RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Conybearo Cooper
Life (1882) and in Deliver Us from Evil (1883). His last works were The Origins of Religion and Language (1884) and Letters Addressed to the Rev. H Mace and the Rev. J. Earle (1885), in which he argued for the unity of language and a primitive divine revelation to man.
COOK, (FLAVIUS) JOSEPH(US): Congregationalist; b. at Ticonderoga, N. Y., Jan. 26, 1838; d. there June 25, IPOl. He entered Yale in 1858 but left owing to ill health in junior year; was graduated at Harvard 1865, and at Andover Theological Seminary 1868; was resident licentiate at Andover 1868-70; acting pastor of the First (Congregational) Church, Lynn, Mass., 1870-71 ; studied and traveled in Europe 1871-73. He was never ordained. His reputation, which was world-wide, was that of lecturer upon the relation of rehgion and science. His knowledge of theology was considerable, but his claim to speak for science would be disputed. From 1874 to 1895 he spoke each Monday morning during a portion of the year, for years in succession, in Tremont Temple in Boston upon his general topic, with a " prelude on current events." He also lectured elsewhere, and, indeed, during 1880 to 1883 went round the world on a lecturing tour. His conservatism was most pronounced and his dogmatism also. He was immensely popular, and really was astonishingly well informed. As a public speaker he was always vehement, but not always easily intelligible. His Monday lectures were first printed in the newspapers as stenographically reported, then revised and comprised in three volumes: Biology (Boston, 1877), in opposition to the " materialistic, but not the theistic theory of evolution " ; Transcendentalism (1877) and Orthodoxy (1878), a discussion of the views of Theodore Parker; Conscience (1879) : Heredity (1879) ; Marriage (1879); Labor (1880); Socialism (1880). To these were afterward added Occident (1884); Orient (1886); Current Religious Perils (1888). He established a religious monthly. Our Day, in 1888.
COOKE, GEORGE ALBERT: Church of England; b. in London Nov. 26, 1865, was scholar of Wadham College, Oxford (B.A., 1888); curate of Headington, 1889-90; scholar and Hebrew lecturer of St. John's College, Oxford, 1889-92; chaplain of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1890-92; fellow of the same 1892-99; curate of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, 1894-96; examiner in school of Oriental languages, Oxford, 1895-99 and in 1904; rector of Beaconsfield 1896-99; rector of Dalkeith 1899- 1908, when he succeeded Canon Cheyne as Oriel professor of the interpretation of Holy Scripture in Oxford. His most important book is A Text-book of North Semitic Inscriptions, London, 1903.
COOKE, HENRY: The champion of Orthodoxy against Arianism in the Irish Church; b. on a farm near Maghera (28 m. e.s.e. of Londonderry), County Derry, May 11, 1788; d. in Belfast Dec. 13, 1868. He studied at Glasgow College but did not graduate; was ordained assistant minister of Duneane, near Randalstown, County Antrim, 1808; settled at Donegore in the same county 1811. Here he undertook to supplement his early training by
systematic study, attended two sessions at Glasgow 1815-17, and heard lectures at Trinity College, Dublin, 1817-18, acquiring a knowledge of medicine as well as of theology. In 1818 he was called to Kilieleagh, County Down, and in 1829 to the May Street Church, Belfast. After 1847 he was professor of sacred rhetoric in the General Assembly's theological college at Belfast, continuing his pastoral duties at the same time. He forced the Arians in the Synod of Ulster to secede in 1829, when the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster was formed under the lead of Henry Montgomery (q.v.), and continued his opposition till Arianism was banished from the colleges, synods, and congregations of the Irish Presbyterian Church. He was also active in politics and was the founder and leader of the Protestant party in Ulster after his removal to Belfast. He was a master of all the arts of public speaking, had uncommon skill in argument, and was an unrelenting opponent. He was moderator of the General Assembly in 1841 and 1862. His statue was erected in Belfast in 1875. He wrote many pamphlets and magazine articles, but nothing of permanent value.
Bibliography: J. L. Porter, Life and Times of Henry Cooke, Belfast, 1875 (by his son-in-law, an able eulogy rather than a biography); DNB, xii. 87-90 (where a full list of sources is given).
COOKMAN, ALFRED : Methodist ; b at Columbia, Pa., Jan. 4, 1828; d. in Newark, N. J., Nov. 13, 1871. He was licensed as an exhorter in Baltimore 1845; served as pastor in West Chester, Harrisburg, Pittsburg, and Philadelphia, Pa.; in New York, in Wilmington, Del., and in Newark. He warmly supported the Union cause during the Civil War and served the Christian Commission in the field. He was a leader in the movement in 1867 which led to the formation of the " National Camp-meeting Association " and was prominent at the various meetings which it held. Bibliography: H. B. Ridgaway, Life of Rev. Alfred Cookman, with some Account of his Father, Rev. G. C. Cookman, New York, 1873.
COOPER, JAMES: Scotch Presbyterian; b. at Elgin (71 m. n.w. of Aberdeen), Elginshire, Scotland, Feb. 13, 1846. He studied at the University of Aberdeen (M.A., 1867), and was minister of St. Stephen's, Broughty Ferry, Fifeshire (1873-81), and the East Parish of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen (1881- 1898). Since 1898 he has been professor of church history in the University of Glasgow. He is president of the Aberdeen Ecclesiological Society and edited its transactions 1886-1903, and also edited the transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society, of which he was president in 1903. He edited Cartularium Ecclesice Sancti Nicolai Aberdonensis (2 vols., Aberdeen, 1888-92); and made an English translation of the Syriac Testament of Our Lord (London, 1902; in collaboration with A. J. Maclean).
COOPER, THOMAS: EngMsh Baptist; b. at Leicester, Eng., Mar. 20, 1805; d. at Lincoln July 15, 1892. He went to school till he was fifteen and then was apprenticed to a shoemaker. He was eager to learn, studied Greek, Latin, and Hebrew in his leisure time, and appUed himself so
Cooper
Coptic Church