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Harriet N. Cook
Harriet Newell Cook (1814 – 1843) was an American religious writer whose ministry through educational writings shared biblical truths with young readers in the early 19th century. Born in Maine to Asa Rand, a reverend, and Grata Payson Rand, she grew up in a devout family steeped in Protestant faith. Little is known of her formal education, but her parents’ influence and access to religious texts shaped her ability to craft instructional works, reflecting a self-taught theological grounding typical of her era’s women writers. Cook’s preaching career took form not through sermons but via her pen, beginning with contributions to religious publications before authoring Scripture Alphabet of Animals (circa 1842), a popular book using nature to illustrate scriptural lessons for children. Her works, aimed at Sunday school audiences, preached moral and spiritual insights, emphasizing God’s creation and providence, though she never held a formal pulpit role due to gender norms of the time. Married status and family details beyond her parents remain unrecorded, as her brief life ended at age 29, likely in Maine, with her legacy tied to her written ministry rather than spoken preaching.
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John MacArthur preaches on the role of believers as ambassadors of Christ, emphasizing the threefold nature of being an ambassador: commissioning for a special assignment, representing the sender, and exercising the authority of the sender. Ambassadors of Christ are not always welcomed in a world opposed to God's truth, as warned by Jesus in John 15:19-20 and John 17:14. Paul exemplifies this role by being an ambassador in chains, boldly proclaiming the Gospel despite his circumstances, as seen in Ephesians 6:19-20.
The Jerboa or Mouse
You will not find the name of the Jerboa in the Bible; but it is supposed to be the same animal that is called a mouse in the 17th verse of the 66th chapter of Isaiah, "They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord;" and also in Leviticus, where God is telling the children of Israel what animals they may be allowed to eat, and also what they must not taste. He says, "These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind." Whether the Jerboa is the same animal or not, the Israelites must have been well acquainted with it, for it is found in great numbers in Syria and Egypt, and other countries mentioned in the Bible. They like to live where the soil is sandy, and make their burrows, or holes to live in, in the sides of sand-hills. These burrows are often several yards long, and the part where they sleep is made soft with grass. The Jerboa is about as large as a rat, and its color is a tawny yellow, something like that of dried lemon-peel. Its fur is very smooth and soft; its eyes are full and round, and its head is much like that of a young rabbit. When it eats, it sits and hold its food in its fore-paws, very much as a squirrel does. There is a very great and curious difference in the length of its legs; those in front being so short that you would hardly notice them, and those behind very long. It bounds along over the ground very rapidly; so that the greyhound, which is one of the swiftest of dogs, is often unable to overtake it. It seems, when you first look at it, to use only its hind legs in jumping, but his is not so. When it is about to take a leap, it raises its body upon the toes of its hind feet, keeping the balance by the help of its long tail. It springs and comes down on its short fore legs, but does it so very quickly that you can hardly see how it is done, and the animal seems to be upright all the time. They appear to be very fond of each other's company, and great numbers are usually found together. They sleep during the day, but like the hare and rabbit, go out of their burrows to eat and to play as soon as it begins to be dark.
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Harriet Newell Cook (1814 – 1843) was an American religious writer whose ministry through educational writings shared biblical truths with young readers in the early 19th century. Born in Maine to Asa Rand, a reverend, and Grata Payson Rand, she grew up in a devout family steeped in Protestant faith. Little is known of her formal education, but her parents’ influence and access to religious texts shaped her ability to craft instructional works, reflecting a self-taught theological grounding typical of her era’s women writers. Cook’s preaching career took form not through sermons but via her pen, beginning with contributions to religious publications before authoring Scripture Alphabet of Animals (circa 1842), a popular book using nature to illustrate scriptural lessons for children. Her works, aimed at Sunday school audiences, preached moral and spiritual insights, emphasizing God’s creation and providence, though she never held a formal pulpit role due to gender norms of the time. Married status and family details beyond her parents remain unrecorded, as her brief life ended at age 29, likely in Maine, with her legacy tied to her written ministry rather than spoken preaching.