ROBINSON, Frederick, Rev (1852-1943)
Assembly memorial minute, 1944
When the Rev. Frederick Robinson died, on December 12th, 1943, our Church lost a very old and a very faithful minister. He was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, in 1852. His period of Christian service was extraordinarily long. In 1873, at the age of 21 years, he was working for the Primitive Methodist Church in England; and at the instance of that church he came out to Australia to do further work for it here. This further work lasted some years.
He entered the Ormond College Theological Hall (at that time staffed by Lecturers) in 1882. Next year he saw the induction of our two first permanent Professors, Dr. M. Macdonald and Dr. J.L. Rentoul, into their Professorial chairs. During his Theological Course, which he completed in 1885, he was working as a “Lay Missionary” in Yarraville. He was then sent to Wedderburn. Next year he received a call from the Dunolly Charge, and he was ordained and inducted there on November 8th, 1886, and laboured there for three years.
He was minister of Cobden (1889) for five years, of Birchip (1894) for four years, of Euroa (1898) for eleven years, of Tylden (1909) for four years, and of Avoca (1913) for twenty-one years. On January 14th, 1934, he resigned from the charge of Avoca, having completed over 47 years of service in full Presbyterian charges. Being now 81 years of age, it was expected that he would retire from active work. But this was impossible for a man of his nature. He spent the following ten years in the service of the Home Mission Committee, doing supply work in various and distant parts of Victoria, and taking as real an interest in such charges as if they were his own. He died after a short illness on Sunday, December 12th, 1943. He had completed altogether seventy years of faithful service for Christ—a record of which the Church is proud.
The Rev. Frederick Robinson was a man of unhurried but tireless energy. He neglected no duties. Right to the last he faithfully attended Presbytery and Assembly. His work at Regent during a vacancy—his home was at Regent—will be long remembered there. As an elder he invariably delivered his cards personally, even after reaching his ninety-first year. He ever endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Even in the depth of winter he disdained the use of an overcoat. He drove his motor car himself till past 81 years of age. He had finer qualities still, for he had the heart of a true shepherd. He took a deep personal interest in people: they were his flock, and he knew them by name. In conversation his mind would go ranging back to these loved people of far-back charges. He loved to speak of them and never forgot them. His memory was most tenacious of family relationships, of the personal joys and sorrows of these people, and of their unfolding histories. Hence to him the service of Christ was deep joy. Like the Hebrew slave, when his day of freedom dawned, he said, “I love my Master: I will not go free. ” Further, his spirit was characterized by a “filial intimacy” toward God; an intimacy which gave a peculiar beauty to his prayers. His preaching was full of the great evangelic truths of the gospel.
Mr. Robinson has left a son (in New Zealand), and four daughters. Their affectionate devotion ever cheered him through the long years. To all of them the Assembly tenders its sincere sympathy.
Gender
- Male