MR. GEORGE H. STUART OF PHILADELPHIA.

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sympathy with the Young Men's Christian Association, as an institution providentially raised up to afford not only a beautiful expression of Christian union, but also a common ground for the most effective labors of all believers for the temporal and spiritual welfare of young men. He and other pastors were glad to labor under the leadership of the layman whose name is a synonym for pure philanthropy throughout our country. The work accomplished in those early days of the Association of Philadelphia can hardly be too highly estimated, and has only been paralleled by that of the Christian Commission during the late civil war.

Mr. Stuart has not ceased to value the services and to cherish the memory of his friend Mr. Cookman. He has kindly furnished to the Rev. John E. Cookman a brief estimate of his character and work as they impressed him at this time:

"I have been privileged to know many faithful and gifted servants of Christ, and to know them a second time in the perusal of their biographies -Dr. Murray, of Elizabeth; Drs. Edgar and Cooke, of Ireland; and Dr. Hamilton, of London, among them-but I can say that a more fervent and devoted minister of the Cross than Alfred Cookman I never knew. In him the old fire that burned in the hearts of Whitefield and Summerfield glowed with all the fervor of the first and Pentecostal days of Methodism and no one could come within the sphere of his influence without feeling that he was one for whom to live was Christ, and to die was gain.

;

"Mr. Cookman's coming to this city was not long previous to the beginning of the great revival of 1857 and 1858. Through its precious scenes of awakening, of conversion, he labored with all the fervor of his nature and of grace. When I recall him in connection with that time of revival, his name seems voluntarily to associate itself with that of the eloquent and devoted young servant of Christ, the sorely lamented Dudley Tyng. Mr. Cookman preached several times with great unction and power in the Union Tabernacle, which was moved about the city during that time. A single sermon of his on the prophet's vision of the valley of dry bones was blessed to the conversion of several persons, one of whom heard him as she stood without the tent.

"Never shall I forget a 'noonday prayer-meeting' held during the revival, at which your brother presided. With deep feeling he asked for special

prayer for the only son of his father who remained still without an interest in the great salvation. You may judge with what fervor that request was responded to. A few days later word came that the prayer had been heard and answered, and that George Cookman was rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. He too has gone to the upper sanctuary; but permit me to recall the fact that when, by age, I was called to lay down the office of President of our Young Men's Christian Association, its duties devolved upon this beloved brother, who was chosen as my successor. Very precious still to me is the memory of George Cookman, the second President of the Young Men's Christian Association.

"Alfred Cookman was one of those who represented to the mind of the Christian public the brotherly unity of the whole Church of Christ. His large-hearted catholicity, and his unqualified love for all who held by the Head, were what gave him his place among us. On any public occasion when the churches of Christ were called on to unite in utterance or in action, he was always expected, and never in vain.

"How faithful he was to all the interests committed to him inside his own denomination, you can testify of. I can say that he was one of those who made us feel that all these divisions were but regiments and brigades of the one great army, the hosts of the living God.

"My own personal relation to him was one of pleasure and of profit always. He was a brother in sympathy, a friend in help.

"When a sentence,* at which our Christian world has not ceased to wonder, cut me off from my place in the Reformed Presbyterian General Synod, he was among the first to give utterance to his Christian confidence and sympathy, in a letter which I highly prize as a memento of our Christian friendship."

Here also are words of the same import to Mr. John E. Cookman, from the distinguished and venerated Rev. Richard Newton, D.D., rector of the Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia:

"No argument in support of the reality and truth of the religion of the Gospel is worth half so much as that which is furnished by the example of one so blameless, so consistent, so holy as was your loved and lamented .brother.

*Mr. Stuart was suspended by the General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church for singing such hymns as "Rock of Ages," and communing with Christians like Alfred Cookman.

TESTIMONY OF REV. DR. RICHARD NEWTON.

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"I had not the pleasure of an intimate personal acquaintance with him. But during the years of his ministry in Philadelphia we often met together in various union services. On different platforms, where those who love the cause of Jesus take sweet fellowship together, we often stood side by side in striving to promote the honor of our Master's name and the welfare of His bloodbought Church. And now that he is gone, the recollection of those seasons is very dear and precious to me. His large-hearted love for the friends of Jesus; the singleness of his aims; the earnestness of his zeal; the fervency of his spirit; the untiring devotion, the unction and power that appeared in all he did and said, were the points about him that always most strikingly impressed those who came in contact with him. These were the broad seals upon his character that stamped him as one of God's own anointed ministers, and won for him a warm place in the hearts of all to whom the living image of Jesus is dearer than every thing else. I feel that it was a privilege to have known him here on earth, and I look forward with kindling hope to the higher privilege of meeting him in that bright world to which he has gone, and where the union of Christ's people, whom he so loved to cultivate here, will be perfected forever.

"May God graciously send down on all the ministers of Jesus still on earth a double portion of that sweet spirit of purity, humility, zeal, and charity, which shone so brightly and so beautifully in all the life and character of your lamented brother."

Mr. Cookman completed his term at Union Church in the spring of 1861. His pastorate here, though not marked by a general and continuous revival, was nevertheless eminently useful. Mr. Mason, before quoted from, says:

"His Saturday-afternoon meetings were a grand success. All the Sunday-school children loved him very much. We had constant accessions to the Church in small numbers. We held two protracted meetings in the body of the church. There was no great excitement, but many were converted and added to the Church, and some remain to this day. During one of these meetings a lady boarding at the Union Hotel said to some friends, 'Let's go over to the Methodist meeting and have some fun.' They occu pied the fourth pew on the south middle aisle. Before the fun commenced, Alfred asked all that felt they were sinners to stand up, and, to the great amazement of her friends, Mrs. C. stood up. She was converted, was a useful member of Union Church many years, and removing to Camden, New Jersey, took a card and joined the Church there, where she lets her light

shine still.

"Alfred's life, his character, and influence in the city was all for good. He was one of the purest ministers we ever had-the true minister in the market, the home, and in the house of God. One of his most effective sermons was preached on the steps of my house-to my son, Thomas T. Mason, Jr., who was just leaving for the army of the Cumberland. Taking him by the hand, he said, ‘Tom, take God with you, and all will be well.' After the terrible battle of Stone River, in Tennessee, my son was taken down with typhoid fever, and just before he died he turned to his comrade, Thomas C. Moore, and said, 'Tom, I am taking God with me.'

CHAPTER XIV.

REMOVAL TO NEW YORK.-MINISTRY AT THE CENTRAL CHURCH. -PATRIOTISM AND THE CIVIL WAR.

SUCH was the influence which Mr. Cookman had gained at Philadelphia, both in and out of the Methodist Church, that it would have seemed wise to retain him in that city. There came now a demand for his removal to New York. His fame as a preacher had become so wide-spread as to cause his services to be in request in many places, both for special occasions and for the pastorate. There is an ever-working law by which the grand centre of finance, trade, population, lays its claims to the intellectual and religious power of the whole country, and makes it tributary to its importance. The Methodist Church is no exception to the rule; and it could not be expected that Mr. Cookman would be an exception among ministers. The frequent changes of the itinerant system offer facilities of transfer from one city to another such as no other Church possesses. He had been four years in Philadelphia, and he must make a change-"Why not go to New York?" The application of the Central Church in New York was successful, and Mr. Cookman was accordingly transferred to the New York Conference in May, 1861, and stationed at that Church. The same society, which had originally worshiped on Vestry Street, had secured the services of the father, and he was to have entered upon his duties with them immediately upon his return from Europe; they were now equally fortunate to be able to command the son in their new and more commanding position on Seventh Avenue.

Some letters, written while he was in process of transfer and