Life sketches of Rev. Alfred Cookman

Preface

\7t/E have been induced to prepare this brief life of our esteemed friend and brother, Alfred Cookman, to meet a long-felt need; viz., a comprehensive account of this holy man, adapted to the great mass of the Church whom he loved, and who love and revere his memory. The late Dr. H. B. Ridgaway, some years ago, wrote a most exhaustive life of this good man, which was, in all respects, worthy of the scholarly author. It was a book of nearly 500 pages, published by the Harpers, and sold at $2 per copy. It seemed to have failed in two particulars : It was too expensive for people of moderate means, and too bulky and exhaustive 3

Preface*

for busy people, who have little leisure for reading.

The present volume seeks to avoid these extremes. We have sought to present in a condensed form all that is essential to a proper understanding and appreciation of the character of this saintly man.

We are indebted to the Messrs. Harpers for permission to use a few selections from the aforesaid Life, as the work has for some time been out of print.

People of small means, equally with those of abundance, will find this Life of Alfred Cookman, small as it is, an inspiration to holy living, and a blessing which will cheer and help them in the struggles and conflicts of life.

In view of Mr. Cookman's deep, lifelong interest in the colored race, we have arranged that the entire profits 4

Preface.

from the sale of this work shall be devoted to the benefit of the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Our fervent prayer is that the spirit of Alfred Cookman may possess all the workers in this field, as well as the people for whom they labor. This will fully compensate the writer for any labor he has performed, and will fully meet the wishes of Mrs. Cookman and her children.

Introduction

'"THE vision of John Fletcher's face A often sent conviction to the sinner's heart. Edward Perronet, who wrote the immortal hymn,

"All hail the power of Jesus* name, Let angels prostrate fall,"

had a brother, William, who testified that the first sight of Fletcher's face so impressed him that he never got over it till he gave his heart to God.

Dr. Daniel Devinne, once a missionary in the then remote wilds of Louisiana, wrote Dr. Abel Stevens, the historian of Methodism, that on his circuit he found a settler who had been reproved by Fletcher of Madeley for profanity. He was struck dumb by the look of the vicar, and though afterwards he went to sea and forgot the words of rebuke

Introduction,

and was recklessly wicked, that look never escaped his mind. It followed him everywhere, into whatever part of the world he went, and annoyed him in all his sins. On penetrating into Louisiana, and hearing the Methodist itinerant — fifty years later — the remembered "look" overpowered him. No longer resisting the impression which had followed him the world over, he yielded, obtained pardon, lived a holy life, and soon after died in great peace.

The Church of God has always had such " solar-light " believers. Isaiah speaks of them when he says, "All that see them shall acknowledge them, that .they are the seed which the L,ord hath blessed."

Such a face had Alfred Cookman. Who that ever saw it can forget it? The vision of it has sent conviction to many a sinner's heart. "The beauty of holiness" was there.

As he moved among us, and preached to us the Word of Iyife, thousands were moved to seek and find the "full salva- 8

Introduction.

tion," to the possible attainment of which he bore such glorious witness.

There are some expressions of Scripture which must seem like poetic exaggerations to an unspiritual mind; such as, " The peace of God which passe th all understanding ;" "Joy unspeakable and full of glory ;" "A weight of glory ;" but when these expressions are inter, preted in the light of such an expert ence as that of Alfred Cookman, they seem exactly fitted to describe it.

Words less intense would not suit the case at all. When his countenance was in repose, you would think of the "peace that passeth all understanding ;" when preaching the Word, and break, ing the bread of life to the people, you would think of the "joy unutterable ;" and when, in answer to his prayer, the Holy Ghost fell upon the congregation you would think of and feel "the weight of glory."

The holiness which Alfred Cookman professed and possessed is what the

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Church needs to-day — beyond all words to tell.

Many well-meaning people who profess this blessing are* " troublers of Israel," by their egotism, by their censorious spirit, by their habit of finding fault with those who do not accept their teachings. There was nothing of this about Alfred Cookman. He was brilliant and effective in controversy, but always kind.

It is said of Fletcher's controversial writings : " They were severe only in the keenness of their arguments." "They can be read by devout men even as aids to devotion." It was so with the sermons and writings of Alfred Cookman. No severe criticism ever fell from his lips. He drank in the very spirit of a little verse Bishop Capers once wrote in a lady's album —

"Iyet me be tender when I touch The meanest name to Jesus dear, I^est my rude hand inflict a wound Where Jesus' mercy drops a tear."

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He never believed in the denunciatory method of getting people to see the truth.

He believed in the possibility of a victorious life in this world, and that is the most glorious dream that ever floated before a human soul. He sought with all his might to lead the Church he loved into this blessed experience. He was cheering on the Sacramental Host when the messenger came to summon him home to heaven. When, as w r e thought, we needed him most, he disappeared from our sight for a little while.

Dr. William McDonald has written the story of his life, and in doing this he has done the Church a great service. This little book should be universally read. Pastors who desire to kindle in their congregations a flame of revival, should circulate this book freely among the people. It teaches the " conquering theology " that never grows old — that never can be supplanted ; the theology

Introduction*

which is interwoven with the promises and prayers and prophecies of the Holy Scriptures so thoroughly that nothing but the utter destruction of almost every page of the book itself will get it out of the Church and out of the world. It is the theology of Paul, and Wesley, and Asbury. "By this sign conquer." Preach it, live it, and we shall see what John Fletcher spoke of as that " glorious wonder/ } a Pkntecostai, Church

ON EARTH.

CHARLES C. McCABE.

Chapter I. Parentage And Childhood

CEW men have been called from the * Church Militant who have left a more widely-extended and hallowed influence than Alfred Cookman. His dying words have been an inspiration to the Universal Church in all lands, and this influence must continue to be felt as the years go by.

"He belonged to seraphic royalty/' said Bishop Foster, in an address delivered at his funeral. "I have known," he continued, "the Church for thirty 15

Life Sketches of Rev* Alfred Cookman.

years; I have known the men of the Church during that time through all her ministry; and the most sacred man I have known" (looking down into the casket before him) "is he who is enshrined in that casket." The following pages contain a brief memoir of this saintly man.

Alfred Cookman was born in Columbia, Pennsylvania, a town on the Susquehanna River, January 4, 1828. His father, Rev. George G. Cookman, was an Englishman by birth, born in Hull, England, in 1800. His father was a local preacher among the Wesleyan Methodists, and, being a man of wealth, his son enjoyed the advantages of a careful academical education, as well as a thorough religious training. He early developed a rare ability for public speaking, especially at Sunday-school anniversaries and similar meetings.

When but twenty-one years of age, George G. Cookman made a business trip to America in the interests of his 16 father, and while here conceived a strong liking for the people and country. On his return to England, he devoted himself to business, in company with his father, and for some four years he could be said to be "diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord/' He finally was fully persuaded that it was his duty to preach the gospel, and, acting upon that decision, made some successful attempts. His father finally consented to release him, and, his mother concurring, he started again for America, in 1825. He was cordially received by the brethren in Philadelphia, and at the ensuing Annual Conference, he was received on probation, and stationed at Kensington. He was soon recognized as a man of extraordinary pulpit power. In 1827 he made a brief visit to England, and while there was married to Miss Mary Barton, of Doncaster, Yorkshire, April 2d. With his new helpmate, in all respects suited to aid him in his great work, he returned, without delay, 2 17

Life Sketches of Rev. Alfred Cookman.

to his field of labor in America. George G. Cookman spent the remainder of his life in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Few ministers, if any, have ever labored in this country with more ceaseless energy, unswerving devotion to God,, and marked success in *every field in which he was called to labor.

No man in American Methodism — John Summerfield, perhaps, excepted — in the brief period in which he was permitted to labor, ever produced a more profound impression. He enjoyed a national reputation as the most brilliant and effective preacher in America. His unrivaled eloquence attracted all classes, from the highest officials of the nation to the humblest in society. When he spoke, in the pulpit or from the platform, it seemed that every nerve and muscle of his frame was full of excitement, and clearly indicated that his lips had been touched with a live coal from off God's altar, and his one aim seemed 18 to be, not to produce an effect, but to win men to God.

In 1839 he was elected chaplain to the American Congress. Here, perhaps, his influence as a preacher was most widely felt. Great men bowed under his eloquent ^appeals, as forests are swayed by the tempest. He had the reputation of being a man of deep religious devotion and of employing all of his great powers in winning men, not to himself, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. This seemed to be his sole aim.

When he had completed his chaplaincy in Congress, in 1841, he arranged to visit England, mainly to see again his aged father, his mother having already passed to her reward. He sailed from New York, March nth, on the ill-fated steamship President, Neither the ship nor any of her company were ever after heard of. She may have foundered in a violent storm at sea, no one of the company escaping to tell the story of their end.

Life Sketches of Rev. Alfred Cookman.

Thus ended suddenly, and to the great grief of his young family and numerous friends and admirers, the life of the father of Alfred Cookman.

Alfred bore the name of his honored uncle, but recently deceased, who, it seems, was a man of more than ordinary intellectual ability and moral excellence.

The grandfather, on learning of his son's first-born, writes from Hull: "We were delighted to find the name Alfred should not become extinct in our family. May he exhibit a large share of his uncle's intellectual and moral character, and may his mental powers in due time become as vigorous as his person is likely to be robust ! May you receive him as a gift of God, and while you gratefully acknowledge his supporting and sustaining hand, may you and the child be entirely consecrated to him !" This prayer was answered, at least so far as Alfred was concerned ; for he was a man, like Stephen, "full of faith and the Holy Ghost." The mother felt for 20

Parentage and Childhood.

a time that the gift of a son, however precious, was likely to abridge her fancied opportunities for such religious work as both she and her husband had hoped to do. But she subsequently learned, to her great joy, that to rear a Moses, who should lead God's people into

" The land of rest from inbred sin, The land of perfect holiness,"

was a work as divinely appointed and as highly honored as the preaching of the gospel by any other method.

When about four years of age, his father traveled the Talbot Circuit, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This was in the days of American slavery. It was on this circuit that Alfred had his first view of American slavery, but in its mildest forms. It was here he became most interested in slave children. He is said, at this early age, to have held religious services among them, and even went so far as to imitate the ordi-

Life Sketches of Rev# Alfred Cookman.

nance of baptism. He would call for a bowl of water, cause them to kneel down, and then proceed to say: "Bob Trot, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. God bless you and make you a good boy!" This was not done in boyish sport, as one might suppose, but with great apparent seriousness, as often occurs with children who have been religiously trained or have witnessed frequently such ceremonies. His mother was ever watching for every religious manifestation which looked toward the ministry; for her desire was quenchless that he might yet be a successful minister of the gospel. She hailed every such indication as evidence that God was preparing him for his future work.

During these years Alfred, according to his mother's statement, was correct in his deportment, truthful, and very conscientious. His father is said to have impressed upon his youthful mind the 22 maxim, "Play when you play, and work when you work."

From his fifth to his seventh year, while his father was pastor of St. George's Church, in Philadelphia, Alfred and his brother George were placed under the care of Miss Ann Thomas, a member of the Society of Friends, and under her careful instruction improved rapidly in the elementary branches of education. None regretted more deeply their departure from the school than their Quaker teacher. In writing to their mother, she says : "I can give my testimony respecting thy dear boys, that I have enjoyed great consolation in their company. While endeavoring to inform their little minds and give them a knowledge of literature, they have been attentive and obedient, very innocent, and strict to truth, and in almost everything what my heart could wish. Tell them to remember Miss Ann, who dearly loves them, and wishes them everlasting happiness."

Life Sketches of Rev. Alfred Cookman.

When seven years of age, his father was stationed in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, and under his marvelously effective ministry Alfred became deeply awakened. He persuaded his parents to allow him to attend a watch-night service, held in the old Exeter Street Church. His father preached on the occasion. His subject was "The Second Coming of Christ." In his own language, Alfred says : "Thinking that the end of the world was just at hand, I realized, for the first time, my unpreparedness for the trying scenes of the judgment, and trembled in prospect. I date my awakening from this time." His father was soon removed from Baltimore to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to meet a pressing demand of the Church.

The Baltimore and Philadelphia Conferences had recently purchased of the Presbyterians Dickinson College, and there seemed no other man so well adapted to be stationed in that town as Mr. Cookman. They needed a man of 24

Parentage and Childhood.

marked pulpit power, as well as deep devotion. The Faculty of the college consisted of John P. Durbin, Robert Emory, H. W. Allen, John McClintock, and A. A. Roszel. These men, fresh in their young manhood, and with George G. Cookman as their spiritual leader, were a company scarcely equaled in the land. Alfred was now only ten years of age, but old enough to be profoundly impressed with his peculiar surroundings. Here he entered the grammar school with his brother George, and from what we can learn he was, in his own judgment, pressed in his studies almost beyond measure, or at least much beyond what he thought needful, and in this respect was much like other boys of his age.

It was at Carlisle, in the month of February, 1838, that Alfred Cookman was converted. A protracted meeting was being held, and he says : "I concluded 'now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation. 5 One night, 25 when a social meeting was held in the house of a friend, I struggled with my feelings, and, although it was a fearful cross, I urged my way to a bench which was specially appropriated for penitents. My heart was convulsed with penitential sorrow; tears streaming down my cheeks, I said, 'J esus > Jesus, I give myself away ; 't is all that I can do/ For some hours I sought, without, however, realizing the desire of my heart. The next evening I renewed the effort. The evening after that the service was held in the church; the altar was crowded with seekers, principally students from Dickinson College. There seemed to be no place for me, an angonizing child. I remember I found my way into one corner of the church. Kneeling all alone, I said, 'Precious Savior, thou art saving others ; O wilt thou not save me?' As I wept, a kind hand was laid upon my head. I opened my eyes, and found that it was Mr. James Hamilton, a prominent elder in the Presbyterian 26

Parentage and Childhoods

Church in Carlisle. He had come to help me. I remember how sweetly he unfolded the nature of faith and the plan of salvation. I said, 'I will believe, I do believe, I now believe that Jesus is my Savior ; that he saves me, saves ; yes, me, even now/ Immediately,

" The opening heavens did around me shine With beams of sacred bliss ;

And Jesus showed his mercy mine, And whispered, 1 1 am His.' "

"I love to think of it now," he says, in after years. "It fills my soul unutterably full of gratitude and joy. 'Happy day, O happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away V "

His conversion seems to have been clear. The Spirit attested the work, and Alfred Cookman went on his way rejoicing.

Chapter II. Shadows And Home Desolation

AT the close of Mr. George G. Cook- ** man's two years at Carlisle, he was removed to the National Capital. Other cities sought his services, but Washington was successful in securing them. Wesley Chapel was the center of Methodist influence in the city. Many, including members of Congress, and visitors to the city from all denominations, were attracted by the unexampled eloquence of Mr. Cookman. In 1838-39, Mr. Cookman was elected chaplain of the Senate, by a decided vote, over Rev. Henry Sheer, D. D. There does not seem to have been any special objection to Dr. Sheer, for he was subsequently elected to the same office ; but Mr. Cookman captivated all classes, Whigs and Democrats, though he himself seems 28 personally to have had no part in the matter. He seemed equally at home with the men of world-wide fame — the Websters, and Calhouns, and Clays, and Bentons, etc., as well as with the schoolmen of Carlisle. Strong men were awakened to a sense of their danger under his powerful ministry, among them Franklin Pierce, representative from New Hampshire. There is little doubt that Mr. Pierce intended to unite with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and abandon politics for the ministry; but family influences turned him aside from his purpose. He united with the Episcopal Church, and died a member of that communion.

Alfred Cookman's removal to Washington does not seem to have been helpful to his piety. A change of scenery and associations had a tendency to turn his thoughts for a time from God, but not from his religious faith. Writing of this period, he says, "I fell in with new associates, who felt no interest in 29

Life Sketches of Rev* Alfred Cookman.

the subject of religion, and declined a little in my warmth and zeal, and partook a little too much of their spirit." But this was of short duration. The camp-meeting season was at hand, and he expressed a desire to attend. On leaving for the camp-meeting, his mother said to him, "My son, I want you to seek at the meeting an entire restoration of your former happy experience, and regain every step you have lost by want of watchfulness/' He says : "Her counsel followed me to the forest. I sought God again. I remember the night. The struggle was long and painful; it continued almost to the breaking of day. Glory to God! However, He who said, 'Return unto me, backsliding Israel, and I will heal thy backsliding and love thee freely/ heard and answered, and restored unto me the joy of his salvation. O, how beautiful the following morning appeared ! The sky seemed bluer than before, the air sweeter, the trees greener, the landscape lovelier ; 30 all nature seemed to appear in a new dress. I felt like saying, 'Come, all ye who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul P My precious father had gone off the ground to spend the night. I knew the way he would most probably return. I hastened in that direction, saw him coming, sprang into his arms, fell on his neck, and told him how happy I was. Since then I have had a place in the Church of Jesus Christ. In the midst of great unfaithfulness and unworthiness, God has borne with and preserved me, and now I feel to say,

'Here I '11 raise mine Ebenezer, Hither by Thy help I 'm come.'

'I attribute my conversion, under God, to the instruction, example, and influence of pious parents."

From that time to the end of life, camp-meetings were hallowed places to Alfred Cookman. While in Washington he received many commendations 3i for successful efforts in public speaking, in which he seems to have indulged. It could scarcely be otherwise with such a mind as his, and in the very atmosphere of national eloquence. Two years passed rapidly, and his father, still chaplain of the Senate, was removed to Alexandria, Virginia, then a part of the District of Columbia, but since receded to the State of Virginia.

Had Alfred seen only the milder forms of slavery, witnessed on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, his impressions of it would have been less abhorrent. But when he arrived at Alexandria he found that near his home was a slave-pen, where human beings were sold almost daily, and doomed to a life of unpaid service in the rice-swamps and cottonfields of the South. Men, women, and children he saw behind iron grates, and manacled, for no crime save that they were born with black skins. Here he witnessed scenes which ought to have broken any human heart, and did quite 32 break the heart of young Cookman. It induced in him, from that time, a deep and lifelong abhorrence of that system of slavery which John Wesley pronounced "the vilest that ever saw the sun," and he never failed to give his voice and influence against it.

One year later, 1841, his father's chaplaincy closed, and he arranged to visit England, and thought at first to take Alfred with him, but subsequently changed his purpose, Alfred saying, "I will stay with my mother, and help her take care of the children." His father's fame was commensurate with the American Republic, but that brilliant orb was soon to set at noonday. Among his last words to his children, as they sat by the fireside, were these/'Now, boys, if your father sinks in the ocean, his soul will go direct to God, and you will meet him in heaven." He preached his last sermon in the Vestry Street Methodist Church, New York City, Monday, March 9th, where he was to be stationed 3 33 on his return. He had intended to take a Cunard steamer from Boston, but was induced to change his mind, and embarked on board the steamship President, March nth, and, as we have before said, neither steamer nor passengers were ever after heard from. No voice from the sea ever came to tell the story of their end. There were many conjectures, but no facts upon which to base them. Both sides of the Atlantic felt deeply the terrible shock. The sorrow which fell upon the Cookman home can be better imagined than described. Day after day, and week after week, the suspense was heart-rending. Mrs. Cookman could not give up hope, but as time passed on and no tidings from the sea came, it was hope against hope. Alfred was the eldest of a family of six, and they looked to him for consolation. The mother was in the agonies of despair. It seemed at times as though her mind could not stand the fearful pressure. Hopes so bright, pros- 34 pects of usefulness and domestic bliss so inspiring to her enthusiastic heart, to be blighted in a day, and a darkness that could be more than felt succeed so suddenly, seemed utterly unbearable. The deepest gloom seemed to rest upon her for at least two years. She could not endure to hear her husband's name pronounced in her presence without the deepest sorrow, so that it was carefully avoided. Alfred was but thirteen years of age, but his composure in the presence of his afflicted, heartbroken mother was remarkable for one of his years. He used to say in after years, "How I did dread to return home from the post-office to meet my dear mother without a letter, and see her disappointment!"

Alfred Cookman appears at this time a most remarkable youth. This great sorrow seems to have developed the latent force and godly wisdom of this, boy of thirteen years. He fully realized his position, and he faithfully tried, as 35 his mother avers, to "fill up the chasm made By a wise though inscrutable Providence. Eternity alone will unfold all he was to the family as son and as brother in the years of his minority. ,, 36

Chapter III. The Mother Of Alfred Cookman

T^HIS seems a proper place to give * some account of the life and character of Mrs. Cookman. We have already spoken of her marriage to Mr. Cookman, April 2, 1827, and her coming to America, as she supposed, into a "wilderness," to spend her life in selfsacrifice and toil for the perishing. Instead of great sacrifice, she found herself associated with the best society of the land, and her husband enjoying the greatest and most widely-extended honor which a grateful nation could bestow on a messenger of God. All at once her highest hopes are blasted, and deep sorrow fills her soul. A large, young, and helpless family is left to her care, and her husband sleeping in the 37

Life Sketches of Rev* Alfred Cookman.

ocean's deepest bed. How changed her life ! But God's ways are not ours —

" Sorrow touched by Him grows bright With more than raptured ray, As darkness shows us worlds of light We never saw by day."

This great sorrow proved to be a great blessing. On the last anniversary of her marriage-day, she writes : "This is one of my very sacred anniversary seasons, which I cherish with deep and devout gratitude to the Author and Giver of all my temporal as well as spiritual gifts. The second day of April, 1827, made me one of the happiest, brightest individuals in the world. I say it without limitation, that to become the wife and sharer of such a man's life, with its toils, cares, trials, and triumphs, was bliss enough for me, honor enough to be his dearly-beloved and cherished companion, with his great, true, generous heart beating and pulsating towards me always and everywhere. 38

The Mother of Alfred Cookman.

"Mary Barton, when she became Mary Cookman, reached the acme of her highest soaring of a true and happy life. Satisfaction and joy met us in every path in which we were called to walk, and our deep devotion knew no blight, until the last fearful gaze was exchanged, until the last fearful word was spoken, and he who had been all the world to me vanished from my sight. Little thought I of the sequel that was to come, the bitterness and grief, such as rarely falls to the lot of humanity, and yet so touched with mercy, which can never be appreciated by human thought and expressed by human language, until we reach the heights of the gloryland. I have known unspeakable joy, I have known the depths of sorrow, and yet the heights and depths of the love of Christ are more to me than the love of ten husbands"