Peter Cartwright – death, Sep. 25,1872

“The people crowded to this meeting from far and near. They came in their large wagons, with victuals mostly prepared. The women slept in the wagons, and the men under them. Many stayed on the ground night and day for a number of nights and days together. Others were provided for among the neighbors around. The power of God was wonderfully displayed; scores of sinners fell under the preaching, like men slain in mighty battle; Christians shouted aloud for joy.

 

“To this meeting I repaired, a guilty, wretched sinner. On the Saturday evening of said meeting, I went, with weeping multitudes, and bowed before the stand, and earnestly prayed for mercy. In the midst of a solemn struggle of soul, an impression was made on my mind, as though a voice said to me, “Thy sins are all forgiven thee.” Divine light flashed all round me, unspeakable joy sprung up in my soul. I rose to my feet, opened my eyes, and it really seemed as if I was in heaven; the trees, the leaves on them, and everything seemed, and I really thought were, praising God. My mother raised the shout, my Christian friends crowded around me and joined me in praising God; and though I have been since then, in many instances, unfaithful, yet I have never, for one moment, doubted that the Lord did, then and there, forgive my sins and give me religion.”

                                                                        – Cartwright’s account of his conversion

 

Peter Cartwright died this date,9/25/1872, in Illinois.   He was born 9/1/1785, in Amherst County,Virginia.  He came under Holy Ghost conviction at 16, and after several weeks (months?) of seeking was converted to Christ.  He was an ordained a Methodist minister, in Kentucky(1806) and married Frances Gaines (1808).

 

Cartwright was twice a member of the Illinois legislature.  He ran against A. Lincoln for seat in US Congress and was defeated (1846).  There was only one Peter Cartwright, frontier rough, limited in “book learning,” but willing to do what he felt God directed.  He spent over 50 years spreading the Gospel and reflects the same in his Fifty Years a Presiding Elder (1871).  He also produced Controversy with the Devil (1853) and his colorful Autobiography of Peter Cartwright (1856).

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Thomas Obadiah (T. O.) Chisholm – birth, Jul. 29, 1866

Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.

 Refrain

O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me.
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne.
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.

2.

Living for Jesus Who died in my place,
Bearing on Calvary my sin and disgrace;
Such love constrains me to answer His call,
Follow His leading and give Him my all.

3.

Living for Jesus, wherever I am,
Doing each duty in His holy Name;
Willing to suffer affliction and loss,
Deeming each trial a part of my cross.

4.

Living for Jesus through earth’s little while,
My dearest treasure, the light of His smile;
Seeking the lost ones He died to redeem,
Bringing the weary to find rest in Him.

Thomas Obadiah (T. O.) Chisholm was born this date, 7/29/1866, at Franklin, Kentucky.  He was a Methodist pastor, a teacher, an editor, and a poet.  Technically I could have met him (didn’t) but I did know Paul W Finch who knew Bro. Chisholm (so feel a little connected).  Of his 1,200 (+) poems three are: “Oh, To Be Like Thee” “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and “Living for Jesus.”  He died 2/29/1960 at Ocean Grove, New Jer­sey.

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Abraham Lincoln – birth, Feb. 12, 1809

“Gettysburg  Address”

 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

 

But in a larger sense we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here.

 

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

 

Abraham Lincoln was born this date (2/12/1809) near Hodgenville, Kentucky.  His “Gettysburg Address” was his literary masterpiece.  Not only was it his – it is the greatest piece of literature every produced by an American President.  

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