Cook, Charles

Cook, Charles D.D., one of the founders of French Methodism, was born in London, May 31, 1787. Skeptical in youth, he was converted at twenty-one, chiefly under the instruction of the Rev. Jacob Stanley. After spending a few years as tutor in a seminary, he entered the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1817. In 1818 he was sent to France, and commenced his ministry at Caen, in Normandy. He soon acquired a good French style, both in writing and speaking, and became eminently popular and useful as an evangelist. The Sunday-school Society and Bible Society were originated chiefly through the impulse given by him. In numerous evangelical journeys, especially in the south of France, he preached in the Reformed churches with great acceptance, and revivals of religion followed his labors. His administrative talent was very great. Merle d'Aubigne, in a letter to M. Gallienne, president of the French Conference, says that Cook "was to France, Switzerland, and Sardinia what Wesley was in his day to England." He died Feb. 21, 1858. — J. P. Cook, Vie de Charles Cook (Paris, 1862); Stevens, History of Methodism.