FIFTY YEARS A MINISTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 November 1925, Page 10

FIFTY YEARS A MINISTER.

REV. A. H. COLLINS TO RETIRE NEW' PLYMOUTH BAPTIST CHURCH. l A PREACHER AT FOURTEEN YEARS CAREER OF NOTABLE SERVICE. For 'GO years a preacher of the Gospel and for 50 years an ordained minister, the Rev. A. H. Collins tendered his resignation of the charge of the New Plymouth Baptist Church at a special meeting of the officers and members of the church at New Plymouth last night. Regret was expressed that through advancing years Mr. Collins had decided to relinquish the ministry. The deacons were authorised to communicate with a certain clergyman with a view to securing a suitable minister to succeed Mr. Collins at New Plymouth. Mr. Collins has held the charge for five and a-half years, during which time his efforts for the spiritual and social uplift of the community generally have endeared him to the hearts of all those who have had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Mr. Collins expects to relinquish his charge at the end of January, when he will retire to Lower Hutt. Though he will not again take over a pastorate, Mr. Collins will occasionally occupy the pulpit, and his sermons, which have been so widely read and appreciated, will continue to be published weekly in the columns of the Taranaki Daily News. Born in June, 1853, the Rev. Collins is a native of Worcester, England, his parents being members of the Free Church of England, better known as th? Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion. He first stood in the pulpit at the unusually early age of 14, and was known throughout the country as the ‘boy pieacher.” On many a Sunday he walked 20 miles to fill appointments. PRESIDENT IN JUBILEE YEAR. After several years of business experience, for which he has always been grateful, the young preacher was accepted as a student at Pastors’ College, and passed through a course of training there. He was ordained to the ministry of the Gospel in 1875, his first charge being at Milton, Oxon. While there he met the lady who afterwards became his wife, the eldest daughter of Mr. J. F Maddox, J.P., and in her he found his right-hand helper. He later rendered important service at Birmingham. His pastorate in Birmingham was luring the stirring times of the educational reform struggles, and he came jiito .-intact with such strong leaders as Charles,Vince. Geo. Dawson, and R. W. Dale, while John Bright, Joseph Chamberlain and other prominent political orators cast their spell over him. It was in 1893 that Mr. Collins left for New Zealand, and for nine years held the pastorate at Ponsonby. Soon after taking up his duties he was elected secretary of the Baptist Union, an office which he held for seven years in addition to carrying on all the work of ~a-ktygs church. In 1901. the jubilee year of the Baptist Church, he was unanimously chosen president. Mr. Collins was twice chosen as the chairman of the Auckland Board of Conciliation for the northern industrial district, was twice elected a member of the Ponsonby public schools’ committee, and was the first secretary of the Auckland and District Church Council. A YOUTHFUL SPIRIT. Mr. Collins went to Australia in 1902 and remained there in two important pastorates until New Zealand called him back six years ago. For five and ahalf years this tireless worker took up with his usual enthusiasm the ministry of the Lord at New Plymouth and the wider ministry of the pen. A great tribute to the sterling quailt'os of Mr. Collins was paid to him at • recent Baptist Conference held at Auckland. To commemorate his jubilee in the ministry his friends afterwards presented him with a cheque for £5O. Though 73 years of age, Mr. Collins says he often* feels 37. He had always done his duty, he hoped, without thought of reward or praise or blame or cash, and fifty years had made him sure that the ministry was the greatest calling on earth. In giving his opinion on the condition of religious thought at the prest nt time, Mr. Collins declared that the religious life of the’ churches was not less earnest and aggressive than it was in the fabled ‘Golden Year." It seemed ♦ 1 him that on the whole the religious man of to-day is more intelligent and practical than his forebear. He refuses t » be a pessimist. The difficult age was surely leading up to the triumph of the Christian forces.