The Life of the Rev. Alfred Cookman

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Preface

I HAVE been asked to write a few words by way of preface to an abridged edition of the " Life of Alfred Cookman," commending it to English readers. I comply cheerfully ; and there is a fitness in my compliance, arising out of the fact that during my residence in Canada, I had opportunities — alas ! only too few — of personal acquaintance and intercourse with that holy man, and out of the further fact that Dr. Ridgaway, the accomplished biographer, who has wrought his task of love in a way which leaves nothing to be desired, allows me to call him my friend.

If I would write down my impressions of Alfred Cookman's character, I find myself at a loss, for I can scarcely convey my lofty estimate of him in sober words. I have been privileged to meet with many gifted and godly men in various lands, and in various branches of the Catholic Church. I speak advisedly when I say that I never met with one who so well realized my ideal of complete devotedness. He was a separated man, thoroughly human, free from vi PREFACE, asceticism and censoriousness, — the extremes in,to which high religious life is wont, if unwatched, to stray — and yet lifted ^bove common cares and aims by the grandeur of his entire consecration. When some Pagan questioners asked a Christian of old about the religion of Jesus, and were disposed to ascribe its spread to its loftier thought and purer truth, the Christian made for answer, " We do not speak greater things, but we live!' This life, wherever it is embodied, is the highest Power. And it was felt to be so in the wide sphere in which Alfred Cookman was permitted to testify for the Master whom he loved. There are men of sterling worth who manage to hide their excellences from their fellows, living amongst men unappreciated, because they have no witness ; like some bird of rare plumage, of whose beauty the world knew not until they caught the lustre which flashed from its parting wing. He was not one of these. His life was a perpetual testimony that God can come down to man, and that man can be lifted up to God. ^ It was impossible to doubt that "swift-like, he lived in heaven." There were many who objected to kis doctrine. There were none within the range of his acquaintance who failed to be impressed, and few who failed to be influenced, by his life.

Neither apology n'or introduction are needed for the issue of this book. There are some lives of

PREFACE, vii godly men which belong to the Church universal in a sense so special that for any to be deprived of the teaching they bring is like the^ infliction of a personal wrong. Of such is the life, in my judgment, which these pages portray. It is not surpassingly interesting, considered as a story. It contains little romantic incident, and no prurient sensationalism. It is not even the record of brilliant genius, though the preacher was, like Apollos, eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures ; but it is the unfolding of the growth of a character which was perfect and beautiful as a star. It is a record of triumphs won for Christ by one who had given Him all. It is an illustration of the power of goodness. It shows how God honours on earth, and crowns at last, those who give themselves to His service with a full trust and a complete self-surrender.

May the Giver of good gifts multiply "some

, evangelists'* of this type and pattern. If they

abound — and surely some who read may catch the

mantle — we will not despair of seeing a converted

world.

W. MORLEY PUNSHON.

Kensington, January ^1%^^

Chapter I. The Cookman Family. — George Grimston Cookman

The Rev. Alfred Cookman was descended from a worthy ancestry. His father, the Rev. George Grimston Cookman, was a man of such powers and fame ; his talents and reputation became, by so remarkable a providence, the inheritance of his son ; his influence upon the son was so direct and continuous, that I find, in the absence of any adequate account of the father, it is quite impossible to do justice to either without dwelling more fully on the career of the father than a biography of the son would seem to allow. While it might be honour enough for George G. Cookman to be remembered as the father of Alfred, yet there was that in him — in what he was and did — which makes it proper that no extended memoir be given of the son without such a portraiture of the father as shall be in some degree worthy of his distinguished character and services.

My apology for dwelling longer on the annals of the father than is customary in such cases, is the simple desire to so present the name of Cdokman, made illustrious first in the father, and maintained afterward in the son, as that

LIFE OF ALFRED COOKMAN.

it srhall be transmitted an unbroken name, suggestive of sanctity; eloquence, and usefulness wherever known and pronounced.

George Grimstori Cookman was bom in the town of Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, England, October 21, 1800. His parents were George and Mary Cookman. Of these parents George himself wrote in 1825 to Miss Mary Barton, who was then his betrothed, and afterward became his wife : ^* My father is the younger brother of an old English family who, as sturdy yeomanry, had resided upon their family estates in the east end of Holdemess for five generations back. My father left home early in life, and at eighteen years of age became serious, and a member and local preacher in the Methodist Society. He is constant in all his purposes, and unwavering in all his attachments — a judicious rather than a rotnaLutic husband, a kind rather than a fond father. He is independent in his principles even to the verge of republicanism ; what the world terms a downright honest man. Yet there are perplexing paradoxes in his character. Possessing genuine, active courage, he hides it under a natural diffidence and modesty ; with deep and strotig feeling, he will generally pass for what Alfred calls a phlegmatic melancholic. Indeed, he has brought himself under so severe mental discipline and such habitual caution, that he represses all that gives a glow to feeling or a brilliance to thought under the fear of committing himself But when you can draw him out of his shell, you find he can conceive and feel and speak with both brilliance and power. As a Christian, he is eminently consistent, liberal, and unwavering. I have sometimes thought that his habitual judgment has induced a want of faith in temporal matters, but I have met with few men so even and constant in their religious walk. Now my mother

THE COOKMAN FAMILY.

is almost the reverse of all this. She was the daughter of a retired and wounded officer of the Royal Navy ; was left an orphan in early life, and was educated in the same house with her cousin, Mr. John Bell, of Portington. She became pious in early life, and endured much persecution from her uncle with unflinching courage. She enjoyed the blessing of perfect love for many years, and when in health was eminent for activity and good works. She possesses a much higher range of talent than my father — has more genius and less judgment — romantic in all her feelings, ardent in her attachments and resentments. She has ten times as much faith as my father. She has a keen, ready mind, but wants comparison and discrimination. She has a vehemency of impulse, and a strength and decision of will, and a power of faith which, if it had been united with a strong frame in the other sex, would have made her an eminent missionary. Now my father professes little, but feels a great deal ; my mother feels deeply, and tells you of it too." He had a brother, Alfred, younger than himself by four years, and a sister, Mary Ann. Of them he also wrote, in order to complete the picture of the family: " Alfred is the finest youth I have ever met with — high in all his notions, lofty aiid liberal in his principles. Pride and ambition are his ruling passions. Of lion-like spirit, headstrong self-will, and a most vehement and over-bearing temper, the world will see in him a second Brougham. And yet I know no one to whom you might commit yourself for candid judgment with greater confidence than our Alfred. Mary Ann, my beloved Mary Ann, is a most affectionate and amiable girl. I thought two years ago she would be a tame, passive character ; but she is developing striking and spirited traits. She has more perseverance and judgment for her years than either I or Alfred. I think

LIFE OF ALFRED COOKMAN.

she will not be behind either in intellect, and before both in prudence."

What is here said of his brother Alfred is not too strongly put. From the testimony of friends, and the proofs given in his letters, essays, and speeches, he must have been a youth of unusual promise. He early devoted himself to God, and became one of the most exemplary Christians. His tastes and convictions led him to choose the law for his profession. When this preference was expressed, the judicious father laid before him all the difficulties which would lie in his path : the long and expensive process of college and professional education ; the still longer period which must elapse before he could reasonably expect to get into practice ; the want of patronage; the envy of the aristocracy, jever manifested to aspirants at the bar springing frpm the middle classes of society \ and concluded by saying, ^* Remember, Alfred, if you insist on this course, the whole of your patrimonial fortune will be expended on your education ; ** to which Alfred fearlessly and magnanimously replied, " I care not when I enter the bar if I have not a shilling. I will make my own fortune^ you may depend upon it." His facility of speech, readiness in debate, quickness of perception, wit — his striking person, and deep-toned and melodious voice — made him from boyhood " one of nature's orators." On one occasion, in the debating society of which he was a member, a gentleman of the bar from London chanced to hear him, and remarked afterward, " I would give my library, and all I am worth in the world, to have the amazing power of reply exhibited by that boy." He passed successfully through the course at Glasgow University, ' where he had the most capable of instructors, and listened on Simdays to such preachers as Chalmers and Wardlaw.

THE COOKMAN FAMILY,

After his graduation at the University, he went up to London and entered a law-office. While engaged in his studies there, he became convinced of his duty to preach the Gospel. He determined to enter the ministry; and accordingly returned home, and began to apply himself unremittingly to a course of reading preparatory to admission into the Wesleyan Conference. His application was too close, his vigils too protracted ; his health failed, and he speedily fell into a pulmonary consumption from which he died.

Mr. Cookman, the father, was one. of the best representatives of the English middle class. By success in trade he rose to that degree of affluence which enabled him to live in a style of great comfort and quiet dignity ; by his reputation for sound judgment and probity, he acquired the respect and confidence of his feliow-citizens, and was elected mayor of Hull, a position which he retained for many years ; and by his earnest and consistent devotion to the doctrines and usages of Wesleyan Methodism, he enjoyed the loyal affection of both the preachers and laymen of his denomination throughout his neighbourhood. His good sense, genial piety, and generous hospitality made his house a centre of Methodist influence. In politics he sympathized with the more advanced men and measures of his times.

It is evident, however, that the mother, from the brief description already given, was the inspiration of the Cookman home. Her ardent temperament, vivid imagination, active faith, and courage, imparted to the sons the living spark which kindled in them a genius for speech and for the heroic in action. She was one of the women of gentte birth who became a Methodist when it was a reproach to be one ; and, persecuted for her faith by her own family,

LIFE OF ALFRED COOKMAN.

she knew what it was to hold to convictions when it required the keenest suffering to do so. At the altar of her self-denying piety was lighted the flame of the future missionar}^'s zeal — a zeal which burned in him resistlessly till quenched in death. Thus we see that the parent stock from which the Cookmans of this and a former generation were derived was one combining in the father and the mother that happy union of qualities which usually gives rise in the offspring to distinguished powers and successes.

George Grimston, as the eldest born of his parents, very naturally received a large share of their attention. In an account of himself written in 1826, before entering the regular ministry, with a view to his own improvement, he records, " Never was a child more carefully instructed, more carefully watched over, or more earnestly exhorted by Christian parents to love and serve God than myself. And perhaps up to my eighth year the influence of these gracious instructions so far operated as to preserve me from the guilt of actual sin." At this time he was sent away tp school ; where, through evil associations, he was led astray and fell into some sinful habits. He was, however, at this early period the subject of keen convictions of conscience. He lived with the fear that every night would be the end of the world. While the other boys of the school were sleeping quietly, be would be standing at the chamber window, "momentarily expecting the Judge to descend and the trumpet to blow." His views of sin and of personal guilt were not such as to lead to repentance. He was soon after removed to apother school ^\, a fashionable watering-place, where he began •'* a career of more decided sin and folly." At fourteen he returned home a different being, changed in principle and purpose — far astray from the simplicity with which at eight he had left the parental roof. His father

GEORGE GRIMSTON COO KM AN.

took him promptly under his care, and through his guidance he imbibed a taste for books, and became a reader especially of history. He was put to business, kept diligently at work, but was encouraged to read in all his leisure hours. He became a member of a public library association, and formed, with several other intelligent young men, a debating club, thu$ finding in literary pursuits a wholesome diversion for his active nature, and also a means of stimulating an(} training his intellect. In contact with Grecian and Roman characters and institutions, he acquired the lofty notions of freedom and the rights of man which marked his subsequent career. Literature, though attractive, did not reform him ; business was incapable of it : he gave the reins to passion, and plunged into the stream of worldliness.

When about eighteen years old he became a teacher in a Methodist Sunday School He was impelled by motives which he could not regard as genuine : ** I approved of the design theoretically ; besides^ my parents being Methodists, I thought I should assist in their Sabbath School; but I had no more knowledge or regard for the religious duty or responsibility of a teacher than the babe unborn.** He was convicted of sin through the questioning of his scholars as to the meaning of G<?d*s Word. "I began seriously to think and reason about the matter in the following way : Why, I have come forward to instruct these children, and I am ignorant myself. I, who talk to them about serving God, am serving the devil, and on the road to hell — yea, every boy in my class might turn round and say, * Physician, heal thyself.' "

I cannot give the story of his conversion more succinctly than he has done it ; " These goadings and lashings of a condemning conscience made me miserable, and compelled me to a more close examination of my condition ; and soon I saw that I was miserable and helpless and blind and naked ; that I stood obnoxious to God's holy law, was under the Almighty's curse, and each moment in danger of everlasting ruin. Still, however, I was rather convicted in judgment than broken in heart, and it is probable that these gracious impressions would have been overwhelmed by the strong bias of my mind to evil ; but the good Lord added one or two other circumstances to aid and quicken the spiritual conviction. Just at that time I was disappointed in a particular friendship, which sickened and soured my mind to this world's enjoyments ; and immediately upon this, the dearest friend I had in the world, after an illness of three days, died. This was the consummation of my misery ; it seemed the final blow. I was tired of life, yet afraid to die ; I was indulging in the world, yet sick of its pleasures; amid society, I was solitary; while within my own heart I carried the alarm-bell of a guilty conscience — in short, I hated life, I hated myself, I was miserable ; this misery was not repentance ; it was misanthropy, not contrition. And, indeed, so well convinced was I of this, that when the pious Methodists kindly invited me to partake of the blessings of Christian communion, I told them that I was totally unfit to be a member of their society, as I had not a desire to flee from the wrath to come. I had no soft compunctions on account of sin, no realization of guilt toward God ; but the obdurate misery and wretchedness of a disappointed votary of pleasure. Thus I continued as miserable as I could be. Yet I did reform my outward conduct ; I did forsake my gay and frivolous companions ; nay, more, I acted diligently as secretary in a large Sabbath School, and endeavoured, amid a multiplicity of business, to bury all knowledge and memory of myself. But this

GEORGE G, COOKMAN'S RELIGIOUS AWAKENING, 9

arose not from any clear sense of duty, or any love to God or men, but simply because I was sick and tired of the world; and, as I could not enjoy it, I forsook it. At length, however, the day-spring arose in my benighted soul \ the light of grace showed me more perspicuously my real condition. I saw that I had lost the image of God — bore the image of the Evil One ; that I was ignorant in understanding, comipt and deceitful in heart, polluted in body, and desperately wicked in conduct I saw that in my present state it was impossible I could be saved, for * without holiness no man can see the Lord.' I saw clearly that I must iJe eternally lost ; for already I was under sentence of death, and God was bound by His immutable word to punish all transgression.

** Under these gracious convictions, having fully resolved to seek salvation, to renounce the world, and to serve God, I joined the Methodist Society in February, 1820, and soon I found the blessings of Christian fellowship. Under the fatherly instruction and care of my excellent leader, light beamed brighter into my soul ; I was called to see deeper into my own depravity, and finally I clearly apprehended that salvation was only to be obtained by faith in a crucified Redeemer. Nine months did I seek the blessing of justification earnestly and with many tears. Often in secret places, in garrets, in the open fields, or under hedges, I have poured forth my requests with strong cries, but still the day of liberty seemed at a distance, until I had well-nigh despaired. One Satiurday night I had retired to rest under considerable condemnation for having indulged in an acrimonious spirit toward a near relative. I recollect, before I fell asleep, this passage gave me considerable trouble : ' Let not the sun go down upon thy wrath.' I awoke (I believe by the providence of God) about two o'clock in the morning, and my misay 2nd horror of mind were indescribable. AH the weight of my sins seemed nowbearing down upon my wretched soul, and ready to force me down to that bottomless pit which appeared just yawning ; in this situation I cried mightily to God for deliverance and pardon, but the heavens were as brass to my prayers, and the storm of Almighty wrath increased apace. My agony of mind was now wrought up to its highest pitch, when suddenly I caught a glimpse of Christ on Calvary ; then I cried with the desperation of a drowning man, * Lord, I believe ; help Thou my unbelief ! * ' Lord, save, or I perish ! ' * Though Thou slay me, yet will I believe in Thee ! ' And suddenly there was a great calm — the storm was hushed — ^the burden was gone — and I felt that God, for Chrisf s sake, had forgiven me all my sins. Being justified by faith, I had peace with God through my Lord Jesus Christ. It is true I had not that rapturous joy which some testify j but I had the peace which passeth all understanding. Oh yes ! the Spirit did bear witness with my spirit that I was a child of God. I lay me down, and sweetly fell asleep ; and in the morning, when I awoke, I asked. Is this a dream ? And I felt it was indeed a truth that I was justified freely through the blood of Christ."

The young believer now found a great difference in his experience, not only in the comfort which arose fi*om a sense of acceptance with God, but also in the easy victory over sin which his spiritual renewal had bestowed. Nor was he content to rest in the experience of Divine favour : he at once gave himself to religious works in various plans of benevolence, such as the Young Men's Visiting Society and the Juvenile Branch Missionary Society. Yearning for the salvation of souls, he began very soon to feel the desire ** for a broader field of labour as a preacher of righteous-

GEORGE G. COOKMAX DEGIXS TO PREACH. ii

ness." His views of a call to the ministry were so positive as not to allow him to go forward hurriedly. " Indeed, so jealous was I of my own heart, and so severe in my notions upon this subject, that I was resolved, if this call was not unanswerably given from God to my soul, I would for ever remain silent."

In keeping with this purpose, not to run before he was called, Mr. Cookman kept steadily on his way, following closely the indications of Providence and of the Spirit as he could discern them. In 182 1 he visited America on business for his father; and returning, was as deeply engrossed as any other young man of business, doing with diligence the duty which lay next to him. After a lapse of over two years I find him breathing the same devout and evangelical spirit, with a persuasion that God, amid severe trials and with great opportunities, was grounding him in the truth, and conforming' his heart more and more to His own will. January 22, 1823, he writes: "I have been composing the skeleton of my first sermon, from i Cor. ii. 2. Sunday fortnight I am to preach at St. Paul's.* When I consider my un worthiness, 1 am ready to sink into the dust. Lord, prepare me." A week before preaching he asks, " Have I a clear call tq preach the Gospel ? " and upon examining himself by five tests, concludes "that a dispensation of grace is committed to me, and woe be to me if I preach not the Gospel ! " In addition to the usual tests which occurred to him, was the impression received while in America, and while on shipboard, that he must preach the Gospel, "and that too in America." He had gone to America for secular ends, but God had already decreed his return to America on a higher errand. His first pulpit

* Hull.

efforts were well received. He preached quite regularly, and showed from the first the elements of power. The missionary ardour was kindling in his soul. His father proposed to establish him in business ; but he wished to cut loose from all such entanglements, and enter himself forthwith at an American college for a course of preparation for the ministry. He yielded, however, to the dissuasions of his father and friends, who thought him already in the best possible school of preparation and in the path of duty. Without abandoning his purpose to preach, he waited upon God, resolving to do his duty, and leave consequences with God.

After a sermon preached at the Scott Street Chapel, he was greatly depressed. " I had entered the pulpit with a comfortable assurance of the Divine favour, when, strange to tell, all upon a sudden my mind was beclouded ; and, although I was perfectly master of the subject, I was yet bound in spirit.'* " I expected no one could profit ; but, ta my amazement, almost all expressed themselves as being much edified." He could not fail of a valuable lesson from this experience. Within a short time he made his first platform address, and achieved, in this maiden effort, that marked success which, so often repeated in after years, constituted him a princ^ among platform speakers. " When I ascended the platform my soul «eemed weighed down with a sense of my unfitness. * Oh my God ! ' I could not help crying, * why am I here ? These poor heathen never trifled away privileges as I have done.' When my name was called from the chair, I was in this low state. I thought at first (owing to a violent hoarseness) that I should have to sit down ; but just at this instant Divine light broke in upon my soul, my voice cleared, my heart filled with holy love and fire, and I was enabled to speak with a force unknown

THOUGHTS OF AMERICA. 13

before. The place was filled with the heavenly influence, and the loud, silvery, and hearty amens were affecting and cheering. Nothing afflicted me so much as the compliments of my friends. It seemed dishonouring God ; because I am convinced He gave the power and sent the influence. The Lord shall have all the glory.*' It is not difficult for those who subsequently heard Mr. Cookman in this peculiar realm, at the zenith of his popularity, to imagine the utter wonder and pleasure which this beginning of surprises must have occasioned to those who were present

The purpose of God with His young servant was now fast showing itself. The apple was well-nigh ripe, when it either would fall of itself or could be easily plucked. Mr. Joshua Marsden strongly recommended him to offer himself to the American (Methodist) bishops, to take a circuit in the first instance ; afterwards, if Providence opened the way, he could enter upon the missionary work. But he had engaged in business with his father for the term of three years, after which time he proposed to turn his attention more decidedly to the ministry, with the intention of going to America. His diary bears evidence at this period of the closest heart searchings ; of the deepest and most unaffected devotion to the service of Christ. The prayer is constantly on his lips, " What wilt Thou have me do ? " There is no duty which he does not discharge, no self-sacrifice from which he shrinks : he is ready to^do any work — to go, if needs be, to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel.

While his mipd was particularly exercised in regard to an immediate entrance upon the ministry, he was appointed to drive Mr. Clough (one of the circuit preachers of Hull) to Partington. Mr. Clough impressed upon him the duty of present " action, if he would not grieve the Holy Spirit \ another yoimg friend, and to his surprise the Rev. Mr. W.

14 LIFE OF ALFRED COOJCMAN.

Entwistle, on whom he shortly after called, expressed the same view. - Considerably agitated by such a concurrence of opinions, he laid the whole matter before his father, fully anticipating his decided negative for the present, when, to his great surprise, his father frankly told him that he had long been of the opinion that he was called to the ministrj' ; and that, although his immediate departure might cause inconvenience, yet he would not throw one stumbling-block in the way, but rather further the ordinations of Providence by every prudent arrangement As might have been anticipated, his mother fully coincided with this judgment, and ** was perfectly willing to give him up to the Lord." Thus every obstacle to his full devotion to the ministry, and to his going to America as the field of its exercise, was removed, and his decision was accordingly made to emigrate at the earliest opportunity.