Cook Books

Faith Cook appears to have written around 17 books since 1989, mostly of a biographical nature. In this list I have put her autobiographical work first, then her five biographies of individuals, followed by eight books that are collections of briefer biographies. Numbers 15 and 16 are novelisations and 17 contains poetry. I have read a number of these and found them well written and very helpful.

1. Troubled Journey: A Missionary Childhood in War-Torn China (Paperback 2004)
2. William Grimshaw of Haworth (Hardcover 1997)
3. Selina: Countess of Huntingdon (Hardcover 2001)
4. The Nine Day Queen of England: Lady Jane Grey (Paperback 2005)
5. Fearless Pilgrim: The Life and Times of John Bunyan (Hardcover 2008)
6. Anne Bradstreet: Pilgrim and Poet (Paperback 2010)
7. Samuel Rutherford and His Friends (Paperback 1992)
8. Singing in the fire: Christians in adversity (Paperback 1995)
9. Seeing the Invisible (Champions of the faith) (Paperback 1998)
10. Sound of Trumpets (Paperback 1999)
11. Lives Turned Upside down (Champions of the faith) (Paperback 2002)
12. Hymn writers and their hymns (Hardcover 2005)
13. Stars in God's Sky (Paperback 2009)
14. Overcoming the world (ET Perspectives) (Paperback ?)
15. Under the Scaffold: And What Happened to Tom Whittaker (Paperback 2005)
16. Caught in the Web: A Tale of Tudor Times (Paperback 2006)
17. Grace in winter: Rutherford in verse (Harddcover 1989)

Bradstreet Meditations 2

XI. That town which thousands of enemys without hath not been able to take, hath been delivered up by one traytor within; and that man, which all the temptations of Sathan without could not hurt, hath been foild by one lust within.

XII. Authority without wisdome is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.

XIII. The reason why Christians are so both to exchange this world for a better, is because they have more sence than faith: they se what they injoy, they do but hope for that which is to come.

XIV. If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes tast of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

XV. A low man can goe upright under that door wher a taller is glad to stoop; so a man of weak faith, and mean abilities may undergo a crosse more patiently than he that excells him, both in gifts and graces.

XVI. That house which is not often swept, makes the cleanly inhabitant soone loath it, and that heart which is not continually purifieing itself, is no fit temple for the spirit of God to dwell in.

XVII. Few men are so humble as not to be proud of their abilitys; and nothing will abase them more than this—What hast thou, but what thou hast received? Come, give an account of thy stewardship.

XVIII. He that will undertake to climb up a steep mountain with a great burden on his back, will finde it a wearysome, if not an impossible task; so he that thinks to mount to heaven clog'd with the Cares and riches of this Life, 'tis no wonder if he faint by the way.

XIX. Corne, till it has passed through the Mill and been ground to powder, is not fit for bread. God so deales with his servants: he grindes them with grief and pain till they turn to dust, and then are they fit manchet for his Mansion.

XX. God hath sutable comforts and supports for his children according to their severall conditions if he will make his face to shine upon them: he then makes them lye down in green pastures, and leads them beside the still waters: if they stick in deepe mire and clay, and all his waves and billows goe over their heads, He then leads them to the Rock which is higher than they.

Five godly Anns

1. Anne Bradstreet 1612-1672
2. Anne Dutton 1692-1765
3. Anne Steele 1717-1778
4. Ann Griffiths 1776-1805
5. Ann Judson 1789-1826

Bradstreet Meditations 1

In 1664 Anne Bradstreet passed on a series of meditations to her second son Simon. She wrote
FOR MY DEARE SONNE SIMON BRADSTREET.
Parents perpetuate their lines in their posterity, and their maners in their imitation. Children do naturally rather follow the failings than the virtues of their predecessors, but I am persuaded better things of you. You once desired me to leave something for you in writing that you might look upon when you should see me no more. I could think of nothing more fit for you, nor of more ease to my selfe, than these short meditations following. Such as they are I bequeath to you: small legacys are accepted by true friends, much more by dutiful children. I have avoyded incroaching upon others conceptions, because I would leave you nothing but myne owne, though in value they fall short of all in this kinde, yet I presume they will be better priz'd by you for the Author's sake. The Lord blesse you with grace heer, and crown you with glory heerafter, that I may meet you with rejoyceing at that great day of appearing, which is the continuall prayer of
Your affectionate mother,
A. B.
March 20, 1664.

Here are the first ten:

I. There is no object that we see; no action that we doe; no good that we injoy; no evill that we feele or feare, but we may make some spiritu(a)ll, advantage of all: and he that makes such improvement is wise as well as pious.

II. Many can speak well, but few can do well. We are better Scholars in the Theory then the practique part, but he is a true Christian that is a proficient in both.

III. Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending; a negligent youth is usually attended by an ignorant middle age, and both by an empty old age. He that hath nothing to feed on but vanity and lyes must needs lye down in the Bed of Sorrow.

IV. A ship that beares much saile, and little or no ballast, is easily overset; and that man, whose head hath great abilities, and his heart little or no grace, is in danger of foundering.

V. It is reported of the peakcock that, prideing himself in his gay feathers, he ruffles them up; but, spying his black feet, he soon lets fall his plumes, so he that glorys in his gifts and adornings should look upon his Corruptions, and that will damp his high thoughts.

VI. The finest bread hath the least bran; the purest hony, the least wax; and the sincerest Christian, the least self love. [I guess she would hve known that sincere means literally without wax].

VII. The hireling that labors all the day, comforts himself that when night comes he shall both take his rest and receive his reward; the painfull Christian that hath wrought hard in God's vineyard, and hath born the heat and drought of the day, when he perceives his sun apace to decline, and the shadows of his evening to be stretched out, lifts up his head with joy, knowing his refreshing is at hand.

VIII. Downny beds make drosey persons, but hard lodging keeps the eyes open. A prosperous state makes a secure Christian, but adversity makes him Consider.

IX. Sweet words are like hony, a little may refresh, but too much gluts the stomach.

X. Diverse children have their different natures; some are like flesh which nothing but salt will keep from putrefaction; some again like tender fruits that are best preserved with sugar: those parents are wise that can fit their nurture according to their Nature.

By night

This is a great little poem by Anne Bradstreet

By night when others soundly slept,
And had at once both ease and rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.

I sought Him whom my soul did love,
With tears I sought Him earnestly;
He bowed His ear down from above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.

My hungry soul He filled with good,
He in His bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washed in His blood,
And banished thence my doubts and fears.

What to my Saviour shall I give,
Who freely hath done this for me?
I'll serve Him here whilst I shall live
And love Him to eternity.

Anne Bradstreet

I have been reading Faith Cook's latest biography, on the 17th Century New England poet Anne Bradstreet. There are many extant Bradstreet poems and these give a few biographical hints but apart from these and a brief autobiographical manuscript there is little else. Mrs Cook has little to work with, therefore, but skillfully weaves a short and interesting Christian biography from turbulent and momentous times.

The book starts off a little like a children's book ("King James I of England was angry") but settles down to a good readable pace that will be of particular interest to Christian women but useful to all. The short paperback (not very much over 150 pages) is well illustrated and nicely presented. Its great strength is that, apart from the fact that the publication of her poems in England to a rapturous reception, Bradstreet lived a moderately ordinary life, her main achievement being the raising of eight children at the edge of civilization.

I had eight birds hatcht in one nest,
Four Cocks were there, and Hens the rest.
I nurst them up with pain and care,
No cost nor labour did I spare
Till at the last they felt their wing,
Mounted the Trees and learned to sing.

The book includes an index and the autobiographical piece as an appendix.

Anne Bradstreet has her eown website here. It contains many of the poems if not all. There are also a few quotes including this one

"If we had no Winter, the spring would not be so pleasant;
If we did not sometimes taste the adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."
This site here appears to give access to all that is online. May be this is better.

One more wedding

So we headed off on Thursday afternon via Rhug and a stay in a Days Hotel just north of Chester to our fourth and final wedding of the summer in Upper Hopton, Mirfield. There a member at Childs Hill was getting married.

Several things marked this out as a little different to other weddings this summer. Firstly, bride and groom are in their forties. Secondly, it is a transatlantic affair. He is an American. They will be living in America. Then there is the fact that they met on the internet and both bring children to the new situation, both having had previous relationships.

The wedding took place in St John the Evangelist, Upper Hopton in Mirfield, Yorkshire, a delightful but painfully "high" Anglican church. The reception for about 60 of us, including seven from Childs Hill, followed in a new part of the model farm, Bradford. It was an unseasonably cold day, which was a pity but it was a lovely time in other respects, including the lovely food by local caterers.

We headed back to Aber around 9 pm and got home in the small hours. We do wish them well, especially with visas and citizenship, etc.

Vimeo

I notice that several past Aber Conference videos are now availale at vimeo. See here.

1662 and all that

One of the things I have been doing this week is exploring the possibility of a study day on 1662 and nonconformity for some time in 2012 in conjunction with the Evangelical Library. Can anyone who would like to express interest in such a study day send an email to gary.brady@childshill.com with a contactable email address. More details to follow.

Aber 2010 03

The Aberystwyth Conference is over for us as we are attending a wedding today. As ever it has been nice to see so many people and enjoy good ministry. Sadly, there were loads of people we just didn't get to chat to. There are meetings this morning and this evening. I apologised to Stuart Olyott that I would miss tonight. He thought that I was about the hundredth person to so apologise and only his wife Doll is a definite at present. I'm sure the Great Hall will be packed, however, as it has been through the week and some will have to sit in the plush cinema downstairs and watch it there in the overflow. As for the morning meetings, the inimitable Dale Ralph Davis has been walking us through Jeremiah. The opening session on Jeremiah 1 was stellar and a brilliant start with its powerful mix of thorough exegesis, cautious theology, semi-street talk, great application and fine illustrations. None of those present will read the opening remarks of Jeremiah about when he prophesied again without remembering that far from being pedestrian remarks about chronology, this is a testimony to the relentlessness of God's Word whatever the circumstances. None of the subsequent talks lived quite up to that first one for some reason but we have had excellent stuff. Those who attended Wednesday's seminar got an extra talk from Jeremiah 40 dealing with failure in ministry. That had a mixed reception maybe but was again for me a powerful bit of applied exegesis. It was also a treat Wednesday night to be in the manse where my father-in-law Geoff Thomas had invited Dr Davis and one or two others. I wasn't the only one to grab opportunity for a book signing. I got the impression that Ralph is a self-effacing man, cheerful but only by grace, something of a scholar but chiefly a pastor who enjoys writing. I could identify. He is about to retire from the pastorate and is set on writing up another Old Testament book and not doing too much conference work. It is good to know that God has such a variety of servants working away in the vineyard.

Why Johnny can't sing hymns

Why Johnny can't preach rather passed me by but now T David Gordon has another book out on the problem of modern singing in church. Called Why Johnny can't sing hymns, it is subtitled "How Pop Culture Re-Wrote the Hymnal".

The book is quite personalised and chiefly descriptive but there is a clear agenda - to decry the modern trend for using exclusively contemporary praise. (I was staggered, by the way, that at the Extra Time meeting we sang Before the throne of God to the modern tune - a song that has been done to death even for me with my sheltered existence. There was also a Townend/Getty and one by the Cooks).

I would be broadly in agreement with Dr Gordon's outlook although because the book is written from a sociological point of view and has little by way of exegesis few would want to line up with every statement he makes. The book's strength is in the alarm call it gives to those immersed in the contemporary praise movement, to consider again just what they are doing. If Dr Gordon is right that the modern idiom is ill equipped to convey serious and soul-searching messages then the sooner we back away from this the better. I particularly liked the way he argued not against pop music as such but against its use (or certainly its over-use) in worship. As he suggests, I think that the folk idiom is the one best suited to Christian worship with some limited room for classical and pop.

Do get hold of a copy if you can and read it. It is an easy read and a good contribution to the current debate (or lack of it as is too often the case).

Aber 2010 02

The first evening session was on Monday night. The preacher was Gareth Williams from Bala and he took us to Colossians for a message that was chiefly evangelistic. Gareth is a similar age to myself. He was in Cardiff when I was in Aber. The second evening it was our friend Martin Downes on Acts 24, more consistently evangelistic but with a similar clear, calm and deliberate style. I am missing Bill James tonight as it's my turn to babysit. I'll also be missing Steve Brady and Stuart Olyott on subsequent nights as we have to leave early for a wedding.

I also missed Hywel Jones on the Christian mind yesterday afternoon but was able to hear Dale Ralph Davis the main speaker at a seminar this afternoon. I'll say something about his main addresses and this one in another post. I also managed a nice coffee with my friend Robert Strivens.

I missed Dr Jones as we were all on the beach in Borth (the whole wider family and friends, including one cousin of Eleri's over from the States) chatting and playing cricket. It's been remarkably good weather since we got here more or less. On the Monday afternoon I made my annual visit to the Christian Bookshop here in Aber and made a number of purchases. I sat down on the seafront to peruse them and got chatting with a young Estonian student. I don't think she had met a Christian really before so she was keen to talk. She proved sceptical and was sure that simply doing good deeds to please herself was enough. I told her she was blind and needed a "Copernican revolution" in her whole way of thinking - from a me-centred outlook to a God-centred one. I hope she meets other Christians this week. There are plenty about.

Aber 2010 01

So we are now in Aber for the conference. We arrived ahead of most conferees on Thursday night and then had Friday to settle in. We stay with my in-laws along with Eleri's two sisters and their families. We're quite a large crowd by now but two of my sons are able to stay with my eldest and his wife in their flat round the corner.

I was a last minute replacement at the welcome meeting for Extra-time, the programme of fringe meetings organised for under 25s. I spoke on making the most of it. See the sermon here. About 40 were present and it was a nice start.

One of the traditions pre-conference is that besides the official conference Sunday services (this year Andrew Norbury and James Sercombe at Capel y morfa) my father-in-law puts on a mini conference, usually preaching himself. It is normally in Bethel, the church building diagonally opposite (the smaller) Alfred Place but that was due to have roof work so it was in Seion, Baker Street just down the street.

Geoff did three messages on Adoption, looking at the doctrine itself, the implications and then some application. The first two were given on Sunday morning and evening just later than the usual times. Then on Monday morning we have a stripped down session where I open with prayer and the Word. Well over a hundred were present.

So as usual even before the conference had really started we had had a good time. Sunday afternoon Eleri and I went over to the house of one of the AP elders and had a lovely time with him, his wife, and their Yorkshire based son and his wife and daughter.

It's lovely to see lots of old friends, of course, from LTS and student days and so on, as well as family.

Evangelical Library Lectures

The Library website is here

Aberystwyth

We are getting into holiday mood at present as we are off soon, taking in the Aberystwyth Conference among other things. Paul Gamston has had to drop out and so I have been drafted in to speak at the Saturday night Extra Time meeting, which I think is a wonderful opportunity. Paul was going to do something on the parable of the sower but I want to look at Ephesians 5:15, 16.

It was interesting. I preached on Revelation 3:14-22 on Sunday and when the call came I was discussing opportunity with someone (one of my points was about being aware of, thankful for and using open doors - "what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open") so I was immediately able to say that I'd like to speak on that subject. Aber is a great opportunity especially for the young people.

The picture show the Greek god Kairos hairy at the front and bald at the back. (We call our young people's group in Childs Hill Kairos Klub because we want them to take the opportunity we offer).