"You go forth at a dark and threatening hour.... When the great plans of His far-reaching and comprehensive providence shall have been accomplished, in the stupendous conflict which you now behold, He will speak peace to the troubled waters, and there will be peace. Till then let us wait with calm resignation and abiding confidence in His designs of mercy.... This providence, however complicated and strange, leads only to some good and grand result, opening up new channels of usefulness to the virtuous and the good, and saying to the faithful—nations as well as individuals: 'This is the way, walk ye in it.'"
GUIDING PURPOSE
1901
"For many years it has been my earnest desire to so conduct the affairs of the institution that whether I was present or absent, there should be no abatement in the earnest purpose and devotion to duty which I have sought to make a part of the atmosphere of Hollins."
CHAPTER VIII
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.