USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Lives of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn: embracing two hundred biographies of eminent living men in all denominations. Also, the history of each sect and congregation, Pt. 1 > Part 10
USA > New York > New York City > Lives of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn: embracing two hundred biographies of eminent living men in all denominations. Also, the history of each sect and congregation, Pt. 1 > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
St. Paul's Church, hitherto a chapel of Trinity Church, in the same city, had just separated from the mother parish, and organized as a distinct body. From this time the congregation steadily in- creased, until St. Paul's took a position second to none in the diocese.
In 1850 Dr. Cooke received a call to St. Bartholomew's Church, New York city, which he accepted. This church was weighed down with a large debt, but very soon every available pew was taken at increased rents, and every day saw the parish increasing in strength and prosperity. At an early day a considerable portion of the debt was paid by subscription among the congregation, and the church was altered and improved throughout. Dr. Cooke received the de- gree of A.M. from Yale College while at New Haven, and, after his removal to New York, the degree of D.D. from Columbia College and the University of New York in two successive days, while he was booked for the same degree at Hobart College.
103
REV. SAMUEL COOKE, D. D.
St. Bartholomew's parish now numbers seventeen hundred souls ; it has about seven hundred regular communicants, and the congrega- tion is one of the wealthiest and most charitable of the city. There is connected with the church a school of one hundred poor children, who are entirely clothed and educated by the congregation.
Such, in brief, are some of the results of the labors of Dr. Samuel Cooke during a ministry of thirty-five years. The fitting crown to his life-work, however, is the magnificent new church edifice recently erected for St. Bartholomew's congregation, on the corner of Madison Avenue and Forty-Fourth Street.
St. Bartholomew's bears some resemblance to the Cathedral of Pisa-Lombardic style. The church covers a lot 75 front by 145 feet in length. There is one grand or central entrance, which is or- namented with richly carved caps to columns of Aberdeen and Peter- head (Scotland) granite, with bas relief in tympanums of the door, surmounted by a garbelle carved cross. The carving is done in Ohio freestone. There are two subordinate doors of a more modified de- sign-one in the tower and one south of the vestibule. The height of the front from sidewalk to top of main gable and tower, which is on the corner of Madison Avenue and Forty-Fourth Street, including large iron cross, is 200 feet. The extreme length of the interior of the church is 129 feet, by 71 feet in width. It is divided into three aisles-one centre and two side. The centre is 43 feet wide by 59 feet high; the side aisles are cach 14 feet wide and 27 feet high. They are divided by seven polished Scotch granite columns, sur- mounted by an arcade, open triporium, and clere-story. The ceiling is grained, and the whole interior decorated in polychrome. The side walls are divided into seven bays, cach containing a stained-glass window. The rear gable is pierced with a window of three bays, and rich designs over the chancel. The chancel has a costly and chastely decorated screen, extending the whole width behind the altar. On each side are the vestry and retiring-rooms. The organ is placed in the gallery over the front vestibule. In the side aisles and chancel memorial windows are furnished by members of the con- gregation. The heat and ventilation of the church are furnished by steam from boilers placed under the vestry and in cellars. St. Bar- tholomew's cost about two hundred thousand dollars, and seats 1000 persons.
The lot belonging to the church is 100 feet front; and as the church occupies only 75 feet there remain 25 feet front, upon which a parsonage and school have been built. The rectory fronts on
101
REV. SAMUEL COOKE, D. D.
Madison Avenue, and consists of four stories. It is in harmony of design and material with the church. The school building is of two stories, 28 feet by 48, and both buildings connect directly with the interior of the church. The church was completed and opened for divine services in the latter part of 1872.
Dr. Cooke is of the medium height and of full person. His ap- pearance is clerical, and his manners are reserved and dignified. He has a round, bald head, of much intellectuality, and his face is thor- oughly expressive of a benevolent, upright, and Christian man. Like most Episcopal clergymen, he seems altogether absorbed in his pro- fessional character. He is not disposed to walk an inch from the well-understood line of clerical propriety, or to undertake any labor but that pertaining to the upholding of religion. He has neither a morbid hankering for more exciting fields of effort, nor does he sigh for secular notoriety in the room of mere church renown. Full of energy, and fortunate in pushing forward all enterprises with which he connects himself, still for strictly worldly affairs he lacks both in- clination and heart. A successful ministry and advancement as a churchman form the scope of his ambition, and to his view are ample reward for the self-denying toil of the longest life. He is altogether too conscientious and too high-toned in his standard of morals to sacrifice duty to gain, or the triumphs of the ministry for the admi- ration of the world. An earnest man, a faithful, humble Christian, a talented and eloquent preacher, he has secured a character which serves as a light to his generation, and won a name long to be cher- ished in the annals of the church. Tested in many trials, unwearied in well doing, constant to every principle, and faithful to every friend, he has an undisputed title to the praise which men award him.
ITis sermons are smoothly written, and always eloquent arguments. He reasons vigorously, and in a mode of progression which carries conviction at every step. His delivery is fluent, and his voice is clear and mellow. Using but few gestures, he addresses himself calmly and fixedly to his subject. The entire absence of vain dis- play, the completeness of the discussion, and the evident sincerity of the speaker, arrest undivided attention, and there are few who preach a more popular discourse.
Dr. Cooke ranks with the ablest of the Episcopalian clergy. Cer- tainly none of them have had a more successful or honorable career Greatly beloved by his congregation, and highly appreciated by his professional brethren, he may well enjoy the contentment of the just.
105
REV. JOIIN E. COOKMAN, A. M.,
LATE PASTOR OF THE METHODIST FREE TABERNACLE, NEW YORK. .
EV. JOHN E. COOKMAN was born at Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania, June 8th, 1836. Ilis carly studies were in Phila- delphia, where he was graduated at the High School in 1854. He received the degree of A. M. at this institution in 1857. His theological studies were at a small seminary in New Hampshire, which has recently been removed to Bos- ton, and is now known as the Boston Theological Seminary. Prior to 1861 he preached under the direction of the Presiding Elder of the New Jersey Conference at a church in New Brunswick. In 1861 he was received into the New York Conference, and sta tioned at Lenox, Massachusetts, where he remained two years. His ministry at this place was marked by an extensive revival. He was next appointed to the Methodist Church in One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street, Harlem, where he officiated for two years. After this he went to Washington Street Church in Poughkeepsie, where his term of service was prolonged through three years. Here also a very extraordinary revival took place, during which over three hundred persons experienced religion. In April, 1868, he was ap- pointed to the Bedford Street Church, New York, and subsequently reappointed to the same church. He next went to Trinity Method- ist Church, now known as the Free Tabernacle of the Methodist Church in Thirty-fourth street, where he remained the pastor until the spring of 1874.
Mr. Cookman is of the average height, and well-proportioned. His head is round, with regular, intelligent features. He is youth- ful in appearance, and full of vigor and activity. His manners are courteous and extremely prepossessing. He is a man devoid of everything like self-sufficiency. It is undoubtedly his effort to appear exactly as he is, without any of the restraints which ministerial dig. nity imposes. He is circumspect enough to keep within the bounds
106
-
REV. JOHN E. COOKMAN, A. M.
of a sensible propricty, but beyond this he is extremely free and social with all persons. You find him one of those honest, frank, and candid men in both speech and manners, who at once win your regard. If you have known him a day or his lifetime it is all the same with him, for he appears to you with the same characteristics. He is of an entirely natural and simple nature, and such natures are the truest to friendship, and always companionable. Cheerful, warm, and sympathetic, they show the human heart in its best, though it may not be in its most striking phases of action. The bitterness, envy, selfishness, and vanity, that loom up in the character which has more of the original and demonstrative peculiarities, and which men are wont to admire and imitate, have no claim or part in this other that we are describing. It may be passive and negative, it may be without especial brilliancy or force, but yet it is supremely beautiful and noble in its high merit of truth, tenderness, and love. Such Is the character of Mr. Cookman, as it is found under all circumstan- ces. He is a plain, honest, fair man. There is nothing studied, nothing artificial, and nothing assumed about him. He is real and truc. He may not have the glitter of the diamond, but he has the pure gold of manly character.
As a preacher his power is in his emotional style. He preaches to the heart. This member of the human organization is the only citadel of sin that he cares anything about in his assaults in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Once in possession of it, he main- tains that he can dictate his terms of submission to the mind.
Methodism holds strongly to this kind of preaching, while the Presbyterian, and some of the other denominations, have always doubted its lasting effects, though never its primary success. The Methodist preacher looks at the man or woman as a creature of emo- tions, sympathies, affections, sorrows, and joys. The fool may feel all these just as acutely, and perhaps more keenly, than the most learned person on the face of the earth. All mankind have the weakness of hearts, while it is the few who have the strength which comes from mind. Hence it is clear that a great deal of pro- found preaching is thrown away, and it is equally clear that there is not one single word addressed to the heart which is lost in its effects. Religion is after all more of an emotion than a conviction, for it is inborn in the human soul. The Indian who has never heard of a God or the teachings of revelation, is touched, subdued, and con- trolled by the Great Spirit of which nature alone has told him. Man
107
i
REV. JOHN E. COOKMAN, A. M.
everywhere, no matter how ignorant or debased, worships something from impulses which spring from the heart. When the being is educated or improved, and the mind comes into play, different doc- trines are accepted or rejected, but the act of devotion and worship is no more sincere than when it was done in ignorance and hea- thenism.
The Methodist church has its doctrines, and is very tenacious of them too. But its first aim is to convert, not to Methodism, but to God. It beats with raining tears, with Christian love and persua- sion, upon the stony heart, and it leads in the path trod by a sorrow- ing, forlorn Redeemer, until the stubborn knee bends in penitence and prayer. It goes with its appeal to the torn and tender heart, and when this has been touched, awakened, and conquered, it is ready to impart the lessons which are to be addressed more particu- larly to the mind.
Mr. Cookman is a revivalist. He looks upon a ministry as bar- ren and unprofitable without these awakenings. A convert here and there, a heart touched, but hundreds of'souls sleeping uncon- scious in sin, is a condition of things which he views with positive terror. Consequently he is always at work, and Satan finds no rest within his pastorate. Young himself, full of emotion and tenderness, he shows a consistency, kindness, and good will in his efforts, which it is difficult for the young or the old to resist. He comes with no frowns or rebukes, with no self-sufficiency in his own grace, but he comes as a brother, feeling for every woe, and a messenger of peace and joy. Eloquent, nay, almost inspired with a power and zeal from on high, he rouses up the dormant feelings of his hearers, and plays upon the heart's emotions with the consummate art of one who has studied its most secret depths. His voice is soft, and yet powerful, and his manners are tender and yet expressive. There is no effort, no straining for sensation, but there is abundant evidence that every instrumentality of his thoughts and heart is being used for the single purpose of carrying truth to the hearts of his congre- gation. He does not seek to be profound in scholarship in these sermons. He speaks well, clearly, and to the point, but does not run off into erudite disquisitions. He takes everyday life, its toils and temptations, its sorrows and joys; he takes the human heart in sin, indifference, and guilt, and he takes it purified, zealous in good deeds, and happy and hopeful. This is a broad field, and he knows how to work it to the best advantage.
108
REV. WILLIAM P. CORBIT,
PASTOR OF THE SEVENTHI STREET METHO- DIST CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. WILLIAM P. CORBIT was born in the city of Philadelphia, October 12th, 1820. His birth was hum- ble, and, having had hardly any educational advantages, he became at an early period a teamster. In his six- teenth year he was converted under the ministry of Rev. Charles Pitman, at St. George's Methodist Church, in Phila- delphia. At this time, in his own words, he "scarcely knew the rule of three direct;" but he had some natural parts as a speaker and a great deal of religious enthusiasm, and he became an exhorter, and finally a class-leader. In the spring of 1840 he sold out his horses and carts and took up his abode with Mr. Pitman, then the pastor of a church at Trenton, New Jersey, and commenced the study of theology. Friends in Philadelphia offered to provide money to send him to college, but this he declined, for reasons satisfactory to himself and them. During the following spring he entered the New Jersey Conference as a traveling preacher in the Freehold cir- cuit, and thus continued for one year. Since that period he has been employed without interruption in the work of the ministry. He has been stationed in the following fields of labor : Orange, New Jersey, two years ; Bordentown (where he built a new church), two years ; Cape May circuit, one year ; Halsey Street Church, Newark, two years : Hackettstown, two years ; Franklin Street Church, Newark, two years ; Broad Street Church, Newark (which he found- ed), one year ; Madison Street Church, New York, two years, and same congregation in Cherry street two years; Greene Street Church, two years ; Trinity Church, Jersey City, two years; Clinton Street Church, Newark, two years ; Alanson Church, New York, two years. In April, 1866, he commenced an appointment at the Sev- enteenth Street Church, New York, for two years.
109
REV. WILLIAM P. CORBIT.
After filling some other appointments, he went to the DeKalb Avenue Church, Brooklyn, where he served two years, and in the spring of 1874 went to the Seventeenth Street Church, New York.
Mr. Corbit is something over the medium height, with square, broad shoulders, and well-proportioned figure. When he walks his body is in a measure thrown forward, and he has a long, quick stride. His head is of good size, his features are regular, his com- plexion is quite dark, and he has long black hair. He looks to be an intelligent man, and certainly one of a great deal of force and per- severance of character. " I never fail in anything," he remarked to us. "Not that I am anything, but through the goodness of my God I have a purpose which never grows weary. The experience of my ministry is wonderful. I have been exalted as few men are, and I have been assailed by detraction of the most bitter character; but I have kept right on with my work in the field of the Lord Jesus. I never was defeated in any plan of my life, for I prayed and trusted in God, and those who do the same thing will succeed in the same way. I don't believe in the word fail, sir."
With the determination of overcoming all the obstacles in the way of an uneducated man seeking admission into the Christian ministry, and of reaching a conspicuous position as a pulpit speaker and Bible expounder, he turned from his manual occupation and began to grope his way in the mazy and tedious labyrinths of learning. He had much to do, but he had patience, indomitable perseverance, a soaring ambition, and an ardent love for religious truths. While yet on the threshold of his investigations, and still feeble and undisciplined in his mental powers, he was called to the practical work of the ministry. A natural fluency of speech served him greatly. He could always talk, and he made the very best use of all the knowledge he had acquired. Every sermon that he preached, however much it affected his hearers, he resolved should be excelled by the next one he delivered. His themes of discourse were never out of his mind. He studied his Bible and every other book which would assist him, and his fine natural parts quickened and strengthened with every day. He did preach better and better. ITis eloquence became refined by education, and at the same time more powerful and effective, and he gradually won a place of eminence in his denomination.
He is somewhat an eccentric preacher. Ile says many pointed personal things, uses odd illustrations, tells anecdotes, and sometimes
110
REV. WILLIAM P. CORBIT.
when he wants to make a quotation from a hymn, sings it. On one occasion when we heard him he sang one verse, and then two others, to a different tune, and it was very good singing too. His preach- ing is extemporaneous and without notes. His manner of prepara- tion is simply to review his subject mentally, leaving the language to be used entirely to the inspiration of the moment. Ile speaks in exceedingly terse and well-molded sentences, and his arguments are reasoned with no little skill and power. Many of his views are original, and show the keenest mental discrimination; and all that he says is uttered with the enthusiasm of eloquence and religious zeal.
Like most Methodist preachers, he addresses his appeal chiefly to the feelings. "Man wants Heaven," said Mr. Corbit while speak- ing to us on this subject. "He wants to be told all about it, and to have his heart softened and melted by the tale of Jesus, and not knocked down by theological sledge-hammers in the way of doctrinal arguments." Hence in his preaching he uses every means to arouse his congregation to a deep state of feeling. His voice, manner, and language are all directed to this point, and he seldom fails to pro- duce the result he desires. When he finds that his hearers are not only listening to him, but are swayed in their emotions by his own, he is in his element at once, so to speak. His tongue and mind and soul are all aglow with enthusiasm, and there seems absolutely no limit to his power of language to proclaim sacred truths and to teach the awakening heart. Words fall from his mouth in a del- uge. He has pathos, sentiment, and sound practical reasoning. IIe thunders until the echoes of his voice go far beyond the church walls, and then he speaks in tones as soft and sweet as music. All this is a very effective kind of eloquence, and that kind which does won- ders in the Methodist congregations. They delight in these moving appeals, these reverberating shouts, and these pathetic whisperings. They are wont to call Mr. Corbit's preaching the style of the good old days of Methodism, when to cry Hallelujah and Glory to God was not an offence against church propriety.
Mr. Corbit is of a social, genial disposition, and is popular among the people. Certain peculiarities of manner and speech follow him into private life, and in every circle he is the conspicuous and lead- ing person. He talks a great deal, and mixes up subjects of religion with secular topics in a style quite original. He is a man never abashed, of ready repartee, good natured, and altogether an interest- ing character.
111
1
REV. SAMUEL HANSON COX, D. D.,
EV. DR. SAMUEL HANSON COX was born at Lees- ville, New Jersey, August 25th, 1793. His parents be- longed to the Society of Friends. After the death of his father, who was a New York merchant, his mother re- moved, with her three sons and two daughters, to Philadelphia, of which place she was a native. Here Samuel attended school until 1811, when he went to Newark, N. J., to study law. Continuing his studies until November, 1812, the subject of religion then became his chief thought. He was licensed to preach the Gos- pel by the Presbytery of New York, and ordained by the Presbytery of New Jersey at Mendham, July 1st, 1817. He remained the only pastor at Mendham until the autumn of 1820, when he removed to New York city, having accepted a call to the Spring street church on a salary relatively much less than his income at Mendham. His health being much impaired, he sailed for Europe on the 10th of April, 1833, and traveled extensively in Great Britain and Ireland, and also in France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland, returning at the expiration of seven months greatly improved. In the spring of 1834 he was invited to accept the professorship of sacred rhetoric and pastoral theology at Auburn, which was renewed later in the year and accepted. IIe remained at Auburn until May, 1837, when he was installed pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn. In May, 1846, he was chosen moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and in August he attended the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in London. A resolution was introduced into that body declaring that no person holding slaves or defending slavery should be admitted to its membership. Dr. Cox was on his feet in an instant, and to the surprise of everybody, denounced the resolution. The mover, rising to reply, inquired if it could be possi- ble that the objector to such a resolution was Dr. Cox, of New York, an early abolitionist, who had even been mobbed for his bold senti- ments. Dr. Cox eloquently answered that it was indeed the per-
112
-
4
--
Day"" by Lin rice
Januel N. Cox.
REV. SAMUEL HANSON COX. D. D.
secuted Dr. Cox of a former day, but one who, by the blessing of God, had been delivered from the blindness of fanaticism, and who was proud to stand forth to denounce a resolution which would shut out from their fellowship such a noble body of Christians as the peo- ple of the Southern states of America. The resolution was promptly voted down. On his return, Dr. Cox was wrecked on board the steamship Great Britain. An affection of the throat rendered it necessary that he should leave Brooklyn. On the last Sabbath of April, 1854, he preached his farewell sermon and retired to Oswego, his people having been very generous in their provision for him.
In April, 1817, Dr. Cox married the daughter of Rev. Aaron Cleveland, of Connecticut, by whom he has had six sons and nine daughters, two sons and four daughters being dead. One of these sons is the distinguished Episcopal prelate, the Right Rev. A. Cleve- land Coxe, Bishop of the Western diocese of the State of New York. Dr. Cox has married a second time. At the age of thirty-two he re- ceived the degree of D. D. from Williams College. He wrote a letter to the New York Observer, under date of November 16th, 1825, declining the title.
Dr. Cox took an active part in the inauguration of the abolition movement. On one occasion he preached a sermon in which he sought to allay the prejudice against the blacks, and stated that Christ was not a white man, but of the yellow Syrian hue. This re- mark was unfortunate, for it was shortly after asserted that he had stated that Christ was a negro. The following is a correct account of the riot of 1834, in New York, during which Dr. Cox's house and church were mobbed.
"It continued through Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night, increasing in intensity with its progress. On Wednesday night, beside Mr. Lewis Tappan's house, Chatham street chapel was mobbed, and also the Bowery theatre, because of an English actor by the name of Farren, who had said something offensive to Ameri- can nationality. On Thursday night Dr. Cox's house and church were mobbed, and Zion Church, occupied by a colored congregation. On Friday Dr. Cox's church was ' finished,' his house saved only by a strong military force who barricaded the streets; the church of the Rev. Mr. Ludlow sacked, and the windows and doors of his house demolished, and dwelling-houses torn down and emptied which accommo- dated nearly fifty colored families. On Saturday night it was planned to destroy all the free Presbyterian churches, the offices of the obnoxious papers, and the houses of ministers and editors, for it should be understood that hatred of the anti-slavery party was not the only propulsion of the mob. It included hatred of Christianity, of temperance, and of all moral reforms. The free Presbyterian church system was making itself too manifestly felt by its aggressive movements, and must be over- thrown by violence. But by this time magistrates and property-holders, of whatever
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.