's highest. As to acceptance, I stand on the same 
 ground as publican and thief: as to experience, there 
 is, I grant you, a difference. Through grace, through 
 grace, my heart, all love to Him, is as I like my Father 
 to see it." 
 
 Mr. Collins's last illness was divided into three parts 
 of very different character, viz. : 
 
 I. A month during which he suffered exceedingly from 
 I I
 
 482 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 palpitation, rapidity of pulse, and difficulty of breathrhg. 
 To his consciousness, death, at that time, seemed every 
 moment at hand. 
 
 2 V Two succeeding months during which those dis- 
 tressing symptoms were abated. At this time, not 
 aware of the slow, sure, steady, ebbing out of vital power, 
 he thought recovery a probability. 
 
 3. The last fortnight, in which, so soon as relapse took 
 place, it was evident alike to himself and to his friends 
 that the end was nigh. It was very sweet to mark the 
 ready exchange of the cherished hope of life into a child- 
 like acceptance of the Father's will. 
 
 The last stage was one of great enfeeblement and 
 drowsiness ; silent, patient waiting for release was 
 almost all that was physically possible. We turn, there- 
 fore, to the bright beaming words earlier spoken, and 
 recorded by loving listeners, to show to us how this pure, 
 precious Christian met his final toe. 
 
 As he needed constant attention, several waited upon 
 him in turn. Every change in the rotation of nurses 
 was invariably initiated by the reading of the Word and 
 prayer. Even when at his feeblest, though somewhat 
 abbreviated, this was never omitted : at times of special 
 weakness, a suitable collect selected from the Book of 
 Common Prayer admirably served the purpose, and the 
 use of it was greatly enjoyed. 
 
 Not only was much prayer offered in his chamber, 
 but, also, much Scripture was read. Nearly the whole 
 Bible was gone, through. The Psalms were gone over 
 several times. His interjection of rising thoughts was 
 very delightful. The old Hebrew histories were now, as 
 ever, to his mind replete with evangelical ideas.- The 
 Book of Deuteronomy long a favourite with him 
 seemed specially pleasant. The New Testament was a 
 perpetual feast. Apocalyptic visions sometimes set him 
 a-glow. His views of prophetic interpretation led him to 
 look for and to exult in the idea of the speedy fall of the 
 Papacy, the restoration of Israel, and the universal 
 triumph of Christ. 
 
 I will now subjoin some jottings of words spoken in 
 this vestibule of heaven : 
 
 " September i4th. Through the night he was full of
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 483 
 
 praise and humble joy. After quoting, " Ye are of more 
 value than many sparrows, and not one of them is for- 
 gotten before God," he added, " ' Not one of them ; ' 
 strange, but true. I dare not contradict Him. 'Not one 
 of them ! ' ' He next dwelt sweetly upon the Saviour's 
 assurance, " The Father himself loveth you ; " and 
 then upon that comforting word, so oft repeated in the 
 one hundred and thirty-sixth Psalm : " His mercy en- 
 dureth for ever." 
 
 September i5th. He remarked : " I have habitually 
 as truth required that I should always condemned my- 
 self and justified God. I have always been careful that 
 my soul's confidence should be rightly placed. 
 
 Now I have found the ground wherein 
 Sure my soul's anchor may remain, 
 
 The wounds of Jesus, for my sin 
 Before the world's foundation slain ; 
 
 Whose mercy shall unshaken stay 
 
 When heaven and earth are fled away." 
 
 September i6th. His pain was great. He said : " I 
 have now to bear patiently, as aforetime I have had to 
 do earnestly, my Father's will." Tried by a very severe 
 paroxysm, in which he endured pangs, as all thought, 
 " of mortal sufferance," expressions, such as the follow- 
 ing, were spoken, of course, uttered in disjointed excla- 
 mations : " Come, my Love, my Joy." " Receive me, 
 my Saviour." " I shall see the King. I am going to 
 the city whose gates are praise." " Give my love to all 
 my friends ; tell them that I die in faith ; that I have no 
 fear; and that death has no sting." He afterwards 
 prayed, " Lord, bless my child ; " and then addressing 
 his daughter charged her to be " true to her father's God, 
 her mother's God ; " and solemnly laid it upon her faith- 
 fully to follow their steps, that so, at the last, she, with 
 the members of his family aforegone, all of whom he 
 named, might together be a cluster of ripe fruit in the 
 paradise of God. With great exultation he thus gave 
 praise : " Blessed be God that ever I was born ! 
 Blessed be God who hath washed me in the precious 
 blood ! Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ ! " 
 
 " O Lord, I have delighted in Thy precepts ! That law 
 
 I I 2
 
 44 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 of Thine, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart,' Thou hast made dear unto me. According 
 to Thy new covenant Thou hast put it into my mind. 
 Thou hast created within me an implacable hatred to sin, 
 of all sin. Of Thy law of purity I have not been ashamed. 
 By Thy grace, of Thy power to save to the uttermost, I 
 have not been a timid witness. 
 
 " Satan ! I have done -with him. I have resisted him, 
 and he flees from me. 'Jesus, my All in All Thou art.' 
 I am in Thy hands, loving Saviour. In these final 
 struggles perfect me in patience. Let me lack nothing. 
 As Thou wilt ; what Thou wilt ; when Thou wilt. I 
 leave it all to Thee. O my Love, I leave it all to Thee, 
 I do, Lord." 
 
 " September i8th. Facing God, and crossing the thresh- 
 hold of eternal life, I am very glad that I have witnessed 
 against the prevailing, ever growing worldly conformity in 
 theChurch of thesetimes. / have always stood up for plain, 
 honest, Bible Methodism. And, in the light of this death 
 chamber, it seems to me that all Wesleyan Ministers 
 must do so who would stand without blame before the 
 Throne at the last. My work of protest now is ended. 
 In my present circumstances affairs around me are 
 nothing. I look straight up. I see Jesus : Jesus only ! 
 September aoth. He spoke delightfully of the fact 
 that Jesus not only washed His disciples' feet, but did it 
 on the verge of the passion, did it at a time when the 
 crushing weight of His great work was coming heaviest 
 upon Him. " He who so stooped to them, so thought 
 of them, and, above all, loved them ; He who changeth 
 not, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ; 
 He will not, surely He will not, forget His poor disciple, 
 me. No. As no pressure of the cross made Him for- 
 get them then, no glory of the. throne will make Him 
 forget me now. 
 
 " How perfect is the Saviour's work ; One beautiful 
 figure setting it forth belongs alike to Hebrew and to 
 Christian Scripture. A poor wrinkled old Jewish widow, 
 sitting in sackcloth, dust, and fetters, is represented as 
 set free, transfigured into beauty, and clothed in the 
 glorious apparel of a royal bride. Thus the Lord doth 
 with us. Ah I that bath of blood leaves not a spot !
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 485 
 
 that robe of holiness leaves not a rag ! that -fulness of 
 love leaves not a wrinkle ! O that the Church, strong in 
 inward life, would keep the love of her espousals, and 
 ever walk in her bridal attire ! " 
 
 " September 22nd. In suffering, patient faith is the 
 great thing, Jesus ' learned obedience,' i.e., new exer- 
 cises of it, ' by the things which He suffered.' So do I. 
 
 " September 25th. My child, we will not dwell upon 
 the temporary separation, but look on to the eternal 
 reunion. We will not speak of going down into the 
 grave, but of going up to heaven. I am not going to 
 die, but to live, to live with Him. While following after, 
 walk closely with God, my child. By His grace, be a 
 Christian. Stick to the Bible. Let it be your counsellor, 
 and the staff in your right hand. I now find that precious 
 Word to be the marrow of life." 
 
 In conversation with me, Mr. Collins remarked, " I 
 have not strength to keep up those varied intercessions 
 which I have been wont, in daily order, to make for all 
 things relating to the Church, and for all sorts and con- 
 ditions of men. Intercourse with God rather fellowship 
 than petition is all that my feebleness now can bear. 
 To suit present weakness, I have, therefore, of late, in 
 devotional exercises, acted according to a new scheme, 
 which I call My short almanack. It lasts three days. 
 On Monday I set my soul to meditate upon the Father's 
 majesty, and love, and unspeakable gift. I address Him, 
 adore Him, embrace Him. On Tuesday, the glories of 
 the eternal Son, the merit and mercy of the Redeemer, 
 the compassion of the great High Priest, and the royalties 
 of the enthroned Mediator, become my theme. I draw 
 nigh to Him, claim Him, trust Him. On Wednesday, 
 the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, the Witness 
 tor Christ, the Spring of all benediction and sanctity, is 
 the Object of my thought and faith. I open my heart 
 to Him, yield to Him, commune with Him. On Thurs- 
 day, I just begin at the beginning, and, following the 
 same order, run through it over again. As for the 
 Sundays, well, they are all 'Trinity Sundays 1 with me 
 now. As their light dawns I say, 
 
 Hail ! Father, Son, and Spirit, great 
 Before the birth of time,
 
 486 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Enthroned in everlasting state, 
 
 JEHOVAH, ELOHIM ! 
 Thy powerful, wise, and loving mind 
 
 Did our creation plan; 
 And all the glorious Persons form'd 
 
 To make Thy favourite, Man. 
 Again Thou didst, in council met, 
 
 Thy ruin'd work restore ; 
 Establish'd in our first estate, 
 
 To forfeit it no more. 
 And when we rise in love renew'd, 
 
 Our souls resemble Thee, 
 An image of the Triune God, 
 
 To all eternity." 
 
 I had studied Dr. Owen's quarto on Communion with 
 God : a noble book, and, as Daniel Burgess says,. " not 
 the less to be accounted so because it hath been honour- 
 ably enamelled by a scoffer's reproaches." Mr. Wesley 
 thought well enough of it to put it, with but slight 
 abridgment, into his " Christian Library." That treatise 
 teaches, what the earliest and purest ages also held, 
 that in love, grace, and consolation, believers may have 
 communion with each sacred Person distinctly. I was 
 also familiar with notices of experience answering to the 
 dogma of that volume scattered through the Memoirs 
 of Hester Ann Rogers, Lady Maxwell, Bramwell, John 
 Smith and others. Above all, I knew the profound letter 
 of Charles Perronet, printed with important notes in the 
 Methodist Magazine for 1849, page 801. Yet, knowing 
 that my venerated kinsman had long, like the Marquis 
 De Renty, professed to " carry about with him an experi- 
 mental verity of the Holy Trinity," I ventured to ask 
 some questions concerning his consciousness of this 
 deep thing of God. His answer was marked by his 
 usual soundness of judgment, practical sense, and reve- 
 rence for the written Word. He said, " I am in posses- 
 sion of no secret. I have never either looked for, or 
 had, anything mystical, anything beyond what plain 
 Scriptures warrant. I do not suppose that I have any 
 Divine manifestations peculiar to myself. The ordering 
 of my thoughts in the manner I have told you of is not 
 ' of commandment,' is not the result of any extraor- 
 dinary leading : it began as a mental choice ; being found 
 convenient and profitable, it has grown into a habit.
 
 CLOSE OF THE DAY. 487 
 
 In acts of devotion my mind sees its way most clearly 
 when it talks with one Person. I, therefore, seeking 
 edification, speak unto each of the ever-glorious Three 
 distinctly in behalf of such things, and such things only, 
 as Holy Scripture sets forth to be the province of each 
 distinctly." 
 
 The late celebrated Robert Hall, I find, advised this 
 distinctness of thought in worship, and, after specially 
 speaking of the benefit derived from praying " immedi- 
 ately to Christ," says : " We are much wanting to our- 
 selves in not having more dealings with the Saviour; 
 in not addressing Him now in the same spirit, and with 
 the same personal directness, with which He used to be 
 applied to when upon earth, for the relief of bodily 
 disease." 
 
 The notes of October 8th furnish an excellent example 
 of Mr. Collins's method. 
 
 " Glory be to Thee, O Father! Stand by me, and help. 
 Condemn me not in this hour of weakness and departure. 
 Thou wilt do all things well. Thou ever hast. Thou 
 always dost. Blessed be Thy Name ! Have I not for 
 years given up all to Thee, and striven to live in Thy 
 covenant ? Do I not now love Thee, O my Joy, with 
 all the force left in my poor exhausted nature ? I am 
 Thine. I love Thee. Thou wilt take care of Thine own. 
 Thou wilt let me glorify Thee in the death I die. 
 
 " Glory be to Thee, O Christ ! My strong Helper, I 
 confide in Thee. I trust in Thee. As Thy people passed 
 through the Red Sea, so, led by Thee, shall I safely pass 
 this billowy sea. Glory be to Thee ! whose face I shall 
 soon behold in righteousness. 
 
 " Glory be to Thee, O Holy Ghost ! Jesus said, ' Re- 
 ceive ye the Holy Ghost.' I receive Thee. I do. I 
 know I do. Thou art not like the dumb, dead, helpless, 
 and unhelpful, idols of the heathen. Thou respondest 
 to my faith. Thou art here. Thou art mine. Thou 
 art my Comforter. 
 
 " Blessed Triune God, I have no matters to hold back 
 from Thee. Thou knowest how I have sought Thee. 
 Thou knowest that I came hither that I might help 
 Thy cause where it seemed to be poor, and feeble, and 
 low. Thou knowest that my wish for the return ot
 
 488 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 strength has been but that I might serve Thee in the 
 cottages of the poor. Behold, it pleaseth Thee to call 
 me away. O Thou, who wast the Helper of my dear 
 wife, amid her ' heavy pains of death,' wilt Thou not 
 I know Thou wilt be my strong Helper too ? " 
 
 A few days after, he exclaimed, " By how many mer- 
 cies am I surrounded ! From how many pains delivered ! 
 O Lord, since I dedicated myself to Thee and to Thy 
 ministry, Thou knowest that I have not wickedly de- 
 parted from Thee. Pardon my shortcomings. I wash 
 me in the blood of Jesus. O my Shepherd, my smitten 
 Shepherd ! by Thy stripes I am healed. I know it. All 
 the attestations of my short life terminate there" 
 
 In the concluding days of his illness he was not able 
 to speak much ; and the little he did speak he could not 
 always articulate distinctly enough to be understood. 
 
 On Christmas morning he repeated the lines : 
 
 Will He forsake His throne above, 
 
 Himself to worms impart ? 
 Answer, Thou Man of Grief and Love I 
 
 And speak it to my heart. 
 
 He slept much, and said little more that day. 
 
 The next day, severe spasms in the region of the 
 heart again beset him ; during the paroxysms of which, 
 he prayed much in feebly uttered words and frequent 
 ejaculations. " Father ! Father ! help ! Blessed Re- 
 deemer, help ! Thou, my Friend, my Life, my All ! 
 help ! " Through the whole keen suffering of the final 
 conflict he was patient, gentle, and uncomplaining. In 
 every lull of pain, or interval of relief, he invariably 
 became full of praise, and oiten exclaimed, " Glory to 
 God ! Glory to God ! " He peacefully breathed his last 
 in his daughter's arms, December 27th, 1864.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Aberdeen, visit to, 399. 
 Advice to preachers, 39, 464, 476. 
 A drunkard's walk described, 213. 
 Adornments in dress rebuked, 365, 
 
 375. 457- 
 
 Albert, Prince, eulogium on, 461. 
 Allen, Rev. S., remarks by, 477. 
 Allington, Mrs., notice of, 179. 
 Alma, battle of, referred to, 373. 
 American revivals, 441, war in, 463. 
 A navvy's logic to quiet children, 396. 
 Anger, not cherished by Mr.Collins,4. 
 Appollyon, how resisted by achild, 5. 
 A snarlish captain subdued, 50. 
 Apperley Bridge, incident at, 356. 
 Apps, Mary, notice of, 82. 
 Arthur, Rev. W., remarks by,295, 445. 
 Atherton, Rev. W., notice of, 260. 
 Austen, Mrs., notices of, 109, 162, 
 
 178, 258, 478. 
 Augustine, memorable sayings of, i. 
 
 Barney's troubles stated, 345. 
 Barrett, Rev. A., notice of, 353. 
 Barrowclough, Mrs., notice of, 353. 
 Beaumont, Rev. Dr., death of, 379. 
 Baptism, what it implies, 6. 
 Backsliders, appeals to, 35,38, 258. 
 Bible miracles, remarks on, 5. 
 Birmingham, visit to, 211, 231. 
 Birthplace, visit to, 384. 
 Black country, description of the, 170. 
 Boyish gratitude, instance of, 393. 
 Bovingdon, dedicature at, 266. 
 Bond, Rev. Robert, remarks by, 302. 
 Bradford, removal to, 343. 
 Bramwell, W., notices of, 260, 355. 
 Breden, Rev. Henry, notices of, 22, 
 
 47, 56, 321. 
 
 Bristol, appointment to, 354. 
 Broadbent, Mrs., notices of, 415, 425, 
 
 448, 475- 
 
 Brotchie, Donald, labours of, 107. 
 Brooks, Edward, usefulness of, 159. 
 Browning, Dr., labours of, 251. 
 Brumby, Rev. John H., faithfulness 
 of, 252. [264, 352. 
 
 Bunting, Dr., notices of, 124, 232, 
 Buckley, Rev. G., letter by, 259. 
 Burslem, riots at quelled, 205. 
 Burgess, Rev. W. P., remarks by, 286. 
 Bunyanjohn, unknown at home, 340. 
 
 Camborne, accounts of, 281,300. 
 
 Cardsharper, anecdote of a, 397. 
 
 Carnegie, Lady, notices of, 383, 432. 
 
 Catechists commended, 96. 
 
 Caughey, James, usefulness of, 262. 
 
 Carus-Wilson, useful labours of, 367. 
 
 Centenary meeting at Durham, 140. 
 
 Cholera, prevalence of, 302. 
 
 Church, Rev. H. L., remarks by, 305. 
 
 Church-goers, remarks on, 389. 
 
 Child-membership commended, 8. 
 
 Christ's University, lessons learned 
 in, 84. 
 
 Clarke, Dr. Adam, privations of, 323. 
 
 " Ciphers in orders," 244. 
 
 Class-meetings commended, 15, 367. 
 
 Cleanliness versus Godliness, 101. 
 
 Clerical indiscretion in Sussex, 152. 
 
 Clerical ignorance exemplified, 335. 
 
 Clergyman, a, and R. Newton's 
 Sermon, 388. 
 
 Closet work, notes on, 291. 
 
 Clock, a, and the guineas, 432. 
 
 Cloake, Rev. J, W., anecdote of, 9. 
 
 Collins, Thomas, birth of, in 1810, i ; 
 Removed to Redditch, 4 ; Ran 
 away from school, 12; Converted 
 under Gideon Ousley, 14, 224 ; 
 Begins to preach at Stratford, 16 ; 
 His entire consecration to God, 
 23; Marriage of in 1836, no;
 
 490 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ordained at Leeds, 127 ; Illness 
 and retirement of, 339 ; Death of, 
 Dec. 27, 1864, 488. 
 
 Collins, Mrs., death of, 476. 
 
 Collins, Mr., death of, 357. 
 
 Collins, Barnabas, death 0^407. 
 
 Colliery accidents, frequency of, 180. 
 
 Consecration to God, i-io, 23. 
 
 Coley, Rev. S., notices of, 209, 233. 
 
 Coley, Mrs., death of, 270. 
 
 Coleman, Mrs., remarks by, 479. 
 
 Cold toes against conversion, 381. 
 
 Collier, Rev. F., notice of, 25. 
 
 Conference elections, 190. 
 
 Conversion, an odd way of, 177. 
 
 Come to Jesus, as a new song, 108. 
 
 Cornish anecdotes on self-will, 326. 
 
 Coventry, notices of, 197, 238, 242. 
 
 Davis, Rev. W., revival under, 12. 
 Dealtry, Rev. Dr., preaching of, 78. 
 Deaths noticed, 259, 357, 476. 
 Debts, how to pay them, 90. 
 Derby, secession at, 51. 
 Devonshire, visit to, 472. 
 Discipline, valuable remarks on, 191. 
 Dixon, Rev. Dr., notices of, 153, 420. 
 Donald's heart, how it was broken, 99 
 " Ding, dong " religion rebuked, 364. 
 Douglas of Cavers, letter from, 220. 
 Dreams, remarkable ones, 206, 290. 
 Drinking customs, 75, 256, 449. 
 Drummond, Peter, visit to, 398. 
 Dunn, S., notices of, 191, 301, 306. 
 Durham, notices of, 135, 156. 
 Dying words, 477 483. 
 
 Easter-day rewards, 188. 
 Edmondson, Rev. J., notice of, 10. 
 Eglinton, J., remarks by, 283, 291. 
 Eldridge, Thomas, conversion of, 62. 
 Elstow, remarkable ignorance at, 340. 
 Kmily Anna, birth of, 131. 
 Entwisle, Rev. J., a visit to, 76. 
 
 Faith of an Israelite, 347. 
 Fair Isle, and foul insects, 101. 
 Fairlight Downs described, 339. 
 Family prayer commended, 465. 
 Farmer, Mr., generosity of, 251. 
 Famine, how relieved, 102. 
 Faber, G. S., visits to, 149, 357. 
 
 Farquhar, Daniel, notices of, 189, 425 
 Farrar, Rev. A. E., anecdote of, 232. 
 Father of Collins, death of, 357. 
 Faults, modes of correcting, 4, 393. 
 Fashions, evils of stated, 379. 
 Fish, Rev. H., remarks by, 345. 
 Fire baptism, meaning of, 24. 
 Fire, how to hold and spread it, 83. 
 Five o'clock services, 63, 104, 185. 
 Fletcher, Rev. J., 185, 252, 360. 
 Flowers and finery condemned, 253. 
 Floyd, John, observations by, 409. 
 Fly-sheets, notices of the, 276, 300. 
 Freewillers among the Fathers, 105. 
 Friday fast day resolutions, 154. 
 Fuller's Worthies, extract from, 136. 
 Future punishment asserted, 22. 
 Fulness of God, meaning of, 234. 
 
 Gavazzi and Gough visited, 357. 
 Godsell, W., happy death of, 71. 
 Gin drinking, how prevented, 75. 
 Godly resolutions, 33, 329. 
 God's will is man's heaven, 280. 
 Gough, B., visits to, 255, 280. 
 Government grants opposed, 272. 
 Gostick, Rev. J., notices 0^299,311. 
 Graham, Emily, usefulness of, 79. 
 Graham, Mr., letter from, 219. 
 Greensmith, Mr., notice of, 48. 
 Grumblers, remarks on, 321. 
 Guineas under a clock, 432. 
 Guthrie, Rev. Dr., notice of, 420. 
 
 Hall, Rev. S. R., remarks by, 404. 
 Hall, Rev. R., on prayer, 487. 
 Harris, Rev. James, notices of 99, 
 
 125, 146, 150, 165. 
 Harris, Matilda, illness of, 270. 
 Hastings, happy conversions at, 305. 
 Heaton, Rev. J., visit to, 431. 
 Henley, Rev. John, anecdote of, 420. 
 Hemel Hempstead, noticed 278, 328. 
 Hickling, Rev. John, notice of, 393. 
 Home duties stated, 330, 334. 
 Holiness recommended 393, 41 1.415- 
 Holmes, a chartist convert, 206. 
 Hooker, judicious remarks by, 313. 
 Horsley, Bishop, remarks by, 129. 
 Human depravity surveyed, 21. 
 
 Indolence rebuked, 285.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 49 I 
 
 Infidelity at Hempstead, 278. 
 Ingoldby, Mr. F., visit to, 471. 
 Inside preaching, remarks on, 418. 
 Intercessory prayer described, 138. 
 Irish famine, 271 ; revivals, 443. 
 Itinerant life described, 166, 401. 
 
 Jackson, Rev. Samuel, 277, 453. 
 Jackson, Rev. Thomas, 144, 302, 453. 
 James, Rev. J. A., remarks by, 419. 
 
 Keeling, Rev. Isaac, notice of, 387. 
 Knee-business and its results, 100. 
 Kidd, Professor, notice of, 400. 
 Knowles, Rev. John, labours of, 86. 
 
 Lady Godiva procession, 238. 
 Leamington, notices of, 213, 413. 
 Lomas, Rev. John, notice of, 353. 
 Lomas, Rev. R., revival work of, 408. 
 London, objections to, 328. 
 Love letter, remarkable one, no. 
 Lovefeast testimonies, 46. 
 Lyon, Rev. R., notice of, 299. 
 
 Marshall, Mr., labours of, 26. 
 
 Mason, John, benevolence of, 114. 
 
 Mattock, a poet's ingratitude at, 392. 
 
 M'Cosh, Dr., remarks by, 444. 
 
 M'Owan, Rev. P., preaching of, 149. 
 
 Members of Society increased, 30, 
 36, 51, 82, loo, 124, 132, 141, 144, 
 149, 161, 179, 187, 213, 245, 290, 
 324, 449. 
 
 Merle, D'Aubigne, remarks by, 444. 
 
 Methodist chapels, converting fur- 
 naces, 190. 
 
 Methodist preachers' finances, 222. 
 
 Method, advantage of living by, 155. 
 
 Miller, Robert, on discipline, 191. 
 
 Morlais, Sabbath breaking stopped 
 at 443. 
 
 Miiller's, George, visit to, 463. 
 
 Morgan, Rev. John, notice of, 472. 
 
 Musical petition in rhyme, 173. 
 
 Mutual improvement recommended, 
 19, 24. 
 
 Moore, Rev. H., notices of 76, 429. 
 
 Missionary speech, a memorable, 26. 
 
 Missionary collection incident, 236. 
 
 Maynooth grant opposed, 236. 
 
 Missionary May-pole, 253. 
 
 Naylor, Mr., remarks by, 262. 
 Newton, Rev. J., remarks by, 96. 
 Newton, R., anecdotes of, 349, 388. 
 New Years' day at the Orkneys, 98. 
 Nicholas of Russia, 380. 
 Noel, Rev. Gerard, preaching of, 78. 
 Nye, Rev. E., remarks by, 468. 
 
 "Old Collins' prayers," what they 
 
 did, 242. 
 
 Old at twenty-three, 51. 
 Omens of heaven and death, 407. 
 Opposition, how to meet it, 366. 
 Oratorios, objections to, 355. 
 Orkney mission commenced, 87. 
 Orkney weather described, 97. 
 Orkney labours, account of, 115. 
 Osborn, Rev. Dr., remarks on, 301. 
 Ouseley, Rev. G., notices of, 9, 14. 
 Out-door services, anecdotes of, 75. 
 Oxford, interesting visit to, 423. 
 
 Palmer's "Way of Holiness" com- 
 mended, 393. 
 
 Palmer, Rev. J., notice of, 398. 
 
 Parlour conversions, 176, 467. 
 
 Pastoral visits recorded, 324, 369,387. 
 
 Pawson, Rev. John, advice of, 408. 
 
 Pearce, M. G. remarks by, 311. 
 
 Peace counsels, 319. 
 
 Penitents, advice to, 394. [128. 
 
 Perseverance of saints, remarks on, 
 
 Personal sacrifices for religion, 203. 
 
 Perdition, remarks on, 183. 
 
 Perry, Miss, experience of, 13. 
 
 Plum-cake prize, n. 
 
 Poacher, conversion of a, 223. 
 
 Poetic welcome to Stronsay, 106. 
 
 Poetical enigma on a tooth, 247. 
 
 Pontypool, appointment to, 446. 
 
 Polhill, of Burwash, works of, 391. 
 
 Prayer meeting fire, and preaching 
 fire, 43. 
 
 Prayer with both knees urged, 175. 
 
 Praying bands, how made useful, 16. 
 
 Prayer, a memorable use of, 425. 
 
 Profane swearer reproved, 382. 
 
 Primitive usage, observations on, 3 14. 
 
 Prince Albert, eulogium on, 461. 
 
 Prisoner visited and converted, 342. 
 
 Prospect school, strange visits at, 367. 
 
 Private judgment, remarks on, 316.
 
 492 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Quaker's visit to a revival, igo. 
 Queen Elizabeth, remarks by, 25. 
 
 Railways, the influence of, 414. 
 Rayner, Rev. M.,noticesof, 85,88,91. 
 Reece, Rev. R., notices of, 104, 277. 
 Reed, T. rescue and death of, 130. 
 Reedham Asylum visited, 471. 
 Relief, providential instance of, 207. 
 Religion, how slain by marriage, 209. 
 Reverend, remarks on the title, 126. 
 Revival scenes, 44, 166, 303. 
 Rhymes, examples of, 2, 17, 19, 106, 
 247. [prayer, 156. 
 
 Roberts, Rev. W., encouraged by 
 Rogers, Hester Ann, notice of, 345. 
 Rye mail, how made useful, 179. 
 
 Sabbath breaking and mending, 66. 
 St. Albans, appointment to, 246. 
 Sailors, happy conversion of, 297. 
 Salvation, what it means, 52. 
 Sandhurst, appointment to, 80. 
 Sanctifying grace, how obtained, 390. 
 School life, evil effects of, n. 
 Schooling, or the pipe ! 431. 
 Scoffers punished, 228, 421. 
 Secession in Scotland commended, 
 
 216. 
 
 Selfishness, how it was requited, 387. 
 " Sent to Coventry " meaning of the 
 
 term, 198. 
 
 Sheffield Conference visited, 218. 
 Sherman, Mrs., dying words of, 374. 
 Shooting, evil effects of, 219. 
 Short, William, anecdote of, 352. 
 Sins, broken short off, and all off, 430. 
 Singing or sulking, which, 173. 
 Simeon, Rev. C., allusion to, 305. 
 Smith, Dr. George, remarks by, 294. 
 Smoking, evils of exposed, 471. 
 Social labours and blessings, 68. 
 Somebody else, feeling of, 257. 
 Sowerby-bridge, appointment to, 37 1. 
 Souls want more than wages, 403. 
 Soul-saving work, blessedness of, 
 
 101, 142. 
 
 Spartan discipline, value of, 3. 
 Special services commended, 210. 
 Spanish Christians, remarks on, 451. 
 
 Spurgeon, C. H., notices of, 420,441. 
 Steward, Rev. G., resignation of, 353. 
 " Stop the supplies,*' impotence of, 
 
 320. 
 
 Street brawls, how broken up, 168. 
 Stronsay, poetic welcome to, 106. 
 Sunday morning prayer meetings, 
 
 31,61. 
 
 Sutcliffe's notice of C. Wesley, 189. 
 Swearing like a gentleman, 185. 
 Sweep, anecdote of a, 256. 
 
 Taylor, Rev. J., on Orkney, 91. 
 Taylor's Wesley and Methodism,339. 
 "The Times " characterised, 261. 
 Tonge, Mrs., and Grace Murray, 170. 
 Tommy Curd's triumph, 69. 
 Tooth, Miss, & Fletcher's relics, 186. 
 Tonkins, Polly, happy death of, 299. 
 Travelling preachers' bill, 401. 
 Tracts, good results of, 289, 335. 
 Trench, Archbishop, remarks by, 15. 
 Truthfulness commended,.ii. 
 Truro Methodism defended, 308. 
 
 Unfaithful ministers, a dream, 250. 
 Usher, Archbishop, works of, 288. 
 
 Vevers, Mr., remarks by, 262. 
 Vivian, Jane, peaceful death of, 348. 
 
 Walton, Rev. D., defence of, 354. 
 Welsh revival, 40,000 souls saved 
 
 at, 444. 
 
 Wark mission, hardships at the, 32. 
 Way-side prayer meetings, 10. 
 West, Rev. F. A., aid from, 103. 
 "Wesleyan Takings," described,i53. 
 Widows, interesting meeting of, 304. 
 Wood, Richard, happy end of, 406. 
 Worthington, Rev. T., notice of, 413. 
 Worldliness rebuked, 459. 
 Work, never ashamed or afraid of, 18. 
 Wrecking ships rebuked, 93. 
 Wright, John, repentance of, 15. 
 
 Young, Rev. R., notices of, 286, 296, 
 Youthful essays, outlines of, 19. 
 
 Zinzendorf, Count, labours of, 218.
 
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