A GREAT EVANGELIST

Waikato Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5157, 14 November 1912, Page 6

A GREAT EVANGELIST

The Rev. Thomas Cook, Principal of Cliff College, Calver, near Sheffield, passed away peacefully on September 21, in a nursing home in London. Mr Cook was born at Middlesbrough in 1859, and his conversion in early life was largely due to the influence of his Sunday school teacher, who was a railway porter (says theChristianWorld). Quite early began to preach, and an appeal by Dr. Punshon led to his becoming a home missionary in the Halifax and Bradford districts, and this was followed in 1882 by his entry into the ministry. He was not sent to college, but directly to evanglistic work as the first Connexions! evangelist. His success was phenomenal,- and all over the British Isles he won converts by the hundred. Mr Cook preached with similar success in Africa, and Australia, Palestine, France and other European countries, often having his sermons interpreted sentence by sentence. Mr Cook became associated with the late Thomas Champness, and by means of “Joyful News,” he approached the Methodist public for help in his Out and Out Band caravan mission to the villages. After Mr Champness’ death he became editor of “Joyful News,” and was associated with it to the end. When Cliff College was founded in which to train lay preachers, Mr Cook was made its first principal. Here by his optimistic and cheery nature, his eager enthusiasm, and his shrewd and practical business methods, he exercised a great influence on hundreds of men who for a term or in some cases three terras were taught the best methods of evangelism. Besides receiving this training, the men, under Mr Cook’s superintendence, cultivated the fields and gardens attached to the college, and cared for the poultry and cattle.