Truth Magazine

By Mike Willis

Many Christians only knew Roy E. Cogdill through his writings. Though I have had opportunity to have personal contact with him and to feel the influence of his work through his impact on my oldest brother Cecil, brother Codgill’s impact on my life came most directly through his writings.

The Cogdill-Jackson Debate

As a young gospel preacher, my brother Cecil encouraged me to read debates on various subjects. One of the first debates which I read was the Cogdill-Jackson Debate. Brother Cogdill met D.N. Jackson in Lufkin, Texas in December 1946 in a public discussion. The propositions for that debate pertained to salvation and apostasy. Brother Cogdill centered the issues of the debate on Calvinism, quoting extensively from the Philadelphia Confession of Faith, adopted by the Baptists as their creed in 1742.

The purpose of water baptism and the doctrine of faith only were discussed for two nights. I can still remember being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine while reading the book as a young Christian. As the debate progressed, the clear refutation of Calvinist doctrine was apparent; this was one of the many works which helped me to better understand the conditions for salvation.

The discussion of apostasy was as helpful as the first two nights of the discussion. As recently as two or three years ago, I went back to read how brother Cogdill responded to D.N. Jack;on on such passages as Romans 8:1 in an effort to be better prepared to discuss this passage as it is now being used by grace-unity advocates.

The Cogdill-Jackson Debate is still in print. I can recommend it to you because of its impact on my own life.

The New Testament Church

Choosing what subjects to preach on is a problem for all preachers, although it is usually more intense for young preachers. Cecil recommended that I preach a series of sermons on the church, using brother Cogdill’s book, The New Testament Church, as a study tool. I remember gathering several others books as well, including Why I Am A Member Of The Church Of Christ by Leroy Brownlow, The Church Of Christ by T.W. Phillips, several sermon outline books with miscellaneous sermons on the church, and other books. Every Sunday night for nearly a year, I preached on the church.

Those fundamental lessons have stayed with me through the rest of my preaching life. I frequently go back to those outlines and preach those basic, fundamental lessons in both the local church where I preach and in my meetings.

Unfortunately, many of the young men who are beginning full-time preaching have not preached these sermons. The fundamental lessons such as, “The Establishment of the Church,” “The Organization of the Church,” “The Authority of the Church,” “The Rules of Admission,” “The Worship of the Church,” and such like themes, are generally being neglected in the pulpits of this country. Many preachers reason that brethren have heard all of these lessons before, forgetting that a new generation has grown up which has not heard these lessons. Consequently, many Christians are beginning to see little difference in the church of Christ and human denominations. Books like The New Testament Church need to be a part of the curriculum of the local church.

Walking By Faith And The Cogdill-Woods Debate

I began preaching in Alexandria, Indiana in 1967. Within a couple of months of that time, the liberal churches in Indiana had a “campaign for Christ” in Indianapolis, Indiana. The featured speaker was Jimmy Allen and, as I recall, Pat Boone was scheduled to lead singing one night. The campaign was conducted through a sponsoring church arrangement, organizationally structured like the Herald of Truth at Highland, in Abilene, Texas.

One of my fellow students at Florida College was attending a liberal church in Anderson. As I began to make contact with him in an effort to persuade him to leave, I was forced to study the issues of church support of human institutions (colleges, orphan homes, old folks homes, etc.) and the sponsoring church arrangement. In studying these subjects, Cecil directed me to Walking By Faith and the Cogdill-Woods Debate.

The outlines in the book Walking By Faith, in my judgment, are still the best study material available on the “issues” which divided the church in the 1950-1960s. They show how the sponsoring church is a violation of the organization of the church, destroying the autonomy of the local church. They demonstrate that the church cannot do its work through (by making contributions to) human institutions, whether they be missionary or benevolent institutions. The book also shows that the work of the church is not recreational in nature. Anytime anyone asks me questions about these issues, I still direct them to brother Cogdill’s book, Walking By Faith.

Books And Tracts

Another source which I used in studying this issue was the Cogdill-Woods Debate. Reading through the book as a young preacher, I was confused by some of the arguments which were being made in this debate. I will never forget reading the final speech which brother Cogdill made. Recalling the proposition which brother Woods was committed to defend, brother Cogdill then took up brother Woods’ arguments one-by-one. He then raised the question, “Does this argument prove brother Woods’ proposition?” The confusion began to leave my mind as I concluded that debate book. This remains one of the most popular debates on the sponsoring church arrangement and church supported benevolent institutions which is in print. You need to read this debate, if you have not already done so.

The New Testament Book By Book

Another adult workbook which brother Cogdill has written is this survey book on the New Testament. In twenty-six lessons, brother Cogdill presents an overview of the books of the New Testament. The work was originally designed for a senior high class but has been studied by many adult Bible classes as well. The material in the book is thorough to. the point that it is difficult to cover each New Testament book in one class period. His analysis of the New Testament books makes this material useful to young and old alike. As more and more brethren use this book, the word will spread that this is a good companion study to The New Testament Church.

Chapters In Books

Brother Cogdill also participated in some other books in which he wrote significant chapters.

1. Preaching In The Twentieth Century. In 1945, the Old Paths Book Club published this work which was written by J. Pilant Sanders, C. Arthur Norred, Fanning Yater Tant, and Roy E. Cogdill. Brother Cogdill wrote a 55-page chapter entitled “The Bible In Preaching.” This chapter certainly reflects the concept which brother Cogdill had of the place of the Bible in the sermon. The final section of the chapter discusses 1 and 2 Timothy as “instructions to a young preacher” and a study of other significant texts on preaching. This book is no longer in print. However, if you see one in a used book store, brother Cogdill’s material will make the book valuable to you.

2. The Arlington Meeting. In January 1968, twenty-six brethren representing both sides of the institutional conflict, met to discuss their differences in Arlington, Texas. One of the participants was brother Cogdill. The discussions were recorded and published by the Cogdill (now Guardian of Truth) Foundation. The book contains an excellent article entitled “How To Establish Bible Authority” by brother Cogdill. J.D. Thomas presented the opposing point of view and both brethren had a fifteen-minute rebuttal speech. This book is still in print and will be one of the important historical documents of the division between brethren related to church support of human institutions.

Tracts And Booklets

There are a number of tracts and booklets written by brother Cogdill which remain in demand and stay in print. Among them are the following:

1. Miraculous Divine Healing. This booklet is a sermon which was preached in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Sunday afternoon, 5 October 1952. A faith-healer named Charles Jessup was in town, challenging preachers to deny what he was teaching. B.G. Hope met with Mr. Jessup and arranged the discussion. Approximately 12,000 attended the exchange. The booklet continues to be a popular tract on this subject.

2. What Constitutes Obedience? This tract emphasizes that obedience is the natural result of faith and that it requires more than just good intentions.

3. Bible Authority, How Established, How Applied. This tract is the first speech delivered by brother Cogdill in the Cogdill-Woods Debate which was conducted in Birmingham, Alabama in 1957.

4. The Bible – A Complete And Perfect Guide. Brother Cogdill discussed this proposition: “Either the Bible is a complete and perfect guide in religion or it is insufficient and incapable of fully directing man in his efforts to please God and reach heaven eventually.”

5. The Origin And Claims Of Roman Catholicism. This tract traces the historical origin of Catholicism and discusses some of its fundamental claims in light of the Scriptures.

6. Why I Am A Member Of The Church Of Christ. This tract details some of the unique characteristics of the New Testament church in contrast to modem denominationalism.

Conclusion

Although one cannot know brother Cogdill in a personal way solely through his writings, he can understand the basic principles of faith by which he lived. He can see his deep commitment to the revealed word of God and his militant stand against error and compromise. Brother Cogdill’s writings have had a deep impact upon me, and many others in other parts of this world. Through the printed page, brother Cogdill has preached in places his body could never have gone. His influence will continue to be felt as long as these writings remain in circulation.

Guardian of Truth XXIX: 14, pp. 435, 439
July 18, 1985

By Steve Wolfgang

The weather on the day of the funeral was miserable. The rainy drizzle and chill wind out of the northern plains starkly underscored the gray mood of those who had come to bury the dead. The widow and children, in the company of friends, watched tearfully as the earthly remains of their beloved were lowered into the earth. Roy Edward Cogdill, just one day past his eighth birthday, stood transfixed. The sight of the casket containing the body of 31-year Frank Louis Cogdill, killed in an industrial accident two days earlier, would forever be etched into the memory of his only son. Though a cavalcade of wagons, horses, buggies, and a few vintage automobiles brought many people to the Hobart cemetery on that April 25, 1915, the date would have as much, perhaps more, significance for young Roy Cogdill as for anyone else present that day.

Seventy years and three weeks later, family and friends lovingly bore the body of Roy Edward Cogdill back to that same cemetery in Hobart. The weather was dramatically different-a cool spring day, green with new life under the blue Oklahoma sky-but the sense of loss was the same.

Among the many ramifications his father’s death would hold for Roy was the deepening and cementing of the bond between himself and this widowed mother. It was through her that he would first learn the truth of the gospel which he obeyed at an early age. It was through her untiring efforts to prepare her family for worship each Sunday, regardless of weather or other circumstances, that he began to learn the meaning of devotion to Christ. Hearing her singing softly the hymn that would become his favorite (“Walk Beside Me, O My Savior”), he could faintly remember what it would be like to suffer the cruelties and tribulations which he would later endure.

It was his mother who shamed him when he “ran away” from home under the influence of a schoolmate who came from an alcoholic family, and who then mortgaged what little she possessed to see that Roy would have a more wholesome environment at Western Oklahoma Christian College, 22 miles away in Cordell. There Roy’s talent as a speaker, which qualified him for both high school and collegiate debate teams, became evident; and from Cordell he began the religious journalism with which he would be involved for much of his life. When Roy returned home during the first school break (at Thanksgiving, 1922), it was not only to be reunited with his mother, but to preach his first sermon.

After graduating from the high school division at Cordell, Roy went to Abilene Christian College as a 16-year-old freshman, quickly becoming class president and a standout debater. It was at Abilene that he met a young Christian from East Tom named Lorraine Burke. Following a summer’s preaching near his home in Oklahoma and a stint selling Bibles in San Antonio during the fall of 1924, Roy accepted the invitation of the church in Frederick, Oklahoma to become the local preacher. He and Lorraine were married on July 21, 1925 — a union which was to last until her untimely death almost 35 years later (June 23, 1960). Heralded by the newspapers of the region as “the Boy Wonder,” his work with the church in Frederick continued until he felt the need to return to school.

He re-enrolled at Cordell and then, planning to attend SMU, moved to Dallas to work with the Sunset church in the fall of 1926. When those plans did not materialize, the Cogdills went to Greenville, Texas in May 1927 to begin work with the church there. As brethren everywhere became more aware of his considerable abilities, brother Cogdill began to do increasingly more meeting work, not only in Texas and Oklahoma, but in western states including California, Idaho, and Montana. Beginning in 1929 he entered full-time meeting work while continuing to live at Greenville. His association with Foy E. Wallace, Jr.– a warm friendship which would endure for a quarter of a century-began during this period.

A continuous schedule of meeting preaching magnified a throat problem which probably had its inception in the open-air meetings of Roy’s first preaching in Oklahoma while still a teenager. So, in October, 1930, brother Cogdill accepted an invitation to become the local preacher for the large church at Cleburne, Texas. The combination of preaching to hundreds of people in a large auditorium and continuing to hold meetings proved too much for his voice. Local doctors sent him to specialists in Dallas, and a growth on his vocal chords was discovered. After beginning to preach the gospel in so auspicious a manner, it seemed as though Roy Cogdill’s preaching days were over before he was 25 year old.

His determination to spread the gospel was not so easily thwarted, however. He continued to write, editing Bible class quarterlies for the Firm Foundation. He became “Texas Department” editor and subscription representative for the Gospel Advocate, moving to Dallas to open an office there for the Nashville paper. Throat surgery in Philadelphia by the world-renowned medical pioneer Dr. Chevalier Jackson (inventor of the bronchoscope) removed any immediate threat to permanent voice loss or other complications, but Roy was warned by physicians that any preaching for the foreseeable future could be done only to the detriment of his health and his voice.

Brother Cogdill enrolled in 1933 at Jefferson Law School in Dallas, where among his professors was Sarah T. Hughes, later a federal judge who would be thrust into the forefront of history by another event in Dallas thirty years later, swearing in a new President. Roy supported his wife and their daughter, Martha, during this period by working as a distributor for the Duncan Coffee Company by day while attending law school at night.

As his throat improved, he began to look for opportunities to preach, first by driving to Terrell, Texas (where he was later followed in that work by another young preacher, James W. Adams). When the brethren at the Sears and Summitt church (which became the Skillman Avenue church) in Dallas invited him to preach regularly beginning in 1934, Roy commenced a profitable work with them which lasted during his law school days and saw the church grow from about 200 members to an attendance regularly of 500-600.

During this period, brother Cogdill alternated preaching each Sunday over KRLD radio in Dallas with W.L. Oliphant of the Oak Cliff church. He conducted his first religious debate, returning to Oklahoma to discuss the instrumental music question at Carnegie. He also made his first preaching trip to Canada, a work which would be dear to his heart for the rest of his life. In 1938, he published his book, The New Testament Church, which, by his life’s end, would be translated into a half-dozen languages as well as Braille, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. And he began a prosperous law practice in the office of Jack Johannes, who would become general counsel for a small potato company which grew to become Frito-Lay before merging with the Pepsi-Cola company. While practicing law, Roy obtained on a client’s behalf what was at that time the largest monetary judgment awarded by a Dallas court.

But lawyers like Jack Johannes knew that Roy Cogdill’s heart was really in his preaching and not in the practice of law. In 1940, Roy helped to locate the property and became first preacher (without charge) for the Preston Road church near the University Park section of Dallas. As the foregoing material suggests, Roy was doing as much work in the kingdom as a “part-time” preacher as some men do “full-time. ” Re-affirming his commitment to the priority of preaching, Roy quit a thriving law practice and moved his family to Springfield, Missouri, to work with the South National church. According to a recent history of that church, Roy’s coming seemed to the brethren there like “a dream come true.” To brother Cogdill, it represented the fulfillment of dreams and plans which had been thwarted more than a decade before.

Following his mother’s death in 1944, Roy succumbed to the insistent urgings of the Norhill church in Houston to move there. He had held numerous meetings for them since 1928, and living in Houston offered occasion to be nearer Lorraine’s parents. As with all of the churches with which Roy Cogdill ever did local work, Norhill experienced tangible growth during his preaching, numerically and spiritually. Norhill engaged the services of a second preacher, Luther Blackmon, who shared the preaching responsibilities locally with Roy, both of them also being involved in considerable meeting work. It was while Roy was there that the Norhill church arranged for Foy E. Wallace, Jr., to speak in the new Houston Music Hall, preaching sermons which Roy later would publish as God’s Prophetic Word (in response to rampant premillennial theories in both the church and various denominations). A subsequent volume, Bulwarks of the Faith (addressing various Catholic and Protestant doctrines), also began as sermons in the Houston Music Hall.

The possibility of beginning a printing/publishing company in Lufkin (near Lorraine’s home) caused Roy to move there in 1946. Foy E. Wallace, Jr., had been able to publish his Bible Banner only sporadically, and Roy and others saw the need for such a voice to continue to oppose the intensive post-war attempts by some to make the church a funding agency for various inter-church projects, colleges, and other human institutions. Brother Cogdill began a commercial printing firm which included a religious publishing division and began to publish Wallace’s Bible Banner, and, shortly thereafter, the Gospel Guardian, with Yater Tant as editor. Luther Blackmon had accompanied Roy to Lufkin in an arrangement similar to that at Norhill, and again the church experienced growth. Roy’s published debate with D.N. Jackson occurred during this period, but he had several other debates as well, including one at Clute, Texas with A.J. Kirkland, a Baptist.

Several factors during this period caused brother Cogdll to re-enter full-time meeting work in the early 1950’s, and in 1952 he went to Jordan, Ontario, to become involved in the efforts of that church to plant new works wherever possible in that province. Roy and his wife lived in Canada while he held numerous meetings in places where there was no church, preaching over radio stations and in public meeting halls and schools until a sufficient number had been converted to start works in various cities. Occasionally brother Cogdill would return to the States for meetings, and it was while returning to Texas following a meeting in Vallejo, California that Roy and Lorraine were seriously injured in an automobile accident on an icy road near Gallup, NM in March, 1954. Brother Cogdill was on crutches for a month and walked with a cane for a year afterward, but within a matter of weeks following the accident was back holding meetings in Alabama and Kentucky before returning to Canada for the summer. Since Lorraine was also seriously injured, it became necessary to slow the pace of their lives.

So it was that brother Cogdill moved to San Antonio in October, 1954 to work for two years with the West Avenue congregation. Though the church there experienced good growth, as the institutional controversy raged across the brotherhood, Roy felt the need to re-enter full-time meeting work, and he and Lorraine moved back to Lufkin. In addition to meetings, working with the Guardian, and conducting the definitive debate on the institutional question (with Guy Woods in Birmingham in November, 1957), Roy also produced his book, Walking By Faith, which dealt specifically with the issues of institutionalism.

Tragic circumstances were to intervene, however. Lorraine had contracted pneumonia (complicated by an ensuing staph infection and resulting mitral valve problem with her heart) while with Roy in a meeting in Canada. Though brother Cogdill began local work in 1958 with the Mound and Starr church in Nacogdoches, sister Cogdill’s health continued to deteriorate, and she died on June 23, 1960, following months of illness.

For the next several years Roy plunged himself into an unbelievably heavy schedule of meetings, including a second debate with Guy Woods at Newbern, Tennessee in 1961. His intense loneliness was relieved when he married Venita Faulkner of Oklahoma City. Nita, a widow who was a member of the Tenth and Francis church, had known and heard Roy preach through the years back to his preaching over KRLD while she was living in Dallas in the 1930’s. Oklahoma City became “home base” from which brother Cogdill engaged in nationwide meeting work until he and Nita moved to the Los Angeles area for a very successful four years (1963-1967) with the Winnetka Avenue church in Canoga Park. Once again a local church thrived and grew dramatically under the preaching of Roy Cogdill. Though approaching age 60, Roy Cogdill was not thinking of retiring.

When the Cogdills moved to work with the Par Avenue church in Orlando, Florida (where they lived from 1967-1971), Roy embarked upon a series of efforts in preaching the gospel through various media. During the time he was with Par Avenue, the church grew sufficiently that James P. Needham moved there in 1969 to accompany some members to a new work in the northern suburbs of Orlando. The old Gospel Guardian Foundation which Roy had begun years before was revived and merged with Truth Magazine (a monthly journal which after the merger became a weekly periodical and which since has become the biweekly Guardian of Truth) to become the Codgill Foundation. Through the newly-merged foundation, a new graded series of Bible class literature was written and published. Brother Cogdill served as editor of this series, and the Truth Magazine Bookstore was moved to Orlando.

As if these activities were not enough to occupy his attention, brother Cogdill became involved both in participation and publication of the 1968 meeting in Arlington, Texas, of estranged brethren on both sides of the institutional controversy. In 1969 he began teaching Bible courses at Florida College in Temple Terrace. Responding to urgent requests, Roy spent the entire month of May, 1970 preaching in the Philippine Islands in company with Cecil Willis,, then editor of Truth Magazine and associate editor in the Bible class literature project. Besides these activities, brother Cogdill somehow found time to lead a tour to the Bible Lands.

Such a schedule of activities would be strenuous even for a young man, and by this time Roy Cogdill had passed what serves for many as “early retirement age.” When long-time friends prevailed upon him to move back to Houston to help build up the Spring Branch church, Roy acceded to their requests. Brother Cogdill had surgery at Mayo Clinic in 1965, and beginning in 1973 suffered a series of health problems which would plague him for the remainder of his days on the earth. Still, his devotion to Christ and His church would not permit inactivity. Local work in Henderson and Conroe, Texas through 1976, gospel meetings, and several preaching trips to Italy occupied his time and energy during this period. When the foundation begun by brother John W. Akin for the support of gospel preachers was threatened with legal entanglements, brother Cogdill, then nearly 70 years old, literally arose from his hospital bed and began intensive efforts to help salvage it. Having moved backto the Houston suburb of Katy, brother Cogdill continued to hold meetings at various places and even worked as late as 1982-83 for a period of several months with the Midfield church in Birmingham during a difficult period of its history.

Roy Cogdill demonstrated devotion to God and the kingdom of His dear Son by teaching and preaching in public and in his home until the last days of his sojourn on the earth. Being human, he had his share of faults-a fact he would be the first to acknowledge. There are aspects of his life and personality which some could (and which many have) criticized. Often his weaknesses were exaggerations of the very tenacity and devotion which were his great strengths. But those who came to know him and love him for this work’s sake and his unquestioned devotion to God loved him in spite of those faults. Those of us who had the good fortune to know him on a more personal basis came to love him for his tender human qualities which were not always evident to those who saw him from afar or whose only exposure to him was in the heat of controversy.

I am disturbed that so many of my own generation of Christians are unfamiliar with the name and the work of Roy E. Cogdill. More than that, I am alarmed at the number of Christians who seem to lack-indeed, are critical of the very characteristics that made him a giant among soldiers of the cross. I am determined that his story shall be told and recorded for future generations — not to worship the man, but to express gratitude for his labor which too many of us have taken for granted-and to help future generations avoid, if possible, the same errors against which men like Roy Cogdill arose to do battle. He represents a cluster of values-conviction, sacrificial devotion, and hatred of “every lofty thing exalted against the knowledge of God” which are all too rare today, and which we would do well to imitate.

Guardian of Truth XXIX: 14, pp. 419-421, 436
July 18, 1985

By James D. Yates

(Editor’s Note: Because of the press of business affairs, brother James D. Yates, an elder of the Fry Road congregation in Houston, Texas where Roy held membership and a close personal friend of Roy’s for thirty-one years, could not write a special article for this Memorial Issue. I have, with his permission, copied and edited for publication from a tape recording the speech brother Yates delivered the evening of April 23, 1985 at a “get together” honoring Roy. This was just a little more than three weeks before Roy’s death. Brother Yates also spoke at Roy’s funeral service, Wednesday May 15. Brother Yates has read and approved the article which follows. JWA).

The service tonight has been long and some of you may be growing tired and sleepy, so I will try to keep my remarks as brief as possible. However, the love I have for this man cannot be put in a thimble. The love he has extended to me, to my family, and to the friends whom I loved over these thirty-one years we have known him so well cannot be briefed.

As an elder in the Lord’s church, I should like to speak first of Roy in his relationship to the elders of the churches with which he has labored. In this respect, he is one of the greatest. There never has been an eldership with which he has been associated that did not benefit by knowing him. He has never usurped their authority nor their responsibilities, but he has always encouraged them and helped them to do their duty. He has always insisted that they keep the Word of Truth before the church and practice what they preached-doing all in the spirit of Truth. He has ever exhorted them to be leaders, to be examples to the flock, to love every minute of their service while extending to them the help necessary to make such possible.

Through the many years of his service as a preacher of the Word, he has received calls almost daily from elders of the churches over this entire land asking him to come and help them with their problems or seeking his advice concerning them. Hardly a day passes, even now, that someone doesn’t call seeking advice concerning a problem in the church.

Many years ago, a faith healer came to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and stirred up much excitement. He boasted that he would meet anybody in debate on the subject of miracles which he professed to perform. Roy was in the area in a meeting. The elders of one of the churches in Bowling Green called Roy and asked him to meet the false teacher. Roy was, of course, not specifically prepared for the debate, but he accepted the responsibility. With less than a week to prepare, he met the so-called “faith healer” before 14,000 people. This was the largest audience Roy ever spoke before face to face. So successfully did Roy meet his opponent that the false teacher closed his meeting and left town with his women associates. A few months ago, I had the privilege of visiting the location where this took place. Elders called and, though not specifically prepared for the encounter, Roy rose to the challenge and did a masterful job in the defense of the truth.

Not many months ago, Roy received a call from the elders of a church in a distant city. One of those elders is present tonight. They said, “Come, help us, we need you!” Roy was in ill health. Sister Cogdill was not well. They had their hands full of their own problems. Yet, they went and spent three months assisting the church in overcoming its difficulties.

Roy has always been ready to answer a call from anyone who needed help as long as he was convinced that truth was at stake. In such situations, he did not seek to impose his will on the basis of his “giant” capabilities, but as one who sought only to see truth prevail. Therefore, he allowed truth to adjust the matter.

Several years ago, the need for a graded series of Bible class literature for use among conservative congregations was called to brother Cogdill’s attention and his help enlisted in getting such in print. Risking a considerable portion of his personal funds and those of his wife, he bought and caused to be reworked and published a sound series of literature already in publication. He also, with the cooperation of others, launched an effort to produce and publish a completely new series by conservative brothers and sisters in Christ. These two excellent sets of literature, “Walking With God” and “Truth In Life,” are currently available to the churches. That they are is largely due to the self-sacrificing spirit and keen foresight of brother Cogdill.

Roy is such a strong man! He is positive in his nature. He does not know the meaning of “negative” when he sees something that needs to be done. He can and does preach negatively against all error that obstructs the truth, but relative to the work of advancing truth, he is preeminently positive. Harry Pickup Jr. tells one of his well-known stories to illustrate Roy’s positive attitude. He and Roy were driving down the highway discussing some Bible topic. Roy was strongly pressing his point of view. Harry asked, “Roy, have you ever been wrong about anything?” Quick as a flash, Roy answered, “No, but if I was, I’d correct it I” Yes, Roy has had to correct some things, but they have been few. There has been little necessity for him to correct many things related to spiritual matters because he has relied from his youth upon the Word. His strength has come from his confidence in and his reliance upon what the Word says. When you rely on it, you don’t have to make many changes, brethren!

Roy has always been a preacher. Harry Pickup, Jr. also tells a story involving Roy and a highway patrolman between Atlanta, Georgia, and Tampa, Florida. A car full of preachers traveling together was stopped for speeding. Roy was the driver and in the heat of a Bible discussion, his foot had grown heavy on the accelerator. Harry Pickup and H.E. Phillips were among those riding in the car. Brother Phillips was much disturbed to be stopped by an officer of the law, but brother Pickup said, “Don’t worry, policemen don’t know how to give Roy a ticket! ” Looking back at Roy and the policeman, brother Phillips observed that Roy was talking to the officer with much vigor and poking him in the chest with his index finger. Brother Phillips became more disturbed envisioning all of them in jail. Harry continued to insist that they had nothing to worry about. Directly, Roy returned, got in the car and drove toward Tampa. Unable to restrain himself, brother Phillips asked, “Roy, what happened back there?”

Roy replied, “Oh, nothing. I found out that he was a member of the church out of duty, so I told him he ought to get right with the Lord, and he’s going back to church and repent next Sunday.”

What a man! And what a wife he has! I cannot say enough about her, nor can he. At this time, when he needs her so desperately, she is there, twenty-four hours of the day. The devotion that she is extending him now defies description.

I was twenty-eight years old when Roy and I became friends. He was forty-seven. When we met, it was love at first sight. I had been a Christian for sixteen years, but it was not until then that I began to really learn the truth. It was then I began to learn what truth and duty were, and what it took to stand for the truth and the reason why: Christ died for it! Roy and I became good friends then and have remained so until this day. We have not always agreed about everything nor have we always even been agreeable, but we have remained friends, forgiving and forgetting, knowing that we could always depend upon each other when the chips were down!

Had Roy Cogdill continued his law practice in Dallas, he no doubt would be today a very wealthy man, but because he is first and foremost a gospel preacher, he gave it up to preach the truth. If there ever was a motto that perfectly describes Roy Cogdill it is: Buy the truth, and sell it not. There is no telling how many times he has said to me, “James, whatever the price you must pay, buy the truth, then guard it, cherish it, love it, and keep it; do not sell it for any price.”

Roy, there are so many instances in our lives to illustrate what you have meant to me, my lovely wife, and our daughters that space will not permit my mentioning them. You are the dearest friend that we could have. You have been an outstanding influence on our lives. We are indebted to you beyond our ability to repay. Not only are we indebted to you with reference to spiritual matters, but also in other less important matters. Your advice has been sought and successfully used time and again. Even our financial success in life has been attained in a great measure as a result of your counsel.

We feel deeply privileged to have known you through these many years. We consider you a giant whose life has blessed thousands, whose sacrifices to serve the Lord have been tremendous, and whose devotion from earliest youth to the principle of “buying the truth and selling it not” has been the source of your inspiration to us all. You are our most beloved friend and brother and we love you now and have loved you for all the thirty-one years we have known you.

Confident that the most important influence in your life, next to Christ, was your deceased mother, Mildred and I secured from sister Cogdill a small, full-length snapshot of your mother. We have had it enlarged and framed and we present it to you with all our love on your seventy-eighth birthday. May the Lord bless you and keep you in the hollow of His hand is our prayer.

Guardian of Truth XXIX: 14, pp. 428-429
July 18, 1985

By James R. Cope

(Editor’s Note: When we called brother Cope relative to writing something for this Memorial Special, he suggested that we might publish his personal letter to brother Cogdill on the occasion of brother Cogdill’s 78th birthday, April 24, 1985.)

My dear Roy,

On this, your 78th birthday, also the birth date of our oldest daughter, Connie Cope Benson, Georgia Deane and I join your multitude of friends in wishing you a very joyous occasion.

As I reflect upon my more than forty year’s association with you, several things particularly come to mind:

1. Our first face-to-face acquaintance was in the early 1940’s. You were in a series of meetings with W.E. Brightwell and the Waverly-Belmont church in Nashville. I was teaching at David Lipscomb College and preaching for the Belmont church. I came to hear you several times, and this began the relationship which has continued uninterrupted till this day. Avidly I took notes as you preached and I still have several of them.

2. To some degree you were responsible for my meeting the girl of my dreams. It was you who recommended me for my first Texas meeting Preston Road in Dallas — where I met the beautiful and dedicated Georgia Deane Combs, June 4, 1944.

3. In the intervening years we have met many times in various places and our paths have crossed many times. The only meeting in which I ever preached where you were living and laboring was Nacogdoches, Texas, in early March, 1960. Even though I had been preaching 25 years, I still recall how inadequate I felt in each lesson because you were in the audience. I understood well that you wanted me to do well and that I was there because you had asked the brethren to invite me, yet I was on “needles and pins” and felt like a Little Leaguer pitching to Babe Ruth. Nevertheless, you were there “rooting” for me and encouraging the brethren to attend every service. (I suppose the elders felt I gave general satisfaction for they never invited me back!) It was also in March 3 (Wednesday night) of this same week that your beloved Lorraine became so seriously ill that only a few days later she was moved first to Tyler and then to Houston for diagnosis and operations which led to her demise back home in June of the same year. About five weeks after Lorraine’s passing, I closed a meeting on Sunday night at Pruitt and Lobit in Baytown. I was to begin a meeting in Blytheville, Arkansas the night following. As I now recall you were to begin a meeting somewhere north of there either the same night or shortly thereafter and asked me to ride with you. Never shall I forget those hours together! Each of us would drive to rest the other. We would laugh awhile and cry awhile. I picked your mind for all mine would hold. I never felt closer to you in my life except the other time which I shall mention presently.

4. Our next relatively close association was the Florida College term of 1969-70 when you drove daily from Orlando to teach our young men preparing to preach. Never I think, did you ever give more of your physical self for such a long period as you did in this 200-mile daily drive. I was so involved in administrative affairs that we spent precious few hours together. It was much the same with Homer Hailey. After we had administrative offices over the Chatlos Library, there was only a wall between Homer and me, yet we hardly saw each other except to say “hello” as we would pass going and coming in and out of our offices. That’s just getting “too busy”!

5. Then came your move back to Houston and in 1972 our trip to Bible lands. It was indeed pleasurable yet, again, there was little time for personal visitation.

6. Except for our long ride through Texas and Arkansas, no event do I now or shall I ever remember more pleasantly and profitably than that of this last December 6 or 7 when Dee Bowman, Harold Fite, and I visited with you in your home-the same day that hard-headed you would have it no other way than you foot the bill for our delightful lunch! What a day that was! I felt that we were wearing you to a frazzle. I was torn between my selfish desire to hear every word your weak voice spoke and my judgment that said we were unduly imposing upon your willingness to feed us spiritually as well as keep us laughing at your humorous stories.

And when we separated that day! Oh, my brother, I can still feel the warmth of the gentle but strong embrace of our parting moments. Somehow I was conscious of a similar scene, at the home of C.R. Nichol in Clifton, Texas, when he and C.E. Wooldridge held each other and wept as these two white-headed saints, long-time preaching and debating companions, bade each other goodbye-probably for their last time.

Even though I would like to see you again before either of us meets the Lord, his angels, and all who have loved and labored in his kingdom and for his Cause, no memory of you and what you have meant to the gospel of our Savior and to me personally can ever erase from my awareness that in those few moments I was holding in my arms the physical body of a man who was a giant in his day; your life hams blessed thousands through pen and preachment for two-thirds of a century, and your commitment to “preach the word” and your firmness of resolution to be faithful at all costs has helped otherwise weary soldiers to keep their armor on and the battle going.

I love you, Roy Cogdill!

Guardian of Truth XXIX: 14, pp. 429-430
July 18, 1985