1861Christmas Day New York

Gen J. H. Cocke (Bremo Bluff, Va.
)
My dear christian Friend

Though it is long since we have heard
from each other, I trust that good health, &
other blessings of an ever faithful Providence
still attend you old age. Our family are
all well and at home. Brother Wm is in
the theological seminary, while father and I
still labor to circulate the leaves of
divine truth. the Fulton st. Prayer Meetings
are fully attended, and the Holy Spirit is poured
out in answer to fervent prayer, all over the
country. Rev. Dr. Marsh I see frequently, & your old
friend John Tappan, I believe, is well. So also is Mr. Dr.
Smith, whose son Ews. B. I saw yesterday. Ex-Chief-
Justice Williams, late president of the Tract Society died
last week at Hartford, aged 84 years. A season of unusual
health, & such abundance that more is exported than ever
before, give us reason for gratitude to the "Giver of every good and
perfect gift." With Kind regards, hoping if we do not meet again
here, we shall in the world where sin & sorrow do not enter.
I am yours in hope of a Better Covenant

B. T. Eastman.

John Tappan, 1781-1871, older bother in the famous Massachusetts family of merchants, reformers, abolitionists and philanthropists.

Thomas Scott Williams, 1777-1861, active in Connecticut politics and president of the American Tract Society, to which Cocke also belonged, an organization founded in 1825 to spread Christian literature.

The Rev. Dr. John Marsh, 1788-1864, was a leading temperance reformer, another reform in which Cocke was deeply interested.
MSS 640