RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASMS AND ACTIVITIES
All the activities of a good man's life are religious. Intelligent
Christian thought has long since abolished the distinctions, "sacred"
and "secular." The minister is not the only man with a divine calling.
It is the right of every true man to regard his tasks, of whatever kind,
as sacred, and the vigorous discharge of them as religious fidelity. The
apostle, making tents, was serving God as truly as when preaching to the
philosophers of Athens. All the vocations are spheres in which men serve
their generation, increasing the sum of human comfort, and securing the
moral order of the world. The man who serves his fellowmen is the
anointed servant of the Lord.
Mr. Cocke's life was an uninterrupted consecration to the cause of the
education of women, permeated and energized by spiritual motive. No man
understood better than he the living unity between intellectual and
moral culture. He knew that cultivated faculties without corresponding
nurture of the spiritual nature may prove a curse rather than a
blessing. Along with growing mental power, must go a development of
religious character. The two are inseparable in any right conception of
human life. So, while he wrought with a wonderfully sustained enthusiasm
in the sphere of education, he kept always in mind the transcendent
claims of religion. There he recognized the fundamental interest of
humanity. Teaching was his vocation, but the honor of God was his
comprehensive guiding principle. To him the Bible was the word of Life,
and the worship of the Holy One of Israel the supreme privilege and
duty. Such was his view and, without intermission, his practice.
From the beginning of his work at Botetourt Springs in 1846, daily the
assembled students heard the reading of Scripture and united with the
President in ascriptions of praise. Nor were Mr. Cocke's religious
services given only to the school. His Christian interest ran out to the
whole community. He recognized an obligation to his neighbors, and was
soon meeting them here and there, instructing them in the Scriptures,
and leading them in their worship. In 1855 the little Enon Baptist
Church was organized and located within a quarter of a mile of the
Springs. Into membership in this church he and his family went, to be a
strong nucleus around which has since grown the excellent congregation
and the beautiful building of today. The pastors of Enon never had a
more loving and loyal member of their church. By all odds the strongest
force in the body, he could have ruled as he pleased, but the humble man
never dreamed of domination, or of the assertion of any kind of superior
right. He wanted harmony and growth, and sought it by preferring his
brethren in honor. His wise counsel and influence were potent, of
course, but not another member of the church was farther from the
assumption of authority. He was a model church member in attendance and
gifts; hence all the people gave him honor and love.
But Enon set no limits on his religious activity. The neighboring towns
and communities felt the force of his spirit of evangelism. The
Christian religion must have free course in the regions round about.
There was not a village within twenty miles of his school that failed to
catch something of his spirit. The impulses he gave in that early day
lie at the foundation of much of the present religious strength and
prosperity in the regions he touched.
Did this young school teacher overlook the needs of the colored people?
Would it look strange to see him conducting a Sunday School for the
slaves on Sunday afternoons at Big Lick? That is what he did. "Inasmuch
as ye have done it to the least of these, ye have done it unto me." The
negroes, in the days of slavery, learned to love him as a friend, and
when freedom came, his service among them did not cease. Their
struggling pastors and congregations sought his counsel and were not
disappointed. They looked on him as their big white brother, wise and
good, and to this day he is remembered among them with affection. Here
is a tribute written by a negro teacher on the occasion of Mr. Cocke's
death. No more tender or significant praise has been accorded him.
"My race in this section of the State would be guilty of the rankest
ingratitude did they not pay a humble tribute to the memory of their
friend and benefactor, Professor Charles L. Cocke. Any tribute to his
memory must needs be incomplete without a touching reminder of his
devotion to the cause of Christianity among my people in the days of
slavery. To him my people looked for religious instruction in those dark
days. Through his zeal and untiring efforts the slaves of this section
of the State were allowed to attend services at the white Baptist church
Sunday evenings where they could hear the word of God preached to them
by the white ministers of the gospel, Professor Cocke himself frequently
leading the meetings. He taught the slaves sound lessons in morality
and honesty, and it is a well known fact that the slaves of this county
were among the most upright, honest and trustworthy to be found anywhere
in the South. Upon every plantation were to be found Christian men and
women of our race whose lives were honest and true, and whose characters
were spotless, and they enjoyed the confidence, respect, and sometimes a
devotion, from their masters, that was touching and beautiful. Upon
every plantation were to be found colored preachers who 'exhorted' to
their people and explained to them the lessons that had been taught them
by Professor Cocke. Whilst laboring faithfully amongst the whites, he
did not forget the poor African slave.
"At the close of the war, when freedom came to our people, he gave them
the best advice and encouragement in the organization of their own
churches. He was full of the milk of human kindness. He was ever ready,
willing, yea, anxious to give advice and instruction to our preachers
who sought his aid. His purse was open to any colored minister who
appealed to him for help. No colored church was ever built in this
county that did not receive substantial aid at his hands. Thousands of
our people with bowed heads mourn his loss and revere his memory. My
mother and father received religious instruction at his hands, and it
is with a heart full of untold gratitude that I pen this tribute.
Professor Cocke was a white man in all that word implied, but he was a
Christian and not afraid to labor among men of 'low estate.'
"Such men are the negro's best friends on earth. We have nothing to fear
at their hands. To them we have ever been true and devoted, and shall
forever remain so. Such men are the salt of the earth, and the negro
believes in such salt.
"We, too, drop a tear upon his bier and shall ever hold in grateful
remembrance his many acts of kindness to a benighted race. Sweet be his
rest."
ZACHARIAH HUNT.
With the increase of Baptist churches in the Southwest, the Valley
Association was organized, and Enon became a member. Not a pastor
brought into that body more interest and zeal than did Mr. Cocke. He was
not of those whose Christian liberality slackens and enfeebles devotion
to their own communion. While broadly charitable, he was firmly Baptist.
The influence he carried into these conferences with his people arose
from his personal worth, not from his official prominence in education.
Not one of the denominational causes failed to receive his cordial
support. They appealed to him in the degree of their relative
importance, but in the roundness and balance of his benevolence nothing
was slighted. He spoke in advocacy of each and all. Of course many
gatherings wished to hear Mr. Cocke speak on the subject of Education.
In such addresses the fire of his soul was apt to burst into flame. He
did not quote much. Being the impersonation of the educational spirit,
he did not need to borrow thoughts. The man who does things has power
with an audience. Your theoretical orator has no thrills. After one of
his powerful utterances, many fathers and mothers said in their hearts:
"I want to send my daughter to that man." His motive was not the cunning
calculation of a man with a school, but rather the pure devotion of a
large-minded servant of the Master.
In the State assemblies of his brethren, where he was regularly found,
he was equally a man of recognized distinction. Likewise in the meetings
of the Southern Baptist Convention, he was greeted with the honor due to
one who had advanced the credit of the denomination. He knew that fact
himself, but no man could have been more innocent of self-important
airs. While the higher education of young women was the goal of his
daily thought and labor, the Kingdom of God was central to all his aims.
Religious controversy never interested him. Through the years ministers
of the various churches were invited to Hollins to lead its services and
receive its hospitalities. Many were the interviews with them in his
office and on the verandas in which conversation drifted into animated
discussions of things political, educational and religious. Views
differed, thoughts clashed, but the best of humor prevailed. In every
denomination he had devoted friends.
In vacation periods it was his frequent custom to make tours through the
Southwest in a large vehicle, capable of carrying six or eight persons.
His trusty colored driver, Prince Smith, held the reins, and commonly
there was in the party a goodly number of Baptist ministers from middle
or eastern Virginia. From one District Association to another, the
_caravan_ went, adding zest and interest to the meetings. It was a
genuinely delightful religious progress. The Baptists in all this region
considered him as their greatest layman and their unordained Bishop.
Everywhere he and his fellow-travelers were welcome guests. Sometimes
they lodged in homes presided over by women who had been Hollins girls.
Then the hospitality was overflowing. These summer visits did much to
stimulate the hope and courage of many small and slowly growing
churches. And what charmingly exhilarating experiences they brought to
the _caravan_! The men who shared these progresses with the "Bishop" of
the Southwest considered themselves the favorites of fortune.
It was never his habit to go off for a summer's rest. It might have been
well if he had done so, but such was not his bent. When the pressure
ceased at the close of the session, he began to plan another visit to
his brethren in the mountains. To go about doing good was the call of
his heart in those long past summertimes.
Religion and Education were the watchwords, written on the tablets of
his heart. "This one thing I do, ever pressing on to the mark of the
prize of the high calling of God." Here is the rare spectacle of a long
life, full of religious activity, supported by unfailing enthusiasm, by
fixed, high purpose, and by that ardor of achievement which are the
marks of a great soul. Unselfish human service magnified him and gave
his name to grateful remembrance.