back before my departure. I have had many very, very pleasant interviews with aunt Smith. Yesterday she took me to see Mr. and Mrs. Morley, who now reside in Hull. They referred to you in the most affectionate manner."

From Mrs. Smith, of Hull, to Mrs. Mary Cookman:

"HULL, August 28, 1850.

“MY DEAREST Mary,—Many of my correspondents complain, and not without just cause, that I have degenerated in regular correspondence. * * * And now, my beloved Mary, I congratulate you on being blessed with such a son. If he is a specimen of the other members of your family, those relatives who live to welcome them as they may come to visit England have a rich treat in store. I say I expected to see a nice, intelligent young man, but I had not raised my expectations to the reality. Not one of your family rejoices more that he has come over than myself. I have such a delightful picture in my mind of the union betwixt the families on this side and beyond the Atlantic as I can not describe; there was a break in the chain, but now we seem firmly linked together. I feel we are all one, and bound together by indissoluble ties. Oh! we are sorry to let him leave us, and we are not alone. How many in Hull will have to praise God for his visit! They have said, 'Can't you use influence for him to remain in Hull another month?' with much more. I could only silence them by assuring them it was impossible; we had received that morning a schedule of his berth, which was taken in the steamer Asia. He leaves behind him a name, but, what is of far more worth, many, many seals to his ministry. Any one but himself would be in danger from popularity; when any thing is said in his praise to his grandfather, he replies, 'Oh, he owes much to his mother; I always had a very high opinion of her judgment, attention, and piety.' It gladdens my heart to hear him.

"I walked with Alfred one morning to introduce him to old Mr. Morley, who desired he would pray with him ere he left the manse. I stayed a little time after his departure to his grandfather. Mr. Morley was obliged to leave the room, and go into another to give vent to a flood of tears ere he could converse with me, and on his return every other subject was banished except you and yours, and the pleasure he had in your society when he lived in Fishergate. My dear sister Holmes mourns her absence from home at this time. I reap the benefit, for I might have been in another part of the country in ignorance of my loss. I do, indeed, praise God for my present privileges; and I feel no doubt but that Mrs. H. is in her providential path, for, to use her own words, 'However dear Alfred is, Thomas is dearer, and has the first claim on my consideration.'

FRANKNESS.-ORDER OF PREACHING.

151

"As I have sat under Alfred's ministry, I have recalled the instrument in God's hand of leading me to Himself, and then was filled with praise that an insignificant being like myself should be the first link in the glorious chain; and when I saw the altar rails crowded with penitents, my heart leaped with joy, my heart burned within me, and I thought what glorious results might arise from one of the least being savingly converted to God."

This letter very appropriately closes the correspondence touching the visit to England. His letters, written with so much frankness, the outpourings of a faithful son's heart to his devoted mother, give ample incidental proof of the wide-spread, popular, and useful influence of his pulpit exercises. The testimonies of his cousin and aunt abundantly confirm this incidental revelation. The aunt acknowledges any one but himself would have been in danger from such popularity. Such unbounded enthusiasm over so young a man was well calculated to turn his head; but it does not seem to have affected him beyond exciting a devout recognition of God's goodness, and pleasure at the gratification he thought it would afford his loving mother. Then as always there was, to all appearances at least, a sweet absence of egotism, a simple unconsciousness of the incense of praise which was ever rising in his presence. His absorbing purpose was to win souls to Christ. For his success in "slaying sinners," in receiving the gratitude and applause of the people, he ascribed all the glory to God.

Three features crop out in these letters. The character of his preaching, already substantially formed, and which he calls "his own"-pictorial or dramatic representation-is seen in the account of some of his sermons; the tireless zeal for work, unable to rest without work, and uniting with his recreations ceaseless preaching; and also we hear of him for the first time before an audience of children, a direction in his ministry in which he was afterward to acquire such remarkable facility and success.

CHAPTER X.

HOME AGAIN.-MARRIAGE.-MINISTRY AT WEST CHESTER AND HARRISBURG, PA.

THE early autumn found him at his post in Kensington, preaching to large congregations, and attending to all pastoral work with fresh delight and diligence. Of course the little family group on Race Street was frequently visited. He had come back filled with beautiful thoughts and recollections, which it was his joy to communicate to those who were as dear to him as his own life. Much, however, as he enjoyed the pastimes of home, he did not neglect the duties of his charge -his hours were full of useful occupation. Thus busily employed, the autumn and winter glided away, and the session of the Conference approached.

A few extracts from his correspondence while stationed at Kensington are sufficient to show the zealous spirit with which he was animated:

"On Sabbath I preached both morning and evening to excellent congregations. God was eminently with me on both occasions. At night I was uncommonly assisted: an unusual seriousness pervaded the assembly, some came forward to the altar, and I trust that eternity will alone reveal the extensive good done. Last evening I preached with much liberty; more knelt at our altar than on the previous night, numbers in the congregation wept freely, and we are encouraged to look for better times. I do most earnestly desire to be a successful minister of the New Testament. While I experience an unceasing love for my honorable and responsible work, at the same time I would perceive a corresponding influence attending my labors. Oh, that God would constitute me a chosen instrument of good to those among whom I may toil from time to time!"

WORK AT HOME.-MARRIAGE.

153

"January 6, 1851.

“Last Sabbath, the first Sunday of the new year, I preached in Kensington morning and evening on the subject of the Judgment. I have rarely addressed more attentive and solemn congregations. God was eminently with me on both occasions. At the conclusion of the evening service we entered heartily into a prayer-meeting. In exhortation I felt as if I was only the speaking-trumpet of Jehovah. Almost immediately twelve approached our altar, all very interesting cases; a number professed to experience peace, and before ten P. M. we had the shout of the King in our camp. To God be all the glory."

"February, 1851.

“In Philadelphia a good feeling seems to prevail at almost every appointment. Trinity, the church where our family worship, has been catching some of the descending drops. Little sister professes to have experienced peace, and has joined the Church; she seems to be as firm as an ocean rock. There are only two now of our family who remain without the pale of the Church, viz., George and Will, and we are praying and confidently hoping that very soon they will become the subjects of saving grace. On Sunday I preached three times, twice to immense congregations in Kensington, and in the afternoon at Fifth Street to a very full house. This evening we renew the battle, and expect that our efforts will be more signally blessed in the salvation of priceless souls. My heart is in the work. I glory in being permitted to head the sacramental host in the assaults upon the strongholds of the wicked one."

"February, 1851.

"Certainly there is no enjoyment at all comparable with that experienced by those who possess a divine testimony that they have been introduced into the family of Heaven, and as the object of their Father's approbation and love. Oh! let us be ambitious to possess all the mind which was in Christ Jesus our Lord, for every day only serves more to satisfy me that decided and devout spirituality and supreme religious enjoyment are twin sisters. God has joined them together, and it is impossible for man to tear them asunder."

On the 6th of March, 1851, Mr. Cookman was united in marriage to Miss Annie E., daughter of Mr. Abraham Bruner, of Columbia, Pa., by the Rev. William Urie, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Previously to the marriage he wrote to Miss Bruner:

"From the commencement of my religious course I have felt anxious to commit my all into God's gracious care and keeping, that I might be guided and cared for by His infinite wisdom. In the matter of marriage, above all others, I have been desirous that He should rule and overrule; indeed, I have incorporated this in all my private addresses to a Throne of Grace. In looking back upon the past I think I am prepared to say, 'He hath done all things well,' and in all my associations with you can most distinctly perceive the hand of an overruling Providence. I desire to be unfeignedly grateful to my Heavenly Father for this and any other manifestation of His tender care and watchful love, and in the strength of grace would solemnly promise Him to be more devoted to His glorious cause in all future time."

As evidence of the happiness which crowned this union, and also of the pleasant and delicate way in which he ever manifested his affection for his wife, I anticipate by some years the following effusion, written at the close of his pastoral term at Union Church, Philadelphia, 1861:

"This day completes the first decade of my married life. On the 6th of March, 1851, I linked my fortunes with those of my dearly beloved wife, and now on the tenth anniversary of our blessed union I would record my gratitude to Almighty God, whose kind providence gave and hath preserved to me one so well deserving the name of 'help-meet.'

"Our life, made up of fidelity and love, has been like a deepening and widening stream, upon which we have floated together in delightful harmony. Our home, with its five little buds of beauty and promise, has been an Eden spot, where our Infinite Father, who dwelt with the first pair in Paradise, has vouchsafed us His constant presence. Oh, how much of pure love and true joy have been compressed within these ten years-the happiest ten years of my life! Accept, my precious Annie, this humble but sincere testimony to your thoughtful care, constant kindness, unsullied goodness, untiring fidelity, and uninterrupted, aye, increasing devotion.

"We have lived and loved together thus long—and now on this anniversary day let us, in token of our gratitude to God and our affection for one another, build a pillar of witness. It shall be composed of these ten stones, one for each year of our married life: Love—Truth—Purity-KindnESS-FIDELITY

SINCERITY-CONSTANCY-THANKFULNESS-HOLINESS-CHRIST

THE FOUNDATION STONE.

"This is the altar upon which we will renew our vows 'to love, comfort, honor, and keep one another so long as we both shall live.""